[00:00:00] MEREDITH AMADEE: She seems to like the books that I recommend, often the books that I hear on this podcast. And she kept encouraging me to start a book club. And I just, you know, kept waffling on it, and it was coming up on her birthday, and I usually buy her a book for her birthday. And she said, "Well, why don't you start me a book club for my birthday?" And I was like, "Okay."
ANNE BOGEL: The gift that keeps on giving.
MEREDITH: Exactly. We say that almost every meeting.
ANNE: Hey readers, I'm Anne Bogel, and this is What Should I Read Next?. Welcome to the show that's dedicated to answering the question that plagues every reader, what should I read next? We don't get bossy on this show. What we will do here is give you the information you need to choose your next read. Every week we'll talk all things books and reading and do a little literary matchmaking with one guest.
[00:01:00] Readers, we've recently restocked our shop with our popular totes and hats. We've added some great new items this year to like our journals. And of course, you can always find t-shirts, copies of my books that are always signed when you order from us, great stickers, buttons, and more.
If you're thinking of ordering for yourself or your favorite reader, we want to make sure you get your orders in time for any gifting deadlines. So please place those orders as soon as you can. We are a small team and handle all the order fulfillment ourselves. So when you order early, that really helps us. Thank you in advance.
Check out what's new and what's back in stock at modernmrsdarcy.com/shop. If you're not sure where to start, my personal recommendations are our beautiful ampersand custom journals. I use these myself. They're so great. My current one is port red, but I want all the colors. We have our pretty and popular Well Read hats, which looking at other prices out there online, I also think are a fabulous value. And then we have our crowd pleasing ultra soft bookstore concert teas. Those three things are a great place to start. But you can check it all out at modernmrsdarcy.com/shop.
[00:02:09] Readers, we have a major milestone coming up in the new year, and we would love to feature your stories and voices as part of our celebration. We've learned through the years how much you love listening to any episodes that feature my or my team's favorite or best books. And for our 10th, we're planning this kind of episode, but featuring your favorite best and most memorable titles. Would you please tell us what they are so we can feature your voice?
For the next two weeks, please give us a call and tell us about a favorite book that you found through What Should I Read Next?. Maybe it was an entirely new-to-you title or a conversation with a guest happened to push it from your "maybe I'll read that one day" list onto your actual read it right now reading pile, and you loved it. Whatever the story is, we want to hear about your literary superlatives that you found through the show. We hope you'll participate.
[00:03:02] Here's how. Please call us at 5026270663 and leave us a short voicemail. Take a minute and tell us all about a book you're so happy you found and that you found through What Should I Read Next?. If you remember the episode, we would love to hear that too. Please call from a quiet place so we can hear everything you have to say and our listeners can hear you well on the show.
We can't wait to hear about your literary discoveries. I really have no idea what titles you might choose and my team and I cannot wait to hear what you have to say. I know I'm not alone. Please give us a call at 5026270663 and leave us a message please by November 23rd.
We'll include as many as we possibly can. We'll jam them into this episode. But please know that even if your message doesn't make our final episode for time reasons, our team is listening to and appreciative of each and every one. Thank you for listening. Thanks for helping us get to our 10th anniversary and thanks in advance for being a part of this special episode.
[00:04:02] Readers, today I'm talking with a devoted reader who's come to the show, not seeking recommendations for herself, but instead looking for guidance on selecting great bookish gifts for the season to come and hopefully picking up some recommendations that will be perfect for the readers in her life.
Meredith Amadee lives in Tucson, Arizona, where she works as a wedding photographer and hosts a book club that's come to play a big part in her life. Every year, this book club hosts a book exchange for its members.
This year Meredith is hoping to find perfect backlist selections for her fellow members and is looking for help in choosing the specific titles and also thinking more broadly about what is it that makes a good literary gift. My hope is that this conversation about bookish gifts giving might be just the inspiration and empowerment you need for the readers in your life. Let's get to it.
Meredith, welcome to the show.
MEREDITH: Thank you so much, Anne. I am smiling so big. I'm so happy to be here.
[00:05:00] ANNE: Well, I'm so excited to talk books today and book clubs and bookish gifts, all the fun things.
MEREDITH: Yay! Well, let's start with you. Meredith, would you give our readers a glimpse of who you are?
MEREDITH: Yeah. I am a woman in my 30s in Tucson, Arizona, the Sonoran Desert. I grew up in Arizona in Phoenix and came down to Tucson, which is an hour and a half away, if you're not familiar with Arizona, for college.
I am a photographer, so I work as a wedding photographer full-time. My husband and I — I'm married — we are very involved in our community here, in our church and town. I feel just continually really blessed to have friends and good community in my 30s. I feel like that is hard. So, yeah, I'm really community-oriented.
[00:05:55] Work takes a lot of my time, and it's quite a high-pressure job. So when I do have time to engage in hobbies, books are the first thing that I turn to. I also enjoy things like lifting weights and being physically strong, things that help me feel good, spending time outdoors on hikes and just enjoying nature when the Southern Arizona weather permits, of course.
ANNE: You say, of course. And I mean, of course, I know a little, but I've never been to Arizona.
MEREDITH: Oh, Anne, you have to come. You have to come for the Tucson Festival of Books.
ANNE: Oh my gosh, I'd love to. I've heard such good things. And I know you have a personal connection there.
MEREDITH: Yeah, it's been three years now. I got connected with a group of women who helped run the Tucson Festival of Books. They're actually called the Tucson Tome Gnomes. I want to give them a little shout out. I really want them to come on your podcast, actually, because I think they'd be great guests.
