Episodes
Wednesday Mar 25, 2020
Ep. 39 Mountain Mamas and the Meaningful Memoir with Cassie Chambers 3-25-20
Wednesday Mar 25, 2020
Wednesday Mar 25, 2020
Our guest today grew up in poverty in eastern Kentucky, but attended Yale and Harvard, received her law degree, and came back to Kentucky to work for the Legal Aid Society, helping at-risk women in her home state. Cassie Chambers has also written a memoir, called Hill Women: Finding Family and a Way Forward in the Appalachian Mountains, about life and culture in Owsley County through the lens of three generations of women in her own family.
Her book came out in January of this year. Newsweek has named it a must-read book to savor this Spring, and Publisher’s Weekly called it a “passionate memoir”.
Cassie talks to us about her favorite book series from childhood that she still rereads as an adult, why she felt the women of Appalachia specifically need their stories told and what compelled her to write it, and why she thinks more women don’t run for office and why that needs to change.
Books Discussed during this Episode:
1- Anne of Green Gables series by Lucy Maude Montgomery
2- Fair and Tender Ladies by Lee Smith
3- The Wonder by Emma Donoghue
4- Castaway: Poems for our Time by Naomi Shihab Nye
5- Walkable City by Jeff Speck
You can find us on FB, instagram (@perksofbeingabookloverpod) and on our blog site at www.perksofbeingabooklover.com
Perks airs on Forward Radio 106.5 FM and forwardradio.org every Wednesday at 6 pm, Thursdays at 6 am and 12 pm. We have purchased the rights to the theme music used.
Wednesday Mar 18, 2020
Ep. 38 When Reading Goes To The Dogs with Emily McKeehan 3-18-20
Wednesday Mar 18, 2020
Wednesday Mar 18, 2020
Our guest this week, Emily McKeehan, left a job in the insurance industry to follow her dream of becoming a high school English teacher because she felt that was what she has been called to do.
When she saw a Facebook article about how therapy dogs can help young elementary students with their reading, she had the crazy idea of trying them with her students at Eastern High School, which is in eastern Jefferson county outside Louisville. What she hoped for was to build confidence in her reluctant freshman readers, but what she got was so much more.
Emily talks to us about some books that are reliable favorites of her students year after year, what kind of students she feels get the most from working with a reading therapy dog, and what TV show was her bridge to loving the true crime genre.
We feel lucky to have had the chance to interview Emily the day before the Kentucky governor called off schools in the state for the corona virus pandemic.
Books discussed in this episode:
1- The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
2- The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
3- The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare
4- The Freedom Writers Diary by Erin Gruwell and the Freedom Writers
5- Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls by David Sedaris
6- The Stranger Beside Me by Ann Rule
7- I'll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara
8- In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
9- Notes from a Young Black Chef by Kwame Onwuachi and Joshua David Stein
10- Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann
You can find us on FB, instagram (@perksofbeingabookloverpod) and on our blog site at www.perksofbeingabooklover.com
Perks airs on Forward Radio 106.5 FM and forwardradio.org every Wednesday at 6 pm, Thursdays at 6 am and 12 pm. We have purchased the rights to the theme music used.
Wednesday Mar 11, 2020
Ep. 36 Books Help the Medicine Go Down with Kimmery Martin 3-11-20
Wednesday Mar 11, 2020
Wednesday Mar 11, 2020
“Wherever the art of medicine is loved, there is also the love of humanity”. This quote from Hippocrates, the father of medicine, is especially true when doctors imbue their experiences into artistic pursuits like today’s guest. Kimmery Martin is an emergency room physician turned author whose medical fiction features female doctors shouldering the life and death responsibilities of their profession but also dealing with questions of friendship, love, and the thorny cultural Issues of our times with a good dose of humor thrown into the mix.
Her first novel Queen of Hearts, published in 2018, was praised by the New York Times and cited as a most anticipated book by Southern Living and Writers Digest.
Her newest book, The Antidote for Everything, explores the friendship between a female specialist and her best friend, a male family physician who also happens to be gay. Her book explores what happens when her best friend is told by the administration of the hospital that he can no longer provide care for LGBTQ patients or risk being fired.
Kimmery talks to us about her childhood growing up in Eastern Kentucky, the humorous way she chose the profession for her main character, what the storyline of her next book will look like, and why physicians have a unique perspective for writing fiction.
Books and Authors Discussed in this Episode:
1- Any book by Bill Bryson
2- Queen of Hearts by Kimmery Martin
3- The Antidote for Everything by Kimmery Martin
4- Any book by Chris Bohjalian
5- Booked by Kwame Alexander
6- Emma by Jane Austen
7- The Innocents by Micheal Crummey
You can find us on FB, instagram (@perksofbeingabookloverpod) and on our blog site at www.perksofbeingabooklover.com
Perks airs on Forward Radio 106.5 FM and forwardradio.org every Wednesday at 6 pm, Thursdays at 6 am and 12 pm. We have purchased the rights to the theme music used.
Wednesday Mar 04, 2020
Ep. 36 The Literary Luck of the Irish with Niamh Lutes
Wednesday Mar 04, 2020
Wednesday Mar 04, 2020
It’s the beginning of March; a time for signs of spring, shamrocks, and St. Patrick’s Day when we all feel a little Irish.
Our guest today, Niamh Lutes, is a local music teacher, vocalist, and avid reader who grew up near Kilkenny, Ireland. She gives us a glimpse of a childhood in Ireland and a whole new world of Irish authors to add to our TBR.
Niamh talks to us about some of the Irish folktales she learned in school including the one for which she is named, why she hates the word chick lit, and what you absolutely shouldn’t ask for on St. Patrick’s Day if you are lucky enough to spend it in Ireland.
Books Mentioned in This Episode:
1- The Faraway Tree series / Famous Five series / Malory Towers series by Enid Blyton
2- Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
3- New Patches for Old by Christobel Mattingley
4- Peig: The Autobiography of Peig Sayers
5- Rachel's Holiday by Marian Keyes
6- P.S. I Love You / Roar by Cecelia Ahern
7- The Woman at 72 Derry Lane by Carmel Harrington
8- Crime fiction by Patricia Gibney
9- Angela and the Baby Jesus / Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt
10- The Commitments / The Snapper /The Van by Roddy Doyle
11- Ulysses by James Joyce
12- In the Woods by Tana French
13- How Many Miles to Babylon by Jennifer Johnston
14- Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward
15- Star of the Sea / Irish Man At Home and Abroad by Joseph O'Connor
16- Oh My God, What a Complete Aisling by Emer McLysaght and Sarah Breen
17- Under the Hawthorn Tree by Marita Conlon-McKenna
18- My Southern Journey: True Stories from the Heart of the South by Rick Bragg
19- March by Geraldine Brooks
You can find us on FB, instagram (@perksofbeingabookloverpod) and on our blog site at www.perksofbeingabooklover.com
Perks airs on Forward Radio 106.5 FM and forwardradio.org every Wednesday at 6 pm, Thursdays at 6 am and 12 pm. We have purchased the rights to the theme music used.