Unabridged Podcast

Welcome to Unabridged! Ashley and Jen (shown left to right in the photo) talk books, share recommendations, and celebrate all things bookish. On our blog (see our posts below!) we share bookish faves, pub day shout-outs, show notes, and book reviews.

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6 days ago
7 min

6+ Classics by Black Authors to Complete the Unabridged Podcast Reading Challenge

by Jen Moyers (@jen.loves.books) One of our Unabridged Podcast Reading Challenge categories this year is "Classic by a BIPOC Author." Let me start off by acknowledging that the label "classic" is inherently ambiguous, which means that everyone can define the term as they wish. Now, with that clarified, I thought I'd share a few books by Black authors I've read over the past year or so that I think qualify as classics. (I'll be sharing some recommendations from other authors r

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Mar 1
5 min

9 Middle Grade March Book Recommendations

by Ashley Dickson-Ellison (@teachingtheapocalypse) We know many of you are excited about celebrating Middle Grade March by reading lots of middle grade book picks! While I'm not a middle grade expert by any means, I've read quite a few middle grade picks over the last few years, and I'm excited to share some recent favorites with you all. Middle Grade Book Recs Perfect for Middle Grade March Reading Jerry Craft's New Kid ( Libro.fm | Bookshop.org): Despite hearing so many gre

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Feb 15
7 min

8+ (More!) Romance Books to Read Right Now

by Jen Moyers (@jen.loves.books) Earlier this month, Ashley shared some of her favorite recent romance reads, and I couldn't resist chiming in with some of my own recommendations. Romances are a constant in my life, and when we record episodes like the two we're releasing this month (Love Is in the Air, from last week, and our upcoming Book Club discussion of Chencia C. Higgins's D'Vaughn and Kris Plan a Wedding), there are always books I want to recommend that we just don't

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Feb 1
6 min

8+ Romance Books to Read Right Now

by Ashley Dickson-Ellison (@teachingtheapocalypse) I'll be honest, friends. I missed out on romances for a HUGE part of my reading life. These past few years, I've been making up for lost time, but the last few months I'd run into a bit of a dry spell. I read several romances that were duds for me, and after going through a lot of medical appointments and ultimately a body-altering major surgery, I also just wasn't feeling it. I didn't want to read about Happily Ever Afters o

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Jan 18
4 min

Books to Read after Celeste Ng's OUR MISSING HEARTS

by Jen Moyers (@jen.loves.books) This month, our Unabridged Podcast Book Club pick is Celeste Ng's Our Missing Hearts (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm)—our episode will release next Wednesday!—and as Ashley and I were discussing the book, soooo many other, parallel books popped up. These would be great books to read to further explore certain threads in Ng's gorgeous, dystopian novel. Considering the role of literature and art One of the elements that struck me most—for obvious reaso

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Jan 4
13 min

Ashley's 12 TBR Goal Books for 2023

by Ashley Dickson-Ellison (@teachingtheapocalypse) Happy New Year! As we head into the new year, I've enjoyed reflecting on my reading, and something I've thought about a lot is how I choose my books. Like many book lovers, my TBR shelves (both physical and virtual ones) are certainly overflowing, and I am never at a loss for something to read. However, I have found that despite being surrounded by book recommendations, I am often just randomly selecting my next book when it

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Dec 21, 2022
6 min

Five of Jen's Favorite Reads of 2022

by Jen Moyers (@jen.loves.books) Friends, I have such a love-hate relationship with this post every year. I love looking back on my year of reading, feeling that fondness when I see the title of a book I loved . . . but I hate having to choose which books to share! Ashley said this in her "Best of 2022" post (which you can read here): I have been shifting around the books on this list and could just as easily have highlighted five different reads. These books, though, are the

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Dec 7, 2022
4 min

Five of Ashley's Favorite Reads of 2022

by Ashley Dickson-Ellison (@teachingtheapocalypse) Oh my goodness, it is always so hard to pick these books each year! To be honest, I didn't feel like 2022 was a great reading year for me. With everything I had going on personally, it was hard to find both the time and the mental space to read. But looking back over the books I've read, I'm realizing there are SO many favorites among the ones I read this year, and they're all vying for a chance to be featured in some of m

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Nov 16, 2022
6 min

Even More Cozy Reads

by Jen Moyers (@jen.loves.books) I wouldn't necessarily call myself the coziest of readers—I'm often drawn to pretty angsty stuff. But around this time of year, a little coziness seems called for. Ashley and I offered a few recommendations for cozy reads we loved in our most recent episode. Here are a few more books to consider if you're in the mood to curl up with a blanket and a good book—these are books that even I reveled in. Cozy Romances Martha Waters's The Regency Vows

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Nov 2, 2022
4 min

Book Recs for Fans of Tiffany D. Jackson's THE WEIGHT OF BLOOD

by Ashley Dickson-Ellison (@teachingtheapocalypse) I absolutely loved Tiffany D. Jackson's The Weight of Blood (Libro.fm | Bookshop.org), which was our October book club pick, and I've been thinking since reading it about some of the social issues that Jackson explores in the novel, including topics like systemic racism, classism, colorism, entrenched societal norms, and the power of young people to bring about change. The books I offer today are a wide range of books - diffe

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Oct 19, 2022
5 min

8+ Fiction Books about Nature and the Environment

by Jen Moyers (@jen.loves.books) In my quest to read more environmental and nature literature for school—and to complete the Unabridged Podcast Reading Challenge!—I've been reading some fabulous books centered on these topics. A while back, I posted "5 Nonfiction Books about Nature and the Environment"; here's a list of fiction to consider reading in the same vein! Julia Glass's Vigil Harbor (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm) I’d read only one of Julia Glass’s prior novels—her debut T

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Oct 5, 2022
5 min

7 Deliciously Witchy, Supernatural, and Magical Books Perfect for This Spooky Season

by Ashley Dickson-Ellison (@teachingtheapocalypse) Longtime listeners know that these days, I'm not usually big on spooky reads or horror books. However, I do love atmospheric reads, and I (perhaps contradictorily!) am a big fan of seasonal reads for the fall. The books I included here, all of which are middle grade or YA lit, are perfect for readers who enjoy a great seasonal book but who aren't looking for the kind of story that gives you nightmares. If you're looking for m

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Sep 21, 2022
4 min

5 Nonfiction Books about Nature and the Environment

by Jen Moyers (@jen.loves.books) This year's Unabridged Podcast Reading Challenge includes the category "Read a book (fiction or nonfiction) that addresses nature or the environment." This has been a goal of mine recently, as well, both because of my current teaching position at a school with an environmental science focus and because this is an area that feels increasingly important. Here, I'm sharing five nonfiction picks (plus some extras in the writeups!); I'll share some

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Sep 7, 2022
4 min

5 Books to Bring Your Reading Mojo Back

by Ashley Dickson-Ellison (@teachingtheapocalypse) As listeners know, I have had quite the tumultuous year, and that has made reading very difficult at times - hard to find the time, hard to find the motivation, hard to find the headspace. So as I looked over the reading I've done recently, I wanted to share some books that helped me get my reading mojo back during a difficult and busy season of my life. Here are five of my favorites that I could not wait to get back to readi

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Aug 17, 2022
3 min

5 Nonfiction Audiobooks Perfect for the Unabridged Reading Challenge

by Jen Moyers (@jen.loves.books) While I'll listen to almost anything on audio, I often find that nonfiction is my favorite . . . and, since I sometimes veer more towards fiction when I'm reading print, it's a great way to fit in more nonfiction. Over the summer, I listened to some amazing audiobooks that I thought I'd share—if you're working on the Unabridged Reading Challenge, these offer some fantastic options! Eliot Schrefer's Queer Ducks (and Other Animals): The Natural

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Aug 3, 2022
3 min

Graphic Novel Recs for Young Readers

by Ashley Dickson-Ellison (@teachingtheapocalypse) Hi! It's been quite a while since I shared some thoughts and recommendations on a Bookish Fave. It's been a crazy year for me personally and for my family, but I'm hopeful that the fall of this year will bring calmer times. One genre I've really enjoyed discovering and reading over the past few months is graphic novels. The ones I'm recommending in today's Bookish Fave are all appropriate for young audiences - I've read these

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Jun 6, 2022
3 min

5 Book-to-Screen Adaptations on My Summer Watch List

by Jen Moyers (@jen.loves.books) Last week, we released our episode about the movie adaptation of Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows's The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (Libro.fm | Bookshop.org) (you can listen here). In that same vein, I thought I'd share some other adaptations I'm looking forward to watching this summer! Shining Girls I read Lauren Beukes's The Shining Girls (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm) back in 2015, so some of the details are fuzzy. But I was

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May 30, 2022
4 min

15 Books that Broke through My WWII Book Skepticism

by Jen Moyers (@jen.loves.books) I read Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows's The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm) for the first time in 2014, which was—as far as I can tell—around the time what I'll call my "World War II Book Fatigue" began. (Check out last week's discussion of Guernsey, and listen this week, when we discuss the adaptation!) While this isn't an observation backed by any statistics, it certainly seems as if most historica

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May 23, 2022
6 min

5 New Release Beach Reads on My TBR for This Summer

by Sara Voigt (@meaningfulmadness) Back in April, I gave five backlist beach reads on my TBR for this summer. You can read that here. Today, I want to share five new releases on my radar for the summer. Erika Krouse's Tell Me Everything: The Story of a Private Investigation (Released March 15, 2022) Bookshop.org | Libro.fm From the publisher: "Part memoir and part literary true crime, Tell Me Everything is the mesmerizing story of a landmark sexual assault investigation and t

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May 16, 2022
3 min

4 Children's Books to Tickle Your Funny Bone

by Sara Voigt (@meaningfulmadness) My kids are getting bigger, and I don't get to read aloud to them much anymore. (They don't want me to--*insert crying emoji here.*) Anyhoo, I thought I would share some of the picture books my kiddos enjoyed me to read aloud to them when they were little. Get ready for your funny bone to be tickled. Eileen Spinelli and David Slonim's Silly Tilly (Bookshop.org) From the publisher: “'Tilly is not an ordinary goose. She takes her baths in appl

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