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Currently Reading

Currently Reading

By: Meredith Monday Schwartz and Kaytee Cobb
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About this listen

 Currently Reading is a podcast dedicated to the love of books and reading. Meredith and Kaytee are two bookish friends who discuss their most recent reads - and please know, they are going to be honest about how they felt about them! All conversations are spoiler-free, pinkie promise. In addition, they'll talk about books they've loved forever, and a variety of other bookish topics - all to help you develop the reading life you've always wanted. Looking for your next great read? You'll find tons of book recommendations every week. Named one of the New York Times' "Best Podcasts for Book Lovers".© Meredith Monday Schwartz and Kaytee Cobb Art Literary History & Criticism Social Sciences
Episodes
  • Season 8, Episode 24: Mary and Roxanna's Top Reads of 2025!

    Season 8, Episode 24: Mary and Roxanna's Top Reads of 2025!
    Jan 19 2026
    On this episode of Currently Reading, Mary and Roxanna take the reins and are deep diving into their top reads of 2025! Show notes are time-stamped below for your convenience. Read the transcript of the episode (this link only works on the main site) . . . **Please help us by filling out the LISTENER SURVEY before JANUARY 25th!! 1:21 - Mary and Roxanna's Reading Year 4:14 - Mary's Reading Stats: 100 books read this year and picked up some graphic novels that normally she wouldn't have read in the past 7:54 - Roxanna's Reading Stats: 68 books read this year. 26 five star reads 15% general fiction, 16% historical fiction, 15% lit fic, 13% middle grade, 20% POC authors, 96% fiction 12:03 - Join the Currently Reading Patreon to access the reading tracker 14:25 - Mary and Roxanna's Best Books of 2025 14:38 - The Last Dragoners of Bowbazar by Indra Das (Roxanna #10) 17:09 - Empty Cradle, Broken Heart by Deborah L. Davis 18:16 - God of the Woods by Liz Moore (Mary #10) 19:23 - Sandwich by Catherine Newman 19:40 - The Gurkha and the Lord of Tuesday by Saad Z Hossain (Roxanna #9) 21:48 - Heart the Lover by Lily King (Mary #9) 22:36 - Writers & Lovers by Lily King 24:37 - The Hum and the Shiver by Alex Bledsoe (Roxanna #8) 27:16 - The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer (Mary #8) 30:46 - To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers (Roxanna #7) 34:06 - The Millicent Quibb School of Etiquette for Ladies of Mad Science: Secrets of the Purple Pearl by Kate McKinnon (Mary #7) 35:35 - The Millicent Quibb School of Etiquette for Ladies of Mad Science by Kate McKinnon 37:39 - The Unseen World by Liz Moore (Roxanna #6) 40:04 - The Bright Years by Sarah Damoff (Mary #6) 42:27 - Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros 43:09 - The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest by Aubrey Hartman (Roxanna #5) 45:00 - Under the Whispering Door by T.J. Klune 46:01 - The Bones Beneath by Skin by T.J. Klune (Mary #5) 46:35 - House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune 50:11 - Silverborn: The Mystery of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend (Roxanna #4) 50:24 - Nevermoor by Jessica Townsend 54:14 - The Women of Wild Hill by Kirsten Miller (Mary #4) 54:33 - Lula Dean's Little Library of Banned Books by Kirsten Miller 54:41 - The Change by Kirsten Miller 56:59 - The Correspondent by Virginia Evans (Roxanna #3) 59:14 - Wild Reverence by Rebecca Ross (Mary #3) 59:36 - Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross 1:00:05 - Circe by Madeline Miller 1:00:07 - Clytemnestra by Costanza Casati 1:01:02 - The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon (Roxanna #2) 1:05:08 - The Correspondent by Virgina Evans (Mary #2) 1:08:17 - The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion by Beth Brower (Roxanna #1 - the whole series!) 1:10:30 - Anne of Green Gables by LM Montgomery 1:10:36 - 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff 1:14:41 - Lightfall: The Girl & the Galdurian by Tim Probert (Mary #1 - the whole series!) 1:15:31 - Lightfall: Shadow of the Bird by Tim Probert 1:15:31 - Lightfall: The Dark Times by Tim Probert 1:17:22 - The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society by Mary Ann Shaffer Support Us: Become a Bookish Friend | Grab Some Merch Shop Bookshop dot org | Shop Amazon Bookish Friends Receive: The Indie Press List with a curated list of five books hand sold by the indie of the month. January's IPL is our annual visit to Fabled Bookshop in Waco, Texas. 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 Show: Instagram | Website | Email | Threads 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!
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    1 hr and 24 mins
  • Season 8, Episode 23: Slow Reads + How And Why We Rate Our Books

