Ep. 174: Unscripted | Auto-Buy Authors with Susie and Catherine

Sarah's Bookshelves Live

For Ep. 174, due to an unexpected change in our episode schedule, we’re bringing you an episode from our newest Patreon bonus series, Unscripted. This series is our sandbox for any bookish topic, whether it’s publishing news, behind-the-scenes insights from the podcast and our reading lives, or patron-submitted discussions. Most Unscripted episodes feature both co-hosts, Susie Boutry (@NovelVisits) and Catherine Gilmore (@GilmoreGuide), along with me — and this April episode was no exception. We dive into the topic of Auto-Buy Authors, submitted by patrons! Tune in for a candid chat about the authors we always buy, former favorites, and those we’ve learned to avoid.

This post contains affiliate links through which I make a small commission when you make a purchase (at no cost to you!).

CLICK HERE for the full episode Show Notes on the blog.

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Introduction [4:19]

Books Mentioned

• The Most Fun We Ever Had by Claire Lombardo [5:12]

Auto-Buy Authors [11:12]

Catherine

• Elizabeth George
  • The Great Deliverance (Inspector Lynley Mysteries, #1) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [11:43]
• Anna Quindlen
• Paula McLain
  • When the Stars Go Dark | Amazon | Bookshop.org [19:49]
  • Circling the Sun | Amazon | Bookshop.org [19:56]
  • Love and Ruin | Amazon | Bookshop.org [20:03]
  • A Ticket to Ride | Amazon | Bookshop.org [20:23]
  • The Paris Wife | Amazon | Bookshop.org [20:27]
• Alice Hoffman
  • Practical Magic | Amazon | Bookshop.org [24:02]
  • The Rules of Magic | Amazon | Bookshop.org [24:43]
• Thrity Umrigar
  • Honor | Amazon | Bookshop.org [27:30]
• Barbara Kingsolver
  • Demon Copperhead | Amazon | Bookshop.org [29:51]
  • The Bean Trees | Amazon | Bookshop.org [30:03]
  • The Poisonwood Bible | Amazon | Bookshop.org [30:25]
  • Unsheltered | Amazon | Bookshop.org [30:46]
  • Prodigal Summer | Amazon | Bookshop.org [31:10]
  • Pigs in Heaven | Amazon | Bookshop.org [31:25]
• Natalie Haynes
• S. A. Cosby
  • All the Sinners Bleed | Amazon | Bookshop.org [38:01]
• Maggie O’Farrell
  • I Am, I Am, I Am | Amazon | Bookshop.org [41:03]
  • The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox | Amazon | Bookshop.org [41:22]
• John Boyne
  • Water | Amazon [43:48]
  • The Heart’s Invisible Furies | Amazon | Bookshop.org [44:16]
  • The Boy in the Striped Pajamas | Amazon | Bookshop.org [44:23]
  • All the Broken Places | Amazon | Bookshop.org [44:25]
  • A Traveler at the Gates of Wisdom | Amazon | Bookshop.org [45:04]
  • A Ladder to the Sky | Amazon | Bookshop.org [45:18]
• Abbi Waxman
  • Other People’s Houses | Amazon | Bookshop.org [49:12]
  • The Bookish Life of Nina Hill | Amazon | Bookshop.org [49:21]
• Percival Everett
  • James | Amazon | Bookshop.org [53:12]
  • The Trees | Amazon | Bookshop.org [53:13]
  • Erasure | Amazon | Bookshop.org [53:16]
• Jennifer Saint
  • Elektra | Amazon | Bookshop.org [55:59]
  • Ariadne | Amazon | Bookshop.org [56:00]
  • Atalanta | Amazon | Bookshop.org [56:02]
• Laini Taylor
  • Strange the Dreamer | Amazon | Bookshop.org [59:39]

