We're back with our annual year-end reading round up. Join us as we talk about our year in reading, our favorite books of 2025, the big stories in the world of books and publishing (probably not a spoiler: AI), and what we're looking forward to reading in 2026. 

We also talk about the pros and cons of different reading tracking apps and audiobook listening apps, how reading tastes can change over time, and how culling a TBR can feel just as cathartic as physically de-cluttering your life. This annual reflection has become one our favorite conversations to have! We hope you enjoy it as much as we did.
-----------------------
Books we talk about in this episode: 

Our favorite books of 2025:

• Robin Hobb!
• Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell
• The Which Way Tree by Elizabeth Crook
• Tom Lake by Anne Patchett (read by Meryl Streep)
• A Lady's Guide to Scandal by Sophie Irwin
• The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak

Already published books we want to read in 2026:

• All That Life Can Afford by Emily Everett 
• Murder for Miss Hortense by Mel Pennet 
• Is A River Alive by Robert MacFarlane
• The Overstory by Richard Powers
• Consider Yourself Kissed by Jessica Stanley
• Death at the White Hart by Chris Chibnall
• Jane Austen’s Bookshelf by Rebecca Romney 
• The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon 
• The Correspondent by Virgina Evans 
• I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman 
• Lifeform by Jenny Slate 
• The God of the Woods by Liz Moore
• Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry 
• Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmare’s in Sam Altman’s OpenAI by Karen Hao 
• Moby Dick by Herman Melville
• The Earthsea Series by Ursula Le Guin

Books being published in 2026 we want to read:

• The Astral Library by Kate Quinn (Feb)
• The Book Witch by Meg Shaffer (April)
• American Fantasy by Emma Straub (April)
• The Night We Met by Abby Jimenez (March)
• Land by Maggie O'Farrell (June)
• Whistler by Ann Patchett (June)
• Dead Beat by Leigh Bardugo (September)

----------------------- 
Sources 

• Anthropic to pay authors $1.5B to settle lawsuit over pirated chatbot training material: https://www.npr.org/2025/09/05/g-s1-87367/anthropic-authors-settlement-pirated-chatbot-training-material
• Bone, J. K., Bu, F., Sonke, J. K., & Fancourt, D. (2025). The decline in reading for pleasure over 20 years of the American Time Use Survey. iScience, 28(9), https://www.cell.com/iscience/fulltext/S2589-0042(25)01549-4

Support the show

----------------------- 
Intro and outro music: "The Chase," by Aves.

Support us!

If you liked this episode, please consider becoming a monthly supporter of the show: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2235482/support. 

It also really helps us reach more listeners if you leave us a rating and/or review, especially on Apple Podcasts. 

Reach out!

Do you have thoughts, questions, or ideas for future episodes? Email us at allbooksaloudpod@gmail.com. To learn more about the podcast, visit our website at allbooksaloudpod.com.

If you'd like to see more bookish content from Martha & Elizabeth, follow us on Instagram and TikTok @allbooksaloudpod.

Read on!

In this episode, we are lucky enough to talk with author Zoe B. Wallbrook about her critically acclaimed debut novel, History Lessons. It's a clever, witty mystery on its surface that touches on deeper, more challenging issues with what the New York Times calls "a satirical bite." It also has a sweet romantic subplot that we are here for!

It was Library Journal's Mystery Debut of the Month in July, and was chosen as one of The Best Debut Crime Novels of 2025 by Crime Reads Magazine and one of The 10 Best Mystery Novels of 2025 by The New York Times Review of Books.

Elizabeth met Zoe in 2019 and since then they have been critique partners and friends, which makes this conversation extra special. Join us to hear about the books Zoe loves, her journey to becoming a writer, how she navigates the publishing industry while still holding onto the joy she finds from writing, and how she feels about her writing being categorized as "cozy." We also chat about diversity in the mystery genre and how Zoe and her publisher, Soho Press, think about all the various threads in her writing as a feature, not a bug.

You won't want to miss this thoughtful and wide-ranging conversation with the always insightful Zoe B. Wallbrook and two of her fangirls.

Find Zoe on Instagram @zbwallbrook or at her website: https://www.zoebwallbrook.com/. And buy History Lessons wherever books are sold!

 -----------------------
Books we're reading in this episode:

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

In Winter I Get Up at Night by Jane Urquhart

A Murder for Miss Hortense by Mel Pennant

Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar

Brothers Sinister Series by Courtney Milan

Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase

The Poppy War trilogy by R.F. Kuang

A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik

Support the show

----------------------- 
Intro and outro music: "The Chase," by Aves.

Support us!

If you liked this episode, please consider becoming a monthly supporter of the show: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2235482/support. 

It also really helps us reach more listeners if you leave us a rating and/or review, especially on Apple Podcasts. 

Reach out!

Do you have thoughts, questions, or ideas for future episodes? Email us at allbooksaloudpod@gmail.com. To learn more about the podcast, visit our website at allbooksaloudpod.com.

If you'd like to see more bookish content from Martha & Elizabeth, follow us on Instagram and TikTok @allbooksaloudpod.

Read on!

Something about this season of cold weather and long, dark nights makes us want to read mysteries. Whether you like 'em cozy, hard-boiled, or realistic and by the book, there's something in this genre for everyone. Join us as we follow the clues to learn about the history, make-up, and readers of the mystery genre.

----------------------- 
Sources: 

https://web.archive.org/web/20090719003858/http://www.historyofthemystery.com/crime_and_punishment.php?page=35 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mystery_fiction

https://americanwritersmuseum.org/many-writers-many-forms-mystery/

https://web.archive.org/web/20090719004017/

https://lithub.com/agatha-christie-is-the-best-selling-novelist-in-history/

https://archive.org/details/sim_publishers-weekly_1929-10-05_116_14/page/1728/mode/2up 

https://www.writersdigest.com/write-better-fiction/popular-mystery-tropes-for-writers

https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/print/20090504/4567-some-like-it-mild-cozy-mysteries.html 

Moser, S. & Xhignesse, M. (2023). A Garden of One’s Own. Feminist Philosophy Quarterly, 9(1). https://doaj.org/article/c742434a58f74246a086d0fcfc90416b 

Vester, K. (2015). Bodies to Die for: Negotiating the Ideal Female Body in Cozy Mystery Novels. Journal of Popular Culture, 48(1), 31–43.

https://bookriot.com/diverse-cozy-mysteries/

Support the show

----------------------- 
Intro and outro music: "The Chase," by Aves.

Support us!

If you liked this episode, please consider becoming a monthly supporter of the show: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2235482/support. 

It also really helps us reach more listeners if you leave us a rating and/or review, especially on Apple Podcasts. 

Reach out!

Do you have thoughts, questions, or ideas for future episodes? Email us at allbooksaloudpod@gmail.com. To learn more about the podcast, visit our website at allbooksaloudpod.com.

If you'd like to see more bookish content from Martha & Elizabeth, follow us on Instagram and TikTok @allbooksaloudpod.

Read on!

Have you ever wondered why we have "summer reads" but not winter or spring or fall reads? We both had various associations with "summer reading," namely from being kids out of school and having the languorous expanse of the summer stretching out in front of us. But we wondered what is really behind this phenomenon. Join us to find out more and hear about our own summer TBR lists.

-----------------------
Books we're reading in this episode:   

Dragon Haven (Rain Wild Chronicles 2) by Robin Hobb
Swift and Saddled by (Rebel Blue Ranch #2) by Lyla Sage
Morbidly Yours by Ivy Fairbanks
The Last Devil to Die by Richard Osman 
How to Seal Your Own Fate by Kristen Perrin

----------------------- 

Sources listed in the order they appear in the episode:

• https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/31/books/a-brief-history-of-summer-reading.html 
• https://www.npr.org/2025/05/20/nx-s1-5405022/fake-summer-reading-list-ai
• https://lindac.substack.com/p/why-do-writers-use-ai 
• https://lithub.com/50-of-the-greatest-summer-novels-of-all-time/ 

Support the show

----------------------- 
Intro and outro music: "The Chase," by Aves.

Support us!

If you liked this episode, please consider becoming a monthly supporter of the show: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2235482/support. 

It also really helps us reach more listeners if you leave us a rating and/or review, especially on Apple Podcasts. 

Reach out!

Do you have thoughts, questions, or ideas for future episodes? Email us at allbooksaloudpod@gmail.com. To learn more about the podcast, visit our website at allbooksaloudpod.com.

