The Eclectic Reader

Curtis has often mentioned his love of award-winning books, so today we’re taking a deep dive into our reading logs and TBR lists to recommend award-nominated or award-winning books. In today’s episode, we’re discussing various literary awards, sharing some of our favorite award-winning books, and taking a look at some of this year’s big nominations. 

To find a list of every title we mention in today’s episode, go to hereadsheread.org/podcast for show notes. 

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Books mentioned:

Bluebird, Bluebird by Attica Locke

The River by Peter Heller

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

LikeWar: The Weaponization of Social Media by P.W. Singer

Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi

Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier 

The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara

Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward 

Vanity Fair Article “On Witness and Respair”

Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001 by Steve Coll 

Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds 

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card 

Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein

Circe by Madeline Miller

Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson

The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson

The Dead Are Arising: The Life of Malcolm X by Les Payne and Tamara Payne

Sweet Taste of Liberty: A True Story of Slavery and Restitution in America by W. Caleb McDaniel

Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine

The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal

Ghost Talkers by Mary Robinette Kowal

The Madalorian Season 2 trailer

The Clone Wars trailer

The Great British Baking Show S8

Welcome to He Read She Read, a bi-weekly podcast where a couple of married bookworms with very different reading tastes discuss books and the reading life. 

Today we’re recommending four books from our shelves to each other. If your reading tastes match up with either of ours, you’re in for a To Be Read treat. Every other month, we also share a book club-style discussion on one book we both read. On October 27th, we’ll be talking about A Quiet Life in the Country, a Lady Hardcastle Mystery by T.E. Kinsey. We recommend listening to that one on audio if you’re reading along with us

To find a list of every title we mention in today’s episode, go to hereadsheread.org/podcast for show notes. 

Subscribe to our newsletter: hereadsheread.substack.com

Follow us on Instagram: instagram.com/hereadsheread/

Get two audiobooks for the price of one w/code HRSR: libro.fm/membership/new

Show Notes

• Michael J. Sullivan

Alone At Dawn by Dan Schilling and Lori Longfritz

The Switch by Beth O’Leary

The Outpost by Jake Tapper 

The Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis

The Lord of the Rings series by J.R.R. Tolkien

• Novel Pairings: The Fellowship of the Ring

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

• The “comeuppance” incident
• How to pronounce “foray”

The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander 

The Undocumented Americans by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio

The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin

The Unwomanly Face of War by Svetlana Alexievich

Educated by Tara Westover

• Captain Fantastic

The Return by Hisham Matar

Tell My Sons by Mark Weber

The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch

Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom

Seven Fallen Feathers: Racism, Death, and Hard Truths in a Northern City by Tanya Talaga

The Thrilling Adventure Hour by Ben Acker and Ben Blacker

• The Thrilling Adventure Hour Podcast

The Unquiet Dead by Ausma Zehanat Khan 

Theft of Swords by Michael J Sullivan

Long Bright River by Liz Moore

• Jack Ryan Season 2 on Amazon 
• The Duchess on Netflix

Today we’re discussing The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin. Listeners, we’ll warn you before talking about any major spoilers—but we do highly recommend reading this page-turning sci-fi/fantasy novel! If this is your first time listening to one of our buddy read episodes, welcome to the nerdiest part of our podcast. Buddy reading is something we started doing to connect with each other after Curtis’ last deployment, and we’ve gotten a lot out of it. We read the same book (not at the same time, unless it’s an audiobook on a road trip), and then we talk about it here on the podcast. Do you have a buddy read recommendation for us? Send us an email at [email protected].

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Notes:

The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin

How Long ‘Til Black Future Month? by N.K. Jemisin

The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin

The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab

When No One is Watching by Alyssa Cole

Get Out movie on Amazon Prime

Lovecraft Country on HBO

Party of Two by Jasmine Guillory

In today’s episode, Curtis and Chelsey are sharing recommendations in their mutual favorite genre: memoir. Despite the fact that we both love this genre, our tastes vary wildly. We like to think that’s why you stick around here, listeners. So expect a wide range of memoirs today as we share three favorites and three to-be-read titles. 

PS: You’ll hear our podcast mascot, Penny breathing and whining on the track. She says hello, pay attention to me please. Enjoy the puppy ambience. 

Books mentioned in this episode:

Iron Lake by William Kent Krueger

The Institute by Stephen King

The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien

Curtis favorites:

One Bullet Away by Nathaniel Fick

I'll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara 

Harvey Penick's Little Red Book: Lessons and Teachings from a Lifetime in Golf

Chelsey Favorites:

Here for It by R. Eric Thomas 

End of the Rope: Mountains, Marriage, and Motherhood by Jan Redford

Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi 

Curtis TBR:

Faith of my Fathers by John McCain

Hillbilly Elegy by JD Vance

Between the World and Me by Ta Nehesi Coates

You Can't Make This Up by Al Michaels 

Chelsey TBR:

Wow, No Thank You by Samantha Irby 

Good Talk by Mira Jacobs 

The Education of an Idealist by Samantha Power

How We Fight for Our Lives by Saeed Jones

Buddy read:

The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin

We will catch up on our reading goals and offer some more book reviews in our next episode, but for today we are digging up all of the reader recommendation requests that have been sitting in our inbox and recommending books to listeners with vast and varied reading tastes, so get your to-be-read lists ready!