[00:06:53] But every month, I believe, they purchase, I don't know, maybe like 20 books or more, and they hide them around Tucson and send people on little scavenger hunts. Like a Sunday morning, they'll start taking pictures and posting them on their Instagram account, and people will go find the books. And it's just a cool way to spread bookish joy.
Anyway, the women in this little collective are also a part of the fiction section of the Tucson Festival of Books. And one of them used to work at a local bookstore here that I frequent. And she reached out to me and said, "I know you run a book club. I know you're a bookish person. Would you be interested in moderating some talks at the Tucson Festival of Books?"
The first time I moderated was the first time I actually ever attended the book festival. And it was insane. I still feel like I haven't been able to fully experience it, just because it's a two-day event, and when you're working it, it's hard to really immerse yourself in it, too.
[00:07:53] But this year, I took the weekend off, because it also is during my wedding season. So I took the weekend off. I'm saying no to work. And I'm just going to go. I will be moderating at least one talk, I think. But I will be attending with my book club. And we're really excited.
ANNE: Oh, that sounds so fun. The Tucson Festival is definitely on my wish list. Meredith, tell me more about your reading life. How does that fit into your life in this season for you?
MEREDITH: Like many listeners, I fell in love with reading at a young age. I was a really imaginative kid and often retreated into myself for comfort. And so reading was the perfect escape. I remember walking around with just stacks of picture books, going to the library and just sitting in the stacks and reading.
Once I got to high school and college, I feel like most people, reading kind of took a backseat, because I was reading a lot for school, and you know, it kind of took the fun out of it.
[00:08:54] But was always super interested in whatever buzzy book came out. For me, it was the Hunger Games or Twilight or whatever. But then as an adult, my reading life picked up when a friend of mine suggested the Shadow of the Wind books to me, the Cemetery of Forgotten Books series. This really sparked my adult reading journey.
Now, thank you to your podcast and probably maybe one other, but mostly yours, let's be real, I always have books on hand. I have, you know, my hundreds of physical books in my house and just my never-ending digital list of TBRs. So, yeah, reading is just an escape for me. It was when I was a kid, and it is now. It's a way to find comfort and stress.
I have found that as a photographer, as an artist, reading is also a really beautiful way for me to connect with stories in another media. I have learned that about myself, that I just really love stories, whether that's in music, in photography, in any other physical art, in books and movies. So yeah, reading is just a direct way I can engage with those stories and also talk about them with people, which is the next level of fun.
[00:10:16] ANNE: I love that. Stories in all the mediums. Which is actually media, right?
MEREDITH: Yes. Yeah, you're right.
ANNE: That sounds weird. That sounds weird. At book club, we wouldn't care about using the proper word. We'd care about being understood.
MEREDITH: Okay, good. Because I probably won't.
ANNE: Meredith, we're not literary matchmaking for you on this episode, but I did still ask you to bring three books you love and one you don't, just to build out the picture of who you are as a reader and as a book club leader. Can we talk about those now?
MEREDITH: Of course. Yeah. I wouldn't say these are like my favorites of all time. I know whenever everyone comes on the podcast, you can kind of pick and choose between, do I want to choose my three favorites, do I want to just choose the three I've loved this year? Which is pretty much what I did. And I also, you know, kind of finagled it to think, what hasn't Anne talked about on the podcast?
[00:11:07] ANNE: Look, if y'all are sending in a submission to be on What Should I Read Next?, that's not a bad strategy.
MEREDITH: Yes. As someone who has sent in many and became chosen, I was very excited that my strategy worked.
ANNE: Well, when you are choosing three books you love and when you don't, you do get to make the rules as a reader. Okay. What are your rules, Meredith? So books that you knew hadn't been on the podcast much.
MEREDITH: Yeah. The first one I chose was Ordinary Time by Annie B. Jones, another bookish podcast host.
ANNE: Yes. And a What Should I Read Next? alum will link her episodes and show notes if y'all want to listen.
MEREDITH: In this house, Anne and Annie are both my book saints.
ANNE: Aw, I'm honored.
MEREDITH: So I just want you guys to know that. So yeah. I had heard about her book obviously from her podcast, but I really appreciated her reflections on laying down roots.
[00:12:03] Ordinary Time, Lessons Learned While Staying Put is the title. So she's talking a lot about what it has looked like for her as an adult to lay down roots in a small town, to immerse herself in the community in a small town as a small business owner, as opposed to maybe pursuing that big dream of moving to New York and having that like you've got mail kind of life storyline.
So as someone that is very passionate about community and passionate about laying down roots, and that being such an integral part in finding community, I knew that this would be a book that would interest me. And I was very pleasantly surprised at the many layers of interest.
We're both small business owners. I don't run a store, but I do run a business. And so hearing her reflections on that, and just what it takes to be an administrator and be a boss was really cool to read about. Reading about when your family doesn't look the way you thought it might, wrestling with faith and community were really beautiful reflections.
[00:13:11] ANNE: All right. Well, thanks for bringing that to the podcast. Meredith, this is about what you love, not what I love. But I will say, I thought this was such a lovely book. I blurbed this one and I had to find my blurb. I said that it feels like a long conversation with a good friend about the things in life that matter most. The kind of talk that leaves you feeling both grounded and inspired.
MEREDITH: It did. It was that. Yeah.
ANNE: I'm so glad.
