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What Should I Read Next Episode 2: Sarah Kohrnak

Anne chats with Sarah Kohrnak of the Brilliant Business Moms about the perils of high expectations, characters that you can root for, and what she should be reading next.

Connect with Sarah here:

• Her blog and podcast: Brilliant Business Moms

• Connect with Sarah on facebook and instagram and twitter

Books Discussed in this Episode

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•Jane Austen’s novels
•The Inspector Gamache series by Louise Penny
•Jojo Moyes’s novels
•The Husband’s Secret by Liane Moriarty
•What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty
•To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
•Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
•Virtual Freedom by Chris Ducker
•Mr. Churchill’s Secretary by Susan Elia MacNeal

•The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
•The Girl You Left Behind by Jojo Moyes
•The Magic Hour by Kristin Hannah
•The Maisie Dobbs series by Jacqueline Winspear
•The Cormoran Strike series by Robert Galbraith
•The Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling
•Daring Greatly by Brené Brown
•The Gifts of Imperfection by Brené Brown
•All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
Kate Morton’s new release The Lake House

We also talk about:

•The sweet spot between Serious Literature and fluff on Modern Mrs Darcy
•Brené Brown’s fantastic TED talks on the power of vulnerability and listening to shame

19 comments

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  1. Oh my goodness, Anne! I am SO excited about this podcast! You’re a natural, and I feel like a podcast is the perfect format for the literary matchmaking series. I wanted to pace myself through the first two episodes, but I couldn’t do it.

    I was so interested in this episode to hear that Sarah loves Jojo Moyes but doesn’t like Liane Moriarty. Like you said, I hear those two authors paired together a lot, but I am actually the exact opposite of Sarah. I love, love, love Liane Moriarty, but Jojo Moyes left me less than satisfied. So interesting to hear different readers’ tastes!

        • Sarah have you read Moyes’s Ship of Brides? It’s older and a little different than her more current books, but I found the history of it pretty fascinating and the story is well-written, of course!

          • I just checked it out from the library a few days ago, but I haven’t started it yet, now I can’t wait! I do love how I can still learn something about history by reading fiction. I always find myself looking something up on Wikipedia!

  2. Sara K. says:

    Soooo happy about your new podcast! I am really late to the podcast bandwagon. If ever there was a podcast that would get me to listen it is one about books and reading and hosted by you 🙂

  3. Keisha says:

    I LOVE this podcast! Such an amazing idea and I already have a list 8 deep of books and series I want to read because of these first two episodes! As much as I love it, it has a downside…how am I ever going to find the time to read all. the. books. 😉

  4. Grace says:

    I listened to the first two episodes last night and loved them! I usually don’t listen to a ton of podcasts because there are just so many audiobooks out there, but I will definitely be listening to this one! Can’t wait to hear more.

  5. I find the talk about likable characters really interesting. I agree with you that the Liane Moriarty characters are not always very likable from what I have read of hers (What Alice Forgot, The Husband’s Secret, Big Little Lies).

    I think for me, if that characters are fleshed out I can forgive them for not being likable, although I do feel like you have to like or at least relate to ONE character. We started a thread on Sorta Literary talking about which books we would pick if we were on this podcast, and reading the ones people hate is fascinating! Someone mentioned We Were Liars because the characters are awful. I agree that they are fairly awful, but I will forgive a lot for a really interesting and unique story, which I think that one has.

    What do you think?

    • Anne says:

      I am so curious to see this thread!

      (I will forgive a lot for an interesting and unique story, as you put it, but MMD readers talked me out of spending time on We Were Liars.)

  6. Betsy says:

    Love the podcast, Anne!! Have you read Kristin Hannah’s “Winter Garden?” I was sort of surprised to hear you describe “The Nightingale” as “a departure” for her, as she delved into historical fiction in “Winter Garden,” too. I’m only bringing it up because if you still have “Winter Garden” ahead of you, you are in for a treat! It’s one of my all-time favorites!

    • Tracy G says:

      Winter Garden is the only Kristin Hannah book I have read and thoroughly enjoyed it. I am going to try more of her work starting with The Nightingale.

  7. Tracy G says:

    Love your new podcast. It is making my TBR list explode however.

    I think your discussion about Liane Moriarty describes exactly how I felt about reading The Last Anniversary. I hated the characters so much I didn’t even finish it and I couldn’t figure out what all the buzz was about. After attempting that book I have been turned off from trying any of Moriarty’s other work.

    Love the Inspector Gamache series by Louise Penny, Maisie Dobbs series by Jacqueline Winspear and Maggie Hope series by Susan Elia MacNeal. I am continually recommending all three series, especially the last two if someone loves historical fiction.

  8. Hi Anne,

    I wrote to you via a private message on Facebook. Not sure if you got that.

    On a seperate note I wanted to say I agree with you wholeheartedly about which Brene’ Brown books Sarah should read. However, many people don’t know about Brene’s very best book (in my opinion). It’s on Audible only. It’s called The Power of Vulnerability. To me it feels like the best of all her books in one. She tells all her funny stories and makes all her great points. I found myself replaying and taking notes on almost every sentence.

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