384. Our Favorite Books of the Year, Part Four: Catherine, Claudia and Me

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Sarah Wendell: Hello! Happy New Year! And welcome to episode number 384, our first episode of 2020. I’m Sarah Wendell from Smart Bitches, Trashy Books, and with me today are Catherine and Claudia and also me. It is the start of the new year, and we are still looking at our favorite books of 2019. It’s our last episode as we round up all of the writers. Catherine stayed up very, very late to talk to me – thank you – to share what books were so good for her this year. Claudia shares the books that made her year immeasurably better, and I try to share my favorite reads as unawkwardly as possible talking directly into a microphone. That was recorded without my usual equipment, so I want to thank you for accommodating the change in sound quality.

Like I said, this is the final of our looking back at 2019 episodes, and I do hope that if you haven’t you will share with us what books rocked your world this year. You can email me at [email protected], or you can call 1-201-371-3272 and leave a message and tell us what books you loved, or just tell me a terrible joke, or email me a terrible joke. I have an entire stockpile of amazing jokes you have sent me, so thank you for that part!

I also want to send a Happy New Year and a big thank-you to the podcast Patreon community. If you have supported the show with a pledge of any amount, your pledges are deeply appreciated. They help keep the show going, they help keep me in terrible jokes, and they help keep me entertaining you every week. If you are enjoying these episodes and you would like to join our Patreon community, have a look at patreon.com/SmartBitches. If you make a pledge of as little as a dollar a month, you are helping immeasurably. Thank you so very much. And Happy New Year, Patreon community! I hope you’re having a wonderful, book-filled new year.

We talk about a lot of books in this episode, and of course I will have links to all of them in the show notes at smartbitchestrashybooks.com/podcast. I will have links to all of the reviews and mailing lists and articles that we talk about as well, so if you’re thinking, oh crap, I missed something! It’s in the show notes; do not worry. And of course I will have a terrible joke, because I can’t start the new year off without a really, really wretched bad joke at the end of the episode.

But now, let’s get started with this interview. We’ll start with Catherine, who stayed up late in Australia to talk to me, and also you. Let’s look at our favorites of 2019 and start the new year off with more books to find and read and enjoy! On with the podcast.

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Catherine Heloise: I’m Catherine Heloise, and I’m in Melbourne, Australia. That’s the southeast corner of Australia.

Sarah: What books are you really pleased that you got to read in 2019?

Catherine: I made a list!

Sarah: I love this! I love a good list.

Catherine: [Laughs] So I don’t know if they all have to be romances, but I’ll, I’ll, most –

Sarah: Nah!

Catherine: Nah! Oh, well! Look, I think my favorite – very hard to find one – I really loved Polaris Rising by Jesse Mihalik. That was one of those books where –

Sarah: Oh!

Catherine: – I read it, and then I went back to the start and I read it again, and then I went back to the start and I read it again, which I don’t usually do, but it was –

Sarah: I love that!

Catherine: Yeah, yeah! ‘Cause you know, the first time you’re, like, leaping into it, and you have to read through really, really fast to make sure that everything’s okay and that, you know, that you know what happens, and then you can go through more slowly and you can enjoy it, and then, you know, I had a plane ride back from Darwin that takes a while, so.

Sarah: I love when I read a book and it’s so enjoyable I just turn right back to the start and read it again.

Catherine: Yeah, ‘cause you’re not done. You’re not ready to leave the book.

Sarah: No! That’s the perfect way to put it: I’m not ready to be done!

Catherine: Yeah.

Sarah: Have you reread it like three or four times now?

Catherine: I basically read it, as I said, four times, three times in a row then, and I’ve read it probably two or three more times since?

Sarah: Wow!

Catherine: I’m doing a lot less rereading it at the moment, and it’s all because of you, Sarah, because –

Sarah: Sorry.

Catherine: [Laughs] But you know, it’s, suddenly I’m a reviewer; people keep on sending me free books, and I feel compelled to read them, and it’s lovely, but it does mean there’s less rereading going on.

Sarah: [Laughs]

Catherine: And my To Be Read pile is, it was already out of control! [Laughs] And now –

Sarah: And now it’s like its own mountain range.

Catherine: It really is, yep.

Sarah: It’s never just one mountain; there’s multiple peaks.

Catherine: Yeah, yeah.

Sarah: Each, each genre has a mountain. [Laughs]

Catherine: Each room has its own mountain full of TBR! [Laughs]

Sarah: Oh my gosh. So what else?

Catherine: What else has been awesome? Oh, look, you know, Lucy Parker is just an amazing, such a fun writer, and I adored The Austen Playbook, and – am I allowed to say that I adored Headliners? I know it hasn’t come out yet.

Sarah: Oh, I – no spoilers! I, it is next for me to read.

Catherine: Oh!

Sarah: Please tell me how much you liked it.

Catherine: Oh, I loved it so much! I –

Sarah: [Squee!]

Catherine: [Laughs] I’m a bit sad it’s coming out after Christmas, because it’s got this whole Advent calendar thing going during it, ‘cause it’s happening during December day by day. But it, so it was perfectly delightful to read when I read it. It’s very sweet. They, they do a very good job of addressing the very good reasons the two main characters have for hating each other at the start of the book, or particularly the reason –

Sarah: Ooh!

Catherine: – she has for hating him. And it’s, it’s so funny. I mean, Lucy Parker writes such gorgeous comedy. So you just –

Sarah: Yes!

Catherine: – giggling to yourself the whole time you’re reading. So yeah, it’s, I, I think you’ll love it. I, I adored it. Yeah.

Sarah: Yay! Yeah. I’m so excited. It’s like I see it next on my list, and I’m like – [gasps]! I’m going on vacation a week from today, and I think that’s going to be my plane reading.

Catherine: Lucy Parker is one of my favorite ones for those really, you know, long international trips which, ‘cause from Australia it takes a really long time to get anywhere.

Sarah: Yes!

Catherine: About fifteen or sixteen or seventeen hours in you kind of need something that you can reliably enjoy, that you’ve read before, that is not – let’s be fair – not too taxing because I’ve read it lots of times before, but will just make me reliably happy, no matter how jet-lagged I’m, I am. [Laughs] So yeah.

Sarah: The books that will get you through a long-haul flight are very high-grade indeed.

Catherine: They really, really, really are, yeah. They’re necessary.

Sarah: I’m so excited, you’ve made me so much more excited to read this book; I cannot wait. Maybe I won’t wait; maybe I’ll just start it this weekend, ‘cause I deserve it.

Catherine: [Laughs] Then you can read it twice!

Sarah: Yes. Well, I mean, that’s what happened to me with Act Like It. I read it, and I had such a good time I’m like, I just want to read this again –

Catherine: Yes!

Sarah: – and I started over from the beginning, and I remember thinking, like, you know, chapter two or three, like, how long has it been since I’ve done this, where I just end and went back to the start and started over? It has been ages since I’ve done this, and I love that book so much.

