I Reckon I’ll Read It

This week, we kick things off with another Reading Roundup: two books we’ve finished, two we’re currently reading, and two that are up next. We bring several short reads to the table, a paleontologist romance that feels a little like chasing Indiana Jones, plus creepy dolls, old lady murderers, and plenty of other questionable reading choices. Then, we wrap things up with a Spotlight Segment on Banned Books Week: what it is, why books get challenged, and some of the titles that keep finding themselves on the list. Books We Mentioned:  1:15- Wrangled by the Alien Rancher, Ursa Dax 4:45 - Spur of the Moment Question: Do You Count Re-Reads Towards Your Year End Total? 10:30 - Reading Round Up: 10:45- Fossil Feud, Maggie North 11:50- Loathe to Love You, Ali Hazelwood  18:23- Excavations, Kate Myers 19:55- Muneca, Cynthia Gomez 27:00- The Bewitching, Silvia Moreno Garcia Vampires of El Norte, Isabel Canas 28:00- The Awakening, Kate Chopin 41:00- An Elderly Lady is Up to No Good, Helene Tursten 43:30- The Keeper of Lost Causes, Jussi Adler Olsen 48:40- Ninth House, Leigh Bardugo  Shadow and Bone, Leigh Bardugo Six of Crows, Leigh Bardugo 50:00- Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling  The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown Babel, R.F. Kuang  53:15- If Not You, Ellen O’Clover The Heartbreak Hotel, Ellen O’Clover 58:00 - Spotlight Segment- Banned Book Week https://bannedbooksweek.org/american-library-association-releases-2025-most-challenged-books-list/  Sold, Patricia McCormick The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Stephen Chbosky Gender Queer, Maia Kobabe Empire of Storms, Sarah J. Maas Last Night at the Telegraph Club, Malinda Lo Tricks, Ellen Hopkins A Court of Thorns and Roses, Sarah J. Maas A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess Identical, Ellen Hopkins Looking for Alaska, John Green Storm and Fury, Jennifer L. Armentrout To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger The Color Purple, Alice Walker The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison Twilight, Stephenie Meyer The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins

This week, we kick things off with another Reading Roundup: two books we’ve finished, two we’re currently reading, and two that are up next. From there, we determine which authors Summer would invite to her birthday party, somehow break our own Reading Roundup rules with a few bonus recommendations, and watch Beccah once again campaign against book blurbs that make thoughtful romance novels sound like cheesy Hallmark movies (which we’re also 100% here for). We wrap things up with a Spotlight Segment celebrating one full year of I Reckon I'll Read It – looking back at our favorite moments, biggest surprises, and how far we've come. Books We Mentioned:  2:30 - Spur of the Moment Question: What three authors living or dead would you invite to your birthday party? 10:00 - Reading Round Up: 10:30- The Return of Ellie Black, Emiko Jean Before You Were Anne, Emiko Jean 18:20- Persuasion, Jane Austen 30:40- The Framed Women of Ardemore House, Brandy Shillace 32:00- The Thursday Murder Club, Richard Osman The Magpie Murders, Anthony Horowitz 37:20- Wine and Punishment, Sarah Fox 38:30- Honey Bee Mine, Sarah T. Dubb Birding with Benefits, Sarah T. Dubb 49:30- The Children, Melissa Albert 57:40- To The Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf 1:05:00 - Spotlight Segment- Looking back on one year of I Reckon I’ll Read It! Married to the Alien Cowboy, Ursa Dax Wild Dark Shore, Charlotte McConaghy The Enchanted Greenhouse, Sarah Beth Durst Wives Like Us, Plum Sykes Braiding Sweetgrass, Robin Wall Kimmerer The Correspondent, Virginia Evans Great Big Beautiful Life, Emily Henry Babel, R.F. Kuang Three Pines series, Louise Penny Twilight, Stephanie Meyer By the Fire We Carry, Rebecca Nagle Quicksilver, Callie Hart To the Moon and Back, Eliana Ramage Violet Thistlewaite is Not A Villain Anymore, Emily Krempholtz Three Bags Full, Leonie Swann Into the Drowning Deep, Mira Grant The Fellowship of the Ring, J. R. R. Tolkien A Court of Thorns and Roses, Sarah J. Maas

