Mini Ep. 33: Stephenie Freeman from @Reads.On.Wednesdays
Sarah's Bookshelves Live
Sarah Dickinson
4.7 • 785 Ratings
🗓️ 9 October 2019
⏱️ 20 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In Mini Episode 33, Stephenie Freeman from @reads.on.wednesdays talks about hyped books, #bookstagram FOMO…and shares her book recommendations!
This post contains affiliate links, through which I make a small commission when you make a purchase (at no cost to you!).
Highlights
- Managing #bookstagram FOMO.
- Our nervousness about The Testaments by Margaret Atwood.
Stephenie's Book Recommendations
Two OLD Books She Loves
- American Housewife by Helen Ellis (My Review) | Buy from Amazon
[4:33]
- Rush by Lisa Patton | Buy from Amazon [7:48]
Two NEW Books She Loves
- Very Nice
by Marcy Dermansky | Buy from Amazon [10:08]
- We Love Anderson Cooper by R.L. Maizes | Buy from Amazon [12:35]
One Book She DIDN'T Love
- The Woman in the Window
by A.J. Finn | Buy from Amazon [14:36]
Three NEW RELEASES She's Excited About
- American Dirt
Other Books Mentioned
- Living with Cheese Eaters and Bald-Headed Monkeys by Stephanie Freeman | Buy from Amazon [1:00]
- The Testaments
by Margaret Atwood | Buy from Amazon []
- The Handmaid's Tale
- Southern Lady Code by Helen Ellis (My Review) | Buy from Amazon [5:25]
- You Think It, I'll Say It: Stories
by Curtis Sittenfeld (My Review) | Buy from Amazon [7:29]
- The Grapes of Wrath
- The Cartel by Don Winslow | Buy from Amazon [16:48]
Other Links
- Babble (Disney website)
- NPR review of Very Nice by March Dermansky
About Stephanie
I read every day of the week, not just on Wednesdays. Even random days deserve a good book. My books of choice include contemporary fiction and literary fiction, and every once in awhile I like to throw short stories, a memoir, or some historical fiction in the mix. I love using my Instagram like Tinder: a place where books and book lovers can meet and hook up.
My writing and blogging life started in 2005 after my youngest son was born. I self-published a book, Living with Cheese Eaters and Bald-Headed Monkeys, in 2006 based on my weekly newspaper humor column about motherhood, Mama Wants More. I (briefly) blogged for Disney on what eventually became their site, Babble. Through the years, my blog has naturally evolved as I have. I made the decision in 2018 to refocus and rename my blog for one reason: books and reading are what I love most.
I also love my two teenage boys and my husband who have piles of books of their own. Growing up in Oklahoma and having lived in California for the last 13 years has given me the best of both worlds. Along with reading, I love to cook and I habitually redecorate my house. I'm legally blind and a New Year's baby.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to Sarah's Bookshelves Live. |
| 0:08.0 | I'm Sarah of the blog Sarah's Bookshelves. |
| 0:10.6 | Each week I'm 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 release they're excited about. |
| 0:22.0 | We're going to get real and sometimes a little bit snarky about all things books. This is a new podcast. So if you like it, |
| 0:28.0 | I'd really love your support. Please spread the word to your reader friends. Subscribe to the show |
| 0:32.5 | and rate and review it wherever you listen to podcasts. Let's get rolling. Hey everyone, welcome to |
| 0:38.9 | Sare's Bookshelves Live. Today we have a mini episode. These are new episodes that feature |
| 0:44.4 | book bloggers or Instagrammers or regular readers that apply to be on the show and focus solely on |
| 0:50.8 | book recommendations in 20 minutes or less. Stephanie Freeman is joining me today, and she blogs about books at reads on Wednesdays.com. |
| 1:00.1 | She also self-published a book called Living with Cheese Eaters and Baldheaded Monkeys in 2006, |
| 1:06.0 | which was based on her weekly newspaper humor column about motherhood called Mama Wants |
| 1:10.5 | More. She briefly blogged for |
| 1:12.7 | Disney on what eventually became their website called Babel, and in 2018, she refocused her blog to cover |
| 1:19.7 | books and reading. Welcome, Stephanie. Thank you so much for having me. It's fun to be here. |
| 1:24.5 | Tell me a little bit about your reading taste. My reading taste, since discovering |
| 1:28.3 | Bookstagram, has really focused on books receiving all the hype. So I definitely start to get some |
| 1:35.8 | book FOMO about those books. But what I've come to realize is that a lot of the books that receive |
| 1:40.9 | all the hype aren't the ones that I find myself recommending. It's kind of a |
| 1:45.4 | conundrum. The ones I chose today to talk to you about are the ones that maybe don't get the |
| 1:52.1 | highest ratings on good reads or get much love on bookstagram. So it's really kind of funny that I |
| 1:59.2 | love all the hype and yet don't always love the books that get all the hype. |
| 2:03.6 | Well, I can certainly relate. And I think many of our listeners can relate too. It's almost like you have to develop a little bit of restraint with Bookstagram or a little bit of tracking people and figuring out who the people on Bookstagram are that you in particular |
... |
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