S12:Ep257 - A Forty Year Kiss with Guest Nickolas Butler + Book Club Recs - 5/7/25

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You can find Nickolas Butler at https://nickolasbutler.com/ or on IG @wiscobutler

 

Amy discovered Nickolas Butler earlier this year when she attended the author event for his newest novel A Forty Year Kiss at Carmichael’s Bookstore. Nick has six novels and a collection of short stories under his belt, but A Forty Year Kiss may be his first love story.  His mind was set to wondering after he overheard a passionate conversation in his favorite local bar between two older people, a conversation that made him blush just a little. He began playing with the idea of what this couple’s back story was. Nick’s book asks readers to consider the difference between first love and love between mature adults, how life’s baggage affects personal relationships, and whether people can really change. 

 

Nick also talks to us about his rural Wisconsin roots, why he read Babysitter Club books in his childhood, and the debate on whether he should wear a cape.  

 

For our book recommendation section of this episode, we decided to find some of our favorite books we’ve read as a result of being in a book club together for two decades. For the most part, our book club chooses novels, but there is one memoir in the lot, as well as contemporary fiction, historical fiction, sci-fi, and a classic. 

 

Books Discussed in this Episode:

 

1- A Forty Year Kiss by Nickolas Butler

 

2- Shotgun Lovesongs by Nickolas Butler

 

3- A Paris Year by Janice MacLeod

 

4- Godspeed by Nickolas Butler 

 

5- Love, Hope & Carnage by Nick Cave and Sean O'Hagan

 

6- The Fertile Earth and the Ordered Cosmos edited by M. Elizabeth Weiser

 

7- Marlena by Julie Buntin

 

8- A Lesser Light by Peter Geye

 

9- Down & Out in Paradise: The Life of Anthony Bourdain by Charles Leerhsen

 

10- Floreana by Midge Raymond

 

11- Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald by Therese Anne Fowler

 

12- Super Zelda: The Graphic Life of Zelda Fitzgerald by Tiziana Lo Porto

 

13- A Five Star Read Recommended by Fellow Book Lover Cindy B. - Strange Pictures by Uketsu, translated by Jim Rion

 

14- The Velvet Hours by Alyson Richman

 

15- The Girl With All the Gifts by MR Carey

 

16- Molokai by Alan Brennert

 

17- Burial Rites by Hannah Kent

 

18- Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood by Alexa Fuller

 

19- This is How it Always Is by Laurie Frankel

 

20- A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

 

Media mentioned—

 

1- http://www.astoriedstyle.com/a-look-into-the-past-an-untouched-1942-paris-apartment/

 

2- Ancient mounds in OH - www.hopeweklearthworks.org

 

 

 

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