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Our Lady Nora Roberts has written a book about a handsome criminal who admires good architecture and casual pasta? We’re so back. Our friend and Nora Roberts expert Christine has returned to discuss Nightwork with us. Listen to this episode while working on your night cheese! Content warning: Cancer, death of a parent. Readers advisory: Here. Footnotes: “A Visual Guide to 35 Popular Pasta Shapes — Plus the Best Sauce to Serve with Each” by Rochelle Bilow Coming up next: Sanctuary by Nora Roberts.

Once again, we’ve managed to sneak in a few good books this year! Here are our favorite books we read in 2023 (regardless of publication year. Long live backlist titles!) Footnotes: Boston Globe’s Best Books of 2023 (featuring Renata’s picks for middle grade and YA!) Coming up next: A January hiatus. Happy New Year! We’ll see you in February!   Kait’s Top 5 Best 5.) Under the Eye of Power by Colin Dickey 4.) Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle 3.) The Narrow by Kate Alice Marshall 2.) Episode Thirteen by Craig DiLouie 1.) A House With Good Bones by T. Kingfisher Bonus star: A Guest in the House by Emily Carroll Bonus star: For Never and Always by Helena Greer   Renata’s Top 5 Best 5.) Go Ahead in the Rain: Notes to a Tribe Called Quest by Hanif Abdurriqib 4.) Siren Queen by Nghi Vo 3.) America the Beautiful? One Woman in a Borrowed Prius on the Road Most Traveled by Blythe Roberson 2.) Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer 1.) To Shape a Dragon’s Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose Bonus Star: Murderbot series by Martha Wells Bonus Star: Elf Dog and Owl Head by M. T. Anderson  

We finished our adventures with the Time Traveler’s Wife but decided to linger in the 2000s for awhile longer. Friend of the Show (and the Internet’s Best Friend) Margaret H. Willison joined us to discuss Britney Spears’s memoir The Woman In Me. Listen to this episode instead of listening to the music of Justin Timberlake! Content warning: This book contains abuse, abortion, disordered eating, and all the other stuff you’d assume. Readers advisory: Here. Footnotes: “Miss American Dream” by Taffy Brodesser-Akner. “Craig Ferguson’s Monologue Defending Britney Spears From 2007 Resurfaces Amid #FreeBritney Movement” by Alexandra Del Rosario “Mariah Carey Calls Mention in Britney Spears’ ‘The Woman in Me’ ‘Super Sweet’: ‘I Love Her'” by Ilana Kaplan “Michelle Williams impersonates Justin Timberlake while narrating hilarious part of Britney Spears’ memoir” by Shania Russell Mystery Show Case #2: Britney “Britney Spears’s Conservatorship Is a Disability Rights Issue That Deserves More Attention” by Haley Moss Coming up next: Bests of 2023.

We held our annual Patreon Choice poll and our Beloved Patrons chose to send us back in time to 2003 with The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. Since the book is prominently set in Chicago, we were #blessed to be joined by prominent Chicagoan Ashley to unpack the Jeremy Bearimy of it all. Please do not listen to this episode while having sex with your future wife for the first time. Content warning: Sketchy time travel age/consent issues, death of a partner, miscarriages. Readers advisory: Here. Footnotes: “Popular Titles are Vanishing from HBO Max After Merger” by Eric Deggans. Audrey Niffenegger’s Chicago The Time Traveler’s Wife: Reception Audrey Niffenegger Tweet about The Other Husband Legends of Tomorrow – Swan Thong Coming up next: The Woman in Me by Britney Spears.

  A cautionary tale: too many people complained about this book online so we were dumped into an arena and forced to publicly defend it to the death. Mackenzi Lee, author of many Best Bestselling books including The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue and The Winter Soldier: Cold Front, has returned to the podcast to get to talk about a book we all actually enjoyed: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins. The Capitol has mandated that all citizens listen to this episode, so please comply with their decree. Content warning: Hunger Games. Readers advisory: Here. Footnotes: “Hunger Games prequel: untangling the controversy over The Ballad Of Songbirds And Snakes” by Kayleigh Dray “Reminder That ‘Hunger Games’ Co-Stars Rachel Zegler and Josh Andrés Rivera Are Dating IRL and V Cute” by Mehera Bonner Coming up next: The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger.

