Mostly Fictional

In this episode, Pam tests Hallie on some Canadian slang and Hallie shares a funny plot point of David Copperfield.

Books mentioned, in order:
Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree
Bookshops and Bone Dust by Travis Baldree
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson
Hands of Time: A Watchmaker’s History by Rebecca Struthers
The Quiet Tenant by Clémence Michallon
I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy
How to Be Perfect: The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question by Michael Schur
There Are Two Errors in the the Title of This Book by Robert M. Martin
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
Episode 13 by Craig DiLouie
Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon
The Other Side of Night by Adam Hamdy
Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell

Lincoln In the Bardo Narrator list: https://www.penguinrandomhouseaudio.com/lincolninthebardo
Simon & Schuster Sale News: https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/08/simon-and-schuster-kkr-paramount-global-book-publishing

Find Pam and Hallie online!
Hallie can be found on Substack and Bookstagram at @wordsmithreads
Pam can be found on Youtube and Bookstagram at @pams_inkheart

Find Pam and Hallie online!
Follow Hallie’s Substack at wordsmithreads.substack.com
Pam can be found on Youtube and Bookstagram at @pams_inkheart
Or, send us both a message at [email protected]

In this episode, Pam has two ~ spooky ~ reads to share and Hallie has a checklist of books to celebrate!

Books mentioned, in order:
Open Throat by Henry Hoke
Cursed Bread by Sophie Mackintosh
Forager: Field Notes for Surviving a Family Cult: A Memoir by Michelle Dowd
Pinata by Leopoldo Gout
The Last Animal by Ramona Ausubel
Ascension by Nicholas Binge
Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree
Episode Thirteen by Craig DiLouie
Sadie by Courtney Summers
Big Swiss by Jen Beagin
The Quiet Tenant by Clémence Michallon
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
Hands of Time: A Watchmaker’s History by Rebecca Struthers, narrated by Anna Ploszajski
Why Fish Don't Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life by Lulu Miller
Educated by Tara Westover
Lab Girl by Hope Jahren
How Far the Light Reaches: A Life in Ten Sea Creatures by Sabrina Imbler
The House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng
The Bee Sting by Paul Murray
Western Lane by Chetna Maroo
In Ascension by Martin MacInnes
Prophet Song by Paul Lynch
All the Little Bird-Hearts by Viktoria Lloyd-Barlow
Pearl by Siân Hughes
This Other Eden by Paul Harding
How to Build a Boat by Elaine Feeney
If I Survive You by Jonathan Escoffery
Study for Obedience by Sarah Bernstein
Old God's Time by Sebastian Barry
A Spell of Good Things by Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

See the Booker Longlist: https://thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-library/prize-years/2023

Find Pam and Hallie online!
Hallie can be found on Substack and Bookstagram at @wordsmithreads
Pam can be found on Youtube and Bookstagram at @pams_inkheart

Find Pam and Hallie online!
Follow Hallie’s Substack at wordsmithreads.substack.com
Pam can be found on Youtube and Bookstagram at @pams_inkheart
Or, send us both a message at [email protected]

Hallie and Pam end up picking apart language and philosophy of their current reads.

Books mentioned, in order:
De Cap et de Crocs by Alain Ayroles, illustrated by Jean-Luc Masbou
Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand
Cursed Bread by Sophie Mackintosh
The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
Bite of Loyalty by RL Caulder
Serpent & Dove by Shelby Mahurin
The Other Side of Night by Adam Hamdy
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
Easy Beauty by Chloé Cooper Jones
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
The Martian by Andy Weir
How to Be Perfect: The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question by Michael Schur
The Neapolitan Quartet by Elena Ferrante
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree
Hands of Time: A Watchmaker’s History by Rebecca Struthers, narrated by Anna Ploszajski
Episode Thirteen by Craig DiLouie
What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher
The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe

Find Pam and Hallie online!
Hallie can be found on Substack and Bookstagram at @wordsmithreads
Pam can be found on Youtube and Bookstagram at @pams_inkheart

Find Pam and Hallie online!
Follow Hallie’s Substack at wordsmithreads.substack.com
Pam can be found on Youtube and Bookstagram at @pams_inkheart
Or, send us both a message at [email protected]

Pam and Hallie have short reading updates, so they recommend books for the month of August and talk about some book lists to be on the lookout for.