Catherine: No, it’s, the whole ser-, it’s, it’s wonderful because you can just reread the whole series now, so you don’t have to leave the series quite so soon. You can read through –

Sarah: Yes!

Catherine: – five books in a row and then go back to the start and – [laughs]

Sarah: Yes! It’s so good!

Catherine: Yeah!

Sarah: So what else is on your list?

Catherine: I loved The Widow of Rose House by Diana Biller.

Sarah: I just read that!

Catherine: Isn’t it beautiful? It’s, it’s just got so many different things I love about it. That’s why the reviews – I can’t remember which of our lovely reviewers wrote that one, but it just –

Sarah: That was Aarya.

Catherine: It was Aarya. It always is Aarya somehow. She obviously has very similar taste in reading to me, but yeah. I love the contrast between the wonderful spookiness – I love a good ghost story? I think a go-, a ghost story that isn’t all horror is, I think, often hard to find, and this one was, it had that. And of course the hero’s adorable!

Sarah: Oh!

Catherine: And I just read her Christmas novella about his parents, and it’s so cute! I didn’t –

Sarah: [Gasps]

Catherine: – [indistinct] I just read it this evening while I was staying up for this phone call. [Laughs]

Sarah: I didn’t know there was a Christmas novella about his parents!

Catherine: It, she released it I think yesterday as a gift to people who are on her mailing list, so get onto her mailing list.

Sarah: Oh my gosh.

Catherine: Very exciting. [Laughs]

Sarah: I loved her parents, or his parents, so much!

Catherine: I know! Yep, they’re delightful. So might be novelette rather than novella, but it’s just a really sweet – yeah.

Sarah: Oh!

Catherine: Really sweet.

Sarah: The, the thing I loved was, like you said, not only was it a ghost story that wasn’t horror, it was just creepy and emotionally driven –

Catherine: Yes.

Sarah: – paranormal –

Catherine: Yes.

Sarah: – but I loved the contrast between his experience of family –

Catherine: And her –

Sarah: – and her experience of family –

Catherine: Yeah, yeah.

Sarah: – and how that was part of the conflict between them, because she’s like, you’re, you are never going to understand this, because everything has been light and goodness and happiness and warmth for you; you have no idea how much it sucks. But then it turns out he, he does kind of understand.

Catherine: Yeah, yeah. And I also like that, that also informed their, their experience and their understanding of the ghost. It’s not just that he’s, you know, this very, very science-y person who’s curious about everything, which is a delightful personality in general, but, you know, she’s also got this whole very good reason for not wanting a world where people can come back from the dead when they’re very definitely gone, thank you, and you’re pleased about that.

Sarah: Yes!

Catherine: And that, I think, made a huge difference in their perspectives too.

Sarah: And the way in which fear plays a role for each character? Like – [laughs] – the hero is what I think, I think it was Olivia Waite termed this year a sex puppy?

Catherine: [Laughs] Yeah, okay!

Sarah: Like, he’s really good at sex, and he’s really happy; he’s basically a big puppy. He’s, he’s totally a –

Catherine: Yeah!

Sarah: – he’s totally a sex puppy character. But he’s really not afraid of anything, because he’s so brilliant he’s pretty sure he can solve or address whatever problems come up if he can just think about them and interact with them and face the problem.

Catherine: Yes.

Sarah: And part of that is ‘cause he’s never really had to deal with fear or deprivation or abuse or scary things, and the ghost, it seems like the ghost doesn’t know what to do with him.

Catherine: No, no. He’s got a huge level of secur-, you know, of security and confidence in himself and just in his world as well? It’s –

Sarah: Yes! And you know, for a male character, that can really easily come across as utterly unbearable.

Catherine: Yeah, yeah.

Sarah: But he was great! He’s like, no, I’m a genius! So are you! So is my mom! You know. It sucks that she doesn’t get the recognition that she should, but I know she’s a genius, and she knows she’s a genius, and I am also a genius, and I’m like, wow, dude, I like you! Usually guys like you are insufferable!

Catherine: [Laughs] Yeah.

Sarah: And I loved the romance in it.

Catherine: Yes, that was, it was just so sweet on so many levels.

Sarah: What else is on your list?

Catherine: Oh, so many things. Well, I mean, I think you know how much I loved Silver in the Wood because of the fact that I read it in one evening, and in between getting up to check on my niece, who I was babysitting, I texted all of you guys and went, oh my God, this book’s so awesome!

[Laughter]

Sarah: Yes, I do remember!

Catherine: I’d written a review on my phone with two thumbs because I had to write about it immediately because it was so awesome! So yes, that’s one of my favorite books.

Sarah: What did you love about it?

Catherine: I think firstly the atmosphere. It was that feeling that the magic felt right. It felt like magic is supposed to feel like: yep, this is how, how the woods would be if they were magic, and who’s to say they’re not? Though probably not in Australia; they’d have to be English or, or European woods I think.

Sarah: Yeah, I think, I think if the woods were Australian they would be actively trying to kill you all the time.

Catherine: Not precisely that, but there’s –

Sarah: [Laughs]

Catherine: – [indistinct] more of a sense of threat, more of a feeling, you know, you get lost in the – well – [laughs] – certainly the way you sort of learn about it and think about it in primary school, you’ve got these various, you know, you see memorials to lost children; you, you know, it’s always, if you’re out in the woods, make sure you’ve got lots of water with you. Don’t go anywhere you will get lost.

Sarah: Yes.

Catherine: And that sort of thing. There’s, there’s, it’s not so much the poi-, I, I know that we like to think of Australia as being, it’s full of poisonous things that are trying to kill you, but it’s more actually, I think, the heat and the dehydration that’s trying to kill you.

Sarah: And the drop bears; don’t forget about those.

Catherine: Well, I mean, we, we try not to get people too anxious about those, ‘cause they’re a serious problem, and obviously, you know –

Sarah: You can’t talk about them, yes.

Catherine: Yeah, it would be wrong.

[Laughter]

Catherine: Anyway – so, yes, I, I loved the feeling that it was a very, a real-feeling magic. I, Silver as a character is just adorable. Could be another sex puppy, now I’m thinking about it. He’s sort of, he’s interested in everything, and he’s fascinated by everything, and he’s enthusiastic about everything, and, and Tobias is this completely, he’s, he’s sort of the perfect straight man in that respect. He’s just kind of, I think he appreciates Silver and finds him entertaining, but he kind of, he doesn’t, he’s not much of a talker. He’s just happy to be audience, to be kind of, to let Silver bounce off him a bit. So that was a lovely relationship, and they were both lovely characters in very different ways. And I liked, I don’t want to say too much about the plot, but I liked the way she pulled it together in a way that, again, felt very traditionally mythic, very traditionally fairytale, where, not, not the kind of fairytale where the fairies are nice, particularly, just where they’re very other, that kind of – yeah, it, it worked for me. A lot of people are getting that book for Christmas this year. [Laughs]

Sarah: Oh, that’s so lovely!

