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8 episodes with catherine newman
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3 episodes with catherine newman
On this episode of IGTBO, Nora is joined by her favorite living novelist, Catherine Newman, to put a little more OK in your day. They talk about celebrating sobriety and not drinking, Artemis II, how to unwind with the Bear Valley Eagle Cam, and the importance of family (and highly intense family card games). If your anxious heart needs a break from the whirlwind of Bad outside (and need to feel validated in how lame grocery shopping is), take this episode as your daily dose of OK. Catherine's books: Sandwich Amazon | Bookshop Wreck Amazon | Bookshop The Adidas Pants Catherine's Snack Recs! You can share your okay things with us at ☎️502-388-OKAY (6529) or
Get in, losers—we're getting obsessed with a local tragedy! Join the Book Squad for a chat about Wreck by Catherine Newman. We talk about our beloved Rocky, parents and family, grief and anxiety, and of course, Chicken and Angie (the cats!). On May 26, we'll be joined by Sarah Edmondson and Nippy Ames to talk about Wayward (Netflix) and their new book, A Little Bit Culty, on our next Othersode. Our next Bookpisode will be about Japanese Gothic by Kylie Lee Baker. Join us for that on June 9!TOC:30– Welcome! We're sad Emily isn't here.15:29–Book Intro17:00–How is Rocky as a narrator?23:24–Parents and family30:00–Grief, anxiety, and medical conditions50:50–Chicken and Angie, stars of the show.56:00– Visiting with fear1:02:56–The ending1:09:00–Ratings1:14:30– What's up next?
On this episode of Currently Reading, Meredith and Mary are discussing: Bookish Moments: Indie Bookstore Day and adaptations exceeding expectations. Current Reads: all the great, interesting, and/or terrible stuff we've been reading lately Deep Dive: more reading therapy with Mary Before We Go: our new segment featuring something Meredith is curious about and some TBR triage for Mary. Show notes are time-stamped below for your convenience. Read the transcript of the episode (this link only works on the main site). . . . :10 - Bite Size Intro 2:02 - Currently Reading Patreon 2:10 - Watch Anitra's video HERE 2:47 - Roar by Cecelia Ahern 3:41 - Bookish Moments of the Week 4:05 - Boswell Book Company 6:15 - Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir 6:37 - The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas 9:19 - The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion by Beth Brower 9:44 - Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz 10:07 - Current Reads 10:13 - Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones (Mary) 13:37 - The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams 13:51 - Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree 15:25 - Murder by Memory by Olivia Waite (Meredith) 21:26 - Dan in Green Gables by Rey Terciero (Mary) 21:35 - Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery 24:25 - This Cursed House by Del Sandeen (Meredith) 26:25 - Great Expectations by Charles Dickens 27:06 - Feral and Hysterical by Sadie Hartmann 28:17 - Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia 29:22 - Instructions for Traveling West by Joy Sullivan (Mary) 31:44 - Comfort Me With Apples by Catherynne M. Valente 32:45 - The Bridge Kingdom by Danielle Jensen (Meredith) 35:00 - Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros 36:59 - Two Friends Books 38:28 - Deep Dive: Reading Therapy with Mary 40:42 - Slewfoot by Brom 43:11 - @maryoliversdrunkcousin on Instagram 43:18 - The Poetry Remedy by William Siegert 45:27 - The Popcast 45:54 - How We Live is How We Die by Pema Chodron 49:10 - Lightfall: The Girl and the Galdurian by Tim Probert 52:54 - Heartwood by Amity Gage 52:55 - The Same Bright Stars by Ethan Joella 52:57 - Wreck by Catherine Newman 52:58 - Her Many Faces by Nicci Cloke 53:00 - Spectacular Things by Beck Dorey-Stein 53:25 - Sandwich by Catherine Newman 53:36 - Before I Forget by Tory Henwood Hoen 54:02 - The Ogress and the Orphans by Kelly Barnhill 54:04 - The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill 54:59 - It's Ok That You're Not Ok by Megan Devine 55:49 - Currently Reading Substack 56:27 - The Shell Seekers by Rosamunde Pilcher 57:29 - Before We Go Meredith brings something she's curious about 57:46 - @Meredithmondayschwartz on Instagram 58:41 - The Perfect Loaf by Maurizio Leo 59:47 - Sourdough by Robin Sloan Mary tries a little TBR triage 1:00:23 - The Wolf and the Woodsman by Ava Reid Support Us: Become a Bookish Friend | Grab Some Merch Shop Bookshop dot org | Shop Amazon Bookish Friends Receive: The Indie Press List with a curated list of five books hand sold by the indie of the month. April's IPL is brought to us from a new to us bookstore, Book & Books in Coral Gables, Florida Love and Chili Peppers with Kaytee and Rebekah - romance lovers get their due with this special episode focused entirely on the best selling genre fiction in the business All Things Murderful with Meredith and Elizabeth - special content for the scary-lovers, brought to you with the behind-the-scenes insights of an independent bookseller From the Editor's Desk with Kaytee and Bunmi Ishola - a quarterly peek behind the curtain at the publishing industry The Bookish Friends Facebook Group - where you can build community with bookish friends from around the globe as well as our hosts Connect With Us: The Show: Instagram | Website | Email | Threads | Substack | Youtube The Hosts and Regulars: Meredith | Kaytee | Mary | Roxanna Production and Editing: Megan Phouthavong Evans Affiliate Disclosure: All affiliate links go to Bookshop unless otherwise noted. Shopping here helps keep the lights on and benefits indie bookstores. Thanks for your support!
We Will Not Be Aging Quietly: Claiming Your Most Powerful Season with Katie Fogarty Description: What if the years everyone warned you about turned out to be the ones you'd been waiting for? Today, Jen and Amy sit down with Katie Fogarty—a former journalist, career coach, and the voice behind one of the most vibrant midlife podcasts in the country, called A Certain Age—for an honest, energizing hour about what it really means to thrive in this season. Katie launched A Certain Age thirty-five days before her 51st birthday with one mission: blow up the narrative that women become less relevant as they get older. Five years and 230-plus episodes later, she's interviewed hundreds of midlife women—and she has thoughts. Big ones. They dig into the myths about midlife that refuse to die, why Katie calls this season an "accelerant" rather than an obstacle, what it looks like when women stop waiting for permission and start claiming their lives—and what she's hearing that gives her real hope for the women coming behind us. If you've ever felt like midlife was quietly trying to make you smaller—this episode is your push back. Thought-provoking Quotes: “Sometimes the word ‘reinventing' implies we're completely changing our lives and getting rid of everything that came before. It's more about reimagining, because we're drawing on all of our expertise to apply it in new ways, big and small.” – Katie Fogarty “Midlife is that moment where you say, let me get going. The kids are grown, the career maybe is established, life is sort of on track, moving forward, and we have this moment with space in our brain, maybe on our calendar, to actually hit go on whatever it is we've been thinking about for so long.” – Katie Fogarty “If you are feeling disconnected from relationships, or like you're not being supported, find people that you are visible to. There are communities of people out there who care about what you care about, who want to see you, who will see you.” – Katie Fogarty Resources Mentioned in This Episode: Jen's first colonoscopy - https://www.instagram.com/reel/DWz8nTvgo6p/ Sophie Grégoire Trudeau on Life, Emotional Regulation and Midlife Reinventions - https://www.acertainagepod.com/shows/sophie-grgoire-trudeau-on-life-emotional-regulation-and-midlife-reinventions Tamsen Fadal - https://www.tamsenfadal.com/ Grown Woman Talk: Your Guide to Getting and Staying Healthy by Dr. Sharon Malone - https://amzn.to/4t14kQY The New Perimenopause: What's Actually Happening to Your Body with Dr. Mary Claire Haver - https://jenhatmaker.com/podcasts/series-64/the-new-perimenopause-whats-actually-happening-to-your-body-with-dr-mary-claire-haver/ When Life Happens: The Mindset Shift You Need to Manage Stress, Build Confidence, and Break Free by Dr. Rachel Goldman - https://amzn.to/4mnvZsY Midlife Private Parts: Revealing Essays That Will Change the Way You Think About Age - https://www.midlifeprivateparts.com/ The Midlife Book Club - https://www.themidlifebookclub.com/about Jen Hatmaker Book Club - https://shop.jenhatmaker.com/collections/book-club Sandwich by Catherine Newman - https://amzn.to/3QauFNM Same As It Ever Was by Claire Lombardo - https://amzn.to/4mkK8XI The Grand Paloma Resort: A Novel by Cleyvis Natera - https://amzn.to/4meEQNi The Secret Book Society by Madeline Martin - https://amzn.to/47MkGnX Guest's Links: Website - https://www.acertainagepod.com/ Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/acertainagepod/ Podcast - https://www.acertainagepod.com/episodes Connect with Jen!Jen's Website - https://jenhatmaker.com/ Jen's Instagram - https://instagram.com/jenhatmakerJen's Twitter - https://twitter.com/jenHatmaker/ Jen's Facebook - https://facebook.com/jenhatmakerJen's YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/user/JenHatmaker The For the Love Podcast is presented by Audacy. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Try not to catch the plague with us as we travel back to 1300s England to discuss George Falls Through Time by Ryan Collett! We talk about the author's YouTube career, George as a character, medieval times vs modernity, the mechanics of time travel, and of course, the romance. Hate-read along with us for our next Othersode on April 28th about The Boyfriend by Freida McFadden. Then join us for our next Bookpisode about Wreck by Catherine Newman on May 12th. Don't forget to leave us a rating on Apple Podcasts and check out our Patreon to support us for just $3 a month!TOC:30 –Welcome! 7:15 – Book intro10:15 – Ryan Collett17:00 – George33:10 – Medieval times kind of sucks59:07 – Dragons1:02:56 – Time travel1:21:15 – Ratings1:29:47 – What's up next?
New York Times bestselling author Catherine Newman is back on the podcast talking about her hilarious new novel about midlife anxiety Wreck. Catherine talks with me about writing superstitions, hilariously terrible reviews, what success as a novelist has really meant to her and the joy she has found in owning her own publication on Substack after a lifetime writing for other people. LinksWreck by Catherine NewmanSandwich by Catherine NewmanWe All Want Impossibly Things by Catherine NewmanCrone Sandwich - Catherine's SubstackTHE FOLD membership for writers
On this episode of Currently Reading, Kaytee and Meredith are discussing: Bookish Moments: books that grow as we read and book festival serendipity Current Reads: all the great, interesting, and/or terrible stuff we've been reading lately Deep Dive: partaking in bookish traditions Before We Go: our new segment featuring bookish friend posts and a sleeper hit brought by Meredith Show notes are time-stamped below for your convenience. Read the transcript of the episode (this link only works on the main site). . . . 1:31 - Bookish Moments of the Week 2:46 - Red Winter by Cameron Sullivan 5:40 - All Systems Red by Martha Wells 5:49 - Sandwich by Catherine Newman 5:50 - Wreck by Catherine Newman 7:02 - Birding with Benefits by Sarah T. Dubb 7:03 - Honey Bee Mine by Sarah T. Dubb 8:02 - Current Reads 8:34 - The Inn at Penglas Cove by Lauren Westwood (Meredith) 13:08 - The Man Who Died Seven Times by Yasuhiko Nishizawa (Kaytee) 17:37 - The 7 ½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton 18:04 - Wrong Place Wrong Time by Gillian McCallister 18:34 - The Extra by Annie Neugebauer (Meredith) 19:05 - Book Talk, Etc 20:08 - Talking Scared Podcast w/ Annie Neugebauer 23:50 - Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Guidara (Kaytee) 24:01 - CR Season 7: Episode 16 29:10 - @wguidara on Instagram 29:34 - The Murder at World's End by Ross Montgomery (Meredith) 31:35 - An Unlikely Story 33:24 - The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett 34:27 - How to Solve Your Own Murder by Kristen Perrin 35:36 - The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow 36:18 - Waterstones 39:15 - Outlander by Diana Gabaldon 39:24 - The Ten Thousand Doors Of January by Alix E. Harrow 40:24 - Deep Dive: Our Reading Traditions 45:27 - The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis 45:29 - Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh 45:32 - Beauty by Robin McKinley 48:47 - BookPage 49:23 - Before We Go Kaytee highlights a bookish friend post 49:37 - The Better Mother by Jennifer van der Kleut Meredith brings a sleeper hit 51:09 - The Gift of Fear by Gavin de Becker Support Us: Become a Bookish Friend | Grab Some Merch Shop Bookshop dot org | Shop Amazon Bookish Friends Receive: The Indie Press List with a curated list of five books hand sold by the indie of the month. March's IPL is brought by our lovely friends at An Unlikely Story in Plainville, MA. Love and Chili Peppers with Kaytee and Rebekah - romance lovers get their due with this special episode focused entirely on the best selling genre fiction in the business All Things Murderful with Meredith and Elizabeth - special content for the scary-lovers, brought to you with the behind-the-scenes insights of an independent bookseller From the Editor's Desk with Kaytee and Bunmi Ishola - a quarterly peek behind the curtain at the publishing industry The Bookish Friends Facebook Group - where you can build community with bookish friends from around the globe as well as our hosts Connect With Us: The Show: Instagram | Website | Email | Threads | Substack | Youtube The Hosts and Regulars: Meredith | Kaytee | Mary | Roxanna Production and Editing: Megan Phouthavong Evans Affiliate Disclosure: All affiliate links go to Bookshop unless otherwise noted. Shopping here helps keep the lights on and benefits indie bookstores. Thanks for your support!
Send us Fan MailThis month's featured read is Wreck by Catherine Newman. Spoiler free chats as always!
Erin drafted this episode during a false spring — bright light, warm temps, a few days without a winter jacket. Then she sat down to record on a Sunday and it was snowing. Again. Which is exactly why this episode needed to exist. This is a guided end-of-winter reflection for everyone who has been holding on through the hardest months of the year. It names the specific disorientation of almost-spring, validates the depletion that comes from a full winter of reserves being drawn down, and offers a gentle self check-in before we sprint toward a spring we may not quite be ready for yet. "The cruelest part of almost-spring is how much it asks of our patience right when we have nothing left to give." The episode's guiding question: What does it look like to finish the winter well? Not crawl across the finish line. Actually arrive at spring with your identity, your core values, and your sense of self intact. IN THIS EPISODE What We Cover Why almost-spring is its own kind of exhaustion — the gap between anticipation and reality The 'lights on before you're ready to get up' feeling — and why burned-out women feel this as pressure, not relief Winter fatigue as cumulative — how we've been drawing off reserves since November Why rushing the thaw — emotionally, physically, mentally — can undo the quiet work of winter The grief of letting go of the slower season, even when it was hard A five-question guided self check-in (interactive — grab a journal) Building reserves for the final stretch without over-scheduling spring A full care package: books, albums, a color, and three small practices THE SELF CHECK-IN Five Questions for the Thaw Erin walks through each question on mic — modeling the practice and answering for herself in real time. Grab a journal or your notes app and do this alongside her. Question 1 What did this winter actually ask of me? Not what you accomplished or managed. What did the season ask you to carry? What was the central question of your winter? Erin's answer: The winter asked her to carry her own point of view at the top of the priority list — not putting herself first exactly, but leading with her own thoughts and feelings rather than orienting around everyone else's. Her word of the year: sovereign. Question 2 Where am I still depleted — and have I been honest with myself about that? Erin uses the image of a mixing board — every dial at a solid medium, which actually tracks for where she is. Her depletion: staleness. Ready for something new. Scraping the bottom of the barrel when it comes to whimsy and joy. Key reframe: You don't have to stare directly into the sun of your vulnerability. You can look just northwest of it — at the things contributing to the drain — and that's enough. Question 3 What am I rushing toward — and is it something I actually want, or just relief from the dirty snowbank of March? March is a dirty snowbank. And sometimes we rush toward whatever offers escape from it — a summer dress in a shopping cart, a new creative direction, a reinvention. The almost-spring energy can manufacture urgency that isn't real. "The sense of urgency is manufactured. I can confront that limiting belief. Am I really out of time?" Erin's example: She felt the impulse to rush toward creating AI content after one listener expressed interest — then caught herself and let it cook instead. Question 4 What from this winter do I want to carry forward into spring? Winter strips us bare and contracts our field of vision — but it also teaches. The whimsy has to live with the struggle. That's actually where whimsy does its best work. Erin's answer: Carrying her own point of view forward. The ownership of the hard stuff alongside the spring strut and the dangly earrings and the daffodils. Question 5 What do I need to let go of before spring arrives? Some things served their purpose in the dark season. They don't have to come with you. Erin's answer: Comparison. Specifically — the way that deeply owning her own point of view this winter also opened the door to measuring herself against others. The comparison served a purpose. It helped her name the difference. She doesn't need to bring it into spring. BUILDING RESERVES How to Finish Winter Well The goal is not to arrive at spring perfectly rested, perfectly reflected, perfectly ready. That's just not available to most of us. The goal is to arrive as yourself — with enough in the barrel to meet what spring asks of you. Return to the micro-rituals from Episode 168 — don't abandon them just because the light is changing Protect your sleep after the time change — your body needs 36–48 hours minimum to readjust Protect slowness even as the energy around you speeds up — create a container for it Resist the urge to over-schedule spring before winter is actually over Remember: the calendar filling up is not the same as being ready Name one thing you are still protecting in this season — and keep protecting it THE CARE PACKAGE Borrow This Until You Find Your Own Erin has been reluctant to be prescriptive — she wants people to do the metacognitive work of figuring out what they actually need. But she also knows the blank page is its own barrier. So this is a starting kit, not a destination. Doors, not prescriptions. "Think of these as doors in a room. Walk through, look around, notice what resonates and what doesn't. The noticing is the most important part."
239 Author Susanna Daniel joins Nadine to talk about her new novel Girlfriending—a deeply personal work of autofiction inspired by heartbreak, midlife reinvention, and the messy joy of dating again. Susanna shares how a breakup and a suggestion from a writer friend led her to begin writing from life for the first time.Together Nadine and Susanna explore the creative process behind autofiction, the complexities of writing about real people, and how courage in life often leads to courage on the page. They also discuss midlife freedom, coming out later in life, co-parenting after divorce, and the surprising joys that come with starting over.This conversation is an honest, funny, and thoughtful look at creativity, identity, and the power of telling the truth—even when the truth is still unfolding.Revision Retreat: Craft Your Best Draft Aug 2026, Madeline Island School of the Arts, WITiny True Stories and Sketches: A Micro-Memoir Retreat. Oct 26-Nov 2, SpainAbout Susanna:Susanna Daniel is the author of three novels. Girlfriending, a spinoff of her award-winning short story, "The Goddess of Illicit Choices," is a “a novel to read in a passionate rush, immediately start again in a more savoring way, and then press into the hands of everyone you know,” according to author Amy Shearn and “sexy, page-turning fiction” according to author Catherine Newman.Her debut novel, Stiltsville, was awarded the PEN/Bingham prize, and her second novel, Sea Creatures, was a Target Book Club pick.Susanna co-founded the Madison Writers' Studio with author Michelle Wildgen in 2013. She's won lots of fellowships and has been published lots of places, but she's mostly concerned with building clear and engaging stories and helping new writers develop their voices.Susanna lives in Madison with two terrific teens and adorable mutt. She kayaks a lot and does a lot of hot yoga, and she believes every human deserves human rights.About Nadine:Nadine Kenney Johnstone is an award-winning author, podcast host, and writing coach. After fifteen years as a writing professor, she founded WriteWELL workshops and retreats for women writers. She interviews today's top female authors on her podcast, Heart of the Story. Her infertility memoir, Of This Much I'm Sure, was named book of the year by the Chicago Writer's Association. Her latest book, Come Home to Your Heart, is an essay collection and guided journal. She has been featured in Cosmo, Authority, MindBodyGreen, Natural Awakenings,Chicago Magazine, and more. She writes a regular column about mid-life reclamation on Substack.
Today's episode is all about social skills, but from an updated lens that really speaks to the lived experiences of today's kids. My guest is writer and journalist Catherine Newman, and we're going to dive into her new book, What Can I Say? A Kids Guide to Super Useful Social Skills to Help You Get Along and Express Yourself. What Can I Say is aimed at kids ages 10 and up, and it includes practical and accessible advice to help kids and teens learn social skills, including everything from introduce themselves, express empathy, be persuasive, and apologize to compromise, ask for help, be grateful, and comfort a friend. In this conversation, Catherine and talk about why learning social and interpersonal skills are more important than ever for our kids, despite the fact that their lives are evolving to include more time spent online. We also talk about the climate for social emotional learning and ways parents and educators can to reinforce the social skills our kids are learning. About Catherine Catherine Newman is the author of the memoirs Catastrophic Happiness and Waiting for Birdy, the middle-grade novel One Mixed-Up Night, the kids' craft book Stitch Camp, the how-to books for kids How to Be a Person and What Can I Say? and the novel We All Want Impossible Things (forthcoming, Harper, November 2022). She edits the non-profit kids' cooking magazine ChopChop, writes the etiquette column for Real Simple magazine, and is a regular contributor to the New York Times, O, The Oprah Magazine, Parents magazine, Cup of Jo, and many other publications. She lives in Amherst, Massachusetts, with her family. Key Takeaways Why it's still important to learn social skills and interpersonal skills even though our kids' lives are evolving to include more time spent online Why it's important to spend time learning social skills just as we would learn any other type of skill like algebra or singing The importance of learning interpersonal skills that focus on empathy, setting boundaries, being curious, and being supportive and inclusive of people with different identities How OT can help neurodivergent kids grow up with advanced social emotional skills What parents and educators can do to support and reinforce the social skills they are learning Resources Mentioned Catherine Newman's website Catherine on Instagram What Can I Say? A Kids' Guide to Super Useful Social Skills to Help You Get Along and Express Yourself by Catherine Newman How to Be a Person: 65 Hugely Useful, Super-Important Skills to Learn before You're Grown Up by Catherine Newman Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
On this episode of Currently Reading, Meredith and Kaytee are discussing: Bookish Moments: Book festivals and new book podcast episodes Current Reads: all the great, interesting, and/or terrible stuff we've been reading lately Deep Dive: Revisiting the Currently Reading Press List Before We Go: our new segment featuring bookish friend posts and something Kaytee is curious about Show notes are time-stamped below for your convenience. Read the transcript of the episode (this link only works on the main site). . . . :10 Bite Size Intro 2:01 - Currently Reading Press List 3:00 - Bookish Moments of the Week 3:23 - Tucson Festival of Books 3:54 - If you will be at TFOB, email Kaytee at kaytee @ currentlyreadingpodcast . com 5:17 - The Diving In podcast 6:28 - Current Reads 6:36 - Wreck by Catherine Newman (Kaytee) 6:49 - Sandwich by Catherine Newman 9:50 - Three Hours by Rosamund Lupton (Meredith, Blackwell's link) 12:58 - Fierce Kingdom by Gin Phillips 15:06 - The Distance Between Us by Reyna Grande (Kaytee) 15:14 - Kaytee's Instagram @notesonbookmarks 19:09 - Moon Blooded Breeding Clinic by C.M. Nascosta (Meredith) 19:18 - Morning Glory Milking Farm by C.M. Nascosta 25:21 - Love and Fury by Samantha Silva (Kaytee) 25:26 - The Novel Neighbor 26:32 - Mr. Dickens and His Carol by Samantha Silva 26:35 - CR Season 1: Episode 18 27:36 - You're Dead To Me podcast 28:46 - The Once and Future Queen by Paula Lafferty (Meredith) 30:16 - A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer 32:39 - Outlander by Diana Gabaldon 32:40 - The Princess Bride by William Goldman 34:41 - Revisiting The Currently Reading Press List 34:58 - Currently Reading Press List 38:53 - The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt 39:00 - Pansuit Politics podcast 42:06 - Matilda by Roald Dahl 42:52 - Death at Bishop's Keep by Robin Paige 43:21 - The Guncle by Steven Rowley 43:33 - The Yoga Store Murder by Dan Morse 43:48 - Disney War by James B. Stewart 43:52 - The Course of Love by Alain de Botton 44:08 - Shogun by James Clavell 44:28 - Dataclysm by Christian Rudder 44:39 - The Book of M by Peng Shepherd 44:51 - Life after Life by Kate Atkinson 45:11 - The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton 45:20 - The Vintage Teacup Club by Vanessa Greene 45:29 - A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer 45:30 - Scythe by Neal Shusterman 45:36 - The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas 46:03 - My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows 46:04 - My Plain Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows 46:09 - The Fact of a Body by Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich 46:11 - The Paper Magician by Charlie Homberg 46:25 - The Shop on Blossom Street by Debbie Macomber 47:15 - Expecting Better by Emily Oster 47:26 - Bringing Up Bebe by Pamela Druckerman 50:14 - Before We Go Meredith highlights a bookish friend post 50:54 - The Unselected Journals of Emma M Lion by Beth Brower Kaytee brings something she's curious about 53:00 - Laura Tremaine's Substack 53:15 - 10 Things To Tell You podcast 55:13 - Lady Tremaine by Rachel Hochhauser 55:29 - Kin by Tayari Jones 55:37 - Whistler by Ann Patchett 55:51 - Land by Maggie O'Farrell Support Us: Become a Bookish Friend | Grab Some Merch Shop Bookshop dot org | Shop Amazon Bookish Friends Receive: The Indie Press List with a curated list of five books hand sold by the indie of the month. March's IPL is brought by our lovely friends at An Unlikely Story in Plainville, MA. Love and Chili Peppers with Kaytee and Rebekah - romance lovers get their due with this special episode focused entirely on the best selling genre fiction in the business All Things Murderful with Meredith and Elizabeth - special content for the scary-lovers, brought to you with the behind-the-scenes insights of an independent bookseller From the Editor's Desk with Kaytee and Bunmi Ishola - a quarterly peek behind the curtain at the publishing industry The Bookish Friends Facebook Group - where you can build community with bookish friends from around the globe as well as our hosts Connect With Us: The Show: Instagram | Website | Email | Threads | Substack | Youtube The Hosts and Regulars: Meredith | Kaytee | Mary | Roxanna Production and Editing: Megan Phouthavong Evans Affiliate Disclosure: All affiliate links go to Bookshop unless otherwise noted. Shopping here helps keep the lights on and benefits indie bookstores. Thanks for your support!
Description:What if you were handed a single piece of information that could change everything you think you know about your life? For this Jen Hatmaker Book Club episode, Jen sits down with novelist Nikki Erlick, author of the wildly imaginative and deeply human novel The Measure—a story that asks one unsettling question: What would you do if you knew exactly how long you had to live? In The Measure, every adult in the world receives a small wooden box containing a string that reveals the length of their life. What follows isn't chaos for chaos' sake, but something far more intimate: marriages tested, dreams deferred or pursued, fears amplified, and love redefined. It's a novel about mortality, yes—but even more so about meaning, choice, and how we show up for one another when certainty is stripped away. Jen and Nikki talk about the origin of this unforgettable premise, the emotional weight of writing about death in order to illuminate life, and why the book resonates so deeply with readers navigating grief, anxiety, hope, and big unanswered questions. They explore what The Measure reveals about how we value time, how fear can quietly shape our decisions, and what it might look like to live more honestly—even without guarantees. Whether you've already read along with the book club or are just encountering this story for the first time, this conversation invites you to reflect on your own “measure”—and to consider how love, courage, and presence might matter more than the number of days themselves. This episode is tender, thought-provoking, and quietly life-altering. Come for the story. Stay for the questions it leaves you asking long after the last page. Thought-provoking Quotes: “I was preoccupied with these big questions in life, the things that don't have easy answers or any answers at all. Why do people have different fates? Why do bad things happen to good people? How much power do we actually have over our lives? That inspired me.” – Nikki Erlick “My process felt like people knocking on the door to my brain at all times, being like, what about me? What about me? I would be an interesting story too. I had to answer the first couple of knocks and bring these new characters in. Once I hit eight or 10, I felt like readers can't handle any more than this.” – Nikki Erlick “I wanted to pull on everything, for every community that has been marginalized to make this experience feel real for the people in this book.” – Nikki Erlick “The one thing that doesn't go out of style is hope.”– Nikki Erlick Resources Mentioned in This Episode: The Measure: A Novel by Nikki Erlick - https://amzn.to/3OmiJaK The Poppy Fields: A Novel by Nikki Erlick - https://amzn.to/49ZxdGf Allen Bradley, author - https://alanbradleyauthor.com/ Sandwich: A Novel by Catherine Newman - https://amzn.to/4a0bOwB Catherine Newman on the For the Love podcast - https://jenhatmaker.com/podcasts/series-64/august-2025-catherine-newmans-sandwich/ Wreck by Catherine Newman - https://amzn.to/4bvUy3o This Is Not About Us by Allegra Goodman - https://amzn.to/4qnGIE3 Guest's Links: Website - https://www.nikkierlick.com/ Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/nikkierlick/ Connect with Jen!Jen's Website - https://jenhatmaker.com/ Jen's Instagram - https://instagram.com/jenhatmakerJen's Twitter - https://twitter.com/jenHatmaker/ Jen's Facebook - https://facebook.com/jenhatmakerJen's YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/user/JenHatmaker The For the Love Podcast is presented by Audacy. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Author Catherine Newman (Sandwich) joins Daniel Ford on the show to discuss her latest novel Wreck. To learn more about Catherine Newman, visit her official website. This episode is sponsored by Libro.fm and the Is It Streaming podcast, the newest addition to the Writer's Bone Podcast Network.
This is a special live episode of The Shift with Sam Baker podcast, recorded live at the wonderful Portobello Bookshop in Edinburgh. Catherine Newman is the author of some of the most on-the-nose books about being a woman in midlife that I've ever read - her bestselling debut, We All Want Impossible Things, Sandwich and, now, Wreck. Imagine if Nora Ephron and Elizabeth Strout's Lucy Barton met in a bar and did edibles together and you have something approximating Catherine's creation, Rocky, and her family - Nick, Willa and Jamie and her 93 year old dad. A normal loving, anxious, messy, unpredictable, relatable, family, living through a year of what ifs that veer uncomfortably close to home. Wreck asks, how do we live when we don't know what next? I think that's something we can all identify with right now! Catherine has also written two memoirs and a couple of children's books, is an award-winning writer and columnist and contributes regularly to the New York Times and O, the oprah magazine. For ten years she also wrote Real Simple's etiquette column and she has an excellent substack, Crone Sandwich. Which I highly recommend you check out. Catherine and I chatted generational (mis)understanding, surviving the midlife sandwich, giving up drinking, life after menopause, rewriting your family's life and being a covert cookbook nerd. f you're listening to this on the podcast, you can get a signed copy of Wreck by going to Portobello Bookshop's website - theportobellobookshop.com. * Alternatively, you can buy all the books mentioned in this podcast at The Shift bookshop on Bookshop.org, including Wreck and Sandwich by Catherine Newman as well as the book that inspired this podcast, The Shift: how I lost and found myself after 40 - and you can too, by me. * If you enjoyed this episode and you fancy buying me a coffee, pop over to my page on buymeacoffee.com. • And if you'd like to support the work that goes into making this podcast and get a weekly newsletter plus loads more content including exclusive transcripts of the podcast, why not join The Shift community, come and have a look around at www.theshiftwithsambaker.substack.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Episode 216 continues the Best of… series with a deep dive into the horror genre. Meredith Monday Schwartz of the Currently Reading podcast joins the show to discuss her all-time Top Ten favorite horror books, along with a few buzzy titles that didn't quite work for her. Meredith also talks about how she came to the genre and the wide range of reading experiences horror has to offer. This post contains affiliate links through which I make a small commission when you make a purchase (at no cost to you!). CLICK HERE for the full episode Show Notes on the blog. Highlights How Meredith defines the horror genre — and where she draws the lines Subgenres of horror that don't get talked about as much Meredith's personal relationship with reading horror What draws her to the genre and how she approaches her horror TBR The role of women in horror, both as authors and within its themes Meredith's All-Time Top Ten Horror: Ranked [18:47] 10) Daphne by Josh Malerman (2022) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [19:33] 9) How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix (2023) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [22:10] 8) The Ruins by Scott Smith (2006) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [24:42] 7) Near the Bone by Christina Henry (2021) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [27:02] 6) Diavola by Jennifer Thorne (2024) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [29:19] 5) We Used to Live Here by Marcus Kliewer (2024) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [31:44] 4) Slewfoot by Brom (2021) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [34:01] 3) The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James (2020) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [37:40] 2) The Stand by Stephen King (1978) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [39:46] 1) I'm Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid (2016) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [44:50] High-Profile Horror She Didn't Love [49:39] The September House by Carissa Orlando (2023) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [50:03] The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward (2021) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [50:55] Incidents Around the House by Josh Malerman (2024) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [52:34] Other Books Mentioned The Amityville Horror by Jay Anson (1977) [9:57] 101 Horror Books to Read Before You're Murdered by Sadie Hartmann (2023) [13:25] Feral and Hysterical by Sadie Hartmann (2025) [13:37] Sandwich by Catherine Newman (2024) [22:47] The Autumn Springs Retirement Home Massacre by Philip Fracassi (2025) [28:33] Psycho by Robert Bloch (1959) [31:01] The Caretaker by Marcus Kliewer (April 21, 2026) [33:29] Krampus by Brom (2012) [36:42] The Haunting of Maddy Clare by Simone St. James (2012) [39:07] The Book of Cold Cases by Simone St. James (2022) [39:23] 11/22/63 by Stephen King (2011) [43:13] Foe by Iain Reid (2018) [49:00] Bird Box by Josh Malerman (2014) [52:39] Other Links Sadie Hartmann (@Mother.Horror) on Instagram Talking Scared with Neil McRobert Slow Read: The Stand with Sarah Stewart Holland & Laura Tremaine
Welcome to Episode 252, where we share LISTENER TOP TEN READS of 2025! In past years, there hasn't been much of a spread between the first and second place books on the list. But this year there is a 15-point spread between the first and second books! As usual, the first-place book was a novel, but the second-place book was nonfiction—a first ever for that. Usually, nonfiction doesn't show up until well into the list's mid-teens. Thanks to everyone who shared their top tens– you help grow our TBR lists! Reminder that we have a Top 10 shelf on our Bookshop.org page for purchase and for you to learn more about each of the books. We also talk about our 2026 Reading Intentions. These are often works in progress, which is a good thing, because after recording, we both realized we had forgotten a couple of intentions. It had been a longer-than-usual time span since we last recorded a regular episode, so we had some catching up to do in our “Just Read” segment, which includes: BETH IS DEAD by Katie Bernet PRACTICAL MAGIC by Alice Hoffman A BACKWARD GLANCE by Edith Wharton BODYWORK: The Radical Power of Personal Narrative by Melissa Febos POSTMORTEM and BODY OF EVIDENCE by Patricia Cornwell THE AUTHOR WEEKEND by Laura Zigman (release date 5/5/2026) A TANGLE OF OBSIDIAN by Lydia M. Hawke THEO OF GOLDEN by Allen Levi We had some wonderful Couch Biblio Adventures, but we also managed to get out into the world. Emily visited Slackline Press in Branford, Connecticut, and Davoll's General Store in Dartmouth, Massachusetts, where she saw Catherine Newman in conversation with Emily Franklin. Chris was in Huntsville, Alabama, and visited The Snail on the Wall bookstore, named after Virginia Woolf's short story, “The Mark on the Wall.” She also checked out the Huntsville-Madison County Public Library. Happy listening, take care of yourself, and stay safe out there. Until next time, we wish you lots of Happy Reading!
Jess and Lauren are kicking off 2026 with their first author interview of the year, joined by none other than Catherine Newman whose novels they've been obsessed with the last few years. Her latest book Wreck publishes in the UK this month and revisits a family we have met before in her previous book SandwichBooks Mentioned in this episode:Wreck by Catherine NewmanSandwich by Catherine NewmanWe all Want Impossible Things by Catherine NewmanTake What You Can by Naima Coster Sophie Standing There by Meg MasonBook Reccos Website, Shop & newsletter: Don't forget to check out our website and checkout the Book Reccos shop to purchase your very own Book Reccos Reading Journal! And whilst you're there sign up to our newsletter to receive a monthly email from us to fill you in on our favourite reccos of the month. Head to www.bookreccos.com Get in Touch: Instagram: @bookreccos Email: hello@bookreccos.comWebsite: www.bookreccos.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
On this episode of Currently Reading, Mary and Roxanna take the reins and are deep diving into their top reads of 2025! Show notes are time-stamped below for your convenience. Read the transcript of the episode (this link only works on the main site) . . . **Please help us by filling out the LISTENER SURVEY before JANUARY 25th!! 1:21 - Mary and Roxanna's Reading Year 4:14 - Mary's Reading Stats: 100 books read this year and picked up some graphic novels that normally she wouldn't have read in the past 7:54 - Roxanna's Reading Stats: 68 books read this year. 26 five star reads 15% general fiction, 16% historical fiction, 15% lit fic, 13% middle grade, 20% POC authors, 96% fiction 12:03 - Join the Currently Reading Patreon to access the reading tracker 14:25 - Mary and Roxanna's Best Books of 2025 14:38 - The Last Dragoners of Bowbazar by Indra Das (Roxanna #10) 17:09 - Empty Cradle, Broken Heart by Deborah L. Davis 18:16 - God of the Woods by Liz Moore (Mary #10) 19:23 - Sandwich by Catherine Newman 19:40 - The Gurkha and the Lord of Tuesday by Saad Z Hossain (Roxanna #9) 21:48 - Heart the Lover by Lily King (Mary #9) 22:36 - Writers & Lovers by Lily King 24:37 - The Hum and the Shiver by Alex Bledsoe (Roxanna #8) 27:16 - The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer (Mary #8) 30:46 - To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers (Roxanna #7) 34:06 - The Millicent Quibb School of Etiquette for Ladies of Mad Science: Secrets of the Purple Pearl by Kate McKinnon (Mary #7) 35:35 - The Millicent Quibb School of Etiquette for Ladies of Mad Science by Kate McKinnon 37:39 - The Unseen World by Liz Moore (Roxanna #6) 40:04 - The Bright Years by Sarah Damoff (Mary #6) 42:27 - Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros 43:09 - The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest by Aubrey Hartman (Roxanna #5) 45:00 - Under the Whispering Door by T.J. Klune 46:01 - The Bones Beneath by Skin by T.J. Klune (Mary #5) 46:35 - House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune 50:11 - Silverborn: The Mystery of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend (Roxanna #4) 50:24 - Nevermoor by Jessica Townsend 54:14 - The Women of Wild Hill by Kirsten Miller (Mary #4) 54:33 - Lula Dean's Little Library of Banned Books by Kirsten Miller 54:41 - The Change by Kirsten Miller 56:59 - The Correspondent by Virginia Evans (Roxanna #3) 59:14 - Wild Reverence by Rebecca Ross (Mary #3) 59:36 - Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross 1:00:05 - Circe by Madeline Miller 1:00:07 - Clytemnestra by Costanza Casati 1:01:02 - The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon (Roxanna #2) 1:05:08 - The Correspondent by Virgina Evans (Mary #2) 1:08:17 - The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion by Beth Brower (Roxanna #1 - the whole series!) 1:10:30 - Anne of Green Gables by LM Montgomery 1:10:36 - 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff 1:14:41 - Lightfall: The Girl & the Galdurian by Tim Probert (Mary #1 - the whole series!) 1:15:31 - Lightfall: Shadow of the Bird by Tim Probert 1:15:31 - Lightfall: The Dark Times by Tim Probert 1:17:22 - The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society by Mary Ann Shaffer Support Us: Become a Bookish Friend | Grab Some Merch Shop Bookshop dot org | Shop Amazon Bookish Friends Receive: The Indie Press List with a curated list of five books hand sold by the indie of the month. January's IPL is our annual visit to Fabled Bookshop in Waco, Texas. Love and Chili Peppers with Kaytee and Rebekah - romance lovers get their due with this special episode focused entirely on the best selling genre fiction in the business. All Things Murderful with Meredith and Elizabeth - special content for the scary-lovers, brought to you with the behind-the-scenes insights of an independent bookseller From the Editor's Desk with Kaytee and Bunmi Ishola - a quarterly peek behind the curtain at the publishing industry The Bookish Friends Facebook Group - where you can build community with bookish friends from around the globe as well as our hosts Connect With Us: The Show: Instagram | Website | Email | Threads The Hosts and Regulars: Meredith | Kaytee | Mary | Roxanna Production and Editing: Megan Phouthavong Evans Affiliate Disclosure: All affiliate links go to Bookshop unless otherwise noted. Shopping here helps keep the lights on and benefits indie bookstores. Thanks for your support!
228 In 2025, Nadine interviewed bestselling authors Catherine Newman, Jen Hatmaker, Molly Wizenberg, and more! Now, Nadine chats with her producer about their favorite podcast moments and which bits of guest wisdom impacted them the most. Learn how their personal and creative lives have changed as a result these impactful conversations.While the show is on a holiday break, catch up on any episodes you missed!About Nadine:Nadine Kenney Johnstone is an award-winning author, podcast host, and writing coach. After fifteen years as a writing professor, she founded WriteWELL workshops and retreats for women writers. She interviews today's top female authors on her podcast, Heart of the Story. Her infertility memoir, Of This Much I'm Sure, was named book of the year by the Chicago Writer's Association. Her latest book, Come Home to Your Heart, is an essay collection and guided journal. She has been featured in Cosmo, Authority, MindBodyGreen, Natural Awakenings,Chicago Magazine, and more. She writes a regular column about mid-life reclamation on Substack.
Social media's sewer pipe of white nationalism, conspiracy thought and violent far-right incitement is seeping into mainstream politics. But where is all this extremism coming from? Who's creating it? Is anyone on political social media not a bot? And what are we going to do about it? Special guest Olivia Brown from the University of Bath explains how a tiny number of far-right accounts weaponise tragedies like Southport and use AI and engagement tricks to fake grassroots, us-vs-them banter. The goal: to warp Britain's perception of what's normal.
For this final episode of our special bonus season, I'm taking things right back to the beginning by welcoming my very first podcast guest, the wonderful Helen Paris, author of The Invisible Women's Club.In this episode Helen chats about the incredible reader response to The Invisible Women's Club, the importance of female friendship, navigating menopause, and even gives us a little glimpse into her next book. She also shares details of her inspiring new project, The Next Chapter, a bespoke creative course, in the South of France, drawing on her 30 years of experience as a professor and creative facilitator. The course is designed to give women the space and support to nurture their creativity, whether they're returning to something they once loved or exploring it for the first time.For dates and details, visit: https://www.creativebody.org/nextchapter.And of course, no episode of Best Book Forward would be complete without some irresistible book recommendations to add to your festive reading list. Here's everything we discussed:
In Catherine Newman's bestselling novel, “Sandwich,” main character Rachel (nicknamed Rocky), her unflappable husband and newly adult kids decamp to a ramshackle cottage in Cape Cod for a week of sprawling on the sand, late night swims and lazy mornings. Rocky's aging parents join them halfway through. It sounds perfect — and in many ways, it is. But as anyone who's ever take a family vacation knows, complicated feelings get stirred up when you spend 24 hours a day with the people you love the most. Rocky is devoted to her family, almost compulsively. She's also super annoyed with them, thanks to the dark cloud of perimenopause that hangs over her every day. But that doesn't stop her from gushing over them, from worrying about them, or from making countless hysterical observations about the achingly beautiful gift of life. We get to revisit Rocky in Newman's new novel, “Wreck,” along with the rest of the crew (minus one). Like “Sandwich,” the title does double duty. “Wreck” is set two years after “Sandwich.” Rocky is navigating the chaos of adult children who move back home while also caring for her father, who temporarily resides under her roof. A growing awareness of mortality causes her to fixate on a tragic accident that happens nearby, while an unexplained rash tries to take over her body. Newman brings her own take on her beloved characters to Big Books and Bold Ideas this week. She and host Kerri Miller talk about Rocky's new penchant for weepiness, the payment that comes due in our bodies as we age and how to recognize and appreciate a golden time when you're in it. Guest: Catherine Newman is the author of many books, including “We All Want Impossible Things” and “Sandwich.” Her new novel is “Wreck.” Subscribe to the Thread newsletter for the latest book and author news and must-read recommendations.Subscribe to Big Books and Bold Ideas with Kerri Miller on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, RSS or anywhere you get your podcasts.
For the first episode of our special Christmas Chapter season I am delighted to be welcoming back the wonderful Catherine Newman. We last spoke back in September 2024 (if you missed that episode you can catch up here listen now)Today we talk about how Catherine has felt about the reaction to Sandwich as well as giving us glimpse into her next book Wreck. We chat about the books she has read and loved this year, listed below, as well as finding out what her ultimate holiday drinks party might look like.Of course, no episode of Best Book Forward would be complete without some irresistible book recommendations to add to your festive reading list. Here's everything we discussed:
This week on From the Front Porch, Annie recaps the books she read and loved in August. You get 10% off your books when you order your November Reading Recap bundle. Each month, we offer a Reading Recap bundle, which features Annie's favorite books she read that month. To purchase the books mentioned in this episode, stop by The Bookshelf in Thomasville, visit our website (search episode 557), or download and shop on The Bookshelf's official app: November Reading Recap Bundle This bundle includes Wreck by Catherine Newman (hardcover) The Land of Sweet Forever by Harper Lee (hardcover) Grace and Henry's Holiday Movie Marathon by Matthew Norman (paperback) (currently backordered) The Midnight Show by Lee Kelly and Jennifer Thorne Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke Wreck by Catherine Newman How to Survive in the Woods by Kat Rosenfield The Land of Sweet Forever by Harper Lee Grace and Henry's Holiday Movie Marathon by Matthew Norman From the Front Porch is a weekly podcast production of The Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in South Georgia. You can follow The Bookshelf's daily happenings on Instagram and Facebook, and all the books from today's episode can be purchased online through our store website, www.bookshelfthomasville.com. A full transcript of today's episode can be found here. Special thanks to Dylan and his team at Studio D Podcast Production for sound and editing and for our theme music, which sets the perfect warm and friendly tone for our Thursday conversations. This week, Annie is reading Upward Bound by Woody Brown. If you liked what you heard in today's episode, tell us by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts. You can also support us on Patreon, where you can access bonus content, monthly live Porch Visits with Annie, our monthly live Patreon Book Club with Bookshelf staffers, Conquer a Classic episodes with Hunter, and more. Just go to patreon.com/fromthefrontporch. We're so grateful for you, and we look forward to meeting back here next week. Our Executive Producers are...Beth, Stephanie Dean, Linda Lee Drozt, Ashley Ferrell, Wendi Jenkins, Martha, Nicole Marsee, Gene Queens, Cammy Tidwell, Jammie Treadwell, and Amanda Whigham.
Thank you for tuning in to Episode 309 of the Down Cellar Studio Podcast. Full show notes with photos can be found on my website. This week's segments included: Off the Needles, Hook or Bobbins On the Needles, Hook or Bobbins Brainstorming From the Armchair Crafty Adventures Knitting in Passing In my Travels KAL News On a Happy Note Quote of the Week Thank you to this episode's sponsors: Fibernymph Dye Works & Imagined Landscapes Off the Needles, Hook or Bobbins Gary's LeHigh Hat Pattern: Turn a Square by Jared Flood. $5 knitting pattern available on Ravelry & Brooklyn Tweed Site Yarn: Cesium Yarn Strong DK ( 75% SW Merino/25% Nylon) in the One More Sleep Colorway Needles: US 5 (3.75 mm) & US 7 (4.5 mm) Ravelry Project Page Project Notes & Mods: did not increase after ribbing as called for. Knit 7 inches before working decreases. I used 52g of yarn and have 56g remaining so I can make another hat with this yarn. Gary's Delaware Hat Pattern: Turn a Square by Jared Flood. $5 knitting pattern available on Ravelry & Brooklyn Tweed Site Yarn: Robin's Promise Yarn Co, Two Birds in the Hand (DK 4ply 100% SW Merino) in the White-Tailed Robin Feather Colorway Needles: US 5 (3.75 mm) & US 7 (4.5 mm) Ravelry Project Page About the Yarn- purchased Rhinebeck Weekend at CAKEpalooza. Its a mostly solid royal blue. This project is living in my new Stitched by Jessalu Rhinebeck 2025 bag. I think this will be my fall/winter hat project and I'll just keep the needles in here and keep replacing the yarn. Yarn Cozy Lite Yarn: Cascade Heritage Yarn (75% SW Merino 25% Nylon) in the Highlighter Guava colorway Pattern: Yarn Cozy Lite by Knitty Natty- $6 pattern available on Ravelry Needles: US 1 (2.25 mm) Ravelry Project Page Natalie's video support for the stretchy i-cord bind off is great. Vivienne's Christmas Stocking Pattern: Christmas Stockings to Knit and Crochet from Family Circle Magazine. Available in this web archive link. I've also saved it to my podcast Gmail Google Drive in case it disappears! Yarn: Red Heart Super Saver in Cherry Red, Hunter Green and White Hook: G (4.0 mm) On the Needles, Hook or Bobbins Pucker Brush Farm BFL Sweater Spin Fiber: 16 oz of multi colored BFL roving from Pucker Brush Farm (purchased at Rhinebeck 2025), 4 oz Merino in a mustard color Ravelry Project Page I am planning to knit a Traveler sweater inspired by Emily Curtis' handmade version- click here for her Ravelry Project Page. I was thrilled to see a recent post on Emily's Instagram that she made a YouTube video about this spin/knit. I found 4oz of Ironwood Hill Farm Roving- Finnsheep combed top that I purchased in April 2021. Unfortunately I can't find more of this on Cece's Wool site or Ironwood's etsy shop, but I think it will give me the idea for a tan/brown color plied with the colorful yarn, so I'll spin just enough to make a sample yarn-- but this Finn is spinning like a dream. Where could I get more? Send suggestions my way Spectrum Socks Yarn: Woolens & Nosh Targhee Sock in the Spectrum Colorway Pattern: OMG Heel Socks by Megan Williams ($5 knitting pattern available on Ravelry) Needles: US 1.5 (2.5 mm) Ravelry Project Page About the colorway- skinny stripes of color with 1 round of black between. Colors include Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, 3 shades of Blue, Pink + Purple. Progress: I've passed the heel on the first sock Game Day Party Socks Yarn: Mandi's Makings SW Merino Fingering Weight Yarn in the Pigskin '25 Exclusive Game Day Party Colorway. Green mini skein for heel from Goosey Fibers (Wizard of Oz Advent Calendar yarn) Pattern: OMG Heel Socks by Megan Williams ($5 knitting pattern available on Ravelry) Ravelry Project Page Yarn: Pigskin '25 Exclusive- 60 points Progress: First sock done. Onto the leg of the second sock. Hattie knit on them at her uncle's birthday party. Traveler Sweater Pattern: The Traveler by Andrea Mowry ($9 pattern available on Ravelry & the designer's website) Yarn: Hazel Knits Small Batch Sport (90/10 SW/Nylon) Needles: US 3 (3.25 mm) & US 4 (3.5 mm) Ravelry Project Page Sleeve progress- knit a few more sets of decreases on the first sleeve. Still have a second sleeve to go and the whole hood. Focusing a bit more on Christmas gifts coming up so this one will be taking a backseat. Brainstorming Queen Elsa Amigurumi by Chiara Cremon. Free crochet pattern available on Ravelry. You can find lots of cute character patterns on her Instagram account. Zach- maybe something spiderman From the Armchair Heart the Lover by Lily King. Amazon Affiliate Link. Check out the October Book Club Episode of the Bad on Paper Podcast where they talk about this book. Sandwich by Catherine Newman. Amazon Affiliate Link. Three Days in June by Anne Tyler. Amazon Affiliate Link. Note: Some links are listed as Amazon Affiliate Links. If you click those, please know that I am an Amazon Associate and I earn money from qualifying purchases. Crafty Adventures During Gabriella & Zachary's sleepover we pained and made plastic ornaments with spiraled pipe cleaners inside. So cute and easy! Knitting in Passing A cute preteen girl came over when I was crocheting on the train to ask what kind of hook I was using and then asked if I was making a stocking for Christmas. I asked if she crocheted. She said yes but didn't offer more. When she went back to the grown up she was with, they gave her a big high five. So cute. Then the gentleman across from me who saw me counting rows then asked what happened if I lose count. Told him I could read the stitches. He congratulated me onto who new addition to our family. In My Travels I shared highlights from a recent trip to New York City. I spent a wonderful morning at the MET Aida Silvestri- artist from Eritrea who had a triptych of pieces on display. Her work is motivated by social concern, but it also explores the camera's ability to connect people to a place. In these portraits of immigrant women, the artist strategically blurs her subjects' faces. This gesture, born of a need for protective anonymity, seems to evoke a greater enigma of the self. Mapping the course of migration to London are lines of thread stitched into the surfaces of the print- permanent, identity-altering interventions. Silvestri regards her series as a documentary project dedicated to those travelers who never reached their destination. Two embroidery samplers from Bostonian women from the late 1700s that were just beautiful. We visited the Chelsea Flea- I got a cool pair of earrings We got cookies from Levain Bakery We made a quick trip to Knitty City and Laura picked out yarn for a hat Musical- Two Strangers Carry a Cake Across New York We also saw Blue Moon at the movies. Tells the story of Lorenz Hart's struggles with alcoholism and mental health as he tries to save face during the opening of "Oklahoma!". KAL News Pigskin Party '25 Event Dates: KAL Dates- Thursday September 4, 2025- Monday February 9, 2026 Find everything you need in the Start Here Thread in the Ravelry Group Official Rules Registration Form (you must be Registered to be eligible for prizes) Enter your projects using the Point Tally Form Find the full list of Sponsors in this Google Doc. Coupon Codes are listed in this Ravelry Thread Exclusive Items from our Pro Shop Sponsors are listed in this Ravelry Thread Questions- ask them in this Ravelry Thread or email Jen at downcellarstudio @ gmail.com Check out this Ravelry Thread with helpful tips for the event, crowd sourced from our incredible players. Updates In This Episode Our Official Sponsor for Quarter 1 (October): Love in Stitches with Knitty Natty- Winner Announced julicorn.makes made a Maxine Hot Water Bottle Cozy by Laura Penrose (fair isle snowflakes)- Ravelry Project Page MrsZoom made Knitty Natty's Yarn Cozy Lite with the new football exclusive pattern in Colts colors- Ravelry Project Page Random number generator chose yesthatshelby as our winner! Pink Challenge is over- details in this Ravelry Thread. Winner Announced! CinderGA made Defying Gravity Socks by Lisa Ross- Paper Daisy Creations- Ravelry page Wizabef knit the Elinor Mittens by Irene Nielson- Ravelry Project Page Random number generator picked Alice Ortega who knit the Barn Swallow Socks by Cheryl Toy- Ravelry Project Page Count On It Challenge hosted by Twice Sheared Sheep, Official Sponsor for Quarter 2 (November). Details in this Ravelry thread. Official Sponsor for Quarter 3 (December)- Suburban Stitcher Details announced. See details in this Ravelry Thread. Stay tuned for more about our Official Sponsor for Quarter 4 (January)- Yarnaceous Fibers Charity Challenge (runs through Thanksgiving)- details in this Ravelry Thread (36 of you have already asked for the address to mail in items! THANK YOU). Please email me to request the address. Commentator Update (links in this section go to Ravelry) Quarter 2 is in full swing and, when I looked today, 9 players had already submitted for points for the Q2 challenge! Are you still thinking of what you can make that is at least 60 rows, using a row counter? Here are some ideas! Hats! Many of our early Q2 finishers completed hats. Neferetri, Hollyelyse and Janknitdun completed beautiful cabled hats...I bet the row counter came in handy for those projects! Kimbuktu7 completed a lovely colorwork hat Adrie9 completed a lovely two colored musselburgh hat Neckwear is also a popular choice among our early Q2 finishers Mikkaelab completed a lovely crocheted cowl and a knit bandana! Sandyrlevin also completed a cowl in steelers colors (note--she used a pattern by PSP Knitty Natty too)--Way to rack up those points! There's still plenty of time for you to get your projects in for Q2. These finishers have definitely demonstrated that there are plenty of patterns with at least 60 rows that work up in a flash! PepperRN added in Pigskin Party Tips Thread on Ravelry If you are budgeting but still want to support sponsors buy something re usable. Stitch markers can be used in 1 project and then when finished in the next. I like knitting hats for charity so I bought a hat pattern from a sponsor. I put that pattern with a sponsor bag and sponsor stitch markers and can knit it over and over during the PSP. On a Happy Note New York City! I took the train this time which was a great option. Laura and I had dinner with two of her pilates clients. We all enjoyed Gabriella and Zachary's first sleepover. We watched the KPOP Demon Hunters movie and after going to bed early and reading the Hot Air Balloon book, wehad fun hunting for the orange eyed monster! Dan made the kids pancakes and we'll put their photos on the collage wall in the guest room. Gabriella asked for a unicorn and a ghost Spiderman. Zach wanted Spiderman. I received a really nice message from my cousin Gayle who was visiting her friend in NH and let me know that Mom's shawl that she chose was keeping her warm. Love you Gayle! My childhood friend Maribeth has shared a few photos of things her family has found when cleaning out her parents' attic- costumes and things my mom made. It was sweet of her to send me those photos so we could reminisce. I finally got to join Beth's Karaoke Night Zoom (part of the Love in Stitches Membership). Dad is recovering from a back injury but doing better. We successfully moved my grandmother into the Memory Care side of the independent living home she's lived at for 5 years. Hope this will be a good fit for her. I got a massage this week! Quote of the Week "In November, the earth is growing quiet. It is making its bed, a winter bed for flowers and small creatures. The bed is white and silent, and much life can hide beneath its blankets." ― Cynthia Rylant, In November ------ Thank you for tuning in! Contact Information: Check out the Down Cellar Studio Patreon! Ravelry: BostonJen & Down Cellar Studio Podcast Ravelry Group Instagram: BostonJen1 YouTube: Down Cellar Studio Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/downcellarstudio Sign up for my email newsletter to get the latest on everything happening in the Down Cellar Studio Check out my Down Cellar Studio YouTube Channel Knit Picks Affiliate Link Bookshop Affiliate Link Yarnable Subscription Box Affiliate Link FearLESS Living Fund to benefit the Blind Center of Nevada Music -"Soft Orange Glow" by Josh Woodward. Free download: http://joshwoodward.com/ Note: Some links are listed as Amazon Affiliate Links. If you click those, please know that I am an Amazon Associate and I earn money from qualifying purchases.
In this *spoiler free* conversation, host Jason Blitman talks to author Erin O. White about her book LIKE FAMILY, the December Gays Reading Book Club pick with Allstora.LIKE FAMILY — a warm, big-hearted debut about the beautiful, messy, complicated ways we love one another. Set in a picturesque town in upstate New York, the novel follows three interconnected couples navigating friendship, parenthood, queer identity, jealousy, grief, and the quiet bravery of choosing each other again and again.At its core, LIKE FAMILY is a love letter to queer families and small-town life. What I love most is how Erin O. White writes about family — the people who see you, hold you, frustrate you, change you — with tenderness, humor, and honesty. These characters are flawed, loving, funny, and so deeply human. If you enjoy character-driven family novels in the spirit of Anne Tyler, Catherine Newman, and Ann Patchett, this one will feel like a cozy hug.A fifty-one-year-old debut novelist, Erin O. White is also an essayist and the author of the memoir Give Up For You. After growing up in Colorado and living for twenty years in western Massachusetts, she now lives with her wife and daughters in Minneapolis.What do you get when you join the Gays Reading Book Club?Curated book delivered monthly to your door (at a discount!) – the books we'd call “accessibly literary”30% Off Allstora's websiteAccess to the book club “Kiki” to talk about the booksExclusive author Q&AsAllstora donates a children's book to an LGBTQIA+ youthThis club exclusively supports LGBTQIA+ authorsAnd more!Support the showBOOK CLUB!Sign up for the Gays Reading Book Club HERE November Book: I Am You by Victoria Redel SUBSTACK!https://gaysreading.substack.com/ MERCH!http://gaysreading.printful.me WATCH!https://youtube.com/@gaysreading FOLLOW!Instagram: @gaysreading | @jasonblitmanBluesky: @gaysreading | @jasonblitmanCONTACT!hello@gaysreading.com
Catherine Newman's latest, Wreck, is a beautiful meditation on the act of motherhood. Revisiting the family from Sandwich as they enter a new phase of familial life. We all know that successful parents raise kids just to lose them to the world, and that this launch into independence is something we all desperately hope for and deeply dread. Funny, touching and compulsively readable this is a novel about the beauty and pain of family, who have so much to lose when they have so much to love. Find books mentioned on The Book Case: https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/shop/story/book-case-podcast-reading-list-118433302 Books mentioned in this week's episode: Wreck by Catherine Newman Sandwich by Catherine Newman We all Want Impossible Things by Catherine Newman Waiting for Birdy by Catherine Newman The Ten Year Affair by Erin Somers Heart the Lover by Lily King Moby Dick by Herman Melville Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
This week on Marginalia, Beth Golay speaks with Nicholas Thompson about his new book, The Running Ground, and Suzanne Perez reviews Wreck by Catherine Newman.
Loving people is a gift—and a liability. The more we love, the more there is to lose. In this hilariously honest and deeply tender conversation, Kate talks with beloved writer Catherine Newman about the strange pairing of love and fear. Together, they explore how parenting, grief, humor, and hospice care shape us into people who laugh while crying and keep showing up anyway. If you’ve ever whispered “I love you” and immediately wanted to bubble-wrap your whole family, this one is for you. Show notes: Catherine Newman’s Work: Wreck (Novel), We All Want Impossible Things (Novel), Waiting for Birdy (Memoir), Catastrophic Happiness (Memoir), Crone Sandwich (Substack) A Blessing for When Love Makes Us Afraid (as read on the episode) Come hang out in our new favorite corner of the internet: Kate's Substack. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Naomi Watts and Niecy Nash talk 'All's Fair'; 1st look at 'Zootopia 2' trailer; 'Wreck' by Catherine Newman named November's 'GMA' Book Club pick Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Naomi Watts and Niecy Nash talk 'All's Fair'; 1st look at 'Zootopia 2' trailer; 'Wreck' by Catherine Newman named November's 'GMA' Book Club pick Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Host Jason Blitman sits down with returning Gays Reading guest Catherine Newman (Sandwich) to talk about her new book, Wreck. Conversation highlights include:
New York Times bestselling author Catherine Newman joins us to discuss Wreck (Harper/HarperCollins, October 28), the follow-up to 2024's Sandwich. Kirkus calls the new novel, “A heartbreaking, laugh-provoking, and absolutely Ephron-esque look at the beauty and fragility of everyday life” (starred review). Then our editors recommend their top picks in books for the week.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Elisabeth Easther reviews Wreck by Catherine Newman, published by Penguin Random House.
10/27/25: Holyoke Mayor Joshua Garcia: SNAP cutoff, hunger & budget woes. Megan Zinn w/ Catherine Newman on "Wreck." Prof Amilcar Shabazz w/ Ellisha Walker, Amherst Councilor-at Large: CRESS, SNAP, & rainy-day funds. Amherst Town Mgr. Paul Bockelman & Pub Health Dir Kiko Malin: Nicotine Free Generation, CRESS, Halloween & ribbon cuttings.
10/27/25: Holyoke Mayor Joshua Garcia: SNAP cutoff, hunger & budget woes. Megan Zinn w/ Catherine Newman on "Wreck." Prof Amilcar Shabazz w/ Ellisha Walker, Amherst Councilor-at Large: CRESS, SNAP, & rainy-day funds. Amherst Town Mgr. Paul Bockelman & Pub Health Dir Kiko Malin: Nicotine Free Generation, CRESS, Halloween & ribbon cuttings.
10/27/25: Holyoke Mayor Joshua Garcia: SNAP cutoff, hunger & budget woes. Megan Zinn w/ Catherine Newman on "Wreck." Prof Amilcar Shabazz w/ Ellisha Walker, Amherst Councilor-at Large: CRESS, SNAP, & rainy-day funds. Amherst Town Mgr. Paul Bockelman & Pub Health Dir Kiko Malin: Nicotine Free Generation, CRESS, Halloween & ribbon cuttings.
10/27/25: Holyoke Mayor Joshua Garcia: SNAP cutoff, hunger & budget woes. Megan Zinn w/ Catherine Newman on "Wreck." Prof Amilcar Shabazz w/ Ellisha Walker, Amherst Councilor-at Large: CRESS, SNAP, & rainy-day funds. Amherst Town Mgr. Paul Bockelman & Pub Health Dir Kiko Malin: Nicotine Free Generation, CRESS, Halloween & ribbon cuttings.
221 In this hilarious episode, bestselling author Catherine Newman discusses the beauty and torture of parenting and perimenopause. They discuss the balance of humor and fear in Catherine's latest novels, Sandwich and Wreck, in which Catherine gets real about the complexities of everything from family vacations to "reproductive mayhem." Catherine shares her writing process and the personal experiences that've informed her novels. Ultimately. this episode is about how we hold love and terror at once. Covered in this episode:The excerpt that instantly made Nadine a fan of Catherine's writing. Nadine and Catherine's ridiculous injuries (one involved a mini-golf incident)Maternal anxiety, in all its terror and beautyCatherine's approach to writing that sellsThe unexpected symptoms of perimenopause that took both women by surpriseWhy reproductive experiences make intimacy such complicated territory How to write about our scariest thoughts without shame Join Nadine in her community or at her Revision Retreat:Writer Workout Membership (virtual): Every Monday, Doors Close Oct 31Revision Retreat: Craft Your Best Draft (In-person): Aug 2026, Madeline Island School of the Arts, WIAbout Catherine:Catherine Newman is the New York Times bestselling author of the memoirs Catastrophic Happiness and Waiting for Birdy, the middle-grade novel One Mixed-Up Night, the kids' craft book Stitch Camp, the best-selling how-to books for kids How to Be a Person and What Can I Say?, and the novels We All Want Impossible Things, Sandwich, and Wreck. Her books have been translated into fifteen languages. She has been a regular contributor to the New York Times, Real Simple, O, The Oprah Magazine, Cup of Jo, and many other publications. She writes the Crone Sandwich newsletter on Substack and lives in Amherst, Massachusetts.About Nadine:Nadine Kenney Johnstone is an award-winning author, podcast host, and writing coach. After fifteen years as a writing professor, she founded WriteWELL workshops and retreats for women writers. She interviews today's top female authors on her podcast, Heart of the Story. Her infertility memoir, Of This Much I'm Sure, was named book of the year by the Chicago Writer's Association. Her latest book, Come Home to Your Heart, is an essay collection and guided journal. She has been featured in Cosmo, Authority, MindBodyGreen, Natural Awakenings,Chicago Magazine, and more. She writes a regular column about mid-life reclamation on Substack.
You kids I can't even with Catherine Newman right now because I am a Wreck and a Sandwich myself at the moment but wow, she's a good writer, so honest it's like there's no skull between her mind and the readers. We talk about what it means to use yourself and your world in your fiction and what it's meant to Catherine to play as big as she possibly can and go bigger and deeper with every book.We ALSO talk about Catherine's totally granular technique for planning and tracking and keeping her eye on the ball in every chapter while still pulling in all the other things while making sure that if it's Friday night a teacher character doesn't get up and go to teach the next morning and the blackberries never ripen in April, and let me tell you that I just went back and listened to that now and I am about to implement it because it's brilliant.Ok, time to let you listen (although links to what Catherine and I are reading and loving are below). ALSO…Truth? We wanted to tuck the transcript away behind a paywall, but it turns out we can't do that and still give you the episode… so, here it is. But we have to pay someone to make a good one, that you can read. And we still have to pay ourselves and all our people. BUT LOOK YOU GET ALL OF US. We're not just one writer, we're a whole bunch—a Groupstack, and yes we coined the term, and you get a lot of bang for your subscription. So, if you could kick in, we'd cheer.Please don't make us try to sell you Quince clothing or gambling sites to support the pod.#AmReadingCatherine: A Truce That Is Not Peace by Miriam ToewsKJ: EPISODE TRANSCRIPTKJ Dell'AntoniaIt's fall, y'all, and there's got to be a T-shirt that says that, right? So it's, you know, fresh notebooks, sharpened pencils, sharpened sense of ambition, excitement after the languid summer days, and, of course, the glory that is decorative gourd season. You can say that with all the swears that you like, but I'm not going to hear “falling leaves” and “Halloween,” which means it's time for smoky, eerie, witchy reads, and I have just the thing for you—Playing the Witch Card. Expect a woman starting over again after her marriage collapses, hampered by her magic-obsessed daughter, her flaky mother, her enchanted ex, and a powerful witch who's thrilled that she's back in town—and not for a good reason. To keep her family together, Flair has to embrace the hereditary magic that's done nothing but ruin her life in the past and make it her own. I was inspired by what I see as the real magic of tarot cards, which play a huge role in this book—and tea leaves and palm reading, and honestly, every form of oracle. They're here to help us see and understand our own stories, which is pretty much what Flair figures out. And as someone for whom stories are everything, I love that. You can buy Playing the Witch Card everywhere, and I hope you will do exactly that—and love it too.Multiple SpeakersIs it recording? Now it's recording, yay. Go ahead. This is the part where I stare blankly at the microphone. I don't remember what I'm supposed to be doing. All right, let's start over. Awkward pause. I'm going to rustle some papers. Okay, now—one, two, three.KJ Dell'AntoniaHey, kids, it's KJ, and this is the Hashtag AmWriting Podcast—the place where we help you play big in your writing life, love the process, and finish what matters. Today on the pod, I'm talking with Catherine Newman. She is the author most recently of We All Want Impossible Things and Sandwich, and also, earlier in her career, Waiting for Birdy and Catastrophic Happiness, as well as two fabulous “how to be a person in the world” books for kids that, honestly, I think we could all benefit from. I'm considering just, you know, sending out copies. They are How to Be a Person and What Can I Say?—that one's really useful. Okay, so now, just out, she has Wreck—which kind of comes after Sandwich, but you could read them separately. They're both small, intense books. Wreck, like all of Catherine's work, is inevitably about exactly what I just said—it's how to be a person in the world. Which—I didn't actually ask Catherine this; I'm recording my intro for y'all after talking to her—but she would not tell you she knows how to be a person in the world. But she is so fantastic about the part where we're all figuring it out, and being aware that we're all figuring it out. And that's what all of her books are about. In the interview, which you're going to love, she calls herself the queen of the slight plot element, which made me laugh really hard and also made me realize that I think Catherine Newman is the modern Anne Tyler. So tell me what you think in the comments on the show notes—which you'd better be getting. They are at...there's no hashtag in our name—AmWritingPodcast.com—or search anywhere they will have the books that Catherine mentions, and also all of your chances to do all of the things, like have your First Page appear in a Booklab episode. Talk to us. Get in there. Tell us what you're thinking about writing. Write along with us. Really just—just all the community stuff that we all so desperately want. Okay, here comes my interview with Catherine. I know—gosh, it was so fun to talk to you. You guys are going to love it. Catherine Newman, welcome to the Hashtag AmWriting Podcast, where you've been at least once, maybe twice—I need to go and look. It's so fun to have you back. I remember us walking in the woods before you had finished We All Want Impossible Things in 2021.Catherine NewmanI remember it too.KJ Dell'AntoniaWhich, actually, for three books, is not that long ago.Catherine NewmanHey, that's true. I know... I remember your dog.KJ Dell'AntoniaHe's here somewhere.Catherine NewmanYou had a young dog with you. It was the best. And you—you said so many things that I've thought about so much on that walk. But I don't want to derail the thing you want to talk about.KJ Dell'AntoniaBut, but same—it was a great walk. We must do it again. All right, meanwhile—okay, so I already described in the introduction all the things you've ever written in the past and raved about you, so don't—don't worry about that. You've been—sorry you don't get to hear the petting. But the question is, tell us—tell us a little bit about Wreck.Catherine NewmanYeah, so Wreck...KJ Dell'AntoniaI know, I know, it's painful. Elevator pitch or whatever you want to say, because seriously, I did just tell everyone about them in the intro.Catherine NewmanI really need an elevator pitch. I feel like We All Want Impossible Things was like a woman whose best friend was dying while she, like, slept with everybody.KJ Dell'AntoniaYeah, it was joyful.Catherine NewmanThat was easy.KJ Dell'AntoniaAlso sad.Catherine NewmanSandwich was like Cape Cod for a week, reproductive mayhem, sandwich generation. Wreck is so weird because there's these two sort of very slight plot elements. So it's, you know, a woman in her mid-50s living in a house with her husband of many years, her daughter, who's between college and grad school, and her dad, who was fairly recently widowed and in his 90s. And that's mostly what the book is, but the little plots are that she has a rash—she notices that she has a rash—and it inaugurates this kind of diagnostic tornado. A slow and quiet tornado, but a tornado nonetheless, where she has to see a billion doctors. She has to constantly check her patient portal to see if she's dying or not, and anyone who's had—who's been anything but healthy in the last 10 years will understand the patient portal.KJ Dell'AntoniaYes, I love the checker. I checked a patient portal from a hockey-rink parking lot, and that's a mistake, just FYI.Catherine NewmanJust don't...KJ Dell'AntoniaTo anyone considering it, don't do it on a Friday night. Don't do that.Catherine NewmanJust don't even look. And then the other plot point is that there's an accident—there's a collision between a car and a train—and a schoolmate of her kids, like someone they went to high school with, is killed in this accident. And she becomes kind of weirdly obsessed with the accident. She looks at it online all the time. She stalks everyone's...KJ Dell'AntoniaWhich so tracks for the character that you have created.Catherine NewmanDoesn't it? And that's it. And so the book sort of is those things unfolding in this parallel way—these uncertain things.KJ Dell'AntoniaSo when you wrote it, what—what was your intention for this? What did you want Wreck to be in your career and for your readers?Catherine NewmanWhat? It's so funny to be asked questions about my career. I don't know what I wanted it to be in my career, but maybe while I'm talking to you, I'll figure that out.KJ Dell'AntoniaOkay.Catherine NewmanOr you can tell me. But for my readers—I do think we're in this funny place where some of us are hungry to read about the experiences of other menopausal women who are taking care of aging parents, whose nests are emptying, who are in long marriages, who are, you know, doing the things of this age, including tracking weird illnesses. So I guess that—you know, I think, I feel like the thing that I love about writing—one of the things—is when people say to me, like, “Oh yeah, I feel the same way about that,” or they write me and they're like, “Oh, I read this, and I felt so relieved that I wasn't alone.” And I guess I have a lot of that hope—you know, that it speaks to someone, or someone's been in their portal rummaging around and finding out horrible things about their health and Googling them. Like, that's not a small part of the population who's probably doing that. So I guess just that—you know, the handout, the “I'm with you on this” vibe.KJ Dell'AntoniaSo what do you love most about it?Catherine Newman(Laughing) I mean, that's a funny and embarrassing question. I... you know, the father character is based very closely on my own father. Many of the things he says are verbatim lifted from conversations and texts with my dad. And I just love that character so much. I think he's so funny and has this kind of deep wisdom. I mean, Wreck plays him for laughs a little bit, but he offers so much to her. He's still this really profound caretaking force in her life, even though he himself, you know, is failing in different ways. So I guess that's what I like.KJ Dell'AntoniaHow does your dad feel about you taking his stuff?Catherine NewmanHe loved this book.KJ Dell'AntoniaI love this!Catherine NewmanHe has not felt that way always about the way I represent him. I represent him in Sandwich in similar ways, and Sandwich—there were just particular things that bugged him. He loved the book overall but didn't love his character. I think in this book, maybe because there's so much of his character, that it gets to be a very well-rounded kind of person, and also somebody whose opinion it's obvious the other characters respect. So he really loved it, which was, like, everything to me, you know?KJ Dell'AntoniaYeah, oh, wow. I'd give a lot for that. That's—that's wonderful. I would—it's... although all my dad ever says is, “Why don't you—you only write about mothers? You never write...” I'm like, well, I don't know if you read some of the mothers. You're kind of lucky. You're doing okay. I don't know why—you guys were great. You should have been better fodder for affection, and then I would... yeah. All right. So, okay, so that's what you love about it. What was the hardest about this?Catherine NewmanIt's funny—it's a little hard to talk about without spoilers, but, um, there's a difficult part of the plot that involves Rocky's son, who works for a consulting firm in New York, where she really questions his values, questions the decision to do that kind of work.KJ Dell'AntoniaThat would stun me, frankly.Catherine NewmanHowever, he knows a lot about that kind of work, and talked to me a ton about it for the book—like, went on a million walks with me and let me pick his brain about it. And I really just found it so hard to write about this kind of painful conflict between Rocky and her son. I just found it really hard. Yeah...KJ Dell'AntoniaObviously, yeah, that's actually what you did, wasn't it?Catherine NewmanI can imagine... that's it. I imagined it. And honestly, my husband could hardly stand to read it. He found it so devastating. Just—and it's, as you know, it's not massive conflict. It's like...KJ Dell'AntoniaBut it is. It's...Catherine NewmanBut it is. YepKJ Dell'AntoniaI mean, it's, you know—Catherine NewmanYep.KJ Dell'AntoniaIt's it—goes back to Alex Keaton, right? [Unintelligible] Both of us, yeah, yeah, no, I get it. It's a really—and by writing it, even if it's not autobiographical, which it's not, it's fiction, you are saying something about some compatriots, you know, some other—you're really, you're—you're putting—you're putting a stake in the ground, which I think has always been pretty obvious for anyone who knows you or has read you, but maybe you had not verbalized even in a fictional form.Catherine NewmanHmm, maybe.KJ Dell'AntoniaCould feel judgmental because—it's judgmental (whispered). But it's values. That's what values do. A value that doesn't judge anyone isn't a value, even if you don't want to judge people. But I think it's kind of true, like...Catherine NewmanYeah, yeah.KJ Dell'AntoniaYou can also be open. But, I mean, that's—I don't know if, if you don't offer that up, then we're all just sitting here going, “Oh, it's fine. It's all...”Catherine NewmanEverything's fine.KJ Dell'AntoniaEverything's fine, it's fine. That's a joke in our house, because we had this Spanish exchange student, and he would always say, “Oh, it's fine,” when—and it—what that meant was, it wasn't.Catherine NewmanOh no, it wasn't fine.KJ Dell'AntoniaYeah, no... that's what it means when we say, “It's fine.”Catherine NewmanOh my God, KJ.KJ Dell'AntoniaAll right, so this kind of gets to, I think, my next question, which—which is, what about this was, um, bigger for you? Was a bigger leap to take in your writing?Catherine NewmanIt's like, you know, I think it's just a little more plot in a novel than I've ever managed. Even though, you know—don't laugh because there's not a ton of plot. But nonetheless, there were sort of these two vectors of significant—I thought—dramatic contention that I had to manage in the writing, and—and I was anxious about it. Like, I—I like a quiet story that's not like—is too plot-driven. But anyway, so that is—it was, you know, I definitely plotted it a little more actively before I wrote it, like I wanted to make sure that these plots were unfolding in the timeframe I wanted them to unfold in.KJ Dell'AntoniaAnd did that present some new, like, “Oops, I did this too fast, oops...” just that you hadn't really had to...?Catherine NewmanNo, because I plotted it. It actually didn't, but it just presented—before I started writing, I had the challenge of, you know, practically trying to graph these two plots to see where they would intersect, and—and the sort of ways that the two plots together create this kind of character arc for Rocky, the main character. And so I was—I just, like—I usually, I have this way that I plot stuff, and it's kind of based on that book that I use because of you, which is like, you know, Put On Your Pants—or Take Off Your Pants, or, you know, the book...KJ Dell'AntoniaOh yeah, oh yeah.Catherine NewmanAnd—and I, so I do this thing where I make a—I write down the numbers 1 to 25, and I print that. I print a piece of paper that has the numbers 1 through 25 in type font. I don't know why I don't just hand-write the whole thing. That—and I guess the thought's how many chapters it's going to be, but it's never quite right. And then I fill in what I know. So I put in everything I know, and guess where it's going to go in terms of the—what are the things? What's it called when it's like a thing...?KJ Dell'AntoniaYeah, the... the turning point or the...Catherine NewmanOr the beat...KJ Dell'AntoniaOr the moment of last resolve? Yeah, the beat!Catherine NewmanYeah.KJ Dell'AntoniaYeah.Catherine NewmanSo I fill in everything, like, I know, you know. I have a sense of how it's going to open. I have a sense of the different elements of the two plots, and I put them in this weird numbered-chapter thing. And usually—like, usually as if I've written so many books—but with the other two novels, I did that a little willy-nilly, and it was fine. Like, I sat down and wrote the books beginning to end without all of it totally sorted in terms of where everything would go, and that was fine. This book, I really had to understand where it was all going to go, so I had to just be sure that all of the most important plot points were plotted in that 1-through-25.KJ Dell'AntoniaDo you? I mean, you have a lot of moving emotional pieces too. Asking for a friend—how do you make sure that those are all resolved? Or do you? Or does it just happen?Catherine NewmanThat's a really good question. I hope they're resolved, or if they're not, that that's intentional, by the way. Yeah, I—I'm just thinking about, like, the different relationships. You know, most of what the book is, is like Rocky's relationships with the people she loves—like, that is sort of the heart of the book. And then her grappling with herself, both physically and psychologically. I think I have a sense of those. Those are kind of included in those. I have, like, a—in that 1-through-25— sorry if this is too granular.KJ Dell'AntoniaNo, I love it.Catherine NewmanIn the 1-through-25, I have the plot thing that's like, “Rocky reads her biopsy results,” or, you know, whatever the thing is. And then I have this other column that's like, the other things that need to happen in that chapter, if that's what's happening in the chapter. And that's where I keep information about stuff that's like, “Willa forgives her,” you know—whatever other thing needs to happen. So I sort of track the plot, and then I—and I also have a little other column that's just like, seasonal details. And that I don't fill out super carefully, but, like, because this book moves from essentially Labor Day to New Year's, I—I just tracked a little before I started writing, like, around when in that season things were going to be happening, you know, that's Halloween, it's Thanksgiving, it's the winter holidays, New Year's, and then it's going to be, like, the leaves are turning, the blackberries that, you know?KJ Dell'AntoniaYeah, no, it's so hard. Is it Tuesday? Like...?Catherine NewmanYeah (laughing).KJ Dell'AntoniaDang it. Oh, wait—if its four days from the first day, and the first day was a Thursday, that means its Sunday, and Sundays do have a particular rhythm on their own. And yeah, no, it's so hard.Catherine NewmanIt's really hard, although that part's my favorite part, probably—besides, I love dialogue. But I love—I keep a lot of notes that are really dull on their own about, like, the weather and the landscape, just in general. I don't even know what I'm going to use them for. I just keep a ton of notes about the seasons. And I love pilfering stuff for fiction from them because it's just like—it's going to be fairly accurate. Like, I will have dated it. I'll have a fairly strong sense of whether that will work or not.KJ Dell'AntoniaYeah, you're not going to put the blackberries in April.Catherine NewmanAnd I'm not going to put the blackberries in April, and I have that cheater feeling of chunking in something I've already kind of written down, and then your word count goes up by, like, 300 words.KJ Dell'AntoniaYou're like, hey... [Unintelligible].Catherine NewmanYeah, exactly.KJ Dell'AntoniaOh my gosh, I love this. All right, well, one last question, and that is—what have you read recently where you felt like the writer was really, you know, playing big, doing their very max?Catherine NewmanYeah, I just read—well, I just got it in the mail, although my kitten—I want to show you, she has, like...KJ Dell'AntoniaShe had some fun with it...Catherine NewmanChewed up every corner.KJ Dell'AntoniaYeah.Catherine NewmanSo this book is A Truce That Is Not Peace by Miriam Toews. And she is a very, very favorite writer of mine. She wrote the novel All My Puny Sorrows that I always press on everybody, because it's like the perfect funny, sad novel. This book I got to blurb, so I read it a while ago, and it just came—and I think it just came out maybe this week, I'm not sure. It's so incredibly good. It's really strange—someone—she's doing some conference in Mexico, and she has to write an answer to the question, “Why do I write?”KJ Dell'AntoniaOkay.Catherine NewmanAnd she keeps starting and stopping, and it's so—it's nonfiction. I mean, it's just authentically this, and she includes, like, letters to her sister. Her sister killed herself some number of years ago, and that's the event that All My Puny Sorrows—which is a novel—is based on. But this, I am under the impression that's the first time she's written about it...KJ Dell'AntoniaIn a nonfiction way—yeah.Catherine NewmanIn a nonfiction way. And it is just—I did that thing, you know, when a book is so good? I picked it up because I knew I was going to talk to you about it, and then I read it for, like, an hour.KJ Dell'AntoniaYeah, no, I get it.Catherine NewmanEven though I have, like, already read it. It's so moving and beautiful and so—like, she's just struggling in this, like, really profound way to process loss and to understand herself and what she's created in the world. And it's so good.KJ Dell'AntoniaIt sounds huge, and I would—yeah, I'm going to pick it up. I have a funny story about All My Puny Sorrows, which is that I took it to Spain while I was waiting for one of those patient-portal things. I had cancer at the time, and that's—the character of the sister who wanted to kill herself made me so angry that I had to hide—not only did I have to leave the book behind, I had to hide it in the hotel so it would not juju me. I obviously survived, because this was, I think, seven or eight years ago. But I couldn't—like, I just—it was... but that actually speaks to the power of the book.Catherine NewmanInteresting... yeah.KJ Dell'AntoniaIt's not that it wasn't an amazing book. It was that I literally couldn't handle the particular, you know, mental illness that the sister was struggling with when I, you know, did not really want to die. Did not want to die, yeah. So I...Catherine NewmanThat's amazing... yeah.KJ Dell'AntoniaShe's a really powerful writer.Catherine NewmanThat—that is a really powerful story. Wait, were you going to share with me a book? Or it doesn't work that way?KJ Dell'AntoniaWell, it doesn't...Catherine NewmanKJ looks around...KJ Dell'AntoniaBecause I did not prepare.Catherine NewmanWhat are you writing, KJ? What are you working on? What's happening?KJ Dell'AntoniaAll right, we're going to call this as an episode.Catherine Newman(Laughing)KJ Dell'AntoniaBecause it was excellent, and then I'm going to answer Catherine's question, which all of you listeners kind of vaguely know. Let's just say I'm trying to play big. All right, so this is me ending with: thank you so much, Catherine Newman, for joining me on the Hashtag AmWriting Podcast.Catherine NewmanThank you, KJ; it was a pleasure, as always.KJ Dell'AntoniaAnd for all you listeners, we're still saying it—keep your butt in the chair and your head in the game.NarratorThe Hashtag AmWriting Podcast is produced by Andrew Perrella. Our intro music, aptly titled Unemployed Monday, was written and played by Max Cohen. Andrew and Max were paid for their time and their creative output, because everyone deserves to be paid for their work.Subscribe to back the show that backs your writing life This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit amwriting.substack.com/subscribe
Awake by Jen Hatmaker is a powerful and poignant memoir full of hope, loss and paving a new path after the end of her marriage. Jen joins us to talk about healing, home, family, faith, support systems and more with guest host Brenda Allison. This episode of Poured Over was hosted by Brenda Allison and mixed by Harry Liang. New episodes land Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional Saturdays) here and on your favorite podcast app. Featured Books (Episode): Awake by Jen Hatmaker All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker Sandwich by Catherine Newman Go as a River by Shelley Read Wreck by Catherine Newman
This week on From the Front Porch, it's another New Release Rundown! Annie and Erin share the October releases they're excited about to help you build your TBR. When you purchase or preorder any of the books they talk about, enter the code NEWRELEASEPLEASE at checkout for 10% off your order! To purchase the books mentioned in this episode, stop by The Bookshelf in Thomasville, visit our website (search episode 549) or download and shop on The Bookshelf's official app: Annie's books: A Guardian and a Thief by Megha Majumdar (10/14) Same: Poems by Hannah Rosenberg (10/21) Wreck by Catherine Newman (10/28) Erin's books: Bog Queen by Anna North (10/14) Pride and Pleasure by Amanda Vaill (10/21) The Devil is a Southpaw by Brandon Hobson (10/28) Thank you to this week's sponsor, Discover Thomasville. Gracefully tucked within the storied Red Hills of South Georgia, Thomasville curates a distinguished Downtown experience that meanders along several blocks of our iconic red brick streets. Here, bespoke boutiques, master craftsmen, coveted antique art purveyors, and celebrated culinary artisans converge in harmony with the cultural richness of the Pebble Hill Plantation art tour and the tranquil allure of Birdsong Nature Center. Here, you Discover the Soul of the South. Here, you Discover Thomasville. Learn more by visiting thomasvillega.com/news. From the Front Porch is a weekly podcast production of The Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in South Georgia. You can follow The Bookshelf's daily happenings on Instagram, Tiktok, and Facebook, and all the books from today's episode can be purchased online through our store website, www.bookshelfthomasville.com. A full transcript of today's episode can be found here. Special thanks to Dylan and his team at Studio D Podcast Production for sound and editing and for our theme music, which sets the perfect warm and friendly tone for our Thursday conversations. This week, Annie is reading A Guardian and A Thief by Megha Mujumdar. Erin is listening to The Island of Last Things by Emma Sloley. If you liked what you heard in today's episode, tell us by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts. You can also support us on Patreon, where you can access bonus content, monthly live Porch Visits with Annie, our monthly live Patreon Book Club with Bookshelf staffers, Conquer a Classic episodes with Hunter, and more. Just go to patreon.com/fromthefrontporch. We're so grateful for you, and we look forward to meeting back here next week. Our Executive Producers are...Beth, Stephanie Dean, Linda Lee Drozt, Ashley Ferrell, Wendi Jenkins, Martha, Nicole Marsee, Gene Queens, Cammy Tidwell, Jammie Treadwell, and Amanda Whigham.
Description: Today's episode is an absolute treat. Catherine Newman, the beloved author of both fiction and nonfiction writing, known for her sharp wit, emotional resonance, and profound insights into everyday life, sits down with Jen to talk about our August JHBC selection, Sandwich, which quickly gained national attention for its honest, tender, and hilarious reflection on real life in the messy middle years. In this discussion that feels like a conversation between lifelong friends, Jen and Catherine delve into the unique challenges faced by the Sandwich Generation. Catherine writes so beautifully about the ache of watching our kids become adults—still ours, but not really, meanwhile exploring what it looks like to engage in the caretaking and slow grief of watching our parents age. And with hilarious candor, she peels back the curtain of what it's like to endure all of this in the throes of menopause. It's a book that feels like it crawled inside our minds, hearts, and lives. Catherine also gives glimpses into how many of the characters and storylines were inspired by real life experiences, which is perhaps why it tugs so tenderly on our heartstrings and strikes such a raw and honest chord with its readers. Thought-provoking Quotes: “I became like a total writing-for-money whore. I couldn't believe you could write for money. It was so intoxicating to me and I started writing everything I could if they would pay me for it and I did this until last year. And it didn't really matter what they would pay me for it. And I wrote everybody's alumni magazines. I wrote advertorial copy for websites. I wrote the etiquette column for Real Simple Magazine for 10 years, like a billion different things. And here I am.” – Catherine Newman “Talk about ‘sandwich'. I'm the filling that's slowly extracting itself. I'm like the bologna creeping out the back door while the sandwich takes care of itself. An incredible system.” – Catherine Newman “How did I not know this stuff? I thought menopause really was the cessation of your period. Like it was a train you got on when you were 12 and then you just stepped off of it when you were 50. Not that you stepped off this train and entered this hellscape.” – Catherine Newman “I stopped reading the Goodreads reviews for Sandwich — somebody did call the book ‘grinding and plotless'. It was a three-word review and I loved it so much, like this is the slow drip of shame and hubris for me…. I want that on my tombstone ‘grinding and plotless', like ‘tell me about it, you only had to read about it, this is my actual life.'” – Catherine Newman To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Welcome to the Fall 2025 Book Preview with Catherine of Gilmore Guide to Books! Today, Catherine and Sarah share 14 of their most anticipated books releasing from mid-August through December. This post contains affiliate links through which I make a small commission when you make a purchase (at no cost to you!). CLICK HERE for the full episode Show Notes on the blog. Announcement One of the many benefits to supporting the podcast through either our Patreon Community or our Substack Community (both for just $7/mo) is that you get access to several bonus podcast episode series, including Book Preview Extras! In these episodes, Catherine and I share at least 4 bonus books we are excited about that we did not share in the big show preview episode. Get more details about all the goodies available and sign up here for Patreon and here for Substack! Highlights A lightning round of some big releases coming this fall that we're not featuring in today's preview. Odd fall pickings meant they both chose to feature 7 books each. Catherine's choices are a grab bag mix: academia, mysteries, a love story, and a snarky lighter read. Of Sarah's seven books, there are 3 debut authors and 1 repeat author — and 2 sports books! Some of Sarah's picks slide her right from sad girl summer into sad girl fall. Sarah has already read and rated one of her picks — and it was a success! Plus, their #1 picks for fall. Big Fall Releases Wreck by Catherine Newman (October 28) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [1:15] King Sorrow by Joe Hill (October 21) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [1:22] Son of the Morning by Akwaeke Emezi (November 4) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [1:25] What We Can Know by Ian McEwan (September 23) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [1:29] Palaver by Bryan Washington (November 4) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [1:32] Replaceable You by Mary Roach (September 16) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [1:35] Circle of Days by Ken Follett (September 23) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [1:51] People Like Us by Jason Mott (August 5) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [2:14] The Black Wolf by Louise Penny (October 28) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [2:33] All the Way to the River by Elizabeth Gilbert (September 9) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [2:38] Queen Esther by John Irving (November 4) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [2:46] Hot Wax by M. L. Rio (September 9) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [3:02] Cursed Daughters by Oyinkan Braithwaite (November 4) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [3:51] Among the Burning Flowers by Samantha Shannon (September 16) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [3:55] Other Books Mentioned Sandwich by Catherine Newman (2024) [1:18] The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett (1989) [2:06] Hell of a Book by Jason Mott (2021) [2:20] If We Were Villains by M. L. Rio (2017) [3:06] The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon (2019) [4:04] Fall 2025 Book Preview [7:26] August Sarah's Picks Dominion by Addie E. Citchens (August 19) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [8:09] We Loved to Run by Stephanie Reents (August 26) | Amazon | Bookshop.org[14:09] Catherine's Pick Katabasis by R. F. Kuang (August 26) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [11:19] Other Books Mentioned God Spare the Girls by Kelsey McKinney (2021) [9:49] Search by Michelle Huneven (2022) [9:58] The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw (2020) [10:08] Olga Dies Dreaming by Xóchitl González (2022) [10:12] Inferno by Dante (c. 1321) [11:36] Babel by R. F. Kuang (2022) [13:30] Yellowface by R. F. Kuang (2023) [13:32] Headshot by Rita Bullwinkel (2024) [14:57] The Rachel Incident by Caroline O'Donoghue (2023) [14:59] Unlikely Animals by Annie Hartnett (2022) [15:53] The Mothers by Brit Bennett (2016) [15:54] Good For a Girl by Lauren Fleshman (2023) [16:20] The Longest Race by Kara Goucher (2023) [16:22] September Sarah's Picks Buckeye by Patrick Ryan (September 2) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [19:17] Hot Desk by Laura Dickerman (September 2) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [24:31] The Wilderness by Angela Flournoy (September 16) | Amazon | Bookshop.org[29:23] Underspin by E. Y. Zhao (September 23) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [37:14] Catherine's Picks The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai (September 23) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [17:08] Guilty by Definition by Susie Dent (US release: September 30) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [22:07] Other Books Mentioned Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin (2022) [18:15] Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano (2023) [20:05] Slanting Towards the Sea by Lidija Hilje (2025) [20:38] The Flatshare by Beth O'Leary (2019) [24:46] Younger by Pamela Redmond Satran (2005) [26:10] (The book upon which the television series is based.) Writers & Lovers by Lily King (2020) [26:12] The Turner House by Angela Flournoy (2015) [29:49] Headshot by Rita Bullwinkel (2024) [38:49] October Catherine's Picks Workhorse by Caroline Palmer (October 14) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [27:25] The Wayfinder by Adam Johnson (October 14) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [33:14] November Sarah's Pick Lightbreakers by Aja Gabel (November 4) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [43:31] Catherine's Pick Best Offer Wins by Marisa Kashino (November 25) | Amazon | Bookshop.org[40:02] Other Books Mentioned The Ensemble by Aja Gabel (2018) [43:57] December Catherine's Pick The Day I Lost You by Ruth Mancini (US release: December 2) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [47:19] Other Books Mentioned The Woman on the Ledge by Ruth Mancini (2024) [47:22]
Read Ahead! For our next episode: Uptown Girl by Christie BrinkleyWhat we're watching:Stalking Samantha on HuluLove is Blind on NetflixHacks on HBOThe Office (British version) on HBOThe Americans on FX/HuluI Like Movies on PrimeBilly Joel: And So It Goes on HBOWhat we're reading:Too Old for This by Samantha DowningSandwich by Catherine Newman (also We All Want Impossible Things, and forthcoming, Wreck)What Comes Next and How to Like It by Abigail ThomasThe Doorman by Chris PavoneWhat we're listening to:Gwyneth: The Biography by Amy OdellMaintenance Phase podcastZarna Garg on Amy Poehler's podcast Good HangFollow us on Instagram: Memwah PodcastJoin our Facebook group! Memwah PodcastVisit us at Pronounced MemwahMusic: "Promenade" themeBuy Wendi's booksI'm Wearing Tunics NowGinger Mancino, Kid ComedianSocksWendi's SubstackBuy Ann's bookListen to Your MotherMariana's Substack
Welcome to Episode 241! Some highlights of this episode include a discussion of our third quarter readalong, THE UPSTAIRS HOUSE by Julia Fine, and its companion read, Charlotte Perkins Gilman's 1892 short story, THE YELLOW WALLPAPER. Thanks to the readers who joined us for the Zoom conversation and helped deepen our appreciation of both stories. We also discussed “The Monkey's Paw” by W.W.Jacobs from THE PENGUIN BOOK OF GHOST STORIES from Elizabeth Gaskell to Ambrose Bierce, and learned that it has not only been adapted to film, but there's been a play and an opera inspired by this short, tense, and creepy tale. Some other things we've read include WORKING by Robert Caro, UNTIL ALISON by Kate Russo, WRECK by Catherine Newman, and FONSECA by Jessica Francis Kane. In Biblio Adventures, we recap jaunts to exciting places in SIX STATES: Connecticut, of course, and also New York, Massachusetts, Illinois, Tennessee, and Alabama. We got around the past two weeks! Stops included the NYPL, The Drama Book Shop, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, RJ Julia Booksellers, the Piper City Public Library, Parnassus Books, and Huntsville's historic districts. Have you heard that NYC is getting its first Horror Bookstore? The Twisted Spine in Brooklyn is celebrating its grand opening in early September. Happy Listening and Happy Reading! https://www.bookcougars.com/blog-1/2025/episode241
In Episode 203, Gayle Weiswasser, co-founder of Wonderland Books, an independent bookstore in Bethesda, Maryland, returns to the podcast with Sarah for a one-year check-in on the shop's journey. From holiday-season chaos to surprising customer favorites, Gayle shares what worked, what didn't, and why she still handpicks every title on the shelves — plus the biggest lessons (and mistakes) from year one. Plus, Gayle shares some great book recommendations. This post contains affiliate links through which I make a small commission when you make a purchase (at no cost to you!). CLICK HERE for the full episode Show Notes on the blog. Highlights Gayle shares what it was like to open the bookstore right before the holiday season. How the store's first year compared to their original projections and expectations. The now-dispelled fears Gayle had before opening. Why she's glad they curated every book in their inventory themselves, and why they still do all the book buying in-house. The course correction Wonderland had to make in their romance section. The biggest mistake they made before opening their doors. Which genres and titles have become customer favorites and which don't seem to sell well. How they plan and host book events — and why those events are such a key part of the store's community success. The books that taught them exactly how (and how not) to decide how many copies to order. The surprising punch poetry has packed with customers. Whether Gayle's own reading life has bounced back after the pre-opening stress and time crunch. Gayle's Book Recommendations [39:12] Two OLD Books She Loves One's Company by Ashley Hutson (2022) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [39:25] Sam by Allegra Goodman (2023) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [42:46] Other Books Mentioned The Knockout Queen by Rufi Thorpe (2020) [44:40] The Girls from Corona del Mar by Rufi Thorpe (2014) [44:42] Two NEW Books She Loves The Correspondent by Virginia Evans (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [45:01] What Kind of Paradise by Janelle Brown (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org[47:18] Other Books Mentioned The Wedding People by Alison Espach (2024) [46:56] Pretty Things by Janelle Brown (2020) [49:06] One Book She DIDN'T Love Back After This by Linda Holmes (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [49:55] Other Books Mentioned Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes (2019) [51:14] Flying Solo by Linda Holmes (2022) [53:34] One NEW RELEASE She's Excited About Wreck by Catherine Newman (October 28, 2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org[53:57] Other Books Mentioned Sandwich by Catherine Newman (2024) [54:03] Last 5-Star Book Gayle Read The Names by Florence Knapp (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [55:34] Books from the Discussion Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid (2025) [16:30] Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros (2025) [25:41] The Correspondent by Virginia Evans (2025) [26:39] The Wedding People by Alison Espach (2024) [26:40] The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon (2023) [26:42] James by Percival Everett (2024) [30:09] Heartwood by Amity Gaige (2025) [31:28] Mark Twain by Ron Chernow (2025) [31:38] Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green (2025) [31:55] Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams (2025) [32:00] Cher: Part One: The Memoir by Cher (2024) [32:25] Gwyneth: The Biography by Amy Odell (2025) [32:35] Brooke Shields Is Not Allowed to Get Old by Brooke Shields and Rachel Bertsche (2025) [33:07] Yoko Ono: A Biography by David Sheff (2025) [33:10] My Friends by Fredrik Backman (2025) [38:29]
Gretchen Rubin is one of today's most influential observers of happiness and human nature. In addition to hosting the award-winning podcast Happier with Gretchen Rubin, where she shares practical strategies for building a happier, healthier, more creative life, Gretchen is also the bestselling author of The Happiness Project, The Four Tendencies, Better Than Before, Life in Five Senses, and now Secrets of Adulthood, a delightful collection of her signature aphorisms—concise, thought-provoking truths gathered from her own experiences and reflections on human nature. Today, Gretchen shares a wealth of bite-sized, digestible truths with Jen and Amy that acknowledge problems everyone faces. “What we do every day matters more than what we do once in a while.” “Outer order contributes to inner calm.” “A strong voice repels as well as attracts.” “Don't let perfect be the enemy of good.” And our personal favorite, “Choose the bigger life.” Gretchen also delves into the Four Tendencies and helps Jen and Amy unpack their profiles to better understand whether they are an Upholder, Questioner, Obliger, or Rebel. Anyone want to take bets? Thought-provoking Quotes: “Happier people are more interested in the problems of the world. And they're more interested in the problems of the people around them. They're more likely to volunteer. They're more likely to vote. They're more likely to donate their time or their money. They're more likely to help out if someone needs a hand. When we're happier, we're able to turn outward and to think about the problems of the world.” – Gretchen Rubin “Action is the antidote to anxiety.” – Gretchen Rubin “There's really no more eloquent way to put this: one of the best ways to make friends is to make friends with the friends of your friends.” – Gretchen Rubin “When we're doing something hard, it feels like the times are hard." – Gretchen Rubin Resources Mentioned in This Episode: Camino de Santiago Pilgrimage - https://santiago-compostela.net/ Secrets of Adulthood: Simple Truths for Our Complex Lives by Gretchen Rubin - https://amzn.to/4kq8TzF The Happier App - https://thehappierapp.com/ David Sedaris The Happiness Project: Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun by Gretchen Rubin - https://amzn.to/3S9OXox The Four Tendencies Quiz - https://gretchenrubin.com/quiz/the-four-tendencies-quiz/ The English Understand Wool by Helen DeWitt - https://amzn.to/43iUOgg The Last Samurai by Helen DeWitt - https://amzn.to/43tjDaF 5 Things Making Me Happy Newsletter - https://gretchenrubin.com/newsletter/5-things-making-me-happy-september-16-2022/ Sandwich: A Novel by Catherine Newman - https://amzn.to/4m9KGiy Guest's Links: Website - https://gretchenrubin.com/ Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/gretchenrubin/ Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/GretchenRubin Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/GretchenRubin TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@gretchenrubin Connect with Jen!Jen's Website - https://jenhatmaker.com/ Jen's Instagram - https://instagram.com/jenhatmakerJen's Twitter - https://twitter.com/jenHatmaker/ Jen's Facebook - https://facebook.com/jenhatmakerJen's YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/user/JenHatmaker The For the Love Podcast is presented by Audacy. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
This week, we asked listeners in our Facebook Group for categories to share our top 3 rankings! We cover (almost) everything, from food to books to pop culture and more! Food Trader Joe's products Becca - taco seasoning; hold the cone; pastry pups Olivia (Costco remix) - Rotisserie chicken, Costco Pizza, Carbonara Buldak Ramen, Built Bars Fast food orders Becca -McDonald's (Chicken Selects), Shake Shack, Dunkin' (Sausage Egg and Cheese Wake Up Wrap) Olivia - McDonald's (2 Cheeseburgers, extra pickles), Auntie Anne's (Pretzel Bites), Starbucks Dips Becca - Chili's salsa, Hillstone Spinach & Artichoke Dip, Spicy Feta Olivia - Helluva Good Onion Dip, mom's spinach dip in bread bowl, Chili's ranch Plane Snacks Becca - Mini pretzels, Twizzlers, peanut butter crackers Olivia - Gardetto's, Cheez Its, Peanut M&Ms Books: Romance Becca - The Idea of You by Robinne Lee, The Royal We by Heather Cocks & Jessica Morgan, People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry Olivia - Talking at Night by Claire Daverley, Shark Heart by Emily Habeck, Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller Thriller Becca - Verity by Colleen Hoover, First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston, All These Beautiful Strangers by Elizabeth Klefoth Olivia - The Push by Ashley Audrain, Nightwatching by Tracy Sierra, Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn Books that deserve the hype Becca - The People We Keep by Alison Larkin, Musical Chairs by Amy Poepell, A Sky Painted Gold by Laura Wood Olivia - We All Want Impossible Things by Catherine Newman, Rainbow Black by Maggie Thrash, Beautyland by Marie-Helene Bertino Books to recommend Becca - The Idea of You by Robinne Lee, Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir, The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern Olivia - Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir, The Wedding People by Alison Espach, The Husbands by Holly Gramazio Book-to-Film adaptations Becca - Crazy Rich Asians, The Devil Wears Prada, The Summer I Turned Pretty S1 Olivia - Gone Girl, The Martian, Pride & Prejudice 2005 Pop Culture: Newsletters to receive Becca - As Seen On (Ochuko Akpovbovbo), Gossip Time by Allie Jones, Galley Brag by Ezra Kupor Olivia - The Composite by Jordan Bogeegean, Morning Person by Leslie Stephens, Literary Leanings by Michelle Martin Formative celebrity crushes Becca - Leonardo DiCaprio, Paul Walker, Joshua Jackson Olivia - Ashton Kutcher, Sean Faris, Robert Pattinson Karaoke Songs Becca - Hero by Enrique Iglesias, Never Ever by All Saints, Spice up Your Life by the Spice Girls Olivia - Goodbye, Earl by the Chicks, 2 a.m. by Anna Nalick, How To Save a Life by The Fray TV Romance Plotlines: Becca - Olivia+Fitz+Jake love triangle in Scandal, Blair Waldorf + Chuck Bass in Gossip Girl, Connell + Marianne in Normal People Olivia - Nick+Jess on New Girl, Emma+Dexter in One Day, Priest+Fleabag in Fleabag Reality TV Shows: Becca - RHONY, NYC Prep, Laguna Beach Olivia - RHOSLC, RHOOC, Below Deck Misc Things to do when you need a reset Becca - Take a walk, go to bed early and don't set an alarm, journal Olivia - Let my phone die, take a shower, journal Candle scents Becca - The New Savant Summer Splendor, Brooklyn Candle Company Apple Cider, Hotel Lobby Candle Signature Olivia - Anything that doesn't smell like cologne Late 90s/early 00s beauty products Becca - Hard Candy lip gloss, Stila Kitten Sparkle Powder, Clinique Black Honey Olivia - Dream Matte Mousse, Lancome Juicy Tube, Clearasil Face Pads Obsessions Becca - Paradise on Hulu Olivia - Gap Barrell Overalls This Month's Book Club Pick - Deep Cuts by Holly Brickley (have thoughts about this book you want to share? Call in at 843-405-3157 or email us a voice memo at badonpaperpodcast@gmail.com) Sponsors Quince - Go to Quince.com/bop for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Wayfair - Give your home the refresh it needs at Wayfair.com Join our Facebook group for amazing book recs & more! Buy our Merch! Join our Geneva! Order Olivia's Book, Such a Bad Influence! Subscribe to Olivia's Newsletter! Order Becca's Book, The Christmas Orphans Club! Subscribe to Becca's Newsletter! Follow us on Instagram @badonpaperpodcast. Follow Olivia on Instagram @oliviamuenter and Becca @beccamfreeman.
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