Latest / Friday Night Readers: Gilmore Girls Inspired Book Club / 🏖️We've Read 1,000+ Books. These Are the 10 Beach Reads Worth Your Time.
Transcript
- 0:05SPEAKER_00: Hi!
- 0:05SPEAKER_02: Nice to see you guys.
- 0:07So thank you for joining me today on Substack Live for one of
- 0:11the hottest book
- 0:11SPEAKER_02: topics of the year,
- 0:13SPEAKER_02: which is beach reads.
- 0:14SPEAKER_02: How much do we love beach reads?
- 0:16SPEAKER_02: I feel like Ellen Hildebrand is the queen of the beach reads,
- 0:18SPEAKER_02: but you are the queen of beach read blogging.
- 0:22SPEAKER_02: You've been doing it forever.
- 0:23SPEAKER_01: We've been doing our ultimate list of beach reads since 17.
- 0:28SPEAKER_02: So I started in 19.
- 0:30SPEAKER_02: So we are OG bloggers.
- 0:31SPEAKER_02: We have read hundreds, if not thousands of beach reads.
- 0:35SPEAKER_02: Definitely thousands.
- 0:36SPEAKER_02: Yes.
- 0:37So I can tell people that we are in the thousands combining all
- 0:39three of us.
- 0:40And the reason I wanted to do this as a panel with experts is
- 0:44because I feel like
- 0:45SPEAKER_02: so many of my friends who are not in the book space...
- 0:48this is really their only time to read during the year they're
- 0:51really busy moms and
- 0:52they're working and it really is a lot of pressure to pick up
- 0:55that best beach read
- 0:57and even for us too I really put a lot of pressure around which
- 1:00books I bring to
- 1:00the beach so I'm thrilled to have you guys here today I'm Jules
- 1:04and I'm the host of
- 1:05Friday Night Readers which is basically a book club inspired by
- 1:08Gilmore Girls I've
- 1:09been book blogging as I said since 2019 and I would consider
- 1:13myself to be a reader
- 1:15SPEAKER_02: like Rory Gilmore which is like literary
- 1:18SPEAKER_01: I'm Kirsten.
- 1:19SPEAKER_01: And this is Jackie.
- 1:21SPEAKER_01: Hi.
- 1:21SPEAKER_01: And we co-run Beyond the Bookends, which is a book blog.
- 1:25And we also this year launched the Red Carpet Report,
- 1:29which is our podcast.
- 1:30SPEAKER_02: I love what you guys have been doing with celebrity book clubs.
- 1:33Celebrity book clubs are so much fun because there's so much
- 1:36variability in who
- 1:39chooses what and what kind of books are chosen and what books
- 1:42are chosen according
- 1:43SPEAKER_00: to the season.
- 1:44So we have a really good time because Kirsten is extraordinary
- 1:50at finding out some
- 1:51SPEAKER_00: of these picks early.
- 1:52SPEAKER_01: So we can tell you what to read and what to skip.
- 1:55SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
- 1:55SPEAKER_02: And we have a few celebrity book club picks in our top five today,
- 1:59SPEAKER_02: which is also going to be fun to talk about.
- 2:01SPEAKER_00: Yes.
- 2:02So I'd love to hear for people who are joining what you
- 2:06specifically are doing for
- 2:07SPEAKER_02: your Beach Reads Bonanza this particular year.
- 2:10Beach Reads Bonanza is this fun collection of events,
- 2:14some in person locally and some virtually.
- 2:17SPEAKER_01: where we invite readers to come and read a book along with us.
- 2:20SPEAKER_01: And then we discuss the book with the author, which is a ton of fun.
- 2:25And we always choose it around our reading challenges and that
- 2:28author comes on.
- 2:29SPEAKER_01: So for instance, in July, we're reading Liberation.
- 2:32Friday Night Readers Friday Night Readers Friday Night Readers
- 2:35Friday Night Readers
- 2:36SPEAKER_01: Friday Night Readers
- 2:55So before we move on,
- 2:56I'm wondering what Gilmore Girls character you think you read
- 3:00like?
- 3:01I think I'm like a weirdo amalgamation of Lane and Rory and
- 3:09Lorelai Interesting.
