The Perks Of Being A Book Lover Podcast

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 @perksofbeingabookoverpod 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

We are excited to open up Season 5 with suspense writer David Bell. He is the USA Today bestselling author of 11 books and his most recent offering hit the bookshelves yesterday. His newest Kill All Your Darlings is the interconnection of all kinds of hot topics; showing the dark side of academia and what happens when plagiarism makes you the prime suspect of a murder. Plus add some professor ickiness that would make the #Metoo movement cringe and you have a page turner that book websites like SheReads and Frolic call a most anticipated summer reads for 2021. David is a professor of English at Western Kentucky University and heads up their MFA creative writing program. Books mentioned in this episode: 1- Kill All Your Darlings by David Bell 2- The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkein 3- King Arthur & His Knights by Mabel Louise Robinson 4- I'll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara 5- Somebody I Used to Know by David Bell 6- OCDaniel by Wesley King, narrated by Ramon de Ocampo 7- Hello Universe by Erin Entrada Kelly, narrated by Ramon de Ocampo 8- Chasing the Boogeyman by Richard Chizmar 9- Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin 10- Cemetery Girl by David Bell Movies mentioned-- Together, Together directed by Nikole Beckwith Tenet, directed by Christopher Nolan TV shows mentioned I'll Be Gone in the Dark  - Limited series on HBO

This week Carrie and I traveled to record at the Tompkins-Buchanan-Rankin Mansion, which is a Victorian era mansion built in 1871, with 12-foot ceilings, hand-carved wood balusters, and intricately designed colorful wallpapers. It has been preserved and enveloped by the campus of Spalding University and is the location of their School of Creative and Professional Writing and home base for today’s guest, debut novelist Katy Yocom. Katy’s novel, Three Ways to Disappear, was published in 2019 and has won numerous awards including The Siskiyou Prize for Environmental Fiction. It has also been selected as a Barnes and Noble Indie Book Favorite. Katy has vivid memories of as a child reading All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriott out loud with her mother. It was a short leap to her writing her own book about the intricacies of animal conservation and family bonds. Katy tells us how her obsession with a set of newborn tiger cubs at the Louisville Zoo 14 years ago started her on the path to write her book, how a suggestion from an astute editor changed the trajectory of her novel, and why she believes much of the riskier and cutting edge literature is being published by small independent presses and how important it is to support them. Books Discussed in this Episode 1- One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia 2- Severance by Ling Ma 3- The Road by Cormac McCarthy 4- Kindred by Octavia Butler

Our guests today are members of a group they comicly refer to as a “literary gang”, a book club called The Monstrous Regiment, a name based on a book by author Terry Pratchett that features a feminist manifesto. Hannah Zimmerman and Amelia Reesor started the group 3 ½ years ago with a focus on female-centric books, although as you will soon realize, every rule is meant to be broken in this high energy crowd of both male and female 20 and 30 somethings. Hannah and Amelia talk to us about the difference between being a group that is female-centric versus feminist, why having male members adds interesting insights to their book discussions, and how they were surprised that the group has gone from a typical book club to a supportive social network.   Books Mentioned in this Episode: Even Cowgirls Get the Blues by Tom Robbins Coraline by Neil Gaiman The Monstrous Regiment by Terry Pratchett Beloved by Toni Morrison My Sister the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite The Power by Naomi Alderman The Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng The Magician's Assistant by Ann Patchett Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert Medallion Status by John Hodgman The Dutch House by Ann Patchett Winter's Solstice by Rosamunde Pilcher From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg You can find us on FB, instagram (@perksofbeingabookloverpod) and on our blog site at www.perksofbeingabooklover.com Perks airs on Forward Radio 106.5 FM and forwardradio.org every Wednesday at 6 pm, Thursdays at 6 am and 12 pm. We have purchased the rights to the theme music used.

