February 26, 2025 • 25 mins
After being inundated with requests for this topic, we’re here to share the books that are guaranteed to get you out of a reading slump. No matter how dire the circumstances are…
From the ultimate modern romance novel, to a sweeping family drama that will have you in tears and a decadent series that will make you want to ignore your family and friends, these are the titles you need to have on your bookshelf.
Plus, we dive deep into some romantasy recommendations, including one series we’re sure you’ve never heard of before but is guaranteed to make your heart beat a little bit faster.
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CREDITS
Hosts: Laura Brodnik & Em Vernem
Executive Producer: Kimberley Braddish
Audio Producer: Scott Stronach
Mamamia acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the Land we have recorded this podcast on, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present, and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
You're listening to a Mumma mea podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Hello and Vernon Here, I'm the host with Laura Brodneck
on Momma MIA's pop culture entertainment podcast, The Spill. We
are dropping in the book club feed for those who
are stuck in a bit of a reading slump and
desperately need help to climb out of it. As your
resident book obsessives, we have curated the ultimate list of
books that will have you canceling plants and staying up
(00:32):
way too late to read these. We're also diving into
the addictive world of romanticy, including Little Hidden Gem series
that we guarantee you haven't discovered yet. So get ready
get your list out to write all these recommendations down,
because these are absolutely the best books ever.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
From Mamma Mia. Welcome to The Spill, your daily pop
culture fixed. I'm Laura Brodney and I'm m Vernon and
coming up on the show today. Look, you guys have
been asking it in my dms. At least I've been
at least twenty in the last oh no, that's not
even a joke, in the last two months, So ten
a month isn't too bad. We are talking about not
just our favorite books of all time. That's a separate topic.
(01:15):
Actually we did an episode on that. I'll link in
the show notes. We are doing the books that will
get you out of a reading slump. We've all been there,
Like you're an avid reader, and then like life gets
busy or now you know, we're watching our phones, we
go down a TikTok a rabbit hole at nine instead
of reading, and then you try and pick up a book.
It's whatever book is trending at the moment, and you
try and read it and you're like, this is hard
(01:36):
and I hate it and I don't want to do it.
And then you're kind of out of reading for a
while because your mind is not leading you there and
you've had a bad experience. And then we've all also
been here where you pick up that one book and
it draws you in so intently and you read it
all in one go. You stay up late, you read
it at work when you should be working. I mean,
I've never done that, but others might have. See. I
(01:57):
mean I was looking down and I said it. And
so we're going to take you through those books today,
the books that will keep you turning the pages, the
books that you'll finish in the middle of the night,
just the books that will get you back into reading.
So as soon as you finish that, you look run
to your bookshelf and you think, what am I going
to read next? I love that?
Speaker 2 (02:13):
Okay? Can I go first?
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Yes? This one.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
I kind of cheated because the only reason I have
this on my list was because our producer Kim asked us, Hey,
I need a book to get me out of a
reading slump, and you recommended this book and I was.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
Like, oh, And I also told her i'd bring it
in like three days.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
But then I have a double whammy because I'm talking
about it. Plus I'm calling you out for not bringing
in that.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
I'm so sorry, producer Kim. Someone messaged me when I'm
at home to put it in my back Okay, we will.
I'll put that on my to do thank you. So
I'm sorry, Kim. But now you're just gonna hear about.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
How good this book is, how badly you should be
reading it if you ever get the chance to. So
the book I am talking about is romantic comedy. Oh
my god, I love.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
This book so much. I just got to literally just
got a chill. If you're saying that name no good.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
Can I confess something?
Speaker 1 (03:00):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (03:01):
I read it four times?
Speaker 1 (03:02):
Did you really all? I believe it?
Speaker 2 (03:04):
You can read it in a day.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
You can read it in a day. But also the chemistry,
especially towards the end of the book, like I wish
I could feel that for the first time again.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
To the romance in this book. It's by Curtis Sittenfield,
absolutely brilliant, brilliant writer. So it's called romantic comedy. The
book is a romantic comedy. It's very funny. I don't
want to call it a pandemic book because I know
that turns people off. But there is a big section
that happens during the pandemic, and it's the first.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
Book I've read that in where I really felt it
added so much the story and it didn't make me
feel like stressed about lockdowns. Obviously that was a stressful time,
but it's written into the book so well, and it's
such an important part of the story, and it really
builds the central romance that it's not going to make
you sad.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
It's not going to make you sad. It's done really well.
I was like looking up how I can explain the
book because you know I'm very good at explaining fluff.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
I love when you explain something you've just watched or read,
because I was like, did you watch or read it?
I did?
Speaker 2 (04:00):
I promise you I've read it four times. Will I
be able to explain it?
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Who knows.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
But I saw a blog that said it gave them
the vibe of what it would have been like if
Mindy Kaling when she was writing for the Office of
fl I'm like, that's so true. That is such a
Mindy Kaling thing. Anyway, that was a sidetrack. But the
book is about a writer called Sally Milt. She works
on a Saturday Night Live ish show. It's called The
Night A pretty much Saturday Saturday Night Live. Like to
(04:26):
the Tea, It's exactly like it. The layout of the
book is my absolutely favorite part because instead of big chapters,
there's three distinct parts. Yeah, like her and her work
where she meets the famous pop star Noah Brewster, and
then the pandemic where they're back and forth with the emails,
and then at the end where they reunite again. And
(04:46):
I love how the chapters are like according to her work,
timetable because Saturday Night Live, which we have talked about
in the past, like if you're a writer for the show,
you don't sleep. Essentially, sleep is not on the table.
You're in the offices from like two am. Sometimes you
come there at five am. You're there like writing, writing, writing.