- 3:10SPEAKER_02: I was going to say,
- 3:11so I do know you guys pretty well in person I was going to say
- 3:15a mix of Rory and
- 3:16SPEAKER_02: Lorelai for you I like that you added Lane,
- 3:19but I think that tracks because we've talked about a lot of
- 3:21music books together in
- 3:22SPEAKER_02: the past
- 3:24SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I think she also is a little bit alternative.
- 3:27SPEAKER_00: And so I think there's a bunch of some of the more dystopian fantasies.
- 3:32SPEAKER_00: I just think I'm an amalgamation of all of them.
- 3:35SPEAKER_00: I read across all genres.
- 3:37Sometimes I'm in the mood for a literary fiction and I'm like
- 3:40devouring it.
- 3:41SPEAKER_00: And then the next day I'm reading a fantasy romance.
- 3:43SPEAKER_01: Part of me thinks I'm a Rory because I do love my literary fiction.
- 3:47Part of me thinks that I am an Emily because I like to read
- 3:51what's popular.
- 3:53SPEAKER_01: Yes.
- 3:54SPEAKER_01: I like to know what everyone's talking about.
- 3:56SPEAKER_01: I want to be reading that book.
- 3:57SPEAKER_01: The number of times that people have talked to me about yesterday,
- 3:59SPEAKER_01: I haven't had a chance to read it yet.
- 4:00SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you read it.
- 4:01SPEAKER_01: And I'm like deeply upset.
- 4:03I think that part of me is very Emily,
- 4:06but probably I'm the most Lorelei,
- 4:09I would guess.
- 4:09SPEAKER_02: That's what I was going to say for you.
- 4:11SPEAKER_02: But when you said Emily, it immediately clicked for me.
- 4:14SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I want to be able to have the chat.
- 4:16SPEAKER_01: She wants to be talking about the hottest book,
- 4:18SPEAKER_01: and I want to be reading the hottest book and talking about it too.
- 4:21SPEAKER_02: All right,
- 4:21SPEAKER_02: so now that people know a little bit about how we read,
- 4:24let's talk about five beach reads that the three of us all
- 4:27agreed upon this year.
- 4:29and the way I'm thinking of it is a lot of people are looking
- 4:32to analog summers so
- 4:34I'm considering this to be like if we lived in an analog summer
- 4:37like the Gilmore
- 4:38Girls around that time in the early aughts put down your phones
- 4:41and pick up these
- 4:42SPEAKER_02: books these are the five books that the
- 4:44three of us agreed on so far I have read all five of them and
- 4:48then at least one of
- 4:49you has read them as well so the first one I picked is my
- 4:53current read I have about
- 4:54one hour on the audio left of it and it is American Fantasy by
- 4:58Emma Straub and I
- 4:59recommend this one for readers like Lane for millennial music
- 5:04lovers so I'd love to
- 5:05SPEAKER_02: hear why you guys put this on your Beatreads list
- 5:09I think you are spot on for that because this spoke to my heart
- 5:14as a 40 year old woman.
- 5:18I was like,
- 5:18I would like to go on a cruise with NSYNC and the Backstreet
- 5:22Boys.
- 5:22SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
- 5:23SPEAKER_01: Sign me up for this.
- 5:24SPEAKER_01: Let me relive my childhood youth.
- 5:26SPEAKER_01: and I feel like Lane would definitely connect with that.
- 5:29Imagine being stuck with all of these people that we idolized
- 5:32when we were young
- 5:33and then you find out that they're just regular humans on this
- 5:36cruise ship.
- 5:37You can't go wrong,
- 5:38sat on a boat,
- 5:39sitting outside,
- 5:40breathing in the summer.
- 5:42I love the idea of thinking of them as regular people because I
- 5:46recently watched on
- 5:47SPEAKER_02: HBO a documentary about boy bands and I was thinking to myself,
- 5:51SPEAKER_02: I know everything there already is to know about these boy bands.
- 5:55what what is there for me to learn but I saw that Joey Fatone
- 5:58was running it so I'm
- 5:59like all right I'll give it a shot and the takeaway that I had
- 6:02from it first of all
- 6:04it did get into new stories but my biggest takeaway was these
- 6:07really are just
- 6:08people because I never looked at them as just people when I was
- 6:11a teenager and
- 6:12since then they've all had their drama they've all had their
- 6:15issues some of them
- 6:16are still in the spotlight some of them aren't but they're just
- 6:19regular people and
- 6:20when you're a kid you don't really understand the way you
- 6:22idolize them and then you
- 6:23SPEAKER_01: look back
- 6:24SPEAKER_01: As a 40 year old, the kind of people that our kids love now.
