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The Currently Reading Podcast

Episode 15: Must-Read Novels + Books that Surprised Us

The Currently Reading Podcast

Meredith Schwartz

Arts, Books, Society & Culture

4.61.8K Ratings

🗓️ 3 December 2018

⏱️ 45 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Episode number 15. Does it seem to anyone else like it's getting crazy real? We are having such fun! Tune in this week to hear Meredith and Kaytee discuss three books each as well as something that we read that surprised us!

You'll hear a "bookish moment of the week" from each of us: a family road trip listen and a perfect reading moment.

Next, we tackle what we are currently reading, a smorgasbord of titles ranging from YA to fantasy to literary fiction to thrillers. We've got a bit of everything!

Our mini deep dive this week is about the books that most recently surprised us. And you might be surprised as well by one of these titles!

As always, we finish up with A Book (yep, capitalized) that we'd like to press into every reader's hands: a sci-fi thriller and a classic children's series.

Time-stamped show notes are below with references to every book and resource we mentioned in this episode. If you'd like to listen first and not spoil the surprise, don't scroll down! 

3:03 - The Wondering Years by Knox McCoy

3:11 - Episode Nine with Meg Teitz

5:59 - Wundersmith by Jessica Townsend

6:54 - South of Broad by Pat Conroy

8:52 - A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

10:50 - The Price of Tides by Pat Conroy

12:08 - A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab

12:22 - He Read She Read Podcast

14:30 - A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

15:05 - Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin

16:15 - My Name is Venus Black by Heather Lloyd

16:34 - Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson

20:05 - Ghost by Jason Reynolds

22:21 - The Crossover by Kwame Alexander

22:53 - Scythe by Neal Schusterman

23:35 - Thunderhead by Neal Schusterman

23:54 - They Both Die At The End by Adam Silvera

26:43 - Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith

26:49 - Silkworm by Robert Galbraith

29:16 - Lethal White by Robert Galbraith

30:18 - Louise Penny's new book: Kingdom of the Blind

32:13 - Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

32:19 - Brightly Burning by Alexa Donne

35:08 - 50 Shades of Grey by E.L. James

36:23 - Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders

38:35 - Dark Matter by Blake Crouch

40:04 - Pines by Blake Crouch

41:19 - I Am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes

41:55 - The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Hayes

42:11 - Boxcar Children Books 1-4 as Box Set

43:25 - The War That Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

*Please note that all book titles linked above are Amazon affiliate links. Your cost is the same, but a small portion of your purchase will come back to us to help offset the costs of the show. Thanks for your support!*  

Transcript

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0:00.0

Hey readers, welcome to the currently reading podcast. We are two bookish best friends who spend time every week talking about the books we've read recently.

0:19.0

And you already know we don't shy away from having strong opinions, so be ready. I'm Meredith

0:24.5

Monday Schwartz a mom of four and full-time CEO living in the San Francisco Bay Area

0:28.9

and I am so thankful that I get to talk about books every week.

0:34.1

And I'm Katie Cobb, a homeschooling mom of four aged 8 and under, living in New Mexico, and I read because

0:40.1

even when moms are sick, they still don't get to take sick days.

0:43.0

This is episode number 15, and we are so glad you're here.

0:46.0

Boy, that is absolutely true.

0:48.0

There are no sick days for moms.

0:50.0

So true.

0:51.0

And even when I was like totally laid up yesterday with a nasty

0:54.9

runny nose I was like you know what let's just watch movies and read books today.

0:58.8

Yeah. Sometimes you have to take a day like that. So by the time this episode drops Katie we will be deep into the Christmas season.

1:08.0

We're going into Thanksgiving right now and so I'm thinking about the holidays a lot and I was thinking a thought

1:13.8

experiment join me in this thought experiment what if there was a holiday

1:19.4

that was celebrated nationally or internationally that was all about reading.

1:26.7

And so everyone would get the day off, including kids,

1:30.3

and it would just be like a family tradition that maybe we make some special meal and we give each other books as gifts and we spend time reading or we go to a library, do some readerly pursuit,

1:44.0

and maybe you end the night with some sort of bookish treat

1:47.3

or whatever, like, wouldn't that be so great

1:49.1

if there was a national holiday that was around books? Well, they have that one.

1:53.0

Have you seen there's a meme about something

...

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