What Should I Read Next?

We always love reading on a theme, and today's guest would love to see her real-life love of the ocean mirrored in the pages of her books.  Noelle Leong is a science and medicine-focused librarian at a small liberal arts college. She especially loves her work for the opportunities it provides her to join the students on trails and visiting tidepools. So it’s perhaps unsurprising she’d love Anne's...

Nonfiction books often change the way that readers see the world, and today's guest Evan Carlson is on the hunt for fiction that packs the same punch as the nonfiction works he loves. Evan's joining Anne from Chicago, where he lives and works as an actor and poet. He's found that reading poetry and nonfiction helps him challenge his ways of thinking, and he really enjoys this experience. While Eva...

Feeling more confident about finding the right reads is a common bookish goal. In today's conversation, Anne welcomes Tynisha Coleman to the show to talk about her current reading goals. Tynisha is a leadership development coach, university lecturer, and sci-fi and fantasy lover from New Jersey. She doesn't shy away from books that tackle tough plot points, which often feature in the emotionally r...

Every year we get some variation of this question: how can a reader like today’s guest, Elise Brancheau, balance all the shiny new books of summer with the backlist titles that are already patiently waiting on her to-be-read list? Elise is a New Jersey-based professional classical singer who describes herself as a huge reading-planning nerd. We know Elise is in good company here! But with all of t...

We're taking you behind the scenes of our 2025 Summer Reading Guide and sharing an excerpt from our live Unboxing party. Our 2025 Guide includes 35 books across a range of genres which we've grouped into six categories. Today you'll hear Anne's commentary of three books from the first category, Family Sagas.  Our Summer Reading Guide and Unboxing are designed to give you an idea of what your own r...

We're kicking off Summer Reading Season with our fourteenth annual Summer Reading Guide, coming this Thursday! Today on the podcast Anne is joined by a special guest who is particularly well qualified to go behind the scenes of our 2025 Summer Reading Guide with her: Will Bogel! Many of you consider Anne's husband Will to be your book twin, and today they're diving into the project and pleasure th...

Reading projects take all shapes and sizes, and today's guest has set a goal to read all the Women's Prize for Fiction shortlists and winners. Today, Anne is talking books with Kathryn, who lives on the island of Okinawa, Japan, with her military husband and energetic golden retriever. Kathryn works for a nonprofit and spends her leisure time reading, knitting, or walking on the beach close to the...

Today's guest is an avid reader, retired social worker, and What Should I Read Next? completist who lives in New Jersey. Jill Jaclin has a reading conundrum: she really wants to read more nonfiction, but she's struggled to find a way to incorporate it into her reading life. As she told Anne, she also knows that there are nonfiction books out there that will educate her if only she would take the t...

Readers, if you are feeling burned out right now, you are not alone. In our team meeting last week, we talked about the fact that things are hard right now. That's why this feels like a great time to revisit a favorite past episode from another time not so long ago when we were also feeling burned out. Today we're sharing Anne's May 2021 conversation with journalist Anne Helen Petersen, which orig...

When the world feels heavy, many of us look to books for distraction, inspiration, or reassurance. Today's guest has a unique spin on what she's seeking and would love Anne's help in figuring out how the types of reads she wants right now fit into her existing to-be-read (TBR) system. Émilie Weidl lives in Wales, where she's taken a year off before starting her PhD. When she's not reading or volun...

Finding highly discussable books for book clubs often feels like a full-time job, especially if you're a member of multiple long-standing book clubs like today's guest, Lara. Today, Lara joins Anne to talk about her constant search for fiction that explores the human condition in all its messy glory. She loves these sorts of books because they give her so much to talk about with her fellow readers...

Over the past few years, today's guest has been on a journey of self-discovery. Florida reader Casey has been working on coming to terms with her perfectionism and along the way, she's been noticing what it means for her reading life. Casey's noticed she tends to save highly anticipated books for later: some uncertain time down the road when circumstances make the timing at long last completely pe...

Re-reading is a practice fits into every reader's life in a different way, and today's guest has embarked on a unique reading challenge that brings a fresh perspective to her re-reading. Sarah Swarbrick joins Anne today from the outskirts of Sydney, Australia, to talk about the special project she's crafted in advance of her 53rd birthday. With her responsibilities shifting and her kids getting ol...

