The Currently Reading Podcast

The Currently Reading Podcast

By Meredith Monday Schwartz and Kaytee CobbSociety & CultureArtsBooks
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  • Typical duration

    57 min

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The Currently Reading Podcast episodes

  • Episode 38: Five-Star Novels + Our Bookish Demerits

    Kaytee and Meredith are back in your earbuds this week to bring you Episode 38, including a few literary confessions or demerits.

    We have a few important announcements right at the top of the show, one of which requires your help, listeners! Send us your Ask Us Anything questions via email, Direct Message, or as a comment on show notes, and we'll feature them in a future episode! If we use your question, we'll send you a coveted Currently Reading bookmark (and our everlasting thanks, of course).

    You'll hear a "bookish moment of the week" from each of us: an indie bookstore day recap and a bookish "retirement" gift.

    Next, we discuss our current reads for the week. We both read quite a few books that we REALLY loved this week, so don't hesitate to use those show notes below!

    For our deep dive this week, we have decided to give ourselves bookish "demerits" a la Gretchen Rubin's Happier podcast. These are places in our reading lives where we think we could improve. Sometimes we commiserate with each other and sometimes we chide each other!

    As always, we finish up with A Book (yep, capitalized) that we'd like to press into every reader's hands. This week we are talking about a fantastic mystery/police procedural, and a multi-generational family saga.

    As per usual, time-stamped show notes are below with references to every book and resource we mentioned in this episode. If you'd like to listen first and not spoil the surprise, don't scroll down!

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    5:23 - Thriftbooks.com my favorite used book website!

    6:02 - A Rule Against Murder by Louise Penny

    9:43 - Harry's Trees by Jon Cohen

    11:07 - A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman

    11:24 - Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

    14:18 - Allegedly by Tiffany Jackson

    15:22 - Baby Teeth by Zoje Stage

    15:23 - The Hate You Give by Angie Thomas

    15:25 - Orange is the New Black by Piper Kerman

    16:49 - My Name is Venus Black by Heather Lloyd

    17:15 - The Overdue Life of Amy Byler by Kelly Harms

    21:18 - A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer

    21:42 - Beauty by Robin McKinley

    25:16 -Uprooted by Naomi Novik

    25:17 - Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik

    26:48 - Heavy: An American Memoir by Kiese Laymon

    27:05 - Rabbit: The Autobiography of Ms. Pat by Patricia Williams

    27:47 - The Elephant in the Room by Tommy Tomlinson

    28:38 - The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls by Anissa Gray

    30:45 - Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson

    30:47 - The Vanishing Stair by Maureen Johnson

    31:01 - Nevermoor by Jessica Townsend

    31:02 - Winterhouse by Ben Guterson

    32:30 - Robert Galbraith series

    32:45 - Three Pines series by Louise Penny

    32:47 - HP Series by JK Rowling

    33:02 - Hunger Games Series by Suzanne Collins

    33:02 - Twilight Series by Stephanie Meyer

    33:34 - Scythe by Neal Shusterman

    42:01 - A Place of Execution by Val McDermid

    42:09 - Tana French books

    43:25 - Distant Echo by Val McDermid

    43:51 - Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

    *Please note that all book titles linked above are Amazon affiliate links. Your cost is the same, but a small portion of your purchase will come back to us to help offset the costs of the show. Thanks for your support!*

    48 min
  • Episode 38: Five-Star Novels + Our Bookish Demerits
    We discuss our current reads for the week. We both read quite a few books that we REALLY loved this week, so don’t hesitate to use those show notes below!
    For our deep dive this week, we have decided to give ourselves bookish “demerits” a la Gretchen Rubin’s Happier podcast. These are places in our reading lives where we think we could improve. Sometimes we commiserate with each other and sometimes we chide each other!
    48 min
  • Episode 37: Books That Surprised Us + Where to Get Great Recs from Librarians, Booksellers and Podcasters

    Meredith and Kaytee are happy to be recording again, and can't believe we are already up to Episode 37!

    We have a few important announcements right at the top of the show, one of which requires your help, listeners! Send us your Ask Us Anything questions via email, Direct Message, or as a comment on show notes, and we'll feature them in a future episode!

    You'll hear a "bookish moment of the week" from each of us: each of them this week centers on reading with the kiddos.

    Next, we discuss our current reads for the week. We have an eclectic mix of titles from middle grade to adult, fiction and non-, humor and serious. A bit of everything!

    For our deep dive this week, we are chatting about the fifth category in our 2019 Reading Challenge: a book pressed into your hands by a librarian, bookseller, or podcaster. And we've got a trove of resources for you if you're stuck on this one!

    As always, we finish up with A Book (yep, capitalized) that we'd like to press into every reader's hands. This week has us pressing favorites that we've loved for a long time but were out of sight/out of mind until someone brought them back to our attention.

