Books with Betsy
Books with Betsy is a podcast that celebrates the reading life of all readers. Each week, Betsy interviews a different person about their reading life. Listen for book recommendations, reading tips, and to join in the joy that reading brings. And remember, anyone who reads is a reader.
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Episodes
2 days ago
2 days ago
On this episode, Trevor Dykes, a fantasy reader who has written his own fantasy saga, and I discuss how he fits in reading as a father of two young kiddos, what piques his interest in a fantasy, and how much of a commitment some of the long series are. We also get into the difference between the second in a trilogy versus the second in a series - there’s a difference!
Get Trevor’s Book, Titan’s Garden Crimson Wolf here!
Support my Open Books fundraiser
Books mentioned in this episode:
What Betsy’s reading:
Anita De Monte Laughs Last by Xochitl Gonzalez
The Three Lives of Cate Kay by Kate Fagan
Hunchback by Saou Ichikawa
Books Highlighted by Trevor:
Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson
Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson
Thrawn (Star Wars) by Timothy Zahn
The Boyfriend by Frieda McFadden
The Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter
Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson
The Passengers by John Marrs
Conversations with God: An Uncommon Dialogue by Neale Donald Walsch
All books available on my Bookshop.org episode page.
Other books mentioned in this episode:
Red Rising by Pierce Brown
A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony SNicket
The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson
Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi
A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin
Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
Jade City by Fonda Lee
Storm Front by Jim Butcher
Monday Mar 24, 2025
Monday Mar 24, 2025
On this episode, Maggie Brennan, a loyal member of the Off Color Book Club, and I discuss the retellings she will always read, how being an oldest sister impacted her reading life, and the way that her Irish family has impacted her reading life. She also talks about her favorite fantasy and sci-fi and how these genres can tell stories that reflect our reality.
Support my Open Books fundraiser
Books mentioned in this episode:
What Betsy’s reading:
Kingdom of No Tomorrow by Fabienne Josaphat
Before the Mango Ripens by Afabwaje Kurian
Fundamentally by Nussaibah Younis
Books Highlighted by Maggie:
The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
The Daughters of Temperance Hobbes by Katherine Howe
Bride of the Tornado by James Kennedy
In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins
Genesis of Misery by Neon Yang
On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan
Somebody’s Daughter by Ashley C. Ford
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
All books available on my Bookshop.org episode page.
Other books mentioned in this episode:
Kindred by Octavia Butler
Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler
Parable of the Talents by Octavia Butler
Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Trust by Hernan Diaz
White Tears by Hari Kunzru
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins
Monday Mar 17, 2025
Monday Mar 17, 2025
On this episode, Deedi Brown, who runs The Booker of the Month book club, and I discuss the crossover love of literary fiction and genre, getting sucked in by award lists, and how being more involved in books turns into a snowball!
Follow Deedi on Instagram
Find Deedi’s Substack here
Get more information about Booker of the Month Club
Support my Open Books fundraiser
Books mentioned in this episode:
What Betsy’s reading:
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
Kingdom of No Tomorrow by Fabienne Josaphat
Fundamentally by Nussaibah Younis
Books Highlighted by Deedi:
An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir
Crescent City Series by Sarah J. Maas
The Most Fun We Ever Had by Claire Lombardo
The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
The Actual Star by Monica Byrne
The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez
Hollow Kingdom by Kira Jane Buxton
Fed is Best: The Unintended Harms of the “Breast is Best” Message and How to Find the Right Approach for You and Your Baby by Christie del Castillo-Hegyi, B. Jody Segrave-Daly, & Lynnette Hafken
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Wisdom of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer
All books available on my Bookshop.org episode page.
Other books mentioned in this episode:
Choosing to Run by Des Linden, Bonnie D. Ford
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride
Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann
Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo
Lenny by Max Porter
The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead
Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James
Disappearing Earth by Julia Philips
Trust Exercise by Susan Choi
Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange
This Strange Eventful History by Claire Messud
Playground by Richard Powers
Bel Canto by Ann Pachett
The Tiger’s Wife by Téa Obreht
Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros
Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros
Circe by Madeline Miller
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
Monday Mar 10, 2025
Monday Mar 10, 2025
On this episode, Meredith Turits, debut novelist, and I discuss the process of making her book come to life, how amazing her editor is, and the best ways to support friends who are writers. We also discuss her book, Just Want You Here, which I encourage anyone to go pick up!
Order Just Want You Here!
Books mentioned in this episode:
What Betsy’s reading:
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
Madwoman by Chelsea Bieker
The Safekeep by Yael Van Der Wouden
Books Highlighted by Meredith:
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
The Wedding People by Alison Espach
The Girls of Summer by Katie Bishop
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
The Happy Couple by Naoise Dolan
Dead Weight: Essays on Hunger and Harm by Emmeline Cline
The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin
All books available on my Bookshop.org episode page.
