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.

Want to get more involved? Check out our 2023 reading challenge, join our buddy reads or book club on Instagram, or sign up on Patreon!

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Feb 22
6 min

248: Chencia C. Higgins’s D’VAUGHN AND KRIS PLAN A WEDDING - February 2023 Book Club

Are you looking for an uplifting romance that's full of sweet moments but also powerful social commentary? Check out this month's Unabridged Book Club pick, Chencia C. Higgins’s D’Vaughn and Kris Plan a Wedding (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm). Listen in to hear Jen and Ashley discuss this one and share our pairings including Alexis Daria’s You Had Me at Hola (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm) and Sophie Gonzales’s Never Ever Getting Back Together (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm). We're continuing

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Jan 25
5 min

246: Celeste Ng's OUR MISSING HEARTS - January 2023 Book Club

Have you read this propulsive near future dystopian novel by podcast favorite Celeste Ng? To kick off the new year, we're pleased to share our thoughts on our first book club pick of 2023, Celeste Ng's Our Missing Hearts (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm). We also include our pairings, Valeria Luiselli’s Lost Children Archive (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm) and Veronica Roth’s Poster Girl (Bookshop.org). We're discussing this one on Instagram on January 30th at 8 PM EST, so message us if

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Dec 28, 2022
6 min

244: Sonya Lalli's A HOLLY JOLLY DIWALI - December 2022 Book Club

Looking for a fun, illuminating holiday-centered read? Check out Sonya Lalli's A Holly Jolly Diwali (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm), our December Unabridged book club pick. In this episode, Jen and Ashley discuss thoughts about A Holly Jolly Diwali and share our book pairings including Jean Meltzer’s The Matzah Ball (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm) and Thrity Umrigar’s Honor (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm). Are you interested in more content from Unabridged? Join us on Patreon where for $5 a mo

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Sep 28, 2022
4 min

238: Madeline Miller's THE SONG OF ACHILLES - September 2022 Book Club

Do you enjoy retellings of the epics? Madeline Miller's The Song of Achilles (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm) is a retelling of Homer's The Illiad. Jen and Ashley share our thoughts about this book club pick, and we share our pairings including Jennifer Saint’s Ariadne (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm) and Pat Barker’s The Silence of the Girls (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm). Looking for more Unabridged content? Join us on Patreon, where we release an additional episode each month. Bookish Chec

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Aug 24, 2022
5 min

236: Laura Gao's MESSY ROOTS - August 2022 Book Club

In our August 2022 book club episode, we discuss Laura Gao's Messy Roots: A Graphic Memoir of a Wuhanese American. We share pairings for Gao's memoir including Malinda Lo’s Last Night at the Telegraph Club and Gene Luen Yang’s American Born Chinese. Join us for the book club discussion of this one on Instagram! Just message us to be added to the chat. Bookish Check-in Ashley - Steven Rowley’s The Editor (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm) Jen - Lalita Tademy’s Red River (Bookshop.org |

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Apr 27, 2022
7 min

227: Angie Thomas's CONCRETE ROSE - April 2022 Book Club

We are long-time Angie Thomas fans here at Unabridged (check out our episodes focused on The Hate U Give here and its adaptation here), so Ashley, Jen, and Sara were thrilled when we heard she was publishing a prequel focused on Maverick. Concrete Rose is (spoiler alert!) a five-star read for us, so we have a wide-ranging discussion of the book. We also share our pairings, including works by Elizabeth Acevedo, Jason Reynolds, and Laekan Zea Kemp. Bookish Check-in Ashley - Thi

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Apr 4, 2022
4 min

5 Memoirs I'd Recommend for Your TBR

by Jen Moyers (@jen.loves.books) Last week, we released our Unabridged Podcast Book Club episode featuring Jenny Lawson's Furiously Happy: A Funny Book about Horrible Things (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm), a fabulous memoir in which Lawson shares the extreme highs and lows of her life. In honor of that episode, I wanted to share a few other memoirs I've read and enjoyed recently. Jenny Lawson's Broken (in the Best Possible Way) (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm) I loved this one, too—it's

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Mar 30, 2022
6 min

223: Jenny Lawson's FURIOUSLY HAPPY - March 2022 Book Club

Are you looking for a memoir that is both laugh out loud hilarious and also deeply poignant? In this March Book Club episode, we discuss Jenny Lawson's memoir Furiously Happy. We chat about our thoughts on Lawson's work, and we share our pairings including Allie Brosh’s Hyperbole and a Half, Lindy West’s Shrill, and R. Eric Thomas’s Here for It: Or, How to Save Your Soul in America. Bookish Check-in Ashley - Robin Sloan’s Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore (Libro.fm | Bookshop.

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Feb 23, 2022
7 min

218: Helen Hoang's THE HEART PRINCIPLE - February 2022 Book Club

Are you looking for romance reads that also explore important issues in meaningful ways? We are all fans of Helen Hoang's books and were excited to dive into her latest release. In our February 2022 book club, we're discussing Helen Hoang's The Heart Principle. We also share our pairings, which include Talia Hibbert’s Act Your Age, Eve Brown, Michelle Zauner’s Crying in H Mart, and Jasmine Guillory’s The Wedding Date. Bookish Check-in Ashley - Ruta Sepetys’s The Fountains of

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Jan 26, 2022
8 min

214: Fredrik Backman's ANXIOUS PEOPLE - January 2022 Book Club

In this Unabridged Book Club episode, Jen, Sara, and Ashley discuss Fredrik Backman's Anxious People. We also share our pairings including Taylor Jenkins Reid’s Malibu Rising (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm), Muriel Barbery’s The Elegance of the Hedgehog, and Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney’s Good Company (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm). We are all big fans of Backman's work and enjoyed discussing this one! Bookish Check-in Ashley - Jonathan Safran Foer’s Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (Book

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Dec 8, 2021
7 min

207: Jean Meltzer's THE MATZAH BALL - December 2021 Book Club

In this Unabridged Book Club episode, Sara, Jen, and Ashley discuss their December book club pick, Jean Meltzer's The Matzah Ball. We all discuss this 2021 release (spoiler alert: we all loved it!!!), and then we each share a pairing suggestion. Our pairings include Talia Hibbert’s Get a Life, Chloe Brown, Sarah Adams’s The Match, and Beth O’Leary’s The Switch. This book club pick is perfect for the holiday season and is the perfect mix of a fun romance coupled with serious i

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Nov 24, 2021
6 min

205: L.M. Montgomery’s ANNE OF GREEN GABLES - November 2021 Book Club

For our November Unabridged Book Club pick, we had so much fun reading this classic novel, Lucy Maud Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables (Amazon | Bookshop.org). We also shared our pairings including Alan Bradley’s The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women, and Fannie Flagg’s Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man. Sara, Jen, and Ashley all have different levels of experience with this classic novel, so it was super fun discussing our personal experiences

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Oct 27, 2021
6 min

201: Aiden Thomas's CEMETERY BOYS - October 2021 Book Club

In this Unabridged Book Club episode, Jen, Sara, and Ashley discuss Aiden Thomas's Cemetery Boys, which has also been our buddy read for the month! We share our pairings for this one including Kacen Callender’s Felix Ever After, Molly Knox Ostertag’s The Witch Boy (trilogy), and Maika Moulite and Maritza Moulite’s Dear Haiti, Love Alaine. We had such a great time discussing this one on Instagram and for the episode! Bookish Check-in Ashley - Jasmine Warga’s Other Words for Ho

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Sep 29, 2021
12 min

197: Darcie Little Badger's ELATSOE - September 2021 Book Club

In this Unabridged Book Club episode, Sara, Jen, and Ashley discuss Darcie Little Badger's young adult lit book Elatsoe (Amazon | Bookshop.org). This fascinating book combines several genres including fantasy and paranormal fiction. We also share our pairings, including Angeline Boulley’s Firekeeper’s Daughter, Aiden Thomas’s Cemetery Boys, and Dhonielle Clayton’s The Belles. We had a great discussion about this outstanding book and hope that you enjoy it! Bookish Check-in As

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Aug 28, 2021
3 min

Featured Books for September 2021

September Books On September 29, we'll release our Book Club episode focusing on Darcie Little Badger's Elatsoe (Amazon | Bookshop.org), but before that releases, we'll have two IG chats on September 13 and 27 (this is also our September Buddy Read pick!). Stay tuned @unabridgedpod for announcements and updates. Here is the synopsis from the publisher: "A Texas teen comes face-to-face with a cousin's ghost and vows to unmask the murderer. "Elatsoe—Ellie for short—lives in an

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Aug 25, 2021
11 min

192: Balli Kaur Jaswal’s EROTIC STORIES FOR PUNJABI WIDOWS - August 2021 Book Club

For our Unabridged Book Club pick for August of 2021, we're discussing Balli Kaur Jaswal’s Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows (Amazon | Bookshop.org). We talk about our overall impressions, what worked for us, some quotations, and then we pair this one with other books we think readers who loved this would enjoy including Elizabeth Acevedo’s The Poet X (Amazon | Bookshop.org), Sandhya Menon’s When Dimple Met Rishi (Amazon | Bookshop.org), and Kevin Kwan’s Crazy Rich Asians (Am

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Jul 31, 2021
4 min

Featured Books for August 2021

August Books On August 25, we'll release our Book Club episode focusing on Balli Kaur Jaswal's Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows (Amazon | Bookshop.org), but before that releases, we'll have an IG chat mid-month. (We're working on shuffling our episode order for Season 5!) We'll also have two IG chats about our Buddy Read pick, Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera's YA novel What If It's Us (Amazon | Bookshop.org). Stay tuned @unabridgedpod for announcements and updates. Here ar

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Jul 21, 2021
40 min

187: Encore of Emily Henry's BEACH READ - July 2020 Book Club

In this Unabridged podcast book club episode, we're discussing Emily Henry's Beach Read. We have a great discussion and pair this one with some other great reads, including Mary Beth Keane’s Ask Again, Yes, Kate Clayborn’s Love Lettering, and Josie Silver’s The Two Lives of Lydia Bird. Beach Read is a contemporary romance that balances witty banter with more serious themes. Bookish Check In Ashley - Jacqueline Woodson’s Harbor Me (Amazon | Bookshop.org) Jen - Jennifer S. Cohe

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Jul 7, 2021
12 min

185: Jacqueline Woodson's RED AT THE BONE - July 2021 Unabridged Book Club

In this Unabridged Book Club discussion, we talk about Jacqueline Woodson's Red at the Bone. Spoiler alert: we all loved this powerful, tightly woven story. We pair this one with Randi Pink’s Angel of Greenwood, Tommy Orange’s There There, and Brit Bennett’s The Mothers. Bookish Check-in Ashley - Jhumpa Lahiri’s Interpreter of Maladies (Amazon | Bookshop.org) Jen - Leigh Bardugo’s Rule of Wolves (Amazon | Bookshop.org) Sara - Joanne Tompkin’s What Comes After (Amazon | Booksh

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Jun 27, 2021
5 min

Featured Books for July 2021

July Books On July 7, we'll release our Book Club episode focusing on Jacqueline Woodson's Red at the Bone (Amazon | Bookshop.org), and we'll have an IG chat mid-month. We'll also have two IG chats about our Buddy Read pick, Laekan Zea Kemp's YA novel Somewhere Between Bitter and Sweet (Amazon | Bookshop.org). Stay tuned @unabridgedpod for announcements and updates. Here are the synopses from the publisher: Red at the Bone "Moving forward and backward in time, Jacqueline Wood

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