Today, FictionMatters contributors
and are sharing all about their selections for the 2025 Paperback Summer Reading Guide. This was the first time ever that I invited anyone to contribute books to the PSRG and it was so much fun to hear about their processes, see what they chose, and try to riddle out what summer reading means for each of them.If you’re new here, Maddie has been a member of the FM Literary Society since its founding. When I had my daughter in 2021, Maddie volunteered to help out with starting Zooms and communicating book dates to help me out as I adjusted to motherhood. Her help was so life-changing, I asked her to stay on in a more official capacity and she’s been making the community better ever since. Liz is another longtime FM Lit Society member as well as a voracious reader and one of the most trusted reviewers on bookstagram. Last year, I realized that one thing I was missing was a space to have casual conversations about the books I was reading. I broached the subject with Liz and was delighted when she said she would join me for these monthly chats. These conversations became This Month in Books, an exclusive monthly podcast episode for FM Patreon and Substack subscribers, and—according to all of you—one of your favorite pieces of content I put out!
This year, both Maddie an Liz contributed five books of their choosing to the PSRG and today they’re joining me on the mic to share more about how they went about the vetting process, any patterns that emerged in their summer reading style, and, of course, all the details about the books they chose. I hope you enjoy listening to them share about their picks as much as I did!
