EP81: Our Favorite Books of 2024
Live from the Book Shop: John Updike's Ghost
Release Date: 12/03/2024
EP93: Careless People and the Snarling Trumpet
Live from the Book Shop: John Updike's Ghost
This week, as Sam preps to go to Iceland, we've got some of our favorite books of the year so far, with Gatsby references all over the place, general indictments of people with more money than they need, and a call back to the Beat era. Here's what we've got on tap: - "Mansion Beach," by Meg Mitchell Moore, a retelling of Gatsby with a gender reversal and a good reminder that Fitzgerald, himself, was a bit of a "beach read" writer. - "Atavists," by Lydia Millet, a story collection that works a bit like a multi-perspective novel and succeeds as both a realistic look at the suburbs and a...
info_outline
EP92: Sense of an Endling
Live from the Book Shop: John Updike's Ghost
Oh, was the sound crappy last week? Well, we've fixed that. New mic! Holy smokes! You're really going to like this. It's so much better. And now that we're done with Newburyport Literary Festival and Independent Bookstore Day, it's all systems go heading into summer, and we've got lots of books to talk about, including: - "The Lion Women of Tehran," by Marjan Kamali, who was the star at Newburyport, and who really captured the audience. - "Endling," by Maria Reva, a meta sort of novel set in Ukraine and grappling with the Russian invasion and how to make sense of it. -...
info_outline
EP91: John Green, Emily Henry, and all things real and imagined
Live from the Book Shop: John Updike's Ghost
Back to normal! No guests this week, just a bunch of books to talk about, including some big names. Is Sam's mic kind of wonky early? Yes. Just get by that. It doesn't last long. And you really want to hear about: - "Great Big Beautiful Life," by Emily Henry, which is just enough different from her previous beach reads to make a great beach read. It's a ridiculous biography contest set in Georgia. - "The Name of this Band is R.E.M.," by Peter Ames Carlin, which Sam found a little boring, but it's hard to tell if that's just because R.E.M. is a boring band. - "Raising...
info_outline
EP90: Poetry & Prose with Nina MacLaughlin
Live from the Book Shop: John Updike's Ghost
Okay, Hannah's back, but that doesn't mean we're done with guest hosts! This week we're joined by author Nina MacLaughlin, editor of the brand-new New England Literary News newsletter, and we've got the Newburyport Literary Festival on the brain (oh, and sorry, Nina, about putting you on the spot various times, but we did enjoy, "there's just so much garbage being published"). And Indie Bookstore Day, too! But we talked about lots of books, as well, including: - "Jailbreak of Sparrows," by Martin Espada - a poet who will be a Newburyport, where we are selling books, BTW. - "Little Great...
info_outline
EP89: Cyndle's Debut!
Live from the Book Shop: John Updike's Ghost
Hannah's been busy grinding out elementary school book fairs (drug-dealer mentality for the win), so the John Updike's Ghost podcast has put in a call to the bullpen, and out walks ... Cyndle Plaisted Rials! Cyndle is a writer and creative writing teacher who teamed with Sam on a book earlier this year, as well as the Beer & Weed project, so you know she's ready to go. She has not, however, read "To Kill a Mockingbird" or "Of Mice and Men," so weird stuff is on the way. Here's what she and Sam had to chat about this week: - "All the Pretty Horses," by Cormac McCarthy — Sam...
info_outline
EP88: Parables, Memoirs, and Chords
Live from the Book Shop: John Updike's Ghost
It's Daylight Savings and we are alternately miserable and happy about it. Which is a good reflection of the books we've read this week. We love them and not! Here's what's on the agenda: - "Wild Dark Shore," by Charlotte McConaghy — if you like one of her books, you're going to like this one. Hannah's a big fan. Nevermind the sleeping with the seals. - "A Thousand Splendid Suns," by Khaled Hosseini — also, like "The Kite Runner," not a memoir. Sam was confused. Kinda miserable. Hope the U.S. doesn't wind up like this. - "Lion," by Sonya Walger — she's "Penny" from...
info_outline
EP87: Reading Banned Books with PEN America
Live from the Book Shop: John Updike's Ghost
It's a very special episode this week, as we're joined by Sabrina Baeta, senior program manager on the Freedom to Read team at PEN America, an organization founded by authors more than 100 years ago to protect the freedom to write and read whatever you want. Sabrina's here to talk about book bans, which are a priori uncool, and which she works to defeat. There have been more than 10,000 efforts in the past year alone to ban individual books in school settings across the United States, and efforts to ban books are increasing rapidly, particulary books for younger kids. That's bad. So, we all...
info_outline
EP86: Murakami and the Fourth Wing
Live from the Book Shop: John Updike's Ghost
Did you get your photo taken with Rabbit the Bookstore Cat Cutout? If not, you probably missed our 5th Birthday Party. Too bad. But not worries: There will be more parties. This week, Sam is caught up in the new Haruki Murakami, but Hannah luckily has three books to talk about, so it's not a disaster. Here's the lineup: - "Fourth Wing," by Rebecca Yarros — Hannah's been saving it and it reminds her of the time we discovered Philip Pullman (but, no, it's not that good). Perfect vacation reading. - "The City and Its Uncertain Walls," by Haruki Murakami — Sam is wondering if Haruki is...
info_outline
EP85: Is Cozy Horror Next?
Live from the Book Shop: John Updike's Ghost
It's another episode of "John Updike's Ghost After Dark," a wild and crazy recording that finds Sam with a blanket on his lap and Hannah reading books infused with the number three (and using the word "tome"). We move from Anne Tyler (don't worry, she's a little bit funny) to weird French YA and cover a lot of ground in between, including: - "Three Days in June," by Anne Tyler (Sam thinks he read "The Accidental Tourist") - "Infinite Jest," by David Foster Wallace (just touching on it, really) - "Beta Vulgaris," by Margie Sarsfield (kinda like "Lazy City," except totally crazy with evil...
info_outline
EP84: Adichie and the Good Girl
Live from the Book Shop: John Updike's Ghost
It's the post-holiday lull, which luckily gives us plenty of time to plan our 5th Birthday party! Hannah's buying the cake, Sam is DJing. Don't miss it. You have to listen to find out when it is. When you arrive, we can talk about these books (and others): - "Dream Count," by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Hannah is a little perplexed by this much-awaited big deal, with its women being idiots about men; the marketeers are struggling) - "Good Girl," by Aria Aber (this book is going to be hot; maybe even as good as Morgan Talty's cover blurb, but not because of the sex stuff, which is, in fact,...
info_outlineThis week it's simple stuff: Our favorite books of the year. No, not the "best" books (since we only read about 75 books each this year), but the ones we liked the most. Here's the list, in no particular order. Listen up to hear why:
HANNAH'S PICKS
- James, by Percival Everett
- Brightly Shining, by Ingvild Rishoi
- Fire Exit, by Morgan Talty
- Long Island Compromise, by Taffy Brodesser-Akner
- Sandwich, by Catherine Newman
- The Safekeep, by Yael van der Wouden
- Ministry of Time, by Kaliane Bradley
- The Book of Love, by Kelly Link
- The Guide, by Peter Heller
- All Souls, by Michael Patrick McDonald
- The Most, by Jessica Anthony
- On the Calculation of Volume, Book 1, by Solve Balle
- Banal Nightmare, by Halle Butler
- Fire Exit, by Morgan Talty
- The Bright Sword, by Lev Grossman
- The Book of Elsewhere, by Keanu Reaves and China Mieville
- The Physics of Sorrow, by Georgi Gospodinov
- King Nyx, by Kirsten Bakis
- Charlie Hustle, by Keith O’Brien
- Rebel Girl, by Kathleen Hanna