MashReads Podcast: How a professional book nerd approaches reading

Everybody loves reading (we hope). But what happens when reading books becomes your job?

This week on the MashReads Podcast we are joined by Cheryl Klein, the executive editor at Arthur A. Levine Books/Scholastic and author of The Magic Words: Writing Great Books for Children and Young Adults. Basically -- as a reader, editor and author -- Cheryl is an expert in all things books.

Join us as we talk about how to approach reading like a pro, how we discover new books, tips for new writers and our other reading habits.

And as always, we close the show with recommendations:

• Aliza has been reading and enjoying Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead.

• Peter recommends A perfect storm: Margaret Atwood on rewriting Shakespeare's Tempest, an article by Margaret Atwood about why she loves Shakespeare's play The Tempest and why she chose to rewrite it for the 400th anniversary for Shakespeare's death.

• MJ recommends two stories, Colin Kaepernick and the Question of Who Gets to Be Called a "Patriot," a look at what it means to be and who we consider to be patriotic in America, in light of the Colin Kapernick protests and Leslie Jones being sent to the Olympics because of her love of team USA. He also recommends "In Defense of Villainesses," published on Tor, which is a feminist critique of the way we demonize female villains for their ambition.

• Cheryl recommends "Who Gets to Write What?" by Kaitlyn Greenidge, an article about identity, cultural appropriation and who can write what. The piece comes as a response to Lionel Shriver's much derided speech about hoping that, "the concept of cultural appropriation is a passing fad."

Also, if you are looking for something new to read, check out our official MashableReads September book club selection: The Girls, by Emma Cline. Cline will be chatting with MashReads IRL on Sept. 29, at 6:30 p.m. ET, at MashableHQ in New York City. RSVP here if you'd like to attend our bookclub discussion. 

And if you're looking for more book news, don't forget to follow MashReads on Facebook and Twitter.