Susie

• Claire Fuller
  • Unsettled Ground | Amazon | Bookshop.org [12:41]
  • The Memory of Animals | Amazon | Bookshop.org [12:42]
  • Bitter Orange | Amazon | Bookshop.org [12:48]
  • Our Endless Numbered Days | Amazon | Bookshop.org [13:31]
• Taylor Jenkins Reid
  • Daisy Jones & The Six | Amazon | Bookshop.org [16:13]
  • The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo | Amazon | Bookshop.org [16:16]
  • Malibu Rising | Amazon | Bookshop.org [17:18]
• Sally Rooney
  • Beautiful World, Where Are You | Amazon | Bookshop.org [21:31]
  • Intermezzo (September 24, 2024) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [22:06]
  • Normal People | Amazon | Bookshop.org [22:22]
• Madeline Miller
  • The Song of Achilles | Amazon | Bookshop.org [25:20]
  • Circe | Amazon | Bookshop.org [25:21]
• David Joy
  • The Line That Held Us | Amazon | Bookshop.org [27:58]
  • Those We Thought We Knew | Amazon | Bookshop.org [28:32]
• Rebecca Makkai
  • The Great Believers | Amazon | Bookshop.org [31:43]
  • The Hundred-Year House | Amazon [31:47]
  • I Have Some Questions For You | Amazon | Bookshop.org [32:27]
• Peter Heller
  • The River | Amazon | Bookshop.org [34:50]
  • The Guide | Amazon | Bookshop.org [34:56]
  • The Last Ranger | Amazon | Bookshop.org [34:59]
  • Burn | Amazon | Bookshop.org (August 13, 2024)[35:29]
  • The Dog Stars | Amazon | Bookshop.org [35:43]
• Celeste Ng
  • Our Missing Hearts | Amazon | Bookshop.org [38:41]
  • Everything I Never Told You | Amazon | Bookshop.org [38:59]
  • Little Fires Everywhere | Amazon | Bookshop.org [39:00]
• William Kent Krueger
  • The River We Remember | Amazon | Bookshop.org [42:26]
• Annie Hartnett
  • Rabbit Cake | Amazon | Bookshop.org [47:33]
  • Unlikely Animals | Amazon | Bookshop.org [47:34]
• Fredrik Backman
  • Beartown | Amazon | Bookshop.org [49:59]
  • A Man Called Ove | Amazon | Bookshop.org [50:02]
  • Us Against You | Amazon | Bookshop.org [50:16]
  • The Winners | Amazon | Bookshop.org [50:19]
  • Anxious People | Amazon | Bookshop.org [50:26]
• Lily Brooks-Dalton
  • Good Morning, Midnight | Amazon | Bookshop.org [53:32]
  • The Light Pirate | Amazon | Bookshop.org [53:34]
• Anna Pitoniak
  • Necessary People | Amazon | Bookshop.org [57:45]
  • The Futures | Amazon | Bookshop.org [57:58]
  • The Helsinki Affair | Amazon | Bookshop.org [58:10]
• Emma Straub
  • This Time Tomorrow | Amazon | Bookshop.org [1:00:44]
  • All Adults Here | Amazon | Bookshop.org [1:01:36]

Sarah

• Ann Patchett
  • Tom Lake | Amazon | Bookshop.org [14:11]
  • Bel Canto | Amazon | Bookshop.org [14:14]
  • These Precious Days | Amazon | Bookshop.org [14:20]
  • Run | Amazon | Bookshop.org [14:33]
  • Commonwealth | Amazon | Bookshop.org [14:45]
• Rufi Thorpe
  • The Girls from Corona del Mar | Amazon | Bookshop.org [18:12]
  • Dear Fang, With Love | Amazon | Bookshop.org [18:21]
  • The Knockout Queen | Amazon | Bookshop.org [18:39]
  • Margo’s Got Money Troubles | Amazon | Bookshop.org [18:43]
• Garrett M. Graff
  • The Only Plane in the Sky | Amazon | Bookshop.org [22:57]
• Kevin Wilson
  • Now Is Not the Time to Panic | Amazon | Bookshop.org [26:10]
  • Nothing to See Here | Amazon | Bookshop.org [26:48]
  • The Family Fang | Amazon | Bookshop.org [26:54]
• Amy Jo Burns
  • Shiner | Amazon | Bookshop.org [29:13]
  • Mercury | Amazon | Bookshop.org [29:14]
• Liz Nugent
  • Unraveling Oliver | Amazon | Bookshop.org [33:06]
  • Strange Sally Diamond | Amazon | Bookshop.org [33:14]
• Meg Wolitzer
  • The Interestings | Amazon | Bookshop.org [36:34]
  • The Wife | Amazon | Bookshop.org [36:39]
  • The Female Persuasion | Amazon | Bookshop.org [37:32]
• Tayari Jones
  • An American Marriage | Amazon | Bookshop.org [40:01]
  • Silver Sparrow | Amazon | Bookshop.org [40:07]
• Brit Bennett
  • The Mothers | Amazon | Bookshop.org [42:52]
  • The Vanishing Half | Amazon | Bookshop.org [43:00]
• Angie Kim
  • Miracle Creek | Amazon | Bookshop.org [48:13]
  • Happiness Falls | Amazon | Bookshop.org [48:14]
• Mary Laura Philpott
  • I Miss You When I Blink | Amazon | Bookshop.org [52:13]
  • Bomb Shelter | Amazon | Bookshop.org [52:14]
• Rachel Khong
  • Goodbye, Vitamin | Amazon | Bookshop.org [54:44]
  • Real Americans | Amazon | Bookshop.org [54:46]
• Hanna Halperin
  • I Could Live Here Forever | Amazon | Bookshop.org [58:50]
  • Something Wild | Amazon | Bookshop.org [58:56]
• Gabrielle Zevin
  • The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry | Amazon | Bookshop.org [1:02:04]
  • Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow | Amazon | Bookshop.org [1:02:06]
  • Young Jane Young | Amazon | Bookshop.org [1:02:08]

Former Auto-Buy Authors [1:03:23]

Catherine

• Mark Halperin
• Paul Auster
• John Irving
• Nelson DeMille
  • Plum Island (A John Corey Novel, #1) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [1:08:50]
• Colson Whitehead
  • The Underground Railroad | Amazon | Bookshop.org [1:14:03]
  • The Nickel Boys | Amazon | Bookshop.org [1:14:05]

Susie

• Chris Bohjalian
  • Skeletons at the Feast | Amazon | Bookshop.org [1:05:37]
  • The Sleepwalker | Amazon | Bookshop.org [1:05:55]
  • The Flight Attendant | Amazon | Bookshop.org [1:05:57]
  • The Princess of Las Vegas | Amazon | Bookshop.org [1:06:26]
  • The Double Bind | Amazon | Bookshop.org [1:06:57]
  • Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands | Amazon | Bookshop.org [1:07:06]
  • The Sandcastle Girls | Amazon | Bookshop.org [1:07:17]
  • Midwives | Amazon | Bookshop.org [1:07:21]
• Sally Hepworth
  • The Younger Wife | Amazon | Bookshop.org [1:10:43]
• Stephen King
  • The Stand | Amazon | Bookshop.org [1:12:14]
  • 11/22/63 | Amazon | Bookshop.org [1:12:17]
  • Holly | Amazon | Bookshop.org [1:12:37]
  • Mr. Mercedes | Amazon | Bookshop.org [1:12:45]

Sarah

• Anna Quindlen
  • Alternate Side | Amazon | Bookshop.org [1:03:52]
  • After Annie | Amazon | Bookshop.org [1:03:59]
• Beatriz Williams
  • A Hundred Summers | Amazon | Bookshop.org [1:07:53]
  • Along the Infinite Sea | Amazon | Bookshop.org [1:08:16]
• Michael Lewis
  • Liar’s Poker | Amazon | Bookshop.org [1:11:22]
  • Moneyball | Amazon | Bookshop.org [1:11:22]
  • The Big Short | Amazon | Bookshop.org [1:11:23]
  • The Blind Side | Amazon | Bookshop.org [1:11:24]
  • The Undoing Project | Amazon | Bookshop.org [1:11:25]

Auto-Avoid Authors [1:14:50]

Catherine

• Paula Hawkins
  • The Girl on the Train | Amazon | Bookshop.org [1:17:11]
• Colleen Hoover
  • Verity | Amazon | Bookshop.org [1:18:30]
• Fredrik Backman
• Alix E. Harrow

Susie

• Rachel Kapelke-Dale
  • The Ballerinas | Amazon | Bookshop.org [1:15:07]
  • The Ingenue | Amazon | Bookshop.org [1:15:16]
  • The Fortune Seller | Amazon | Bookshop.org [1:15:20]
• Elle Cosimano
  • Finlay Donovan Is Killing It | Amazon | Bookshop.org [1:16:11]
• Annabel Monaghan
• Benjamin Stevenson
  • Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone | Amazon | Bookshop.org[1:17:46]
• T. J. Newman
  • Falling | Amazon | Bookshop.org [1:19:11]
  • Drowning: The Rescue of Flight 1421 | Amazon | Bookshop.org [1:19:23]
• Emma Cline
  • The Girls | Amazon | Bookshop.org [1:20:45]
  • The Guest | Amazon | Bookshop.org [1:21:02]

Sarah

• Riley Sager
  • Final Girls | Amazon | Bookshop.org [1:17:04]
• Emily Henry
• Liane Moriarty
  • The Husband’s Secret | Amazon | Bookshop.org [1:19:40]
  • Big Little Lies | Amazon | Bookshop.org [1:19:40]
  • What Alice Forgot | Amazon | Bookshop.org [1:19:41]
• Kristin Hannah
  • The Nightingale | Amazon | Bookshop.org [1:21:59]
  • The Great Alone | Amazon | Bookshop.org [1:22:03]
  • The Women | Amazon | Bookshop.org [1:22:06]
• Emma Straub

Other Books Mentioned

• Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano [1:23:44]
• Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano [1:23:47]
• 56 Days by Catherine Ryan Howard [1:25:04]
• The Trap by Catherine Ryan Howard [1:25:16]
• Writers & Lovers by Lily King [1:25:41]
• Euphoria by Lily King [1:25:44]