The Perks Of Being A Book Lover Podcast

Perks REPLAY - Double Dutch Debut with guest Brittany Thurman

This week we chat with Brittany Thurman, a native of Kentucky, who has recently published her first children’s picture book titled FLY illustrated by Anna Cunha. She worked as a children's specialist at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh which is where the idea to write her own book occurred, and she even took inspiration from one of the children who would come to her storytimes. FLY is the story of a young girl who wants to enter a double dutch jump rope competition but doesn’t know how to double dutch. She asks her friends for tips and while they don't know how either, they each give her a piece of knowledge that helps her be more confident in her dreams.

In this episode, she tells about the creation of this book as well as other books that she has in the pipeline, including one about the first public library built for and staffed by African Americans in the United States, which is the Western branch of the Louisville Free Public Library system. Brittany is a very busy new author.

You can find Brittany on instagram at @britjanee and at her website at www.brittanythurman.com.

Follow us on Facebook at The Perks of Being a Book Lover or on Instagram at @perksof beingabookoverpod to see what we're up to. For show notes for any episode, go to our website at www.perksofbeingabooklover.com.

Books Mentioned in this Episode:

1- Fly by Brittany Thurman and Illustrated by Anna Cunha

2- Fearless: Boulevard of Dreams by Mandy Gonzalez with Brittany Thurman

3- Forever and Always by Brittany Thurman

4- Addie Walker--American Girl series

5- Goosebumps series by R.L.Stine

6- Replica series by Marilyn Kaye

7- Mary Kate & Ashley series

8- A Surgeon in the Village: An American Doctor Teaches Brain Surgery in Africa by Tony Bartelme

9- Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese

10- Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi

11- Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

12- Stunt Boy, in the Meantime by Jason Reynolds

13- A Comb of Wishes by Lisa Stringfellow

14- Red, White and Whole by Rajani LaRocca

Perks REPLAY - Treks with Toddlers to Teens with guest Kate Wickers

This is the time of year when lots and lots of people travel so it makes sense to have a travel memoirist on our show. Kate Wickers is a British writer who has spent 25 years or so writing about her extensive travel experiences and publishing in magazines and newspapers all over the world. When COVID hit, she decided to turn her many travels with her husband and three sons into a collection of essays about what travel has meant to their family and the lessons they’ve learned from the experiences travel has given them.

Her memoir, Shape of a Boy, offers a collection of really great stories that will make any parent who has traveled with children go down their own memory lane to remember both the highs and lows of travel when kids are involved. And we’re not the only ones who think her memoir is pretty awesome. National Geographic Traveller listed it as one of the “9 Best Travel Books for 2022.”

You can find Kate Wickers on Instagram at @wickers.kate and at her website www.katewickers.com

Follow us on Facebook at The Perks of Being a Book Lover

Instagram - @perksofbeingabookoverpod

For show notes for any episode, go to our website at www.perksofbeingabooklover.com.

Books Mentioned In This Episode:

1- Shape of a Boy by Kate Wickers

2- The Tale of Halcyon Crane by Wendy Webb

3- Lycanthropy and Other Chronic Illnesses by Kristen O'Neal

4- The Marmalade Diaries: The True Story of an Odd Couple by Ben Aitken

5- The Gran Tour: Travels with My Elders by Ben Aitken

6- Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

7- Da Vinci's Cat by Catherine Gilbert Murdock

Perks REPLAY - Hyphenated Lives with guest Namrata Patel

We have a REPLAY episode for you this week.

Novelist Namrata Patel was on the show last June when her debut novel The Candid Life of Meena Dave came out. Just last week she had a new novel published, The Scent of A Garden. Both books feature complex multi-generational Indian-American families.

