The Perks Of Being A Book Lover Podcast

S. 7 Ep. 156 Holiday Gift-Giving with Bookseller Sam Miller 11/23-/2

This is our holiday gift-giving episode with Sam Miller from Carmichael’s Bookstore. Sam always gives us great recommendations for what to buy from literary fiction to cookbooks to picture books.

To see Carmichael’s Holiday Gift guide visit their website at www.carmichaelsbookstore.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

Books Mentioned in This Episode:

1- We All Want Impossible Things by Catherine Newman

2- Galatea by Madeline Miller

3- Toad by Katherine Dunn

4- Geek Love by Katherine Dunn

5- The Passenger by Cormac McCarthy

6- Stella Maris by Cormac McCarthy

7- The Whalebone Theater by Joanna Quinn

8- All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

9- Marple: Twelve New Mysteries by Agatha Christie

10- Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn

11- White Horse by Erika T. Wurth

12- Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng

13- Lark Ascending by Silas House

14- Leech by Hiron Ennes

15- The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times by Michelle Obama

16- Year of the Tiger by Alice Wong

17- Disability Visibility by Alice Wong

18- Inciting Joy: Essays by Ross Gay

19- The Revolutionary: Samuel Adams by Stacy Schiff

20- And There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle by Jon Meacham

21- The Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Man: Paul Newman by Paul Newman

23- Gateau: The Surprising Simplicity of French Cakes by Aleksandra Crapanzano

24- Home is Where the Eggs Are by Molly Yeh

23- Dinner in One by Melissa Clark

24- Go-To-Dinners by Ina Garten

25- Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

26- David Copperfield by Charles Dickens

27- Runaway: Notes On the Myths That Made Me by Erin Keane

28- Landings: A Crooked Creek Farm Year by Arwen Donohue

29- Waverly Hills Sanatorium: A History by Lynn Pohl

30- How It Went: Thirteen More Stories of the Port William Membership by Wendell Berry

31- Farmhouse by Sophie Blackall

32- Stinky Cheese Man by Jon Scieszka

33- The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka

34- The Real Dada Mother Goose by Jon Scieszka

33- This Story is Not About a Kitten by Randall de Seve

34- The Stars Did Wander Darkling by Colin Meloy

35- The Door of No Return by Kwame Alexander

36- The Crossover by Kwame Alexander

37- Braiding Sweetgrass for Young Adults by Robin Wall Kimmerer

38- The Wolf Suit by Sid Sharp

39- The Nightmare Man by J.H. Markert

40- A White Wind Blew by James Markert

41- Babel by R.F. Kuang

42- Happy Go Lucky by David Sedaris

Shows mentioned--
The Last Movie Stars directed by Ethan Hawke (HBO Max)

S. 7 Ep. 155 - Fashion and Fiction with Guest Jacqueline Firkins 11-16-22

We love finding people who do interesting bookish things that are a little out of the ordinary, and our guest this week is costume designer and author Jacqueline Firkins who combines her amazing dressmaking skills with her love of novels. She creates dresses based on book covers that you can see on her Instagram page or her website. Located in Vancouver, Jacqueline teaches at the University of British Columbia.

We also lucked out because we were also able to chat with Jacqueline about her new book which just hit book stores two weeks ago titled Marlowe Banks, Redesigned, a rom-com featuring a behind the scenes look at the costume designing world.

You can find Jacqueline Firkins and pictures of her amazing dresses on Instagram @jfkillsdarlings and at her website www.jacquelinefirkins.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.

Books Mentioned In This Episode:

1- Marlowe Banks, Redesigned by Jacqueline Firkins

2- Spells for Lost Things by Jenna Evans Welch

3- Ink in the Blood by Kim Smejkal

4- Small Favors by Erin Craig

5- The Summer of Bitter and Sweet by Jen Ferguson

6- Asleep: The Forgotten Epidemic that Remains One of Medicine's Greatest Mysteries by Molly Caldwell Crosby

7- Awakenings by Oliver Sacks

8- Interview With the Vampire by Anne Rice

9- Thanks for Listening by Julia Whelan (audiobook narrated by Julia Whelan)

10- My Oxford Year by Julia Whelan

Shows mentioned--
1- Sandman (Netflix 2022)

2- Awakenings (1990)

3- Interview with the Vampire (1994)

4- Interview with a Vampire (AMC 2022)

S. 7 Ep. 154 Around The World Reading: Australia with Guest Lily Raiti

We are back with a global reader episode this week and are traveling to Australia using the magic of the internet. We had the pleasure of chatting with Lily Raiti, an avid reader who lives outside Melbourne and has worked as a personal trainer for 16 years and also does some freelance copyediting on the side.

