Ep. 155: Fall 2023 Circle Back with Catherine (@GilmoreGuide)
Sarah's Bookshelves Live
Sarah Dickinson
4.7 • 785 Ratings
🗓️ 15 November 2023
⏱️ 55 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In the Fall 2023 Book Preview, Catherine (@GilmoreGuide) and I shared our 12 most-anticipated books that released mid-August – December. Today we're going to circle back to share updates on which of these books we've read, our thoughts on them, and a few we attempted but couldn't quite get through.
This post contains affiliate links through which I make a small commission when you make a purchase (at no cost to you!).
CLICK HERE for the full episode Show Notes on the blog.
Coming Soon
- The updated 2024 Rock Your Reading Tracker will release on December 6! This year's updated edition will be exclusively available to our $7/month Superstars Patrons and will not be offered for separate purchase as in previous years. Don't miss out on this and other bookish goodies – become a Superstars Patron here!
Highlights
- Catherine's curse has been broken — her top pick was a winner!
- Both Catherine and Sarah circle back with two 5-star books each!
- Their reading stats and success rates for fall.
- The best and worst picks from the Fall 2023 Book Preview.
Books We Read Before the Preview [8:38]
Sarah's Pick:
- Happiness Falls by Angie Kim (August 29) | Amazon
| Bookshop.org [11:19]
Catherine's Picks:
- The English Experience by Julie Schumacher (August 15) | Amazon
| Bookshop.org [8:43]
- The River We Remember
by William Kent Krueger (September 5) | Amazon | Bookshop.org
[15:26]
Other Books Mentioned:
- Dear Committee Members by Julie Schumacher [9:56]
- Miracle Creek by Angie Kim [11:45]
Fall 2023 Circle Back [17:18]
September
Sarah's Pick:
- Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll (September 19) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [17:23]
Catherine's Pick:
- The Museum of Failures by Thrity Umrigar (September 26) | Amazon
| Bookshop.org [26:17]
Other Books Mentioned:
- The Quiet Tenant by Clémence Michallon [18:53]
- Notes on an Execution by Danya Kukafka [18:51]
- The Only Plane in the Sky by Garrett M. Graff [21:44]
- Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll [25:56]
- The Favorite Sister by Jessica Knoll [25:57]
- Honor by Thrity Umrigar [28:12]
October
Sarah's Picks:
- Kill Show by Daniel Sweren-Becker (October 3) | Amazon
| Bookshop.org [28:15]
- In Light of All Darkness by Kim Cross (October 3) | Amazon
| Bookshop.org [34:42]
- The Sun Sets in Singapore by Kehinde Fadipe (October 31) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [41:33]
Catherine's Picks:
- The Hank Show by McKenzie Funk (October 3) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [32:35]
- The Leftover Woman by Jean Kwok (October 10) | Amazon
| Bookshop.org [38:23]
- One Woman Show by Christine Coulson (October 17) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [44:14]
Other Books Mentioned:
- I Have Some Questions For You by Rebecca Makkai [30:53]
- When the Stars Go Dark by Paula McLain [35:15]
- I'll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara [35:44]
- American Predator by Maureen Callahan [35:46]
November
Sarah's Pick:
- The Helsinki Affair by Anna Pitoniak (November 14) | Amazon
| Bookshop.org [47:43]
Other Books Mentioned:
- Red London by Alma Katsu [48:08]
- Red Widow by Alma Katsu [48:07]
- Our American Friend by Anna Pitoniak [50:28]
- The Sisterhood: The Secret History of Women at the CIA by Liza Mundy [50:55]
Other Books
- The Vaster Wilds by Lauren Groff [7:36]
- Let Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward [7:37]
- Wellness by Nathan Hill [7:39]
- The Fraud by Zadie Smith [7:42]
Other Links
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Welcome to Sarah's Bookshelves Live. I'm Sarah of Sarah's Bookshelves. Each week, I talk with a bookish |
| 0:15.6 | guest about two old books they love, two new books they love, one book they do not love, |
| 0:21.8 | and one new release they're excited about. |
| 0:23.5 | We're going to get real and sometimes a bit snarky about all things books. |
| 0:27.7 | If you like the show, I'd love it if you follow the show in your podcast player, spread |
| 0:32.2 | the word to your reader friends, post about it on your social media, or support the show on Patreon at patreon.com slash Sarah's |
| 0:41.9 | bookshelves. Supporting the show on Patreon gets you access to bonus podcast episodes and lots of other |
| 0:47.6 | goodies. There's also a link in the show notes and in my Instagram bio. Let's get rolling. |
| 0:53.4 | Welcome to the fall 2023 circle back episode, |
| 0:56.8 | where we share our thoughts on books we shared in the fall preview now that we've had a |
| 1:01.5 | chance to read them. Catherine from Gilmore Guide is joining me as always. Welcome, Catherine. |
| 1:06.8 | Hi. Thank you. Before we get into all of our circling back to fall books, I did want to talk to y'all |
| 1:14.7 | about the 2024 reading tracker because that time of year is very quickly approaching. |
| 1:19.8 | We are going to be dropping our 2024 reading tracker on Wednesday, December 6th, and just |
| 1:25.7 | like last year, the tracker will be exclusively available |
| 1:28.9 | to $7 a month Superstars Patrons Only. It will not be available for individual purchase. |
| 1:35.9 | Though, you can certainly sign up to be a patron for one month to get the tracker, and hopefully |
| 1:40.4 | after you see all of the great content we offer to our patrons, other than the tracker, |
| 1:46.0 | you might decide to stick around. |
| 1:48.1 | I've been releasing updated trackers every year since 2018. |
| 1:51.8 | And this year is our seventh reading tracker, which is kind of hard to believe. |
| 1:56.1 | Catherine, I remember when I first put this together and I sent it to you and Susie and I was like, |
... |
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