Hi friends –
As a reader, I have always thought about the reading community and how I show up in it. With so many readers having book clubs and a new wave of silent book clubs popping up around the country, it’s clear that I’m not alone in that thinking. People are looking for both connection and community around reading, both digitally and in-person, and Jordan Hernandez, founder of Completely Booked, has made it her mission to build exactly that.
Jordan started the community in February 2020, before the pandemic stopped the world, and what began as a platform to share what she was reading has grown into a virtual book club, in-person book swaps, author conversations, a thriving digital community on both Instagram and TikTok, and a Substack where she writes with the kind of specificity and honesty that both invites you in, and also makes you save a few notes and reads for later.
I have been following Jordan’s content for a while, and was excited to chat with her about the importance of reading diverse books, the community she’s cultivating on social media, and even some of the parallels between reading and her passion for running. In our conversation, we discussed many things including:
Her origin story as a reader and how magazines changed everything
The responsibility and joy of curating books for a community
What it actually means to read diversely and why it matters right now
How she thinks about building community across different platforms
What makes a great audiobook and her immersive reading method
The parallels between marathon training and being an avid reader
Below you will find a few excerpts from our conversation. via YouTube. You can listen to the interview on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube Podcasts or Pocketcasts.
Connect with Jordan:
Instagram | TikTok | Threads | Substack
Completely Booked newsletters mentioned:
From Bad Bunny to Boricua Books: 10 Puerto Rican Authors You Should Be Reading Now
5 Audiobooks That Made Me Fall Even Deeper in Love With Reading
Books mentioned during our conversation:
A little bit more for this week:
🔗 Angel Reese was traded to the Atlanta Dream, and I’m pretty excited about it personally. I think she will do great on that team and I’m excited to see her play with Howard and Gray.
🔗 Also in WNBA news, I am counting down the days to the draft next week and am hosting a baby dinner party: wings and salad are currently on the menu.
📚 American Fantasy by Emma Straub is out today and it was a fun read. I finished it last week and will say that while the topic was kind of random, boy-bands on a cruise ship, it was a fun and light read. If you read it, please let me know your thoughts.
📚Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke comes out today as well, and I can’t wait to read this book. From all the reviews I have listened to or read about this book so far, it seems like it will be such a good book. Here’s an interview with the author, and a short description of the book:
A traditional American woman, a beautiful wife and mother who sells her pioneer lifestyle of raw milk and farm-fresh eggs to her millions of social media followers, suddenly awakens cold, filthy, and terrified in the brutal reality of 1855—where she must unravel whether this living nightmare is an elaborate hoax, a twisted reality show, or something far more sinister in this sensational debut novel.
Well this is all for this week, I’ll catch you next week. In the meantime, here is my new playlist: Spotify | Apple Music
