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Curious Readers
Ep 36: We Have Opinions - Our 2026 Mid-Year Reading Check-In
Season 2
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Where have the last six months gone? Join Amanda and Joseph as they check in on the reading goals they set themselves in January. Find out if they’ve stuck to their promises, or if they’ve bombed out on their reading resolutions. Plus, they talk about more prize news, and as always, what they’ve been reading recently and what they hope to pick up next.
Bookish News
Taiwan Travelogue by Yang Shuang-zi (translated by Lin King)
John of John by Douglas Stuart @douglas_stuart
Ruth Ozeki @ozekiland
Carol Shields Prize for Fiction
Canon by Lee Lai @_leelai
Hellions by Julia Elliott @jelliottic6
A Guardian and A Thief by Megha Majumdar @megha.maj
Recent Reads
Famesick by Lena Dunham @lenadunham
May We Feed The King by Rebecca Perry @poorsasquatch
Stone Fruit by Rebecca Perry
Our Mid-Year Reading Goals
Buckeye by Patrick Ryan @patrickryanyc
The Benefactors by Wendy Erskine @wednesdaywerskin
Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke @caroclaireburke
The Wreck by Lizzy Stewart @lizzy_stewart
Prairie Oyster by Sophoe Robinson @sophiepoetry
London Falling by Patrick Radden Keefe @praddenkeefe
Dominion by Addie E. Kitchens @addie_citchens
The Correspondent by Virgina Evans @virginia.l.evans
Lost Lambs by Madeline Cash @madelinecash
Middlemarch by George Eliot
The Guardian’s ‘100 Best Novels of All Time’
The Little Friend by Donna Tartt
Ordinary People by Haldor Laxness
Death’s End by Cixin Liu
Girl on Girl: How Pop Culture Turned a Generation of Women Against Themselves by Sophie Gilbert @sophiegilbertwrites
A World Appears: A Journey Into Consciousness by Michael Pollan @michael.pollan
You With the Sad Eyes by Christina Applegate @christinapplegate
Indignity by Leah Ypi
Winter In The Blood by James Welch
The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones @stephengrahamjones
The Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman
The Oldest Bitch Alive by Morgan Day @yeah_okday
The Sleep Thief by Ibtisam Azem @ibitisam.azem
Charco Press 2026 Fiction Bundle @charcopress
Die, My Love by Ariana Harwicz @arianaharwiczw
Kingfisher by Rozie Kelly
Angel Down by Daniel Kraus @kraus_author
Kin by Tayari Jones @tayari
Every One Still Here by Liadan Ní Chuinn
On The Calculation of Volume series by Solvej Balle
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
Practice by Rosalind Brown
Land by Maggie O’Farrell @maggieofarrellofficial
The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout @lizstroutauthor
Sophie, Standing There by Meg Mason
Exit Party by Emily St John Mandel @emilystjohnmandel
What We’re Reading Next
John of John by Douglas Stuart
The Left and the Lucky by Willy Vlautin
Also mentioned
Curious Readers is mixed by the incredibly talented James Whiting @fishislandstudio
Follow us on Instagram @curiousreaderspodcast and Bluesky @curiousreaderspod.bsky.social for more recommendations in between episodes
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