Ep. 79 When Reading Doesn't Feel Like Work with Jenna Ushkowitz

You might know her from Glee or Showmance Podcast , but today you're going to see actress and producer, Jenna Ushkowitz in a whole new way. She sits down with us to talk about her reading habits and why, as a type A person, she struggles with reading sometimes feeling like "work". We also discuss sourcing material for TV and film, book buying bans, and her love of canine protagonists.

LISTEN NOW

Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Overcast | Stitcher

---

Everything we talk about on today's episode can be found below in the show notes and on Bookshop.org and Amazon.

• The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin

• Educated by Tara Westover

• The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

• Ladies Who Punch by Ramin Setoodeh

• A Million Little Pieces by James Frey

• My Friend Leonard by James Frey

• John Green

• Turtles All the Way Down by John Green

• The Fault in our Stars by John Green

• Looking for Alaska by John Green

• Paper Towns by John Green

• When Breathe Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi

• Being Mortal by Atul Gawande

• The Unwinding of the Miracle by Julie Yip-Williams

• Something in the Water by Catherine Steadman

• Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson

• Over the Top by Jonathan Van Ness

• This is How it Always Is by Laurie Frankel

• Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

• Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

• The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo

• The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

• The Surender Experiment by Michael A. Singer

• The Untethered Soul by Michael A. Singer

• Year of Yes by Shonda Rhimes

• Brené Brown

• Yes Please by Amy P

• The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein

• Quiet by Susan Cain

• Moby Dick by Herman Melville

• Bunny Tales by Izabella St. James

• To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

• The Giver by Lois Lowry

• Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

• To All the Boys I Loved Before by Jenny Han

• Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

• Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng

• Choosing Glee by Jenna Ushkowitz

• I Believe in a Thing Called Love by Maurene Goo

• What Happened by Hilary Rodham Clinton

• Showmance with Kevin McHale and Jenna Ushkowitz (PodcastOne)

• Marymount Manhattan College

• The King and I (Christopher Renshaw, 1996)

• Piedmont Light Opera Theatre

• Glee (Fox)

• Spring Awakening (Michael Mayer, 2006)

• Twinsters ( Samantha Futerman & Ryan Miyamoto, 2015)

• Once on This Island (Michael Arden, 2017)

• A Strange Loop (Michael Jackson, 2019)

• Playwrights Horizons

• Reese Witherspoon

• Reese's Book Club

• "How Many Books Did The Average American Read In The Last Year? This New Study May Surprise You" (Kerri Jarema, Bustle)

• Kevin McHale

• Becca Tobin

• Ira Madison III

• "#KeepIt with Ira Madison III" (Showmance Podcast)

• Keep It (Crooked Media)

• Ira on Twitter

• Kara Brown

• "'Straight Talk': Jada Pinkett Smith To Star In Pilot From Kara Brown And Rashida Jones At NBCUniversal's Peacock" (Shadow and Act)

• "The Short Stacks 19: Ramin Setoodeh//Ladies Who Punch" (The Stacks)

• "#18: Oprah Confronts James Frey | TV Guide's Top 25 | Oprah Winfrey Network" (OWN, Youtube.com)

• "Author John Green: The 60 Minutes interview" (60 Minutes, CBS)

• "Ep. 64 The Unwinding of the Miracle by Julie Yip-Williams -- The Stacks Book Club (Lori Gottlieb)" (The Stacks)

• My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark (Exactly Right)

• Crime Junkie (audiochuck | Ashley Flowers)

• Monster: The Zodiac Killer (iHeartRadio & Tenderfoot TV)

• Cold (KSL Podcasts | Wondery)

• To Live and Die in LA (Tenderfoot TV & Cadence 13)

• "Jonathan Van Ness of ‘Queer Eye’ Comes Out" (Alex Hawgood, The New York Times)

• Oprah's Book Club

• Goodreads

• Kindle

• Tidying Up with Marie Kondo (Netflix)

• Brené Brown Ted Talk

• Book Culture (New York, NY)

• Milo Ventimiglia

• Amanda Seyfried

To support The Stacks and find out more from this week’s sponsors, click here.

Connect with Jenna: Instagram | Twitter | Showmance Podcast | Showmance Instagram
Connect with The Stacks: Instagram | Twitter | Shop | Patreon | Goodreads | Substack | Subscribe

To contribute to The Stacks, join The Stacks Pack, and get exclusive perks, check out our Patreon page. If you prefer to support the show with a one time contribution go to paypal.me/thestackspod.

The Stacks participates in affiliate programs. We receive a small commission when products are purchased through links on this website.

---