It’s always fun to hear about what book lovers in other places are reading and Lily had some great indigenous author suggestions for us which we’ll have in our show notes for you to check out. Of course, Lily also had to answer some general Australia questions like how far it takes to fly from one city to another but we avoided anything about Crocodile Dundee.

You can find Lily Raiti on Instagram @lilyraiti.

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

Books Mentioned in this Episode:

1- Books by Enid Blyton

2- Sweet Valley High by Francine Pascal

3- Flowers in the Attic by VC Andrews

4- The White Girl by Tony Birch

5- The Yield by Tara June Winch

6- Terra Nullius by Claire G. Coleman

7- Too Much Lip by Melissa Lucashenko

8- The Boy From the Mish by Gary Lonesborough

9- The Dry by Jane Harper

10- Picture books by Graeme Base

11- Books by Henry Lawson

12- My Brilliant Career and other books by Miles Franklin

13- The Year of Magical Thinking and other books by Joan Didion

14- My Name is Lucy Barton and other books by Elizabeth Strout

15- Beloved and other books by Toni Morrison

16- The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett

17- Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

18- The Change by Kirsten Miller

19- Wolf Hollow by Lauren Wolk

20- The Unbelieved by Vikki Petraitis

21- The Happiest Man on Earth by Eddie Jaku (Audiobook narrated by Raphael Corkhill)

S. 7 Ep. 153- Weathering a Poetic Storm with Guest Ellen Hagan - 11/2/22

We saw this week’s guest in early fall at Carmichael’s Bookstore when she read aloud from her latest book, Don’t Call Me a Hurricane. Ellen Hagan has roots in Kentucky and is part of Spalding University’s low residency MFA faculty but lives and works in New York City. She is a poet, fiction writer, performer, and teacher for several programs including the The DreamYard Project and the International Poetry Exchange Program, programs geared towards young people. She is also the author of many books for teens, including Watch Us Rise, a book she wrote in collaboration with Renee Watson.

Don’t Call Me a Hurricane is a YA novel written in verse that addresses climate change, romantic, family, and friend relationships, as well as the tension between tourism and ecology.

You can find more information about Ellen Hagan on social media @ellenhagan or her website www.ellenhagan.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.

Books Mentioned In This Episode:
1- Don't Call Me a Hurricane by Ellen Hagan

2- Watch Us Rise by Renee Watson and Ellen Hagan

3- The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo

4- Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse

5- Rivers of London/Midnight Riot by Ben Aaronovitch, narrated by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith

6- Naruda on the Park by Cleyvis Natera

7- Vinyl Moon by Mahogany L. Browne

8- I Came All This Way to Meet You by Jami Attenberg

9- Mary Jane by Jessica Anya Blau; audiobook narrated by Cailtin Kinnunen

10- Reckless, Glorious, Girl by Ellen Hagan

S. 7 Ep. 152 - Dark Academia’s Haunts and Curses with Guest Lee Mandelo 10-26-22

To close out October this week, we chat with Lee Mandelo, author of Summer Sons, which recently went into paperback. This creepy novel is hard to categorize because it’s queer Southern Gothic, dark academia, and ghost story. It also touches on issues of race and class. The book is an amalgam of a lot of different ideas rolled into a complex story of friendship, grief, and family curses. We’re so glad Lee joined us to chat about their novel as well as an upcoming novella titled Feed Them Silence which comes out in spring 2023.

You can find more information about Lee Mandelo on their social media @leemandelo

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.

Books Mentioned in this Episode:

1- Summer Sons by Lee Mandelo

2- Feed them Silence by Lee Mandelo

3- Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

4- Factory Girls by Michelle Gallen

5- The Haunting of Hajji Hotak and Other Stories by Jamil Jan Kochai

6- Alive At the End of the World by Saeed Jones

7- Prelude to Bruise by Saeed Jones

8- How We Fight For Our Lives by Saeed Jones

9- The Wehrwolf by Alma Katsu (Amazon Original Story)

10- The Fervor by Alma Katsu

Shows mentions--

1- Queer for Fear: The History of Queer Horror

Online Store Website and Instagram

1- Gothic Bullshit @gothicbullshit- www.gothicbullshit.com

REPLAY S. 5 Ep. 109 - Horror Is Like A Jar Of Salsa with guest Johann Trotter

We are halfway through spooky October and maybe you are looking for a good scary book to read. Our guest today, Johann Trotter, can give you some tips. Johann lives in Northern Ireland and works as a scientific researcher. But her hobby gone wild is horror in all its forms. She is a self-professed horror junkie. She is a bit obsessed with Stephen King, but on her instagram page @jobis89, you can find a wide variety of non-Stephen King horror book suggestions and reviews to make any spooky reader happy.

She is currently doing a 2 year project to read a horror book set in each of the 50 US States. We do a deep dive into the horror genre this week.

You can find Johann Trotter on instagram, @Jobis89.

Books mentioned--
1- Turn of the Screw by Henry James
2- The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
3- His Hideous Heart edited by Dahlia Adler
4- "The Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar Allan Poe
5- "The Oval Portrait" by Edgar Allan Poe
6- Roald Dahl books
7- Goosebumps series
8- Babysitters Club series
9- The Hobbit by JRR Tolkein
10- Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkein
11- The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty
12- Whisper Man by Alex North
13- Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
14- Dracula by Bram Stoker
15- In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
16- Moon Over Babylon by Michael McDowell
17- The Elementals by Michael McDowell
18- The Haunting of Alma Fielding: A True Story by Kate Summerscale
19- Ghost Story by Peter Straub
20- A Spindle Splintered by Alix E. Harrow

Johann's Top Horror Writers
1- Stephen King
2- H. P. Lovecraft
3- Clive Barker
4- Ania Ahlborn
5- David Sodergren
6- Kealan Patrick Burke

Websites/ phone app mentioned--
The Storygraph

Podcasts mentioned--
1- Ghost Stories from the London Dungeon
2- Poe Theater on the Air

TV/Movies mentioned--
1- Only Murders in the Building
2- A Nightmare on Elm Street
3- Scream
4- Trick or Treat
5- Halloween
6- Sleepy Hollow
7- Hocus Pocus

Music mentioned--
1- The Evil Eye and the Hideous Heart, composed by Alan Lee Silva

Find us

www.perksofbeingabooklover.com.

FB - The Perks of Being a Book Lover
Instagram - @perksofbeingabookloverpod

 

S. 7 Ep. 151 - Library Haunts with Guest Stacie Dotson from the Willard Library - 10-12-22

Many book lovers could spend hours in a library wandering around perusing the shelves, but the Willard Library in Evansville, Indiana is a little more unique because it houses not only books and magazines but some spooky residents. In the 1930s, staff members and patrons first started seeing apparitions including a woman in Victorian clothing named The Gray Lady, a gentleman named Frank, and a little boy named Billy Bobby who likes to play on the stairs. These are friendly ghosts and each year the Willard conducts free ghost tours to the public. You can also keep track of the ghosts for yourself through their ghost cams that they have set up in various locations through the library.

This week we speak to Stacie Dotson, a staff member at the Willard Library who is considered their ghost guru. She is a lover of the paranormal and in fact has a fairly unique background herself which makes her perfect for this job. Stacie has had several encounters with the ghostly residents and she fills us in.

You can find more information about the Willard Library, their ghost tours, and ghost cams at www.willardghost.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

Books Mentioned in this Episode:

1- A House at the Bottom of a Lake by Josh Malerman

2- Bird Box by Josh Malerman

3- Deserter (manga) by Junji Ito

4- The Trial of Lizzie Borden by Cara Robertson

5- Starvation Heights by Gregg Olsen

6- The Stranger Beside Me by Ann Rule

7- Foote by Tom Bredehoft

8- Yours Cruelly, Elvira: Memoirs of the Mistress of the Dark by Cassandra Peterson

9- Disney Villains series by Serena Valentino

10- The Promised Neverland by Kaiu Shirai

11- Devolution: A Firsthand Account of the Rainier Sasquatch Massacre by Max Brooks

Shows mentioned--
1- Ghost Hunters
2- Promised Neverland series (2019 - 2021) - Netflix

S. 7 Ep. 150 - Making Reading Less Scary with Guest Tyler Miller 10-5-22

In this week’s episode, we chat with Tyler Miller, founder of Reluctant Reader Books, a company that makes books for kids who hate to read. He is also author to several books for young readers in the Nevermore series, including We Bury the Living. In our conversation, Tyler tells us about why he started Reluctant Reader Books and how these books pull in younger readers who don’t normally find books appealing. He also tells us about other authors whose horror-lite novels are ones he recommends.