The days are crazy. So I love how it's broken
(05:08):
down into like two am and then they're all just
in the office.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
I'm still riding.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
It's so well done, it's so funny, and it's one
of those things where you see a female protagonist talk
so openly about how it's not always like the main
character is like a pretty beautiful woman. And we've talked
about this as well. When an author wants you to
know that their main character is pretty, it's always like
some weird flashback of them going, Sarah always knew she
(05:34):
was a pretty girl, but it was only when she's
standing in this ball gown that she really feel like
she was a woman. So it's one of those things
where we've all seen it where it's like some really
funny comedian guy always ends up with like a beautiful
like Oscar winning star, Yeah, Colin, Joe Scarlet, Johansson, Oh geez,
that's a low blow. And this does the opposite right,
(05:54):
like she is the funny comedian and she kind of
describes herself as like quote unquote average looking, and the
pop star she falls in love with is like this
big Hollywood star. It's so funny, so well done. Put
on your list. If you feel like there's nothing that's
up your alley to read, read this.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Okay, I'm gonna cheat a little here. Actually I'm gonna
cheat twice. This is the first time because this isn't
a book, it's a book series. But once you read
the first one, you want to speed through the other
two series as well. Yeah, and I've got two that's fine. Well, again,
nothing gets you out of a reading, right, like when
you finish a great book and there's six more of
them to read. So I'm recommending the Crazy Rich Asian
series by Kevin Kwan, one of my all time favorites,
(06:34):
the ultimate page turner, the ultimate like just indulgent read that.
I've literally gone on holidays with these books and completely
ignored my family and other people because I'm like, no, no,
I have to finish this book.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Now.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
I'm sure a lot of you are saying, Crazy Rich
Asians is my favorite movie. Why would I read the book?
I know what happens, and to that, I would say
crazy rich Asians is also one of my ignorance. Yeah, exactly,
because the book is very different. They're a lot meaner
in the book, is all. I'll say. There is a
lot more tense and there's a.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
Lot more money in the book.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
Oh yeah, and just the way, like Kevin Kwan's way
of just describing what everyone's wearing, what they're whispering, what
they're saying, what they're eating, and.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
The dreach character has a storyline, whereas like in the movie,
you just see like the main character's storyline and then
everyone's kind of a side person.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Ah, but the book is just the book gives.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
Everyone much more rich characters. So if you're not across
crazy rich changes at all, I don't even know how
to explain this to you. But Rachel and Nick mean
in New York. They fall in love. She thinks he's
just like a nice young guy from Singapore. They go
over to visit his family, where she discovers that he's baby,
the ultimate NEPO baby. That he's not just rich, he's
crazy rich. And obviously his family are very against her
(07:45):
marrying into their family. So that's the first book in
the series, Crazy Rich Asians. They're also Asian, that's where
the Asian comes from. Yes, then we have China Rich Girlfriend,
which is a second book, and then Rich People Problems
a third book. And I'd say China Rich Girlfriend is
where things get crazy. You'll just say there's a poisoning
plot with Rachel. Rachel also finds out who her father is.
(08:09):
Massive plot twist. There something Nick's family was not expecting.
And I don't know, it's just a page turner. It
keeps you going. You've got the opulence and like the
history where they are, Like Kevin Kwan does such an
amazing job of describing all the places in Singapore they're
going to, but also, as you're saying, gives you more
in depth backstory and all of Nick's family members and
(08:29):
let's just say we see his mum in the movie
played by Michelle Yo. Kind of come around to it
in the books, especially in the movie the grandma is nice.
Holy hell that is a demon in the books. No no,
And then going on to Rich People Problems when the
grandmother's on her deathbedd and the whole family comes together
in the mansion and just yeah, crazy stuff happens so
Crazy Rich Asians. I've read each book multiple times, Like
(08:52):
I can just pick one of those books up and
just read it in one go. Can I add something
to that? Please?
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Do his latest book, Lies and Weddings? Yeah, so good,
My god, I think about that book all the time.
But also Crazy Ridge Asians. Because I went to Singapore recently,
my tour guide hated me. I was just asking them
so many questions. We went to La Pisade, which is
like where you get all the big sate and that
big thin and I was just like asking questions. I
(09:18):
was like, and this is a sate that they ate
in Crazy Ridge Asians. And he was like, can you
just eat your food? Like sh You're like no, it's
my favorite booll. I was like no, no, I know
this place. I know this place in my soul. He's
like yeah, yeah, yeah, like you and every other tourist
to come to.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
Yeah. Exactly. So highly recommend. If look, if these books
don't get you out of a reading rut, then nothing
will is all. I'll say that. Okay.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
My next one was one that helped me out recently
because I was in a bit of a reading rut.
This is a series I read the first book, and
I became completely obsessed that I started reading the second book.
And I remember I started reading the second book on
a Friday, and I was talking to all the girls
in the office who loved the series, and I was like, oh, yeah,
(09:59):
I'm up to like the first chapter in the second book.
All this is happening, and they're like, oh, cool, cool, cool.
And then I came back to work the Monday, so
we had Saturday Sunday. Came back to work on the Monday,
and they were like, how's the book going, And I
was like, I finished it, and then I finished the
third and then I finished the full and they were like,
holy hell.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
And you were like rocking back and forth with my eyes.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
I came because we had to record an episode, so
I had bloodshot eyes. This I like, my right eye
was twitching.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
It's so kind of crazy.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
It's still a bit that's I think that's just stress
in general. I was like so sleepy. But even then
at work, all I could think about was this stupid,
bloody fifth book I had to read. And I had
to wait the whole week because I knew if I
picked it up during the week, I wouldn't be able
to think about anything else this whole anticipation for this
one book. I am talking about the Akatar series by
(10:48):
Sarah Jay.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
How does that?
Speaker 2 (10:50):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (10:51):
Yes, that was just it's literally all anyone of the
about forced you to read it.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
Lbie's like reading them now because I told her that
we need.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
To do a full episode of oh and we will
don't we will?
Speaker 2 (11:02):
But the first book is really not everyone's favorite book
in the whole series, but it's the one that you
obviously have to read first or it gets everyone into
the series. It's a roman to see, so I'm elevated now.
I stop calling it very smart because I know that's
a bit offensive to people who love this genre. I've
been calling it a romanticy, which is what I've been
told to call it. And by romanticy, I mean it's
(11:22):
just fairies having crazy sex. It's really good. And it's
not just about the sex, okay, because like I came
in thinking, like I'm gonna get straight up porn. It's
not that there's an actual storyline. Are the characters a
bit weird? Yes? Are some of the female characters a
bit odd that I don't really like? Yes? But is
that because they are odd or is that just because
(11:44):
I have some internalized misogyny going on. I think it's
that reason because the men in these books, like the
male fairies, No man ever compares, Like I don't think
I can date anymore, Like you.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
Gotta watch out for those male fairy to date anymore.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
If I go on a date with a man, I'm
gonna be like, but where are your wings?
Speaker 1 (12:03):
Can I please be in the room next time you
ask a man?
