In Episode 11, Katharine from @ReadWithKat joins me to talk about living with cystic fibrosis and her real-life book club that’s been going strong for 10 years.
This post contains affiliate links (plus: here’s your Amazon Smile-specific affiliate link
Highlights
- Are we Team Lyla or Team Tyra (Friday Night Lights)?
- Living with Cystic Fibrosis…and how it impacts Katharine’s reading.
- An online book club for readers who like to read seasonally (Bookly Club).
- Katharine’s real life book club, which has been together for 10 years!
- Why Sarah dropped out of her real life book club.
- Two things we think might be the secret sauce to keeping a book club thriving (and one of them is totally counterintuitive).
- Katharine’s experience singing karaoke with author Elizabeth Gilbert.
Katharine’s Book Recommendations
Two OLD Books She Loves
- Beartown by Fredrik Backman (My Review) | Buy from Amazon [20:59]
- When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi | Buy from Amazon [25:15]
Two NEW Books She Loves
- Eloquent Rage
by Brittney Cooper | Buy from Amazon [28:42]
- Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens (My Review) | Buy from Amazon [30:40]
One Book She Didn’t Love
- The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt (My Review) | Buy from Amazon
[34:30]
One Upcoming Releases She’s Excited About
- City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert (Publication Date: June 4) | Buy from Amazon [37:31]
Other Books Mentioned
- A Man Called Ove
by Fredrik Backman | Buy from Amazon [21:29]
- Us Against You
- The Bright Hour
- This Will Be My Undoing
- So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo | Buy from Amazon [29:56]
- White Fragility
- Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens (My Review) | Buy from Amazon [3:54]
- The Prince of Tides
- The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah (My Quick Thoughts) | Buy from Amazon
- Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstances
- The Secret History
- Big Magic
- Eat, Pray, Love
- The Signature of All Things
- The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
- Friday Night Lights by H.G. Bissinger | Buy from Amazon [43:11]
- The Wedding Date
- One Day in December by Josie Silver | Buy from Amazon [44:21]
- How to Walk Away by Katherine Center (My Review) | Buy from Amazon [44:28]
Other Links
- The Bookly Club (Blog, Instagram)
- Friday Night Lights on Amazon Prime
- Cystic Fibrosis Foundation
- Sarah’s Book Club Recommendations List
- The Washington Post article about Paul Kalanithi’s widow and Nina Riggs’ widower finding love
- A Cup of Jo (Paul Kalanithi’s wife’s twin sister’s blog)
About Katharine
Instagram | Twitter | Blog | Goodreads
Katharine lives in Baltimore with her husband and miniature schnauzer. She works in higher education doing communications, and spends the rest of her time hoarding books (and reading as many as she can). She runs the instagram account @readwithkat, and is also 1/4 of @thebooklyclub. Katharine is also a cystic fibrosis patient and advocate, sharing her story of life with CF at local events and online. Her dream is to open up a bookstore.
Next Week’s Episode
Hannah from Book Nerd Native (airing March 20)
Support the Podcast
- Share
If you like the podcast, I’d love for you to share it with your reader friends…in real life and on social media (there’s easy share buttons at the bottom of this post!). - Subscribe
…wherever you listen to podcasts, so new episodes will appear in your feed as soon as they’re released. - Rate and Review
Search for “Sarah’s Book Shelves” in Apple Podcasts…or wherever you listen to podcasts!
- Feedback
I want this podcast to fit what you’re looking for, so I truly do want your feedback! Please tell me (email me at sarahsbookshelves@gmail.com or DM me on social media) what you like, don’t like, want more of, want less of, etc. I’d also love to hear topics you’d like me to cover and guests you’d like to hear from.
Are you in a real life book club? Do you ever have trouble keeping it thriving?
Excellent episode! I loved so many of the books (and shows!) you discussed here. The Goldfinch: overall, I loved it, but your conversation reminded me that I also found the Vegas section to be a slog. I’ve thought about rereading it, but I think I’d do The Secret History first.
Sarah–I am with you on the weird busyness of May/September, and the difficulty of finding extended reading time in the summer. I’m hoping to get a *little* more this summer because I can finally turn my kids loose at the park and sit and read, but the pool is a no-go. I look at the moms sitting in the shade and reading for hours with total envy!
Thank you! I’d definitely recommend Secret History first!
And you’ll get there with the pool! How old are your kids?