- 6:27SPEAKER_01: And I'm just like, that's just a normal person.
- 6:29SPEAKER_01: It's interesting.
- 6:30SPEAKER_01: And this book does a really good job.
- 6:32SPEAKER_02: So I brought this book to Disney.
- 6:33SPEAKER_02: And as we mentioned earlier, it's really hard to pick a book to bring.
- 6:38And I thought this was the perfect book,
- 6:39even though Disney is not a cruise.
- 6:41SPEAKER_02: It is a cruise.
- 6:41SPEAKER_02: I wasn't on a cruise.
- 6:43SPEAKER_02: I thought it was perfect for Disney.
- 6:45because you still have similar types of vibes when you're there
- 6:47so we were there
- 6:48partially for a work conference for my husband and then the
- 6:50last night we were free
- 6:51so we went to Disney and I found out that one of those nights
- 6:55when we were at the
- 6:55conference 98 Degrees was performing at Disney so that's
- 7:01amazing so before we move
- 7:03on if you were to go on an American fantasy which boy band
- 7:06would you want to be on
- 7:07SPEAKER_02: the cruise I'm an insane girl I'm in sync too
- 7:12alright so let's move on the next pick is Go Gentle by Marie
- 7:15Semple and she is the
- 7:17author of one of my favorite books Where'd You Go Bernadette
- 7:20and I recommended this
- 7:21one to readers who are like Richard Gilmore and I find him to
- 7:24be very thoughtful
- 7:26and philosophical and this book is that but it's also light so
- 7:29why don't you guys
- 7:30take the lead and tell us what the book is about and why you
- 7:33picked it for a beach
- 7:34SPEAKER_02: read
- 7:35SPEAKER_00: So first of all, I love Oprah for choosing a beach read.
- 7:39I think part of the reason Richard would have chosen this is
- 7:43because Oprah chose it.
- 7:45But also the main character is an in-house philosopher for a
- 7:49very rich family,
- 7:50right?
- 7:50SPEAKER_00: Which to me, that in and of itself was so hilarious and quirky.
- 7:55SPEAKER_00: But then it does go back and it talks about her life beforehand.
- 8:00SPEAKER_00: She was, she wrote for a comedy show.
- 8:03and so it talks a little bit about that and how she became the
- 8:07in-house philosopher
- 8:09so i think that's why oprah picked it because it's not all
- 8:13light there is some dark
- 8:14so i think richard would have read this he would have been so
- 8:17excited there is
- 8:18SPEAKER_02: Friday Night Readers Friday Night Readers Friday Night Readers
- 8:42It can be part of a story without being the entire part of the
- 8:45story is basically
- 8:46SPEAKER_00: what I'm trying to say.
- 8:47And so I think there was a really good balance of saying,
- 8:50yes,
- 8:51things did happen.
- 8:53But look,
- 8:53we were able to figure it out and move on and gain great things
- 8:59from it.
- 8:59SPEAKER_00: And so I think that's why it can be a beach read.
- 9:03SPEAKER_00: And I love when a beach read does have some topics that
- 9:08are discussion worthy good point so it can be a good book club
- 9:10book for summer as
- 9:11well yeah for sure there's so much to talk about I loved this
- 9:16book some artwork and
- 9:18a little bit of a love story and a little bit of like comedy
- 9:21from the past and just
- 9:23all came together Oprah was like I'm tired of always crying
- 9:26with these happy bugs I
- 9:28need something lighter yes that's my theory yes but we're glad
- 9:31she shows it
- 9:32so glad so let's move on to a book that I actually first heard
- 9:37about through you
- 9:39guys I believe on your podcast which is Strangers by Belle
- 9:42Burden you said oh
- 9:43Strangers by Belle Burden everyone's talking about it and I
- 9:46thought I haven't even
- 9:47SPEAKER_02: heard of this book
- 9:49SPEAKER_02: So I immediately went and looked it up.
- 9:50SPEAKER_02: I saw that it was set on Martha's Vineyard,
- 9:52SPEAKER_02: which is where I go every summer for a week with my husband's family.
- 9:56SPEAKER_02: And of course, then I picked it up as well.
- 9:59SPEAKER_02: And this is a memoir.
- 10:00SPEAKER_02: I recommended it for readers like Emily Gilmore, who we talked about.
- 10:04SPEAKER_02: So why did you guys put this one on your Beatreads list?
- 10:08SPEAKER_01: More than even wanting to know what everyone else is talking about,
- 10:12SPEAKER_01: Belle is a descendant of a Vanderbilt,
- 10:14SPEAKER_01: which means she's from a very affluent family.
- 10:16SPEAKER_01: And
- 10:18what happens over the course of her divorce from her husband is
- 10:22not typical for
- 10:24families of this status to publicly come out and tell so if
- 10:30anything it's like
- 10:30reading a giant page six about one exclusive family and it is
- 10:35salacious and I think
- 10:37that's why anyone like an Emily is gonna want to be in on it
- 10:41because she probably
- 10:41SPEAKER_01: knows someone's seventh cousin who was related to this woman
- 10:45and in our area it was the hot topic because she has some ties
- 10:49to this area and so
- 10:52everyone was talking about this now of course it's being
- 10:54adapted and Gwen Paltrow
- 10:56SPEAKER_01: is going to play it it is this tragic divorce marriage story
- 11:00SPEAKER_01: Friday Night Readers
- 11:19SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
- 11:20A lesson to everyone to be involved and understand what's going
- 11:24on in your marriage.
- 11:25SPEAKER_01: It didn't happen to anybody.
- 11:26SPEAKER_01: But you also said she never badmouthed him.
- 11:28SPEAKER_01: She didn't.
- 11:29SPEAKER_01: She handled it so well.
- 11:30SPEAKER_01: But it just,
- 11:31SPEAKER_01: there was the rollout of what happens with their friend group,
- 11:34SPEAKER_01: what happens at the country club,
- 11:35SPEAKER_01: who gets ownership of this and who gets ownership of that.
- 11:37SPEAKER_01: There was a lot to think about.
- 11:39And it was wonderful that she was willing to open up and tell
- 11:42everybody this.
- 11:43SPEAKER_01: Know who she is.
- 11:44SPEAKER_01: I still can't believe that she wrote this book.
- 11:47SPEAKER_02: Yeah,
- 11:47I think you touched on one of the two big things of why I think
- 11:51it became such a
- 11:52SPEAKER_02: hit,
- 11:52SPEAKER_02: the salaciousness and the rich descendants.
- 11:55And it's like it really does give you that peak behind the
- 11:57scenes that you really don't see.
- 11:59For me,
- 12:00I'm an Enneagram six,
- 12:01which is a very anxious personality type or motivated by fear.
- 12:05SPEAKER_02: And to me, when I read this, it was like,
- 12:07oh my gosh I didn't even know that this is something that I
- 12:11need to worry about and
- 12:12now I need to worry about like things coming out of nowhere so
- 12:15for me that was what
- 12:16really kept me turning the pages it is really well written but
- 12:20it's a lesson in how
- 12:21much did you give up she gave up a lot early in her marriage I
- 12:24kind of hope
- 12:25SPEAKER_01: everyone before they get married reads it because it will set you up just
- 12:28SPEAKER_01: protecting yourself be careful
- 12:30I think you're right about that that is the takeaway a lot of
- 12:33people have been
- 12:33criticizing whether she should have written it or not I thought
- 12:36it was beautifully
- 12:37written like you said I didn't think it was bad mouthing or
- 12:40anything I think it was
- 12:40just like this is my story and I have a right to process my
- 12:44feelings it's not just
- 12:46for the sake of salaciousness there is something that women can
- 12:49take from this
- 12:50Yes and I've had women of all generations talk to me about this
- 12:53book and they're
- 12:56all saying I think every young girl should read this especially
- 12:59women who are I
- 13:01would say of a certain age they are looking back like we were
- 13:05stuck in this trap
- 13:06SPEAKER_01: and it was very taboo to talk about
- 13:08and i think most women who have been through this or who've had
- 13:12friends go through
- 13:13this are really happy that this story is out there and people
- 13:16are forewarned all
- 13:17right so let's move on to a lighter book from one of our
- 13:20favorite authors summer
- 13:22SPEAKER_02: state of mind by christy woodson the best
- 13:26SPEAKER_00: Oh, I love her and I love her books.
