I had the absolute pleasure of being a guest on the podcast What Should I Read Next, Episode 163 with Anne Bogel. Anne is a brilliant match-maker of books. In each episode she asks her guests for three books they love, one they hate, and what they are reading now. Based on the selections, she diligently chooses three books for the guest to read next. I had a wonderful time talking books with Anne and discussing the book club, pairing travels with books, and my obsession with spreadsheets. When I was asked to come back on with an update for the 200th episode celebration, I panicked a little. This time I would chat with Brenna, the producer of the show, and I knew she would ask me what I thought about Anne’s picks for me, BUT, I hadn’t read them all yet! Brenna was gracious and assured me it was no problem (her and Anne are both SO sweet). But since then I’ve finished them and wanted to share my thoughts!

Three Books I Love

St Lucy’s Home For Girls Raised By Wolves by Karen Russell

Karen Russell is a genius with magical realism. This short story collection centers around somewhat creepy children with dysfunctional families and a little bit of magic. Russell takes us to the swamps of Florida with a little girl whose family owns an alligator theme park, there are brothers diving in the ocean with magic goggles to find their dead sister, and a seemingly normal family that travels west to claim land in the territories and then you find out that the dad is a minotaur. In the title story, daughters of wolves are “civilized” in a school run by nuns, bent on getting the wild out of them.

Why I Love It: There is nothing new about stories of children and their growing pains, but I love Karen’s twist on the characters and their situations. The imagery, sense of place, and magical realism is a bit over the top but I can’t get enough of it. It makes for wonderful stories that have stayed with me for a long time.

Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer

Robin Wall Kimmerer is a botanist, professor, mother, and Native American. She combines all of these into this masterpiece collection of essays. She argues that the study of nature and science can be enhanced by the wisdom of the indigenous people of the land. She conveys that humans have spent the least amount of time on this planet and should only learn from the plants and animals that were here before. She teaches reciprocity and calls on us to care more about our planet so that it can care for us in return.

Why I Love It: This book has truly changed my life. I think about humanity’s relationship with nature in a completely different way after reading this book. I try to emulate Robin’s grace and gratitude for the planet and all living things. I look for how everything on the planet has a purpose and a place. I also relished in the essays about motherhood since I read this just after having my own daughter, Evie. She shows her girls love by picking strawberries with them and making maple syrup together. It inspires me to raise Evie the same way and to teach her gratitude. This book also has a special place in my heart because we read it for book club and had one of my very favorite weekends together

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

My final pick is a novel. It is the story of a mysterious author named Vida Winter who is famous for her collection of twelve stories. She’s stokes the mystery by making up alternate lives for herself, not letting anyone know her true self. But as she grows older, she decides she wants to tell the truth in a tell-all biography. She chooses an unknown biographer, Margaret, to tell her real story. Suddenly Margaret is thrown into Vida’s life and her troubled past. And learning about Vida’s past opens up questions of her own upbringing. This gothic tale is set in the English countryside in a mansion with a creepy garden. There are ghosts, a devastating fire, and lots of books.

Why I Love It: I’m intrigued by family sagas with mysteries hidden in creepy old houses. The mystery was enough to keep me interested but didn’t overwhelm the story, in fact, the author focuses more on Margaret’s self discovery and growth which I really loved. The novel is deeply steeped in setting and place which is basically a requirement for any book I love. Also, its a book about books which I just can’t seem to resist.

What I’m Reading Now

Florida by Lauren Groff

This is the first book I’ve read by Lauren Groff and I am now obsessed. This collection of short essays set in Florida pack a punch. From the surface, the stories seem to touch on the overlap of people and place; there is a family vacation where they are stalked by a panther and a whole essay about snakes. The Florida heat is palpable, but its about more than just the place, its about the fascinating tidbits of everyday life: motherhood, conflicting feelings of love and hate, loneliness, and rage. In my favorite story, one of those conflicted characters goes on a run through her neighborhood. Groff ingeniously turns this seemingly mundane evening run into a compelling look into a mother’s head.

What Anne Thinks I Should Read Next

I was lucky in that Anne gave me a two freebie picks since they are written by authors that I mentioned. I already had The Monsters of Templeton on my bookshelf but needed this gentle nudge to get to it. The other, Once Upon A River, was not out yet at the time we recorded the episode, but I already had it pre-ordered. She knows me well!

The Monsters of Templeton by Lauren Groff

Verdict: Love it!

The main character, Willie, returns to her quirky hometown of Templeton, New York. The town is a character in itself nestled on the shores of Lake Glimmerglass, the rumored home of a prehistoric monster. As Willie returns, the monster is found and brought ashore, turning the sleepy town upside-down. Meanwhile, Willie is staying with her lovable but somewhat strange mother when she finds out that the secret of her father’s identity can be found in the family history. So begins a search into her family’s and the town’s past to fill a big void in her life.

Why I Loved It: Lauren’s depiction of small town New York is impeccable. She has truly mastered the art of creating a character out of a setting. This book fulfills my love of a mysterious family history while still being quirky and funny and has just a hint of the magical realism that I find delicious. I’ve also been really into books that bring characters back to their hometown when they’ve been living away for a while. I guess I relate to that since I grew up in small town Pennsylvania and now live in Seattle and often wonder what it would be like to move back. This had the added bonus of a strong female lead character who shows growth throughout the book. This was an unexpected and perfect pick for me!

Once Upon A River by Diane Setterfield

Verdict: Love it!

When I saw that this book was coming out my eyes literally widened and I made an annoying squeal. After seeing the cover, I didn’t need to know anything else about it. I just knew I was going to love it. Anne thought so too and she was right on. This is a novel set on the river Thames in England in medieval times. There’s a small town on the river where folk stories and lore flow like the current of the river. It is hard to tell truth from fiction here, so when a little girl washes up on the riverbank, is declared dead, and then awakens, the town vibrates with rumors.

Why I Love It: Are you beginning to sense a theme? This one’s got the fairy tale magical quality I love with a family mystery involved. The river town itself is a character as the plot changes, coursing back and forth to a final and satisfying truth.

Now onto the “official” picks from Anne. I must say that I felt like a kid on Christmas morning waiting to unpack three delightful gifts.

Harry’s Trees by Jon Cohen

Verdict: Like It

When Anne started out describing this book I was worried. It begins with a man, Harry, who is down on his luck. His wife dies (in the most unbelievable of ways) and everything he does turns out wrong. This immediately smelled of the book that I chose that I did not like: A Man Called Ove. Anne assured me that I should stick with it though, and I did. Harry, who works for the forest service, decides to disappear into the Endless Mountains. While living in the trees he meets a young girl named Oriana. She just lost her father and she believes Harry can help her and her mother in their grief. Oriana finds a fascinating book in the delightful neighborhood library and convinces Harry to go on a philanthropic mission with her to fulfill a child’s dream and sooth their pain. Harry goes along with it and finds love and purpose along the way.

Why I Like It: This one took me a while to get past the cliche of the sad middle-aged man in the beginning. But once Oriana is introduced, I was sold. This story needed a strong female character and it delivered. Anne described this book as having a sense of magic without having any actual magic in it, and I totally agree and loved that. I also love that it is set in Pennsylvania in a small town that could have been my hometown which gives me all the warm fuzzies. This was a great recommendation and I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Verdict: Not for me

This is the story of Kambili, a privileged teenage girl living in Nigeria. Her brilliant father is respected in the community, but is a religious tyrant at home. Kambili and her brother, Jaja, are sent to live with their aunt outside of the comforts of their gated home after some political unrest in the country. Here they are exposed to the real and vibrant part of Nigeria that their father kept them out of. Their paternal grandfather, who the father no longer speaks to, keeps the traditions of their culture alive and stays out of the church. Kambili and Jaja find freedom living with their aunt and they get to spend time with their grandfather, but when they return to their old lives, the tensions in the family rise.

Why Its Not For Me: I really wanted to love this book! Anne admitted this one may be a stretch, but I liked how she described the setting and atmosphere of the African setting. Unfortunately, though, it took half of the book to get the siblings into this interesting setting outside of their father’s strict home. I did enjoy the character of Aunty Ifeoma, but I couldn’t get past all of the abuse and religion in the first part of the book. I mentioned to Anne that I could handle dark subjects, but this book made me realize that I perhaps prefer the dark stuff to be a bit more abstract.

The Overstory by Richard Powers

Verdict: Love It!

This is a story about people and trees. Its broken up into sections: roots, trunk, crown, and seeds. Roots begins with the individual stories of eight characters, all having something to do with trees. A man in Iowa continues a tradition of his great grandfather of taking a photo of their chestnut tree, another is shot out of an airplane during the Vietnam war and is saved by a banyan tree, another finds solace in a stand of trees out her office window. The trunk part of the book brings the characters together in an effort to save old growth forest from the chainsaws. In the crown section, the characters find their own paths again and finally, seeds are planted.

Why I Love It: I picked this up and started to read it after the podcast interview and I knew right away that this was a special book. I put it down because I wanted to give myself time and space to really savor it. When I did the follow-up interview with Brenna, she encouraged me to take a day off and just read it. So I took her advice and did just that. This book is truly a masterpiece and won the Pulitzer Prize for a reason. There is a magical quality to the stories and to the relationships with the characters and their trees, it ingenuously conveys the feelings we have when we are in awe of nature. It is also an important call to action to think about human’s future on our planet. This is definitely in my top favorite books of all time. Anne really nailed this one!

What I Think YOU Should Read Next

I’d Rather Be Reading by Anne Bogel

I adore Anne’s thoughtful and caring insight on the What Should I Read Next podcast. She brings so much joy to readers everywhere, just by recommending books. Her delightful collection of essays about books and reading give us a peak into her bookish life along with ruminations on reading as a lifestyle. I inhaled this slim delight of a book in one sitting and reveled in the succinct observations on why books bring people like us joy. As an added bonus, this slim hardback also looks beautiful on your bookshelf.

So now that I finished all of Anne’s picks, what do you think I should read next?

*This post contains affiliate links. However, I always encourage finding books at your local library or favorite indie book store.