Novel Pairings

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38. The Best Audiobooks We Read in 2020 Dec 01, 2020

Show notes

Have we mentioned how much we love audiobooks? We've both been avid listeners for a long time, but between pandemic life and Sara's Aspen Words reading, this has been a banner year for audiobooks. Today, we're each sharing twelve of our favorite listening experiences. With a mix of literary fiction, romance, nonfiction, and YA, today's episode has an audiobook recommendation for every reader.

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View all of our recs and shop our links on the blog.

Chelsey's Favorites:

Before the Ever After by Jacqueline Woodson // Amazon // Bookshop // Libro.fm

The Switch by Beth O'Leary // Amazon // Bookshop // Libro.fm

The Flatshare by Beth O'Leary // Amazon // Bookshop // Libro.fm

Punching the Air by Ibi Zoboi and Yusef Salaam // Amazon // Bookshop // Libro.fm

The Voting Booth by Brandy Colbert // Amazon // Bookshop // Libro.fm

Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall // Amazon // Bookshop // Libro.fm

Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi // Amazon // Bookshop // Libro.fm

Take a Hint, Dani Brown by Talia Hibbert // Amazon // Bookshop // Libro.fm

Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo // Amazon // Bookshop // Libro.fm

Here for It: Or How to Save Your Soul in America by R. Eric Thomas. // Amazon // Bookshop // Libro.fm

Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid // Amazon // Bookshop // Libro.fm

How We Fight for Our Lives by Saeed Jones // Amazon // Bookshop // Libro.fm

Sara's Favorites:

The City We Became by NK Jemison // Amazon // Bookshop // Libro.fm

The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson // Amazon // Bookshop // Libro.fm

The Jane Austen Society by Natalie Jenner // Amazon // Bookshop // Libro.fm

Members Only by Sameer Pandya // Amazon // Bookshop // Libro.fm

Wow, No Thank You by Samantha Irby // Amazon // Bookshop // Libro.fm

Stamped The Remix by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X Kendi // Amazon // Bookshop // Libro.fm

Intimations by Zadie Smith // Amazon // Bookshop // Libro.fm

Beheld by TaraShea Nesbit // Amazon // Bookshop

The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich // Amazon // Bookshop // Libro.fm

Black Sunday by Tola Rotimi Abraham // Amazon // Bookshop // Libro.fm

Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line by Deepa Annaparra // Amazon // Bookshop // Libro.fm

The Remains of the Day // Amazon // Bookshop // Libro.fm

37. Quarterly Favorites: the best books we read in Fall 2020 Nov 24, 2020

Show notes

Today, we reflect on our favorite reads from the last three months. These quarterly reflections might be our favorite episodes to record. It's lovely to take time to consider our favorite episodes, our favorite reads, and what we've learned over the course of the season. We're sharing a bunch of book recommendations in this episode; shop our recs here.

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Books mentioned:

Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi

Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno Garcia

Luster by Raven Leilani

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

The Other Typist by Suzanne Rindell

Like Lovers Do by Tracey Livesay

On Beauty by Zadie Smith

Intimations by Zadie Smith

Now That I've Found You by Kristina Forest

I Wanna Be Where You Are by Kristina Forest

Girl, Serpent, Thorn by Melissa Bashardoust

The Next Great Jane by K.L Going

The Prettiest Star by Carter Sickels

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai

The Heart's Invisible Furies by John Boyne

Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance

She Come by It Natural by Sarah Smarsh

All My Mother's Lovers by Ilana Masad

How to Catch a Queen by Alyssa Cole

The Beauty of Your Face by Sahar Mustafa

Winter lineup:

December

My Antonia by Willa Cather

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

January

Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde

84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff

February

There is Confusion by Jessie Redmon Fauset

The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter

36. The Autobiography of Malcolm X, as told by Alex Haley, with Traci Thomas of The Stacks Nov 17, 2020

Show notes

Today, Traci Thomas of The Stacks podcast joins Chelsey and Sara to discuss The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm, X, as told by Alex Haley. We loved diving into this iconic nonfiction classic with our favorite nonfiction expert, and we're so excited to share this conversation with you.

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Shop Traci's book recs

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Our discussion includes:

What makes this a "life-changing" book?
Does The Autobiography of Malcolm X belong in the classroom?
Which parts of the book ring especially true today
Brilliant storytelling and an incredible use of rhetoric

Plus, as always, we're recommending a bunch of contemporary pairings to read along with this classic.