If you'd like to see more bookish content from Martha & Elizabeth, follow us on Instagram and TikTok @allbooksaloudpod.

Read on!

Elizabeth just got back from a trip that included a day in the Original Book Town, Hay-on-Wye in Wales in the UK. It was adorable and she went to more bookstores than you can shake a stick at. It also made her wonder what other bookish vacations she could go on. When we started to dig into this idea for this episode, we found out that the answer is: a lot! 

Join us in daydreaming about bookish trips to literary festivals, literary museums, bookish hotels, famous libraries, a friends reading retreat, and more!

-----------------------
Books we're reading in this episode:  

• Dragon Keeper by Robin Hobb (Rain Wild Chronicles #1)
• Voyage of the Basilisk–A Memoir by Lady Trent by Marie Brennan (The Memoirs of Lady Trent #3)
• 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff
• The Bullet that Missed by Richard Osman (Thursday Murder Club #3)

 ----------------------- 

Sources:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hay-on-Wye
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_town 
• https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2018/apr/26/10-worlds-best-book-towns-france-spain-south-korea-usa 
• https://www.hayfestival.com/hay-on-wye/home
• https://www.hay-on-wye.co.uk/tourism/bookshops 
• https://themelodramaticbookworm.com/2023/07/18/bookish-places-on-my-travel-bucket-list/ 
• https://www.buenosairesfreewalks.com/what-to-see/el-ateneo-bookstore/ 
• https://www.cntraveler.com/story/book-fairs-to-travel-for 
• https://bookriot.com/bookish-cities/ 
• https://libraryhotel.com/en/ 
• https://bookandbedtokyo.com/en/ 
• https://www.hotelsylvia.com/ 
• https://theeverygirl.com/reading-retreat-trip-idea/ 

Support the show

----------------------- 
Intro and outro music: "The Chase," by Aves.

Support us!

If you liked this episode, please consider becoming a monthly supporter of the show: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2235482/support. 

It also really helps us reach more listeners if you leave us a rating and/or review, especially on Apple Podcasts. 

Reach out!

Do you have thoughts, questions, or ideas for future episodes? Email us at allbooksaloudpod@gmail.com. To learn more about the podcast, visit our website at allbooksaloudpod.com.

If you'd like to see more bookish content from Martha & Elizabeth, follow us on Instagram and TikTok @allbooksaloudpod.

Read on!

Have you heard about the IMLS (Institute of Museum and Library Services) in the news lately? An Executive Order in mid-March ordered it be "eliminated to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law" and there has been a lot of conversation about it since. But this agency was relatively low profile politically until recently, so many people might not know much about it. 

On this episode we talk about what the IMLS is, what it does (and what it does not do), its history and mission, what our communities stand to lose with its elimination, and what you can do to support libraries and museums. You won't want to miss this important and relevant conversation! 

-----------------------
Books we're reading in this episode:  

• Murder in Postscript by Mary Winters
• Tom Lake by Ann Patchett
• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
• The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman (Thursday Murder Club #2)
• Brisingr by Christopher Paolini (The Inheritance Cycle #3) 
• Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes

 ----------------------- 

Sources:

• Houpert, Cécile. 2019. “The New Role of Libraries: Places for All”. European Journal of Creative Practices in Cities and Landscapes 2 (2): 175–184. https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.2612-0496/10429 
• https://apnews.com/article/institute-doge-musk-museum-library-services-executive-order-trump-30ebde013ce3e9f97e2f4af72c869c0b
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institute_of_Museum_and_Library_Services
• https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/STATUTE-79/pdf/STATUTE-79-Pg845.pdf
• https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/continuing-the-reduction-of-the-federal-bureaucracy/ 
• https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/mar/21/trump-attack-libraries-devastating
• https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2016/04/07/libraries-and-learning/

 ----------------------- 

How to help:

EveryLibrary petition:

Support the show

----------------------- 
Intro and outro music: "The Chase," by Aves.

Support us!

If you liked this episode, please consider becoming a monthly supporter of the show: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2235482/support. 

It also really helps us reach more listeners if you leave us a rating and/or review, especially on Apple Podcasts. 

Reach out!

Do you have thoughts, questions, or ideas for future episodes? Email us at allbooksaloudpod@gmail.com. To learn more about the podcast, visit our website at allbooksaloudpod.com.

If you'd like to see more bookish content from Martha & Elizabeth, follow us on Instagram and TikTok @allbooksaloudpod.

Read on!

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to work in a bookstore? According to Rebecca, bookseller and events manager at the independent bookstore Fireside Books, who we interview for this episode, it's a lot like playing a video game! 

Join us to find out what she means by this, and also hear her talk about so many other interesting parts of her job, including how her work affects her reading, what it's like managing a book club, how her store and other indies are dealing with AI, and the things she wishes everyone knew about indie bookstores.

(Side note: can someone actually develop a video game where we can play working in a bookstore?!)

-----------------------
Books we're reading in this episode:   

• Land of Milk and Honey by C. Pam Zhang
• The Astrology House by Carinn Jade
• A Lady's Guide to Scandal by Sophie Irwin
• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
• The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes
• We All Live Here by Jojo Moyes 
• Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros

----------------------- 

Rebecca's book recommendations about indie bookstores:

• How to Resist Amazon and Why by Danny Caine
• How to Protect Bookstores and Why: The Present and Future of Bookselling  by Danny Caine 

Find out more about Fireside Books: https://www.goodbooksbadcoffee.com/

Support the show

----------------------- 
Intro and outro music: "The Chase," by Aves.

Support us!

If you liked this episode, please consider becoming a monthly supporter of the show: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2235482/support. 

It also really helps us reach more listeners if you leave us a rating and/or review, especially on Apple Podcasts. 

Reach out!

Do you have thoughts, questions, or ideas for future episodes? Email us at allbooksaloudpod@gmail.com. To learn more about the podcast, visit our website at allbooksaloudpod.com.

If you'd like to see more bookish content from Martha & Elizabeth, follow us on Instagram and TikTok @allbooksaloudpod.

Read on!

We were planning to talk about our reading habits and rituals in this episode...but then Elizabeth heard an NPR podcast about how no one reads anymore, at the same time as Martha read multiple articles about how more people bought Rebecca Yarros' latest book than any adult book since records began and that thanks to TikTok, Barnes & Noble is opening more stores this year. We had to ask ourselves: how could both of these things be true?

Join as we try to sort fact from moral panic, discuss the gendered media narratives around book releases by women authors and the loss of literary men, debunk an oft-repeated (even by us) statistic about reading, and ponder whether reading has indeed become a niche hobby. We do also, eventually, talk about the struggles we both face with reading and the habits and rituals we've developed to help fit reading into our lives.

-----------------------
Books we're reading in this episode:   

All Fours by Miranda July 
A Lady’s Guide to Scandal by Sophie Irwin
The Women by Kristin Hannah
I Ran Away to Evil 2 by Mystic Neptune
Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros
This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

----------------------- 

Sources listed in the order they appear in the episode :

• https://www.npr.org/transcripts/1263527033
• Irwin, William. "Reading Audio Books." Philosophy and Literature 33, no. 2 (2009): 358-368. doi:10.1353/phl.0.0057.
• https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/feb/03/romantasy-and-booktok-driving-a-huge-rise-in-science-fiction-and-fantasy-sales
• https://www.newsnationnow.com/business/booktok-barnes-and-noble-60-stores/
• https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/30/books/rebecca-yarros-onyx-storm.html 
• https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2022/01/06/three-in-ten-americans-now-read-e-books/
• https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/25/books/sally-rooney-intermezzo.html 
• https://www.vox.com/culture/392971/men-reading-fiction-statistics-fact-checked

Support the show

----------------------- 
Intro and outro music: "The Chase," by Aves.

Support us!

If you liked this episode, please consider becoming a monthly supporter of the show: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2235482/support. 

It also really helps us reach more listeners if you leave us a rating and/or review, especially on Apple Podcasts. 

Reach out!

Do you have thoughts, questions, or ideas for future episodes? Email us at allbooksaloudpod@gmail.com. To learn more about the podcast, visit our website at allbooksaloudpod.com.

If you'd like to see more bookish content from Martha & Elizabeth, follow us on Instagram and TikTok @allbooksaloudpod.

Read on!