There is a saying, “If you want a happy ending, read a cookbook”. Our guest, Laura Lucchese, is in a book club that always ends well because her group reads and then produces a group meal from cookbooks. James Beard, the great culinary expert said, food is our common ground, a universal experience. In our mind, to bring books and food together is a match made in heaven. Laura tells us how many cookbooks have a narrative story just like a traditional book, why cooking from a cuisine outside your own encourages discussion, and how modern cookbooks offer a different philosophy to entertaining that diverges from the older well-known cookbook authors like Martha Stewart. Books Mentioned in this Episode. Six Seasons by Joshua McFadden and Martha Holmberg How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman Smitten Kitchen Cookbook by Deb Perelman Dining In by Alison Roman Nothing Fancy by Alison Roman Indianish by Priya Krishna Bottom of the Pot by Naz Deravian Buttermilk Graffiti by Edward Lee Smoke and Pickles by Edward Lee Everyday is Saturday by Sarah Copeland How They Choked by Georgia Bragg Simple by Yotam Ottolenghi Do You Mind If I Cancel by Gary Janetti Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris Bad Blood by John Carreyrou A Gentleman from Moscow by Amor Towles All the Ugly and Wonderful Things by Bryn Greenwood Sourdough by Robin Sloan You can find us on FB, instagram (@perksofbeingabookloverpod) and on our blog site at www.perksofbeingabooklover.com Perks airs on Forward Radio 106.5 FM and forwardradio.org every Wednesday at 6 pm, Thursdays at 6 am and 12 pm. We have purchased the rights to the theme music used.        

Our guest today is what Mr. Rogers would call a “helper”. I first saw William Sutton on Louisville MetroTV, where he was interviewed about his work with children and it was obvious that he was something special. William works in the children’s department of the Portland branch of the Louisville Free Public Library system. Portland is one of the largest neighborhoods in Louisville and one that has a long and rich history. In the late 1800s it had the first trolley line from downtown and was the welcoming home to many waves of immigrants including Irish and German. In recent years this neighborhood has hit hard times; it has one of the lowest income levels in the city, but it is experiencing a rebirth with numerous art galleries, stores, and restaurants coming to the area. Nowhere is the small community spirit more evident though than in its neighborhood library. William Sutton is a favorite face there and you will see why. His joy in his work is infectious. He talks to us about why being a black male in a female heavy field is important for children to see, how comic books built the basis for his literary life, and why black superheroes can be an inspiration for teens to find the strength in themselves.   Books Mentioned in this Episode: Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis Storm by Eric Jerome Dickey The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley You can find us on FB, instagram (@perksofbeingabookloverpod) and on our blog site at www.perksofbeingabooklover.com Perks airs on Forward Radio 106.5 FM and forwardradio.org every Wednesday at 6 pm, Thursdays at 6 am and 12 pm. We have purchased the rights to the theme music used.

As this is our last episode for the season and we are in the middle of the holidays, we wanted to give you a feel good show. Today we are talking Little Free Libraries. Have you seen the cute little boxes of all colors and sizes on posts where you just open the door and you can take a book? Is there one in your neighborhood? The Little Free Library national movement is 10 years old this year and we wanted to celebrate this anniversary by exploring the movement in our community with our 2 guests this week. Mary Sullivan is a master builder with Metro United Way who spearheaded the Little Free LIbrary movement in underserved neighborhoods of Louisville which now includes 42 little libraries. Joan Dubay is a retired teacher who implemented a Little Free Library at her church and continues to maintain it by adding upwards of 50 books a week to the library. Mary and Joan talk to us about how they first found out about Little Free Libraries, why Little libraries were chosen as a way to help local children be school successful, and how this movement is a revolving door of good feels. They wowed us with the surprising number of books being shared. Mary wants our listeners to know that if you have books you would like to donate they can be delivered to Metro United Way, 334 E. Broadway in Louisville between the hours of 8:45-4:30 Monday-Friday. If you need other times call 502.583-2821 and leave a message for Mary Sullivan. Books Mentioned in this Episode: Belle Prater's Boy by Ruth White The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet by Reif Larsen I, Eliza Hamilton by Susan Holloway Scott The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver You can find us on FB, instagram (@perksofbeingabookloverpod) and on our blog site at www.perksofbeingabooklover.com Perks airs on Forward Radio 106.5 FM and forwardradio.org every Wednesday at 6 pm, Thursdays at 6 am and 12 pm. We have purchased the rights to the theme music used.

Our guest this week, Kara Evans, is a transplant to Louisville by way of New Jersey and Atlanta and was looking for a fun way to meet new people. She is a healthcare consultant specializing in technology but her hobbies have always included reading and movies. So she decided to create a book and movie club called Books Going to the Big Screen which can be found on the platform Meetup.com, a site with a plethora of different kinds of groups you can join in any geographical area. Kara tells us the benefits and the frustrations of having Hollywood pick the book selections, why she needs crazy good research skills to keep up with the ongoing movie schedule, how their discussions in this club feel completely different than a regular bookclub when you are comparing and contrasting two different mediums, and how reading has always been her escape. Books Mentioned in this Episode: I'm Down by Mishna Wolff Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs: Big Questions from Tiny Mortals About Death by Caitlin Doughty The Last Days of Night by Graham Moore The Good Liar by Nicholas Searle Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem I Heard You Paint Houses by Charles Brandt The Lady From the Black Lagoon: Hollywood Monsters and the Lost Legacy of Milicent Patrick by Mallory O'Meara You can find us on FB, instagram (@perksofbeingabookloverpod) and on our blog site at www.perksofbeingabooklover.com Perks airs on Forward Radio 106.5 FM and forwardradio.org every Wednesday at 6 pm, Thursdays at 6 am and 12 pm. We have purchased the rights to the theme music used.

Our guest today is a history buff who has taken his interest in the past to a whole new level. Mick Sullivan is a history educator at the Frazier History Museum and is in charge of their youth and family programs. But he is also the creator of the children’s history podcast, The Past and the Curious, which Common Sense Media lists as one of the best podcasts for kids. His quirky combo of humor and music keeps both kids and adults interested and sneaks in a little history in the process. His podcast includes a bit of an earworm song about local coffee shop Heine Bros Coffee So even if history isn’t your jam, check it out just for that tune. The success of his podcast has led to the publishing of his first children’s book, The Meat Shower, which is a fun telling of the historical event of meat (yes I just said meat) literally raining down on a Kentucky farm in the 1800s. In fact what is even more curious, there is still no explanation of this unusual event today. Mick tells us how his podcast grew out of the stories he tells kids at the Frazier’s children’s programs, how his background in musical performance has served him well when creating the variety of music for his podcast, what huge role vultures play in his new book, and all about his vision to have a series of books featuring quirky history for every reading level.   The Meatshower by Mick Sullivan Spying on the South by Tony Horwitz Confederates in the Attic by Tony Horwitz Life of Pi by Yann Martel American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang You can find us on FB, instagram (@perksofbeingabookloverpod) and on our blog site at www.perksofbeingabooklover.com Perks airs on Forward Radio 106.5 FM and forwardradio.org every Wednesday at 6 pm, Thursdays at 6 am and 12 pm. We have purchased the rights to the theme music used.

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 Christina Henry at christinahenry.net or on IG  @authorchristinahenry    In this week’s episode, our focus is on houses that are so important to a story that they essentially become a character. When we started thinking about this idea, we realized that Chicago writer Christina Henry would be a perfect guest because her last two novels are focused on houses. Her most recent is titled The Place Where They Buried Your Heart and is about a neighborhood house that lures people in, causing heartache for neighbors as well as a sense of family among a handful of them. Prior to this novel, Christina wrote The House That Horror Built. We talk to Christina about the importance of houses in her stories and how a house can straddle setting and character.    In our book rec section, we continue the house idea with a range of titles in which houses are critically important—-we’ve got a memoir, a National Book Award winner, children’s fantasy, classic literature, and propulsive literary fiction.   Books Mentioned in this Episode:   1- The Place Where They Buried Your Heart by Christina Henry 2- The House That Horror Built by Christina Henry  3- Howards End by E.M. Forster  3- War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy 3- Viewfinder: A Memoir of Seeing and Being Seen by Jon M. Chu  4- Double Indemnity by James Cain  5- From the Moment They Met It Was Murder: Double Indemnity and the Rise of Film Noir by Alain Silver and James Ursini  6- Out by Natsuo Kirino  7- Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata  8- Earthlings by Sayaka Murata  9- The Mantis by Kotaro Osaka  10- Three Assasins by Kotaro Osaka  11- Bullet Train by Kotaro Osaka  12- The Night Guest by Hildur Knútsdóttir 13- Night Shift by Alex Finlay 14- A Five Star Read by Fellow Book Lover Kris Wyatt @froggyreadteach - The Labors of Hercules Beal by Gary D. Schmidt  15- Cabin: Off the Grid Adventures with a Clueless Craftsman by Patrick Hutchison  16- House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus III 17- The Yellow House by Sarah M. Broom  18- Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones  19- The House with the Clock in it's Walls by John Bellairs  20- Behind the Waterline by Kionna Walker LeMalle  21- The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson 22- Rebecca by Daphne duMaurier    Media Mentioned: 1- If I Had Legs I'd Kick You (2025) 2- Platonic (Apple +, 2023 - present) 3- Train Dreams (2025) 4- The Studio (Apple +, 2025) 5- Howards End (1992) 6- Howl's Moving Castle (2004) 7- The House with the Clock in it's Walls (2018) 8- House of Sand and Fog (2003) 9- LibroVox app for free audiobooks of books in the public domain 10- Whitehall House and Gardens Book Club - https://www.historicwhitehall.org/whitehall-book-club    

