Today's guest is Dave Harrity, a writer, college professor, and real-life friend of Anne's in Louisville. But there's something else you should know about David, and you have to promise not to click away when we tell you.... It’s National Poetry Month, and Dave is a published poet. We know a lot of readers think they’re just not intopoetry... and after this episode if you’re still not convinced, that’s fine! But Anne and Dave's discussion is totally accessible for non-poetry-lovers. Today, Anne ...
Apr 18, 2017•1 hr 2 min•Ep 75•Transcript available on Metacast Today's guest hails from Austin, TX, and enjoys the simple things in life: wine, books, chips & salsa. As host of The Happy Hour podcast, it might be fair to say Jamie Ivey is a happiness "professional." Most of our guests come with anecdotes about childhoods reading under the covers or sneaking books to the dinner table, but today Jamie gives her perspective as a NON-lifetime reader! Anne and Jamie also chat about the 5 different ways you can feel about a book, relationship-centric stories, and...
Apr 11, 2017•42 min•Ep 74•Transcript available on Metacast Have you ever been at a bus stop, on a train, or in a waiting room, and casually craned your neck trying to peek the title of a stranger's book? Going a step further - have you ever straight-up ASKED a stranger about the book they're reading? For most of us, that sounds intimidating. For today's guest, Uli Beutter Cohen, it sounded like a fascinating years-long project. Uli is the creator behind Subway Book Review on Instagram, a project dedicated to sharing book reviews from strangers on the tr...
Apr 04, 2017•52 min•Ep 73•Transcript available on Metacast Happy Tuesday, readers! Meet Madeleine Riley, a 24-year-old special education teacher in New England who runs a colorful bookstagram account, Top Shelf Text, where she celebrates the most beautiful titles she's been reading lately. Today, Anne delves into who Madeleine is as an INFJ "regular reader" who just needs some alone time with a book to unwind. Topics include the struggle to find bookish friends IRL, judging books by their covers, discovering the next mystery comfort-read, and their emba...
Mar 28, 2017•50 min•Ep 72•Transcript available on Metacast Today’s guest is an early member of the WSIRN family. If you were a listener back at the veeeery beginning of our show, you have Knox to thank for getting the first 11 episodes into your ears as our behind-the-scenes producer! You may ALSO know him as the cohost of The POPcast with Knox and Jamie, a weekly dose of pop culture mayhem. In this episode Knox and Anne discuss star-studded audiobooks, how much nostalgia a book can take before it's overkill, and more... while Anne tries to stay cool ab...
Mar 21, 2017•44 min•Ep 71•Transcript available on Metacast We're delighted to welcome Jessie Weaver on the show for episode 70! Jessie is a married mother of two who loves to read, which sounds pretty normal, right? She lives in the Chattanooga area with her family... AND a gaggle of teenage boys in a private school dorm. Anne and Jessie talk about this very different "lifestyle", how being a dorm parent changes Jessie's reading life, and the brave topic of lifetime favorites. Plus, last year Jessie got most of her book recommendations from the internet...
Mar 14, 2017•45 min•Ep 70•Transcript available on Metacast Today we welcome the marvelous Carolyn McCready to the show! As an acquisitions editor, reading is truly Carolyn's job. In this episode, Anne takes a little peek behind the scenes of the publishing industry, and of course dive into Carolyn's reading life—like how her reading journey began in a Baskin-Robbins (ice cream and books, does it get better than that?), This Is Us read-alikes, and the many beautiful, perilous ways the library might start to run your life. Click over to the podcast websit...
Mar 07, 2017•53 min•Ep 69•Transcript available on Metacast You may know Laura Tremaine from her former blog Hollywood Housewife... or the Sorta Awesome podcast... or The Smartest Person In The Room podcast... but no matter where you first heard Laura's voice, we can all agree she's a delight. Anne and Laura discuss the author Laura thinks is underappreciated, even though he’s a HUGE commercial success (any guesses?) They also touch on how competition and insecurity in the reading world gets real, Judy Blume, Reese Witherspoon, book clubs, and how plot s...
Feb 28, 2017•43 min•Ep 68•Transcript available on Metacast Today’s guest, Eli Sykes, is a food scientist who describes his job as “getting to eat snacks all day,” so it’s safe to say Eli is living the dream. We’ve had a lot of English majors on the show, but this episode looks into what it’s like to be married to an English major, because, you guessed it—Eli’s wife is one. Anne and eli discuss how a teacher sparked the reading flame in his heart (and exactly what book fanned it), a certain unnamed author who gets a lot of love around here, and how he “j...
Feb 21, 2017•39 min•Ep 67•Transcript available on Metacast Today's completely awesome guest is Megan Tietz, host of Sorta Awesome podcast. Some things to know about Megan - she’s an enneagram 9 (just like Anne) and a textbook ENFP, she LOVES The Great Gatsby, and she is a bright, bubbly joy to listen to. In this episode, Anne and Megan talk personality types, broken hearts, and how working on a podcast can affect the reading life. Click over to the podcast website for the full list of titles discussed in this episode, and leave us a comment to let us kn...
Feb 14, 2017•48 min•Ep 66•Transcript available on Metacast Today’s guest is Graylin Porter, World-Lit-major-with-a-Masters-in-Modern-&-Contemporary-Lit-turned-children’s-librarian who is expecting a new addition to her family very very soon (hint: it’s a baby!). Graylin shares a peek behind the librarian curtain, including the struggles of keeping a children’s section stocked, what she will miss most about the library when she leaves her position later this year, and the one genre her book club knows they can count on her to read. Click over to the podc...
Feb 07, 2017•41 min•Ep 65•Transcript available on Metacast It's time for something a bit different - in today's "from the mailbag" episode, Anne discusses the myriad ways readers track their book lives, from Goodreads, to bullet journals, to excel spreadsheets, to #bookstagram. Fifteen WSIRN listeners' favorite recording techniques are highlighted, and Anne shares a little bit about her own favorite tracking strategies. For pictures from our listeners and even more info, visit the corresponding blog post on Modern Mrs. Darcy. Connect with Anne: Blog | T...
Jan 31, 2017•1 hr•Ep 64•Transcript available on Metacast Today's guest is Elise Blaha Cripe, who you may know as the creative professional behind the Get to Work Book planner, or the host of podcast Elise Gets Crafty. Most importantly, Elise is one of those people who can’t NOT talk about books—who loves to be reading, and loves to share what she reads. Today we talk about Elise’s love of big, thick books, the three places she gets her book recommendations, and how the true sign of a great book is if it makes Elise forget she has a phone. Click over t...
Jan 24, 2017•48 min•Ep 63•Transcript available on Metacast Hello readers, it's a very special Tuesday! We have officially reached What Should I Read Next's Anniversary episode. It's been a full year since Episode 1! There are 61 episodes under our belt, and in 52 of those episodes Anne has recommended what our fascinating guests should read next. But as the host of this show, she's never sat in the hot seat herself. Until today. For our anniversary, we’re doing this special episode of What Should Anne Should Read Next, so you can hear her talk a little ...
Jan 17, 2017•1 hr 2 min•Ep 62•Transcript available on Metacast Today we’re catching up with the very first guest of What Should I Read Next! Even if you're a longtime listener, you still might not recognize his voice... and that’s because the first time Anne recorded this show, it was on her iPhone, in a moving vehicle, in the middle of nowhere, and the guest? Her husband, Will Bogel. That episode never aired, and the file got trashed a long time ago. But today Will is back to celebrate the anniversary of the show he helped test-drive a year ago! It's been ...
Jan 10, 2017•42 min•Ep 61•Transcript available on Metacast Happy 2017, listeners! We have a DYNAMIC episode to kick off the WSIRN New Year. Today’s guest is Melissa Joulwan. If you already know Melissa, it’s probably as the author of her popular cookbooks (and Bogel Family favorites) Well Fed, Well Fed 2, and Well Fed Weeknights. But that’s just the beginning of her bio, which is one of the most interesting you'll ever read. She’s a retired Roller Girl. Prague is her favorite city. Duran Duran is her favorite band. And her life is also made better by he...
Jan 03, 2017•51 min•Ep 60•Transcript available on Metacast Our guest this week is Danielle Mayfield. Danielle lives in Portland, OR with her husband and two small children. You may know her as the author of Assimilate or Go Home: Notes from a Failed Missionary on Rediscovering Faith,a book of essays that was recently released by HarperOne. Danielle often writes about heavy hitting topics like refugees, theology, and downward mobility, but today she and Anne are running away from the heavy stuff and are searching for good comfort reads instead. They're c...
Dec 27, 2016•49 min•Ep 59•Transcript available on Metacast Today's guest is Jamie Durham, a full-time missionary living in Tijuana, Mexico. Jamie and her well-traveled family of 5 have to cross an international border to get to a their nearest library! In this episode, Jamie and Anne dive into how this unconventional setup changes the way Jamie approaches her to-be-read list, the dreaded "you have hit your hold limit" library message, reading difficult literature as a Highly Sensitive Person, and more! Click over to the podcast website for the full list...
Dec 20, 2016•52 min•Ep 58•Transcript available on Metacast Today’s guest is Shaney Swift, a massage therapist and social justice advocate from Chicago, Illinois. If you’ve been around What Should I Read Next for a while, you know Anne can be a bit of a personality-type geek, and Shaney shares that enthusiasm -- so prepare for a lot of nerding out! Today Anne and Shaney discuss scanning and deep-diving reading styles, books that help us understand our differences, and what to read next when you feel like your life is in limbo. Click over to the podcast w...
Dec 13, 2016•31 min•Ep 57•Transcript available on Metacast This is a WSIRN first— a repeat guest! Today Anne chats with friend of the show and bookstore owner Holland Saltsman about everything you didn't know you wanted to know about opening an independent bookstore, how to support indies this holiday season, the best three books we each read this year, and their favorite bookish gifts for this holiday season (and all year 'round.) We hope you enjoy this episode, and get a ton of great holiday gift ideas for the readers in your life. Click over to the p...
Dec 06, 2016•50 min•Ep 56•Transcript available on Metacast Around here, we don’t think you need an excuse to love Jane Austen, but boy does today's guest Rebecca Smith have a great one -- she is Jane Austen's great great great great great niece! Rebecca is a longtime reader, a former writer in residence at Jane Austen’s House Museum in Chawton, and she currently teaches creative writing in the U.K. She’s the author of Jane Austen's Guide to Modern Life's Dilemmas and the recently published book The Jane Austen Writer’s Club. Click over to the podcast we...
Nov 29, 2016•32 min•Ep 55•Transcript available on Metacast Today we're back to literary matchmaking, with listener Melodee Skiles here to representing all the avid audiobook lovers who want to know what to LISTEN to next! Melodee is a stay-at-home mom who owns an online literature tutorial business. Books are (clearly) her bag, and while she's taking a short break from tutoring, she wants to revitalize her love of literature by reading outside the bounds of the texts she teaches at work. Like many of us, some of Melodee's warmest memories are of her par...
Nov 22, 2016•45 min•Ep 54•Transcript available on Metacast Here to help close out the Reading For A Lifetime week is Jenny Williams, who illustrates beloved literary heroines for a living as the charming artist and entrepreneur behind Carrot Top Paper Shop. In this episode, Anne and Jenny talk all about why we love our literary heroines of literature so much (think Anne, Elizabeth, Jane, Hermione), wrestle with what makes for a modern heroine. Click over to the podcast website for the full list of titles discussed in this episode, and leave us a comment...
Nov 18, 2016•25 min•Ep 53•Transcript available on Metacast It's Day 4 of our special Reading For A Lifetime series on WSIRN, and if our comment section has made one thing known, it's this: Adults LOVE Kid Lit. Not just for kids, not just in a theoretical sense, but in honest-to-goodness, just-for-the-joy-of-it, everyday-reading-life practice. The guest here to chat with Anne about reading KidLit for fun? The beloved and oft-requested Gretchen Rubin! You all know her as the author of The Happiness Project, Happier at Home, and Better than Before, but wha...
Nov 17, 2016•25 min•Ep 52•Transcript available on Metacast Day 3 of our special Reading For A Lifetime series is all about "guilty pleasure" kid lit - the series we read and re-read not because they were Great Literature, but because they were gosh-darn fun! Here to talk about not-so-serious gateway children's literature are Jack Shepherd and Tanner Greenring, hosts of The Babysitters Club Club podcast. They each have their own story of how they found the series, and why—as thirty-something men—they've chosen to devote a large chunk of their time and at...
Nov 16, 2016•36 min•Ep 51•Transcript available on Metacast Day 2 of our Reading For A Lifetime series is about encouraging middle school and young adult kids to indulge in great books, and our guest Leigh Collazo has a LOT of wisdom to share on that topic. Leigh is a school librarian who serves children from over 30 different countries at an international school in China. Today she shares all about why the middle school years are her favorite when it comes to finding the right books for the right readers. Click over to the podcast website for the full l...
Nov 15, 2016•38 min•Ep 50•Transcript available on Metacast Today kicks off our special WSIRN 5-day miniseries: What Should I Read Next for Kids, and Kids at Heart. We’re focusing on a variety of young and young at heart topics this week: children’s literature, coming of age stories, literary heroines, kid lit for grown-ups, and more. Who better to jump-start the series than Sarah Mackenzie? Sarah is a friend, devoted reader, and Kid Lit Expert Extraordinaire. You may know her as the host of the Read Aloud Revival podcast and site, or as the author of Te...
Nov 14, 2016•45 min•Ep 49•Transcript available on Metacast This week guest Maxwell Dunn (WellDoneBooks on YouTube) introduces Anne to a whole new wonderful world of book lovers online—the Booktube community! Booktube is known best for its voracious YA fans, but there's a book vlogger out there for every literary palate. Max is a great example of this; his videos cover serious award winners, challenging experimental works, and deep dives into substantial modern literature. In today's episode, Max & Anne discuss stories with unique structural elements, bo...
Nov 08, 2016•47 min•Ep 48•Transcript available on Metacast It's bibliotherapy time! Today's guest is Erin Swann, is an attorney who lives in Greenville, South Carolina with her family. Erin's always been a reader, but when she went through a major transition a few years back she rediscovered the therapeutic value of a welcoming book. Join Erin and Anne as they discuss armchair travel, fictional characters as friends, and more. Click over to the podcast website for the full list of titles discussed in this episode, and leave us a comment to let us know w...
Nov 01, 2016•30 min•Ep 47•Transcript available on Metacast Today we have a special episode: we're revisiting seven guests from previous episodes of the show to find out what they actually did read next. What are they reading now? What did they love? And what did they, uh, not love as much? Click over to the podcast website for the full list of titles discussed in this episode. What book recommendations YOU have picked up after listening to the show! Did you love them? Hate them? Let Anne know in the comments on the podcast site. Connect with Anne: Blog ...
Oct 25, 2016•24 min•Ep 46•Transcript available on Metacast 
