The Currently Reading Podcast

Become a Bookish Friend on Patreon (just $5/month!)

Listen to The Currently Reading Podcast on Apple Podcasts

Reader Know Thyself Dispatch #14: Do you finish every book you start?

The Currently Reading Podcast — Wed, 19 Aug 2026 19:52:00 GMT

Hey Readers,

Welcome back to Reader Know Thyself.

Last time I made you do the hard thing. I asked you to name your favorite book of all time, and then I made you explain why. So many of you wrote back, and I loved every single answer. I will admit to being surprised by several of your favorites, but I loved all your feedback. You’re such good readers.

Today we’re going to the other end of the shelf.

Grab your notebook. And get ready, because this one comes with a permission slip.

THE QUESTION

Do you finish every book you start, or are you comfortable putting one down?

And then the follow-up, which is the part that actually matters: what does it take for you to quit?

MY ANSWER

I DNF. Happily, and without ceremony.

It took me years to get here, though, and I want to be precise about it. Because “I didn’t finish it” is really three different things wearing the same outfit.

There’s the true DNF. Or what I sometimes call a “DNF with prejudice”. This book is not for me, it was never going to be for me, and trying harder will not change that.

There’s the set aside or NRN. (That means “not right now”.) Right book, wrong time. I’ll come back to it. (Many times, I actually do.)

And then there’s the slow fade, where I never officially quit anything. The book just migrates to the nightstand, then under the nightstand, and eight months later I find it and cannot tell you one single thing about the plot. I’ve done this so many times I’m embarrassed, almost.

My most recent true DNF is a perfect example. Dissection of a Murder by Jo Murray. On paper, this book was built in a lab for me. British legal thriller. Bestselling debut. A barrister lands her first murder case defending a man accused of killing a judge, and her client won’t speak. And it’s well written! Truly.

But it has an unreliable narrator, and I just do. not. like. them.

I want to like them. I keep picking up these books hoping this will finally be the time. But wanting to be a reader who loves unreliable narrators does not make me that reader. I was wasting my time and the author’s time. My rule of giving a book roughly 10% on my e-reader or on audio helped me make this call quickly and decisively.

Reader, know thyself.

WHY THIS MATTERS

Finishing a book you’re not loving is the sunk cost fallacy wearing a pretty cardigan. You didn’t pay for those pages. You paid for the potential of a great read, and you can stop paying whenever you decide to.

But here’s the part I actually care about. Your DNF pile is data.

Last time we mined your favorites for the common thread. Your DNFs hold that same information coming from the opposite direction, and sometimes it arrives clearer, because we’re far less sentimental about the books we didn’t love.

Look at mine: Unreliable narrator. That one thread explains a startling number of very acclaimed books I have bounced off of, and the day I saw it, I realized I needed to stop doing it. The book didn’t fail. I didn’t fail. We were simply never a match.

That’s not giving up. That’s calibration. Aliiiiiignment, if you will.

HOW TO APPLY IT

Open your Collection Spot and give the quitters a page of their own.

Name your rule. Fifty pages? 10%? Nancy Pearl’s Rule of 50, which gives every book fifty pages, and then once you turn fifty-one lets you subtract your age from 100 instead? (Getting older has its perks.) Chapter three and not one word more? No rule at all, pure vibes? There is no wrong answer here. But having an answer means you stop relitigating the same decision every single time.
List your last five DNFs. Title, roughly where you stopped, and one sentence on why. Not “it was boring.” Go deeper than that. What specifically lost you?
Look for the thread. Lay them side by side. I’d boldly suggest you’ll spot the pattern in about four minutes, and it will explain more about your reading life than any five-star list ever could.

BOOKS THAT MIGHT WORK

Here’s what nobody warns you about DNFing: the risk isn’t the book you put down. It’s the three weeks of not reading that can follow it. You need a palate cleanser with a very high potential success rate, and which one you need depends on why you bailed on your last book.

Both of these are books I have pressed on the show.

1. Fierce Kingdom by Gin Phillips
For when you quit because the book was too slow and what you need is velocity. Joan and her four-year-old son are at the zoo near closing time when she sees something terrible near the exit, and she has to get them both back inside and hidden. The whole novel unfolds across about three hours of real time, and it is 288 pages of held breath. This is the book that restarts a stalled engine.
Grab it from Bookshop

2. Ellie and the Harpmaker by Hazel Prior
For when you quit because everything felt too loud, too grim, or simply too much. Dan carves Celtic harps alone in his barn on Exmoor. Ellie wanders in on the anniversary of her father’s death, and he hands her a cherrywood harp to match her cherry-colored socks, just like that. It’s gentle and quietly peculiar and the stakes stay beautifully low. Sometimes a slump isn’t a reading problem. It’s a nervous system problem.
Grab it from Bookshop

TRACK IT YOUR WAY

Give your DNFs a permanent page in your Collection Spot. Title, the page you stopped on, one line of why.

Most readers track only what they finished, which means they’re keeping careful records on half their reading life and throwing the other half straight in the bin. The half going in the bin is where an awful lot of the good information lives.

YOUR TURN

Hit reply and tell me: what’s the last book you DNFd, and what was the final straw?

And tell me your rule, if you’ve got one. I’m collecting them.

One more thing. If this is your flavor of question, go listen to this week’s episode. Kaytee and Roxanna dug into the authors who’ve given us reading trust issues, which is the DNF question’s slightly angrier cousin.

Until next time, may your coffee be hot and your book be unputdownable.

Meredith

Listen to our most recent episode:

Become a Bookish Friend on Patreon (just $5/month!)

Listen to The Currently Reading Podcast on Apple Podcasts

Reader Know Thyself Dispatch #13: What is your favorite book and why?

The Currently Reading Podcast — Wed, 22 Jul 2026 16:05:10 GMT

Hey Readers,

Welcome back to Reader Know Thyself.

Last time we talked about reading in community, and whether a book gets better when you can talk it out with your people.

Today I’m asking the biggest question I’ve got, and spoiler alert, it’s one a lot of readers don’t want to answer.

Grab your notebook and let’s get into it, IF YOU DARE.

THE QUESTION

What is your favorite book of all time, and why?

I know. Some of you just felt your hiney squench.

This is the question readers love to hate. Ask it at a party and watch a book lover break into a mild sweat, or get a little bit mad at you for even asking.

I hear all of that, and I’m still going to gently push you to answer it.

MY ANSWER

Here’s what I believe about this question. It comes in two parts, and the second part is the one that matters.

Part one is naming the book. Part two is figuring out why that book stands out above all others. Anyone can say “this is my favorite.” The real work, the work that actually teaches you something about yourself, is understanding why it earned that spot.

So let me go first.

My number one spot is a two-way tie, and if you listen to The Currently Reading Podcast, you already know exactly what’s coming. Both of my very favorite books have a delicious Count in them.

My two favorite books are The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas and A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles.

Now here’s the part that actually matters. Here’s the why.

Both of these are sweeping stories. Both of them feature a man I will freely admit to being a little bit in love with. And both of them dig into the deep, deep stuff that makes us who we are. Monte Cristo is largely driven by vengeance. The Count in A Gentleman in Moscow could just as easily be full of vengeance and anger, and instead he keeps choosing love and helping. Two men, two very different answers to the same hard circumstances.

What ties them together for me is that both of these men search themselves deeply. They want to look underneath the surface of who they are. (Well, they may not waaaaaant to, but they do. That matters.) I’m the same way, and I think that’s a big part of why these two books have their hooks in me so completely.

They also have fantastic pacing, which never hurts. And here’s the last piece, the one I’ve come to see as essential: both of these books surprised me when I loved them. I did not walk in expecting either one to become a forever favorite. That element of surprise turns out to be a thread running through almost all of my very favorite books.

That’s my why. Sweeping, deeply human, beautifully paced, and a total surprise.

WHY THIS MATTERS

When you figure out why a book is your favorite, you’re not just being sentimental. You’re building yourself a compass.

Look at my why again. Deep interiority. A character I fall for. Big sweep. Great pacing. The surprise of loving it. That’s not a book review. That’s a recipe. Now I know what to reach for, and I know the kind of book most likely to knock me flat.

Your favorites hold the same information, if you’re willing to look. The thread that connects them is your reading DNA. It tells you what you actually value on the page, which is often different from what you think you value, or what you feel like you’re supposed to value.

That’s why I won’t let you stop at just naming the book. The name is a fun fact. The why is the way you find more favorites.

HOW TO APPLY IT

Open up your Collection Spot. Then do the brave thing:

Narrow it down. One favorite, two, a ranked top ten, or ten books you flatly refuse to put in order. I truly do not care how you do it. I only care that you push yourself to name your favorites instead of dodging the question.
For each one, answer why. Not “because it’s good.” Go deeper. What did it do to you? What did it understand about you? What were you feeling when you read it?
Look for the thread. Lay your favorites side by side and find what they share. That common thread is the truest thing you can know about yourself as a reader.

BOOKS THAT MIGHT WORK

My number one spot, in case you want to climb into this deep, dark readerly territory right alongside me.

1. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
Edmond Dantès is a young man on the brink of everything he wants when he’s framed for a crime he didn’t commit and buried alive in an island prison. What comes next is escape, a hidden fortune, a brand-new identity, and a patient, meticulous reckoning with the men who ruined him. It is enormous and it is propulsive, and it is my favorite meditation on what vengeance costs the person carrying it.
👉 Grab it from Bookshop

2. A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
In 1922, Count Alexander Rostov is sentenced to house arrest in a grand Moscow hotel, and he spends the next several decades building an entire, expansive life without ever walking out the front door. Where another man would curdle into bitterness, the Count keeps choosing warmth and connection. It’s the quieter cousin to Monte Cristo, and it holds exactly the same spot in my heart.
👉 Grab it from Bookshop

TRACK IT YOUR WAY

Add this one to your Collection Spot, wherever you’re keeping your Reader Know Thyself answers.

Write down your favorite, or your two, or your unruly top ten. Then write the why beside each one. Come back in twelve months and see whether the books have changed, or whether it’s the reasons that shifted. Both tell you something.

YOUR TURN

Hit reply and tell me: what is your favorite book of all time, and why?

Are you brave enough to go to this deep, dark readerly territory with me? Narrow it down, ranked or not, and tell me the why. I would truly love to know.

Until next time, may your coffee be hot and your book be unputdownable.

Meredith

Listen to our most recent episode:

Become a Bookish Friend on Patreon (just $5/month!)

Listen to The Currently Reading Podcast on Apple Podcasts

Reader Know Thyself Dispatch #12: Do books get better when you can talk about them?

The Currently Reading Podcast — Tue, 07 Jul 2026 16:05:11 GMT

Hey Readers,

Welcome back to Reader Know Thyself.

Last time we talked about whether you’re a Driver or a Passenger Princess in your reading. Today we’re asking about a different piece of your reading life.

Grab your notebook and let’s get into it.

THE QUESTION

Do you like books better when you can talk about them? Whether it’s a book club, a buddy read, or a group chat, does reading in community make the book itself better for you?

MY ANSWER

Here’s one of the biggest surprises of my reading life that has come to me purely from my work doing The Currently Reading Podcast: I love reading in community.

I did not see that coming. I’ve always thought of reading as my solo retreat, the thing I do to get away from everyone. But some of my most meaningful reading has happened shoulder to shoulder with other people.

My reading partnership with my friend Roxanna started with the ACOTAR series of all things, and it has turned into one of the great friendships of my life. We read together, we voice memo about books and our lives constantly, and somewhere in all of that a reading partner became a lifelong friend.

Then there’s my 666 Book Club. Six of us, six books, every six weeks, all dark and spooky reads. The conversation is the whole point. Whether we all loved the book or all wanted to set it alight, sitting down together and pulling it apart is where the magic lives. Some of my favorite bookish moments have come from a book none of us could agree on.

So it turns out the reader who thought she wanted to be left alone with her book is happiest, sometimes, with a book in one hand and her people in the other.

WHY THIS MATTERS

A book you read alone and a book you read in community can be two completely different experiences, even when it’s the exact same book.

Some books are made better by conversation. A dense, challenging read can go from intimidating to unforgettable when you’ve got someone in the trenches with you. A divisive book can become a five-star experience not because of the writing, but because of the argument it started.

Here’s the self-knowledge piece. If you know that discussion makes books better for you, you can stop white-knuckling the hard ones alone. You can save the doorstopper for a buddy read. You can bring the weird, divisive book to your group instead of quietly setting it down by yourself.

And if you know you’re the opposite, that you actually prefer to sit with a book privately and form your own opinion before anyone else’s gets in, that’s just as useful. You can protect your solo reading and pick your discussion moments on purpose.

Knowing which kind of reader you are changes how you choose books, and who you choose to read them with.

HOW TO APPLY IT

Open up your Collection Spot. Then sit with these prompts:

Think of a book that got better after you talked about it. What did the conversation give you that reading alone didn’t? Name it specifically.
Think of a book you loved privately and never wanted to discuss. Some reads are yours alone. Knowing the difference tells you a lot about how you like to hold a book. Or which books are off-limits for group reads.
What’s sitting on your TBR that you’re a little scared of? The long one, the dense one. Would it become doable, or even joyful, as a buddy read? That’s your next invitation to send.

BOOKS THAT MIGHT WORK

Two books that became bigger (and better) for me because I didn’t read them alone.

1. The Eighth Life (for Brilka) by Nino Haratischvili (read with Roxanna)
This one is long and it is dense, a sweeping Georgian family saga that runs through six generations and most of the twentieth century, all spun around a family recipe for hot chocolate with a secret, cursed ingredient. On my own, I might have stalled out somewhere around the Russian Revolution. Correction, I definitely would have. But Roxanna and I tackled it together, and having a partner in the trenches turned a daunting book into one of our favorite reading experiences.

We might never have made it through solo. Together, we loved it.
👉 Grab it!

2. When the Wolf Comes Home by Nat Cassidy (read with the 666 Book Club)
A down-on-her-luck actress finds a terrified five-year-old hiding outside her apartment, and after a violent run-in with the boy’s father, the two of them are running for their lives. It looks like a werewolf story and turns into something stranger and far more human. I liked it on my own. Then the 666 Book Club got hold of it, and several members came at it from angles I’d never once considered. That conversation is a big part of why I loved this book as much as I did.

Great horror is good alone. Great horror with your people to unpack it is even better.
👉 Grab it from Bookshop

TRACK IT YOUR WAY

Add this one to your Collection Spot, wherever you’re keeping your Reader Know Thyself answers.

Note whether you lean toward reading in community or reading alone, and jot down one book that got better because you talked about it. Then write down the name of one person you’d love to buddy read with, and the book you’d choose. Come back in twelve months and see how many of your best reads came with company.

YOUR TURN

Hit reply and tell me: does talking about a book make it better for you, or do you like to keep your reading to yourself? And if you’re a community reader, what’s the best book conversation you’ve ever had?

I’m always looking for my next buddy read, so tell me what it should be.

Until next time, may your coffee be hot and your book be unputdownable.

Meredith

Listen to our most recent episode:

Become a Bookish Friend on Patreon (just $5/month!)

Listen to The Currently Reading Podcast on Apple Podcasts

Reader Know Thyself: Are you a Driver or a Passenger Princess of Your Reading?

The Currently Reading Podcast — Wed, 24 Jun 2026 16:06:00 GMT

Hey Readers,

Welcome back to Reader Know Thyself.

Last time we got into your three genre questions: your Wheelhouse, your Easy Stretch, and your True Stretch. You all had SO MUCH to say about this topic and I loved it all.

This week we’re looking at a different part of your reading identity. Not what you read. How you decide what to read next.

Grab your notebook and let’s get into it.

THE QUESTION

When it comes to choosing your next book, are you a Driver or a Passenger Princess?

A Driver wants to choose her own books. She browses, she researches, she follows her own nose, and she decides. For a true Driver, a recommendation can sometimes have the opposite of its intended effect. Someone says “you have to read this,” and suddenly that’s the one book she does not want to pick up. Not always. But that’s one of the Driver’s tells.

A Passenger Princess loves being chauffeured. She lights up when a friend says “drop everything and read this.” She’ll happily build her year around a reading challenge or a prompt list, and she finds real relief in handing the wheel to someone else.

MY ANSWER

I’m mostly a Driver. I like choosing my own books, and I like the hunt almost as much as the reading.

But every now and then a friend who really knows my taste tells me to drop everything and read a certain book, and I do it with great delight. Roxanna, my Reading Partner, and I have a code for it. When she texts me “read this book now,” I’ve learned to just do it, no questions asked. That’s how Piranesi came to me. That’s how The Last One came to me. I didn’t browse my way to those. Someone I trust pressed them into my hands, and I let her drive.

Here’s what I’ve noticed. Sometimes it feels really good to be told what to do. Sometimes it feels really good to have the weight of “what should I read next” lifted right off my shoulders. After a long day of decisions, being a Passenger Princess for one book is its own small vacation.

So I lean Driver, with the windows down. But I keep a seat open for the few people who’ve earned the keys.

WHY THIS MATTERS

Most of us are both, depending on the day and the season. The useful question isn’t “which one am I, forever.” It’s “which way do I lean, and is one of these a hard no for me?”

That second part is where the self-knowledge lives.

If you’re a Driver and you didn’t know it, you’ve probably felt a flicker of resistance when someone hands you a book and you couldn’t explain why. That’s not you being difficult. That’s your reading brain protecting its autonomy. Once you name it, you can be honest with the people who love recommending to you. “I’m a Driver, so put it on my list and let me come to it on my own time.” No hurt feelings.

If you’re a Passenger Princess and you didn’t know it, you might be white-knuckling the wheel out of some sense that a “real reader” picks her own books. She doesn’t have to. Leaning into recommendations, challenges, and prompt lists isn’t a lack of taste. It’s a faster route to the books that are actually for you. Knowing this lets you build the rec sources that fit your life: the friend who never misses, the challenge that always stretches you.

Knowing your lean changes how you handle the most common moment in any reader’s life: somebody, somewhere, telling you to read something.

HOW TO APPLY IT

Open up your Collection Spot. Then sit with these prompts:

When a trusted friend says “you have to read this,” what happens in your body? Do you reach for the book, or do you feel the urge to put it down for a while? That reaction is your answer.
Look at your last ten reads. How did each one come to you? Mark each one D or P. Did you find it yourself, or did someone or something hand it to you? The ratio is your lean, in your own data.
Is one of these a hard no? Some readers feel genuinely itchy being told what to read. Others feel paralyzed choosing alone. Naming the one that feels antithetical to you is just as useful as naming the one you love.

BOOKS THAT MIGHT WORK

Two books that came to me from the passenger seat. I didn’t choose either one. Someone I trust handed it to me, and I’m better for it.

