Season 3 Ep.73 This Episode Is So "2020"

2020 has been one for the books, hasn’t it. See my pun there? A worldwide pandemic, a truly historic election, racial unrest, murder hornets, shortages of toilet paper, and massive fires in California are just a few weird things that happened this year; we all took solace where we could. For book lovers like us, it usually meant a book but could also include new hobbies like puzzles and baking for me, crocheting for Carrie, and wine for the both of us. For this last episode of 2020, Carrie and I decided to talk about some notable books that we didn’t have a chance to talk about during the year and also take a look forward to 2021 to some books we are anxious to read. Technology has really been messing with us at the end of 2020. Several pieces we recorded didn’t work, or disappeared, or just plain sucked. Anything that could go wrong did. So we had to get creative with this episode. And like many things about 2020, that creativity to do something different sometimes makes something better. I hope in this case this episode is better than the one we started with before the gremlins inside our computer got a hold of it. We will be taking a few weeks off. While we are gone, we will re-play some older episodes that we think deserve another listen. Then we will be back January 13 with all new episodes with cool interesting people who are book lovers too. Books mentioned-- 1- A Polar Affair: Antartica's Forgotten Hero and the Secret Love Lives of Penguins by Lloyd Spencer Davis 2- Words in Deep Blue by Cath Crowley 3- Nothing is Wrong and Here is Why by Alexandra Petri 4- Shirley: A Novel by Susan Scarf Merrell / The Lottery and Other Stories by Shirley Jackson 5- The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill 6- The Third Rainbow Girl: The Long Life of a Double Murder in Appalachia by Emma Copley Eisenberg 7- Boom by Mark Haddon 8- Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward 9- The One and Only Ivan /The One and Only Bob by Katherine Applegate 10- Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds 11- Sick Souls, Healthy Minds: How William James Can Save Your Life by John Kaag 12- Sharks in the Time of Saviors by Kawai Strong Washburn 13- Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell 14- Eat a Peach by David Chang 15- Once and Future Witches by Alix Harrow 16- The Book of Eels: Our Enduring Fascination with the Most Mysterious Creature in the Natural World by Patrik Svensson 17- The Stone Sky (Brokem Earth #3) by NK Jemisin 18- This Close to OK by Leesa Cross-Smith 19- The Whisper Man by Alex North 20- Murmur of Bees by Sophia Segovia 21- Lakewood by Megan Giddings Perks Guests' Recommendations-- 1- Brave(ish): A Memoir of a Recovering Perfectionist by Margaret Davis Ghielmetti (Anita Martin recommends) 2- The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune (Diane Neu recommends) 3- Cinderella is Dead by Kalynn Bayron (Tamika recommends) 4- Maurice by EM Forster (Tabby Pawlitzki recommends) 5- The Never Game by Jeffery Dever (Robin Weiss recommends) 6- Dash and Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan (Mindy Jett recommends) 7- Protection Spell by Jennifer Givhan (Robert Eric Shoemaker recommends) 8- Writers and Lovers by Lily King (Ellen Birkett Morris recommends) 9- The Dutch House by Ann Patchett (Anne Baker recommends) 10- Winter's Solstice by Rosamunde Pilcher (Niamh Lutes recommends) 11- Untamed by Glennon Doyle (Katy Yocom recommends) 12- The Midnight Library by Matt Haig (Tricia Taylor recommends) 13- The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo (Jennie Mulhall recommends) 14- This is How it Always Is by Laurie Frankel (Kim Vidrine recommends) 15- The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett (Holly Mcarthur recommends) 16- Winter Loon by Susan Bernhard (Bobi Conn recommends) 17- It All Comes Back to You by Beth Duke (Kim Esposito recommends) 18- Children of Blood and Bone by Toni Adeyemi (Deedee Cummings recommends) 19- World of Wonders by Aimee Nezhukumatathil (Amy Miller recommends) 20- The Ice Storm by Rick Moody (Andrew Shaffer recommends)