Season 3 Recap

Kristy (00:00)
Welcome to Books I Make My Husband Read, a self-described, hilarious, and heartfelt podcast where I, Kristy, the devoted book lover, curate an unexpected reading list for my husband, Jon.

Jon (00:10)
And that's me. Each episode we'll dive into lively discussions, humorous debates, and surprising insights on the books Kristy just has to make me read.

Kristy (00:18)
We're here to explore everything from timeless classics to quirky hidden gems, challenging our perspectives and inviting you to join in on the fun.

Jon (00:26)
So settle in, grab your favorite beverage, and get ready for another literary adventure.

Kristy (00:46)
Hello listeners and welcome to season 3, episode 8 of Books I Make My Husband Read. I'm your host Kristy.

Jon (00:52)
And I am husband Jon, the co-host that Kristy makes read all of all of the books, all of them every other week for the rest of my life.

Kristy (01:02)
Well, this time I actually didn't make you read a book instead I'm making you talk about all the books you already read.

Jon (01:09)
I guess that's a little reprieve.

Kristy (01:11)
Yes. But here we are again, end of another season, our season recap. We didn't do this in season two, we did it in season one and it actually ended up being a pretty popular episode. I don't know why we didn't do it in season two. We decided to do an extra book instead, but I'm glad we brought it back.

Jon (01:28)
Yeah, it's kind of crazy that we're at the end of another season already. In fact, it's even crazier that we're at the end of this year, which has been a crazy fucking year to begin with. ⁓

Kristy (01:40)
win

Jon (01:41)
Yeah, no shit. I would like to say, or I would like to feel that like the season just got started and it blew by so fast because we were having so much fun. But let's be real, it's a lot of fucking work to read all these books.

Kristy (01:53)
It is a lot of work, I will give you that.

But before we dive in, we do want to let listeners know that this episode will be completely spoiler free. So if you haven't read any of the books or you don't want spoilers, don't worry.

Jon (02:08)
Yep. And don't forget that you can keep up with our podcast and all of our other shenanigans that we're up to by following us on Instagram at books. I make my husband read, or you can email us at books. I make my husband read at gmail.com. don't forget about TikTok. Yeah, we're on there too.

Kristy (02:26)
Yeah. All right. So let's transition to some of these questions and I'm going to throw a softball one at you first. Favorite book of the season. I know. So let's maybe do, I know that is a really hard one. So maybe like talk about maybe what you would say is your top three.

Jon (02:35)
my god, that's not a softball question. So many good books to choose from. ⁓

Okay. In no particular order, I'll say atmosphere, other side of now and between the devil and the deep blue sea, think would be my top three.

Kristy (02:54)
Hmm.

Those might be my top three too. Oh really? Yeah. Look at that. Yep. It's really hard to compare a book like any of those books like to each other, know, they're in each of them in different genres. The character dynamics are so different. And so I think that, you know, when you think about when people ask you like, what's your favorite book of all time? Like, I don't even fucking know what my favorite book this month is. Like, how can I compare something that's like

Jon (03:05)
us.

Yeah, right, right.

Kristy (03:31)
an 800 page fantasy book to a 300 page like contemporary fiction or rom-com. Like those are totally different books and going to make me feel completely different. So, yeah. Do you want to talk about why, you know, maybe like a couple of lines of each one, why they were favorite picks.

Jon (03:42)
Yeah, I agree.

think atmosphere was just so beautifully written and I didn't really know what to expect from that one. And so it was just a really pleasant surprise. I think between the devil and Deep Blue Sea, I appreciated a lot more because we got to talk to Jessica and because we got to hear her story, it just gave this whole new level of appreciation and understanding and like, like a lens to look through those characters with. And the other side of now is just a fun.

book, like, there wasn't a single character that I didn't like. And I thought the story was really interesting. I think we all have moments of like, what would my life have been if I would have chose this, you know, back in the day or whatever. And so I think that's just a very relatable topic. And a really enjoyable read.

Kristy (04:39)
Yeah, least favorite book of the season.

Jon (04:43)
Okay, this is a little bit easier and it's unfortunate because I don't think it's quite fair to the author, but I'm going to say not quite dead yet because I listened to it and the narrator was so cringe. was so cringe and I'm sorry, whoever that narrator is, not your best work. Or maybe it was and that's even worse.

⁓ But like I wanted to like the book, I just, just couldn't get past that. So if, if you're asking me my least favorite, it'd probably be that one. But I think it was because of the experience of it and maybe not like the book itself.

Kristy (05:23)
Yeah. I would say for me, it's a toss up between that and My Friends, which I know is a really unpopular opinion. I know that book is like wildly loved. I don't know. don't know if I had, it was overhyped for me or too many expectations going in. I didn't love the ending. I didn't love the way things wrapped up. There were some things that I felt were missing, which we talked about in our episode. But I also, I mean, I like Holly Jackson's writing and I do agree with you that the narrator, I don't want to say I felt completely the same way as you, but she was.

She was annoying. I still, think there were still good books. I still enjoyed both of those books. I don't think there was a bad one we, you know, read this season, but I do, if I had to pick one, think I would pick one of those two as well. Right on. All right. So you said maybe a little bit about this already, but which book completely wasn't what you expected going in and then you had different feelings as after you finished it.

Jon (06:14)
Probably, probably atmosphere would be the one for that one. I really had no idea. I don't even think I read the book jacket ⁓ before just like rolling into that one or.

Kristy (06:24)
Because I was like, here, this.

Jon (06:26)
Yeah, basically. It was just a very pleasant surprise. And yeah, it was very memorable and definitely left an impact. So, what about you?

Kristy (06:37)
I agree with everything you said about atmosphere. I definitely felt that way about atmosphere, but I guess I knew what to expect maybe differently than you did because I've read Taylor Jenkins reads other pieces. But I think the other side of now for me was the one that I absolutely had no idea because if you remember, I got that book as an advanced copy and I didn't know page and...

I didn't know what the book was about. I had emailed the publisher about a totally different novel looking to get an advanced copy of a different book. And then they were like, hey, you should also read this one. I was like, sure, send it along. So I got both books, read the one I wanted first, but then read the other one, ended up liking that one way more, the pages way more. So I just freaking love it. I loved it.

again when I reread it preparing for the episode. And I just think it's just such a good story with some really relatable and caring characters. Characters that you want to be friends with, characters that you want to be part of their friend group. And yeah, I love the setting and I just really love that book and I love the idea of the multiverse.

Jon (07:54)
Right on.

Kristy (07:55)
Alright, so speaking of favorite characters, so we covered this I think in season one where I talked about how much I love Nora Stevens and you know I want to be best friends with her. She's from book lovers if you're not sure who that character is, but did you have a favorite character from this season out of any of the books or maybe one like you specifically related to or felt connected with?

Jon (08:18)
I think the way I would answer that would probably be, think my favorite or most memorable character that I enjoyed the most would be, actually wasn't a main character, it was a side character, Kira. Oh my god! We can't keep having the same answers. She was just so funny and I loved her energy.

Kristy (08:30)
my answer.

Me too, me too, me too!

Jon (08:46)
the dynamics between her and. ⁓

Kristy (08:50)
Meg Bryan. Meg.

Jon (08:53)
That's right. Not Meg Ryan, which even in the book, they're like, it was similar. Yeah, think Kira was my favorite character. There are a number that I could relate to. I actually could relate to Meg in that book quite a bit with like her kind of challenges with, you know, the direction her life took and how different it could have been, you know, in her moments. There are a lot of relatability items there. I think even in like between the devil and the deep blue sea, I think there was

some relatable instances from that main character too that I could empathize with or like looked internally with. ⁓ Which, know, y'all can go listen to that episode to hear a little bit more about that one. I think those would be mine. So clearly yours is Keira also, but if we weren't allowed to have the same person, who would your number two be?

Kristy (09:47)
Karen.

Jon (09:49)
A dragon. That's awesome. I just love his...

Kristy (09:56)
Yeah,

a grumpy old dragon like that's definitely my vibe.

Jon (10:01)
Okay, at Chex, I support this.

Kristy (10:04)
think Taryn's hilarious. actually read a comment the other day that someone, someone, we were talking about book boyfriends on Instagram and someone commented that it's Taryn. She's like, yes, I'm in love with the grumpy old dragon. I was like, I'm here for it. I understand the appeal. I like him as a character. also have to shout out Adam Carlson from the Love Hypothesis. We discussed that in depth. So.

Jon (10:20)
You could relate.