1. Piranesi by Susanna Clarke (handed to me by Roxanna) This is the book Rox texted me about with our “read this book now” code, and she was right, as she almost always is. A man lives alone in an endless labyrinth of a House: vast halls lined with thousands of statues, an ocean trapped in the lower levels where the tides thunder up the staircases. He keeps careful journals and tends to the few he shares this world with, and then small signs start to suggest the House is not the whole story.

It’s gentle and quietly gripping, and you find yourself rooting hard for a narrator who’s simply trying to understand where he is. I would never have driven myself to this one. I’m so glad Roxanna did. 👉 Grab it from Bookshop

2. Daddy-Long-Legs by Jean Webster (pressed into my hands by Morgan Tallman) Morgan told me to go in blind, so I did, and I’d tell you to do the same. A perfect Passenger Princess pick, because I’d have walked right past this one on my own. Judy Abbott grows herself up in a grim orphanage until a mysterious trustee offers to send her to college on a single condition: she writes him a letter every month. She never sees his face, only the long-legged shadow that earns him his nickname, and the whole book unspools through her funny, headlong letters.

It’s a novella, so it’s a quick, bright afternoon of a read, and exactly the kind of book a good friend knows you need before you do. 👉 Grab it from Bookshop

TRACK IT YOUR WAY

Add this one to your Collection Spot, wherever you’re keeping your Reader Know Thyself answers.

Write down whether you lean Driver or Passenger Princess, and note the one that feels like a hard no. Then list your two or three trusted drivers by name: the people whose recs you’ll always say yes to. Come back in twelve months and see if your lean has shifted.

YOUR TURN

Hit reply and tell me: Driver or Passenger Princess? And who’s allowed to hand you a book and have you read it, no questions asked?

I want names. Some of the best reads of my life have come from a friend who simply knew.

Until next time, may your coffee be hot and your book be unputdownable.

Meredith

Listen to our most recent episode:

Reader Know Thyself Dispatch #10 - Three Genre Questions You Need to Answer

The Currently Reading Podcast — Wed, 10 Jun 2026 16:05:09 GMT

Hey readers, welcome back to Reader Know Thyself.

Last time we talked about fiction vs. nonfiction and where your reading actually lives.

This week we’re going one layer deeper into your reading identity. We’re going to talk about genres. And specifically, the three genres every reader should be able to name.

Grab your notebook and let’s get into it.

THE QUESTIONS

I have three for you today.

What is your Wheelhouse Genre? Your home base. This comes easy to you.
What is your Easy Stretch Genre? Where you usually land happily.
What is your True Stretch Genre? Where you have to work for it.

MY ANSWER

All three questions matter. Here are my answers.

My Wheelhouse Genre is mystery. I’ve read so much mystery over the years that I’ve become a really capable reader of the genre. I can tell within fifty pages whether a mystery is going to land or fizzle. I know my tropes and I know the authors whose books I’ll always devour. That comfort and that expertise matter. They give me a reliable home base in my reading life that I can return to anytime.

My Easy Stretch Genre is science fiction. I love sci-fi. When I read it, I have very satisfying experiences in the genre. But it doesn’t come naturally to me, and I have to be intentional about reaching for it. Without intention, my hand will reach for the next mystery on my Kindle every single time.

My True Stretch Genre is literary fiction. I have to be super intentional about lit fic, and very careful about the books I choose, because that genre is just not a natural fit for my reading brain. Some readers eat literary fiction for breakfast. I have to work for it.

And what I’ve figured out is this: my reading life is richer when I read books from all three. When I find comfort and ease in my Wheelhouse. Stretch a bit into the genres I usually like. And streeeeeeeetttttttch a lot into the genres that don’t come naturally. All three put more 5-star books in my tracker.

One tactic that’s worked for me: I follow more sci-fi and lit fic readers on Instagram and TikTok. It makes it so much easier to find the books that are actually for me in these genres.

WHY THIS MATTERS

Naming your Wheelhouse Genre is grounding. It tells you what your reading default looks like, and gives you a reliable place to land when life is hard and your brain wants comfort. There’s no shame in returning to the same genre over and over. That’s not a rut. That’s expertise.

Naming your Easy Stretch Genre identifies a genre where you’re capable of joy but where you have to be intentional. Without naming it, you’ll keep returning to your Wheelhouse forever and miss out on five-star reads that are completely within your reach.

And naming your True Stretch Genre changes your relationship with it. You stop feeling guilty about the genre you “should” read more of, and you start treating it like what it is: a place you visit every once in a while, carefully, and on your own terms.

The three together give you a road map. Your Wheelhouse Genre is where you live. Your Easy Stretch Genre is where you visit on purpose. Your True Stretch Genre is where you go when you want to come back changed.

HOW TO APPLY IT

Open up your Collection Spot. Then sit with three prompts:

What is your Wheelhouse Genre? Try to name it specifically. Not just “fiction,” but the actual genre: mystery, romance, fantasy, historical fiction, literary, horror, contemporary, whatever it is. Then name a recent 5-star read in that genre.
What is your Easy Stretch Genre? Name one. Then name a book in it that worked for you. If you cannot name one, that’s data. You might not be reaching far enough.
What is your True Stretch Genre? The one that doesn’t come naturally to you at all. You don’t have to commit to reading it. But naming it changes how you think about it when a book in that genre crosses your path.

BOOKS THAT MIGHT WORK

One pick for each category, straight from my own reading life.

1. Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz (my Wheelhouse Genre choice)
“Such a perfect English mystery.” I went in skeptical of the book-within-a-book structure and ended up loving it. The inner novel is its own delight, the outer novel is its own delight, and the riddles and the satisfying conclusion of both make this one of my forever favorites by Horowitz.
👉 Grab it from Bookshop

2. Cold People by Tom Rob Smith (my Easy Stretch Genre win)
“This gave me chills. In the best way possible.” One of my top books of 2023. The premise looks like an alien invasion novel and the book turns out to be something much more human. It’s a survival story, and a story about what people bring with them when everything else is gone: sport, art, culture, fun.
👉 Grab it from Bookshop

3. The Wall by Marlen Haushofer (my True Stretch Genre pick)
“Gosh darn it, I think I really loved this.” That was me finishing this book, days after telling my husband mid-flight that I was so bored I might die. A woman wakes up at an Austrian hunting lodge to find an invisible wall separating her from the rest of the world, and what follows is aggressively quiet and aggressively itself. Published in 1963, five stars from me, and I’m still turning it over weeks later. This is exactly why I keep a True Stretch Genre.
👉 Grab it from Bookshop

TRACK IT YOUR WAY

Add this one to your Collection Spot, wherever you’re keeping your Reader Know Thyself answers.

Write down your Wheelhouse Genre, your Easy Stretch Genre, and your True Stretch Genre. Then write down one read in each that worked for you. Come back to this list in twelve months and see what’s shifted.

YOUR TURN

Hit reply and tell me: what’s your Wheelhouse, your Easy Stretch, and your True Stretch?

I’m especially curious about your stretch picks. Some of the best book recommendations I’ve ever received have come from this newsletter’s inbox.

Until next time, may your coffee be hot and your book be unputdownable.

Meredith

Listen to our most recent episode:

Reader Know Thyself Dispatch #9: Fiction or nonfiction?

Wed, 27 May 2026 16:08:03 GMT

Hey readers, welcome back to Reader Know Thyself.

Last time we talked about momentum and the little rituals that keep your reading chain alive when life is trying to crowd it out. The replies on that one were so good. So many of you wrote in with the specific tricks you use to keep reading when everything else is screaming for attention. I’m filing them all away.

This week we’re going somewhere I find particularly fascinating: the gap between what you think you read and what you actually read.

Grab your notebook and let’s get into it.

THE QUESTION

Fiction vs. nonfiction: where do you actually land, and does your rating history match what you think you prefer?

MY ANSWER

Fiction is my ride-or-die. Always has been, probably always will be.

But nonfiction can be genuinely wonderful, and I do read it. Here’s the pattern I’ve noticed in my own reading life: I ebb and flow with nonfiction in a way that I never do with fiction. Some years, nonfiction makes up as much as 20% of my reading. Other years, it barely cracks 5%.

The driver, I’m convinced, is bandwidth.

I read for escape. When I crack open a book at the end of the day, I’m usually fully exhausted by everything my brain has had to process all day. Fiction is my off-ramp. It’s where my brain goes to recover.

Nonfiction asks something different of me. Even great nonfiction requires me to be at least somewhat alert. I need brain capacity to absorb arguments and connect them to my own life. I have to be operating on close to most of my cylinders to really get something out of NF.

So when I look at the years my NF percentage is higher, those are usually the years I had more bandwidth. The summers I wasn’t in launch mode at work. The stretches where my actual capacity for new information was higher than usual.

The years my NF drops to 5%? Those are survival years. And there’s no shame in that. My reading life adjusts to my real life, and that’s actually working as designed.

WHY THIS MATTERS

This is one of those self-knowledge gaps where readers are constantly fighting themselves.

A lot of us tell ourselves we should read more nonfiction. Should read the leadership book. Should be improving. When we don’t, we feel like we’re falling short of some imagined better-reader version of ourselves.

When you look at your actual rating history, you might find that the nonfiction books you did read were three-star reads, while your five-star reads were almost all fiction. Or you might find the opposite.

The point isn’t which is “better.” The point is to stop arguing with the reality of who you are as a reader.