    As per usual, time-stamped show notes are below with references to every book and resource we mentioned in this episode. If you'd like to listen first and not spoil the surprise, don't scroll down!

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    3:18 - Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling

    4:20 - Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling

    7:00 - A Woman is No Man by Etaf Rum

    7:37 - The Little Prince by Antoine Saint-Exupéry

    9:17 - Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie

    10:43 - Ladies Who Punch: The Explosive Inside Story of The View by Ramin Setoodeh

    12:55 - Most Talkative by Andy Cohen

    13:09 - From Scratch: Inside the Food Network by Allen Salkin

    14:20 - First Grave on the Right by Darynda Jones

    16:42 - Scythe by Neal Schusterman

    16:43 - Ghost Whisperer (TV series)

    17:13 - Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty

    19:44 - Truly, Madly, Guilty by Liane Moriarty

    20:50 - Dare to Lead by Brené Brown

    21:41 - Braving the Wilderness by Brené Brown

    21:42 - Daring Greatly by Brené Brown

    23:55 - The Elephant in the Room: One Fat Man's Quest to Get Smaller in a Growing America by Tommy Tomlinson

    27:00 - The Currently Reading 2019 Reading Challenge

    27:27 - I've Got Your Number by Sophie Kinsella

    28:30 - libraryreads.org

    29:30 - Indie Next List from indiebound.org

    30:42 - All the Books podcast

    31:08 - Liberty Hardy @franzencomesalive

    31:27 - Anne Bogel on What Should I Read Next

    31:37 - Anne Bogel on One Great Book (and Patron feed)

    31:59 - Annie Jones on From the Front Porch podcast

    32:23 - Book Drop subscription box

    32:26 - Shelf Subscription from Bookshelf Thomasville

    32:31 - Reading Bug Box

    33:04 - Sorta Awesome podcast

    33:14 - Jamie Golden (and Knox) on The Popcast or at @jamiebgolden

    33:08 - Laura Tremaine @laura.tremaine on Instagram

    33:45 - Gretchen Rubin on the Happier podcast and her FB page

    34:17 - Read Aloud Revival with Sarah McKenzie

    34:27 - Sarah's Bookshelves Live podcast

    34:38 - The Librarian is In by the NY Public Library

    34:56 - Reading Women podcast

    35:05 - @parnassusbooks on Instagram

    35:06 - @powellsbooks on Instagram

    35:56 - @bookshelftville on Instagram

    36:20 - Book of the Month subscription

    37:05 - A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

    37:21 - Time's Convert by Deborah Harkness

    37:31 - Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness

    37:32 - The Book of Life by Deborah Harkness

    39:29 - What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty

    40:39 - Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty

    *Please note that all book titles linked above are Amazon affiliate links. Your cost is the same, but a small portion of your purchase will come back to us to help offset the costs of the show. Thanks for your support!*

    44 min
  • Episode 37: Books That Surprised Us + Where to Get Great Recs from Librarians, Booksellers and Podcasters
    You’ll hear a “bookish moment of the week” from each of us: each of them this week centers on reading with the kiddos.
    Next, we discuss our current reads for the week. We have an eclectic mix of titles from middle grade to adult, fiction and non-, humor and serious.
    For our deep dive this week, we are chatting about the fifth category in our 2019 Reading Challenge: a book pressed into your hands by a librarian, bookseller, or podcaster. And we’ve got a trove of resources for you.
    44 min
  • Episode 36: Our Favorite Books for Babies + A Bookish Baby Shower for (Return) Guest Mary Heim

    We've got another "first" for the podcast this week! We are talking to our first return guest! You met Mary Heim in Episode 24 when she recorded with Meredith. Now, she's back to chat with both of us and we're so excited. Again. ;-)

    You'll hear a "bookish moment of the week" from each of us: an upcoming bookish holiday (now just past), finishing the second book in a series, and an audiobook binge.

    Next, we discuss our current reads for the week. We've got two current reads from each host and Meredith and Mary seem to almost coordinate their picks (we never discuss beforehand, so this is all coincidental), while Kaytee takes each round off to left field.

    For our deep dive this week, we surprise Mary with a virtual bookish baby shower. This deep dive focuses in on the board books and other titles for ages 0-2 and is the first in a series. We'll do subsequent chats about favorite books for 2-4 year olds and 5-8 year olds as well. So many great titles in this section!

    As always, we finish up with A Book (yep, capitalized) that we'd like to press into every reader's hands. This week Meredith and Kaytee are pressing more picture books, while Mary chooses a lovely essay collection she goes back to again and again.

    As per usual, time-stamped show notes are below with references to every book and resource we mentioned in this episode. If you'd like to listen first and not spoil the surprise, don't scroll down!