Catherine: I’ve got a couple of –

Sarah: Is it –

Catherine: – everyone’s getting for Christmas. [Laughs]

Sarah: Is, is it in print in Australia?

Catherine: Well, I mean, I bought it from the Book Depository, so it’s in print somewhere.

Sarah: And it’s coming to you.

Catherine: [Indistinct] gorgeous cover. Well, I, I’ve already got a paper copy as well as – I borrowed my sister-in-law’s copy; she’s the one who lent it to me, and then, yeah, I immediately went out and ordered a paper copy and read it to my husband aloud, because sometimes it’s more fun that way. And then I bought lots of copies for everyone! [Laughs]

Sarah: Aw!

Catherine: It reminds me a little of Dark is Rising books, and [indistinct] transporting thing reminds me of a book I read, oh, years and years ago. It’s an Ellen Kushner book – oh, what was it? It was her Thomas the Rhymer book. I don’t know if you’ve read much fantasy, but it was a retelling of the old “Thomas the Rhymer” poem, and –

Sarah: Oh!

Catherine: – you know, in, in the story, Thomas the Rhymer gets seduced by the Queen of the Fairies, very, very enthusiastically on his part, it must be said, and –

[Laughter]

Catherine: – well, she kind of goes, well, if you kiss me, then I will be, you know, then sure of your body I will be, and he goes, okay, that sounds good; let’s be at it, then. And so she then goes, well, guess what, now you have to come to Fairy for seven years and serve me, and you won’t be able to speak for seven years. That’s just part of a, the job, but he’s a, he’s a, a bard, so that’s kind of a problem for him, and in this particular retelling they had that section, she had that section in Thomas’s point of view, and I was so deeply immersed in this book that someone came up and spoke to me while I was reading it, and I couldn’t make myself answer them because I just knew if I said a word something terrible would happen and I wouldn’t be able to come home. You know, it was that kind of – [laughs] – so much [indistinct].

Sarah: Wow!

Catherine: So yeah, I think it’s a similar kind of feeling I get from the Emily Tesh thing. It was a, it’s a, it’s a pretty amazing book.

Well, while we’re on the fantasy and science fiction, I loved This is How You Lose the Time War. That’s the one by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone, and it’s a, it’s the one with the two time-traveling agents on opposite sides of a war, and it’s, it’s fun in lots of ways. There are a few things – you know, my first read-through – and you always have to read a time-travel book through twice; there’s no other way. You get so confused, or you can’t find, you don’t find all things the first time – and the first time there were a few places where I went, well, that’s a bit lucky, or, oh, that’s a bit special. How come this person is unique in this way? And then by the end of the book you realize, oh, oh, they’ve been messing around. There, there’s a lot of stuff been going on, and it’s all ma-, it’s all clicked into place to make this exactly perfect – I’m making all these gestures which you cannot see; that’s not helpful – [laughs] – to make it sort of fit, so that was wonderful, but I also loved the way the time war is fought properly, the way you have to, to fight a time war, by going back in past and making sure this person is born or this person isn’t, or this person is never inspired to write that particular poem which inspires this particular philosopher to found this particular religion. You know, that’s obviously how you’re going to change a timeline. It’s – yeah, I loved that. And it’s very poetic, and it’s got a lovely sort of love story – a lovely queer love story, in fact – at the middle of it, so that’s always a bonus, but I’m a sucker for time travel books.

I’m actually reading another time travel book right now, which I’m, I’m on my second read for, because again, I’m trying to figure out the confusion from the first read, called Anna Chronistic and the Scarab of Destiny, which is –

Sarah: Whoa!

Catherine: – it’s, it’s, it’s magnificently crazy? It’s, it feels very, a bit Connie Willis, sort of To Say Nothing of the Dog, and a bit like –

Sarah: Mm-hmm.

Catherine: – Amelia Peabody. It’s got that sort of voice of the slightly older female character who’s very sure of herself and very opinionated and has much to tell her niece who she’s writing to, and it’s this wonderfully convoluted plot, which I’m not entirely sure I understood, so that’s, that’s why I’m on the second read. I may need a third read.

Sarah: Have you read any of the dual timeline books by Nicola Cornick?

Catherine: I haven’t! I’ve read some of her earlier stuff. I didn’t know she was doing dual timeline things.

Sarah: The Phantom Tree is one, and that one takes place both present day and in Tudor times?

Catherine: Okay! This is me writing [indistinct]. [Laughs]

Sarah: And – it has a dual timeline, there’s a time slip, there’s a ghost, and –

Catherine: Hmm!

Sarah: – there are some parts of the plot that didn’t entirely work perfectly, but I could not stop reading; I could not put it down; it was so sticky.

Catherine: Yep.

Sarah: Like, I entered the book, and I didn’t want to leave. Her book, her books are very sticky for me: the minute I start one, that’s the only thing I’m doing for a while.

Catherine: That’s interesting, yeah.

What else is on my list? Oh, well, I mean, I loved, obviously, Angel in a Devil’s Arms. I realize these are, half of these are books I’ve reviewed, but – that one’s just so sweet. The found family’s so lovely, and it’s so funny, and, and, yeah, I like the way that Angelique will not be putting up with Lucien’s nonsense. Lucien? I hope I’ve got his name right. This is the terrible thing about, about reading so many books? I can remember the plots; I can remember the characters. I can’t remember anybody’s names. So that’s why I keep on saying the hero and the heroine; it’s – yeah. [Laughs]

Sarah: That’s fine; I don’t remember the titles. I remember the plot and what the cover looked like, and that is not helpful to anyone.

Catherine: I remember the titles ‘cause I have a list right in front of me!

[Laughter]

Sarah: Nicely played.

Catherine: Yes. Well, it’s midnight; it’s the best I’m going to do. [Laughs]

Sarah: Yeah, it is, it is late for you.

Catherine: It’s all good! So yeah, that, that was just delightful and fun and sweet and yeah. I, I, I enjoyed that a lot. That was another one I had to read a couple of times and that I had to go back and read the previous one, what was that called? Lady – it is not Lady Chatterley’s Lover! It really is after midnight.

Sarah: [Laughs]

Catherine: Lady Derring Takes a Lover. [Laughs] My brain just going around randomly, what book starts with Lady? I know! Anyway.

[Laughter]

Catherine: This is degenerating fast.

Sarah: Yeah, you’re getting a little punchy.

Catherine: Nah, it’s all fine!

Sarah: Yeah.

Catherine: [Laughs] And I have a general sort of, I, I think I don’t, I don’t think I’d actually read any Talia Hibbert books before this year, and I can’t single one of them out, but I have read a lot of Talia Hibbert books now. She’s now become one of my go-to authors.

Sarah: That’s so lovely! You’re not the only member of the reviewing team to say that, too. I have been doing interviews all week, and several reviewers have said how much her backlist had made them happy this year.