If you’re a fiction reader and your reading tracker confirms that, you can stop guilt-buying nonfiction books you’ll never actually finish. You can be intentional about when you reach for nonfiction, instead of buying it on aspiration.

If you’re a nonfiction reader and your trackers confirm that, you can stop feeling like you need to be reading the latest literary novel just because Bookstagram is buzzing about it.

Knowing where you actually land lets you build a reading life that matches your real brain, not the idealized version of it.

HOW TO APPLY IT

Open up your Collection Spot. Then go find your reading tracker, your Goodreads, your StoryGraph, or wherever you track your books. Run these numbers for your last full year of reading:

What percentage of your books were fiction? What percentage were nonfiction? Of your five-star reads, what’s the breakdown? Of your DNFs (if you track them) and lowest-rated books, what’s the breakdown? That fourth question is the most revealing. If your DNFs are mostly nonfiction, you might be buying NF on aspiration that doesn’t match your actual reading appetite. If your DNFs are mostly fiction, you might be a nonfiction reader who keeps reaching for novels you don’t actually enjoy.

Then sit with the bigger question: does anything about your ratio surprise you?

For me, the surprise isn’t in the ratio itself. It’s in what predicts it. My bandwidth is the variable, not my interest. Knowing that has changed how I plan my reading year.

BOOKS THAT MIGHT WORK

My data tells me that most of you reading this read a lot of fiction. So I’m going to recommend some nonfiction that might get you in the mood. These are all 4.5+ star reads from my own reading tracker, books that pulled me in even when my brain wanted to be reading novels.

The Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival by John Vaillant “I’m not sure I’ve ever read nature-related narrative nonfiction that was as riveting as this book. God, tigers scare me now.” 👉 Grab it from Bookshop
Calypso by David Sedaris “Sedaris’ complete honesty about how much it sucks to move through middle-age really spoke to this reader. Hilarious.” 👉 Grab it from Bookshop
Forensics: The Anatomy of Crime by Val McDermid “McDermid has a gift for making complex forensic science not just accessible but genuinely page-turning.” 👉 Grab it from Bookshop
Murder in the Dollhouse by Rich Cohen “Engrossing, memorable as all get out, this is high quality true crime.” 👉 Grab it from Bookshop

TRACK IT YOUR WAY

Add this one to your Collection Spot, wherever you’re keeping your Reader Know Thyself answers.

Note your fiction-to-nonfiction ratio for the last full reading year, and any patterns you spot in your highest and lowest-rated reads.

Then come back to it in twelve months and see what’s shifted. The ratio is a snapshot of who you were as a reader in that specific season of your life.

YOUR TURN

Hit reply and tell me: fiction or nonfiction, where do you actually land, and did your rating history confirm what you thought or surprise you?

I’m especially curious about readers whose stated preference didn’t match the data. That gap is the most interesting place a reader can stand.

Until next time, may your coffee be hot and your book be unputdownable.

Meredith

Listen to our most recent episode:

Become a Bookish Friend on Patreon (just $5/month!)

Listen to The Currently Reading Podcast on Apple Podcasts

Reader Know Thyself Dispatch #8: Does Momentum Matter?

The Currently Reading Podcast — Wed, 13 May 2026 16:06:22 GMT

Hey Readers!

Welcome back to Reader Know Thyself.

Last time we talked about ambiguous endings and whether you’re the kind of reader who needs the ribbon tied or the kind who shivers with delight when an author refuses to give you closure.

Your replies on that one were so good. You all have opinions about your endings, and I loved hearing about them.

This week we’re going to talk about momentum.

Grab your notebook and let’s get into it.

THE QUESTION

Does momentum matter to you? How do you keep it going?

MY ANSWER

Yes. So much yes.

Momentum has always mattered to me as a regular reader. But these days it matters even more because of my work on the podcast. I can’t afford to lose momentum, or I won’t have enough books to talk about on the show. The stakes are real.

When I have momentum, books fall in my lap. I finish one and the next one is already queued up on my Kindle. I stay up too late because I need to know what happens. I read the back of the next book while I’m still on the last chapter of the current one. My TBR feels like a tool instead of an instrument of shame.

When I lose momentum, everything stalls. Three days slip by without me touching a book. The novel on my nightstand starts to feel like homework. I open a thriller, abandon it on chapter four, open a different one, abandon that one too. The space my reading life was occupying gets quietly colonized by sourdough TikTok or a rewatch of Elementary.

What I’ve figured out about myself is this: I have to actively defend my momentum. It does not just happen because I love to read. Life is happy to crowd it out.

A few things that keep mine alive:

I rotate genres and never read the same kind of book twice in a row. After a thriller, I’ll go to literary fiction. After fantasy, I’ll pick up a mystery. That little switch keeps every book feeling fresh instead of like a slog. My brain does not want to compare two thrillers back-to-back. It wants contrast.
I follow a heavy book with a light one. After something dense or emotionally rough, I give myself permission to read something fizzy and propulsive. That’s not a step down. That’s how I stay in the chair.
I lean into my wheelhouse when I feel myself wobbling. Mysteries and thrillers are my reset button. When momentum is shaky, I don’t try to be adventurous. I go straight back to what I know works on my brain.
Audiobooks are actually my hardest momentum problem. I don’t give audio a ton of time in my life, so when I finish one, I get caught in a rabbit hole. I sample a book, it doesn’t fit. I sample another, it doesn’t fit. Suddenly two weeks have gone by with nothing in my ears. The fix that actually works for me: when I finish an audiobook, the very next title that catches my eye, I hit play. No deliberating. No research spiral. The less I think about which audiobook to pick, the better my audio momentum stays.
I start a new book within twenty-four hours of finishing the last one. I don’t always start the same night, but I do not let a full day slip by between books. That handoff matters more than I can explain. If I let it stretch longer than twenty-four hours, the chain breaks. This one is my secret weapon. Don’t underestimate it.

WHY THIS MATTERS

Momentum isn’t really about quantity. It’s about identity.

Readers who have momentum think of themselves as readers. Readers who’ve lost momentum start saying things like “I used to read so much” or “I just can’t seem to get into anything lately.” Once that story takes hold, it’s hard to shake. The longer you go without reading, the further you drift from the version of yourself who does.

Knowing what builds your momentum and what breaks it is one of the most useful pieces of self-knowledge you can have. It means when life gets hard or busy or both, you don’t lose your reading life along with everything else. You know your levers. You can pull them on purpose.

This is the whole point of Reader Know Thyself. Not just understanding what you like to read, but understanding how you read. The habits and patterns and tiny rituals that make all the rest possible.

HOW TO APPLY IT

Open up your Collection Spot. Two questions to sit with:

1. When was the last time you were in a real reading flow? What were you reading? What else was happening in your life? Was there an audiobook running? A series you were tearing through? A buddy read keeping you accountable? Try to name the conditions that were in place.

2. When was the last time you stalled out? What broke the chain? A book that didn’t click? A travel stretch? A book hangover from something amazing you couldn’t possibly follow up? A season of life that took everything you had? Name the culprit.

Once you can name your patterns, you can build little defenses around them. Mine are above. Yours will look completely different and that’s the point.

One small action this week: choose one thing you could do to protect your momentum.

Queue up an audiobook for the next car ride.
Put a wheelhouse book on your nightstand so you have a fallback when your current read is dragging.
Update your TBR with a few books that you know you want to get to sooooon.

Whatever your version of keep the chain alive looks like, pick one thing and do it.

TRACK IT YOUR WAY

Add this one to your Collection Spot, wherever you’re keeping your Reader Know Thyself answers. Write down what builds your momentum and what breaks it. Keep that list somewhere you can find it again, because the next time you feel yourself slipping, future-you will thank present-you for the heads-up.

YOUR TURN

Hit reply and tell me: does momentum matter to you? What keeps yours alive when life is trying to crowd it out? I read every response, and I’m always curious about the little rituals readers use to keep the chain going. Some of the best tips I’ve ever picked up have come from this newsletter’s inbox.

Until next time, may your coffee be hot and your book be unputdownable.

Meredith

Reader Know Thyself: Are you a reader who needs closure?

The Currently Reading Podcast — Wed, 29 Apr 2026 16:05:49 GMT

Hi friends,

Welcome to Reader Know Thyself Dispatch #7.

Last issue, we talked about recommendation soulmates – the people in your reading life whose taste you trust so completely you’ll pick up a book before they’ve even finished the sentence. I hope you’ve been thinking about who yours are.

Today we’re going somewhere a little more divisive. Grab your notebook and let’s get into it.

THE QUESTION:

How do you feel about ambiguous or unresolved endings? Does a book that refuses to give you closure make you seethe with rage – or shiver with something closer to literary satisfaction?

MY ANSWER:

I love them.

Not all of them, of course. There’s a kind of ambiguous ending that feels like the author just got tired and handed you the bill. That’s not what I’m talking about. But when a book withholds resolution because the story demands it? That kind of ending sits in my brain for days.

Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam is my clearest example. I nearly DNF’d it in the first ten pages. But then I kept reading, and that book got under my skin in the most complete way – the characters got in my head, or I got in theirs, I was never quite sure which. By the final pages, I was completely absorbed. And then the ending arrived, and it didn’t tell me anything definitively. The world might be ending. The characters might be okay. Alam just… stops. So many people raged about that.

I gave that book five stars.

Since then, I’ve thought about why. And also why does an ambiguous ending feel like a gift in some books and an infuriating cop-out in others? I think it comes down to whether the ambiguity is the point. In Leave the World Behind, the not-knowing is the whole deal. The dread isn’t resolved because dread doesn’t resolve. The ending doesn’t abandon you. It puts you exactly where the book always intended to put you.

The books that end ambiguously and make me genuinely frustrated are the ones where the story built toward something specific and then the author stepped sideways at the last minute. That’s not ambiguity. That’s evasion. Or a publisher deadline.

So, my full answer: I love ambiguous endings when they’re honest and earned, and I resent them when they’re not.

WHY THIS MATTERS:

Your tolerance for unresolved endings is such useful data about who you are as a reader. It will determine which books devastate you in the best possible way – and which ones leave you wanting to throw something across the room.

It also runs deeper than genre preference. Readers who genuinely need closure tend to bring that same pull toward resolution to other corners of their lives. Readers who can hold ambiguity with relative ease tend to be comfortable with open questions in general. I’m not diagnosing anyone here. But it’s worth thinking about.

Here’s where this gets especially useful: reviewers flag ambiguous endings all the time, and they almost always do it without spoilers. “The ending will divide readers.” “Not everyone will be satisfied with where this lands.” “If you need resolution, this isn’t for you.”

Once you know where you fall on this, those signals become a real navigation tool. You’ll know exactly what to do with that information – whether it’s a green light or a hard pass. That’s Reader Know Thyself in action: turning something you might have stumbled across by accident into a system that works for you.

HOW TO APPLY IT:

Look back at your lowest-rated books, or the ones you remember feeling most let down by. How many of those disappointments lived in the ending? Now ask yourself: was the ending genuinely bad, or was it ambiguous in a way that didn’t work for you?

That distinction matters. A lot of “bad endings” are just unresolved endings – and for a certain kind of reader, those are the best kind.

Then flip it. Think of a book where the ending genuinely satisfied you. What made it satisfying? Was it resolution? Emotional catharsis? Thematic payoff? The answer will tell you something concrete about what you’re actually looking for when you read.

BOOKS THAT MIGHT WORK:

Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam is literary speculative fiction and one of my five-star reads from 2020. Two families collide at a rented beach house when something starts to go very wrong in the outside world. I can’t tell you more than that without wrecking it. What I can tell you is that this book will get under your skin in a way that almost nothing else does. And if you’re the kind of reader who can hold the not-knowing, the ending is exactly right.

I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman is forty women in an underground cage. They escape. The world outside is silent and completely empty of other humans. The narrator, who has no memory of anything before the cage, will never know what happened – to the world, or to herself. This book is spare and harrowing and ends exactly as it must. If you can tolerate profound ambiguity, this one will live in you for a long time.

TRACK IT YOUR WAY:

Add this one to your Collection Spot, wherever you’re keeping your Reader Know Thyself answers: Am I a reader who needs closure, or a reader who can hold the open question?

YOUR TURN:

Comment and tell me: what’s the most memorable ambiguous ending you’ve ever read? Did it work for you, or did it make you angry?

Until next time, may your coffee be hot and your book be unputdownable,

Meredith

Listen to our most recent episode:

Romance Novels for Every Spice Level

The Currently Reading Podcast — Wed, 22 Apr 2026 15:06:09 GMT

By popular demand, we give you Kaytee’s favorite Romance Novels for Every Spice Level. She gives us two books each, from spice levels 1 to 5. Enjoy!

🌶️ Level 0–1 | Chaste & Sweet

1. Most Ardently by Gabe Cole Novoa (2025 | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ | Spice: 🌶️ Very chaste/some smooching) A queer retelling of Pride and Prejudice — same wit, same slow burn, entirely new heart. Five stars and proof that you don’t need heat to make a romance absolutely sing.

2. Heartstopper, Vol. 4 by Alice Oseman (2022 | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ | Spice: 🌶️ Closed door) Sweet, gentle, and full of the kind of tenderness that makes your heart feel like it’s going to float right out of your chest. The whole series belongs here but this volume in particular got five stars.

🌶️🌶️ Level 2 | Warm & Swoony

1. A Lady for a Duke by Alexis Hall (2022 | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ | Spice: 🌶️🌶️ Heavy petting/grinding) A trans woman returns to society after the Napoleonic Wars, passing as a new person — and the duke who was her closest friend slowly, tenderly falls for who she’s always been. Quietly devastating and deeply romantic.

2. Colton Gentry’s Third Act by Jeff Zentner (2024 | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½ | Spice: 🌶️🌶️ Heavy petting/grinding) A country music star whose career imploded finds himself starting over in a small town — and falling for someone who has no idea who he used to be. Warm, funny, and genuinely moving.

🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ Level 3 | Spice is Nice

1. Here We Go Again by Alison Cochrun (2025 | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ | Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️ Named body parts) Two women who hate each other get stuck on a road trip together. Cochrun writes queer romance with so much emotional specificity that you feel every bit of the tension before it finally, finally breaks.

2. One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston (2021 | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ | Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️ ) A girl meets a mysterious woman who is somehow stuck on the Chicago L train — possibly from a different decade. Queer, magical, and completely electric.

🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ Level 4 | Pretty Dang Spicy

1. If Only You by Chloe Liese (2023 | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ | Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ Named body parts) Liese writes neurodivergent romance better than almost anyone, and this one is her at her absolute best. Tender, funny, and a love story that earns every single moment.

2. Act Your Age, Eve Brown by Talia Hibbert (2021 | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ | Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ Named body parts ) The third Brown Sisters book, and arguably the funniest. A chaotic free spirit and a very uptight B&B owner hate each other immediately and completely. Hibbert is incapable of writing a bad sentence.

🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ Level 5 | Full Heat

1. To Catch a Raven by Beverly Jenkins (2023 | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ | Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ All the way) Beverly Jenkins is an institution, and this one is five stars. Historical romance featuring Black characters written with the richness and dignity they deserve — Jenkins does not miss.

2. Sinner by Sierra Simone (2024 | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½ | Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ All the way) Simone writes the spiciest end of the spectrum with a literary confidence that makes it impossible to look away. Not for the faint of heart, but absolutely for the five-star reader.

BONUS: ☠️🌶️ Level X | Spice PLUS

1. Butcher & Blackbird by Brynne Weaver (2024 | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½ | Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ All the way) Two serial killers fall in love. Dark, twisted, wildly funny, and genuinely romantic in a way that should not work as well as it does. Reader, it works. But you better be ready for some gore and some terror.

Now we want to hear from you. What are your favorite novels at each spice level?

Reader, Know Thyself Dispatch #6: Who are your book recommendation soulmates?

The Currently Reading Podcast — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 04:05:15 GMT

Friends, welcome back to Reader Know Thyself.

Today we’re keeping it short and sweet. One question. One exercise. Big payoff.

Grab your notebook.

THE QUESTION:

Who are your book recommendation soulmates?

I’m talking about the people whose taste aligns with yours so well that when they say “read this,” you don’t need to know anything else. You just add it to your TBR.

Not the people who read the most. Not the people with the biggest platforms. The people who totally GET you as a reader.

MY ANSWER:

My top two are Elizabeth Barnhill and Betsie Eikenberry.

Elizabeth is the adult book buyer for Fabled Bookshop in Waco, and her taste overlaps with mine in all the right ways. When she told me to read The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett, I did. It became a 5-star read that felt like someone invented it in a lab just for me.

Betsie kept telling me to read Confessions by Kinae Minato. I kept hearing about it but not picking it up. When I finally listened to her, I couldn’t believe I’d waited so long. In fact, the note in my book journal says: “Oh my sweet Lord in heaven. What did I just read? And why did I not read it 15 years ago???”

That’s what a recommendation soulmate does. They see the books you’d love before you do.

HOW TO IDENTIFY YOURS:

Think about your favorite reads from the past year or two. Where did they come from? Who recommended them?

Look for patterns. Is there a friend, a bookseller, a podcaster, a Bookstagrammer whose recs consistently land for you? Not someone who reads books you “should” like. Someone who reads books you actually love.

When you find that person (or two, or three), pay attention to them. Follow their recommendations more closely than the bestseller lists. Their taste is your shortcut.

Also, try to figure out who THEY consider to be their book twins or best recommendation sources. Sure, you can follow some of the people they follow, but also, even if you only know them through Bookstagram, ask them this question. It might strike up a lovely bookish friendship.

TRACK IT YOUR WAY:

Add this to your Collection Spot: Who are your 2-3 recommendation soulmates? What do they have in common that makes their taste align with yours?

YOUR TURN:

Hit reply and tell me: Who are YOUR recommendation soulmates? And what’s one book they put in your hands that you loved?

Until next time, may your coffee be hot and your book be unputdownable.

Meredith

Listen to our most recent episode:

Reader Know Thyself Dispatch #5: What Book Has Been on Your TBR the Longest?

The Currently Reading Podcast — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 16:05:57 GMT

Hey readers,

Welcome back to Reader Know Thyself.

Last time we talked about dealbreakers and the books you’ll never pick up. Today we’re doing something a little different. We’re going on an archaeological dig.

Grab your notebook and let’s get into it.

THE QUESTION:

What book has been on your TBR the longest, and why haven’t you read it yet?

This isn’t about guilt. It’s about curiosity. That book has been sitting there, waiting, sometimes for years. There’s a reason you added it. Aaaaaand there’s also a reason you keep passing it over. Both of those reasons have something to tell you about who you are as a reader.

