Hot Girls Read Podcast

Ayesha

I’m back to reading two books simultaneously – “The Wilderness” by Samantha Harvey and “How to Be Dateable: The Essential Guide to Finding Your Person and Falling in Love” by Julie Krafchick and Yue Xu. I know, it’s quite the range!

I purchased “The Wilderness” over Christmas while I was perusing the shelves of John Sandoe (Books) Ltd. in London. To be completely candid, I was pulled in by the synopsis and knew it would be emotionally gut-wrenching…so obviously I bought it. The story follows Jake as he struggles with Alzheimers. I’m a few chapters in and I can already see his memories deteriorate and I know that I will be needing to pull out the tissue boxes soon as I continue. 

On a more light-hearted note, I’ve finally started the ARC I’d received for “How to Be Dateable” (published on January 28, 2025). I’ve been saying this for a long time but I want us to do an episode on books to read while you’re dating and this is certainly a book that would add to the conversation! If you’ve been with us for some time, you’ve likely heard our episode on “Attached” and I think this is a nice follow-up to that. I’ve certainly done my work to be more secure and I’m reading this with an open-mind and ready to see what Julie and Yue have to add to the changes in the dating landscape. To quote, “we’re in a f*cking love crisis.”

Julia

I am back on the Terry Pratchett train! However,  this time I have broken from chronological order and have jumped to book 18 in the Discworld series: Maskerade.

I hadn’t planned to pick out another Discworld book but I was craving something other than non-fiction for my upcoming trip to Tenerife (where I am now!) and so the other day I popped into the fantasy bookstore by my flat. I really wanted to pick up something by a French author but I suddenly saw a selection of Terry Pratchett books and could not look away!

The thing is, I’ve had a hard time finding his books (English language) in Paris and so have been reading them exclusively on my Kindle. Even though these were French translations of the originals, I thought it would not just be a treat to own a Discworld book in the flesh, but that it would also be a nice challenge to read Pratchett’s work, full of wordplay and humour, in French.

Maskerade revolves around the zany world of the Ankh-Morpork Opera —I believe it is partly a play on the Phantom of the Opera— and a few even zanier witches. As always, the cast of characters is so colourful and the premise is ridiculously fun to get lost in. There is so much texture in Pratchett’s writing and while reading it in French isn’t a walk in the park for me, it is fun to see how his humour and writing translates to another language!