The 2024 Wrap Up episode

Show notes would be a total spoiler! You must listen to the episode to hear our favorites (or check the transcript). You can find the books we mention here https://amzn.to/3BFC4Ox

0:00-12:00 Our favorite reads of 2024 

12:00-13:50 What are we reading now?

13:50-15:15 What are we watching?

15:15-18:30 What podcasts are we listening to?

19:00-22:00 What podcasts do we plan on listening to?

22:00-30:00 What are our 2025 goals?

https://www.texasmonthly.com/podcasts/series/the-problem-with-erik/

https://open.spotify.com/show/3UNxeZPD5fDSzm26mqTjgc

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/noble/id1757686789

https://www.netflix.com/title/81705443

https://tv.apple.com/us/show/presumed-innocent/umc.cmc.5hnqrhwtzt3esr7rb1wq2ppvn

https://www.netflix.com/title/81474158

Books we mentioned: https://amzn.to/3BFC4Ox

Transcript

2024 wrap up 

 Hi, I'm Emily. I'm Ashley, and this is books with your besties. Hello. Hi, Ashley. Hi. Look at my outfit. You like it? It's cute. I'm thinking about pants. I had that weird window of time where I was like, it's not enough time to actually shower. So there's like, no, there's no point. You know what I mean? Like, if I can't shower and get ready, I'm just gonna be gross and, like, can't be. Yes, I think it's fine. I am going to freeze to death sitting here talking to you. So I better go get a blanket or turn my heat up. Okay, so let's do a 2024 wrap up year in review. I'm so excited. I don't know why. I don't know why I'm so excited to talk about this. I made my list and I can't wait to see if we have any that are missing. Okay, so let's kick it off with top five books we read in 2024. So you want to go 1 to 1 and see if we have any of the same. Let's go. Let's go 1 to 1 okay. So let's start. Okay. My list is in no particular order here. Okay. One of them is not a sound by Heather. Good enough. Such a good book, right? One of the things I loved about this, and we talked with Heather about it after we read it. This was a read with us over on Patreon. I just thought it was so unique because she used a deaf woman as the main character, and the considerations around what life would be like as a deaf person in a thriller, like in a dangerous situation. That's not something you usually think about. You usually think about day to day sort of function in life if you're trying to consider someone else's perspective. So I thought it was just really cool and I learned a lot. Okay. What's one of yours? I also loved that book, and I love talking with her about it, and it made me think about how much I take my hearing for granted. Right? Like, anyway, enough about that book. So I mine are also in no particular order, but the first one that came to mind that I honestly think is in my top ten books of all time was All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker. Oh well. Was listed as a thriller, but as we read it, it was so much more of a and how like Kristen Hannah feels, it was just this beautiful story of the way that this boy's life unfolded. It's one of the most beautiful books I've ever written. And talking to Chris about how he read you didn't write it, right? Correct. I did not write the book, but read and talking with him and the way that he chose to write this book and why it's a must read for anybody. Okay, so let's just be full, honest truth out here. Let's put it out there. I haven't read it yet, and it's on the top of my list. It's like one of the few books that I skipped, and I think it's because we were at a pivotal moment in the book club where I was doing so much other stuff on top of work that I was like, I have to wait. I don't have enough time to devote to this book to give it the attention it needs. So it's on my 2025 list of must reads. I will put our friend Kristen on blast and hopefully she listens to this. She bent it or she put it in her story. She's like all the colors of the dark, you know, best book. And I wrote back to her story that that was one of our book of the month books. Like, I totally agree with you. And she's like, oh, I should have known that was one of your books. I'm like, no, you shouldn't have, Kristen. It's okay. Um. Okay. Another one I have is The Life We Bury by Alan Askins. Such a beautiful book. I thought it had a lot of historical fiction stuff in it, which I really liked. So about the Vietnam War, it was incredibly dark and difficult to listen to, but I thought really important. And it also had the classic thriller vibes, and I'm really hoping so. Alan Askins has a new book coming out in 2025, coming out in hardcover, I cannot wait. I'm so excited, and I'm really hoping that our members choose it for a book of the month. But we'll see. We need to look at the poll and see if we can doctor it to just make them choose it. Like we'll put the oh, we'll put the Alan Skins book three times and be like, which do you vote for? No, we like them to vote. We like them to vote and pick what they want. And because it doesn't matter, I'm gonna read it either way and I'll talk about it if it's wonderful. So I started to put that book down and I was like, Emily's gonna put it down. It's fine if we have the same one. But I took it off because I thought, I'll, I'll talk about a different book than that one. But I agree, that's a must read. You recommended it to me, and then I recommended it to everyone in my local circle here. I was like, it's just a must read. Though the next one up on my list is what have you done? Bye bye. Cherubino. Okay. Thank you. We