You can find Tyler Miller and Reluctant Readers on their social media at @reluctantreaderbooks and on their website at www.reluctantreaderbooks.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 BookLover

Books Mentioned in this Episode:

1- Nevermore series by Tyler Miller (We Bury the Living, The Thirteenth Floor, Death Cab)

2-Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling

3- Goosebumps series by R.L. Stine

4- The Jack Henry novels by Jack Gantos

6- The Haunting of Avaline Jones (and others in series) by Phil Hickes

7- The Goolz Next Door series by Gary Ghislain

8- I Know Your Secret by Daphne Benedis-Grab

9- The Smashed Man of Dread End by JW Ocker

10- Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark series by Alvin Schwartz

11- Monsterstreet series by J.H. Reynolds

12- Fright Vision series by Culliver Crantz

13- Carmilla by J. Sheridan Le Fanu

14- Dracula by Bram Stoker

15- Uncle Silas by J. Sheridan Le Fanu

16- This Appearing House by Ally Malinenko

17- Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

18- Wylding Hall by Elizabeth Hand

19- Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

20- Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier

21- We Sold Our Souls by Grady Hendrix

Movies/Shows mentioned--
1- Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)

2- Studio 666 (2022)

3- The Why Files (YouTube)

S. 7 Ep. 149 - Manhattan, Myths, and Mom with Guest Erin Keane 9-28-22

This week’s show gave us an opportunity to speak to Erin Keane, who is the editor in chief of Salon.com but also a well-known Louisville writer who has recently published a book that defies classification a bit—it is a family memoir, but it is also an examination of history and culture.

Erin’s book, Runaway: Notes on the Myths That Made Me, covers a lot of ground. While it is based on her mother’s runaway experience in her early teens in the 1970s, it is also about how her parents met and married when Erin’s now deceased father was in his 30s and her mother was 15. Erin explores the myths she held about her father, how they shaped her life, and how certain myths shape all of our lives. The LA Times listed Runaway as one of its 30 most anticipated books of fall.

You can find Erin Keane on Instagram and Twitter at @eekshecried.

For show notes for any episode, go to our website at www.perksofbeingabooklover.com.
We are on Instagram @perksofbeingabookloverpod and on FB Perks of Being a Book Lover.

Books Mentioned in this Episode:

1- Runaway: Notes From the Myths That Made Me by Erin Keane

2- Out Came the Sun by Mariel Hemingway

3- A Botanist's Guide to Parties and Poisons by Kate Khavari

4- The Year of the Horses by Courtney Maum

5- All I Should Not Tell by Brian Leung

6- We Are the Ants by Shaun David Hutchinson

Movies mentioned--
Manhattan (1979)

S. 7 Ep. 148 - Music To Your Ears with Guest Susan Rogers 9-21-22

Our show this week is for people who love music….or even just like music. And it doesn’t matter what type of music you like so long as you like it. Our guest is Susan Rogers, a professor at Berklee College of Music who holds a PhD in psychology. But before she was a professor, she was a staff engineer and record producer for artists such as Prince, Barenaked Ladies, and David Byrne, making her one of the few women in the industry to have those accomplishments.

Her book which she wrote with Ogi Ogas, a writer who trained as a computational neuroscientist, is called This is What it Sounds Like: What the Music You Love Says About You and it came out just this week. It is a fascinating read but also very approachable for people who aren’t neuroscientists or musicians but like to listen to music.

- For show notes for any episode, go to our website at www.perksofbeingabooklover.com.
- We are also on Instagram @perksofbeingabookloverpod and FB Perks of Being a BookLover

Books Mentioned in this Episode:

1- This is What it Sounds Like: What the Music You Love Says About You by Susan Rogers and Ogi Ogas

2-Dark Horse: Achieving Success Through the Pursuit of Fulfillment by Todd Rose and Ogi Ogas

3- Ariadne by Jennifer Saint

4- Circe by Madeline Miller

5- The Witch's Heart by Genevieve Gornichec

6- Mythology by Edith Hamilton

7- The Stone Loves the World by Brian Hall

8- I Should Be Extremely Happy In Your Company: A Novel of Lewis and Clark by Brian Hall

9- The History of the World in 100 Animals by Simon Barnes

Shows mentioned--
Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom