The Readerly Report

This week, Gayle and Nicole talk about books set in foreign places— especially those that are evocative of place— and how that enhances or changes the reading experience. Mari Partyka, a passionate reader, intrepid traveler and longtime friend of The Readerly Report joins us, and comes prepared with book recommendations!

Books mentioned in this podcast:

The Secret Lives Of Baba Segi’s Wives by Lola Shoneyin
The Dinner List by Rebecca Searle
A Long Way Home by Ishmael Beah
The Night Olivia Fell by Christina McDonald
Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight
Looker by Laura Sims
The Girls at 17 Swann Street by Yara Zgheib
The Secrets Between Us by Thrity Umrigar
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
American Marriage by Tayari Jones
Belonging by Nora Krug
The Italian Party Christina Lynch
Tangerine by Christine Mangan
State of Wonder by Ann Patchett
Hausfrau by Jill Alexander Essbaum
Do Not Become Alarmed by Maile Meloy
Killing It by Camas Davis
Stay With Me by Ayobami Adebayo
My Sister The Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite
The Paris Wife by Paula McLain
Love And Ruin by Paula McLain

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 are so excited to announce the first ever Readerly Report March Book Madness competition!

Here’s how this works:

It’s March, so we’re all thinking about bracket competitions, close calls and eliminations. We’ve started out the Readerly Report bracket with 16 books of fiction – each of which we’ve both read – and we’re going to be putting these books head to head while we whittle the 16 down to the best book that we’ve both read.

Over three episodes of the Readerly Report podcast, we’ll discuss the merits of the competing books and decide the victor. Here are the criteria by which we’re judging the books: 1) was it an engrossing reading experience all the way through?; 2) was the subject matter relevant and timely?; and 3) has the book held up over time since we read it, and do we think it will continue to do so?

We want to hear what you think! Please comment on the blog, Facebook, Facebook Group, Instagram, etc. and let us know if we got it right – or if you think we let the wrong books advance.

Here are the Round 1 Matchups:

The Girl On The Train vs Best Day Ever

Mary B. vs Eligible

Waiting For Eden vs. The Confusion Of Languages

The Leavers vs Everything Here Is Beautiful

That Kind Of Mother vs American Marriage

The Female Persuasion vs The Great Believers

Stay With Me vs The Stars Are Fire

Dept of Speculation vs American Housewife

To find out who makes it out of Round 1, listen to the podcast.

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 dark book-based dramas on various TV networks, particularly Caroline Kepnes’ You (Lifetime and Netflix) and and Teddy Wayne’s Loner (HBO). Then we get into our favorite vacation reading experiences – books we’ve read when we were away, and why they’ve stayed with us. Does the place we read books impact how we enjoy them?

Can You Ever Forgive Me? by Lee Israel
The Ones We Choose by Julie Clark
The Wartime Sisters by Linda Cohen Loigman
Tin Man by Sarah Winman
Talent by Juliet Lapidos
City of Thieves by David Benioff
Trespass by Rose Tremain
The Vacationers & Modern Lovers by Emma Straub
The Lemon Grove by Helen Walsh
Labor Day & Under The Influence by Joyce Maynard
The Breakdown, Behind Closed Doors & Bring Me Back by B.A. Paris
The Last Mrs. Parrish by Liv Constantine
The Book of Essie by Meghan MacLean Weir
The Passenger by Lisa Lutz
Girls Burn Brighter by Shobha Rao
The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen
Girls In White Dresses by Jennifer Close
Girl In Translation, Mambo In Chinatown & Searching For Sylvie Lee by Jean Kwok
The Editor by Stephen Rowley
People Who Knew Me by Kim Hooper
The Lost History of Dreams by Kris Waldherr

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

A new month means new reads, and they all seem to be coming out on March 5! There are a ton of books coming out that day that Gayle and Nicole want to read, and they discuss them on this week’s show. They also talk about locked-room mysteries, which are all the rage right now, and Nicole guilts Gayle into giving up on a disappointing audiobook.

