[00:00:00] ANNE BOGEL: Hey readers, I'm Anne Bogel, and this is What Should I Read Next?. Welcome to the show that's dedicated to answering the question that plagues every reader, what should I read next? We don't get bossy on this show. What we will do here is give you the information you need to choose your next read. Every week we'll talk all things books and reading. Today we are talking summer superlatives. It's become an annual tradition to invite our team members to come on and share what they've been reading and capital L Loving in this season.

[00:00:44] Today we're talking best books of summer. So maybe it sounds silly, but I want to start by telling you about our upcoming Fall Book Preview.

Today we're looking back to greatest hits of the summer, but fall is right around the corner. And at What Should I Read Next? and Modern Mrs Darcy HQ, we've got all you need for back-to-school book lover style. We are hosting this year's Fall Book Preview on Thursday, September 18th.

Our seasonal previews are always a ton of fun. We get together for our virtual book party while I share my most anticipated upcoming releases of the season. And this year, our Fall Book Preview has a fun back-to-school theme for all those readers who think a bouquet of freshly sharpened pencils is just what they need to go with their new fall reads.

We're talking big, buzzy fall releases, under-the-radar gems, books from a wide range of genres, and publishing between now and year's end. So much good stuff awaits. Find out more about our Fall Book Preview at ModernMrsDarcy.com/FBP. That's FBP for Fall Book Preview.

[00:01:50] Readers, today we are back with an episode we know so many of you really look forward to each season, as our team joins me to talk about our favorite books of summer and what's happening in our reading lives right now.

We often reference on the show and in our spaces what's going on behind the scenes at What Should I Read Next? HQ. Our team is constantly discussing what we're reading on Slack and Zoom and email. I mean, you know it's true. You assumed it. I think you'd be disappointed to find out anything else was the case.

But you are not on our Slack channel, so these episodes invite you into our conversation. As always, our team's range of reading tastes ensures we share titles from a wide range of genres and styles that will appeal to all kinds of readers.

Today, you'll hear specifically about titles that may especially appeal to readers looking for their next family drama or who are open to a unique blend of sci-fi and horror or are ready to be pleasantly surprised by a memoir or would love to add a witty read that Jane Austen fans might especially love to your to-be-read list, as I did. You will not be surprised to hear that when you get my team and I together to talk books, we can talk.

[00:03:00] So this year, for the first time, we are splitting our best books of summer into two episodes so we don't overwhelm you on any one Tuesday. Today, you will hear from What Should I Read Next? Patreon community manager and Modern Mrs. Darcy Book Club co-host, Shannan Malone, and our resident spreadsheet queen, Donna Hetchler. And then you'll hear the conversation I got to have with our community coordinator, Brigid Misselhorn.

We've got today's long list of titles captured in our show notes, so just sit back, listen in, and enjoy. Then pop over to whatshouldireadnextpodcast.com to get that list. Let's get to it.

SHANNAN MALONE: Hi, I'm Shannan, Patreon community manager, and I'm here with Donna. Say hi.

DONNA HETCHLER: Hi, Shannan. I'm so excited to be here and talking about our best books of the summer.

SHANNAN: Okay, summer is not over. I don't care what anyone says. At the time of this recording, I just dropped the Buddy Man off to school for his first day at the time of this recording, which is the first week in August. Insane. But for me, summer goes all the way to Labor Day. What do you think, Donna?

[00:04:11] DONNA: I could not agree more. My summer actually lasts longer because I'm in Palm Springs where it's super hot. Like it's supposed to be 110 today. I mean, we are in the middle of summer, but you know, here we are, being team players, talking about our best books.

SHANNAN: I think it would be more accurate for our section to say 'best books of summer so far'.

DONNA: Oh, I like that.

SHANNAN: For the second year in a row, and I know this because as I was prepping for this, I reviewed the last few best books of summer from 2022 on. And I'm representing the members of the bookish community where any book that you read during the summer just might be your best book of summer because you never read that much.

DONNA: You know what? I love that, Shannan, because I hear this from a lot of people. Like they kind of have these big dreams and hopes for summer reading, but when it comes down to it, like kids are out of school, maybe they got a new puppy like you.