Books mentioned, in order:
Queen of Shadows by Sarah J Maas
A Quiet Kind of Thunder by Sara Barnard
Beautiful Broken Things by Sara Barnard
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
The Other Side of Night by Adam Hamdy
Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
Middlegame by Seanan McGuire
The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio
On a Sunbeam by Tillie Walden
Poverty, By America by Matthew Desmond
Small Mercies by Dennis Lehane
King: A Life by Jonathan Eig
Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano
All the Sinners Bleed by S.A. Cosby
Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton
What Napoleon Could Not Do by DK Nnuro
The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder by David Grann
Blue Hour by Tiffany Clarke Harrison
Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands by Kate Beaton
Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann

Find Pam and Hallie online!
Hallie can be found on Substack and Bookstagram at @wordsmithreads
Pam can be found on Youtube and Bookstagram at @pams_inkheart

Find Pam and Hallie online!
Follow Hallie’s Substack at wordsmithreads.substack.com
Pam can be found on Youtube and Bookstagram at @pams_inkheart
Or, send us both a message at [email protected]

Hallie recounts a travel nightmare and Pam gives a new crochet update. Plus, book hauls!

Books mentioned, in order:
Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado
In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado
Go Tell the Bees I Am Gone by Diana Gabaldon
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling
Now is Not the Time to Panic by Kevin Wilson
Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson
Big Swiss by Jen Beagin
The Beast You Are: Stories by Paul G. Tremblay
Junior High by Tegan and Sara Quin, illustrated by Tillie Walden
Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton
The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton
In Five Years by Rebecca Serle
Fierce Fragile Hearts by Sara Barnard
Quiet Broken Things by Sara Barnard
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
The Odyssey by Homer
Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
Northeaster: A Story of Courage and Survival in the Blizzard of 1952 by Cathie Pelletier
The Lost Journals of Sacajewea by Debra Magpie Earling
A Quiet Kind of Thunder by Sara Barnard
Queen of Shadows by Sarah J Maas
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
Aliens in the Prime of their Lives by Brad Watson
The Other Side of Night by Adam Hamdy

Find Pam and Hallie online!
Hallie can be found on Substack and Bookstagram at @wordsmithreads
Pam can be found on Youtube and Bookstagram at @pams_inkheart

Find Pam and Hallie online!
Follow Hallie’s Substack at wordsmithreads.substack.com
Pam can be found on Youtube and Bookstagram at @pams_inkheart
Or, send us both a message at [email protected]

Pam and Hallie talk about the conundrum of their library holds not matching what they want to be reading, and take part in the "Mid Year Book Freakout" Tag.
Trigger warning for graphic language about violence at 42:10, skip to 43:02 to avoid it.

Books mentioned, in order:
The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
The Last Cold Place: A Field Season Studying Penguins in Antarctica by Naira de Gracia
Lab Girl by Hope Jahren
Welcome to the Goddamn Ice Cube: Chasing Fear and Finding Home in the Great White North by Blair Braverman
Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Journey by Alfred Lansing
Why Fish Don't Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life by Lulu Miller
Heir of Fire by Sarah J Maas
Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas
Crown of Midnight by Sarah J Maas
Queen of Shadows by Sarah J Maas
Twisted Love by Ana Huang
Fifty Shades series by EL James
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
The Crane Husband by Kelly Barnhill
Now is Not the Time to Panic by Kevin Wilson
Go Tell the Bees I Am Gone by Diana Gabaldon
Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon
Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado
Sensational: The Hidden History of America's “Girl Stunt Reporters” by Kim Todd
The Witches: Salem, 1692 by Stacy Schiff
The Revolutionary: Sam Adams by Stacy Schiff
The Centaur’s Wife by Amanda LeDuc
Stray Dogs: Stories by Rawi Hage
Michelangelo: His Epic Life by Martin Gayford
Alan Turing: The Enigma by Andrew Hodges
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder by David Grann
Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell
The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell
The Pallbearer’s Club by Paul Tremblay
The Beast You Are: Stories by Paul Tremblay
Tell Me Pleasant Things About Immortality by Lindsay Wong



Extras:
Original creators of the Mid Year Book Freakout Tag
https://www.youtube.com/@IsThatChami/about
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_Wh0rPGfRg

Full list of questions came from BooksandLala, here is her 2023 video: https://youtu.be/lPaabBw61Cw
How is your reading going?
Best book you’ve read so far in 2023.
Best sequel you've read so far in 2023.
Favourite re-read.
Genre you've been loving/reading the most.
New release you haven't read yet, but want to.
Most anticipated release for the second half of the year.
Biggest disappointment.
Biggest surprise.
Favourite new author. (Debut or new to you)
Newest favourite character.
Book that made you cry.
Book that made you happy.
Most beautiful book you've bought so far this year (or received)
What books do you need to read by the end of the year?
Favourite video or post you've done so far this year.
Favourite book community members.


Find Pam and Hallie online!
Hallie can be found on Substack and Bookstagram at @wordsmithreads
Pam can be found on Youtube and Bookstagram at @pams_inkheart

Find Pam and Hallie online!
Follow Hallie’s Substack at wordsmithreads.substack.com
Pam can be found on Youtube and Bookstagram at @pams_inkheart
Or, send us both a message at [email protected]

July 2 is the halfway point of the year -- Pam and Hallie do a goal check in on their reading goals, and Pam gives a Ramona the Cow update.

Books mentioned, in order:
One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston
Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by by Patrick Radden Keefe
Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas
Crown of Midnight by Sarah J Maas
Heir of Fire by Sarah J Maas
Chouette by Claire Oshetsky
Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield
Comfort Me With Apples by Catherynne M Valente
Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado
Go Tell the Bees I Am Gone by Diana Gabaldon
The Last Cold Place: A Field Season Studying Penguins in Antarctica by Naira de Gracia
Lab Girl by Hope Jahren
Why Fish Don’t Exist by Lulu Miller
The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino
Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger
Fifteen Dogs by André Alexis
The Game of Love and Death by Martha Brockenbrough
Middlemarch by George Eliot
Phase Six by Jim Shepard
The Trees by Percival Everett
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
All the Names They Used for God by Anjali Sachdeva
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
Looking Glass Sound by Catriona Ward
Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Journey by Alfred Lansing
Craft in the Real World by Matthew Salesses
Forager: Field Notes for Surviving a Family Cult by Michelle Dowd
How Far the Light Reaches: A Life in Ten Sea Creatures by Sabrina Imbler
Michelangelo: His Epic Life by Martin Gayford
The Good Life: Lessons from the World's Longest Scientific Study of Happiness by Robert Waldinger and Marc Schulz
Making Love With the Land by Joshua Whitehead
Cassandra Speaks: When Women Are the Storytellers, the Human Story Changes by Elizabeth Lesser
The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder by David Grann
The Deep Sky by Yume Kitasei
The Secret History by Donna Tartt
Now is Not the Time to Panic by Kevin Wilson

Find Pam and Hallie online!
Hallie can be found on Substack and Bookstagram at @wordsmithreads
Pam can be found on Youtube and Bookstagram at @pams_inkheart


Find Pam and Hallie online!
Follow Hallie’s Substack at wordsmithreads.substack.com
Pam can be found on Youtube and Bookstagram at @pams_inkheart
Or, send us both a message at [email protected]

In this episode, Hallie recaps 5 books she's finished that are making her feel like a teenager, and Pam talks about the audiobooks she's listening to crochet a creature named Ramona the Cow.

Books mentioned, in order:

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
Ascension by Nicholas Binge
Dark Matter by Blake Crouch
Recursion by Blake Crouch
Sandman: A Game of You by Neil Gaiman
Venco by Cherie Dimaline
Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas
Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
Divergent Series by Veronica Roth
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke
Inkheart by Cornelia Funke
The Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
A Song of Ice and Fire Series by George RR Martin
Harry Potter Series by JK Rowling
King of Battle and Blood by Scarlett St. Clair
Queen of Myth and Monsters by Scarlett St. Clair
A Touch of Darkness by Scarlett St. Clair
Neon Gods by Katee Robert
Why Fish Don’t Exist by Lulu Miller
One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston
Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas
The Devotion of Suspect X by Heigo Higashino
Devolution by Max Brooks
Chouette by Claire Oshetsky
Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield
The Crane Husband by Kelly Barnhill

