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What Should I Read Next? is the show for every reader who has ever finished a book and faced the problem of not knowing what to read next. Each week, Anne Bogel, of the blog Modern Mrs Darcy, interviews a reader about the books they love, the books they hate, and the books they're reading now. Then, she makes recommendations about what to read next. The real purpose of the show is to help YOU find your next read.
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Ep 266: Ask Anne Anything: Re-reads, reviews, and recommendation regrets
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Readers, it’s the 5th anniversary of What Should I Read Next! Today I'm answering YOUR questions about WSIRN's behind-the-scenes, my personal reading life, and so much more. Thank you for submitting such thoughtful and fun questions! I did my best to answer as many as possible, and you can find answers to frequently asked questions linked in the sh…
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Ep 265: 10 questions to ask yourself about your reading life
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Readers, we’re kicking off the new year with a special episode to help you set the right tone for your reading life in 2021. My friend Laura Tremaine is joining me to guide us in some readerly introspection. Laura hosts the Ten Things to Tell You podcast, where she shares guided questions and prompts to help listeners reflect on different aspects o…
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Ep 264: Compulsively readable literary fiction
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Anne's challenge today is to share recommendations for books with unique and artful structures. Today's guest is a Chicago-based mood reader with a contagious love of books. When Anna Morton isn't working or volunteering for the Art Institute of Chicago, she's reading “compulsively readable literary fiction,” a term Anne fondly coined for books wit…
Today’s guest also loves giving recommendations—to her boss, to her mom, and to strangers standing in the book aisle at Target. For Jenica Salazar, nothing is more satisfying than recommending the right book to the right reader. But today, she’s here for a little bit of literary therapy for herself. Anne chats with Jenica about a common bookworm pr…
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Wondery presents Jacked: Rise of the New Jack Sound
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Subscribe today: http://wondery.fm/Jacked_Wondery Hosted by Golden Globe winner Taraji P. Henson. Have you ever had a dream? Something you wanted so bad you just couldn’t let it go? For a group of kids in Harlem in the Eighties, their dreams would change pop music forever. Teddy Riley, Timmy Gatling, and Aaron Hall form a group called Guy that woul…
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Ep 262: Books that deliver a little depth, a little distraction
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Today’s guest tells a familiar story: he loved reading as a kid, but as an adult without a Scholastic book fair to look forward to, he fell into the habit of rereading or staying in his “safe zone” of sci-fi and fantasy. Geologist Max Lemoine needed just the right book to pull him out of his reading rut. He’s eager to uncover more titles that are o…
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Ep 261: Huggable comfort reads for a cozy reading season
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Readers have asked us for “comfort reads” over and over again this year — and it's totally understandable. “Comfort read” means something different to every reader, but if you’re looking for books that slow your heart rate, soothe your soul, and make you want to travel to a quiet English village, this episode is for you. Today’s guest Gina House ap…
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Ep 260: A little free library with a life of its own
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Sara Jones takes her role as “neighborhood library curator” seriously. In addition to selecting books for her own reading life, Sara Jones carefully curates her Little Free Library collection to reflect the reading tastes and needs of her community. She likes to feature a healthy mix of books for kids and adults, and she’s always on the lookout for…
The sci-fi genre feels like home, but Emily Van Ark also enjoys books in any genre that deliver on a fabulous premise. In her day job as a data scientist, Emily nalyzes data in order to find patterns and make recommendations for improving people’s lives... and Anne's job this week is to do some helpful data analysis for her reading life (with less …
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Ep 258: Reading for peace, joy, and escapism
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Reading for pure escapism means something different for every reader. Some of us turn to puzzle-like mysteries, some of us immerse ourselves in fantastical worlds. Today’s guest stays away from doom scrolling by reading lots and lots and lots of romance. “Recovering English major” Jenna Lowenstein still enjoys the occasional literary fiction read, …
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Ep 257: Let’s build your holiday book list
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Our annual holiday recommendations episode is here! A few weeks ago, you called us with your bookish gift buying questions and dilemmas, and today Anne is answering those questions alongside Beth Buss, the general bookstore manager at Bookmarks, a literary arts nonprofit in downtown Winston-Salem North Carolina. Beth and Anne will help you find jus…
