💬 Friday Thread: What Have You Been Reading and/or Listening To This Week?
Plus, What Do You Enjoy Most About This Friday Thread?
Hello and happy Friday!
This week has been a bit on the busier side so I’m hoping for a slow weekend. I’m in between reads and having a really hard time settling on an audiobook. It happens sometimes, so if you’ve listened to any great audiobooks lately I’d love to know in the comments.
Tomorrow is my two year Substack anniversary and I’ve been in a contemplative and reflective mood this week with respect to my Itsbooktalk & More newsletter and community. I hope to write more about these past two years, as well as future content plans, in a longer post this weekend, but for now I’ll say I’m so thankful for this reading community that we’ve built within this weekly Friday Thread (as well as in the comments/discussion on other posts). Your willingness to engage with me and other readers here is what makes these weekly discussions so robust and filled with great recommendations, thoughtful responses, ideas and more. I look forward to asking you questions, seeing what you’re reading, watching, thinking, etc every Friday and I hope you do too! Just for fun I’ve put together some of my thoughts on why I think it’s fun (and helpful) to share in community with each other every week.
Reasons It’s Fun For Readers To Share In Community
Skip the endless scrolling – Get thoughtful book recommendations straight from fellow readers.
Unexpected gems – Hear about under-the-radar books, shows, and podcasts you might’ve missed.
Great conversation starters – You never now when one question, comment, or recommendation will spark engaging conversations or lead to finding a new friend or book twin
Different takes, new perspectives – It’s fascinating to see how the same book or tv show lands with different people.
Shared obsessions – When someone else is just as into that book, series, tv show, movie as you are, it’s the best.
Serendipitous connections – Sometimes, what we’re all reading, watching, and listening to overlaps in surprising ways.
An easy way to join in – Even if you’re not big on commenting, sharing your weekly read or answering one question is a fun, low-key way to participate.
A time capsule of our reading and watching lives – The weekly shares of what we’re reading, thoughts on topics, what we’re watching etc capture what we were into, month by month.
More momentum for your TBR and watchlist – Because we all love adding just one more thing to our queue.
All media is welcome – From literary fiction to reality TV, it all counts. No guilt, just good recs. And the more the merrier!
Do any of my reasons resonate with you?
Question Time
The questions I ask in weekly threads are meant to be fun and help us connect, so please know you don’t have to answer each question, if you only have the time/desire to answer one, great! Please put book titles IN ALL CAPS for easy reading:)
What do you enjoy most about this Friday Thread?
What have you been reading and/or listening to this week (and do you like it)?
If you’re reading this in email, pop over to itsbooktalk.substack.com to comment and join the conversation!
Have a great weekend!📚
This week I finished reading BROKEN COUNTRY by Claire Leslie Hall. I loved it! This was a bingeable story for me, but it wasn't perfect. I had a few issues with how the plot unfolded toward the end....but I still loved it. I'll probably write a longer review soon, but I'll say I think this deserves all the buzz it's getting. And it was the third love triangle book I've read recently which makes me all the happier. In case you also love love triangles and are wondering what I read they were DREAM STATE, SLANTING TOWARDS THE SEA AND BROKEN COUNTRY. I binged them all:)
Today, I'm determined to find an audiobook, but I'm also going to be watching the weddings episode of Love is Blind. I can't wait!
I always look forward to Friday threads, and I especially love seeing what everyone is reading! I always add to my TBR based on the comments :)
This week I finished DEATH OF THE AUTHOR by Nnedi Okorafor and was completely blown away. I can't imagine another book will top this one for my favorite of the year.
Thankfully I'm also in the middle of a few other books so hopefully avoiding a slump haha. I'm about halfway done with WE SPREAD by Iain Reid, who wrote I'm Thinking of Ending Things which was popping up a lot last year with readers/content creators that I follow. This one is just as eerie, he writes quiet, creeping tension so well.