This week, we kick things off with another Reading Roundup: two books we’ve finished, two we’re currently reading, and two that are up next. From there, we tackle the very important question of when it's socially acceptable to start reading fall books, wander into the strange world of paranormal fiction (where the phrase “sexy reanimated corpses” somehow becomes a normal part of the conversation), and somehow find ourselves back in cowboy romance territory once again. We wrap things up with a Spotlight Segment breaking down how we actually rate books: the metrics, moments, and gut feelings that help us decide where a book lands on our five-star scale. Books We Mentioned:  6:10 - Spur of the Moment Question: When does fall reading start for you? 7:20- If It Makes You Happy, Julie Olivia Love Felt Like This, Julie Olivia- out Sept. 8th 8:05- Moby Dick, Herman Melville 12:05- The September House, Carissa Orlando 13:00- Reading Round Up: 13:20- Bound, Ali Hazelwood Mate, Ali Hazelwood Two Can Play, Ali Hazelwood 27:00- The Reimagining of Thornwood House, Jaliegh Johnson Thistlefoot, GennaRose Nethercott  34:00- Violet Thistlewaite is Not a Villain Anymore, Emily Krempholtz 34:48- Flawless, Elsie Silver Gold Rush Ranch series (first book Off to the Races) Rose Hill series (first book Wild Love) Emerald Lake series (first book Fever Dream) 47:30- Rebel Blue Ranch services, Lyla Sage (first book Done and Dusted) 48:00- The Love Hypothesis, Ali Hazelwood 52:40- Beach Read, Emily Henry 53:00- The Hating Game, Sally Thorne 54:15- Vera Stein is Fine, Julie Murphy Dumplin’, Julie Murphy A Merry Little Meet Cute, Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone 1:01:20- Leave and Come Back, Lavanya Lakshmi 1:02:00- Dolly All the Time, Annabel Monaghan Nora Goes Off Script, Annabel Monaghan  1:08:30 - Spotlight Segment- How We Decide on Book Ratings 1:11:45- Assistant to the Villain, Hannah Nicole Maehrer 1:15:00- Fall I Want, Lyra Parish 1:18:30- Dearly Departed, Chip Pons 1:19:45- Wells Ranch series, Bailey Hannah 1:20:45- Ceremony, Leslie Marmon Silko 1:21:30- The Correspondent, Virginia Evans 1:21:40- Where’d You Go Bernadette, Maria Semple 1:22:15- Helm, Sarah Hall 1:23:00- Listen for the Lie, Amy Tintera 1:23:45- Excavations, Kate Myers 1:23:55- The Hounding, Xenobe Purvis 1:24:15- Unlikely Animals, Annie Hartnett 1:25:23- books by Janice Hallett 1:28:20- The Selection series, Kiera Cass

This week, we kick things off with another Reading Roundup: two books we’ve finished, two we’re currently reading, and two that are up next. From there, we tackle the very important issue of which books feel like August before Beccah experiences the literary equivalent of an identity crisis after enjoying several of her least favorite tropes. Summer continues her deep dive into the world of Sarah J. Maas to prepare for the upcoming book release in October. To wrap things up, we end with a Spotlight Segment exploring high school reading lists, while we, the obvious experts, decide what we think should stay, what should go, and what we'd assign instead. Books We Mentioned:  2:40- Spur of the Moment Question: If the month of August was a book genre, what would it be? S.A. Cosby novels The Dry, Jane Harper 7:25- Reading Round Up: 7:40- Finlay Donovan is Killing It, Elle Cosimano  14:30- Wells Ranch series by Bailey Hannah, specifically: Love Wells Kept 16:50- Rebel Blue Ranch series, Lyla Sage 17:05- Chestnut Springs series, Elsie Silver 18:40- Safe Haven, Nicholas Sparks 23:45- Resisting the Alien Rider, Ursa Da 26:00- The Vow, Movie (incorrectly cited as a Nicholas Sparks novel, whoops!) 32:30- Crescent City Series, Sarah J. Maas A Court of Thorns and Roses, Sarah J. Maas Throne of Glass Series, Sarah J. Maas 42:00- Adversary to the Villain, Hannah Nicole Maehrer 47:43- Excavations, Kate Myers 51:28- Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters, Rick Riordan 51:55: Invisible Women, Caroline Criado Perez Spotlight Segment- High School Reading Lists Revisited The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald  The Vanishing Half, Brit Bennett  The House on Mango St., Sandra Cisneros  To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee The Hate U Give, Angie Thomas Just Mercy, Bryan Stevenson Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston The Color Purple, Alice Walker Monster, Walter Dean Myers  The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne  Young Goodman Brown, Nathaniel Hawthorne The Minister’s Black Veil, Nathaniel Hawthorne  1984, George Orwell Hunger Games, Susanne Collins The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood The Parable of the Sower, Octavia E. Butler The Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway  Life of Pi, Yann Martel Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer The Things They Carried, Tim O’brien  The Martian, Andy Weir  The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho  Lord of the Flies, William Golding Stanford Prison Experiment, Documentary or Podcast The Lottery - Shirley Jackson  Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare Julius Caesar, Shakespeare Macbeth, Shakespeare Hamlet, Shakespeare  The Odyssey, Homer Circe, Madeline Miller The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien  American Born Chinese - Gene Juen Yang The Crucible, Arthur Miller Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury Night, Elie Wiesel The Outsiders, S.E. Hinton Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger Metamorphosis, Franz Kafka  Firekeepers Daughter, Angeline Boulley The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, Mark Haddon  Out of My mind, Sharon M. Draper

This week, we kick things off with another Reading Roundup: two books we’ve finished, two we’re currently reading, and two that are up next. From there, we discuss what things are needed for a successful ‘reading experience,’ and for the first time in a long time (maybe ever?) Beccah says she reckons she would read all three of Summer’s books. We wrap things up with a Spotlight Segment on one of our favorite tropes: You’ve Got Mail retellings. Books We Mentioned:  1:20- Spur of the Moment Question: What do you need around you to have a successful reading experience? Giant reading pillow Space heater  4:30- Reading Round Up: 5:25- Bromantasy, Maire Roche 11:18- The Mead Mishaps series by Kimberly Lemming:  That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon (book 1) 12:48- Violet Thistlewaite is Not a Villain Anymore, Emily Krempholtz 14:00- The Ending Writes Itself, Evelyn Clarke And Then There Were None, Agatha Christie 15:20- The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, V.E. Schwab  Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil, V.E. Schwab 21:50- The Diary of Anais Nin, Anais Nin 22:47- Recluse Books, Ft. Worth Texas 25:53- Delta of Venus, Anais Nin 27:50- On Booze, F. Scott Fitzgerald  29:08- I See You’ve Called in Dead, John Kenney 29:57- Straight Man, Richard Russo A Man Called Ove, Frederik Backman Less, Andrew Sean Greer 39:40- The Unicorn Hunters, Katherine Arden 43:47- My Lady Jane, Brodi Ashton, Cynthia Hand, Jodi Meadows 45:28- Mother Tongue, Sara Novic True Biz, Sara Novic 51:00- Spotlight Segment- You’ve Got Mail Retellings  Well Played, Jen DeLuca Battle of the Bookstores, Ali Brady The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy, Megan Bannen Divine Rivals, Rebecca Ross Attachments, Rainbow Rowell To Sir With Love, Lauren Layne Thank You For Listening, Julia Whelan Yours Truly, Abby Jimenez Spoiler Alert, Olivia Dade Tweet Cute, Emma Lord Mr. Wrong Number, Lynn Painter