- 13:29I've read every one of the summer books and they just make me
- 13:33feel so good.
- 13:35SPEAKER_00: And this one is no exception.
- 13:38SPEAKER_01: Christy is the queen of southern summer things.
- 13:41I would recommend it to people who are like Lorelei or Sookie
- 13:44there is a small town
- 13:45mom thread in this book and for people who like their hearts
- 13:47warm so this is for
- 13:48people who want that Hallmark feel on the beach yeah and this
- 13:52is a fantastic one
- 13:53SPEAKER_00: because if you've read
- 13:56SPEAKER_00: Under the Southern Sky,
- 13:57there are some of the characters from that book are now the
- 14:03center of this.
- 14:05SPEAKER_00: And it is a love story.
- 14:08SPEAKER_00: It is sweet.
- 14:09SPEAKER_00: It's a small town and people come
- 14:10Friday Night Readers Friday Night Readers Friday Night Readers
- 14:13Friday Night Readers
- 14:39It's written as only Christy can do Agree and one of the things
- 14:42that I loved the
- 14:43most that is different than the other books on our list is that
- 14:47I believe he had an
- 14:48aunt I don't believe it was his grandmother I believe it was
- 14:51his aunt but she
- 14:51reminded me of Miss Patty Oh yeah You know what now that you
- 14:56say it I didn't even
- 14:57think about that but yes I totally agree So it has some Gilmore
- 15:00Girls in the South
- 15:01vibes Yes 100% Gilmore Girls in the South And Christy's one of
- 15:05the authors that
- 15:06SPEAKER_01: we've interviewed The ending is going to always be happy
- 15:09and she always sticks to that and so no matter what kind of
- 15:12muckermire you're going
- 15:13through to get there you know it's going to end and you're
- 15:15going to be like
- 15:17SPEAKER_01: Yes, that's what I wanted to have happen.
- 15:19SPEAKER_01: I think that's key for a beach read.
- 15:21SPEAKER_00: A hundred percent.
- 15:22SPEAKER_00: And some people are like, it was predictable.
- 15:25SPEAKER_00: And what she said,
- 15:26I've been reading books with a new eye and a new lens ever
- 15:31since she said that
- 15:32SPEAKER_00: because she said readers don't want to have that contract broken.
- 15:36SPEAKER_00: If you are reading a book that is a summer book,
- 15:39SPEAKER_00: it's a beach read,
- 15:40SPEAKER_00: it has to have a certain ending.
- 15:42SPEAKER_00: And if it's not, that's fine.
- 15:44SPEAKER_00: But then it's not a beach read.
- 15:46SPEAKER_02: And there's different times and places for different books.
- 15:49And there are many times in our lives that we do want to know
- 15:52that happy ending is coming.
- 15:53SPEAKER_02: And I think that's part of the reason why I really took to this one.
- 15:57I've read a lot of her books and this may be my favorite
- 15:59because the time and place
- 16:01SPEAKER_02: I read it was in the middle of winter.
- 16:03And I was on a workshop with my husband where we were in a
- 16:05really bad hotel and it
- 16:06SPEAKER_02: was freezing cold and everyone was unhappy.
- 16:09SPEAKER_02: They weren't cleaning the rooms and nothing was happening.
- 16:11SPEAKER_00: And this book was my one escape from that bad time in my life.
- 16:15And it's a bong for the soul And certain books are supposed to
- 16:19be that way So let's
- 16:20move on to a real doozy of a book But it is the hottest book of
- 16:24the year Yesteryear
- 16:25by Carole Claire Burke I said this is really good for Rory
- 16:28Because she likes
- 16:29feminist books So tell us what you think about the book
- 16:33everyone's talking about So
- 16:34SPEAKER_01: this is really upsetting to me because
- 16:36I agree that this should be on this list,
- 16:38but this is where my Emily is coming out.
- 16:40I have not had time to read it because a lot of times one of us
- 16:43will read it and
- 16:43SPEAKER_01: the other person will not.
- 16:45SPEAKER_01: And this is one that I must read.
- 16:47SPEAKER_01: And I feel very left out of the conversation and I don't like it.
- 16:50And I feel like you do know everything because I actually have
- 16:54a full summary of
- 16:55SPEAKER_00: this on the website.
- 16:57SPEAKER_00: And so the entire time I was reading it, I kept calling her.
- 17:00SPEAKER_00: So you know the ending?
- 17:02SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I know it all.
- 17:03SPEAKER_01: That will ruin the reading experience for me.
- 17:05Sometimes I actually feel like I can enjoy the book more if I
- 17:08know the ending.
- 17:09I need to look at the end because if the ending is really bad
- 17:13and I now read an
- 17:15SPEAKER_00: entire book and I get there and it's bad,
- 17:17SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna be mad.
- 17:18Whereas if I'm prepared for that bad ending,
- 17:21I might actually enjoy the book more.
- 17:23yesteryear for anyone that does not know is about a woman and
- 17:27she is an influencer
- 17:28she has millions of followers she is married to a man whose
- 17:34father is a senator he
- 17:36SPEAKER_00: keeps wanting to run for president and
- 17:38and she has a bunch of children and her yesteryear farm or
- 17:43ranch and she wakes up
- 17:46one morning and she's in the 1800s and so now she actually has
- 17:52to live the life
- 17:53Friday Night Readers Friday Night Readers Friday Night Readers
- 17:56Friday Night Readers
- 18:08Friday Night Readers Friday Night Readers Friday Night Readers
- 18:11Friday Night Readers
- 18:30and selling like crazy and I think that it's had some love and
- 18:33hate reactions to it
- 18:35when a book is like that I just sit in the middle and listen to
- 18:37both sides I don't
- 18:39always take a side for me your summary helps me so much first
- 18:42of all because I did
- 18:43an audio at 2.0 speed and that's what I always do but for this
- 18:47book I don't think
- 18:48SPEAKER_02: you can do it at 2.0 speed because it moves so fast
- 18:53SPEAKER_02: I think that's the reason I struggled with the plot.
- 18:55So I used your summary almost to slow me down and think about
- 18:59the details.
- 19:00SPEAKER_02: And so my recommendation would be for people to pick it up.
- 19:03I think it doesn't matter whether you love or hate it because
- 19:05it's one of those
- 19:06SPEAKER_02: books where you want to be part of the conversation.
- 19:07Friday Night Readers Friday Night Readers Friday Night Readers
- 19:09Friday Night Readers
- 19:10SPEAKER_02: Friday Night Readers
- 19:22SPEAKER_00: That what on Instagram is not always reality.
- 19:27SPEAKER_00: And I think people don't realize that.
- 19:29Just like you were saying before how,
- 19:31oh my goodness,
- 19:32these boy bands,
- 19:32they were real people.
- 19:34These influencers on Instagram,
- 19:36you're only seeing what they want you to see.
- 19:37Friday Night Readers Friday Night Readers Friday Night Readers
- 19:41Friday Night Readers
- 19:52SPEAKER_02: Friday Night Readers
- 20:18SPEAKER_02: Yes, I could tell that.
- 20:19SPEAKER_02: I had texted you about it,
- 20:20and I could tell that doing the summary changed how you felt
- 20:23about the book.
- 20:24SPEAKER_02: Do you think this will be the book of the year?
- 20:26SPEAKER_01: Yes.
- 20:26SPEAKER_01: 100%.
- 20:27SPEAKER_01: Yes.
- 20:27SPEAKER_01: Anne Hathaway got the adaptation rights to it,
- 20:31SPEAKER_01: and she's having her own moment this year,
- 20:34SPEAKER_01: and I think that conversation is going to just keep sticking with her.
- 20:38SPEAKER_01: I think this is going to be the book club book of the year.
- 20:40SPEAKER_00: And I don't think it was necessarily my favorite book.
- 20:43But it's definitely the one that is going to spark the most
- 20:47conversation.
- 20:48SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
- 20:48SPEAKER_00: I totally agree with you on that.
- 20:50SPEAKER_02: So those are our five main picks that we all agreed on.
- 20:54And then I want to do a speed round because I know that you
- 20:57guys have another list
- 20:58SPEAKER_02: coming up with summer new releases.
- 21:01SPEAKER_02: I also know a lot of readers...
- 21:03SPEAKER_02: Friday Night Readers Friday Night Readers
- 21:18Okay,
- 21:20so I picked A Christy Woodson Harvey and I picked The Summer of
- 21:24Songbirds.
- 21:25SPEAKER_00: This book to me was so nostalgic.
- 21:29It is about these women who met at camp when they were I think
- 21:34six or eight years
- 21:35SPEAKER_00: old and they are coming back together to try and save the camp.
- 21:40and they do each other's hard things which is something that
- 21:45Kirsten and I talk
- 21:45about all the time when we're doing on the blog certain things
- 21:50she hates doing and
- 21:51I'm like it's not a problem I'll do them and vice versa so this
- 21:55book really spoke
- 21:56to me it's set at camp for anyone who doesn't know Kirsten met
- 22:00her husband at camp
- 22:01I did yep and my kids go to the same camp now so it's all full
- 22:05circle yeah this
- 22:06totally tracks for you so Kirsten what is your favorite
- 22:09backlist speech read these
- 22:11summer storms by Sarah McLean it's set on a remote island
- 22:17that's privately owned by
- 22:18someone in New England and this billionaire has died and he's
- 22:23left his four
- 22:24SPEAKER_01: children their inheritance but in order to
- 22:26SPEAKER_01: Friday Night Readers
- 22:42which i think is hilarious there's a romantic element to it
- 22:46it's like we were liars
- 22:47but a lighter version this is a great summer book and i think
- 22:51it came out last year
- 22:52which means paperback will be out now and it really was one of
- 22:55the hit books of
- 22:56SPEAKER_02: last summer i
- 22:57I agree with both of those I read both of those and loved both
- 23:00of them so now I
- 23:01know you have your anticipated beach reads coming up Jackie
- 23:05which is one that's
- 23:06coming up soon that you are most looking forward to this was so
- 23:10hard to pick up
- 23:11SPEAKER_00: just one
- 23:13SPEAKER_00: So I chose Kathleen Rooney.
- 23:16SPEAKER_00: She wrote Man Overboard.
- 23:18SPEAKER_00: And she wrote Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk.
- 23:21SPEAKER_00: And this is about a man who is thrown overboard or fell or jogged.
- 23:27SPEAKER_00: Friday Night Readers Friday Night Readers Friday Night Readers
- 23:55New Year's Eve and she's walking around town and it's just like
- 23:58a day in the life
- 24:00and she goes through her life I always say that it's it reminds
- 24:04me of Mrs.
- 24:04Dalloway which is actually I think the top picked book in our
- 24:08book club this month
- 24:10and Rory Gilmore read this she had it open on the couch at her
- 24:13grandparents house
- 24:14and her mom and her grandmother were fighting and she was just
- 24:16in the middle
- 24:17SPEAKER_02: reading Mrs.
- 24:17Dalloway and a lot of readers pick that up this month so I
- 24:20think that if you like
- 24:21SPEAKER_02: Mrs.
- 24:22SPEAKER_02: Dalloway
- 24:23SPEAKER_02: If you like Lily and Boxfish, then this would be a good one to pick up.
- 24:26SPEAKER_02: So now it's on my radar because I enjoyed both of those.
- 24:29SPEAKER_02: I hope it's great because I love her writing.
- 24:31SPEAKER_02: So Kirsten, what book are you anticipating?
- 24:35SPEAKER_01: Mine is the new Jane Jackson.
- 24:37SPEAKER_01: So she wrote Pineapple Street and I absolutely loved it.
- 24:40SPEAKER_01: It was about an outsider,
- 24:42a woman who married into this very wealthy family and is trying
- 24:45to find her footing
- 24:46SPEAKER_01: amongst the family.
- 24:47SPEAKER_01: So this is similar.
- 24:48SPEAKER_01: It's called The Shampoo Effect.
