The Currently Reading Podcast
Season 8, Episode 40: Airplane Reading + Books For Every Enneagram
11 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.
Chapter 2: What are the benefits of airplane reading?
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 chitchat, 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 Munday-Schwartz. I'm both a mom and a Mimi and a full-time CEO living in Austin, Texas.
Chapter 3: What interesting books are being read this week?
And I have once again been sucked into Sarah J. Mass's universe.
And I'm Katie Cobb, a homeschooling mom of four living in Arizona. And I think airplane reading is a superior experience. This is episode number 40 of season eight, and we are so glad you're here.
So now, Katie, you can figure out why I had like four different versions of my Bite Size intro, and I was like, each one was less appropriate than the one before, so then I just had a straightforward one.
Yep. We could have gone really punny there, at least.
Mm-hmm.
All right, y'all, we are so excited to be back on the mic together today. And I will let you know right here at the top that our deep dive today is books for each Enneagram type. It's been a while since we did a deep dive about the Enneagram. So we're going to get some questions, but we're going to talk all about the Enneagram and the nine types.
Before we do that, though, we are going to get started the way we always do with our bookish moments of the week. Meredith, what is yours?
All right. Well, this week, actually riffing a little bit probably off of what yours is going to be. I had the pleasure of going on a trip to California this week. And as I did that, I had the equal pleasure of having three and a half hours to read on a flight uninterrupted. And- I had Crescent City right with me. The House of Earth and Blood.
It's the first in the Crescent City series by Sarah J. Maas. I'm doing this read-along that is being hosted by Holly's Literary Magic on Instagram. One of my good bookish friends, she's been telling me forever that we needed to read this series and...
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Chapter 4: How are books recommended for each Enneagram type?
debut this is a much more mature version I really like the main female character I love the world building that she's doing it's got a lot of the same kinds of like organized like houses and certain creatures and certain areas have this and that and like the spring and the summer and the night courts of of ACOTAR. So it's got a lot that I like from that series, but it's its own thing for sure.
It's really well paced. I'm really loving it. So if you want to join that Crescent City read along, you can. It started on May 3rd, but honestly, even when you're hearing this, you would be able to jump in and catch up. I guarantee you really quickly. That's Holly's Literary Magic on Instagram that will link you over to her sub stack, which is where that is taking place.
Nice. We love Holly. She always puts together such great stuff and really helps like bring books to life for me in a different way. Right.
And that's the thing is she's doing a lot of writing that is really helpful in putting a lot of this stuff from the series into context as we're reading the book. It's very, very interesting way to do a slow read. Excellent.
All right, well, as you know, Meredith, I just got home from a nine-day trip to and from Paris with all four kids. It was magical. It was bucket list. It was all the best things. We saw the sights. We ate so many baguettes. We visited all the places. But the best reading time I had was the two six-hour flights each direction.
It's actually like five and a half and six and a half, but a lot of time in the air. And I kept thinking about why that is because I don't think I would have said previously that airplane reading is my best reading time.
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Chapter 5: What is the new segment 'Before We Go' about?
So It has changed for me. This is a new season that I've entered, which is exciting for me, which is why I wanted to talk about it. So first, my kids are now a little older. And then especially the last time I did a big trip like this, right? Annalie is seven and a half, almost eight. Noah is almost 10, right? Like we're moving into this different age where they're a lot more self-sufficient.
They can order their snacks without my help, that kind of thing. And they mostly entertain themselves. Second, of course, this has not changed, the white noise of the plane, that droning hum of the engines and the air system drowns out other random noises. It's perfect. It's like the brown noise really is what it is. And third is that I'm not a great plane sleeper.
So while my e-reader, usually when I lay in my bed behind me and I prop up my Kindle every night, three minutes. That's all the reading time I get. Like I just don't have invested time where I'm sitting and clicking, clicking, clicking through pages. But I am just uncomfortable enough on a plane that I finally get into e-reader flow state where I am just blasting through pages.
I read a 600 page book on one flight and it was like, oh, this is the magic. I didn't have the interruption from the kids. I got to enjoy the white noise. And I was not tired enough to push through the e-reader melatonin or I was just tired enough that the e-reader melatonin didn't work on me. Right. So it was great on the way there and the way back.
I finished a book, Each Direction, which felt very happy and productive for me because during the trip itself, we were very busy every day. There was not a ton of reading time and it just like capped my trip in a really wonderful way.
Yeah.
That is wonderful. There is nothing better. I had this woman sitting across the aisle from me who at the end of the flight where I was doing all that reading of Crescent City, she was like, it took me forever to figure out what you were doing because I was sitting and and I had my Kindle remote.
