Books on the Nightstand discussion

Michael and I are having a strategy meeting, figuring out if we can do a weekly podcast. Your responses and comments have been eye opening.

Regarding the "Two Books We Can't Wait for you to Read" segment that appears to be quite popular: would you be interested in hearing about books that we think are cool but haven't yet read? Or is that segment only of value because we have read and can truly recommend the book?

It appears that the main obstacle to going weekly is that we just can't read fast enough to keep you all in book recommendations :)

It would be interesting to see what you guys had on your nightstand waiting to read ....
Or ... perhaps you can use your voicemail line and let your listeners weigh in in what they can't wait for us to read (am I hired yet?)

Suzanne wrote: "It would be interesting to see what you guys had on your nightstand waiting to read ....
Or ... perhaps you can use your voicemail line and let your listeners weigh in in what they can't wait for..."

You're hired! We're putting together a job description now ;)

It does make it more valuable if you are endorsing a book because you have read and loved it, but I would love to hear about books with good buzz, too. I also enjoy it when you mention books you have read and loved in the past and that are now available in paperback. Basically, anything about books is fine with me.

I agree with Pam. Besides if you mention a book that you haven't read yet, and are planning to read, that can open up a lot of discussions later on, after you finished the book.

I like Pam's suggestion about books you've read and loved in the past. I also like Suzanne's idea of having listeners call in with THEIR recommendations of what they can't wait for us to read. Whatever the two of you decide will be fine with us, I'm sure. It's obvious that we all love what you do with the podcasts, and having a little bit of personal information about you really adds to the enjoyment of listening because I feel that I know you, instead of hearing an anonymous, commercialized review. Yeah, yeah, I know you both work for Random House, but I don't feel that you're beating me over the head with allegiance to your employer. And what DO you have waiting on your nightstands to be read?

A weekly podcast would be great. I haven't been able to find any other podcasts similar to yours that take a conversational approach to discussing books. I would definitely be interested in hearing about new books that you haven't had a chance to read, but have on your to-read list. Also, a if you liked this book, you might also like these other titles segment would be great.

I will listen to ANYTHING you both do book-related. You could just even do longer episodes on the same topic and break them into two segments. I just like listening! Hearing about books that you are excited to read (besides ones that haven't come out yet) would also be fun. ANYTHING! Would love more listener call-in, although I can understand the frustrations involved. I promise I would call next time! We had some major family-health issues arise and EVERYTHING was put on hold!

What if in the off week we heard about books recommended by the people you encounter in your week (like the book store people's fave books or maybe you ask one customer their fave book) as well as books brought to your attention by the voicemail line? Plus, you could let us listen to a few of your fave voicemails from the past 2 weeks.

all great ideas everyone and all things we are hoping to include. Many of you mentioned playing more listener voicemail comments... You all need to call in for that to happen! We'd LOVE to hear what you're all reading and loving, so call in (sing it with me (209) 867-READ)

Leah, we've been meaning to carry around our recorders so we can get book recs from booksellers. We just need to remember to do it...

So, keep listening for new things added to the podcast. We've got many ideas that we'll be adding over the next several shows!