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    3:17 - Still Life by Louise Penny

    4:29 - Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling

    9:42 - Great With Child by Beth Ann Fennelly

    9:48 - Heating and Cooling by Beth Ann Fennelly

    13:08 - I Miss You When I Blink by Mary Laura Philpott

    16:09 - Morgan Tallman on Episode 22 of Currently Reading

    16:20 - Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank

    20:48 - Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey (releases June 4th!)

    20:58 - The Magicians by Lev Grossman

    21:00 - Tana French books

    23:37 - Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson

    24:22 - The Club by Takis Wurger

    24:32 - Shelf Subscription from The Bookshelf Thomasville

    25:34 - The Secret History by Donna Tartt

    28:29 - Swearing is Good For You by Emma Byrne

    36:25 - Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Eric Carle

    36:51 - The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

    36:55 - Big Red Barn by Margaret Wise Brown

    37:00 - Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell

    37:08 - No No Yes Yes by Leslie Patricelli

    37:11 - Big Little by Leslie Patricelli

    37:37 - Where Is Baby's Belly Button? by Karen Katz

    37:46 - Where's Spot? by Eric Hill

    37:57 - Bright Baby books by Priddy Books

    38:12 - Colors, ABC, Numbers by Bright Baby

    39:06 - First 100 Words by Bright Baby

    39:24 - Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina

    39:43 - Wocket in My Pocket by Dr. Suess

    39:50 - That's Not My… series by Usborne

    39:56 - That's Not My Hat by John Klassen

    40:44 - My Backpack by SkipHop

    41:16 - Everywhere Babies by Susan Meyers

    41:49 - Little Blue Truck by Alice Schertle

    42:12 - Lil' Pea by Amy Krouse Rosenthal

    42:12 - Lil' Oink by Amy Krouse Rosenthal

    42:13 - Li'l' Hoot by Amy Krouse Rosenthal

    42:16 - Spoon by Amy Krouse Rosenthal

    42:39 - The Going to Bed Book by Sandra Boynton

    42:46 - The Belly Button Book by Sandra Boynton

    42:55 - Moo, Baa, La La La by Sandra Boynton

    43:05 - Blue Hat, Green Hat by Sandra Boynton

    43:16 - Tuck Me In by Dean Hacohen

    43:51 - A Book of Sleep by Il Sung Na

    44:10 - Time for Bed by Mem Fox

    44:35 - The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear by Don and Audrey Wood

    45:13 - Where Do Diggers Sleep At Night? by Brianna Kaplan Sawyer

    45:20 - Where Do Steam Trains Sleep At Night? by Brianna Kaplan Sawyer

    45:31 - Dinosaur's Binkit by Sandra Boynton

    45:45 - No Matter What by Debi Gliori

    45:49 - I Love You, Stinky Face by Lisa McCourt

    46:33 - Goodnight, Darth Vader by Jeffrey Brown

    46:35 - Vader's Little Princess by Jeffrey Brown

    47:02 - Darth Vader and Son by Jeffrey Brown

    49:42 - BabyLit Series by Jennifer Adams and Allison Oliver

    51:21 - Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed

    51:53 - Wild by Cheryl Strayed

    54:49 - A Mouse Told His Mother by Bethany Roberts

    56:47 - Each Peach Pear Plum by Janet and Allen Ahlberg

    *Please note that all book titles linked above are Amazon affiliate links. Your cost is the same, but a small portion of your purchase will come back to us to help offset the costs of the show. Thanks for your support!*

    1 hr
  • Episode 36: Our Favorite Books for Babies + A Bookish Baby Shower for (Return) Guest Mary Heim
    We discuss our current reads for the week. Meredith and Mary seem to almost coordinate their picks, while Kaytee takes each round off to left field.
    For our deep dive this week, we surprise Mary with a virtual bookish baby shower. This deep dive focuses in on the board books and other titles for ages 0-2 and is the first in a series. We’ll do subsequent chats about favorite books for 2-4 year olds and 5-8 year olds as well. So many great titles in this section!
    1 hr
  • Episode 35: So many interesting novels + how we decide which books to keep and which books to donate

    Meredith and Kaytee return to their microphones (albeit, one is in a different location than normal) to talk all things reading and great books.

    You'll hear a "bookish moment of the week" from each of us: choosing road trip audiobooks and a new Little Free Library update!

    Next, we discuss our current reads for the week: there's no rhyme or reason to our picks this week but almost all of them are wonderful. Which is my favorite thing.

    For our deep dive this week, we chat about books we buy and books we borrow and books we keep. How do we decide which books deserve a place on the physical TBR shelf (rather than the library hold list)? How do we decide which ones to let go of (and where to put them) when we've read them?

    As always, we finish up with A Book (yep, capitalized) that we'd like to press into every reader's hands. This week's picks are a great beach read option and a lovely autobiography.

