Slow Read: OUTLANDER

The vote for our next Slow Read is still open, and I have not been this surprised by a result all year. Laura and I went live yesterday to talk through where things stand. Right now My Brilliant Friend is out in front, with A Prayer for Owen Meany in second. Dune is beating Gone with the Wind, which neither of us saw coming.

Nothing is decided. You have until Sunday morning to vote, so if your pick is behind, go rally your people.

In the live, we get into why we handed this one...

We’re nearing the end of our Outlander Slow Read, but we also needed a minute to talk about everything else on our nightstands. Fall is Laura’s favorite reading season, partly because the big, weighty books land this time of year and the awards lists start rolling in.

We started with what we’ve been reading. (Sarah is head over heels for Kingsolver’s Partita, which feels like a writer with nothing left to prove showing you exactly how good she is anyway. Laura is 12% in and not hooked, so I’m working on her.)

We talke...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit slowread.substack.com

The OUTLANDER adventure begins!

In this first episode of our Slow Read of Diana Gabaldon’s OUTLANDER, Sarah & Laura discuss their first impressions of the novel, make guesses about where it’s going to go from here, and, of course, dissect the book chapter by chapter.

FIND THE FULL READING SCHEDULE HERE

Reminder that you can watch the video version of our conversation on Substack HERE

We’d love for you to join us in...

We hopped on live in the middle of a Tuesday to officially kick off Season Two and hundreds of you showed ready to talk summer reading and get excited about Outlander.

Laura and I had two very different reading summers. We talked about that and which books we both really loved or really didn’t. We talked about the books of the summer (looking at you Yesteryear!). We talked about the fall lineup of new releases which is insane.

Also, we talked about what you need to know to tackle Outlander with us. Outlander is br...

We finished The Stand. Six months in Boulder, and we made it out alive — well, most of us did.

And now we get to tell you what we’ve been dying to announce: our next Slow Read is Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander.

Here’s the part you need to hear first, because it changes things. Unlike The Stand, which we gave away free to everyone, the entire Outlander read this fall lives behind the paywall. Every main episode breaking down the chapters, every book club meeting, every unhinged side quest — members only. If you want to take th...

Welcome to SLOW READ, where we tackle the books you’ve always wanted to read at a pace you can handle.

Hosted by Sarah Stewart Holland and Laura Tremaine

We are currently reading The Stand by Stephen King (unabridged version)

You can find our full Reading Schedule here

Join the SLOW READ community on Substack for bonus episodes, book club meetings, and Side Quests with Sarah & Laura

We have come to the end of our journey with The Stand by Stephen King.

In this episode, we dissect wh...

Welcome to SLOW READ, where we tackle the books you’ve always wanted to read at a pace you can handle.

Hosted by Sarah Stewart Holland and Laura Tremaine

We are currently reading The Stand by Stephen King (unabridged version)

You can find our full Reading Schedule here

Join the SLOW READ community on Substack for bonus episodes, book club meetings, and Side Quests with Sarah & Laura

REMINDER:

Our final book club meeting discussing The Stand will be THURSDAY, JUNE 11 at 6pm PT / 8pm CT / 9pm ET an...

Welcome to SLOW READ, where we tackle the books you’ve always wanted to read at a pace you can handle.

Hosted by Sarah Stewart Holland and Laura Tremaine

We are currently reading The Stand by Stephen King (unabridged version)

You can find our full Reading Schedule here

Join the SLOW READ community on Substack for bonus episodes, book club meetings, and Side Quests with Sarah & Laura

Mentioned in this episode:

* Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging by Sebastian Junger

* 1984 by George Orwell

* Paradise Lo...

The 6th annual Stephen King Summer Book Club kicks off next week and I want you to be a part of it!

Stephen King Summer is part of Laura’s Secret Stuff Substack and when you sign up for it, you’ll get the Stephen King Summer Book Club + all her other Secret Stuff content AND the full Stephen King Summer archives.

JOIN STEPHEN KING SUMMER

For Stephen King Summer 2026, we’re reading:

HOLLY

The Life of Chuck

CUJO

and we’ll do watch alongs each mon...

Welcome to SLOW READ, where we tackle the books you’ve always wanted to read at a pace you can handle.

Hosted by Sarah Stewart Holland and Laura Tremaine

We are currently reading The Stand by Stephen King (unabridged version)

You can find our full Reading Schedule here

Join the SLOW READ community on Substack for bonus episodes, book club meetings, and Side Quests with Sarah & Laura

Mentioned in this episode:

* Michael Pollan on the Ezra Klein Show

* Rosemary’s Baby (1968 film)

* The Sopr...

Welcome to SLOW READ, where we tackle the books you’ve always wanted to read at a pace you can handle.

Hosted by Sarah Stewart Holland and Laura Tremaine

We are currently reading The Stand by Stephen King (unabridged version)

You can find our full Reading Schedule here

Join the SLOW READ community on Substack for bonus episodes, book club meetings, and Side Quests with Sarah & Laura

If you prefer to read instead of listen, below is a cleaned up transcript of the episode as well as links to al...

Welcome to SLOW READ, where we tackle the books you’ve always wanted to read at a pace you can handle.

Hosted by Sarah Stewart Holland and Laura Tremaine

We are currently reading The Stand by Stephen King (unabridged version)

You can find our full Reading Schedule here

Join the SLOW READ community on Substack for bonus episodes, book club meetings, and Side Quests with Sarah & Laura

______

Mentioned in this episode:

* Giants in the Earth by Ole Edvart Rølvaag

* The Handmaid’s Tale...

Welcome to SLOW READ, where we tackle the books you’ve always wanted to read at a pace you can handle.

Hosted by Sarah Stewart Holland and Laura Tremaine

We are currently reading The Stand by Stephen King (unabridged version)

You can find our full Reading Schedule here

Join the SLOW READ community on Substack for bonus episodes, book club meetings, and Side Quests with Sarah & Laura

If you prefer to read instead of listen, below is a cleaned up transcript of the episode as well as links to al...

Welcome to SLOW READ, where we tackle the books you’ve always wanted to read at a pace you can handle.

Hosted by Sarah Stewart Holland and Laura Tremaine

We are currently reading The Stand by Stephen King (unabridged version)

You can find our full Reading Schedule here

Join the SLOW READ community on Substack for bonus episodes, book club meetings, and Side Quests with Sarah & Laura

_____

Mentioned in this episode:

Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams

 Set This House on Fire by William Styr...

Welcome to SLOW READ, where we tackle the books you’ve always wanted to read at a pace you can handle.

Hosted by Sarah Stewart Holland and Laura Tremaine

We are currently reading The Stand by Stephen King (unabridged version)

You can find our full Reading Schedule here

Join our SLOW READ community on Substack for bonus episodes, book club meetings, and Side Quests with Sarah & Laura

_____

Welcome to SLOW READ, where we tackle the books you’ve always wanted to read at a pace you can handle.

Hosted by Sarah Stewart Holland and Laura Tremaine

We are currently reading The Stand by Stephen King (unabridged version)

You can find our full Reading Schedule here

Join the SLOW READ community on Substack for bonus episodes, book club meetings, and Side Quests with Sarah & Laura

___

If you prefer to read instead of listen, below is a cleaned up transcript of the episodes as well as li...

Welcome to SLOW READ, where we tackle the books you’ve always wanted to read at a pace you can handle.

Hosted by Sarah Stewart Holland and Laura Tremaine

We are currently reading The Stand by Stephen King (unabridged version)

You can find our full Reading Schedule here

Join the SLOW READ community on Substack for bonus episodes, book club meetings, and Side Quests with Sarah & Laura

If you prefer to read instead of listen, below is a cleaned up transcript of the episodes as well as links to al...

Welcome to SLOW READ, where we tackle the books you’ve always wanted to read at a pace you can handle.

Hosted by Sarah Stewart Holland and Laura Tremaine

We are currently reading The Stand by Stephen King (unabridged version)

You can find our full Reading Schedule here

Join the SLOW READ community on Substack for bonus episodes, book club meetings, and Side Quests with Sarah & Laura

___

If you prefer to read instead of listen, below is a cleaned up transcript of the episodes as well as li...

One of the best parts of slow reading a book together is talking about it! Each month our SLOW READ community is gathering on zoom for a book club meeting to discuss The Stand.

This episode is a preview of our first SLOW READ Book Club meeting from a few weeks ago where we’re discussing The Stand Chapters 1 - 15.

No spoilers here! Each discussion will only be covering the chapters we’ve read so far in the book. Sarah and Laura lead the discussion with your fellow Slow Readers and it’s so fun to hea...

Welcome to SLOW READ, where we tackle the books you’ve always wanted to read at a pace you can handle.

Hosted by Sarah Stewart Holland and Laura Tremaine

We are currently reading The Stand by Stephen King (unabridged version)

You can find our full Reading Schedule here

Join the SLOW READ community on Substack for bonus episodes, book club meetings, and Side Quests with Sarah & Laura

____

If you prefer to read instead of listen, below is a cleaned up transcript of the episodes as well as li...

Movies & Shows Mentioned in This Episode

* The Net (1995) - Sandra Bullock vs. the Internet.

* Tin Cup (1996) - Rene Russo and Kevin Costner rom-com.

* Jerry Maguire (1996) - Cuba Gooding Jr.’s breakout role.

* Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992) - The movie with Donald Sutherland as the Watcher.

* American Beauty (1999) - Kevin Spacey.

* The Usual Suspects (1995) - Kevin Spacey.

* House of Cards (2013–2018) - Kevin Spacey (TV Series).

* Ocean’s Eleven (2001) - George Clooney.

* Up in the Air (2009) - George Clooney firing people.

* The Ne...

Welcome to SLOW READ, where we tackle the books you’ve always wanted to read at a pace you can handle.

Hosted by Sarah Stewart Holland and Laura Tremaine

We are currently reading The Stand by Stephen King (unabridged version)

You can find our full Reading Schedule here

Join the SLOW READ community on Substack for bonus episodes, book club meetings, and Side Quests with Sarah & Laura

____

Mentioned in this episode:

The Wire

The Sopranos

American Revolution by Ken Burns

...

In this solo episode, Laura puts on her SuperFan hat to share the broad strokes of Stephen King’s life and career, including the stories and trajectories that affect how we read The Stand.

Far from a complete biography, this is an overview with some ideas, thoughts, and themes between the artist and the art. We’ll talk about his success at crossing genres, his addiction years, those wild conspiracy stories, and much more.

JOIN US ON SUBSTACK

Cold Open Reminders:

Our first SLOW READ Book Club meeting is Thur...

Welcome to SLOW READ, where we tackle the books you’ve always wanted to read at a pace you can handle.

Hosted by Sarah Stewart Holland and Laura Tremaine

We are currently reading The Stand by Stephen King (unabridged version)

You can find our full Reading Schedule here

Join the SLOW READ community on Substack for bonus episodes, book club meetings, and Side Quests with Sarah & Laura

If you prefer to read instead of listen, below is a cleaned up transcript of the episodes as well as links to al...

Welcome to SLOW READ, where we tackle the books you’ve always wanted to read at a pace you can handle.

Hosted by Sarah Stewart Holland and Laura Tremaine

We are currently reading The Stand by Stephen King (unabridged version)

You can find our full Reading Schedule here

Join the SLOW READ community on Substack for bonus episodes, book club meetings, and Side Quests with Sarah & Laura

This is the second episode of Slow Read The Stand. The Circle is open!

If you prefer to read instead of...

SLOW READ: The Stand reading schedule

Welcome to Welcome to Slow Read The Stand. We are your hosts Sarah Stewart Holland and Laura Tremaine

This is the inaugural episode of Slow Read The Stand. For this first episode, we just wanted y’all to read the Author’s Note and the Preface in Two Parts. But also, today we wanted to share a little bit about this whole project: why we’re doing a slow read, why we’re doing The Stand, all of it.

If you prefer to read instead of listen, below is...

Sarah sat down with Simon Haisell of Footnotes and Tangents to talk about how a slow read can add richness to your reading life, why every slow read doesn’t have to be long, and the unexpected downside of reading the world’s greatest authors!

Slow Read: The Stand is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

We are so excited to tell you about our new project SLOW READ. This is a podcast and Substack community dedicated to reading the books you want at a pace you can handle.

And we’re starting with a modern classic: The Stand by Stephen King

Every other week we’ll have a conversation dissecting this 1,200 page tale, chapter by chapter. The goal is to dive into epic novels with a community of readers who want to go deeper.

We’ll kick off reading The Stand together on January 1, 2026 and we’ll close the circ...