Life Lately
Sarah’s in-laws moved to Bloomington this month and Abby’s been scoring some great (free!) secondhand wins.
Reading Lately
Sarah read the NEA Big Read for the year: Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng. She was captivated by how Ng was able to concisely convey so much about the characters.
Abby listened to Mirna Valerio’s memoir A Beautiful Work in Progress. Valerio is a self-described “fat girl running” and shares her life competing in ultramarathons.
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Our Year in Books, 2017
As listeners know, we love to read. We reflect back on our reading life in 2017: what we read, what we loved, what surprised us, and how the podcast has illuminated our different reading styles and preferences. Here are our favorites from the year:
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Eating Lately
We’ve both been feeling a bit uninspired in the kitchen and turning to easier (lazier?) meals: black bean nachos for Abby and bean quesadillas for Sarah.
If you’d like to join in the conversation, please leave us a comment, email us at friendlierpodcast@gmail.com, or find us on Instagram @friendlierpodcast. Thanks for listening!
Friendlier 
I did not love ‘Commonwealth’ either. I have loved plenty of Ann Patchet’s books (she is my best friend’s favorite author) but this one just didn’t grab me the way some of the others have. It was still better written than plenty of other books out there, but I was kind of relieved to hear that Sarah didn’t love it either, since so many of my friends have raved about it! (I particularly love ‘The Magician’s Assistant’ if either of you hasn’t read that one.)
I’m excited to put y’all’s recommendations that I haven’t read on my library list–happy reading!
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So glad to have company on the “not in love with Commonwealth” boat. As you said, it was beautifully written, but it just didn’t do it for me. I loved State of Wonder and Bel Canto, though. And I haven’t read The Magician’s Assistant. Adding it to my list now!
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