Have you ever wondered what it takes to be an audiobook narrator? Or is it perhaps your dream job like it is for Martha? In this episode, we interview audiobook narrator extraordinaire Laura Horowitz.

Laura tells us how she got into the business, what a day in the life for an audiobook narrator looks like, how she connects with authors and fans, and what the rise of AI might mean for audiobook narrators like her. This interview was so fun and informative! It’s one you won’t want to miss. Find more about Laura and her work at her website: https://www.laurahorowitz.com/

-----------------------
Books we're reading in this episode:  

• The Plated Prisoner series by Raven Kennedy
• Wings So Wicked by Emily Blackwood (Golden City #1)
• Blood So Brutal by Emily Blackwood (Golden City #2)
• Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
• The House Witch 2 by Delemhach
• We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
• I Ran Away to Evil by Mystic Neptune 

Support the show

----------------------- 
Intro and outro music: "The Chase," by Aves.

Support us!

If you liked this episode, please consider becoming a monthly supporter of the show: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2235482/support. 

It also really helps us reach more listeners if you leave us a rating and/or review, especially on Apple Podcasts. 

Reach out!

Do you have thoughts, questions, or ideas for future episodes? Email us at allbooksaloudpod@gmail.com. To learn more about the podcast, visit our website at allbooksaloudpod.com.

If you'd like to see more bookish content from Martha & Elizabeth, follow us on Instagram and TikTok @allbooksaloudpod.

Read on!

[Apologies, listeners! We're re-releasing this one because there was an audio glitch in the original episode. If you've already downloaded the episode from Wednesday, try this one instead!] 

Happy New Year! There are some beliefs, truisms, urban legends, myths, whatever you want to call them, about books and reading that seem like they just won't die. Do audiobooks really count as reading? Are all readers introverts? Has reading education in schools really gone downhill? Is learning to read a natural process that will just happen organically if we let it? We talk about all these questions and more. Join us for some bookish mythbusting to start the new year!
-----------------------
Books we're reading in this episode:   
The Paris Novel by Ruth Reichl
The House Witch by Delemhach
This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone
Le Fay (Morgan Le Fay #2) by Sophie Keetch
----------------------- 
Sources:  

• https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-biggest-myths-about-reading-books
• Five Myths About Reading & How to Put Them to Death (goinswriter.com): https://goinswriter.com/reading-myths/
• Ten Myths About Learning to Read | Reading Rockets: https://www.readingrockets.org/topics/about-reading/articles/ten-myths-about-learning-read
• The Myths About Reading We Need to Bust | LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/myths-reading-we-need-bust-bitelyai

Support the show

----------------------- 
Intro and outro music: "The Chase," by Aves.

Support us!

If you liked this episode, please consider becoming a monthly supporter of the show: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2235482/support. 

It also really helps us reach more listeners if you leave us a rating and/or review, especially on Apple Podcasts. 

Reach out!

Do you have thoughts, questions, or ideas for future episodes? Email us at allbooksaloudpod@gmail.com. To learn more about the podcast, visit our website at allbooksaloudpod.com.

If you'd like to see more bookish content from Martha & Elizabeth, follow us on Instagram and TikTok @allbooksaloudpod.

Read on!

Happy Holidays! We're bringing back our year-end reading round up. Join us as we talk about our year in reading, our favorite books of 2024, and what we're looking forward to reading in 2025. We also talk about how our conversation about goal-setting in January of this year impacted our years in reading (spoiler: profoundly and in a good way!) 
-----------------------
Books we talk about in this episode:

Books we're reading now:

• The Teller of Small Fortunes by Julie Leong
• Tower of Dawn by Sarah J Maas
• Heartburn by Nora Ephron

2024 reads we haven't talked about on the podcast:

• The Familiar by Leah Bardugo
• Morbidly Yours by Ivy Fairbanks
• We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
• Dracula by Bram Stoker
• Confessions of a Forty-Something Fuck Up by Alexandra Potter
• Curse of Penryth Hall by Jess Armstrong
• The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham
• The Hapless Milliner (Miss Austen Investigates #1) by Jessica Bull
• Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto

Our favorite books of 2024:

• Elizabeth: Tie between Nora Goes Off Script by Annabel Monaghan and Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
• Martha: Tie between A Fire Endless by Rebecca Ross and Nora Goes Off Script. Honorable mention to The House Witch series.

Books on our TBRs for 2025:

• History Lessons by Zoe Wallbrook (July)
• The Lioness (Dec 2024) And The Trees Stare Back (YA) by Gigi Griffis (May)
• Heavy Hitter by Katie Cotugno
• All Fours by Miranda July
• Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry (April)
• Stop Me If You've Heard This One by Kristen Arnett (March)
• The Women by Kristin Hannah?
• Onyx Storm (The Empyrean #3) by Rebecca Yarros (Jan)
• Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry (April)
• Black Woods Blue Sky by Eowyn Ivey (Feb)
• Ordinary Monsters by J.M. Miro
• When the Moon Hatched by Sarah A. Parker

Support the show

----------------------- 
Intro and outro music: "The Chase," by Aves.

Support us!

If you liked this episode, please consider becoming a monthly supporter of the show: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2235482/support. 

It also really helps us reach more listeners if you leave us a rating and/or review, especially on Apple Podcasts. 

Reach out!

Do you have thoughts, questions, or ideas for future episodes? Email us at allbooksaloudpod@gmail.com. To learn more about the podcast, visit our website at allbooksaloudpod.com.

If you'd like to see more bookish content from Martha & Elizabeth, follow us on Instagram and TikTok @allbooksaloudpod.

Read on!

Romantic fantasies have taken the book world by storm in recent years, but fantasy stories that allow us to break free of the rules and limitations of our own world and reality are as old as human history. We wanted to learn more about the genre's history and its variations and sub-genres. 

What's the difference between fantasy and science fiction? Between high fantasy and low fantasy? What about all the sub-genres? Are Romantasy really something new or are they just a marketing ploy? How about cozy fantasy? Join us as we take a deep dive into fantasy and add lots of books to our TBR that will help us escape the current reality!
-----------------------
Books we're reading in this episode: 
Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
Just for the Summer by Abby Jiménez
Adelaide by Genevieve Wheeler
The House Witch by Delemhach
----------------------- 
Sources:

• https://www.masterclass.com/articles/what-is-the-fantasy-genre-history-of-fantasy-and-subgenres-and-types-of-fantasy-in-literature
• https://litjoycrate.com/a/blog/fantasy-book-tropes?srsltid=AfmBOoqZ5EBUD7-q8IYgOI0pTKRcyZmSfBLyexpqCVQrgkF8Mybxz7DQ
• https://www.britannica.com/art/fantasy-narrative-genre
• https://bookriot.com/fantasy-sub-genre-primer/ 
• Dassler, J. (2021). Women in Literature: The Impact of Feminism on Fantasy Literature, 1950-1990. International Social Science Review, 97(4), 1–20.
• Schlobin, R. C. (2011). Mendlesohn, Farah, and Edward James. A Short History of Fantasy. Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts, 22(2), 292+
• https://zipdo.co/book-sales-by-genre-statistics/
• https://www.tonerbuzz.com/blog/book-and-reading-statistics/
• https://fantasy-faction.com/2015/classic-female-fantasy-writers
• https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/jun/27/sff-community-marion-zimmer-bradley-daughter-accuses-abuse

Support the show

----------------------- 
Intro and outro music: "The Chase," by Aves.

Support us!

If you liked this episode, please consider becoming a monthly supporter of the show: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2235482/support. 

It also really helps us reach more listeners if you leave us a rating and/or review, especially on Apple Podcasts. 

Reach out!

Do you have thoughts, questions, or ideas for future episodes? Email us at allbooksaloudpod@gmail.com. To learn more about the podcast, visit our website at allbooksaloudpod.com.

If you'd like to see more bookish content from Martha & Elizabeth, follow us on Instagram and TikTok @allbooksaloudpod.

Read on!

Whether or not you'll enjoy a book club depends a lot on your reading style, habits, and preferences. But if you're interested in joining a book club, there is truly one out there for everyone - different types, communities, themes, modalities, and more.

