On this episode, Katie Blechle, a mom and educator, talks about her true love of reading over TV, how she incorporates reading into her life as a mom, and the books about strong women that she really loves. We also go down a shared rabbit hole that’s one of my absolute favorite non-book topics.

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Books mentioned in this episode:

What Betsy’s reading:

Skeleton Crew by Stephen King

Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki

Books Highlighted by Katie:

The Outlaw Noble Salt by Amy Harmon

Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah

Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate

The Garden of Small Beginnings by Abbi Waxman

Someone Else’s Bucket List by Amy T. Matthews

Butcher & Blackbird by Brynne Weaver

Set Boundaries, Find Peace by Nedra Glover Tawwab

The Road Back to You by Suzanne Stabile & Ian Morgan Cron

All books available on my Bookshop.org episode page.

Other books mentioned in this episode:

The Women by Kristin Hannah

The River is Waiting by Wally Lamb

She’s Come Undone by Wally Lamb

Reckless Girls by Rachel hawkins

The Villa by Rachel Hawkins

People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry

The Peaceful Parenting Revolution by Kiva Schuler

Good Inside by Dr. Becky Kennedy

Fly Away by Kristin Hannah

House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas

Tom Lake by Ann Patchett

On this episode, Melissa Joulwan, author and co-host of the podcast Strong Sense of Place, discusses the way her personal reading life and work for the show overlap. We talk about her deep and varied book preferences, our shared love for diving deep into a backlist, and you get to hear the fabulous way she describes the books she loves.

Strong Sense of Place website

https://strongsenseofplace.com

For the podcast, extensive show notes, book lists, and travel tips and photos.

For people new to the show, this is a good place to start:

https://strongsenseofplace.com/welcome

Substack

https://strongsenseofplace.substack.com/

Free newsletter with photos and book recommendations, behind-the-scenes stories, secret recipes, inspiring ideas, and (sometimes) silly stuff.

Books mentioned in this episode:

What Betsy’s reading:

King of Ashes by S.A. Cosby

The Ghostwriter by Julie Clark

Skeleton Crew by Stephen King

Books Highlighted by Melissa:

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

A Room with a View by E.M. Forester

The Inn at Lake Divine by Elinor Lipman

Fresh Water for Flowers by Valérie Perrin

The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery

Circe by Madeline Miller

Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Less by Andrew Sean Greer

The Trick by Emanuel Bergman

Spoonbenders by Daryl Gregory

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

Odds Against by Dick Francis

Dietland by Sarai Walker

Piglet by Lottie Hazell

The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss

Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson

All books available on my Bookshop.org episode page.

Other books mentioned in this episode:

Well Fed Weeknights by Melissa Joulwan

Rollergirl by Melissa Joulwan

The Kill Artist by Daniel Silva

This Rough Magic by Mary Stewart

Wakenhyrst by Michelle Paver

The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde

The Madwoman Upstairs by Catherine Lowell

What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Carmilla by Joseph Sherican Le Fanu

Hungerstone by Kat Dunn

The Curse of Pietro Houdini by Derek B. Miller

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

A Curious Beginning by Deanna Raybourn

A Great Deliverance by Elizabeth George

The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley

The Bedlam Stacks by Natasha Pulley

The Kingdoms by Natasha Pulley

2 A.M. at The Cat’s Pajamas by Marie-Helene Bertino

Beautyland by Marie-Helene Bertino

The Way Men Act by Elinor Lipman

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

Silver Nitrate by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Less is Lost by Andrew Sean Greer

My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh

On this episode, Samiksha Gaur, a mom and baker who has found herself enjoying dark romance recently, talks to me about her life engaging with bookish social media. We talk about a bunch of series that she loves, how she got back into reading later in life, and we give a big shoutout to Tanima Kazi for getting us connected!

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Books mentioned in this episode:

What Betsy’s reading:

Lost Man’s Lane by Scott Carson

Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab

New People by Danzy Senna

King of Ashes by S.A. Cosby

Books Highlighted by Samiksha:

Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross

Broken Bonds (The Bonds that Tie Series #1) by J. Bree

A Court of Thorns and Roses (ACOTAR Series #1) by Sarah J. Maas

The Kat Bunglar by Tanima Kazi

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Quicksilver by Callie Heart

Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

Lady Iris’s Lover by Kelsey Painter

Mindf*ck by S.T. Abby

Butcher and Blackbird by Brynne Weaver

The Palace of Illusions by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

All books available on my Bookshop.org episode page.

Other books mentioned in this episode:

Famous Five by Beja & Nataël

Nancy Drew by Carolyn Keene

Goosebumps by R.L. Stine

Haunting Adeline by H.D. Carlton

Never Lie by Frieda McFadden

There are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak

Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros

Caraval by Stephanie Garber

Once Upon a Broken Heart by Stephanie Garber