Speaker 2 (12:05):
That also are your wings? And like why aren't you
flying me up to like your big castle that like
lavitates be on the ground, Like where like.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
Say a questions to ask a partner?
Speaker 2 (12:16):
You want me to split the bill?
Speaker 1 (12:18):
You haven't even flown me up to a cartet?
Speaker 2 (12:20):
And I know you're meant to have like a trove
of like treasures in your house, Like what's going on?
Speaker 1 (12:26):
Modern dating is a letdown.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
It's a letdown. But also the only issue I take
with these books if you try to be one of
those people who try to insert yourself in the book,
which I pretend to.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
Do, like I'm always a main everyone No whole books
have been written around characters that are made for you
to insert yourself into them. The most famous being bella Swan,
like that's a characters.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
Yeah, and this is why it piss me off from
people are like, Whey is Emily so obsessed with Mindy Kaling?
There's nothing worse than you pretending you're the main character
of a book. And then she says something dumb like
and then I pushed my blonde hair over my shoulder,
like you're not meant to be blonde.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
I'm meant to be you. Mindy Caling's gonna love how
many shout outs she's getting in this episode.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
Says, so this is a call out for all authors,
no description on your characters. I'll do that in my head,
thank you very much.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
So how many books back to me? Back to Akata?
It's just a personal shout.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
Five books in this series so far. Rumors that there's
going to be a six book dropping this year. Sarah
jay Mash she started writing Romanticy when she was like
sixteen years old, so.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
That's a prime age just writing, Like.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
I should have just stuck with my fan fiction tumblr
if this is what it could have been me brilliant writer.
It's such good storytelling and world building, like you actually
escape into these books. It's so well done. And such
easy reads, like you'll just fly through them like I did.
I would just drink a lot of you flew through them?
Did you really flew through them with my own wings
(13:55):
like a girl boss?
Speaker 1 (13:59):
Put that on a T shirt. Okay, I'm just raise
you head talk. Yeah you do? You want to lie
down for the best stressed. So when the Akatar series
began popping off, so many people in the office to
be like, Laura, are you getting into romanticy? Are you
going to read them? And to that, I slapped them
across the face and I said, how dare you? I
was raised by romanticy.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
It's all according mindical, We've done enough.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
Because romanticy is pretty much all I read through my teens,
through my twenties, and to be honest, into my early thirties.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
So if if you were reading romancy from the eighteen hundreds, well, yeah,
the reading like the Bible.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
What No, there's so many romanticy This isn't the first
Romanticy series. It's one of the biggest genres in the world.
Because romance books are one of the highest selling things
in the world that just don't get a lot of
attention until now when they're starting to kind of heat
up because it's mostly women buying them. But Romanticy has
been having a huge moment in the spotlight for decades,
particularly i'd say in the early two thousands that was
(15:01):
one of the big booms. So one of my favorite
Romanticy series that I feel like if you're loving Akatar
and you just want something on the same veins. I mean,
there's so many book series like that out there, but
one of my absolute favorite is the Fever series by
Karen Marie Monning. The Fever series, Yes, so the first
book came out in two thousands. Are you writing that down?
Speaker 2 (15:20):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (15:20):
Okay, I'll send you these notes to write it down.
I'm stressed, very cute. So there's eleven books in the series,
and you might.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
That's a commitment.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
You might feel like that's a lot, but once you
get into the first one, you'd be like, holy hell,
hook this to my veins. I'm going to read these
all through the night. So Dark Fever is the first novel.
These aren't like underground books. These were New York Times
best selling books, okay, and continue to sell millions of copies.
So the story starts off with a young girl who's working.
She's like graduated. She's still living with her parents. She's
a bit of a party girl. She works as a
(15:51):
bartender in Georgia. Her name's Mikhayla Lane. Everyone calls her Mac.
And her sister is over studying in Dublin in Ireland,
and her sister's the much more kind of studious one.
And then and her family find out that her sister
has been killed and the police are just you know,
not looking into it. They've kind of written it off.
So Mac, who is very close to her sister and
just thinks everything about her death sounds so suspicious, but
(16:13):
she doesn't know anyone in Ireland to ask about it,
so she jumps on a plane to fly to Dublin
and try and figure out what happened to her sister,
only to discover that Dublin is crawling with the Fay people,
which are very very sexy but dangerous. Kill you through sex.
Fairies kills you through sex. Yeah, some of them do. Oh,
a lot of them do.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
Yeah, they had this whole choice or does it just happen?
Speaker 1 (16:36):
No, they can just do it to you. Yeah, there's layers,
there's layers. So Mac also finds out that she and
posister both have this ability where they can see through
like the glamours that the fairies in London put up,
so she can see the fairies and the monsters and
the demons and all.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
This kind so they look like regular people.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
They can look like regular people, and then she can
see through them to their fairy cells. And there's this
whole underground world happening in Dublin of these fairy people.
And mac soon learns that her sister had discovered it
because she has the same ability and what has led
to her death as this big evil mastermind that's running Dublin.
Then she gets a job at this bookshop because it's
run by this man called Jericho. She can't figure out
(17:15):
what he is. What he is comes out over the
next couple of books. He's just a very hot, mysterious
man who also helps her start to uncover this fairy world.
And like all the demons and everything within it, it's
just so well written, like the world building and the
history and of this like young girl, she is blonde,
I'm so sorry she does change her hair at one
(17:38):
stage that makes you feel any better. And each book
kind of takes you further into the mystery of like
what happened to her sister. The different things she uncovers,
she starts to sort of make friends and enemies with
different people within, like the fairies and demons and everything.
And it's so good and it is wildly sexy, not
just between Mac and Jericho but between like all the
other fairy situations. But yeah, it does get pretty rapey
towards the end, which is with death by sex fairies,
(18:00):
which is something a lot of humans want. But yeah,
it's so good. There's eleven books. There were a best sellers,
so the Fever series, Like, Beva, you start this on
a Friday night, You're gonna call me on Saturday morning
and be like, I finished it. I finished. Look, I'm
in love with Jerich Ho, i'me in love with Christian mckelter.
I also want to be Mac. Oh my god, Well
I went to Dublin. I'd just walk the first time
I'd walk around at night, just picturing me being in that.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
So funny we me in Singapore's you in Dublin looking
for the Death Bisex Firies. Okay, this one I chose
because this's got me out of a reading slump when
I was quite young. During that period of when you
have to read all these big novels for school, and
then you graduate school and you're like, I'm never reading again.
