Ep 539: Our team's best books of summer (Part 2)

What Should I Read Next?

In part two of their summer reading superlatives, the What Should I Read Next team shares their favorite books from the season, highlighting

Key takeaways

• Summer reading doesn't have to follow traditional genre expectations—personal preferences can shift unexpectedly, like moving from sci-fi/fantasy to mystery thrillers.

Main topics

• Summer reading habits and genre preferences
• Discovering books through independent bookstores

Notable quotes

"I refuse to allow the machinations of society and school boards to determine that summer's over. Hear, hear."

Conclusion

This episode celebrates the joy and personal significance of summer reading, emphasizing that what we

Transcript preview

Speaker 5 (0:00) Well, I guess I am the regular normal reader who for the summer wants fun, fun, fun books. Speaker 7 (0:12) My next book is very fun, Shannon. Speaker 5 (0:14) I know you have more, but that just seemed kind of bleak. I tend to like those kind of books, though, Will, that they make me think. differently about something or encouraged me to pursue a goal the book i'm reading was not that and i enjoyed it so much Speaker 4 (0:42) Hey readers, I'm Anne Bogle, and this is What Should I Read Next? Welcome to the show that's dedicated to answering the question that plagues every reader, what should I read next? We don't get bossy on the show. What we will do here is give you the information you need to choose your next read. This week, we are back with part two of our team's summer reading superlatives. Speaker 4 (1:13) Readers, today we're talking about summer books we have loved, but fall is just around the corner, and to me, that means it's almost sweatshirt season. Forget almost. In my house, sweatshirt season is here because Will Bogle just picked up an enormous shipment of brand new sweatshirts from our local printer. That means our shop is freshly stocked with all colors and sizes, so you can get your new sweatshirt now. I love a great sweatshirt. Even better if it's got a logo or saying that I enjoy putting on my body. That's why we've taken great care to create stylish and comfortable sweatshirts for our Modern Mrs. Darcy shop each year. And we've recently restocked this year's new style, our MMD sorority sweatshirt. We spent... literal years finding just the right source and design for this sweatshirt, the right colors from the Comfort Colors brand, and crucially, well-made appliques in just the right navy with white stitching around the edges. You know how I'm always quoting Wallace Degner, who says hard writing makes for easy reading? Well, my experience has been quite similar with our sweatshirt design. And after a long, painstaking process, I'm thrilled with how it came together and how beautifully simple it looks. Based on our original sales from our limited spring release, you are too. We promised that we would restock sizes and colors for fall and let you know as soon as they are in. So they're here. Get yours now. If you're on the hunt for the perfect sweatshirt for back to school season or any time of year, if you're lucky to live in a place where it's not blazing hot in the summer, whether you're the student going back to school or you are just ready for fall and it's comfy layers and long sleeves. Check out our MMD sorority sweatshirt and all our merch, including our newly available fall book preview print lookbook at modernmrsdarcy.com slash shop. Speaker 1 (3:03) The Speaker 2 (3:04) city moves fast, but your vibe, that's different. Sharper, smoother, more alive. Speaker 1 (3:15) The new Speaker 2 (3:19) Honda City isn't just made to drive, it's made to feel. The new Honda City, all new vibe. Speaker 4 (3:29) Readers, last week you heard part one of our team selections for best books of summer. As promised, today we're back with another round. In today's episode, you will hear from executive producer Will Bogle, community coordinator Bridget Misselhorn, community manager Shannon Malone, and media production specialist Holly Wilkoszewski. As with last week, today's team members represent a cross-section of the bookstore. Today's conversation features sci-fi and fantasy picks that range from cozy to dystopian, thrillers and stories with non-stop action, memoir, and non-fiction. Readers, it's always a good one when our team is on. Let's get to it. Speaker 3 (4:05) Well, welcome, everybody. Glad to be talking summer reading with you again. We were just laughing off Mike that we were calling in from a little bit different. locations and time zones and all that stuff. I've got Shannon, Bridget, and Holly here. And Holly, it is what time of the day there? It Speaker 7 (4:19) is 6.06 in the morning here in beautiful Australia. Speaker 3 (4:23) Okay. In Australia. Yeah. And my kid just walked in from school. So like a little bit different, a little bit different right now, but we're all eager to talk about our summer reading. And a week ago, I did not think it was the end of summer. I'm like, well, we can't record, like summer's not over. And then, yeah, we took a kid back to college and one of them started, you know, like, it's