Other books mentioned in this episode:
Watership Down by Richard Adams
East of Eden by John Steinbeck
A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis
Anthropology of the American Girl by Hilary Thayer Hamann
The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer
Belzhar by Meg Wolitzer
Notes on an Execution by Danya Kukafka
Girl in Snow by Danya Kukafka
The God of the Woods by Liz Moore
The Wayside by Caroline Wolff
Alone with You in the Ether by Olivie Blake
Exciting Times by Naoise Dolan
Monday Mar 03, 2025
Monday Mar 03, 2025
On this episode, Rebecca Schinsky and Jeff O’Neal of Book Riot sit down and talk to me about their reading lives. We talk about their professional work in the world of books, how Oliver Burkeman would feel about my bad bookish habit, and how any book can be interesting if you’re curious enough.
Listen to the Book Riot Podcast
Listen to First Edition
Better Living Through Books Newsletter (and the rest of the Book Riot Newsletters!)
Jeff and Rebecca Live at Powells!
Books mentioned in this episode:
What Betsy’s reading:
B.F.F.: A Memoir of Friendship Lost and Found by Christie Tate
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
Madwoman by Chelsea Bieker
Books Highlighted by Rebecca & Jeff:
Sula by Toni Morrison
The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russel
The English Understand Wool by Helen DeWitt
Lab Girl: A Memoir by Hope Jahren
Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes
We Ride Upon Sticks by Quan Barry
The Street by Ann Petry
How to Be Perfect: The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question by Michael Schur
The Orchard: A Memoir by Adele Crockett Robertson
Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman
When Women Were Birds: Fifty-Four Variations on Voice by Terry Tempest Williams
Radical Candor: Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity by Kim Scott
Conscious Business: How to Build Value through Values by Fred Kofman
All books available on my Bookshop.org episode page.
Other books mentioned in this episode:
Post-Traumatic by Chantal V. Johnson
House of Cotton by Monica Brashears
Sipsworth by Simon Van Booy
Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
Ingrained: The Making of a Craftsman by Callum Robinson
Cabin: Off the Grid Adventures with a Clueless Craftsman by Patrick Hutchinson
Life in Three Dimensions: How Curiosity, Exploration, and Experience Make a Fuller, Better Life by Shigehiro Oishi
Meditations for Mortals: Four Weeks to Embrace Your Limitations and Make Time for What Counts by Oliver Burkeman
Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
The Hobbit: Or There and Back Again by J.R.R. Tolkien
The Shining by Stephen King
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante
Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover
All Fours by Miranda July
Passing by Nella Larsen
Monday Feb 24, 2025
Monday Feb 24, 2025
On this episode, Betsy Kipnis, a multi-hyphenate who loves a wide variety of authors, and I discuss some shared favorites, great Chicago bookstores, and she has some great stories. She discusses books that are multi-sensory and we get spicy about a beloved author.
Betsy’s Blog - Bookisshh
Barbara Kingsolver’s Recovery Center
Books mentioned in this episode:
What Betsy’s reading:
The Road to the Salt Sea by Samuel Kọláwọlé
Fundamentally by Nussaibah Younis
Books Highlighted by Betsy:
Black Butterflies by Priscilla Morris
How to Say Babylon by Safiya Sinclair
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
Forty Rooms by Olga Grushin
The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak
The Vegetarian by Han Kang
Human Acts by Han Kang
Native Son by Richard Wright
Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee by Casey Cep
Meditations for Mortals: Four Weeks to Embrace Your Limitations and Make Time for What Counts by Oliver Burkeman
All books available on my Bookshop.org episode page.
Other books mentioned in this episode:
Chocolat by Joanne Harris
Annie Bot by Sierra Greer
Hum by Helen Phillips
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
Colored Television by Danzy Senna
We Do Not Part by Han Kang
Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews
Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
Rouge by Mona Awad
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Suskind
The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
Yellowface by R.F. Kuang
Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano
Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu
Breasts and Eggs by Meiko Kwakami
Girl in Snow by Danya Kukafka
Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by J.D. Vance
Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company that Addicted America by Beth Macy
Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover
The Guest by Emma Cline
The Girls by Emma Cline
Luster by Raven Leilani
The Bean Trees by Barabara Kingsolver
The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
There Are No Children Here: The Story of Two Boys Growing Up in the Other America by Alex Kotlowitz
Oedipus Rex by Sophocles
There are Rivers in the Sky by Eilf Shafak
Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee
Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman
Monday Feb 17, 2025
Monday Feb 17, 2025
On this episode, Jordan Hernandez, who organizes the book community Completely Booked and I discuss what diverse books means to her, how to curate a feed that provides diverse options, and so many amazing book recommendations. If you want to join Completely Booked, you can send Jordan a DM on Instagram to get added to the email list!
Follow Completely Booked on Instagram
Double Dough
HobokenGirl
Books mentioned in this episode:
What Betsy’s reading:
Less by Andrew Sean Greer
The Road to the Salt Sea by Samuel Kọláwọlé
Books Highlighted by Jordan:
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
Year of Yes: How to Dance it Out, Stand in the Sun and Be Your Own Person by Shonda Rhimes
Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams
James by Percival Everett
Sisters in Arms by Kaia Alderson
Notes From a Young Black Chef by Kwame Onwuachi
Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson
The Beauty of Your Face by Sahar Mustafah
All books available on my Bookshop.org episode page.
