[00:00:00] ANNE BOGEL: Hey readers, I’m Anne Bogel and this is What Should I Read Next?. Welcome to the show that’s dedicated to answering the question that plagues every reader, what should I read next? We don’t get bossy on this show. What we will do here is give you the information you need to choose your next read.
Today we have a special episode for you, one that we’ve been incubating for some time but haven’t made happen until 2025. Every year over on my blog, Modern Mrs. Darcy, which just had an anniversary like maybe about today, it’s now 14 years old, but every year on Modern Mrs. Darcy, I share a post all about what’s saving my life right now.
We thought we could have a good conversation if we brought this concept here to What Should I Read Next? with a particular focus on what’s saving our reading lives.
[00:01:08] So today I’m joined by our team member, Shannan Malone who serves as our What Should I Read Next? and What Should I Read Next? Patreon community manager, and also our Modern Mrs. Darcy Book Club co-host.
Shannan, welcome to the show.
SHANNAN MALONE: Thank you for having me.
ANNE: Oh my gosh, the pleasure is mine. I love talking books with you, whether or not it’s being recorded for-
SHANNAN: Me too.
ANNE: …posterity and our readers.
SHANNAN: Me too.
ANNE: Shannan, you are here in your capacity as What Should I Read Next? and Patreon community manager, which I mean, I think like a nice summary of your job description is you do the planning and the dreaming. Not that we don’t all like get in on that. But specifically you are making sure everyone gets what they need in those communities.
SHANNAN: I try to. Yeah, it’s so much fun.
[00:01:59] ANNE: I love you in this role, and I love that you love it. So while we’re here together we wanted to tell everyone what we’re doing in Patreon. On Fridays, we release a new bonus episode. And we have a nice rotation that we really love that like… I think every patron has their own favorite category of episode, but we rotate through mini matchmaking episodes where our patrons tell me three books they love, one book they don’t, and what they’ve been reading or what they’re looking for, and I recommend just real quick a couple books they may enjoy reading next, industry insights to illuminate some aspect of the reading and broader literary landscape that you might not really understand how it works, but it’s making a difference in your reading experience.
We have One Great Book-style episodes. We have themed book episodes, which, Shannan, I feel like we need a good name for these kinds of episodes. This is where we recommend books on a theme.
SHANNAN: Yes, I’m thinking of one that we’re kind of pulling together now, which is going to be books about money in lieu of the upcoming tax season.
[00:03:01] ANNE: I saw that on a note someplace that you and Will were going to talk about your favorite books about money. Because it came up at a team meeting that you’re both fans of Ramit Sethi’s work. And I thought, Oh my gosh, I didn’t know that I wanted to hear those two talk about that topic, but I absolutely do. And I thought Tax Day was a really fun way to play that.
Yeah, but those are books on a theme, but I feel like it needs something catchy and ideally alliterative to say instead of these are books on a theme. Readers, if you have a recommendation for us for what we should call these episodes, we are listening. But know that those are in the rotation every five or six weeks.
And then we have what… we call them wildcard episodes. These are ones that don’t quite fit, except that they feel like they belong in our literary landscape when we’re interested in talking about them, like Ask Us Anything episodes, conversations about fun stuff like book-to-movie adaptations or footnotes or… like what’s another fun one we’ve done along these lines?
[00:03:57] SHANNAN: Well, I’m thinking of one that’s upcoming. Donna and Ginger last year played the enthusiasm meter game-
ANNE: Oh my gosh. I loved that.
SHANNAN: …which I just insisted on being a part of this year. And that’s coming to the Patreon bonus feed in the next couple weeks, and I’m really excited about that one.
ANNE: Well, I’m really looking forward to this one because the first Enthusiasm Meter episode was so fun. So that’s what’s happening in Patreon. This is a great way to support the show, contribute to the show, get some extra audio every Friday. We’re so grateful to our patrons because they really help us keep the lights on to pay our team, to pay our tech support people, to keep the lights on at What Should I Read Next? HQ.
These are wild times, friends, and it’s really economically bumpy, and we’re so grateful to our patrons for making it possible for us to keep doing what we do every week.
Okay, Shannan, I’m interested in hearing what you’re especially excited about that’s on the Patreon horizon.
[00:04:57] SHANNAN: Holly is returning to the bonus feed with a One Great Book-style episode. And you had particular thoughts about the book she’s picking.
ANNE: Yeah, I did. Okay, if you don’t know, One Great Book, we tell you about a book we love from our personal bookshelves in 10 minutes or less, although sometimes we fudge it a little bit. It’s Patreon. We got flexibility. We love that.
Yeah, Shannan said, “What do you think about this book?” And I went, “Ooohhh.” And then I told you the premise real fast because I don’t think you were familiar with it.
SHANNAN: I was not.
ANNE: And you were like, “Oh, it’s nonfiction.”
SHANNAN: Looking forward to it.
ANNE: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Shannan, what episode are you working on right now? I mean, you have your hand in all of them, but are you really getting into the audio and creation of?
SHANNAN: We are working on a starter guide for the romance genre-style episode. This is something new. We’ve never done it before.
[00:05:58] Team member Lee, who is our resident romance expert, is going to come and answer questions from me and the patrons because we’re going to solicit questions from them. And we’re going to get to know all about romance. So I’m really looking forward to that one.
ANNE: That sounds so fun. I know some readers read a ton and some don’t. And I love that we can have great conversations about these books no matter what your experience is with them because readers always have something to talk about.
I just worked on an industry insight episode about what’s up with all these special editions these days. That was a special patron request that we heard over and over.
SHANNAN: Over and over.
ANNE: Like, “Anne, I don’t get it. Can you talk about this?” I’m also working on an episode about classics that feel modern with our Modern Mrs. Darcy Book Club community manager, Ginger. Because we knew we wanted to do something on classics, and I thought, “I know who on our team to ask.”
SHANNAN: Yes, that has been an oft-repeated request from the patrons. And we like to give the people what they ask for, right?
[00:07:01] ANNE: Yeah, we do. Shannan, what’s an episode you keep thinking about that we’ve done in Patreon?
SHANNAN: Well, recently, I have been thinking a lot about my reading intentions for the year. And so I keep going back to things that I said there, probably in anticipation of this episode. You know, it’s still Jan… Well, it’s not January, thank God. It is February. And yeah, I keep referring back to those intentions and my conversations around that. So that’s kind of stuck in my head right now.
ANNE: For me, I want to say your One Great Book episode on How to Keep House While Drowning is something I think about all the time. Also, I think about a bonus episode I did a while ago about the seasonality of the publishing calendar. When our patrons ask questions, I find myself so often like, Copy-paste. Have you listened to this? You should really listen to this. Like evergreen episode that explains a little bit about what to expect to find at your local bookstore at any given time.
[00:08:01] That sounds very service-oriented, but I think these episodes are really fun. Like educational, but I hope also really fun to listen to.
Now is a great time to… I mean, there’s never a bad time to join, to support a podcast that we hope you love and jump to our community. You can listen to as little or as much as you want to, but we have good stuff for you every week and we’d love to have you join us there. Oh, which we should say is at patreon.com/whatshouldIreadnext? We have a $ 5-a-month tier and a $ 10-a-month generous supporter tier, exact same benefits. Choose whatever you want and we’ll see you there.
Now for what’s saving our lives or specifically our reading lives. So today Shannan, you and I get to discuss our own answers to this question that is what’s saving my reading life right now. And at the end, we’re also going to talk about what’s saving our lives outside our reading lives. I mean, I feel like it’s all intertwingled, but we’re still going to ask ourself that question.
[00:09:02] And while we were preparing this episode, we also reached out to our Patreon community members and invited them to tell us what’s saving their reading lives right now. I really enjoyed reading all those responses.
SHANNAN: We had so many responses.
ANNE: So many.
SHANNAN: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
ANNE: We kind of wondered if y’all would be like, what are you talking about? And instead, you were like, I was waiting for you to ask. We got to read all those as we got ready to sit down together today and we can’t wait to share some of them with you.
Let’s get to it.
SHANNAN: Okay.
ANNE: So I should really have looked up what year we started doing the “What’s saving your life right?” now question on Modern Mrs. Darcy. But I’m not the biggest fan of winter. I love my daylight. I don’t want it to get dark at 4:30. I like to go outside. I had a really hard time when we had ice and snow here, which was beautiful. So it felt like we had more light. But also I couldn’t walk on the sidewalks or the streets because it was like a skating rink and that did not feel good. Everybody gets sick in February. It’s just… it’s not my favorite.
[00:10:11] And so to beat back the gloom, I think is what I said the first year, I latched onto this idea from Barbara Brown Taylor and her memoir, Leaving Church. And in it, she tells a story of how once she went to the speaking engagement and her host said, “Hey, would you just tell us what’s saving your life right now?” And she was like, “Mm, nobody’s ever asked me that.”
But she said that the brilliant thing about the question is that it’s easy to put your finger on like what’s killing you? Like what is making things so hard right now? But it’s harder to name and it doesn’t come as naturally to focus on what’s saving us. And it’s a great question.
I really struggle to put routines into place, but love it when I find a good routine or tradition. And we’ve been coming back to this question annually at the midpoint of winter, right around February 2nd, for over a decade now.
So every year that means I write about what’s saving my life. And sometimes what I’m writing about is like, it feels deeply meaningful and reflective and like, dare I say it about my own thoughts, like profound to me. Like I wrote about communion wine once and travel philosophy as life philosophy.
[00:11:29] But I’ve also written about jigsaw puzzles and coffee and laundry and sitting on the couch. It’s funny to look back… every year I look back and see again what have I written about in the past? And over and over again, it’s sunshine and long walks and good books and sleep. So some are very predictable and some are very specific.
This year I wrote about flexibility and how I was just like totally brought up short when someone older and wiser in my life asked me recently, like, “Oh, hey, I was just thinking, do you stretch? Are you a person who does that?” And I was just like, “Oh, mind blown. Wow.” And I wrote about that on Modern Mrs. Darcy. That post went up February 3rd. So you can go read it there. I won’t tell you the whole same thing over again. But those are some things saving my life.
Today, we’re going to focus on what’s saving our reading lives. Shannan, I know you’ve had some time to reflect on this.
SHANNAN: I have.
ANNE: What would you say is saving your reading life? I mean, maybe historically, but maybe like right now, February 2025.
[00:12:33] SHANNAN: I’ll start with historically. Historically, reflection is what saves my reading life as well as my non-reading life. And I’ve really over the past year understood how journaling and writing down what I’m thinking and feeling makes a huge difference.
I believe you often quote Annie Dillard.
ANNE: Love Annie Dillard.
SHANNAN: When she says something about — huge paraphrase here — “I don’t know what I think until I write it down.” And the older I get, the more I’m finding that to be true. So writing things down and reflecting on them has really, really helped me. And it is saving my life and reading life right now.
And as I was thinking about the question of that, I wrote down the reading life. Brigid had mentioned the kind that hangs around your neck. I tried that one, it didn’t work. So I got one that hooks to the book itself.
[00:13:39] I love reading in the evenings with the lights off. I was tired of just reading from my Kindle because screens and trying to reduce that. Also I wasn’t reading as many physical books as I wanted and they were just piling up in my TBR shelf. So Brigid suggested a reading light. I have been using that and it is wonderful. I started using that last year and that saved my reading of physical books.
Right now what’s saving my reading life is reading what I really want to read in the moment. And I know that’s unusual for me because I kind of like to plan things out, but finding something that I’m like, Yes, I want to read that. And then opening the book and actually reading that has been very interesting this past month or so. And I’m loving it.
ANNE: I love that for you. Okay. Historically, I mean, I feel a little bit like a broken record. I love good books. Like whether I’m going through like… when I’m having like a happy-go-lucky life, not like I remember when that might’ve happened last, but like it’s better with a good book. But when I’m going through hard things, I love a good book, especially a family drama. These are my favorite that make me feel like my experience is seen and normalized and sometimes put into words in a way that I was unable to do myself.
[00:15:13] SHANNAN: We joked that you added a second category in the SRG so just you could… I mean, that’s the Summer Reading Guide for those who don’t know about family drama. So you could have more family dramas in the book.
ANNE: What joke? I think that’s what happened. It’s true that y’all tease me about it. I’m okay with that. But I also love the interesting, the unexpected, the off the beaten path. I think it’s interesting to be interested. Like I just like to find out about new stuff and read about what’s fascinating and have something thought-provoking to latch my mind onto.
And I love books that prompt good conversation, like ones that first you get to enjoy reading. Or sometimes, like I talked about a book in Spring Book Preview where I was like, Uuh, I don’t know about this book, but oh my goodness, the conversations I’m having and I’m going to get to have because of it, amazing, fantastic, so meaningful.
[00:16:11] Historically, audiobooks have always been huge. I think in part because long walks save me, are saving me in the present progressive tense. And that’s been true for probably my entire life. Audiobooks and walking go so nicely together. Sometimes I walk with nothing in my ears and sometimes I catch up on my messages, but I do love a good audiobook for many miles at a time.
So saving my life right now, I’m going to say good books, especially family dramas. I’m reading for the Summer Reading Guide right now, and there are some really good ones.
But also, morning reading is saving me. I know that some people have been doing this for years. I’ve done this in the past, but I’ve been doing other things first thing in the morning. Especially when I’m working on a big writing project, I tend to do that first thing in the morning, that, or go to the gym. But I’m not reading.
But this past year, I’ve been reading first thing in the morning. And it’s been such a nice way to linger with the sort of books that I like to read a few pages at a time. Because most of the rest of my reading, I don’t read a few pages at a time. I read like a hundred… I mean, sometimes I’ll read 10 pages at a go, but every day I’m reading more like a hundred pages, not five.
[00:17:25] And the morning reading rhythm is really working for especially li philosophical, personal growth kind of reflective nonfiction that I don’t want to read a hundred pages at a time. Also dabbling. I’ve really enjoyed just kind of seeing what looks good to me right now. Like last night I read a chapter of a book that was really good. It was nonfiction. I thought, “I want to read this. I want to come back to it. But like, what else is on offer? What am I really in the mood for?”
So just trying things, especially nonfiction or pulling books off my shelf I’m thinking about reading and reading the first chapter to imagine what that reading experience might be like. I’m really having a lot of fun with that.
Also, I’m trying to figure out what’s happening with the zeitgeist, but talking with other readers who are trying to figure things out like in their life and also what’s happening in the literary world. What does it mean for me? What do I want from my reading life? I’m finding those conversations really affirming and helpful and life-giving.
[00:18:26] Oh my gosh. I have a big one. I left my Kindle Paperwhite at my mother-in-law’s house the day after Christmas, and bless her, she went to the post office the next day to mail it to me, and then it sat in Cincinnati for three and a half weeks, stuck.
SHANNAN: Oh no.
ANNE: And I didn’t realize how dependent I was… I mean, I call it my security Kindle because I want it with me at all times, like a security blanket. So maybe I shouldn’t have been surprised, but I missed it so much. And I had an alternate Kindle I could use, but it didn’t light up. Reading in the dark is magic. My own Kindle is magic. I love it so much and I’m really glad to have it again. I have fresh appreciation for my Kindle Paperwhite.
I will say on a related note to that reading light, Will got a reading light and that might be saving me too. Because I almost always read my Kindle in bed, but he switches back and forth between print and Kindle. And I really like that wind-down period that’s more effective if it’s dark. Now it is dark because he’s got his reading light to go with his paper books.
[00:19:31] SHANNAN: Yes. Life-changing.
ANNE: It really is. We asked our patrons what’s saving their reading lives and I thought it was so interesting what everyone said. Like we’re going to share a sampling, listeners, but I thought it was so interesting how like back to back some people would say short books, some people would say long books.
SHANNAN: I know.
ANNE: Some people would say dabbling like I did. Some people would say focus and commitment. It was all over the place in a way that felt really representative of the fact that your reading life is your reading life. Like reading is a very individual experience. And also I love to hear the vast variety of things that work for different people in different seasons.
SHANNAN: For sure.
ANNE: If you are a What Should I Read Next? patron who shared what was saving your reading life, thank you so much. That was so affirming for so many readers, including Shannan and me.
[00:20:29] We plucked out some representative or sometimes highly unrepresentative, whoa, I never thought of it like that, comments to share now. Shannan, do you have a few you’d like to share?
SHANNAN: Well, I wanted to tell Liv, if she’s out there and listening to this episode, thank you for putting words to something that I have been feeling for a very, very long time. Let me tell you what Liv says. And I’m quoting. “Turning the volume down on reading resolutions number goals and just focusing on only reading what really works for me. Not the me I aspire to be or the summer me or the well-rested me, but the me I am right in this moment. I read about five books less this January than usual, but all the ones I finished have been four or five-star reads, and I’m perfectly content with that.”
[00:21:26] Liv, I’m going to take your expression, turning down the volume, declare that my 2025 motto and aim, and I’m running with it. So I’m giving you all due credit on this episode, but I am running with that. Turning down the volume is going to save my reading life. I kind of had that in my head already, but just not able to articulate it as concisely as Liv did here. I only have one reading intention. That’s to read 25 five-star reads. That’s it.
I have adjusted my Goodreads reading challenge to reflect this. Usually, I try to read as many books as I am old. That’s been my goal for years, but this year it is set for 25 and I’m loving that.
Allison talked about reading shorter books, and I said, You know, that has worked this year. I need to keep finding novellas because I’ve read two this year and they were both five stars. So yeah, that’s how I was relating to some of what the Patreon members were telling us.
[00:22:42] ANNE: Maybe not the point, but I can’t resist. What were your two five-star novellas, Shannan?
SHANNAN: Well, I think anyone who has been around here long enough knows that I love A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers. I make it a habit to reread that every year. Ever since I heard Ginger mention that she reads Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk and I was like, Yes, I’m going to do that.
Which and coincidentally coincides with what Ashley said in the comments: “I was in a terrible reading slump through most of 2024. Then I decided to reread a book I knew I loved and since then I’ve had the best reading months of my life. I’ve done a few rereads recently and they have helped tremendously.”
I’m with Ashley. That has worked. So started my reading year with A Psalm for the Wild-Built. Then my second novella was The River Has Roots. Anne, you talked about it in Spring Book Preview. I managed to get Advanced Reader’s Copy. I loved it so much.
[00:23:53] I’m definitely going to reread because I missed so much in that first read just trying to find out what happened. And now I have to go back and find out the wordplay and the talk about grammar and conjunctions and oh, it was great.
ANNE: And you want to reread books you’ve enjoyed in the past so that just works perfectly for you.
SHANNAN: Yes. So those were two of my 25 five-star reads.
ANNE: It sounds like you’re off to a strong start.
SHANNAN: I am.
ANNE: And it feels good. Okay. Here’s what jumped out to me. Cheryl left this comment. She said, “My volunteer work with our friends at the library in our senior center, but mainly a few really good books that were a big surprise.”
If you’re a regular listener, you know my theory on surprise and delight. Often the books that really stand out to us are ones that had an element that we did not expect or were off our beaten path. And I’m so glad that worked for Cheryl. Also, I noticed that serving others is feeling like a lifesaver to her. And I love that.
[00:24:58] This next one from Emily was interesting to me because deep reading and focus seem to be themes I saw over and over again in our comments. And that I’m also hearing in conversations with our team and with readers in my life.
