Living A Life Through Books

I chat with Erin Burrell, the author of That's Why You're Here.  It’s a memoir of transformation from abused girl to grieving wife to empowered, intuitive Tarot reader. Quite a journey, really!  Erin was born and raised in Sacramento and as an adult, she worked in banking, elementary education, and eventually had a 25 year career with the State of California. Today we talk about her jour...

This is my review of the book China Rich Girlfriend by Kevin Kwan.  The only spoiler alert is for book 1 which is Crazy Rich Asians, but if you have already read that book, no spoilers here. Read the blog version of this episode here:   https://shahnazahmed.com/china-rich-girlfriend-by-kevin-kwan/

A bookstagrammer in Canada, Monique Lahaie (Instagram @monique_reads) discusses the strategies for getting ARCs (Advanced Reader Copy) from publishers.  We talk a bit about Net Galley and just books in general.  A fun and informative conversation you do not want to miss while you are working out your New Year's ARC and reading goals.

In this episode, I suggest some book goals that you can have for 2020 even if you are just getting back to the habit of reading or are a seasoned reader and consumer of books.

I go over my favorite books for December and then I go through all the books I've read for 2019 broken down by genre and I've picked/suggested my favorites from the different genres I've read.  Of course, at the end I mention my favorite book for 2019!

In this episode, I give 15 suggestions to increase your book numbers for 2020.  Good luck.

Why read?  This is the question I tackle and through personal experience and some minimal Google searches I have come up with some reasons to read.  I hope you are able to empathize with me.

Amy Voltaire, author of My Name is Erin, and My Mom is an Addict talks about her launch and her book.  She talks about writing a part 2 and the inspiration for that.  Another down to earth conversation with a wonderful author.  At the end, Amy gives me a suggestion for a new series within this podcast, so stay tuned.  I'm excited. You can reach me at shahnazahmed.com .  Fo...

I have requested authors who have already been on my podcast to return for a catch up.  It's more of a follow up with the book they wrote and also checking in to see if they have any new books in the works.  This was a fun conversation and Andrew is charming as always. If you want to know more about myself or for scripts of the podcasts:   shahnazahmed.com  You can contact me t...

What makes a book famous?  Are Amazon Prime books considered famous?  New authors that made it big.  What is the definition of making it big?  What about the not-so-famous books?  Just thoughts to ponder in the bookish world and how I stumbled upon famous vs not so famous books.

This month in review I talk about how life challenges can affect reading and book goals.  I go over the books I read this month and my top picks and recommendations for those.

In this light hearted episode, I ponder methods to organize bookshelves, by color, by subject matter or just by finding space.

Ever wonder about getting Skip The Line loans on the Libby app.  What is it?  And how to get more?  This episode we'll talk about everything "skip the line" and of course, we'll touch briefly on the 3 library systems of St. Louis and why it's important to be a member of all 3.

I discuss reading after having a great reading month.  I also discuss some of the books that I read this month that I enjoyed.  The Water Dancer.  Where the Crawdads Sing and others.

When people say truth is stranger than fiction, I wonder what fiction is then?  Is fiction a diluted version of the truth and in that case, is it really fiction at all?  I gloss over my perception of this concept through a couple of the books I've read.

I go back to an old episode "The Referencing Principle" and talk about things in that episode that I might have missed or considered differently than I do now.  We talk about the importance of giving credit to the sources and talk about intellectual property, at least my perception of it.

Going over September reading, thoughts, and challenges.  I list all 13 books I completed this month and talk about my favorites.  This is my first month in review.  Get in touch with me through Instagram, email, or Facebook with any suggestions for month in review or for this podcast in general.

This episode is dedicated to my Instagram friend "booksection".  She wanted an episode about this.  So, here are my 10 suggestions for combating reader's block.

Today marks a milestone.  Living a Life Through Books is officially one year old.  So, I thought I would do an episode to look back and reflect on what I've felt as the trials and tribulations of this podcast.  Also, a bit of a forecast for what to expect.

Talking to Clare Newton from London.  Clare is an independent publisher and she talks about the publishing climate in general and Amazon's influence on the world.  Of course, as the conversation progresses we learn some fascinating things about Clare.  She is a playwright and made the Guinness Book of World Records.  Those come up in part 2 and 3, but regardless.  She's a...

Talking to Clare Newton from London.  Clare is an independent publisher and she talks about the publishing climate in general and Amazon's influence on the world.  Of course, as the conversation progresses we learn some fascinating things about Clare.  She is a playwright and made the Guinness Book of World Records.  Those come up in part 2 and 3, but regardless.  She's a...

Talking to Clare Newton from London.  Clare is an independent publisher and she talks about the publishing climate in general and Amazon's influence on the world.  Of course, as the conversation progresses we learn some fascinating things about Clare.  She is a playwright and made the Guinness Book of World Records.  Those come up in part 2 and 3, but regardless.  She's a...

Talking to Clare Newton from London.  Clare is an independent publisher and she talks about the publishing climate in general and Amazon's influence on the world.  Of course, as the conversation progresses we learn some fascinating things about Clare.  She is a playwright and made the Guinness Book of World Records.  Those come up in part 2 and 3, but regardless.  She's a...

This episode is an add-on to episode 3 (We are who we are).  After recording it, I thought about it and decided to add this segment.  I discuss people's judgement of the books you read.  I talk about being authentic to yourself, but you don't have to share yourself with others.  And of course, I discuss a book I have not read - The 50 Shades of Grey. If you want to purchase a c...

Are all books by a certain author amazing?  How are they different?  I mention Kristen Hannah's The Nightingale, The Great Alone.  Tayari Jone's An American Marriage and Silver Sparrow.  Madeline Miller's Circe and Song of Achilles.  And of course, I mention the experience of reading Fredrick Backman and The Man Called Ove. Here are links to some of the books if you would...