If someone you love is diagnosed with cancer you want them to get the best treatment from the best doctors. In 2013, patients in Michigan thought Farid Fata was that doctor. Between his prestigious education, years of experience and pleasant bedside manner, Fata was everything you could want in a doctor. But he was not who he appeared to be. From W…
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Ep 256: The perks and pitfalls of omnivorous reading
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Reader Cliff Cullen was in the middle of his best reading year ever when...the pandemic hit. His one-time favorite reading habits, like listening to audiobooks during his commute, have had to change—but his voracious appetite for books remains the same. Today, Anne recommends books in a wide variety of genres to suit Cliff’s eclectic reading taste …
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Ep 255: Spine-tingling reads for a confirmed scaredy-cat
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Valencia Taylor is self-proclaimed book-pusher looking for reads that fall on the line between just-spooky-enough and way-too-scary, compelling stories that teach her something new about the world, and a way to keep track of her reading life. Of course, as a fellow book-pusher, Anne has plenty of recommendations and practical tips to share... Visit…
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Ep 254: A plethora of political(ish) book recs
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Anne is joined by Sarah Stewart Holland & Beth Silvers of Pantsuit Politics podcast to discuss fiction and nonfiction recommendations that have shaped their understanding of politics, history, and what it means to be a human in this world. They're each sharing "political" books they personally love and often recommend, because they are fascinating,…
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Ep 253: A whole bunch of book recs, from our team of readers to you
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Hey readers! Get your TBRs ready, because today’s episode contains a TON of book titles for a wide array of reading tastes, from a few voices which might sound familiar if you’ve been a long-time WSIRN listener. A few weeks ago, we asked the Modern Mrs Darcy and What Should I Read Next team to share their own summer reading recaps for a special Pat…
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Ep 252: Books that send you racing to Google
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Today's guest wants surprising books with unique story structures, new information, and plot twists that will make her say, “what did I just read?” Shelly Akins is a proud Arizonian who is always reading. And when she isn’t reading, she loves attending the Tuscon Festival of Books, a huge literary festival where both book talk and fangirling are we…
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Ep 251: I love books and books love me back
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Today’s guest is a self-proclaimed “book glutton” who reads in between everyday moments at home, at work, and even while she’s walking. Grettel Castro is a biostatistician living in Miami, Florida. She emigrated to the United States from Cuba at the age of 14, but her voracious appetite for reading started much earlier. Readers, I’m sure many of yo…
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Ep 250: I want a book that reads like a love letter
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Today’s guest has a story that sounds like the beginning of a juicy historical fiction novel. As a teenager, Liz Maguire came across a batch of 1920s love letters at a flea market. This launched an obsession with collecting vintage letters and preserving people’s personal correspondence as a piece of history. Of course, this project has had a marke…
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Ep 249: Who would read the dictionary for fun? (we would)
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An encounter with The Baby-Sitters Club #4 Mary Anne Saves the Day launched today's guest into a lifelong love of reading AND a special fondness for middle grade novels. Afoma Umesi is a freelance writer, editor, and children’s book blogger living in Nigeria. Anne has her work cut out for her to recommend middle grade books Afoma hasn’t read yet, p…
Today I’m talking with Jennifer Cordeiro, who lives in Bermuda, a small island with two bookstores and one library. Jennifer has encountered her fair share of #bookwormproblems, both in her own reading life and in her job at her small island bookstore where hurricanes, tourism, shipping dilemmas, and special orders mean you never know which books y…
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Ep 247: Finding the common thread in two friends' wildly different TBRs
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Today's episode is all about the joy of reading in relationships. Our guests Emma Gorin and Dinah Fay have been friends since 9th grade—that’s over 20 years. They haven’t always kept in touch as much as they'd like to, but books have always given them an easy way to reconnect. Emma and Dinah put in their submission to be on WSIRN with the explicit …
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Ep 246: Does your reading life need a mid-year checkup?
