What Should I Read Next? Podcast Featuring Academic Dean Karen Gold

Academic Dean and English Teacher Karen Gold P’11,’17, not surprisingly, is an avid reader and podcast listener. In August, she sat down with Anne Bogel, blogger Modern Mrs. Darcy, to discuss campus novels and the conundrum of physical and e-books. Listen to Karen on What Should I Read Next? by clicking here.

Were you a fan of What Should I Read Next? before you were asked to be featured on it. How did you discover it?

One of the first questions I’ll ask my friends is, “What are you reading?” I love hearing about books other people love, and I love sharing books that I’ve loved. If you know me, you know I love podcasts and reading! I found her blog, Modern Mrs. Darcy, even before I started listening to the podcast. I’ve been listening to this podcast for a few years now, and it’s probably my favorite. Anne Bogel, a writer and podcaster, has a pretty big following, and every week I look forward to her Tuesday podcast.

How did your invitation to be on the podcast come about? What was your reaction when you were asked?

Anne Bogel invites listeners to submit a form to the podcast if they’re interested in being a guest, and she and her staff select guests from those submissions. A friend and I submitted several months ago; I had forgotten about it! So when I received an email from Anne’s staff inviting me to be on the show…well, I screamed! I think I was their “Back to School” guest because we discussed boarding schools and campus novels!

How did you prepare for the podcast? How did you choose which book to discuss with Anne Bogel?

One of the things I love about What Should I Read Next? is that Anne Bogel asks every guest the same questions: What are three books you love? What is one book you didn’t love? And what are you reading now? Then, she asks if there is a reading problem or dilemma she can help solve. Truthfully, it was really hard to pick three favorite books, but I chose books that I still think about months or even years after reading them. While I don’t remember every detail, I do remember how the book left me feeling or what it made me think about.

Did the conversation with Anne Bogel take any twists and turns that you did not expect?

Our taping lasted almost two hours, but the show was edited to about an hour. I was surprised at how intuitive Anne is—she didn’t arrive to our conversation with three book recommendations already selected, instead she thought aloud and asked really interesting questions as we talked. Although I was pretty nervous when we first started, she made me feel pretty comfortable and it felt like I was talking to a friend. I could hear her dog Daisy barking in the background, and we talked about the adventures of having a Lab! (Note: Her dog was edited out! LOL)

In your interview, you discuss the conundrum of physical and e-books. Do you and your students talk about this? And do you advise them to use one medium or another?

In the past five or six years, I’ve shifted almost entirely to reading on my Kindle so much so that it’s hard for me to read a physical book! I used to insist that I would never give up a physical book and that I needed to feel the page turn and all of that—not anymore. Here’s the problem: it’s hard to share a book that I loved when it’s on my Kindle. Truthfully sometimes I can’t remember the title because I’m not looking at it as I would with a physical book.

I’m not sure my students face this problem! My challenge with students is getting them to read for pleasure, but I continue to begin each of my classes with ten minutes of reading. I invite them to choose anything they want from the library! We are only in the second week of school, and they are in the habit of taking out their books and reading! I want them to find reading enjoyable!

And what are you reading right now?

I just finished reading Chemistry by Weike Wang, one of the books Anne recommended, and I’m reading Where the Forest Meets the River by Shannon Bowring, the sequel to The Road to Dalton, a lovely novel about a complicated Maine town. I am really excited to read Elizabeth Strout’s new novel Tell Me Everything, and I’m listening to historian Doris Kearns Goodwin’s book.