Transcript

Welcome to another edition of the Readerly Report. Today, Gayle and I are going to be talking about a couple of book lists. I guess are based on surveys of book readers and it’s like one is from the Great American Read and another is was we found on Katie Kirk’s website and it talks about the favorite books in the United States.

So we’re gonna take a look at that, catch you up on what we’ve been reading. And then I guess too, you know, I’m curious to see out of these lists and the books that are mentioned, like Gayle, what. Top few would be Okay. Ready to get into all of that. Gayle, what have you been reading? Okay, well, first of all, I think I read my favorite book of the year.

Oh. Yeah. Well, no, not alert. Alert, Right. I read one of the books that was on our fall preview. It’s Signal Fires by Danny Shapiro. Okay. I loved it, loved it, loved it, loved. So this is tracking with your memoir kick? No. This one’s fiction. Oh yeah, that’s right. For a while. Right, Exactly. This book is about two families that kind of intersect in a couple of different ways.

They live on a street in basically Westchester. It’s fictional town, so it opens, there’s a car accident. One family has, you know, two teenage kids. There’s a car accident involving the kids in which another person died. And this is, I’m not really, Well, this happens very, very early on, like chapter one. And so you have that family.

That book explores kind of the ramifications of this accident and how. It leads to like kind of buried secrets and you know, just kind of silence on that topic among the family for decades to come. And then across the street, a family moves in later that has husband and wife and a son. And the son of that family kind of intersects with the parents of the other family a couple of times over the decades, and it really just tracks these two families.

It kind of crisscrosses in time, goes back and forth starting in like the seventies, going all the way through the pandemic, and it’s just, oh, it’s so beautifully written. It’s poignant and moving of a book. It’s not very long. I think it’s under 300 pages. I just really loved it. There’s one element of it I didn’t love as much, which when you get into it, you see there’s kind of a little bit of metaphysical in there and it gets a little philosophical at times.

And that part I didn’t love, It didn’t resonate with me as much, but I, and I kept saying to myself, Okay, is this. Knocking it down to like a four and a half stars, and then I concluded in the end that the book was so good that it overcame that stuff. So I still give it five stars and I just really loved it.

Can you share what was metaphysical without spoiling it? Spoiling us? I mean, what’s metaphysical is this notion that people are connected in potentially non-linear ways. That may cross time. Even the title Signal Fires is sort of about like how. Even when people maybe are dead or aren’t there, how they’re still, their presence can be felt even by, maybe by people who they’re not really connected to or not otherwise connected to and Okay.

It’s not like super metaphysical. It’s not like it’s, we’re not getting into. Science fiction, but it’s, There are elements of that throughout the book. It’s not magical realism. No, it’s not magical realism. I would not call the book Magical Realism. It just has these elements to it that Shapiro really threads through the whole novel.

But like, it’s, it’s not overwhelming. I, it’s not even like 10% of what’s in there. It just, I don’t know the whole rest of the book, I just really, really loved. Okay, good. Yeah, it sounds, and I wanna read it. I will probably involve the metaphysical stuff. You probably will like the metaphysical probably.

Yeah. So that is what I’ve been reading. I think when we talked last, I had read the matchmakers gift. Had I read it? Was I reading it? I’ve, I don’t, that doesn’t ring a bell. Okay. So matchmaker’s gift that also has magical realism in it. It’s slight and it, but it’s there. Matchmaker’s gift is about a grandmother and a granddaughter who each have the gift of being able to make love.

Mar love matches based on. Sort of a, an extra sensory gift, I guess I would say that Connects, allows them to connect people or to see who might be a, be a good match and who might not be a good match. So the grandmother was female Matchmaker in. Lower East Side Manhattan in like the 1910s and in a j you know, in a Jewish community.

And then many decades later, her granddaughter turns out, who is a divorce lawyer, turns out to have the same gift that is in like a dual timeline, goes, you know, back and forth between the two. You know, how they each kind of deal with, or, you know, figure out how to make a living from or maximize the talents they’ve been given.

And then of course, how. That matchmaking gift might impact their own relationships. This is by Linda Coen Loman. It is historical fiction. It’s definitely light, it’s a feel good kind of heartwarming story. Probably not my, like my typical read because it’s a little more. Heartwarming , my typical read and it does have this element of magical realism, but it, that didn’t bother me that much cuz you know, I’m not such a huge fan of that.

But it’s a sweet book. It’s like I posted about it and it was, I was amazed by how many people commented and said, Oh, this sounds perfect for me and I need something house wor, you know, heartwarming. I need something light. This is a, a strong appetite out there for this type of book and it’s not like, you know, it still has some hef to it and I like that how that historical element cuz I learned stuff and I always like books that are set on the lower East side in the 1910s.

I just find that an interesting time in New York and an interesting time in Jewish history in America. And so I liked it. I did it on audio. It. You know, kept my attention and if you’ve read anything else by Linda Cohen Lo Liman, she wrote. The two family house and the wartime sisters. And then, you know, this is kind of in the same vein, although this does have that modern day half to it, so that one of the characters lives in like the 2010s.

That’s, Did you read two Story, Two Family Houses? I did Two story houses, yeah. I did that. Yeah. Have you read all her books? I have. I have. Okay. She um, Oh wow. Yeah, she actually went to law school with my husband. So I’ve met her and in fact I interviewed her on a panel. With Greer McAllister. Oh, right, right.

That Pre Covid bookstore at Kramer books. Right. Pre Covid. So, yeah. No, I’m a completist of Linda Cohen and Loman. Exciting. Yeah. And then I’ll mention one other book briefly. I was pitched and I’m also gonna do a a small like complaint. I was pitched a book, which is. Movie tie-in edition of the Storied Life of AJ Fickery.

Okay, so that’s by ga. Gabriel. Evan, who wrote the book that you and I are gonna read next for our book club tomorrow and Tomorrow. And tomorrow, Right. So this is a book that came out I think in like 2014, and it now has a movie version. I can’t remember if it’s streaming or in theaters or what, but it’s, there’s a movie tie in to it.

And so I was pitched by, I think Algon. To review the book and post about it at the, you know, along with the movie. I said yes cause I’ve not read that book and I’m interested in the author cuz we’re read about to read her. But then, She didn’t have any copies, so like, you know, the only thing she could send was Nut Galley, which as you know, I’m not a big e-reader, but I was like, Okay, I’ll try to do this on, on Net Galley.

So I got it on Net galley, but for some reason there doesn’t seem to be any option to send it to a Kindle or to an iPad. Like, oh no. Most of the books, it looks like you can just hit send a Kindle. But this one you can’t, I can’t read it on a Kindle. I can’t read it on an iPad. I do have the audio. Which I got on Libby, but I want the print because I like to go back and forth and I like to take a photo of my book at the end of the month.

Then I’m like desperately trying to track down a print copy, which the DC public library came through for me yesterday, so I now have it. But like if someone pitches you, why should you have to go through all this trouble to just get a copy of the. Yeah, I’m surprised he didn’t send you the tie-in version, right?

Or are they just sending it only to people who like have more followers than me? Like, I don’t know. I just was kind of whole thing left me kind of annoyed. But I am reading it and it’s also heartwarming. So I don’t know. This is like, not thankfully, I had signal fires, which had like lots of sadness to balance it out from all the heartwarming stuff I’m reading.

But it’s it’s sweet and, you know, it’s kind of a little bit offbeat. It’s it takes place like in a bookstore. So there’s lots and lots of book references to it, which is kind of fun. I, when we talk next, I will have finished it. Can report back on that, but that’s what I’m listening to right now on audio is the Storied Life of AJ Fiery.

Okay. I’ve read that. I think it was cute. Oh, okay. I don’t really Did not, I think I really liked it at the time, but it wasn’t like, Oh my gosh. Right. I cuz I really don’t remember it. The movie got two stars in the Washington Post. Oh geez. . They said the best seller is a love letter to books that gets bogged down by the plot.

Too much story, not enough life. Ooh, what does that mean? I don’t know. Didn’t someone die? Did his wife die? His wife die. Yeah. So it’s about a, He’s just like, Yeah. Sad widow and widower. Yeah. Meet someone who comes in through books. Oh, yes. She’s like a, she a publicist or, Yeah, that’s exactly right. Yeah. It’s coming back.

But, so you’ve left out the one plot element that I really can’t stay out, which is there’s also a baby that gets plopped into his bookstore in the middle of it, whom he adopts. I, Yeah, I probably forgot about that. Yeah. I, And, and that’s a main part of the part. It is a main part. I, I hate subplots that involved, that involve abandoned babies.

And then like being left with people who don’t, have never taken care of a kid before. Because right there, you know, after like one chapter, he had like just completely fallen in love with the baby and like adopted her and I’m like, this is, and also, Brings sort of major disruption, major disruption and me brings her to work every day.

And there’s no, like, there’s no like addressing of the fact that like somebody who’s never taken care of a kid before all of a sudden has a two year old or toddler. I don’t not cop a two year old in my life. Right. I, I mean, and I would adopted it in a month, , Right? Without any discussion of like, how do they deal.

Sleeping and, and food. I mean, there’s like the tiniest little addressing of it, but like, this makes me crazy and it doesn’t happen frequently, but in sometimes in movies or plots, it’s like a baby just appears out of nowhere and I’m like, This is so unbelievably unrealistic. I think that in general people need to in, in movies and in books and books.

Sometimes I think is a, a little better. This one, I had almost forgotten the baby plot. I do remember him falling in love or developing some kind of relationship with this woman who travels here to pitch him books or whatever. Yeah. But I find in television, like drama, soap operas, whatever it is, they have kids and the only point is the scene starts.

The children are at television and it’s like, Oh, why don’t you guys go upstairs and you know, I don’t know, organize your closet, or why don’t you run out and play? Or , right? It’s like, I don’t know, just put magnets of kids’ drawings on refrigerator in the kitchen. Show some pictures, but usually kids are just like, Oh yeah, we wanna show that there’s kids and these people are mothers, but there’s gonna be no interaction and the sole role of these children is going to be to like immediately go play, go upstairs, go eat , have the nanny take them somewhere.

It’s just like, yeah, okay. I mean, I get that like soap operas and movies and even books. They don’t wanna discuss the treasury of having kids and. The day in, day out tedium and details. I, I, I get that. That’s why I’m like, just flash some pictures. Like we don’t, you know, . Cause kids are in a scene and they are immediately escorted out.

It’s just like, okay, we just wanna say that. There are kids here, right? Well, anyway, that’s what I’m reading, . Okay, well you won’t, you’ll report back on the degrees to which your heart is warmed , right next time. Right. I don’t have much to report because I’m still reading more than You’ll ever Know by Katie Guts.

I’m not sure if I had started reading this last time. It is for my two person book club. So it’s about this woman. It’s a, it’s a dual narrative story. One woman is a true crime writer. She has like a true crime blog or whatever, and she becomes interested in this woman who led a double life and was married to two husbands, and then one of her husbands killed the other husband.

Oh, yes. So I’ve heard about this. Yeah, so far I’m, I’m really intrigued. Like I’m in, I’m into it like, I like, I like that. I like both storylines. Sometimes with dual narratives, there’s one that you like a little bit more, but it, this is satisfying in the sense that when you get to the end of one woman’s experiences, like because the woman who’s murder is, or the murder of her husband is being tracked, it goes back in time and of.

Shows the state of her marriage when she met her other husband. Like she goes away to this conference and you know, there are some struggles in her marriage and she meets someone who basically acquaints herself with another part of herself. One of the really interesting things like one of. . The lines in there is she talks about how different it is.

Like she wonders what it would’ve been like if she had met her husband when he was an adult because it’s like one of these, Her first marriage is one of these relationships where she has known him since she was like very young. They were teenagers when they met and when they married. And so she talks about the difference of like meeting a grown man, someone who has like had life experiences and has kind of shaped him.

And what that, you know, the excitement of that relationship and she kind of wonders what it would’ve been like if she had met her husband as a man and what she would’ve thought of him if they would’ve even been together. They don’t dwell a whole lot on that. That was just like one of those interesting things that’s mentioned that just, I was really like, Oh, that’s really interesting.

That is what I’m reading for. Once I feel like I’m just reading one thing and not like three things. Mm-hmm. . So it’s really good so far. I don’t know if I will have an update next week cause I’m not sure if I’ll be finished, but in the next couple of weeks I should have something to report. Okay. What else is that?

Have you been watching any good series? Nothing at all. There’s so much out there I wanna watch. And I’m, you know, mired in the World Series at the moment. Ah, so are the Nats still in play? Oh God, no. The Nats are the worst team in all of baseball. They really are. They just, they just won the, the have the Super Bowl, the World Series.

Yeah. That was already three years ago, years ago. I know. And there’s, Oh really? No team has had more spectacular fall than this one. Now it’s the Phil. And the Astros. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. I know New York was a contender and got kicked out. Yeah. New York was, both the Mets and the Yankees were in the post-season and they both lost.

No, but it looks like there’s so much good TV out right now. Are you watching anything? Good. I just finished the watcher. Oh. Which was kind of wild. , Is this the, this one is like Is this, This isn’t the one about the guy who kidnaps. No, this is the one and it’s interesting, So this is book, This is not based on a book, but this is bookish related because probably about three or four years ago, there was an article in New York Magazine about this house, 8 57 Boulevard, and it came up because we were talking about creepy things and people were just like, Oh my God.

Creepy house and all these weird things are happening. And I was like scared reading the article or whatever my book club has told me about this. And I was like, I have to check this out. So I read this article about this couple who buys a house, you know they have two kids. They’re looking forward to moving into it, and they start getting these strange letters from someone who’s like, you know, this house has been watched for like years and years, and now I’m the new watcher of your.

Sin. We want, The House is happy to welcome you and it’s really interested in your young bloods, meaning I guess the kids. And they just get, keep getting these creepy letters and they end up never moving into the house, selling it at a loss and just, And that was it. So they’ve made it into a Netflix series, I think it was a seven episode series, and I can see her, Naomi Watts is in it, and Jennifer Coolic is, There’s a lot of other people, character actors, and Bobby Canal is in it.

Who plays the husband? Oh, so. There is a big departure from the book, like the series is much more just, it goes into each episode basically explores who could be sending these letters and why. So there’s like all of these crazy stories. There’s this couple across the street who might be in a, you know, a cult or something where they sacrificed babies and children.

There is this wealthy real. Realtor who actually sold them the house and it seems like maybe she has some ulterior motives cuz like she knew the wife from when she was young. And so each episode just looks into who could possibly be doing this. There are some, I think it sticks to the basis of couple moves in, gets a creepy, starts getting creepy letters and creepy things happening and they end up selling their house.

But then I think there’s like a radical departure with the show into all of these other. So I watched that. Okay. And there are some things. That I’m still slowly treading on the Carol Lovering Hulu adaptation. Like I can’t watch a lot of episodes at once cuz it’s so frustrating. Wait, which adaptation of what?

Is it too good to be true? Yeah. Did I know that that’s. No, this was, Tell me lies. That was the first one she wrote. Yeah. But I think that they are adapting. They’re adapting to Good To be True into a series. Oh, I think I saw that. Yeah. . And you’re not as excited about it. No, I mean, I guess I would watch that.

I feel like you don’t watch a lot though. I don’t, I actually really don’t watch a lot of tv. But I feel like I. Like something we watch, like stuff with Nate. So it’s a lot of like Survivor, Abbot Elementary, amazing Grace, and I love that stuff. But like, how’s Abbott Elementary? I’ve heard good things.

Oh, it’s really cute. It’s a really cute show, but it’s like a half an hour, you know? So like, I need, so I, I feel like I need something for when he goes to bed, like, like grown up show that I can get sucked into until succession comes. Because, like I was about to say, what about succession? Yeah. We’ve watched all of succession and I love it.

But you know, there’s, I’m, I’m done. Like I, I’ve watched all the episodes. Are you gonna watch industry? I watched the first season of industry. What is that? It is it’s about this, I guess, investment bank, investment firm in London. One of the people, it’s about their analyst class, and so of course it’s like different people in London.

Some of whom are, I guess more born to that lifestyle. And then there’s like one of these traders who comes from a different background that’s not acceptable. And then it’s about this young black woman who’s from the US and she also. Gets into the program by kind of fudging some of the details and it’s just kind of like following this analyst class as they try to, you know, as they try to make it and be retained at this firm.

I think I watched the first episode of this. It came out like maybe a year or two ago, is that right? Yes. Yeah. Watched the first episode and I didn’t, Or not, I’m not even sure I finished the first episode. I thought it looked good. So should I revisit it? Well, I think it’s similar to a session. It’s not like you’re gonna find people who are.

Warm and fuzzy or that you wanna make your friends, like everyone is on this like kind of gray scale in terms of compromising their morals and values and you know, like what’s driving them and to get to be successful and how far will they go kind of thing. Mm-hmm. . So I do think it’s like within that world, a succession of like just people doing bad stuff, but it’s compelling to watch.

Okay, I’ll give that a try. There’s just, I feel like I keep making lists of like shows that I read about that I wanna watch that look good. And then I never watch. I know, but I feel like there’s a lot of good bookish stuff out there. Yeah. That I’m always making notes of. So I think for our next show, we should, You should round up if there is bookish and to with television shows, I feel like some of them are so successful with me or so successful in general because they have that narrative arc of a book, like the beginning, the middle, and the end, but in a more satisfying way.

Like some of them I think. Okay. Need seven or eight hours of my time back. Cause that was like a waste of time. Mm-hmm. . But some of them are really just good and engrossing and give you that satisfaction, you know, you’re kind of in it for the same amount of time that it would take to read a book. Yeah. I, well, I would love, we can definitely do a, a show on this.

I just, there was a Lit Hub article I just read about kind of literary film and TV that’s streaming in November. , you know that Fleishman has, its its adaptation coming out in November. Fleishman is in trouble. Oh, yeah. Which I would like to watch. Think I saw that. Yeah. So yeah. Did you watch both of the Sally Ros cause conversations with Friends, I think is on Hulu too.

No, but I hated that book so much that I kind of feel like I would hate it. . I, yeah. I’m not like excited to watch that, that maybe I’d like it better than the book, but Yeah. And it’s not gonna stand up to all normal people. Oh, okay. All right. Yes, we, I didn’t watch normal people. I did eat it. You have to watch it.

It’s so good. Oh my God. . It’s so, so good. I loved it Better than the book. Same. Different types of good. No, but equal. Same. Equal. Good. Very faithful adaptation. Like I like them both so much. Yeah. I really enjoyed that one. All right. So should we take a look at these lists? Yes. Okay. So we have two lists here.

The first list, I said this to Nicole earlier, I, I read Katie Kes Morning Digest, Morning News Digest. It’s one of the like six morning news digests that come in every morning that I read. And can I just do a little aside, I don’t know if you’ve read this article yet, but when I was taking retaking a look at this, the book one that you sent me, there is one, and I guess it was a, it was an uproar.

Places about whether people wash their legs in the shower, , whether people do what wash their legs. Do, do you really need to wash your legs in the shower, , and I guess Taylor Swift laid in and she said that she washes them if she shave. And 20% of people do not wash their legs in the shower. And they reached out to dermatologists who said like, Do you know your legs produce these healthy oils or whatever?

So you don’t necessarily have to wash them every day if you don’t want. It was, it was just like wild . A wild little rabbit hole that I went down was looking at this list. Surprised. Cause I was like, What the hell? Well, my main takeaway from that is that somebody as rich as Taylor Swift, I would think that she would do either waxing or laser as opposed to shaving her legs.

That’s very interesting. Oh, I mean if you have all that money. Yeah, it says some, including none other than Taylor Swift count regularly shaving their legs as washing. And then you know, they have a YouTube clip where she was on Ellen, so maybe they asked her on Ellen . Interesting. And then I guess some.

That’s fine, but only if you use shaving cream beforehand. Interesting. I don’t know. I for one usually bo my legs in the shower. I don’t know. I’m in there. Might as well get everything. Yeah. I mean, I think when you’re soaping up. Okay. Well anyway, , But it was one of those things, Yes. Open head, like totally into something that has nothing to do with anything.

I really don’t care what you wash. If you don’t smell good, just stay far enough away, . Exactly. And I will, I will leave what you want to wash in the shower to you . Got it. All right. Well get back to this. So the headline of the Katie Kirk post is a survey used 76,000 responses to determine America’s favorite books.

Here are the top. . And so then you find that the organization is called Words Rated. Yeah. I was like, what is that? Cause this list to me, it was either it was a classic or it was ya all right, well this is how they, And it’s kind of like, yeah, well here’s, here’s how they came up with this. So. They posted a job listing called Biblio file at large that is this words rated.

And that job would be, you’d have to read books and collect data from the books, like the number of characters by gender or the number of animals that appeared in the book. Like it was basically they’re trying. empirically calculate things about books. They had 76,000 responses to this job listing that came from the us but as part of the application, you had to list your favorite book.

