Ep. 544: Supremely talk-about-able books to fuel your book club conversations

What Should I Read Next?

Host Anne Bogle and co-host Shannan Malone engage in a literary matchmaking session with guest Lindsay Bloodworth to find book recommendations

Key takeaways

• Lindsay Bloodworth prioritizes books that spark conversation even if members haven't finished reading them.
• The book 'What Kind of Paradise' by Janelle Brown served as a catalyst for debates regarding screen time and parenting boundaries.

Main topics

• Book club curation strategies
• Motherhood and identity in literature

Notable quotes

Hated it. Five stars.

Conclusion

The episode highlights how literature can serve as a vital tool for bu

Transcript preview

Speaker 3 (0:00) My friend Laura, I think, said it best for that book. She said, hated it. Five stars. Speaker 1 (0:11) 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 this show. What we will do here is give you the information you need to choose your next read. Every week, we'll talk all things books and reading and do a little literary matchmaking with one guest. Speaker 1 (0:43) Readers, as you will hear shortly, I am joined in today's episode by team member Shannon Malone, whose services are What Should I Read Next Patreon Community Manager. Before we jump in, Shannon and I want to tell you more about what you'll find when you join us on Patreon. We've had some big changes lately, adding new ways to enjoy our show and support what we do here. And when you listen to our Patreon bonus episodes each Friday, you hear from me, of course, and also from members of the Modern Mrs. Darcy and What Should I Read Next team. which I know many of you really enjoy. We have three different options for Patreon memberships. Our classic membership is now titled Bonuses and Events, and nothing has changed about that membership, its price, or what it includes, but we've added two new options this summer that necessitated the name change. The first new tier is our ad-free episodes tier for $5 a month. This gets you weekly episodes of this show, What Should I Read Next, without the ads. We also rolled out our Patreon all-inclusive tier for 10 bucks a month. This is exactly what it sounds like. It includes everything we do on Patreon, which is our weekly bonus episodes, live events like our fall book preview and summer reading guide unboxing, and those new weekly ad-free episodes of What Should I Read Next? We are so grateful for the moral support and also financial support our patrons provide week in and week out. Our patrons truly make it possible for us to do what we do. And that really means paying the bills as well as boost our morale and give us input. If you're a patron, thank you. If not, consider joining us and helping us make the show. Check out the options and sign up for a monthly or annual membership at your tier choice at patreon.com slash what should I read next? Readers, when it comes to makeup, I always reach for easy-to-use products that give an effortless glow. If I'm going to follow a morning makeup routine, it's got to be no fuss and flattering. So, when I heard about Jones Road Beauty from friends who raved about their stuff, I couldn't wait to explore. You may know about Jones Road because of their Miracle Balm, which works as a highlighter, blush, bronzer, and more. Fans gush about how it delivers big results with minimal effort. 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Readers, I wear glasses, and the process of finding a style I like that's comfortable, suits my prescription, and doesn't break the bank has always been a hassle. So when I ordered my most recent pair of prescription glasses from Warby Parker, I was impressed both at how easy the process was and how well these glasses have stood up to wear over the years. Unlike glasses I've had in the past, my styles from Warby Parker are still going strong after many years wear. I love the way they look even now. And my Warby Parker sunglasses, which I wear all of the time. Stand up to abuse and nearly anything I throw at them, including when I sometimes literally toss them into my bag without the case. They've been to the beach many times. They have held up great. Warby Parker has a new virtual try-on that makes finding your new frames easy. You can see exactly how the glasses will look on your face before you even place your order. Prescription glasses from Warby Parker start at just $95, so you can get stylish quality frames at an affordable price. If you're looking for other things your eyes need, like contacts, online eye exams, or sunglasses you'll love as much as I love mine, Warby Parker has what you need. Shop online or in one of their 300-plus retail stores in the U.S. Warby Parker is also covered by major eye insurance plans. Just enter your information online, and they'll tell you which benefits your plan carries and automatically apply any that you're eligible for to your order. Right now, buy one pair of glasses and get 20 % off any additional pairs at warbyparker.com. slash readnext. That's 20 % off any additional pairs when you purchase one pair at w-a-r-b-y parker.com slash readnext. Readers, today's format is new-ish to us. It's one in which I invite a team member to join me in recommending titles for a guest. As you may recall from back in episode 523, when I was joined by team member Ginger Horton, sometimes I see a guest submission come across my screen and think, oh, I know just the team member I want to have that conversation with and just the team member that reader wants to recommend books to them. Today is one of those episodes. I am thrilled to welcome our Patreon community manager, Shannon Malone, to co-host with me. We are chatting with Lindsay Bloodworth, who's joining us from Homewood, Alabama. Lindsay is a mom to two boys, and she's found joy and community in her book clubs, in a mom's workout group that she's managed to turn into a book club, as well as through another book club at her local indie bookstore. Lindsay wrote