Season 8, Episode 27: We Control Our Reading + Boss My TBR
The Currently Reading Podcast
Meredith Schwartz
4.6 • 1.8K Ratings
🗓️ 9 February 2026
⏱️ 60 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On this episode of Currently Reading, Meredith and Kaytee are discussing:
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Bookish Moments: Kaytee's San Francisco bookstore adventure and Meredith's Wolf Hall slow read
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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: Boss My TBR - helping two listeners prioritize their reading stacks
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Before We Go: our new segment featuring bookish friend posts and TBR triage
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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:10 Bite Size Intro
1:04 - Currently Reading on Youtube
2:39 - Bookish Moments of the Week
3:13 - City Lights Bookstore
5:00 - Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
5:35 - Footnotes and Tangents
07:53 - Current Reads
8:01 - History Lessons by Zoe B. Wallbrook (Kaytee)
11:18 - Sarah's Bookshelves Live
11:52 - Sphere by Michael Crichton (Meredith)
14:21 - Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton
15:58 - The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton
16:02 - Timeline by Michael Crichton
16:15 - Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
16:34 - Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter by Ben Goldfarb (Kaytee)
22:12 - The Sleeper Lies by Andrea Mara (Meredith, Blackwell's link)
24:01 - All Her Fault by Andrea Mara
26:11 - Someone in the Attic by Andrea Mara
26:12 - The Other Side of the Wall by Andrea Mara (Blackwell's link)
26:54 - The Dutch House by Ann Patchett (Kaytee)
28:25 - CR Season 2: Episode 22 when Kayytee first brought The Dutch House
29:20 - Commonwealth by Ann Patchett
31:48 - Tom Lake by Ann Patchett
33:30 - Snap by Belinda Bauer (Meredith)
37:30 - Boss My TBR
38:11 - Gretchen's Stack
For Whom the Belle Tolls by Jaysea Lynn
When the Stars Go Dark by Paula McLain
Bride by Ali Hazelwood
A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers
A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers
Gilded by Marissa Meyer
39:29 - Field Day Books and Bottles
39:35 - Cannon Beach Book Company
43:09 - Lauren's Stack
I, Medusa by Ayana Gray
Meet the Newmans by Jennifer Niven
Fear and Fury by Heather Ann Thompson
Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey
Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman
44:26 - Fabled Bookshop
44:49 - Blood in the Water by Heather Ann Thompson
48:32 - Before We Go
Meredith highlights bookish friend posts from the Facebook group
50:08 - Democracy Awakening by Heather Cox Richardson
50:13 - On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder
51:39 - Nothing Much Happens podcast
52:57 - Currently Reading Patreon
53:14 - Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots
53:39 - Timeline by Michael Crichton
Kaytee's TBR Triage: Kaytee brings a book that has been on her TBR for a long time and decides whether to keep and read, or remove from her TBR.
54:28 - The Sinister Booksellers of Bath (Foyles link)
54:31 - Foyle's
54:56 - The Left-Handed Booksellers of London by Garth Nix (Foyles link)
Support Us:
Become a Bookish Friend | Grab Some Merch
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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. February's list is a special romance curated list from Open Door Romance, The Novel Neighbor's Romance adjacent bookstore in Webster Groves, MO.
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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 |
| 0:22.3 | from having strong opinions, so get ready. We are light on the chit-chat, heavy on the book |
| 0:27.7 | talk, and our conversations will always be spoiler-free. Today, we'll discuss our current |
| 0:32.1 | reads, a readerly deep dive, and a little something bookish before we go. I'm Meredith Monday Schwartz. |
| 0:38.1 | I'm both a mom and a Mimi and a full-time CEO living in Austin, Texas. |
| 0:42.7 | And I make the rules of my own reading. |
| 0:45.8 | And I'm Katie Cobb, a homeschooling mama for living in Arizona. |
| 0:49.4 | And a local bookstore is always part of my travel plans. |
| 0:53.0 | This is episode number 27 of season 8, |
| 0:55.9 | and we are so glad you're here. Oh, yeah. Local bookstores are sometimes the absolute best finds. |
| 1:02.1 | Indeed, they are, Meredith. And because we're on YouTube, I will point out that those travel plans, |
| 1:07.4 | I am wearing my San Francisco shirt today that I just got on my recent trip. It's so |
| 1:11.7 | sparkly, right? It's so sparkly. I love it. I love it. I am not dressed up today. I am like, |
| 1:18.7 | you know what? We record too dang many of these for me to be dressed up every time. You're just |
| 1:23.0 | going to see me straight out the gym. This is a real thing. I took off my hoodie that looks exactly like that |
| 1:28.0 | maybe four minutes ago. If you are taking a look at our actual, our YouTube video, yeah, |
| 1:33.9 | you will get to see the real us. All right, Katie, so a couple of things. First, I'm going to tell you |
| 1:39.0 | that we are going to do our deep dive today on boss my TBR. |
| 1:46.1 | Fantastic regular segment. |
| 1:47.6 | We actually hadn't done it since August. |
| 1:48.2 | Is that right? |
| 1:48.8 | Yes. |
... |
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