Warm matchmaking for thoughtful readers.
What Should I Read Next? is a conversational book-recommendation show built around one reader’s tastes, habits, and current reading puzzle. Each episode turns likes, dislikes, comfort zones, and curiosity lists into thoughtful next-read possibilities.
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What Should I Read Next? is built around a familiar readerly problem: the shelf is full, the lists are long, and the next satisfying book still feels oddly hard to choose. The show answers that problem through conversation. Anne Bogle sits with one reader at a time and studies the shape of their reading life, from books they loved to books that sounded perfect but somehow missed. It is practical, but never rushed. A conversation might begin with a classic, a reading project, or a wish to make buddy reads less complicated. Then it widens. Guests talk through comfort zones, curiosity lists, old favorites, nonfiction habits, historical fiction experiments, psychological thrillers, literary mysteries, and books that succeed because tone and character meet in just the right way. The show’s strength is its attention to fit. It does not treat recommendations as a pile of titles to push across the table. Instead, it listens for why a reader connects with slow character work, twisty plotting, bookish nonfiction, or a personal curriculum that includes art, history, nature, and place. That makes the advice feel earned. Seasonal book preview episodes add another useful layer, sorting buzzy and under-the-radar titles with a reader’s actual taste in mind. Author conversations bring in craft, setting, and the odd private logic behind fiction. The tone stays inviting and thoughtful throughout. Short promotional segments and community updates appear, but the heart of the show remains the same: close listening, clear reader profiles, and specific guidance for the next book. It is best for people who read widely, overthink their options a little, and enjoy hearing how other readers build a life around books.
Made for: For avid readers, book-club regulars, and literary browsers who want sharper language for their own tastes. It especially suits people choosing between classics, new releases, nonfiction, genre experiments, and reading projects.
What sets it apart: The show stands out by diagnosing the reader before recommending the book. Its conversations linger on tone, pacing, habits, and personal context, so the suggestions feel tailored rather than trend-driven.
What Should I Read Next? is the show for every reader who has ever finished a book and faced the problem of not knowing what to read next. Each week, Anne Bogel, of the blog Modern Mrs Darcy, interviews a reader about the books they love, the books they hate, and the books they're reading now. Then, she makes recommendations about what to read next. The real purpose of the show is to help YOU find your next read. To learn more or apply to be on the show visit whatshouldireadnextpodcast.com.
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Anne Bogle turns individual reading histories into precise, adaptable guidance for choosing the next book.
Anne Bogle treats choosing a book as an exercise in understanding taste. Conversations begin with what a guest loved, disliked, or abandoned, then move toward the qualities beneath those reactions.
Anne Bogel turns your reading taste into a recommendation engine with better manners.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A warm, organized route from L.M. Montgomery to a broader reading conversation.
Anne Bogle presents the show as a place for information rather than commands, and that open-handed approach suits an episode that moves between L.M. Montgomery and a wider reading conversation.
A book chat about fit, tone, and personal curriculum.
Anne Bogle uses this episode to help a reader sort through books that seemed promising but failed to deliver the five-star read she wanted, and the value lies in how steadily the show returns to fit: personal curriculum, tone, and the narrow overlap between what sounds…
A reading challenge leads into a guarded literary mystery and a library-fire account, with the rules of reading still in view.
Read USA Challenge opens with Anne Bogle's dad asking a very practical question: do physical books and audiobooks both count? That gives the episode its useful friction, where the fun of a reading project meets the rules that can quietly steer it.
A thoughtful case for stretching a reading life without leaving its trusted place behind.
Anne Bogle's conversation with Nakia opens on the before-and-after of running a bookstore, then moves into a quieter question: what makes a reading life feel like home, and what might be worth trying just beyond it.
A sisterly buddy read makes room for character depth, uncertainty, and thriller momentum on the same shelf.
On What Should I Read Next?, buddy reading turns into a modest study in compromise as Anne Bogle and Ruth sort through why choosing a book with a sister can become surprisingly complicated.
A thoughtful reading-match conversation about ambition, limited time, and the emotional weight of hard books.
What Should I Read Next? treats a common reading frustration as a matter of fit: what to choose when a personal curriculum is full of promising books, but the first picks are not becoming the five-star experiences Kelly hoped for.
A warm, off-kilter conversation about fictional geography, family inheritance, and the strange routes between them.
Kevin Wilson's Coalfield emerges as a magically unstable Tennessee town, able to expand, contract, and even misplace its mountain, while still linking back to his fiction through characters who live there or come from there.
Two classical-education teachers slow-read novels like Jane Eyre, chapter by chapter.
Book talk with room to wander.
This episode promotes a fall book preview and unboxing event, offering curated book recommendations for the upcoming season to help readers choose their next reads.
This episode features an excerpt from a live fall book preview event where host Anne Bogle shares insights on upcoming fall books, including publisher favorites and under-the-radar titles, to help listeners choose their next read.
Kelly wants her reading year to work, and the books looked good on paper.
Coalfield, Tennessee is Kevin Wilson's, at least once fiction gets hold of it.
Montgomery is waiting at the door.
A promising list stalls.
Anne Bogle brings Mary into a relaxed reading chat.
Is reading a before-and-after story?
This episode celebrates the sixth anniversary of the host's book 'Don't Overthink It' while introducing a literary matchmaking show that helps readers find contemporary novels to complement Jane Austen classics.
Reads together can get overthought.
This episode features an interview with author Kevin Wilson discussing his fictional world of Caulfield and its role in his novels, followed by a Mother's Day promotion for StoryWorth.
This episode features an excerpt from a live fall book preview event where host Anne Bogle shares insights on upcoming fall books, including publisher buzz and hand-selected recommendations.
This episode introduces the podcast's summer reading guide while discussing book recommendations and personal reading experiences.