    Season 8, Episode 23: Slow Reads + How And Why We Rate Our Books
    Jan 12 2026
    On this episode of Currently Reading, Meredith and Kaytee are discussing: Bookish Moments: experimenting with our reading and taking on choker books Current Reads: all the great, interesting, and/or terrible stuff we've been reading lately Deep Dive: answering the questions of how or why we rate our books The Fountain: we visit our perfect fountain to make wishes about our reading lives Show notes are time-stamped below for your convenience. Read the transcript of the episode (this link only works on the main site). . . . 2:39 - Our Bookish Moments of the Week 3:01- The Complete Stories by Flannery O'Connor 3:05 - Bookshelf Thomasville 3:07 - From the Front Porch podcast 3:31 - It by Stephen King 4:53 - Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel (#1 in the Cromwell series) 5:30 - Footnotes and Tangents on Instagram 6:45 - The Stand by Stephen King 6:47 - Laura Tremaine on Substack 8:52 - Our Current Reads 9:00 - Matched by Ally Condie (Kaytee) 9:32 - The Giver by Lois Lowry 11:26 - The Selection by Kiera Cass 11:30 - The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins 13:04 - Turns of Fate by Anne Bishop (Meredith) 14:45 - The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett 18:15 - Cultish by Amanda Montell (Kaytee) 18:21 - Wordslut by Amanda Montell 21:52 - Creative Visualization by Shakti Gawain (Meredith) 23:00 - The Secret by Rhonda Byrne 23:35 - The Painted Porch 23:40 - The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holliday 26:05 - The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron 27:37 - When the Tides Held the Moon by Vanessa Vida Kelley (Kaytee) 30:43 - CAWPILE 31:38 - The Ghostwriter by Julie Clark (Meredith) 35:51 - The God of the Woods by Liz Moore 36:28 - The Last Flight by Julie Clark 36:50 - Deep Dive: How And Why We Rate Our Reads 37:53 - A Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson 37:59 - Dante and Aristotle Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz 38:04 - Wives Like Us by Plum Sykes 38:14 - Victorian Psycho by Virginia Feito 49:41 - CAWPILE system 51:53 - Meet Us At The Fountain 52:41 - I wish that we would all pick one small way to challenge our reading this year. (Kaytee) 54:23 - I wish you would sign up for our newsletter! (Meredith) 54:25 - Sign up for the newsletter on our website Support Us: Become a Bookish Friend | Grab Some Merch Shop Bookshop dot org | Shop Amazon Bookish Friends Receive: The Indie Press List with a curated list of five books hand sold by the indie of the month. January's IPL is our annual visit to Fabled Bookshop in Waco, Texas. 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 Show: Instagram | Website | Email | Threads 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!
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    57 mins
  • Season 8, Episode 22: Our Top Reads of 2025!

