Books That Changed My Life
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"Red Queen" Author Victoria Aveyard on "The Lord of the Rings" || Books That Changed My Life
08/13/2026
"Red Queen" Author Victoria Aveyard on "The Lord of the Rings" || Books That Changed My Life
To win your FREE, SIGNED copy of Tempest, click here: https://booksthatchangedmylife.org/pages/win-a-book-3 (Copies will ship as soon as they are available). On this episode of Books That Changed My Life, all-star fantasy author Victoria Aveyard joins Chris Collins to talk about The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien — the book that turned a bookish kid from western Massachusetts into a bestselling storyteller. Victoria remembers walking out of Fellowship of the Ring at 11 years old, marching straight to Target, buying the paperback, and carrying it through seventh grade until the spine was beat to death. She read it 12 times that year. She talks about what Tolkien understands about grief and small things, why Boromir is the most human character in the Fellowship, and why she's a stalwart "Helms Deep girl." The conversation moves into Victoria's own writing life — keeping store hours in a floral-wallpapered office, choreographing scenes on walks set to the Pirates of the Caribbean soundtrack, and accidentally turning in a 300,000-word manuscript her publisher couldn't physically bind. She also previews Tempest, her first adult novel — a romantic pirate fantasy, and her love letter to the swashbuckling stories she grew up on. #booksthatchangedmylife #books #library #bookrecs #bookreport #interview #podcast #chrisbulldogcollins 🚨 Grab the coolest book & library tees, socks, hoodies & more! https://booksthatchangedmylife.org/collections/all
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Margaret Cho (and dog) on "I'm With The Band: Confessions of a Groupie" | Books That Changed My Life
08/06/2026
Margaret Cho (and dog) on "I'm With The Band: Confessions of a Groupie" | Books That Changed My Life
On this episode of Books That Changed My Life, host Chris "Bulldog" Collins is joined by Margaret Cho to discuss I'm With the Band: Confessions of a Groupie by Pamela Des Barres — the 1987 memoir Margaret first read as a teenager growing up in her family's San Francisco bookstore. Pamela is a longtime friend and mentor who edited Margaret's writing, and Margaret returns to the book with the perspective of someone shaped by it: not for its catalog of famous lovers, but for its portrait of a young woman bubbling over with vitality, wit, and creative energy. The conversation moves through Pamela's roster (Mick Jagger, Keith Moon, Jim Morrison, Jimmy Page, Marlon Brando), the one Beatle she never got, the GTOs and Frank Zappa's proto-girl-group project, and the passages Margaret returns to again and again — the compulsive Beatlemania rituals, the years-long pursuit of Brando through his answering service, and the night Pamela turned down an invitation from Elvis. Margaret dives into her own backstage life, why she'd start a cult (the CHOsen) with mandatory cats and dogs, and the case for rock and roll as religion. Margaret's new stand-up special Choligarchy tapes November 7 in Palm Springs. See her in Gregg Araki's new film, I Want Your Sex. Find her tour dates here: MargaretCho.com. #books #library #bookrecs #bookreport #interview #podcast #chrisbulldogcollins 🚨 Grab the coolest book & library tees, socks, hoodies & more! https://booksthatchangedmylife.org/collections/all
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Caitlin Peluffo on "Screw Everyone" || Books That Changed My Life
07/30/2026
Caitlin Peluffo on "Screw Everyone" || Books That Changed My Life
This week, Chris "Bulldog" Collins sits down with stand-up comedian Caitlin Peluffo to discuss the Book That Changed Her Life, Screw Everyone: Sleeping My Way to Monogamy by Ophira Eisenberg. Peluffo grew up in San Bruno, California, moved east for a master's at Pratt Institute in photography and video performance art, and has been in Brooklyn for close to two decades. She first came across the book in a humor writing class where the infamous "Garfield chapter" was on the syllabus. Reading it sent her down an Eisenberg rabbit hole, and, she says, is what convinced her she could do stand-up herself. The two are now friends. The book is a collection of short stories tracing Eisenberg's sexual and romantic history in the years before she chose monogamy. Conversation covers the density of jokes on every page ("this is a stand-up's book"), the vulnerability of admitting the things most people would leave out, and the shame women carry around sex — which Peluffo says the book helped her put down. Along the way: losing her virginity three times, the ex who got arrested for taking upskirt photos on the train, boyfriends who lived in a van and a storage unit, and one guy who, after they'd hooked up, panicked that her vintage cameras had been recording him. Peluffo's stand-up special Prosciutto Rose is available now here: #booksthatchangedmylife #books #library #bookrecs #bookreport #interview #podcast #chrisbulldogcollins 🚨 Grab the coolest book & library tees, socks, hoodies & more! https://booksthatchangedmylife.org/collections/all
