Fiction Between Friends: Recent Episodes
Fiction Between Friends
Part book club, part podcast, Fiction Between Friends is a celebration of how a really good book can come into your life and change it. No scathing reviews or negative commentary, just great books and engaging conversations. Hosted by four childhood friends from the suburbs of Massachusetts, each episode covers either four books they’ve loved from the past, or a new release that just hit the bookshelves. It is an idyllic place for bibliophiles to rekindle their love for an old favorite or to find a new to read.
Trigger warning: The beginning of this episode starts off with a politically charged conversation about the Supreme Court and the recent overturning of Roe v Wade. But we eventually do talk about books. * Also, this is our last episode before our summer break, but we will be back in the fall rested and refreshed,...
Alisa’s daughter Ella, and Lauren’s daughter Ana gave us a list of YA titles we hadn’t read yet. Aileen read We Were Liars by E. Lockheart, a thriller with a blow-your-mind twist at the end. Though classified as YA, we all felt like this book was just as suitable for adults also. Lauren read The...
This week we read books that hovered somewhere in the beach read category, yet much more challenging and satisfying than the run-of-the-mill sand and surf fluff. Aileen read The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller, a story of summer, secrets, love, and lies. Lauren read Mr. Wrong Number, a hilarious rom-com by Lynn Painter. Alisa...
This week on Fiction Between Friends we have a special guest, New York Times bestselling author, Beth Revis! We talk about her new book The Princess and the Scoundrel, coming out August 16, 2022, and her serial novel Museum of Magic that is out right now on Kindle Vella. Beth tells us all about the...
This week the gang reads historical fiction. Alisa and Aileen are old pros at this sub-genre while Josie and Lauren are more like dabblers. Ironically, almost all of the picks were in the WW2 category while Josie was the odd duck who traveled back to medieval Europe. Aileen read Moloka’i by Alan Brennert. She’s been...
Ever wonder how your favorite book becomes a movie or a TV show? Well, wonder no longer because we have brought in a bona-fide filmmaker to explain it. Lauren couldn’t be with us, but we had our first guest speaker, Barbara Stepansky on in her place. Barbara is an award-winning screenwriter and a director who...
This week on Fiction Between Friends, anything goes! It was the “What’s on Your Nightstand?” show. Aileen read Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld. A modern re-telling of Pride and Prejudice is always welcome on our podcast if that re-telling is a good one, and Eligible did not disappoint. Aileen walked the gang through the characters and...
We talked about it, and we’ve decided that the pandemic is over. For now, at least. And we wanted to celebrate that by talking about what helped get us through it. Each other, of course, but also what we read. Basically, Aileen thought up the topic of this episode as an excuse to re-read Daisy...
This week we all read books that were set in our neck of the woods. New England! Aileen starts us off with On Beauty by Zadie Smith. Set at a Harvard-esque university, On Beauty covers a wide swath of topics, like elitism, Eastern Liberalism, and identity struggles within a bi-racial family. Lauren read The Physick...
We felt like we needed to lighten up a bit, so this week we read books that made us laugh. Lauren read an old favorite, One for the Money by Janet Evanovich. With two hot guys to choose from, plenty of action, and a funny grandma, what’s not to love about this? The good character...
Aileen had always wanted an excuse to read Nora Ephron, so she read Heartburn by Nora Ephron. Lauren got her sweet tooth fix with an old copy of Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel. Alisa read A River Runs Through It by Norman McClain, and Josie dug up her copy of Jane Eyre by...
We’re a bit early for Valentine’s Day, but each of us picked a love story to discuss this week. Lauren went first and talked about The Ex Talk by Rachel Lynn Solomon because she just couldn’t hold her tea! Fun, vivacious dialogue and tons of red hot lovin’ was just what Lauren needed. She appreciated...
Aileen is a huge Stephen King fan and has been for as long as we can remember. This week she picked a book of his for each of us to read. Aileen read one of King’s more recent books, Billie Summers. A crime thriller that’s something of a departure from what we all think of as...
Right now in our country there are towns, cities, and states making lists of books that certain people want banned from schools and libraries, and we are absolutely horrified by this. So, each one of us picks an AMAZING book that is on one of these nefarious lists and read the heck out of ‘em....
Our final episode of the season! We’ll be off for three weeks and then be back January 10 for Season 2. The gang’s all here for escapist novels! It’s unanimously agreed that we all love what is commonly referred to as “women’s fiction” and that it’s long past the time when anyone should be embarrassed...
We tried something a little different for this episode and chose to partner up and cover two books instead of four. Aileen and Lauren read Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman, the smart, warm, and uplifting story of an out-of-the-ordinary heroine whose deadpan weirdness and unconscious wit make for an irresistible journey as...
The Lauren Drought continues, but in her absence we discuss books that she picked out for us, and it’s unanimous. Every book was a perfect fit. We conclude that Lauren must be a book whisperer. As per Lauren’s suggestion, Aileen read and thoroughly enjoyed Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal a lively, sexy, and...
Unfortunately, Lauren couldn’t make it, but the remaining gang soldiers on without her and discusses captivity and survival stories. Aileen re-read Flowers in the Attic by V. C. Andrews and found that her opinion of this once beloved book had changed drastically since her teen years. Many of the things she adored about this “forbidden...
We chose to go dark on this one, all except for Lauren who went with some lighter fare because sometimes you read what the book gods send your way and you don’t ask any questions. Aileen tips off the book talk with her pick, The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier. Alisa cuts the line with Lord of the...
What is it about certain books that brings up back, again and again? Why re-read at all, considering there are so many great books waiting on our TBR lists? This week we break down our favorite re-reads. Aileen dusts off her old copy of Are You There God It’s Me Margaret by Judy Blume, and...
Since this is a podcast celebrating books and friends we thought it was important for our second episode to cover books centered around friendships. We discuss Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells, Ivy Aberdeen's Letter to the World by Ashley Herring Blake, Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie...
Since this is a podcast celebrating books and friends we thought it was important for our second episode to cover books centered around friendships. We discuss Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells, Ivy Aberdeen’s Letter to the World by Ashley Herring Blake, Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie...
Since this is our very first episode we thought it would be appropriate to make the theme for this one, “Books that made us fall in love with reading”. We cover Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson, Ramona Quimby, Age 8 by Beverly Cleary, and Anne of Green Gables...