MEREDITH: I read it on my swing outside. I have an outside swing, a little glider that I sit on. Again, when the weather permits, I took her inspiration and I sat on my swing and I read this book.
ANNE: That sounds lovely. Meredith, what's the second book you love?
MEREDITH: It's a Love Story by Annabel Monaghan. This is the third book of hers that I've read. I am not a completist, but I have enjoyed the majority of her books.
This is a lovely summer romance, I would say. The two main characters work in the movie production world, and the characters felt very relatable and flawed. We get a lot of insight into the mental health struggles that the main character goes through.
[00:14:24] It is a romance. So without spoiling it, you know, you kind of know what's going to happen at the end of a romance.
ANNE: You do. You do. It's all about the journey.
MEREDITH: Yeah. I think what really stuck out to me is the male main character's family was this really big family.
ANNE: Now I'm smiling.
MEREDITH: Yeah. I read this while in my pool at my parents' house and just had the most lovely time reflecting on... I came from a smaller family, I only have one sibling, but I grew up going to my friends' houses that had a lot of siblings, and it was just so fun for me. And this brought me right back there.
I love that not only were the main characters falling in love, but the female main character really had the opportunity to immerse herself in his family and find comfort and safety there, which was pretty instrumental to her growth.
[00:15:20] So that aspect in particular just really hooked me and made me feel very warm and cozy while reading this book. And it was just lovely and cute. And their chemistry was cute. All the things you like about a good romance.
ANNE: Love it. It worked for you. Meredith, what's the third book you love?
MEREDITH: The Favorites by Layne Fargo. This is one... I actually don't know if it has been talked about on the podcast.
ANNE: It has not.
MEREDITH: I found it through Book of the Month. When I heard about this book, I heard it compared to Carrie Soto and Daisy Jones by Taylor Jenkins Reid. I heard it said that it was almost like a combination of the two because it has this documentary approach. It has this approach of looking back on events that happened in this really high stress, high tension world, which is Olympic figure skating. And it also has to do with a very technical sport.
[00:16:16] So you do learn a lot about figure skating, which I found fascinating and just really cool. And still coming off the high of the Summer Olympics from last year, I just wanted to continue to immerse myself in that world.
But it's a super fast paced, plotty book, and it follows this duo, this figure skating couple who they grew up together as kids. And they grow in their talents and in their relationship with each other. They're pulling each other in different directions. It just follows them for about 10 years and takes you through their life as figure skaters and what their journey morphs and changes into as different people come into their life, different coaches, as they go to different facilities to train, as they go through the different Olympic games. There's a lot of drama. There's a lot of intrigue. It's very plotty. It's very fast paced. I think I read it in two days. It was a great summer book.
[00:17:22] I love what's described on the front. To the world they were a scandal to each other, and obsession. It sounds super scandalous.
ANNE: That's punchy.
MEREDITH: It is. It is. Yeah. But it was just so fun. And after reading it, I was like, yeah, this could have been written by Taylor Jenkins Reid, but it wasn't. It was written by Layne Fargo. So shout out Layne Fargo.
ANNE: This was enthusiastically described to me by several readers and I gave it a try on audio and didn't stick it out long enough to really get hooked on the story. But if you told me I was going to learn a lot about figure skating, I mean, that's the kind of thing I think I could really get into. I'm intrigued.
MEREDITH: Yeah. It very much felt like Carrie Soto and also like Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow from the perspective of... it's a lot about video games, but it isn't just about video games. Like this is obviously about figure skaters, so you're going to learn a lot. But I knew nothing really about figure skating before going into this.
[00:18:18] And afterwards I was on YouTube watching videos of the duos that this book was so-called inspired by and like, are they still together? How do they perform such emotional figure dances and not be in love? I don't understand that. It was fun to immerse myself in that world for a little bit.
ANNE: Thank you, Layne Fargo.
MEREDITH: Yes.
ANNE: All right, Meredith, now can you tell us about a book that wasn't right for you?
MEREDITH: Yeah. To preface, which I feel like everyone always prefaces when they're describing the book that they didn't like or didn't work for them, this one, I didn't necessarily not like it. I think I still gave it like three and a half stars, which is still generous for me, I think. It just didn't work. That was James by Percival Everett.
This was a pick that we read for my book club. And like I said, it wasn't that I didn't like it. I think it just didn't meet the expectations that I had going into it. Obviously, this book had a lot of well-deserved hype. It won awards because of its wonderful writing. And I still think it deserves all that. So I want to preface... I don't want to put disrespect on Percival Everett's name, essentially.
[00:19:30] But I hadn't read Huck Finn. And I think the way that it was written, it almost read to me like a screenplay. It felt kind of devoid of emotion. And I think once I reflected on that, it almost felt like the author wrote it that way without a lot of fluff and without a lot of just superfluous wording, just to show the drama and the atrocity of the events that were happening in the book.
But to me, without that emotion, it kept me as a reader at a distance and made me feel just not as connected to the characters and not as connected to the plot as a whole. And I think again, because I didn't have that background with Huck Finn, the things that were supposed to hit really hard didn't hit as hard because I just didn't understand the gravity of them, if that makes sense. But still think it deserves all of its flowers. It just didn't work for me.
[00:20:27] ANNE: That's so interesting. Now I'm wondering how my experience was different having listened to the audio. Okay, Meredith, thanks for giving us a picture of what you enjoy as a reader. Now we want to talk about your book club.
MEREDITH: Yay!
ANNE: What brings you to What Should I Read Next? today?