Catherine: It, it’s fun and it’s gentle. I do like her, her, her very kind Author’s Notes at the front which say, here are the things you might find in this book which might upset you, and here’s what chapters they’re in, and you know, it’s – to say it’s very fanfic-y, I think people sound, that sounds like it’s not, like I’m saying she’s not professional, but it’s something I’ve only encountered in the world of fanfic, and it’s something I really like. This idea of, of, of warnings and rev-, and ratings almost, so readers know what they’re getting into.

Sarah: I completely agree with you; I know exactly what you mean. It’s very reassuring to come into a fanfic or into a book and know, okay, these are the things that are going to happen, and you can make an informed decision as to whether or not that’s a thing you can put in your brain right now.

Catherine: Exactly, ‘cause I mean, sometimes you want a book which is going to challenge you, but sometimes – honestly, this year quite a lot of times – you just want a book where you know roughly what to expect, and it’s the journey; it’s not the destination. You know, look, we’re reading romance; we know what the destination is.

Sarah: Yes!

Catherine: It’s how you get there and whether you like spending time with those people, because that’s pretty much in any genre for me: if I don’t like spending time with those people, then why would I read a book full of them? You know?

Sarah: I am the exact same way.

Catherine: Yeah.

Sarah: I remember earlier this – maybe it was this year? This year has been so long it’s been like a decade, but I remember earlier, in a different season, there was a debate online about how content warnings are spoilers and people who require them are ridiculous, and I remember thinking, okay, that’s, you know, that is clearly your opinion, and you are talking about a different genre, but –

Catherine: Yeah.

Sarah: – for me, looking at romance, like you just said, we already know the ending! We know where it’s going. The –

Catherine: Yes.

Sarah: – the ending is not going to be a surprise. It’s the journey between the start and the end that is what we’re reading for, because we know, we all know where we’re going: when you say it’s a romance you’ve made a commitment to me that I understand where I’m going. And I know Carrie has articulated how reading romance is incredibly reassuring when she’s feeling very anxious, because she gets to experience a story that she doesn’t know, but she does know that it will end okay, and what –

Catherine: Yes.

Sarah: – content warnings do are sort of like signs on the road that –

Catherine: Mm-hmm.

Sarah: – will tell you, this is the kind of journey to expect, and that still doesn’t spoil anything for me, because, like I said, I know where I’m going! And that’s –

Catherine: Yes, exact- –

Sarah: – that’s the whole experience!

Catherine: Yes, yes. Also, you know, any time – and I know there are people who don’t reread books, which I find hard to understand, but anytime you reread a book, well, you know where it’s going –

Sarah: Yes.

Catherine: – so obviously that’s not the only reason people read a book is to – you know, part of it is clearly to, to revisit something you’ve enjoyed already and, you know, to enjoy that path again, enjoy those people again.

Sarah: Yeah. Yeah, I completely agree. So what else have you got, ma’am? I feel terribly guilty for keeping you up so late.

Catherine: No! Look, it’s, I’m now really wide awake, so –

[Laughter]

Sarah: All right!

Catherine: Right! The Bad Decisions Book Club will be on tonight. [Indistinct]

Sarah: Hot damn!

Catherine: Well, I bought that, you know that fundraiser for Kit Rocha with the forty-two free books. Some of them are novellas, but it’s still forty-two books. Some of them I’ve got already! It’s still about thirty books I haven’t read before. [Laughs]

Sarah: Game on! You’re going up until, like, Saturday! No, it is Saturday! Next Saturday!

Catherine: Two weeks! [Laughs] Yes. So what else have I liked? Alyssa Cole, I think it’s a novella, Can’t Escape Love? Which was just so cute! It’s, it’s a spin-off from the Reluctant Royals series.

Sarah: Yes.

Catherine: Which is a series that I both enjoyed and found occasionally will just irritate me in, in, in nitpicky ways, but this was just delightful, and it’s, it’s the sister of one of the characters we’ve seen before; I think it’s Portia’s sister? Can I remember her name? Of course not.

Sarah: Wait, I’m, the name Reggie is coming into my brain.

Catherine: Reggie!

Sarah: Yes.

Catherine: Yes! Yes, yes, yes. With the, you know, the many different gorgeous customized wheelchairs, and she’s, she starts off, you know, meeting with Guy effectively online. She’s been listening to his voice through not quite a podcast, but I think he was solving some sort of maths problems? I can’t quite remember. And yes, and they end up, and he’s trying to design this escape room for a fandom that she’s hugely into, and they end up collaborating on this, and it’s just, it’s got so many very, very sweet things. It’s got a lovely diversity to it, in terms of both disability and – I liked it a lot! But I, and I, I enjoyed – it’s fun reading books about fandom by someone who understands people really loving something, and, and, and there’s a lot of that in there. I don’t think the series she’s excited about exists in real life, but it doesn’t have to. It’s just, it, it’s fun watching people – yeah. I like those kind of books. I don’t know. [Laughs]

Sarah: I know just what you mean. And I love that the conflict between them was just enough for a novella.

Catherine: Yes. It wasn’t too much. They had enough background that you could actually buy the romance as something which was going to work, you know?

Sarah: Yes.

Catherine: You know, it wasn’t much of a past, but it was enough. I don’t know. Yeah. Yeah, they, they were pretty good at actually communicating and not doing the Big Misunderstanding thing or – yeah. I don’t know, it just, it worked. It was a really, really nice novella. And that was definitely a Bad Decisions Book Club one, that one for me, which is why I’m slightly vague about it, because I loved it, but I was loving it at like three in the morning on a work night, so I don’t remember it as well as I want to. [Laughs] I’m going to have to reread it. So.

Sarah: The thing I love about that is how they talk to each other, because it’s, you know, his voice is what puts her to sleep when she can’t sleep, and they went –

Catherine: Which is a lovely thing.

Sarah: Yes!

Catherine: I’ve got a thing for voices. And you know, I think a lot of people have a thing for voices, but yeah.

Sarah: Yeah, exactly. And I spend so much time editing and working with my own voice and other people’s voices and making sure that the finished product of the podcast is nice to, to hear, it’s nice to listen to –

Catherine: Mm-hmm?

Sarah: – the fact that his voice was so important to her, I just, I loved that part and how that appeared in different parts of the story. I don’t want to, like, spoil anything – just that, I loved that part.

Catherine: Yes.

Sarah: Yeah.

Catherine: Yes, it was very, very sweet.

Sarah: It was very sweet. It’s really the perfect way to describe it.

Catherine: Yeah.

Sarah: All right, what’s next on your list?

Catherine: What’s next on my list, the never-ending list? Another one which I think comes out next week or so? It was called Love Lettering by Kate Clayborn.

Sarah: You are not the first person to mention this book in these interviews! So many people have loved this book!

Catherine: [Laughs] It was, it made me want to go to New York. I mean, I kind of already sort of want to go to New York, but maybe I’ll wait for a, a different political time. And, but I love, it makes me want to go out and sort of look for fonts everywhere. You know, all, all the – I loved the central romance, and I loved the relationship with her friend and trying to figure out what was going on there. I was so worried for so much of the book that that wasn’t going to get addressed, so I was really pleased when it was.