Join us as we talk about our own experiences with book clubs (as both participants and moderators), the history of book clubs (which includes a lot more social activism than we expected!), celebrity book clubs, and how to find a book club that's right for you.
-----------------------
Books we're reading in this episode:
A Date with Death by Julia Chapman (Dales Detective #1)
A Lady's Guide to Fortune Hunting by Sophie Irwin
A Fate Inked in Blood by Danielle L. Jensen (Saga of the Unfated #1)
The House Witch by Delemhach
----------------------- 
Sources:

• Book Riot: https://bookriot.com/a-history-of-book-clubs/
• Medium: https://medium.com/the-mission/the-best-book-clubs-throughout-history-d45537334de0
• Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2021/03/27/womens-book-clubs-history-oprah-reese/
• Huffington Post: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/ladies-who-book-club-have-always-been-the-glue-of-resistance_n_595db02de4b02e9bdb0a3454
• NYT: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/18/books/reese-witherspoon-book-club.html 
• https://www.cambridge.org/core/elements/book-clubs-and-book-commerce/3C50183E95136DAD1FC7FB51FD6E6A1E 
• https://testprepinsight.com/resources/us-book-reading-statistics/
• https://thgmwriters.com/blog/global-book-reading-statistics-2022-2023-complete-survey-data/
• https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/jul/09/why-do-so-few-men-read-books-by-women
  
  

Support the show

----------------------- 
Intro and outro music: "The Chase," by Aves.

Support us!

If you liked this episode, please consider becoming a monthly supporter of the show: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2235482/support. 

It also really helps us reach more listeners if you leave us a rating and/or review, especially on Apple Podcasts. 

Reach out!

Do you have thoughts, questions, or ideas for future episodes? Email us at allbooksaloudpod@gmail.com. To learn more about the podcast, visit our website at allbooksaloudpod.com.

If you'd like to see more bookish content from Martha & Elizabeth, follow us on Instagram and TikTok @allbooksaloudpod.

Read on!

Season 2 is here and our first episode is a big one! In some ways, we have been building up to this moment since the podcast began: we finally chat with Elizabeth's librarian inspiration and the All Books Aloud unofficial mascot, Nancy Pearl. 

Nancy has had a storied life and a career about as influential as a librarian could hope for, and she shares so much of it with us during this hour. We talk about how her difficult childhood led her to the library, how the librarians in that first public library inspired her love of reading and her desire to be a librarian herself, and how that career led to some of her noteworthy epiphanies about books and reading. 

How did she come up with reading doorways? How did she realize that no two readers read the same book? What does she think about book bans and the state of libraries today? And what did she once say about finishing books to Elizabeth's grad school class that made them all gasp? Listen and find out!
-----------------------
Books we're reading in this episode:    
The Underpainter by Jane Urquhart
Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson
Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas
The League of Gentlewomen Witches by India Holton
The House Witch #2 by Delemhach

Support the show

----------------------- 
Intro and outro music: "The Chase," by Aves.

Support us!

If you liked this episode, please consider becoming a monthly supporter of the show: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2235482/support. 

It also really helps us reach more listeners if you leave us a rating and/or review, especially on Apple Podcasts. 

Reach out!

Do you have thoughts, questions, or ideas for future episodes? Email us at allbooksaloudpod@gmail.com. To learn more about the podcast, visit our website at allbooksaloudpod.com.

If you'd like to see more bookish content from Martha & Elizabeth, follow us on Instagram and TikTok @allbooksaloudpod.

Read on!

In our season finale we talk with author Sarah T. Dubb about her debut novel, Birding With Benefits. It's a fun, flirty, sexy, and touching fake-dating romance novel featuring two protagonists in their 40s who fall in love while - you guessed it - bird-watching together. But Sarah hasn't always been a romance reader (or writer). In fact, her reading journey started solidly in literary fiction, but she fell in love with romance during the pandemic (like someone else we know...ahem...:)

Join us for this super fun conversation as we talk about one writer's journey from a kid who loved to read--but never thought of writing novels--to a published author. Sarah also has lots of tips and insider information for writers hoping to get published. You won't want to miss it!

Reminder that this is the last episode of Season 1. See you in the fall for Season 2! 

Find out more about Sarah T. Dubb (and order her books!): https://www.sarahtdubb.com/

Support the show

----------------------- 
Intro and outro music: "The Chase," by Aves.

Support us!

If you liked this episode, please consider becoming a monthly supporter of the show: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2235482/support. 

It also really helps us reach more listeners if you leave us a rating and/or review, especially on Apple Podcasts. 

Reach out!

Do you have thoughts, questions, or ideas for future episodes? Email us at allbooksaloudpod@gmail.com. To learn more about the podcast, visit our website at allbooksaloudpod.com.

If you'd like to see more bookish content from Martha & Elizabeth, follow us on Instagram and TikTok @allbooksaloudpod.

Read on!

Is the book always better than the movie? If you had asked either of us before this episode, we both would have said unequivocally 'yes!' But our discussion showed us that this topic might actually be more nuanced than we realized. Join as we talk about nearly every Jane Austen adaptation ever made (don't worry, we also talk about other adaptations...a little), ponder whether we enjoy watching screen adaptations of our favorite books even if they're not perfect, daydream about books we wish would be made into screen adaptations, and more.

Support the show

----------------------- 
Intro and outro music: "The Chase," by Aves.

Support us!

If you liked this episode, please consider becoming a monthly supporter of the show: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2235482/support. 

It also really helps us reach more listeners if you leave us a rating and/or review, especially on Apple Podcasts. 

Reach out!

Do you have thoughts, questions, or ideas for future episodes? Email us at allbooksaloudpod@gmail.com. To learn more about the podcast, visit our website at allbooksaloudpod.com.

If you'd like to see more bookish content from Martha & Elizabeth, follow us on Instagram and TikTok @allbooksaloudpod.

Read on!

Two very special guests joined us for this episode - the other half of our sibling quartet, Bekka and Mike. Listen in as we talk about our early experiences with reading, the similarities in how our reading journeys started, where our tastes differ, and how we took different paths based on our personality traits.

We really enjoyed reminiscing with our siblings and reflecting on some childhood nostalgia, and we hope you'll enjoy it, too!
-----------------------
Books we're reading in this episode: 
The Light Years by Elizabeth Jane Howard (The Cazalet Chronicles #1)
Nettle and Bone by T. Kingfisher
A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas
Why Women Grow by Alice Vincent
Neuromancer by William Gibson (Sprawl #1)

Support the show

----------------------- 
Intro and outro music: "The Chase," by Aves.

Support us!

If you liked this episode, please consider becoming a monthly supporter of the show: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2235482/support. 

It also really helps us reach more listeners if you leave us a rating and/or review, especially on Apple Podcasts. 

Reach out!

Do you have thoughts, questions, or ideas for future episodes? Email us at allbooksaloudpod@gmail.com. To learn more about the podcast, visit our website at allbooksaloudpod.com.

If you'd like to see more bookish content from Martha & Elizabeth, follow us on Instagram and TikTok @allbooksaloudpod.

Read on!

The topic of this week's episode is one of the few book-related topics we've found where we disagree! Martha loves to re-read her favorite books, whereas Elizabeth thinks life is too short to re-tread old ground. Martha begins the episode by setting herself the challenge of changing Elizabeth's mind...listen to find out if she's successful!
-----------------------
Books we're reading in this episode: 
The Light Years by Elizabeth Jane Howard (The Cazalet Chronicles #1)
Nettle and Bone by T. Kingfisher
A Court of Thorns and Roses series by Sarah J. Maas
----------------------- 
Sources:  

•  Allison. 2019. “Why You Should Reread Your Favorite Books and How to Make It Worth Your While.” Mind Joggle. January 14, 2019. https://www.mindjoggle.com/why-you-should-reread-your-favorite-books/  
• NA.  2021. “On The Particular Pleasures of Re-reading.” Penguin Random House. August 5, 2021. https://www.penguin.co.uk/articles/2021/07/re-reading-books-again-returning-literacy 
• Jenner, Natalie.  2020. “Doesn’t Everyone Reread Their Favorite Books All the Time?”  Literary  Hub. May 18, 2020. https://lithub.com/doesnt-everyone-reread-their-favorite-books-all-the-time/ 

Support the show

----------------------- 
Intro and outro music: "The Chase," by Aves.

Support us!

If you liked this episode, please consider becoming a monthly supporter of the show: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2235482/support. 

It also really helps us reach more listeners if you leave us a rating and/or review, especially on Apple Podcasts. 

Reach out!

Do you have thoughts, questions, or ideas for future episodes? Email us at allbooksaloudpod@gmail.com. To learn more about the podcast, visit our website at allbooksaloudpod.com.