Here’s how to find that book:

If you keep a list or spreadsheet, sort by date added and scroll to the bottom. (Obvs.)
If your TBR lives on your bookshelves, look for the books with the thickest layer of dust (or the ones you moved when you reorganized but still didn’t read). Look for the book you’ve moved with 7 times but have never cracked open.
If you’re an e-book reader, go to your library and sort by “Date: Old to New.”
Same for your audiobook library in Libby, LibroFM or Audible.

Go ahead. I’ll wait.

MY ANSWER:

I did this exercise myself and it took me WAY back. The oldest unread book on my Kindle? The Help by Kathryn Stockett.

And you know what? That one was easy. Past Meredith was very interested in this kind of historical fiction. Current Meredith knows enough about books to recognize that this particular title is dated and problematic in ways that no longer fit who I am as a reader. Easy decision: off the TBR it goes.

The next two were more interesting: A Test of Wills by Charles Todd and Under the Dome by Stephen King.

Both of these I might actually want to read. And I’m genuinely glad I looked, because A Test of Wills (a post-WWI British mystery with a shell-shocked Scotland Yard inspector) actually matches my mood on this cloudy, rainy day in Austin. Sometimes your oldest TBR book is exactly what you need right now.

WHY THIS MATTERS:

Your TBR isn’t just a list of books. It’s a time capsule of all the readers you’ve been. Some of those past-you choices still fit. Some don’t. And some have been waiting patiently for exactly the right moment.

When you examine your oldest TBR books, you’re not just cleaning up a list. You’re having a conversation with your past self about who you’ve become.

HOW TO APPLY IT:

Once you’ve found your oldest TBR book (or two, or three), run it through these questions:

1. Why did past-me add this? What was the appeal? A recommendation from someone you trusted? Hype you got swept up in? A topic you were curious about at the time?

2. Does that appeal still hold for current-me? Have your tastes shifted? Your interests? Your tolerance for certain genres or styles? Be honest.

3. Is there a reason I keep skipping it? Too long? Wrong format for your current reading life? Intimidating? Or just… not calling to you? Sometimes the reason you haven’t read it IS your answer.

4. If I’m being really honest, will I ever actually read this? This is the gut check. You know the answer. Trust it. Know that you can always get the book again in the future if you need it.

Here’s what you might discover:

Some books are easy removes. Like my situation with The Help. The book that sounded amazing 10 years ago now feels dated, or you’ve read enough about it to know it’s not for you anymore. Delete/unhaul with zero guilt.

Some books were never really YOU. You added them because someone else loved them, or because you felt like you “should.” Those can go too.

Some books are still genuinely appealing, you just keep reaching for shinier new releases instead. Those might be worth bumping up.

And some books? They’ve been waiting for exactly the right moment. Maybe today is that day.

THE TAKE HOME:

Here’s what I want you to remember: removing a book from your TBR isn’t failure. It’s curation. It’s honoring who you are NOW instead of who you were when you added it. Your TBR should be a list of books you’re genuinely excited to read, not a monument to past intentions.

TRACK IT YOUR WAY:

Add this one to your RKT Collection Spot. Note which book you examined, which questions helped you most, and what you decided. If you removed something, write down why. That “why” is reader self-knowledge you can use again.

YOUR TURN:

Now it’s YOUR turn. Go find your oldest TBR book and report back. Hit reply and tell me: What did you find? And what did you decide to do with it?

Until next time, may your coffee be hot and your book be unputdownable.

Meredith

Listen to our most recent episode:

Do These 3 Things If You Want to Get Back Into Reading

The Currently Reading Podcast — Wed, 25 Mar 2026 16:05:51 GMT

So you want to read more. Yes, you do. You keep saying it.

You’ve wanted to read more for a while now. You maybe even bought some books with the very best intentions. And yet — there they sit. Mocking you. Chastising your life choices.

I’ve been there. And I’ve talked to approximately one million listeners who have been there too.

The good news: getting back into reading isn’t about willpower or discipline or finding a two-hour window in your schedule. It’s about removing the friction.

Here are the three things that actually work.

1. Lower the bar. Dramatically.

This is the one people resist the most, and it’s the most important. If you haven’t been reading regularly, do not start with a 600-page literary novel. Do not start with the book everyone says you should read or even the latest Oprah pick.

Start with the book that sounds the most fun to you right now, in this season of your life, with the energy you actually have. The goal right now is just to remember that reading feels good. You can read Tolstay later.

Not sure where to start? We’ve got you:

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins — propulsive, completely accessible, and genuinely impossible to put down. This is the book that reminds you what it feels like to cancel plans because you can’t stop reading. I don’t care if you’ve seen the movies, the book is so much better.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer — warm, charming, and written in short letters that make it perfect for a reader who feels like their momentum is gone. You’ll find it again fast.

The Nothing Man by Catherine Ryan Howard — a serial killer reads the true crime book written about his own crimes. The concept alone will have you turning pages before you even realize it.

2. Attach it to something you already do.

Habit stacking is genuinely one of the best tools I know. If you already drink coffee every morning, that’s your reading time now. If you’re already in the bath three nights a week, bring a book. Already commuting? Audiobooks count — full stop, no asterisks, they count. You don’t need new time in your day. You need to attach reading to time that already exists.

3. Give yourself permission to quit books that aren’t working.

Nothing kills a reading habit faster than forcing yourself through a book you don’t like. You are not in school. There are no grades. If you’re fifty pages in and dreading picking it up, put it down and get a different book. The right book is out there and life is short. DNF with zero guilt and move on.

That’s it. Three things. You’ve got this!

Happy reading, friends.📚

If you’re not already listening to the Currently Reading Podcast, that’s a great place to start. Kaytee and I talk books every single week — no ads, no fluff, just actual book talk from two people who take this stuff seriously.

And if you want the written version of our brains, subscribe here. We’ll be in your inbox with more curated lists, more recommendations, and our Reader Know Thyself content to help you figure out exactly what kind of reader you are. Free to subscribe. Easy to love. (We may be biased.)

Season 8, Episode 33: Reading Grooves + Our Reading Hermitages

The Currently Reading Podcast — Mon, 23 Mar 2026 08:00:00 GMT

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

Bookish Moments: Reading modes and finding books for every moment
Current Reads: all the great, interesting, and/or terrible stuff we've been reading lately
Deep Dive: Which authors' complete works we would take to our hermitage
Before We Go: our new segment featuring bookish friend posts and a sleeper hit brought by Elizabeth.

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

:10 - Bite Size Intro

:51 - Fabled Bookshop

:57 - Currently Reading Patreon

2:47 - Our Bookish Moments of the Week

8:23 - Our Current Reads

8:52 - These Is My Words by Nancy Turner (Elizabeth)

10:37 - Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder

10:40 - Centennial by James Michener

11:50 - This Story Might Save Your Life by Tiffany Crum (Meredith)

16:34 - London Falling by Patrick Raddon Keefe (Elizabeth, pre-order releases April 7, 2026)

17:06 - Defending Jacob by William Landay

17:07 - Someone We Know by Shari Lapena

19:14 - The Plea by Steve Cavanagh (Meredith)

21:40 - Thirteen by Steve Kavanagh

21:41 - Fifty Fifty by Steve Kavanagh

22:40 - The Defense by Steve Kavanagh

24:20 - Raising Hare by Chloe Dalton (Elizabeth)

28:42 - Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke (Meredith)

***Each current read this week is 10% off if you order through Fabled Bookshop with the code "currently"

35:47 - Lady Tremaine by Rachel Hochhauser

35:58 - Wait for Me by Amy Jo Burns

36:20 - To sign up for Book Lover Weekend head to their website!

37:07 - Deep Dive: The Works of Five Authors for the End of Time

Min Jin Lee (Elizabeth)

39:12 - Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

39:16 - American Hagwon by Min Jin Lee

Louise Penny - all of them (Meredith)

Anthony Horowitz (Elizabeth)

40:22 - Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz

41:02 - Moriarty by Anthony Horowitz

Charles Dickens (Meredith)

41:56 - A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

42:02 - Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

42:07 - Bleak House by Charles Dickens

Patrick Radden Keefe (Elizabeth)

42:42 - Dead Wake by Erik Larson

David Sedaris (Meredith)

Kristen Hannah (Elizabeth)

Stephen King (Meredith)

45:46 - Fairy Tale by Stephen King

Liz Moore (Elizabeth)

46:31 - Long Bright River by Liz Moore

46:32 - God of the Woods by Liz Moore

Debbie Macomber (Meredith)

Rick Bragg (Elizabeth)

50:40 - Before We Go

Meredith highlights a bookish friend post

51:33 - StoryGraph

Elizabeth brings a sleeper hit

52:35 - No One's Coming by Kevin Hazzard

52:40 - Sarah's Bookshelves Live

Support Us:

Bookish Friends Receive:

The Indie Press List with a curated list of five books hand sold by the indie of the month. March's IPL is brought by our lovely friends at An Unlikely Story in Plainville, MA.
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

Connect With Us:

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

Production and Editing: Megan Phouthavong Evans

Affiliate Disclosure: All affiliate links go to Bookshop unless otherwise noted. Shopping here helps keep the lights on and benefits indie bookstores. Thanks for your support!

Reader Know Thyself Dispatch #4: What Are Your Dealbreakers?

The Currently Reading Podcast — Wed, 18 Mar 2026 16:05:48 GMT

Hey readers!

Welcome back to Reader, Know Thyself. This is Dispatch #4.

