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The Currently Reading Podcast

Season 2, Episode 39: Big Bookish Feelings + Backlist is Beautiful

The Currently Reading Podcast

Meredith Schwartz

Arts, Books, Society & Culture

4.61.8K Ratings

🗓️ 4 May 2020

⏱️ 56 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Today, Meredith and Mindy are discussing:

  • Bookish Moments: the Patreon book club discussion and embracing the year of the re-read

  • Current Reads: each host shares three books they've read recently and they are varied in level, theme, and setting

  • Deep Dive: gems from the 70s, 80s, and 90s

  • Book Presses: A few more "don't call me a classic" backlist titles

As per usual, 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! 

*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!*  

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Book of the Month Ad:

(These are Goodreads links, since we hope you'll use our Book Of The Month link to sign up if you're interested!)

1:18 - A Good Marriage by Kimberly McCreight

1:45 - The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd

1:55 - Happy & You Know It by Laura Hankin

2:54 - Use our Link and the code CURRENTLYREADING to get your first book for just $9.99!

Bookish Moments:

3:58 - Bookish Friends Still Life Book Club on Patreon

5:40 - One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Current Reads:

7:41 - The Shell Seekers by Rosamunde Pilcher (Mindy)

7:44 - Wolfmuller's Books in Kerrville, TX

7:47 - COVID(eo) number 4

10:05 - Damsel by Elana K. Arnold (Meredith)

13:25 - Navigating Early by Clare Vanderpool (Mindy)

15:53 - You Never Forget Your First by Alexis Coe (Meredith)

18:29 - The Unlikely Adventures of the Shergill Sisters by Balli Kaur Jaswal (Mindy)

21:13 - Harry's Trees by Jon Cohen

22:34 - Echo by Pam Munoz Ryan (Meredith)

Deep Dive - Books from the 70s, 80s, and 90s:

Gems from the 1970s

30:53 - Judy Blume books - Otherwise Known As Sheila the Great, Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret, Freckle Juice, Blubber, Starring Sally J Friedman As Herself

32:21 - Dumplin' by Julie Murphy

32:55 - Shogun by James Clavell

32:57 - Roots by Alex Haley

33:02 - Helter Skelter by Vincent Bugliosi

33:14 - The Princess Bride by William Goldman

33:33 - Stephen King Books - The Shining, The Stand

33:46 - Interview with a Vampire by Anne Rice

Gems from the 1980s

34:37 - Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson

35:14 - James Herriot books - All Creatures Great and Small, All Things Bright and Beautiful

35:37 - Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews

36:48 - The Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe

37:05 - The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

37:17 - Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan

37:28 - Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet

37:34 - Patriot Games by Tom Clancy

37:53 - Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M. Auel

38:09 - A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving

38:44 - Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry

39:24 - Redwall by Bryan Jacques

39:43 - The Shell Seekers by Rosamunde Pilcher

Gems from the 1990s

40:41 - John Grisham books - Rainmaker, Pelican Brief, The Firm

41:07 - Nelson DeMille books - The General's Daughter

42:25 - Michael Crichton - Jurassic Park, Andromeda Strain, Timeline

43:58 - Harry Potter by JK Rowling

44:29 - Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

44:39 - Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones #1) by George R.R. Martin

45:03 - A Series of Unfortunate Events by Daniel Handler

45:35 - The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

46:02 - Bridget Jones' Diary by Helen Felding

46:48 - The Red Tent by Anita Diamant

47:09 - The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks

Books We Want to Press Into Your Hands:

48:20 - Watership Down by Richard Adams (Mindy)

51:02 - The Secret History by Donna Tartt (Meredith)

51:23 - The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

52:43 - The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Connect With Us:

Meredith is @meredith.reads on Instagram

Kaytee is @notesonbookmarks on Instagram

Mindy is @gratefulforgrace on Instagram

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Hey readers. Welcome to the Currently Reading Podcast.

0:14.0

We are two bookish best friends who spend time every week talking about the books that we've read recently,

0:19.8

and as you know, we won't shy away from having strong opinions so get ready.

0:24.4

We're light on the chit chat, heavy on the book talk, and our descriptions will always be

0:28.9

spoiler free. We'll discuss our current reads, a bookish deep dive, and we'll press books into your hands.

0:34.0

I'm Meredith Monday Schwartz, a mom of four, and full-time CEO living in Austin, Texas, and I am the moodiest of mood readers.

0:42.0

And I'm Mindy Brows, a mom of seven, reading in the mountains of New

0:46.2

Mexico and I think books can bring us lifelong friends, real and fictional, and I adore both.

0:52.0

This is episode number 39 of season 2 and we're so glad you're here.

0:57.0

All right right here at the top of the show Mindy we are going to talk about Book of the Month because it is that week already. It is the beginning of the month and that means that the choices for May's Book of the Month have come out and there were some really, really good choices this month. What did you end up going with?

1:15.9

I agree it was hard to narrow down for me. I went with a good marriage by Kimberly McCraep. I was very intrigued by the line Big Little Lies

1:25.1

Meets Presumed Innocent because I love both of those and I just thought the

1:29.4

mystery intertwined with life and death situation and marriages sounded pretty great. I was

1:35.1

excited. Yeah I was very very tempted by that one I was also super tempted by the fact

1:41.6

that they have Sue Monk kids new one, which is the Book of Longing.

1:46.3

And I am absolutely going to get that one, but I think my husband might have gotten me that for

1:51.8

Mother's Day, so I ended up going with Happy

1:56.2

and you know it by Laura Henkin. And basically in that one, it's like this young woman gets hired to be, get this, the musician for a playgroup for wealthy

2:09.1

infants on New York's Park Avenue and then you know she meets all the wealthy moms and

2:15.8

they each her characters of their own and it and then of course nothing is as it

2:20.0

seems so it sounds really really juicy so that's happy and you know it by Laura

2:25.1

Hankin and that is going to be my choice for this month. So if you guys are

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