If you'd like to see more bookish content from Martha & Elizabeth, follow us on Instagram and TikTok @allbooksaloudpod.

Read on!

We have explored a lot of different components of the book publishing industry on the podcast, but neither of us know much about the work of literary translation. So, we were thrilled to get the chance to talk with Polly Mackintosh about her work. Polly is Commissioning Editor and in-house translator for Gallic Books, and is the translator of the forthcoming novel, Clara Reads Proust by Stéphane Carlier. 

We chatted with Polly about how she got started as a translator, what her favorite and most challenging parts of the work are, her process and how she captures each author's style and tone, what influence she thinks AI will have on the work of literary translators, and much more. Join us as we learn about the fascinating mix of art and craft that goes into translating a work of art like a novel!

-----------------------
Books we're reading in this episode:   

Clara Reads Proust by Stéphane Carlier, Polly Mackintosh (Translator) (published in the UK on March 28th, forthcoming in North America - May 21, 2024) 
Birding With Benefits by Sarah T. Dubb (forthcoming - June 4, 2024)
The Gentleman's Gambit by Evie Dunmore (A League of Extraordinary Women #4)
A Stroke of the Pen: The Lost Stories by Terry Pratchett
Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree (Legends & Lattes #0 )
What I Know About You by Éric Chacour (forthcoming - September 24, 2024)
A Certain Hunger by Chelsea G. Summers
-----------------------  
Additional notes from Polly:

The ebook of Clara Reads Proust will be available to everyone (US and UK) starting on  March 28, 2024. There isn't a date for the audiobook release yet, but it will be coming at some point.  

After the interview, I asked Stéphane whether he'd ever been a hairdresser, and he said he hadn't but shared the following insights:

I asked one of my best friends, Quentin, who happened to a hairdresser, to help me. Sent him emails with questions like "What does it smell like when you get to the salon in the morning? Please be very specific" or "What's in the drawer of the counter at the entrance?" Poor Quentin, he was so nice and helpful! The "Proust parts" of the book (the second and third parts) were easy compared to the "salon part" of it (the first one)!

Support the show

----------------------- 
Intro and outro music: "The Chase," by Aves.

Support us!

If you liked this episode, please consider becoming a monthly supporter of the show: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2235482/support. 

It also really helps us reach more listeners if you leave us a rating and/or review, especially on Apple Podcasts. 

Reach out!

Do you have thoughts, questions, or ideas for future episodes? Email us at allbooksaloudpod@gmail.com. To learn more about the podcast, visit our website at allbooksaloudpod.com.

If you'd like to see more bookish content from Martha & Elizabeth, follow us on Instagram and TikTok @allbooksaloudpod.

Read on!

This episode was recorded in-person and on location during our sister vacation on the Big Island of Hawaii! We kept our reading choices for the trip a secret from one another and did a live reveal, then we talked all about vacation reading while getting a little tipsy on tropical fruit juice and rum cocktails. 

Among and around several digressions, we discuss questions like, what types of stories do you like to read on vacation? How many books do you bring? What format of book do you bring and why? What are the pros and cons of different formats on vacation? When and where do you read on vacation? We also talk about other bookish, touristy things you can do on vacation. Join us on island time for this fun episode!
 -----------------------
Books we're reading in this episode:  
  
Nora Goes Off Script by Annabel Monaghan
The Mitford Murders by Jessica Fellowes
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
The Dinner Lady Detectives by Hannah Hendy
Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson

Support the show

----------------------- 
Intro and outro music: "The Chase," by Aves.

Support us!

If you liked this episode, please consider becoming a monthly supporter of the show: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2235482/support. 

It also really helps us reach more listeners if you leave us a rating and/or review, especially on Apple Podcasts. 

Reach out!

Do you have thoughts, questions, or ideas for future episodes? Email us at allbooksaloudpod@gmail.com. To learn more about the podcast, visit our website at allbooksaloudpod.com.

If you'd like to see more bookish content from Martha & Elizabeth, follow us on Instagram and TikTok @allbooksaloudpod.

Read on!

Even if you don't use TikTok, you've likely at least heard of the phenomenon known as BookTok. Individual videos sometimes get millions of views, and the combined hashtags for these videos on TikTok have had hundreds of billions of views. The publishing industry is paying attention - and so are we! 

Is BookTok really driving book sales? Or is it just creating yet another thing for people to envy online and feel bad about in their real lives? Is it lowering the quality of writing in books, turning them into fast fashion? And how is it affecting indie authors? Is it truly something new, or is it a new version of an old trend? And if it's encouraging young people to read more and see reading as something that's cool - does anything else really matter? Join us!
-----------------------
Books we're reading in this episode:   
The Uncharted Flight of Olivia West by Sara Ackerman
Clara Reads Proust by Stephane Carlier
The Gentleman's Gambit by Evie Dunmore
----------------------- 
Sources: 

• https://www.economist.com/culture/2023/09/21/tiktok-is-changing-the-way-books-are-recommended-and-sold
• https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/01/books/tiktok-books-booktok.html
• https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/aug/06/i-cant-stress-how-much-booktok-sells-teen-literary-influencers-swaying-publishers
• https://www.thebookseller.com/news/more-than-half-of-young-readers-credit-booktok-with-sparking-passion-for-reading-pa-finds
• https://www.ala.org/advocacy/sites/ala.org.advocacy/files/content/tools/Gen-Z-and-Millennials-Report%20%281%29.pdf 
• Brookbank, E. 2023. “It makes you feel like more of a person:” The leisure reading habits of university students in the US and UK and how academic libraries can support them, College & Undergraduate Libraries, 30:3, 53-94, DOI: 10.1080/10691316.2023.2261918
• https://ww

Support the show

----------------------- 
Intro and outro music: "The Chase," by Aves.

Support us!

If you liked this episode, please consider becoming a monthly supporter of the show: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2235482/support. 

It also really helps us reach more listeners if you leave us a rating and/or review, especially on Apple Podcasts. 

Reach out!

Do you have thoughts, questions, or ideas for future episodes? Email us at allbooksaloudpod@gmail.com. To learn more about the podcast, visit our website at allbooksaloudpod.com.

If you'd like to see more bookish content from Martha & Elizabeth, follow us on Instagram and TikTok @allbooksaloudpod.

Read on!

What do you do with books that you're finished with? Books you've read or don't want anymore or spilled coffee on? In this episode we discuss what makes a book valuable - to individuals and to society - and why this can sometimes result in anxiety about how books are disposed of. 

We dig into the work libraries do to preserve books and the “weeding” they have to do to stay functional for the communities they serve. Elizabeth goes on a teeny-tiny rant about the controversy this weeding can sometimes cause, but why it should be embraced rather than resisted or feared. We also talk about various options for how and where to unload books you don't want anymore, and ideas for reading more sustainably. Don't miss it!
-----------------------
Books we're reading in this episode:   

The Mitford Murders by Jessica Fellowes
The Gentleman's Gambit  (A League of Extraordinary Women series book #4) by Evie Dunmore
My Life in France by Julia Child and Alex Prud'Homme
House of Flame and Shadow (Crescent City #3) by Sarah J. Maas
----------------------- 
Sources:

•  Haider, Salman. 2022. “Five Laws of Library Science.” Librarianship Studies & Information Technology (blog). September 11, 2022. https://www.librarianshipstudies.com/2017/09/five-laws-of-library-science.html 
•  Piepenburg, Scott. 2019. “The Five Laws of Library Science.” Librarian to Librarian. October 17, 2019. https://librariantolibrarian.wordpress.com/2019/10/18/the-five-laws-of-library-science/ 
• Better World Books: https://www.betterworldbooks.com/
• Ben Krumholz, FOX 11 News. 2024. “Residents Outraged Over Dumpster Filled With Library Books at Marinette’s UWGB Campus.” WLUK. January 11, 2024. https://fox11online.com/news/local/northwoods/residents-outraged-over-dumpster-filled-with-library-books-at-marinettes-uwgb-campus 
• https://twitter.com/elizabethbrookb/status/1131392411563728896
• ———. 2024. “Books Published per Country per Year.” Wikipedia. February 25, 2024. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Books_published_per_country_per_year 
• Talbot, Dean. 2023. “Number of Book

Support the show

----------------------- 
Intro and outro music: "The Chase," by Aves.

Support us!