like, yeah. Feels like summer's over, even though it's... Speaker 5 (4:42) A point of order. I refuse to allow the machinations of society and school boards to determine that summer's over. Hear, hear. It is still happening in my house. Okay. It is still 99 degrees outside. Oh, yeah. Speaker 3 (5:01) It's still plenty of summer here, too. It is Speaker 5 (5:04) still summer. Speaker 3 (5:05) But, you know, when the kids go back to school, all the lifeguards are gone. And like, so, you know, they shut down the water park at the big amusement park. And so, Speaker 1 (5:13) yeah, Speaker 3 (5:14) all kinds of falls apart. I just Speaker 5 (5:15) refuse to yield. Speaker 3 (5:16) Well, continue doing your summer reading, Shannon. You've got at least three weeks. Thank you. Until Labor Day. I do. How's your summer reading gone? Speaker 5 (5:24) It has not gone as I expected it to go, which I believe I say. at every summer reading event that we have. I always think that I haven't read anything. And then I do the preparation for the event and I realize, oh, I have read like six things. Like, okay, that's not too bad. Two Speaker 6 (5:49) per Speaker 5 (5:49) month. I always think that I want to read sci-fi fantasy. During the summer, I always plan to go into the summer and reading sci-fi fantasy. And it turns out the past couple of years, I have not enjoyed that. I have not read any. I have read mystery and thrillers. Speaker 3 (6:08) Summer mysteries. For the summer, which Speaker 5 (6:10) I did not realize that, which is why reflection is good for the soul. Now, my mid-year check-in, I did with Speaker 7 (6:17) Anne on episode 533. So Speaker 5 (6:20) I won't go into all of those details because I've already done that. You guys can go. But Speaker 7 (6:26) that was interesting Speaker 5 (6:27) that Speaker 7 (6:28) I Speaker 5 (6:28) noticed in Speaker 3 (6:29) preparation for Speaker 7 (6:30) this event. Interesting. Speaker 3 (6:31) I always love looking at my journal and going, that's not what I remember. That's why I write it down, right? Because that's not what I remember. So, yeah. Bridget, how about you? How's your summer reading been? Speaker 6 (6:45) I'm really laughing over here because we've had a really busy summer. Shay Misslehorn, as we like to call it. We've had road trips, beach time, art museum, summer camps, food poisoning, colds, you know, all the gamut. A full summer. But when I went to check my Goodreads and Storygraph in preparation for this, I panicked also because I thought, wait, I haven't read anything this summer. But I had tricked myself, you guys. I had actually, like, I was like, what am I even going to talk about? But then I remembered I'd been keeping a totally separate note of all the summer books. Thank goodness. So just like you said, good thing we write it down well. But yeah, I'm really glad. I'm going to enter all those books into my story graph and Goodreads after this. But Speaker 7 (7:32) overall, I've felt like I've had a really top-notch Speaker 6 (7:35) summer reading experience. Yeah, thanks to some... Really interesting finds that I'm going to talk about in a little bit. And independent bookstores. They have really helped me. We visited quite a few over the summer. And that's where I found some of these. Nice. Speaker 3 (7:52) I forget that I, that's one of my favorite parts is like, whatever you're reading, but like, why? Why now? Like, how'd you find it? That kind of thing, you know? So yeah. Why did I pick it up? I have a line in my reading journal that is blank. Because I'm sure there's a book that goes there. But like, I Speaker 6 (8:08) don't know what it is. Speaker 3 (8:10) I'm looking at this. I'm like, okay, read that. I finished that at the beach. I can't imagine that I started this other book at the beach, but like, what was I reading? So I went flipping through my, my Kindle to see like, can I find a title? And yeah, I didn't notice anything there. And you know, I'm afraid it's a library book. So it went back to the library and I don't know what, I don't know. Like, cause I'm like looking at the stack of books and I was like, oh yeah, I pulled those out for the beach and I don't know what it was. So I Speaker 1 (8:32) might Speaker 3 (8:32) be missing. I might be missing the best book I read this summer. I don't know. Speaker 3 (8:38) That's a problem. That would be terrible, wouldn't it? I think I'd remember the best book. Holly, what have you been reading as you travel? Speaker 5 (8:45) Yeah, and it's not summer there, is it, Holly? Speaker 7 (8:47) It's not. It is winter here, which I'm actually really enjoying. Every time we've traveled to this part of the world before, it's been summer or summer adjacent. So it's a very different vibe. And I feel like I historically have had much better reading seasons in the winter than I do in the summer. And I think that that is what's contributing to my excellent reading recently, which has been great. So when we had our kind of mid-year freakout, like I had a similar commentary of like, my reading life's been weird. Like my story graph's been a mess. Like all just, it's like, it's not been bad. It's just been weird and kind of