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 Jessica Walker on IG @hellojessicawalker   In this week’s episode, we’re talking to debut novelist and assistant professor of fine arts at Parsons School of Design Jessica Walker, whose novel Amy discovered late last year. The Secret Astronomers is an illustrated novel, which is not the same as a graphic novel.  This is a novel that is written on sticky notes between two people inside a book.  It’s in full color and really eye-catching. Although it is technically geared towards young adults, it is a feast for the eyes for any age reader.  The story is about two girls who keep their identities secret from each other and converse through an old astronomy textbook in the school library. This new take on the epistolary novel takes the reader on an adventure to solve a mystery in this small West Virginia town.     And in our book rec section, inspired by the West Virginia setting of The Secret Astronomers, we’re giving you other books set in The Mountain State. We have a mystery, a Pulitzer Prize winner, several historical fiction, and an investigative nonfiction.   Books Mentioned in this Episode:   1- The Secret Astronomers by Jessica Walker  2- I Am The Messenger by Markus Zusak  3- Neanderthal Opens the Door to the Universe by Preston Norton  4- Floreana by Midge Raymond  5- What You are Getting Wrong About Appalachia by Elizabeth Catte  6- Yellow Singing Sail: A Memoir of an Only Child in China by Yinfan Huang  7- Otto: A Palindrama by Jon Agee  8- Griffin & Sabine: An Extraordinary Address Book by Nick Bantok  9- My Father's Paradise: A Son's Search for a Jewish Past in Kurdish Iraq by Ariel Sabar 10- The Doorman by Chris Pavone 11- A Five Star Read by Fellow Book Lover Karla @karla_bookishlife - Blood Like Ours and Blood Like Mine by Stuart Neville 12- The Road to Blair Mountain by Charles Keeney 13- The Lost Story by Meg Shaffer 14- The Unquiet Grave by Sharyn McCrumb 15- Night Watch by Jayne Anne Phillips 16- The Quiet Zone: Unraveling the Mystery of a Town Suspended in Silence by Stephen Kurczy 17- The Third Rainbow Girl by Emma Copley Eisenberg 18- Foote: A Mystery Novel by Tom Bredehoft 19- The Coffin Quilt: The Feud Between the Hatfields and McCoys by Ann Rinaldi 20- The Grand Design by Joy Calloway   Media Mentioned: 1- Footnotes and Tangents Substack - War and Peace 2- Eden (Netflix, 2024) 3- Our episode with Meg Shaffer - https://ThePerksofBeingaBookLover.podbean.com/e/s12ep249-the-lost-story-with-guest-meg-shaffer-11525/ 4- Article about Reading Resetting the Nervous System - https://www.hellomagazine.com/healthandbeauty/health-and-fitness/873671/why-reading-cures-overactive-nervous-system-experts-explain/    

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 Archer Sullivan at her website archersullivan.com or on IG @archer_sullivan.   We are back with all new episodes, book recommendations, and, most importantly, guests!  To start the new season with a bang, we have author Archer Sullivan whose book The Witch’s Orchard is the first in a new series featuring Private Investigator Annie Gore, who travels to small town North Carolina to solve the mystery of young girls who have disappeared. What makes the cases even more creepy is that an Appalachian apple face doll is left in place of the child. Archer draws on her personal knowledge of place as a 7th-generation Appalachian, although she now resides in Los Angeles, and is always looking for a reason to come home. The novel was a nominee for the 2025 Goodreads Choice Awards in the Best Debut Novel Category. The next Annie Gore installment comes out in August of 2026.   Our book rec section for this episode is a call back to what a lot of people were doing the past two weeks–taking planes, trains, and automobiles to family and friends to celebrate the holidays. We give you two books set on planes, two on trains, and two in automobiles, which you can look into whenever you’ve got travel plans in 2026.   Books Mentioned In This Episode:   1- The Witch's Orchard by Archer Sullivan  2- War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy 3- Sous Chef: 24 Hours of Working on the Line by Michael Gibney  4- Marrying the Ketchups by Jennifer Close  5- Brimstone Hollow by Archer Sullivan  6- Dragonsbane by Barbara Hambly  7- The Curse of Chalion by Lois Bujold  8- The Wizard of Earths by Ursula K. LeGuin 9- Silver Medal Lover by Tanith Lee  10- The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison  11- Kill Your Darlings by Peter Swanson 12- The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo  13- A Five Star Read by Fellow Book Lover - Babel by R.F. Kuang 14- West With The Night by Beryl Markham  15- Circling the Sun by Paula McClain  16- Turbulence by David Szalay 17- Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool 18- Border Crossing by Emma Pick  19- Mrs. Nash's Ashes by Sarah Adler  20- The Road to Tender Hearts by Annie Hartnett   Media Mentioned: 1- Simon Haisell's Slow Read at Footnote and Tangents Substack - https://footnotesandtangents.substack.com 2- From the Front Porch Podcast - Patreon Conquer a Classic  3- The Bear on Hulu   

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.   Our first show of Season 14 will begin on January 7, 2026. We’ve been coming up with ideas for book recommendations and will soon be recording with guests. But until then, Amy is going to make merry, and Carrie is going to begrudgingly deal with the holidays. And in this episode, we’re reviewing some of the notable books that we have loved over the last 12 months. Some of these are backlist titles, and some are new releases—we cannot keep up with the publishing industry, nor do we really try. You will also hear from some of our guests from this year who share their favorites of 2025.    Books Discussed In This Episode: Carrie's Favorites of 2025 1- Angel Down by Daniel Kraus 2- On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century by Timothy Snyder  3- The Millicent Quibb School for Young Ladies of Mad Science by Kate McKinnon 4- The Lost Year by Katherine Marsh  5- Belonging: A German Reckons with History and Home by Nora Krug   Amy's Favorites of 2025 1- Miss Benson's Beetle by Rachel Joyce  2- You Could Make This Place Beautiful by Maggie Smith 3- Culpability by Bruce Holsinger  4- The Shift: One Nurse, Twelve Hours, Four Patients' Lives by Theresa Brown, RN  5- Paris Letters: A Travel Memoir About Art, Writing, and Finding Love in Paris by Janice MacLeod    Other books mentioned 1- I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman 2- The Nature of Pain by Mandi Fugate Sheffel  3- The Strange Case of Jane O by Karen Thompson Walker  4- The Devils by Joe Abercrombie  5- Everything's Fine by Cecilia Rabess  6- The River is Waiting by Wally Lamb 7- I Have Some Questions For You by Rebecca Makkai 8- Just One Damned Thing After Another by Jodi Taylor 9- Starling House by Alix E. Harrow  10- Dead Man Blues by S.D. House  11- God of the Woods by Liz Moore  12- The Road to Blair Mountain: Saving a Mine Wars Battlefield from King Coal by Charles B. Keeney 13- Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent by Judi Dench and Brendan O' Yea  14- Carpool Detectives: A True Story  of Four Moms, Two Bodies, and One Mysterious Cold Case by Chuck Hogan  15- Anima Rising by Christopher Moore  16- The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest by Aubrey Hartman 17- The Husbands by Holly Gramazio 18- Grace and Henry's Holiday Movie Marathon by Matthew Norman  19- Seven Days of Us by Francesca Hornak

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 Daniel Kraus at his website danielkraus.com or on IG at @kraus_author.   This week our episode features Daniel Kraus, a writer who has published over 20 books, but among moviegoers he may be best known as the co-author with Guillermo del Toro of The Shape of Water. The film of this story won four Oscars in 2018. Daniel’s 2023 novel Whalefall is being turned into a 20th Century Fox motion picture, and I hope that at some point his latest novel, Angel Down, will also be on film.  Both the premise and writing in Angel Down are unique. It is the story of a group of World War I soldiers told to go into No Man’s Land to rescue what they think is a wounded soldier. What they find is an angel. If you enjoy war novels, and even if you don’t, I recommend giving this book a read.    Our book rec section of the show features books related to women in politics. If you are interested in politics yet hate the nuttery of American government at the moment, these books can provide a reprieve. We have contemporary fiction, biography, memoir, alternative history, and electoral nonfiction.    Books Mentioned in this Episode: 1- Whalefall by Daniel Kraus  2- Angel Down by Daniel Kraus  3- The Shape of Water by Guillermo del Toro and Daniel Kraus 4- Frankenstein by Mary Shelley 5- The Leaphorn and Chee Series by Tony Hillerman 6- Hearts of the Missing by Carol Potenza 7- The Death and Life of Zebulon Finch by Daniel Kraus  8- Wolf at the Table by Adam Rapp  9- From Under the Truck by Josh Brolin 10- Madonna in a Fur Coat by Sabahattin Ali  11- The Rachel Incident by Caroline O'Donoghue  12- A Five Star Read recommended by fellow Book Lover State Katz @all.da.bookish.things - The Witch's Orchard by Archer Sullivan  13- Cleo McDougal Regrets Nothing by Alison Winn Scotch  14- Charlotte Walsh Likes to Win by Jo Piazza 15- The Partisan Gap: Why Democratic Women Get Elected But Republican Women Don't by Laurel Elder  16- Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld  17- Mrs. Lincoln: A Life by Catherine Clinton  18- A Different Kind of Power by Jacinda Arden   Media Mentioned: 1- Frankenstein (2025-Netflix) 2- Dark Winds (2022 - present, Netflix) 3- The Shape of Water (2017) 4- 1917 (2019) 5- Whalefall (Upcoming Fall 2026) 6- Michelle Obama Says US Not Ready for a Female President - https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/michelle-obama-says-us-not-ready-woman-president-rcna244136      