    Season 8, Episode 22: Our Top Reads of 2025!
    Jan 5 2026
    On this episode of Currently Reading, Kaytee and Meredith are deep diving into their top reads of 2025. This year, they alternate between reads and superlatives. From best Cheeto chapters to books that made them uncomfortable, the year had some amazing books and experiences. Show notes are time-stamped below for your convenience. Read the transcript of the episode (this link only works on the main site) . . . 1:35 - Ad For Ourselves 1:54 - NYT Article about book podcasts "Seven Podcasts for Bookworms" 2:27 - Currently Reading Patreon 5:23 - Some Stats From Our Reading Lives 7:07 - 68% of reads were backlist (Kaytee) 7:38 - Kaytee read 230 books 7:59 - Meredith read 127 books 8:54 - 64% female/36%male authors (Meredith) 9:09 - Average rating of 4.1 (Meredith) 10:53 - 44% Kindle, 13% audiobook, poetry 4% of total reads, 17% nonfiction (Meredith) 12:28 - 22% romance, 20% fantasy, 14% as literary (Kaytee) 14:34 - 32% authors revisited, library serendipity #1 recommendation source followed by Elizabeth Barnhill, Roxanna and Betsie Ikenberry (Meredith) 16:13 - Katie Proctor #1 recommendation source, followed by the indie press list, libro. Fm, and Meredith (Kaytee) 17:55 - Berkeley and Random House biggest publishing houses, followed by Harper, William Morrow, Atria and Flatiron Books (Kaytee) 18:21 - Minotaur, Atria and Random House biggest publishing houses (Meredith) 19:57 - Our Top 10 Reads of 2025 20:27 - Superlative #1: Book or books you will recommend most from this year? 20:39 - A Rebellion of Care by David Gate (Kaytee) 21:20 - So Far Gone by Jess Walter (Meredith) 23:25 - The Ghostwriter by Julie Clark (Meredith #10) 24:08 - You Could Make This Place Beautiful by Maggie Smith (Kaytee #10) 24:28 - Awake by Jen Hatmaker 24:30 - I Thought It Would Be Better Than This by Jessica Turner 25:30 - Superlative #2: Which book would be hardest to shelve in the library? 25:51 - Turns of Fate by Anne Bishop (Meredith) 26:02 - The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett 27:01 - My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton and Jodi Meadows (Kaytee) 27:55 - Royal Gambit by Daniel O'Malley (Meredith #9) 29:32 - Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor (Kaytee #9) 30:31 - Superlative #3: The book we wanted to throw across the room 30:38 - Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor (Meredith) 32:23 - Secret of Secrets by Dan Brown (Kaytee) 33:11 - The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger 33:57 - A Winter's Promise by Christelle Dabos (Meredith #8) 35:53 - My Friends by Fredrik Backman (Kaytee #8) 37:16 - Superlative #4: The book that made you the most uncomfortable 37:29 - Eager by Ben Goldfarb (Kaytee) 38:57 - Sandy Hook by Eilzabeth Williamson (Meredith) 40:25 - Forensics by Val McDermid (Meredith #7) 41:52 - Forensics by Val McDermid (Blackwells edition) 42:24 - Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver (Kaytee #7) 42:52 - Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver 43:42 - Superlative #5: The best picture book that you read aloud this year 44:15 - No, David! By David Shannon (Meredith) 45:07 - The Creature of Habit by Jennifer E. Smith and Leo Espinosa (Kaytee) 46:35 - The Correspondent by Virginia Evans (Meredith AND Kaytee #6) 47:33 - CR Season 7: Episode 46 49:09 - Superlative #6: The best audiobook experience 49:23 - Woodworking by Emily St. James (Kaytee) 50:19 - This Book Will Bury Me by Ashley Winstead (Meredith) 51:38 - North Sun by Ethan Rutherford (Meredith #5) 52:53 - This Changes Everything by Tyler Merritt (Kaytee #5) 53:01 - I Take My Coffee Black by Tyler Merritt 54:31 - Superlatives #7: Longest and shortest book read this year 54:46 - A Little Daylight Left by Sarah Kay (Meredith shortest) 55:03 - The Shadow Rising by Robert Jordan (Meredith longest) 55:34 - The Answer is No by Fredrik Backman (Kaytee shortest, amazon link) 55:53 - These Truths by Jill Lepore (Kaytee longest) 56:20 - The Stand by Stephen King 57:16 - The Unseen World by Liz Moore (Meredith #4) 57:25 - The God of the Woods by Liz Moore 58:50 - This is Happiness by Niall Williams (Kaytee #4) 59:57 - Superlative #8: Best book outside your wheelhouse 1:00:09 - The Dragon Reborn by Robert Jordan (Meredith) 1:01:07 - The Dutch House by Ann Patchett (Kaytee) 1:01:30 - Erasure by Percival Everett 1:01:32 - A Wish in the Dark by Christina Soontornvat 1:03:34 - The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison (Meredith #3) 1:07:15 - Most Ardently by Gabe Cole Novoa (Kaytee #3) 1:07:31 - Pride by Ibi Zoboi 1:08:56 - Superlative #9: Your favorite new to you author 1:09:08 - Swordheart by T. Kingfisher (Meredith) 1:09:31 - Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood (Meredith) 1:09:48 - Song of Blood & Stone by L. Penelope (Kaytee) 1:10:12 - The Monsters We Defy by Leslye Penelope 1:11:03 - Victorian Psycho by Virginia Feito (Meredith #2) 1:12:37 - Take What You Can Carry by Gian Sardar (Kaytee #2) 1:14:07 - Superlative #10: The most milkshake book/cheeto chapter book you read this year 1:14:50 - The Other Side of the Wall by Andrea Mara (Meredith, Blackwell's ...
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    1 hr and 26 mins
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Really enjoy the range of ideas and the celebration of books. especially the deep focus on three pines. excellent

wonderful wonderful wonderful

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