Bookwild

This week, I talk with Amanda Jones, a dedicated small-town Louisiana librarian, about the challenges she faces in her fight against book banning and censorship. She discusses her passion for literature, the importance of representation in books, the defamatory posts about her that spread like wildfire, and the impact of misinformation on community perceptions. Amanda has always championed the importance of diverse literature and the role of libraries as safe spaces for all children, particularly those from marginalized communities.

Read all about Amanda's journey in her book That Librarian: The Fight Against Book Banning in America

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Gare Billings @gareindeedreads

Steph Lauer @books.in.badgerland

Halley Sutton @halleysutton25

Brian Watson @readingwithbrian

MacKenzie Green @missusa2mba

Erin Ashley @bellametaphor

This week, Halley and I catch up on what we've been reading and watching, and then dive into bookish plans and goals for 2026!

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Gare Billings @gareindeedreads

Steph Lauer @books.in.badgerland

Halley Sutton @halleysutton25

Brian Watson @readingwithbrian

MacKenzie Green @missusa2mba

Erin Ashley @bellametaphor

This week, I talk with Brittany Penner about her memoir Children Like Us, a haunting, deeply reflective exploration of identity, faith, and survival. Brittany shares what it was like growing up as an Indigenous child adopted into a Mennonite family that fostered dozens of other children, unpacking the long-term impact of the Sixties Scoop, religious indoctrination, and being taught to feel “grateful” for circumstances rooted in colonial harm.

We dive into dissociation, self-abandonment, storytelling as a tool for healing, and the complicated reality of holding love for family while confronting the systems that caused lasting damage.

We discuss grief, nuance, and reclamation, ultimately asking what it means to trust your own memory, honor your pain, and slowly learn how to walk yourself home.

Learn more about Brittany here

All the Bookwild Links:

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Check Out Author Social Media Packages

Follow Co-hosts On Instagram:

Gare Billings @gareindeedreads

Steph Lauer @books.in.badgerland

Halley Sutton @halleysutton25

Brian Watson @readingwithbrian

MacKenzie Green @missusa2mba

Erin Ashley @bellametaphor

This week, Gare and I talk about what we've been watching lately, our favorite 2025 reads, and some 2026 books Gare already loves, as well as some 2026 hopefuls!

Our 2025 Faves

Kate's Books

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

Junie by Erin Crosby Eckstine

And Then She Fell by Alicia Elliot

Blood Over Bright Haven by M. L. Wang

Sky Full of Elephants by Cebo Williams

The Reformatory by Tananarive Due

Gare's Books

Night Watcher by Daphne Woolsoncroft

This Book Will Bury Me by Ashley Winstead

Boom Town by Nic Stone

Keep This For Me by Jennifer Fawcett

Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid

Too Old for This by Samantha Downing

2026 Books We Talked About

Boring Asian Female by Canwen Xu

Helpless by Jessica Knoll

On Sundays She Picked Flowers by Yah Yah Scholfield

The Better Mother by Jennifer Van der Kleut

The Future Saints by Ashley Winstead

Sundown Girls by L.S. Stratton

Shows We Talked About

The Beast in Me

Dexter: Resurrection

Slow Horses

Down Cemetery Road

Stranger Things

Heated Rivalry

All the Bookwild Links:

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Check Out Author Social Media Packages

Follow Co-hosts On Instagram:

Gare Billings @gareindeedreads

Steph Lauer @books.in.badgerland

Halley Sutton @halleysutton25

Brian Watson @readingwithbrian

MacKenzie Green @missusa2mba

Erin Ashley @bellametaphor

This week, I talk with Brian Recker about his book Hell Bent, which examines how fear-based teachings about hell distort Christian spirituality, replacing love, connection, and moral discernment with control, shame, and punishment avoidance. Drawing from his upbringing in fundamentalism and later work as an evangelical pastor, he shares how early indoctrination around hell fractures relationships with God, self, and others, discourages intuition and questioning, all while propping up systems of domination—from abusive religious authority to political movements rooted in fear. Rather than abandoning spirituality altogether, he reclaimed Jesus from these systems, reframing faith as a practice of love, justice, and liberation in this life instead of an anxious fixation on the afterlife.

All the Bookwild Links:

Check Out the Bookwild Substack

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Check Out Author Social Media Packages

Follow Co-hosts On Instagram:

Gare Billings @gareindeedreads

Steph Lauer @books.in.badgerland

Halley Sutton @halleysutton25

Brian Watson @readingwithbrian

MacKenzie Green @missusa2mba

Erin Ashley @bellametaphor

This week, Halley Sutton is back, and we dive into everything we've been reading and watching - which is quite a lot! We also share a few 2026 books we are excited to read.

