Sarah Langan Crafts a Dystopian Mystery Thriller
The Book Case
Want a great summer read? We have it. A Better Place by Sarah Langan is a page turning mystery/thriller….like if The Stepford Wives met Shirley Jackson in The Lottery. The story is original, the characters are well written, and the mysteries presented will baffle you as they unfold. It’s a terrific ride. We also talk also talk to John Mendelson, president of Nosy Crow Books, an independent publishing house for kids, who took the entire bike trail laid out by our Massachusetts guests from last week
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Scott Preston Writes a UK Western
The Book Case
This week, a dark and funny tale of sheep farming in Rural England that reads like an American Western by Cormac McCarthy. Sound a little strange? Well, it is. But it is also compelling, suspenseful, complex and packed with great characters. Scott Preston is a debut novelist, and this book, The Borrowed Hills, may defy a two sentence description but it’s worth the read. For our bookstore this week we talk to Whitelam books in Reading, Massachusetts, who tell us about what they did to bring in folks o
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Two Editors Who Changed Publishing
The Book Case
Today we have a book that helped us to lift the curtain on the inner workings of the book business. The Editor by Sara B. Franklin tells us the story of Judith Jones, the game changing editor who changed the publishing business at a time where women weren't in the publishing business. Judith helped shape literature and change publishing, and so we pair her with one of our current favorite editors who has just announced her retirement, Beverly Horowitz. Beverly has been in the business for 50 years and has
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Book Store Owners Present Their Top Summer Reads
The Book Case
We love the summer because it means trips the bookstore! We have some of our favorite bookstores recommending their favorite summer titles. If you are in need of a laugh, a thrill or just a great story to read on the beach, this is an episode of The Book Case you don't want to miss.
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George Stephanopoulos Takes Us To The Situation Room
The Book Case
This episode is a double whammy of extreme talent. First, we have George Stephanopoulos, giving us history through the perspective of one of the most mysterious and powerful rooms in the White House: The Situation Room. It's the title of his new book...and it's an illuminating read. Second, the great J. Ryan Stradal and our second installment of the Writer in Residence series. He says he is doing a lot of writing these days...and he knows most of it won't make it in the book. You don't want to miss thi
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Heidi Reimer Examines Motherhood, Sacrifice, and Redemption
The Book Case
It's always a pleasure for us to talk to a debut author and we have a good one this week in Heidi Reimer. Her novel, The Mother Act, is the story of mothers and daughters and the heap of complexities that come in those relationships. How do we know we are going to be a good mom? Once we have a child are we ALWAYS a mother first? This book asks these questions and challenges the reader to question the concepts of motherhood, empathy and family.
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Erik Larson Illuminates History
The Book Case
If you haven’t heard of Erik Larson, you don’t read enough non-fiction. A giant in the industry and an immense talent, Erik is turning his attention to the beginnings of the Civil War in his latest, The Demon of Unrest. It’s the nail biting account of how we ended up turning guns against one another, North to South, with a specific focus on the stand off at Fort Sumter. Told through the eyes of rich characters through their unique perspectives, Larson brings new learning to an oft discussed topic…ho
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Carlos Lozada Makes the Case for Political Memoirs
The Book Case
We try not to do books about politics — political discourse in this country is, currently, divisive in the extreme. However, Carlos Lozada, in his new book, The Washington Book: How to Read Politics and Politicians, gives us a survey of Washington literature that will surprise, delight and inform you. From Tocqueville to Trump, from The Muller Report to DeSantis’ plea for the presidency, Carlos has read it all, and written about almost everything he has read. This book is a compendium of his best colum
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Kao Kalia Yang Captures Her Mother's Story
The Book Case
Kao Kalia Yang is a Hmong writer who has written her family and country’s history through deeply personal prisms. She told the story of her family’s beginnings via her grandmother’s story in The Latehomecomer, shared the life of her father in The Song Poet and now writes her mother’s journey in Where Rivers Part. Told in the first person, Where Rivers Part is the beautiful and compelling story of Tswb, who fled Laos to Thailand, eventually fighting her way to Minnesota to give a better future
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Tommy Orange Traces Indigenous Trauma and Triumph
The Book Case
Tommy Orange has written a second novel. Although technically a sequel, you can easily read Wandering Stars without having experienced There There. But you should read at least one. Or both. Oh to heck with it, we love Tommy Orange and we will read anything he writes. He is incredibly talented. And we pair him with Birchbark Books & Native Arts, a bookstore that is a beloved Twin Cities landmark, while also serving the national and international Indigenous community. Tune in to find out how.
info_outlineViktoria Lloyd-Barlow's All the Little Bird-Hearts is a novel that will stay with you long after you close the book. It takes place in the 1980’s, and the narrator and heroine is the autistic mother of a teenage daughter. She worries she is on the verge of losing the only person she has ever really loved, and of being seduced by the magnetic social butterflies that are her new neighbors. Viktoria Barlow has autism as well, and her novel is a beautiful exploration of motherhood, friendship and one character’s experience of autism. Long listed for the Booker Prize, Viktoria’s words are lyrical and haunting. This is a great episode on which to end the year. Happy 2024!!!
Books mentioned in this week’s episode:
- All the Little Bird-Hearts by Viktoria Lloyd-Barlow
- Strong Female Character by Fern Brady
- Geek Girl by Holly Smale
- Cassandra in Reverse by Holly Smale
- The Secret History by Donna Tartt
- Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
- The Lottery and Other Stories by Shirley Jackson
- The Haunting at Hill House by Shirley Jackson
- The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst
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