And so I had my hand, I don't know why when I lay down and when I sit down, I tuck my hands underneath like my legs. So I had my, my hands tucked underneath my leg, but I was doing my remote like that. And so she was like, it took me forever to realize that you were holding so still for so long that you were turning the pages.
She was like, I guess maybe she thought I was just like staring at one page and I don't know, forever. But then she was like, yeah. But then she realized I was turning the pages. So even on a plane, the Kindle remote comes in. So in fact, maybe even more so, it comes in so handy.
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Chapter 6: How does 'Empire of Shadows' combine genres?
And I think every reader's mileage will vary. And also, it's getting really, really good feedback. So again, I'm not saying that I didn't like it. I'm just saying that I didn't like it unreservedly. And there were some really big things that kind of I had to mention because they were really pinging me the entire time.
Right. That makes sense. I do want to acknowledge for the people that do a blue check that today blue is under a pillow. And so when he moves, the pillow moves. And it's like an experience happening in the background in there. So if anybody else is distracted watching this on YouTube, that's what's going on back there.
I tried to get him to come from under it because that pillow was heavy and I tried to get him to come from under it. So I was like, dude, I feel like that's really heavy on you. But then he is like very touch focused. Like he wants to always be like touching and he doesn't just touch. He like leans. He wants to really be touching. So, you know, he's found his cuddle mate while I'm recording.
I like it.
All right, my first book this week has some historical fiction elements, very women-centered, but very different from what you were just talking about, Meredith. I am bringing The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali.
I had finally picked this book up this year after intentionally avoiding it for many years, and that is because I did not love her breakout hit, The Stationery Shop, even though nearly everyone else did. It just wasn't a win for me on a number of levels, especially the... The focus on like a love story element just didn't work for me at the time.
But historical fiction centered on women has been working well for me lately. So I grabbed it, finally decided to dip my toes in. Here we bounce from right at the beginning, present day USA to a continuous narrative. So this is not dual timeline. We just start in the present day and then jump backwards to to 1950s Iran, where we meet Ellie and her best friend Homa.
Ellie's fortunes have recently changed. She was kind of a bourgeoisie, upper middle class young girl, and then her father unexpectedly passes away. Fortunes change, she and her mother become kind of hand to mouth. Thankfully, on her first day at her new school, she meets Homa.
And that friendship and the way these two young girls going into young adult women and then adult women love and support each other changes the course of their lives. We know from the beginning, though, that they have not spoken in many years. And Homa has just recently reached out and broken that silence. And then we jump back. So the whole time you're wondering...
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Chapter 7: What are the highlights of 'The Midnight Show' book?
It was so disappointing for me. But we opened and closed the park that day from rope drop to fireworks and even exhausted and jet lagged. We loved every second of it. I have goosebumps just thinking about the ways that my kids are now like living into the Disney adultness that I brought to that trip for us. I loved it. It was delightful.
And this book really helped me appreciate it in completely new ways. So five stars for me. This is Disney Adults by A.J. Wolfe.
I love a deeply misunderstood subculture. I love everything about, I mean, I would read books on, I mean, this one, I'm very tempted to read this book just because I love all things. I mean, like I'm not a Disney person. I'm fascinated by Disney as a business. Right. Yes. Right. Even though, and sure, like I like the movies and I love Disneyland.
It's the, you know, the best Disney theme park period. It is the superior theme park period. And, you know, but I would never consider myself like a, you know, a rabid fan at all. But this book sounds really interesting. And I think this kind of thing, like this, like the Disney food blog that she started is peak internet. Like this is, it is the best that the internet brings to us.
Bringing together people who, who love a certain thing beyond all reason and they find each other And they find resources and they make it better because they're able to resource their knowledge and their all of that. I love every single thing about this. I am inordinately fascinated by this.
And if people know of other books about weird subcultures, but like where people are not like weird, not like weird sex subcultures. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about like, you know, like people who love to go on cruises. Like, I think that's a weird subculture.
Right. Or like the bronies, like the boys who love My Little Pony. Okay, yes. That's a whole thing.
I love a subculture and the ways that the internet brings us together. I mean, certainly all of us are like comic cons, book nerds. I mean, all of us readers, right? The internet has enabled us to know each other and to expand our hobby and what we love together more than we ever could before. I just love it. I'm so glad you brought that book. I'm endlessly fascinated.
For Disney adults, if you like, did you do it on audio? Did you say that? What version did you do? Or do you get the hard copy?
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