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 out more about Kristine and Meet Me At Luke’s at www.gilmorebookclub.com or on IG at  @gilmorebookclub.   This week we catch up with Kristine Eckart, the founder of the online Gilmore Book Club. When we first spoke to her in Season 9, Episode 188 (2023), she talked about creating this book club, which is based on the books read by the characters in the beloved bookish TV show The Gilmore Girls.    This year the show is celebrating its 25th anniversary since it first aired, and to commemorate this occasion, Kristine has written a book titled Meet Me at Luke’s, which is a compendium of essays about the show and its impact on Kristine and other book lovers. If you have a Gilmore Girl fan in your life, this might be the perfect holiday gift. In this remix episode, you’ll hear an update from Kristine as well as clips from her initial visit on The Perks.    Books Mentioned in This Episode: 1- Meet Me At Luke's by Kristine Eckart  2- A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway 3- The Vampyre by John Polidori  4- Strange Practice by Vivian Shaw  5- Resilient: How to Grow an Unshakeable Core of Calm, Strength, and Happiness by  Rick Hanson  6- A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway  7- The Paris Wife by Paula McClain  8- The President's Wife by Tracey Emerson Wood  9- The Banned Bookshop of Maggie Banks by Shauna Robinson  10- A 5 Star Read Recommnended by a Fellow Book Lover Kim Layman @the_read_rat - A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness  11- The Anna Karenina Fix: Life Lessons from Russian Literature by Viv Groskop   Shows Mentioned: 1- The Gilmore Girls (2000-2007) 2- Gossip Girl (2007-2012) 3- The Office (2005-2013) 4- Anne with an E (2017-2019) 5- White Lotus (MAX, 2021-present)   Link to previous Perks episode: https://www.perksofbeingabooklover.com/episodes/blpks3ktgywx9fx-x9wxe-p3aft-j9j3f-pk2fn-wbdd3-dbsfp-hhfrc-ep6yz-alk6z-hl34a-dhhaz-l9x4z-88zrd-rh699-xd584-r9src-wkdf3-aegrx-hhnhf-zsc5j   Whitehall Historic Home and Gardens - https://www.historicwhitehall.org/whitehall-book-club        

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 JH Markert at jamesmarkert.com or on IG at @jamesmarkert74   This week we chat with JH Markert who we spoke to pre-Covid in the before times when he was writing historical fiction. Over the last couple of years, he has changed gears and returned to the genre that first made him an avid reader: horror. JH has been cranking out horror novels and finding a great deal of success with them. We catch up with James and discuss his transition to horror and what that has been like after writing five previous historical fiction novels.  His most recent release that came out in September, Spider to the Fly, is dark horror suspense that deals with a serial killer, a true crime influencer, and a family with some bizarre dynamics.    And for our book rec section, we are talking about notable nonfiction. These are nonfiction books we’ve read in the last year that have made us think differently about a topic or stood out for us in some way (even though these books might not have been published in the last year). We’ll talk about a micro-history, a biography, a true crime, a memoir, a study of morality and politics, and a niche book about cussing.    Books Mentioned In This Episode:   1- Spider to the Fly by J.H. Markert  2- Molokai by Alan Brennert 3- A White Wind Blew by James Markert 4- Nightmare Man by J.H. Markert  5- Mr. Lullaby by J. H. Markert 6- Sleep Tight by J.H. Markert  7- Midnight at the Tuscany Hotel by James Markert  8- The River is Waiting by Wally Lamb 9- Dietrich Bonhoeffer: In the Midst of Wickedness by Janet and Geoff Benge  10-The Vanishing Place by Zöe Rankin  11- Five Star Read by a Fellow Book Lover Jasper Adams-Smith - Be Kind, My Neighbor by Yugo Limbo  12- For F*ck's Sake: Why Swearing is Shocking, Rude, and Fun by Rebecca Roache  13- The Woman Who Smashed Codes: A True Story of Love, Spies, and and the Unlikely Heroine Who Outwitted America's Enemies by Jason Fagone  14- The Bookshop: A History of the American Bookstore by Evan Friss  15- The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion by Jonathan Haidt  16- Playing to Lose: How a Jehovah's Witness Became a BDSM Model by Ariel Anderssen  17- The Carpool Detectives: A True Story of Four Moms, Two Bodies, and One Mysterious Cold Case by Chuck Hogan  18- The Friend by Sigrid Nunez   Media Mentioned:   1- The Friend (2024) 2- Chief of War (Apple +, 2025) 3- The Outsider (HBO Max 2019) 4- Sinners (2025) 5- Nosferatu (2025)  

