Books with Betsy

On this episode, Nicole Abrahamson, Off Color Book Club Member, talks about her extremely varied reading life that is inspired by the idea of trying anything once. We also talk about the importance of talking about why you might not like a book and she drops a ton of titles that you might want to add to your TBR. 

 

Books mentioned in this episode: 

 

What Betsy’s reading: 

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte 

The Wilderness by Angela Flournoy 

There, There by Tommy Orange 

 

Books Highlighted by Nicole:

East of Eden by John Steinbeck 

The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough 

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini 

The Plot Against America by Philip Roth

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah 

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin 

Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy

Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy 

Babel by R.F. Kuang

Freedom by Jonathan Franzen 

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad

 

All books available on my Bookshop.org episode page.  

Other books mentioned in this episode:

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr 

Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr 

About Grace by Anthony Doerr

The Most Fun We Ever Had by Clarie Lombardo 

Same As It Ever Was by Claire Lombardo

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang 

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros 

Only Plane in the Sky by Garrett M. Graff 

The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell 

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte 

Crossroads by Jonathan Franzen 

Lost Children Archive by Valeria Luiselli

On this episode, Rachel Larkins, a listener of Books with Betsy, talks about her project to read all the winners of the Hugo award, so we talk about a lot of really great sci-fi books. We also dish about how great the Book Riot podcast universe is and we might convince you to pick up Dune. 

 

Books mentioned in this episode: 

 

What Betsy’s reading: 

Ring by Michele Lerner

You Wanna Be On Top? by Sarah Hartshorne

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte 

The Rest of Our Lives by Ben Markovits

The Wilderness by Angela Flournoy 

 

Books Highlighted by Rachel:

Enders Game by Orson Scott Card 

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell 

The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson

Red Rising by Pierce Brown

A Canticle for Liebowitz by Walter Miller 

Prophet Song by Paul Lynch 

Among Others by Jo Walton 

Network Effect by Martha Wells 

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir 

Dune by Frank Herbert 

Forever Peace by Joe Haldeman 

The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion 

 

All books available on my Bookshop.org episode page.  

Other books mentioned in this episode:

How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe by Charles Yu 

Travel Team by Mike Lupica 

Recursion by Blake Crouch 

Katabasis by R.F. Kuang 

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood 

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon 

Gilead by Marilynne Robinson 

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell 

Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

On this episode, Amanda Moulson, co-host of the Curious Readers podcast, talks about finding her heartland as a reader, how much women’s voices influence her reading life, and the ways that podcasting about books changes how she interacts with books. We also go down a bit of an awards rabbit hole and find our shared love of pen and paper. 

 

Curious Readers Podcast 

 

Books mentioned in this episode: 

 

What Betsy’s reading: 

So Far Gone by Jess Walter 

The Compound by Aisling Rawle 

The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabelle Wilkerson 

 

Books Highlighted by Amanda:

Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry 

The Melting by Lize Spit 

Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason 

Green Dot by Madeleine Gray 

Early Morning Riser by Katherine Heiny 

Angel Down by Daniel Kraus 

One Day Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad 

Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid 

 

All books available on my Bookshop.org episode page.  

Other books mentioned in this episode:

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel 

Anastasia Krupnik by Lois Lowry 

Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell 

I Am, I Am, I Am by Maggie O’Farrell 

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver 

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

Standard Deviation by Katherine Heiny 

Buckeye by Patrick Ryan 

On the Calculation of Volume by Solvej Balle 

Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

On this episode, Stephanie Majercik and Nicole Abrahamson from Off Color Book Club join me to discuss the most recent Off Color Book Club book, Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. 

 

My Book Club Guide

 

If you’re interested in joining the Off Color Book Club in the future, our next meeting will be on Tuesday, February 17th to discuss There There by Tommy Orange. All are welcome!

On this episode, Giorgia Riddell, of Fostered Fiction, talks about her love for used books, especially those that are already annotated, her memories of listening to books on road trips, and we get into the current reading stats from last year and encourage anyone who wants to talk about reading online to go out there and do it. 

 

Fostered Fiction on TikTok 

Fostered Fiction on Instagram 

 

Books mentioned in this episode: 

 

What Betsy’s reading: 

Pick a Color by Souvankham Thammavongsa

Tilt by Emma Pattee 

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir 

 

Books Highlighted by Giorgia:

Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar 

The Secret History by Donna Tartt 

You Weren’t Meant to be Human by Andrew Joseph White 

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah 

Lie With Me by Phillipe Besson 

What Are You Going Through by Sigrid Nunez 

Creep by Emma van Straaten 

Glorious Exploits by Ferdia Lennon 

The Will of the Many by James Islington 

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

If an Egyptian Cannot Speak English by Noor Naga 

Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger 

 

All books available on my Bookshop.org episode page.  

Other books mentioned in this episode:

A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket 

The Merchant of Death by D.J. MacHale 

Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins 

The Friend by Sigrid Nunez 

Interesting Facts About Space by Emily Austin 

Is This a Cry For Help? by Emily Austin 

Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut 

Seascraper by Benjamin Wood 

Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell 

Seven Days in June by Tia Williams 

You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi 

The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones 

The Housemaid by Freida McFadden 

This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone

The Only One Left by Riley Sager 

Gone Girl by Gilian Flynn 

Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk 

Endling by Maria Reva 

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger