Currently Reading

Season 8, Episode 12: Reading Mishaps + Travels and Book Buying

October 20, 2025

Key Takeaways Copied to clipboard!

  • Accidental audiobook/series mix-ups, like confusing Natasha Bowen's *Soul of the Deep* with Gabi Burton's *Sing Me to Sleep*, highlight the need for careful media consumption, especially with digital formats set to shuffle. 
  • Meredith shared a deeply personal struggle with the difficulties of middle marriage, emphasizing that even seemingly perfect relationships face significant challenges, and that listeners are not alone in such struggles. 
  • When buying books while traveling, key strategies include pre-planning store visits using shared digital maps, managing luggage space via collapsible bags (like 'the foldy'), and requesting store bookmarks to remember the purchase origin. 
  • UK paperbacks are often favored for including French flaps, which allow readers to preview book details inside the cover. 
  • Kaytee wished for a real-life excuse note to stay home and read due to rainy 'reading weather' caused by Hurricane Priscilla. 
  • Meredith wished for listeners to prioritize visiting a new or long-intended local bookstore to foster book discovery. 

Segments

Podcast Introduction and Hosts
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(00:00:11)
  • Key Takeaway: The ‘Currently Reading’ podcast features bookish best friends discussing recent reads with strong, spoiler-free opinions.
  • Summary: Introduction to the ‘Currently Reading’ podcast, hosts Meredith Monday Schwartz and Katie Cobb, and the episode’s planned segments: current reads, a bookish deep dive, and visiting the fountain.
Katie’s Reading Confession Mishap
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(00:01:33)
  • Key Takeaway: Katie accidentally read the second book in the wrong series, mistaking Natasha Bowen’s ‘Soul of the Deep’ for Gabby Burton’s ‘Sing Me to Sleep’ due to similar themes.
  • Summary: Katie shares her ‘bookish moment’ confession: she realized 75% into a book that she had bought the sequel to a series she hadn’t read, confusing two different authors/series featuring black mermaids.
Meredith’s Travel Audio Mishap
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(00:03:45)
  • Key Takeaway: Meredith experienced unsettling audio playback issues when listening to V.E. Schwab’s ‘City of Ghosts’ on Spotify because it was treated as an album on shuffle.
  • Summary: Meredith recounts a similar unsettling experience where Spotify played the audiobook for ‘City of Ghosts’ on shuffle, leading to confusion, and briefly mentions a similar issue with the ‘Hamilton’ soundtrack playing in reverse order.
Review: A Lady’s Formula for Love
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(00:07:52)
  • Key Takeaway: Meredith enjoyed Elizabeth Everett’s ‘A Lady’s Formula for Love,’ a ‘stemenist romance’ set in the Victorian era featuring female scientists, despite some timeline jumps.
  • Summary: Meredith reviews ‘A Lady’s Formula for Love,’ detailing the plot about Lady Violet’s secret science society and the arrival of security officer Arthur Neeland. She praises the smart, driven female characters and notes the book is the start of a series.
Review: The Unraveling of Julia
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(00:11:28)
  • Key Takeaway: Katie highly recommends Lisa Scottilini’s ‘The Unraveling of Julia,’ a gothic mystery/psychological thriller set in Tuscany with excellent atmosphere and audio narration.
  • Summary: Katie discusses ‘The Unraveling of Julia,’ about Julia Pritzker inheriting a Tuscan villa after tragedy and uncovering secrets related to Renaissance history. She praises the atmosphere and handling of dream sequences but notes the romance subplot felt rushed.
Review: Raceless by Georgina Lawton
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(00:17:06)
  • Key Takeaway: Katie found Georgina Lawton’s memoir ‘Raceless’ reflective and conversational, detailing the author’s journey discovering her Nigerian heritage after a DNA test.
  • Summary: Katie reviews the memoir ‘Raceless,’ where the author, raised by white parents, discovers she is 43% Nigerian. The book explores her identity exploration across various black communities globally.
Review: The Places That Scare You
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(00:19:56)
  • Key Takeaway: Katie found Pema Chodron’s Buddhist-inspired guide ‘The Places That Scare You’ to be a necessary, though difficult, companion during a personal marital crisis.
  • Summary: Katie discusses Pema Chodron’s book, which encourages softening into discomfort rather than running from it. She shares how it helped her through a difficult period in her marriage, emphasizing that the book offers invitations to compassion, not quick fixes.
Sharing Personal Relationship Struggles
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(00:23:56)
  • Key Takeaway: Both hosts shared vulnerable details about their marital struggles (Meredith’s ongoing work to save her marriage, Katie’s divorce) to assure listeners they are not alone in relationship difficulties.
  • Summary: Meredith and Katie pause the book talk to share personal updates regarding their marriages, emphasizing the difficulty of ‘middle marriage’ and the importance of transparency for listeners navigating similar challenges.
Review: The In Between Bookstore
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(00:29:01)
  • Key Takeaway: Katie loved Edward Underhill’s ‘The In Between Bookstore,’ a hopeful novel about a trans man who time travels to his high school self’s past in a small town.
  • Summary: Katie reviews ‘The In Between Bookstore,’ where Darby returns home and finds a bookstore frozen in 2009, allowing him to interact with his younger self and potentially fix a past friendship fallout.
Review: Royal Gambit by Daniel O’Malley
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(00:31:55)
  • Key Takeaway: Meredith gave Daniel O’Malley’s ‘Royal Gambit’ five stars for its inventive, hilarious collision of the mundane and the supernatural within Britain’s secret agency.
  • Summary: Meredith gushes over ‘Royal Gambit,’ which follows Sheke agent Alex Mondegreen juggling royal duties and solving a supernatural assassination of the Prince of Wales. She highlights the smart humor and inventive use of bizarre magical talents.
Deep Dive: Buying Books While Traveling
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(00:38:35)
  • Key Takeaway: Books are a favorite souvenir, and planning is essential for maximizing bookstore visits during travel.
  • Summary: The hosts transition to their deep dive on how to buy books while traveling, noting that books serve as cherished souvenirs. Meredith discusses prioritizing UK editions in London and Edinburgh.
Travel Planning & Tech for Book Hunting
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(00:41:56)
  • Key Takeaway: Shared Google Maps and TikTok algorithms are effective tools for locating and prioritizing bookstores during travel.
  • Summary: Meredith explains using TikTok to find Edinburgh bookstores and how she and Betsy used a shared Google Map to cluster bookstore visits geographically for efficiency.
Managing Space and Shipping Books
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(00:45:05)
  • Key Takeaway: Shipping books internationally can be prohibitively expensive, making checking an extra bag or using collapsible bags (like ’the foldy’) a better strategy.
  • Summary: The hosts discuss the logistics of transporting purchased books. Meredith notes that shipping costs increased significantly since her last trip, leading her to check extra bags instead. They recommend collapsible bags for the return journey.
Book Selection Strategy in Bookstores
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(00:50:22)
  • Key Takeaway: Travel book buying prioritizes discoverability (UK-only titles) and unique editions (signed copies, pretty covers), often involving a ‘book flight’ selection process.
  • Summary: Meredith details her strategy: browsing freely, then narrowing down selections by checking Goodreads ratings and comparing editions. Both hosts value the tactile experience of bookstore browsing over online shopping.
Remembering Travel Book Purchases
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(00:55:55)
  • Key Takeaway: Using store bookmarks or writing the purchase date/location on a post-it note helps preserve the memory associated with travel book buys.
  • Summary: The hosts discuss methods for remembering where and when they bought travel books, primarily relying on store-provided bookmarks or internal notes.
Katie’s Fountain Wish
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(00:59:20)
  • Key Takeaway: Katie wishes for a real-life excuse note to stay home and read due to the rainy weather caused by Hurricane Priscilla.
  • Summary: Katie makes her wish at the fountain, asking for permission to indulge in a day of reading, snacking, and coffee while enjoying the rain from Hurricane Priscilla.
UK Paperback French Flaps
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(00:58:39)
  • Key Takeaway: The speakers appreciate the French flaps found on many UK paperbacks.
  • Summary: The speakers discuss the feature of French flaps on UK paperbacks, describing them as folds attached to the cover that allow readers to read about the book inside the flap.
Book Buying and Travel Tips
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(00:58:57)
  • Key Takeaway: The hosts invite listeners to share their tips for traveling with purchased books.
  • Summary: The hosts transition from discussing book buying habits to asking listeners to share their methods and tricks for getting books home, especially when traveling.
Katie’s Wish: Reading Weather Excuse
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(00:59:20)
  • Key Takeaway: Katie wishes for a real-life excuse note to stay home and read during rainy weather.
  • Summary: Katie shares her ‘wish at the fountain,’ which is for an official excuse note allowing her to spend a rainy day (caused by Hurricane Priscilla) reading on the couch with snacks and hot drinks, lamenting that she couldn’t capitalize on the rare good reading weather.
Meredith’s Wish: Visit New Bookstores
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(01:00:50)
  • Key Takeaway: Meredith wishes for listeners to prioritize visiting a new or desired bookstore.
  • Summary: Meredith’s wish encourages listeners to visit a bookstore they have always wanted to go to, whether near or far, to discover new books, referencing a recent trip to the Painted Porch bookshop.
Show Information and Connection
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(01:01:41)
  • Key Takeaway: The hosts provide contact information, production credits, and ways to support the podcast.
  • Summary: The hosts wrap up the episode by sharing their Instagram handles, crediting the producer Megan Pudavong Evans, directing listeners to show notes for book titles and timestamps on currentlyreadingpodcast.com, and encouraging support via Patreon, ratings, and reviews.
Closing Remarks and Sign-off
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(01:02:51)
  • Key Takeaway: The hosts offer a final reading blessing for the week.
  • Summary: The episode concludes with the hosts wishing each other and the listeners happy reading, hoping their coffee is hot and their books are unputdownable.