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Harry Hamlin on "A Course in Miracles" || Books That Changed My Life
07/23/2026
Harry Hamlin on "A Course in Miracles" || Books That Changed My Life
In this episode of Books That Changed My Life, host Chris "Bulldog" Collins is joined by actor Harry Hamlin to discuss A Course in Miracles. Best known for L.A. Law, Clash of the Titans, and currently AMC's Mayfair Witches, Hamlin is also a Yale-educated Jungian, a Shakespearean actor, and the founder of Tri-Alpha Energy — the first private fusion company in the world. He keeps 350 books on his phone and has spent six decades trying to figure out, in his words, "how to live." The conversation moves from a dysfunctional Pasadena childhood and a teenage Jesus-freak phase through a head-on collision at nineteen that he shouldn't have survived — and the sensation of absolute peace he's been chasing ever since. Years later, a chance encounter with Marianne Williamson pointed him to the 365-day practice that would rewire his understanding of reality, fear, and meaning. Hamlin unpacks the book's central provocation — that nothing outside the mind has meaning of its own — and points to a single line from Hamlet he says contains the entire book: "There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so."
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Patton Oswalt on "This Paradise" || Books That Changed My Life
07/21/2026
Patton Oswalt on "This Paradise" || Books That Changed My Life
In this episode of Books That Changed My Life, host Chris "Bulldog" Collins sits down with actor and comedian Patton Oswalt to discuss This Paradise, a short story collection by Ruby Cowling. Check out Patton's new special, "Tea & Scotch" here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRFgLNxygC4 Oswalt, an evangel for the book, has bought and given away dozens of copies since discovering Cowling's short fiction through a Canadian publisher's Christmas advent calendar of stories. Oswalt traces his relationship with books back to reading Stephen King's The Stand at age 10, and talks about raising his 17-year-old daughter as a reader — from Harry Potter read-alouds to introducing her to graphic novels, and first films by directors who started with nothing but a camera and a script. He also revisits a formative English class argument over Carson McCullers that taught him to defend his opinions on the page. The conversation moves through the terrain of This Paradise itself: stories that grapple with an openly unapologetic billionaire class, the erosion of consequence and accountability, climate collapse, and the daily impossibility of making ethical choices in a world where "every network is connected to something horrifying." Oswalt and Collins dig into specific stories from the collection — including "The Ground Is Considerably Distorted," "Eliminate Toxins and Increase Blood Flow," and "Flamingo Land" — unpacking how Cowling captures the disorientation of modern life without sacrificing humanity or humor.
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JORDY on "I Let You Go" || Books That Changed My Life
07/16/2026
JORDY on "I Let You Go" || Books That Changed My Life
In this episode of Books That Changed My Life, host Chris "Bulldog" Collins sits down with singer-songwriter Jordy to dive into I Let You Go by Clare Mackintosh. Jordy opens up about rediscovering reading during a hard stretch in late 2023, and how this psychological thriller became the book that turned him into a two-books-a-week reader for good. He walks through the novel's now-legendary Part One twist — and the strange full-circle moment when Mackintosh herself saw his reaction video online, reached out, and sent him an early copy of her latest book with a handwritten note. The conversation moves well beyond the book, into Jordy's childhood outside Chicago, coming out to his parents at 14, the bullying and abuse he endured as a kid, and the anxious attachment and industry toxicity he's had to work through as an adult. He connects all of it back to what I Let You Go taught him about empathy — how fiction can force you to feel for someone before you know what they've done, and what that says about all of us. They close by breaking down the book's final, ambiguous scene on the cliffside — and why Jordy is convinced Ian is really dead, no matter how open Mackintosh left it. #books #library #bookrecs #bookreport #interview #podcast #chrisbulldogcollins 🚨 Grab the coolest book & library tees, socks, hoodies & more! https://booksthatchangedmylife.org/collections/all
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Justin Halpern on "Lord of the Flies" || Books That Changed My Life
07/14/2026
Justin Halpern on "Lord of the Flies" || Books That Changed My Life
This week on Books That Changed My Life, host Chris "Bulldog" Collins sits down with writer and executive producer Justin Halpern (Abbott Elementary, Harley Quinn, S**t My Dad Says) to talk about Lord of the Flies by William Golding. Justin opens up about growing up as an only child in San Diego, spending countless after-school hours in a VA cancer ward where his father worked, developing a love of sitcoms as a latchkey kid, and finally discovering reading through the shortest book on his father's shelf. He and Chris dig into Golding's examination of power, tribalism, and masculinity, tracing how a group of ordinary boys turn on each other once rejection and isolation set in. The conversation moves from a science fair project gone wrong to the making of Abbott Elementary, from Norm Macdonald's mastery of silence to Halpern's upcoming novel, Get Lost — all circling back to the questions raised by Golding's book: what happens when the pursuit of power trumps all else? Watch to the end for Halpern's take on the book's final, gutting image, and why he thinks it's the moment the whole book has been building toward. #books #library #bookrecs #bookreport #interview #podcast #chrisbulldogcollins 🚨 Grab the coolest book & library tees, socks, hoodies & more! https://booksthatchangedmylife.org/collections/all
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Joan Lunden on "Stand Like Mountain, Flow Like Water" || Books That Changed My Life
07/09/2026
Joan Lunden on "Stand Like Mountain, Flow Like Water" || Books That Changed My Life
On this episode of Books That Changed My Life, Chris "Bulldog" Collins sits down with broadcast journalism icon Joan Lunden to talk about the book that changed her life: Stand Like Mountain, Flow Like Water by Brian Luke Seaward. Lunden traces the book back to a pivotal moment at 40, when she found herself facing the end of her marriage and, for the first time in decades, looking inward instead of outward. After years spent racing through a career that had her up at 3:30 a.m. and living at "180 miles an hour," she made a conscious decision to get physically strong — and discovered, almost by accident, that the same discipline could be applied to what Seaward calls her "soul muscles." The conversation moves through the wreckage and reinvention that followed: a headline-grabbing divorce that made her one of the first women in America ordered to pay alimony, the tabloid firestorm that followed a single offhand comment, and the slow, deliberate work of learning to stay resilient without staying rigid — to "stand like a mountain" in her convictions while learning to "flow like water" around what she couldn't control. Lunden connects the book's central metaphor to her own decades-long practice of choosing her reactions, ending toxic conversations both on the phone and in her head, and building an emotional strength that had nothing to do with the confidence she'd already built on camera. #booksthatchangedmylife #books #library #bookrecs #bookreport #interview #podcast #chrisbulldogcollins 🚨 Grab the coolest book & library tees, socks, hoodies & more! https://booksthatchangedmylife.org/collections/all
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Emily Silva on "The Wild Edge of Sorrow" || Books That Changed My Life
07/02/2026
Emily Silva on "The Wild Edge of Sorrow" || Books That Changed My Life
In this episode of Books That Changed My Life, host Chris Collins is joined by author and mindfulness coach Emily Silva. Emily opens up about growing up in a strict fundamentalist Baptist household in the San Francisco Bay Area, the anxiety and panic attacks that pushed her out of a banking career and into therapy, coaching, and eventually writing, and the Book That Changed Her Life: The Wild Edge of Sorrow by Francis Weller. She and Chris go deep on why grief and gratitude are inseparable rather than opposites, the case for becoming "an advocate for grief" instead of tidying it away, the importance of grief rituals and letting our sorrow be witnessed, and the hard-won truth that life can be both devastating and beautiful at the same time. #booksthatchangedmylife #books #library #bookrecs #bookreport #interview #podcast #chrisbulldogcollins 🚨 Grab the coolest book & library tees, socks, hoodies & more! https://booksthatchangedmylife.org/collections/all
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Hayley Kiyoko on "The Four Agreements" || Books That Changed My Life
06/30/2026
Hayley Kiyoko on "The Four Agreements" || Books That Changed My Life
In this episode of Books That Changed My Life, host Chris Collins is joined by singer-songwriter and filmmaker Hayley Kiyoko. Hayley opens up about the decade-long journey of turning Girls Like Girls from a song into a music video, a novel, and now her directorial debut film, growing up in a chaotic artistic household with a World Hall of Fame ice-skating choreographer for a mother and a stand-up comedian for a father, and the Book That Changed Her Life: The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz. She and Chris go deep on the book's four principles — being impeccable with your word, not taking anything personally, not making assumptions, and always doing your best — alongside the autonomy to choose your own life rather than the one you were handed, accountability and where we locate control, and the fear of taking the risk to be alive. Hayley shares the moment the book truly landed: the copy her manager had given her sat unopened on a shelf for two years until she finally read it and felt it put words to feelings she'd never been able to name. Now, it's a book she's since returned to six times, reaching for it whenever she can't breathe. #booksthatchangedmylife #books #library #bookrecs #bookreport #interview #podcast #chrisbulldogcollins 🚨 Grab the coolest book & library tees, socks, hoodies & more! https://booksthatchangedmylife.org/collections/all
