Anne Bogle

So this is also gently paced with just these beautiful, lush descriptions of the natural world.

And there's heavy and light here, but both are handed with gentleness and just like this undercurrent of deep goodness and the relationship between the grandmother and granddaughter.

And you said a couple of things that made me, both about your reading and about your life, that made me think, maybe.

How does that sound?

I'm glad to hear it.

And then can I just share a few authors that tend to write short books?

There's all kinds of healing fiction that's so popular in Japanese fiction and Korean fiction right now, like we'll prescribe you a cat.

You know, I just said that I was going to share authors with you, but okay, there's a specific book, but also that whole genre, it often comes in right about the length you're looking for.

but also Katie Kitamura, Kevin Wilson, Julia Otsuka, Graham Greene, Susie Boyt, Paulette Giles, Joan Silber.

You have a lot of authors who often write books that are like 220 to 240 pages.

And we didn't really talk directly.

We talked a little bit before recording about how some of what goes into page count is like trickery and packaging and it's not as helpful as it might be.

Like there's no objective.

Like this is what a 200-page book feels like.

It's not the word count.

But they do tend to read books that I think are about the length you're looking for to counterbalance, say, Team of Rivals.

Okay, Leigh, of the books we talked about today, they were Wedding Toast I'll Never Give, the nonfiction by Ada Calhoun, Fight Night by Miriam Tayes, Stoneyard Devotional by Charlotte Wood, and The Summer Book by Tove Janssen.

Of those books, what sounds good?

What do you think you might read next?

Well, I hope you really enjoy it, and I hope it is able to power you through the long books that you know you want to read this year.