SHANNAN: I did. I did.

[00:05:17] DONNA: A lot of vacations going on. So sometimes we hope to read a lot and it just doesn't happen.

SHANNAN: Yeah. You know, I realized after that review that I do not do a lot of reading in the summer. Every year, apparently, I am surprised by this.

DONNA: We'll see if you're surprised again next year.

SHANNAN: So, as you know, Donna, my goal for the year was to focus on 25 five-star reads in 2025. Listeners, you can hear more about that in my mid-year check-in with Anne on episode 485. But at the time of this recording, Donna, I've only read three books. Two books were four stars and one was a five star, and I have several going on that I will wrap up by Labor Day. What about you?

DONNA: Well, first of all, I believe goals are made to be adjusted. So I don't think there's any problem with where you're at with your goals. I have to say my reading this summer is going really well.

[00:06:23] I think, you know, the Summer Reading Guide always works for me. I'm just going to give a little shout-out. These are not my favorites, but I'm going to give a shout-out to The Correspondent and The Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping, which were both on the Summer Reading Guide and were both five-star books for me.

But also what is interesting about the picks that I'm bringing today is I run some monthly Zoom Literary Societies where I just get together with friends and we talk about books that we've been reading lately. And about a month ago, I asked people for their favorites so far this year. I picked two of those, and they are my favorites here today.

SHANNAN: So you have two?

DONNA: Two five-star reads.

SHANNAN: Okay. So you're bringing two today and I am bringing one. So let's hear your first one.

[00:07:17] DONNA: All right. My first one, which honestly was kind of a surprise to me, is called The Eyes and the Impossible. This is by Dave Eggers. The reason it's a surprise is this is middle grade. I don't read a lot of middle grade. And so if I'm telling you it's a five-star middle-grade book, listen up, people. Even if you think you don't like middle grade.

SHANNAN: Which I don't.

DONNA: This might work for you. And if you don't believe me, this book did win the Newbery Award in 2024. So it came out in 2023, but won the award last year.

So this is about a dog named Johannes. You have to get it, Shannan. It's about a dog. And also his group of animal friends. They live in a public park. And it really is about their adventures that happen in this park. It's very, very funny, very sweet, heartwarming, and honestly, some good life lessons.

[00:08:19] I wrote down multiple things in my commonplace journal where I put my favorite quotes. And I was like, "I need to remember this. During hard times, I need to remember this quote."

Now, I forgot to mention, usually when I do these best books of summer, I try to have a theme with my picks. And my theme this time is... I have a request from our listeners that is associated with the book. So my request for The Eyes and the Impossible is if that sounds interesting and you want to read it, please do it on audio.

The narrator is Ethan Hawke. He's one of my all-time favorite actors. And the way he brings this book to life is incredible. It's one of my favorite audiobooks I've ever done. It was almost like watching an animated movie. That's how much he brought it to life for me. So I hope that that's how our readers will take it in.

SHANNAN: Sold.

[00:09:30] DONNA: And it's not too long, Shannan.

SHANNAN: Well, you know, you know, you know.

DONNA: I mean, it helps. All right, let's hear, what is your favorite?

SHANNAN: So my best book of summer has nothing to do with what I normally like to read in the summer. It is that one five-star read, which when I finished it, it was about a four, but then I elevated it, which I tend to do sometimes when I can't stop thinking about it and if it impacts something like my summer. And this book has impacted my summer in a very, very real way, which I'll talk about.

The book was included in the Summer Reading Guide, and it is A Physical Education: How I Escaped Diet Culture and Gained the Power of Lifting by Casey Johnston.

Now, I love memoir. Most people know that, if you've heard me talk about anything for any length of time. And this one, when Anne described it, I was like, "Okay, I have to read it." Mostly because I have this long buried dream to weight train so that I can bench press like... okay, I'll just say it. My hubby says, I wanna train like a dude.

[00:10:48] So I wanna bench press and do pull-ups and do squats with the bell and the plates on it and do all of that kind of stuff. And throughout my life, I've been doing what Casey calls Planet Fitness type cardio, and I really haven't liked it at all. I mean, I do enjoy running. But other than that, I've hated it. I haven't kept it going.