Readers, we often receive questions from you about our Modern Mrs Darcy Book Club and what actually goes on in our online reading community, and today's guest is here to help Anne take you behind the scenes! You may already know Ginger Horton, our MMD Book Club Community Manager, from her prior appearances here on the podcast or because you interact with her all the time in book club. Today, Ginge...

Today's guest is a mood reader who often finds herself falling down a reading rabbit hole. Madelyn Kresinske is an elementary school librarian, wife, and mom who reads widely from middle-grade and picture books to romance, family dramas, and more. Madelyn doesn't hate her pattern of falling into sometimes a rut, sometimes she actually quite enjoys it, but it can also be tough to break out and figu...

Today's guest has a common readerly dilemma: what to do when reading tastes change? In her submission to join Anne on the show, Philadelphia dweller and avid book thrifter Phoebe Mellinger shared that she'd had pretty consistent reading tastes for her whole life, until last year when she noticed that her taste suddenly and vastly changed. Her go-to genres just were't working any more. This experie...

Today's guests excel in pairing the perfect read with worldwide destinations: joining Anne today are her friends, fellow book lovers, and podcasters Mel Joulwan and Dave Humphreys. You may know them as the literary minds behind Strong Sense of Place. They've also been guests on our show a handful of times across the years. Today, Mel and Dave are back to help Anne load up her to-be-read list with...

Every year on the Modern Mrs Darcy blog, Anne shares a post about what's saving her life right now, and today she's joined by team member Shannan Malone to talk about what's saving their reading lives lately. Shannan is our What Should I Read Next Patreon community manager, and also our Modern Mrs Darcy Book Club co-host. Today, she and Anne explore the books and habits that are making their readi...

Today's guest has a bookish birthday trip in the works. When Barbara Andrade DuBransky told us about her tradition of taking big trips with her best friend to mark big life milestones, Anne knew she wanted to talk about Barbara's upcoming European trip. Barbara and her friend are passionate readers who rely on their libraries to help them plan and prepare for their trips. Barbara was eager to get...

Readers, today we're thrilled to share a delightful conversation with Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray, authors of The Personal Librarian. This conversation originally took place over in our Modern Mrs Darcy Book Club community, where Marie and Victoria joined Anne, our MMD Book Club Community Manager Ginger Horton, our MMD Book Club Co-Host Shannan Malone, and a whole bunch of our B...

We hosted our Spring Book Preview last week, and if you missed out on that event you're in luck: today we're sharing an excerpt to whet your spring reading appetite! In this sneak peek at our Spring Book Preview live event, you'll hear Anne tell you about 3 of the 35 titles included in the preview. Spring Book Preview is one of our marquee events that we host for our Modern Mrs Darcy Book Club and...

Many of the readers we talk to tune into the seasons to inspire their next read, and today's guest has a twist on the usual seasonal reading dilemma: Nell Cavallo is joining Anne today from midsummer in Sydney, Australia. When Nell sent in her guest submission for the show, she told us that as a southern hemisphere reader, winter meant reading the shiny and new titles that are summer releases here...

We're kicking off 2025 with a special episode: today Anne is joined by her husband Will Bogel to discuss Anne's best books of the past year. Every week here on the show, we take a personal approach to the reading life, really digging into what readers love, what they don't, and why. Our conversations are about individual readers and their individual taste, so it's not often Anne shines a spotlight...

Today's guest is feeling stuck between quality and quantity in her reading life. With all of the end-of-year reading reflections happening lately, Anne is here to help if you're also facing this situation. Caroline Hines lives on a Christmas tree farm, which is not really related to today's book-talk, but feels like the perfect setting for our final episode of the year. When she wrote in to get An...

When Anne was invited to speak at WriterFest, a creative gathering for aspiring writers, published authors, screenwriters, poets, and songwriters in Nashville, we couldn't wait to share that conversation with all of you. Today we're sharing Anne's conversation with WriterFest co-founder Ami McConnell. From books and reading to the common themes they've heard people are experiencing in their creati...