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270: Jasmine Warga's OTHER WORDS FOR HOME - March 2024 Book Club

Updated: Apr 17



Have you read a middle grade novel in verse recently? This month, we're reading Jasmine Warga’s Other Words for Home (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm), which is perfect for the Unabridged Reading Challenge 2024 category featuring a middle grade novel in verse. Jen and Ashley discuss the book club pick and share our pairings including Thanhhà Lai’s Inside Out and Back Again (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm), Hena Khan’s Amina’s Voice (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm) and Janika Oza’s A History of Burning (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm).


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Bookish Check-in

Ashley - David Farr’s The Book of Stolen Dreams (Bookshop.org)

Jen - Esther Earl’s This Star Won’t Go Out (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm)


Our Book Club Pick

Jasmine Warga’s Other Words for Home (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm)


Our Pairings

Ashley - Thanhhà Lai’s Inside Out and Back Again (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm)

Jen - Hena Khan’s Amina’s Voice (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm) and Janika Oza’s A History of Burning (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm)


Flashback - March 2021, 3 Years Ago


(A note to our readers: click on the hashtags above to see our other blog posts with the same hashtag.)


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[00:00:34] Jen: Hey everyone and welcome to Unabridged. Today is our March book club discussion of Jasmine Warga's Other Words for Home. Before we get started, I want to remind everyone that we are continuing to build our Patreon presence. So every month we have an extra episode. This month we talked about Aristotle and Dante


[00:00:57] Discover the Secrets of the Universe, that adaptation. Next month, we are looking at the Red, White, and Royal Blue adaptation. And then we also have a text-based resource. So for those of you who aren't listeners, you may not be listening to this episode, but for those of you who are not listeners, we have that extra text-based resource as well, and that could be book recommendations, or we might have something related to our reading challenge for the year.


[00:01:24] So you never know what you're going to find, but we always have lots of great content. So if you're interested in supporting the podcast and getting some great content in exchange, you can go over to patreon.com/unabridgedpod. All right. So to kick us off, we're going to do our bookish check in.


[00:01:39] Ashley, what are you reading?


[00:01:41] Ashley: So one of the books I'm reading right now is David Farr's The Book of Stolen Dreams. Have you read that, Jen?


[00:01:48] Jen: I have not.


[00:01:49] Ashley: Okay, so I just came across this when it was on one of the library displays. And I was very, yeah, I was always compelling. And the cover was really compelling, and so I was just really interested in it.


[00:02:01] It is maybe middle grade. I mean, so I was reading it. partially because I thought maybe my girls would be interested in it. And so I, I didn't look up the age before I started talking, so maybe I should have checked, but I think it's either like the 8 to 12 or it's middle grade. And so that was why I picked it up also. But it is a debut from this author.


[00:02:25] And it, I've only read a little bit, but the opening part is where there are these two kids, Rachel and Robert. And they are siblings, and they are kind of, we see Rachel, and she is on the run, essentially, and she is on this boat, and we know that she is fleeing where she is coming from, and that she's trying to get back to Robert, her brother.


[00:02:52] And we see her talking with this scruffy looking but very kind older man on the boat, and he is trying to help her feel better about... he can tell that she's alone and that she is something, you know, major is going on and then then we can see very quickly that he is getting paid to get her to a certain place.


[00:03:22] And so he has gotten set up with some nefarious group who is basically like, "Find this girl, make friends with her, get her to go to this particular hotel." And so we see that. And then the second thing that we learn very quickly is that their dad was a librarian and that he worked in a library that had access to a lot of extremely important archives.


[00:03:49] And that one of the archives that's in, you know, the very high, highly secure, specialized room, you know, locked, all that stuff, is called the Book of Stolen Dreams. I'm trying not to overshare, but basically something very important... There is a new government coming in, and the new government is on the pathway to rid society of all of these important archives, and so the father, in the beginning, we know that he's in jail, we know their mom has died, and we know that this book has something to do with these kids, And that the government is after the book.


[00:04:30] So I am very intrigued. It is feeling painfully relevant to a lot of the things that we are experiencing about books and censorship and, and so, you know, I think it is a very compelling fantasy story, but there are some components that resonate. So, again, that one is called The Book of Stolen Dreams, and it is by David Farr, and so far I'm really enjoying it.


[00:04:58] Jen: That sounds great. I will say I just looked it up and the cover is beautiful and Amazon for what this is where it says eight to 12.