    As per usual, time-stamped show notes are below with references to every book and resource we mentioned in this episode. If you'd like to listen first and not spoil the surprise, don't scroll down!

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    7:02 - A River In Darkness by Masaji Ishikawa

    10:57 - Uprooted by Naomi Novik

    12:41 - Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik

    13:12 - A Woman is No Man by Etaf Rum

    17:20 - Eventown by Corey Ann Haydu

    21:48 - Mainline Candle Company

    22:09 - Where the Forest Meets the Stars by Glendy Vanderah

    24:33 - Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

    25:19 - Tilly and The Book Wanderers (Pages & Co., #1) by Anna James

    26:19 - Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

    31:56 - Louise Penny series

    31:58 - The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

    32:02 - Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling

    38:24 - Scribd membership - try it for 60 days for free

    38:41 - Thriftbooks website - 15% off your first order

    40:30 - Dear Mr. Knightley by Katherine Reay

    41:49 - Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

    42:24 - Lizzy and Jane by Katherine Reay

    42:26 - The Austen Escape by Katherine Reay

    42:27 - The Bronte Plot by Katherine Reay

    43:11 - Episode 2 of Currently Reading

    43:32 - Rabbit: The Autobiography of Ms. Pat by Patricia Williams

    *Please note that all book titles linked above are Amazon affiliate links. Your cost is the same, but a small portion of your purchase will come back to us to help offset the costs of the show. Thanks for your support!*

    49 min
  • Episode 35: So many interesting novels + how we decide which books to keep and which books to donate
    we discuss our current reads for the week: there’s no rhyme or reason to our picks this week but almost all of them are wonderful. Which is my favorite thing.
    For our deep dive this week, we chat about books we buy and books we borrow and books we keep. How do we decide which books deserve a place on the physical TBR shelf ? How do we decide which ones to let go of (and where to put them) when we’ve read them?
    This week’s best picks are a great beach read option and a lovely autobiography.
    49 min
  • Episode 34: Engrossing Non-fiction + How We Rate our Books (and an Unplanned Rant about Bookstagram)

    Kaytee and Meredith are back in your earbuds for some more great book chat this week!

    You'll hear a "bookish moment of the week" from each of us: Meredith's Little Free Library update and Kaytee's piano lesson reading.

    Next, we discuss our current reads for the week: there's a lot of interesting non-fiction in this week's selections, as well as a number of titles that friends and family had pressed into our hands a few episodes ago!

    For our deep dive this week, we are focusing on book ratings. What does 1-star mean to you and what does 5-star mean to you? We also take an unexpected detour into the bookstagram world and the way that "bookstagrammers" follow-up on their book posts.

    As always, we finish up with A Book (yep, capitalized) that we'd like to press into every reader's hands. We've got a title that has Amazon all confused and one that serves as a companion to a previous book press.

    As per usual, time-stamped show notes are below with references to every book and resource we mentioned in this episode. If you'd like to listen first and not spoil the surprise, don't scroll down!

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    1:09 - Lost Boy by Christina Henry

    1:46 - Episode 19 with Meredith's brother Scott

    6:33 - Lily and the Octopus by Steven Rowley

    9:33 - Episode 29 with Anna Hithersay

    9:35 - White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo

    13:11 - The Trial of Lizzie Borden by Cara Robertson

    16:20 - Garlic and Sapphires by Ruth Reichl

    17:28 - Currently Reading Challenge for 2019!

    17:57 - Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain

    20:14 - Medium Raw by Anthony Bourdain

    21:00 - Big Nate: In A Class By Himself by Lincoln Peirce

    23:27 - A Gift From the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindburgh

    32:51 - The Clockmaker's Daughter by Kate Morton

    34:28 - The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

    34:31 - He Said/She Said by Erin Kelly

    43:10 - North and South by John Jakes

    43:15 - North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell

    47:46 - Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson

    48:18 - The Sun Does Shine by Anthony Ray Hinton

    *Please note that all book titles linked above are Amazon affiliate links. Your cost is the same, but a small portion of your purchase will come back to us to help offset the costs of the show. Thanks for your support!*

    53 min
  • Episode 34: Engrossing Non-fiction + How We Rate our Books (and an Unplanned Rant about Bookstagram)
    We discuss our current reads for the week: there’s a lot of interesting non-fiction in this week’s selections, as well as a number of titles that friends and family had pressed into our hands a few episodes ago!
    For our deep dive this week, we are focusing on book ratings. What does 1-star mean to you and what does 5-star mean to you? We also take an unexpected detour into the bookstagram world and the way that “bookstagrammers” follow-up on their book posts.
    53 min

About The Currently Reading Podcast

From the publisher's feed

Currently Reading is a weekly book podcast for people who want honest book recommendations and a smarter way to choose their next read. Every Monday, hosts Meredith and Kaytee talk through the books they are currently reading and share spoiler-free book reviews across every genre.

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