Anne Bogel

We'll talk about that more in today's episode.

But my friend, Nikki, shout out Nikki, gave me the gift of describing back to me like what the guide was to so many readers.

She said, reading time is precious.

Like we all have, I mean, some of you tell us about how much you're enjoying the switch between retiring from a full-time job and becoming a retiree and having so much more reading time that it still feels abundant to you if that transition is new.

The vast majority of us feel like so many books, so little time is a serious dilemma.

And the thing that really stands between us and the reading life, we wish we could have.

And my friend was telling me how the guide every year is just such a gateway to reliable reading joy.

Because if you're gonna take your precious reading time

and spend it metaphorically on only a handful of books, you want to make sure those books bring you a memorable experience.

And having someone hold your hand as you make those choices can feel really, really good.

And that's what we've done every year in the guide for this will be our 15th edition.

And if you told me back in 2012, this is the first of 15 and counting, I...

I mean, I think it would have exploded my little readerly head.

But here we are.

And every year since the second year, I have read every book in the guide, cover to cover.

And the reason that is, is the first year, I remember highlighting some new releases that I was really excited about, that I was really looking forward to spending my reading time on.

And about half of them, I...

not only was disappointed, but was kind of angry that my precious reading time had been spent in that way.

And I resolved that.

In this context, for the summer reading guide, guidance implied, I'm only going to talk about the books that I have read and can vouch for.