TBR Lowdown

Hi Friends. Time for a new episode of TBR Lowdown: We finally read Eileen and get to see what all the fuss is about.  Highlights: 🎙 But was Eileen really unhinged? 🎙 Grief takes many forms. 🎙 Eileen turned out to be the complete opposite of what we thought. REMINDER: Our 2023 Summer Read is Chain Gang All Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah. Out from Pantheon on May 2. PRE-ORDER IT NOW! Join ou...

Hi Friends. Time for a new episode of TBR Lowdown: It’s time to take a look at the frontlist for 2nd quarter and share what we’d like to get our hands on and read. Highlights: 🎙 The book we never knew we were going to get! 🎙 If the word Gothic is in the description, we’re sold. 🎙 Sometimes the recommendations part of the show is so hard. REMINDER: Our 2023 Summer Read is Chain Gang All Stars by Na...

Hi Friends. Time for a new episode of TBR Lowdown: We Discuss Belle Greene by Alexandra Lapierre, translated from the French by Tina Kover. The story of Belle da Costa Greene is nothing short of amazing. Reading about her story felt like a real adventure full of worry, excitement, hope, loss, and pride. It’s a book we highly recommend. Highlights: 🎙 The things you could do to change your identity...

Hi Friends. Time for a new episode of TBR Lowdown: There are times when we latch on to an author, for whatever reason, and acquire as many books in their backlist as possible to read at some point in our reader lives. We share who those authors are in this episode.  Highlights: 🎙 We try to figure out why we latch on to certain authors and hoard their books. 🎙 Being a book thrifter is a skill!...

Hi Friends. Time for a new episode of TBR Lowdown: 2022 was another fantastic reading and we are so excited to share our favorites from the year.  Highlights: 🎙 This is a low-buy no-buy year. 🎙 Naomi’s revelation on audiobooks and libraries shocks Alyssa! 🎙 We’re looking for more vampire-lit recommendations that go against the vampire canon. --------  Join our community! Read and chat wi...

Hi Friends. Time for a new episode of TBR Lowdown: We Discuss Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield, Our December 2022 Book Club Pick. Highlights: 🎙 Grief is dripping off these pages. 🎙 Was Leah even there? We have so many questions. 🎙 Who and what does The Center symbolize??? 🎙 The body horror was done so well. --------  Join our community! Read and chat with us.  ⭐️ Readalong with...

Hi Friends. Time for a new episode of TBR Lowdown: We share some of the books we want to read this year from our own shelves. Highlights: 🎙 This is a low-buy no-buy year.  🎙 Naomi’s revelation on audiobooks and libraries shocks Alyssa! 🎙 We’re looking for Vampire lit recommendations. --------  Join our community! Read and chat with us.  ⭐️ Readalong with us for our 2023 Reading Sch...

Hi Friends. Time for a new episode of TBR Lowdown: It’s a brand new year, so we take some time to reintroduce ourselves and share what’s new with TBR Lowdown.  Highlights: 🎙 No more monthly book picks. We have a different reading schedule. 🎙 Our #12Women12Countries reading challenge is in its second year. 🎙 TBR Lowdown has its own YouTube home now. --------  Join our community! Read and...

Hi Friends. In this episode of TBR Lowdown: We look back at our 2022 reading and chat about what we learned about ourselves and our reading habits.  Highlights: 🎙 The way we read can often shift.  🎙 We’re both learning what types of books we really enjoy reading. 🎙 Naomi has a Reader PSA for some of you.  -------- Come chat with us and join our community! ⭐️ Follow TBR Lowdown on I...

Hi Friends. In this episode of TBR Lowdown: We discuss where to look to find a book community that serves your reader needs. Highlights: 🎙 Many people still desire to be part of an in-person book club. 🎙 Naomi tells us about her social experiment of participating in reading groups on Facebook.  🎙 There are more apps for readers to join to find like-minded readers. We break them down. --------...

Hi Friends. In this episode of TBR Lowdown: We Discuss You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi, Our November Book Club Pick Highlights: 🎙 Sometimes grief can bring people together. 🎙 Was Nasir manipulating Feyi? 🎙 Everyone needs a best friend like Joy.  -------- Come chat with us and join our community! ⭐️ Follow TBR Lowdown on Instagram/Twitter (@tbrlowdown) ⭐️ Follow Al...

Hi Friends. In this episode of TBR Lowdown: We buddy-read and discussed Motherthing by Ainslie Hogarth. Sometimes you just need to read a book where everyone involved needs therapy and medication. Highlights: 🎙 Motherthing looks at motherhood from many angles. 🎙 Can we talk about those mama’s boys??? 🎙 There’s nothing like a well-written darkly comedic book that touches on many sensitive themes. -...

Hi Friends. In this episode of TBR Lowdown: We Discuss There There by Tommy Orange, Our October Book Club Pick. This is another book we’ve been talking about reading for over a year now. It absolutely did not disappoint. This is a book everyone should read.  Highlights: 🎙 The themes in these stories were raw and often relatable. 🎙 We still have so much to learn regarding indigenous peoples an...

Hi Friends. In this episode of TBR Lowdown: We share some of the books we’d like to read during Nonfiction November. It’s Nonfiction November and we’ve got some recommendations for you! Highlights: 🎙 It’s hilarious seeing what books we have in common and where we diverge. 🎙 Who knew one could be so excited to read about water!?!? 🎙 Self-taught surgeon??? Yeah, there’s a book coming out that talks...

Hi Friends. In this episode of TBR Lowdown: We buddy-read and discussed Woman, Eating: A Literary Vampire Novel by Claire Kohda. Sometimes you read a vampire novel that actually blows you away. This tiny novel manages to shy away from the canon style and give us more meat than we ever anticipated.  Highlights: 🎙 Not all vampire novels follow the canon. 🎙 A vampire’s hunger can be more than ju...

Hi Friends. In this episode of TBR Lowdown: Let’s see what’s coming out this Winter! We’re getting a taste of what frontlist releases are coming out in the Winter. There are quite a few that have piqued our interest. Highlights: 🎙 Re-reading a book to prep for the release of its sequel. 🎙 Alyssa is giving Grady Hendrix another spin 🎙 A couple of books gave us a heavy dose of nostalgia and we loved...

Hi Friends. In this episode of TBR Lowdown: We talk about the books we own that we’d really like to read by the end of the year. The end of the year is rapidly approaching and there are a good number of books on our shelves we’d really like to read before 2023 creeps in.  Highlights: 🎙 It’s a great time to see if certain authors jive with our reading taste. 🎙 We go down another Donna Tartt ra...

Hi Friends. In this episode of TBR Lowdown: We discuss The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall, our September book club pick. This is another book we’ve been talking about reading for over a year now. It absolutely did not disappoint. This is a book everyone should read.  Highlights: 🎙 Our current issues surrounding the lgbtqia+ community are not new. They’ve always existed. 🎙 Having means w...

Hi Friends. In this episode of TBR Lowdown: We talk about the latest news surrounding Barnes & Noble. Back in August word got out that Barnes & Noble chain’s stores would only be stocking hardcovers that had proven sales records. We sat down to try to wrap our heads around this decision. Check the show notes for the Book Riot article we referenced. Highlights: 🎙 What’s really driving this...

Hi Friends. In this episode of TBR Lowdown: We share what we read for Women in Translation month. We look forward to Women in Translation month. It’s a great time to discover new to us authors and continue reading all around the world.  Highlights: 🎙 Naomi keeps saying she wants to reread more, but……. 🎙 We buddy read a book that we both ended up pushing pause on. 🎙 Sometimes great things happ...

Hi Friends. In this episode of TBR Lowdown: 🎙 We interview Hugh Ryan, the author of our June 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....

Hi Friends. In this episode of TBR Lowdown: We Discuss Elena Knows, Our August Book Club Pick. If anyone tells you this book is just another mystery, they are wrong and you should not listen to them! Elena Knows is a short book, but man does it hit hard.  Highlights: 🎙 This book is so much more than a mystery. 🎙 The afterword was such a vital part of understanding the author and her writing....

Hi Friends. In this episode of TBR Lowdown: We give you some book recommendations that are perfect for book club discussions.  What’s worse than being part of a book club that never chooses good books? Well, we’ve got you covered. We give you some book recommendations that spur great discussion for any book club. Highlights: 🎙 What happens when we don’t love the same book?! 🎙 We’re both still...

Hi Friends. In this episode of TBR Lowdown: We talk about the Fall frontlist books we’re interested in reading. So far 2022 has been a fantastic year for new releases and the Fall releases have us drooling!  Highlights: 🎙 Sometimes Goodreads leads you to wonderful book recommendations. 🎙 Alyssa gushes over how much she loves sentient AI. 🎙 There’s nothing like getting a surprise sequel to a b...

Hi Friends. In this episode of TBR Lowdown: We have a chat all about ARCs (Advanced Readers Copy).  In the bookstagram and booktube communities, the topic of ARCs comes up every 3-6 months or so. We decided to sit down and have a conversation about how to get them, how we started receiving arcs, what sources are available to request and receive them, etc, etc.  Highlights: 🎙 Our journey...