Book Talk

"One night in 2014, two readers named Logan Smalley and Stephanie Kent discussed their favorite literary opening lines. “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,” one suggested. “All of this happened, more or less,” the other pointed out. And then, one phrase came immediately to mind: “Call Me Ishmael.” Publisher: Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster Book Cover and Author headshot images provided by the author’s representative. 00:00 - Show Opening 01:07 - Play On - Photo Ops 01:09 - Episode Intro 04:52 - Play On (Cont’d) - Photo Ops 05:28 - Interview with Logan Smalley & Stephanie Kent, Part 1 30:02 - Pictures of You and Me - Photo Ops 32:28 - Interview with Logan Smalley & Stephanie Kent, Part 2 51:13 - Heavenly Light - Photo Ops 51:23 - Episode Outro 51:56 - Heavenly Light (Cont’d) - Photo Ops 54:38 - Bonus Excerpt 58:03 - Outro 58:34 - Finish "

"The ‘New York Times’ bestselling author of 'The Geography of Bliss’ embarks on a rollicking intellectual journey, following in the footsteps of history’s greatest thinkers and showing us how each—from Epicurus to Gandhi, Thoreau to Beauvoir—offers practical and spiritual lessons for today’s unsettled times. Book Cover and Author headshot images provided by the author’s representative. Publisher: Avid Reader Press 00:00 - Show Opening 01:07 - Surrender - Will Butler 02:28 - Episode Intro 03:57 - Surrender (Cont’d) - Will Butler 04:50 - Interview with Eric Weiner, Part 1 23:02 - I Don’t Know What I Don’t Know - Will Butler 24:09 - Interview with Eric Weiner, Part 2 43:42 - Not Gonna Die - Will Butler 44:57 - Episode Outro 46:33 - Not Gonna Die (Cont’d) - Will Butler 47:09 - Outro 47:40 - Finish "

"Told through alternating perspectives, ‘The Wrong Kind of Woman’ is an engrossing story about finding the strength to forge new paths, beautifully woven against the rapid changes of the early 1970s. Publisher: MIRA Books Book Cover and Author headshot images provided by the author’s representative. 00:00 - Show Opening 01:07 - Neither Of Us - Evangeline Gentle 01:09 - Episode Intro 04:16 - Neither Of Us (Cont’d) - Evangeline Gentle 05:02 - Interview with Sarah McCraw Crow, Part 1 19:46 - So It Goes - Evangeline Gentle 22:50 - Interview with Sarah McCraw Crow, Part 2 45:46 - The Strongest People Have Tender Hearts - Evangeline Gentle 45:57 - Episode Outro 47:21 - The Strongest People Have Tender Hearts (Cont’d) - Evangeline Gentle 50:33 - Outro 51:04 - Finish "

"Experience the exciting breadth of #1 New York Times bestselling author James Rollins’s wild imagination and adventurous spirit in this anthology of his short masterworks, including a new full-length novella featuring Captain Tucker Wayne and his military war dog, Kane, as well as nine previously published short stories, gathered together for the first time. Publisher: William Morrow Press (Harper Collins) Book Cover and Author headshot images provided by the author’s representative. 00:00 - Show Opening 01:07 - Lonely Listener - Rae Fitzgerald 01:11 - Episode Intro 02:37 - Lonely Listener (Cont’d) - Rae Fitzgerald 04:10 - Interview with James Rollins, Part 1 20:49 - Sunset Moonrise - Rae Fitzgerald 22:18 - Interview with James Rollins, Part 2 39:50 - Everlast - Rae Fitzgerald 39:57 - Episode Outro 41:33 - Everlast (Cont’d) - Rae Fitzgerald 42:52 - Outro 43:23 - Finish "

"A collection of non-fiction accounts by international writers and experts on small town true crime shows readers that the real monsters aren’t hiding in the woods, they’re inside our towns. Publisher: Mango Book Cover and Author headshot images provided by the author’s representative. 00:00 - Show Opening 01:08 - Let’s Move to the Country - Bill Callahan 01:09 - Episode Intro 04:31 - Let’s Move to the Country (Cont’d) - Bill Callahan 05:32 - Interview with Mitzi Szereto, Part 1 24:22 - Breakfast - Bill Callahan 26:49 - Interview with Mitzi Szereto, Part 2 43:56 - 35 - Bill Callahan 44:03 - Episode Outro 46:27 - 35 (Cont’d) - Bill Callahan 47:41 - Outro 48:13 - Finish "

"Told through the intimate lens of a mother and daughter who have struggled all their lives to understand each other, ‘The Last Story of Mina Lee’ is a powerful and exquisitely exquisitely woven debut novel that explores identity, family, secrets, and what it truly means to belong. Publisher: Harper Collins Book Cover and Author headshot images provided by the author’s representative. 00:00 - Show Opening 01:07 - (un)knowing - Young Jesus 01:16 - Episode Intro 02:55 - (un)knowing (Cont’d) - Young Jesus 03:19 - Interview with Nancy Jooyoun Kim, Part 1 18:14 - Magicians - Young Jesus 21:07 - Interview with Nancy Jooyoun Kim, Part 2 37:33 - Pattern Doubt - Young Jesus 37:43 - Episode Outro 39:12 - Pattern Doubt (Cont’d) - Young Jesus 41:00 - Outro 41:31 - Finish "

"Vienna, 1800. Countess Julie Guicciardi is about to take piano lessons with Ludwig van Beethoven, the most talented piano virtuoso in the musical capital of Europe. The spirited 18-year old is captivated by his volatile genius, while he is drawn to her curiosity and disarming candor. Between them, a unique romance blossoms. But Beethoven has a secret he’s yet to share, and Julie is harboring a secret of her own, one that could destroy their perfect love story. Publisher: Little A (Amazon Publishing) Book art and author headshot provided by the author’s representative. 00:00 - Show Opening 01:07 - Episode Intro 04:13 - Sawbones - Anna Meredith 05:02 - Interview with Patricia Morrisroe, Part 1 26:28 - moonmoons - Anna Meredith 28:44 - Interview with Patricia Morrisroe, Part 2 47:03 - Calion - Anna Meredith 47:09 - Episode Outro 48:57 - Calion (Cont’d) - Anna Meredith 50:03 - Outro 50:36 - Finish "

"In this collection of new and previously published nonfiction essays, Lippman offers her take on a woman's life across the decades. Her childhood and school years, her newspaper career, her experiences as a novelist Lippman finds universal touchstones in an unusual life that has as many twists as her award-winning crime fiction. Publisher: Harper Collins Book art and author headshot provided by the author’s representative. 00:00 - Show Opening 01:08 - Pleasure Line - Video Age 01:11 - Episode Intro 02:37 - Pleasure Line (Cont’d) - Video Age 04:42 - Interview with Laura Lippmann, Part 1 29:10 - Shadow On The Wall - Video Age 30:17 - Interview with Laura Lippmann, Part 2 42:58 - Maybe Just Once - Video Age 43:07 - Episode Outro 44:49 - Maybe Just Once (Cont’d) - Video Age 46:32 - Outro 47:04 - Finish "

"Graduating from Harvard at the height of World War II, brilliant mathematician Charlie Fish is assigned to the Manhattan Project. Working with some of the age’s greatest scientific minds, including J. Robert Oppenheimer, Enrico Fermi, and Leo Szilard, Charlie is assigned the task of designing and building the detonator of the atomic bomb. As he performs that work Charlie suffers a crisis of conscience, which his wife, Brenda—unaware of the true nature of Charlie’s top-secret task—mistakes as self-doubt. She urges him to set aside his qualms and continue. Once the bombs strike Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the feelings of culpability devastate him and Brenda. Publisher: William Morrow / Harper Collins Book art and author headshot provided by the author’s representative. 00:00 - Show Opening 01:07 - Rot - Allegra Krieger 01:12 - Episode Intro 02:31 - Rot (Cont’d) - Allegra Krieger 03:11 - Interview with Stephen Kiernan, Part 1 17:43 - Welcome - Allegra Krieger 19:19 - Interview with Stephen Kiernan, Part 2 34:

"Flyover country, the middle of nowhere, the space between the coasts. The American Midwest is a place beyond definition, whose very boundaries are a question. It’s a place of rolling prairies and towering pines, where guns in bars and trucks on blocks are as much a part of the landscape as rivers and lakes and farms. Where girls are girls and boys are boys, where women are mothers and wives, where one is taught to work hard and live between the lines. But what happens when those lines become increasingly unclear? When a girl, like the land that raised her, finds herself neither here nor there? Publisher: Little A/TOPPLE Books Book art and author headshot provided by the author’s representative. 00:00 - Show Opening 01:07 - Two Birds - Self Help 01:16 - Episode Intro 03:09 - Two Birds (Cont’d) - Self Help 04:19 - Interview with Melissa Faliveno, Part 1 19:38 - Golden Ages - Self Help 22:24 - Interview with Melissa Faliveno, Part 2 36:41 - Sunburned States - Self Help 36:48 - Episode Outro 38:15 - Sunbur