Hey Book Lovers,   Carrie and I are on fall hiatus this week so we don't have a new episode for you.  But what we do have is your chance to check out a new-to-you book podcast, Books with Betsy, hosted by Betsy Tomsak. This past summer we were guests to the show where we talked about all things in our book lives, maybe even tidbits we have never shared on our own show.  It's a fun conversation and we hope you will listen in and give Books With Betsy a follow. We will be  back with an all new episode on October 29 when we chat with horror/ thriller writer J.H. Markert about his new release, Spider to the Fly, and give you book recommendations for notable non-fiction we've read recently.   We hope you enjoy this episode of Books With Betsy. Happy Reading!  

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 Rediscovered Books at rdbooks.org/ or on IG at @rdbooks   The American Library Association’s Banned Books Week is October 5-11, so we’re sharing an interview with one of the co-owners of Rediscovered Books in Boise, Idaho, a store that has pioneered a program in their city to push back against book banning in their state. Rebecca Leber-Gottberg talks to us about the history of the bookstore, her role there, and books that folks in Boise have been buying, but she also explains the bookstore’s Read Freely Project, which is their effort to get banned and threatened books dispersed throughout the community.    And in our book rec section, we’re jumping into spooky season with books related to ghosts, but if you don’t like horror, don’t worry: a lot of these “ghostly” books aren’t horror, and some of them may only seem to be about ghosts. We’ve got a historical fiction about the Sri Lankan civil war, a detective story in which ghosts are witnesses, a nonfiction book about unexplained phenomena which may or may not involve ghosts, a funny novella, a supernatural suspense, and a ghostly gothic novel set in Mexico.   Books Discussed in this Episode: 1- A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway 2- The Shift: One Nurse, Twelve House, Four Patients' Lives by Theresa Brown 3- American Sirens: The Incredible Story of the Black Men Who Became America's First Paramedics by Kevin Hazzard 4- The Queen Bees of Tybee County by Kyle Casey Chu 5- The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer  6- Trans History: A Graphic Novel by Alex L. Combs and Andrew Eakett  7- Lone Women by Victor LaValle  8- Wild Tongues Can't be Tamed: 15 Voices from the LatinX Diaspora edited by Saraciea J. Fennell  9- Under the Same Stars by Libba Bray  10- Shout by Laurie Halse Anderson 11- House on the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune  12- On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder  13- The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf 14- Firekeeper's Daughter by Angleine Boulley  15- Warrior Girl Unearthed by Angeline Boulley  16- Sisters in the Wind by Angeline Boulley  17- The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins  18- Culpability by Bruce Holsinger  19- Songs for Other People's Weddings by David Levitan  20- A Five Star Read Recommended by Claire @bookishly_claire - Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen 21- The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka  22- The Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde 23- Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch  24- Ghost Tamer by Meredith R. Lyons  25- The Haunting of Alma Fielding: A True Ghost Story by Kate Summerscale  26- The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas 27- This is Going to Hurt by Adam McKay   Media Mentioned: 1- The Pitt (Max 2025) 2- ER ( 1994- 2009) 3- This is Going to Hurt (2022, Amazon Prime) 4- The Craft Lit Podcast - https://craftlit.com/  

