The Readerly Report

Gayle and Nicole talk about what they are reading, the frustration of having too many library books come in at the same time and some upcoming book-to-TV adaptations. Then they share some books that they love that are new in paperback now, just in time for beach bags and plane trips.

Books mentioned in this episode:

Golden Child by Claire Adam (Gayle’s review)
A Woman Is No Man by Etaf Rum
My Ex-Life by Stephen Macauley
Beyond The Point by Claire Gibson
Stay Up With Hugo Best by Erin Somers
Normal People by Sally Rooney
Conversations With Friends by Sally Rooney (Gayle’s review)
The Last by Hanna Jameson
The Girl He Used To Know by Tracy Garvis Graves (Gayle’s review)
A Gentleman In Moscow by Amor Towles
Tin Man by Sarah Winman (Gayle’s review)
The Only Story by Julian Barnes
The Sense Of An Ending by Julian Barnes (Gayle’s review)
There There by Tommy Orange (Gayle’s review)
The Hunger by Alma Katsu
The Taker by Alma Katsu (Nicole’s review)
Bring Me Back by B.A. Paris
Ghosted by Rosie Walsh (Gayle’s review)
An Unwanted Guest by Shari Lapena
The Aftermath by Rhidian Brook
Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng (Gayle’s review)
Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng (Gayle’s review)
The Fifth Risk by Michael Lewis
Woman 99 by Greer MacAllister (Gayle’s review)
The Wartime Sisters by Lynda Cohen Loigman (Gayle’s review)
State Of The Union by Nick Hornby

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit therestperpective.substack.com

Gayle and Nicole chat with Siobhan Jones, Editorial Director at Book of the Month, about how BOTM has transformed the reading community. We talk about how BOTM selections are picked, a bit about BOTM readers and why BOTM sticks to 5 books each month. Plus, we cover 3 backlist picks and 5 books we’re excited to read in May. If you’ve wanted to go behind the scenes at BOTM, this is the episode for you. Read our full show notes here.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit therestperpective.substack.com

Gayle and Nicole talk about female authors a lot on this show, so on this episode, they talk about why they tend to read more books written by women and also explore some of the male authors they love. They also share some backlist love for Nelly Allard and Scott Spencer. Get the full scoop in our show notes!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit therestperpective.substack.com

On this episode of The Readerly Report podcast, Gayle and Nicole talk about the myth (?) of the sophomore writing slump and our admiration for authors who can write a book while doing another job. We also talk backlist love and hold our book club discussion about The Dreamers by Karen Thompson Walker. We thought this would be a short-ish show, but it turns out that we had a lot to say!

Books/articles discussed on today’s episode:

The Myth Of The Consistently Great Writer by Carrie Mullins
Look How Happy I’m Making You by Polly Rosenwaike
Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
Blood Orange by Harriet Tyce
99 Percent Mine by Sally Thorne
The Hating Game by Sally Thorne
Cost by Roxana Robinson
Sparta by Roxana Robinson
The Silent Wife by A.S.A. Harrison
The Dreamers by Karen Thompson Walker
The Age Of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker

How are we doing?
As a big favor to us and the growth of our podcast, please take a few minutes to leave a review and/or rating for the podcast on iTunes, a comment on Soundcloud or interact wherever you listen to podcasts and talk about books. 

*Books linked above are our affiliate links. There’s no additional expense you, but if you make a purchase through us a small portion of that contributes to the costs associated with making our podcast. Thanks so much for listening and for your support!

Connect With Us
We’d love to hear from you at any and all places that you love to talk about books. You can find us at the spaces below.

Nicole Bonia: Nicole’s Website | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads
Gayle Weiswasser: Gayle’s Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram
The Readerly Report: Facebook |Instagram | (New!) Join Our Facebook Group

If you enjoy our show, books (literary fiction in particular—yay for navel gazing!), us as a collective or singly as Gayle or Nicole, please share us with your friends, family and fellow book lovers by letting them know about us. They can subscribe to The Readerly Report: iTunes|Android|Email|RSS|

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit therestperpective.substack.com

Gayle and Nicole talk to Ron Charles, book critic for The Washington Post‘s Book World, about many aspects of his reading life, from the genres he prefers to the way he structures his reading day and the books he found way overrated. We also ask the questions we’ve always wanted to know, such as who opens the 150 pieces of book mail that arrive at the Post every day.

You can find Ron’s Totally Hip Book Review Videos here.

Books mentioned on this episode:

There There by Tommy Orange
Inheritance by Dani Shapiro
When You Read This by Mary Adkins
Trust Exercise by Susan Cho
The Children Of Blood And Bone by Tomi Adeyemi
Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward
A Place For Us by Fatima Farheen Mirza
The Unfortunates by Sophie McManus
Days Of Awe by Lauren Fox
Girl In Snow by Danya Kukafka
How To Be Safe by Tom McAllister
Our Short History by Lauren Grodstein
Friend Of The Family by Lauren Grodstein
The Explanation For Everything by Lauren Grodstein
The River Of Kings by Taylor Brown
Women Talking by Miriam Toews
The Friend by Sigrid Nunez
A Separate Peace by John Knowles
The Mars Room by Rachel Kushner

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit therestperpective.substack.com

Nicole finally read Daisy Jones And The Six, and she's turning into a Taylor Jenkins Reid fan. Gayle is trying to close the book on recent stressful reads and get into some slightly less anxiety-inducing fare. Gayle and Nicole both had problems with Tara Westover's juggernaut memoir, Educated. Last seek they shared a few April reads and this week they share a few more that they're looking forward to.

