In Episode 116, Susie Boutry (@NovelVisits) joins me to talk about niching down from traditional genre categories into the micro genres we love. Over the past year, I have picked up on some key themes and types of books that I can generally count on for successful reading. Today, we’re putting them all in one special episode as Susie and I bring you a delightfully overflowing list of the micro genres that work for us, books from each, and why we love them.
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Introducing Summer Shelves (a companion to my Summer Reading Guide)…
- In addition to my annual 2022 Summer Reading Guide, I’m introducing Summer Shelves, a companion exclusively for Superstars Patrons ($7/mo).
- Summer Shelves features BACKLIST summer reading recommendations from over 25 former podcast guests and our team members.
- The Summer Shelves design is clean, crisp, and unique and you’ll receive it in a PDF file format via Patreon.
- If you’d like to get the Summer Shelves companion guide, you can sign up to be a Superstars patron here. You’ll also get access to a monthly bonus podcast series called Double Booked (where Catherine or Susie and I share our own book recommendations in the same format as the big show) and my Rock Your Reading Tracker.
Micro Genres We Love [2:41]
Books by Former or Current Attorneys [3:20]
Sarah
- The Damage by Caitlin Wahrer | Amazon
| Bookshop.org [5:08] & [6:11]
- Miracle Creek by Angie Kim | Amazon
- A Good Marriage by Kimberly McCreight | Amazon | Bookshop.org
- The Boys’ Club by Erica Katz | Amazon
- All Her Little Secrets by Wanda M. Morris | Amazon
- The Eddie Flynn Series by Steve Cavanagh [6:24]
- The Bad Muslim Discount by Syed M. Masood | Amazon
- Fake by Erica Katz | Amazon
- What Comes After by JoAnne Tompkins | Amazon
Susie
- Whisper Network by Chandler Baker | Amazon
Frenzied but Favorable Family Dynamics [7:19]
Sarah
- Commonwealth by Ann Patchett | Amazon
- The Dutch House by Ann Patchett | Amazon | Bookshop.org [10:05]
- Ask Again, Yes by Mary Beth Keane | Amazon | Bookshop.org [10:39]
- Olympus, Texas by Stacey Swann | Amazon
Susie
- The Most Fun We Ever Had by Claire Lombardo | Amazon
- The Children’s Crusade by Ann Packer | Amazon | Bookshop.org [8:44]
- Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid | Amazon | Bookshop.org [9:07]
- French Braid by Anne Tyler | Amazon
- The Family Tabor by Cherise Wolas | Amazon | Bookshop.org [9:16]
Suspenseful Books That Are Not Truly Thrillers,
But That Publishers Market as Thrillers [11:09]
Sarah
- The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb | Amazon
- My Sunshine Away by M. O. Walsh | Amazon | Bookshop.org [12:59]
- The Ballerinas by Rachel Kapelke-Dale | Amazon | Bookshop.org [13:31]
- The Cutting Season by Attica Locke | Amazon
- You Should Have Known by Jean Hanff Korelitz (also retitled as The Undoing for the tie-in edition) | Amazon
Susie
- Our American Friend by Anna Pitoniak | Amazon
- The Golden Couple by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen | Amazon | Bookshop.org [15:16]
Hell No! Women’s Stories [16:22]
Sarah
- Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus | Amazon
Susie
- Circe by Madeline Miller | Amazon
- The Change by Kirsten Miller | Amazon | Bookshop.org [17:33]
- The Book of Essie by Meghan MacLean Weir | Amazon | Bookshop.org [17:46]
- Songs in Ursa Major by Emma Brodie | Amazon
- Hurricane Girl by Marcy Dermansky (June 14, 2022) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [18:12]
- City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert | Amazon
- The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah | Amazon
- Finlay Donovan Is Killing It by Elle Cosimano | Amazon
Historical Fiction About Women Breaking the Stereotypes and Limitations of Their Time [19:19]
Sarah
- Loving Frank by Nancy Horan | Amazon
- Circling the Sun by Paula McLain | Amazon
- The Secrets We Kept by Lara Prescott | Amazon | Bookshop.org [21:24]
- The Lunar Housewife by Caroline Woods (June 14, 2022) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [21:31]
Susie
- Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead | Amazon
- The Age of Light by Whitney Scharer | Amazon | Bookshop.org [22:06]
Literary Angst [22:41]
Sarah
- Seven Days in June by Tia Williams | Amazon
- The Roughest Draft by Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka | Amazon
- Book Lovers by Emily Henry | Amazon
- Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott | Amazon
- On Writing by Stephen King | Amazon
- What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami | Amazon
- I Came All This Way to Meet You by Jami Attenberg | Amazon
Susie
- Writers & Lovers by Lily King | Amazon
