Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Hey readers, welcome to the Currently Reading Podcast.
Chapter 2: What bookish moments sparked joy this week?
We are bookish best friends who spend time every week talking about the books that we've read recently, and as you know, we won't shy away from having strong opinions. So get ready.
We are light on the chit chat, heavy on the book talk, and our conversations will always be spoiler free. Today we'll discuss our current reads, a readerly deep dive, and a little something bookish before we go.
I'm Meredith Mundy Schwartz. I'm both a mom and a Mimi and a full-time CEO living in Austin, Texas. And as much as I love to read about murder and mayhem, sometimes I need kindness and chamomile.
And I'm Katie Cobb, a homeschooling mom of four living in Arizona, and I've found myself in a readerly pickle. This is episode number 42 of season eight, and we are so glad you're here.
Chapter 3: What are the latest current reads being discussed?
A readerly pickle? That sounds not good.
Well, I do like pickles, but not in this case. So I'm going to need some advice today, Meredith. And that's why we're here.
All right, we'll do it.
First, I'll let everybody know that our deep dive today, we have a new crop of victims. We will be bossing some TBRs for our deep dive today, which always delights us. We love getting a little bossy around here. But first, we'll get started the way we always do with our bookish moments. Meredith, what have you got?
All right, Katie, the story of 2026, I know I should have said this in the show we did last week, but upon further reflection, the story of 2026, my reading this year is fits and starts. Okay. I will have like five books in a row that are four and a half and five star reads back to back to back to back where I'm just in an amazing flow. I'm like, I will never have a reading slump again.
I have conquered all slumps.
Don't say that ever.
And then I will just kerthomp. I will hit. And I just, I have had the hardest time figuring out what I want to read. And part of it too, is that I last, in the last week, I picked up a bunch of books back to back to back, but they were all really dark. Horror, murder. They were just like really, really, really dark. And I,
From the POV of people who were unreliable narrators or unreliable, the lens that you were seeing them through, I just started to get this ick feeling. Like I didn't have any, at first I was thinking lightness. I was like, I need some sweetness. But then I was like, no, no, it's not sweetness that I need. Although sweetness is fine. I need some sanity. I need some saneness.
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Chapter 4: How can I take control of my TBR pile?
The ground, a little unsure of the ground underneath you.
Chapter 5: What personalized book recommendations were given?
And too many made this reader unhappy. So I went to see Elizabeth last week and or just a couple days ago, and she handed me an ARC. that when she first handed it to me, I didn't think twice about it. But then I got to this ick feeling and I was like, I'm going to read The Reimagining of Thornwood House by J. Lee Johnson. And if you go look at the cover of that book, Katie,
you are going to say, I can totally see why this felt like the right thing at the right time. This is about, and I'm going to, I don't, you know, we'll see how it goes. I'm early days, but it's about this woman who is what's called a land witch. But for various reasons, including the fact that she has recently adopted a new, a daughter, she decides that she wants to go to this
village that has a sentient home that needs wrangling so the home had been being taken care of by a witch for a long time and that witch passed away and now the home was cranky and feral and sad the home itself is grieving and so evelyn and her daughter ruby go to basically try to figure out if they can make the home feel at home again and it's very sweet and it's very sane and
And I haven't read all of it.
Chapter 6: How do I maintain reading sanity amidst a busy life?
So, you know, and it's an arc. So, you know, my mileage may vary.
Chapter 7: What new bookish friends and community highlights were shared?
We'll see. But sometimes even I need to eschew the murdering mayhem for a little while because it just starts to feel like too much.
Yeah, I get that. And I think that's why we have those like broader wheelhouses so that you can explore a different room sometimes, right? Turn away from the one that has like the murder dolls and teddy bears that you're like, I don't know what's happening in here to the one that's like cozy teacups.
I just need someone to be making a baked good.
Really? Yes.
Just someone make a muffin, please, for the love...
Looking at, well, we all know now about the baking, Meredith, so I can see why that would bring you comfort as well with the sourdough. But looking at the cover of this like witchy house on tree trunk legs, it's giving a little Baba Yaga. Are we?
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Chapter 8: What are the hosts' thoughts on recent popular titles?
It is.
Yeah. I mean, there are elements of that, but I think this is like Baba Yaga, but make it cozy.
I can see that.
We'll see. We'll see how I may end up, you may end up never hearing from and hearing about it again because it's terrible. I'm early days and it's really easy for a book in the first 30 pages to be great.
This is exactly what my bookish pickle is about. So you just like teed up a ball for me to swing at for my bookish moment of the week, which is that I need some advice from you, right? Here's the setup for my bookish moment.
Like so many of us, I grab a book every time I leave the house because you just never know if you're going to have a long line or you're going to be sitting for a while and waiting on something. And it's usually a physical paper book, which means you can see the cover. Today, I've been carrying around Martyr by Kaveh Akbar, but I'm not done with it. I'm about halfway.
But because you and I, this happens, and everybody on Currently Reading, and really every reader, we're known as like the bookish people, right? So when I carry this book around, people will approach me, people that know me, not usually like random strangers, although that does happen too. Hey, what's that book you're reading? Do you like it? Should I read it? And I'm like, I don't know.
I don't know. Because I'm only... 30% in, right? It could go totally off the rails and take away all the sanity that I was feeling about the baked goods. And I could wish that later I could hunt you down and tell you, no, don't read this because it actually was a terrible idea. And now you've got it associated with me in your head, right? So I'm in this conundrum.
Do I stop carrying a book around? No. That's not the answer. Do I carry around an e-reader? Which, I mean, maybe if I got a second one. But one lives by my bed. It has to stay there because I need it as my precious every night to comfort me for night-night time, right? It's like little kids. You're like, you got tucked in. You got a song. You got a kiss. Now it's time for bed. That's like...
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