What Should I Read Next?

If you have a gigantic pile of books that you own but haven’t yet read looming somewhere in your house, today's guest Whitney Conard totally gets you. Anne is chatting with Whitney about the Instagram endeavor #TheUnreadShelfProject, saying goodbye to reading shame, the right and not-quite-right times to read (for instance, in math class) and then, at Whitney’s invitation, Anne takes a hard look a...

Today Anne chats with a reader who turned her family’s difficult story into a book that has brought joy and hope to countless readers. Georgia Hunter got curious about her family history, and a few questions put to the right relatives uncovered something she didn’t expect—a sweeping multi-generational drama just begging to be written down. So, she did. That story became We Were the Lucky Ones, a h...

Clear your calendars -- today’s episode might inspire you to rethink and rearrange your whole home library. Myquillyn Smith, author of home decor books Cozy Minimalist Home and The Nesting Place, joins Anne to chat about the revelation of ribbon on a bookshelf, spunky iconoclastic women in fiction, why she doesn’t have a library card, and books that give you a kick in the pants... what she does to...

Today’s guests ask Anne to bridge the divide between an imaginative-fiction lover and a scientific-NONfiction lover. Ashley and Brent are a father-daughter reading duo who share an Audible account and a love for an untold story. Anne, Ashley, and Brent cover everything from Ashley’s mega-popular most HATED book, how they survive differing tastes to make reading a family affair, and the story of wh...

Today, guest RuthAnn Deveney lead Anne into the world of special-interest reading, discussing how her passion for victim advocacy brought powerful literature into her life that she wouldn’t have discovered otherwise. They also chat about sensitive-reader self-care how books are like spicy food, books that would be much better as the 10 minute TED Talks that inspired them… and so much more. Be awar...

Kari Sweeney is a working mom of four who has developed a VERY unique system to keep her reading life running like clockwork. Kari and Anne chat about wishy washy star ratings, the right season for the right book, reading at the grocery store... and Kari is sharing her secret to getting the hottest new books the week they release -- for FREE. Click over to the podcast website for a list of books m...

Get ready for a serious TBR-filler. Today’s guest Elham Ali flips the script to recommend Canadian literature to Anne… but turnabout is fair play, and Anne won't let her leave without some of HER favorite CanLit recommendations. It's a bookish road trip around the Great White North, full of juicy book-marketing gossip, literary sin revelry, and much much more. Stick around until AFTER the credits...

Today's guest populates the “candy aisle” of the bookstore. Maria Ribas is a literary agent who specializes in gorgeous full-color cookbooks and snappy self-help! So yes, she totally has it covered in the nonfiction department, but her fiction game could use a little freshening… and that’s where Anne comes in. Whether you like exploring the stories behind a great recipe, letting a lush historical...

Until recently, reading was a means to an end in language arts teacher Julie Mushkin's life - and the type of book that totally turned things around for her may surprise you. Today, Anne and Julie are recommending books perfectly suited for both teens AND adults, chatting about serious book projects, what to do when you have no reading stamina, and infiltrating the not-so-secret world of teens......

WSIRN’s producer Brenna Frederick is in the virtual studio today, and she’s bringing an armload of YOUR questions to the table, gathered from email, instagram, and the comment section. What did Anne do with her life before she became a blogger and podcaster? What movie is TOTALLY better than the book it’s based on? How do guests get themselves on the show? Are audiobooks really considered “reading...

We’ve talked more than once on WSIRN about how the power of reading aloud forges family bonds… and today’s guest, Laura Summerhill, puts that thought into action in a brilliant and life-affirming way. But she’s also been out of the pleasure reading game for a long, long time while working on her PhD, and today Anne attempts to reconnect her with what everyone’s been talking about in the book world...

Anne chats with Marines Alvarez and Nicole Sweeney, bookworm best friends who like to keep their reading life SOCIAL. Together they host the podcast Snark Squad, where they rehash books, tv, and movies with a sharp eye and a lot of laughs. True to character, Marines and Nicole brought the giggles to WSIRN -- they're about how the internet has changed reading forever, destroying their childhood fav...

Today, Anne has an incredible conversation with Chatti Phal-Brown about how war, family, trauma, joy, and hope for the future have shaped her reading life. Chatti requests recommendations from a genre almost NEVER discussed on the show, and her least favorite book might surprise you... CONTENT WARNING: Today’s episode gets emotional at times, and Chatti speaks candidly about topics like genocide,...

