It’s Tuesday, which means a new episode of What Should I Read Next!
Books mentioned in this episode:
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• All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
• The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
• The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell
• Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
• Among the Ten Thousand Things by Julia Pierpont
• Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
• Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee
• Coming Clean by Seth Haines
• To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
• Addiction and Virtue: Beyond the Models of Disease and Choice by Kent Dunnington
• Slade House by David Mitchell
• City on Fire by Garth Risk Hallberg
• The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber
• Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
• Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng
• A God in Ruins by Kate Atkinson
• Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
Also mentioned in this episode:
• The 2016 reading challenge (this is why I’m reading a book that intimidates me).
• Signed first editions club from Book Passage
Like the podcast? Your review helps the show so much!
59 comments
I’m so excited you’re going to talk about City on Fire! I just started reading it and am on page 100 (so about 10% done!). Thanks for putting on such a great podcast.
And how is it so far? Because my copy hasn’t come yet …
I must know your thoughts. I should be finishing it in the next 2-3 days, and let me tell you, the ending is worth the wait.
That makes me so happy to hear! So far I am really enjoying it, but I’ve been known to hate entire books just because I didn’t like the ending. I loved listening to both of you on the podcast!
Interestingly, I had more than a few friends hate *The Bone Clocks* because of the ending. They loved the entire work until the last section. I found this disappointing.
Totally unrelated, but do you still love your little pencil sharpener from Amazon? We’re debating it, but $9 for a manual seems kind of expensive. Just want to know how it’s holding up.
Yes!! Although I have to admit a get a little flustered when it’s not right where it belongs on our art cart, because I do NOT want to lose a $9 pencil sharpener!
Tuesdays are becoming my favorite day of the week because this podcast comes out.
I tend to open Goodreads as I listen and immediately add books to my To Read list. Thank you Anne for this amazing podcast that is fueling me to read (and listen to more audiobooks) in 2016.
I feel like I’m sitting at a table near you and your guests and overhearing your conversations and wanting to interject — in a good way 😉
Is it next Tuesday yet? 😉
Yep. Me too! Seth had some great books to discuss
I’m so glad to hear it! My goal is for it to sound like a coffee shop conversation that you can’t resist spying on. 🙂
Oh I think it’s way better than that! As a listener, I feel totally engaged and part of the conversation. It’s definitely my favorite podcast!!
I agree! I also talk back to them like Anne and Seth could hear me. I’m sure my family thinks I’m a little cuckoo.
Weird. I actually heard you and tried to respond. You didn’t answer back. What gives?
I’m so glad you feel a part of the conversation! That’s wonderful.
I have actually made friends with people who HAVE done that to me and my friends. Folks that have turned and been like “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to listen in, but I couldn’t help it” and it became a new friendship 🙂
That is fantastic!
My TBR list is growing too quickly!
I’m truly enjoying the podcasts, and I love to understand the reasons behind what others do and do not enjoy.
~kimi
Thanks so much!
This was my first time listening to your podcast – loved it! I recently finished Life After Life (my first read by Kate Atkinson) and found it deeply interesting – but also intense! I’m waitlisted for A God in Ruins at the library, and honestly a little glad for the break.
I can appreciate the “needing a break” part! A short break is probably ideal: you’ll give yourself some space, but won’t forget the details of the characters.
I am really enjoying the podcast! Now I’m tempted to join the first edition club. It sounds really cool to have a signed first edition each month and the picks for last year were really great. If you like Kate Atkinson, have you read Behind the Scenes at the Museum?
I haven’t read Behind the Scenes at the Museum yet but it’s been on my list for ages! (Worth it?)
I’ve been googling First Editions clubs ever since Seth and I chatted. 🙂
Yes! I need to re-read as I think I read it about 13(!) years ago. I had this boyfriend at the time who had worked at a little independent bookstore on Cape Cod. He took me back to the store and the owner recommended I read Behind the Scenes. Kate Atkinson has been my favorite author ever since 🙂 The boyfriend is no longer but I still think about that little bookstore!
This is a great story.
Thank you so much for starting this podcast. I have been a passive reader of your blog for quite some time and I just love this addition. As I listen and read more, I realize how much we have in common. I am also a former property lawyer, I have 4 kids, and I LOVED “A God in Ruins”! My youngest is now one, and I finally feel like I can read without falling asleep. While there is NO WAY I will ever make a dent in the TBR list that I have crafted from a) this podcast and b) your history of blog posts, every time I listen to your podcast or read your blog, I feel like I’m getting advice from a trusted friend. In addition to the amazing book recommendations, I love all of your recommendations in the self-care and wellness realm. If you keep up the great work, I will pledge to be better about engaging online with this community you’ve created. Thank you so much!!!