in because she would love to hear ideas for books her community of moms would enjoy reading and discussing together. She's got a wrinkle, she's adding to that question, as you will hear. Lindsay's found that having other moms to chat with through all of life's small and big moments has been really important to her, and she's enjoyed using books to spark these conversations. Shannon also lives in Alabama and in a prior life ran the Rocket City Mom Virtual Book Club for 10 years, where they read over 60 books together. So. When she saw Lindsay's submission, she knew she had ideas. Today, we will see what types of books we can put on Lindsay's reading radar that might make for great conversations with either one of her book clubs. Readers, I really enjoyed this. Let's get to it. Lindsay, Shannon, welcome to the show. Thanks, Anne. Hello. We always say that reading is better together, and I love that we have a literary trio today. So like we said in the intro, we are exploring how to bring our team members on and let them speak from their readerly expertise into our listeners' and guests' lives. Because Shannon, you read very differently from me. Speaker 2 (7:03) Yes. Speaker 1 (7:04) Yes. And our... Readers contain multitudes. And so, Lindsay, we're so glad you're here today. Thank you for doing this for the second or third time, depending on how you're counting and what should I read next history. And listeners, if there's a particular team member that you think you are a book twin of and you'd like to hop on and get their recommendations, I mean, I'll chime in. But Shannon, I'm deferring to you today. We would love to have you. That page is at whatshouldireadnextpodcast.com. guest. And Lindsay, that's how you came our way today. Thanks so much for being here. Speaker 3 (7:37) I'm excited to be here after all of these years and all of the attempted submissions. Speaker 1 (7:46) You know, we could pull up that history just for fun. What made you think that now was the time to send in the submission that you did? Speaker 3 (7:54) So I'm a mom. I live in Homewood, Alabama. I've got two little boys. And what made me send in the submission this time was I'm in two book clubs, but one of them is for... Part of, I guess, my job. I'm a part-time coach for a mom's stroller workout group called Fit for Mom Birmingham. And so part of the workout is moms can bring their kids in the stroller. We all work out outside together in the, well, sometimes the Alabama heat. The beautiful way to say it is in the sunshine and fresh air. But it's a really great supportive community of moms. And back in 2022, when I became a coach, they also asked me to start a book club. Speaker 2 (8:40) And I said, Speaker 3 (8:42) yes, with one condition. And that is that I got to pick the books because I wasn't. This is selfish and I know it, but I wasn't interested in reading what someone else wanted to read with my limited reading time with, at the time, two very young kids. And so I said, yes, I'd love to, but everybody has to read what I want to read. Mostly, I still pick the books. Sometimes I text another mom who reads a lot. Or we'll talk about it at book club. Like my friend Michelle recently read Heart the Lover. And she said she had listened to the audio three times already on Hoopla. And I thought, well, if you've read it three times, we should do it as a book club choice. So after our book club in June, we did Yesteryear and had... such an interesting conversation, such a varied conversation about current events and influencer life and how that overlaps with motherhood and decisions that we make every day and how we're influenced whether we know it or not and how we are complicit in the culture. And how we also don't like it at the same time. We just had such a great conversation, even with the moms who hadn't finished the book yet, that I thought, this is what I want more of. More books that we can talk about, even if everybody in the room hasn't finished it. And so I went home and applied to get our book club on the show. Speaker 1 (10:21) I love it. That was the ticket. I love it. That was submission number what? Four, maybe. Okay. Lindsay, your first submission, it appears, was in November 2018. Do you remember the book she loved? They're different from the books we're talking about today. Actually, I think one would be perfect for your book club. Speaker 3 (10:38) I think that one was when I wanted to be, was that the infertility one or when I was applying to be a teacher? Or like not a teacher. I wanted more books that were diverse, maybe for my classroom. Speaker 2 (10:51) I don't know. I have no idea what I put in 2018. Speaker 1 (10:53) Well, the books you loved, well, I could send it to you if you'd like to check it out, take a walk down memory lane. But you loved The Road. To Kill a Mockingbird. Yes, I did. And Tell Me More by Kelly Corrigan, which if you haven't read in book club might be worth resurfacing. Speaker 3 (11:10) We haven't done Tell Me More, but as I was looking through the list this morning of all the past books we've done, I thought, why haven't we done Tell Me More? Speaker 1 (11:20) Maybe because it's really hard. It's really hard in a lot of ways. It Speaker 3 (11:23) is. And so, you know, you have to have the right time of year. You know, you're not going to do that in December. I'm just not going to do that with my book club in December. That's too heavy. But yeah, Tell Me More is a good one. Speaker 1 (11:37) But I don't want to get ahead of ourselves as we talk about what might be suitable and what not be suitable and why. So Lindsay, you participate in two book clubs. One, you shepherd. One, you just get to come and talk books. Tell us more about your reading life. Speaker 3 (11:51) So I love, I tell people this all the time. I love... all book things and all book people. I think y'all say on this show, sometimes book people are the best people. And I really think that's true. So I'm in a book club through my local independent bookstore, Little