read. We've read like three of her books in the past year, so I had to make sure I got the title and the author right. But here's why. And I'm not going to give any spoilers away. It's because there are so many offputting, horrible people in this book that by the time you get to who actually committed this horrific crime, you kind of forget that a lot of the people in this book are really bad. So I just loved it because you were never really rooting for anyone. And anyway, and it was a true thriller, like it opens with a dead body. Oh yeah, I really liked that one too. I will say one thing that I liked about it is even though there were so many bad characters or like bad people that were characters, I didn't hate all the characters. So there are some books where you're like, I don't like any of these people. I don't want to root for them. I, I was interested and it kept me engaged. So it wasn't that I thought the characters were unlikable. They were just very, very deeply flawed. There were a lot of crimes committed in that book, and none of them being the worst crime of all. Yeah. What's your next book? Okay, so this is one you probably read a long time ago, but I read Dark Places by Gillian Flynn, Gillian Flynn, Gillian Flynn. I hadn't read that one. I've read. I had read her. Other ones I'd read Gone Girl and I'd read Sharp Objects. Um, Dark Places was lost on my list. It was phenomenal. I love anything she writes, but I want to say that that is my favourite book that she's written. What's over Gone Girl? Really? I think Gone Girl. Well, well, now that you say that, maybe not. And Sharp objects. Once it was made into a mini theory, then like, oh yeah, this book is. They're all just brilliant. That's the thing. They're just the smartest, smartest book. They are smart. And I just I really enjoyed that one. It was one I didn't want to end, so that was good. So one that you and I both read this year that did not come out this year, but we read it, so I'm counting it. And we talked to the author was drumroll please, but appetite for innocence. That's on my list too. I didn't know if you'd pick it or not. I can't stop thinking about how unbelievably unhinged and terrifying that book is. Very dark. Very, very dark, but really important topics. And considerations and written just. I love that Doctor Barry is a psychologist and so brings true education and expertise to her stories and her character development. I mean, you really feel tied to some of those characters, and you are very invested in what happens to them. And the ending, of course, just go listen, read it, and then go listen to our interview with her and laugh when we talk about how it's not that violent. And then there's a particular scene that's very violent. And she started laughing like, oh yeah, I forgot. I wrote that in the book. I forgot about that one from you. So now what's another one? Well, so appetite for innocence is my fourth. So you have two more, right? I just have one more. Yes, I have two more. If you didn't also pick one of them, maybe you'll steal one of mine. No, no. So my last one is Grady Lake by J.L. Hyde, and I, I read it early in the year. I have the second book still on my TBR for 2025. I'm going to read it soon. She just writes light, funny thrillers, even though they have incredibly dark themes and they are a thriller. She also always incorporates really cute stuff like from the 90s. I mean, she literally will reference things like Noxzema pads or like Smells Like Teen Spirit or Tiger Beat magazine. Things that I like take me back and make me laugh. And it just when I am delighted by a thriller in more than one way, I put put it on my list of like a great way to get kind of a palate cleanser thriller, I would say. You sent me in for one of her books. What was the one that you read that you liked so much? Delta. I loved Summer of 99. So much. So funny. And Grady Lake is like a series. So it kicks off a series. Um, but that's. I read Summer of 99 last year. Yeah, I really I just think her books are fun. They're clever and fun. I focused my list a lot on the books we read this year, and like books that came out this year that we read this year. I feel like this podcast episode could be 5000 hours long because we read so many good books, and this one's just give me because everything she writes is beautiful. But I also think it's a must read. I Pick the Women by Kristin Hannah. Oh me, me too. That's on my top. But I didn't pick it because it's not a thriller, so I didn't know we were doing any genre. I know I wrote it down and put a question mark next to it, but I had to mention it while people are listening because it's an absolute must read. I just felt like I. I just love how when I read her stuff, I, I learned, right? I learned so much about that period and time and the war and how people were treated. I think it's a great way to learn and to be very emotionally invested at the same time. So I'll do a thriller. The other thriller that I had on my list, Heather Goodman Coffee, and she's killing it. Today on our list, I put. Um, everyone here is watching our book of the month because it was just like a fun, super fast paced, super unique idea about people being judged on their their worst secrets in like a game show aspect. So people went, well, I won't give any spoilers, but it's just a must read if you like a fun cat and mouse whodunit and getting to know 4 or 5 characters and they're their worst secrets. Yeah, I liked it too. I thought it was fun. I will say Honorable Mention was our first book of the month for 2024, and that was Nalini Singh's. There should have been eight, even though it didn't satisfy me 100% in all the ways it met my criteria. You know, snowy remote locations, closed group of people, all that business. And I just thought it was a fun read. I loved that she was a debut author and I enjoyed it, so I'm going to put that as honorable mention. I am absolutely shocked that something didn't make your list. And that is the return of Lee black. I have it, I have, so I have it on my list that I have in front of me on my phone. I have the women question mark since it's not a thriller. And then next to it I put Return of Ellie Black. Okay, that that makes sense. Okay. That. So Return of Ellie Black just being set in the Pacific Northwest. Also, we felt so tied to it because you could just feel the cold and the, the air. And I just thought that it was a very, very unique and beautifully written story where you were just really fighting for the main character the whole time. I'll read anything, um, that Emiko Jane writes. Yeah, I know she's she's a good author. Okay, so tell me you're reading. Listen for the lie. Now I'm reading first lie. Win first silence, I read. Okay, sorry. I was just reviewing all my books, and I got those mixed up because of the lie. I like to listen for the lie first. Lie wins. How are you liking it? I like it so far. I mean, I'm at the point where I don't really know what's going on. It's just like she's kind of figuring out anyway, I don't know what's going on yet, but I like it. Yeah, I think that goes on for a long time. Then you don't know what's going on. Thing. I was a little hesitant for us to do this episode before I started and finished our. Even though it's our January book of the month, I have it in my possession because so many people have absolutely loved it. Oh the lake, the Lake of Lost Girls by Catherine. Yeah. Oh, I, I need to get that sent, I gotta ask, okay, I'll. I'll remind her today. Um, I mean, I haven't seen anybody yet who read it, who didn't say they absolutely loved it. Oh, I'm so excited to read it. Yeah, someone. I asked someone on our page, how was the Lake of Lost Girls? Because they had read it and it was right when we were choosing it. And she wrote back crazy, which I was like, that sounds perfect. That sounds like what we're looking for. So did you watch anything this year that you loved Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime? What? What were your favorites of 2024? That is tough. What do you have? So I have some that I don't think you have watched yet because you have been very, very busy. Professor Emily reader, um, I put the JonBenet doc because it just makes you question everything again. And I put Presumed innocent. Have you heard of that one yet? With Jake Gyllenhaal? Where? Oh, yeah, there's a murder. He is an attorney. Um, maybe he's having an affair. It's very, very good. And I think it's based on a book. I'll need to look that up and I'll link it if it is. And it's like a two parter. So I finished season one, and you're just now left hanging being like, did he did he do it? Or who killed this person? So it's just like a true mystery thriller show that's really smart. What network is that on? I think it's Apple TV. Oh, okay. That's probably why. Yeah. Okay. I'll have to watch that. I'll put that on my list. So those would be the two that would be like up the alley of our listeners. And then I think the most beautiful thing I watched all year was Will and Harper on Netflix, which is where Will Ferrell's best friend is, comes out as trans, and they go on a road trip together to kind of work on how and if this changes their relationship. And Will's just like, I really want to get to know Harper for who Harper is. And it's it's just an unbelievably beautiful, raw. Documentaries are mine. Those are what I watched in 2024 that I think people should watch. I heard those were really cute. Okay, tell us about podcasts, Ashley. I'm just. This is just me recommending things to people. Um, podcasts. Did you listen to Samantha? Yes. Okay. So I recommend that. Oh, shoot. Sorry. I don't know what just happened. What happened? I don't know, something just started playing randomly in the background, so we'll just have to fix that, okay? Amanda. You listen to Samantha? Yes. Loved it? Yes. Don't you think people should listen to it and be irate? Yes, absolutely. And now I think it's being made into a documentary or something. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, I know, although somebody was like, I'm not watching it. If she benefits from it in any way, like as long as she's not benefiting from it and she's not a part of it, I'll watch it. Oh, yeah. She better not be a part of it. That's a great point. Google it and see. And then I put there's an there is an episode. Let me look. There's an episode on Armchair Expert that I put as my like one episode. If you're going to listen to anything that you should listen to this year. Dax Shepard, armchair expert, and he interviews a woman who's a sociopath who also just wrote a book about being a sociopath. Mhm. And it is bonkers. Heard the interview is absolutely bonkers. It's like two hours long and she just really talks about what it's like living. Her life and it was completely eye opening. And there was also an article, I think, in the New York Times about her. I'll link all of these. I remember actually reading the article with an interview at the airport on the way home from a retreat last year. Yes, I was just gonna say that I was gonna say you're the one that actually alerted me to her. And then Dax interviewed her, and I was like, I think this is the lady Emily just told me about. No, it's so interesting. I haven't listened to the episode, and I definitely want to. It was fascinating when she talks about and it's two hours long, so whatever you guys, I can give you two tiny spoilers when she talks about having a child thinking like, well, this will certainly make me feel something. And she's like, well, it didn't, I feel nothing. And about how you can teach yourself to have empathy and and act a certain way, but you actually never do. Um, her name is Patrick. Yeah. It's not and it's it's not. You're not. She doesn't teach herself to actually have the empathy. She teaches herself to act like she has empathy. Right? Yes or no love in a way that. That you would if you were empathetic. That's my one. If you're going to listen to only one episode of one podcast this year, listen. Listen to that one. That is fascinating. I wish I had more to report, but I just I just don't have a lot of things to share about from this year. We had a really busy year. You have a lot of stuff you could share, but you can't. Yes, I do, I do. I did love Amanda, although I think that was last year. But that's a good one. Yeah. And I think it's coming out this year or next year like the documentary. So I feel like that's one. And oh, so the other thing I wanted to say was there are two, as I was looking at like, what were people's favorites of 2024, not just ours? There are two new podcasts that I really, really want to listen to. I just added them. Can I tell you about them? Yes, please. Okay. One is called noble and it showed up on almost everybody's list of you have to listen to this podcast. It says in the winter of 2002, police discovered more than 300 bodies on one property in the town of noble, Georgia. What followed was the biggest and most expensive investigations in the history of the American South. So it's an eight episode series about what happened and why there were 300 bodies found here. What? We're we. It's a it's a TV show. No, it's a podcast called. Oh, okay. That's definitely going on my list. That's insane. Yeah. And then the other one that. Was on everybody's list is called The Problem with Eric. So I thought to key up 2025, we could have a couple on board. So the problem with Eric says Eric mod had it all. A wife, a kids, a mansion by the Austin Country Club and an executive position with his family's car dealership. But in March 2020, a message from a stranger put everything at risk. Someone new, Eric, had had an affair with an escort and wanted money to keep quiet. Eric didn't pay the money, though. He didn't go to the cops. Instead, he paid Charlie Sheen's former bodyguard and some special ops trained security contractors to confront the blackmailer. And things didn't go according to plan. This is a true story, so it's like it has murder secrets and it's fake and identities and crime. So those are two that I'm I have to okay. That's definitely also going on my list. Okay. I'm going to need you to remind me. Actually, I'll just go to the show notes and get these links. Can you imagine being like, I'm not going to go to the cops, but I'm going to ask Charlie Sheen's bodyguard to handle this for me. That's not that's not the right plan. Well, listen, to be fair to this dude, he didn't want his family to catch him having the affair. If you go to the cops that your family knows. And if you have access to Charlie Sheen's bodyguard, you might as well use it. I mean, I'm just saying, I don't think it's so crazy for him to be like, you know what? I could hire someone who can handle this privately. Like, people hire private investigators. What was the other series that people went bonkers for this year? I felt like you watched it. I watched it on Netflix. That was based on a book with Nicole Kidman. Oh, yeah, that was pretty good. That was pretty subtle. Like, I like Liam Schreiber. Whoever you say his first name, I thought it was good enough, I liked it. It was called The Perfect Couple. Yeah. You're right. It was entertaining, for sure. I give it a entertaining star. I just I just didn't love the casting. I thought the casting was so weird, so I think I that just threw me for a loop the whole time. Like, I just couldn't envision Nicole Kidman and Liv Schreiber as the people that they were trying to describe. Lots are 2024. Don't we sound like a bucket of fun? Okay, so what's your goals? Why aren't we a bucket of fun? Let's write that. It seems like you. It seems like you're fun and you have a life. And I just watch TV and listen to podcasts. Okay, so what are your reading goals or what? What do you want out of 2025? Oh, you go first. That's a big question. What do you want out of 2025 other than are obvious books of the month that we love choosing with our members? Okay, so this year I did have a particularly busy year. I took on a lot of roles at work that kept me from getting as much of my reading time that I would want, I was exhausted, I have a goal this year. I know this is going to sound so sad and weak. I listened to lots of books. I will continue to listen to books, but I want to read with my eyeballs at least 52 books, one book a week. That's a lot. Well, I'm done it before or pretty darn close to it. But this last year I probably got through 30 books. And so I just it's because sometimes I'll read a book in 2 or 3 days. Sometimes it'll take me two weeks. Part of my issue is when I'm reading books, sometimes if they are a little slow and they're not keeping me engaged and wanting to read, I need to just put them down and DNF them. Did not finish, but I have a hard time doing that, and I spend too long waiting to determine if I'm going to like it. And then I still don't finish sometimes. And that's okay, right? Like there are books that I walk away from and I will never think about them again if I start and maybe I'll read it. But it's so hard to abandon a book. You know, I don't I don't mind abandoning it. I think I just allow it to go on too long. I need to be like, I have 40 other books I'm interested in reading, and maybe one of those is going to grip my attention. So I'm just going to go ahead and walk away pretty darn quick. I just need to kind of cut my losses. So that's my goal is 52 books. Ask me at the end of the year, I'll be like, I read 11. No, I'm just kidding. Not nothing. I'll get up. I'm gonna get up. I'm gonna get her done. What about you, Ashley? What's your what's your reading goal for 2025? I don't I've never set a number goal. I don't even know how many books I should maybe write down how many I read this year. I think my goal is always to read our book of the month and. And then try to read just one other book that month. So that's two a month. That's like 25 books a year. And then I'll listen to some books. But I'm looking forward to like, Ashley Flowers has a new book coming out this year. So does Ashley Winstead. I really liked her. Midnight is the Darkest Hour, so I think there's a lot to look forward to in 2025. I think I do too. I do, I feel like a golem would be. And we've done a good job of this, but I think I personally could do better. I need to figure out a better way of discovering more indie and lesser known authors. I think TikTok is a good way to do that. Um, but I want to work harder at really finding some authors to to share who aren't really shared as much as I think they deserve to be. Yeah. I mean, I think JL Heide and Alan Askins are two that we that I have found that I really like their writing. I feel like arter doesn't get enough press. I, I mean she does well, but I, I just think her books are always amazing. Also I'm looking up right now Robin Morgan Bentley oh yeah. I remember when we interviewed him, he said, you know, I'll have a book coming out in a couple of years. And that was 2022, so fingers crossed. But he has something else coming out. I'll read anything that he writes. Yeah, he probably needs me to tell him some more of my family's stories, since that's what he writes about. He probably stopped writing books after we interviewed him because he was like, they're going to ask me back and it's not worth it. And no, it's because I shocked him so hard. He was like, he probably is laying low, afraid I'm going to sue him because this story that he wrote is literally so close to my family's story. Oh, that was bonkers. I think it was. But he was like, I have chills. Oh, we should I don't know if we taped that one. If we didn't, you're probably gonna have to retell that entire story someday. Yeah, I know, I know, one day I will. And I think my other goal would be to be better about audiobooks. I just have a hard time. Focusing and paying attention, and I let my mind wander. But when I really am able to focus, I like it. It's just hard for me. Yeah, I get that. I do better listening to audiobooks if I'm like doing another task. So I have to be folding laundry or driving. I can't like going for a walk. I get too distracted. But I'm listening. With podcasts. You listen to podcasts so well, I feel like you if the right audiobook you could get into maybe. Yeah, I agree, I agree, I I'm, I have a fear that I'll miss things with audiobooks that this this from this stems from Jason hidden pictures. I'm like holding books and looking at them just works for my eyeballs. Yeah, I'd love to hold a book. I love a I like a paperback, I like a hardcover, I like any kind of book, and I just love to smell them and hold them. Hopefully we're getting that announcement in 2025. He dropped that on our interview with him that he was chatting with Netflix about hidden pictures, so fingers crossed that that becomes an announcement, I love that. So many of these books are being made into movies because it's just something that I know. I want to see them and know I want to watch. I saw that the house made movie Frida McFadden's House made comes out in 2025 on Christmas. Oh, and is is very being made into a movie. Did I see that also? Oh yeah, I saw that too. Interesting, huh? Yeah, I can't wait. I love a good book made into a movie. Me too. I also wish that Jennifer Hillier would come out with something else. Oh, yeah. She's great. Her books are great. 2025 is my year of wishing people worked harder and wrote more books to do it for us. Okay, Ashley. Well, everybody have the happiest new Year. We're so excited to catch up with you in 2025. Head over to the Creepy Book club.com so you can join our book of the Month Club so that you are reading with us, and we interview the authors very frequently. We can't guarantee it every single time, but we do get the vast majority of them on a zoom with us. Go to Patreon and you can see additional content, author interviews, and all kinds of other fun stuff. And if you're coming to retreat, we will see you in about a month. Yay! Yay! All right. Bye, guys. Bye. Thanks for listening. For more content, find us on Patreon at the Creepy Book Club. Happy reading.