What Should I Read Next?

Happy 2017, listeners! We have a DYNAMIC episode to kick off the WSIRN New Year. Today’s guest is Melissa Joulwan. If you already know Melissa, it’s probably as the author of her popular cookbooks (and Bogel Family favorites) Well Fed, Well Fed 2, and Well Fed Weeknights. But that’s just the beginning of her bio, which is one of the most interesting you'll ever read. She’s a retired Roller Girl. Prague is her favorite city. Duran Duran is her favorite band. And her life is also made better by her husband Dave, sports movies, leopard print, lousy truck stop (decaf) coffee, bear crawl, and Jane Eyre. 

Click over to the podcast website for the full list of titles discussed in this episode, and leave us a comment to let us know what YOU think Melissa should read next!

Connect with Melissa: Website | Twitter | Instagram

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Our guest this week is Danielle Mayfield. Danielle lives in Portland, OR with her husband and two small children. You may know her as the author of Assimilate or Go Home: Notes from a Failed Missionary on Rediscovering Faith,a book of essays that was recently released by HarperOne.

Danielle often writes about heavy hitting topics like refugees, theology, and downward mobility, but today she and Anne are running away from the heavy stuff and are searching for good comfort reads instead. They're chatting about literary baby names, the wildly differing opinions people have about what makes a book "escapist", and book scenes so jarring they had to set them aside... forever. 

Click over to the podcast website for the full list of titles discussed in this episode, and leave us a comment to let us know what YOU think Danielle should read next!

Connect with Danielle: Website | Twitter | Facebook

Connect with Anne: Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | WSIRN Instagram

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Today's guest is Jamie Durham, a full-time missionary living in Tijuana, Mexico. Jamie and her well-traveled family of 5 have to cross an international border to get to a their nearest library! In this episode, Jamie and Anne dive into how this unconventional setup changes the way Jamie approaches her to-be-read list, the dreaded "you have hit your hold limit" library message, reading difficult literature as a Highly Sensitive Person, and more! 

Click over to the podcast website for the full list of titles discussed in this episode, and leave us a comment to let us know what YOU think Jamie should read next!

Connect with Anne: Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | WSIRN Instagram   

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Today’s guest is Shaney Swift, a massage therapist and social justice advocate from Chicago, Illinois. If you’ve been around What Should I Read Next for a while, you know Anne can be a bit of a personality-type geek, and Shaney shares that enthusiasm -- so prepare for a lot of nerding out! Today Anne and Shaney discuss scanning and deep-diving reading styles, books that help us understand our differences, and what to read next when you feel like your life is in limbo. 

Click over to the podcast website for the full list of titles discussed in this episode, and leave us a comment to let us know what YOU think Shaney should read next!

Connect with Shaney: Twitter | Instagram!

Connect with Anne: Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | WSIRN Instagram   

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This is a WSIRN first— a repeat guest! Today Anne chats with friend of the show and bookstore owner Holland Saltsman about everything you didn't know you wanted to know about opening an independent bookstore, how to support indies this holiday season, the best three books we each read this year, and their favorite bookish gifts for this holiday season (and all year 'round.) We hope you enjoy this episode, and get a ton of great holiday gift ideas for the readers in your life.

Click over to the podcast website for the full list of titles discussed in this episode, and leave us a comment to let us know what books you're gifting this year!

Check out The Novel Neighbor website, and follow them on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook. 

Connect with Anne: Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | WSIRN Instagram   

If you want to find EVEN MORE great new gift-worthy titles, check out the Fall Releases episode of WSIRN in which Holland and Anne gushed about all the new treasures that hit bookshelves recently. And don't miss the full MMD 2016 Gift Guide for Book Lovers.

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Around here, we don’t think you need an excuse to love Jane Austen, but boy does today's guest Rebecca Smith have a great one -- she is Jane Austen's great great great great great niece! Rebecca is a longtime reader, a former writer in residence at Jane Austen’s House Museum in Chawton, and she currently teaches creative writing in the U.K. She’s the author of Jane Austen's Guide to Modern Life's Dilemmas and the recently published book The Jane Austen Writer’s Club. 

