New year, new season! In this episode we introduce the theme for our upcoming season, The Natural World - then we get into the eight books we'll be discussing over the next few months.

Vote for your choice of novel here

Books Mentioned:

Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster by Jon Krakauer

What We Can Know by Ian McEwan

Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer

Greenwood by Michael Christie

Barkskins by Annie Proulx

We Are Green and Trembling by Gabriela Cabezón Cámara

Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy

The Seed Keeper by Diane Wilson

Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver

Moby Dick by Herman Melville

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We love to hear from listeners about the books we discuss - you can connect with us on Instagram or by emailing us at [email protected].

This episode description contains links to Bookshop.org, a website that supports independent bookstores. If you use these links we may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.

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In our final episode of 2025, we talk about what our reading lives were like this year, and discuss our stand-out reads through superlatives. Listen in to hear the best page-turners, best characters, and most unexpected reads we encountered this year, to name a few!

Books Mentioned

The Margot Affair by Sanae Lemoine

Diary of a Void by Emi Yogi

The Bee Sting by Paul Murray

The Wall by Marlen Haushofer

The Days of Abandonment by Elena Ferrante

The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin

Friends of the Museum by Heather McGowan

Butter by Asako Yuzuki

The Oppermans Lion Feuchtwanger

Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier

The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai

Universality by Natasha Brown

My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante

Audition by Katie Kitamura

Heart the Lover by Lily King

Water Moon by Samantha Soto Yambao

The Old Man by the Sea by Domenico Starnone

Emma by Jane Austen

Free Food for Millionaires by Min Jin Lee

Bunny by Mona Awad

The Remembered Soldier by Anjet Daanje

Orbital by Samantha Harvey

Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

If you would like to get additional behind-the-scenes content related to this and all of our episodes, subscribe to our free email newsletter on Substack.

We love to hear from listeners about the books we discuss - you can connect with us on Instagram or by emailing us at [email protected].

This episode description contains links to Bookshop.org, a website that supports independent bookstores. If you use these links we may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Get your TBR lists ready, because in this wrap up episode we talk all about the books we read in Season 6, and then welcome David and Melissa of Strong Sense of Place for a special guest segment! They tell us about their favorite travels, settings they've loved, and unique books that have transported them. We also get into our issues with short stories, and discuss ways to get into reading them.

Books Discussed:

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

Wakenhyrst by Michelle Paver

The Stranger in the Woods by Michael Finkel

The Works: Anatomy of a City by Kate Ascher

The Last Warner Woman by Kei Miller

Elephant Complex: Travels in Sri Lanka by John Gimlette

Stoner by John Williams

The Prague Sonata by Bradford Morrow

The Godmother by Hannelore Cayre

Vintage 1954 by Antoine Laurain

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

Table for Two by Amor Towles

A Swim in a Pond in the Rain by George Saunders

Passing by Nella Larson

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon

From The Mixed Up Files of Mrs Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsberg

The Cricket in Time Square by Garth Williams

The Original by Nell Stevens

Brat Farrar by Josephine Tay

The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highswmith

The Remembered Solider by Anjet Daanje

My Family and other Rockstars by Tiffany Murphy

If you would like to get additional behind-the-scenes content related to this and all of our episodes, subscribe to our free email newsletter on Substack.

We love to hear from listeners about the books we discuss - you can connect with us on Instagram or by emailing us at [email protected].

This episode description contains links to Bookshop.org, a website that supports independent bookstores. If you use these links we may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode Neha and Shruti discuss The Museum of Innocence, by Nobel prize winner Orhan Pamuk, through themes of narcissism and honor. We discuss the idea of legacy, cultural norms and the patriarchy, and the way that the book's framing affects the way we interpret the story. Plus, we talk through the book's intriguing ending and reach new insights about what the book is trying to do, and its effect on readers.

Shelf Discovery:

Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin

My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

If you would like to get additional behind-the-scenes content related to this and all of our episodes, subscribe to our free email newsletter on Substack.

We love to hear from listeners about the books we discuss - you can connect with us on Instagram or by emailing us at [email protected].

This episode description contains links to Bookshop.org, a website that supports independent bookstores. If you use these links we may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.

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In this episode, Shruti and Neha travel to Mumbai in Rohinton Mistry's Booker shortlisted novel Such a Long Journey, through themes of forgiveness, miracles, and misfortunes. We discuss the novel's loveable and sometimes frustrating characters, the symbolism of animals, and the looming specter of death in daily life.

