Season 8, Episode 7: Small-Town Escapes + Reading - Why So Serious?
15 September 2025

Season 8, Episode 7: Small-Town Escapes + Reading - Why So Serious?

Currently Reading

About

On this episode of Currently Reading, Meredith and Kaytee are discussing:

    Bookish Moments: a budding book collector + a favorite book wins the Hugo Award

    Current Reads: all the great, interesting, and/or terrible stuff we’ve been reading lately

    Deep Dive: reading — why so serious?

    The Fountain: we visit our perfect fountain to make wishes about our reading lives

Show notes are time-stamped below for your convenience. Read the transcript of the episode (this link only works on the main site).

1:12 - Still Life by Louise Penny (20th Anniversary Edition) [releases September 30]

2:13 - Our Bookish Moments Of The Week

2:25 - Katabasis by R. F. Kuang

3:34 - The Adventures of Amina al-Sarafi by Shannon Chakraborty

4:19 - The Creeping Hand Murder by Maureen Johnson and Jay Cooper [releases September 16]

4:53 - The Phoenix Keeper by S. A. MacLean

5:04 - The Backyard Bird Chronicles by Amy Tan

6:19 - The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett

7:54 - Our Current Reads

8:03 - Haunted Ever After by Jen DeLuca (Kaytee)

11:35 - Ghost Business by Jen DeLuca

13:30 - Rites of Extinction by Matt Serafini (Meredith)

18:39 - The Unveiling by Quan Berry [releases October 14]

19:17 - The Need by Helen Phillips

20:02 - Let Them Stare by Jonathan Van Ness and Julie Murphy (Kaytee)

22:19 - Dumplin’ by Julie Murphy

23:59 - Jobs to Be Done by Stephen Wunker, Jessica Wattman, and David Farber (Meredith)

28:36 - Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books by Kirsten Miller (Kaytee)

28:45 - The Change by Kirsten Miller

28:50 -  Schuler Books in Michigan

31:45 - Twenty Years Later by Charlie Donlea (Meredith)

35:01 - Guess Again by Charlie Donlea

36:36 - Reading — Why So Serious?

43:40 - Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood

51:03 - Meet Us At The Fountain

51:24 - I wish there was a show about readers, in the spirit of The Great British Bake Off. (Kaytee)

54:46 - An update on last week’s wish: I wish my iPhone would make automated actions easier for handling my screenshots. (Meredith)

56:40 - Step-by-Step: Build a “Send Screenshot” Shortcut on iPhone PDF

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Bookish Friends Receive:

    The Indie Press List with a curated list of five books hand sold by the indie of the month. September’s IPL comes to us from: Words Matter in Pitman, NJ.

    Love and Chili Peppers with Kaytee and Rebekah - romance lovers get their due with this special episode focused entirely on the best selling genre fiction in the business. 

    All Things Murderful with Meredith and Elizabeth - special content for the scary-lovers, brought to you with the behind-the-scenes insights of an independent bookseller

    From the Editor’s Desk with Kaytee and Bunmi Ishola - a quarterly peek behind the curtain at the publishing industry

    The Bookish Friends Facebook Group - where you can build community with bookish friends from around the globe as well as our hosts

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The Hosts and Regulars: Meredith | Kaytee | Mary | Roxanna

Production and Editing: Megan Phouthavong Evans

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