Unabridged Podcast

14/01/2026

Check out today's episode of Unabridged: after sharing our current reads, we close out 2025 and looking ahead to 2026. Ashley and Jen reflect honestly on their 2025 reading lives—the challenges that worked, the ones that caused stress, and what it means to read with intention rather than pressure. They also share their plans for 2026, including personal reading goals and the brand-new Unabridged Podcast Reading Challenge. Then, we wrap up with a lit chat about the books that most shaped our high school and college reading experiences. Listen now and find full challenge details at unabridgedpod.com.

10/01/2026

Happy Weekend! Today, I (Jen) am reading Lisa Ridzén's When the Cranes Fly South, translated by Alice Menzies. It is devastating but also absolutely beautiful—I'm loving it so far.

What are you reading this weekend?

07/01/2026

Winter has always been one of my favorite reading seasons, not just for cozy vibes, but for stories where the cold, the darkness, and the turning of the year are part of the story.

I just updated a blog post I first shared back in December 2020 (hello, pandemic reading life 🙃) with new winter book recommendations for 2026. This list includes novels where winter isn’t just a backdrop; it shapes the story, the stakes, and the characters themselves. Some are quiet and reflective, some are eerie or heartbreaking, and some are cozy and hopeful. If you’re in the mood for a book that feels like winter, there’s something here for you.

Check out the post here: https://www.unabridgedpod.com/post/eight-winter-book-recommendations-to-read-this-season

Do you gravitate toward cozy winter reads, or do you like your seasonal books a little darker? Let us know! ❄️📚

by Ashley Dickson-Ellison ()In this curated list of winter book recommendations, I'm sharing books where the season of winter is a pivotal part of the story. (Actually, in two of them, Fredrik Backman's Anxious People and Margarita Montimore's Oona Out of Order, the new year sp...

03/01/2026

Happy Weekend! Today, I (Jen) am reading Henry James's The Wings of the Dove (it's part of a buddy read with my group).

What are you reading this weekend?

27/12/2025

Happy Weekend! Today, thanks to Celadon Books, I (Jen) am reading Charleen Hurtubise's Saoirse, which will be published on February 24. (I'll include the synopsis below.) The sweet girl posing for the photo is my mom's Maggie.

What are you reading this weekend?
Synopsis:

"For readers of Colm Tóibín and Claire Keegan, Saoirse is a powerful novel set between the United States and Ireland about a woman who runs from her traumatic past and the secrets she carries to survive.

"In Michigan, Sarah’s childhood was defined by fear and silence. As a teenager, she saw a chance to escape and took it. Now, in 1999, she is an artist living on the rugged coast of Donegal, Ireland, where she is known as Saoirse (pronounced Sear-sha)—a name that sounds like the sea and means freedom in the language of her adopted country. And free is precisely how she is finally beginning to feel. Her partner and two beloved daughters are regular subjects of her paintings, and together they have made the safe home she always longed for. But Saoirse's secrets haunt her. No one must learn of the identity she has stolen in order to survive; they cannot know of the dangers that she crossed an ocean to escape.

"When her artwork wins unexpected acclaim at a Dublin exhibition, the spotlight of fame threatens to unravel the careful lies that hold her world together. Journalists and admirers begin to ask questions about the mysterious artist from Donegal, and she fears the unwanted publicity will expose all that she has done.

"Saoirse is an evocative, suspenseful exploration of the intimate relationship between art and life and the lies we tell ourselves in the name of reinvention."

24/12/2025

In a look back at this Unabridged Book Club episode, Sara, Jen, and Ashley discuss our December book club pick, Jean Meltzer's The Matzah Ball. We all discuss this 2021 release (spoiler alert: we all loved it!!!), and then we each share a pairing suggestion. Our pairings include Talia Hibbert’s Get a Life, Chloe Brown, Sarah Adams’s The Match, and Beth O’Leary’s The Switch. This book club pick is perfect for the holiday season and is the perfect mix of a fun romance coupled with serious issues.

24/12/2025

Have you read Jean Meltzer yet, and are you in the mood for a holiday romance with real heart?

In this special encore episode, we’re bringing back our December 2021 Book Club episode (Ep. 207), featuring Jean Meltzer’s The Matzah Ball (Libro.fm | Bookshop.org), her delightful debut. We loved revisiting this one: it’s funny and festive, but it also has surprising depth as Meltzer thoughtfully explores chronic illness and the power (and weight) of keeping parts of yourself hidden. We also talk about the rich portrayal of Jewish traditions, the book’s strong family dynamics, and the second-chance chemistry between Rachel and Jacob.

If you’re new to Meltzer, this is a perfect place to start, especially since she’s also written another holiday romance we adore, The Eight Heartbreaks of Hanukkah (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm). We hope you enjoy this cozy throwback, and we’d love to hear what holiday reads you’re loving this season!

Visit the Unabridged website for our full show notes and links to the books mentioned in the episode. Interested in what else we're reading? Check out our Featured Books page.

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20/12/2025

🌟BOOK CLUB ANNOUNCEMENT🌟

Unabridged Podcast has chosen its next Book Club pick! In January, we hope you’ll join us in reading Rabih Alameddine's The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother). We'll have a rolling chat on January 26, and watch for the episode on the 28th. Please share with others who might be interested, and let us know if you’d like to join by replying here or DMing us!

Here’s the publisher’s synopsis:

"In a tiny Beirut apartment, sixty-three-year-old Raja and his mother live side by side. A beloved high school philosophy teacher and 'the neighborhood homosexual,' Raja relishes books, meditative walks, order, and solitude. Zalfa, his octogenarian mother, views her son’s desire for privacy as a personal affront. She demands to know every detail of Raja’s work life and love life, boundaries be damned.

"When Raja receives an invite to an all-expenses-paid writing residency in America, the timing couldn’t be better. It arrives on the heels of a series of personal and national disasters that have left Raja longing for peace and quiet away from his mother and the heartache of Lebanon. But what at first seems a stroke of good fortune soon leads Raja to recount and relive the very disasters and past betrayals he wishes to forget.

"Told in Raja’s irresistible and wickedly funny voice, the novel dances across six decades to tell the unforgettable story of a singular life and its absurdities—a tale of mistakes, self-discovery, trauma, and maybe even forgiveness. Above all, The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother) is a wildly unique and sparkling celebration of love."

20/12/2025

Happy Weekend! Today, I (Jen) am reading Holly Brickley's Deep Cuts—I've seen this on a few friends' best-of-the-year lists and am loving it so far. (I'll include the synopsis below.)

What are you reading this weekend?
"Look, the song whispered to me, that day in my living room. Life can be so big.

"It’s a Friday night in a campus bar in Berkeley, fall of 2000, and Percy Marks is pontificating about music again. Hall and Oates is on the jukebox, and Percy—who has no talent for music, just lots of opinions about it—can’t stop herself from overanalyzing the song, indulging what she knows to be her most annoying habit. But something is different tonight. The guy beside her at the bar, fellow student Joe Morrow, is a songwriter. And he could listen to Percy talk all night.

"Joe asks Percy for feedback on one of his songs—and the results kick off a partnership that will span years, ignite new passions in them both, and crush their egos again and again. Is their collaboration worth its cost? Or is it holding Percy back from finding her own voice?

"Moving from Brooklyn bars to San Francisco dance floors, Deep Cuts examines the nature of talent, obsession, belonging, and above all, our need to be heard."

19/12/2025

Looking for holiday romances that are sweet . . . but not too sweet?

I (Jen) have rounded up "4 Holiday Romances That Earn Their Happy Endings"—stories full of magic, second chances, found family, and just the right amount of steam. From retellings of A Christmas Carol to Hanukkah-centered love stories, these reads deliver joy without being overly sentimental.

https://www.unabridgedpod.com/post/4-holiday-romances

17/12/2025

We've reached the end of the year and my (Jen's) inevitable mix of delight in reflecting on the books I've loved and angst over having to choose my favorites. It's always such an interesting exercise (and I often cheat . . . just a bit). You can find the full post at https://www.unabridgedpod.com/post/jen-s-favorite-reads-of-2025-part-2.

13/12/2025

🌟BUDDY READ ANNOUNCEMENT🌟

Unabridged Podcast has chosen its next buddy read! In January, we hope you’ll join us in reading Hannah V. Sawyerr's Truth Is. We'll chat on January 19! Please share with others who might be interested, and let us know if you’d like to join by replying here or DM us!

Here’s the publisher’s synopsis:

"Seventeen-year-old poet Truth Bangura begins senior year unsure of life after graduation, but when she learns she's pregnant by her ex-boyfriend, she makes one decision she is sure about—an abortion. When Truth performs a poem about her decision and her emotionally turbulent home life, the performance is recorded and posted online for everyone to see—including her mother."