Ep 467: I love literary fiction... don't I?

What Should I Read Next?

Anne Bogel

Books, Arts, Leisure

4.8 • 5.1K Ratings

🗓️ 25 February 2025

⏱️ 64 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Today's guest has a common readerly dilemma: what to do when reading tastes change? In her submission to join Anne on the show, Philadelphia dweller and avid book thrifter Phoebe Mellinger shared that she'd had pretty consistent reading tastes for her whole life, until last year when she noticed that her taste suddenly and vastly changed. Her go-to genres just were't working any more. This experience led Phoebe to embark on a year of discovery: she read a bunch of books in a range of genres, but she's not really sure where to go from here. While Phoebe is getting a better feel for what she enjoys and understanding how to talk about what she's looking for with more clarity, she's also picked up quite a few books based on enthusiastic recommendations, only to find they weren't her cup of tea. Today she's here to get Anne's help in figuring out how to discern the difference between what simply sounds good and what may actually be a good fit for her. Anne has ideas, of course! Please let us know if you have recommendations for Phoebe by leaving a comment over on our show notes page at whatshouldireadnextpodcast.com/467, where we've also collected the list of all the titles mentioned today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	There's no test to pass here. I'm not reading for academic purposes any longer, so it's okay.
0:06.5	And you're glad about that. It's a good thing for your reading life.
0:09.6	I'm so glad to just be reading for enjoyment and not for a paper or test, for sure.
0:19.3	Hey, readers. I'm Anne Bogle, and this is What Should I Read Next?
0:25.2	Welcome to the show that's dedicated to answering the question that plagues every reader.
0:30.2	What should I read next?
0:32.2	We don't get bossy on this show. What we will do here is give you the information you need to choose your next free. Every week we'll talk all things books and reading and do a little literary matchmaking
0:41.8	with one guest.
0:52.8	Today's guest has a dilemma I've heard from so many readers.
0:56.3	What do I do when my reading taste change?
0:58.6	And how can I define those tastes in the first place?
1:01.6	Philadelphia Dweller and avid book thrifter Phoebe Mellinger wrote into us here at
1:05.9	What Should I Read Next? Podcast.com slash guest, where you can submit to be on the show,
1:10.6	because she's had pretty consistent reading taste for her whole life. Until slash guest, where you can submit to be on the show, because she's had pretty
1:11.8	consistent reading taste for her whole life, until last year when she noticed that her taste
1:16.2	suddenly and vastly changed, and her go-to genres were suddenly leaving her feeling
1:20.7	kind of bored and really burnt out. Reading is Phoebe's primary hobby, so she was desperate
1:26.3	to find something new to her that
1:28.1	delivered that same sense of readerly enjoyment her erstwhile go-to genres once had.
1:33.1	Phoebe embarked on a year of discovery, and her dabbling into new genres led her first two
1:37.8	weird girl books, and then despeculative in horror novels, then literary fiction. But she submitted
1:43.6	to be on the show because she's not
	...

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