I hate books.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
Okay, I never said, oh my god, that was me.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
I hated reading after school, Like I loved it, but
I hated it. I hate being told what to read.
But then I found this author. You might know her.
Her name is Jillian Flynn. She's quite famous. I think
I've heard that name once or twice. And her book
Sharp Objects got me right back into reading and the
love for reading. So Jillian Finnn she's like a psychological
(19:05):
thriller author. Thriller books are my favorite because I find
thriller movies too scary.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
I was gonna say, yeah, time we go to a
thriller movie, I look over and you're on the ground.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
Too scary, Whereas I can actually like appreciated in book
form because there's no like jump scares, you know what
I mean. Yeah, I had a jump scar. That's my thing.
I had a jump scare. But that's why I love
thriller books because I love like mystery, and I love
like those investigative novels and the kind of like the
description and the like who did it? I've been reading
The Housemaid, which is like a new thriller series. If
(19:36):
anyone else is reading that, come talk to me, sign
into my DMS. It's really good. But Sharp Objects is
about Camille Prika, who's a Chicago journalist and she returns
to her small hometown of Windgat, Missouri, and she moves
back in with her mom, who's a bit weird, and
her stepsister Emma, who she has like a bit of
an interesting relationship with. You also find out like this
(19:59):
family dynamic is quite weird because like her mum really
babies her stepsister even though her stepsisters like close to
being a grown woman. And you find out exactly why
there's been some murders in the small town, which is
why she's there, just a few, and they're all really
weird with like their teeth pulled out. Yeah, very gross,
but it's not gruesome gross. It's just very like, ooh gross.
(20:21):
And she with like the police, who she kind of
has like a bit of a fling with, try to
investigate these murders together. It is done so well. And
then from reading this book, I started reading Gone Girl
and then Dark Places, which are also massive Gillian Flynn novels.
Also very thriller and mystery. But if you're looking for
like a quick thriller fix, this is really good to
(20:42):
get you into like reading.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
And good plot twist at the end, very chilling.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
Ah a good blow twist. Oh my god.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
Well, going from a thriller to the ultimate comfort read,
I thought I just put one really good comfort read
in there. It just feels like a warm hug. This
is one of my absolute favorite books of all time.
I don't say that lightly because I've read thousands of books,
but it is The Shell Seekers by Roseven Pilcher. I
never read it. Well, it came out in the eighties. Obviously,
(21:08):
that was came before I was born.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
Why do you like reading books before you were born?
Speaker 1 (21:11):
Because you don't just read books from when you were born.
What is My mom gave me this book when I
was a teenager, and she loved it, and I loved it.
I've read this book. I'm gonna cry. I read this
book so many times. The pages fell apart in my
hands one day and I had to go buy a
new copy. And then I still have the pages from
the old book because I don't want to throw them away.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
Oh my god.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
So it's a really beautiful book. It's set in two
different time periods. Some of it is set in London.
It tells the story Penelope Keeling. When you first meet
her in the book, she's a woman in her fifties.
She lives in this beautiful, big house in the country,
and her father was a famous painter and she has
one of his paintings in her home. She has three
adult children, Olivia who's a magazine editor, her oldest daughter Nancy,
(21:55):
who's like a very you know, unsatisfying marriage, and then Noel,
who's like her wild son. And then it also goes
back in time to Penelope's life as like a young
girl with her mother and father in World War Two,
and it kind of goes back and forth in time
following all the different members of this family as they
kind of fight over this money. But it's just so incredible.
Olivia's story in particular, she's like this workaholic, fabulous magazine editor.
(22:20):
Then she goes to Ibitha on this like one week holiday,
falls madly in love with this older man called Cosmo,
and like stays there with him, and then like his
daughter comes into the later story. And it's just one
of those books where like the descriptions of like the
world they're in the countryside, I'm very pretty, and yeah,
it's all very pretty, but just like the depth of
emotion and all these different family members, Like even though
(22:42):
like Nola and Nancy are kind of the bad siblings,
you see so much into their world, into their family,
into how they feel that they become these very rich characters.
And then when you're going back to Penelope's life as
a child, as like with her big love story and
then why she marries a man she's not in love
with later on and having her children and how it
all culminates in this beautiful story of like family and
(23:02):
money and true love and all that sort of stuff.
Odd's so I don't want to go into the specifics
of all the characters because it is one of those
just like incredible, like human stories. There are some kind
of like twists and unexpected moments with you know, people
who die, and mysteries are uncovered in lies that were
told in the family and all that sort of stuff.
So like there is that kind of like all these
family secrets come to the surface, but mostly it's just
(23:24):
this like lovely interesting story about all these different people
and it's just so beautifully feel good it is. It'll
be sad, like I always cry multiple times in it.
Now there's some sad moments and there's some really beautiful
moments as well. It's just so good. I kind of
just go how good it is. Like it's just one
of those books where I wish I'd go back and
(23:46):
read it for the first time. But I'm also glad
I didn't read it now in my thirties, I'm glad
I wade as a teenage and I've had it for
my whole life.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
Yeah, that's yeah, that's nice of you to say.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
And I went to Ibtha on that cruise I went
on last year, and everyone's like, let's go party, and
I was like, walking around.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
Let's go to this little cottage, No I did.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
I walked around to where I thought Cosmo's house would have,
being like where they pitch it and just go to
some random So I was standing there being like, they're
not real people, but I was like, this is where
she was imagining when she wrote those scenes. So yeah.
The shell Seekers by Rosmen Pelcher. There are movies and
TV shows they're not great. Don't watch that, okay, don't
be like, oh Laura said the book was good. The
movie must be good. No, no, no, no, just the book,
(24:23):
just the book.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
Thank you so much for listening to the Spill today.
If you love this episode, we did have a lot
of recommendations in it, so I'm just gonna list off
all the books we talked about. So get a pen
and paper ready.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
Yeah, pause it here if you have to get yourself ready,
send this to yourself as a voice.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
Not whatever elevated music. Okay, surely you have a pen
and paper by now. These are the books in order
that you heard them in, not order of our preference.
That will be a fire to that will never end.
Romantic comedy, Crazy Rich Asians, The Fever series, Akata, shell Seekers,
(24:59):
and Sharp Objects. These are your books. They're really good.
If you want to get out of a reading right,
get them on your list.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
The Spill is.
Speaker 2 (25:08):
Produced by Kimberly Bradish with sound production by Scott Stronik.
We will be back here on your podcast speed at
three pm on Monday. Bye bye, Mamma Mia acknowledges the
traditional owners of the land. We have recorded this podcast
(25:31):
on the Gatagul people of the Eora nation. We pay
our respects to their elders past and present, and extend
that respect to all Aboriginal and torres Rate Islander cultures.
You're listening to a Mumma mea podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Hello and Vernon Here, I'm the host with Laura Brodneck
on Momma MIA's pop culture entertainment podcast, The Spill. We
are dropping in the book club feed for those who
are stuck in a bit of a reading slump and
desperately need help to climb out of it. As your
resident book obsessives, we have curated the ultimate list of
books that will have you canceling plants and staying up
(00:32):
way too late to read these. We're also diving into
the addictive world of romanticy, including Little Hidden Gem series
that we guarantee you haven't discovered yet. So get ready
get your list out to write all these recommendations down,
because these are absolutely the best books ever.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
From Mamma Mia. Welcome to The Spill, your daily pop
culture fixed. I'm Laura Brodney and I'm m Vernon and
coming up on the show today. Look, you guys have
been asking it in my dms. At least I've been
at least twenty in the last oh no, that's not
even a joke, in the last two months, So ten
a month isn't too bad. We are talking about not
just our favorite books of all time. That's a separate topic.
(01:15):
Actually we did an episode on that. I'll link in
the show notes. We are doing the books that will
get you out of a reading slump. We've all been there,
Like you're an avid reader, and then like life gets
busy or now you know, we're watching our phones, we
go down a TikTok a rabbit hole at nine instead
of reading, and then you try and pick up a book.
It's whatever book is trending at the moment, and you
try and read it and you're like, this is hard
(01:36):
and I hate it and I don't want to do it.
And then you're kind of out of reading for a
while because your mind is not leading you there and
you've had a bad experience. And then we've all also
been here where you pick up that one book and
it draws you in so intently and you read it
all in one go. You stay up late, you read
it at work when you should be working. I mean,
I've never done that, but others might have. See. I
(01:57):
mean I was looking down and I said it. And
so we're going to take you through those books today,
the books that will keep you turning the pages, the
books that you'll finish in the middle of the night,
just the books that will get you back into reading.
So as soon as you finish that, you look run
to your bookshelf and you think, what am I going
to read next? I love that?
Speaker 2 (02:13):
Okay? Can I go first?
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Yes? This one.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
I kind of cheated because the only reason I have
this on my list was because our producer Kim asked us, Hey,
I need a book to get me out of a
reading slump, and you recommended this book and I was.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
Like, oh, And I also told her i'd bring it
in like three days.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
But then I have a double whammy because I'm talking
about it. Plus I'm calling you out for not bringing
in that.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
I'm so sorry, producer Kim. Someone messaged me when I'm
at home to put it in my back Okay, we will.
I'll put that on my to do thank you. So
I'm sorry, Kim. But now you're just gonna hear about.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
How good this book is, how badly you should be
reading it if you ever get the chance to. So
the book I am talking about is romantic comedy. Oh
my god, I love.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
This book so much. I just got to literally just
got a chill. If you're saying that name no good.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
Can I confess something?
Speaker 1 (03:00):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (03:01):
I read it four times?
Speaker 1 (03:02):
Did you really all? I believe it?
Speaker 2 (03:04):
You can read it in a day.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
You can read it in a day. But also the chemistry,
especially towards the end of the book, like I wish
I could feel that for the first time again.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
To the romance in this book. It's by Curtis Sittenfield,
absolutely brilliant, brilliant writer. So it's called romantic comedy. The
book is a romantic comedy. It's very funny. I don't
want to call it a pandemic book because I know
that turns people off. But there is a big section
that happens during the pandemic, and it's the first.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
Book I've read that in where I really felt it
added so much the story and it didn't make me
feel like stressed about lockdowns. Obviously that was a stressful time,
but it's written into the book so well, and it's
such an important part of the story, and it really
builds the central romance that it's not going to make
you sad.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
It's not going to make you sad. It's done really well.
I was like looking up how I can explain the
book because you know I'm very good at explaining fluff.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
I love when you explain something you've just watched or read,
because I was like, did you watch or read it?
I did?
Speaker 2 (04:00):
I promise you I've read it four times. Will I
be able to explain it?
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Who knows.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
But I saw a blog that said it gave them
the vibe of what it would have been like if
Mindy Kaling when she was writing for the Office of
fl I'm like, that's so true. That is such a
Mindy Kaling thing. Anyway, that was a sidetrack. But the
book is about a writer called Sally Milt. She works
on a Saturday Night Live ish show. It's called The
Night A pretty much Saturday Saturday Night Live. Like to
(04:26):
the Tea, It's exactly like it. The layout of the
book is my absolutely favorite part because instead of big chapters,
there's three distinct parts. Yeah, like her and her work
where she meets the famous pop star Noah Brewster, and
then the pandemic where they're back and forth with the emails,
and then at the end where they reunite again. And
(04:46):
I love how the chapters are like according to her work,
timetable because Saturday Night Live, which we have talked about
in the past, like if you're a writer for the show,
you don't sleep. Essentially, sleep is not on the table.
You're in the offices from like two am. Sometimes you
come there at five am. You're there like writing, writing, writing.
The days are crazy. So I love how it's broken
(05:08):
down into like two am and then they're all just
in the office.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
I'm still riding.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
It's so well done, it's so funny, and it's one
of those things where you see a female protagonist talk
so openly about how it's not always like the main
character is like a pretty beautiful woman. And we've talked
about this as well. When an author wants you to
know that their main character is pretty, it's always like
some weird flashback of them going, Sarah always knew she
(05:34):
was a pretty girl, but it was only when she's
standing in this ball gown that she really feel like
she was a woman. So it's one of those things
where we've all seen it where it's like some really
funny comedian guy always ends up with like a beautiful
like Oscar winning star, Yeah, Colin, Joe Scarlet, Johansson, Oh geez,
that's a low blow. And this does the opposite right,
(05:54):
like she is the funny comedian and she kind of
describes herself as like quote unquote average looking, and the
pop star she falls in love with is like this
big Hollywood star. It's so funny, so well done. Put
on your list. If you feel like there's nothing that's
up your alley to read, read this.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Okay, I'm gonna cheat a little here. Actually I'm gonna
cheat twice. This is the first time because this isn't
a book, it's a book series. But once you read
the first one, you want to speed through the other
two series as well. Yeah, and I've got two that's fine. Well, again,
nothing gets you out of a reading, right, like when
you finish a great book and there's six more of
them to read. So I'm recommending the Crazy Rich Asian
series by Kevin Kwan, one of my all time favorites,
(06:34):
the ultimate page turner, the ultimate like just indulgent read that.
I've literally gone on holidays with these books and completely
ignored my family and other people because I'm like, no, no,
I have to finish this book.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Now.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
I'm sure a lot of you are saying, Crazy Rich
Asians is my favorite movie. Why would I read the book?
I know what happens, and to that, I would say
crazy rich Asians is also one of my ignorance. Yeah, exactly,
because the book is very different. They're a lot meaner
in the book, is all. I'll say. There is a
lot more tense and there's a.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
Lot more money in the book.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
Oh yeah, and just the way, like Kevin Kwan's way
of just describing what everyone's wearing, what they're whispering, what
they're saying, what they're eating, and.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
The dreach character has a storyline, whereas like in the movie,
you just see like the main character's storyline and then
everyone's kind of a side person.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Ah, but the book is just the book gives.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
Everyone much more rich characters. So if you're not across
crazy rich changes at all, I don't even know how
to explain this to you. But Rachel and Nick mean
in New York. They fall in love. She thinks he's
just like a nice young guy from Singapore. They go
over to visit his family, where she discovers that he's baby,
the ultimate NEPO baby. That he's not just rich, he's
crazy rich. And obviously his family are very against her
(07:45):
marrying into their family. So that's the first book in
the series, Crazy Rich Asians. They're also Asian, that's where
the Asian comes from. Yes, then we have China Rich Girlfriend,
which is a second book, and then Rich People Problems
a third book. And I'd say China Rich Girlfriend is
where things get crazy. You'll just say there's a poisoning
plot with Rachel. Rachel also finds out who her father is.
(08:09):
Massive plot twist. There something Nick's family was not expecting.
And I don't know, it's just a page turner. It
keeps you going. You've got the opulence and like the
history where they are, Like Kevin Kwan does such an
amazing job of describing all the places in Singapore they're
going to, but also, as you're saying, gives you more
in depth backstory and all of Nick's family members and
(08:29):
let's just say we see his mum in the movie
played by Michelle Yo. Kind of come around to it
in the books, especially in the movie the grandma is nice.
Holy hell that is a demon in the books. No no,
And then going on to Rich People Problems when the
grandmother's on her deathbedd and the whole family comes together
in the mansion and just yeah, crazy stuff happens so
Crazy Rich Asians. I've read each book multiple times, Like
(08:52):
I can just pick one of those books up and
just read it in one go. Can I add something
to that? Please?
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Do his latest book, Lies and Weddings? Yeah, so good,
My god, I think about that book all the time.
But also Crazy Ridge Asians. Because I went to Singapore recently,
my tour guide hated me. I was just asking them
so many questions. We went to La Pisade, which is
like where you get all the big sate and that
big thin and I was just like asking questions. I
(09:18):
was like, and this is a sate that they ate
in Crazy Ridge Asians. And he was like, can you
just eat your food? Like sh You're like no, it's
my favorite booll. I was like no, no, I know
this place. I know this place in my soul. He's
like yeah, yeah, yeah, like you and every other tourist
to come to.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
Yeah. Exactly. So highly recommend. If look, if these books
don't get you out of a reading rut, then nothing
will is all. I'll say that. Okay.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
My next one was one that helped me out recently
because I was in a bit of a reading rut.
This is a series I read the first book, and
I became completely obsessed that I started reading the second book.
And I remember I started reading the second book on
a Friday, and I was talking to all the girls
in the office who loved the series, and I was like, oh, yeah,
(09:59):
I'm up to like the first chapter in the second book.
All this is happening, and they're like, oh, cool, cool, cool.
And then I came back to work the Monday, so
we had Saturday Sunday. Came back to work on the Monday,
and they were like, how's the book going, And I
was like, I finished it, and then I finished the
third and then I finished the full and they were like,
holy hell.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
And you were like rocking back and forth with my eyes.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
I came because we had to record an episode, so
I had bloodshot eyes. This I like, my right eye
was twitching.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
It's so kind of crazy.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
It's still a bit that's I think that's just stress
in general. I was like so sleepy. But even then
at work, all I could think about was this stupid,
bloody fifth book I had to read. And I had
to wait the whole week because I knew if I
picked it up during the week, I wouldn't be able
to think about anything else this whole anticipation for this
one book. I am talking about the Akatar series by
(10:48):
Sarah Jay.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
How does that?
Speaker 2 (10:50):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (10:51):
Yes, that was just it's literally all anyone of the
about forced you to read it.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
Lbie's like reading them now because I told her that
we need.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
To do a full episode of oh and we will
don't we will?
Speaker 2 (11:02):
But the first book is really not everyone's favorite book
in the whole series, but it's the one that you
obviously have to read first or it gets everyone into
the series. It's a roman to see, so I'm elevated now.
I stop calling it very smart because I know that's
a bit offensive to people who love this genre. I've
been calling it a romanticy, which is what I've been
told to call it. And by romanticy, I mean it's
(11:22):
just fairies having crazy sex. It's really good. And it's
not just about the sex, okay, because like I came
in thinking, like I'm gonna get straight up porn. It's
not that there's an actual storyline. Are the characters a
bit weird? Yes? Are some of the female characters a
bit odd that I don't really like? Yes? But is
that because they are odd or is that just because
(11:44):
I have some internalized misogyny going on. I think it's
that reason because the men in these books, like the
male fairies, No man ever compares, Like I don't think
I can date anymore, Like you.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
Gotta watch out for those male fairy to date anymore.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
If I go on a date with a man, I'm
gonna be like, but where are your wings?
Speaker 1 (12:03):
Can I please be in the room next time you
ask a man?
Speaker 2 (12:05):
That also are your wings? And like why aren't you
flying me up to like your big castle that like
lavitates be on the ground, Like where like.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
Say a questions to ask a partner?
Speaker 2 (12:16):
You want me to split the bill?
Speaker 1 (12:18):
You haven't even flown me up to a cartet?
Speaker 2 (12:20):
And I know you're meant to have like a trove
of like treasures in your house, Like what's going on?
Speaker 1 (12:26):
Modern dating is a letdown.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
It's a letdown. But also the only issue I take
with these books if you try to be one of
those people who try to insert yourself in the book,
which I pretend to.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
Do, like I'm always a main everyone No whole books
have been written around characters that are made for you
to insert yourself into them. The most famous being bella Swan,
like that's a characters.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
Yeah, and this is why it piss me off from
people are like, Whey is Emily so obsessed with Mindy Kaling?
There's nothing worse than you pretending you're the main character
of a book. And then she says something dumb like
and then I pushed my blonde hair over my shoulder,
like you're not meant to be blonde.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
I'm meant to be you. Mindy Caling's gonna love how
many shout outs she's getting in this episode.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
Says, so this is a call out for all authors,
no description on your characters. I'll do that in my head,
thank you very much.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
So how many books back to me? Back to Akata?
It's just a personal shout.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
Five books in this series so far. Rumors that there's
going to be a six book dropping this year. Sarah
jay Mash she started writing Romanticy when she was like
sixteen years old, so.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
That's a prime age just writing, Like.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
I should have just stuck with my fan fiction tumblr
if this is what it could have been me brilliant writer.
It's such good storytelling and world building, like you actually
escape into these books. It's so well done. And such
easy reads, like you'll just fly through them like I did.
I would just drink a lot of you flew through them?
Did you really flew through them with my own wings
(13:55):
like a girl boss?
Speaker 1 (13:59):
Put that on a T shirt. Okay, I'm just raise
you head talk. Yeah you do? You want to lie
down for the best stressed. So when the Akatar series
began popping off, so many people in the office to
be like, Laura, are you getting into romanticy? Are you
going to read them? And to that, I slapped them
across the face and I said, how dare you? I
was raised by romanticy.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
It's all according mindical, We've done enough.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
Because romanticy is pretty much all I read through my teens,
through my twenties, and to be honest, into my early thirties.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
So if if you were reading romancy from the eighteen hundreds, well, yeah,
the reading like the Bible.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
What No, there's so many romanticy This isn't the first
Romanticy series. It's one of the biggest genres in the world.
Because romance books are one of the highest selling things
in the world that just don't get a lot of
attention until now when they're starting to kind of heat
up because it's mostly women buying them. But Romanticy has
been having a huge moment in the spotlight for decades,
particularly i'd say in the early two thousands that was
(15:01):
one of the big booms. So one of my favorite
Romanticy series that I feel like if you're loving Akatar
and you just want something on the same veins. I mean,
there's so many book series like that out there, but
one of my absolute favorite is the Fever series by
Karen Marie Monning. The Fever series, Yes, so the first
book came out in two thousands. Are you writing that down?
Speaker 2 (15:20):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (15:20):
Okay, I'll send you these notes to write it down.
I'm stressed, very cute. So there's eleven books in the series,
and you might.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
That's a commitment.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
You might feel like that's a lot, but once you
get into the first one, you'd be like, holy hell,
hook this to my veins. I'm going to read these
all through the night. So Dark Fever is the first novel.
These aren't like underground books. These were New York Times
best selling books, okay, and continue to sell millions of copies.
So the story starts off with a young girl who's working.
She's like graduated. She's still living with her parents. She's
a bit of a party girl. She works as a
(15:51):
bartender in Georgia. Her name's Mikhayla Lane. Everyone calls her Mac.
And her sister is over studying in Dublin in Ireland,
and her sister's the much more kind of studious one.
And then and her family find out that her sister
has been killed and the police are just you know,
not looking into it. They've kind of written it off.
So Mac, who is very close to her sister and
just thinks everything about her death sounds so suspicious, but
(16:13):
she doesn't know anyone in Ireland to ask about it,
so she jumps on a plane to fly to Dublin
and try and figure out what happened to her sister,
only to discover that Dublin is crawling with the Fay people,
which are very very sexy but dangerous. Kill you through sex.
Fairies kills you through sex. Yeah, some of them do. Oh,
a lot of them do.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
Yeah, they had this whole choice or does it just happen?
Speaker 1 (16:36):
No, they can just do it to you. Yeah, there's layers,
there's layers. So Mac also finds out that she and
posister both have this ability where they can see through
like the glamours that the fairies in London put up,
so she can see the fairies and the monsters and
the demons and all.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
This kind so they look like regular people.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
They can look like regular people, and then she can
see through them to their fairy cells. And there's this
whole underground world happening in Dublin of these fairy people.
And mac soon learns that her sister had discovered it
because she has the same ability and what has led
to her death as this big evil mastermind that's running Dublin.
Then she gets a job at this bookshop because it's
run by this man called Jericho. She can't figure out
(17:15):
what he is. What he is comes out over the
next couple of books. He's just a very hot, mysterious
man who also helps her start to uncover this fairy world.
And like all the demons and everything within it, it's
just so well written, like the world building and the
history and of this like young girl, she is blonde,
I'm so sorry she does change her hair at one
(17:38):
stage that makes you feel any better. And each book
kind of takes you further into the mystery of like
what happened to her sister. The different things she uncovers,
she starts to sort of make friends and enemies with
different people within, like the fairies and demons and everything.
And it's so good and it is wildly sexy, not
just between Mac and Jericho but between like all the
other fairy situations. But yeah, it does get pretty rapey
towards the end, which is with death by sex fairies,
(18:00):
which is something a lot of humans want. But yeah,
it's so good. There's eleven books. There were a best sellers,
so the Fever series, Like, Beva, you start this on
a Friday night, You're gonna call me on Saturday morning
and be like, I finished it. I finished. Look, I'm
in love with Jerich Ho, i'me in love with Christian mckelter.
I also want to be Mac. Oh my god, Well
I went to Dublin. I'd just walk the first time
I'd walk around at night, just picturing me being in that.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
So funny we me in Singapore's you in Dublin looking
for the Death Bisex Firies. Okay, this one I chose
because this's got me out of a reading slump when
I was quite young. During that period of when you
have to read all these big novels for school, and
then you graduate school and you're like, I'm never reading again.
I hate books.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
Okay, I never said, oh my god, that was me.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
I hated reading after school, Like I loved it, but
I hated it. I hate being told what to read.
But then I found this author. You might know her.
Her name is Jillian Flynn. She's quite famous. I think
I've heard that name once or twice. And her book
Sharp Objects got me right back into reading and the
love for reading. So Jillian Finnn she's like a psychological
(19:05):
thriller author. Thriller books are my favorite because I find
thriller movies too scary.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
I was gonna say, yeah, time we go to a
thriller movie, I look over and you're on the ground.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
Too scary, Whereas I can actually like appreciated in book
form because there's no like jump scares, you know what
I mean. Yeah, I had a jump scar. That's my thing.
I had a jump scare. But that's why I love
thriller books because I love like mystery, and I love
like those investigative novels and the kind of like the
description and the like who did it? I've been reading
The Housemaid, which is like a new thriller series. If
(19:36):
anyone else is reading that, come talk to me, sign
into my DMS. It's really good. But Sharp Objects is
about Camille Prika, who's a Chicago journalist and she returns
to her small hometown of Windgat, Missouri, and she moves
back in with her mom, who's a bit weird, and
her stepsister Emma, who she has like a bit of
an interesting relationship with. You also find out like this
(19:59):
family dynamic is quite weird because like her mum really
babies her stepsister even though her stepsisters like close to
being a grown woman. And you find out exactly why
there's been some murders in the small town, which is
why she's there, just a few, and they're all really
weird with like their teeth pulled out. Yeah, very gross,
but it's not gruesome gross. It's just very like, ooh gross.
(20:21):
And she with like the police, who she kind of
has like a bit of a fling with, try to
investigate these murders together. It is done so well. And
then from reading this book, I started reading Gone Girl
and then Dark Places, which are also massive Gillian Flynn novels.
Also very thriller and mystery. But if you're looking for
like a quick thriller fix, this is really good to
(20:42):
get you into like reading.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
And good plot twist at the end, very chilling.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
Ah a good blow twist. Oh my god.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
Well, going from a thriller to the ultimate comfort read,
I thought I just put one really good comfort read
in there. It just feels like a warm hug. This
is one of my absolute favorite books of all time.
I don't say that lightly because I've read thousands of books,
but it is The Shell Seekers by Roseven Pilcher. I
never read it. Well, it came out in the eighties. Obviously,
(21:08):
that was came before I was born.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
Why do you like reading books before you were born?
Speaker 1 (21:11):
Because you don't just read books from when you were born.
What is My mom gave me this book when I
was a teenager, and she loved it, and I loved it.
I've read this book. I'm gonna cry. I read this
book so many times. The pages fell apart in my
hands one day and I had to go buy a
new copy. And then I still have the pages from
the old book because I don't want to throw them away.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
Oh my god.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
So it's a really beautiful book. It's set in two
different time periods. Some of it is set in London.
It tells the story Penelope Keeling. When you first meet
her in the book, she's a woman in her fifties.
She lives in this beautiful, big house in the country,
and her father was a famous painter and she has
one of his paintings in her home. She has three
adult children, Olivia who's a magazine editor, her oldest daughter Nancy,
(21:55):
who's like a very you know, unsatisfying marriage, and then Noel,
who's like her wild son. And then it also goes
back in time to Penelope's life as like a young
girl with her mother and father in World War Two,
and it kind of goes back and forth in time
following all the different members of this family as they
kind of fight over this money. But it's just so incredible.
Olivia's story in particular, she's like this workaholic, fabulous magazine editor.
(22:20):
Then she goes to Ibitha on this like one week holiday,
falls madly in love with this older man called Cosmo,
and like stays there with him, and then like his
daughter comes into the later story. And it's just one
of those books where like the descriptions of like the
world they're in the countryside, I'm very pretty, and yeah,
it's all very pretty, but just like the depth of
emotion and all these different family members, Like even though
(22:42):
like Nola and Nancy are kind of the bad siblings,
you see so much into their world, into their family,
into how they feel that they become these very rich characters.
And then when you're going back to Penelope's life as
a child, as like with her big love story and
then why she marries a man she's not in love
with later on and having her children and how it
all culminates in this beautiful story of like family and
(23:02):
money and true love and all that sort of stuff.
Odd's so I don't want to go into the specifics
of all the characters because it is one of those
just like incredible, like human stories. There are some kind
of like twists and unexpected moments with you know, people
who die, and mysteries are uncovered in lies that were
told in the family and all that sort of stuff.
So like there is that kind of like all these
family secrets come to the surface, but mostly it's just
(23:24):
this like lovely interesting story about all these different people
and it's just so beautifully feel good it is. It'll
be sad, like I always cry multiple times in it.
Now there's some sad moments and there's some really beautiful
moments as well. It's just so good. I kind of
just go how good it is. Like it's just one
of those books where I wish I'd go back and
(23:46):
read it for the first time. But I'm also glad
I didn't read it now in my thirties, I'm glad
I wade as a teenage and I've had it for
my whole life.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
Yeah, that's yeah, that's nice of you to say.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
And I went to Ibtha on that cruise I went
on last year, and everyone's like, let's go party, and
I was like, walking around.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
Let's go to this little cottage, No I did.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
I walked around to where I thought Cosmo's house would have,
being like where they pitch it and just go to
some random So I was standing there being like, they're
not real people, but I was like, this is where
she was imagining when she wrote those scenes. So yeah.
The shell Seekers by Rosmen Pelcher. There are movies and
TV shows they're not great. Don't watch that, okay, don't
be like, oh Laura said the book was good. The
movie must be good. No, no, no, no, just the book,
(24:23):
just the book.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
Thank you so much for listening to the Spill today.
If you love this episode, we did have a lot
of recommendations in it, so I'm just gonna list off
all the books we talked about. So get a pen
and paper ready.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
Yeah, pause it here if you have to get yourself ready,
send this to yourself as a voice.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
Not whatever elevated music. Okay, surely you have a pen
and paper by now. These are the books in order
that you heard them in, not order of our preference.
That will be a fire to that will never end.
Romantic comedy, Crazy Rich Asians, The Fever series, Akata, shell Seekers,
(24:59):
and Sharp Objects. These are your books. They're really good.
If you want to get out of a reading right,
get them on your list.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
The Spill is.
Speaker 2 (25:08):
Produced by Kimberly Bradish with sound production by Scott Stronik.
We will be back here on your podcast speed at
three pm on Monday. Bye bye, Mamma Mia acknowledges the
traditional owners of the land. We have recorded this podcast
(25:31):
on the Gatagul people of the Eora nation. We pay
our respects to their elders past and present, and extend
that respect to all Aboriginal and torres Rate Islander cultures.
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