Aug 18, 2026 · 48 min · 14 segments
Welcome back to our podcast—a cozy corner for book lovers of all kinds! 📖💛 We're pausing mid-year to talk about the books that earned the full five stars. We're breaking down what pushed each pick…
Let's start with Project Hail Mary because we've all read that and we've all given it five stars.
Yeah.
So this was a pretty early read for all of us.
We were already in February, either before or near when the movie came out.
So that was, I think, a fun experience, first of all, to read the book, then watch the movie.
As a book, it was an unexpected five star, right? I went into it with no expectations other than knowing a lot of people loved it and that the movie was coming out.
But it was all of our first sci-fi, right?
Yes, it was mine.
I think so.
Yeah.
yeah so it was interesting because for me a lot of the content went right over my head like the science right over my head but the emotional impact and the characters were huge standouts for this book and I think that's what made it a five star for me
and just personal enjoyment was just through the roof yeah it was so good I've heard some people not give it five stars partially because they were like the science was just too much and it just makes me laugh because I'm like it's a science fiction
Do you get
it? There should be science in it.
Even if you don't understand it, like it definitely went way over my head, but it didn't like knock down any enjoyment for me because I was just like, this is literally the bones of the book.
So there can't not be science in it.
I've also heard that people don't like it because there's a lot of plot points specifically toward the end where it feels like things they got out of problems too easily but that didn't bother me
I'm glad I listened to the audio book for that science reason because I think if I was reading it physically it would have been much harder to get through the really sciencey bits whereas when I was listening I could kind of have like one ear tuned in but let a lot of it just kind of go over my head and not care as much as if i was physically reading
yeah i just found it to be a funny complaint because i'm like i don't know what were you
expecting yeah i was
like it's literally a science book so like yeah it makes
sense yeah but I was really surprised at how funny it was and how emotionally attached I became to the characters and just like the depth of the characters.
I just wouldn't have expected that from a sci-fi at all.
Yeah.
yeah
Let's start with Project Hail Mary because we've all read that and we've all given it five stars.
Yeah.
So this was a pretty early read for all of us.
We were already in February, either before or near when the movie came out.
So that was, I think, a fun experience, first of all, to read the book, then watch the movie.
As a book, it was an unexpected five star, right? I went into it with no expectations other than knowing a lot of people loved it and that the movie was coming out.
But it was all of our first sci-fi, right?
Yes, it was mine.
I think so.
Yeah.
yeah so it was interesting because for me a lot of the content went right over my head like the science right over my head but the emotional impact and the characters were huge standouts for this book and I think that's what made it a five star for me
and just personal enjoyment was just through the roof yeah it was so good I've heard some people not give it five stars partially because they were like the science was just too much and it just makes me laugh because I'm like it's a science fiction
Do you get
it? There should be science in it.
Even if you don't understand it, like it definitely went way over my head, but it didn't like knock down any enjoyment for me because I was just like, this is literally the bones of the book.
So there can't not be science in it.
I've also heard that people don't like it because there's a lot of plot points specifically toward the end where it feels like things they got out of problems too easily but that didn't bother me
I'm glad I listened to the audio book for that science reason because I think if I was reading it physically it would have been much harder to get through the really sciencey bits whereas when I was listening I could kind of have like one ear tuned in but let a lot of it just kind of go over my head and not care as much as if i was physically reading
yeah i just found it to be a funny complaint because i'm like i don't know what were you
expecting yeah i was
like it's literally a science book so like yeah it makes
sense yeah but I was really surprised at how funny it was and how emotionally attached I became to the characters and just like the depth of the characters.
I just wouldn't have expected that from a sci-fi at all.
Yeah.
yeah
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