But when I read this book and how she describes being uncomfortable in the gym, but wanting to use strength training to feel better about herself and to maybe feel a bit more empowered, and as she was describing her journey, I was like, "I think perhaps I want to take that same journey."

DONNA: Wow.

SHANNAN: She discusses how weight training made her more aware of her body, kind of like embodiment. And my therapist and I have been working on that for a while. And I was like, "Oh, this is a way that I can connect or reconnect to my body," because I've kind of lost it over the past five years. There's a lot of things that have been lost over the past five years, but we won't go into that now.

[00:12:06] I love books that make me think differently about something or encourage me to pursue something that I dreamed about. They always end up as my best reads. So since I've completed the book, I have started working out with a trainer.

DONNA: Wow.

SHANNAN: And at the time of this recording, I can bench press 40 pounds. That's amazing. That's five pounds away from the standard bar, the one that everyone uses. I'm not on it yet, but I'm going to get there. And I'm looking forward to it.

One thing that she says in the book is how when you weight train, you actively court failure. That's something I need to learn to do because I'm trying to teach the Buddy Man like, "Try. It's okay if you fail. Try. It's okay if you fail." And I don't. I don't subscribe to that myself. So it's like, you need to learn it so you can teach it. And I can practice in the gym.

[00:13:05] This book has also prompted me to go down a rabbit hole of themed books along this line. And I'm currently reading Lifting Heavy Things: Healing Trauma One Rep at a Time by Laura Khoudari. And I'm really enjoying that one as well, which is more of a step-by-step kind of guide of unpacking trauma along with lifting in the gym while A Physical Education was more memoir. So they're really good flights to read together, especially if that's something that you're interested in, which I am.

DONNA: I love when a book can be life-changing. I truly believe books can be life-changing, and this is a perfect example of that.

SHANNAN: Yes. So hopefully we'll see where we land. What's your second book, Donna? Because that's all I got.

[00:13:58] DONNA: My second book is The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lyon, Volume 1. This is by Beth Brower. This came out in 2019, but it's set in 1883, England. It definitely has Jane Austen vibes. If you like Jane Austen, here's a book for you. Basically, it's Emma writing diary entries in her journal and describing her day and her interactions with people.

This book was truly, literally, laugh-out-loud funny to me. And it has a very like sly, dry kind of British wit. I will note that it's only 125 pages, Shannan.

SHANNAN: Speaking my language.

[00:14:50] DONNA: Okay. And once again, here's my request for the readers, if this sounds like something they would like to read. So I noted that the title said Volume 1. There are actually eight volumes so far. I will note that these are in Kindle Unlimited.

When I read the first volume, I will say that I enjoyed it. It was probably three and a half, four stars for me. Then I moved on to Volume 2, and it was like 5 million stars. I don't know what happened between these two books.

SHANNAN: Okay.

DONNA: And I've heard from Nicole, who recommended this to me, that they just get better and better. So, if you're going to try it and you just like Volume 1, please move on to Volume 2. That is my request.

SHANNAN: All right. Well, Donna, thanks for talking summer reads with me.

DONNA: I love the variety of books that we had.

SHANNAN: All right. Happy reading, everyone.

DONNA: Happy reading.

[00:15:51] ANNE: Hey, readers. Now it's time for Anne and Brigid. Why am I talking about myself in the third person?

BRIGID MISSELHORN: It fits perfectly for this episode.

ANNE: Now it's our turn to talk about our best books. Brigid, thank you for joining me to record this little segment. How's your summer reading going?

BRIGID: You know, my summer reading, Anne... Well, first of all, it's a pleasure to join you. This is really fun. I always look forward to this episode. I love hearing all the team members' best books this summer.

My summer reading has been good. I would say overall good. I always enjoy summer reading. It works for me. I like those fast-paced books. I end up picking up a lot of books. If I finish some, that's great, too. If I finish more than I DNF, that's ideal. That doesn't always happen.

But I've been really enjoying the stuff that I've read this summer and staying at a good pace for me. Like finishing a book and starting a new one, even if I'm reading other multiple books at a time, I like that. I like the pace I'm reading at. And I am not in a slump, which is always a good thing.

[00:17:01] ANNE: My pace is a little slower this summer, too. Will and I just got back from the beach with the kids. And I feel, I don't feel, I have documented over the years how I go to the beach and I read a book a day.

And this year, I read, like, two for the first five days we were there. And then I read a couple really short books. So I read four total. But I spent so much time just staring at the ocean and also talking to my husband and my kids.

BRIGID: I mean, sometimes that's exactly what you need on a beach vacation, just staring at the ocean and getting to talk with your family. And then sometimes you want to read really short books very quick, and then it feels like a great accomplishment. So I think that sounds pretty good.

ANNE: So my pace has been good, but it's also been slower than usual. But I have really been enjoying the variety I've been reading, as I do every year. I finish the Summer Reading Guide, we wrap that book list, and then it's like, what am I going to read now that was published, I don't know, a hundred years, a thousand years, or at least one before summer 2025.

[00:18:11] So I've been slowly making my way through the 1,344-page book, The Power Broker. I've read a lot of backlists. I've read a lot of nonfiction. I've enjoyed a great deal of it. And yet choosing my best books of summer was tricky. But I'm excited about what I landed on.

BRIGID: Oh, good. I'm glad to hear it. I can't wait to hear yours. And I agree. It can be tricky to pick some best books. But I was thinking about what you often say. There's always other chances to talk about books you love. You don't have to talk about every single one today.

ANNE: And we already know what we're talking about in 10 minutes for our bonus episode for Patreon.

BRIGID: That is correct.

ANNE: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So that helps a lot. Okay, Brigid, would you please kick it off with one of your best books of summer?

BRIGID: Oh, I'd love to. And you know what's really interesting? In a roundabout way, this actually comes from this year's 2025 Summer Reading Guide, but it's not actually on it.

ANNE: Oh, I'm curious to hear the roundabout part.

[00:19:05] BRIGID: Yeah, the roundabout is... okay, so one of the books I was most interested in the Summer Reading Guide and wanting to pick up was The Ghostwriter by Julie Clark. I even caught one of those really cool copies with the burned edge papers. Oh my gosh, it's so cool.

ANNE: I tried to show you all on screen when it arrived for team meeting. Or I tried to show you at unboxing. And it looks kind of cool, but it's not the same as seeing it in person.

BRIGID: Oh, in person.

ANNE: But yeah, I know what you're talking about.

BRIGID: It's amazing. I was shopping at Literati Bookstore in Ann Arbor, Michigan with our friend Caleb, and he had just recently read it. So, he basically hand-sold it to me, and I knew it was on the Summer Reading Guide, so, I snagged up. It was their last copy. And then I started it later that week, I was like, "Ooh, this is a little bit too intense for me right now where I'm at." The summer setting-

ANNE: It's intense.

BRIGID: Yeah. And it felt like the summer setting and what happens in those opening, you know, the years, the kind of history of what is happening.

[00:20:02] ANNE: I think the summary is trauma, trauma, trauma.

BRIGID: Yeah, right. Right in the middle of summer, which is when I was kind of picking it up. I thought, "You know what? I'm going to put that down." But then in the last week, I have seen one of her earlier books, The Last Flight, pop in.

ANNE: What?

BRIGID: Yes!

ANNE: Okay.

BRIGID: I've seen it pop into my feed at least three or four times.

ANNE: I'm going to talk about this in the bonus, actually.

BRIGID: No!

ANNE: Yeah.

BRIGID: Is it your bonus book?

ANNE: Yeah. What are the chances? Well, in a roundabout kind of way, I'm going to work it in there. Yeah.

BRIGID: Okay. All right. Should I keep going then?

ANNE: Keep going. Keep going. I love it. I can't wait to hear what you're going to say.

BRIGID: Well, it kept popping in my feed. I remembered you mentioning it and some of her other one. I think it's called The Lies I Told. And so I was feeling under the weather this past weekend. I picked up The Last Flight Sunday morning, and I ended up reading that whole book in a day. And I couldn't have been happier.

