Ep. 73: Winter 2021 Book Preview with Catherine (@GilmoreGuide)
Sarah's Bookshelves Live
Sarah Dickinson
4.7 • 785 Ratings
🗓️ 6 January 2021
⏱️ 54 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Catherine and I share our most anticipated books coming out January – March 2021.
Also, stay tuned for my Most Anticipated Books of Winter 2021 blog post, which is coming out soon. I'll share some of the books I talked about in this podcast, but also some that I didn't!
This post contains affiliate links, through which I make a small commission when you make a purchase (at no cost to you!).
Highlights
- How we feel our 2021 reading taste (compared to the weirdness of 2020) might pan out based on the first couple releases we've read.
- Catherine and my success rate for books we shared in our Fall 2020 Preview episode.
- Our Best and Worst picks from the Fall 2020 Preview episode.
- Sarah's and Catherine's #1 Winter book picks.
Winter 2021 Book Preview [6:43]
January
Sarah's Picks:
- The Fortunate Ones
by Ed Tarkington (January 5) | Buy from Amazon
[7:13]
- The Push
by Ashley Audrain (January 5) | Buy from Amazon
[13:40]
- What Could Be Saved by Liese O'Halloran Schwarz (January 12) | Buy from Amazon
[20:15]
Catherine's Picks:
- Better Luck Next Time by Julia Claiborne Johnson (January 5) | Buy from Amazon [11:39]
- A Thousand Ships
by Natalie Haynes (January 26) | Buy from Amazon
[18:25]
February
Sarah's Picks:
- The Bad Muslim Discount by Syed Masood (February 2) | Buy from Amazon
[26:48]
- All Girls by Emily Layden (February 16) | Buy from Amazon [31:41]
Catherine's Picks:
- Zorrie by Laird Hunt (February 9) | Buy from Amazon [23:58]
- Dark Horses by Susan Mihalic (February 16) | Buy from Amazon [29:20]
March
Sarah's Picks:
- What's Mine and Yours by Naima Coster (March 2) | Buy from Amazon
[37:31]
- The Babysitter by Liza Rodman and Jennifer Jordan (March 2) | Buy from Amazon [41:18]
- Too Good to Be True by Carola Lovering (March 2) | Buy from Amazon
[44:51]
- Libertie by Kaitlyn Greenidge (March 30) | Buy from Amazon
[48:28]
Catherine's Picks:
- The Committed by Viet Thanh Nguyen (March 2) | Buy from Amazon [34:05]
- Sparks Like Stars by Nadia Hashimi (March 2) | Buy from Amazon [39:37]
- How Beautiful We Were by Imbolo Mbue (March 9) | Buy from Amazon [43:21]
- The Arsonists' City by Hala Alyan (March 9) | Buy from Amazon [46:31]
Other Books Mentioned
- A Traveler at the Gates of Wisdom
by John Boyne | Buy from Amazon
[4:19]
- Good Morning, Monster by Catherine Gildiner (My Review) | Buy from Amazon
[4:53]
- Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb (My Review) | Buy from Amazon [5:10]
- A Knock at Midnight by Brittany Barnett | Buy from Amazon [5:17]
- The Searcher by Tana French | Buy from Amazon
[5:45]
- Earthlings by Sayaka Murata | Buy from Amazon [6:13]
- Only Love Can Break Your Heart
by Ed Tarkington (My Review) | Buy from Amazon
[7:59]
- Be Frank With Me by Julia Claiborne Johnson | Buy from Amazon [11:55]
- We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver | Buy from Amazon [15:53]
- Circe by Madeline Miller (My Review) | Buy from Amazon [18:53]
- The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller | Buy from Amazon [18:53]
- The Most Fun We Ever Had
by Claire Lombardo (My Review) | Buy from Amazon [22:33]
- The Last Romantics
by Tara Conklin (My Review) | Buy from Amazon [22:33]
- Concussion by Jeanne Marie Laskas (My Review) | Buy from Amazon [28:16]
- More Than Just a Pretty Face by Syed Masood | Buy from Amazon [28:52]
- We Wish You Luck by Caroline Zancan (My Review) | Buy from Amazon
[33:48]
- The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen | Buy from Amazon [34:59]
- Ask Again, Yes
by Mary Beth Keane (My Review) | Buy from Amazon [38:12]
- Halsey Street by Naima Coster | Buy from Amazon
[38:31]
- An American Marriage
by Tayari Jones (My Review) | Buy from Amazon [38:37]
- Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid (My Review) | Buy from Amazon
[38:37]
- We Keep the Dead Close by Becky Cooper (My Review) | Buy from Amazon [42:25]
- The Stranger Beside Me by Ann Rule | Buy from Amazon [42:25]
- Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue (My Review) | Buy from Amazon [44:20]
- Tell Me Lies by Carola Lovering | Buy from Amazon
[45:37]
- Salt Houses by Hala Alyan | Buy from Amazon
[47:47]
- We Love You, Charlie Freeman by Kaitlyn Greenidge | Buy from Amazon [49:11]
Other Links
About Catherine Gilmore
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Catherine started The Gilmore Guide to Books over 6 years ago after wrapping up a career as a corporate librarian. She loves books and reading (surprise!) and currently lives in Ann Arbor, MI.
Next Episode
There will not be a new episode next week since the podcast is on a bi-weekly schedule.
The following week's episode will feature Sara Hildreth of @fictionmatters and the Novel Pairings Podcast going behind-the-scenes of judging a literary prize (airing January 20).
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Welcome to Sarah's Bookshelves Live. I'm Sarah of the blog Sarah's Bookshelves. Each week I'm |
| 0:15.5 | talking with one bookish guest about two old books they love, two new books they love, one book they don't love, and one new |
| 0:22.7 | release they're excited about. We're going to get real, and sometimes a bit snarky, about all |
| 0:27.9 | things books. If you like the show, I'd really love your support. Spread the word to your |
| 0:32.9 | reader friends, subscribe to the show, rate and review it wherever you listen to podcasts, or get bonus podcast episodes |
| 0:40.8 | by supporting the podcast on Patreon. There's a link in the show notes and in my Instagram bio to my |
| 0:47.5 | Patreon page. Let's get rolling. Hey everyone, happy new year and welcome to the Winter 2021 book preview. I can't think of a better way to |
| 0:58.3 | start a new year and boy, did we ever need a new year to start. Let's hope it will be better than last |
| 1:04.4 | year, but the bar is low, so I'm sure it will be. As usual for these quarterly preview episodes, |
| 1:10.4 | Catherine from the blog Gilmore Guide to Books |
| 1:13.1 | and the Instagram at Gilmore Guide is joining me. Welcome back, Catherine. Thank you. I am so happy |
| 1:19.3 | to be here again and happy to see 2020 disappear, the year that lasted a decade. Oh my Lord. I swear to God, the books I read in the first |
| 1:30.1 | quarter of 2020 feel like I read them five years ago. Exactly. And they were nothing like what |
| 1:36.3 | I thought I would read. In fact, that held true for the entire year. Oh, yeah. My reading was completely |
| 1:41.1 | upside down. Have you started reading any 2021 releases yet? |
| 1:46.2 | Yes, I finished one. |
| 1:47.7 | Oh, wow. |
| 1:49.0 | You know how odd that is for me. |
| 1:51.5 | That's exciting. |
| 1:52.8 | Did you get any different feeling about how 2021 reading might go for you based on your |
| 1:59.3 | reaction to that book without telling us what it is yet? |
| 2:02.6 | Right. Oh, that's a really good question. Because I did get a kind of sense from the couple that I've read |
... |
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