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 Sam Sussman at www.samevansussman.org or on IG at @sam_sussman.   Our guest is debut novelist Sam Sussman whose book Boy From the North Country comes out this week. Sam originally wrote a short memoir piece for Harper’s Magazine that referred to the possibility that he might be Bob Dylan’s son but really the essay focused on his relationship with his mom, who had had a love affair with the musician. Eventually, Sam decided to explode the moment, or the series of moments of his life and with his mother, to get a better handle on who he was and how much that was about who his mom was and how she had raised him, not whether his father was Dylan.  The book is receiving high marks in early reviews, and Sam has been making the rounds in newspapers and magazines, including a profile by the New York Times. Publisher’s Weekly, Kirkus, The Library Journal, and the American Library Association have all given Boy From the North Country starred reviews.    And for our book rec section of the show, we’re thinking about books that center on male relationships.  We realize that our guests and listeners are primarily female, but we thought we would equal the playing field a little by talking about books that deal with father-son relationships, male friendships or brotherly love.  We have a multigenerational story about the men in a Mexican-American family, a group of friends in a small town of the American Midwest, a pair of quirky Irish friends, a memoir about two very different guys at Harvard, two Greek heroes and their deep relationship, and boys from different cultures who develop a bond in unlikely circumstances.    Books Mentioned in this Episode:   1- Boy From the North Country by Sam Sussman 2- The Celebrants by Steven Rowley 3- The Guncle by Steven Rowley 4- In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust  5- Anima Rising by Christopher Moore  6- The Last Mona Lisa by Jonathan Santlofer  7- The Lost Van Gogh by Jonathan Santlofer 8-  A Five Star Read Recommended by Fellow Book Lover Megan Burnett - The Weight of Ink by Rachel Kadish  9- We Should Not Be Friends: The Story of a Friendship by Will Schwalbe  10- The Sons of El Rey by Alex Espinoza  11- Shotgun Lovesongs by Nickolas Bulter  12- A Forty Year Kiss by Nickolas Butler  13- The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller  14- Circe by Madeline Miller  15- Nowhere Boy by Katherine Marsh  16- Leonard and Hungry Paul by Ronan Hession   Media Mentioned -  1- The Silent Type: On Possibly Being Bob Dylan's Son- https://harpers.org/archive/2021/05/the-silent-type-on-possibly-being-bob-dylans-son/ 2- School Cell Phone Ban Increases Library Visits - https://www.wave3.com/2025/09/02/school-cell-phone-ban-creates-surge-jcps-library-visits/ 3- Reading for Pleasure Declines - https://abcnews.go.com/Health/americans-spend-time-reading-fun-time-screens-study/story?id=124807367 4- The Four Seasons (Netflix 2025) 5- The Four Seasons (1981) 6- How the Passionate Male Friendship Died --https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2025/05/men-friendship-history/682815/    

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 Lindy Ryan at her website lindyryanwrites.com or on IG @lindyryanwrites.   For our guest this week, Lindy Ryan @lindyryanwrites, it's spooky season all year round. She grew up on a diet of #Goosebumps books and never got over her love of the dark and twisty. Now she writes her own horror stories and her BLESS YOUR HEART series will give you some thrills and chills with the Evans women. Four generations of them--great-grandmother Ducey all the way down to angsty teen Luna run a funeral home in their small Texas town. And they also have a little side project: protecting the town from the undead. Both BLESS YOUR HEART and ANOTHER FINE MESS, the second novel in the series, follow the Evans women who, with snark and heart, protect those they love from the proverbial "bloodbath." And for our book recommendation section of the show, we’re thinking about carnivals, fairs, and festivals. Kentucky recently held its state fair, and with that in mind, we think you should make yourself a corndog or deep fry a Twinkie and get ready to add some books to your TBR lists. We’ve got a graphic novel for kids, a thriller from the 1940s, a mystery, historical fiction, a National Book Award finalist, and a memoir.     Books Mentioned in this Episode: 1- Bless Your Heart by Lindy Ryan  2- Another Fine Mess by Lindy Ryan 3- The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman 4- Howl edited by Lindy Ryan  5- The Darkest Night edited by Lindy Ryan  6- But Not Too Bold by Hache Pueyo 7- Play Nice by Rachel Harrison  8- Black Sheep by Rachel Harrison 9- Cackle by Rachel Harrison  10- Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky  11- Travels with Charley: In Search of America by John Steinbeck  12- A 5 Star Read Recommended by Fellow Book Lover @arizonabookstagrammer - Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz 13- All's Faire in Middle School by Victoria Jamieson  14- Geek Love by Katherine Dunn 15- Lewis Sinclair and the Gentleman Cowboys by DMS Fick  16- The Book of Speculation by Erika Swyler  17- Nightmare Alley by William Lindsay Gresham  18- The Electric Woman: A Memoir in Death-Defying Acts by Tessa Fontaine   Media Mentioned: 1- The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920, Youtube) 2- Nosferatu (1922, Youtube) 3- Metropolis (1927, Youtube) 4- Nosferatu (2024) 5- The Thursday Murder Club (2025, Netflix) 6- Santa Clarita Diet (2017-2019, Netflix) 7- Chernobyl (2019, Max) 8- Nightmare Alley (2021) 9- Shelby County KY Library books taken -  https://www.wlky.com/article/unreturned-library-book-dispute-shelby-county-reformation-church/65875001 10- Travels with Charley Fact Checking -  https://www.steinbecknow.com/2020/08/01/travels-with-charley-painting-snapshot/