TBR Lowdown

In this week’s episode, we talk about the rumblings we’ve heard from bookish content creators across social platforms who’ve been talking about how stressful it is being on arc teams and dealing with their PR people. This was news to us. Highlights: 🎙 Is there less pressure working directly with publishers vs. indie arc/PR teams? 🎙 We discuss readers’ responsibilities in accepting arcs. 🎙 Are PR a...

In this week’s episode, we talk about books we’ve read that truly surprised us…in a good way. Highlights: 🎙 A book Alyssa read that she didn’t fawn over while reading, but thought about constantly days/weeks after. 🎙 The book series Naomi has built an annual ritual around. 🎙 The book Naomi absolutely adores but thinks Alyssa will most definitely hate! ------ Join our community! Read and chat with...

In this week’s episode, we celebrate our 100th episode and have a super casual conversation about booktok, the rise of men on booktube, the bookish social media landscape, and more! Highlights: 🎙 Does social media add unnecessary stress to readers? 🎙 We try to understand why and how new male booktubers grow so quickly. 🎙 Beyond the booktok recommended books. ------ Join our community! Read and cha...

In this week’s episode, we follow up on our previous discussion about Bindery. Highlights: 🎙 How diverse is Bindery? 🎙 We’re wondering if book content creators will ditch their existing Patreon communities for Bindery. 🎙 We are very interested in seeing the books they are currently considering for publication. ------ Join our community! Read and chat with us. ⭐️ Readalong with us for our 2023 Rea...

In this week’s episode, we share some books we’ve read and enjoyed and think would be great to read this Fall season. Highlights: 🎙 We recommend this book every year…and for GOOD reason! 🎙 Naomi tells everyone again to read Brandon Taylor. JUST DO IT! 🎙 Fall isn’t just for spooky books. ------ Join our community! Read and chat with us. ⭐️ Readalong with us for our 2023 Reading Schedule ⁠https://w...

In this week’s episode, we discuss our May/June read Greek Lessons by Han Kang, translated from the Korean by Deborah Smith and Emily Yae Won. Highlights: 🎙 You don’t have to be in love with a book in order to deeply appreciate it. 🎙 Did the decision to have unnamed narrators make the story stronger? 🎙 We chat a bit about the books we’d like to read this Fall. ------ Join our community! Read and c...

In this week’s episode, we share some books we think would be great to read this Fall season. Highlights: 🎙 We chat a bit about Empire of Pain and its TV adaptation Pain Killers. 🎙 Naomi is back in her sci-fi bag! 🎙 Alyssa revisits an old favorite trilogy. ------ Join our community! Read and chat with us. ⭐️ Readalong with us for our 2023 Reading Schedule ⁠https://www.tbrlowdown.com/2023readingsc...

We were so psyched to have a chat with CJ Leede, author of the debut novel Maeve Fly. If you haven’t read it, we highly recommend you get your hands on it and enjoy the wild ride that is Maeve Fly! Highlights: 🎙 CJ has received some very weird creepy gifts. 🎙 Let’s talk about being obsessed with eyeballs. 🎙 CJ shares a surprise with us! ------ Join our community! Read and chat with us. ⭐️ Readalo...

Welcome back to Season 3! We’re back from our summer break and we catch up and share what we’ve been up to. Highlights: 🎙 Naomi shares her massive book project! 🎙 We dive deep into Bindery to see what it’s all about. 🎙 Alyssa tells us about her string of crazy weird luck. ------ Join our community! Read and chat with us. ⭐️ Readalong with us for our 2023 Reading Schedule ⁠https://www.tbrlowdown.c...

This is a rebroadcast interview with Charles A. Bush, debut author of Every Variable of Us. Highlights: 🎙We share how our bookshelves are organized or not so organized 🎙Charles shares his admiration for John Green and finding his own voice 🎙The writing processes Charles has borrowed from other authors REMINDER: Our 2023 Summer Read is Chain Gang All Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah. JOIN OUR DISC...

This is a rebroadcast of a book discussion we had about The Maleficent Seven by Cameron Johnston. Highlights: 🎙 It was kinda cool to see these older villains getting back to doing villainous things. 🎙 If you didn’t like Orcs before, you’ll love them after reading this book. 🎙 The number of solid plot twists in this book had us shooketh! REMINDER: Our 2023 Summer Read is Chain Gang All Stars by Nan...

This is a rebroadcast of a book discussion we had about The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall. Highlights: 🎙 Our current issues surrounding the lgbtqia+ community are not new. They’ve always existed. 🎙 Having means was definitely a factor that allowed her to live life on her terms. 🎙 The religious tension that played throughout the book. REMINDER: Our 2023 Summer Read is Chain Gang All Stars by...

This is a rebroadcast of a book discussion we had about Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin. Highlights: 🎙What was the deal with the photograph of David’s mother? 🎙 There was a definite disdain for women throughout this book. 🎙 Past trauma runs deep in some of these characters. REMINDER: Our 2023 Summer Read is Chain Gang All Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah. JOIN OUR DISCORD! ------ Join our commun...

This is a rebroadcast of the discussion about the book Just by Looking at Him by Ryan O’Connell. Just by Looking at Him is one of those books you read in a day. It’s that good and that funny. You start it and before you know it, you’re at the end. Highlights: 🎙 We chat about disability rep in books. 🎙 Threesomes. Good or bad? 🎙 We had a good laugh running over some of the funniest lines in the boo...

We have so many classics on our shelves we've been talking about reading for so long, but have not even cracked one book open. So, on this episode, we put ourselves on notice and share some of the classics that are on our list! Highlights: 🎙 Will George Eliot be a winner for Naomi? 🎙 Alyssa shares how she’s been getting through these “LitBro” books. 🎙 We chat about different translations for s...

We enjoy reading translated books. It’s a big part of our reading lives. We’ve had a strong desire to be in conversation with literary translators on the podcast, and we finally got the chance to do so. Highlights: 🎙 From wanting to join the foreign service to becoming a literary translator. 🎙 The way translations are pitched and commissioned is quite different than how a conventional author would...

In 2022, we had the pleasure of interviewing Hugh Ryan, the author of our June 2022 book club pick, The Women's House of Detention: A Queer History of a Forgotten Prison. This is such an important book— should be required reading for high school and college. We learned so much and had quite the experience reading about all of the women who have gone through the Women’s House of Detention. We t...

Hi Friends. Time for a new episode of TBR Lowdown: We’ve been in possession of a few nonfiction books we have been meaning to read since 2022. We share the nonfiction books we are determined to read before this year ends. Highlights: 🎙 We have big plans for this one particular book. 🎙 Big corporate baddies…and not the good kind. 🎙 There are a couple of nonfiction yearlong reading challenges happen...

Hi Friends. Time for a new episode of TBR Lowdown: There’s no doubt AI is the hot buzz around town. Every week there’s a new AI service that allows you to do more using less of your time. Recently, AI has even entered the world of audiobooks. We discuss this and its potential ramifications in this week’s episode. Highlights: 🎙 Will other audiobook services follow Apple’s move and create their own...

Hi Friends. Time for a new episode of TBR Lowdown: We’re back for another round of Burn, Rewrite, Reread! We’d love to know what books you would’ve chosen. Highlights: 🎙 This game always seems easy until you actually play it! 🎙 The Silent Patient is significant for both of us for two different reasons. REMINDER: Our 2023 Summer Read is Chain Gang All Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah. Out from Pan...

Hi Friends. Time for a new episode of TBR Lowdown: We’ve been wanting to speak with a self-publishing author to get insight into the process for quite some time. We had a wonderful conversation with Emily Brandt, the self-published author of Love Letters from Hades. Highlights: 🎙 We rarely see Hades written in this light. 🎙 Self-publishing in Belgium is quite different than in the U.S. 🎙 Emily dec...

Hi Friends. Time for a new episode of TBR Lowdown: It’s no secret the identity of Elena Ferrante is a mystery. The author has never introduced themselves to the world, so there has been a lot of speculation over the years. We watch a video by Ann Novella, who provides some pretty solid proof of Ferrante’s identity, and discuss it in this week’s episode. We also discussed the identity of Elena Ferr...

Hi Friends. Time for a new episode of TBR Lowdown: It’s prize season and we couldn’t be more excited. In this live episode, we discuss the longlists for The Women’s Prize for Fiction, The Carol Shields Prize for Fiction, and The International Booker Prize. Highlights: 🎙 Sometimes reading a non-fiction book on a particular topic helps to enhance reading a fictional book on the same topic. 🎙 The Int...

Hi Friends. Time for a new episode of TBR Lowdown: It’s time to get through the fantasy/sci-fi books on our shelves and see what we need to finish. Listen to find out the books we shared. Highlights: 🎙 Malazan will definitely be our next big fantasy series read. 🎙 Alyssa tells Naomi to stop sucking her into reading literary fiction. (we’ll see how that turns out) 🎙 Naomi is having a ball reading W...

Hi Friends. Time for a new episode of TBR Lowdown: We Discuss Boulder by Eva Baltasar, translated from the Catalan by Julia Sanches Highlights: 🎙 What does an obsessive relationship look like? 🎙 Sometimes you want the role of an aunt, not a mother. 🎙 We debate whether or not Boulder is punk literature.  REMINDER: Our 2023 Summer Read is Chain Gang All Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah. Out fr...