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Kal Penn on "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay" || Books That Changed My Life
06/25/2026
Kal Penn on "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay" || Books That Changed My Life
In this episode of Books That Changed My Life, host Chris Collins is joined by actor and author Kal Penn. Kal opens up about his two years as a presidential aide in the Obama White House, landing a role in Superman Returns after an hour spent geeking out over comic-book history with the writers, and the Book That Changed His Life: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon. He and Chris go deep on the novel's big themes — family and belonging, identity and persecution, escape and acceptance, and the role of art as a weapon — alongside the emptiness of revenge, his grandparents' place in India's nonviolent independence movement, comedy as a way to bring people together, and the misdirection that links stage magic to a good joke. Kal shares the moment the book truly landed: alone on the stairs of his shared apartment while filming in Sydney, the sun coming in, unable to see the page because he was bawling — the right book at exactly the right time. #booksthatchangedmylife #books #library #bookrecs #bookreport #interview #podcast #chrisbulldogcollins 🚨 Grab the coolest book & library tees, socks, hoodies & more! https://booksthatchangedmylife.org/collections/all
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Ruth B on "The Guest Cat" || Books That Changed My Life
06/23/2026
Ruth B on "The Guest Cat" || Books That Changed My Life
In this episode of Books That Changed My Life, host Chris Collins is joined by singer and songwriter Ruth B. Ruth opens up about her childhood in Edmonton, the days spent her room reading and writing, the overnight success that threw her into the music industry at 21, and the Book That Changed Her Life: The Guest Cat by Takashi Hiraide. Ruth and Chris explore what it means to love something you can't own, how a fleeting connection can matter as much as a permanent one, the grief at the story's center, and how a quiet little book became the "slow down button" she needed during an overwhelming chapter of her career — even shaping her album Moments in Between. Stay tuned for Ruth's NEW album, Peace to Make, out soon! #booksthatchangedmylife #books #library #bookrecs #bookreport #interview #podcast #chrisbulldogcollins 🚨 Grab the coolest book & library tees, socks, hoodies & more! https://booksthatchangedmylife.org/collections/all
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Tori Kelly on “The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry” || Books That Changed My Life
06/18/2026
Tori Kelly on “The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry” || Books That Changed My Life
In this episode of Books That Changed My Life, host Chris Collins is joined by Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Tori Kelly. Tori opens up about growing up in a musical household in California's Inland Empire, her unlikely path into music through "YouTube University," and the Book That Changed Her Life: The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by John Mark Comer. She and Chris go deep on discovering the book during the pandemic, the four cures for busyness, reframing Sabbath as a joyful family ritual instead of a rule, and the image she keeps returning to of herself at 80 looking back on whether she was truly present — especially now that she's stepping into motherhood. Stick around to the end, where Tori talks about her new album, God Must Really Love Me, out now, written in a fast, emotional two-week burst just days after her son was born. She breaks down the three pillars of the record — faith, marriage, and motherhood — and what it's been like writing the most personal songs of her career. #booksthatchangedmylife #books #library #bookrecs #bookreport #interview #podcast #chrisbulldogcollins 🚨 Grab the coolest book & library tees, socks, hoodies & more! https://booksthatchangedmylife.org/collections/all
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Andrew East on "The GAP and the GAIN" || Books That Changed My Life
06/11/2026
Andrew East on "The GAP and the GAIN" || Books That Changed My Life
In this episode of Books That Changed My Life, host Chris Collins is joined by retired NFL player and author Andrew East. Andrew opens up about growing up in Indianapolis, his college and NFL careers, the contract-bound book club that made him a reader, and the Book That Changed His Life: The GAP and the GAIN by Dan Sullivan and Dr. Benjamin Hardy. He and Chris explore what happens when you measure yourself by the "GAIN" instead of the "GAP," the link between high achievers and depression, gratitude, and the annual goal-setting ritual he and his wife swear by. Stick around to the end, where Andrew is joined by his wife, Olympic gold medalist Shawn Johnson, to talk about their new book, The Courage to Commit. They get into the four years (and couples therapy) it took to write it, the challenge of merging their authorial voices, why commitment is the truest form of freedom, the letters they wrote to their younger selves, and more! #booksthatchangedmylife #library #bookrecs #bookreport #interview #podcast #chrisbulldogcollins 🚨 Grab the coolest book & library tees, socks, hoodies & more! https://booksthatchangedmylife.org/collections/all
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Shawn Johnson on "The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry" || Books That Changed My Life
06/09/2026
Shawn Johnson on "The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry" || Books That Changed My Life
In this episode of Books That Changed My Life, host Chris Collins is joined by Olympic gold medalist and author Shawn Johnson. Shawn opens up about growing up an only child in Des Moines, the obsessive intensity that made her a champion at three and an Olympian at sixteen, the two-year stretch of depression that followed her step back from gymnastics, and the Book That Changed Her Life: The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by John Mark Comer. She and Chris go deep on perfectionism, the impossibility of "winning" at parenting, the four cures for busyness, consumerism as the new religion, and the small daily rituals — "day of delight," morning coffee, "bev time" — she and her husband use to keep themselves in the moment. Stick around to the end, where Shawn is joined by her husband Andrew to talk about their new book, The Courage to Commit. They get into the four years (and couples therapy) it took to write it, the challenge of merging their authorial voices, why commitment is the truest form of freedom, the letters they wrote to their younger selves, and more! Pick up a copy of Shawn and Andrew's book at . #booksthatchangedmylife #books #library #bookrecs #bookreport #interview #podcast #chrisbulldogcollins 🚨 Grab the coolest book & library tees, socks, hoodies & more! https://booksthatchangedmylife.org/collections/all
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Jennie Garth on "Jonathan Livingston Seagull" || Books That Changed My Life
06/04/2026
Jennie Garth on "Jonathan Livingston Seagull" || Books That Changed My Life
In this episode of Books That Changed My Life, host Chris Collins is joined by actress, author, and podcast host Jennie Garth! Jennie and Chris talk growing up in the rural Midwest, her educator parents and their devotion to literacy, the chaos and joy of home design, decision fatigue, and life as the baby of a big blended family, before diving into the Book That Changed Jennie's life: Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach. Jennie recalls discovering Bach's slim, illustrated parable at thirteen on her mother's shelf of self-help books, and how the story quietly molded her into the person she is today. The two explore the book's themes of nonconformity, transcendence, and reaching one's highest potential, tracing uncanny parallels to Jennie's own journey: breaking away from the flock, enduring loss and grief, and discovering that forgiveness was the moment she finally felt free. Along the way, they consider what a fifty-year-old fable about a seagull who chose to fly higher can teach us about living authentically and leading by example. #booksthatchangedmylife #books #library #bookrecs #bookreport #interview #podcast #chrisbulldogcollins 🚨 Grab the coolest book & library tees, socks, hoodies & more! https://booksthatchangedmylife.org/collections/all
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Harper Simon on "The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test" || Books That Changed My Life
05/28/2026
Harper Simon on "The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test" || Books That Changed My Life
In this episode of Books That Changed My Life, host Chris Collins is joined by author, artist, and musician Harper Simon! Harper and Chris talk teenage years in New York City, sneaking into hardcore matinees, the pull of psychedelics and counterculture, and an early literary education from Allen Ginsberg himself, before diving into the Book That Changed Harper's life: The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe. Harper recalls how the wild chronicle of Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters found him as a 15-year-old just beginning to explore hippie culture and the roots of American rebellion, cracking open a door to a whole way of seeing the world. The two explore the origins of New Journalism, the cross-country bus trip that birthed a movement, the Grateful Dead's acid test beginnings, and what Kesey's outlaw spirit can still teach us 60 years later about art, freedom, and the cost of becoming a lightning rod. #booksthatchangedmylife #books #library #bookrecs #bookreport #interview #podcast #chrisbulldogcollins 🚨 Grab the coolest book & library tees, socks, hoodies & more! https://booksthatchangedmylife.org/collections/all
