Welcome back to our July series brought to you by the What Should I Read Next? time machine.

This month, we’re going back in our archives to share episodes with four of our team members. At the time of recording, none of us knew that these readers would be on our team eventually!  Listening through that lens makes it especially fun to re-listen, knowing how much has changed since we first spoke.

Today I’m sharing my conversation with Donna Hetchler in an episode that has become a listener favorite. Donna’s account of her then-developing plans for an epic 50th birthday bookstore road trip has inspired many of you to plan your own book projects for big milestones. Today, you’ll hear Donna share about that trip, why she feels the planning is half the fun, the specific destinations she couldn’t wait to visit, and the books she wanted to buy along the way.  

And if you’re curious what Donna and our other team members are reading lately, be sure to check out our corresponding Patreon series, where I’m hosting follow-ups to hear from each team member about how they feel about re-listening to their episode, and what their reading life is like now. Find that and so much more happening over at Patreon.com/whatshouldireadnext.

This episode was originally aired as episode 83 on June 13, 2017.

Connect with Donna on Instagram.