Novel Pairings

We’re excited to be back in your podcast feeds to pair highly anticipated fall book releases with beloved backlist favorites. Prepare to overload your TBR pile as we dive into an exciting fall publishing season filled with moody, atmospheric titles. In today’s episode, we’ll share our carefully curated lists of outstanding upcoming fiction from both renowned authors and indie presses, along with a selection of diverse fiction and nonfiction we think you’ll enjoy, all paired with a backlist book to explore while you await your library holds and pre-orders. Before diving into the books, we want to remind our community that Chelsey will be on maternity leave this fall. As a small (very small!) business, this requires significant planning and adjustments. To best manage our schedules while preserving the community we've created, we will take a short break from the main feed while focusing on providing fun, nerdy new content on Patreon at patreon.com/novelpairings.  We aim to return to the main feed in December or January with a special episode featuring the best books of 2024, along with a thrilling spring season. In the meantime, we will continue to offer bonus episodes, discussion-based classes, and book club events through our Patreon community. You can join us at either the $5 or $10 level, depending on your desired level of participation. We are incredibly thankful for your support. Thank you for being with us!    Books Mentioned The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro Frankenstein by Mary Shelley I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith Guide Me Home by Attica Locke  The Headmaster by Tiffany Reisz  Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno Garcia  The Professor by Charlotte Bronte Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout The Burgess Boys by Elizabeth Strout Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout Lucy by the Sea by Elizabeth Strout Graveyard Shift by ML Rio  If We Were Villians by ML Rio The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osmond The Wildes by Louis Bayard The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde  The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde Jackie & Me by Louis Bayard The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng Heir by Sabaa Tahir  Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon Don’t Be a Stranger by Susan Minot Sandwich by Catherine Newman All Fours by Miranda July The Bog Wife by Kay Chronister  Olympus, Texas by Stacey Swann The Starling House by Alix E. Harrow Curdle Creek by Yvonnne Battle-Felton Ours by Philip B. Williams Lone Women by Victor Lavalle The Muse of Maiden Lane by Mimi Matthews The Lily of Ludgate Hill by Mimi Matthews Persuasion by Jane Austen The Wedgford Trials by Courtney Milian The Children of Jocasta by Natalie Haynes  Homefire by Kamila Shamsie Rental House by Weike Wang Chemistry by Weike Wang Joan Is Okay by Weike Wang Goodbye Vitamin by Rachel Kong The Fortnite In September by RC Sheriff   Also Mentioned The English Teacher A Discovery of Witches Fiction Matters Substack Joyce Carol Oates Algonquin Books Anonymous Divorce/Sex Substack Cup of Jo Substack  

As the summer reading season comes to a close, we’re turning our eyes to fall. With Chelsey on maternity leave, we’ve made some thoughtful adjustments to our plans and structure here at Novel Pairings. Our goal is to ensure that we stay connected and continue to foster the amazing community we’ve built together. The best way to stay connected this fall is through our Patreon community; we’re excited about the bonus episodes, discussion based classes and book club events we have planned!  On today’s episode, we revisit last summer's buzzy book reviews from our Patreon archives. Each summer, we sit down for a conversation where we share our thoughts on the latest buzzworthy books we've read. Today, we're re-airing last summer's discussion on popular titles, which features some unconventional opinions on well-known works. Follow us on Instagram @novelpairingspod and subscribe to our newsletter at novelpairings.substack.com. Books Mentioned The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro  Frankenstein by Mary Shelley Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith The Rachel Incident by Caroline O’ Donaghue The Centre by Ayesha Manazir Saddiqi Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros Tom Lake by Ann Patchett Congratulations, the Best is Over by R. Eric Thomas Yellowface by R.F. Kuang Happy Place by Emily Henry Talking at Night by Claire Daverley Family Lore by Elizabeth Acevedo Loot by Tania James Also Mentioned Our Town on YouTube  Chelsey's Recipe for a Summer Romance Reading Guide  Sara's Reading in Public newsletter on long books and active attention  

In today's recap episode, we discuss Book One of The Custom of the Country (that's chapters 1-10 if your book is not divided into books). This episode includes detailed discussion of the plot and characters introduced in this first section of the novel, so spoilers abound. We discuss our initial impressions of the unforgettable character that is Undine Spragg, how well this book would translate to the screen, a close read of a mythology reference, and what we've learned about parenting from this portion of the novel because we desperately want to avoid raising Undines! Some more background on this episode: twice a year, we choose a big bucket list classic to read together as a community. For every book we read, we dust off our English teacher skills to break down plot, themes, style, and more in recurring recap podcast episodes. We have our Big Book Summer Read Along of Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables on the horizon and we’d love for you to join us! We do know that it can be hard to sign up for a subscription community if you don’t know what you’re getting so we wanted to give you a taste for what we do in our Patreon Classics Club by putting two of our recent recap episodes here on the main feed. Over the winter months, we read Edith Wharton’s The Custom of the Country and we think it would make for a great summer read if you haven’t read it yet.  If you love these two episodes, head over to our Patreon at patreon.com/novelpairings. Enrolling at the $10 Literature Scholar level will get you access to the rest of our Custom of the Country recap series, the corresponding classes, our entire Odyssey recap series from last summer, and all of our previous bonus episodes and class recordings. Plus, you'll get access to our current summer recap series of Les Misérables. Books Mentioned: The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton Eloise at The Plaza by Kay Thompson Also Mentioned: Gossip Girl  

Today’s episode is a special one! Twice a year, we choose a big bucket list classic to read together as a community. For every big book we read, Chelsey and Sara dust off their English teacher skills to break down plot, themes, style, and more in recurring recap podcast episodes. We have our Big Book Summer Read Along of Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables on the horizon and we’d love for you to join us! We do know that it can be hard to sign up for a subscription community if you don’t know what you’re getting so we wanted to give you a taste for what we do in our Patreon Classics Club by putting two of our recent recap episodes here on the main feed. Over the winter months, we read Edith Wharton’s The Custom of the Country and we think it would make for a great summer read if you haven’t read it yet.  If you love these two episodes, head over to our Patreon at patreon.com/novelpairings. Enrolling at the $10 Literature Scholar level will get you access to the rest of our Custom of the Country recap series, the corresponding classes, our entire Odyssey recap series from last summer, and all of our previous bonus episodes and class recordings. Plus, you'll get access to our current summer recap series of Les Misérables. In today's first recap episode, we discuss the introduction materials from the Penguin Classics (Sofia Coppola & Sarah Blackwood) and Scribner (Brandon Taylor) versions of the text. You do not need to read the intros in order to listen to this episode. Future recaps will include plot spoilers, of course, but this introduction episode is completely spoiler-free! We discuss initial impressions of the introductions, lenses and questions for guided reading, literary relevance and contemporary comparisons, and three big things to look for as you read. Books Mentioned: The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray Also Mentioned: The Buccaneers Bridgerton The Gilded Age Downton Abbey