What? It’s like we’re long-lost twins!
So glad you’re enjoying the process. Thanks for letting me know. 🙂
Love this podcast!!! Gotta ask- what was the background noise? It sounded like someone sharpening knives. ??
Well THAT sounds a little creepy! No knives were being sharpened; I’ll figure it out and hope it’s not there next time!
I think it was on Seth’s end- I only heard it when he was speaking.
I heard it too, and that’s exactly what I thought it sounded like!
Yes! What was that?? I thought it sounded like whittling wood (not that I would know what that sounds like) nail filing. I really enjoyed the episode anyway 🙂
This was such a fun episode, and I added several of the books mentioned to my TBR list. Also, I finished Everything I Never Told You just a few days ago, and thought it was excellent pick for Seth considering his comments on Among The Ten Thousand Things (which I now can’t wait to read).
And I wanted to second the comment about the background noise. Sounded to me like someone writing with a pencil. It wasn’t bad though, only a little distracting.
Thanks for the feedback on the background noise. I’m still getting the hang of everything! My goal is to make each episode a little better than the last. 🙂
I have to tell you, when you run across the line for which *Among the Ten Thousand Things* was named, you’ll literally say (aloud), “oh, my; that was brilliant.”
I’m intrigued!
I am SO CURIOUS.
I enjoy the podcast, also. Your voice is great for broadcasting. I’ve listened to some podcasts that, while I liked the content, I couldn’t handle the speaker’s voice and had to quit. I think your content is unique and I am also fascinated by what people read and why.
Glad to hear it!
If you could record yourself reading something really boring, like the encyclopedia or Moby Dick, I think it would help me fall asleep at night. I find your voice very calming.
Hahaha!
I’ve been a blog reader for a couple of years and I must tell you that I’m loving the podcast! I’m a high school English teacher and I am trying to come up with a way to incorporate “literary matchmaking” with my kids. I’d love to see some YA books in a future episode! (And, I finished City on Fire a couple of weeks ago — I wanted to love it, but I just didn’t. I think I just couldn’t get behind any of the characters except maybe Regan.)
I just recommended a wonderful YA book in the episode I recorded yesterday…. 🙂
Love this podcast! I am a homeschooling momma with girls who adore reading (we have even converted our 9 year old foster daughter into a voracious reader). It is fascinating to hear you recommend particular books to people based on their past loves and hates. How valuable it is to try something suggested by another fellow reader…even if it doesn’t make it on the favorites list. Thank you!
Love your podcasts!! I have become so engaged with reading lately. Thanks to you. 🙂
Really enjoyed listening to this chat!! (Having a morning to myself, listening with a caramel macchiato and no kids in the car = bliss.) I think Seth would like We Are Not Ourselves by Matthew Thomas if he hasn’t read it yet. It’s lengthy, reflective, and gets better as it goes. I don’t think it’s for everyone, but I do think he would enjoy it.
I also have to pipe in that I think I liked Kate Atkinson’s Behind the Scenes at the Museum even more than Life After Life. I haven’t gotten to God in Ruins yet, though.
(This episode and thinking about my favorite books has shown me that I love long family sagas. I think all my very favorite books are long, multigenerational family tales that show why the family is the way it is.)
Enjoyed listening. Ann, Kate Atkinson wrote a brilliant novel before her “detective” books. It is Behind the Scenes at the Museum and is a perfect novel. It is one of my all-time favorite books. Have you read it?
It’s on my list! In fact, I think it may actually be ON my kindle already. But I haven’t read it yet.
Your discussion reminded me of a book I read last year. It does have disturbing parts (and for that reason hard to recommend) but I learned so much historical facts about the scientists in our space program and some operations of the Cold War. It is also based on a true murder in Canada. The book is The Way the Crow Flies. When/if you read, be sure you research the murder case….but read the book first so you won’t read the true life of how it all ends.
By Ann-Marie MacDonald. Also research the recruiting of space scientists during the Cold War. Interesting to say the least.
An article posted today……reminds me of The Way the Crow Flies. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3578724/Secret-web-tunnels-used-emergency-factories-Nazis-hid-Allied-bombs-World-War-II-opened-museum.html
I have listened to this episode several times. Your podcast is my running audio every Tuesday.
Read City on Fire – all 900 pages and convinced book club to read it too. I just finished Among the Ten Thousand Things – loved it!
New to the podcast but really love it so far! Binge listening the podcast , so that’s why this is from an older episode. Been in a book club for 2 years and set an aggressive reading goal for 2022. The podcast helps a lot with that!
Mark from Denver