**
Namrata Patel has been writing for 20 years, but it wasn’t until the pandemic that she had more time to work on it. She had always been interested in dual culture and challenges of the diaspora, specifically Indians who had moved to the United States. The isolation of COVID really brought home how lonely life can be if you don’t feel like you fit anywhere. Her debut novel The Candid Life of Meena Dave follows a photojournalist who inherits an apartment from a stranger. The apartment in Back Bay Boston surrounds her with a close-knit network of other Indian-Americans. Meena comes to learn more about herself and her culture, as well as understands the gift of found family and friendship through this experience.

You can find Namrata Patel on instagram at @namratapatelauthor, on Twitter at Nampatel or on her author website, www.nampatel.com.

Follow us on Facebook at The Perks of Being a Book Lover

Instagram at @perksofbeingabookoverpod

For show notes for any episode, go to our website at www.perksofbeingabooklover.com.

Books Mentioned In This Episode:

1- A Room With a View by E. M. Forster

2- Six Days in Rome by Franscesca Giacco

3- My Italian Bulldozer by Alexander McCall Smith

4- The Candid Life of Meena Dave by Namrata Patel

5- Books by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

6- Leonard: My Life as a Cat by Carly Sarosiak

7- The Nineties by Chuck Klosterman

8- The Storyteller: Tales of Life and Music by Dave Grohl

9- Word by Word by Kory Stamper

10- Tidepool by Nicole Willson

11- A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket

12- Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

13- Persuasion by Jane Austen

14- FBI/US Attorneys series by Julie James

15- Into Thin Air by John Krakauer

Movies mentioned--
ET: The ExtraTerrestrial (1982)

Shows mentioned--
Lovecraft Country (HBO)

S8 Ep181 - Catch the June Reading Bug - 6-21-23

This week we celebrate all the special days of June! Want a book rec for Pride month? We have one. What about Juneteenth or Father's Day? We have you covered. And did you know it's National Audiobook Month? It's new to us as well but we love audiobooks so we give you some recommendations for that too. And we throw in one wildcard category - one of those random National Days or Months that always makes you wonder why there needs to be a month for that:)

This is the last episode for Season 8. We are taking a month off for summer family travel and some rest and relaxation. We will be back the late July/ early August with all new episodes. Until then, we will air some of our favorite past episodes in case you missed them the first time around.

Happy Reading!

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

Books Mentioned in this Episode:

1- Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy

2- The Road by Cormac McCarthy

3- No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy

4- Changes: A Love Story by Ama Ata Aidoo

5- Our Sister Killjoy by Ama Ata Aidoo

6- The Scent of a Garden by Namrata Patel

7- The Candid Life of Meena Dave by Namrata Patel

8- The Scent of Burnt Flowers by Blitz Bazawule

9- Fun Home: A Famliy Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel

10- Dykes to Watch Out For by Alison Bechdel

11- And Then the Grey Heaven by RE Katz

12- Lone Women by Victor Lavalle

13- The Changeling by Victor Lavalle

14- Invasion of the Body Snatchers by Jack Finney

15- The Door of No Return by Kwame Alexander

16- The Sweetness of Water by Nathan Harris

17- The Chosen by Chaim Potok

18- Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love by Dani Shapiro

19- The Thing About Jellyfish by Ali Benjamin

20- The Soul of an Octopus by Sy Montgomery

21- Phallacy: Life Lessons from the Animal Penis by Emily Willingham

22- The Good One by Polly Stewart

23- On Earth as it is on Television by Emily Jane

Shows/movies mentioned--

1- No Country For Old Men ( 2007)

2- My Octopus Teacher (Netflix, 2020)

Articles Mentioned:

1- Ama Ata Aidoo, Ghanaian writer who was voice of African women, dies at 81

2- The convoluted world of best-seller lists, explained

S8 Ep. 180 - Who? What? Wear with guest Vicki Johnson - 6/14/23

This week we chat with Vicki Johnson, a debut picture book author whose book, Molly’s Tuxedo, is a delightful story about a child who doesn’t want to wear the frilly, itchy dress and tight shoes her mother thinks is appropriate for school pictures. Molly wants to wear…you guessed it, a tuxedo that has pockets. The book, which is illustrated by Gillian Reid, was published by Little Bee Books in collaboration with GLAAD, a nonprofit organization focused on LGBTQ advocacy and ensuring fair, accurate, and inclusive representation. Vicki tells us all about it and the path to her becoming a writer. 

