Ep 478: A snippet from the 2025 Summer Reading Guide
We're taking you behind the scenes of our 2025 Summer Reading Guide and sharing an excerpt from our live Unboxing party. Our 2025 Guide includes 35 books across a range of genres which we've grouped into six categories. Today you'll hear Anne's commentary of three books from the first category, Family Sagas.Â
Our Summer Reading Guide and Unboxing are designed to give you an idea of what your own reading experience might be like with each book so you can then decide if that's a reading experience that you want to have.Â
This year's Guide is 40 packed pages, and we've built in fun features like more of summer's most anticipated new releases, tons of backlist titles that play into our road trip theme, our ever-loved Awesome On Audio selections for both new releases and backlist books, and more. We hosted our Live Unboxing party last week, which has been a tradition around here since 2019. When you opt in for the Summer Reading Guide experience by joining one of our membership communities or purchasing a la carte, our Unboxing replay is available for you to access anytime on your schedule.
We hope this little preview gives you a taste of what our Summer Reading Guide and Unboxing is like. Find the links and titles mentioned in today's episode on our show notes page at whatshouldireadnextpodcast.com/478
And if you missed our 2025 Summer Reading Guide when it released last week, it's not too late to get your copy of the digital guide and access the recording of our live Unboxing party. Get all of the details at modernmrsdarcy.com/srg.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
-------- Â
10:33
Ep 477: A summer reading road trip
We're kicking off Summer Reading Season with our fourteenth annual Summer Reading Guide, coming this Thursday! Today on the podcast Anne is joined by a special guest who is particularly well qualified to go behind the scenes of our 2025 Summer Reading Guide with her: Will Bogel!
Many of you consider Anne's husband Will to be your book twin, and today they're diving into the project and pleasure that is creating the Summer Reading Guide each year. We hope you'll enjoy this peek behind the scenes and that it whets your appetite for this year's Unboxing parties, too.
Find the links and titles mentioned today at our show notes page at whatshouldireadnextpodcast.com/477 .
There's still time to join one of our membership communities or purchase your a la carte ticket for Thursday's Unboxing party, which includes a digital copy of the 2025 Summer Reading Guide. Get all of the details at modernmrsdarcy.com/srg.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
-------- Â
59:40
Ep 476: Offbeat, intricately plotted books for an ambitious reading project
Reading projects take all shapes and sizes, and today's guest has set a goal to read all the Women's Prize for Fiction shortlists and winners.
Today, Anne is talking books with Kathryn, who lives on the island of Okinawa, Japan, with her military husband and energetic golden retriever. Kathryn works for a nonprofit and spends her leisure time reading, knitting, or walking on the beach close to their home.
Since Kathryn's project is an ambitious one, she's come up with a strategy of reading one year at a time, though not necessarily in chronological order. Today she and Anne talk about which years or titles she may want to bump to the top of her read-next list. They also touch on reading project fatigue and ways Kathryn can truly enjoy the process of reaching her reading goal.
Find the list of titles mentioned today and share your reading and project recommendations for Kathryn by leaving a comment over at whatshouldireadnextpodcast.com/476.
Our 2025 Summer Reading Guide is nearly here: we'll be gathering on May 15th for our live unboxing party. Get your RSVP and digital guide by joining our Modern Mrs Darcy Book Club or Patreon community, or purchase an a la carte ticket. Join us to kick of summer reading season: get the details at modernmrsdarcy.com/srg.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
-------- Â
1:13:42
Ep 475: Help for a fiction lover who wants to read more nonfiction
Today's guest is an avid reader, retired social worker, and What Should I Read Next? completist who lives in New Jersey. Jill Jaclin has a reading conundrum: she really wants to read more nonfiction, but she's struggled to find a way to incorporate it into her reading life.
As she told Anne, she also knows that there are nonfiction books out there that will educate her if only she would take the time to read them. In fact, she's got a whole bookshelf full of books that she's acquired but hasn't touched. Today, Anne helps Jill explore her unread shelf and offers ideas to refine her reading balance in the future.
Find the full list of titles discussed today at our show notes page at whatshouldireadnextpodcast.com/475.
We're just a few weeks away from releasing our 2025 Summer Reading Guide. If you're a part of our Modern Mrs Darcy Book Club or Patreon communities, the digital Guide and unboxing party are included in your membership. We're also offering our popular a la carte tickets again for 2025. Find all of the details at modernmrsdarcy.com/srg.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
-------- Â
48:59
Ep 474: Burnout and the reading life
Readers, if you are feeling burned out right now, you are not alone. In our team meeting last week, we talked about the fact that things are hard right now. That's why this feels like a great time to revisit a favorite past episode from another time not so long ago when we were also feeling burned out.
Today we're sharing Anne's May 2021 conversation with journalist Anne Helen Petersen, which originally aired back then as Episode 284. Anne Helen writes the weekly email newsletter Culture Study and she knows a lot about burnout because she literally wrote a book about it: Can’t Even: How Millennials Became the Burnout Generation.
In today's episode, Anne Helen shares her personal experience with reading during a grueling season, advice and hope for readers who feel stuck in burnout, and a handful of backlist favorites from her own bookshelves. No matter how your reading life has evolved over the last few years, or even if it hasn't, we think you'll find comfort and insight in today's episode.
Find the full list of titles mentioned today at whatshouldireadnextpodcast.com/474.
We've been working hard behind the scenes to prepare your 2025 Summer Reading Guide! This year will be our 14th annual Summer Reading Guide, and we kick off the celebration with our live unboxing before continuing with all sorts of bonus reading adventures in Modern Mrs. Darcy Book Club and in our Patreon community. Order your Summer Reading Guide at modernmrsdarcy.com/srg.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
What Should I Read Next? is the show for every reader who has ever finished a book and faced the problem of not knowing what to read next. Each week, Anne Bogel, of the blog Modern Mrs Darcy, interviews a reader about the books they love, the books they hate, and the books they're reading now. Then, she makes recommendations about what to read next. The real purpose of the show is to help YOU find your next read. To learn more or apply to be on the show visit whatshouldireadnextpodcast.com.
New Zealand