MEREDITH: My hope in coming on the podcast was to talk about my book club, to get some ideas for books that I can gift to individual book club members, as well as to potentially talk about some books that Anne might consider good fits for us to read as a club together.
ANNE: Okay. You mentioned in your submission that your book club started as a gift to your best friend, one of your best friends. What's the story there?
MEREDITH: I am the book pusher in my friend group. Just in general, I would say, I'm not the only one in my close circle of friends that reads, but I'm probably one of the people that reads the most. And I feel like I want everyone to be on my level when it's just not realistic for them.
[00:21:36] So my desire for creating the book club was to have an opportunity to be around people that wanted to not only read with me, but discuss the books, discuss the stories. So this was during the thick of the pandemic, I was really toying with "I want to start this book club. I don't really want to do it on Zoom. When would be a good time?"
Because of my job, I am online a lot and interact with people online that I don't necessarily know in real life, or just maybe know peripherally. So I reached out to people online, just kind of asked the question, like, "If I started a book club, who would want to be a part of it?" And I got a lot of responses. I think people were really craving community in the midst of the shutdown.
So in February 2022 is when we officially started. And I have this particular friend who she does read quite a bit. I have always recommended her books, we have similar reading tastes. So she seems to like the books that I recommend, often the books that I hear on this podcast. And she kept encouraging me to start a book club, and I just, you know, kept waffling on it.
[00:22:51] And it was coming up on her birthday, and I usually buy her a book for her birthday, and she said, "Well, why don't you start me a book club for my birthday?" And I was like, "Okay."
ANNE: The gift that keeps on giving.
MEREDITH: Exactly. We say that almost every meeting. So, yeah, it was a silly little thing, but also just a really fun way to start what's become this really beautiful bookish community for me and for the people in it.
So yeah, we started in February 2022. The first book that we read was The Sentence by Louise Erdrich, which I will always have a special place in my heart. It ended up being a pretty unanimously beloved book, especially reading that pretty soon after the COVID-19 pandemic and all that went down during that time. So yeah, what started as a gift to a friend has been a way for me to connect with readers in an intentional way. I have now since invited friends that I know in real life, invited some of those people who reached out to me on Instagram, some people that I hadn't met before.
[00:24:03] What's also been fun is a couple former brides that I have photographed their weddings and known that they enjoyed reading as well, they are now part of the book club and we've been able to stay in each other's lives and have now become friends. So it's become just a really beautiful group that's morphed over the past, what will be four years now in February of 2026.
But we usually stay around 10 people. It was created with a lot of intentionality. I would say that that was my hope behind my book club. I know everyone runs a book club differently. But my goal was to invite people with the intention of they're going to try to attend as much as possible. Obviously, life happens.
You know, we all have commitments and things come up. But the hope was that if you're coming and you're going to be a part of this book club, you're going to make it an intention to come monthly and actually read the book. You know, again, life happens but... and participate.
[00:25:09] So not just kind of come as you please or depending on if you like the book. My hope was setting that foundation of intentionality would really help to foster good, deep community. And it'll really allow us to talk about the books from a place of depth and to answer questions from a place of depth.
Because I think it is a vulnerable thing. Obviously, you know, there's surface level questions you can discuss when discussing a book. But my hope was to get a little bit deeper. And I think that having the foundation of intentionality and community has helped foster the ability to have good depth-filled conversations.
ANNE: Yeah. What kinds of books have you found generate those in-depth, meaningful conversations with the members of your book club?
MEREDITH: Books that based on what I've heard about the books, maybe from your podcast or other podcasts, or just other bookish avenues that I'm a part of, that I hear the synopsis and I think, oh, that sounds like it's going to be really discussable, is kind of the term that I've come up with.
[00:26:19] For example, we read The Measure By Nikki Ehrlich, which is about, you know, what would it look like if you found out exactly how long your life was going to be? Would you want to know? How would you live your life? So that type of book really spurred good discussion, getting to talk about what you want to know.
For example, we have a member who works with folks who are at the end of their life and she helps with end-of-life care. And she was like, "Yeah, I would want to know because I see all that people go through at the end of their life. And if I had that time to prepare, I would be glad for it." So being able to have those discussions that just spur us on to talk about things more in depth.
We read The Postcard by Anne Berest, which again was another recommendation from this podcast. And we ended up having a woman in the book club whose husband's family was connected to the Holocaust. And that allowed her to have really good conversations with them and connected in the Holocaust as they were in the Holocaust Jewish family.
[00:27:31] We read Shark Heart by Emily Habeck. That was a personal favorite for me. What would it look like if you were living through chronic illness or terminal illness with your partner? Books that allow us to put ourselves in a perspective that is different from our own or is so far-fetched from what we might actually experience in day-to-day and thinking about how we would act in those situations or what we would do have been the books I think that have really brought on the best discussions. And then sometimes we don't like the books and those also bring great discussions too because we are women with sass. We often get sassy with our opinions.
ANNE: I hear you. Meredith, I know you have a big occasion coming up in your book club soon. You wrote in your submission that every December you do a holiday gathering and have a white elephant book exchange and fun treats. This sounds so fun. But in preparation for this year's meeting, you wanted to gift each member of your book club a book that you think they'll enjoy. Would you tell me more about what you have in mind here?
[00:28:38] MEREDITH: Yeah. Every December we do a holiday meeting and usually we do a white elephant gift exchange. This would be different from that. But as the host, I often like to get people a bookish gift at the end of the year. So in years past, it has been, you know, a cute bookmark or a cute reading sticker. And this year I want to buy everyone a book. That feels like a lofty goal, but why not?
So it's been fun again over the past almost four years getting to know the different reading tastes of each book club member. And as the queen of the book club, so I've been dubbed, I want to allow people to feel known and seen, even if their book taste is different from mine, and buy them a book that I think that they'll like because of that. Because I'm a book pusher, that feels like a very natural thing, but I'm not pushing it on people that won't enjoy it because they're bookish people too.
[00:29:44] ANNE: Now, I know lots of our listeners really love the idea of giving books as gifts. What's the appeal in that to you? And I'm so sorry if that feels like a super obvious question, but what comes to mind?
MEREDITH: I think with folks in my everyday life who don't read as much, it is a way for me to connect with them and share something I love with them. I always tell my friends that don't necessarily read as much as I do, I always say giving books is my love language because I think about the things that they like, the interests that they have that are unique, or the issues that they're super passionate about. And I kind of have mental lists for a lot of my friends about books that I could gift them if they were to ever want to spend some of their precious time reading.
[00:30:37] But for people in my book club, it's similar but different. I already know that they read a lot. But I think now that we have been together for almost four years, it's just a way for me to say, "Hey, I really appreciate you guys. I love you. I'm getting to know you more now. I'm getting to know your reading tastes. Let me hopefully show you and make you feel seen and known." Because I'm giving you a book that I think you will actually like as opposed to just a book that I like, you know?
I feel like in gift-giving in general that that is a philosophy that I try to stick to is buying something for someone that they will actually like and appreciate as opposed to just forcing them to like something just because I do.
ANNE: I hear you. I hear you. Have you attempted this in the past? I'd love to hear how this has worked. Or perhaps has not.
MEREDITH: Yeah.
[00:31:36] ANNE: It's all learning opportunities.
MEREDITH: I have attempted this in the past, not necessarily for my book club specifically, but for other friends in my life that aren't necessarily as big of readers maybe as I am. Again, think about maybe the social justice issues that they're passionate about.
For example, I gifted one of my other best friends Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow as well as The Sentence because I knew that she would really appreciate an in-depth look at women working in STEM or an in-depth look at the native experience during the COVID-19 pandemic. And she enjoyed them. She enjoyed them both.
I do this for my dad. My dad is not a big reader. I feel like now that he's retired, I would say he's reading more. He kind of shared with me that reading is a way for him to keep his mind occupied when it could be stressed. And so I often buy him books that I think he would like.
[00:32:42] There was a podcast guest that you had years ago, I think she was a pilot. She said that she often spoke with male pilots and talked about books, a lot of books about war and government and, you know, typical dad books, I guess. So I often gift him those. And that's been really fun to do.
We don't necessarily discuss them as much, although we do sometimes, but it's just been a way for me to show the people in my life, "Hey, I love you, I see the things that you like. Let me bring you into this cool hobby that I'm a part of."
I had a really cool bookish gift-giving experience for my last birthday. I don't know if it will take too much time to explain, but essentially, I just set up a free library for all of my friends with all of the books that I've loved in the past, I don't know... well, throughout my life, I guess. It was all the way from like Harry Potter, Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli, to books that I loved and read a month ago.
[00:33:47] And as a gift to my friends on my birthday, I asked them to pick out a book that they thought they might enjoy too. And that was more of "let me push this on you."
ANNE: Yeah, yeah.
MEREDITH: But it was a hit.
ANNE: I love that. Meredith, you said in your submission that today you're interested in getting a different perspective on gifts you might give to readers in your book club. Would you say more about what you have in mind? And specifically how I can help?
MEREDITH: Yeah. So we have a wide variety of interests in our book club as far as interest in their reading life and what they generally pick up. I have a book club member who is very into high fantasy, all the way to book club members that just enjoy books about strong female representation, historical fiction, a whole swath.
[00:34:44] Because I don't specifically relate to every single bookish taste in my book club, I thought that you would be the perfect person to maybe hear about some of the books that these book club members enjoy and be able to recommend books based on that. Because some of these books that I have brought today, specifically for these book club members, I have not even read and don't even know that much about. So that's where you, Anne, the book expert come in, who I assume just knows about every single book ever published.
ANNE: Well, you're the expert about your friends, and I'll see if I can bring some new ideas to the table for you to choose. I suspect that your instincts are quite strong here. So I'm curious to hear if my assessment, based on not very much data, how that lines up with what you have in mind based on everything you know, like the details about your friends.
[00:35:42] Meredith, when I was thinking about how we could have this conversation, I realized that I think we actually want to do basically mini matchmaking like we do regularly in Patreon. That's where instead of having a full-length literary matchmaking episode, our patrons are able to suggest in comments, "Hey Anne, here's three books I love, one I don't, a little bit about what I'm looking for right now." And I will cover six, eight, ten readers in an episode making quick recommendations for what they may enjoy reading next. And I thought we could do that for a few of your book clubbers. What do you think?
MEREDITH: I think that would be super helpful. Some of them are super voracious readers. So I think my hope is just, can we find a book that they haven't read yet?
ANNE: All right, I'll give you some options then. Meredith, today we are picking books for Lucy, Steph, and Vicki. You want to start by telling me what Lucy has enjoyed?
MEREDITH: They're all going to listen to this, so they're all going to laugh.
ANNE: No pressure. It's fine. Hi Lucy.
[00:36:42] MEREDITH: Hey Lucy. She is definitely one of our more outspoken book club members when it comes to sharing her opinion. Like I said, she is one that really enjoys high fantasy. She's often reading fantasy books that I have never heard of.
She is also very passionate about reading books from diverse backgrounds, different perspectives. That's something that I think she would also agree and say that that's one of her values in reading. So the books that I brought for her based on what I have known that she has loved are the Assassin's Apprentice series by Robin Hobb. And I have not read any of the books that she has actually read. So this is where you come in. Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell, Betty by Tiffany McDaniel.
A book that I know recently didn't work for her was Orbital by Samantha Harvey. I think that she found it maybe a little too meandering and felt like she got the gist in the first part of the book and didn't really need to continue.
[00:37:44] And I know for her, she is practicing DNFing or putting a book down when she doesn't enjoy it. So I was proud of her for practicing that and doing that.
ANNE: Yeah, it sounds like she may need to make time for those enormous series that she really enjoys sometimes.
MEREDITH: She reads a lot. I am always so impressed. Each month in book club, we share like, "Tell us three books that you loved in the past month." And I have had to say three now because there are a few of us that will just list ten books. And I'm like, "Okay, we don't have time." So she's usually one of them that has a very big list of books.
ANNE: All right. Lucy, you sound like a lot of fun to be in book club with.
MEREDITH: She is.
ANNE: Okay. Quick take. Oh, Lucy, you're listening. I hope you're not shaking... Maybe you're just shaking your head at this. But I'm thinking that, Meredith, when I hear you describe this reader, I'm wondering if this is someone who's interested in interesting ideas, but not only, someone who also wants a good story.
And also, based on the book she loved, also good prose, maybe. And she likes to go all over the place with her books. Ooh, and I was picturing actually a map when I said that.
[00:38:57] So Meredith, mini-matchmaking style, I'm going to toss a couple your way, and I'm going to leave it to you, who actually knows Lucy, to decide what sounds like a fit and what maybe not.
MEREDITH: Right.
ANNE: I'll tell you the year or rough year if I know it, just so you can have in mind if it meets that backlist criteria or not. Also, I'm really wondering as we go through here, if some of these recommendations might not end up being gift recommendations. But you said you were currently looking for 2026 book club selections, and I am wondering if some of these might fit the bill. But that's for you to decide as your book club queen.
MEREDITH: Right.
ANNE: Okay. Let's start closer to home. Based especially on how much Lucy enjoyed Betty by Tiffany McDaniel, I'm wondering about maybe a really wonderful book about Appalachia or rural community. Miller's Valley by Anna Quindlen would be an excellent one.
[00:39:49] It's a 2016 novel. It's about a young girl growing up in a small community in rural Pennsylvania. So we have a coming-of-age story, but it's set against the backdrop of her town that is facing tremendous change because it's going to be flooded. Well, the authorities want to flood it to create a recreation area, just wash the whole place away, which, I mean, potential for symbolism is amazing there.
This one feels very much like Barbara Kingsolver, especially Flight Behavior, which might also be a good pick for Lucy. Shiner by Amy Jo Burns is another great Appalachian, character-driven story that still has a nice plot to hang that character development on.
I wonder about How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu. This is beautifully written literary science fiction with an arresting, high-stakes premise. A researcher and his team travel to Siberia and accidentally release a plague from a body buried in the melting permafrost. And once unleashed, this Arctic plague circles the globe and wreaks devastation everywhere. And what the book turns into is this series of interconnected, beautifully told—and I don't mean beautiful boring, but just like really evocatively detailing—how humans the world over cope with grief and survival.
[00:41:07] And then for more of a high fantasy, I'm wondering about The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon. This one came out in 2019. If I haven't said, I think Samantha Shannon as an author would be a good pick.
But this is an intersecting tale about an unmarried queen who has to bear a daughter to save her kingdom. We also have a spy posing as a lady-in-waiting and a dragon rider. And there's lots of, you know, lots of drama and intrigue and also some really interesting world-building. Do any of those sound promising for Lucy?
MEREDITH: I think so. I was skimming her Storygraph as you were saying those, and I don't think she has read any of those. So I'm excited to...
ANNE: That's a nice tool to have if you're getting a book for a gift.
MEREDITH: Yeah. And she reads a lot, like I said. So I think, yeah, definitely at least I can gift her at least one of those. I have Shiner on my shelf, so I'm like, "We could even pick that for my book club." But, yeah, no, all of those sound great. I'm very happy to gift her the gift of you recommending these books.
[00:42:13] ANNE: Amazing. All right, tell me about Steph.
MEREDITH: Steph is another one of our readers who loves to share her opinions and things that did work and didn't work. And it's really fun to hear her just share that in a very sassy way. Again, I use that word in a loving way because we are all quite opinionated in our book club, so it just makes it all the more fun.
But what I have learned is that she appreciates really good and beautiful writing, specifically when authors craft a sentence and every word has meaning. I have learned that she does not like when words are used superfluously. It was really funny to watch her and observe her read through any series pretty much by Sarah J. Maas. I enjoyed the ACOTAR series, so this is not throwing shade there. But I think just some of the books that were written maybe earlier in her career and maybe demonstrated a little less authorly maturity, perhaps, and words that were used over and over, she did not quite enjoy that. And it was just fun to read her loathing reviews about those.
[00:43:33] The books that I found that she did enjoy, and I have read two out of three of these, were Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy. She has loved all of the Charlotte McConaghy books that she's read. We actually read Wild Dark Shore as a book club together. I picked that kind of as a nod to her because I knew that she loved it.
She really loved Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver. She really felt very deeply for Demon and was very immersed in his story and very moved by his story, I would say. And she also enjoyed All My Knotted-Up Life by Beth Moore, Beth Moore's memoir. I actually haven't read that one but I am familiar with Beth Moore and just her writing.
And like the things that haven't quite worked were maybe... I know she does enjoy fantasy, but I think, again, maybe just the writing that isn't quite as honed in or written with as much intention, perhaps. And I also know a funny thing that she really doesn't like is when characters are killed off and then brought back to life. She said that we were raised by J.K. Rowling and everyone died with an intention, even if they were main characters. And so if you're going to kill a character, kill a character.
[00:44:55] ANNE: Heard. Okay. So Steph likes craft, no flowery language, no superfluous words. The picture I'm getting from these books is this reader, the reader I hear described here in bare bones outline. Gosh, Steph, I wonder what you think of this. Perhaps emotionally intense, character driven, even earnest books could be good. And at least with the fiction, perhaps an element of unexpectedness.
MEREDITH: Yeah, I would say so for sure. The unexpectedness, I know that she likes emotionally driven, but she does enjoy that twist of unexpectedness. I think like Wild Dark Shore would be an example where it's not necessarily a setting that we are in, or it was not quite apocalyptic, but it sort of was apocalyptic. And I know she loved Hamnet for that reason too. So yeah, I think that's pretty spot on.
[00:45:53] ANNE: All right. Tell me what you think of these. I'm wondering about Clear by Carys Davies. This is short, evocative. It's also newer. It was just published in spring 2024, but that's going on two years now.
This one is about an impoverished 1840s Scottish minister who takes a really undesirable job because he desperately needs the money. And his task to get this pay is to travel 400 miles from home to evict a hermit from where he's living in the remote Scottish islands. But these two men form an unlikely connection despite having no common language. This book is short, it's quiet, it's stirring, and yet it has big emotional themes.
Next, I wonder about one that I can't resist talking about on What Should I Read Next? at least once every couple of years. That's Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones. I really think anything by her could be good, but Silver Sparrow would be my recommendation if she's never read her before.
[00:46:51] This is a 2011 novel about a Black man in Atlanta who's living a double life. He has two families. The public family does not know about the secret one, but the secret one knows about the public one. And he has one daughter in each family.
So things start to come apart. The drama really starts to amp up when the secret daughter becomes aware of the existence of the others. The element of unexpectedness, you know something is brewing, but the way Tayari Jones crafts the story, it's an absorbing coming-of-age narrative. It feels historical. She writes about Atlanta so well. I wonder if setting is something Steph really enjoys. Clear and Silver Sparrow, both have it.
[00:47:38] And then I wanted to recommend a memoir since she loved Beth Moore's. I'm thinking Kelly Corrigan's 2018 memoir, Tell Me More. In this book, she talks in depth about how after her friend Liz was diagnosed with cancer, they both just dispensed with the surface stuff and got real deep and serious real fast and just forged this powerful friendship.
The book sounds like pretty straightforward. There are 12 phrases that give us a good starting point for figuring out how to deepen our relationships. This sounds really fun to read with a group of friends actually. You'd have excellent discussions. But she gets real deep, real fast. There's a lot to ponder. It feels like conversation with a really smart friend who's really good with words. Do any of those sound good for Steph?
MEREDITH: Those all sound great. Yeah. I think your description of emotionally resonant, but stirring was the perfect way to encapsulate her reading life. Silver Sparrow has actually been on my list of potential books to nominate for my book club. So that would be a great option. But all of those sound good.
[00:48:44] ANNE: Well, I'm curious how you might put it to work, whether as a gift or as a book club pick. And then reader three, tell us about Vicki.
MEREDITH: Vicki is someone that I know enjoys historical fiction. She does enjoy fantasy and romance as well. Instead of picking a book that I thought that she didn't like, from the very beginning of our book club, we found out that she does not enjoy a poor portrayal of female friendship, or rather maybe when a book is blurbed as a strong portrayal of female friendship, but when there is betrayal in the book. She just...
ANNE: I hear that.
MEREDITH: So I'm like, oh, yeah, that's fair, you know, just missed expectations. So yes, I always look to avoid that. Or if it happens to come up in our book club books, I always know that we're going to get a good reaction from Vicki. So it's fun.
[00:49:43] But books I know that she has enjoyed, she liked Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik, The Cherry Robbers by Sarai Walker. I know she liked that for the dark moody tone and the representation of strong women. That is a book that I pushed to everyone on my book club, because I loved it as well.
And then we read Family Family by Laurie Frankel for book club. And she was not the only one, but maybe one of the few that enjoyed it and found that it brought the sense of whimsy to a really hard topic. I know she has expressed that because of just, you know, the state of the world and being mindful of that and what she reads, that she often likes to read things that don't bring her down too much, or she appreciates maybe a break from a darker, relevant book. And so it sounded like, yeah, she enjoyed the fact that it brought some lightness to a topic that was hard.
[00:50:49] ANNE: All right. My assessment is this reader wants a good story and interesting ideas. Both and. And also, I mean, based on these pics, good prose and no betrayal from your friends.
MEREDITH: Yeah. Or if there's betrayal, like don't set me up to believe that this is just like a beautiful depiction of female friendship.
ANNE: Fair, fair. I hear you. Because that feels like a bait and switch.
MEREDITH: Yes.
