We're back with Season 8 of Unabridged: A Book Podcast!
Join us for a special "Get to Know the Hosts" episode where we (Jen, right side of the image, and Ashley, left side of the image) catch up on their summer adventures, bookish highlights, and what’s been keeping them inspired.
Whether you’re a long-time listener or new to the podcast, this episode offers a personal look at the people behind the mic.
Tune in now to hear about their latest reads and what’s coming up next for Unabridged!
Bookish Check-in
Ashley - Suzanne Park’s The Perfect Escape (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm)
Jen - Wilkie Collins’s The Woman in White (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm)
Lit Chat Game
Jen and Ashley choose a question from Book Riot's Lit Chat Game to answer during the recording!
(A note to our readers: click on the hashtags above to see our other blog posts with the same hashtag.)
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Read the Full Transcript Below
[00:00:00] Ashley: Hi, and welcome to Unabridged. This is episode 277, and it's also the beginning of season eight!
[00:00:40] Jen: Yay!
[00:00:41] Ashley: Of our podcast. So we're excited to kick off a new season with you today. Before we get started today, we just wanted to say how much we appreciate our Patreon Pals. You all keep the podcast running, and we are so thankful for your support.
[00:00:57] We also wanted to mention that this summer we put a lot of new resources that are now available on Patreon for purchase. So these are book discussion guides and things like that and you can go on there even if you're not a Patreon supporter, you can just go preview those resources, and then you may purchase things there and get digital copies.
[00:01:17] So we just wanted to mention that that is now available starting this season. Today, our main discussion is going to be a little bit of a get to know the host. A lot of you have been with us a long time, so we thought we would focus on summer instead of, you know, maybe very introductory stuff, but just give you some overviews of a little bit about us, a little peek into our lives outside of books to kick off the season.
[00:01:38] But before we get into that, we're going to do our bookish check in. Jen, what are you reading?
[00:01:43] Jen: I am reading Wilkie Collins' The Woman in White. This is part of my Chunky Classics buddy read where we pick a classic book to read, usually over two months since they are chunky. And this one I had heard of The Woman in White for a long, long time. This is a Victorian mystery story. I think it's one of the first books --Collins made this claim-- that shifts perspective, shifts points of view, telling the story from different angles, but it begins with this man named Walter Hartwright who is employed as an art tutor for this family, which has two
[00:02:20] unmarried women. And he falls in love with one, of course. And, there's also this mysterious figure... When he's on the way to their home for the first time, he sees literally a woman in white who's wandering down the road, and he helps her get a coach and helps her get to where she's going, and she's acting really, really strange.
[00:02:43] Well, he eventually finds out that... This is a super circuitous plot to describe, so I'm going to cut it down. Basically, she finds out that he's married to an English peer and that she was in an insane asylum for a while and escaped.
[00:02:58] And so he essentially helped her to escape, but there's definitely more to the story, which you find out through all of these letters and journals and testimonies through the book. Eventually that peer, this is a slight spoiler, but I have to say it, becomes engaged to the woman that Walter is in love with.
[00:03:16] And so there's a lot of drama that comes along with that. I'm getting a kick out of it. It's a lot of fun. It is very, very Victorian, but I'm really enjoying it, and I think it's fun to see where some of these genres that now of course have been around so long really got started. So there's this sense of the paranormal potentially, and yeah, it's, it's been a fun read so far.
[00:03:40] So that is Wilkie Collins' The Woman in White.
[00:03:45] Ashley: That sounds very interesting.
[00:03:47] Jen: I don't think you would love it actually, I will just say.
[00:03:51] Ashley: Whenever you say about the chunky classics, Jen, I'm always like, no, thank you. No, thank you. But I will say, listeners, if you have not joined Jen for any of the readings that she does on Instagram, if you're interested, people are welcome to hop on,
[00:04:06] Jen: Yes, absolutely.
[00:04:07] Ashley: So she's at Jen Loves Books, and you absolutely can join.
[00:04:10] And it is a great way. I'm not dying to read the Chunky Classics necessarily. However, I have read other things in groups like that where it has pushed me to read something I wouldn't normally read, but I'm so glad I did it, and it's a lot easier to do it in a group, and it can be very satisfying and a lot of fun, so I did think that, and I also thought, I will not be reading that.
[00:04:29] Jen: No. Our next pick is Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse, which I have never read. So I'm excited about that one.
[00:04:34] Ashley: I haven't read that either, Jen! Maybe, see? Maybe that's an opportunity, maybe I should join you for that one, and that way I would read it, because I've wanted to and have not, so.
[00:04:43] Jen: Listeners, I will say we're recording this a little early. So you're listening to this at the beginning of September. So hop on soon if you want to do that, because we are talking about that one in September.
[00:04:52] Yeah. So Ashley, what are you reading?
[00:04:55] Ashley: So I'm cheating a little bit because I just finished this, but I wanted to share it because I really enjoyed it. This is Suzanne Park's The Perfect Escape. And I listened to this one thanks to Libro. fm, and I've done, because of Buddy Reads, we've done some of Suzanne Park's books before, and I think I've read a couple on my own also, and I've loved everything I've read by her.
[00:05:14] But I started this one, I don't know, pretty randomly, and I haven't had great traction with listening lately. The summer was just super, super busy. full and like mentally full. You know, it was hard for me to pop my earbuds in and listen to a story. So I found that my audiobook consumption was down a lot this season.
[00:05:33] But anyway, this one grabbed my attention right away and it was a lot of fun. So Nate Kim is one of the characters in this and he is coming from a family where his family's working really, really hard. They're a Korean family, an immigrant family in America. They're working so hard to provide so that he can have this great opportunity for his life.
[00:05:56] And he is a young entrepreneur. He has all these plans and visions for things he would like to get started. And he's very focused on working super hard at school. And he has this kind of grand plan vision for how he's really making his way in the world. and the other protagonist is Kate Anderson.
[00:06:16] And she is coming from... It takes a while to kind of unfurl. I won't say a whole lot but basically you can tell right away that her family is both extremely wealthy and also very aloof and that her mom has passed away; she isn't in the picture anymore, and her dad is like never home. You kind of don't know exactly what's going on, but you can tell that she has all of this AI monitoring and stuff like that, but she really doesn't have a whole lot of people in her life.
[00:06:47] Well, they cross paths because Nate works at a zombie escape room. And so he is the person who, like, greets everybody and then gets them into the escape room, and that's his job outside of school. Kate shows up as one of the zombies. And so, she's like put in the closet for each escape room thing. And she is all gory and decked out in her wig and makeup and stuff.
[00:07:15] And so when, when she first starts there, immediately he's kind of intrigued and interested in this zombie girl. And she is very aloof. and then. Pretty quickly, it becomes apparent that for reasons that neither necessarily knows about the other one, both of them are very interested in trying to make a lot of money.
[00:07:39] And there's an opportunity to do this weekend survivalist thing that is a competition. And there is a very large, I think it's like 50, 000, there's a very large cash prize for whoever wins this competition.
[00:07:55] Jen: Kate approaches Nate and says like, hey, there's this competition happening, and would you be my partner?
[00:08:01] Ashley: And so things evolve from there, and I loved it. I am here for those kinds of like competition stories. I think they're really fun, and I really loved both the characters, and I feel like they had some very different things going on, but both feel very authentic, and they also are kind of... It just takes quite a while to, like, work through some of the things that are going on.
[00:08:23] And I think the book asks some really interesting questions about wealth and opportunity and what all that stuff looks like. And I thought it was great. I thoroughly enjoyed it. So, again, that was Suzanne Park's The Perfect Escape. And I just finished it, so I'm cheating a little bit because I... Normally we talk about things we're in the middle of reading.
[00:08:41] But I wanted to share that one because it was a great seasonal read. And if you're looking for something quick for September, this is a great pick.
[00:08:48] Jen: That sounds so good. I love Suzanne Park, too. And yeah, that, that whole premise sounds great.
[00:08:53] Ashley: Yeah, I think you would love it,
[00:08:55] Jen: I'll try to get to it soon.
[00:08:56] So, like I said in the beginning, today we wanted to just kind of give a little peek into our personalities and we thought we would do that by talking a bit about what we did this summer.
[00:09:04] Ashley: So, we're looking back over this particular summer, and then also just kind of sharing a little bit about what we like and don't like.Jen, what's something that you all were up to this summer?
[00:09:15] Jen: So this is from the end of the summer, the Olympics. And I will say if it's get to know the host, this is probably not the best way because this might make you think that I'm a sports fan, and I am not. But I love, love, love, love, love the Olympics. And have, since I was a kid, that was something my family would do together.
[00:09:33] And my mom has always been a huge fan. Now that the coverage is just all the time, she's in heaven because she loves to watch the Olympics. And yeah, I just really love it. It's the same way I'll read about sports, even though I don't typically watch sports. I just think the stories behind the athletes are so compelling and I know that there are problems with the Olympics, and I'm fully cognizant of that.
[00:09:54] And yet there's something about just seeing the team element, and people supporting each other, and just feeling that shared sense of excitement that I love. So yeah, I really, really loved the Olympics this summer.
[00:10:07] Ashley: Yes, we have really enjoyed those, too, and it's pretty new for my family. I did remember watching them and enjoyed watching them growing up, but we don't have cable. We don't always have easy access, but then in 2021, which was the delayed summer Olympics from 2020, we were in Morocco that summer, and it was the pandemic, and we were getting ready to travel.
[00:10:29] So we were very much in kind of a lockdown mode, and we could see them easily on the TV there, and we loved it. So this time we've subscribed to Peacock. We're thoroughly enjoying it. We will definitely do that again. And absolutely. I mean, it's just something our families really love doing that. I didn't know because yeah, we don't normally watch sports, but it has been so fun.
[00:10:49] And the kids, my kids really look forward to it. And they're like, when are they coming again? And you know, all that stuff. So I think it's really sweet and a special experience. I agree.
[00:10:58] Jen: Yeah. All right, Ashley, what's one thing for you from this summer? Uh huh. Uh huh. Uh
[00:11:05] Ashley: have talked a little bit about this before, but I am going to circle back to state parks.We have a park pass and, which means like you get them and it lasts for a whole year, and you can go to all of your parks. They do this for national parks also. In Virginia we used to always get the national park pass just because that was what we had easier access to was the national forest close by.
[00:11:27] State parks are the ones that we access the most. So we have a state park pass, and it comes with a book, and the book is like a little passport book, and you get stamps at every place that you go. And so we are working toward filling those up. And so that has just been super fun. And Like I said, I think I've mentioned before that we have really enjoyed that, but I think for the summer, we probably went to another, like, four or five of them, and got some more stamps.
[00:11:52] But it's just been fun to explore, and it's the kind of thing where when we've gone somewhere and we've seen signs that are close, like, realize that one's close by, like, we take our little detour, and we go to the new place. And they also have historic sites. And so we went to one historic site this summer, which was super cool.
[00:12:08] And so yeah, that's just, it was a really fun thing to add on to our summer, and it'll still take us another year or two at least, I think, to fill up the whole book, but I just wanted to share it because I think it's a lot of fun. It's something that maybe that was available in Virginia also, but it was not something that was really on my radar.
[00:12:23] but it is like, if you have kids at home, it is a fun thing to do as a family and, you know, pretty low expense and a lot of fun and a nice way to kind of guide your activities a little bit, which is cool. So that was fun.
[00:12:37] Jen: Oh, you know I love a checkbox, or checkboxes. Like,
[00:12:41] Ashley: That's exactly, my family is very completionist oriented. My oldest daughter, just turned 10. And so, she is all about that. Like, very excited to get those stamps. And, and yes, it does feel good to fill it up. And it is a fun way to explore your state. So,
[00:12:56] What's another thing you really enjoyed this summer, Jen?
[00:12:59] Jen: So, We had two very different vacations. So I'm going to talk about them separately. Our first big vacation was with my extended family, and we went to Orlando for a week and basically did amusement parks, like a concentrated week of all the amusement parks. We walked so, so, so... my Fitbit was screaming at me... So many steps every day, but it was really fun.
[00:13:24] So my kids are now going to be a senior and a freshman in high school. And they have not always been the most adventurous kids, but they both like riding now. And so we hadn't been to, let's say Disney. We hadn't been to Orlando. I think it's been almost 10 years. And so they, they changed a lot and yeah, we just had a blast.
[00:13:45] We were worn out, but it was a great time. There were minimal arguments, which is lovely. And we were just really busy, but it was a lot of fun to see. We're just amusement park people. And so it was a lot of fun to be down there and just see my kids really enjoying it. Usually we go to Hershey park every summer and that's a lot of fun, too, but of course that's so much smaller and we've been there so many times that they know all of it.
[00:14:06] And so to be able to ride some more, yeah, it was great. I will say, if you are going to Disney, make sure you do Rise of the Resistance. That was amazing. And I don't want to tell you anything about it because, part of it is just the experience. So don't watch any promos. Yeah. Just get on that and go in not knowing anything.
[00:14:27] And it's fantastic.
[00:14:28] Ashley: Cool. That sounds really fun.
[00:14:30] Jen: Yeah. It was a good trip.
[00:14:32] Ashley: My kids, I've realized recently, they have never been to an amusement park. And so my 10 year old recently has been, like, feeling very deprived. And I'm sort of like, okay, well, let's keep things in perspective here. Like, I can make a long list of the things you have done in your 10 years that are pretty unique experiences.
[00:14:48] But it is on our list to try to do that soon. Because now we're close to several. I just need to make the time to do it, so,
[00:14:57] Jen: Yeah.
[00:14:58] Ashley: We'll see.
[00:14:58] Jen: All right. Ashley, share. What's another thing for you?
[00:15:02] Ashley: Well, while you're talking about vacations, I will stick with that. We had the joy of going to Hilton Head for the second time in a row. That, again, our family has moved a lot, we've traveled a lot, and so, like, continuity is something that... We don't have a whole lot of things that we have come back to several times, and there's certainly some joy in that, and something that we're kind of trying to implement with our kids is like that feeling of like we can look forward to this thing that we always do.
[00:15:28] Ashley: And so Hilton Head was like that for us this year.
[00:15:31] We went back to the same year. Basic place that we had stayed the summer before we had a great time both times. It was actually our 20th wedding anniversary. And so we enjoyed celebrating there at the beach, and it was just really fun. And kind of what you were saying, Jen, about it's fun when you go and your kids are different ages, you can have such a different experience.
[00:15:50] Ashley: And when the kids were younger, honestly, I just didn't really enjoy going to the beach. Like I had always loved it when I was younger as an adult And I used to spend tons of time, like, at the beach, and, I mean, there were summers where, like, we did a ton of that.
[00:16:02] I used to work on the beach when I was in college, and so I've always really loved it, but once we had kids, I just did not really enjoy
[00:16:08] it. I didn't enjoy all the navigating of them, and the stuff that they needed, and so for a while we just didn't go. You know, we went and I didn't have fun, and then we were like, eh, we can do other things instead.
[00:16:19] But it's been so nice as they've gotten older, it is fun again. So it's been nice to discover that, you know, those things, there's just such different phases of childhood and It's been fun to be like, oh, our kids are bigger now, and it's a lot of fun to go, and, you know, we can all have a great time together, so, that was good, and we had a great time this June.
[00:16:37] Jen: So two things. It was also our 20th anniversary, which I always think is funny. Yeah.
[00:16:42] And thank you. Happy anniversary to you as well. And yeah, the beach with little kids is a lot of work, and you're navigating to like time between naps, and you have to schlep all that stuff over to the beach because they have to have all the things.
[00:16:54] So yeah, it's so nice when you're just like, all right, we're going to go over for a little bit, and we're going to take this bag, and really all you need. So...
[00:17:01] Ashley: Yeah, exactly. And they can get out in the water and have fun, or not, you know, and whatever they want to do is fine, whereas I just found that I was very stressed about the water with young kids. And not that that's not warranted. It is something to be aware of but I think I was overly stressed, and therefore it was just not enjoyable. So it's been nice to be like, oh, this is fun again.
[00:17:22] Jen: Hmm. Yeah. That's going to be my next thing is we also had a week at the beach. And so that of course is a very different kind of vacation. So that one we went with my husband's extended family. And that is a thing we do every summer. We get a big house, and we cook in a lot. And my kids really aren't beach kids, but the beach is about so much more than the actual beach.
[00:17:43] And so there are so many things we like to do at the beach in addition to just being on the sand or in the water. So that was a great trip and just very relaxing in contrast to our other vacation. I sometimes have the feeling that I need to be scheduling things, and we need to be going out and doing things, but it's just nice to be able to sit and relax and not worry about anything, and just spend time with family.
[00:18:07] So that was a really nice week as well.
[00:18:09] Ashley: Yeah, that's great.
[00:18:11] So Jen, I know you are always keeping me up to date with pop culture stuff. Is there anything that you enjoyed watching?
[00:18:18] Jen: Oh, you know there was! There were a lot of things. So yes, I watched a bunch of adaptations this summer. I will say highlights. Okay. So I watched the series adaptation of David Nichols' One Day. I have actually not seen the film adaptation, but the series is beautiful. I loved it so much. I will say check out the trigger warnings because there was some ugly crying happening, but it is so good.
[00:18:51] And that one's short, too. It's short episodes. It's 14 episodes, but they're like a half hour long. So it goes really fast. And I just thought it was beautiful. I also loved My Lady Jane. I'm going to have to Google the authors really quickly because there are three of them. I actually haven't read My Lady Jane.
[00:19:08] I've read another of the books that they put out together. And that is by Cynthia Hand, Bertie Ashton, and Jodi Meadows. And My Lady Jane, is about Lady Jane Grey, except it's not really. They take the loose outlines of Lady Jane Grey's story.
[00:19:25] So she is one of the many women who, in historical England, was beheaded for various reasons. And these three authors take that story and turn it on its head and make it funny. And there are magical animals who can turn into people and vice versa.
[00:19:42] And it is snarky and just so, so much fun. And then Bridgerton, I feel like I don't even need to advertise Bridgerton. Everybody knows about Bridgerton, but I enjoyed the new season. I will say it's not my favorite of the seasons, but it was great to have some Bridgerton in my life again. And finally, I watched, I just finished A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, and I liked that a lot.
[00:20:04] I, they set it in England, which was interesting. That was an interesting switch. This is based on Holly Jackson's trilogy, and there are some changes that I didn't love, but overall I really liked it. So yeah, I think any of those would be fun depending on what kind of mood you're in. And yeah, it's always fun to just watch some adaptations.
[00:20:26] Ashley: Nice.
[00:20:26] Jen: Ashley, what's something you want to share from somewhere, from something else?
[00:20:31] Ashley: So, I, listeners know we spend a lot of time outside, my family does, as I just said about the state parks. Something that I really enjoyed this summer that's still pretty new, I think. We've had our paddle board, which is an inflatable stand up paddle board. We've had it two, three years, maybe three, and we now have two.
[00:20:49] We did get a second one, which was really nice. But I just, I love paddle boarding and I wanted to share that because it's something that before doing it I was kind of skeptical about whether... First of all, I wasn't sure about the inflatable part because I had done inflatable kayaks before and they are, in my opinion, not great.
[00:21:08] And definitely nothing like having a regular kayak. And so, I was not sure about getting an inflatable one, but I also did not want to get a non inflatable one because they are very heavy and very hard to store and to carry, to transport. And so we had kind of done some research about that, but I love it.
[00:21:28] I, in fact, like again, Jen and I are recording a little bit early... and yesterday we spent the day at the lake, had the paddleboard out and it's super fun. so I do find it's just really, really fun. It's easy-ish. I feel like it's a lot easier than it might look. And it also is nice, like, my kids really like it because they can use it, like, they like to climb up on it and then jump off.
[00:21:50] And so they use it kind of like a diving board or, I don't know if you've seen the lily pads that float on the water. But we use it like that, but it's nice because it's easier to transport. Again, lily pads are fun. But they take up a lot of room in your car, so if you're not, like, leaving them at a permanent location, then they're a little bit of a hassle to transport and to keep dry.
[00:22:08] But I find that paddleboarding is super fun, so that's something I really enjoyed doing this summer. We were on several different lakes. My dad lives on the lake in Alabama, and then we have spent time at other lakes as well, and it's just really fun. And then also for me, kayaks... I can still lift them, but I do not love lifting them onto the car.
[00:22:26] I do not enjoy tying them down. So I find that like, I'll do that with my partner, but like, I'm not going to go with my friend and do it because I find that there's parts of it that I can't totally control myself. And I don't love that about any activity. Like, you know, it's fun to do it, but if I can't do it by myself, then like, there is a bit of a friction there.
[00:22:44] And paddle boarding is just really fun. I did have to get a pump because pumping it up is challenging if you do it by hand. But you can get ones that you plug into the car and then pump it up and it will inflate it with the machine, which is what I need. But then they're super easy. They're light, so they're easy to pick up and put down in the water.
[00:23:01] And so, yeah, I love it. So that was something I wanted to share as a fun thing I did this summer, but also just like something that's kind of a new discovery that I'm like, oh, this is a really fun thing.
[00:23:09] Jen: I did not know that they actually made inflatable paddle boards. So yes, that was very illuminating for me.
[00:23:16] Ashley: I didn't know that for a long time either. They do not look inflated. I mean, it is firm. They are firm when you put... That's why it's so hard to hand pump them because they are very firm when you get them all the way pumped up. And so they don't look like it, but most of the ones you're seeing are
[00:23:31] inflatable.
[00:23:32] Jen: Interesting. Oh,
[00:23:33] Ashley: And they just, yeah, so it is cool and they put them in these little backpacks that… Not little. It is a big backpack and they're a little bit heavy, but they're not terrible. And it has like the pump and the fins and everything in it. And then, yeah, you can just take it to whatever location, and then get it out.
[00:23:47] And then you just deflate it in the, to put it back in the car. So it is nice. Like a lot of outdoor stuff requires a lot of gear, not the gear itself, but also the transport. I mean, like our bike rack for our car is worth more than I would want to admit on a podcast because it's like you've got to have the thing that lets you take the gear where you want the gear to go. And so that's why, yeah, these are really nice because you don't need anything fancy.
[00:24:14] No racks or anything to be able to do it
[00:24:16] That's really interesting. Jen, what about reading? I know you I'm sure read a lot
[00:24:22] this summer. Is there anything you want to share from that?
[00:24:26] Jen: I had a lot of fun with some series this summer. So I love Jennifer Lynn Barnes's Hawthorne Games series, and that actually has a new spinoff series that came out this summer. So I read that as well, but I went to her backlist. So for an Unabridged Buddy Read, we actually read The Naturals, which is the first book
[00:24:46] in... I think it was her first series. I'm not a hundred percent sure about that. And I loved it. So my library had the rest of the series. That one has four books. plus the novella. And I just checked those out, and I just sped through those. I could not put them down. I think they're super compelling. And sometimes I get annoyed with series because there's the whole timing thing to consider.
[00:25:07] Do you start the series when the second book isn't out? And yeah, what if you've read the first book a long time ago and you've forgotten it? Or I feel this weird sense of obligation to finish the series. And this just had none of that. I just, absolutely loved it. So yeah, I think it made me appreciate that kind of series reading, which I had not done for a while, again.
[00:25:29] So yeah, maybe find an old series. All the books are ready. That might be a nice little summer project. Just check them all out and yeah, read them at your own pace, whatever that is. I was devouring them, so I could not stop, but that's not everybody's situation. Since I'm a teacher, I do have summers off, so I was able to do that, but yeah, that was a lot of fun.
[00:25:49] So that's Jennifer Lynn Barnes's The Naturals, but again, I think it's more just the experience of series reading that I'm sort of recommending.
[00:25:56] Ashley: Yeah, I need to come back to that. I really was so compelled by book one, and I enjoyed that for our buddy read, so...
[00:26:02] Jen: Yeah. All right, Ashley, what's the last thing you want to highlight?
[00:26:06] Ashley: Well, I just wanted to have some gratitude for our neighborhood pool. Now we live in South Carolina. The pool opens May 1st, which is a little mind blowing to me, but let me tell you, we were there. We were there. And it goes through, I don't know, through maybe the end of September. It's open for a while longer, and so I just really enjoyed that.
[00:26:28] It has been so nice. Again, we've had a lot of transitions for a long time, and it feels really good to have some continuity. We see a lot of people from the neighborhood routinely at the pool, so it's really nice because it doesn't require any pre-planning, you're not coordinating, but like, you're there, the kids can play together, like, so I just, that is something I really enjoyed this summer.
[00:26:51] Honestly, we got the most use out of it in May before the summer started because we traveled, the kids had camp, we were away, but still, when, and every time we're in town, we make it, you know, we'll probably go this afternoon. So, it's just been really, really nice to have it. I appreciate it. I'm so grateful that we can just walk up to it and we use it all the time.
[00:27:13] So, yay.
[00:27:14] Jen: That's wonderful. Yes.
[00:27:16] Ashley: I loved the pool when I was a kid, and so I am hoping that, you know, the girls grow up being like, that was something we always did, and we loved it.
[00:27:25] Jen: Yeah, Yeah, we didn't have a neighborhood pool when I was growing up. My town was so small, but we had the town pool. And yes, I spent a lot of time there. The soundtrack was very 80s hard rock. So when I hear those songs still, there was a jukebox... when I hear those songs still, I feel like I'm at the pool again.
[00:27:42] It's really funny.
[00:27:43] Ashley: Yes, yes, and I didn't have a neighborhood pool as a kid either, and so it was like a thing to go to the pool, you know, but I do remember begging to go, I remember begging to stay, I also remember, like, teeth chattering cold, and being, like, so very happy, and my parents being like, aren't you freezing, and I'd be like, no, I am great, but now I see my kids do the same thing, and it's so funny. Not these days; it's quite warm at the moment, but.
[00:28:09] But for sure, in May, of course, it
[00:28:11] is very cold, and they are decidedly not bothered. So, it is fun. But yeah, that's funny about the music.
[00:28:17] Jen: Yeah.
[00:28:17] Ashley: Well, we wanted to wrap up today... We are actually going to try something that if you are a long time listener, you will know that a long time ago, when we were babies in the podcasting world,
[00:28:29] we had episodes where we would do this Lit Chat Game and we would pull a question and then give our responses on command. And we are going to see, today we're going to do it and we'll see how it goes, but we thought we might start re featuring that, come back to that, and do it just at the end of our episodes.
[00:28:50] So. So.
[00:28:54] Jen: Shout out to Book Riot. This is their little game. It's Lit Chat: Conversation Starters about Books and Life. And so there are a whole bunch of cards. Maybe we'll put a picture on the blog post or something. So I'm gently shuffling sort of because I don't know how that'll work.
[00:29:06] sound and you may be cutting this out anyway. I don't know. All right. So our question is, were you ever read to as a child? Is there a book you remember reading with someone?
[00:29:23] Ashley: Okay. Yes, I was read to as a child. I don't remember... I know that my parents read to me. I know. I don't remember it that vividly, so I don't know at what point they stopped reading to me. So that is, like, something I'd be curious to find out. But something I do remember my dad reading was Watership Down, and I remember that book a lot.
[00:29:44] So. What about you, Jen?
[00:29:47] Jen: Yeah. So my grandparents lived about an hour away, a little bit more than an hour away. And they were constantly buying me books. So I was read to a lot as a child, and a lot of those things were... They would get me these subscriptions. I feel like that was a big deal when we were kids. And so my sister had a Berenstain Bears subscription.
[00:30:09] For me, I had... Well, one was called Value Tales, which revisiting that is interesting, but the one I remember most vividly, and perhaps it's because stories have been told, there was a Dr. Seuss subscription. And there's a book in the Dr. Seuss series called, Are You My Mother? And apparently when my grandparents got the very first one, I was really tiny, and they thought it was so much fun,
[00:30:33] they called and read it to me over the phone for the first time. And my mom remembers my grandfather was this pretty serious guy and she remembers him just like cackling in the background because he thought it was so funny. So basically there's this little bird and it falls out of a nest, and it's trying to find its mom.
[00:30:50] And so it goes up to all of these other creatures. And it says, are you my mother? And of course they aren't. So it goes up to a cow... And at one point it goes up to this big construction machine that it calls a snort and says, are you my mother? And that was a whole part of my childhood too. Cause anytime we would pass by one of those machines, I don't even know what it's called.
[00:31:10] It's like the really tall thing with the bucket on the end, and we would pass a snort on my way to places. And I would think of that book. So yeah, that's my answer.
[00:31:21] Ashley: Yes, we read that with my girls, and actually, they found it sad. My oldest daughter for sure. I don't know that we read it much with my younger daughter because my oldest daughter found the whole thing very sad. She'd be like, look at his face. And he does look really... Of course, of course it's distressing for the baby bird.
[00:31:36] And so she would always be like, but he's so sad. So we really didn't read it very many times. You saying it like that, I'm like, yeah, a lot of it's funny, actually, like, I think it's supposed to be funny, but, oh well. Good thing there's a lot of different kinds of books out there.
[00:31:52] Jen: Right.
[00:31:53] Ashley: Well, thank you all so much for listening.
[00:31:55] We hope you enjoyed this start of Season 8, and we're excited to have a new season with you.
[00:32:02] Jen: Thank you.
[00:32:04] Ashley: And just if you are new to listening, or just want to tune in a bit more to what we're doing, you can always follow us at Unabridgedpod on Instagram.
[00:32:13] Jen always posts our buddy reads and our book clubs on there. So if you're wanting to read along, if you enjoy having books recommended to you, if you'd want to join any of our chats, that's a great way to plug in. We're happy to have you here listening. But if you ever want to be more involved, or part of the conversation, then Instagram and Unabridged Pod is a great way to do that.
[00:32:32] Thanks for listening.
[00:32:32] Jen: Thanks.
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