- Groundskeeping by Lee Cole | Amazon | Bookshop.org [24:00]
- We Wish You Luck by Caroline Zancan | Amazon | Bookshop.org [24:09]
- Hell of a Book by Jason Mott | Amazon
- Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney | Amazon | Bookshop.org [25:29]
Oral Histories [28:13]
Sarah
- Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid | Amazon
- The Final Revival of Opal & Nev by Dawnie Walton | Amazon
- Live From New York by James Andrew Miller and Tom Shales | Amazon
- These Guys Have All the Fun by James Andrew Miller and Tom Shales | Amazon
- From Scratch by Allen Salkin | Amazon
- The Only Plane in the Sky by Garrett M. Graff | Amazon
- The Office by Andy Greene | Amazon
- Bourdain by Laurie Woolever | Amazon
- Voice From the Pandemic by Eli Saslow | Amazon | Bookshop.org [31:57]
Trust No One [33:45]
Sarah
- Who is Maud Dixon? by Alexandra Andrews | Amazon
- Tangerine by Christine Mangan | Amazon
Susie
- I’m Thinking of Ending Things by Ian Reid | Amazon
- Foe by Ian Reid | Amazon | Bookshop.org [35:33]
- Based on a True Story by Delphine de Vigan | Amazon | Bookshop.org [36:00]
- Cover Story by Susan Rigetti | Amazon
- Sunburn by Laura Lippman | Amazon | Bookshop.org [36:53]
- Anonymous Girl by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen | Amazon | Bookshop.org [36:59]
- Two Nights in Lisbon by Chris Pavone | Amazon | Bookshop.org [37:03]
Badass Female Athlete Fiction / Competition Novels [38:09]
Sarah
- The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb | Amazon
- The Ballerinas by Rachel Kapelke-Dale | Amazon | Bookshop.org [41:51]
- The Turnout by Megan Abbott | Amazon
- The Unraveling of Mercy Louis by Keija Parssinen | Amazon
- Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley | Amazon
- Home or Away by Kathleen West | Amazon
- Carrie Soto Is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid (August 30, 2022) | Amazon
- We Came Here to Forget by Andrea Dunlop | Amazon
Faithful Friends / Ensembles [44:05]
Sarah
- The Other’s Gold by Elizabeth Ames | Amazon
- Shotgun Lovesongs by Nickolas Butler | Amazon
Susie
- The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer | Amazon
- A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara | Amazon | Bookshop.org [46:08]
- The Dearly Beloved by Cara Wall | Amazon | Bookshop.org [46:25]
- The Ensemble by Aja Gabel | Amazon
- Beyond the Point by Claire Gibson | Amazon | Bookshop.org [47:44]
Other Books Mentioned
- Smacked by Eilene Zimmerman [4:20]
- Dare Me by Megan Abbott [13:39]
- Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll [13:41]
- One Day in September by Simon Reeve [32:23]
- We Spread
by Ian Reid
(September 27, 2022) [35:53]
About Susie Boutry
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Susie has loved reading for as long as she can remember. Some of her fondest childhood memories involve long afternoons at the library and then reading late into the night. More than ten years ago, she began journaling about the books she read and turned that passion into writing about books. Her first forays were as a guest reviewer on a friend’s blog, but she soon realized she wanted to be reviewing and talking about books on a blog of her own. From there, Novel Visits was born. That was in 2016 and, though the learning curve was steep, she loves being a part of the book community. Novel Visits focuses on new novel reviews (print and audio), previews of upcoming releases, and musings on all things bookish.
Next Episodes
In two weeks on July 13, author Annie Hartnett will be joining me on the podcast to discuss her latest novel, Unlikely Animals.
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Another badass Athlete book: “Furia” by Yamile Saied Mendez
Loved this episode!
Loved this episode! A micro genre I’ve been loving this year is “memoirs in essays” (This is the Story of a Happy Marriage, These Precious Days, and Bomb Shelter to name a few).
Recently finished Still Life by Sarah Winman, which has such a wonderful friend group/found family… looking forward to digging into your recs for this micro genre!
I absolutely love your podcast and how thoroughly you detail the notes for each episode so I can easily go back and replay certain parts and can find the books and their links. Micro genre ep was a gem! I remember in one previous ep you and Susie (I think) mentioned nature thrillers as a possible sub genre in regards to Paula McLain’s When The Stars Go Dark (one of my all time faves!) so hope you do you another micro genre ep and maybe you can add that as one… Thanks for all the hard work. It’s obvious all that goes into this and I appreciate it & the wonderful books I have found from it.