March arrives, and with it comes a shift. Maybe you feel it too. The temperatures are swinging wildly, your TBR pile is teetering, and somehow you still can’t figure out what to read next. On this episode of the Fully-Booked: Literary Podcast, Meaghan and Shirin kick off the month with a loose, honest chat about mood reading, seasonal reading habits, and the very relatable experience of owning a hundred books and finding absolutely nothing you want to read right now.
Note
The following is an editorialized transcript of our weekly literary podcast. If you would like to listen to the podcast, click the play button above orlisten on your favorite platform with the links below.
What We’re Reading Right Now
Before getting into the main topic, we do a quick check-in on the nightstand situation, and things are busy.
Shirin has been working through a stack of ARCs. One of them caught her off guard in the best possible way: a book called Breathing is How Some People Stay Alive, which she did not clock as horror going in. “I was like, oh, okay. Well, back on, I guess,” she admits. It turned out to be psychological horror rather than gore-heavy stuff, and her review landed as a positive one despite the initial shock.
She is also eyeing Catabasis by RF Fong next on her pile, a dark academia novel with ancient Greek undertones, Dante references, and the kind of premise that makes someone who studied Dante in university feel obligated to pick it up. Plus, the cover was apparently gorgeous. No judgment here.
Meaghan, on the other hand, has just come through two very different ARCs from Penguin. First up is Spoiled Milk by Avery Kieran, a debut novel set in a 1920s all-girls boarding school where a popular student dies under murky circumstances. What starts as a possible murder mystery turns into something stranger and more supernatural as the story progresses. Meaghan calls it “a really solid debut,” with strong writing and genuinely compelling characters, even if the pacing dragged a little in places.
Her second read, How to Write a Love Story by Katherine Walsh, sounds like an absolute delight. It follows Sam, a New York editor tasked with finishing an epic fantasy series after its beloved author passes away, working alongside the author’s daughter in a creaky old estate on the coast of Ireland. Meaghan describes the banter as “top tier” and the love story between Sam and Keira as genuinely sweet.
“Their names are Sam and Keira. They’re so cute,” she says, with the kind of warmth that makes you want to drop everything and pick it up immediately.
RelatedMost Anticipated Young Adult Books For 2026 (So Far)
What Mood Reading Actually Means
So what is mood reading? At its core, it is reading whatever you feel like at any given time rather than following a set list. Sounds simple enough. The catch is that it makes sticking to a strict TBR nearly impossible, and it can lead to some very specific flavors of spiral.
We both fall into this camp, but in different ways. Meaghan describes herself as someone who will pace back and forth between her bookcases, reading dust jackets, putting them back, walking away, and sometimes just agonizing for three days before suddenly grabbing something at random and diving straight in.
Sometimes it’s extremely spur of the moment. I will suddenly be like, I’m reading that.
Other times, it is an ordeal.
Shirin, on the other hand, will convince herself she is absolutely certain about what comes next, pick it up, read ten pages, and immediately know it is not happening. Assistant to the Villain is the prime example here. She bought all three books in the series, knew she would probably love them, started the first one, and then put it down.
It is still sitting next to her bed. The problem that follows is the real killer: once a certain choice falls through, everything else on the TBR stops making sense, too. “I’m in a state of like mortal peril for, like, two months,” she says. Relatable.
The one thing that seems to override all of this for both of us? ARCs. When there is a review deadline involved, the debate in your head just stops. You pick up the book because you have to, and sometimes that is genuinely a relief. Shirin compares it to university: here is your reading list, now read it.
Seasonal Reading and the Patterns We Did Not Choose
Here is where things get interesting, especially for Meaghan, who has noticed distinct seasonal shifts in what she wants to read throughout the year. These are not rigid rules she set for herself; they just happen, almost every year, without her deciding to make them happen.
The pattern, as she describes it: February into May tends to bring a strong pull toward fantasy. Summer is a toss-up between beach reads and punchy horror, the slasher-type stuff, which she notes also lines up with how she watches movies in summer. September brings mystery and thriller. October and November are horror-only territory, full stop. December is unpredictable depending on her stress levels.
“I’m just like, I’m only reading horror. Don’t talk to me about anything else,” she says of October and November.
Shirin has started to notice something similar creeping in. She has always been a fantasy reader by default, but fall has started to feel like thriller season to her, too. She makes a sharp observation about it: fall still registers as back-to-school time in her brain, which means she naturally gravitates toward books that do not require intense tracking of sprawling lore and twelve-book series.
The holiday romance thing comes up here, too. Meaghan is fine with them occasionally. Shirin is not. At all.
With, like, a fiery passion, and I don’t know why.
Meaghan offers a fairly reasonable theory about it: the holidays are already high-stress for a lot of people, and reading more holiday content might amplify those feelings rather than offer an escape. Shirin’s position is essentially that if you are going to escape, escape properly, meaning somewhere completely different. Fantasy in December. Get out of here with the cozy Christmas romance.
RelatedBest Books of 2025 (Top 5 Reads Each): Horror, Thrillers, Romantasy + TBR for 2026
Comfort Reads, Rereads, and the Harry Potter Problem
One of the bigger differences between the two of us is how we handle reading slumps when the mood is completely broken. Meaghan rarely rereads. It happens, but almost never. Her brain keeps coming back to the fact that there are too many unread books waiting. Going backwards feels like lost time.
Shirin is, or at least used to be, a comfort reader. When everything else stalls, she would go back to a beloved series she has already read four times and just sink into it. She has done this with a five-to-eight-book series. Full rereads. Once a year, sometimes. “Which series am I rereading?” was a January tradition.
That habit has mostly stopped now, and she pins it to how immersed we both are in new releases, ARCs, and keeping up with what is coming out. There is not enough time for an eight-book reread when there is always something new to get to. She also fully credits Meaghan with pulling her into new territory.
You’ve influenced me so much that I’m into thrillers now.
Then there is Harry Potter. Shirin says her annual January reread was almost always that series. It is not anymore. “I just can’t stomach it,” she says, and the reason is straightforward: JK Rowling’s public statements on trans people have made it impossible for Shirin to revisit the books without that weight attached to them.
She had imagined reading them with her own child someday. That is gone now. Meaghan is equally done with them. It is not a complicated position; it is just genuinely sad that something that once felt like comfort has been made this difficult to return to.
Sci-Fi: The Genre We Keep Circling
Neither of us would call science fiction a favorite. But we are both starting to suspect it might deserve more of our attention than it gets.
Shirin says it out loud: “I kind of kick myself sometimes. I’m like, oh, man. I really should make more of an effort because I feel like I would really enjoy more sci-fi if I just found the right one.” The genre touches on so much social commentary, she points out, that it feels like a genuine blind spot.
Meaghan has been getting nudged in that direction by Arthur (hi, Arthur), talking about what he is reading. And with a big adaptation of Project Hail Mary coming out this month, there is a very timely reason to pay attention. “We get Ryan Gosling and a big rock alien,” Meaghan says, with the tone of someone who will absolutely be in that theater.
Anything with Ryan Gosling in it has Shirin’s immediate interest. This is established, non-negotiable, and apparently the reason some movies get watched even if they are just fine.
RelatedBefore Verity & Reminders of Him: Did Regretting You Quietly Start the CoHo Movie Takeover?
What Is Coming Up
Next week, we are heading into the Coho adaptation. Neither of us managed to read the book before recording this, and we are honest about that. Meaghan is firm: “There is no fucking way I’m doing this.” Shirin is cautiously optimistic that she might attempt the book before the film, possibly by putting Catabasis on hold for a few days. We will see how that goes.
What this episode is really about, underneath all of it, is the fact that reading is personal and a little chaotic and does not always follow a plan. Mood reading is not a flaw in your system. It is the system. And if you can own a hundred books, find nothing you want to read, and then spend twenty minutes on Kindle Unlimited looking for something new instead, you are in very good company here.
You can find reviews for Spoiled Milk, What to Cage a Wild Bird, and everything else we mentioned over at the website.
Until next week, keep reading.
Subscribe On Your Favorite Platform