Books mentioned in this podcast:

Good Talk by Mira Jacob
Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Baby Teeth by Zoje Stage
Educated by Tara Westover
Me For You by Lolly Winston
Baker Towers by Jennifer Haigh (read Gayle's review)
Claude & Camille by Stephanie Cowell (read Nicole's review)
The Red Daughter by John Burnham Schwartz
I Miss You When I Blink by Mary Laura Philpott
What My Mother And I Don't Talk About by Michele Filgate
Cape May by Chip Creek

How are we doing?
As a big favor to us and the growth of our podcast, please take a few minutes to leave a review and/or rating for the podcast on iTunes, a comment on Soundcloud or interact wherever you listen to podcasts and talk about books. 

*Books linked above are our affiliate links. There’s no additional expense you, but if you make a purchase through us a small portion of that contributes to the costs associated with making our podcast. Thanks so much for listening and for your support!

Connect With Us
We’d love to hear from you at any and all places that you love to talk about books. You can find us at the spaces below.

Nicole Bonia: Nicole’s Website | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads
Gayle Weiswasser: Gayle’s Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram
The Readerly Report: Facebook |Instagram | (New!) Join Our Facebook Group

If you enjoy our show, books (literary fiction in particular—yay for navel gazing!), us as a collective or singly as Gayle or Nicole, please share us with your friends, family and fellow book lovers by letting them know about us.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit therestperpective.substack.com

Gayle is back from Florida and picked an appropriate mix of stressful reads for a sunny beach vacation. Find out what’s stressing her out so much. They also catch up on what Nicole has been reading, share a few new early April releases and crown the winner of the March Book Madness bracket challenge.

Books mentioned in this podcast:

Everything Here is Beautiful by Mira T. Lee
American Marriage by Tayari Jones
Adele by Leila Slimani
The Perfect Nanny by Leila Slimani
Golden Child by Claire Adam
A Place For Us by Fatima Farheen Mirza
Baby Teeth by Zoje Stage
And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
Educated by Tara Westover
Murder On The Orient Express by Agatha Christie
Where The Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
Looker by Laura Sims
Professor Chandra Follows His Bliss by Rajeev Balasubramanyam
The Care And Feeding Of Ravenously Hungry Girls by Anissa Gray
The Dreamers by Karen Thompson Walker
The Farm by Joanne Ramos
A Wonderful Stroke Of Luck Ann Beattie
The Editor by Steven Rowley
The Last by Hannah Jameson

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit therestperpective.substack.com

It’s the end of March, so Gayle and Nicole take stock of the reading they’ve done so far this year, now that it’s one-quarter over. They also check in on various reading challenges and see how those are coming along. They are at Round 3 of the March Book Madness competition! We narrow our matchups down to the final two. Who will win?

[Halfway through the show, they also held their book club discussion about Michelle Obama’s memoir, Becoming, one of their favorite books of the year. They talk about how the book was written, the stories and images we found most memorable, our favorite section, and whether Michelle’s book changed our opinions of Barack. (Spoiler alert: they still love both of them.)]

Books mentioned:

Inheritance by Dani Shapiro
When You Read This by Mary Adkins
Adele by Leila Slimani
Trust Exercise by Susan Choi
Educated by Tara Westover
Where The Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
The Girl On The Train by Paula Hawkins
Everything Here Is Beautiful by Mira T. Lee
An American Marriage by Tayari Jones
The Stars Are Fire by Anita Shreve
The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai
Our Souls At Night by Kent Haruf
The Dreamers by Karen Thompson Walker
There There by Tommy Orange
Tin Man by Sarah Winman
The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit therestperpective.substack.com

 This week, Gayle and Nicole talk about the upcoming spring books that they are most excited about reading. There are a lot! And there’s something for everyone on this list. We also reveal our upcoming book club schedule.

Books mentioned in this episode:

Woman 99 by Greer Macallister
Tin Man by Sarah Winman
Inheritance by Dani Shapiro
Elsey Come Home by Susan Conley
The Hunting Party byLucy Foley
The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
Unraveling Oliver by Liz Nugent
Here, Now and Then by Mike Chen
Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
One True Loves by Taylor Jenkins Reid
After I Do by Taylor Jenkins Reid
The Wall by John Lanchester
Sing To It by Amy Hempel
White Elephant by Julie Langsdorf
Women Talking by Miriam Toews
 The Unlikely Adventures of the Shergill Sisters by Balli Kaur Jaswal
The Girl He Used To Know by Tracy Garvis Graves
 

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit therestperpective.substack.com

We’re already at Round II of the Readerly Report March Book Madness competition! (See and  listen to Round I if you missed it) This week, we’re down to 4 book matchups, and we predict some major disagreements between us regarding which ones should advance. Are we still friends in the end, or is this the final episode of the Readerly Report podcast? And most important, did we make the right choices?

BOOKS MENTIONED IN THIS PODCAST:

The Girl On The Train  by Paula Hawkins
Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld
Waiting For Eden by Elliot Ackerman
Everything Here Is Beautiful by Mira T. Lee
An American Marriage by Tayari Jones
The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai
The Stars Are Fire by Anita Shreve
Dept of Speculation by Jenny Offil

*Books linked above are our affiliate links. There’s no additional expense you, but if you make a purchase through us a small portion of that contributes to the costs associated with making our podcast. Thanks so much for listening and for your support!

Connect With Us
We’d love to hear from you at any and all places that you love to talk about books. You can find us at the spaces below.

Nicole Bonia: Nicole’s Website | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads
Gayle Weiswasser: Gayle’s Website | Twitter | Facebook
The Readerly Report: Facebook |Instagram | (New!) Join Our Facebook Group

If you enjoy our show, books (literary fiction in particular—yay for navel gazing!), us as a collective or singly as Gayle or Nicole, please share us with your friends, family and fellow book lovers by letting them know about us. They can subscribe to The Readerly Report: iTunes|Android|Email|RSS|

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit therestperpective.substack.com