[00:05:05] Ashley: Oh, good. Thank you. Yeah.


[00:05:07] Jen: On target, but yeah, that sounds amazing.


[00:05:09] Ashley: Yeah, so I'm really enjoying it so far. Like, it's got that, I haven't read anything that was kind of in that age group and like that sort of story in quite a while. But it does bring to mind some others that I've really enjoyed that I think, you know, if you like fantasy stories that are really compelling, I mean, this is a really good one for that.


[00:05:28] So what about you, Jen? What are you reading?


[00:05:30] Jen: So, I am reading Esther Earle's This Star Won't Go Out: The Life and Words of Esther Grace Earle. And I will just say, some of you are going to hear this description and just be out immediately. But, this is about Esther Earle, became sort of famous because of John Green. So when he published The Fault in Our Stars, everyone wondered if it was based on Esther Earl, who was a real person who was struggling with childhood cancer and did end up dying.


[00:06:07] And he said it wasn't, but of course he knew her. So she was a fan of his, and he did get to meet her in real life before she died. And so he said she inspired him, but he had already been working on the book before. Anyway, so the book was put out by her parents after her death, and it's lovely. Of course it is very sad.


[00:06:27] So she was diagnosed with thyroid cancer, which is very unusual for children to have. And she had a strong internet presence because she was part of the Nerdfighters with Hank and John Green and, had a YouTube channel. It was like right at the beginning of when kids were really starting to have an online presence, and she was an avid journaler.


[00:06:54] Her parents started a charity called The Star Won't Go Out after she died to raise money for other families who have children with cancer. And so the book, I'm sure goes toward that effort, but it is her journals and letters and also tributes from people like John Green, like other people who were nerdfighters with her. Her doctors write essays


[00:07:15] just talking about her experience in her life. So I'm finding it to be really beautiful. And of course, again, really sad, but it's a surprisingly hopeful book just because of the way her family approached it and because of what a wonderful person she was and the positivity with which she tried to live her life.


[00:07:36] And she does have moments where she's really down and feels whiny and owns that but then there are other moments where she just talks about her love of life and her love of her family and her love of John Green and I yeah So it's really really good. It's beautifully designed it has... she drew in her journals as well.


[00:07:58] So it includes a lot of her artwork and one of her friends made a font from her handwriting. And so that appears throughout the book. So yeah, it's been a lovely experience. I was pushed to read this one. This one's been on my shelf for a long time. So my backlist reading challenge has helped me choose this one.


[00:08:16] It's Esther Earle's The Star Won't Go Out, The Life and Words of Esther Grace Earle. Alright,


[00:08:33] Ashley: And The Fault in Our Stars was the first of John Green's that I read, and was definitely a transformative read for me. And so, I would be interested to hear her account, because I do think that was part of what resonated so much to me in The Fault in Our Stars is, that the characters are so... it's so much about their life and not about them as a simplified version of a, that is a sick child, but instead, you know, whole people who have this as part of their life experience.


[00:08:57] So that sounds beautiful.


[00:09:01] Jen: Well, we are going to shift gears and talk about Other Words for Home. Before I get started, I'm going to read the publisher's synopsis. "Jude never thought she'd be leaving her beloved older brother and father behind all the way across the ocean in Syria. But when things in her hometown start becoming volatile, Jude and her mother are sent to live in Cincinnati with relatives.


[00:09:23] At first, everything in America seems too fast and too loud. The American movies that Jude has always loved haven't quite prepared her for starting school in the U. S. And her new label of Middle Eastern, an identity she's never known before. But this life also brings unexpected surprises. There are new friends, a whole new family, and a school musical that Jude might just try out for.


[00:09:42] Maybe America, too, is a place where Jude can be seen as she really is." All right, well, we're going to start with our overall impression. Ashley, I know this was your second reading of this one, right? What did you think of it?


[00:09:56] Ashley: Yes. I convinced Jen to read this one. Not that I need to persuade you, but we just were circling back. We were talking about middle grade March and that a lot of people sometimes enjoy celebrating middle grade books during March. And so we were kind of like, huh, what are some that we might enjoy?


[00:10:11] And then this also works for the reading challenge as a novel in verse that is a middle grade book.


[00:10:16] So we wanted to pick it for that reason too. But yeah, when we were brainstorming, I was like, Other Words for Home, Other Words for Home.


[00:10:22] so yes, I absolutely love this last time I read it in print. And this time I listened to the audio, both are outstanding. So overall impression, I think it's a fantastic account of an individual experience. that is related to refugee, you know, being a refugee, fleeing a war torn country, and also making a huge move to a very different culture.


[00:10:49] And I just feel like it's all handled with such compassion and awareness and that Jude is a complex character and that she has a lot of things going on, but she has such a hopeful view of what... of her life and of these new opportunities, but it's also realistic about some of the hard things that have happened and also are happening to her.


[00:11:15] And yeah, so I love it. I absolutely love this book. What about you, Jen?


[00:11:19] Jen: I loved it. I was so glad that we chose this one. I did the print and I just, I love novels and verse in general. I just think that's such a great format to explore the depths of characters' thoughts, and feelings, and who they are as people. And I think when talented poets embrace that form. It can result in beautiful works like this one.


[00:11:43] And yeah, I just love Jude. She is such a great character and feels so authentic the way that she loves her family. She gets frustrated with her family. She's a kid. So, sometimes she doesn't give her parents all of the grace that they deserve, but who among us does not go through through that. And I think seeing her transition to the United States and the way that she tries to make that experience work while holding onto her home country and her life there and her family there is something we've read about before, but not quite in this way.


[00:12:22] It felt like a really unique telling of a story that, yeah, that we've talked about, but each new story adds another layer to it. And I thought it was really beautifully done. I loved it. All right, well, we're going to pick out one thing that worked for us. Ashley, what do you want to highlight?


[00:12:40] Ashley: Oh, gosh, a lot of things worked for me. Uh, Something that I love that I think that her being the age that she is really highlighted is that during the course of the novel in verse, she starts her period for the first time. And so because of that, she starts wearing the hijab for the first time.


[00:13:02] And I loved all the things that were related to that exploration in the book. And not only did I love it, but I also think it's really important for you know, American adults as well, but American kids to read that account because she is honored to wear the hijab and that she has become a woman and it's so celebrated and she is proud.


[00:13:30] And I think that, again, I have read books that, that demonstrate that, but I do think that that was new to me as an adult. I think it is something that I did not see a lot of representation of, did not know firsthand. And I just love that. I think that it's such a celebration. But then, of course, not only does she experience that, but she also

[00:13:52] experiences through her mother, through Layla, who is a friend who's slightly older and therefore is already wearing the hijab at school and is the only one, at the time that Jude gets there, she's the only one who wears it. And so she experiences some of the prejudice that comes with wearing one. And not only does she experience that prejudice, but she also starts to see how limited other people's views are.


[00:14:18] I mean, I think that like a lot of it is just her realizing that other people see it as oppressive or as that she's suffering in some way. And instead, you know, to her, it is this mark of, of something that's really celebratory and really beautiful. And so I just loved all of that because I think that because of her age, we get to experience that alongside her.


[00:14:40] I'm going to sneak in a little quote here. This is, this is not my quote to discuss, but I just think it was really relevant to this experience of her starting to wear the hijab. And she says, "I want women like Aunt Michelle to understand that it is not only women who look like them who are free. Who think and care about other women." And, you know, I think in the book, again, we see a lot of nuanced relationships. She loves Aunt Michelle. She actually is very appreciative of her. She has a very positive experience with her. We see a bit more friction between her mom and Aunt Michelle, whereas like, you know, in a lot of ways she sees her as somebody who's very welcoming and loving and who includes her.


[00:15:15] And so Jude thinks very positively of her, but we just see. How even Aunt Michelle, who she loves, she can sense the narrow mindedness, honestly, of Aunt Michelle who assumes certain things about her, and not to mention we see much more vivid accounts and cruel accounts of, you know, there's the woman who shouts across at her mom.


[00:15:38] and says the hateful things about "you don't need to wear that anymore. You don't have to do that here." And so I just loved that because I think there's so many things in the book that I could go on and on about why I think they're really well done. But I just feel like seeing someone who is an immigrant who has come from a country that is Muslim dominated and then is suddenly in a space where she really stands out, like, seeing those assumptions being made and how her perspective is so different, I just think is really important.

[00:16:10] Jen: Yeah, I thought that was really beautiful. And I think because you see her cousin also, of course, has been raised by Michelle but you would think that because of her father would have more understanding of the culture. And yet, because of the way Jude's uncle has dealt with his immigration, she doesn't have the understanding that you would hope she would have.

