No Thanks We’re Booked Podcast: A Bookish “Newlywed Game” and Interview
I don’t know about you, but I sure do love a good book podcast. Anne Bogel’s What Should I Read Next was the first one to hook me and I haven’t looked back since.
Naturally, I was so excited to hear that Katie, who is a YouTuber and a Bookstagrammer, and Mollie, also a YouTuber and a Bookstagrammer, were going to be creating a new podcast. It’s called No Thanks We’re Booked and their description of it being “life through a bookish lens” sounds like exactly my kind of podcast.
These are two women who are dynamic, fun, and insightful and they have such a gift of bringing you into their world and sharing their excitement. I cannot wait until their episodes start coming out because I know it’s going to be SO good!
Right now, their goal is for the first episode to drop on Wednesday, June 13 and then we all get to listen every Wednesday after that. Be sure to follow along for updates about the podcast on their podcast Instagram account and website. Read on below to get to know some more of their awesome personalities and see how well they know each other based on their answers to my bookish Newlywed Game questions!
Photo by Reverie Home Collective
A Few Questions
The usual tell us a little about yourselves, but feel free to be as random as you’d like!
Mollie: I’m a reader, book editor, BookTuber, wife, sister, daughter, friend, cat lady, and now… podcaster!
Katie: I’m a consummate hobby-starter. I have grandiose ideas about all of the artful projects I’d like to start. I get all the supplies, I begin them, and then I put them down never to return. Reading is the only thing that’s stuck with me; I’ve loved books since I was a little girl. Probably the only other thing that I return to every once in awhile is sewing, but I still feel like a novice and imposter since I really don’t know what I’m doing. Writing, too. I love to write and work part-time for a Christian ministry as part of their editorial team. Someday maybe I will write outside of work and a story will emerge, but at the moment most of my time is filled with raising my two little boys and loving my husband; which is all very good because it brings me great joy to love my family well.
How would you describe your reading taste? What are you always a sucker for in books and what tends to turn you off?
Mollie: I read pretty widely and love any character-driven book with redemptive/transformation qualities. I am a sucker for coming of age stories about “damaged” kids, but what really turns me off is when those “damaged” kids get too angsty and annoying. It’s a fine line. I also love morally gray characters and usually dislike the “hate turned to love” romance trope (unless it’s done well).
Katie: My reading taste is very eclectic! I read from just about every genre and category, even ones people might be surprised to discover (like, I’ll pick up a horror book every once in awhile). I’ve probably read and enjoyed at least one book from just about every genre. I just love good stories well-told. But I’m especially a sucker for a bittersweet ending. Don’t get me wrong, I love the sweetest, gentlest endings, but the books that tend to really stick with me are the ones where sadness, sweetness, and hope mingle. And as for what turns me off, pretentious writing tops the list; if the writing is overwrought and pompous, I can’t get into the story because I find myself rolling my eyes. Beautiful writing I love, pretentious writing, nope. I also have a hard time with books that are filled with unsympathetic and unlikable characters, or teenagers that are too angsty.
What book do you wish everyone would read?
Mollie: The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, mainly for sentimental reasons.
Katie: Peace Like a River – I am the biggest evangelist for that book! I push it on everyone I know. Also Anne of Green Gables, or any book written by LM Montgomery. They are magical.
How did the two of you meet? How would you describe your friendship?
Mollie: On YouTube! I would say instant connection/friendship that only gets better with time and shared books. We’re silly and like to laugh together, but we also love getting to the heart of it, fast. Perhaps the best way to describe our friendship is through the nicknames her husband gave us: Katie Chaos and Mollie Mayhem. We’re a mess together, but it’s always a fun time.
Katie: Mollie and I met through our booktube (youtube) channels. We started making videos around the same time and Mollie found me and decided we should be friends. That’s basically the short version. While we are different in many ways, I find our similarities and compatibilities far outweigh our differences. So I would say our friendship is at its core a case of serious kindred spiritedness! We just get along really really well, and I’d say, at least for me, she brings out the very best in me. The only downfall is that I wish we lived closer.
What should we expect from the podcast?
Mollie: We chat about reading, life, and everything in between. It will be very conversational, casual, and warm. We hope listeners feel like they’re getting to know us and have the opportunity to join in on the conversation via social media, email, and Patreon.
Katie: Our goal for this podcast is that it will feel conversational. We want it to always include books, but to not be about books exclusively. It really will be sort of a podcast about “life through a bookish lens.” We’re so excited about the potential that the podcast has to be something a little more all encompassing than what our youtube channels have allowed – but still to be very bookish. Because let’s face it, we’re very bookish people.
How Well Do Mollie and Katie Know Each Other? Our “Newlywed Game”!
Mollie’s Own Answers
The place you are most likely to be found reading:
Probably my couch!
Your favorite book:
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
Your beverage of choice while reading:
Moscow Mule, of course.
Your book crush:
I don’t really get book crushes (weird, I know!).
The book world you’d most want to live in:
Harry Potter/Hogwarts
Character you would be most likely to let accidentally fall off a cliff:
Noah Shaw from the Mara Dyer trilogy. I said it.
Book you think is overrated:
The Power by Naomi Alderman
Book you’ve read the most times:
The Chronicles of Narnia series
Amount you owe at the library:
$1.80 LOL
Something about your reading life that few people would suspect:
I’m WAY below average (reading speed).
What I’m most excited for about the podcast:
Regularly catching up with Katie. Even if people didn’t listen, I just think that will be so fun!
Katie’s Guesses
The place Mollie is most likely to be found reading:
On her beautiful couch.
Her favorite book:
The Shadow of the Wind.
Her beverage of choice while reading:
Coffee!
Her book crush:
I’m thinking she doesn’t really have a book crush…
The book world she’d most want to live in:
Harry Potter?
Character she would be most likely to let accidentally fall off a cliff:
I have no idea about this one. I’m going to say Snape.
Book she thinks is overrated:
To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before and When Dimple Met Rishi
Book she’s read the most times:
Narnia or Shadow of the Wind
Amount she owes at the library:
I’m guessing that Mollie doesn’t owe any!
Something about her reading life that few people would suspect:
She didn’t grow up considering herself a reader.
What she’s most excited for about the podcast:
Talking to ME!
Next Up: Katie
Katie’s Own Answers
The person I’m most likely to be ignoring while reading:
So awful, but probably my kids. Or my husband.
Favorite book:
Peace Like a River and/or Anne of Green Gables. Among others…so hard to choose!
Food of choice while reading:
Anything salty. And some tea.
Author I’d most want to meet:
LM Montgomery, if she were alive. Preferably ON PEI.
Book I wish I’d never picked up in the first place:
The Girls by Emma Kline. I did *not* like that book.
Character I see the most of myself in:
Anne Shirley – but I’m less dramatic. But her cheerful optimism and whimsical imagination and romanticism I relate to a lot.
Book I’m most intimidated to read:
Anna Karenina, all those Russian derivatives of the same name…
Genre I’d choose if I could only ever read books from that genre:
Historical Fiction
Amount owed at the library:
$0, I think…but I did turn in a book a couple weeks late a month or two ago.
Something about my reading life that few people would suspect:
For as much as I read, I’m not a very fast reader.
What I’m most excited for about the podcast:
Getting to talk to Mollie all the time! It’s pretending we live a little closer together.
Mollie’s Guesses
The person Katie’s most likely to be ignoring while reading:
OK, I feel like this is more of a cat than a person. PEACHES the cat!? Steve is probably a close second.
Her favorite book:
Can I say a series? Anne of Green Gables!
Her food of choice while reading:
Cheese curds? LOL
The author she’d most want to meet:
Probably Jane Austen (assuming ANY author, dead or alive).
Book she wishes she never picked up in the first place:
Probably Throne of Glass.
Character she sees the most of herself in:
I have no idea. Swede from Peace Like a River?
Book she’s most intimidated to read:
Katie isn’t intimidated by big books, and because of this, she is my hero! BUT, maybe she would be intimidated by War and Peace?
Genre she’d choose if she could only ever read books from that genre:
Literary fiction
Amount she owes at the library:
I’m going to go with $1.50. Stab in the dark.
Something about her reading life that few people would suspect:
Katie Chaos the nine neglects the to-do list sometimes to read her books, which is why we all love her dearly.
What she’s most excited for about the podcast:
I think she’s also excited about chatting and catching up, but I know she’s also pumped about the idea of starting some NTWB merchandise!
Thank you Katie and Mollie for your time with all of this. Your answers were so much fun and I cannot wait to get to listen to the No Thanks We’re Booked podcast in June!
If you would like to join in on the fun on Imaginary Book Stack, please go to the submissions page!