So that is how they did this survey. It was very passive and it also self-selected a bunch of people who wanted to apply for this job who. Clearly, you know, book fanatics. So it’s not scientific and it’s not like a cross section of people or ages or anything like that. It’s just the people who happen this or everyone who’s just kind of like read a book, but Right.

Like AVID readers who, AVID readers. But it is also $7,200 a book , Right? But it’s also 76,000 people. So it’s, you know, it’s not a small sample. . Okay, so they No, it’s just a very specific one. Specific, exactly. So they listed the top 50 books and you’re right, it is a mix of either YA classics or I think you can also say, or bestsellers.

Because you’ve got Crad ads at number four. Well, so I’ll list the top 10 just, and, and we’re also gonna link to this, so you can click through and see it yourself. But the top 10 are pride and prejudice as number one, which of course I have feelings about that. To Kill a Mockingbird. Number two, then the whole Harry Potter series, number three, four is crat ads.

So you’ve at least got something written in the last, you know, when did I come out five years ago? Lord of the Rings is number five. Six is Gatsby. Seven the Alchemist, eight Jane A nine Verity, which I know you read, and 10 it ends with us. You’ve got a mix here of kids, so you’ve got Harry Potter Classics, Pride and Prejudice.

Kill a Mockingbird Lord of the Rings, Great Gats, b Jane Nair. Then what I would call kind of. Social media fueled best sellers, Cra, Adss and Verity and it, and its with us. Also another Colin Hoover book. And then you have The Alchemist, which I found interesting. I never read it, but it’s Ello. It’s, yeah, it’s like kind of new agey, right?

It’s topical, yeah. Yeah. So it’s kind of an interesting mix there. I love the fact that Pride and Prejudice is still number. . It makes me so happy. Yeah. You said you had feelings about that. I thought they were gonna be No, no. Like it makes me, Well, on the one hand, I’m like, I wish that my favorite book in the world was a little more original.

But on the other hand, I’m, I, I love that. Like, so many people appreciate it. Yeah. So it goes on to be, the rest of the list is similar. 32 is Kite Runner. You’ve got Hunger Games. Hunger Games in here. The seven husbands of Evelyn Hugo is in here. Yeah. So they kind of all managed to fall into that, that, that, like one of those three buckets, like classic social media fueled bestseller or Kids Invisible Life with Addie Leroux, the song of Achilles.

Court of Mis and Fury is like one of those Sarah Jay Moss books I think. Right. Then you have like 1984, The Outsider, the Count of Monty Christo, All the light. We cannot see. Oh my gosh. So there’s nothing in here that’s like terribly surprising. There’s some of, I’ve never heard of six of Crows Coldest winter ever.

That’s six of Crows is Lee Bargo. Oh. So it like sort of a Thrillery type thing. Mystery. Ya. Oh yeah. Ya Fantasy, I think. Yeah. Interesting. I’m interesting to see that. Evelyn Hugo is on here. It’s at 17. Let’s think of that as a relatively recent book. Invisible Life of Addie LiRo, like you mentioned.

You know, but then you’ve got like Anne of Green Gables and Dune. Oh, the Midnight Library’s on here too. The night circus. So, I mean, most of these books are ones you will have heard of. Well, so Nicole and I were sort of talking about like similar lists and then I, I was reminded of that series on PBS called The Great American Read, which was, I guess PBS viewers voted on their favorite book and they did a whole series, which I didn’t watch on looking at these books.

And the final results of that one are actually very, Consistent with this one. I was about to say the same, but different. The same, but different, but like, Like the classic books, right? Very popular books. Lots of I right. You’ve got Kill Mockingbird number one. Outlander Number two, Harry Potter. Number three, Pride Prejudice.

Number four, Lord of the Rings. I mean, there’s a lot of overlap. Gone with the Wind. Charlotte’s Web, Little Women Chronicles of Narnia. I. The PBS one is a little bit more, a little bit more sophisticated Yeah. Than the other one. Cuz you’ve got, you’ve got Zor Neil Hurst and their eyes are watching God, a hundred, a hundred Years of Solitude by Right.