[00:16:34] Whether she makes that choice or not, whether she's part of that culture, embrace that culture or not, she doesn't even have the knowledge of how it works. I love the way that Jude and her mother also open up the household to embracing part of that Syrian heritage. I thought that was really lovely.

[00:16:49] Ashley: Yes. Absolutely. What about you, Jen? What is something specific that worked for you?

[00:16:55] Jen: So I've talked on the podcast enough, I think that you all know that I'm an introvert and I really loved that Jude is not, that she is an extroverted kid who is in middle school, and who is in a place where it is hard for her to feed that part of herself because she is coming... At her old school.

[00:17:18] Well, she could be an extroverted and she could be. really, what's the word I'm looking for, demonstrative in her love of acting and of being in the spotlight. And that was just part of who she was. And so to move to the United States where suddenly she is outside the dominant part of her school, and she doesn't have this big friend group.

[00:17:41] And she starts making that in the EL class. But those kids often survive by flying under the radar, and Jude doesn't want to do that. She wants to be seen, and the way that she really wrestled with whether it was okay that she wanted the spotlight, whether it was okay that she was desperate to try out for the musical.

[00:18:00] I just thought that was a point of view, again, that I have not read. I think often, books resonate with me because they're about introverts and I'm like, yes, this is an unseen perspective But I I'm like how many times do we read books about extroverts? I just really love that, and I thought it was so important because it meant that she had to embrace her identity while she was still very much trying to figure out where she fit in and Was she had to answer, you know,

[00:18:30] Did she have to follow Layla's pattern of, oh, well, you can work backstage because that's where people like us belong is on the sidelines behind the scenes. And Jude's like, "No, I don't want to be! I want to be on that stage." Anyway, I just really loved that. I thought that was again, beautifully developed and just something, of course, everyone deals with this.

[00:18:51] All kids deal with this understanding of who they are Being difficult in comparison to other people. It's just another layer of it with Jude because of her experiences. So I really love that.

[00:19:04] Ashley: Yes. Yeah. I loved all that, too. I just felt like that. component really let us see all those things about Jude that maybe weren't quite as crystallized until that came about. So yeah, I thought that was great.

[00:19:19] Jen: All right. Well now... ashley snuck one in, but now we're going to a share our official quotation, Ashley, which one do you want to share?

[00:19:26] Ashley: I'm going to go with one that was just a general statement that she made, and it is, "Hoping, I'm starting to think, might be the bravest thing a person can do." and I think why that really resonated to me is that we are seeing Judeh have to face some really hard things that she did not encounter. We see her in the beginning, we see her in Syria, kind of living her, you know, easy going life.

[00:19:55] I mean, she lives on a coastal town. She feels very happy. Everything is fine. The first thing she really starts to sense is the tension between Issa and her father, and how they are butting heads, and then of course she becomes more and more aware of how severe the war situation is in other towns, and then it's coming toward them, and that's why they leave.

[00:20:17] So, she has to face all of that. And then she has to face that Issa is an activist, and he is going, and he is at the front of this violence because he is determined to make a change, and she is having to reconcile all those feelings of like wanting, she wants him to be brave, but she also wants him to be safe.

[00:20:40] And she's starting to experience that for herself too, of this idea of like, how can we be brave, but also be safe. And maybe we can't do both at the same time. I mean, everything that you just said, Jen, about being in the spotlight and being part of the play. I She's not, she's not staying small by doing that.

[00:21:02] She is saying that she really wants to take those steps. And so I just loved... I love that quote and I love that idea that again, I think that despite the fact that there are so many hard things happening in this book, it is a very hopeful book. She has a hopeful perspective and I think there's a really hopeful message and I just loved all of

[00:21:23] Jen: Mm hmm. Yeah. Well, and Issa's activism is, I mean, the form of hope there that he can make a change in his country and then his family can come back. Yeah.

[00:21:36] Ashley: Yeah, and that it's worth fighting for. That it's worth, that there are times that it is worth. And I think that's the, you know, that's the conflict for her family. And I relate to this. I mean, I think, before I had children, I was so ready to fight for change no matter what it took. And now, often, I find myself thinking my number one priority is to keep my family

[00:21:57] Jen: Mm

[00:21:58] Ashley: And that all those other things are dialed down in comparison to that desire, so I really think that they demonstrate that well, of like, why her parents, particularly with her mom being pregnant, you know, that why her parents would value safety above all else.

[00:22:11] Jen: Mm hmm.

[00:22:12] Ashley: But why Issa is like, we cannot continue to do this forever or we continue to have a country that is oppressing us because we're letting this stuff happen because of safety. So it is the friction between those things that I think is really powerful.

[00:22:27] Jen: Yeah.

[00:22:27] Ashley: What about you, Jen?

[00:22:28] What's your quote?

[00:22:30] Jen: So mine is.Jude is reflecting on back home, food was just food. And she says, "Here, that food is Middle Eastern food. Baguettes are French food. Spaghetti is Italian food. Pizza is both American and Italian, depending on which restaurant you go to. Every food has a label. It is sorted and assigned, just like I am no longer a girl.

[00:22:51] I am a Middle Eastern girl, a Syrian girl, a Muslim girl. Americans love labels. They help them know what to expect. Sometimes though, I think labels stop them from thinking." And I stopped when I read that quote because I just thought, like, I love categories. I love labeling things. I love sorting things. But when we do that to people, when we do that to life, when we do that to identities, it is a way of just providing a shortcut to It for, oh, we think we know everything that this means, and therefore we don't have to consider learning about it or continuing to think about it.

[00:23:27] I, I just thought, I think labels stopped them from thinking was such a powerful concept and yeah, I, I just thought it was really perceptive. So I don't know that I have really brilliant things to say about it, except that I thought it was really brilliant and made me think about how often we categorize things

[00:23:47] in an attempt to make our world make sense and to resolve things that maybe shouldn't be resolved. Oh, that was really great.

[00:23:53] Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. And just that she is suddenly aware of all these labels placed upon her that she didn't know she had, because again, in Syria, that wouldn't have made her stand out. And, yeah, that she really has to confront that. Yeah, absolutely. All right. Well, we are going to move on to our pairings. Ashley, what book are you recommending as a pairing for this one?

[00:24:23] Ashley: I am going to go with Thanna Lai's Inside Out and Back Again. This is also a middle grade novel in verse. this one did win the National Book Award. It is phenomenal. And it focuses on, I mean, there are a lot of similarities. Maybe this is a little bit of an on the nose pairing, but she's coming from Vietnam during the Vietnamese War. She is leaving Saigon with her family. Ha is the main character's name. And Ha is leaving Saigon. They're fleeing. Like, again, different country, different time period, but similar experiences in the sense of, She has a very stable life. All of a sudden, there's more and more instability. The family, then, is having to weigh whether it is worth uprooting and going somewhere else in order to stay safe, or whether they can stay where they are.

[00:25:14] And so there's all of that conflict. And then she winds up in Alabama with a family. And so they, and it's not, you know, they're not related to her. I mean, she is placed, they are placed as refugees with this family. And so I think You see a lot of the similar explorations of culture. Her perspective of the culture in Alabama is very different than the people who are there.

[00:25:43] And similarly, I felt, I felt a lot of the same feelings that I feel for Jude. I mean, it's just richly woven. Ha is a complex character who you love from the start, and she's experiencing a lot of hard things, but also a lot of hope, and everything's new, so there are things that are very challenging for her, but then there's other things that she really loves about America, and that she's never experienced before, and so you're kind of seeing those from her eyes, and so, yeah, I, I think it's a great, if you loved this one, It's a great story.

[00:26:19] It has a lot of differences, but there are a lot of similarities as well that would work nicely. And again, that's Thanna Lai's Inside Out and Back Again.

[00:26:30] Jen: I thought of that one too when I finished this. I think that is such a perfect pairing. Yeah,

[00:26:35] Ashley: Yeah. Yeah. What about you, Jen? What's your pairing?

[00:26:39] Jen: I wanted to provide a middle grade pairing, but I do want to mention a few months ago I read Janica Oza's A History of Burning, which is very much an adult text.

[00:26:49] But, I just kept thinking of that book when I was reading Issa's story in particular. So A History of Burning is a multi generational book, and it begins with a character who is stolen from his town in India. He's looking for work to help support his family and he's taken to Uganda. And there is apparently a large population of

[00:27:17] indian workers who are brought to Uganda by the British government to help build railways there. And Pirbhai's family ends up staying in Uganda, and you get multiple generations, and then eventually, they're really trying to assimilate. And then eventually, Uganda wants to eject Britain, and part of that means also ejecting these Indian people who have now been here for a long time,

[00:27:45] have never maybe gained citizenship. Anyway, it's very complicated, but there is this, theme of protest that really reminded me of Issa. And you see the siblings wrestle with how to deal with oppression and they deal with it in very different ways. And so something in that, that dynamic, it doesn't seem like a conventional pairing, but something in that dynamic really reminded me of Jude and Issa.

[00:28:08] Anyway, but my official pairing is Hena Khan's Amina's Voice. And I think because that part where Jude is really trying to find a way to be herself through performance in the musical, that reminded me of Amina and Amina's Voice, which is about Amina, who has a beautiful singing voice, loves to sing, but is introverted and has never really been comfortable with the spotlight and yet is trying to find a way to share her talent and her voice and her identity.

[00:28:46] You know, everything that your voice represents with the people at her school to help them understand who she is. And it's a part of her own wrestling with what, how, how she can best fit in. Does she need to fly under the radar? Does she continue needing to be sort of silent or can she share this really important part of herself with her friends, which does mean exposure and which does mean potentially putting a target on yourself.

[00:29:13] So, yeah, I, I just thought of that one. It's been a little while since I've read that. Ashley, I know you've read that one a couple of times, so maybe your memory of all the plot details is better, but that was what reminded me of Amina's Voice. So, so Janica Oza's A History of Burning, very different pairing, but if you're looking for an adult read that has some echoes, that might be a good one, but officially Hena Khan's Amina's Voice.

[00:29:36] Ashley: Yeah. Yeah. I love, I love all of Khan's work and that I've read and yeah, absolutely about Ominous Voice. I think those are some strong similarities and it is also beautifully told and is a great book. So

[00:29:50] Jen: Yeah. All right. Well, we are going to wrap up our discussion of other words for home with our bookish hearts. I think I probably know where we're going to land, but officially, Ashley, how many bookish hearts do you give this one?

[00:30:01] Ashley: Definitely five bookish hearts for

[00:30:02] Jen: Yeah, same. We're so predictable. Although I guess that by the time we finished discussing the book, if people don't know, that would be a problem.

[00:30:11] So, all right. We're going to end today's episode with our flashback. We're looking at three years ago, so that's March of 2021. Ashley, what do you want to recall here?

[00:30:22] Ashley: I just went back through pictures and was like, what were we doing? And we had, my partner's birthday is in February and we had gotten a pasta maker and then like, you know, to hand make pasta and then a ravioli, like where a device that you use to lay out the pasta sheets and make the ravioli. And so we were making ravioli in March of 2021.

[00:30:45] We were still not entirely home at this point, but like our kids, we're not back in school. And so we were working, but then they were going to a friend's house who is a teacher, but you know, it was like in a different capacity at her home. And so it was a very interesting transition time for us. And so when I looked back at that, I was like, Oh yeah, first of all, it's still pandemic.

[00:31:10] But then also like, that was the point where for a lot of people, some things were returning to normal, but then other things were not. And so there was this weird time where everybody's not on the same track. And so, yeah, we had that going on in March and that was it. Interesting to navigate. And then we were getting ready.

[00:31:31] This is right before we left in, in May of 2021 to go to Morocco. So we were kind of getting ready for that at that point. What about you, Jen? What was going on in March of 2021?

[00:31:42] Jen: So looking back at the podcast, that was when we were still doing, well, we had five episodes in March of 2021. So we were, we were doing a lot of recording. So we looked at author imprints; that was for a reading challenge that year. We recommended books for each other. That was our update. We did a teaching tidbit.

[00:32:02] We talked about Eric Gansworth's Apple Skin to the Core, which was our buddy read pick, and that's a memoir in verse and has sort of a multimedia feel. That's an interesting book if anyone's interested in that kind of reading. And then we also talked about autobiographers. So I felt a little tired when I looked at that long list and thought, wow, we were, that feels,

[00:32:23] Ashley: It's a lot of content.

[00:32:24] Jen: It doesn't feel like we could do that again, but Yeah.

[00:32:28] I mean, I remember fondly recording all of those, but I was like, wow, that's a lot. Anyway. All right. Well, thank you again, everyone for listening. And I just want to remind you about Patreon. Check out patreon.com/unabridgedpod for more info. Thanks again.

 

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