The Currently Reading Podcast
Season 8, Episode 39: The Howl Train + Reading Therapy w/Mary
04 May 2026
Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Hey readers, welcome to the Currently Reading Podcast. 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.
Chapter 2: What are the bookish moments celebrated this week?
So get ready.
We are light on the chit chat, heavy on the book talk, and our descriptions 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 Munday-Schwartz. I'm both a mom and a Mimi and a full-time CEO living in Austin, Texas. And I'm wondering why is revenge so sexy?
And I'm Mary Heim, a therapist and mom living in Wisconsin.
Chapter 3: What are the current reads discussed by Meredith and Mary?
And I did not pace my library holds well this week. And I currently have an absolutely golden stack of books that are all due back this week and no way to get to them before that happens. This is episode 39 of season eight, and we are so glad you're here.
Oh, Mary, that's one of those delicious, like, readerly conundrums.
Yes, the best and worst kind of readerly problem ever.
Exactly. Exactly. All right. Well, first, let me tell you a couple of things. Our deep dive today, as you could probably guess, because we have Mary here with us, we are going to do another round of reading therapy, which I'm really, really looking forward to, Mary.
We have a couple of our bookish friends who've written in with some really good quandaries, and Mary is going to walk us through them. maybe some things that could be done about those quandaries. But first, we will tell you that we have some mischief to manage. This is the first episode of the month, and as you guys know, we don't do commercials here at Currently Reading.
except for one commercial on the first episode of the month and something special this month, we are going to hear from one of our bookish friends, one of our patrons who's joined us a long time ago about why she thinks you might want to join us as a currently reading bookish friend on Patreon.
Hello, I'm Anitra, I live in Las Vegas, and I am a proud patron of the Currently Reading podcast. There's so much that I love about being a bookish friend. The bonus episodes. I love the indie press list. My TBR grows and grows every single month because of all the great books. And all things murderful with Meredith and Elizabeth is worth the price of admission. Also, the Facebook community.
This community is so amazing and getting to talk to other book lovers is just one of the best things ever. Five years ago, the Currently Reading Bookish Friends actually did a buddy read and I got paired up with four other amazing ladies to read the book Roar. Now, we didn't love the book, but we loved each other.
And five years later, Amanda, Cindy, Crystal, Jennifer, and myself are still texting each other on a daily basis to talk about books, our lives, and all the things. So there's so much to love. If you're not a patron already, what are you doing?
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Chapter 4: How does reading therapy help with emotional struggles?
Go sign up now. It's literally the price of like one trip to Starbucks every month.
Chapter 5: What insights can be gained from the deep dive on reading therapy?
and it's worth every single penny. So thank you, Meredith and Katie, for everything that you do. And I love being a patron of the Currently Reading Podcast.
All right. I love hearing from one of our listeners directly about why she finds benefit in joining us. If you guys want to do that, join us for $5 a month. And you can do that through a link in our show notes or patreon.com forward slash Currently Reading Podcast. We would love to have you join. All right, Mary, let's talk books.
Let's first start out talking about our bookish moment of the week. Mary, what have you got?
Well, Meredith, it is probably no surprise to anyone at all that my bookish moment this week was, of course, Indie Bookstore Day. This past Saturday or just about a week ago when we're recording, we really do treat Indie Bookstore Day like a holiday in my house. And as always, it was just so much fun to head down to our favorite local indie in Milwaukee, Boswell Books.
and just have a family afternoon of bookish joy. My daughter is now old enough, she is six, almost seven, that she really gets it. She is looking forward to it every year.
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Chapter 6: What are the recommendations for coping with grief through reading?
She's starting to plan the sections that she wants to check and the series that she wants to add to in her bookshelf.
Chapter 7: What are the themes explored in the book 'This Cursed House'?
It's just such a delight to see this like little reader that we are raising participate in something that we love so much. And to top it off, this year I ran into Liz Hine, a fellow Milwaukee area book lover, dear friend of the show, impeccable taste, books to grammar, extraordinaire.
And it was just so fun to chat books with Liz and have that little bookish serendipity to add to the joy to the day. There's just like not enough moments, right? That feel just so uncomplicatedly fun and joyful that it was really fun to make Indie Bookstore Day. Yeah, just like such a fun part of our weekend. I just loved it. It was great. How about you?
I love having a bookish holiday. I had something that I needed to do to support one of my best friends, my best friend who was moving. And this was the day that that needed to happen. And so I had to choose between the great loves of my life. And I think I did the right thing by choosing to help my best friend move because that's a big Herculean task. But I love Indie Bookstore Day so much.
And I love seeing all of the posts about where Our bookish friends went and all the different stores and what they're doing and all the merch that they come out with. It's so much fun. I love that we have a big deal bookish holiday.
Yes. And you know what the best part is, is that if you didn't make it happen on Saturday, you can make your own indie bookstore day whenever you want, as often as you want.
Exactly. Exactly. And I feel like I do a pretty good job of that. And I have in the next few weeks, I have another one of those forays planned. So I will celebrate then. You're right. I will give myself the ability to really, really celebrate the way that I want to. Okay, Mary, I had the joy this last week of watching two truly great book adaptations.
One, of course, we've talked about, I hadn't seen it yet, but Project Hail Mary. We've all talked about it. We all love it. I finally got a chance to see it with my son and with my husband. We all really, really loved it. Huzzah to that being a great book adaptation of a great book.
I wasn't nearly as nervous about that one as I was about the PBS Masterpiece adaptation of my co-favorite book of all time, The Count of Monte Cristo, because there have been a lot of adaptations of The Count of Monte Cristo, and some of them are truly terrible. And this one, though, I am so happy to report. I just finished it. It's eight episodes, and it is a true masterpiece.
Have you seen any part of it? I haven't yet because I am just embarking on my own foray into finally reading Count of Monte Cristo. So that is going to be my treasure, my treat at the end of my reading experience. But this is a big deal for you. Like, I'm very excited to hear. It is.
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