Books mentioned:

The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley
Nine Perfect Strangers by Lianne Moriarty
An Unwanted Guest by Shari Lapena
No Exit  by Taylor Adams
Becoming by Michelle Obama
The Dinner List by Rebecca Serle
The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers
The Aftermath by Rhidian Brook
The Good Liar by Nicholas Searle
The Real Michael Swann by Bryan Reardon
The New Me by Halle Butler
The Altruists by Andrew Ridker
Baby Of The Family by Maura Roosevelt
The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths
Woman 99 by Greer Macallister
Before She Knew Him by Peter Swanson
Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
In Another Time by Jillian Cantor
Place For Us by Fatima Farheen Mirza
The Only Story by Julian Barnes
The Cook by Maylis de Kerengaal
Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams

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

After teasing the start of having guest for the last several episodes, we come through. Today we chat with Catherine from The Gilmore Guide to Books about the book industry's obsession with generic women roles in their titles.

Our Reading List

Becoming by Michelle Obama
Hungover: The Morning After & One Man’s Quest For The Cure by Shaughnessy Bishop-Stall
Life Moves Pretty Fast: The Lessons We Learn From Eighties Movies (and Why We Don’t Learn Them From Movies Any More) by Hadley Freeman
 The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls by Annisa Gray
 Feminasty: The Complicated Woman’s Guide to Surviving the Patriarchy Without Drinking Herself to Death by Erin Gibson
Unmarriageable by Sonia Kamal
Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen
Eligible: A Modern Retelling of Pride & Prejudice by Curtis Sittenfeld
The Inspector Linley series by Elizabeth George
Duncan Kincaid/ Gemma James series by Deborah Crombie
Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series by Louise Penny
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
 The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah
The Seduction of Water by Carol Goodman
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
The Girl On The Train by Paula Hawkins
The Wife Between Us & An Anonymous Girl by Greer Hendricks &

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 discuss current bookish news items, the majority of which are scandal free. They also talk about their current reads, and recommend some of theist books about the black experience in America, a topic they quickly find that they might need a second show to do justice to the topic.

New books entering the public domain, which now includes works published in or prior to 1923.

Gayle is moderating an author pane on March 14th at Kramer Books in Washington, DC. Come out and say hi!

Gayle did a  Galentine’s Day Swap in the Spivey Book Facebook Group, and she’s still waiting to find out what she got!

WHAT WE’RE READING

Becoming by Michelle Obama
The Wartime Sisters by Lynda Cohen Loigman
Here and Now and Then by Mike Chen

THE BLACK EXPERIENCE IN FICTION & NONFICTION

Becoming by Michelle Obama
Real American by Julie Lythcott-Haims
Sag Harbor by Colson Whitehead
Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones
Leaving Atlanta by Tayari Jones
Black Is The Body: Stories From My Grandmother’s Time, My Mother’s Time and Mineby Emily Bernard
 Never Look An American In The Eye: A Memoir of Flying Turtles, Colonial Ghosts, and the Making of a Nigerian American by Okey Ndibe
Underground Airlines by Ben H. Winters
The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
Green by Sam Graham-Felson
Jump At The Sun by Kim McClari

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 attempt to discuss the romance books they've read over the year. Gayle has read some recent ones, but Nicole had to go further into her backlist to turn up some appropriate titles. Also what they're reading, Gayle's library woes and current literary scandals.

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 are reunited and eager to catch up with each other and all of you. They fill you inn on what they've been reading and also share some books that suggest emerging trends for 2019. Nicole notes that Gayle is trending toward light hearted contemporary fiction and romance novels. Things that make you go...hmmm.

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 reading challenges. Gayle has created one of her own and Nicole has discovered a few more that she wants to try out. Plus. they discuss new books in paperback to get your hands on.

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 discuss DNA Tests, what they've been reading and some of the tempting books that are coming out in January 2019.

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