Meredith is recording with a special guest this week and has a big announcement, so be sure you tune in right at the top! You’ll hear again from our friend Mindy Brouse, best friend of the show and reader extraordinaire.

You'll hear a “bookish moment of the week” from each host. These bookish moments have a common thread in that they involve real life pressing books into the hands of friends and the reactions of those friends.

Next, we discuss our current reads for the week. We’ve got books spanning genres and time periods and continents. We’ve got ones that will spark discussion, we’ve got books that’ll leave your heart aflutter. It’s a great week of book talk!

Our Slow But Steady check in is going to move to every once in a while instead of every week. You can still check in on Instagram on the regular, but we’re not going to keep banging the “I’ve got very little to report” drum. Thanks to the listener survey and all your great feedback!

For our deep dive this week, Meredith and Mindy are chatting about raising readers of all ages. There are some really fantastic tips and some great encouragement in this episode, friends. Even if you don’t have kids (or don’t like kids), I’m guessing you know a reader in your life who would love to hear this chunk, so pass it along!

Finally, this week, we are Pressing Books into Your Hands: we’ve got one that has been mentioned many times on the podcast but never “pressed” and one that should be in your box of Christmas books that you haul out every December.

As per usual, time-stamped show notes are below with references to every book and resource we mentioned in this episode. If you’d like to listen first and not spoil the surprise, don’t scroll down! *Please note that all book titles linked above are Amazon affiliate links. Your cost is the same, but a small portion of your purchase will come back to us to help offset the costs of the show. Thanks for your support!*  

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1:22 - Episode 32 of Season 1 with Mindy Brouse

4:33 - What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty

6:56 - The “Press” List

7:03 - The Map of Salt and Stars by Zeyn Joukhadar

9:50 - 2020 Reading Challenge

10:10 - A Warning by Anonymous

13:37 - The Flight Girls by Noelle Salazar

16:50 - Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts by Kate Racculia

19:02 - Book Scavenger by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman

20:35 - The Stationery Shop by Marjan Kamali

24:25 - The Unlikely Escape of Uriah Heep by H.G. Parry

25:07 - Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

25:13 - David Copperfield by Charles Dickens

28:47 - Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde

36:24 - Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White

36:27 - Redwall by Brian Jacques

36:30 - Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

36:31 - The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

36:33 - Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling

38:42 - Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney

(Kaytee’s note here: check out this episode of Read Aloud Revival for the benefits of kids re-reading a graphic novel every freaking day)

40:31 - Wings of Fire by Tui T. Stevenson

41:09 - Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan

41:10 - Eragon series by Christopher Paolini

43:46 - Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin

43:52 - The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

45:21 - Nevermoor by Jessica Townsend

46:45 - Books We’ve Pressed List

47:27 - Wundersmith by Jessica Townsend

47:46 - Mr. Willowby’s Christmas Tree by Robert Barry

Connect with Mindy: @gratefulforgrace on Instagram