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What a fun podcast subject! 😁 I had the same reaction as Hannah to First Lie Wins. I also felt it was overhyped and I did not particularly care of it, even though I would be hard pressed to say why as I did not get bothered by specific elements of the story, and it was more than I did not feel particularly entertained. And thrillers are one of my favorite reading genres. Other 2024 reads that felt overhyped based on my own appreciation were Piranesi (Suzanna Clarke), The Woman in Me (Britney Spears), The Thursday Murder Club, The Wishing Game, Happy Place (Emily Henry), The Bandit Queens, Seven Days in June (Tia Williams) [sorry, Tina, I think you really enjoyed this one...], Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, The Teacher (Freida McFadden), Sociopath: A Memoir (Patric Gagne), Before the Coffee Gets Cold, The Midnight Library, The Power, The Midnight Feast (Lucy Foley), The No-Show (Beth O'Leary). 2024 reads I wish had more hype: The Measure, Everyone On This Train is a Suspect (Benjamin Stevenson), I Hope This Finds You Well, The Rachel Incident and Zero Stars, Do Not Recommend from M.J. Wassmer (this book is really entertaining and needs to get more love), plus a couple of French-Canadian books (Elle r'viendra pas Camille and Sans consentement). Deserving of the hype: Project Hail Mary (Andy Weir), Annie Bot (Sierra Greer), Razorblade Tears, How To Solve Your Own Murder, A Psalm for the Wild-Built and A Prayer for the Crow-Shy (Becky Chambers).

You shared some great suggestions in this edition of the podcast again. I've finished three audiobooks in two days since the beginning of December. First, I listened to the last part of Paris: The Memoir from Paris Hilton. I was running out of time to read all of the physical books I have on loan from the library before their due date, so I switched to the audiobook for this one since it was available. I also finished Wrong Place, Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister. I was not too sure about this one as I was listening, but it was keeping me engaged enough that I wanted to hear what would come next, and I did like how the story tied up in the end. And while I'm waiting on my next audiobook reservation to come in soon, I picked something short (3 hours) that caught my eye in the New Acquisitions list: An Elderly Lady is Up to No Good from Helene Tursten. It was unique and different and it kept me entertained. I'm now in the middle of The Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey. By the way, I totally relate with large books being out of my comfort zone. It screams big time commitment, but now that I've gotten into the habit of sometimes reading more than one book at once to rotate and avoid reading slumps, this might be the way to get through larger book while still feeling like I have some variety in my reading over the course of a month. The latest chunky book I read was The Winners (Fredrik Backman), at 670 pages. And frankly, it was too long for no reasons, the author could have cut the book to make it similar in length to the first two books of the trilogy.

What a great podcast episode! I loved Traci's passion for what she shared about and hearing you all talk about non-fiction together. I feel like there's this misconception that non-fiction will read like mandatory school reading. It doesn't have to be. Some non-fiction authors are making their books more suspenseful than actual thrillers. Also, the key to enjoying non-fiction is keying into what your hobbies and natural interests are. My niece is not a reader, but she found a book about her favorite video game last year and read it cover to cover in a matter of days. I always advise people who are trying to ease into it to check out books about their favorite movie, TV show, music group - seeing pictures and learning fun stories about the making-off can be entertaining and fascinating. One non-fiction book that will top my favorites list of 2025 is Caste: The Origins of Our Discontent by Isabel Wilkerson. It gave me tremendous hindsight into past and currents events in the United States and a much deeper understanding of events that I'm watching from afar (from Canada) and was not really fully comprehending. I highly recommend this one - despite the serious subject and number of pages, the author made it very approachable and easy to read. Oh, and I love the idea of Staci coming back to chat with you on a future podcast edition again in the future! 😁

Great episode :) I have a sneaking suspicion that I will not find new favorites before the end of the year mostly based on what I currently have on loan from the library and wanting to read a couple of Christmas-themed books before the end of December, which I don't necessarily expect to knock previous favorites from my list, but you never know. I also would like to pick up a couple of non-fiction reads for Non-Fiction November before the end of the month if time allows, but I have to finish reading what I've borrowed from the library that cannot be renewed first. (Current read is The Winners from Fredrik Backman. About 40% in - liking it so far, just not as much as the second book from the series.)

Thrillers and suspenses are one of my favorite genre - it's always the first shelf I will check out at the bookstore. Thanks for sharing some books that you enjoyed!

You've got me beat with that book that got you crying on page 1. I read Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby last month and I was crying by page 7 and doing the full ugly cry by page 23. It's not hard to make me tear up when I'm reading something emotional but we usually build up to this, not start with the crying! 😂

The synopsis for I Might Be in Trouble is giving me vibes of the Finlay Donovan series, for some reason. Maybe because the main character is reaching out to his literary agent for help and Finlay is reaching out to her best friend Vero for help? This sounds like a fun read - this is on my TBR list as well. 🙂

Thanks for adding your podcasts on UA-cam, I enjoy following you on this platform. May I suggest that you don't use the blinking lights on the screen, though? This is distracting and can also be an issue for some viewers. Just a thought... I had set a goal of 86 books for myself this year and I've already surpassed it, so now I'm hoping to round it up to a 100 books. This will be my best reading year on record (although I wonder if I ever reached or exceeded this number as a teenager - I always had my head in a book but I was not keeping stats unfortunately back then...).

I'm a mood reader through and through. I find having a set TBR list way too constrictive and that it too easily leads to reading slumps. I was trying in September and October to whittle down the list of books I have on loan from the library before jumping back into my recent book purchases but I was not finding myself reading much anymore so I finally caved and pulled a biography from my stash and ended up reading it in four days. I also would have preferred to wait for "Non-Fiction November" for that one, but at that point, I much preferred to be reading consistently than to stick to a plan that just was not working out. I also jumped on Everyone This Christmas Has A Secret (Benjamin Stevenson) the second my pre-order delivery got here and read it in one weekend. I was just too excited about this one to wait before starting it.

I loved The One from John Marrs, I read it years ago and it really stood out as a favorite thriller. I just couldn't put it down and I liked the ethical questions that it raised. I loved Annie Bot for very similar reasons - very thought-provoking, I also liked how it touched on the subject of ownership and power dynamics in a relationship. I'm pretty sure this will make my list of favorite reads from 2024.

Thanks for all of the great reading suggestions! James was already high on my TBR, but I'm glad to hear it ranked really high on your favorite books this year. I read Annie Bot a few weeks ago and could not put it down. It is pretty surprising that two of the characters that touched me the most this year were robots (Annie Bot and the robot in A Psalm for the Wild-Built from Becky Chambers). I made my top 5 for this year so far: 1. Annie Bot - Sierra Greer 2. Zero Stars, Do Not Recommend - M.J. Wassmer (this was only published two months ago but I hope this one gets read and talked about more) 3. I Hope This Finds You Well - Natalie Sue 4. Project Hail Mary - Andy Weir 5. Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents - Isabel Wilkerson (this should be mandatory reading - there's so much insight to be gained from this book)