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On today's episode Anne helps Courtney Wallace, a Cincinnati reader, with a reading practice we hear surprisingly little about—her recent mid-year checkup on her reading goals. Lots of people talk about goals for the reading life—both numerical and content goals—at the start of every year. And we all see plenty of year-in-review summaries from read…
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Ep 245: Finding the right mix for your reading life
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Over the years, Anne has been called many thing–podcaster, author, and now... Book Yoda, a name bestowed upon her by today's guest and Lazy Genius blogger Kendra Adachie. You remember Kendra from all the way back in Episode 27: Books good enough to make you turn off the tv (even if you love tv), over FOUR years ago. Her reading life has changed a l…
Today's guest is looking for brain candy. That’s Elizabeth Cooper's delightful term for books that are FUN, with a killer premise, pages that practically turn themselves, and totally satisfying endings. Elizabeth’s past as a reader holds some surprising twists and turns itself — including a plot twist you're probably not expecting. Plus her method …
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Ep 243: Predicting the next great American classic
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Charlandra Jenkins is a Florida reader on the hunt for stories that reflect her life, love, grief, and humanity back to her. For Charlandra, new book releases and recent bestsellers by Black authors are a joy, but she’s also yearning for some history… backlist titles by women of color that say “hey! we’ve always been here, we’ve always existed”. To…
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Ep 242: Sharing Good Reads with good friends
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Anne is joined by Suzanne Skyvara, Goodreads VP of Marketing & Editorial, and Danny Feekes, Goodreads Managing Editor, to have an in-depth chat about how star ratings, reviews, and other nuggets of information we share online help connect our fellow readers to their next great read, support the authors we love, and change the way we see the world. …
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Ep 241: Memoirs, milk cows, and reading on horseback
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Raelene Bradley has let books be her guide as she and her husband fulfill their longtime dream of living off the land with a family farm. Raelene’s stories of reading in the fields with her horse as a child, and audiobooks to accompany milking time are stuff of readerly dreams. Today, Anne and Raelene chat about the surprising disappointments from …
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Ep 240: Saving the world, one series at a time
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Reader and author KJ Dell’Antonia picked up a lot of the wrong books during a difficult time in her life, and those experiences changed her perspective on a hotly debated literary topic: trigger warnings. She talks with Anne about that shift, moving beyond bedtime reading, covert audiobook operations, and how mystery novels could save your local bo…
Chris Abi Zeid is counting down the days before a big life event that will significantly alter his reading life. But for a few more weeks he still has precious reading hours. All he needs is his next read–and listeners, he has one huge requirement. He needs a book with a big, beefy, juicy plot. Complicated characters are great, but they need to go …
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Ep 238: Windows, mirrors, and why We Need Diverse Books
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Today’s guest Lamar Giles credits his love of reading to his mom who was always willing to buy him a book. Today Anne and Lamar chat about children’s books, horror novelist Stephen King, great novels where the setting is a character in its own right, and the importance of mirrors on the bookshelf. This episode was recorded and aired last year as Ep…
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Ep 237: When the library is closed, what's a reader to do?
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Elyssa Gould is an academic librarian and “recovering English major”, whose goal is to get caught up on her own backlist while she’s separated from her natural habitat, the library. Today, Anne shuffles around Elyssa’s 100 or so unread books into a few smaller stacks, for a DIY literature "curriculum" that should keep her busy at home for as long a…
It’s a weird time to be in the market for a new book. When it’s safer to stay home, and many libraries and bookstores have temporarily shut their doors to the public, what’s a reader to do… but turn to their home bookshelves! Your TBR shelf's time has COME! Today Annd chats with Karla Osorno, a WSIRN listener whose 600+ precious unread books have b…
Today we continue our celebration of Summer reading with Zibby Owens, host of the podcast Moms Don’t Have Time To Read Books. Anne and Zibby are chatting about what they’re excited to read this Summer, whether those books are brand new or quite old. Get ready for a slew of summer-ready non-fiction recommendations for your TBR. Click over to the pod…
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Ep 234: The recipe for a delicious summer read
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Readers, summer reading is so close you can almost taste it. Anne has been investigating upcoming summer releases for months now, on the lookout for new and notable titles that should be on your summer reading list. Prepping for the Summer Reading Guide brings up an important question — what makes a book a “summer read”? What’s the perfect balance …
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Ep 233: Escaping into someone else's story
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Anne chats with education navigator Hanan Al-Zubaidy about literacy in the justice system, and how her work with incarcerated students has been affected by social distancing. Hanan came to WSIRN looking for an escapist reading experience, but she didn’t mean happy endings and rainbows. She escapes her day to day life by submerging herself in someon…
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Ep 232: Really good fiction is about EVERYTHING
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Anne is joined by Gaithersburg, Maryland mayor Jud Ashman to give you an insiders’ look at what goes into the planning and establishment of those community book events. At the time of recording, they were still crossing their fingers that they’d get to meet in person at the Gaithersburg Book Festival. Between then and now, that event has been cance…
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Ep 231: Lush literary novels with page-turning appeal
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Today, Anne's exploring a genre that’s on the rise these days... ecofiction! Reader Katy Yocom is constantly on the hunt for absorbing novels with plots that not only incorporate the natural world, but ones in which the story absolutely depends upon it. Anne's challenge today is to pick 3 well-written titles for Katy that paint a lush portrait of n…
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Ep 230: Don't overthink your reading life
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A note from Anne — I’ve been soooo looking forward to sharing today’s episode with you. Today we’re sharing the live audio from my book tour stop at the Strand in New York City. This evening in their gorgeous rare books room was MAGICAL. The room was packed with avid readers (and quite a few What Should I Read Next alums, which is what we like to c…
Why do some books with heavy topics leave you feeling uncomfortable, while other books tackling difficult subject matter make you feel understood and connected to humankind? Today, guest Mandy Lambert and host Anne Bogel pick apart the ingredients of Mandy's favorite and least favorite books to discover the subtle difference between a hard book tha…
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Ep 228: HELP! I can't stop quitting books
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So, you hate the book you’re reading. Or maybe you just feel blah about the book you’re reading. Or maybe the book you’re reading is good, but a different book on your shelf just looks so appealing, and you can’t help reaching for it… suddenly, you have a stack of 5 half-read books on your nightstand, and you’re still browsing the library catalog f…
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Ep 227: Putting your money where your literary values are
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Guest Sterling Hardaway values efficiency and growth in his reading life, which has led him to a hefty serving of nonfiction to learn new exciting things, fiction that sidesteps predictable tropes to deliver a truly unique reading experience, and seeking out authors whose perspectives have been historically underrepresented. Anne's challenge today …
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Ep 226: Dig in to a feast for your literary senses
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As audiobooks have become more available and more popular over the years, they’ve become a bigger part so many of your daily routines. Today Anne chats with everyday expert Leanne Hunt about the history of audiobooks and her decades-long connection with the format. Leanne came looking for book recommendations that explore the inner life of characte…
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Ep 225: What your neighborhood should read next
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We're always hearing from listeners about connections made either on the show or in the blog or instagram comment sections. Today’s guest Elizabeth Barnhill had one of these delightful stories to share. She popped into Anne's DMs recently to say “Anne, I wanted to let you know that you are a bookstore matchmaker. I was listening to your show 2 year…
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Ep 224: Confronting the Bookshelf of Shame
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Like many readers, today’s guest Lacey Yong is creative. But her writing hobby is beginning to clash with her book selections, so she came to WSIRN with the question “how do I pick books that inspire me to write, without being too influenced by authors who write in my genre?” It’s a tricky problem, but one we can work through. Lacey is also ready t…
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Ep 223: Five stars for negative book reviews
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Anne has recommended books in translation to many guests in the past, but this week we’re venturing away from reading in English, with Parisian reader Florence Breuvert. Because she reads in both French and English, Florence often gets to choose between reading a work in translation, or reading an author’s words in their original language. Today, A…
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Ep 222: Ordinary lives make extraordinary books
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Today we listen in on Anne's recent event in Huntsville, Alabama in collaboration with Snail On the Wall and the Rocket City Moms Book Club. Shannan Malone hosts a conversation about Anne's new book, Don’t Overthink It, and Anne holds a LIVE literary matchmaking session with Erin, a reader from the event audience who loves books about the simple li…
Amy Rohn joins Anne to talk about literal literary matchmaking, the ups and downs of her life as a reader in search of real-life romance. We’re exploring what she looks for in a partner, whether they’re a reader or not, and truly baffling stories from her attempts at talking to men on dating apps about books. Plus, discussing Amy's newfound love af…
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Ep 220: The books that keep pulling me back
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Every week, we promise to give you the information you need to choose your next read. Sometimes, that means information about a specific title (like the premise, interesting backstory, or a sense of the atmosphere.) But other times, the information you need is only discovered through thoughtful reflection on your reading patterns, and developing pe…
You might remember way back in Ep 60, guest Mel Joulwan and I talked about her love for books with a "strong sense of place". Mel realized she loves to travel in her literary life, and in the years since we chatted on WSIRN she’s made that the priority in big, delightful ways, along with her husband Dave Humphries. Mel and Dave are joining us today…