If you liked this episode, please consider becoming a monthly supporter of the show: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2235482/support. 

It also really helps us reach more listeners if you leave us a rating and/or review, especially on Apple Podcasts. 

Reach out!

Do you have thoughts, questions, or ideas for future episodes? Email us at allbooksaloudpod@gmail.com. To learn more about the podcast, visit our website at allbooksaloudpod.com.

If you'd like to see more bookish content from Martha & Elizabeth, follow us on Instagram and TikTok @allbooksaloudpod.

Read on!

Romance novels generate over $1.44 billion (with a 'b!') in revenue and are highest-earning, biggest, and fastest growing genre of fiction in the book industry. And yet, if you're a romance reader, you've probably had to defend it to someone at some point or maybe you've even been embarrassed of your reading. Why are these books that so many read still so fraught?

We talk about our personal experiences with reading romance, the history of the genre, and discuss questions like, what defines romance today? Do men write romance? Is romance, even in its modern form, still limiting women? Or is it just harmless entertainment? Join us as we tackle a topic we've been circling around since we started the podcast.
-----------------------
Books we're reading in this episode: 

Elements of Cadence duology by Rebecca Ross (A River Enchanted; A Fire Endless)
Flying Solo by Linda Holmes
Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien
The League of Gentlewoman Witches by India Holton (Dangerous Damsels series)
Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Berkeman
----------------------- 
Sources (links provided when available and citations shortened to fit) listed in the order they appear in the episode: 

• https://observer.com/2022/09/derided-for-centuries-romance-novels-are-a-huge-business/
• https://wordsrated.com/romance-novel-sales-statistics/ 
• Lyons, Martyn. 2011. Books : A Living History. Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum. Pgs. 177-179.
• Avery, Jessica. 2017. “Feminist Romance Novels from #RomanceNovelsforHillary.” Book Riot. December 12, 2017. https://bookriot.com/feminist-romance-novels-from-romancenovelsforhillary/
• Rodale, Maya. 2017. “That Thing with Hillary Clinton and Romance Novels...” HuffPost (blog). December 8, 2017. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/that-thing-with-hillary-clinton-and-romance-novels_b_5a2a862de4b04e0bc8f3b3b5.
• "'He's a little obsessed with me': Hillary Clinton reflects with raw honesty on Trump and 2016." Washingtonpost.com, November 28, 2017.
• https://www.lucymonroe.com/lucy-at-the-heart/romance-conventions-reader-expectations/
• Radway, Janice A. 1991

Support the show

----------------------- 
Intro and outro music: "The Chase," by Aves.

Support us!

If you liked this episode, please consider becoming a monthly supporter of the show: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2235482/support. 

It also really helps us reach more listeners if you leave us a rating and/or review, especially on Apple Podcasts. 

Reach out!

Do you have thoughts, questions, or ideas for future episodes? Email us at allbooksaloudpod@gmail.com. To learn more about the podcast, visit our website at allbooksaloudpod.com.

If you'd like to see more bookish content from Martha & Elizabeth, follow us on Instagram and TikTok @allbooksaloudpod.

Read on!

If you're a reader, you know the feeling: you turn the last page of a book and want to cry that it's over. You immediately feel bereft. You can't stop thinking (and even talking) about the characters, the story. You wish you could turn back time to when you were still reading or somehow enter the pages of the book and live in the world. No other book appeals to you, and you might even start and then abandon books trying to move on. You have a book hangover!

In this episode, we're talking all about book hangovers. What are they? What books have we gotten them from? What kinds of books tend to give us hangovers? Are book hangovers even a real phenomenon? If so, why do they happen? And, perhaps most importantly, what can we do to get over them? Join us to find out!
-----------------------
Books we're reading in this episode:  

A Rip Through Time by Kelley Armstrong
The Return of the King J.R.R. Tolkien
The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels by India Holton
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
----------------------- 
Sources (links provided when available and citations shortened to fit) listed in the order they appear in the episode: 

• https://www.bookbub.com/blog/signs-of-a-book-hangover
• https://www.rd.com/article/book-hangover/
• https://bookriot.com/psychology-of-a-book-hangover/
• https://bookriot.com/7-cures-book-hangover/ 

Support the show

----------------------- 
Intro and outro music: "The Chase," by Aves.

Support us!

If you liked this episode, please consider becoming a monthly supporter of the show: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2235482/support. 

It also really helps us reach more listeners if you leave us a rating and/or review, especially on Apple Podcasts. 

Reach out!

Do you have thoughts, questions, or ideas for future episodes? Email us at allbooksaloudpod@gmail.com. To learn more about the podcast, visit our website at allbooksaloudpod.com.

If you'd like to see more bookish content from Martha & Elizabeth, follow us on Instagram and TikTok @allbooksaloudpod.

Read on!

The idea that "the kids just don't read anymore" is a tale as old as time. And, it is something that Elizabeth decided to investigate head-on in her role as an academic librarian. The results of the research study she designed and ran, interviewing just under 100 university students in the U.S. and the U.K., were published a few months ago and we talk about them in this episode.

Spoiler alert: young people (even when they're in college and even during the semester) do still read for fun! We get into the details of the study results and talk about what they read, how much they read, how they find new books, what they want from their reading lives, how they see themselves as readers, and more.

We also figure out that a conversation we had in 2019 about this study design was actually the seed that led to us starting this podcast! It's a very full-circle moment <3
-----------------------
Books we're reading in this episode:

Main Character Energy by Jamie Varon
The Golden Spoon by Jessa Maxwell
Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling
 -----------------------
Sources:

Brookbank, E. 2023. “It makes you feel like more of a person:” The leisure reading habits of university students in the US and UK and how academic libraries can support them, College & Undergraduate Libraries, 30:3, 53-94, DOI: 10.1080/10691316.2023.2261918 

Support the show

----------------------- 
Intro and outro music: "The Chase," by Aves.

Support us!

If you liked this episode, please consider becoming a monthly supporter of the show: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2235482/support. 

It also really helps us reach more listeners if you leave us a rating and/or review, especially on Apple Podcasts. 

Reach out!

Do you have thoughts, questions, or ideas for future episodes? Email us at allbooksaloudpod@gmail.com. To learn more about the podcast, visit our website at allbooksaloudpod.com.

If you'd like to see more bookish content from Martha & Elizabeth, follow us on Instagram and TikTok @allbooksaloudpod.

Read on!

Happy New Year! Who doesn't love a good year-end round up?! Join us as we talk about our year in reading, our favorite books of 2023, and what we're looking forward to reading in 2024. We discuss the pros and cons of setting reading goals, complete with research that will not only let you off the hook with your yearly reading goal (if that's what you want) but will also get you out of having to walk 10,000 steps a day :)
-----------------------
Books we talk about in this episode:  

2023 reads we haven't talked about on the podcast:

• Someone Else’s Shoes by Jojo Moyes 
• Part of Your World by Abby Jimenez 
• Ready Player One by Ernest Cline 
• In The Likely Event by Rebecca Yarros 
• Homegoing Yaa Gyasi 
• A Secret Sisterhood: The Literary Friendships of Jane Austen, Charlotte Brontë, George Eliot, and Virginia Woolf by Emily Midorikawa, Emma Claire Sweeney, Margaret Atwood (Foreword)
• Under the Henfluence by Tove Danovich
• The Hobbit, Fellowship of the Ring, Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien
• The House in the Cerulean Sea
• A Rip Through Time by Kelley Armstrong

Our favorite books of 2023:

• Happy Place by Emily Henry
• Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld

Books on our TBRs for 2024:

• Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton
• 10 Things That Never Happened by Alexis Hall
• The Cazalet Chronicles by Elizabeth Jane Howard
• Death Comes to Marlow by Robert Thorogood
• Song of the Huntress by Lucy Holland
• 1000 Words: A Writer's Guide to Staying Creative, Focused, and Productive All Year Round by Jami Attenberg
• The Paris Novel by Ruth Reichl
• The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna
• Main Character Energy by Jamie Varon
• My Life in France by Julia Child
• Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
• The Fragile Threads of Power (Threads of Power #1) by V.E. Schwab
• Ruthless Vows (Letters of Enchantment #2) by Rebecca Ross
• House of Flame and Shadow (Crescent City, #3) by Sarah J. Maas
• Funny Story by Emily Henry
• Thy Empyrean (The Empyrean #3) by Rebecca Yarros
• Le Fay (Morgan Le Fay #2) by Sophie Keetch

 ----------------------- 
Sources listed in the order they appear in the episode:    

•  Duke’s Fuqua School of Business. 2015. "Why Counting Your Steps Could Make You Unhappier." Dec 21, 2015. https://www.fuqua.duke.edu/duke-fuqua-insights/etkin-counting-steps. 
• Etkin, Jordan. 2016. “The Hidden Cost of Personal Quantification.”