ANNE: Okay. I'm wondering about Weyward by Emilia Hart to start. This one came out in 2023. I think her newer book called Sirens also has some maritime magic in it, but it's newer. That's still front list. But Weyward is this layered story that weaves together the narratives of three different women who are all in the same family line, but over a timeline that spans five centuries, as in they don't know each other. And some of them don't know of the other's existence. Those who do don't until the very end of the book.
[00:51:50] But we have a woman in the 1600s who's accused of being a witch because she knows natural remedies and things about the healing arts that feel suspect. In the 1940s, we have a young woman named Violet coming of age during World War II and a home where men rule the roost and women are not to be trusted. Her own mother is absent. She died mysteriously when Violet was young. Nobody wants to talk about it.
And then in 2019, Kate is a young professional in London who is feeling increasingly isolated and in danger because her relationship with her boyfriend is getting uglier and uglier. And though these women are living in different eras and they're facing different circumstances, they are all, as we see, connected in these fundamental ways and share a deep spiritual connection that is going to save them in the end.
But also there's this touch of almost magic in their connection to and perhaps powers involving the natural world that makes it feel a little fantastical. This is not a fantasy book, but it's got some elements.
[00:52:56] There's a new book that has sounded right for several of your book lovers that you mentioned. And again, brand new, though her backlist would be good, but the one I love the most for Vicki specifically is The Road to Tender Hearts. That's by Annie Hartnett.
This one really takes the for the… take a hard, hard topic, but so much whimsy and also humor, just like laugh out loud, often dark humor that really makes for a really powerful combo. This one puts joy and tragedy side by side, like life is a real mixed bag and all of it is right here in this book.
Two kids are tragically orphaned. So you've got the tragedy. And as a result, end up going on this screwball high comedy road trip with their uncle. And it becomes thi serious, almost lighthearted, but you're constantly reminded that there's heavy stuff happening here, but also like Annie Hartnett just made you guffaw. But lost grief healing of second chances.
[00:54:02] There's a tabby cat with unusual powers. There's a hat that quietly talks to the people wearing it. It's just a little madcap and realistic, but also has some elements that really, really aren't. So the subject matter is sad, but it still feels hopeful and heartwarming.
And then I'm wondering about a book... Well, let me say Naomi Novik has more she may enjoy, including some great series, like the Scholomance series could be a lot of fun, maybe for more readers in your book club than just her. I'm also wondering about something that takes the hard stuff and kind of transforms it like The Bandit Queens by Parini Shroff. This came out almost three years ago now. It sounds grim, but tone is everything.
Yeah, this one is like almost. It's awfully close to feel good. So it's set in a small community where five years ago, village resident Geeta lost her no-good husband. He abandoned her, but the village gossips have decided that, "Oh, the thing that really must have happened is Geeta made herself a widow, like made herself a widow, took action to ensure that she would become a widow." And they don't mean she ran him out of the house. They mean that she found a way to disappear him into the ground.
[00:55:16] Another truth in this book that they're constantly making jokes about is people treat you with respect when they think you're a murderer. I mean, we're laughing, we're both laughing. Geeta isn't the only village woman with a no-good husband, and soon more than a few of them approach her and sometimes are really like almost scary insistent to get her help because they want to become self-made widows like her.
So this would be really easy for this to become macabre, but instead it's just sharp and funny. We could also go into detail about books this reminds me of, like Kirsten Miller's The Change.
MEREDITH: I was gonna say that one exactly. Yeah.
ANNE: Yeah. Okay. Okay. So we're tracking.
MEREDITH: We read that in our book club, and it was a fun, fun discussion.
ANNE: I'm glad to hear it. Any of those sound good for Vicki?
MEREDITH: I think those all sound great. Yeah, I think The Road to Tender Hearts has been on my radar since it came out. I just read another Annie Hartnett recently. And someone else came to our book club and said they had read The Road to Tender Hearts, and when describing it, a lot of people made it sound like that would be something they'd be interested in. So that could even be a book club pick in and of itself.
[00:56:23] But you know, I think all of these sound right up her alley based on what I know of her and I'm excited to give them this gift.
ANNE: I'm excited too. And I can't wait to hear how it turns out.
MEREDITH: Yeah.
ANNE: Meredith, thank you so much for talking books and all about your book club with me today.
MEREDITH: Thank you so much, Anne. Thank you. This has been so good. I've been smiling ear to ear.
ANNE: Me too. I'm glad to hear it.
Hey, readers, I hope you enjoyed my conversation with Meredith, and I'd love to hear what you think she should read next. Find Meredith online at Instagram and at her website. We have all the links in our show notes, along with the full list of titles we talked about today. We always include those at whatshouldireadnextpodcast.com.
We'll also have information if you want to call and leave us a voicemail. All that will be republished on our website.
[00:57:13] Follow our show on Instagram @whatshouldireadnext and share a episode with your friends or fellow readers by posting it to our stories. We always love it when you tag us in your bookish posts. Join our email list to get updates on what's happening around here.
Sign up at whatshouldireadnextpodcast.com/newsletter. And make sure you're following an Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, wherever you get your podcasts.
Thanks to the people who make this show happen. What Should I Read Next? is created each week by executive producer Will Bogel, media production specialist Holly Wielkoszewski, social media manager and editor Leigh Kramer, community coordinator Brigid Misselhorn, community manager Shannan Malone, and our whole team at What Should I Read Next? and MMD HQ. Plus, the audio whizzes at Studio D podcast production.
Readers, that's it for this episode. Thanks so much for listening. And as Rainer Maria Rilke said, "Ah, how good it is to be among people who are reading." Happy reading, everyone.
English (US) · 