MEET YOUR HOSTS
Miriam Tinberg
Miriam grew up in a book family. The daughter of English professor father and a mother who could read the 800 page Harry Potter books in 24 hours, reading was a key part of her childhood. It’s hard to believe now because reading without distraction definitely takes work, but Miriam has many memories of sitting with her parents and sister in the living room, each person reading their own book, and then looking up and realizing the sun had set around them!
Miriam’s reading habits have changed slightly over the years. Now she loves to read outside, at a cafe, bookstore, library, even at a bar solo. There's something about reading and being in your own world but surrounded by the hum of others….
Some ways books manifest in her life regularly:
every purse she buys has to be big enough for a book
she reads every single night before bed and regularly drops the book on her face from falling asleep
when she has to go to an office for work, you can catch her literally RUNNING away from coworkers at lunch to go eat and read alone
2021 was the year Miriam discovered two new ways to read: audiobooks and the Kindle. Miriam has always been a reading purist (you could’ve caught her saying things like, “I just like the smell of the pages!) but times have changed; she gave these things another shot and WOW. Traditional books are still her number 1 way to go, but she’s definitely changed her mind on the impossibility of being satisfied by audiobooks and e-readers (although she will never understand how people can read books on their phone?!?)
She tends to read a lot of non-fiction and memoirs, and is really looking to dive into fiction through this podcast, particular by non-American authors and authors of color.
Fave bookstores: Riff Raff in Providence (the best, most diverse book curation she's ever seen + they have a bar!), Powell's in Portland, OR (for the sheer SIZE and breadth of their offerings), and recently Lost Books in Montrose, CA (because of their comfy vibes and design).
MEET YOUR HOSTS
Ashtar Boulos
Ashtar has been an impassioned reader since her childhood. Growing up, her mother was a school teacher and loved reading aloud to her children. Ashtar spent her summers maxing out her library card.
A more grown Ashtar’s reading preferences look like this:
English was her “fun” major in college
Days when she really hates her job, she fantasizes about doing a comparative lit PhD
A loyal, if sometimes delinquent, library patron, getting a library card is one of the first things she does when she moves to a new city
A relatively recent audiobook convert, Ashtar was a book purist for most of her life; that changed in February 2020 when she first tried audiobooks and had a terrible experience until she found out she could change the speed of the narrator! Now, she listens to most books at warp speed and in most settings (while showering, taking walks, doing dishes)
Her favorite bookmark is from Skylight books and is a four paneled journey of a sequential fart; in the absence of a bookmark, she is known to use library receipts or earmark her pages
Her favorite genres are contemporary literary fiction, narrative nonfiction, dystopian that reckons with social justice/power systems
Some writers she loves: Ottessa Moshfegh, Dave Eggers, Isabel Wilkerson, Valeria Luiselli, Akwaeke Emezi, Kiley Reid, Bryan Washington, Brandon Taylor, Cathy Park Hong, Laila Lalami, Charles Yu, Kiese Laymon, Nate Marshall
She has been a one book at a time type reader most of her life, but in the past few years has started trying to read multiple books at once but always of different genres depending on her mood
Preferred reading setting is on the couch alone; she cannot focus in public; for audiobooks, preferred setting is while walking
Fave bookstores: Skylight in Los Angeles (great events - join their FWB program!), Kramer Books in DC (open 24 hrs on the weekend and has a bar)
Ashtar loves to attend author tour events