[00:20:59] It was the first book this summer that's happened to me.

ANNE: Ooh.

BRIGID: I know. I always enjoy it when I can read something that quickly, because I'm historically a very slow reader. And it truly did take me the whole day. But luckily, I had nothing better to do. It really was that sweet spot type of thriller for me, where it wasn't overly gory. It didn't have extreme, like the pit of my stomach dread that some other thrillers can give me.

There was some content warnings I definitely would recommend people check out if they're sensitive for. But overall, I would say it felt like a Hitchcock, like a very Hitchcockian. And I thought it also would probably be really good for people who like The Flight Attendant by Chris Bohjalian.

Now, the premise of The Last Flight, if you are unaware, is about two women who are trying to escape some real tough things in their lives. And then they cross paths in an airport and decide to switch plane tickets after they've gone through security.

[00:22:02] And I thought to myself, "Okay, I feel like this could actually happen." And granted, I go along with books. I'm not really trying to say like, this isn't realistic. I'm not trying to find plot holes most of the time. But I enjoyed that. I thought it was a neat premise.

And I'm not going to say too much more about the plot because I don't want to give too much away. But there are some aspects that involve Google Documents and Google Inboxes that were so well done. I honestly never thought, here's, like, Google Docs could be so suspenseful. And it's like, oh my gosh, this is something I use every day in my life. Julie Clark just really nailed that, like, suspenseful Google Docs, which who would have thought?

ANNE: I love how you're going to be updating our team agenda. Readers, we use Google Docs a lot on Team MMD, What Should I Read Next? Thinking about missing persons.

BRIGID: Yeah, for sure. For sure. And who could really be lurking in it? I really look forward to reading more of her books. I really enjoyed that one. So, thank you for the roundabout recommendation, Anne.

[00:23:11] ANNE: Oh my gosh, I love it. This makes me so happy. And I'm excited to continue this conversation in 10 more minutes for our Patreon bonus.

BRIGID: Yes.

ANNE: Okay, so I thought really hard about what I wanted to share today because superlatives are hard. There's so much to choose from. But like you said, Brigid, you have to tell yourself, there's always another opportunity around here to talk about great books.

I decided to go for maybe not the best standalone standout books I've read, but I had such a fun, nerdy literary reading experience this summer that started with me at the beginning of the summer thinking, "What can I read that's different from what I've been reading?" And I landed on this novel from Joan Silber, who I'd never read before, published in 2017 called Improvement. And I found my way to it because my friend was showing me the syllabus for a writing class she was considering taking on plotting. And it had two books that weren't really on my radar.

[00:24:11] BRIGID: Yeah, I've never heard of her.

ANNE: If a book is being used in a respected classroom to teach plot, I mean, that aroused my readerly curiosity in a big way. And I've been meaning to read Joan Silber. Secrets of Happiness was recommended to me by a few enthusiastic book-selling friends who read a lot like I do. And it came out in 2021, but I hadn't made my way to it yet.

So I thought, "Why not start with Improvement?" And I did. And I still have so many questions about what would be discussed in the classroom about this, but I loved it so much. And I did love it. And then I went on to read Secrets of Happiness. And then I went on to read Mercy, her 2025 fall release that we are most definitely going to be talking about at Fall Book Preview. And I'm going to limit myself to saying about 10 seconds about it today.

But what I've discovered is that Joan Silber, at least in these three novels, has a very distinctive style. I would have described it as kaleidoscopic. I've heard other readers call it that she writes in a relay style, is in a relay race, where one character hands the baton off to another at the end of the chapter, and they continue the story.

[00:25:16] Ron Charles wrote a little blurb for Secrets of Happiness where he said, these are linked stories, but actually think of it like a roulette wheel in print, where each chapter spins to some other character in a large circle of possibilities, where the people aren't just one degree of separation from each other, but sometimes two or three. And it's not just across space, but also sometimes across centuries. And it's so interesting.

And every time I change perspective, I feel the way I often do in such books where I'm like, no, I wanted to hear more from that character, and then three paragraphs later, I'm like, "Ooh, oh, okay, okay, what's going to happen? I'm ready. I'm in it. I'm with you. Okay, Joan, let's go."

But in Improvement, we start and end with the story of a character named Reina, who lives in Harlem. She's a single mother to a young child. She has an aunt who's single, who's been around the world, who's always lived her life off the beaten path, who brought this valuable, beautiful rug back from Turkey ages ago that is our way to journeying to other places and meeting other characters.

[00:26:19] But Reina's boyfriend is doing time and wants to involve Reina in this plot to smuggle cigarettes across state lines, which had me Googling like, oh, my gosh, what are the taxes in these different states on cigarettes? It's just things I never wondered about before.

But Reina gets herself into a bit of trouble, and her actions have unintended consequences, as they often do in life, but in fiction, more importantly here. And we spin through seven or eight different perspectives of people affected by this inciting incident in different ways. And at the end, we come back to Reina, and it's not what I expected, but I was here for all of it.

So I read that, and I was like, "Let's go." Secrets of Happiness, the 2021 novel, because I got to stay in my post-Summer Reading Guide backlist land. And then read this book about this New York City area family, married parents, adult children. Parents have been happily married for a long time, or so they thought. But then it comes out that the husband has had a secret family living in Queens for many, many years. And... well, that's enough conflict to get you a 200-page novel going real good.

[00:27:31] BRIGID: Sounds pretty juicy.

ANNE: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I really enjoyed seeing how that story took me to places I didn't expect it to go, but really enjoyed the ride. And then for Mercy coming out this fall, we will say more in Fall Book Preview. But this was set in 1970s New York City. Beautiful cover. Oh my gosh, I've already said more than I said I would.

But at the very beginning of the novel, a father is talking to his daughter, and she's like, "Dad, what's the worst thing you ever did?" And he says like, "Oh, haha, telling your mom I didn't like her kale salad, cheating my college friends at poker." But then to himself, he says, "Oh, I know exactly what that is, and no one is ever going to find out. I'm still so ashamed."

And then we go back to 1970s New York, and we hear about it, and then once again, spiral through the roulette wheel to see who else is going to weigh in, like who else was downstream from that first ripple in the water, and what happens next.

[00:28:26] So seeing how an author can take this distinctive style in many different plots through many different stories, like such good nerdy fun for me.

BRIGID: It does sound really fun. And like format, which I know is something you enjoy in all three, sounds very interesting too. So that is awesome.

ANNE: I love it. Okay, I'm talking too long. I'm going to get in trouble with Will, who made our guidelines. Brigid, what else did you choose for our favorite book?

BRIGID: Okay, this one I'll try to be quick about, but honestly, y'all, I have... Anne, I've just been waiting to share this book with our readers since I read it. And that was actually five months ago, but it released June 3rd, so I'm counting that as a summer read.

ANNE: Count it, count it.

BRIGID: I don't care if that's too much of a workaround. You say I can count it, I'm counting it.

ANNE: All right, drumroll, please.

BRIGID: Oh my gosh. It's Of Monsters and Mainframes.

ANNE: You told me about this forever ago.

BRIGID: I did. By Barbara Truelove.

ANNE: But you didn't say very much. Okay, I can't wait.

[00:29:24] BRIGID: It is so good. It's so good. So this is the first published book by author Barbara Truelove, but it's the second book in a publishing imprint about found family books. And that imprint is run by Ezeekat. That's how he's known on Instagram, E-Z-E-E-K-A-T. It's his Ezeekat imprint from Bindery Books. His real name's Jaysen Headley.

But he's somebody I enjoy following on Bookstagram. And when I found out that he had this imprint, I was intrigued. But I hadn't picked up the first one in it, but the second one sounded right up my alley. And that was Of Monsters and Mainframes. So if you are a fan of Found Family, definitely please listen up to this one. And maybe keep an open mind if it's not in the genre categories you would normally read.

[00:30:19] So the best way to describe it is to imagine classic horror monsters like Dracula and Frankenstein, but in space. I think Murderbot with horror monsters. That alone was enough for me to pick it up.