Support the show

----------------------- 
Intro and outro music: "The Chase," by Aves.

Support us!

If you liked this episode, please consider becoming a monthly supporter of the show: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2235482/support. 

It also really helps us reach more listeners if you leave us a rating and/or review, especially on Apple Podcasts. 

Reach out!

Do you have thoughts, questions, or ideas for future episodes? Email us at allbooksaloudpod@gmail.com. To learn more about the podcast, visit our website at allbooksaloudpod.com.

If you'd like to see more bookish content from Martha & Elizabeth, follow us on Instagram and TikTok @allbooksaloudpod.

Read on!

We say yes! But there's a way to do it well. As with any type of gift-giving, there are some pitfalls to avoid... For example, arbitrarily giving a book to someone because you like it, or because you've latched on to one detail about them and thus neglected the bigger picture. But never fear! We’ll help you match the right book to the right person using reading doorways. (If you haven't listened to our bonus episode about reading doorways...what are you waiting for?!)

Bonus: we’re offering a bookish holiday gift guide as a supplement to this episode. Check it out on our website at: allbooksaloudpod.com/giftguide
 
-----------------------
Books we're reading in this episode:
The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey
Morgan Is My Name by Sophie Keech
By the Book by Jasmine Guillory
Main Character Energy by Jamie Varon

Support the show

----------------------- 
Intro and outro music: "The Chase," by Aves.

Support us!

If you liked this episode, please consider becoming a monthly supporter of the show: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2235482/support. 

It also really helps us reach more listeners if you leave us a rating and/or review, especially on Apple Podcasts. 

Reach out!

Do you have thoughts, questions, or ideas for future episodes? Email us at allbooksaloudpod@gmail.com. To learn more about the podcast, visit our website at allbooksaloudpod.com.

If you'd like to see more bookish content from Martha & Elizabeth, follow us on Instagram and TikTok @allbooksaloudpod.

Read on!

If you're a reader, you've probably had someone ask you this question. We unpack what this question sometimes really means (How do you have so much free time? Must be nice having no obligations! I'm so busy I could never find time to read. You must be some kind of a superhero!) and explore the roots of some of these false beliefs about reading. We then talk about tips and tricks for reading more if you or someone you know is asking this question in earnest. Part sass, part research, and part practical suggestions - this episode has it all!

 -----------------------
Books we're reading in this episode:  
And the Sea Will Tell by Vincent Bugliosi with Bruce Henderson
People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry
In Love with George Eliot by Kathy O'Shaughnessy
Portrait of a Scotsman (A League of Extraordinary Women series book #3) by Evie Dunmore

 ----------------------- 
Sources listed in the order they appear in the episode:   

•  Quote Investigator®. 2010. “Time You Enjoy Wasting Is Not Wasted Time.” June 11, 2010. https://quoteinvestigator.com/2010/06/11/time-you-enjoy/. 
• Tucker, Ian. 2011. “The Shallows by Nicholas Carr – Review.” The Guardian, July 2 2011. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/jul/03/shallows-nicholas-carr-internet-neurology.
• Mills, Kim. 2023. “Why Our Attention Spans Are Shrinking, with Gloria Mark, PhD.” American Psychological Association, February 2023. https://www.apa.org/news/podcasts/speaking-of-psychology/attention-spans.

Support the show

----------------------- 
Intro and outro music: "The Chase," by Aves.

Support us!

If you liked this episode, please consider becoming a monthly supporter of the show: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2235482/support. 

It also really helps us reach more listeners if you leave us a rating and/or review, especially on Apple Podcasts. 

Reach out!

Do you have thoughts, questions, or ideas for future episodes? Email us at allbooksaloudpod@gmail.com. To learn more about the podcast, visit our website at allbooksaloudpod.com.

If you'd like to see more bookish content from Martha & Elizabeth, follow us on Instagram and TikTok @allbooksaloudpod.

Read on!

In this bonus episode, we talk about something that didn't come up in the genres episode but should have. It’s a concept called the four reading doorways. Could it be an alternative to genres? Nancy Pearl thinks so! Join as we talk about what the four reading doorways are, learn how they're useful when recommending books to others, and explore how they show up in our own reading.

Sources:

• Pearl, Nancy. “Check It Out with Nancy Pearl: Finding That Next Good Book.”  March 16, 2012. Publishers Weekly. https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/columns-and-blogs/nancy-pearl/article/51109-check-it-out-with-nancy-pearl-finding-that-next-good-book.html. 
•  Childs, Tera Lynn. “Nancy Pearl’s Four Doors to Reading.” February 20, 2014. https://teralynnchilds.com/nancy-pearls-four-doors-reading/. 

Support the show

----------------------- 
Intro and outro music: "The Chase," by Aves.

Support us!

If you liked this episode, please consider becoming a monthly supporter of the show: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2235482/support. 

It also really helps us reach more listeners if you leave us a rating and/or review, especially on Apple Podcasts. 

Reach out!

Do you have thoughts, questions, or ideas for future episodes? Email us at allbooksaloudpod@gmail.com. To learn more about the podcast, visit our website at allbooksaloudpod.com.

If you'd like to see more bookish content from Martha & Elizabeth, follow us on Instagram and TikTok @allbooksaloudpod.

Read on!

CW: discussions of sexual assault and other crimes, racism, antisemitism, and other forms of bigotry, as well as Zionism (all in reference to books and authors from the 19th/20th centuries, rather than to current news).

Can you separate the book from the author? The art from the artist? What do we do with books that were written by people with views that we disagree with or who have done things we find morally objectionable? Can we entirely put these scruples aside and appreciate art on it's aesthetic merits alone? If not, and we stop consuming all art created by people who have done or said things we don't like, will there be any art left? Can we make some kind of rule or sliding scale (severity of crime vs. greatness of art...?) that will work for every situation? What about when the art was formative for us and holds a very important place in our life? What about when the art is based on something that really happened? What about when the offense the artist committed is something that we have personally survived? 

You might not be surprised to learn that we were not able to answer all these questions and solve the world's problems in this episode! But, we did grapple mightily with these questions and ended up in a place we both feel comfortable with. Will you feel the same? Listen to find out!

 -----------------------
Books we're reading in this episode:  
In Love with George Eliot by Kathy O'Shaughnessy
Portrait of a Scotsman (A League of Extraordinary Women series book #3) by Evie Dunmore
Babel by R.F. Kuang
The Crown of Gilded Bones (Blood And Ash Series Book #3) by Jennifer L Armentrout
 ----------------------- 
Sources listed in the order they appear in the ep:  

• https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2017/11/20/art-monstrous-men/  
• https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2009/feb/10/zionism-deronda-george-eliot
• https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/silly-novels-by-lady-novelists-essay-by-george-eliot
• https://www.cbc.ca/radio/sunday/the-sunday-edition-september-9-2018-1.4806985/the-forgotten-real-life-story-behind-lolita-1.4807124 
•  https://hazlitt.net/longreads/real-lolita
•  

Support the show

----------------------- 
Intro and outro music: "The Chase," by Aves.

Support us!

If you liked this episode, please consider becoming a monthly supporter of the show: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2235482/support. 

It also really helps us reach more listeners if you leave us a rating and/or review, especially on Apple Podcasts. 

Reach out!

Do you have thoughts, questions, or ideas for future episodes? Email us at allbooksaloudpod@gmail.com. To learn more about the podcast, visit our website at allbooksaloudpod.com.

If you'd like to see more bookish content from Martha & Elizabeth, follow us on Instagram and TikTok @allbooksaloudpod.

Read on!

What makes a good audiobook narrator? Is it enough to have a good voice? To be a good reader? A good actor? Something else? What about on the side of the reader? There are certainly things that make the experience of listening to an audiobook narrator better or worse for people. But are some of these things objective and common to everyone? Or is this a totally subjective preference? Join us as we dive into this topic!

-----------------------
Books we're reading in this episode: 
Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld
Hook, Line, and Sinker by Tessa Bailey
Happy Place by Emily Henry
Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
Crescent City series by Sarah J. Maas
It Happened One Summer by Tessa Bailey
Blame It On The Brontes by Annie Sereno
Adam Bede by George Eliot
----------------------- 

Sources:  

•  Luis Daniel Gonzalez, How to Become an Audiobook Narrator, audible blog, August 23, 2021, https://www.audible.com/blog/article-how-to-become-an-audiobook-narrator.

Support the show

----------------------- 
Intro and outro music: "The Chase," by Aves.

Support us!

If you liked this episode, please consider becoming a monthly supporter of the show: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2235482/support. 

It also really helps us reach more listeners if you leave us a rating and/or review, especially on Apple Podcasts. 

Reach out!

Do you have thoughts, questions, or ideas for future episodes? Email us at allbooksaloudpod@gmail.com. To learn more about the podcast, visit our website at allbooksaloudpod.com.

If you'd like to see more bookish content from Martha & Elizabeth, follow us on Instagram and TikTok @allbooksaloudpod.

Read on!

Do genres help or hinder your reading? Some people are very loyal to their genres of choice. Genres can be a way to connect with other readers, provide a language to talk about books you love using tropes, and help steer you in the direction of books you may like when you visit a bookstore. Genres can also help narrow down the world of reading choices. But do they narrow that world too much? Do genres keep you from reading books and discovering new types of stories you may enjoy? Do you enjoy different genres when you're reading in different formats? Are some genres objectively better or more beneficial than others? And what about books that fit into multiple genres?  

Whether you only read certain genres or you read without reference to genre - or you're somewhere in between! - this conversation will give you something to think about. Join us as we wade into the world of genres.
-----------------------
Books we're reading in this episode: 
The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston
Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston
Under the Henfluence by Tove Danovich
Beach Read by Emily Henry
Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld
Hook, Line, and Sinker by Tessa Bailey
Throne of Glass series and Crescent City series by Sarah J. Maas
 ----------------------- 
Sources (links provided when available and citations shortened to fit) listed in the order they appear in the episode: 

• Dwyer, Meredyth, and Sandra Martin‐Chang. 2023. “Fact from Fiction: The Learning Benefits of Listening to Historical Fiction.” https://doi.org/10.1002/trtr.2177.
• Fong, Katrina, Justin B Mullin, and Raymond A Mar. 2013. “What You Read Matters: The Role of Fiction Genre in Predicting Interpersonal Sensitivity.” https://doi.org/10.1037/a0034084.
• Jensen, Jakob D., et al. 2016. “Narrative Transportability, Leisure Reading, and Genre Preference in Children 9-13 Years Old.” https://doi.org/10.1080/00220671.2015.1034351.
• Kidd, David Comer, and Emanuele Castano. 2013. “Reading Literary Fiction Improves Theory of Mind.”https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1239918.
• Mar, Raymond A., et al. 2006. “Bookworms Versus Nerds: Exposure to Fiction Versus Non-Fiction, Divergent Associations with Social Ability, and the Simulation of Fictional Social Worlds.” https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2005.08.002.
• Mar, Raymond A., Keith Oatley, and Jordan B. Peterson. 2009. “Exploring the

Support the show

----------------------- 
Intro and outro music: "The Chase," by Aves.

Support us!

If you liked this episode, please consider becoming a monthly supporter of the show: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2235482/support. 

It also really helps us reach more listeners if you leave us a rating and/or review, especially on Apple Podcasts. 

Reach out!

Do you have thoughts, questions, or ideas for future episodes? Email us at allbooksaloudpod@gmail.com. To learn more about the podcast, visit our website at allbooksaloudpod.com.

If you'd like to see more bookish content from Martha & Elizabeth, follow us on Instagram and TikTok @allbooksaloudpod.

Read on!

Do you finish every book you start? Why or why not? Some people feel a strong moral imperative to finish a book once they've started reading it. Other people will mark a book DNF (Did Not Finish) after a few pages if they're not able to get into it and move on to the next book. What pulls some people to keep reading a book if they're not enjoying it? And are people who give up missing out on a book they would love if they stuck with it? Do we owe it to the author to keep reading? And does the format you're reading in make a difference?

Whether you're firmly on one side of this spectrum or fall somewhere in the middle, join us as we weigh the pros and cons of finishing (books, that is). Who knows, you might end up with a different philosophy by the end of the episode!
 -----------------------
Books we're reading in this episode: 
Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld
Marlow Murder Club by Robert Thorogood
Tower of Dawn (Throne of Glass series) by Sarah J Maas
Beach Read by Emily Henry

Support the show

----------------------- 
Intro and outro music: "The Chase," by Aves.

Support us!

If you liked this episode, please consider becoming a monthly supporter of the show: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2235482/support. 

It also really helps us reach more listeners if you leave us a rating and/or review, especially on Apple Podcasts. 

Reach out!

Do you have thoughts, questions, or ideas for future episodes? Email us at allbooksaloudpod@gmail.com. To learn more about the podcast, visit our website at allbooksaloudpod.com.

If you'd like to see more bookish content from Martha & Elizabeth, follow us on Instagram and TikTok @allbooksaloudpod.

Read on!

Do audiobooks count as reading? And does it really matter? Why do some people seem to care so much about making this distinction? Where do the moral overtones surrounding reading that underlie this question come from? Arguments around this topic are often centered on the benefits of reading - and there are plenty, including educational, professional, psychological, social, and emotional. So, does the format we read in matter when it comes to the benefits we get from reading?  

Whether you've found yourself justifying your audiobook listening to someone as "real" reading, or you're on the other side and you think audiobooks don't count as reading, this episode will give you something to think about. 

Join us as we dive into this topic!

[Note: there is some background noise in this episode (Elizabeth clacking on her keyboard), but rest assured it doesn't persist in future episodes. Thanks for bearing with us as we learn! :)] 
-----------------------
Books we're reading in this episode:

Love Marriage by Monica Ali
Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld
The Marlow Murder Club by Robert Thorogood
The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
Empire of Shadows (Throne of Glass) Series by Sarah J. Maas
The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston
 ----------------------- 
Sources (links provided when available!) listed in the order they appear in the episode:

• Irwin, William. "Reading Audio Books." Philosophy and Literature 33, no. 2 (2009): 358-368. doi:10.1353/phl.0.0057.
• Erica B. Michael, Timothy A Keller, Patricia A. Carpenter, and Marcel Adam Just. "fMRI Investigation of Sentence Comprehension by Eye and Ear: Modality Fingerprints on Cognitive Processes." Human Brain Mapping 13 (2001): 240, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6872122/. 
• N. Osaka et al. "The Neural Basis of Executive Function in Working Memory: An fMRI Study Based on Individual Differences." Neuroimage 21 (2004): 623–31, https://www.academia.edu/download/49498790/The_neural_basis_of_executive_function_i20161010-14367-1wyalxy.pdf. 
• Winqwist, T. "Reading with Your Ears : A comparative study of reading and listening to Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (Dissertation)." (2010), http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hh:diva-5148.
• Schulz, M.  (2022). "Listening or reading?: Rethinking ableism in

Support the show

----------------------- 
Intro and outro music: "The Chase," by Aves.

Support us!

If you liked this episode, please consider becoming a monthly supporter of the show: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2235482/support. 

It also really helps us reach more listeners if you leave us a rating and/or review, especially on Apple Podcasts. 

Reach out!

Do you have thoughts, questions, or ideas for future episodes? Email us at allbooksaloudpod@gmail.com. To learn more about the podcast, visit our website at allbooksaloudpod.com.

If you'd like to see more bookish content from Martha & Elizabeth, follow us on Instagram and TikTok @allbooksaloudpod.

Read on!

Welcome to All Books Aloud. Here is a short intro to the show. Subscribe for more from us soon!

Support the show

----------------------- 
Intro and outro music: "The Chase," by Aves.

Support us!

If you liked this episode, please consider becoming a monthly supporter of the show: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2235482/support. 

It also really helps us reach more listeners if you leave us a rating and/or review, especially on Apple Podcasts. 

Reach out!

Do you have thoughts, questions, or ideas for future episodes? Email us at allbooksaloudpod@gmail.com. To learn more about the podcast, visit our website at allbooksaloudpod.com.

If you'd like to see more bookish content from Martha & Elizabeth, follow us on Instagram and TikTok @allbooksaloudpod.

Read on!