I once loaned my very favorite book in the whole world to a friend I thought would love it as much as I did.
When she returned the book a week later, I thought she had whipped through it like I had, devouring the words and turning the pages in a fever to immerse herself in the characters and their stories.
“What did you think?” I asked eagerly.
“Meh,” she said. “I didn’t finish it. It was too . . . I dunno, too something. I just couldn’t get into it.”
The same book had thrilled another friend I’d loaned it to. Such is the delicious mystery of the reading experience — an experience that’s personal and particular to each reader.
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Countdown to festival:Black artists put folk and country music in spotlight at Word of South
I’ll get to explore what makes books click with some readers and not with others during a live podcast with author Anne Bogel on Saturday at Word of South’s festival of literature and music. I’ll be joined by festival director Sara Marchessault. Expect to also get Bogel’s summer reading suggestions and other juicy book-related tidbits.
“I think what I really love is the variety of the reading experience,” Bogel said in a recent phone interview. “Most of us are mood readers. One of the beauties of being an adult reader is that we can choose what we read and when we read it.”
Bogel has built her career around that most enviable of jobs — talking about books. The Kentucky native started the popular blog “Modern Mrs. Darcy” in 2011 and launched her podcast “What Should I Read Next?” in 2016. She has written five books, the most recent being 2022’s “My Reading Adventures: A Book Journal for Kids” (a companion to the 2021 title “My Reading Life: A Book Journal” for grownups).
The podcast is a kind of literary matchmaking service in which Bogel recommends books based on guests’ likes, dislikes and what they’re currently reading.
“My underlying goal is to help people get more out of their reading life,” Bogel said in a Washington Post interview. “Because I really think if you’re able to get more out of your reading life, you can’t help but get more out of the rest of your life.
“When you talk about books with people, it’s such a shortcut to talking about what really matters — life and death and love and loss and questions of identity and decision-making.”
Countdown to festival:Feel the rhythm as Latin and Cuban jazz take an energetic spin at Word of South
Stick around after the podcast segment to hear Bogel talk to Florida-based New York Times best-selling author Lauren Groff, whose latest novel is 2023’s “The Vaster Wilds,” at 3:30 p.m.
Another podcast presentation follows that session at 5 p.m., when columnist and author Jonah Goldberg is the featured guest on The Road to Now,“ a history podcast that looks to the past to understand the present,” hosted by history professor Ben Sawyer and Bob Crawford (the Avett Brothers bass player).
If you go
What: Live taping of “What Should I Read Next?,” with podcast host Anne Bogel and guests Sara Marchessault and Kati Schardl
When: 2 p.m. Saturday, April 27
Where: Florida Jazz & Blues Stage at the Marriott AC Hotel Ballroom
Full schedule: It’s free. Learn more at wordofsouthfestival.com
