24 Comments
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Stefanie Schulenberg's avatar

More Mel on a podcast and more book recommendations - what more can one ask for! :-)

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Melissa Joulwan's avatar

Sweet talker ♥️

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Carrie Cahill Mulligan's avatar

Just what I was thinking! :)

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Melissa Joulwan's avatar

♥️♥️♥️

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Stephanie Van Parys's avatar

I listened! It was great. I had my audiobook apps open and set up several books to read. I always love your recs. Also, I am so happy to have found a new reading podcast.

2nd the Mary Stewart and Phyllis Whitney books. I grew up reading my mom's copies. Also, I LOVE LOVE Room With a View. It is one I listen to once per year along with all of the Jane Austen novels.

How lucky are we to have so many great books to choose from. You did a great job.

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Melissa Joulwan's avatar

OMG. I went searching for rankings of Mary Stewart's books and found so much stuff. Check this out: There's a whole blog devoted to her books (of course there is), and here's a top 10 list of beaches in her books:

https://marystewartreading.wordpress.com/2017/05/23/top-ten-tuesday-beaches/

Also good: https://teaandinksociety.com/mary-stewart/

And a video!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDtb5JJjAN4

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Melissa Joulwan's avatar

I'm so glad you enjoyed this podcast! It was really fun to talk about my favorites — and I'm glad you added some to your TBR!

Do you have a favorite Mary Stewart or Phyllis Whitney? I'm thinking one of them could be fun for the plane ride to the US. I've read Black Amber (Whitney) and Mary Stewart's This Rough Magic and Nine Coaches Waiting.

Or I could just read A Room with a View again — and when my eyes get tired I can switch to the audiobook! ;-)

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Diane workman's avatar

Mel, enjoy your trip..pack lots of books….keep safe and well

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Melissa Joulwan's avatar

My Kindle is locked and loaded! I'm still debating what I'll read on the plane. I'm thinking about picking a Mary Stewart that's around 250 pages because I could read the whole thing on the flight!

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Suzanne Lambremont's avatar

Mel, thanks for the heads up on your interview with Betsy. Her books pod isn’t one I’ve latched onto yet but will definitely give more attention to. It was a treat to hear your voice this morning while I weeded two big beds in hot, humid Southeast Texas. So many great recommendations I’ll have to write down from her show notes, and no, you talked just the right amount. I’m sending my best thoughts for the family emergency you and Dave mentioned after SSOP National Parks episode. Safe travels home.

Suzanne

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Melissa Joulwan's avatar

Oh, man! Your comment brought back a very vivid memory of pulling weeds in our backyard in Austin. We had xeriscaping, but one patch in our backyard went crazy with some waist-high thing that seemed to grow overnight. I spent a few hours ripping those big ol' weeds out of the ground — very cathartic and also quite sweaty :-) Glad I kept you company while you worked in your yard!

Thank you for your kind wishes!

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Ann Bassett-Hite's avatar

My TBR list is much longer thanks to you and Betsy!

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Melissa Joulwan's avatar

Hooray! I'm so glad! :-)

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Diane workman's avatar

Mel, I loved this…and we have some favs. In common....Mary Stewart read years ago…jasper Fforde…love them, have a good chuckle over those..Eleanor Lipman, Veronica speedwell books too!!

And a whole new lot to try as well….

From Diane in rain soaked Bundy….

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Melissa Joulwan's avatar

I hope the rain down there is at least making it a cozy time to read! We're sweltering here, but it's supposed to break tomorrow. Mary Stewart is perfect for distraction and entertainment, right? In fact, maybe I'll pick out one of her books for my plane ride to the US!

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anna elizabeth's avatar

This was so fun to listen to!

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Melissa Joulwan's avatar

Glad you liked it! :-)

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anna elizabeth's avatar

My toxic reading trait is listening to good podcasts and then putting all the books mentioned on hold at the library 🙃📚 ...and then the library gets them all together at THE SAME TIME so my pile just grows. But this is better than I was...I used to order/buy all books as they were mentioned 🤪.

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Melissa Joulwan's avatar

This made me LOL

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Elizaebeth's avatar

Yayhoozer! I will give it a listen forthwith.

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Melissa Joulwan's avatar

I talked a LOT. ;-)

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Elizaebeth's avatar

When you do something, you do it well ;)

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Melissa Joulwan's avatar

At the very least, I always go all-in ;-)

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Elizaebeth's avatar

I had a voice teacher who used to tell aspiring opera singers, "If you can't sing pretty, sing LOUD." That very all-in sentiment is definitely a guiding principle in my life: more is more :)

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