We did. Listeners should go listen to that episode if they really want to understand your deep, ⁓ what word should I use here?

Kristy (10:43)
love for very smart nerdy men.

Jon (10:47)
We'll go with the area.

Kristy (10:48)
Yeah.

Moving along. Is there a character that you would actively avoid in real life?

Jon (10:57)
Xaden.

Kristy (10:58)
really?

Jon (11:00)
Yeah, just, I don't know. There's just something about, yeah, I don't know. That's the first one that pops in my head. All the other books are like not as, I don't really hate to say, was gonna say none of the other books have any characters that I really hated.

Kristy (11:14)
You can say Jack Barlow.

Jon (11:16)
No, I could say Jack Barlow. Yeah, that's true. Anyway, I'm going to stick with Xaden. I'm going to be like, no, I'm going to avoid you at all costs.

Kristy (11:26)
Okay, I feel like I can't unpack that because it would be a total spoiler no matter where you are in the series. We're just gonna go with Xaden.

Jon (11:35)
Okay, well, who would you avoid?

Kristy (11:39)
I don't know. don't know. No, I actually like Jet. Like we talked about though, the person that Jet becomes as the novel goes on after what happens to her again. I don't want to spoil anything, but yeah, I can totally see Jet when we first meet Jet. She would be someone that I would not get along with, but as she evolves and grows in the book, I really appreciated Jet's character.

Jon (11:40)
Jet.

Hmm.

Kristy (12:08)
Yeah,

I definitely know that there's been characters in other seasons where like we had said that person is so annoying and I didn't really feel like now. mean, we go back and listen to all the episodes. We're probably like, yeah, we did think that so and so was annoying, but I didn't necessarily think that. I think you thought Billy was annoying at one point too.

Jon (12:28)
I do. Billy, I'll actually what I was just going to say was the mother in Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, I thought was really annoying. But then through our conversation, mind was changed on her character, but she was another one that at first I'm like, oh, I'm not going to like this person.

Kristy (12:46)
I agree. I felt that way the first time I read that book. And then knowing what I knew, how the novel kind of like the path that it took and or it's just the narrative of the book and then where we ended up and then rereading it, I felt totally different about her. Totally different about Christine. All right. Is there a book that you secretly liked more than you admitted on the podcast?

Jon (13:14)
I don't think so. think I was pretty candid with most of my appreciations of these books and how they impacted my being. I do think I enjoyed Not Quite Dead Yet as a book more than I probably let on because I was so annoyed by the narrator, but the book itself and the premise of the book was really fascinating and I liked how that sort of played out even though some of those other things that aren't the book's fault necessarily.

Kristy (13:42)
Right.

Yeah, I think you said you would have had a totally different experience had you physically read the book versus listening to the book.

Jon (13:50)
I think so too. Made up like my own character voices and my own like narration for them. Yeah, I think so.

Kristy (13:56)
So the premise of the book, you haven't read it, is that a young woman gets attacked, I think she's 27 in the book, she gets attacked on Halloween night and the brain injury that she sustained during this attack is going to result in a massive fatal aneurysm within the next two weeks. she sets out to solve

Jon (14:17)
It was like a week or two.

Kristy (14:23)
her murder essentially because she said she's gonna die from this attack. It's going to be a murder. And yeah, so I just thought it was very unique and something I hadn't came up like in any way, shape or form like came across. I thought it was a fun story for sure. So we're lucky enough to have two authors join us this season, Jessica Guerrero and Paige Harbison. If you're listening, thank you both for joining us. We really enjoyed having you on and we hope to keep in touch with you for your future.

novels, hint, but let's talk about those two episodes. What surprised you the most about talking directly with both or either of those authors?

Jon (15:02)
Well, I think with Jessica, what I don't know if surprise is the right word, but maybe appreciated is the right word was how candid she was about her own journey and forthcoming about that. And I think that just led to a whole nother level of appreciation for the book. Like I mentioned at the top of the episode of I realized like that can be hard for not just people for it to talk about, but it can also be hard as a listener to hear this person talk about that.

an experience like that or their journey like that and you're not really sure how to respond or what's the right way to.

Kristy (15:35)
It definitely makes some people uncomfortable.

Jon (15:36)
Yeah. Yeah. And I think, um, it was just a really enjoyable conversation, you know, through that, that openness and that candidness, I think with Paige, I think what surprised me most about that is like, we were both so kind of caught on the whole like sliding doors angle. And she's like, I didn't start off writing this book sliding doors thing. Like she's like, I just want to tell a story about someone who had a, you know, had a tragedy and her life went in a different direction. And what would it have been if that hadn't happened?

And we were just like, and we had like all these questions about the multiverse and things like that for her. And she's like, yeah, that was. So I think that was probably the most surprising out of hers, but that one was fun too, because again, I listened to it and she narrated her own book on. my God. It was so good. Her like Irish accent.

Kristy (16:13)
No, no, no, no, no.

Excellent job.

and she did it in the episode too.

Jon (16:33)
Yeah. So that was a lot of fun. I just really enjoyed that conversation and getting to know it. It was just fun to hear that like this thing that we latched onto, she's like, yeah, that was, I didn't set out to write anything about that. That was just sort of like the mechanism I used to go on this journey.

Kristy (16:49)
Yeah. She said that, so her mother is an author as well and her mother were kind of brainstorming and the idea was what if you went to an Airbnb and all your stuff was there already? So in order to like get the story there, that's I think when the sliding door is like kind of, you know, came to being, but it is, you're right. She wanted to tell a story about grief because she had an experience ⁓ with someone close to her. So I, I love that book.

Jon (17:00)
yeah.

⁓ Yeah. Out of those. ⁓ go Sorry, I was just going to repeat the question back to you out of those two. What like, what did you, what was surprised you the most?

Kristy (17:27)
Yeah, I don't know. Again, maybe I shouldn't have used the word surprise the same as you, but I appreciated with Jessica, it was just her candidness, how vulnerable she was with us. And I think we connected with her right away, both on the episode and then like having spoken to her previously about her book earlier in the year. And you just have this deep appreciation when you know where it's, I think, for the novel, when you know where it's coming from, when you know it's like lived experience.

And I said this in the episode, but I just love that she wrote the book. For me, I love that she said that I wrote the book I needed when she was struggling with addiction. And you're not gonna go to the self-help aisle and look up for a book on addiction and here's what I need to do. But instead she does it through this narration and the storytelling and gives readers the,

maybe like I need to like, you know, I think probably maybe retrospectively like look at it. Is this affecting me? Is this something I'm struggling with? it doesn't have to be, know, alcohol addiction can be, you know, anything. So I really love that piece of it. And then yeah, again, with Paige, just, we had such fun time with Paige and...

maybe we love Paige because she said she's Kira in the book and we both obviously love Kira. So it was fun that and that was a book that I think listening to it was not a better experience necessarily with Between the Devil and Deep Blue Sea, but definitely a, I don't know, like the cherry on top, like you said with Paige during doing the narration and knowing it's her and she does the accents very well. And I just, it was so much fun. It was so much

on listening to it.

Jon (19:23)
I I will listen to that one again.

Kristy (19:25)
So did talking to the authors make you more nervous, more relaxed, or exactly the same compared to our usual episodes? ⁓ Sweaty pits?

Jon (19:34)
way more nervous. It's like

sweaty pits, sweaty palms. Like, ⁓ my God. Like here are people, yourself included, that are just like immersed in, you know, these books and just understand arcs and characters and just like so much more in depth than I'm just sitting here as like a casual reader. so-

Kristy (19:55)
You don't give yourself enough credit to how you think about a book. And especially maybe it's this journey that we're taking with the podcast and talking about it, but you absolutely are not giving yourself enough credit for like the things you pick up on or pay attention to or able to discuss here on the show. You're welcome. I mean, I still think about the thing you said again, no spoilers, but.

Jon (20:16)
Well, thank you.

Kristy (20:23)
with the My Friends episode and I told you like blew my mind, I still think about that.

Jon (20:29)
I my moments. But anyway, thank you for that. That was very sweet. was definitely nervous. But they were both such incredible individuals and incredible people that it didn't take very long to ease into just a natural conversation with someone. And to the point where it's like we weren't even really following our script of questions. It just became a natural conversation and got a lot of great content out of it and just information.

Kristy (20:58)
Yeah, I definitely think the nervous part for me is not speaking to someone, regardless of who it is. It's that like, this is a work of art. Like this person has poured their heart and soul and especially with Jessica's novel, like into this novel. And then they're putting it out there in the most vulnerable way for people to discuss, debate, criticize. And so...

Jon (21:25)
Right.

Kristy (21:27)
When you do that, just open yourself up in a way that is, I think, deep vulnerability that most people really don't experience. A lot of us, in some ways, experience it more in the era we're living in now just because of social media. We're putting things on and people are horrible in the comments to each other, but they're doing it en masse. Then they're joining us and we're talking about

our likes and dislikes in the book and like how we are, you know, how we interacted and felt with it. So I felt like that made me a little nervous to, you know, discuss and have this conversation with them when they're like, here's, here's my thing I did. I hope you like it. And I feel that way too about our podcast. Like this is a form of art and we're putting ourselves out there in the same way that like it's a different medium.

but in the same way that they are, we're going like, please listen to our podcast and like, please don't hate us and please give us some feedback so you like it. And it's, a, it's, we have to open ourselves up for like that or be vulnerable in that way and opening ourselves up to criticism. And yeah, it can be nerve wracking.

Jon (22:40)
Yeah, for sure. That's a great point.

Kristy (22:43)
So what do you feel like was your or maybe our collective biggest learning moment from the season?

Jon (22:50)
Well, I learned that I don't know how we can sit in the same room and record this podcast, so we have to sit in separate rooms. That was a big learning for me. I thought that would be a lot easier.

Kristy (23:02)
We're still learning that. We're still learning that. Because we haven't figured that part out yet. if you are listening and you know that, please message us.

Jon (23:11)
Yeah, seriously DM me. yeah, I do think you hinted at it actually, but I do think I've gotten a little more comfortable with talking about these things and not feeling like each question has a right or wrong answer and have to be like nervous about answering it incorrectly or something like that or answering it stupidly. So I do think that's like a growth or a learning that I've taken this journey of ours for the last year and a half.

Kristy (23:41)
So for those of you who may not know this, we don't script out our episodes, but I do write the questions ahead of time and I give the questions to Jon so that he just is able to prepare and knows maybe what he wants to say or high points or low points of the book that he wants to cover or talk about. And I know in the beginning, especially season one, two, you spent a lot of time with those questions preparing. And I think you actually spent less time

in my experience doing that this episode, and I think the conversations were better.

Jon (24:15)
And less time went in between me finishing the book and I was recording it. So it was also more fresh in my head and it felt easier to talk about in some of those ways too. But yeah, I put a lot of added pressure on myself those first couple of seasons to really hyperanalyze and think like a reader would, you

Kristy (24:35)
You are a reader. don't think I think you are. You're thinking like I need to be teaching literature 101 at Harvard.

Jon (24:45)
I even just like, listen to when you're talking with our friends, Tim and Ryan about books too. I'm like, it's just on another level and, that's cool. And I love that. And like, I'm just not at that level in like, I just don't see myself in, at that level. So it's fine. I like, that's not a put down on myself. I just state that as a fact.

Kristy (25:06)
I

don't think that's a fact at all.

I have never had a conversation with you about a book and I'm like, he's not able to talk about this in depth the way he should be. I've never thought that.

Jon (25:18)
I know you have it. That's not quite what I mean. ⁓ It's just different.

Kristy (25:24)
Okay, well, I don't think you're giving yourself enough credit, but I do appreciate that you're putting the work in. Which episode was the hardest for you to record and why?

Jon (25:38)
That's an interesting question. The hardest to record and why I'm gonna go out on a limb and say Onyx Storm, I think, because so much happens in that book. And it was hard to kind of touch on everything or remember something that led to something else or whatever. And I just, I think that was just a little bit harder from a recall standpoint.

and because of the volume of things that happened, I think that was probably the hardest one for me.

Kristy (26:09)
Yeah, I completely agree with you. And it's just impossible in a... I don't know, but I'm guessing off the top of my head, was in the 50 to 60 minute range, because that's usually where we tried to stay. And we didn't even skim the surface probably of the book. Totally. So, like you're saying, it was just so much in the book and it would be impossible for us to cover it all. And you are right, we read that, I think over the summer.

Jon (26:36)
And that could have easily been a two-parter episode with how much content was in that book.

Kristy (26:42)
I don't think it was hard to record, along the same lines, this maybe was more of an editing standpoint, the episode with Jessica, because we had so much content from our conversation with her that we could have really done a two-parter there too. We could have done our conversation and then the conversation with Jessica, which maybe we consider in the future, maybe we release our episode and then we have the follow-up conversation with the author, because all the authors that we have had on...

We've had, think that same, you know, I'll say an air quotes issue because it's not a bad issue to have that we just have so much and we're trying to decide what to cut to make it a more digestible episode so people can, you know, listen to it on their commute or whatever. And I think sometimes we end up having to make hard choices about what gets cut and it's disappointing.

Jon (27:30)
Yeah, I agree. It gives me a whole new appreciation for like film editors and things like that. Oh, yeah. It's just like those scenes were incredible, but they don't fit the full narrative that we're like trying to get here, reach a time frame or whatever. And so I'm like, damn, yeah, those are some tough decisions when it's like, it's not bad. It just doesn't fit.

Kristy (27:49)
Yeah. Or there are some things that are wonderful, but it just doesn't feel like they have to make hard choices. then I think sometimes every now and then you see like a deleted scenes and you're like, why didn't that make it in? That would have made so much more sense or whatever, but they just had to make a choice like that. So was there a funniest moment and something you still laugh about?

Jon (28:08)
Mm-hmm.

I don't know too many to count. I think we laugh fairly decently through our episodes. Even in like the heavier topic books like Jessica's book, we found some humor in it. I don't know, is there one that stands out to you? I mean, there's too many for me.

Kristy (28:33)
I

It's not funny, but it was funny how much we talked about how bad we were sobbing on atmosphere. were literally on vacation and reading this book by the pool and you were crying and I was like, what the heck is going on? Cause I hadn't finished it yet. And then I finish it and I'm not kidding, full on sobbing, could not console myself for a long time.

Jon (29:02)
People probably thought we were fighting.

for us.

Kristy (29:09)
yeah.

Jon (29:11)
Yeah, that was pretty emotional. But yeah, that was heavy.

Kristy (29:16)
So what are you looking forward to in season four?

Jon (29:20)
Well, you did drop a hint to me that one of your ideas for season four would be to theme the season around books that have been made into movies. that's kind of fun because I love movies.

Kristy (29:39)
I feel like you were the kid in school that didn't read the book and you just watched the movie instead, but actually the movie is very different. So you like missed all the things. yeah. You're like, I can still get a C on the test.

Jon (29:52)
I'm fine with that.

Kristy (29:56)
Yes. Season four will be seven books that have been developed into film. this idea really stemmed Jon has never read The Housemaid by Friedrich Fadden. It releases I think this month, December, and I have been wanting him to read that, but I also wanted to be able to see the movie too. So I actually held this one till season four so that we could read it and then watch it.

together because I do think the film adaption is going to be amazing. And to the point where Frieda McFadden actually said she liked the film better, which I think is just high praise for someone who actually wrote the novel or maybe she's just saying that because she doesn't. Well, no, I also think that there's some like self-criticism for a lot of people like, wow, not acknowledging how great that book is. I think it's a wonderful book. It's my favorite book from her. So I'm really excited for that film. And then there was a couple others that are coming out in the spring that

Jon (30:36)
because she wants the film to do good.

Kristy (30:53)
I had been toying around with us reading. So I started to think, hey, what if we just do seven books for the season that are all film adaptions? So I think it'll be some, mix of things that have been out for a while now, maybe even some classics we'll see, or maybe one classic, and then some current releases too. So things that are coming out either this month or like early in 2026.

Jon (31:17)
fun. Do we get to watch the movie as well?

Kristy (31:20)
Yeah,

so I want I think what we should do is read the book then watch the movie and then talk about

Jon (31:25)
We

can talk about both. Yeah. Okay. I like this plan.

Kristy (31:29)
Yes.

So what is on your reading list while we're on our break?

Jon (31:35)
I don't know, Kristy, what's on my reading list?

Kristy (31:38)
You did ask me, you're like, what book would you want me to read during the break that we wouldn't talk about?

Jon (31:48)
Yeah, so I could like just read it to read it and not read it to be like, I got a rumor to talk about this stuff afterwards.

Kristy (31:54)
Well, because I've been reading the hierarchy series by James Eilington. If you don't know about this novel, it is a sci-fi fantasy book set in a world where people seed their will, which is like your power, your strength, all these things. You seed half of what internal resources of what they call will to someone above you in a hierarchy pyramid. So the higher you are in the hierarchy, the more will you have. So the people at the bottom,

have just their own half wheel, because they've ceded the rest to someone above them. Anyway, the books are very long. like 700 for the first book, 800 for the second book. They're absolutely wonderful though. It is in a world that is very different than anything I've ever read, and I really love that. But there is a lot. There's so much that goes on in these books. And I've never read Game of Thrones.

but I've seen Game of Thrones, so I imagine all the storylines that go on, like it's very similar. It's like, I would feel like it's a similar experience to that. But anyway, I think you would love these books, but a 700 page book is going to take you like our entire break. And I did strongly suggest you get ahead on the reading for next season. I mean, I definitely, I'm full of recommendations if there's something.

Jon (33:11)
I'll find some.

I know it.

Kristy (33:17)
But I am really excited about some of the books we're gonna cover in 2026. I haven't completely finished the list up, so if there are any recommendations out there for film adaptions, not TV series, but film specifically, feel free to send them my way. But I think you're really going to enjoy what I got up my sleeve. I already told you a couple of them.

Jon (33:40)
Okay.

Kristy (33:41)
So, any final thoughts on the season? Anything you wish we did differently that you maybe want to think about as we journey into season four?

Jon (33:52)
Hmm.

Kristy (33:56)
That checks.

Jon (33:57)
Yeah. Jon with final thoughts. Nope. think maybe a final thought for the season was that you picked too many good books and you should throw like a mediocre one in there for some like entertaining conversation.

Kristy (34:00)
What? Nope.

That's fair. it's remember most of these books I have read and then I'm asking you to read. So I have felt a way about them mostly positive way when I was saying you should read this. But a few of them like not quite dead yet. My friends, I had not read prior to saying you should read. We read those together and then recorded. So sometimes that is going to happen. But I don't always know.

Cause I am picking authors that I do enjoy.

Jon (34:50)
And authors that listeners would know or recognize or be interested in too. yeah, there's a part of that. That makes sense.

Kristy (34:58)
I will tell you, hint, that I think there is a book that I have planned for season four that I would say the book is okay. It's good, not great, but the film is perfection. It's when people say the book was better, I'm like, not in this case. The is better. It's the one, it's the, I'm not going to say there, there, there, there is probably more, but the film is better. So.

Jon (35:20)
thing.

Kristy (35:28)
Well, if you don't have any other final thoughts.

Jon (35:32)
Do you have any final thoughts? No.

Kristy (35:39)
I think my final thoughts are I enjoyed this season. I'm so glad we're doing this. Still, I do want to just like give you a tremendous amount of credit for one, doing this and having conversations and putting yourself out there, which I know is completely out of your comfort zone. And you feel a certain way about talking about books and you're doing it on a very public forum. And I'm grateful for that.

Jon (36:01)
You're welcome. That was so sweet. wasn't sure how to, I'm not sure how to.

Kristy (36:05)
That was so sweet. It's so unlike you. I'm just like, I don't know how to respond.

Jon (36:10)
That's such an odd experience for me right now. That's not true. That's not true. No, I appreciate your thoughtfulness and acknowledgement of ⁓ how challenging this has been and at times still is.

Kristy (36:29)
but it's a lot of fun too. If we can only figure out how to record in the

Jon (36:34)
In the same room.

Kristy (36:36)
All right, well, we want to remind everyone that we'll be taking a short break for the holidays, but we will come back at you in late January with season four. You can still follow us on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube for updates and possibly some bonus content.

Jon (36:51)
And as always, don't forget that a free way to support our show is by leaving us a review and rating us on Apple podcasts or Spotify or wherever you're listening. Also, if you don't want to rate us, because that's just too much effort, but you have a question or maybe some feedback for us, because we love that, you can email us at booksimkmyhusbandread at gmail.com. We would thoroughly enjoy hearing from you.

Kristy (37:19)
Yes, and we will always send you some swag for sending us a message. Well, I guess that's it.

Jon (37:22)
Yeah, we got swag to send.

That is it, ladies and gents, that is another one in the books.

Kristy (37:31)
Well, who knows? Maybe this will be the one your husband reads... or listens to. And however you're celebrating this holiday season, we hope you're surrounded by friends and family, or at the very least by the Bootsy Loaf.

Jon (37:46)
Welp.

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