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- May 3
- 4 min
8 Retellings of Greek Epic Poetry
by Jen Moyers (@jen.loves.books) One of the categories I've been loving for the Unabridged Podcast Reading Challenge is "Retelling of a Classic." Though I'm no expert on Greek epic poetry, I enjoy retellings of it SO. MUCH. Here are some I'd recommend: 1. Madeline Miller's The Song of Achilles - Here's my review from 2019: "I love this book SO. MUCH. Miller crafts a brilliant story rooted in mythology and in the gritty reality of love. Her interpretation of the story of Achil
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- Apr 21
- 11 min
174: Keep Up a Love of Reading with Auto-Buy Authors
In this Unabridged episode, we talk about a favorite topic for us on the podcast—auto-buy authors! We share some favorite authors and talk about different ways to support authors. We also share our perspectives on what an auto-buy author is for each of us and what would work for that category on the Unabridged Reading Challenge! If you haven't signed up for the challenge yet, you can still join us! Find out everything here. Bookish Check-in Ashley - Sumi Hahn’s The Mermaid fr
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- Apr 12
- 4 min
8 YA Fantasy Book-to-Television Adaptations
by Jen Moyers (@jen.loves.books) This week, we're sharing another of our book-to-screen adaptation episodes—this one focused on a tv series, John Green's Looking for Alaska—so I thought it might be a good time to share some other television adaptations I've enjoyed. I am SUCH a fan of the fantasy genre, so it should be no surprise that fantasy and paranormal adaptations are totally in my wheelhouse. Coming Soon First, I want to highlight a show that I'm SO excited to watch, S
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- Mar 31
- 12 min
171: Update on Our Season 4 Book Recs to Each Other
In this Unabridged Podcast episode, we circle back to the books we recommended to each other in episode 139. Each of us got a recommendation from each of our co-hosts, and we read those books and are reporting back about how we felt about them! Be sure to check out episode 139 if you'd like to hear more about why the books were recommended. Bookish Check-in Ashley - Raquel Vasquez Gilliland’s Sia Martinez and the Moonlit Beginning of Everything (Bookshop.org | Amazon.com) Jen
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- Mar 24
- 10 min
170: Discover New Authors with Author Imprints
In this Unabridged Podcast episode, we discuss author imprints and the way that those can help readers discover new authors to love. We specifically discuss the Rick Riordan Presents imprint and share books we've read from it including Kwame Mbalia’s Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky, Yoon Ha Lee’s Dragon Pearl, and Carlos Hernandez’s Sal and Gabi Break the Universe. Bookish Check-in Ashley - Angeline Boulley’s Firekeeper’s Daughter (Amazon | Bookshop.org) Jen - Jesse
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- Mar 23
- 3 min
Pub Day Shout-Outs! for March 23, 2021, featuring Boteju, Engle, and Thomas
by Jen Moyers (@jen.loves.books) Here are three books coming out today that I'm excited to read! Tanya Boteju's Bruised Description from Publisher: "To Daya Wijesinghe, a bruise is a mixture of comfort and control. Since her parents died in an accident she survived, bruises have become a way to keep her pain on the surface of her skin so she doesn’t need to deal with the ache deep in her heart. "So when chance and circumstances bring her to a roller derby bout, Daya is hooked
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- Feb 12
- 2 min
Tracy Deonn's LEGENDBORN - A Brilliant Balance of Fantasy and Reality
by Jen Moyers (@jen.loves.books) "Everything has two histories. Especially in the South" (230). It has been a while since I read a book like this one that so perfectly bridges a brilliant fantasy world with immediate, super-resonant social issues. Tracy Deonn's Legendborn is a masterpiece. Bree Matthews is 16 and trying to move on from her mother's death. She's built a wall to contain her grief and has escaped with her best friend Alice to an early college program at UNC. On
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- Feb 9
- 4 min
Pub Day Shout-Outs for February 9, 2021, featuring Leitich Smith, Johnson, and Shusterman
by Jen Moyers (@jen.loves.books) Here are three books coming out today that I'm excited to read! Two are from Unabridged favorites, and one book is by a new-to-me author. Editor Cynthia Leitich Smith's Ancestor Approved: Intertribal Stories for Kids Description from Publisher: "Edited by award-winning and bestselling author Cynthia Leitich Smith, this collection of intersecting stories by both new and veteran Native writers bursts with hope, joy, resilience, the strength of c
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- Jan 29
- 4 min
T. J. Klune's THE HOUSE IN THE CERULEAN SEA - A Beautiful Story about Finding Your Home
by Ashley Dickson-Ellison (@teachingtheapocalypse) This phenomenal book, T.J. Klune's fantasy novel The House in the Cerulean Sea, was one of my favorite reads from 2020. I was thrilled to see that this one also just won an Alex Award as one of the ten best adult books that appeal to teen audiences with the Youth Media Awards from the American Library Association. Linus Baker lives a quiet, routine-oriented life with only his curmudgeonly cat, Calliope, for company. As a low
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- Jan 25
- 7 min
Five of Ashley's Favorite Reads from 2020 (Part 2)
by Ashley Dickson-Ellison (@teachingtheapocalypse) I was lucky to read so many amazing books this year! Consequently, I had a really hard time with coming up with my list for this post. It's a good problem to have, I suppose, but I'm realizing that it's really tough for me to pick out "winners" for the year when it comes to reading. Like Jen, I tried to pick books that represented the range of the kinds of reading I have done this year, and that is part of what I considered w
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- Jan 19
- 4 min
Pub Day Shout-Outs! for January 19, 2021, featuring Cashore, Hall, Lo, and Okorafor
by Jen Moyers (@jen.loves.books) Here are four books coming out today that I'm excited to read (I couldn't resist one more than our usual three!). Kristin Cashore's Winterkeep Description from Publisher: "For the past five years, Bitterblue has reigned as Queen of Monsea, heroically rebuilding her nation after her father's horrific rule. After learning about the land of Torla in the east, she sends envoys to the closest nation there: Winterkeep—a place where telepathic foxes
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- Jan 18
- 8 min
Five of Jen's Favorite Reads of 2020 (Part 2)
by Jen Moyers (@jen.loves.books) Oh, friends, making book choices never gets easier for me. I had shared so many excellent books in my 2020 mid-year post AND on our 2020 Unabridged Awards Episode that I thought I would have narrowed the list from which to choose. Wow, was I wrong! (Be sure to check our mid-year posts: here's mine, Ashley's, and Sara's.) I read 345 books in 2020, and of those, 28 earned five stars from me, and 92 earned four-and-a-half stars. So, even with the
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- Dec 14, 2020
- 5 min
Eight Winter Book Recommendations to Read This Season
by Ashley Dickson-Ellison (@teachingtheapocalypse) In this curated list of winter book recommendations, I'm sharing books where the season of winter is a pivotal part of the story. (Actually, in two of them, Fredrik Backman's Anxious People and Margarita Montimore's Oona Out of Order, the new year specifically is an important part of the story.) These are not necessarily cozy reads (though some of them are perfect for that!), and the tone, style, and subject matter of each on
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- Dec 1, 2020
- 4 min
Pub Day Shout-Outs! for December 1, 2020, featuring Pinguicha, Joseph, and O'Leary and Coker Burks
by Sara Voigt (@meaningfulmadness) Here are three books coming out today that I'm excited to read! Diana Pinguicha's A Curse of Roses Description from Publisher: "With just one touch, bread turns into roses. With just one bite, cheese turns into lilies. There’s a famine plaguing the land, and Princess Yzabel is wasting food simply by trying to eat. Before she can even swallow, her magic–her curse–has turned her meal into a bouquet. She’s on the verge of starving, which only r
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- Nov 24, 2020
- 4 min
Pub Day Shout-Outs! November 24, 2020, featuring Ng, Cline, and Black
by Ashley Dickson-Ellison (@teachingtheapocalypse) Here are three books coming out today that I'm excited to read! Holly Black's How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories Description from Publisher: "An illustrated addition to the New York Times bestselling Folk of Air trilogy, that started with The Cruel Prince, from award-winning author Holly Black.
"An irresistible return to the captivating world of Elfhame. "Once upon a time, there was a boy with a wicked tongue. "
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- Nov 17, 2020
- 5 min
Pub Day Shout-Outs for November 17, 2020, featuring Obama, Kuang, and Yoon
by Jen Moyers (@jen.loves.books) Here are three books coming out today that I'm excited to read! Barack Obama's A Promised Land Description from Publisher: "In the stirring, highly anticipated first volume of his presidential memoirs, Barack Obama tells the story of his improbable odyssey from young man searching for his identity to leader of the free world, describing in strikingly personal detail both his political education and the landmark moments of the first term of his
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- Nov 2, 2020
- 6 min
Looking for an Escape? 12 Stories and Series to Dive Into
by Ashley Dickson-Ellison (@teachingtheapocalypse) Friends, it is a tense time. This week is an especially tense one. If there is anything that helps me during tense times (in addition to yoga, dark chocolate, and a nice glass of red wine...), it's reading an immersive story. Romance This past year (and especially in the time since the pandemic began), I've discovered that I really enjoy some romance books. It's been a welcome discovery, although I'm still learning what does
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- Oct 27, 2020
- 4 min
Pub Day Shout-Outs! for October 27, 2020, featuring Staebler, Paoloni, Maniscalco, and Washington
by Jen Moyers (@jen.loves.books) Here are three books coming out today that I can't wait to read! Christian Staebler, Sonia Paoloni, and illustrator Thibault Balahy's Redbone: The True Story of a Native American Rock Band Description from Publisher: "Experience the riveting, powerful story of the Native American civil rights movement and the resulting struggle for identity told through the high-flying career of West Coast rock 'n' roll pioneers Redbone. "You've heard the hit
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- Oct 21, 2020
- 10 min
148: Our Speculative Fiction Recs with Virginia Soenksen, Author of the GENETICS CHRONICLES Series
In this Unabridged podcast episode, we're talking all things speculative fiction with Virginia Soenksen, author of The Titan Strain, The Osiris Contingency, and The Ragnarok Resolution. We talk with her about her amazing science fiction series, and then we all recommend books that we've loved within the speculative fiction realm. We wrap up our episode with some favorite museum recommendations in honor of Virginia's role as an art historian and an associate director of a muse
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