Spooky season is here, so we were joined by Lily Sparks, author of the Teen Killers Club trilogy (including the latest book, Teen Killers at Large) and the upcoming The Merciless King of Moore High. We got witchy with the Owens women in Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman. This episode will bring all the cats to the schoolyard! Announcement: Join us in our Discord server on Monday, October 30th at 8:30pm Eastern Time for a live watch of the Practical Magic movie! (It’s currently streaming on Hulu.) Content warning: Light mention of death of parents, domestic violence, and death of a boyfriend. Readers advisory: Here. Footnotes: “Goodbye Earl” by The Chicks. Episode 122 – A Discovery Of Witches Coming up next: The Ballad of Songbird and Snakes by Suzanne Collins.

We just wrapped up Banned Books Week in the USA, a time to celebrate our freedom to read and also to speak up about book challenges! We were joined by Jen and Dan, the hosts of the Banned Camp podcast, where they read banned books to investigate why they were banned. They previously read To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, which is frequently banned and challenged. So together we read the controversial Go Set A Watchman by Harper Lee, and you know what…maybe we’re challenging it. No, like, we’re not going to call for it to be removed from libraries or anything, just like…are you sure you want to read it? Listen to this episode on your next train ride to Maycomb. Content warning: Discussion of racism (though we 100% guarantee we do not say the n-word aloud on the podcast, although it is in the text of the book itself), sexual assault, and death of a sibling. Readers advisory: Here. Footnotes: Unite Against Book Bans “How to Fight Book Bans and Challenges” by Kelly Jensen “Banned Spotlight: To Kill a Mockingbird” by Betsy Gomez “See where ‘Go Set a Watchman’ overlaps with ‘To Kill a Mockingbird,’ word-for-word” by Keith Collins and Nikhil Sonnad Harper Lee: The controversy that still surrounds author’s ‘lost novel’ Go Set a Watchman by Andrew Buncombe Coming up next: Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman.

It’s our 9th podiversary! We’ve run out of Stephenie Meyer books so we decided to have our OG guest Carrie return to check out a series whose marketing team would certainly love for us to think it was written by SMeyer: Crave by Tracy Wolff. Thanks to everyone for joining us for these past 9 years, and let’s all work on manifesting a new Twilight book for next year! Readers advisory: Here. Footnotes: 360+ Teen Slang, Emojis, & Hashtags Parents Need to Know  Coming up next: Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee.

We’re topping off this year’s Flashback Summer with a pair of red–some would say auburn–braids. We were joined by Hannah and Marcelle, the cohosts of Witch, Please and Material Girls, to discuss Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery. Pour yourselves a cup of raspberry cordial and listen to this podcast on your train journey from the orphanage! Readers advisory: Here. Footnotes: Anne of Green Gables Raspberry Cordial recipe by Tori Avey The Real Reason ‘Anne With an E’ Was Canceled by Netflix Is Heartbreaking by Katie Bourque Coming up next: Crave by Tracy Wolff.

For Flashback Summer we decided to get away from it all with a visit to an exclusive desert spa. Unfortunately, the spa was plagued with black widow spiders, blackmailers, and other concerns. Fortunately, Kristin, the host of the Kristin Sleuth YouTube channel, was able to talk us through Nancy Drew #111: The Secret at Solaire by Carolyn Keene. This episode is not sponsored by Solaire moisturizer. Readers advisory: Here. Footnotes: Episode 55 – Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys Kristin Sleuth on YouTube Crime Pays, Botany Doesn’t on YouTube It’s a Clue podcast The Dream podcast Sweet Valley High Diaries – 35’s Extended B-Story: Tofu-Glo Coming up next: Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery.

  Breaking Flashback Summer News: in the title of the book Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison, “Angus” refers to the cat! Renata was almost as excited about this fact as she was about convincing JJ, aka S. Jae-Jones, author of Guardians of Dawn: Zhara to return as a guest for this episode! Listen to this episode while shaving your eyebrows (or while you are homebound, waiting for your eyebrows to regrow). Readers advisory: Here. Footnotes: Time 100 Best YA Books Of All Time: Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging Coming up next: Nancy Drew and the Secret at Solaire by Carolyn Keene.

For this Flashback Summer episode, the Bellwether Friends Anna & Alene joined Renata to discuss Anastasia Krupnik by Lois Lowry. Sadly, Kait had to miss this one because she was busy shopping for her new poetry outfit, which would make Anastasia green with envy. Listen to this episode while you update the list of “loves” and “hates” in your notebook! Kait’s Poetry Outfit: Readers advisory: Here. Footnotes: “Four Questions with Lois Lowry, Newbery Award-Winning Children’s Author” by Molly Parr “Why Anastasia Krupnik Was Ahead of Her Time” by Grace Lapointe Bellwether Friends #65 – Fastest and Furiousest Coming up next: Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison.