Novel Pairings

Have we mentioned how much we love audiobooks? We’ve both been avid listeners for a long time, but between pandemic life and Sara’s Aspen Words reading,  this has been a banner year for audiobooks. Today, we’re each sharing twelve of our favorite listening experiences. With a mix of literary fiction, romance, nonfiction, and YA, today’s episode has an audiobook recommendation for every reader.  Follow Novel Pairings on Instagram or Twitter.  Use our Libro.fm affiliate code NOVELPAIRINGS to get an audiobook subscription for yourself or purchase a gift.  Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get updates on what we're currently listening to.  View all of our recs  and shop our links on the blog.  Chelsey's Favorites: Before the Ever After by Jacqueline Woodson // Amazon // Bookshop // Libro.fm The Switch by Beth O’Leary // Amazon // Bookshop // Libro.fm The Flatshare by Beth O’Leary // Amazon // Bookshop // Libro.fm Punching the Air by Ibi Zoboi and Yusef Salaam // Amazon // Bookshop // Libro.fm The Voting Booth by Brandy Colbert // Amazon // Bookshop // Libro.fm Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall // Amazon // Bookshop // Libro.fm Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi // Amazon // Bookshop // Libro.fm Take a Hint, Dani Brown by Talia Hibbert // Amazon // Bookshop // Libro.fm Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo // Amazon // Bookshop // Libro.fm Here for It: Or How to Save Your Soul in America by R. Eric Thomas. // Amazon // Bookshop // Libro.fm Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid // Amazon // Bookshop // Libro.fm How We Fight for Our Lives by Saeed Jones // Amazon // Bookshop // Libro.fm Sara's Favorites: The City We Became by NK Jemison // Amazon // Bookshop // Libro.fm The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson // Amazon // Bookshop // Libro.fm The Jane Austen Society by Natalie Jenner // Amazon // Bookshop // Libro.fm Members Only by Sameer Pandya // Amazon // Bookshop // Libro.fm Wow, No Thank You by Samantha Irby // Amazon // Bookshop // Libro.fm Stamped The Remix by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X Kendi // Amazon // Bookshop // Libro.fm Intimations by Zadie Smith // Amazon // Bookshop // Libro.fm Beheld by TaraShea Nesbit // Amazon // Bookshop The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich // Amazon // Bookshop // Libro.fm Black Sunday by Tola Rotimi Abraham // Amazon // Bookshop // Libro.fm Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line by Deepa Annaparra // Amazon // Bookshop // Libro.fm The Remains of the Day // Amazon // Bookshop // Libro.fm

Today, we reflect on our favorite reads from the last three months. These quarterly reflections might be our favorite episodes to record. It’s lovely to take time to consider our favorite episodes, our favorite reads, and what we’ve learned over the course of the season. We’re sharing a bunch of book recommendations in this episode; shop our recs here.  Visit our podcast pals Heaving Bosoms! Follow Novel Pairings on Instagram or Twitter. Subscribe to our newsletter.  Use our Libro.fm affiliate code NOVELPAIRINGS to get an audiobook subscription for yourself or purchase a gift.    Books mentioned: Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno Garcia Luster by Raven Leilani Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro The Other Typist by Suzanne Rindell Like Lovers Do by Tracey Livesay On Beauty by Zadie Smith  Intimations by Zadie Smith Now That I’ve Found You by Kristina Forest I Wanna Be Where You Are by Kristina Forest Girl, Serpent, Thorn by Melissa Bashardoust The Next Great Jane by K.L Going The Prettiest Star by Carter Sickels A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai The Heart’s Invisible Furies by John Boyne Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance She Come by It Natural by Sarah Smarsh All My Mother’s Lovers by Ilana Masad How to Catch a Queen by Alyssa Cole The Beauty of Your Face by Sahar Mustafa   Winter lineup:   December My Antonia by Willa Cather Little Women by Louisa May Alcott   January Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde 84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff   February There is Confusion by Jessie Redmon Fauset The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter

Today, Traci Thomas of The Stacks podcast joins Chelsey and Sara to discuss The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm, X, as told by Alex Haley. We loved diving into this iconic nonfiction classic with our favorite nonfiction expert, and we’re so excited to share this conversation with you.    Follow The Stacks on Instagram Join The Stacks Book Club on Patreon Shop The Stacks merch Shop Traci’s book recs    Follow Novel Pairings on Instagram or Twitter. Subscribe to our newsletter. Use our Libro.fm affiliate code NOVELPAIRINGS to get an audiobook subscription for yourself or purchase a gift.  Our discussion includes: What makes this a “life-changing” book? Does The Autobiography of Malcolm X belong in the classroom? Which parts of the book ring especially true today Brilliant storytelling and an incredible use of rhetoric   Plus, as always, we’re recommending a bunch of contemporary pairings to read along with this classic.   Shop the pairings:  https://bookshop.org/lists/novel-pairings-for-the-autobiography-of-malcolm-x   Traci’s Pairings: Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention by Manning Marable The Dead are Arising by Malcolm X by Les Payne, Tamara Payne Heavy by Kiese Laymon Men We Reaped: A Memoir by Jesmyn Ward The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin The Sword and the Shield: The Revolutionary Lives of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. by Peniel E. Joseph Stokely: A Life by Peniel E. Joseph Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and Its Legacy by Heather Ann Thompson   Sara’s Pairings: Barracoon: The Story of the Last Black Cargo by Zora Neale Hurston Pale by Edward A. Farmer   Chelsey’s Pairings: Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice by Phillip Hoose Punching the Air by Ibi Zoboi and Yusef Salaam X: A Novel by Ilyasha Shabazz and Kekla Magoon How We Fight for Our Lives by Saeed Jones   Also mentioned:   The Stacks Ep. 60 Beloved by Toni Morrison The Stacks Ep. 135 The Autobiography of Malcolm X

It's holiday shopping season! Today we're pairing giftable books with fun items for readers with varied tastes. Build your holiday shopping list or your personal TBR with gift ideas for Austenites, fantasy readers, history buffs, and more.  Find every title and gift item we mentioned on our gift guide blog post.    

Today Chelsey and Sara are discussing And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie. We’re sipping some red wine while we talk about this classic locked-room mystery and pair it with some atmospheric, page-turning reads. We discuss Christie’s legacy in the mystery world (and her impact on literature in general), what we look for in the mystery genre, and that wild ending.   Our discussion includes: How Christie’s novels have shaped today’s literary landscape, perhaps more than any other classics [17:18] The appeal of locked room mysteries [23:00] Spoiler alert: the twisty ending [26:42]   Plus, as always, we’re recommending six contemporary books to pair with our classic,  including a Japanese mystery in translation and a Christie-inspired campus novel.   We do discuss some spoilers in this episode, but we’ll give you fair warning.    Books Mentioned: Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware . . . . . . . . . . Shop the pairings:  https://bookshop.org/lists/novel-pairings-for-and-then-there-were-none   Chelsey’s Pairings: The Guest List by Lucy Foley [38:50] The Decagon House Murders by Yukito Ayatsuji [46:45] Honkaku murder mysteries The Aosawa Murders by Riku Onda [55:25]   Sara’s Pairings: The Truants by Kate Weinberg [42:08] Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty [51:18]  The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton [1:00:48]   Picks of the Week: Chelsey: The Woman on the Orient Express by Lindsay Jane Ashford When Agatha Christie Vanished  Drunk History Agatha Christie Sara: Clue

Readers, today we have a special treat, a bonus episode! We watched the new Rebecca adaptation on Netflix, and we have OPINIONS. We’re talking about how we feel about DuMaurier’s original, what we loved about the movie, what we hated, which spooky and suspenseful movies we’re excited to watch this Halloween weekend, and what we’re currently reading. Did you watch the new movie? What did you think?   P.S. We discuss the movie in depth, so spoilers abound!    Tell us on Instagram or Twitter.   Be the first to know about future bonus episodes. Subscribe to our newsletter.   Support our show AND independent bookstores. Use our Libro.fm affiliate link to get an audiobook subscription for yourself or as a gift.    Watch Hitchcock’s Academy Award winning adaptation here.    “Lily James Looks Like an American Girl Doll in Rebecca”   Lily James stars in The Pursuit of Love   Books mentioned:   Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier The Winters by Lisa Gabriele Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn The Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman Before the Ever After by Jacqueline Woodson Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro The Other Typist by Suzanne Rindell

Today we are thrilled to welcome Courtney Wallace, also known as The Incessant Bookworm on her blog, Youtube, and Instagram account where she shares what she’s reading, tips for the reading life, and reading challenges. We’re chatting with Courtney about her back to school reading challenge, how reading challenges influence her reading life, AND we’re pairing our favorite fall activities with a bunch of book recommendations.    Courtney’s back to school reading challenge // Anne of Green Gables read-a-long // and read around the world challenge.   Connect with Courtney: @incessantbookworm On Youtube On her blog The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie  Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie Ulysses by James Joyce Belgravia by Julian Fellowes Waiting for a Scot Like You by Eva Leigh Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout  Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam A Brush with Death by Ali Carter  Harlem Shadows by Claude McKay  We’re Going to Need More Wine by Gabrielle Union While We Were Watching Downton Abbey by Wendy Wax  Mexican Gothic by Sylvia Moreno-Garcia  Jackaby by William Ritter  Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders Inferno by Dan Brown  The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin A Taste of Sage by Yaffa S. Santos  With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo  Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel  Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi  October Sky by Homer Hickam  The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova  How Much of These Hills is Gold by C. Pam Zhang The Good Girl by Mary Kubica The River by Peter Heller   An Elderly Lady is Up To No Good by Helene Tursten  The City Baker's Guide to Country Living by Louise Miller Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall  Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women’s Anger by Rebecca Traister The Voting Booth by Brandy Colbert   Fall-themed ASMR Channels Autumn Cozy  Autumn Ambiance Playlist  Calmed By Nature  Cafe Ambiance   Fall Ambiance