Today we have a special bonus episode for you! Anne's new book I'd Rather Be Reading: The Delights and Dilemmas of the Reading Life comes out in a little less than a month. Today she's reading you the first chapter. And YOU get to play along in a fun, social, and bibliotherapeutic way. The first essay is titled Confess Your Literary Sins, and in it, Anne shares how (and why) readers somehow feel c...

Today, Anne tackles guest Travis Meserve's bookstore anxiety - where should you look in the store to find your next read? How do you get past the nerves and talk to your friendly local bookseller? And is there a secret key to understanding the bestsellers table up front? Click over to the podcast website for a list of books mentioned in this episode, and leave a comment telling us what YOU think T...

If both Netflix and the bookshelf hold equal value in your heart, you’ll totally relate to today’s guest. Patience Randle loves a book with cinematic appeal, especially if it comes with a comfy chair and a great cup of coffee. Today, Patience and Anne chat about books that would make great screenplays, Patience's favorite places to enjoy a good book and a brew, future novel-writing dreams, what wo...

In episode 138, we met NYPL librarians Gwen and Frank, who filled WILDLY different roles despite working within the same library system. Today, Anne explores a smaller-town librarian experience through the eyes of Sarah Peden, a children’s librarian from Humboldt, Tennessee. Sarah is full of stories about the long road to librarianship, strange patron requests, small town scandals that echo for de...

Anne chats with Ian Morgan Cron, noted Enneagram teacher, psychotherapist, author of The Road Back to You and host of the Typology podcast, about how their favorite literary characters (and maybe a few movie characters) fit into the framework of the super-hot-right-now Enneagram personality system. From Hermione Granger to Jay Gatsby to Marianne Dashwood to Samwise Gamgee... today we cover a LOT o...

Today’s guest Cindy Wang-Brandt has gone through a lot of shifts in her life - spiritual, political, familial… which around here, begs a question: what do those shifts do to a person’s reading life? Join Anne and Cindy in an examination of how identities are reflected in what books we choose, the lenses we bring to what we read, what “counts” as literary fiction, stories that help us understand th...

Anne chats with Eric Zimmer, host of The One You Feed podcast, which features interviews with thoughtful people who have big ideas about making a “conscious, creative effort toward a life worth living.” Anne and Eric talk about his favorite comic strip character, embarrassing library visits, books for the meditative reader, the patron saint of WSIRN, noir detective novels, and much much more. Clic...

Gwen Glazer and Frank Collerius work in unique roles at the New York Public Library system, and together host the wonderful podcast The Librarian Is In. Today Anne, Gwen, and Frank have a heart-to-heart chat about the ways librarians' roles have shifted over the past decade, how libraries adapt to meet their patrons needs, and opportunities for you to give back to your library in valuable ways. Cl...

Leigh Kramer is a former medical social worker, and the author of a brand new novel about life, love, and loss called A Storied Life. Today Anne digs deep with former social worker and current author Leigh Kramer to discuss a tough, nuanced topic: grief. From instructive texts, to descriptive fiction, to tales-of-caution, the bookshelf has a lot to say about this universal human emotion. This is a...

Readers, welcome to our first impromptu and improvised episode of What Should I Read Next! Today Anne tells you a little about our new class, Get More Out of Your Library. Click here for more details, and click here to learn more about the MMD Book Club and sign up before the Wednesday class. In this episode, Anne also tells you a small-world bookish story, and shares One Great Book for your TBR....

Guest and author Jen Hatmaker is known for speaking publicly about a LOT of things, but reading isn’t one of them! At least, not the books she’s really reading on her own time—and today you’re going to hear how different those titles are from what you probably EXPECT her to enjoy reading. Today Jen and I get to chat about about the intricacies of her home library, the book that gave her nightmares...

Ben Huntington is a young audiobook fanatic who chews through stories at an exhilarating rate - we’re talking reading the Hobbit in one week! Today, Anne recommends a ton of great audiobook series to keep his reading list full all summer. This is an episode the whole family can enjoy, full of books perfect for road trip entertainment! And stay tuned till the end for follow up commentary from Ben a...