Shop the pairings: https://bookshop.org/lists/novel-pairings-for-the-autobiography-of-malcolm-x

Traci's Pairings:

Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention by Manning Marable
The Dead are Arising by Malcolm X by Les Payne, Tamara Payne
Heavy by Kiese Laymon
Men We Reaped: A Memoir by Jesmyn Ward
The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin
The Sword and the Shield: The Revolutionary Lives of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. by Peniel E. Joseph
Stokely: A Life by Peniel E. Joseph
Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and Its Legacy by Heather Ann Thompson

Sara's Pairings:

Barracoon: The Story of the Last Black Cargo by Zora Neale Hurston
Pale by Edward A. Farmer

Chelsey's Pairings:

Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice by Phillip Hoose
Punching the Air by Ibi Zoboi and Yusef Salaam
X: A Novel by Ilyasha Shabazz and Kekla Magoon
How We Fight for Our Lives by Saeed Jones

Also mentioned:

The Stacks Ep. 60 Beloved by Toni Morrison

The Stacks Ep. 135 The Autobiography of Malcolm X

35. A 2020 Gift Guide for every literary taste Nov 10, 2020

Show notes

It's holiday shopping season! Today we're pairing giftable books with fun items for readers with varied tastes. Build your holiday shopping list or your personal TBR with gift ideas for Austenites, fantasy readers, history buffs, and more.

Find every title and gift item we mentioned on our gift guide blog post.

34. And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie and twisty, atmospheric mystery novels Nov 03, 2020

Show notes

Today Chelsey and Sara are discussing And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie. We're sipping some red wine while we talk about this classic locked-room mystery and pair it with some atmospheric, page-turning reads. We discuss Christie's legacy in the mystery world (and her impact on literature in general), what we look for in the mystery genre, and that wild ending.

Our discussion includes:

How Christie's novels have shaped today's literary landscape, perhaps more than any other classics [17:18]
The appeal of locked room mysteries [23:00]
Spoiler alert: the twisty ending [26:42]

Plus, as always, we're recommending six contemporary books to pair with our classic, including a Japanese mystery in translation and a Christie-inspired campus novel.

We do discuss some spoilers in this episode, but we'll give you fair warning.

Books Mentioned:

Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie

The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware

Shop the pairings: https://bookshop.org/lists/novel-pairings-for-and-then-there-were-none

Chelsey's Pairings:

The Guest List by Lucy Foley [38:50]
The Decagon House Murders by Yukito Ayatsuji [46:45]
- Honkaku murder mysteries
The Aosawa Murders by Riku Onda [55:25]

Sara's Pairings:

The Truants by Kate Weinberg [42:08]
Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty [51:18]
The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton [1:00:48]

Picks of the Week:

Chelsey: The Woman on the Orient Express by Lindsay Jane Ashford

Sara: Clue

33.5 Discussing the new Netflix adaptation of Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier, starring Lily James and Armie Hammer Oct 30, 2020

Show notes

Readers, today we have a special treat, a bonus episode! We watched the new Rebecca adaptation on Netflix, and we have OPINIONS. We're talking about how we feel about DuMaurier's original, what we loved about the movie, what we hated, which spooky and suspenseful movies we're excited to watch this Halloween weekend, and what we're currently reading. Did you watch the new movie? What did you think?

P.S. We discuss the movie in depth, so spoilers abound!

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Watch Hitchcock's Academy Award winning adaptation here.

"Lily James Looks Like an American Girl Doll in Rebecca"

Lily James stars in The Pursuit of Love

Books mentioned:

Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier

The Winters by Lisa Gabriele

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

The Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman

Before the Ever After by Jacqueline Woodson

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

The Other Typist by Suzanne Rindell

33. Reading challenges and books for every fall reading mood with Courtney Wallace, The Incessant Bookworm Oct 27, 2020

Show notes

Today we are thrilled to welcome Courtney Wallace, also known as The Incessant Bookworm on her blog, Youtube, and Instagram account where she shares what she's reading, tips for the reading life, and reading challenges. We're chatting with Courtney about her back to school reading challenge, how reading challenges influence her reading life, AND we're pairing our favorite fall activities with a bunch of book recommendations.

Courtney's back to school reading challenge // Anne of Green Gables read-a-long // and read around the world challenge.

Connect with Courtney:

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

Ulysses by James Joyce

Belgravia by Julian Fellowes

Waiting for a Scot Like You by Eva Leigh

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout

Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes

Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam

A Brush with Death by Ali Carter

Harlem Shadows by Claude McKay

We're Going to Need More Wine by Gabrielle Union

While We Were Watching Downton Abbey by Wendy Wax

Mexican Gothic by Sylvia Moreno-Garcia

Jackaby by William Ritter

Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders

Inferno by Dan Brown

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin

A Taste of Sage by Yaffa S. Santos

With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo

Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel

Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi

October Sky by Homer Hickam

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova

How Much of These Hills is Gold by C. Pam Zhang

The Good Girl by Mary Kubica

The River by Peter Heller

An Elderly Lady is Up To No Good by Helene Tursten

The City Baker's Guide to Country Living by Louise Miller

Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall

Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld

American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld

Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women's Anger by Rebecca Traister

The Voting Booth by Brandy Colbert

Fall-themed ASMR Channels

Autumn Cozy

Autumn Ambiance Playlist

Calmed By Nature

Cafe Ambiance

Fall Ambiance

32. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley and eerie books to read with the lights on Oct 20, 2020

Show notes

Today Chelsey and Sara are discussing Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. We admit to some bad English major habits in this episode, and we get super nerdy with a discussion on Gothic novels and the Romantic literary movement, modern horror, and the history behind Mary Shelley's iconic monster. We also make some surprising modern connections across science, ethics, and social media. If you're in the mood for eerie, spooky, and not-too-scary reads this month, get ready to take note of our pairings in this episode.

Our discussion includes:

Sara's experience with teaching Frankenstein in the high school classroom [8:20]
The stranger-than-fiction true story behind the novel [10:30]
Defining "Gothic novels," historical and contemporary [20:05]

Plus, as always, we're recommending six contemporary books to pair with our classic, including graphic novels and absorbing nonfiction.

Shop our pairings: https://bookshop.org/lists/novel-pairings-for-frankenstein

What to read or skip in Frankenstein:

Victor thinking about creating his creature

Creating the monster

Monster talking to Victor

Skip all of the wandering around the countryside

Shop the pairings:

Chelsey's Pairings:

The Lady from the Black Lagoon: Hollywood Monsters and the Lost Legacy of Millicent Patrick by Mallory O'Meara [43:30]
- WSIRN Episode w/Mallory
Mary: The Adventures of Mary Shelley's Great-Great-Great-Great-Great Granddaughter by Brea Grant & Yishan Li [50:40]
The Girl With All the Gifts by M. R. Carey [58:20]

Sara's Pairings:

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro [40:02]
Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood [46:45]
Destroyer by Victor LaValle, illustrated by Dietrich Smith [53:51]

Picks of the Week:

Chelsey: Penny Dreadful on Showtime/Netflix

Sara: Mary's Monster by Lita Judge

Illustrations: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781626725003

31. Short Story Club: Horror Story by Carmen Maria Machado and spooky book recommendations Oct 13, 2020

Show notes

Today Chelsey and Sara are discussing "Horror Story" by Carmen Maria Machado for this season's installment of Short Story Club. Each quarter, we choose a short story that's widely available and discuss its genre, themes, and important moments before recommending books to pair with it. For spooky season, we decided to go with a fresh, new voice we both love. This super short "micro story" felt like the right balance of spookiness for two readers who don't love horror. Of course, we end up taking a bit of a deep dive into the horror genre anyway. If you read the story and join us for this mini book club, please let us know what you think of the story!

Our discussion includes:

Machado's striking imagery and sparse prose
What does the horror genre do? Why is it popular?
Gaslighting in horror stories
Deeper themes and metaphors

Plus, as always, we're recommending six pairings, including a modern gothic novel and a few scary short story collections.

Shop the pairings: https://bookshop.org/lists/novel-pairings-for-horror-story

Books mentioned:

In the Dream House: A Memoir by Carmen Maria Machado

The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin

Shop the pairings:

Chelsey's Pairings:

His Hideous Heart ed. by Dahlia Adler [32:47]
Things We Lost in the Fire by Mariana Enriquez [39:18]

Toil & Trouble: 15 Tales of Women and Witchcraft ed. by Jessica Spotswood [45:05]

Sara's Pairings:

The Bright Lands by John Fram [30:17]
When No One is Watching by Alyssa Cole [35:18]
Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia [41:22]

Also mentioned:

Gaslight (1944)

30. The Crucible by Arthur Miller and witchy books to read this fall Oct 06, 2020

Show notes

Today Chelsey and Sara are kicking off the spooky season by discussing The Crucible by Arthur Miller—a play about the infamous Salem witch trials. We get pretty nerdy in this episode. Full of drama, history, and high school English class nostalgia, this play was so much fun to talk about! Chelsey shares details from her immersive high school reading experience, Sara shares memories of teaching the book (and the movie), and we share absorbing reads to pair with the themes, history, and tone of the play. Plus, we discuss implications and complexities for discussing and teaching this play during the Me Too era.

Our discussion includes:

How the play conveys (or villainizes) feminine power and gender roles [9:20]
Complicated feelings about Abigail Williams & John Proctor [14:00]
What IS a crucible? [20:21]
Speculating why there are lots of witchy books on the publishing calendar right now [29:45]

Plus, as always, we're recommending six contemporary books to pair with our classic, including a comedic novel set in the 1980's and a murder mystery set on the Plymouth Plantation.

Shop the pairings: https://bookshop.org/lists/witchy-novel-pairings-for-the-crucible