Sarah: Ohhh!

Catherine: But again, it was, the atmosphere of it was lovely. The, the feeling of, the sense of place and, and just, you know, it makes you start feeling fascinated about calligraphy, and I’m left-handed, so my calligraphy and, and writing are both abysmal and horrible, and I know, I know I can’t do this, but I still wanted to. [Laughs] Yeah.

Sarah: I love that in that book, New York is like a character.

Catherine: It really is, yes. It feels like it couldn’t be set anywhere else in quite the same way.

Sarah: No. It’s, it, that’s one of my favorite parts. Aarya talked about the book and said she really wanted an illustrated edition.

Catherine: Oh yes!

Sarah: Right?

Catherine: And I’m glad that even on my Kobo that had made an effort with the fonts. I mean it –

Sarah: Yes!

Catherine: – didn’t, didn’t work very well, but it does make me want to get hold of a paperback and see what they’ve done. Yeah, how they’ve actually made it look on, on paper.

Sarah: Yeah, she wants a full illustrated edition with, like, pictures of the signs and pictures of the planning pages, and I was like, yeah, yeah, uh-huh? I, I can see that.

Catherine: And you could make it kind of part photojournalism and part art, kind of a collage –

Sarah: Yes!

Catherine: – combining [indistinct] just so good, and I would buy it immediately. [Laughs] And that would probably be another one which all my friends would have to have if I had an illustrated version. Anyway –

[Laughter]

Catherine: I really enjoyed The Lady’s Guide to Celestial Mechanics.

Sarah: Lady nerds!

Catherine: Lady nerds! Look, you know, I work with scientists every day, so I do love myself a scientist hero or heroine – that sounds really wrong now, doesn’t it? That’s not, not why. It’s just I like the personality style. [Laughs]

Sarah: Yeah, no, I totally understand what you mean.

Catherine: I mean, there was a lot in this. I, I liked the feminism; I liked the kind of feeling that it – to be honest, all the men in that book were kind of trash.

Sarah: [Laughs]

Catherine: Which is not how I, I view the world normally, but there was something kind of weirdly simple and pleasing about the way it came together. But I also really loved the way the scientist heroine – whose name I naturally cannot remember, because we’ve already established names not my thing – I like the way she really appreciated and understood the, the artistic importance of the embroidery the other heroine was doing?

Sarah: Yes!

Catherine: And the way she really kind of kept on going, no, these are, this is not just sort of silly women’s work. This is actually, this is actually something real; this is something that, that has meaning and matter, and if it were, if you were doing it in any other medium, if you were doing it in a medium that men use, then no one would doubt that it was proper, true art, real work. You know, that kind of thing. It was, it’s one of the most explicitly feminist romances I’ve read in quite some time, I think.

Sarah: Oh!

Catherine: Obviously I enjoyed the love story, or I wouldn’t have enjoyed it as a romance, you know, obviously, so that’s never the thing I’m talking about, but yeah.

Sarah: I, I love that part too, especially since I embroider?

Catherine: Yeah.

Sarah: I, I loved how the things that were coded as feminine in that book were still treated with great respect and reverence.

Catherine: Yes! Yes, indeed! It wasn’t a, you know, well, if you want to be a proper interesting woman, you have to be doing science and, and, and breaking into the masculine world. It’s also, no, actually; in the feminine world there’s a lot of stuff which has value, and we should be also elevating that and going, hang on, this is work, this is, this real, this is beauty, this is, this is important! It’s also kind of nice because we seem to have such a huge emphasis on STEM at the moment, and just reminding people that there is more to the world than science and technology and, and, and maths and things, it’s, it’s, it’s, that we want art, we want creative content, because it would be such a, a boring and sad world without it.

Sarah: And one thing I love about the way that embroidery is treated in that book is that, you know, it was, it was, it had a functional purpose, but it was also decorative –

Catherine: Yes.

Sarah: – and it was women’s work, so for a lot of reasons it was, it’s treated with disrespect, and that’s still true today, the way that some people will talk about knitting or embroidery or that kind of thing, but –

Catherine: But that has [indistinct] trendier in the last ten years or twenty years really, isn’t it?

Sarah: Yes, yes.

Catherine: – feel like when I was, when I was, I did a lot of, I used to do heaps and heaps of cross stitch with my grandmother, actually, and it was impossible to find places you could buy it, and then for a while there, suddenly, you know, knitting and yarn took off and it was everywhere!

Sarah: Yep.

Catherine: Yeah.

Sarah: Yeah, I cross stitch, and it’s, it’s a pretty big hobby in the States. I think knitting and crochet might be a bit more popular? But my library allows me to get magazines from the UK, where cross stitch is extremely popular, and there’s like five magazines devoted to it, so I get digital copies of magazines from the UK, and there’s a lot of Australian reader letters, so I, clearly I’m not the only person importing them. One of the things that I have to overcome personally is the idea that everything that I do must have a purpose and a profit attached? Like, what is the goal of this? Is this going to generate income? Is this going to have, like, a larger purpose or goal that is going to add to the bottom line? And it’s like, no, I just want to stab this fabric and make something pretty for the sake of making something pretty.

Catherine: Yes. I discovered beading, oh, about three weeks ago. I discovered it a bit too hard. I, I bought –

Sarah: [Laughs]

Catherine: – [indistinct] five beading kits and thought – ‘cause I think someone on our Slack was talking about ad-, Advent calendars or some sort of knitting Advent calendar or something – I can’t knit –

Sarah: Yes.

Catherine: – [indistinct]. Beading – okay, it’s three-dimensional, so I’m going to be very bad at this, but you know, if I get a kit and I do one piece each day – they’re Christmas decorations, as it happens – maybe I’ll get good at it. Turns out that while I was fairly terrible at it early on, I was also very efficiently terrible at it, and I used up all the kits in a week.

Sarah: Oh wow!

Catherine: I made about twenty-five decorations and – [laughs] –

Sarah: Nice!

Catherine: – now it’s something like, I, I’ve ordered more and they aren’t arriving, and I want them more now, ‘cause I used to do a heap of cross stitch, but then I wrecked my wrists, and so I can’t do much of that anymore, but beading is something different. It doesn’t do, whatever it is that my wrists don’t like, beading doesn’t do it, so I can obsessively bead. So – [laughs] –

Sarah: And it is a, it’s a repetitive motion, and it’s decoding a, a pattern, and it has, it feeds that part of my brain, right?

Catherine: Yes, yeah. And I like it because I like sitting, what, you know, I’m not very good at sitting with my hands still.

Sarah: Nope! Me neither.

Catherine: And I’d rather do that particular, you know, if we’re watching something on, on, on TV or whatever, I’m, I’m not going to be able to give that my full attention either, ‘cause I have a very, I don’t know, short attention span.

Sarah: Yeah.

Catherine: But yeah, so I like having something I can do with my hands, so yeah. All beading now. All the beading! [Laughs] So yeah.

Sarah: So what is the next book on your list?

