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Perks of Being a Book Lover is a show about books, people who read, and how reading, at its very best, is a social experience. Whether it be a book club, a poetry slam, or the production of a play; words are meant to be shared. Keep up with us on FB.
Episodes
7 days ago
7 days ago
Our website - www.perksofbeingabooklover.com.
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Facebook - Perks of Being a Book Lover.
To send us a message go to our website and click the Contact button.
You can find Rebecca Schinsky on IG @rebeccaschinsky and Book Riot at www.bookriot.com
In this week’s episode, we chat with Rebecca Schinsky, who is chief of staff for Riot New Media Group and co-host of The Book Riot podcast. Book Riot is the largest independent editorial book site in North America and book lovers can find all kinds of interesting stuff there, such as numerous podcasts, newsletters, and articles about different genres.
I have long been a listener of this podcast and love it because ….I am a book nerd through and through and this podcast gives me the inside look at the world of publishing. If you enjoy learning about trends and want the inside scoop about how and why certain books make it to your eyeballs or just want to have your pulse on bookish news, this podcast is for you. Rebecca talks to us about what book trends have had the biggest impact on the industry over the last 15 years, what other goodies you can find at Book Riot.com, and why social media flattens the book options we see in our feeds.
And this week for our book recommendations section, we put on our 10 gallon hats and our chaps because we’re talking about westerns. Westerns became popular in the late 1800s and derived from the dime novels of the mid-19th century. Many of these stories were later turned into movies in the 1940s and 1950s, which is probably the way most people had exposure to them. Films like High Noon and Shane were based on western stories. There was a second resurgence of western films based on novels between the 1970s-90s such as The Unforgiven and The Outlaw Josey Wales. We offer westerns that are in the graphic novel genre, the horror genre, literary fiction, and middle grade.
Books Mentioned in this Episode:
17- Four Treasures of the Sky by Jenny Tinghui Zhang
18- Whiskey When We're Dry by John Larison
19- The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt
20- Pony by RJ Palacio
Wednesday Mar 12, 2025
Wednesday Mar 12, 2025
Our website - www.perksofbeingabooklover.com.
Instagram - @perksofbeingabookloverpod
Facebook - Perks of Being a Book Lover.
To send us a message go to our website and click the Contact button.
You can find Katherine Marsh at her website www.katherinemarsh.com or on IG at @katherinemarshauthor.
This week we chat with Katherine Marsh, author of The Lost Year, a finalist for the 2023 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature. I recently discovered this book after one of our book club members selected another Katherine Marsh book, Nowhere Boy, for our August read. The Lost Year is middle-grade historical fiction and it is super timely because part of it is set in Ukraine in the 1930s. The story introduced me to a topic in Ukraine history I knew nothing about called the Holodomor. Katherine tells us all about her novel which was inspired by her relationship with her grandmother who was from Ukraine. It is a perfect book selection if you are curious about Ukrainian history that influences current events; reading this book would also allow you to check off having read something for Middle Grade March.
For our book recommendations in this episode, we’re talking about books in which cats are a central part of the story. We have some nonfiction selections, as well as literary fiction and graphic novels that will definitely appeal to your inner cat. If you don’t love cats, you can check out these books anyway for their compelling stories OR you can wait around for Amy to muscle Carrie into a future dog episode.
Books Mentioned in this Episode:
15- The Cat’s Meow: How Cats Evolved from the Savanna to Your Sofa by Jonathan B. Losos
16- Katie the Catsitter by Colleen AF Venable, illustrated by Stephanie Yue
17- The First Cat in Space Ate Pizza by Mac Barnett, illustrated by Shawn Harris
Wednesday Feb 26, 2025
Wednesday Feb 26, 2025
Our website - www.perksofbeingabooklover.com.
Instagram - @perksofbeingabookloverpod
Facebook - Perks of Being a Book Lover.
To send us a message go to our website and click the Contact button.
You can find Sariah Wilson at her website www.sariahwilson.com or on IG - @sariahwilsonauthor
We chat this week with Sariah Wilson, the author of many, many rom-coms, who recently published her first romantasy titled A Tribute of Fire. A Tribute of Fire is inspired by the myth of Cassandra who, if you remember, is the Trojan princess who was cursed with the ability to see the future but no one believes her. Sariah’s story focuses on Cassandra’s assault in Athena's temple by Greek hero Ajax and the resulting punishment which is that two maidens from Ajax’s home, Locris, will be sacrified. How exactly, this punishes Ajax, I’m not sure, but such is Greek myth.
Sariah talks to us about her favorite romance trope (which she hardly ever writes herself), the whirlwind backstory to the publishing of this book, and how the popularity of The Fourth Wing series really cracked open a whole new world for romance writers.
And for our book recommendations, we’re going to share some children’s picture books that have stories and illustrations we love. Earlier this month was National Picture Book Authors & Illustrators Week, but we don’t think you need a special week as an excuse to read a delightful picture book.
Books Mentioned in this Episode:
1- A Tribute of Fire by Sariah Wilson
9- Little Golden Book, The Christmas Story
10- Little Golden Book, Colors Are Nice
11- Little Golden Book Riddles, Riddles From A to Z
12- Little Golden Book, Mickey Mouse Picnic
13- Disney’s World of Wonders The Magic Grinder
14- The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats
15- Ferdinand the Bull by Munro Leaf
16- The Mitten by Jan Brett
17- Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett
18- The Monster at the End of This Book by Jon Stone
24- Mimi’s Dada Catifesto by Shelley Jackson
25- Oh, Bear by Melissa Nelson Greenberg. illustrated by Ruth Hengeveld
26- Boobies by Nancy Vo
27- The Cafe at the Edge of the Woods by Mickey Please
28- The Cave Downwind of the Cafe by Mickey Please
29- Shakespeare The Tempest by Georghia Ellinas, illustrated by Jane Ray
Media mentioned--
1- Stephen King/Maurice Sendak upcoming children's book - https://apnews.com/article/stephen-king-maurice-sendak-hansel-gretel-c9f8c7e18254d1e406b59e0ebe3cd20b
2- Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey - coming in 2026 -
https://variety.com/2025/film/news/the-odyssey-matt-damon-odysseus-christopher-nolan-1236311018/
3- The Return (2024)
Wednesday Feb 12, 2025
Wednesday Feb 12, 2025
Our website - www.perksofbeingabooklover.com.
Instagram - @perksofbeingabookloverpod
Facebook - Perks of Being a Book Lover.
To send us a message go to our website and click the Contact button.
You can find if there is a chapter of Silent Book Club near you or look into starting your own by going to their website; https://silentbook.club/
For show notes for any episode, go to our website at perksofbeingabooklover.com. We are also on Instagram @perksofbeingabookloverpod and on FB Perks of Being a BookLover. To send us a message, go to our website and click the Contact button.
Have you ever wanted to try a book club but they just seem too peopley? Or maybe you don’t want to be told what book you have to read. OR maybe you are looking for a place away from kids and responsibilities where nothing else but the words in front of you are vying for your attention. If any of these apply, then a Silent Book Club might be for you. Silent Book Club began in 2012 and is, according to their mission statement, a “global community of readers, with more than 1500 chapters in 54 countries around the world led by local volunteers. SBC members gather in public at bars, cafes, bookstores, libraries, and online to read together in quiet camaraderie.”
This week we chat with Brittany Brar, the leader of a local chapter of the Silent Book Club in Louisville, Kentucky. Brittany started the local chapter here in 2019, right before the pandemic with 5 people. She was new in town and didn’t know where to find a booklcub to join. Now the group has over 2000 members of their FB group and as many as 60 people have shown up to their monthly meetings. Brittany talks to us about how people have developed a new sense of community, when a powerpoint presentation can be regarded as fun, and her go-to genres
After our chat with Brittany, we will give you our recommendations for big honking books that meet not only your reading but also strength training goals.
Books Mentioned In This Episode:
13- Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett (976 pages)
14- Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver (546 pages)
15- When the World Tips Over by Jandy Nelson (528 pages)
16- East of Eden by John Steinbeck (601 pages)
17- A Five Star Read Recommended By Fellow Book Lover Kim Wells @the_salty_islander - A Home for Friendless Women by Kelly E. Hill
Wednesday Jan 29, 2025
Wednesday Jan 29, 2025
Our website - www.perksofbeingabooklover.com.
Instagram - @perksofbeingabookloverpod
Facebook - Perks of Being a Book Lover.
To send us a message go to our website and click the Contact button.
You can find Wes Browne at www.wesbrowneauthor.com or on IG at @browne_all_over
This week we chat with Wes Browne, a Michigan transplant who has been a Kentucky attorney for over 20 years. When he’s not lawyering, he writes crime fiction, and his most recent novel is called They All Fall the Same. In this novel, he picks up with a character who readers met in his first novel, Hillbilly Hustle. While Wes’s new book is not a sequel, readers were so intrigued by the character, Burl Spoon, that Wes felt like he could make an entire book around him. Burl is a character you love to hate, but readers also feel his humanity, which always makes for a more interesting bad guy.
We chat with Wes about how his job as a defense attorney has prepared him to write books that make you root for a bad guy, his passion for soft serve ice cream, and why a timeshare ended up giving him a book idea.
And in the second half of the show, we each give you 3 book recommendations on the theme of books about the art world.
Books Mentioned in This Episode:
1- If You Lived Here, You’d Be Here by Now: Why We Traded the Commuting Life for a Little House on the Prairie by Christopher Ingraham
2- The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
Media mentioned—
1- Come From Away —
Wednesday Jan 15, 2025
Wednesday Jan 15, 2025
Our website - www.perksofbeingabooklover.com.
Instagram - @perksofbeingabookloverpod
Facebook - Perks of Being a Book Lover.
To send us a message go to our website and click the Contact button.
You can find Meg Shaffer at www.megshaffer.com or on IG at meg_shaffer.
This week we officially begin Season 12 so we have both a guest and book recommendations on a particular theme. Our guest this week is Meg Shaffer, best-selling author of The Wishing Game and The Lost Story. She talks to us about shifting gears to write books for adults that read a lot like the cool fantasy books we read as kids (think The Chronicles of Narnia in The Lost Story). And for our book recs, we will each be sharing 3 books related to libraries.
Books mentioned—
21- The Nightmare Man by JH Markert
22- The Borrower by Rebecca Makkai
23- The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai
24- I Have Some Questions For You by Rebecca Makkai
25- Here Lies the Librarian by Richard Peck
26- A Year Down Yonder by Richard Peck
27- A Long Way From Chicago by Richard Peck
28- Reading Behind Bars: A True Story of Literature, Law, and Life as a Prison Librarian by Jill Grunenwald
29- Lonely Planet Hidden Libraries: The World's Most Unusual Book Depositories by DC Helmuth
30- The Godwick series by Tiffany Reisz
Squid Games (Netflix, 2021 - present)
Cunk on Life (Netflix, 2024)
Black Doves (Netflix, 2024)
Night of the Hunter (Tubi, 1955)
Tuesday Dec 31, 2024
Tuesday Dec 31, 2024
Website- www.perksofbeingabooklover.com.
Instagram - @perksofbeingabookloverpod
FaceBook - Perks of Being a BookLover.
To send us a message, go to our website and click the Contact button.
This week we are doing our 2024 recap, covering the books that earned 5 stars. We’ve also got some audio interspersed in the episode from 2024 guests to The Perks who also share their favorite books of the year. This is always one of our most popular episodes of the year.
And don’t forget, this new season is a whole new bag. We are going to every other week episodes and each one will include an interview with a bookish guest plus some book recommendations by us on a particular topic.
Books mentioned--
1- The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester
2- Woodworm by Layla Martinez
3- North Woods by Daniel Mason
4- Six Truths and a Lie by Ream Shukairy
5- Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
6- Greenwood by Michael Christie
7- Prophet Song by Paul Lynch
8- A Heart That Works by Rob Delaney
9- Tortilla Curtain by TC Boyle
10- The Library Book by Susan Orlean
11- The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride
12- The Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World by Eric Weiner
13- One of Us is Lying by Karen McManus
14- Intimacies by Katie Kitamura
15- I Have Some Questions For You by Rebecca Makkai
16- The Wedding People by Alison Espach
17- The Huntress by Kate Quinn
18- Finding Langston by Lesa Cline-Ransom
19- The Mostly True Story of Tanner and Louise by Colleen Oakley
20- All the Sinners Bleed by SA Cosby
21- Being Henry by Henry Winkler
22- The Weather Woman by Sally Gardner
23- Un Lun Dun by China Mieville
24- Border Crossings: A Journey on the Trans-Siberian Railway by Emma Fick
25- The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin
26- All the Ugly and Wonderful Things by Brynn Greenwood
27- That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon by Kimberly Lemming
28- The Husbands by Holly Gramazio
29- Sipsworth by Simon Van Booy
30- Arroyo Circle by JoeAnn Hart
31- Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our World , Change Our Minds, & Shape Our Futures by Merlin Sheldrake
Media mentioned--
1- Dune: Prophecy (HBO Max, 2024)
2- Shrinking (Apple+, 2024)
3- What We Do in the Shadows (Hulu)
4- The Professor and the Madman (Tubi, 2019)
5- Your Friend by Nate Bargatze (Netflix, 2024)
6- The Skinny by Jim Gaffigan (Hulu, 2024)
7- Catastrophe (Prime, 2015)
8- Three Body Problem (Netflix, 2024)
Wednesday Dec 18, 2024
Wednesday Dec 18, 2024
You can find Tracy Clark on social media on Instagram @tpclark2000 and on her website www.tracyclarkbooks.com/
For show notes for any episode, go to our website at www.perksofbeingabooklover.com. We are also on Instagram @perksofbeingabookloverpod and on FB Perks of Being a Book Lover
This week we have a Remix episode and catch up with Tracy Clark, who we interviewed in Season 8 (episode 161) about her first Harriet Foster novel titled Hide. Her most recent title, number 3 in the series, is called Echo, and it came out Dec 3. We chat with her about this book, as well as the Harriet Foster book she is currently writing. We caught her on a writing day in which Harriet Foster was not cooperating. Then you will hear some of our conversation with Tracy back in 2023 when Harriet Foster first arrived on the scene.
Books Mentioned In This Episode
1- Hide by Tracy Clark
2- Echo by Tracy Clark
3- Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys
4- Her Name is Knight series by Yasmin Angoe
5- Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
6-The Ninja's Oath (Lily Wong series) by Tori Eldridge
7- A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
8- Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
9- David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
10- American Fever by Dur e Aziz Almna
Authors mentioned:
1- Sarah Paretsky
2- Sue Grafton
3- Agatha Christie
4- Valerie Wilson Wesley
5- Barbara Neely
Wednesday Dec 11, 2024
Wednesday Dec 11, 2024
Our website - www.perksofbeingabooklover.com.
Instagram - @perksofbeingabookloverpod
Facebook - Perks of Being a Book Lover.
To send us a message go to our website and click the Contact button.
You can find Sharon Short at her website, www.sharonshort.com and on Instagram at @sharongshortauthor.
This week we have a Remix episode and catch up with Sharon Short, who we initially interviewed about her historical mystery novels which she wrote under the pen name Jess Montgomery. She has a new stand alone mystery suspense out titled Trouble Island that was inspired by a very interesting family story. You will first hear our most recent chat with her just a few weeks ago and then we will replay our original conversation with her back in the Spring of 2022 talking about her Kinship series.
Just a note that next week we will have another REMIX episode, this time with award winning mystery writer Tracy Clark whose most recent in the Detective Harriet Foster series came out Dec 3 titled Echo. The Washington Post has just named it one of their top mysteries of 2024.
Books Mentioned In this Episode:
1- Trouble Island by Jess Montgomery
2- The Widows by Jess Montgomery (Kinship series)
3- The Echoes by Jess Montgomery (Kinship series)
4- Shit Cassandra Saw by Gwen Kirby
5- Deer Season by Erin Flanagan
6- How the Word is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America by Clint Smith
Wednesday Dec 04, 2024
Wednesday Dec 04, 2024
This is a REPLAY episode from our Holiday gift buying guide from 2023. We will be back next week with a REMIX episode with former guest Tracy Clark who has a new mystery you won't want to miss.
This week we chat with our favorite bookseller, Sam Miller, from Carmichael’s Bookstore. Each November we let her do the heavy lifting and share books that have come out and might be good choices for your holiday shopping.
If you would like to check out Carmichael’s Bookstore Holiday Book Gift Guide, you can find it online at www.carmichaelsbookstore.com/
Website- www.perksofbeingabooklover.com.
Instagram - @perksofbeingabookloverpod
FaceBook - Perks of Being a BookLover.
To send us a message, go to our website and click the Contact button.
Books Mentioned in this Episode:
1- Wrong Place Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister
2- Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan
3- Foster by Claire Keegan
4- So Late in the Day by Claire Keegan
5- Let us Descend by Jesmyn Ward
6- Fraud by Zadie Smith
7- Armor of Light by Ken Follett
8- Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
9- Julia by Sandra Newman
10- 1984 by George Orwell
11- Reformatory by Tananarive Due
12- Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead
13- A Haunting on the Hill by Elizabeth Hand
14- The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
15- West Heart Kill by Dann Mcdorman
16- The Twyford Code by Janice Hallett
17- The Appeal by Janice Hallett
18- The Christmas Appeal by Janice Hallett
19- Stalking Shakespeare by Lee Durkee
20- They Flew by Carlos Eire
21- Waiting for Snow in Havana by Carlos Eire
22- Wild Girls by Tiya Miles
23- The Comfort of Crows by Margaret Renkl
24- Late Migrations by Margaret Renkl
25- Watership Down (graphic novel) by James Sturm and Joe Sutphin
26- Watership Down by Richard Adams
27- Energy Follows Thought by Willie Nelson
28- World Within a Song by Jeff Tweedy
29- Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros
30- Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
31- Starling House by Alix E. Harrow
32- Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree
33- Legend & Lattes by Travis Baldree
34- World Central Kitchen Cookbook by Jose Andres
35- Every Cook, Every Kitchen by Feed Louisville
36- Oldest Louisville by Kevin Gibson
37- Always Moving Forward by David Jones and Bob Hill
38- Back Page by Byron Crawford
39- Fathers by Richard Taylor
40- From the Heads of the Hollers by Shelby Lee Adams
41- Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts by Crystal Wilkinson
42- Lewis Sinclair and the Gentlemen Cowboys by DMS Fick
43- Rabbit Heart by Kristine S. Ervin
44- My Dark Places by James Ellroy
45- Shot in the Heart by Mikal Gilmore
46- Tom Lake by Ann Patchett
47- The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride
48- The Man who Invented Christmas: How Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol Rescued his Career and Revived our Holiday Spirits by Les Standiford
49- Mr. Dickens and His Carol by Samantha Silva
5 Star Read Recommended by Fellow Book Lover Casey @Caseys_reads
12 Months To Live by James Patterson and Mike Lupica
Movie and Series Mentioned:
- CODA (2021) - Apple +
- Bodies (2023) - Netflix