155 Canada-Palooza with Mark Lefebvre
Best Book Ever
My dear friend Mark Lefebvre is back this week to teach me all about Canadian Literature, eh? Host: Julie Strauss / Guest: Mark Lefebvre / Editor: Emily Zumchak / Join the Best Book Ever Newsletter HERE! Subscribe for FREE to receive weekly emails with complete show notes, photos of our guests, and updates on what Julie is reading on her own time. Support the podcast for just $5/month and you’ll receive the weekly newsletter AND a monthly themed curated book list. Become a Founder for $100 and you’ll receive the weekly newsletter, the...
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154 Mark Lefebvre on "The Best Laid Plans" by Terry Fallis
Best Book Ever
This week's guest is one of my favorite readers, writers and humans on the planet: Mark Lefebvre. Mark has been pushing Terry Fallis' books on me practically since we met, and I'm so glad I finally took his advice. We had a great time discussing political satire, reading slumps, and the differences between American and Canadian humor sensibilities. Host: Julie Strauss / Guest: Mark Lefebvre / Editor: Emily Zumchak / Subscribe for FREE to receive weekly emails with complete show notes, photos of our guests, and updates on what Julie is reading on her own time....
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153 Kate Reynolds on "A Day With No Words" by Tiffany Hammond
Best Book Ever
This week I'm so delighted for you to meet Kate Reynolds, also known as The Lavender Librarian. Kate is a passionate advocate of inclusive storytimes for children, and she has some innovative ideas for how to share reading time with kids. I was initially hesitant when Kate suggested we read a children's book for this episode - afraid that we wouldn't have enough to talk about to fill the half hour. But I was so, so wrong. Talking to librarians is always a wonderful experience, but talking to this particular one about this particular book was extra-specially magic. Host: Julie...
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152 Lisa Dayton Petersen on Judy Blume
Best Book Ever
Today I am joined by Lisa Petersen, my dear friend since college. We agreed to spend the summer revisiting our favorite childhood classics by Judy Blume, and now we’re back to discuss our feelings about the books as children vs. as adults. Along the way, we talked about banned books and parenting, and how our love for Judy Blume has carried us through the years. Host: Julie Strauss / Guest: Lisa Petersen Join the Best Book Ever Newsletter HERE! Subscribe for FREE to receive weekly emails with complete show notes, photos of our guests, and updates on what Julie is...
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151 Yolanda Skeete and Vanessa Vicente on "The School for Good Mothers" by Jessamine Chan
Best Book Ever
Yolanda Skeete, an avid reader and co-host of , is back on the show with our book club pal Vanessa Vicente. Yolanda and Vanessa are both bookstagrammers living in Southern California who love to review thrillers, nonfiction, romance, and other genres. As mothers ourselves, we have a lot to say about the 2022 Science Fiction novel . In this episode, we talk about our experiences, hardships, and joys as mothers, and the discussion ranges from KidLit to Black Mirror to Michelle Obama to questions like “Why aren’t moms allowed to be sexy??” Host: Julie Strauss / Guest:...
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150 The ACOTAR Panel
Best Book Ever
If you have not yet experienced the joy of the "Court of Thorns and Roses" fandom, we are going to fix that today. Host: Julie Strauss / Guest Panel: Victoria Snow Fareya // Nicole Burton / Subscribe for FREE to receive weekly emails with complete show notes, photos of our guests, and updates on what Julie is reading on her own time. Support the podcast for just $5/month and you’ll receive the weekly newsletter AND a monthly themed curated book list. Become a Founder for $100 and you’ll receive the weekly newsletter,...
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149 Marion Hill on "The Book of Strange New Things" by Michel Faber
Best Book Ever
Today I've got my first "three-peat" guest, Marion Hill. Just like in our two previous conversations, Marion introduced me to a book that I wouldn't have picked up on my own, that I sort of dreaded reading, and that I wound up loving and thinking about nonstop after I finished! Host: Julie Strauss / Guest: Marion Hill / Subscribe for FREE to receive weekly emails with complete show notes, photos of our guests, and updates on what Julie is reading on her own time. Support the podcast for just $5/month and you’ll receive the weekly newsletter AND a monthly...
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148 Ambika Devi on "Jitterbug Perfume" by Tom Robbins
Best Book Ever
Host: Julie Strauss / Guest: Ambika Devi ///// Subscribe for FREE to receive weekly emails with complete show notes, photos of our guests, and updates on what Julie is reading on her own time. Support the podcast for just $5/month and you’ll receive the weekly newsletter AND a monthly themed curated book list. Become a Founder for $100 and you’ll receive the weekly newsletter, the monthly curated book list, AND a personal thank you on the podcast AND a Best Book Ever T-Shirt in your favorite color and style. Discussed in this...
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147 Ella Strauss on Jane Austen
Best Book Ever
My guest this week is my beautiful daughter Ella. Ella just finished a semester at the University of Leicester, where she studied the novels of Jane Austen, and we have been talking nonstop about the books versus the movie adaptations, as well as feminism in Jane Austens books, and whether or not Harry Styles can smolder. It's a journey. Host: Julie Strauss / Guest: Ella Strauss Subscribe for FREE to receive weekly emails with complete show notes, photos of our guests, and updates on what Julie is reading on her own time. Support the podcast for just $5/month and...
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146 Betsy Dunn on "The Pat Conroy Cookbook" by Pat Conroy
Best Book Ever
My mom is the reason I’m a reader and today she joined me to talk books. She surprised me by choosing a cookbook (she and I are both fiction junkies) but The Pat Conroy Cookbook made for a great chat. We also talked about how we both cut our teeth on trashy novels and the joys of re-reading favorite books. She even spilled some tea about her book club! Host: Julie Strauss / Guest: Betsy Dunn Subscribe for FREE to receive weekly emails with complete show notes, photos of our guests, and updates on what Julie is reading on her own time. Support the podcast for just...
info_outlineEpisode 126 Memoir-Palooza with Denise Massar
Today, I’m so happy to welcome back the very first guest of the show, an amazing writer and reader, and, not to brag, but my best friend and soul sister, Denise Massar. Denise is a memoir junkie, and it occurred to me that mid-December is a perfect time to host a Memoir-Palooza, since so many of us like to give them as gifts over the holiday season, and I thought it would be interesting to hear which ones she liked best over the last year. A lot of the ones we talk about today deal with grief and loss, which also makes a lot of sense to address right now, as the holidays can be rough for a lot of people. Denise is my all-time most trusted memoir resource, and I know you’re going to love hearing her tell me why she thinks Memoirs are the Best Books Ever.
Denise Massar is an author, a mom via birth and adoption, and an adoptee. She writes about parenting, caregiving, racism, and anything else she can’t stop thinking about. As a reader, she’s most interested in stories about women’s day-to-day lives—in the 80s when grade-school classmates were reading Judy Blume, Denise was into Erma Bombeck.
Her essays have been published in RAISE Magazine, TODAY Parenting, An Injustice!, MUTHA Magazine, and Jane Friedman’s blog.
Denise’s memoir, SEARCH HISTORY: A Memoir of Loss, Obsession, and Meeting My Mom at 40, is currently on submission. She is represented by Jacquie Flynn at Joelle Delbourgo Associates.
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Host: Julie Strauss
Denise Massar
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Discussed in this episode:
Denise Massar on Best Book Ever Episode 002
Mothers of Sparta by Dawn Davies
I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jeanette McCurdy
A Three Dog Life by Abigail Thomas
What Comes Next and How to Like it by Abigail Thomas
Episode 097 – Lizbeth Meredith on “What Comes Next and How to Like It” by Abigail Thomas
In Love: A Memoir of Love and Loss by Amy Bloom
How We Fight For Our Lives: A Memoir by Saeed Jones
Heavy: An American Memoir by Kiese Laymon
Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed
A Heart That Works by Rob Delaney
Open: An Autobiography by Andre Agassi
(Note: Some of the above links are affiliate links. If you shop using my affiliate link on Bookshop, a portion of your purchase will go to me, at no extra expense to you. Thank you for supporting indie bookstores and for helping to keep the Best Book Ever Podcast in business!)