She tells us about her move from DC to a small 200 year old cabin in the woods of WV, her sweaty history, and her new app that has rocked her world.

You can find Vicki at her website www.vickijohnsonwrites.com or on Instagram at @vickijohnsonwrites. You can also see her past work on Instagram at @cabin.reads.

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- Molly's Tuxedo by Vicki Johnson

2- Wool (Silo series #1) by Hugh Howey

3- The Pants Project by Cat Clarke

4- The Daughters of Ys by MT Anderson

5- Everywhere With You by Carlie Sorosiak

6- Negative Cat by Sophie Blackall

7- Grandad's Camper by Harry Woodgate

8- Grandma Gatewood's Walk: The Inspiring Story of the Woman Who Saved the Appalachian Trail by Ben Montgomery

9- A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson

10- Grandma Gatewood Hikes the Appalachian Trail by Jennifer Thermes

 

TV series mentioned:

1- Platonic (2022 - Apple +)

2- Silo (2022 - Apple +)

 

Apps mentioned:

1- Merlin Bird ID

2- Seek

S8 Ep. 179 Summer Reading With Guest Sam Miller of Carmichael’s Books 6-7-23

At the start of summer, we like to chat with Sam Miller, bookseller and manager at Carmichael’s Bookstore here in Louisville (We actually like to chat with Sam anytime, but she has especially useful information about new books twice a year.) Sam does the heavy lifting this week by telling us what is coming out and might be good for your TBR list.

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 Book Lover.

Books mentioned in this episode:

1- The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer

2- Tom Lake by Ann Patchett

3- Be Mine by Richard Ford

4- The Invisible Hour by Alice Hoffman

5- The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese

6- The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride

7- Color of Water by James McBride

8- Deacon King Kong by James McBride

9- The Tusk that Did the Damage by Tania James

10- Loot by Tania James

11- Happy Place by Emily Henry

12- I Didn’t Do It by Jamie Lynn Hendricks

13- Only One Left by Riley Sager

14- Gorky Park by Martin Cruz Smith

15- Independence Square by Martin Cruz Smith

16- Small Mercies by Dennis LeHane

17- Titanium Noir by Nick Harkaway

18- Immortal Longings by Chloe Gong

19- Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

20- The Other Renaissance by Paul Strathern

21- Ice by Amy Brady

22- The Soldier’s Truth: Ernie Pyle and the Story of World War II by David Chrisinger

23- Monsters: A Fan’s Dilemma by Claire Dederer

24- A Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

25- Pageboy by Elliot Page

26- Don’t Tell Anybody the Secrets I Told You by Lucinda Williams

27- Meet Me Tonight in Atlantic City by Jane Wong

28- King: A Life by Jonathan Eig

29- Quietly Hostile by Samantha Irby

30- Sweet Enough: A Dessert Cookbook by Alison Roman

31- Franklin Smoke by Aaron Franklin

32- Love is a Pink Cake by Claire Ptak

33- Back to the Dirt by Frank Bill

34- Code of the Hills by Chris Offutt

35- If You Write Me a Letter, Send it Here by Louisville Story Program

36- Gay Poems for Red States by Willie Edward Taylor Carver Jr.

37- Tar Hollow Trans by Stacy Jane Grover

38- The Eyes and the Impossible by Dave Eggers

39- A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers

40- Zeitoun by Dave Eggers

41- Weather Together by Jessie Sima

42- The Celebrants by Steven Rowley

43- Big Gay Wedding by Byron Lane

44- Woman, Eating by Claire Kohda

45- Beware the Woman by Megan Abbott

46- Lady in the Lake by Laura Lippman

47- Prom Mom by Laura Lippman

48- The Disinvited Guest by Carol Goodman

S8 Ep.178 - AAPI Month Contains Multitudes 5-31-23

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 Book Lover.

This week are celebrating AAPI Heritage Month (Asian American Pacific Islander) and we give you a list of 10 (plus maybe a few more) of our favorite books to add to your TBR written by authors with family heritage from this part of the world. We give you books in a variety of genres; literary fiction, historical fiction, memoir, food writing, graphic novels, horror, poetry, and middle grade.

So join us this week as we explore the big wide world of Asia and the Pacific Islands heritage in literature. Plus, we talk about the most recent Jane Austen film adaptation we've watched, a new environmentally friendly product we've tried, and why sometimes it might be nice to be a disembodied head.

Books mentioned--
1- Persuasion by Jane Austen

2- Emma by Jane Austen

3- Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

4- Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

5- Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

6- The Girls of Fall by Jessica Minyard

7- You Should Have Known by Rebecca Keller

8- An Elderly Lady is Up to No Good by Helen Tursten

9- Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner

10- Another Appalachia by Neema Avashia

11- The Candid Life of Meena Dave by Namrata Patel

12- When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi

13- The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka

14- The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui

15- Buttermilk Graffiti: A Chef's Journey to Discover America's New Melting-Pot Cuisine by Edward Lee

16- American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang

17- The Fervor by Alma Katsu

18- A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki

19- Two Brown Dots by Danni Quintos

20- World of Wonders by Aimee Nezhukumatathil

21- A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park

22- The Milk Lady of Bangalore by Shoba Narayan

23- Sea People: The Puzzle of Polynesia by Christina Thompson

24- Moloka’i by Alan Brennert

25- Wild Seed by Octavia Butler

26- The Cheating Cell: How Evolution Helps Us Understand and Treat Cancer by Athena Aktipis

27- A Place to Hang the Moon by Kate Albus

28- The War That Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

29- Walking with Sam: A Father, a Son, and 500 Miles Across Spain by Andrew McCarthy

Movies mentioned--

1- Persuasion (Netflix 2022)

2- Ted Lasso - Season 3 (Apple TV 2023)

3- Jury Duty (Amazon 2023)

4- Enchanted (2007)

5- The Terror (Hulu 2018)

S8 Ep. 177 - Middle Grade Is Always Ok with Guest Jessica Brody - 5/24/23

Jessica Brody is the author of the well-known writing book Save the Cat! Writes a Novel and teaches classes on this writing method, but she has published over 20 books for all ages, including middle grade. Her most recent, titled Amelia Gray is Almost Okay, came out in March of this year.

Amelia is a kid who moves around a lot due to her father’s job as a hotel renovator and reimaginer. Like a lot of middle schoolers, she is trying to figure out who she is and what she’s good at.  During one memorable summer in a new town, she decides to try on different personas to see which one fits best.  Is she an athlete, a theater kid, or a reporter?  What I loved about this book is that I could relate to it even as an adult.  I still try different versions of myself sometimes.

Jessica talks to us about what words in the English language really get under her skin, how being fired from MGM Studios gave her the writing opportunity she needed, and her overwhelming passion for spreadsheets.

You can find Jessica at her website www.Jessicabrody.com and on her instagram at @jessicabrody.

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- Amelia Gray is Almost Okay by Jessica Brody

2- Save the Cat! Writes a Novel by Jessica Brody

3- Save the Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting You’ll Ever Need by Blake Snyder

4- Save the Cat! Writes a Young Adult Novel by Jessica Brody

5- Addie Bell’s Shortcut to Growing Up by Jessica Brody

6- Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo

7- Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

8- Magic, Lies, and Deadly Pies by Misha Popp

9- The It Girl by Ruth Ware

10- Big Tree by Brian Selznick

11- The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick

12- Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick

S8 Ep. 176 - A Radioactive Read with Guest Ciera Horton McElroy - 6/17/23

I think many aspiring writers have a juicy family story passed down that they are sure would make a great novel. Our guest this week, Ciera Horton McElroy, had heard stories about her grandfather, a scientist who worked at a plant that produced materials for a hydrogen bomb during the height of the Cold War in the 1960s. That one family story is the jumping off point of her debut novel, a work of historical fiction titled Atomic Family that takes the reader on a journey to an era of burgeoning women’s rights, Sears Roebuck fashion, and the suburban American dream. With some good old radiation thrown into the mix.

We talk to Ciera about what it was like to be a tourist at a now abandoned hydrogen bomb facility, how writing a little blog at 16 helped her start her own company, and the big differences between living in a state like Florida versus the Midwest.

You can find Ciera on her website at www.cieramcelroy.com and on instagram @cierahmcelroy.

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 - Atomic Family by Ciera Horton McElroy

2- A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman

3- Damnation Spring by Ash Davidson

4- Second Nature: Scenes from a World Remade by Nathaniel Rich (basis for Dark Waters)

5- All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

6- Big Swiss by Jen Beagin

7- I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkah

8- Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano

9- Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano

10- White Cat, Black Dog by Kelly Link

11- I’m Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika Sanchez

12- Hester by Laurie Albanese

13- Madame Pommery by Rebecca Rosenberg

14- Champagne Widows by Rebecca Rosenberg

Movies/Shows mentioned--

1- A Man Called Otto (Netflix 2022)

2- Our Great National Parks (Netflix 2022)

3- Dark Waters (2019)

S8 Ep. 175 - The Motherlode - 5/10/23

This week we focus on books about mom "adjacent" books; by or about motherly figures in our lives. We give you 10 (plus a few more) books to add to your TBR or maybe even gift your mom for Mother's Day. We have memoirs, historical fiction, children's books, speculative fiction, graphic memoir, and even books celebrating moms of the non-human persuasion.

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- Now Beacon, Now Sea by Christopher Sorrentino

2- The Measure by Nikki Erlick

3- They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera

4- The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin

5- The Other Mother by Rachel Harper

6- Runaway by Erin Keane

7- The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan

8- Truth and Other Lies by Maggie Smith

9- The Particulars of Peter: Dance Lessons, DNA, and other Excuses to Hang Out with my Perfect Dog by Kelly Conaboy

10- Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan

11- Skylark by by Patricia MacLachlan

12- Caleb’s Story by Patricia MacLachlan

13- Mom & Me & Mom by Maya Angelou

14- A Letter to my Daughter by Maya Angelou

15- A Long Way from Chicago by Richard Peck

16- A Year Down Yonder by Richard Peck

17- A Season of Gifts by Richard Peck

18- Good Talk: A Memoir in Conversations by Mira Jacob

19- The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton

20- The Need by Helen Phillips

21- The Light Between Oceans by ML Stedman

22- Hill Women: Finding Family and a Way Forward in the Appalachian Mountains by Cassie Chambers

23- Hillbilly Elegy by JD Vance

24- Different: The Story of an Outside-the-Box Kid and the Mom Who Loved Him by Sally Clarkson and Nathan Clarkson

25- Call the Midwife: A True Story of the East End in the 1950s by Jennifer Worth

26- Glitter and Gun by Kelly Corrigan

27- Graveyard of Lost Children by Katrina Monroe

28- The Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

29- The White Enchantress by Caitriona Drexler

Movies mentioned—
1- The Light Between Oceans (2016)

Podcasts mentioned—
1- The Daily (NY Times)
www.nytimes.com/2023/05/05/podcas…iters-strike.html

2- Tell Me More (Kelly Corrigan)

3- Wiser Than Me (Julia Louis-Dreyfus)

Articles mentioned—

www.gq.com/story/writers-strike-2023-wga-explained

www.politico.com/news/2023/05/03/…ok-bans-00095151

apnews.com/article/texas-libra…7784efd2746d292ab68