Catherine: Well, it’s the last book on my list, I think. And it’s The Flatshare by Beth O’Leary.

Sarah: Ah! I loved that book!

Catherine: That was so sweet again! I, the premise of it was just delightful. The idea that they’ve kind of got this romance where they, which – or this friendship, really – which springs from them never actually seeing each other and just leaving each other notes.

Sarah: And living in the same space!

Catherine: [Indistinct] the same house, the same space, the same bed even, but at different times, and I did love that when they came together, again, they were just – it’s a very kind book. They’re very kind to each other, they’re very kind to the people around them, and, and I do very much value kindness in, in, in characters and in books. Yep.

Sarah: I think it was Lara in her review of – [clicks thoughtfully] – the Matthew Harffy book, The Wolf of Wessex, that, especially right now, watching –

Catherine: Yes.

Sarah: – kind people be decent to other kind people and watching –

Catherine: Yes!

Sarah: – them win is just so satisfying.

Catherine: It really is, yes. ‘Cause there’s so much at the moment, you know, that I’m finding really depressing and hard to cope with in the news, and it’s just, there’s something every week, frankly.

Sarah: Yeah, every other hour.

Catherine: Yeah, yeah. I mean, we’ve got, half our country, half of Australia – okay, not half of Australia – a large proportion of Australia is on fire right now, quite literally –

Sarah: Yes.

Catherine: – and has been [indistinct], and we seem to have a prime minister who’s not interested in putting more money towards fire services or – let alone climate change. And yeah, it’s, it’s really depressing. So yes, kind, kind books are good.

Okay, I’ll give you one more book to end up, so we don’t end up on something depressing.

Sarah: Yeah, go ahead.

Catherine: [Laughs] And that, that’s Jane, the Jane Austen’s Ghost book, which is –

Sarah: Ah!

Catherine: – so much fun.

Sarah: I never would have discovered that book if you hadn’t written about it? It, I’m so, I have it, I have it in my queue. It, I’m so excited.

Catherine: It’s my not-so-secret quest to try and find Australian authors who might not have been making it to the, to the wider world, and, and, and if I find books which I like and – yeah, review them if I can. But yes, this was –

Sarah: Yes, please!

Catherine: It, it was such, yeah. Well, obviously! I mean I, if I can, I want to. It was just such a lovely, delicately written book, and yeah. And again, another proper ghost story that isn’t horror.

Sarah: Yes!

Catherine: But it will make you cry. It can’t be helped. ‘Cause those are your two options with ghost stories, really, isn’t it?

Sarah: Yeah.

Catherine: If, if they’re not going to be scary, they’re going to make you cry, but yeah. That’s, that’s delightful, and the, and the sort of Mr. Collins analogue, only even worse, at the start is great.

Sarah: Ugh!

Catherine: You know, he’s just a perfectly, horrifyingly – you can kind of see Austen basting, basing Mr. Collins on this, much the way that Dorothy Sayers based – oh God. The guy who gets murdered in Strong Poison is very clearly Dorothy Sayers’ ex-boyfriend. It’s hilarious.

Sarah: Well, if you can’t stick it to terrible people in your fiction, then what’s the point?

Catherine: What’s the point of writing? Exactly, so –

Sarah: Right? Like, that’s, that’s the other part.

Catherine: Yeah, yeah.

Sarah: Create the world that is much more balanced and just than the one you’re in.

Catherine: [Indistinct] Which is why mysteries are good fun. [Laughs] So.

Sarah: Oh yeah. Restoration of justice and order is very satisfying too. I love a good historical mystery romance? Like, oh, all my favorite things! Let’s do this!

Catherine: Yeah, yeah! Yeah, yeah!

Sarah: Thank you so much for doing this. It has, it has been such a pleasure to talk to you!

Catherine: Oh, ditto! And it, it – look, you know, I actually do like doing things at weird hours so I can talk to people on all sides of the world.

Sarah: Aw!

Catherine: I –

Sarah: Thank you!

Catherine: – I get up at 5 a.m. to watch Eurovision with my German pen friend –

Sarah: Aw!

Catherine: – every year. [Laughs] This is kind of obviously the other end of the scale: I’ll get up at midnight to podcast with you. All good.

Sarah: Aw, thank you!

[pause]

Claudia: My name is Claudia, and I’m in Northern California!

Sarah: So what were your favorite books of 2019?

Claudia: Well, I sort of selected three, if that’s okay with you.

Sarah: That is absolutely fine! Bring me all your books.

Claudia: Okay, so definitely the two K. J. Charles books that I read this year, the Any Old Diamonds and Gilded Cage, and one book by Elizabeth King-, Kingston named Desire Lines.

Sarah: It is so interesting that you named those titles because in other interviews I’ve been doing Catherine loved K. J. Charles, and Ellen loved K. J. Charles, and AJ loved K. J. Charles, and other readers talked, brought, brought up Elizabeth Kingston, so I think it’s so cool that there’s this overlap of authors and titles. Tell me about the K. J. Charles books. What did you like about them?

Claudia: Well, the first book that I want to highlight is Any Old Diamonds. I just felt it was really well done in terms of growth for both main characters. There was a, a, a very good sense of place. It, it talked about, you know, Victorian times in a way that I felt really immersed.

Sarah: What did you like about the romance in Any Old Diamonds?

Claudia: I loved how twisty it was and how sort of complementary both main characters were to each other? And how they both grew in the, in the, in the process –

Sarah: Yeah.

Claudia: – in the relationship. That was sort of my favorite part of it for sure. And like I said, the, the sense of time was also really important to me, and I felt it was an extra treat as a long-time reader of K. J. Charles to have the mentions to previous characters.

Sarah: Oh, so you get to, like, revisit old friends.

Claudia: Very much so, and kind of know –

Sarah: I love that!

Claudia: – and kind of know where they are in life? And –

Sarah: Yeah!

Claudia: – in this series, it’s, it’s a two-book series so far, so that sets, that is placed twenty years after one of her series, so you really get to know how the past characters are doing, so that’s, that was very interesting to me as well.

Sarah: It’s like a bonus, little extra part of their romance too.

Claudia: Definitely. The experiences that those characters from twenty years ago went through kind of helped the current characters as well, which I thought very interesting. It was one big family, basically.

Sarah: I love that level of consistency in characters?

Claudia: It is really amazing also, because I don’t think she plans it all out like, you know, with a whiteboard or anything, but she does go back to everybody, and it’s, it’s –

Sarah: [Laughs] Imagine the size of that whiteboard! Oh my gosh!

Claudia: I don’t know how she gets it all in her head! That’s, that’s the thing! And I, and I keep discovering, like, new rabbit holes to go through. I, I remember when I did the, the review for Gilded Cage, somebody was saying, oh, Harriet! She must be the daughter of so-and-so! And it’s like, oh, you’re absolutely right! She must be!

[Laughter]

Claudia: And I felt I was keeping good track of everybody, but yes, it is a mystery. I hope she does not use a big whiteboard, because she would get lost.