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Danielle Campbell on "The Pillars of the Earth" || Books That Changed My Life
05/26/2026
Danielle Campbell on "The Pillars of the Earth" || Books That Changed My Life
In this episode of Books That Changed My Life, host Chris Collins is joined by actress and lifelong book lover Danielle Campbell! Danielle and Chris talk growing up, stage acting, the musicality of language, and the importance of presence, before diving into the Book That Changed Danielle's life, The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett. Danielle recalls how Follett's sweeping multi-decade saga found her during the pandemic and reshaped how she sees her own life — not as a series of isolated moments, but as a long arc of building, breaking, and rebuilding. The two explore the book's medieval setting, examining power, faith, resilience, and more, while highlighting what a story about a 12th-century cathedral can teach us about building something that lasts. #booksthatchangedmylife #books #library #bookrecs #bookreport #interview #podcast #chrisbulldogcollins 🚨 Grab the coolest book & library tees, socks, hoodies & more! https://booksthatchangedmylife.org/collections/all
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Jena Malone on "The Flowering Wand" || Books That Changed My Life
05/21/2026
Jena Malone on "The Flowering Wand" || Books That Changed My Life
In this episode of Books That Changed My Life, host Chris Collins is joined by actress, musician, and certified permaculture designer Jena Malone! Jena opens up about her latest album Flowers for Men (available now!), the vulnerability of songwriting, and how becoming a mother was a "happy death" of old ideals that reshaped her creative life. Chris and Jena dive into the Book That Changed Her Life, The Flowering Wand by Sophie Strand. Jena explains how Strand's invitation to redefine ancient myths around masculinity arrived at the perfect moment. The book found her as she navigated dating, raised a young son, and hungered for stories of the sacred masculine in a culture obsessed with the toxic. Together, they explore Strand's vision of a grounded, earth-rooted masculinity, why an answer often ends a story, and how revision, curiosity, and community in the unknown might be the most radical tools we have. #booksthatchangedmylife #library #bookrecs #bookreport #interview #podcast #chrisbulldogcollins 🚨 Grab the coolest book & library tees, socks, hoodies & more! https://booksthatchangedmylife.org/collections/all
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Hilarie Burton on "Dandelion Wine" || Books That Changed My Life
05/19/2026
Hilarie Burton on "Dandelion Wine" || Books That Changed My Life
In this special New York episode of Books That Changed My Life, host Chris Collins is joined by actress, author, and book lover Hilarie Burton. Hilarie opens up about her upbringing in small-town Virginia, her move to New York City, and the Book That Changed Her Life: Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury. Hilarie shares how she discovered the book in Greenwich Village, just weeks after 9/11, and how Bradbury's writing taught her to slow down and find magic in the mundane. Chris and Hilarie talk Motown, theater kids, old souls, the boyfriend test she's used for twenty years, hoarding as memory-keeping, spinster chic, reincarnation, and why Bradbury's 1957 novel is more relevant than ever. #booksthatchangedmylife #library #bookrecs #bookreport #interview #podcast #chrisbulldogcollins 🚨 Grab the coolest book & library tees, socks, hoodies & more! https://booksthatchangedmylife.org/collections/all
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Emma Straub on "Miss Piggy's Guide to Life" || Books That Changed My Life
05/14/2026
Emma Straub on "Miss Piggy's Guide to Life" || Books That Changed My Life
Claim your FREE, SIGNED copy of American Fantasy HERE: In this episode of Books That Changed My Life, host Chris Collins is joined by bestselling author and Books are Magic owner Emma Straub! Emma talks bookstore ownership (including the Top 5 Reasons Not to Open a Bookstore), comedy, fiction, and the Book That Changed Her Life, Miss Piggy's Guide to Life. Emma explains how, beneath the humor, Miss Piggy's "self-help" book taught her 7-year-old self valuable lessons about confidence, body image, relationships, and more. Chris and Emma dive into her latest book, American Fantasy, and the real life boy-band cruise that inspired it. Emma explains how fiction creates space for truth telling, and the spiritual core of the novel: delight and pleasure in middle age. #booksthatchangedmylife #books #library #bookrecs #bookreport #interview #podcast #chrisbulldogcollins 🚨 Grab the coolest book & library tees, socks, hoodies & more! https://booksthatchangedmylife.org/collections/all
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Chyler Leigh on "In the Shadow of a Rainbow" || Books That Changed My Life
05/12/2026
Chyler Leigh on "In the Shadow of a Rainbow" || Books That Changed My Life
In this episode of Books That Changed My Life, host Chris Collins is joined by actress and book lover Chyler Leigh. Chyler opens up about her childhood, finding herself in fiction, and the Book That Changed Her Life, In The Shadow of a Rainbow by Robert Franklin Leslie. Chyler reflects on what the book taught her about leadership, instinct, and friendship, and how rereading it as an adult revealed truths she wasn't ready to see as a teenager. Chris and Chyler talk cooking as love language, directing under chaos on Supergirl, the cathartic experience of The Way Home, grief, healing, and what it means to walk in the shadow of a rainbow. #booksthatchangedmylife #books #library #bookrecs #bookreport #interview #podcast #chrisbulldogcollins 🚨 Grab the coolest book & library tees, socks, hoodies & more! https://booksthatchangedmylife.org/collections/all
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Gavin Rossdale on "Moon Palace" || Books That Changed My Life
05/07/2026
Gavin Rossdale on "Moon Palace" || Books That Changed My Life
In this episode of Books That Changed My Life, host Chris "Bulldog" Collins is joined by musician and Bush frontman Gavin Rossdale. Gavin opens up about growing up in London, finding refuge in punk records and literature, and the perfect storm of experiences that led him to a life in music. Gavin explores the impact that Paul Auster's Moon Palace had on him as a young man. He highlights its value as a coming-of-age narrative, and notes how it shaped his views on loneliness, art, and the creative process. Chris and Gavin talk "nutritious" writing, Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud, Charles Bukowski, Albert Camus and more in this heartfelt conversation about art, work, and purpose. #booksthatchangedmylife #books #library #bookrecs #bookreport #interview #podcast #chrisbulldogcollins 🚨 Grab the coolest book & library tees, socks, hoodies & more! https://booksthatchangedmylife.org/collections/all
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Marcia Kimpton on "Power vs. Force" || Books That Changed My Life
05/05/2026
Marcia Kimpton on "Power vs. Force" || Books That Changed My Life
In this episode of Books That Changed My Life, host Chris "Bulldog" Collins is joined by filmmaker Marcia Kimpton to discuss Power vs. Force by David R. Hawkins. Marcia explores how Hawkins's framework re-contextualized everything, from consciousness to suffering to her own story. She reveals how the book helped her recover from rejection and depression, alchemizing pain into love. Marcia opens up about losing her brother to suicide, being rejected by Hollywood, and the spiritual crisis at 38 that finally cracked her open. Marcia and Chris dig into free will, fate, the lie of suffering, and why writing your own memoir might be the most healing thing you ever do. #books #booksthatchangedmylife #library #bookrecs #bookreport #interview #podcast #chrisbulldogcollins 🚨 Grab the coolest book & library tees, socks, hoodies & more! https://booksthatchangedmylife.org/collections/all
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Gina Gershon on "The Hero With a Thousand Faces" || Books That Changed My Life
04/30/2026
Gina Gershon on "The Hero With a Thousand Faces" || Books That Changed My Life
To claim your copy of Gina's latest book, AlphaPussy, click HERE: In this episode of Books That Changed My Life, host Chris "Bulldog" Collins is joined by actress, singer, and author Gina Gershon! Chris and Gina deep dive on Joseph Campbell's classic, The Hero With a Thousand Faces, talking myths, dreams, the hero's journey, and Campbell's blind spots. Gina recalls challenging her mythology professor with a simple question: "where's the heroine's journey?" His answer, that she'd have to write it, led her on a decades-long journey to re-frame the myth. Along the way, Chris and Gina dig into ego and the death of self, why the patriarchal hero myth is failing us, the Gisèle Pelicot trial, the artist Tracey Emin as a modern heroine, and the origin story of "alpha pussy," a mindset Gina developed from raising cats that saved her during the press tour for Showgirls. #books #library #bookrecs #bookreport #interview #podcast #chrisbulldogcollins 🚨 Grab the coolest book & library tees, socks, hoodies & more! https://booksthatchangedmylife.org/collections/all
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Books That Changed My Life: Laura Marano & Outliers by Malcom Gladwell
04/28/2026
Books That Changed My Life: Laura Marano & Outliers by Malcom Gladwell
In this episode of Books That Changed My Life, Chris "Bulldog" Collins is joined by actress and singer Laura Marano to discuss Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. Laura opens up about growing up in LA, how she accidentally landed an agent at age 5 by tagging along to her sister's audition, and why rereading Outliers hit different while she was deciding to leave her record label and go independent. From the 10,000 hour rule to the Matthew Effect, Laura unpacks why the book reframed success for her during the height of her Disney Channel years, and how it still shapes the way she thinks about talent, timing, and luck today. Chris and Laura dig in to why we overpersonalize success, the difference between happiness and achievement, and the odd parallels between Gladwell's bestseller and Laura's latest film, Original Sound. Check out Original Sound in theaters now! #books #library #bookrecs #bookreport #interview #podcast #chrisbulldogcollins 🚨 Grab the coolest book & library tees, socks, hoodies & more! https://booksthatchangedmylife.org/collections/all
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Books That Changed My Live: Charlie Cox & The Razor's Edge
04/23/2026
Books That Changed My Live: Charlie Cox & The Razor's Edge
In this special New York episode of Books That Changed My Life, host Chris Collins is joined by Daredevil star Charlie Cox. At 23, fresh off a lead role in a major studio film, Charlie found himself back in London, broke and anxious, riding the bus to theatre rehearsals. That's when his father gave him the book that changed everything: The Razor's Edge by Somerset Maugham. Charlie was captivated by Larry's journey; it felt like permission to live an unconventional life. Chris and Charlie talk dyslexia, boarding school, travel, enlightenment, the artist's life, and more. Charlie previews the season 2 finale of Deadpool: Born Again, forecasting a "big ending" with an incredible performance from Vincent D'Onofrio as Kingpin. #books #library #bookrecs #bookreport #interview #podcast #booksthatchangedmylife #daredevil #daredevilbornagain #chrisbulldogcollins 🚨 Grab the coolest book & library tees, socks, hoodies & more! https://booksthatchangedmylife.org/collections/all
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Joey Graceffa on "The Subtle Knife" || Books That Changed My Life
04/16/2026
Joey Graceffa on "The Subtle Knife" || Books That Changed My Life
Win a FREE, SIGNED copy of Joey's latest book, The Twelve! Click here: In this episode of Books that Changed My Life, host Chris "Bulldog" Collins is joined by YouTube star and author Joey Graceffa. Joey opens up about his childhood, his parents, using fantasy as an escape, his aversion to reading, and his eventual transformation into published author. He points to The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman as the story that inspired his evolution. Joey discusses his latest book, The Twelve, a young adult fantasy about witches who draw their magical powers from their zodiac signs. #booksthatchangedmylife #library #bookrecs #bookreport #interview #podcast #chrisbulldogcollins 🚨 Grab the coolest book & library tees, socks, hoodies & more! https://booksthatchangedmylife.org/collections/all
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Susan Lucci on "Find Your Glow, Feed Your Soul" || Books That Changed My Life
04/09/2026
Susan Lucci on "Find Your Glow, Feed Your Soul" || Books That Changed My Life
To claim your copy of La Lucci, like, comment, subscribe, and then click here: In this special New York episode of Books That Changed My Life, host Chris "Bulldog" Collins is joined by legendary actress Susan Lucci. Susan opens up about the tremendous difficulty of losing her husband, Helmut, after 52 years of marriage and the book that helped her heal: Find Your Glow, Feed Your Soul by Emily Silva. In the course of their heartfelt conversation, Chris and Susan talk authenticity, gratitude, daily rituals, careers, Emily Silva's catalog, and more. Susan shares poignant stories about her time with Helmut, her unparalleled soap opera career, her experience on stage, and rediscovering her glow after grief. #booksthatchangedmylife #books #library #bookrecs #bookreport #interview #podcast #chrisbulldogcollins 🚨 Grab the coolest book & library tees, socks, hoodies & more! https://booksthatchangedmylife.org/collections/all
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Thomas Doherty on "Down and Out in Paris and London" || Books That Changed My Life
04/02/2026
Thomas Doherty on "Down and Out in Paris and London" || Books That Changed My Life
In this special episode of Books That Changed My Life, host Chris “Bulldog” Collins is joined by actor and star of Hulu’s Paradise, Thomas Doherty. While the show is typically taped in the Syndicate X Library in downtown Los Angeles, this special episode was shot in the House of the Redeemer Library in the heart of Manhattan – the first time Books That Changed My Life has been on the road. In the course of their conversation, Thomas and Chris talk hospitality, poverty, charity, transatlantic differences, spirituality, and the Book That Changed Thomas’s life: Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell. Thomas reflects on his experiences working service jobs, drawing parallels to Orwell’s debut book. Thomas also opens up about the moment he knew he wanted to act, and tackles an age-old question: do we have free will? All this and more in this week’s episode – stay tuned for more special New York content! #booksthatchangedmylife #books #library #bookrecs #bookreport #interview #podcast #chrisbulldogcollins 🚨 Grab the coolest book & library tees, socks, hoodies & more! https://booksthatchangedmylife.org/collections/all
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