Click over to the podcast website for the full list of titles discussed in this episode, and leave us a comment to let us know what YOU think Rebecca should read next!

Connect with Rebecca: Bloomsbury webpage | Twitter

Connect with Anne: Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | WSIRN Instagram  

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Today we're back to literary matchmaking, with listener Melodee Skiles here to representing all the avid audiobook lovers who want to know what to LISTEN to next! 

Melodee is a stay-at-home mom who owns an online literature tutorial business. Books are (clearly) her bag, and while she's taking a short break from tutoring, she wants to revitalize her love of literature by reading outside the bounds of the texts she teaches at work. Like many of us, some of Melodee's warmest memories are of her parents reading aloud to her, so today she and Anne are delving into what her favorites have been, what her least favorites have been, and what brilliant audiobook discoveries are right around the corner. (Wink, wink.)

Click over to the podcast website for the full list of titles discussed in this episode, and leave us a comment to let us know what YOU think Melodee should read next!

Connect with Anne: Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | WSIRN Instagram   

WSIRN highly recommends Audible as an accessible, bountiful resource for audiobooks online. Right now, you can get your first audiobook FREE, along with a free 30-day trial. Go to http://www.audibletrial.com/ReadNext to get your free download.

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Here to help close out the Reading For A Lifetime week is Jenny Williams, who illustrates beloved literary heroines for a living as the charming artist and entrepreneur behind Carrot Top Paper Shop.

In this episode, Anne and Jenny talk all about why we love our literary heroines of literature so much (think Anne, Elizabeth, Jane, Hermione), wrestle with what makes for a modern heroine.

Click over to the podcast website for the full list of titles discussed in this episode, and leave us a comment to let us know about your own favorite literary heroines!

Connect with Jenny: Instagram | Twitter | Goodreads!

Check out Carrot Top Paper Shop: Facebook | Pinterest | Instagram.

Connect with Anne: Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | WSIRN Instagram  

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It's Day 4 of our special Reading For A Lifetime series on WSIRN, and if our comment section has made one thing known, it's this: Adults LOVE Kid Lit. Not just for kids, not just in a theoretical sense, but in honest-to-goodness, just-for-the-joy-of-it, everyday-reading-life practice.

The guest here to chat with Anne about reading KidLit for fun? The beloved and oft-requested Gretchen Rubin! You all know her as the author of The Happiness Project, Happier at Home, and Better than Before, but what you mightnot know is Gretchen is a voracious reader of children's literature who is a member of THREE book clubs dedicated solely to children's lit!

In this episode, Gretchen and Anne explore how Kid Lit transcends age group, why you should giving yourself permission to indulge in books written for children, how to find other adults with the same passion, and then they drop a blue million great book recommendations on you. Ready your TBRs, readers. 

Click over to the podcast website for the full list of titles discussed in this episode, and leave us a comment to let us know what kidlit titles you have loved reading as an adult!

Connect with Gretchen: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

Connect with Anne: Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | WSIRN Instagram  

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Day 3 of our special Reading For A Lifetime series is all about "guilty pleasure" kid lit - the series we read and re-read not because they were Great Literature, but because they were gosh-darn fun!

Here to talk about not-so-serious gateway children's literature are Jack Shepherd and Tanner Greenring, hosts of The Babysitters Club Club podcast. They each have their own story of how they found the series, and why—as thirty-something men—they've chosen to devote a large chunk of their time and attention to the books.

In this episode Anne, Jack, and Tanner dive into what this series means to readers of all ages, why these books have such staying power, which babysitter they most identify with, and what Jack and Tanner are reading when they're not reading The Babysitters Club.

Click over to the podcast website for the full list of titles discussed in this episode, and leave us a comment to let us know if your childhood favorites foretold the genres you enjoy now as an adult.

Connect with Jack: Twitter

Connect with Tanner: Twitter

Check out The Babysitters Club Club: iTunes, follow the show on Twitterand Facebook

Connect with Anne: Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | WSIRN Instagram   

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