unexpected. Yes. Well, I've gotten my story graph sorted. I'm no longer. in process of reading like 22 books or however many I have marked over there. It's now down to like a reasonable maybe like seven or something. And yeah, the cool weather, we've had a couple of rainy days. I mean, to be fair, where we are, the weather has been much more what I would consider fall weather, and that's been really nice. Speaker 6 (9:45) But Speaker 7 (9:45) it's been a little bit more of that cozy vibe of curl up with a good book. We've had a chance to do A few things that work really well for reading, like we took a train, like a five-hour train across part of the country, which was not particularly exciting for any other reason other than being on a train and getting to listen to an audiobook while you look out the window, which is one of my favorite modes of travel, no matter where I am. So that was fun. And the other thing I really just enjoy is having access to books that I don't easily have access to in the U.S., some of the Australian fiction. things that are not as readily available. So it's been a good summer slash winter. I still have it summer in my brain. So I'm good with that language today. Speaker 3 (10:27) When you're thinking about doing your, uh, made your freak out, were you still stateside then? I was. Yeah. Okay. So it was summer was still not great. Summer Speaker 7 (10:35) was Speaker 3 (10:35) still not great. And then you went over there. Speaker 7 (10:37) Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. That was still there. And I think at the time of recording that we still weren't sure if we were traveling or where we were traveling or anything that was all very much up in the air. So. It's come together quite well. I'm pleased with how everything's going. I've gotten some interesting books that I wouldn't have necessarily picked up otherwise. Yeah. And I have a follow-up question, Will, which is, I think that you can get your library hold or your library checkout history if you really need to go and track down that book. So that is my reminder of something you probably already know. You're right. I'm sure I could. If I Speaker 3 (11:10) wanted to do that much research, I'm sure I could. If Speaker 7 (11:12) you do. If Speaker 3 (11:12) you Speaker 7 (11:13) have time and energy for an extra little research project. So, you Speaker 3 (11:16) know. Speaker 1 (11:17) Buried somewhere in the settings there. Yeah. Speaker 3 (11:19) Well, it sounds like your reading life needs like a snowbird sort of situation where we just kind of keep it Speaker 1 (11:26) always cool Speaker 3 (11:27) and ready to cozy up. Yeah. Speaker 7 (11:31) Maybe I will win the lottery. So that can always be true. Speaker 1 (11:34) There you Speaker 7 (11:35) go. Speaker 3 (11:38) Keep playing. Somebody's going to win. Somebody. It might be you. I have felt like I've had a really weird, hard reading summer. I don't know if that's necessarily true. Look at what I wrote down or whatever. I read a lot of nonfiction in the summer, and it turns out I've read a lot of nonfiction this summer. But I don't know if it's been bad. I didn't know what to read. Talk about bad. I just don't know what to read. So when we went to the beach, I do a fair amount of reading while we're on vacation. And I packed more physical books than anybody else in the house. Cause I just didn't know. I was like loading books on the Kindle that I'd be like, Oh, and read that before. So like, I want to make sure it's downloaded on mine. And here's an arc that she has in advance that like I could get that. And then also I got to, you know, library books. So like I get all this stuff and then I put an airplane mode. Cause I'm like, well, I don't want the airplane, you know, the thing to connect and my library holds to disappear, you know? So like. But I didn't know what to read. And so I came back and the books are still there because I just haven't ever connected back to my home Wi-Fi and finally read the last one that I'm like, I'm never going to get this back if I return it to the library or whatever. So I've been a little fickle, I guess, on what kinds of things I want to read. So Speaker 1 (12:47) I'm Speaker 3 (12:48) settling back in. I was 10 Speaker 1 (12:50) % of the way into a book the other day and I texted my daughter to be like. Speaker 3 (12:53) I'm really hung up on this stupid thing. Like, does it end? Does it get better? You know, she's like, oh yeah, that's, that's real short. And like within, you know, two, 3%, I was, they moved on and it was, it was over, but I was like 10%. I'm like, I don't care. And she's like, no, no, no, that's real quick. So it ended. I'm moving. We're, we're, we're doing okay. So I've Speaker 5 (13:12) done that with Bridget. Uh Speaker 3 (13:13) -huh. Speaker 5 (13:14) Yeah. I asked Bridget, is this going to resolve? She was like, nope. I said, DNA. It is great to know Speaker 3 (13:21) people that you can ask. Like, I got into this, but I'm not sure what I'm, what I've signed up for. Speaker 1 (13:33) The Speaker 2 (13:34) city moves fast, but your vibe, that's different. Sharper, smoother, more alive. Speaker 1 (13:48) The Speaker 2