Today Chelsey and Sara are discussing Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. We admit to some bad English major habits in this episode, and we get super nerdy with a discussion on Gothic novels and the Romantic literary movement, modern horror, and the history behind Mary Shelley’s iconic monster. We also make some surprising modern connections across science, ethics, and social media. If you’re in the mood for eerie, spooky, and not-too-scary reads this month, get ready to take note of our pairings in this episode.    Our discussion includes: Sara’s experience with teaching Frankenstein in the high school classroom [8:20] The stranger-than-fiction true story behind the novel [10:30] Defining “Gothic novels,” historical and contemporary [20:05]   Plus, as always, we’re recommending six contemporary books to pair with our classic,  including graphic novels and absorbing nonfiction.   Shop our pairings: https://bookshop.org/lists/novel-pairings-for-frankenstein   Sign up for Libro.fm: https://libro.fm/redeem/novelpairings   What to read or skip in Frankenstein:   Victor thinking about creating his creature Creating the monster Monster talking to Victor Skip all of the wandering around the countryside   . . . . . . . . . . Shop the pairings:     Chelsey’s Pairings: The Lady from the Black Lagoon: Hollywood Monsters and the Lost Legacy of Millicent Patrick by Mallory O’Meara [43:30] WSIRN Episode w/Mallory Mary: The Adventures of Mary Shelley’s Great-Great-Great-Great-Great Granddaughter by Brea Grant & Yishan Li [50:40] The Girl With All the Gifts by M. R. Carey [58:20]   Sara’s Pairings: Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro [40:02] Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood [46:45] Destroyer by Victor LaValle, illustrated by Dietrich Smith [53:51] Picks of the Week: Chelsey: Penny Dreadful on Showtime/Netflix Sara: Mary’s Monster by Lita Judge  Illustrations: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781626725003

Today Chelsey and Sara are discussing “Horror Story” by Carmen Maria Machado for this season’s installment of Short Story Club. Each quarter, we choose a short story that’s widely available and discuss its genre, themes, and important moments before recommending books to pair with it. For spooky season, we decided to go with a fresh, new voice we both love. This super short “micro story” felt like the right balance of spookiness for two readers who don’t love horror. Of course, we end up taking a bit of a deep dive into the horror genre anyway. If you read the story and join us for this mini book club, please let us know what you think of the story!   Our discussion includes: Machado’s striking imagery and sparse prose What does the horror genre do? Why is it popular? Gaslighting in horror stories Deeper themes and metaphors   Plus, as always, we’re recommending six pairings,  including a modern gothic novel and a few scary short story collections.    Shop the pairings: https://bookshop.org/lists/novel-pairings-for-horror-story Books mentioned: In the Dream House: A Memoir by Carmen Maria Machado The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin . . . . . . . .   Shop the pairings:    Chelsey’s Pairings: His Hideous Heart ed. by Dahlia Adler [32:47] Things We Lost in the Fire by Mariana Enriquez [39:18]   Toil & Trouble: 15 Tales of Women and Witchcraft ed. by Jessica Spotswood [45:05]     Sara’s Pairings: The Bright Lands by John Fram [30:17] When No One is Watching by Alyssa Cole [35:18] Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia [41:22]   Also mentioned: Gaslight (1944)  

Today Chelsey and Sara are kicking off the spooky season by discussing The Crucible by Arthur Miller—a play about the infamous Salem witch trials. We get pretty nerdy in this episode. Full of drama, history, and high school English class nostalgia, this play was so much fun to talk about! Chelsey shares details from her immersive high school reading experience, Sara shares memories of teaching the book (and the movie), and we share absorbing reads to pair with the themes, history, and tone of the play. Plus, we discuss implications and complexities for discussing and teaching this play during the Me Too era.    Our discussion includes: How the play conveys (or villainizes) feminine power and gender roles [9:20] Complicated feelings about Abigail Williams & John Proctor [14:00] What IS a crucible? [20:21] Speculating why there are lots of witchy books on the publishing calendar right now [29:45]   Plus, as always, we’re recommending six contemporary books to pair with our classic,  including a comedic novel set in the 1980’s and a murder mystery set on the Plymouth Plantation.   Shop the pairings:  https://bookshop.org/lists/witchy-novel-pairings-for-the-crucible . . . . . . . . . . . . Chelsey’s Pairings: We Ride Upon Sticks by Quan Barry [35:45] Interview w/Barry The Year of the Witching by Alexis Henderson [44:45] I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem by Maryse Conde [49:57]   Sara’s Pairings: Beheld by TaraShea Nesbit [41:15] The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell [47:02] A Secret History of Witches by Louisa Morgan [52:02]   Picks of the Week: Chelsey: You Must Remember This  Episode 14 Arthur Miller, “After the Fall”  Sara: The Unobscured Podcast