Gabrielle Marque Warren Pieces on here. This, the PBS list definitely leans towards Classic, but it’s like classic heft. Yeah. But it’s also got 50 shades of gray and Gone Girl on here. . Well, those aren’t the classics. I mean, I’m just talking about the classics on the other lists are more accessible, that sort of thing.

Oh, yeah. Got it. You know, Pride and Prejudice is not number one on here. It’s to Kill a Mockingbird. Right. Which definitely has some have. I don’t even know if To Kill a Mockingbird was on the other one. Yeah. Pride and Prejudice slips to number four. No, Killam Mockingbird is number two. No Outland or is number two?

Oh. Oh no, on the other list. Killam Mockingbird is number two. Oh, is it? Okay. Yeah, so I mean it’s, it’s number one on one list and number two on the other, so it’s pretty high. Yeah. But like Atlas stru, Atlas Shrug, the prayer for o and meaning where the wor, where the red burn grows is on here. I was curious to see that the hitchhiker sky to the galaxy made both of those lists.

I think of that as such a like, eighties book. I never read it, but like I think of it as, as just like a kind of eighties book. I don’t know. It’s interesting to me that it’s still so popular. Well, but I feel like it’s one of those books that you heard about, you know, like, Isn’t there a Zen Motorcycle book or this N of motorcycle?

There’s some books, I think. transcend decade and get passed down. I mean, that’s what the classics are. I think maybe it’s, maybe it’s a modern classic. I haven’t read it. Mm-hmm. , but I know it’s definitely like, I feel like guys like that book. Yeah. . That’s right. Zen and the Art, The Bettery of duns, which I thought was intolerable.

I could not read that book. Right. That also seems like a guy book to. Mm-hmm. . It’s so gross. All right, well, we’ll link to both of these lists. They’re just, you know, interesting to look at them and see what, what do you think would be your top five out of, We’ll make it easy. Out of the ones that you’ve seen, Frankenstein would not make them out of the ones on this, on these two lists, right?

Oh, man. Well, pride and prejudice for sure. I would put the color purple, much higher than the first list, put it. I don’t even know if it makes the second one. That book was so good. The color purple is number 27 on the PBS list, and it’s 37 on the other list. So it’s on, It’s on both of them. It is really good.

I don’t even know if a lot of these books would make my list. I mean, I haven’t read them in so long. It’s been forever, since I read. The Joy Luck Club or like, I mean, all right, so assignment for us and for listeners. Think about your top 10 reads, and this is all time. You can’t, you know, because I think we get a pass.

We love to read books. And so we can be very specific. This is the top, however many books I read this month, this year, this quarter. You know, so you get a little bit of a cheat. But when you think about over the course of your reading life, I guess this is like one of these desert island questions or whatever, you can’t cheat and say your Kindle, which has like everything, what would be your top 10?

What is, what does your list look like? And let’s revisit this. You know, we will give people time to think about it. We will think about. and before the end of the year, let’s all kind of weigh in. Oh, I love that idea. I just wanna mention briefly too, because I wanted to mention this last time that we got, we got some help, but , someone kindly wrote into us and let us know, Michelle, she kindly wrote into us and let us.

Books that she thought were really good and to get us out of a reading slump. I was happy that, Tell me I’m an artist by Chelsea. Martin is on this list because it was on my fall list. And so she says she really loved it. What is that about? It is about this woman, I guess she doesn’t have, you know, she’s gonna have like a rough upbringing and she has complications with her mother.

I feel like her sister. Has gone missing and maybe left her baby with the mother. Like this is totally off the top of my head that I’m trying to remember this, and she goes to art school and I think her roommate, of course is from a privileged background and just kind of how she navigates that space.

Like she’s in San Francisco and you know, just a wealthy art environment, wealthy college environment. And how, how does she fit in, especially when she’s got all this drama at. . She also mentioned a book called The Thread Collectors and Long Fish, and I think you said that you wanted to read one of them, right?

Neither one of those rings a bell, so I don’t know. I don’t think so.

Okay. Maybe let’s not mention that part then. . Okay. Good to have in the back pocket. I like that. Yeah. So I’m gonna read, I wanna read the Chelsea Martin book sooner rather than later. All right. Well that is, So we, we will do, we should do a little research and, and do our literary adaptations and literary like series for next time.

Sounds. All right. Well, that’s our show. Thank you for listening, and until next time, happy reading.