Sarah: It, it would have to be like the size of a truck! It would be a very big board!

Claudia: [Laughs]

Sarah: One of the things that AJ mentioned that she loves about K. J. Charles is how much the, the books are studies of character, and the characters are so important, and there’s always a point where she realizes, oh! Of course these people should be together! Of course these people are complementary. And it sounds like the same is true for you with this book: of course these characters should be together.

Claudia: Absolutely. It’s, it’s all very – how can I put it? – you don’t immediately feel like they are meant to be? Of course you know they are going to end up together – [laughs] – so it’s –

Sarah: Right, ‘cause their name’s on the cover copy.

Claudia: Right. It, it, yeah, it gives it all away right there. But it is very interesting how she, she puts them through the paces and they realize that they are absolutely meant to be together, and they realize that themselves as well! You’re all part of that – although with Any Old Diamonds, I have to say my only small concern, or my only small quibble about the book is that we don’t get one of the character’s point of view at all? So he’s very mysterious. It’s sort of an, another angle to this book. He’s, like, a Mr. Darcy in a way: you never know what he’s thinking? But at the same time, as a reader, it felt like, oh my gosh, I wish I knew what he was thinking, but keeps the mystery going as well.

Sarah: Yes, and then when that, that type of character – I, I, I share the same frustration, because when you read that type of character, on one hand you’re like, oh, I wish I knew what he was thinking! I wish I knew what that person was thinking; I wish I knew their point of view, but then when they do something that reveals their emotions, that reveals themselves, it’s like extra more potent! [Laughs]

Claudia: Exactly. Specially for this one character, who was for, I don’t know, maybe the first third of the book was, like, feeling more like the villain almost, so –

Sarah: Yeah.

Claudia: – when he really falls and he expresses himself, it’s all beautifully done and very enjoyable to read.

Sarah: Ah, that’s so satisfying. So what was your second K. J. Charles book?

Claudia: Gilded Cage, which is a sequel to, well, book two in the Lilywhite Boys book.

Sarah: What did you like about that one? Did you like the same thing, the history, the atmosphere, the characters?

Claudia: Again, definitely the, the sense of big family. The, sort of the solution to an ongoing mystery on the first book. It had an element of romantic suspense or mystery that I enjoyed without being, you know, taking over, or the romance never took a back seat to that. I just loved the, the heroine! She’s amazing. I loved her since I met her in the Sins of the Cities series. She is this very no-nonsense person, very down-to-earth, and I loved seeing her getting her Happily Ever After.

Sarah: Have you read a lot of K. J. Charles’s books, or, or are these the two that you’ve read this year? Are you going to read more?

Claudia: I’ve, I’m running out of her backlist, which makes me sad, because I have been saving it. I haven’t, I haven’t read a lot of her paranormals because I’m not usually paranorm-, a paranormal reader?

Sarah: Mm-hmm.

Claudia: Or a reader of paranormal books, I should say? But I, so I haven’t read a lot of her Magpies series, the Spectred Isle series. I, it’s all going to be new to me, but I’m in that kind of, that space that I don’t know if I’m going to keep saving them, if I’m going to go for them. I just don’t want to run out! I hope she’s writing her third book on the series that I loved so much. It’s, it’s always a sort of a balance, right, to – with the backlists.

Sarah: Always. Always. It’s always a balance when you, on one hand you want to just sort of dive in and gorge yourself, and on the other hand, if you find an author who so consistently works for you, it, it’s also tempting to sort of savor them and read them slowly. Like, I have the same problem with Lucy Parker, who doesn’t have as much of a substantial backlist, but I have been saving her upcoming book for vacation, and I am so desperate to read it because I know how good it’s going to be.

Claudia: Yes. That, that is a – but that’s one of my favorite things about reading, though. Like, that tug between, like, am I going to just stay up until two in the morning to finish this? Am I going to be, you know, strong enough to walk away and savor, savor it another day? It’s, it’s definitely a sign that I’m really into the book when I start to have those discussions in my head. And sadly, I don’t think it happens that often, because, I don’t know, you get wrapped up and you run, you really want to finish, and, and maybe sometimes I, I do rush, but when I catch myself and then I stop it and, okay, let’s save this for tomorrow, you know, it’s going to be there for me, it’s just the most delicious thing.

Sarah: It’s so true! And sometimes that feeling will sneak up on me. Like I’ll find myself doing my, you know, my normal chores like making dinner or getting ready for tomorrow, and all I can think of is, I want to go back to my book; I want to go back to my book. Sometimes that feeling, that, that tug you describe sneaks up on me, and I don’t realize I’m feeling it until I’m in the middle of it? That is the best!

Claudia: It is.

Sarah: And it’s not all, it doesn’t happen with every book, you’re right!

Claudia: It’s just delicious! I, I guess it’s, it’s, might as well, because you would get too addicted to it. [Laughs]

Sarah: Yeah. And it’s, it’s a sign of something really, really working for me.

Claudia: Right.

Sarah: It sounds like K. J. Charles really works for you, which is excellent.

Claudia: She, she, she really does. I believe I’m going to say Any Old Diamonds is my favorite by her so far, but it’s, it’s so hard to pick a favorite with her, because she always, she always works! Like you said, she always works for me. I love her writing; I love how economical she is. She is never overly florid. And by economical I just mean that she’s just, she, I don’t know, she, you can tell, I believe she gets, she gets to the point with an economy and elegance that I haven’t seen very often.

Sarah: So what is your third book?

Claudia: Third and final, last but not least, Desire Lines by Elizabeth Kingston, another favorite author of mine. She is, this is also part of a series. I’m very glad that she already said on her Twitter that she’s writing number four. She also said that, you know, please don’t bug her, and sorry, Elizabeth –

Sarah: [Laughs]

Claudia: – I am going to be mentally bugging you. Not, you know, bugging you for real, but definitely keeping close tabs on this. Oh, one interesting thing about this book: I felt like she, she tweeted a lot when she was reading, she was writing this one, and that was an extra treat, I thought, because I was foll-, I follow her on Twitter, and when, and I, when she struggled, she would say so. It was like, oh, I don’t know where this book is going and blah blah blah blah blah, or, oh, I’m writing this beautiful passage, and I’m just going to break their hearts in twenty pages, so –

Sarah: [Laughs]

Claudia: – I could totally tell, or I felt I could tell – obviously, I, I don’t know for sure, but I felt I could tell when she was struggling, when she, things were too good to be true and their hearts were going to be broken very shortly, so that was definitely an extra dimension. Definitely an extra treat.

Sarah: Oh, that’s so cool! Almost like a really good sneak preview of what you’re going to get.

Claudia: Right, and I also enjoyed, like, her talk about the writing process itself. Like, like I said, she, she owned up that she was struggling with the ending of the book, or, or, I, I believe that was, that was it, but just, I felt part of, like, I felt like I took a sneak peek in her writing mind.

Sarah: Yeah.

Claudia: It was very interesting. So for that one, one of my highlights, you don’t get to class differences all that much? This was, this definitely had an element of class difference, a very real one, because the heroine was a servant, so she’s described as, you know, not having a refined speech. She was, she wasn’t sure of herself socially. So that was an interesting, an interesting thing. And when they start, I guess the hero, which turns out to be a prince – I don’t think I’m giving it away too much – but he is in worse shape than she is, so it was sort of a, an interesting reversal. So it’s road trip, which is also among, you know, my top favorite, and it also presents a very interesting journey of, of their relationship, not, not just a physical journey.

Sarah: I love a good road trip romance. Have you read all of her, her books?

Claudia: I have read all of it but one. She has one that I was just not very interesting to me? It didn’t sound very interesting to me –

Sarah: Mm-hmm?

Claudia: – but all of the medievals, I’m up to that series, I’m current on that, and a previous one that she did, her very first one.

Sarah: And she’s one of the few writing in that time period. Like, there’s not a lot of medievals running around.

Claudia: No! I, I appreciate how she sort of stays true to what she wants to do, you know? I imagine, I don’t know how the market might be, but yeah, you’re right, you don’t see that many, so it might not be the hottest thing out there, but she’s on it, and she’s, she’s writing number four. Elizabeth, I really want you to finish fast!

[Laughter]

Sarah: All right, hopefully she doesn’t listen.

Claudia: I, I promise –

Sarah: Hope not.

Claudia: I promised that, yeah, I promised that I wouldn’t bug her, but here I am.

Sarah: Ah, you know, she might, she might not listen. And if she does, it would, it’s, it’s meant lovingly.

Claudia: [Laughs] For sure. No pressure.

Sarah: No, no pressure. Are there any other books you want to mention?

Claudia: No, I think that will be it for me. I really wanted to keep this as sort of the special ones, but I will say, this is the time of the year that I wish I had done a better job with my Goodreads lists or, or spreadsheet –

Sarah: [Laughs]

Claudia: – or, or anything else to keep track, because I, I forget a lot. I was going back to it, and I, I, yeah, I didn’t do a good job keeping track. It’s hard.

Sarah: I understand. I – it is. I have a weekly reminder on my to-do list to log my reading for the past week, because if I don’t remind myself I’ll be like, oh, I did that recently, and then I’ll look at my, my record tracking and be like, oh great, it’s been six weeks. You’re not going to remember anything that you did. [Laughs]

Claudia: No, absolutely. Oh, and, and Sarah, I lied, because I do want to mention a couple more books, if you’ll let –

Sarah: Please do.

Claudia: – if you’ll let me. So basically –

Sarah: Please do.

Claudia: – it’s more like the, the, the triumphant return of Julie Anne Long to historicals. I –

Sarah: Oh, did that make you happy?

Claudia: Yeah, that made me very, very happy. And both books in her series worked for me, and I was just happy to see her back to her, you know, to historical romance.

Sarah: Did you read the Pennyroyal Green series? Did the new historicals have a similar feel for you? Did they work as well?

Claudia: I think if anything else, she felt a little, she felt funnier! She felt –

Sarah: Oh, nice!

Claudia: – light, lighter, but there’s a, sort of a, a running current of found family that I find very interesting as well with that series.

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Sarah: I had a feeling that if I didn’t at least mention the books that I liked that I would receive email: Sarah, what about the books that you liked? And the reason I didn’t want to do this part is because it feels a little awkward to just talk to my computer. I’m not talking to a guest; I’m not connected to anyone, so I’m imagining that I’m talking to you. You who are listening right now, whether you’re cleaning or walking or driving or going to work or dyeing wool or making jewelry, all of the cool things that all of you do. Here is a very quick recap of some books that I liked. The challenge for me is that I’ve already done a few best-of lists and I don’t want to repeat myself, and I don’t want to repeat what the other reviewers have said. So I have some nonfiction and some romance and some mystery. You ready? Okay, let’s do this.

This is a 2018 book, but as you’ve heard me say, if you read it this year, then you can talk about it. Off the Clock by Laura Vanderkam, I’ve mentioned a few times on the podcast. This is about finding whitespace in your calendar when you don’t have something that you have to do next and you can just sort of think and give yourself space. The thing I liked most about this book was the idea of having a jubilee year for your calendar where you take everything off of it and you only put the things back on that you want to do. Oh boy, did I need to hear that!

I’ve also mentioned Wolfpack by Abby Wambach and Burnout by Emily and Amelia Nagoski.

The third – no, that’s four. My math skills are so good! The fourth nonfiction I want to make sure to mention is Thick: And Other Essays by Tressie McMillan Cottom. This book blew my mind. I also came across a quote from her on Twitter that I liked so much I saved, and I might actually cross stitch it, because, well, why not, right? So here’s the quote; I’ll link to it in the show notes, too.

“Nobody’s going to like you more because you hate yourself.”

Pretty powerful, right? I loved reading a book of essays from someone who owns exactly who they are fearlessly. That is so inspiring.

My romance and mystery recommendations are Play It Again by Aidan Wayne, which I reviewed, and I will link to my review. That was a romance between two individuals who were so unique in so many ways and was, the book itself was so fluent in YouTube culture and in managing a fandom and in having a type of fame that exists in a very specific place. Plus it integrated different sexualities and disabilities, and I’m still thinking about it. And it was so sweet and light. Definitely, if you’re looking for sweet and light, grab that book.

The Art of Theft by Sherry Thomas: it’s hard to recommend a book that’s in the middle of a series, but the whole Charlotte Holmes series is wonderful, and The Art of Theft was terrific.

Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes: I read a manuscript of this book two years ago, and getting to read the final, like, edition after edits and revisions was so interesting, and I loved so much about this story.

And a bonus mention to the series I read on vacation: the Amory Ames Mystery series, which takes place in the ‘20s and is delightfully silly and fun and – it’s a sort of glitzy Gilded Age cozy mystery, I guess? But I love Amory, and I’m convinced her husband is actually a spy, and I cannot wait to see what happens next with their relationship.

So those are my 2019 picks. I hope you will tell us what you liked this year and what books you wanted to read most that you enjoyed. But most of all, thank you for being part of the podcast this year.

I will have links to all of the books that we talked about and several links to different things that we mentioned during this episode.

I will absolutely have another episode next week, because that’s how podcasting works. I’m not going to do a joke this week because I am recording this on the fly before I go on vacation.

This is, of course, Deviations Project and Adeste Fiddles that you’re listening to, and if you’ve bought this album and you enjoy it too, I hope you tell me what, which one is your favorite track, ‘cause I – [laughs] – have trouble picking one each time.

Most of all, thank you to our Patreon community for supporting the show and for making this and every episode possible.

Thank you to you for listening. It is wonderful to know you are part of our podcast community.

We wish you the very best of reading. Have a wonderful, safe, happy, and healthy new year wherever you are.

Smart Podcast, Trashy Books is part of the Frolic Podcast Network. You can find more outstanding podcasts to subscribe to at frolic.media/podcasts.

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