What We’ve Been Reading

Everyone Is Lying to You — Joe Piazza

Alchemy of Secrets — Stephanie Garber

Vantage Point — Sarah Sligar
Good Dirt — Charmaine Wilkerson

 

2026 Hopefuls

The Future Saints — Ashley Winstead

All the Little Houses — May Cobb 

The Fortune Tellers of Rue Daru — Olyseia Solnikova Gilmore

Vigil — George Saunders 

The Story Eaters of Yamm — Kevin Hincker

Lady X — Molly Fader

Murder Bimbo — Rebecca Novak

The Temptation of Charlotte North — Camilla Bruce

 

Movies & TV Shows We Talked About

Pluribus

Dexter: Resurrection

The Beast in Me 

Ballard

Death By Lightning

Slow Horses

The Beast

Frankenstein

Hamnet

Wake Up Dead Man 

All the Bookwild Links:

Check Out the Bookwild Substack

Subscribe to Bookwild on YouTube

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Check Out Author Social Media Packages

Follow Co-hosts On Instagram:

Gare Billings @gareindeedreads

Steph Lauer @books.in.badgerland

Halley Sutton @halleysutton25

Brian Watson @readingwithbrian

MacKenzie Green @missusa2mba

Erin Ashley @bellametaphor

This week, I talk with John Fram about the creative process behind his new horror-thriller The Midnight Knock, a genre-blending desert nightmare. He dives into selling the book early, wrestling with a complex multi-POV structure, and navigating the behind-the-scenes realities of publishing—from word-count limits to printing costs to foreign rights. He traces the story’s roots from a childhood moment of awe in West Texas to the unsettling idea of an endless highway, explaining how claustrophobia, cosmic horror, indigenous-informed mythology, and a terrifying owl-snake creature all converged in a motel where the guests can’t outrun their pasts—or the desert itself.

All the Bookwild Links:

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Check Out Author Social Media Packages

Follow Co-hosts On Instagram:

Gare Billings @gareindeedreads

Steph Lauer @books.in.badgerland

Halley Sutton @halleysutton25

Brian Watson @readingwithbrian

MacKenzie Green @missusa2mba

Erin Ashley @bellametaphor

This week, Gare, Steph and I share our last, current and next reads!

Kate's Books

Last - Degenerate by Matt Casamassina

Current - Children Like Us by Birttany Penner

Next - Good Dirt by Charmaine Wilkerson

Gare's Books

Last - All the Little Houses by May Cobb

Current - Heated Rivalry by Rachel Ried

Next - The House Guests by Amber and Danielle Brown

Steph's Books

Last - Everyone is Lying to You by Jo Piazza

Current - At Least You Have Your Health by Madi Sinha

Next - Seduction Theory by Emily Adrian

All the Bookwild Links:

Check Out the Bookwild Substack

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Follow @imbookwild on Instagram

Check Out Author Social Media Packages

Follow Co-hosts On Instagram:

Gare Billings @gareindeedreads

Steph Lauer @books.in.badgerland

Halley Sutton @halleysutton25

Brian Watson @readingwithbrian

MacKenzie Green @missusa2mba

Erin Ashley @bellametaphor

This week, Kristi DeMeester shares how her new novel Dark Sisters emerged from a collision of personal history, cultural rage, and the disturbing ease with which faith, patriarchy, and power can be weaponized. We discuss purity culture, megachurch hypocrisy, witch-trial history, feminist reclamation, the generational impact of religious fundamentalism, and how horror can become a perfect container for social truth-telling, female rage, and bittersweet hope.

Check out the book here:

Dark Sisters by Kristi DeMeester

All the Bookwild Links:

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Check Out Author Social Media Packages

Follow Co-hosts On Instagram:

Gare Billings @gareindeedreads

Steph Lauer @books.in.badgerland

Halley Sutton @halleysutton25

Brian Watson @readingwithbrian

MacKenzie Green @missusa2mba

Erin Ashley @bellametaphor

This week, MacKenzie Green is back and we dive into the complexities of pop culture, the deeper meanings embedded in modern media, how storytelling has evolved, the impact of anti-intellectualism, and the importance of critical engagement with entertainment.

We discuss the intersection of identity and societal issues, emphasizing that every piece of content carries a message, whether overt or subtle, and the necessity of understanding historical context in shaping narratives amidst a growing trend of superficial engagement with media.

We also share how finding and creating communities that value intellectual rigor and deeper analysis of art is has helped both of us, and how even if you don't align with everyone in your family, a found family can be just as powerful.

All the Bookwild Links:

Check Out the Bookwild Substack

Subscribe to Bookwild on YouTube

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Follow @imbookwild on Instagram

Check Out Author Social Media Packages

Follow Co-hosts On Instagram:

Gare Billings @gareindeedreads

Steph Lauer @books.in.badgerland

Halley Sutton @halleysutton25

Brian Watson @readingwithbrian

MacKenzie Green @missusa2mba

Erin Ashley @bellametaphor