Other books mentioned in this episode:
Sky Full of Elephants by Cebo Campbell
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
In the Country We Love: My Family Divided by Diane Guerrero
Nuclear War: A Scenario by Annie Jacobsen
On the Come Up by Angie Thomas
This Could Be Us by Kennedy Ryan
Before I Let Go by Kennedy Ryan
Can’t Get Enough by Kennedy Ryan
Black Buck by Mateo Askaripour
This Great Hemisphere by Mateo Askaripour
Isaac’s Song by Daniel Black
Don’t Cry for Me by Daniel Black
The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese
Finding Me by Viola Davis
Speak: Find Your Voice, Trust Your Gut, and Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be by Tunde Oyeneyin
More Than Enough: Claiming Space for Who You Are (No Matter What They Say) by Elaine Welteroth
You Are a Badass(r): How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life by Jen Sincero
Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson
A Manual for Cleaning Women: Selected Stories by Lucia Berlin
Monday Feb 10, 2025
Monday Feb 10, 2025
On this episode, bookstagrammer and journalist Jocelyn Aspa and I discuss books with extensive character development, how everything makes us cry, and why we gravitate towards books with low ratings on Goodreads. We also discuss how we determine books to pack on a trip which can be a little extra.
Follow Jocelyn on Instagram
Books mentioned in this episode:
What Betsy’s reading:
Devil is Fine by John Vercher
Original Sins: The (Mis)education of Black and Native Children and the Construction of American Racism by Eve L. Ewing
Books Highlighted by Jocelyn:
4 3 2 1 by Paul Auster
Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica, trans. Sarah Moses
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
Same as it Ever Was by Clarie Lombardo
The Prettiest Star by Carter Sickels
A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
All the Ugly and Wonderful Things by Bryn Greenwood
Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women That a Movement Forgot by Mikki Kendall
All books available on my Bookshop.org episode page.
Other books mentioned in this episode:
There’s a Nightmare in my Closet by Mercer Mayer
Normal People by Sally Rooney
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
The Secret History by Donna Tartt
My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler
The Most Fun We Ever Had by Claire Lombardo
The Wedding People by Alison Espach
Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance by Alison Espach
The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai
Fire Exit by Morgan Talty
Night of the Living Rez by Morgan Talty
Orbital by Samantha Harvey
American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
Maeve Fly by C.J. Leede
Monday Feb 03, 2025
Monday Feb 03, 2025
On this episode, indie author David Jay Collins and I discuss his work writing books in and about Chicago, how he keeps going by honoring his characters, and the unique ways that he connects with his readers. We also discuss his reading life, including a current fast from horror content which blows my mind!
Follow David on Instagram
Order any of David’s books from his website
Where you can see David in 2025!
Books mentioned in this episode:
What Betsy’s reading:
Lilith by Eric Rickstad
A Great Country by Shilpi Somaya Gowda
Just Want You Here by Meredith Turtis
Books Highlighted by David:
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
Billion Dollar Loser: The Epic Rise and Spectacular Fall of Adam Neumann and We Work by Reeves Wiedeman
Dry. A Memoir by Augusten Burroughs
The Death of the Artist: How Creators are Struggling to Survive in the Age of Billionaires and Big Tech by William Deresiewicz
The Man With the Golden Arm by Nelson Algren
The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
All books available on my Bookshop.org episode page.
Other books mentioned in this episode:
John Adams by David McCullough
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
Monday Jan 27, 2025
Monday Jan 27, 2025
On this episode, Ree @Read_withree on instagram, discusses her love for thrillers and mysteries. We also talk about a shared favorite author, the joy that book people can bring, and how to make bookstagram a place of enjoyment.
Follow Ree on Instagram
Books mentioned in this episode:
What Betsy’s reading:
There is a Rio Grande in Heaven by Ruben Reyes, Jr.
Nuclear War: A Scenario by Annie Jacobsen
Books Highlighted by Ree:
Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby
The Passengers by John Marrs
Before I Let Go by Kennedy Ryan
Goodnight Beautiful by Aimee Molloy
So Let Them Burn by Kamilah Cole
The Housemaid by Frieda McFadden
Pretty Girls by Karen Slaughter
All books available on my Bookshop.org episode page.
Other books mentioned in this episode:
Night of the Living Dummy (Goosebumps #1) by R.L. Stine
Holes by Louis Sachar
Vampires Don’t Wear Polka Dots by Marcia Thornton Jones
Blacktop Wasteland by S.A. Cosby
King of Ashes by S.A. Cosby
Legendborn by Tracy Deonn
Oathbound by Tracy Deonn
The Chestnut Man by Søren Sveistrup
A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
The Only One Left by Riley Sager