Professor. I've been in it for Speaker 1 (12:10) five years. Speaker 3 (12:14) Kathleen runs the literary fiction group there. It's a really great intergenerational group of readers. I tend to be on the younger side of that group. And it just really enriches, I think, my reading experience. Even if I don't particularly enjoy the book, having the chance to talk about it with a group of people, especially from different lived experiences, is Speaker 2 (12:40) really helpful. Speaker 3 (12:42) There's the book club part of my reading life and being in the two book clubs really shapes my month. Although I'm a book club procrastinator, like that, I, the number of times I am finishing a book club book the day of or two days before, um, is far more often than not. I would say 85 % of the time. Speaker 1 (13:07) And the bright side is it's very top of mind. It is. That's the reason I do it. I have a book club Speaker 3 (13:14) this Saturday and I'm 70 % of the way through the book and I'm astonished at myself. What's the book? Theo of Golden. It's for our church retreat. Okay. That's a one-off separate book discussion. But yeah, other part of my reading life, I just really, I don't feel like my true self if I'm not reading. every day. So most of the time that's reading before bed. I always have more than one book going, partly because of the book clubs. So something a little more literary, a little more contemporary, maybe a memoir. And then I'm almost always reading romance at night. That sounds great. It's a nice balance. Speaker 1 (14:01) Now, Lindsay, I know it's your book club, the one that you choose the books for that brought you here today. And I'd love to hear more about finding these books that open the door to community and conversation. And that is something, I mean, I love all things books and reading and however you put it, I feel like we should put that on a sticker. You touched on how something I love about reading is you get to springboard into conversations about topics that really matter really quickly in a way that feels natural and not weird or awkward, but just that's what books do. And I'm interested in hearing more about the flavor you're looking for and what's worked before. And I wonder if that means we should start by talking about the books you brought to the show today. Speaker 3 (14:42) Yeah, we can. Or I can tell you a little bit about the makeup of the club and why. Why it is the way that it is? Yeah, Speaker 1 (14:52) let's start there. Speaker 3 (14:55) So Fit for Mom brings moms from all walks of life. But traditionally, or not traditionally, historically, it's been moms with younger kids. Although now there's this group of us that's been together, a lot more of our kids are in school and they're not just tiny babies anymore. And so having book club on the calendar every month is also a good mom's night out opportunity. Speaker 3 (15:23) It's a book club that is intentionally always open to any mom. So if they suddenly have a free night, they can feel free to come. And I don't ever want a mom to feel like they can't come to book club because they haven't read the book. And so when I was thinking about applying to be on the show, I thought it's going to be a funny request to say, hey, Anne, please give me books for book club. that people don't have to read, you know? Okay, Speaker 1 (15:53) that may sound silly, but how many of us listening have been so excited to go to like an author event at the bookstore where the whole point is this book is new, you know nothing, you haven't read it yet, but let's talk about it anyway. Like there's value there. Oh, absolutely. Speaker 3 (16:10) So I Speaker 1 (16:10) hear what you're saying. And also... I don't want you to minimize the value of what you're doing. Speaker 3 (16:16) Right. And what this brings Speaker 1 (16:17) people. Speaker 3 (16:18) And that's what I've seen happen so many times. Moms, well, and there was even one book that I didn't finish. But moms just really connect with what we're talking about. Whether it's one of the books I'm going to talk about later is What Kind of Paradise by Janelle Brown. Whether it's what role does technology play in the way that we raise our children. We've done a few like parenting self-help books where, you know, it doesn't matter if you've read it because you can share your opinion on the topic. But generally, those are not the kind of books we're reading. But it's overall really important to me and other people in the group that it just remain this open space where you can come, you can connect with the moms there and that you don't feel isolated if you don't know the plot of the book. We do tell people they will get spoilers. Yesteryear was the only book we chose where I almost told people, don't come if you haven't finished it. But I didn't. And the discussion was better for it. Speaker 1 (17:25) Lindsay, that is good information, thinking through hospitality being a leading filter and then what that means. It means the door is open, even on short notice, even if you have no hope of even obtaining the book. Before you show up to talk about the topics in it. Okay. So theme forward or books with like a strong premise that you can emotionally like really step into quickly. Okay. Can we hear now what that looks like with the actual titles? Sure. Okay. So you know how this works. You have brought three books that your book club loved. Okay. One book. They didn't. And what you've been reading lately. And Shannon and I are going to explore options for possible future book club selections. Speaker 3 (18:18) Sounds Speaker 1 (18:18) good. Lindsay, how did you choose these? Speaker 3 (18:21) I chose the three books today based on overall the best conversations that we've had. The ones that have gotten us kicked out of. the restaurant at 10.30. We meet at 7 p.m. and it is not rare for us to shut down the local restaurant that we're at Speaker 2 (18:41) because we sit outside and they don't close until 10 p.m. Speaker 3 (18:45) So we are often