Season 6, Episode 26: Patreon Free Trials + Bookish Friends' Best and Worst Books of 2023
The Currently Reading Podcast
Meredith Schwartz
4.6 • 1.8K Ratings
🗓️ 5 February 2024
⏱️ 66 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On this episode of Currently Reading, Meredith and Kaytee are discussing:
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Bookish Moments: bookish pre-orders and picking the right books for ourselves
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Current Reads: all the great, interesting, and/or terrible stuff we've been reading lately
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Deep Dive: Bookish Friends' best and worst books of 2023, with interesting overlaps!
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The Fountain: we visit our perfect fountain to make wishes about our reading lives
Show notes are time-stamped below for your convenience. Read the transcript of the episode (this link only works on the main site)
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2:19 - Currently Reading Patreon (sign up for a 7 day free trial and check out all the goodness!)
7:42 - Our Bookish Moments of the Week
10:57 - The God of the Woods by Liz Moore (pre-order, releases June 11, 2024)
11:01 - Long Bright River by Liz Moore
12:51 - Fabled Bookshop
14:29 - Our Current Reads
14:42 - The Elephants of Thula Thula by Francoise Malby-Anthony (Kaytee)
15:09 - The Elephant Whisperer by Lawrence Anthony and Graham Spence
18:04 - The Serpent & the Wings of Night by Carissa Broadbent (Meredith)
20:32 - A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
20:35 - Twilight by Stephanie Meyer
24:12 - Erasure by Percival Everett (Kaytee)
29:48 - The Trees by Percival Everett
30:42 - What the Dead Know by Barbara Butcher (Meredith)
35:28 - The Trauma Cleaner by Sarah Krasnostein
36:51 - Thieves' Gambit by Kayvion Lewis (Kaytee)
36:56 - The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
40:38 - The River We Remember by William Kent Krueger (Meredith)
45:31 - This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger
46:11 - Iron Lake by William Kent Krueger
46:20 - Ordinary Grace by Willam Kent Krueger
46:42 - Deep Dive: Bookish Friends' Best and Worst Reads of 2023
46:51 - Currently Reading Patreon
50:35 - Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros (#1 best AND worst read)
51:25 - Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese (#5 favorite)
51:28 - Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver (#4 favorite)
51:32 - Hello Beautiful by Anne Napolitano (#3 favorite)
51:36 - Tom Lake by Ann Patchett (#2 favorite)
51:49 - The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer (#5 least favorite)
51:54 - Pineapple Street by Jenny Jackson (tied #3 least favorite)
51:56 - Happy Place by Emily Henry (tied #3 least favorite)
51:59 - I Have Some Questions For You by Rebecca Makkai (#2 least favorite)
52:23 - Shark Heart by Emily Habeck
52:46 - Happiness Falls by Angie Kim
53:46 - Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
53:47 - Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
54:39 - Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld
54:46 - Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros
57:58 - The Whispers by Ashley Audrain
59:05 - The Many Lives of Mama Love by Lara Love Hardin
59:17 - Sarah's Bookshelves Interview with Lara Love Hardin
1:01:37 - Meet Us At The Fountain
1:01:45 - I wish for more duologies in the bookish universe. (Kaytee)
1:02:12 - The Grey Wolf by Louise Penny
1:02:45 - I want those who love mysteries, thriller and horror to follow @mother.horror on Instagram (Meredith)
1:03:34 - Mother Horror Patreon
1:03:51 - Near the Bone by Christina Henry
1:04:09 - The Vaster Wilds by Lauren Groff
Support Us:
Become a Bookish Friend | Grab Some Merch
Shop Bookshop dot org | Shop Amazon
Bookish Friends Receive:
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The Indie Press List with a curated list of five books hand sold by the indie of the month. February's IPL is brought to you by Booktenders in Huntington, West Virginia.
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Trope Thursday with Kaytee and Bunmi - a behind the scenes peek into the publishing industry
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All Things Murderful with Meredith and Elizabeth - special content for the scary-lovers, brought to you with the special insights of an independent bookseller
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The Bookish Friends Facebook Group - where you can build community with bookish friends from around the globe as well as our hosts
Connect With Us:
The Show: Instagram | Website | Email | Threads
The Hosts and Regulars: Meredith | Kaytee | Mary | Roxanna
Affiliate Disclosure: All affiliate links go to Bookshop unless otherwise noted. Shopping here helps keep the lights on and benefits indie bookstores. Thanks for your support!
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:16.1 | Hey readers. Welcome to the currently Reading podcast. We are bookish best friends who spend time every week talking about the books that we've read recently and as you know we won't shy away |
| 0:21.1 | from having strong opinions so get ready. |
| 0:24.4 | We are light on the chit chat, heavy on the book talk, and our descriptions will always be |
| 0:27.9 | spoiler free. |
| 0:28.9 | Today we'll discuss our current reads, a bookish deep dive, and then we'll visit the fountain. |
| 0:33.4 | I'm Meredith Monday Schwartz, a mom of four, and full-time CEO living in Austin, Texas, and I |
| 0:38.6 | clearly can't be trusted to choose books for myself. |
| 0:42.4 | And I'm Katie Cobb, a homeschooling mama for, living in Arizona, |
| 0:45.0 | and I may be using book shopping to cope with anxiety, |
| 0:49.0 | but I'm okay with it. |
| 0:50.0 | This is episode number 26 of season 6, |
| 0:52.0 | and we are so glad you're here. |
| 0:53.6 | Oh Katie I've done that many many a time used book shopping to manage some anxiety. |
| 0:59.1 | This week has been like honey that big account you don't need to log into it just pretend it doesn't exist. |
| 1:05.0 | No need to look no need to look. All right well we've got a couple things that we want to |
| 1:11.0 | do Katie we are first going to let you know |
| 1:15.4 | that we are going to our deep dive today. |
| 1:18.0 | We got some interesting data, |
| 1:19.5 | and we thought you guys might be interested in it too. |
| 1:22.4 | We got Katie did some of her spreadsheet |
| 1:25.0 | magic. First she did a survey of our bookish friends and she asked them what were |
| 1:28.9 | your favorite books of the year, 2023, what were your least favorite books of the year? |
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