Books Mentioned & Shelf Discovery

A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry

Family Matters by Rohinton Mistry

The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai

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We love to hear from listeners about the books we discuss - you can connect with us on Instagram or by emailing us at [email protected].

This episode description contains links to Bookshop.org, a website that supports independent bookstores. If you use these links we may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.

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Neha and Shruti discuss the speculative novel The City We Became, a story about New York City's five avatars who must band together to defend the city from a looming enemy. We discuss our thoughts on the book's premise and structure, get into H.P Lovecraft's legacy of horror and racism, and more!

Books Mentioned & Shelf Discovery:

The Call of Cthulu by H.P. Lovecraft

Monsters: A Fan's Dilemma by Claire Dederer

Lone Women by Victor LaValle

Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff

If you would like to get additional behind-the-scenes content related to this and all of our episodes, subscribe to our free newsletter.

We love to hear from listeners about the books we discuss - you can connect with us on Instagram or by emailing us at [email protected].

This episode description contains links to Bookshop.org, a website that supports independent bookstores. If you use these links we may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.

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In this episode, Neha and Shruti discuss Zadie Smith's debut novel, White Teeth. We talk about themes of religion, inheritance, class, history, and the need for control; we explore what those 'white teeth' in the title might mean; and finally we get into our issues with the book, and discuss the genre of Hysterical Realism.

Links:

Human, All Too Inhuman by James Wood

How White Teeth transcends its many flaws

Shelf Discovery:

On Beauty by Zadie Smith

Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie

The Shadow Lines by Amitav Ghosh

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We love to hear from listeners about the books we discuss - you can connect with us on Instagram or by emailing us at [email protected].

This episode description contains links to Bookshop.org, a website that supports independent bookstores. If you use these links we may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.

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Virginia Woolf's incredible novel Mrs. Dalloway turns 100 this year! Shruti and Neha talk about this book and its themes of perception, inadequacy, memory, illness, and death. They discuss the effect of the past on the characters, the book's imperialist and pro-colonialism project, and the disappearance of the narrator.

Books Mentioned & Shelf Discovery:

On Being Ill by Virginia Woolf

Culture and Imperialism by Edward Said

The Annotated Mrs. Dalloway edited by Merve Emre

A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf

To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf

The Hours by Michael Cunningham

If you would like to get additional behind-the-scenes content related to this and all of our episodes, subscribe to our free newsletter.

We love to hear from listeners about the books we discuss - you can connect with us on Instagram or by emailing us at [email protected].

This episode description contains links to Bookshop.org, a website that supports independent bookstores. If you use these links we may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Neha and Shruti discuss Brooklyn, a historical novel about a young woman who immigrates from Ireland to America in the 1950s, through the themes of family and duty. We discuss the character of Eilis Lacey and her passivity, Tóibín's spare writing style, and the various forces pulling at the characters in this book. We also draw comparisons to Henry James, and share a few thoughts on the movie adaption.

Links:

The Coldest Place on Earth [London Review of Books]

Books Mentioned & Shelf Discovery

The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James

Washington Square by Henry James

Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano

Another Country by James Baldwin

Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

If you would like to get additional behind-the-scenes content related to this and all of our episodes, subscribe to our free newsletter.

We love to hear from listeners about the books we discuss - you can connect with us on Instagram or by emailing us at [email protected].

This episode description contains links to Bookshop.org, a website that supports independent bookstores. If you use these links we may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode we discuss Bangkok Wakes to Rain, a novel of interconnected stories set in Krung Thep (Bangkok) over several decades. We discuss how the idea of time is explored through the story, and how each character encounters displacement in their own way. We then get into a conversation about aging, beauty trends, and the afterlife, before our final Filter the Chai and Shelf Discovery segments.

Sea of Tranquility: wilderness and loneliness - Apple Podcasts | Spotify

Shelf Discovery:

The Overstory by Richard Powers

Human Acts by Han Kang

Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel

There Are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak

If you would like to get additional behind-the-scenes content related to this and all of our episodes, subscribe to our free newsletter.

We love to hear from listeners about the books we discuss - you can connect with us on Instagram or by emailing us at [email protected].

This episode description contains links to Bookshop.org, a website that supports independent bookstores. If you use these links we may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.