One question I get asked a lot is: how do I decide what book to feature on the show each week? I try to alternate weekly between stories I see being discussed online a lot (think They Both Die At The End and If We Were Villains) and stories I like but don't hear about as often. I do this so that you can hear both my thoughts on what's relevant at the moment, and hopefully get some recommendations for broadening your taste in books.
I usually only have about four days to get though a book before I write an episode about it. I'm always reading on my breaks at works, in the hallway before class, and on the floor with my cat Lulu.
Sometimes I will read a book and discover that it would be tough to make an episode about it, or that it's too similar to something I've already discussed. In that case I will discuss a book I read a while back using the notes I took in my book journal. This happened when I read Love in the Time of Cholera, I thought it would be a fun little love story during an epidemic that would be so relatable. Halfway through the book, I realized it was insanely scandalous and could not discuss it fully on our FCC licensed radio station. I briefly mentioned the book in episode 7's "A Book I Read So You Don't Have To" section and definitely sanitized the summary.
Despite the tight schedule for reading and recording, I do still find time to read books just for fun too. It can be nice to read something without taking notes or thinking about how I'm going to talk about it. Some books I have read but have not made an episode for are That Was Then, This is Now, In Order To Live, The Old Curiosity Shop, Last Night At The Telegraph Club, and One Last Stop. Comment below if you'd like to hear about any of these in a future episode!