Last time we talked about format strategy and how the right format can rescue a book from your DNF pile. (If you missed it, that one’s worth circling back to.)

Today we’re going somewhere a little different. We’re talking about the books you’ll never pick up in the first place.

Grab your notebook and let’s get into it.

TODAY’S QUESTION:

What are your reading dealbreakers?

I’m not talking about books that didn’t work for you.

I’m talking about the stuff that makes you set a book down before you’ve even started. The content, tropes, character types, or plot devices that make you think “nope, not for me” no matter how many people rave about it.

Here’s where I land: I don’t read books about adultery. Full stop. It doesn’t matter how beautifully written, how nuanced, how “it’s complicated.” If the central plot involves a married person cheating on their spouse, I’m out. I know The Paper Palace was a massive bestseller. I know people adored it. I also know I will never read it, and I’m completely at peace with that.

My other big one? What I call the “Hot Mess Express” protagonist. You know the type: the woman whose life is in total chaos, who can’t seem to get anything together, who stumbles from one disaster to the next while we’re supposed to find it charming or relatable. The Finlay Donovan series is a perfect example. Struggling novelist, kids running wild, duct tape in hair, accidentally becomes a contract killer because she can’t pay her bills. Millions of readers find this hilarious and lovable. I find it exhausting. Something in my brain just cannot root for a character who seems incapable of basic life management, even when the book frames it as endearing.

And here’s the important part: I’m not saying these are bad books. I’m saying they’re not MY books. That’s a crucial distinction.

WHY THIS MATTERS

Knowing your dealbreakers saves you time, money, and that particular frustration of being 100 pages into something everyone else loves while you’re just... annoyed.

But here’s the thing that took me years to figure out: dealbreakers aren’t moral judgments. They’re just information about yourself.

Some readers LOVE a hot mess protagonist because it feels refreshing and real compared to the impossibly competent heroines in so many books. Some readers find adultery plotlines fascinating precisely because they explore the messiness of human desire and long-term relationships. Those readers aren’t wrong. They just know themselves.

HOW TO APPLY IT

Start right now. What are 2-3 dealbreakers that immediately come to mind? The ones you already know about yourself, even if you’ve never written them down. Maybe it’s love triangles. Maybe it’s dead kids. Maybe it’s present tense narration. Whatever makes you instinctively pass on a book, write it down.

If nothing springs to mind easily, go look at your DNF pile or your lower-rated books in your reading tracker. What patterns do you notice? Is there a character type that keeps showing up in books that didn’t work? A plot device that always irritates you? A setting or time period you avoid? The data is there. You just have to look for it.

BOOKS THAT MIGHT WORK (for someone who’s NOT me)

If the Hot Mess Express IS your thing, you’ll probably love Finlay Donovan Is Killing It by Elle Cosimano. It’s genuinely funny, fast-paced, and readers who connect with Finlay’s chaos absolutely devour this series.

If you’re drawn to complicated adultery narratives and beautiful prose, The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller is the one everyone recommends. Lush writing, Cape Cod setting, a love triangle spanning decades. Just know going in that the central question is whether Elle will leave her husband for her childhood love.

See what I did there? I can recommend books that aren’t for me because I understand who they ARE for. That’s the whole point.

TRACK IT YOUR WAY

Now go grab your Collection Spot (your notebook, spreadsheet, mind map) and enter your notes from today. This is such helpful info to have all in one place.

Longer term, keep paying attention. Dealbreakers reveal themselves over time, often when you least expect it. When a new one surfaces, add it to your Collection Spot. This list will keep growing as you get to know yourself better as a reader.

YOUR TURN

Hit reply and tell me: what’s on YOUR dealbreaker list? And have you ever pushed through one anyway and been surprised? (I haven’t. But I’m curious if you have.)

Until next time, may your coffee be hot and your book be unputdownable.

Meredith

Listen to our most recent episode:

Season 8, Episode 32: Exciting Adaptations + How To Audiobook

The Currently Reading Podcast — Mon, 16 Mar 2026 08:00:00 GMT

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

Bookish Moments: Book adaptations and giving out book recs IRL
Current Reads: all the great, interesting, and/or terrible stuff we've been reading lately
Deep Dive: How to audiobook
Before We Go: our new segment featuring bookish friend posts and something Kaytee is curious about

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

1:21 - Bookish Moments of the Week

1:35 - The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

1:41 - PBS app

2:31 - A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

3:07 - The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

3:46 - A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

3:48 - Call Her Daddy podcast w/Sarah J. Maas

4:55 - A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas

6:55 - Crescent City by Sarah J. Maas

7:09 - @hollyslitmagic on Instagram

9:15 - All the Lonely People by Mike Gayle

9:31 - The Day the World Came To Town by Jim DeFede

9:48 - Search by Michele Huneven

10:16 - Current Reads

11:00 - The Night She Died by Dorothy Simpson (Meredith, ebook only)

16:52 - Courtroom Drama by Neely Tubati Alexander (Kaytee)

17:02 - Literally A Bookshop

21:30 - The Caretaker by Marcus Kliewer (Meredith)

22:51 - We Used To Live Here by Marcus Kliewer

26:23 - Small Wonder by Barbara Kingsolver (Kaytee)

29:04 - Partita by Barbara Kingsolver (pre-order releases Oct 6, 2026)

29:08 - Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

29:44 - A Box Full of Darkness by Simone St. James (Meredith)

29:59 - The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James

34:02 - The Haunting of Maddy Clare by Simone St. James

35:46 - The Unselected Journals of Emma M Lion (vol. 1) by Beth Brower (Kaytee)

43:15 - How To Listen To Audiobooks

55:14 - Before We Go

Kaytee highlights a bookish friend post

56:26 - Greenwood by Michael Christie

56:29 - The Great Alone by Kristen Hannah

Meredith brings something she's curious about

57:20 - Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

57:35 - Footnotes and Tangents

Support Us:

Bookish Friends Receive:

The Indie Press List with a curated list of five books hand sold by the indie of the month. March's IPL is brought by our lovely friends at An Unlikely Story in Plainville, MA.
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

Connect With Us:

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

Production and Editing: Megan Phouthavong Evans

Affiliate Disclosure: All affiliate links go to Bookshop unless otherwise noted. Shopping here helps keep the lights on and benefits indie bookstores. Thanks for your support!

Six Books That Will Wreck You (In the Best Way)

The Currently Reading Podcast — Wed, 11 Mar 2026 16:04:36 GMT

Some people have a gift for finding the books that just undo you. At Currently Reading, that person is Kaytee. She has an almost uncanny ability to sniff out the stories that crack you open in the best possible way — the ones where you close the book and just sit there for a minute, a little wrecked, a little better. (If you like that sort of thing.)

Kaytee’s put together six of those. All five stars. All in the “big feels” category. It’s a great list.

Over to Kaytee…

1. The Winners by Fredrik Backman (2022 | Cathartic | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)

The finale to the Beartown trilogy — and if you’ve made it this far with these characters, you already know you’re going to be wrecked in the best possible way.

2. All My Rage by Sabaa Tahir (2022 | Cathartic | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)

A contemporary YA that punches way above its weight class. Grief, addiction, family, and forgiveness — Tahir does not hold back, and the tears will be real.

3. The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise by Dan Gemeinhart (2022 | Cathartic | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)

A middle grade road trip novel about loss, community, and holding on to the people you love. Do not be fooled by the target age — this one guts you.

4. This Changes Everything by Tyler Merritt (2025 | Emotional, Funny | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)

A memoir that somehow makes you laugh out loud and then absolutely fall apart — sometimes within the same paragraph. Merritt writes about faith, race, identity, and what it means to be seen with a warmth and humor that disarms you completely before going straight for the heart. Kaytee read this as a buddy read and left a note that basically says everything: “If this book doesn’t make your heart split open and glow sparkles in all the best ways, just get the fuck outta here with your nonsense.” Full five stars, narrated by the author himself (also a perfect 5), and clearly one of those books that sticks with you long after you close it.

5. Take What You Can Carry by Gian Sardar (2025 | Historical Fiction | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)

Set in 1980s Iraq, this is the kind of historical fiction that pulls you so completely into another world that you resurface three days later blinking. Kaytee devoured all 336 pages in exactly that — three days — and handed it a full five stars. Character-driven to the bone, set against the backdrop of a Kurdistan on the edge of catastrophe, and narrated by Vaneh Assadourian in a performance Kaytee also rated a perfect five. A rec from Bookish Serendipity that clearly delivered. If you want big feels wrapped in a story that transports you entirely, this is your book.

6. The Day the World Came to Town by Jim DeFede (2021 | Cathartic | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)

On 9/11, 38 planes were diverted to Gander, Newfoundland — a town that took in 7,000 strangers with extraordinary generosity. A true story about human kindness that will leave you wrecked in the best possible way. Kaytee has seen the musical made about this event (Come From Away) five times already.

The Currently Reading Podcast is a book podcast made for readers who want to discover the best new books. If you enjoyed this post, come give us a listen!