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Books mentioned:

The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix. E. Harrow

World War Z by Max Brooks

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

The Republic of Thieves by Scott Lynch

The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai

The Lager Queen of Minnesota by J. Ryan Stradal

The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin

Long Bright River by Liz Moore

Bluebird, Bluebird by Attica Locke

The Alice Network by Kate Quinn

Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid

On Desperate Ground: The Marines at the Reservoir by Hampton Sides

In the Kingdom of Ice by Hampton Sides

The Frozen Hours by Jeff Shaara

The Corps by W.E.B. Griffin 

Doris Kearns Goodwin 

Ron Chernow

David McCullough 

Jon Meacham

Ben Macintyre 

Recommendations of the Week:

The Last Dance on Netflix

We Ride Upon Sticks by Quan Barry

Today we’re checking in with a reading goal update, sharing short book reviews, and offering several recommendations for Revolutionary Reads. Plus, Chelsey catches a golden phrase on audio and Curtis reminisces about Star Wars. 

Show notes: http://hereadsheread.org/

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Hamilton on Disney+

The End is Always Near by Dan Carlin 

Take a Hint, Dani Brown by Talia Hibbert

A Deeper Darkness by J.T. Ellison

What Should I Read Next Episode 164

The Hate You Give by Angie Thomas

Young Jedi Knights: Lightsabers by Kevin J Anderson

Star by Star by Troy Denning

John Adams by David McCullough 

Educated by Tara Westover

Know My Name by Chanel Miller

The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander

Abigail Adams by Woody Holton

The Old Guard on Netflix 

The Baby-Sitters Club on Netflix

We're back! Today we’re catching up, sharing recent reads, and setting some reading goals. We've got book reviews, anticipated summer reads, and general updates to share. Be sure to stay tuned for our recommendations of the week.

Show Notes

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

The Monuments Men by Robert M. Edsel

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

HRSR Newsletter

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin

Ta Nehisi-Coates articles

Stamped from the Beginning by Ibram X. Kendi, read along hosted by @melanatedreader

The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson

The Institute by Stephen King 

Writers and Lovers by Lily King

MBS: The Rise to Power of Mohammed Bin Salman by Ben Hubbard

The Fellowship of the Ring for Novel Pairings

On Grand Strategy by John Lewis Gaddis

Why We're Polarized by Ezra Klein

The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin

We Ride Upon Sticks by Quan Barry

Dave Chappelle 8:46

Mr. Iglesias on Netflix

The Leader’s Greatest Return by John C. Maxwell

The End is Always Near by Dan Carlin

Hymns of the Republic by S.C. Gwynn

To celebrate our new status as Aunt & Uncle Bookworm, we’re sharing some of our favorite picture books. As always, we’re also discussing our recent favorite reads and recommending some stuff to watch, listen to, or follow. Connect with us on social media to let us know which picture books you loved as a kid, which books your kids love,  or which picture books you like to give as gifts!

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Books mentioned:

The Conquest of Gaul by Caesar

Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson

Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe

The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel

If You Give A Moose A Muffin by Laura Numeroff

Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin and John Archambault

Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes

Is Your Mama a Llama? By Deborah Guarino

Miss Lollipop’s Lion by Judy Varga 

A Mother for Choco by Keiko Kasza

Buster Catches a Cold by Hisako Madokoro

Chris Evans reading If You Give a Dog a Donut

Great kid lit gift giver: @definitelyra

Shakespeare with @sirpatstew

Letterkenny on Hulu

Today we're reminiscing about a trip to NYC back in February. We saw Hamilton, visited bookstores, and Chelsey got emotional about an important bookish location. After sharing some details from our trip, we offer up book recommendations with a New York theme. (Note: this was recorded weeks ago, and we're safe! Listen in for a special intro). 

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Recent Reads:

The Only Plane In The Sky by Garrett Graff

What a Difference a Duke Makes by Lenora Bell

NYC Books:

Curtis

• Takedown by Brad Thor
• The Great Bridge by David McCullough
• The First Tycoon by TJ Stiles

Chelsey 

• City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert
• Rules of Civility by Amor Towles
• The Autobiography of Malcolm X
• Harlem Renaissance literature: Langston Hughes, Nella Larsen, The Street by Ann Petry 

Recommendation of the week:

Curtis - Philosphize This! Podcast

Chelsey - The Good List podcast by Tsh Oxenreider

“How many dukes are just rolling around?” Today we’re talking about The Duchess Deal by Tessa Dare, one of Chelsey’s favorite historical romance novels. Curtis gives a brief synopsis, and then we talk about romance tropes, historical time periods, and Tessa Dare’s sassy wit. This was Curtis’ first romance novel, and *spoiler alert* he loved it. Listen in to find out why!

Auto-Buy Authors

Do You Want to Start a Scandal by Tessa Dare 

Duchess by Design by Maya Rodale

Scandal and Scoundrel series by Sarah Maclean

The Countess (Madison sisters #1) Lynsay Sands

How to Forget a Duke by Vivienne Lorrett

While the Duke Was Sleeping by Sophie Jordan

Episode 47 Romance Recommendations

Alyssa Cole

Beverly Jenkins

Theft of Swords by Michael J. Sullivan

Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe