S14:Ep274 - The International Book Project with Guest Rachel Ray + Espionage Book Recommendations 3/4/26

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This week we talk to Rachel Ray, CEO of the International Book Project, a nonprofit organization in Lexington, KY that helps make book lovers out of people all over the world. She talks to us about the logistics of shipping books and how close relationships with the Peace Corps and other nonprofits help get English-language books into people’s hands. 

 

And for our book recommendation section of the show, we are focusing on spies, but these definitely aren’t of the James Bond variety. We offer up 6 book suggestions that stretch our understanding of an espionage story.  We are light on books set during the Cold War or World War II but instead focus on outside-the-box spy characters.   

 

Books Mentioned In This Episode:

1- A Dark Room in Glitter Ball City by David Dominé

2- The White Heart of the Mojave: An Adventure with the Outdoors of the Desert by Edna Brush Perkins 

3- Ghost Town Living: Mining for Purpose and Chasing Dreams at the Edge of Death Valley by Brent Underwood

4- Discworld series by Terry Pratchett 

5- The Storyteller of Casablanca by Fiona Valpy 

6- Poets Square: A Memoir in Thirty Cats by Courtney Gustafson 

7- A 5 Star Read by a Fellow Book Lover Jenni Potter Scott @storytimereviews - Theo of Golden by Allen Levi 

8- Oxford Soju Club by Jinwoo Park 

9- Who is Vera Kelly? by Rosalie Knecht

10- An Extraordinary Union by Alyssa Cole 

11- Liar and Spy by Rebecca Stead 

12- Mr. Nice Spy by Tiana Smith 

13- The Faithful Spy: Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Plot to Kill Hitler by John Hendrix

 

Media Mentioned:

1- Murder in Glitterball City - HBO Max, 2026

2- John Hendrix - Link to The Faithful Spy research - https://goose-hawk-c589.squarespace.com/bonhoeffer-research