Season 8, Episode 31: Book Festivals + Revisiting The Currently Reading Press List

The Currently Reading Podcast — Mon, 09 Mar 2026 10:00:00 GMT

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

Bookish Moments: Book festivals and new book podcast episodes
Current Reads: all the great, interesting, and/or terrible stuff we've been reading lately
Deep Dive: Revisiting the Currently Reading Press List
Before We Go: our new segment featuring bookish friend posts and something Kaytee is curious about

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

:10 Bite Size Intro

2:01 - Currently Reading Press List

3:00 - Bookish Moments of the Week

3:23 - Tucson Festival of Books

3:54 - If you will be at TFOB, email Kaytee at kaytee @ currentlyreadingpodcast . com

5:17 - The Diving In podcast

6:28 - Current Reads

6:36 - Wreck by Catherine Newman (Kaytee)

6:49 - Sandwich by Catherine Newman

9:50 - Three Hours by Rosamund Lupton (Meredith, Blackwell's link)

12:58 - Fierce Kingdom by Gin Phillips

15:06 - The Distance Between Us by Reyna Grande (Kaytee)

15:14 - Kaytee's Instagram @notesonbookmarks

19:09 - Moon Blooded Breeding Clinic by C.M. Nascosta (Meredith)

19:18 - Morning Glory Milking Farm by C.M. Nascosta

25:21 - Love and Fury by Samantha Silva (Kaytee)

25:26 - The Novel Neighbor

26:32 - Mr. Dickens and His Carol by Samantha Silva

26:35 - CR Season 1: Episode 18

27:36 - You're Dead To Me podcast

28:46 - The Once and Future Queen by Paula Lafferty (Meredith)

30:16 - A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer

32:39 - Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

32:40 - The Princess Bride by William Goldman

34:41 - Revisiting The Currently Reading Press List

34:58 - Currently Reading Press List

38:53 - The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt

39:00 - Pansuit Politics podcast

42:06 - Matilda by Roald Dahl

42:52 - Death at Bishop's Keep by Robin Paige

43:21 - The Guncle by Steven Rowley

43:33 - The Yoga Store Murder by Dan Morse

43:48 - Disney War by James B. Stewart

43:52 - The Course of Love by Alain de Botton

44:08 - Shogun by James Clavell

44:28 - Dataclysm by Christian Rudder

44:39 - The Book of M by Peng Shepherd

44:51 - Life after Life by Kate Atkinson

45:11 - The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton

45:20 - The Vintage Teacup Club by Vanessa Greene

45:29 - A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer

45:30 - Scythe by Neal Shusterman

45:36 - The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

46:03 - My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows

46:04 - My Plain Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows

46:09 - The Fact of a Body by Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich

46:11 - The Paper Magician by Charlie Homberg

46:25 - The Shop on Blossom Street by Debbie Macomber

47:15 - Expecting Better by Emily Oster

47:26 - Bringing Up Bebe by Pamela Druckerman

50:14 - Before We Go

Meredith highlights a bookish friend post

50:54 - The Unselected Journals of Emma M Lion by Beth Brower

Kaytee brings something she's curious about

53:00 - Laura Tremaine's Substack

53:15 - 10 Things To Tell You podcast

55:13 - Lady Tremaine by Rachel Hochhauser

55:29 - Kin by Tayari Jones

55:37 - Whistler by Ann Patchett

55:51 - Land by Maggie O'Farrell

Support Us:

Bookish Friends Receive:

The Indie Press List with a curated list of five books hand sold by the indie of the month. March's IPL is brought by our lovely friends at An Unlikely Story in Plainville, MA.
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

Connect With Us:

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

Production and Editing: Megan Phouthavong Evans

Affiliate Disclosure: All affiliate links go to Bookshop unless otherwise noted. Shopping here helps keep the lights on and benefits indie bookstores. Thanks for your support!

Reader Know Thyself Dispatch #3: Let's Talk Format

The Currently Reading Podcast — Wed, 04 Mar 2026 18:54:17 GMT

Hey readers!

Welcome to Reader Know Thyself Dispatch #3. Are you ready to continue your journey of truly knowing yourself as a reader?

I hope so. Grab your notebook (or spreadsheet or mind map) and let’s get into it.

TODAY’S QUESTION

Today we’re thinking about FORMAT.

What format do you lean toward: ebook, audio, or print? And does your format change depending on the kind of book or the situation?

This isn’t just about preference. It’s about strategy.

For example, I read primarily on my Kindle. My reading tracker tells me about 43% of my reading happens there. But I don’t use the same format for everything.

When I want to close read something (really sit with the language, flip back to reread a passage, let a book marinate) I go to print. There’s something about a physical book that slows me down in the best way.

Mysteries can be great in print for that ease of looking back to be sure of something someone said or doublecheck that that knife really was where you remembered it being. I find that useful.

And print allows me to annotate, which has become one of my favorite ways to really let my reading sink in. I love to underline, highlight, use page flags. The works. I want to get all up into that book. Print helps me do that.

For audio, I’m finicky at best. I do fast-paced fiction: thrillers, propulsive mysteries, books that move. If I read anything slower or more introspective I’ll get bored and eventually get stuck behind that book. It languishes. Audio is not a one-size-fits-all format for me, and knowing that saves me from a lot of abandoned listens.

And then there’s the situational stuff that took me years to figure out.

I love to read in bed. For a long time, I read print books there. Then I discovered my Kindle with a stand and a remote was a game changer. I can crush a book for two hours at a clip without moving a muscle.

And something else I learned: the Kindle’s night mode actually helps me stay awake. If I want to get sleepy fast? I turn on a reading light and read from a print book. Works every time.

Knowing these things about myself helps me choose the right format AND the right book for the moment I’m in.

WHY THIS MATTERS + HOW TO APPLY IT

Format isn’t just about convenience. It’s about fit. The wrong format can turn a book you’d love into a DNF. The right format can make a good book great.

So think about it: Do you have a format that works better for certain genres? Certain times of day? Certain moods? Do you default to one format when another might actually serve you better?

Another related question: Is there a format that you eschew but you’re not sure why? Think on that. Maybe that information is telling you something useful OR maybe you could experiment a bit to see if you can read differently in that format and get it to work better for you.

This is the kind of small, practical self-knowledge that adds up to a much more satisfying reading life.

BOOKS THAT MIGHT WORK

Let me tell you about two books that switching formats completely saved for me.

The Dutch House by Ann Patchett. I tried it in print and couldn’t get into it. The pacing felt slow, I kept drifting. Then I switched to audio, and it became one of my favorite reads that year. Tom Hanks narrates, as we all know, and the way he tells this story of siblings, loss, and the house that haunts them turned it into something I couldn’t stop listening to. The audio didn’t just work; it elevated the whole experience.

The Appeal by Janice Hallett. I started this one on audio and it was like nails on a chalkboard. Hallett writes in mixed media: emails, texts, message boards, essays. It’s brilliant on the page, but in my ears? I couldn’t track who was saying what or follow the format. I switched to my e-reader and suddenly it clicked. Now it’s a book I recommend all the time.

Same books. Different formats. Completely different outcomes.

TRACK IT YOUR WAY

Add your notes about this question to your Collection Spot, wherever you’re keeping your Reader Know Thyself answers.

And don’t just note your preferred format. Dig into the why and the when. That’s where the good stuff is. Just a note from Ms. Bossypants over here.

That’s it for this week. Hit reply and tell me: has switching formats ever saved a book for you? I’d love to hear your stories. It’s such a joy to get your emails and comments.

Until next time, may your coffee be hot and your book be unputdownable.

Meredith

Listen to our most recent episode:

Season 8, Episode 30: Weekly Buddy Reading + Organizing Our Bookshelves

The Currently Reading Podcast — Mon, 02 Mar 2026 10:00:00 GMT

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

Bookish Moments: A new bookish metaphor and book moms in the wild
Current Reads: all the great, interesting, and/or terrible stuff we've been reading lately
Deep Dive: Organizing Our Bookshelves
Before We Go: our new segment featuring bookish friend posts and a sleeper hit you should read.

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

1:18 - Ad For Ourselves

2:03 - Currently Reading Patreon

2:55 - Bookish Moments of the Week

3:19 - A Comfort of Crows by Margaret Renkl

7:44 - @meg.al.reads on Instagram

9:19 - Current Reads

9:26 - Agnes Aubert's Magical Cat Shelter by Heather Fawcett (Mary)

9:54 - Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett

13:34 - Mate by Ali Hazelwood (Kaytee)

13:38 - Bride by Ali Hazelwood

MARYS NEXT BOOK BEGINS AT 17:43 IF YOU DON'T WANT TO HEAR MATE'S SETUP

16:31 - romance.io

17:48 - Before I Forget by Tory Henwood Hoen (Mary)

19:50 - The Arc by Tory Henwood Hoen

19:52 - CR Season 4: Episode 38 w/Mary's setup of The Arc

21:07 - One Day Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad (Kaytee)

23:39 - American War by Omar El Akkad

26:02 - The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar (Mary)

28:19 - This Is How You Win the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar

29:57 - Honey by Imani Thompson (pre-order, releases May 5, 2026) (Kaytee)

32:10 - They Never Learn by Layne Fargo

34:36 - Organizing Our Bookshelves

36:51 - Ikea Kallax Bookshelf

37:47 - Ikea Billy Bookcase

42:40 - Cinder by Marissa Meyer

48:50 - The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali

49:47 - Currently Reading Substack

53:51 - Before We Go

Kaytee highlights a bookish friend post

54:38 - Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead

54:40 - The Wife, The Mistress and the Maid by Ariel Lawhon

54:42 - Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

54:44 - The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich

54:47 - The Antidote by Karen Russell

54:52 - The Stationery Shop by Marjan Kawali

Mary brings a sleeper hit, with a twist:

57:02 - Looking At Picture Books w/Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen

58:51 - Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown

Support Us: