Talk Booky To Me

Time to round-out July with a final discussion of all things stars, skies, or something like that. Join us, Felicia and Aaron, as we check in on our TBR progress and mourn a small reading slump alongside the greater challenges of toxic gender roles, politics, and discrimination (the latter three are much more important than the first - to be clear). We open the episode with some news full of book recommendations, cover the few books we managed to power through since mid-month, and finish with random recommendations. Thank you for listening, and you can reach us at the outlets below!
 
Books Discussed at Length:
Violets - Kyung-Sook Shin
Lost in the Dark and Other Excursions - John Langan
Dolls and Daggers - D.L. Darby
Flawless - Elsie Silver
 
Contact:
Email - talkbooky@gmail.com
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/talkbooky/
Felicia's GoodRead's - https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/10748838-felicia
Aaron's GoodRead's - https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/27722090-aaron
 
News:
Felicia - https://electricliterature.com/15-novels-in-translation-you-should-be-reading-this-summer-and-fall/
Aaron - https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/23/books/review/lemony-snicket-anti-summer-reading-list.html

July is packed with sunny days and twinkling night skies, and so is this episode. Join us, Felicia and Aaron, as we try to reach out to the great beyond for some deity, alien, or whatever exists up there. We start with news on nonbinary books, cover some books we hauled this month, and move on to our TBR progress. Felicia is especially happy to discuss some humorous Olympian literature and not as happy to explain a few pacing issues that drug her month down a bit, but there are rereads sprinkled in for balance. Aaron is still stuck in middle-school, but we don't need to unpack that quite yet. We wrap everything up with tips to break a reading slump and set our sights on the last few weeks of the month. Thank you for listening, and you can reach us at the outlets below.
 
Books Discussed at Length:
The Austere Academy (Book Five) - Lemony Snicket
Shattered Rhythm (Book One); Battered Moves (Book Two) - Blake Black
Disobedient Pawn (Book One); Defiant Knight (Book Two) - Brooklyn Cross
The Words - Ashley Jade
Blood of Hercules - Jasmine Mas
 
Contact:
Email - talkbooky@gmail.com
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/talkbooky/
Felicia's GoodRead's - https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/10748838-felicia
Aaron's GoodRead's - https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/27722090-aaron
 
Felicia's News: 
https://bookriot.com/books-by-nonbinary-authors-2025/ 

Once again, we, Felicia and Aaron, have a complaint for the world of books! In this episode, we discuss the frustrating issue of books with bad openings. Thank you for listening, and you can reach us at the outlets below.
 
Contact:
Email - talkbooky@gmail.com
Instagram - @talkbooky
Felicia's GoodReads - goodreads.com/femarie
Aaron's GoodReads - goodreads.com/atcole1400

July marks a major milestone for those in the U.S.A., but this podcast isn't feeling the most patriotic lately. Regardless, we, Felicia and Aaron, are setting a new theme that reaches out to the ethereal skies and exchange books that will bring some joy to this conflicting feeling we have. Join us as we cover some light news, exchange books, set our TBR for the month, and end with a fun question about surprising books. Thank you for listening, and you can reach us at the outlets below.
 
Contacts:
Email - talkbooky@gmail.com
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/talkbooky/
Felicia's GoodRead's - https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/10748838-felicia
Aaron's GoodRead's - https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/27722090-aaron
 

Welcome to the end of June (no menacing tone implied). Join us, Felicia and Aaron, as we cover some end-of-the-month news, including GoodReads awards and the lack of Black Muslim YA. Then, we discuss our reading progress which is filled with Korean literature and plenty of shifter fantasies. The episode ends with some random recommendations for card games and magazines that matter in 2025, but our superlatives are the highlight. Thank you for listening, and you can reach us at the outlets below.
 
Books Discussed at Length:
Violets - Kyung-Sook Shin
Legacy of Shadows (book one); Anchor of Secrets (book two); Destiny of Ashes (book three) - Tessa Hale
The Stalking Dead (book one); Criminal Spirits (book two); Grave Misconduct (book three) - Eva Chase
Twilight of Embers (book one); Midnight of Ashes (book two); Dawn of Flames (book three) - Tessa Hale
Poison Ivy (book one); Torn Ivy (book two) - Eve Newton
Find Me (book one); Save Me (book two); Love Me (book three); Free Me (book four) - Ashley Rostek
 
News:
GoodReads - https://www.goodreads.com/blog/show/2937-the-144-most-read-books-of-the-2025-reading-challenge-so-far
Booktrib - https://booktrib.com/2025/06/30/missing-stories-about-black-american-muslim-teens-in-ya-fiction/
 
Contact:
Email - talkbooky@gmail.com
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/talkbooky/
Felicia's GoodReads - goodreads.com/femarie
Aaron's GoodReads - goodreads.com/atcole1400

Join the Talk Booky duo, Felicia and Aaron, for yet another grievance! In this episode, we tackle a particularly thorny aspect of BookTok that keeps us up at night. We hope you enjoy it, and you can reach us at the outlets below.
 
Contact:
Email - talkbooky@gmail.com
Instagram - @talkbooky
Felicia's GoodReads - goodreads.com/femarie
Aaron's GoodReads - goodreads.com/atcole1400

June is in full-force with aggressive colors that will make the most glum of us feel a little perk of life in our hearts. Join us, Felicia and Aaron, as we cover some upcoming releases and complex interview discussions, a catch-up on our TBR progress, some rapid-fire recommendations full of chroma, and a question related to the world of publishing. This is a fun episode for us as we get bluntly political and focus on the books that help us confront those issues and escape them. Check us out at the outlets below.
 
Books Discussed at Length:
Problematic Summer Romance (book two) - Ali Hazelwood
Demon Reform Academy (Terms 1-4) - Lyra Winters
Fate Hollow Academy (Terms 1-4) - Lyra Winters
The Reptile Room (book two); The Wide Window (book three); The Miserable Mill (book four) - Lemony Snicket
Violets - Kyung-Sook Shin
 
Contact:
Email - talkbooky@gmail.com
Instagram - @talkbooky
Felicia's GoodReads - goodreads.com/femarie
Aaron's GoodReads - goodreads.com/atcole1400
 
Related Materials:
Becky Chamber's Interview: https://grist.org/looking-forward/for-anybody-who-could-use-a-break-a-qa-with-sci-fi-author-becky-chambers/
Fifty States of Crime: https://www.overdrive.com/series/fifty-states-of-crime
June's Most Anticipated Releases: https://www.libbylife.com/2025-05-29-june-2025-s-biggest-books
 

Join us, Felicia and Aaron, as we launch a new bonus podcast series related to our grievances and gripes related to the world of books. In our first episode, we start with the existential question of why we chose to do this podcast. We hope you enjoy these shorter casual episodes, and you can reach us at the outlets below.
 
Contact:
Email - talkbooky@gmail.com
Instagram - @talkbooky
Felicia's GoodReads - goodreads.com/femarie
Aaron's GoodReads - goodreads.com/atcole1400

A new month brings in a new theme for this podcast, and this will be colorful one - literally. Join us, Felicia and Aaron, as we talk through some hopeful news about young people reading, set up a TBR with lots of hues and shades, and end with questions about our favorite part of many books - the villains. Thank you for listening and you can reach us at the outlets below.
 
Contact:
Email - talkbooky@gmail.com
Instagram - @talkbooky
Felicia's GoodReads - goodreads.com/femarie
Aaron's GoodReads - goodreads.com/atcole1400

(Editor's note: for best effect, read this description in a Lemony Snicket tone. If you don't know what that is, think Wes Anderson or Tim Burton. If you don't know who they are, just pretend you were transported to an odd and semi-wealthy, sort of pretentious, community) This podcast episode is unusual, and in this case, unusual means "likely to cover topics that are beyond the scope of your average book reviews." Join us, Felicia and Aaron, as we round-out a month of random reads. We open with some upcoming books that are sure to excite, move on to our TBR progress which is equally thrilling and miserable, adorn some books with awards, and end with a question about music...on a book podcast? Anyway, thank you for listening, and you can reach us at the outlets below.
 
Books Discussed at Length:
Trials of Dusk and Dreams - Lana Pecherczyk
One Cursed Rose - Rebecca Zanetti
Delicious Monsters - Liselle Sambury
Forging the Guild (book two); Dreams of Hell (book three); Hell and Back (book four); Abyss of Ruins (book five) - Gray Holborn
Corpse Roads (book one); Skeletal Hearts (book two); Hollow Veins (book three) - J. Rose
Sleep Tight - J.H. Markert
The Bad Beginning (book one); The Reptile Room (book two) - Lemony Snicket
The Portable Feminist Reader - Ed. Roxane Gay
A Discovery of Witches - Deborah Harkness
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow - Gabrielle Zevin
 
Contact:
Email - talkbooky@gmail.com
Instagram - @talkbooky
Felicia's GoodReads - goodreads.com/femarie
Aaron's GoodReads - goodreads.com/atcole1400