- 24:50and it's about a woman who moves to this beachy town
- 24:53infiltrates a group of friends
- 24:55falls in love with one of them they go on they're living their
- 24:57lives together and
- 24:58then she finds out that he impregnated a different one of their
- 25:01friends she's cast
- 25:02out of the group because they've grown up together and she was
- 25:05the newest one and
- 25:07in a fit of fury starts spilling all of their secrets and has
- 25:10all of these
- 25:10repercussions that happen and it just sounds totally up my own
- 25:14a perfect beach read
- 25:16SPEAKER_01: I'm looking forward to reading this one this summer by the pool
- 25:19so funnily enough this is also my most anticipated book for
- 25:23June but I did not even
- 25:24know the plot it's just because I really love Pineapple Street
- 25:27I had to look up the
- 25:28plot before this because I was like I know that I picked it I
- 25:31know that I really
- 25:32want to read it I love the cover why do I want to read it I
- 25:36don't even remember
- 25:37We have to talk about the queen of the beach reads Ellen
- 25:39Hildebrand She is a
- 25:40Nantucket author who is known for all of her beach reads And I
- 25:44love this because
- 25:45Emily Gilmore now lives on Nantucket So I've read most of her
- 25:49books But if you guys
- 25:51can only recommend one Ellen Hildebrand Out of her entire
- 25:54catalog of amazing beach
- 25:56SPEAKER_02: reads Which one would you choose?
- 25:58We chose Five Star Weekend because it is coming out and it is
- 26:03going to star Jennifer Garner.
- 26:05SPEAKER_00: I love Jennifer Garner so much.
- 26:08We just think it's always good to read the book before you see
- 26:11it on the screen.
- 26:12SPEAKER_01: But I think with Five Star Weekend,
- 26:14SPEAKER_01: the fact that it's about these friends,
- 26:17SPEAKER_01: the concept is this woman who's recently widowed,
- 26:19SPEAKER_01: I believe,
- 26:20has each of her best friends from different points in her life
- 26:23come for a weekend
- 26:24SPEAKER_01: and she wants to plan all of these lovely things.
- 26:26events for them pictures a Martha Stewart type character and
- 26:31obviously everyone's
- 26:31got secrets all the kind of stuff is coming out but I just love
- 26:34the idea of a
- 26:35weekend getaway in Nantucket and it's just lovely it's a short
- 26:39amount of time and
- 26:39it's about friendships and it would be a really good book club
- 26:42book I just think
- 26:44SPEAKER_01: it's great
- 26:45SPEAKER_02: And the book club can watch the adaptation with it.
- 26:48SPEAKER_01: And I think that's really fun.
- 26:49SPEAKER_01: It should be an incredible adaptation.
- 26:51SPEAKER_02: I love the perfect couple adaptation last year.
- 26:54SPEAKER_02: So my hopes are high.
- 26:56SPEAKER_01: Yes, that one was great.
- 26:58SPEAKER_01: So before we go, where can...
- 27:01So you can find us on youtube it is the red carpet report you
- 27:07can find us on
- 27:08instagram at beyond the bookends and you can find us online at
- 27:13beyond the bookends
- 27:14or on apple podcast or spotify as the red carpet report yeah
- 27:18you guys are great on
- 27:19SPEAKER_02: the podcast you bring so much joy to my thursdays oh it's incredible
- 27:24we talked about 10 bee trees and we hope that everyone can find
- 27:28one or two of those
- 27:29make the best your one wild and precious summer it's so
- 27:33important and I think we've
- 27:34really narrowed it down for people to choose from they're all
- 27:36bangers yes yeah
- 27:39can't go wrong with any of them all right so happy almost
- 27:42summer to everyone thank
- 27:43SPEAKER_02: you for being here bye
- 27:47SPEAKER_02: Thanks so much for listening to Friday Night Readers.
- 27:50SPEAKER_02: I love having you here in our little corner of the Gilmore Bros world.
- 27:54SPEAKER_02: If you'd like even more feel-good fun,
- 27:56SPEAKER_02: then upgrade to a free or paid email subscription membership at
- 28:00SPEAKER_02: fridaynightreaders.substack.com.
- 28:03Paid members get exclusive extras like the books on Gilmore
- 28:06Girls,
- 28:07broken down by episode.
- 28:08You'll also unlock members-only posts,
- 28:11as well as full community access to our chats.
- 28:14SPEAKER_02: It's the coziest virtual place like Stars Hollow,
- 28:17SPEAKER_02: and your support helps keep this podcast going strong.
- 28:20Lastly,
- 28:21if you enjoyed today's episode,
- 28:23please take a minute to rate and review the show.
- 28:26It helps other Gilmore fans find us which helps me provide you
- 28:30with more content like this.
- 28:32SPEAKER_02: Until next time, life's short, read fast.