Season 8, Episode 25: Get Your Eyes Checked + All Things Special Editions
The Currently Reading Podcast
Meredith Schwartz
4.6 • 1.8K Ratings
🗓️ 26 January 2026
⏱️ 54 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On this episode of Currently Reading, Meredith and Kaytee are discussing:
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Bookish Moments: reviving the book space and recs from bookish friends
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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: all things special editions
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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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1:39 - Our Bookish Moments Of The Week
2:35 - Currently Reading Patreon
4:16 - Currently Reading website to find your readerly type
5:03 - Sidedoor podcast
5:29 - Sidedoor Season 11 - Poison and Poisonability
6:50 - Our Current Reads
6:58 - Aftertaste by Daria Lavelle (Kaytee)
7:13 - @booksbybrady on instagram
11:02 - Voices in the Snow by Darcy Coates (Meredith)
14:51 - Gallows Hill by Darcy Coates
16:17 - Democracy Awakening by Heather Cox Richardson (Kaytee)
17:41 - These Truths by Jill Lapore
19:37 - Two Cures for Love by Wendy Cope (Meredith, amazon link)
23:58 - The Last Animal by Ramona Ausubel (Kaytee)
26:23 - Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton
26:54 - Bear by Julia Phillips
28:02 - For Whom the Belle Tolls by Jaysea Lynn (Meredith)
35:26 - Deep Dive: All About Special Editions
35:41 - Special Edition reel by Docofthedarkarts
36:16 - Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros (special edition)
36:33 - OwlCrate
36:34 - Fairyloot
36:38 - Satisfiction
37:40 - Foyles
38:47 - Still Life by Louise Penny (special edition)
41:01 - Eye of the World by Robert Jordan (leatherbound edition, pre-order out Feb 26, 2026)
41:45 - Hunger Games special edition box set
42:20 - The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
42:24 - The Home-Maker by Dorothy Canfield Fisher
44:29 - The Poet Empress by Shen Tao (deluxe special edition)
46:42 - Meet Us At The Fountain
47:14 - I wish to press Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots (Kaytee)
47:15 - Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots
49:01 - For Whom the Belle Tolls by Jaysea Lynn
49:25 - Villain by Natalie Zina Walschots (pre-order, releases May 19, 2026)
50:25 - If you are feeling slumpy in your reading, I wish for you to get your eyes checked! (Meredith)
Support Us:
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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. January's IPL is our annual visit to Fabled Bookshop in Waco, Texas.
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Love and Chili Peppers with Kaytee and Rebekah - romance lovers get their due with this special episode focused entirely on the best selling genre fiction in the business.
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All Things Murderful with Meredith and Elizabeth - special content for the scary-lovers, brought to you with the behind-the-scenes insights of an independent bookseller
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From the Editor's Desk with Kaytee and Bunmi Ishola - a quarterly peek behind the curtain at the publishing industry
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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
Production and Editing: Megan Phouthavong Evans
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
| 0:00.0 | 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 |
| 0:22.0 | from having strong opinions. So get ready. We are light on the chit-chat, heavy on the book talk, |
| 0:27.6 | and our conversations will always be spoiler-free. Today we'll discuss our current reads, |
| 0:32.2 | a bookish deep dive, and then we'll visit the fountain. For maybe almost the last time ever, are we going to visit the fountain? |
| 0:40.3 | You're just going to have to deal with it. |
| 0:41.6 | I'm Meredith Munday Schwartz. |
| 0:43.4 | I'm both a mom and a Mimi and a full-time CEO living in Austin, Texas. |
| 0:48.0 | And if I was going to murder someone, I'd probably use poison. |
| 0:52.3 | And I'm Katie Cobb, a homeschooling mama for living in Arizona, |
| 0:55.8 | and my reading counter is my most popular accessory. This is episode number 25 of season 8, |
| 1:01.8 | and we are so glad you're here. Those reading counters are really, really handy. I loved starting |
| 1:06.1 | back at zero at the beginning of the year. Right? It's so fun. So, Katie, we are going to do a deep dive today. |
| 1:13.7 | I don't think we've ever talked about this before. We are going to do a deep dive today on |
| 1:17.9 | what makes a special edition special or what makes you buy a special edition? We're talking about |
| 1:25.5 | hardbacks and the huge number of hardbacks that are now |
| 1:28.6 | coming out with special features. So we're going to talk about what we think about that. |
| 1:34.0 | That is going to come a little bit later. But first, let's get started with our bookish moment |
| 1:40.2 | of the week. Katie, what is yours? All right, Meredith. As you know, because I have been in your |
| 1:46.8 | messages, just crying my eyes out about it, my reading year has started out very slowly. And it's not |
| 1:52.4 | because I don't want to read. It's because I am spending every waking minute working in people's |
| 1:57.5 | spreadsheets and sharing the spreadsheet and hanging out in spreadsheets. And I love |
| 2:01.0 | spreadsheets. And also, I am suffering. So my reading year has been a little slow. However, |
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