Well, May flew right by didn’t it? I had some road trips happening so the DVR got backed up, but my podcast listening was on fleek (that’s still a thing right? no? fine) Here’s what I’ve been up to (and slacking on) this month:

Reading

I’m still chomping away at Fellside – it’s REALLY good, and the chapters are super short, which makes it easy to put down when I get interrupted by something shiny (or Norm). I’m hoping to finish it soon because…

City of Mirrors is out! I picked it up the other day (at Costco, I feel like I’m cheating on Powell’s so will go spend more money than necessary in a few days to make up for it). This is the 3rd in a trilogy that I’ve REALLY enjoyed. I can’t wait to start it!

And I’m way behind on my comics lately – hoping to fix that in June – warmer days get me outside to read in the afternoon!

Watching

Holy crap this season of The Americans has been amazing! The time jump was a great idea, and that dinner with Stan and Pastor Tim was so fantastically awkward. I loved it.

This season of Game of Thrones is keeping me on my toes. Also: Hodor.

I have a few shows that have been really backed up – and I haven’t even started this season of Orphan Black. I know, I’m a disappointment to myself too. I’m really glad finales are happening so I can get caught up on the last half of Nashville this season and maybe finally watch ALL the Netflix shows that are piling up…

Oh – and we saw Captain America: Civil War – and it was a BLAST! I haven’t had that much fun at a movie in a long time – get to the theater to see it!

Listening

The Bill Simmons Podcast with David Chang was really fantastic. As a business owner and delicious food fan, it was an excellent listen.

Play Your Position Podcast – featuring ME! I had my first podcast interview with Mary Lou Kayser at Team PYP – and it was a blast! Give it a listen if you miss the sound of my voice, or need some marketing inspiration.

The Nerdist had a great string of guests lately, from Jodie Foster to Rob Reiner to Anthony Mackie – it was great!

I’m still listening to The Watch and Keeping it 1600 on The Ringer podcast networking – they’re great podcasts for TV and politics!

So that’s me, what have you been reading, watching and listening to this past month?

I hope you’ve had a great April. I had a lot of travel, which means the DVR got backed up and the podcasts were in high demand! Here’s what I’ve enjoyed this month…

Reading

I’m trying to get back into the swing of reading, I got out of it for too long. On my recent trip to Texas with the award winning Whitworth Forensics Team I finally had a chance to read the graphic novel version of A Wrinkle in Time which I had picked up at Powell’s a few months back. It was INCREDIBLE! I didn’t remember the story much from when I was a kid, and a graphic novel approach to this story is a must have. Grab it for you, grab it for a kid in your life, just read this great story (again!)

I’m catching up on The Walking Dead comics still, they’ve been a little more frequent since the show ended (more in a moment) and I like the new twist in the last issue…

I stopped at Powell’s the other day to pick up Fellside by the author of one of my favorite books last year, The Girl with All the Gifts. I’m about 100 pages in and it’s a very different story from his first, but it’s still a great book, and different kind of story this time. I’ll have a review for you next month.

Listening

I had a huge pile up of podcasts on my phone, so the road trips recently have been needed!

Keeping in 1600 continues to be a favorite new podcast discovery. This election season it’s especially nice to have a helpful and realistic commentary to guide me.

Ask Me Another – I love this NPR trivia podcast – I got away from it for a while and picked it up again on a recent road trip with my husband. We both like useless trivia (and know a lot of it) so it’s fun to play each other against the players on road trips (have you been through Eastern Washington? What else do you suggest we do…)

Serial – We finally finished Season 2 of Serial about Bowe Bergdahl. It was so different from season one and I didn’t like it as much, but it was really interesting. Especially if you are interested in the military and what all happened with this specific case. If you started it, it’s worth finishing the season. If you are on the fence and not into military politics, then you may want to skip it.

Nerdist with Sam Rockwell – I love Sam Rockwell AND I love the Nerdist, so this was a favorite podcast for me. It makes me want to go back and watch Matchstick Men again, and watch more of Sam Rockwell’s movies. And my favorite – The Way Way Back.

Watching

Game of Thrones is back! That was a fantastic season premiere, answering a lot of questions, setting up the season, and leaving a lot still unanswered (so, how is that near-death woman going to save Jon Snow now?!?) And the season premiere also included a lot of dogs (poor Ghost!) which confused the heck out of Norm, so it was a more interactive episode than usual at my house.

The Americans – with all my traveling lately this show got backed up on my DVR – but I’ve had time to catch up, and it’s incredible as always. If The People Vs. OJ Simpson hadn’t had the “Marcia, Marcia, Marcia” episode – I think they easily could have called a recent episode “Martha, Martha, Martha” that poor woman, there’s just no way this season is going to end well for her. And I’m more afraid she’ll live, which would be probably worse for her…I love this show.

Unbreakable Kimmy Schimdt – I finally started the new season, and haven’t had time to binge as usual but it’s off to a great start and continues to make me laugh at the ridiculous quick wittedness and Tina Fey’s sense of humor.

The Walking Dead – yeah, I hated that finale like everyone else did. Negan’s a monster, and what we saw was an a-hole, but no where near what I was hoping for to redeem this season.

Billions – I really enjoyed this show – I wasn’t expecting to, but it’s kept me on my toes and although it goes inside baseball (hedge funds) too much for me sometimes, I’m able to keep up enough to know what’s going on.

House of Lies – I’ve always enjoyed this show, and anything that Kristen Bell is in, and this season is off to a great start, with the team broken up, and a baby now in the mix. I just hope Ken Marino sticks around more than it looks like he might.

I still have Orphan Black on my DVR to get caught up on, hopefully in the next week or so – I love that show, but need the time to binge and catch up!

Okay – what were your favorite pop culture finds in April?

Well, March Madness is in full force and I’m not sure about your bracket, but I have 2 of the 4 teams in the Final 4 this weekend, and am not too happy with Syracuse for knocking Virginia out – since I had them winning the whole dang tournament. Let’s see how this weekend goes – come on Oklahoma! It’s also been a good month for pop culture – I can’t wait to hear what you’ve been enjoying!

Listening

I can’t stop listening to the Chris Stapleton Traveller album – it’s so fantastic! I’m not a big country music fan, but this is just too good to ignore. Jump on it.

I am loving the Channel 33 podcast network – The Watch is still my favorite and go to pod, but I’m also really enjoying Playing Politics with Jon Favreau and Dan Pfeiffer (both formerly of the Obama Administration) – they talk weekly about what’s going on in the presidential campaign, and since they both worked on the Obama campaign, they give their insights to where they were at this point in 2008 – it’s pretty fantastic. The Top Chef finale podcast was also great – unlike the finale itself…And The Andy Greenwald Podcast with the creators of The Americans made me very happy the season is back!

Over at The Nerdist – this month I caught up on a few podcasts, but loved the JJ Abrams & Dan Trachtenberg episode, and the Sally Fields and Michael Showalter ep. I’m still holding onto an episode with Kelly Carlin from December (George’s daughter) that I really need to listen to.

I listened to the Iliza Schlesiger episode of WTF and it was fantastic. I love a woman who knows exactly what she wants, and takes her dog everywhere with her in the process.

I have to admit this season of Serial hasn’t grabbed me. I’m a couple episodes behind and I know the season finale episode drops today (3/31). We have a road trip planned to Bend next weekend so hopefully we’ll catch up!

What podcasts and music are you loving lately?

Reading

Yes folks, this month I finally did some reading. The 25 page a day rule really helped – and while I love March Madness, the screeching of Nike’s on the court when I’m not there is a lot, so I tend to watch most of the game on mute and READ, genius plan.

California – I had heard great things about this book a long time ago via the Colbert Report and picked it up a while back at Powell’s. I finally jumped in to read it. And I hated it. I love a good distant future where all hell has broken loose and people are dispersed around the country or world. But the ending that the author wanted to get to, wasn’t an ending I cared about given the story. I guess you can’t win them all.

I’m also catching up on comics – The Walking Dead continues to be WAY better than the TV show these days. And Outcast has continued to be really great, which makes me excited for the TV show this summer. Ms Marvel is always really fun, and Lazarus is still on a break. Time to add in another series or two – I’m thinking Clean Room which I’ve heard great things about.

What are you reading these days?

Watching

I was sick last week and may have watched 9 episodes of Gilmore Girls in a day. Oops. There’s some great stuff going on TV these days…

The Americans are back! Hooray! My favorite TV show is back, and this season I’m really hoping Pastor Tim doesn’t make it…terrible, I know. And based on last week’s episode (called Pastor Tim, but you never see him), I think I’m right. Man it’s such a great show!

The People Vs OJ Simpson – Alright, they can quit with the Clark/Darden hookup stuff – it’s stupid and not necessary. Watching the trial again through a biased and somewhat fictionalized lens is really interesting – my husband and I keep say “is that how that happened?” and trying to remember stuff from when we were in high school.

Billions – I wasn’t sure I’d like this show, but man it’s great drama. One rich white guy twist after another – we’re really enjoying it!

Colony – wow this ended up as a GREAT show and a really fun and interesting first season. I’m excited for Season 2 and hope it gains a larger audience in the mean time.

March Madness – obviously this is dominating the TV lately. I have Oklahoma and Virginia in the final game with Virginia winning, so there’s that. We’ll see how Saturday goes.

Broad City – Keep it up ladies. The Game Over episode with Vanessa Williams was fantastic and worth it for the FINAL musical number that I couldn’t stop watching. SO GREAT.

Alright – what’s on your DVR lately? I hope you’ve had a great month of pop culture and can’t wait for the return of Game of Thrones in April!