So here’s what Emily said. “I’ve started reading books while listening to the audio at the same time. I’m doing this with three different books, two nonfiction, and one big historical fiction. With the nonfiction, I tend to listen to one chapter and then read the book right after. With the fiction, I read while listening. It took some trial and error to get the speed right, but I’m really enjoying the experience.” She says my only question is, “Should I count this as reading the book once or twice?”
SHANNAN: Twice.
ANNE: But maybe she’s going to be intrigued by the idea that she could turn down the volume on that mattering at all.
SHANNAN: Yes.
ANNE: But you know what, Emily? You do what you want. But this sounds so immersive to me. And I just said how much I love audiobooks for multitasking. Both things could be true. But this really struck me as a comment.
[00:26:00] Then I saw social media appear as a theme or be mentioned over and over. Like Elise said, “Getting off social media has been the best decision for both my reading life and my mental health. I only go on LinkedIn now because I have to for work, but luckily it’s boring and I’m not tempted to spend much time there. Instagram and TikTok were sucking up so much of my time without me being fully aware of it in the moment, and I didn’t even really enjoy it. And then I’d feel bad that I didn’t spend that time doing something I really wanted to do like reading. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that in 2024, being off social media, I tripled the number of books I typically read in a year. I could go on and on about my other issues with social media, but I’ll just say that if you’ve been feeling like your relationship with it is souring, take the plunge and get off. I’ve not regretted it at all.” I mean, we’ve all read the headlines and maybe the whole articles. Probably nothing surprising there.
And then Barbara said, “Books are always a lifeline for me as they are right now. However, keeping TV turned off has helped me to control the content in my life and more books.” So she wasn’t the only person to talk about turning the TV off. Some of you just for January, some of you as an ongoing thing that you started last year.
[00:27:13] But I don’t think I realized until I read Barbara’s comment like, Oh, TV might be one of the things saving my life.
SHANNAN: Which is very interesting that you should say that, Anne, because one of the reasons why I’m focusing on 25 good books is so that I have more time to watch all the shows that I’m very enthusiastic about.
ANNE: All right. I want to hear more about that. Here’s specifically what I mean. So now our two older kids are in college. We have two kids at home. They’re both in high school. And this year we’ve… like we’ve always had a show going and it’s just so fun to look forward to seeing what happens next in a show that we’re loving and to look forward to that together and debrief it together and to get our TV snacks together.
We haven’t really landed on our new one, but we just finished Silo, which I was only watching to humor my 15-year-old because it didn’t seem like my jam. But I love Rashida Jones. And I give it a try for him, and oh, I was hooked so hard and fast. I was just blazed through the two seasons.
[00:28:20] How long till season three? Readers keep telling me I need to read books, but it’s brought me a lot of joy. But now we need to find another show and we’re taking recommendations. Okay, Shannan, what do you want to watch?
SHANNAN: Well, it’s very interesting. Anne, you can decide whether we’re going to keep this in this episode or not.
ANNE: Oh, now I’m curious.
SHANNAN: But a few members of Team MMD are watching season three of The Traitors.
ANNE: I will admit you all have me intrigued.
SHANNAN: We have a Vox going. So we watch the episode and then we Vox each other our thoughts and it’s so much fun. It’s like a water cooler, but virtual.
ANNE: You’ve got laughter. You’ve got community. You’ve got definite escapism.
SHANNAN: Definitely.
ANNE: Sounds good.
[00:29:11] SHANNAN: And it’s a great season. I’m also enjoying watching the show with my husband. We have one going now. It’s very nice to look forward to watching that every week. He likes to binge things. I kind of like the anticipation of what’s going to come out next and what’s going to happen next and kind of talking about that throughout the week off and on. Plus all the wonderful adaptations that are coming out. Like I want to watch them.
ANNE: I hear you. I have had seasons in my life where keeping the TV off has served me well. And also this is where I am right now.
SHANNAN: Yep.
ANNE: Okay. Just for fun. What is something that is saving your non-reading life? I feel like that’s not a hard and fast line of demarcation. It’s all intertwined. But also, you know what I mean.
SHANNAN: You’ve said this before, but I’m finding very strongly that my reading life is a microcosm of my non-reading life and vice versa. So when I talk about taking that line from Liv, turning down the volume, I have been doing that in my non-reading life.
[00:30:25] I have talked about this in all the places, but then I find that I lapse in doing it. Like I say that I want to do it and then I don’t actually do it. But I’ve been really focused this January and part of February on turning down the volume of expectations, turning down the heat of, oh, I got to get this done. Like I’ve noticed that I will rush the buddy man, like, let’s go, let’s go, let’s go. And it’s like, why? We’ll get there. It’ll be fine. So what if we’re five minutes late?
So I’m really, really working on doing that. And that turning down the volume, again, thanks Liv, has really been saving my life recently.
ANNE: I love that.
SHANNAN: Also, we mentioned Ramit Sethi earlier in the podcast. I am reading slowly I Will Teach You To Be Rich and Money For Couples, which is his new release that just came out in January. These two books are saving my money life and thus my non-reading life because money touches everything, including my reading life.
[00:31:42] They’re making me more confident about money, which weirdly is translating into the rest of my life, including my reading life. So yeah, those two books are amazing. And his podcast. He also has a podcast too, Money For Couples.
ANNE: This is me leaning forward, hoping you’ll say more. Translating into the rest of your life?
SHANNAN: Yes. I have not journaled about this because remember I said I don’t know what I think until I write it down fully. But it is weird how confident using some of his techniques have made me. He’s almost like a family counselor and a psychologist. And he uses phrases that I find myself thinking about outside of money.
One of the things he says a lot is we need to tell the truth to ourselves and to others. Usually, he’s talking about money, but I find his voice in my head when I’m thinking, you know, I really should read this book. You know, he’s like, tell the truth to yourself. And I’m like, I don’t want to. Okay, I’m not reading it. You know, it’s just little things like that.
[00:33:03] He’s become pervasive. I say pervasive like it’s a bad thing, but it’s really, really a good thing. And I’m loving it. I feel like I’ll be able to speak more eloquently about this at a later date. And I do plan to. But yeah, it’s funny how these books and his concepts are saving my life right now.
ANNE: Okay, I’m realizing as you’re describing this book that I’ve gotten used to the kind of shock of the title. I will teach you to be rich because it’s like, wait, what? Like, I don’t… that’s not where my… why? But his whole thing is, figure out what’s important to you and go from there.
SHANNAN: Yeah. He says, “Spend extravagantly on what matters and cut mercilessly what does not.” And I think he actually flips it. He says cut mercilessly on what does not matter so you can spend extravagantly on what does.”
[00:34:03] That has kind of just pervaded my thought process. Like, stop reading the books that you don’t want to read so that you can read the books that you really do want to read, you know?
ANNE: Oh my gosh. I love that connection. Because I can imagine that many people listening will be like, who has the money to spend extravagantly on anything? But when you’re thinking about where to put your attention and where to put your time, yeah.
SHANNAN: Yes. That’s why I said, it’s not just money for me. It’s time. It’s energy. You know, turning down the volume on things that don’t matter so that you can fully concentrate on what does. It’s all interconnected.
ANNE: Cut mercilessly. Oh, I didn’t get that part the first time. Okay.
SHANNAN: It’s really great. I feel like a One Great Book-style episode coming on about this stuff.
ANNE: I look forward to listening. Okay. For me, on the blog, I wrote about flexibility, like the yoga kind, but also the flexibility of mind and mental posture and scheduling and all that stuff.
[00:35:06] But also, because you got to bring something new to the podcast, hot tea with honey. I’ve been sick this week and… this is why we talk about what’s saving our life [inaudible 00:35:19] point of winter, because I get really anxious about my kids coming home from school being like, “Oh, 400 people were absent today with the flu.” And if it’s not the flu, it’s norovirus. I’m like, Oh, maybe we could just all stay home until spring break. Maybe we could do that. But we’re not going to do that. We got to keep going.
But the hot tea with honey is helping. I’ve got some in front of me right now. So it’s soothing. It tastes good. I have been fortunate to receive gifts of really fancy honey at some point. And I love that. But right now, honey from Trader Joe’s is totally doing the job to just keep me able to speak and keep my throat comfortable. And I like drinking it more than water when it’s four degrees outside.
[00:36:05] But also, I’m drinking my tea in this ember mug, which if you don’t know what these are, they’re these mugs that you plug in and charge so it can keep your drink hot for a long time. Bailey on our team is the aficionado of all things related to hot drinks. So she’s the one who told me about this. And she told me about it and I thought, “People buy those things? Why?”
But I thought it would be a good gift idea for my mom. So last Christmas, I got my mom an ember mug. And I thought it would be perfect for her, because my whole childhood, and I see her less in my adult life drinking her coffee in the morning, but my adult life as well, I have so many memories of her being like, “No, where did I put my coffee that is now freezing cold? Let me microwave it again.” And she didn’t like microwaving it, but she didn’t want to drink it cold. And I thought ember mugs were made for my mother. So I got her one for Christmas.
And real talk, y’all, my mom died just a couple weeks after, and when we were at her house last spring, I saw her ember mug in the pantry, and I thought, “Oh, if it’s okay, can I take this home with me?” And I did. So now, surprisingly, I really love this ember mug.
[00:37:16] One of the reasons it’s very practical, if it keeps your tea hot for an hour, then it keeps your tea hot for a whole podcast recording or book club author talk. So if you’re not feeling the greatest… I mean, it’s on Zoom. You’re not going to make anybody sick. But if you need to be able to talk for an hour, but only hot tea will let you do that, then the ember mug will keep your tea hot for an hour.
But I bought a color… I bought a bright red, which is the color that my mom loved for all her kitchen wares, but it’s not my color. So every time I get it, it feels really nice in my hand, but I’ve got my bright red ember mug that was my mom’s briefly. And it just has such… oh, it takes my mind to a specific place that at this point is welcome to go to just every time I pour a cup in here. I mean, first it’s pressed into surface in the morning for coffee, but I think it’s saving me right now.
SHANNAN: Yeah. Sounds like it.
[00:38:09] ANNE: Shannan, thanks so much for coming on to talk about what is saving us right now. I kind of want to shorten that to lifesavers, but I feel like the connotation’s wrong. You know what I mean?
SHANNAN: Yeah, I do. But thanks for having me because it forces me to think about these things and not spiral into the wintry doldrums or seasonal affective disorder, which I have. And yeah, this was a very good tradition that you started over on the blog. Thanks for bringing it to the What Should I Read Next? Patreon community and to the podcast, Anne.
ANNE: Well, that is so kind. And thank you all for being a part of it for so many years. So thank you for your blog comments. Thank you, patrons, for your contributions to our thought process and also to each other. I hope no matter where you are in your life, your reading life, in our community, that this gets you thinking and put your focus in a really welcome place for what remains of winter or really anytime you’re listening.
[00:39:06] What’s saving your life right now is not a question that ever has bad timing, you know?
SHANNAN: That’s true.
ANNE: Never a bad time.
Readers, I hope you enjoyed our conversation today. We would love to hear what is saving your life right now. You can tell us pretty much anywhere. Leave a comment at whatshouldireadnextpodcast.com. That’s where you’ll also find the links to the books we talked about, to the mug and tea I talked about, and the other resources that we mentioned today. You can also comment on my blog post that went up on February 3rd, and you’ll see lots of reader comments there as well.
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Thanks to the people who made this episode happen. What Should I Read Next? is created each week by Will Bogel, Holly Wilkoszewski, and Studio D Podcast Productions. Thank you, Shannan, for joining me for this episode.
SHANNAN: Thank you for having me.
ANNE: Readers, that is it for this episode. Thanks so much for listening. And as Rainer Maria Rilke said, “Ah, how good it is to be among people who are reading.” Happy reading, everyone.