Find Pam and Hallie online!
Hallie can be found on Substack and Bookstagram at @wordsmithreads
Pam can be found on Youtube and Bookstagram at @pams_inkheart

Find Pam and Hallie online!
Follow Hallie’s Substack at wordsmithreads.substack.com
Pam can be found on Youtube and Bookstagram at @pams_inkheart
Or, send us both a message at [email protected]

Pam has returned from NYC with a haul! And both of us have finished a good handful of books.

Books mentioned, in order:
The Wager by David Grann
Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing
The Trees by Percival Everett
The Last White Man by Mohsin Hamid
A Long Petal of the Sea by Isabel Allende
The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende
The Wind Knows My Name by Isabel Allende
Sandman Vol 4 by Neil Gaiman
Camp Zero by Michelle Min Sterling
Anthem by Ayn Rand
God Spare the Girls by Kelsey McKinney
Sadie by Courtney Summers
The Last Animal by Ramona Ausubel
VenCo by Cherie Dimaline
Middlegame by Seanan McGuire
Ballad for Sophie Filipe Melo & Juan Cavia, translated Gabriela Soares
Sourdough by Robin Sloan
The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino (translated by Alexander O. Smith & Elye J. Alexander)
The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler
Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell
Out There by Kate Folk
Why Fish Don't Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life by Lulu Miller
The Crane Husband by Kelly Barnhill
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
Ascension by Nicholas Binge
Sandman Vol 5 by Neil Gaiman
Rules of Magic Alice Hoffman
Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado

Find Pam and Hallie online!
Hallie can be found on Substack and Bookstagram at @wordsmithreads
Pam can be found on Youtube and Bookstagram at @pams_inkheart

Find Pam and Hallie online!
Follow Hallie’s Substack at wordsmithreads.substack.com
Pam can be found on Youtube and Bookstagram at @pams_inkheart
Or, send us both a message at [email protected]

In this episode, Pam and Hallie give a reading update, then review some new releases for 2023 and talk about books for the back half of the year.

Books mentioned, in order:
I’ll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara
A Long Petal of the Sea by Isabel Allende
The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese
Whale by Cheon Myeong-Kwan
Cassandra Speaks: When Women Are the Storytellers, the Human Story Changes by Elizabeth Lesser
The Whalebone Theatre by Joanna Quinn
The Honeybee Emeralds by Amy Tector
The Trees by Percival Everett
VenCo by Cherie Dimaline
Middlegame by Seanan McGuire
The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder by David Grann
Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann
Sandman by Neil Gaiman
The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer
The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
Chrysalis by Anna Metcalfe
Cursed Bread Sophie Mackintosh
On the Ravine by Vincent Lam
Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures by Vincent Lam
The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb
Just Once, No More by Charles Foran
Instructions for the Drowning by Steven Heighton
The Knowing: The Enduring Legacy of Residential Schools by Tanya Talaga
Making Love with the Land by Joshua Whitehead
Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton
Breaking and Entering by Don Gillmor
Other People’s Pets by RL Maizes
Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy
The Shards by Bret Easton Ellis
American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
A Certain Hunger by Chelsea G. Summers
Big Swiss by Jen Beagin
The Postcard by Anne Berest, Translated by Tina Kover
Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
The Quiet Tenant by Clémence Michallon
Room by Emma Donoghue
YOU by Caroline Kepnes
Ruthless by Carolyn Lee Adams
The Guest by Emma Cline
Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman
Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman

Vogue article: https://www.vogue.com/article/best-books-2023
Globe and Mail article: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books/article-the-top-30-canadian-books-to-read-in-2023/

Find Pam and Hallie online!
Hallie can be found on Substack and Bookstagram at @wordsmithreads
Pam can be found on Youtube and Bookstagram at @pams_inkheart

Find Pam and Hallie online!
Follow Hallie’s Substack at wordsmithreads.substack.com
Pam can be found on Youtube and Bookstagram at @pams_inkheart
Or, send us both a message at [email protected]