But on top of that, you've got really, really endearing characters that are both human and non-human, like the ship's main AI system, Demeter, and the medbot, like there's a medbay and there's a medbot named Steward. I just love their interactions. And then my absolute favorite character I've met this year in all books, the very charming and hilarious Steve, who may not be there on the ship for the right reasons, but I won't say much more about that. I'm still thinking about Steve months later, as you can see.

But I would say if you start this story, and it is truly a sci-fi slash horror, so there is somewhat gruesome parts, but for me, like this scaredy cat, it was fine. I could totally handle them. But if you started at the beginning and you're like, Brigid, "This is really disjointed. I don't know what's going on," just know that it's gonna come together real quick and it's worth it.

[00:31:35] And it begins with the ship's AI, Demeter, waking up after traveling hundreds of years with human passengers who are in like stasis, they've been asleep, to Alpha Centauri. She's a transport ship. She's arriving to dock, she wakes up, she's starting all the pre-docking, and she realizes, wait, where are all the humans? Okay, they've been unalived. And the reason they've been unalived is there was a Dracula on the ship. So we get right into it.

And I will say that although the audiobook narrator is fabulous, I would recommend this one in print because there is binary code sequences that actually start a few of the chapters and the narrator has to read it all out. So that can get a little tiresome listening to all the 01101110s, but in print, I found them delightfully nerdy because I could actually translate them and see what the ship was saying. Although that's not necessary to enjoy the book, I enjoyed doing that extra nerdy step.

[00:32:42] Honestly, I would not be surprised if this book ends up in my top books of the year or top books ever. It made me wish I was a bookseller or a librarian so I could hand-sell and push it. And then I realized, wait, "Brigid, you can do that on the podcast. And I have the pleasure and honor to today. So thank you.

ANNE: I love it. Making all your reading and book-pushing dreams come true.

BRIGID: Seriously, I really appreciate it, Anne.

ANNE: Brigid, I loved hearing about those so much. Thank you for pushing those books my way.

BRIGID: It was so fun hearing about your reading.

ANNE: I also love that bit of bookish serendipity on Julie Clark.

BRIGID: Me too. What are the chances?

ANNE: All right, to be continued.

[00:33:33] Hey readers, I hope today's team roundup of favorite reads put a few new titles on your reading list. Tell us about a book you've loved this summer on our show notes page, where you'll also find that full list of titles we talked about today. As always, whatshouldireadnextpodcast.com will get you there.

And because we have so much to say about our summer reading, we also recorded a bonus episode for patrons sharing a few more books we love this summer. That will be out Friday in your patron-only bonus episodes feed.

If you are not yet a patron, this is a great time to join to hear more of our best books of summer. And you'll also get other bonuses like One Great Book and Industry Insights, and of course that Fall Book Preview, which is included with your Patreon membership and is coming up quick on September 18th. Join us now at patreon.com/whatshouldireadnext. We've also put that link in your podcast player for easy access, or you can pop over from whatshouldireadnextpodcast.com.

[00:34:30] Please be sure to follow us or subscribe on your favorite podcast player. We are on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Pocket Casts, wherever you get your podcasts. When you follow, subscribe, download. That really helps our show and our team. So thank you in advance. If you're already following and subscribed, thank you so much.

Also, don't miss out on news by signing up for email updates at whatshouldireadnextpodcast.com/newsletter. That's the best way to make sure you never miss out on good stuff from our team.

If you wanna share your favorite summer reads on Instagram and tag us so we can see too, we'd love that. We are there @whatshouldireadnext.

Thanks to the people who make this show happen. What Should I Read Next is created each week by executive producer Will Bogle, media production specialist Holly Wielkoszewski

, social media manager and editor Leigh Kramer, community coordinator Brigid Misselhorn, community manager Shannan Malone, and our whole team at What Should I Read Next? and MMD HQ. Plus the audio whizzes at Studio D Podcast Production.

[00:35:33] Thanks also again to our spreadsheet queen, Donna Hetchler, who was not included in that list, but whose presence is so welcome and appreciated today.

Readers, that's it for this episode. Thanks so much for listening. And as Rainer Maria Rilke said, "Ah, how good it is to be among people who are reading." Happy reading, everyone.