This Book Made Me

If you've ever dreamed of doing the extraordinary, but thought it was too late, this episode is for you. Meet Dorothy Gilman's The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax, who decides, in her 60s, to pursue a life-long dream of becoming a spy. In addition to digging into the life lessons of the novel, my guests tell us what it's like to have a book shared across a family, and with the person you love.  Sara Scrimshaw has proudly used her liberal arts degrees in history and dance, working in historic house museums/gardens and as a dancer. Sara currently oversees programs at Greystone Mansion & Gardens and performs with Deborah Rosen & Dancers, and she recently co-executive produced the independent film DEAD MEDIA. Despite doing a report on Albania in 5th grade after reading The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax, she has yet to visit the country in person. You can find her as @scrimstreet at Bluesky and Instagram.  Joseph Scrimshaw is a filmmaker based in Los Angeles, originally from Minneapolis, Minnesota. He has many years of experience as a writer, director, actor, comedian, and producer in multiple mediums. He's written for Adult Swim's fantasy comedy TV show, Tigtone, the movie-riffing group, RiffTrax, the scripted podcast, Getting On With James Urbaniak, and more. Joseph's plays Adventures in Mating, An Inconvenient Squirrel, and My Monster (written with Bill Corbett) have been performed worldwide. He's also the co-host of the popular Star Wars podcast, ForceCenter. His first feature film, the horror movie Dead Media, is currently playing in film festivals and planning future screenings. Learn more about Joseph at josephscrimshaw.com The Scrimshaws are Angelenos, but Minnesotans at heart. Don't forget to check out standwithminnesota.com to support the ongoing work in Minneapolis and environs.  And finally: DJ Diego Dela Rosa has their patented Mixtape, inspired by Mrs. Pollifax over at Spotify. Give This Mixtape Made Me: Fortify a listen! As always, you can send feedback and ideas via our Instagram or via email at ThisBookMadeMe@gmail.com. 

Wuthering Heights is coming! The movie, anyway. What do you need to know about the book, and why has it become such a cultural touchstone? Lucky for us, my friend Dr. Julie Townsend joins me for a re-read of Emily Brontë's 1847 novel. We dig into the book itself, and puzzle over the continued popularity of Wuthering Heights as a romance, in anticipation of Emerald Fennell's upcoming movie.  Julie Townsend is Professor of Interdisciplinary Humanities in the Johnston Center for Integrative Studies at the University of Redlands. She is author of The Choreography of Modernism in France and currently experiments with performance art practices in the humanities classroom. She is also the co-founder of Best College Path, which offers students personalized guidance through the college admissions process.  Meanwhile, to get you in the mood, DJ/curator Diego Dela Rosa has put together a very special, Wuthering Heights-inspired playlist, for your tempestuous, romantical listening needs. And as always, you can find more about the podcast at our Instagram,  or contact us directly at ThisBookMadeMe@gmail.com    

Do you think you know Los Angeles? Beyond the fantasy images that television and movies have fed us for decades, there is an even more magical city that lives with the people and places outside the media view. In this episode, my marvelous guest shares the book that showed her THIS Los Angeles: Francesca Lia Block's Weetzie Bat.  My guest, Sara Benincasa, is an actress, comedian, TV writer (Mystery Science Theater 3000) and the author of the forthcoming presidential biography ABRAHAM F***ING LINCOLN. Past titles include REAL ARTISTS HAVE DAY JOBS, AGORAFABULOUS!, DC TRIP,  and GREAT. And lucky us, she's also on tour! See if she's coming to your town in December and January by checking out her calendar here.    And while you're at it, don't forget the very special playlist from our California native DJ/music curator Diego Dela Rosa, with their mixtape for a magical, queer LA.    As always, you can find more about the podcast at our Instagram,  or contact us directly at ThisBookMadeMe@gmail.com

We took the podcast on tour, and we learned so many things about the state of reading! In this episode, we report back from the inaugural Enchanted Realms Fantasy Book Festival in Los Angeles. DJ Diego Dela Rosa and I discuss what we learned about fantasy readers and the community they create, we share some interviews from the folks who attended, and I talk with Brooke Cantrall, the creator of the festival (which is now a rebranded fantasy events business called Dragons and Dreams).  We mention a fun personality quiz that we set up for the event, where we asked folks to choose the fantasy character archetype that best describes them. And DJ Diego curated a bespoke playlist for each! You can play along at home: choose the archetype that fits you best, and then mosey over to Spotify to hear your playlist. Here are your options:  The Crown, The Shadow, The Pen, The Rose, The Sword.   You can find these links, as well as book recs from the Enchanted Realms attendees, at our Instagram. As always you can contact us directly at ThisBookMadeMe@gmail.com     

Why do we read hard books anymore? Is it worth the time and effort? My guest is here to make the case for how hard books make us better readers, and help us connect to other books and other people. (In fact, a book can read us. Yep. You heard that right!) Bill McDonald grew up in SoCal, where both his parents and most of his relatives were teachers, and he was not a rebellious child. More-or-less educated at Colgate and The Claremont Graduate School, and then by four years of college teaching in downstate Illinois, Bill and his wife Dolores came back to California to help found Johnston College at the University of Redlands in 1969, where his interdisciplinary training in religion, philosophy, and literature proved to be of maximum utility. He's now twenty years retired from U of R's English department and the Hunsaker Chair in Distinguished Teaching, and sort of retired from Johnston. He says: "Retirement's a military trope: I've stepped away from the front lines but continue soldiering on with alumni and development work and teaching one-two courses a year." He's written a couple of books, including one on Thomas Mann, and co-authored, edited/co-edited several others with Johnston alums and colleagues, but at heart he's a co-learner who has taken delight in sixty years in "unsolitary reading" with generations of college students. Don't forget this month's mixtape, courtesy of DJ Diego Dela Rosa, titled: This Mixtape Made Me Ponder. As always, you can find more about the podcast and host at our Instagram, or contact us directly at ThisBookMadeMe@gmail.com 

If you're finding yourself shellshocked and paralyzed by the times that we're living through, you're not alone! It's a great time to remember how art, and especially literature, can remind us that there are many possible futures, and reconnect us to our agency.  In this short episode, you'll hear a "book playlist" of speculative fiction that I turn to when I'm feeling despair about the world. On the list: R.F. Kuang's Babel, Kelly Barnhill's When Women Were Dragons, Chris Adrian's The Children's Hospital, and N.K. Jemisin's duology The City We Became/The World We Make.  And an extra bonus: DJ Diego Dela Rosa is back with a curated mixtape "This Playlist Made Me Resist." You can find it on Spotify.  Let us know what books keep you going in these times! Drop us your greatest hits at our Instagram page , or contact us directly at ThisBookMadeMe@gmail.com. 

A small book can pack a big punch, and Piranesi, by Susanna Clarke, is a terrific example of this phenomenon. It just might make you see the world as a kinder, more magical place. My guest, Liz Andres, lays it all out for us in this episode.  Liz Andres is a museum professional and scholar based in Los Angeles. She holds degrees in Art History, Classical Archaeology, and Museum Studies from U.C. Berkeley and the University of Leicester and is currently pursuing a PhD in Mythological Studies at Pacifica Graduate Institute. Her research focuses on hybrid and liminal creatures in ancient Greek art and mythology, museum taxidermy, and representations of death, myth, and nature in the visual arts. She is a resident mythologist with Morbid Anatomy, and frequent Death Cafe host. Follow her on Instagram or at Lilibet Sugarbones.   As always, you can find more about the podcast and host at our Instagram page , or contact us directly at ThisBookMadeMe@gmail.com

Does conventional reality feel much smaller than the size of your dreams? My guest this month is here to convince you that the prize-winning and international bestseller The Alchemist, by Portuguese writer Paulo Coelho, has what you're looking for. And he's VERY convincing!  Marq Mervin (he/him) is The Renaissance Man: award-winning creator, educator, TEDx speaker, coach for creative polymaths, and lover of cartoons and video games. Marq's career journey is committed to accessible Art & Design education for under-resourced youth. Additionally, he is the host of the Keep Sailing podcast and author of One Day, I Hope That...: a collection of prose and poetry. When he's not traveling for game tournaments or speaking engagements, he's catching up on his favorite anime, taking on voice acting challenges, and performing at open mic nights. Catch Marq at any of the following spots online:  23Thirty Coaching & Consulting | Marq Mervin Website | Instagram | LinkedIn   Don't forget this month's Mixtape from in-house DJ Diego Dela Rosa! You can find This Mixtape Made Me: Dream on Spotify.    As always, you can find more about the podcast and host at our Instagram, or contact us directly at ThisBookMadeMe@gmail.com

What is joy, and how do we access it in a moment that feels so overwhelming? For two years, my guest and I have been studying the practices of a complex-but-easeful joy, using Ross Gay's book of essays "Inciting Joy" as an inspiration and a template. In this episode, we talk about what continues to shape our practice of experiencing joy in this moment.  We invite you to join us, and practice joy in community! We have two opportunities:  ✨ A joy-centered book club where we'll read Ross Gay's Inciting Joy together - building community, sharing reflections, and nourishing what uplifts us. Register and learn more about the book club here: https://shorturl.at/ENKPk ✨ A 5-week community of practice that will cultivate and steward joy, especially in uncertain times. Register and learn more about the community of practice here: https://shorturl.at/Ip5oD  And you can always download our free resource, the Joy Design Practices and Principles, as a starting place for your own work. Here's more about my guest, colleague, and co-facilitator: Lee Wilmoth (they/them) is a human-centered learning designer, strategist, and facilitator with over 10 years of experience. They hold an MA Ed. in Adult Learning and Development from Portland State University and are a LUMA Institute certified Human-Centered Design Practitioner and Instructor. Through their consultancy, Learn & Work, Lee partners with organizations experiencing change to create useful, usable, and desirable solutions. Whether it's a discovery and strategy project or a leadership development program, Lee always embeds equity and inclusion approaches and leverages their expertise in human-centered design, adult learning and development, and facilitation. Lee also has over 30 years of body-based training, dance technique, and performance experience, and has dedicated themself to ongoing studies related to joy, nervous system awareness, and the art and science of scent. They currently live in Portland, Oregon.  DJ Diego Dela Rosa is on vacation this week, but Lee and I did our best to make a playlist for joy, based in Ross Gay's work. You can find it on Spotify, as This Mixtape Made Me: Incite Joy. 

It was a thrill to talk with Jen Capra, whose hilarious, GenX social media content gives us a backstage look at the wonders of Sesame Street. She's written for the program for years! In this episode, we celebrate Pride Month by talking about our shared love of Jeanette Winterson and her beautiful 1992 novel Written on the Body. It's a love letter from an ungendered narrator to the beloved, as well as a love letter to language.  Jen Capra is an Emmy nominated Sesame Street writer, aspiring author, and content creator-slash-professional starving artist. You can find her at Jencapra.com, as well as @genxistentialcrisis on TikTok.  Funding for Public Television and Radio is on the chopping block If you'd like to support the phenomenal work Sesame Street does for learners of all generations, you can find their fundraiser here.  Don't forget this month's Mixtape from in-house DJ Diego Dela Rosa! Curated to celebrate Pride Month, you can find This Mixtape Made Me: Riot on Spotify.  Finally, we dedicate this episode to Jen's faithful life and writing companion, Rosie, who passed away in January. You can find a picture of the best of all doggos at our Instagram page. We welcome feedback and suggestions at ThisBookMadeMe@gmail.com

If you need a reminder that you can write anything you can conceive of, this interview is for you. My guest, Bryan Thao Worra, explains how his experience as a first generation Asian American, reading his way through high and low American culture, made him the writer he is. Along the way we talk about poetry, democracy, and Kyle Baker's under-examined graphic novel Why I Hate Saturn.   Bryan Thao Worra is an award-winning Lao American poet based in Minneapolis and one of the first to come to the United States after the Vietnam War ended 50 years ago. The author of 10 collections, including his later, American Laodyssey from Sahtu Press, his work has been published across the globe, including the 2012 London Summer Games. He was the first Asian American president of the international Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association. His literary journey incorporates history, science fiction, fantasy, horror and poetry to explore how people make a transition to democracy in diaspora. You can follow his blog at https://thaoworra.wordpress.com or online at https://www.youtube.com/thaoworra    Catch DJ Diego Dela Rosa's AAPI focused playlist at This Playlist Made Me: Celebrate.  And, as always, you can follow the latest about the pod: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisbookmademe/ email: thisbookmademe@gmail.com

If you think that classic novels are irrelevant, my guest is here to change your mind. In this conversation, Diego Dela Rosa explains how the French novel, from the 18th century, provides hope against impossible circumstances, and makes the case for irreverent humor and community.  Diego Dela Rosa is your classic Los Angeles based multi-hyphenate: arts programmer, writer, archivist, playlist maker, line dancer, gamer, Real Housewives aficionado, and tinned fish enthusiast. He holds a Bachelor's and a Master's degree in Curatorial Practices and the Public Sphere from the USC Roski School of Art and Design, and currently works as the Coordinator of Learning at the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art.  Born in 2000, Diego's experience growing up in a post-Y2K world has been formative in building their perspective, and thus their practice. Being queer, trans non-binary, and a Chicano Chula Vista native, much of their work taps into a  resonant feeling of liminality they've always found comfort in. She always aims to show the meaning and value of things often labelled as frivolous, and to spread the power of irreverence in very heavy times. Catch Diego's very special playlist This Mixtape Made Me: Cope for the full experience.  And, as always, you can follow the latest about the pod: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisbookmademe/ email: thisbookmademe@gmail.com

If you're looking for a short book that packs a wallop, we have just the one for you! In this episode, my guest Matt Davis happens upon a book at his local bookstore, and it grounds our conversation about the state of reading in our current attention economy, the perils of the publishing industry, and how we can push ourselves to break out of our reading ruts. If you're not familiar with Helen DeWitt--a real writer's writer--you're in for a treat. We're talking about her tiny but powerful novel The English Understand Wool, and its savvy and subversive protagonist.  Matt Davis is a writer and PR consultant in Manhattan where he lives with his wife Logan and four-year-old son, Freddy. He writes a daily newsletter called Matt Davis Reads the Newspaper So You Don't Have To if you'd like to hear more from him. (Protip: check out Matt's daily LinkedIn series, where he reads the news via video, too!) At the end of the episode, you can catch DJ Diego Dela Rosa's playlist, curated especially for this episode: volume 6 of This Mixtape Made Me: Subvert And, as always, you can follow the latest about the pod: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisbookmademe/ email: thisbookmademe@gmail.com

It's Black History Month and we are celebrating!! My guest, Kat Calvin, does a deep, personal dive in to The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison, and we wrestle with this question: How do we learn to survive in a hostile world, and with a generational history of violence? We talk about the world of 1960s America, who is protected and who is not, and Morrison's authorial gift, which encourages us to wrestle with how we participate in unjust systems.  Kat Calvin is the Founder and Executive Director of Spread the Vote + Project ID and the Co-Founder and CEO of the Project ID Action Fund. A lawyer, activist, and social entrepreneur, Kat is a Practitioner Fellow in Democracy at the University of Virginia's Karsh Institute for Democracy and writes weekly insights and pop culture recommendations at Hot Takes and Applesauce and hosts the Choose the Bear podcast. And, don't forget her 2023 book: American Identity in Crisis: Notes from an Accidental Activist. You can keep up with ALL of her work at katcalvin.com.  At the end of the episode, you can catch DJ Diego Dela Rosa's playlist, curated especially for this episode: volume 5 of This Mixtape Made Me: Amplify.  And, as always, you can follow the latest about the pod: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisbookmademe/ email: thisbookmademe@gmail.com

Can you be yourself when everyone around you wants you to be something else? My guest, author Marjetta Geerling, AKA Mara Wells, walks me through the deep wisdom of the classic children's book The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf. We talk about how children's books use language and art to teach us how to be ourselves, and let others be without judging or trying to change them. In doing so, Marjetta argues, it makes us better human beings.  While this conversation was recorded in December, it's being released as the devastating Los Angeles fires are still ongoing. If you feel moved to support the people who lost their homes and jobs, here are a few of my favorite organizations that are organizing to support people, and to look towards the future of Los Angeles.  World Central Kitchen was on the ground within hours, providing hot meals to evacuees and first responders, and they continue to reach deeply into affected communities.  The Los Angeles Mutual Aid Network is maintaining a real-time list of groups and their needs as they respond to their communities.  The Altadena Seed Library is gathering native plant seeds to repopulate Eaton Canyon with the fire-resistant, California foliage.  Finally, don't forget the playlist curated for this episode by DJ/Curator Diego Dela Rosa: volume 4 of This Mixtape Made Me: Tender.  And, as always, you can follow the latest about the pod: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisbookmademe/ email: thisbookmademe@gmail.com

What did we read in 2024, and what are we reading next? In this end-of-year episode, I invite 5 former TBMM guests to reflect on their reading past and future. We've got book recommendations, a list of our best reading experiences, and what we're doing to read more and better in the new year. Join me, Sadie Forkner, Dice Moreno, Pat Harrigan, Mary Trunk, and Lisa Metzgar to reflect and to look ahead.  Also on this episode: DJ/Curator Diego Dela Rosa has a special super-sized vol 3 of This Mixtape Made Me, featuring their favorite projects and artists of 2024. It's called Reflect, and you can find it on Spotify.  And, as always, you can follow the latest about the pod: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisbookmademe/ email: thisbookmademe@gmail.com    

It's a book about love! But is it, really? In this episode, acclaimed fantasy author Robert V.S. Redick explains how Gabriel García Márquez's novel Love in the Time of Cholera exploded his previous ideas about what writing can and should do.  Author Robert V.S. Redick's most recent epic fantasy, Sidewinders, has been called "a brilliant fever dream of a novel that is bound to impress" by Grimdark Magazine and "a breathtaking work" by two-time World Fantasy Award winner C.S.E. Cooney. His previous novel, Master Assassins, was a finalist for the 2018 Booknest Award for Best Novel. His first novel, The Red Wolf Conspiracy, was a finalist for the Locust Award and the SFX Novel Award. His short fiction has appeared in Clarkesworld and various anthologies, most recently Dreams For a Broken World, edited by Julie C. Day.  Robert has taught fiction writing in the University of Maine (Stonecoast) and University of Nevada MFA Programs, at Hampshire College, and with the Pioneer Valley Writers' Workshop. He is currently finishing the sequel to Sidewinders. Robert is also an international development and environmental justice consultant who has lived and worked in Indonesia, Colombia, Argentina, and other countries. He now lives with his compañera, Dr. Kiran Asher, in Western Massachusetts. You can learn more about his fantasy novels at robertvsredick.com Also on this episode: DJ/Curator Diego Dela Rosa has created vol 2 of This Mixtape Made Me, inspired by the Márquez novel. It's titled Yearn, and you can find it at the halfway point of the episode.  And, as always, you can follow the latest about the pod: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisbookmademe/ email: thisbookmademe@gmail.com

Sometimes, a book meets you at exactly the right moment in your life. My guest this week, Russ Finkelstein, tells us how John Irving's The Hotel New Hampshire found him, and surfaced some foundational truths: that life, and people, are messy; that we can find ways to persevere in the face of great tragedy; and that books can make us better humans along the way.  Russ Finkelstein is a social entrepreneur, advisor, and coach. He writes a weekly column for The Washington Post that documents people's unexpected career pathways, because "one of the great challenges we have in the world is that we think there's one way life's supposed to be." You can also follow HIS career path and multitudinous projects at his LinkedIn page.  Also on this episode: it's the podcast's very first playlist!! Courtesy of DJ/Curator Diego Dela Rosa, you can find a 10-song playlist expanding on the themes of The Hotel New Hampshire. Run, don't walk: here's episode #1 of This Mixtape Made Me: Hope/Grieve. Give it a listen!  And, as always, you can follow the latest about the pod: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisbookmademe/ email: thisbookmademe@gmail.com      

Can a book help us have more meaningful conversations? Can we learn how to hear each other better, even, or especially, when we don't see eye to eye? What could we need more, as we enter election season?! My guest—Learning and Development leader Brandon Roberson of Riot Games—explains how the strategies in the best-selling Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When the Stakes Are High, have helped him build better relationships in his work and personal life.  You can find out more about Brandon on LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandonroberson/ And, as always, you can follow the latest about the pod: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisbookmademe/ email: thisbookmademe@gmail.com

What can literature--especially dystopian, young adult literature--teach us? My guest—artist, LGBTQIA+ mentor/activist, and makeover maven Dice Moreno—takes us through Lois Lowry's best-selling novel The Giver, and talks about its sneakily complex and moving themes of memory, community, and love. As we dig in, we can't help but discuss why these ideas are so dangerous, and how book bans are on the rise. If this issue resonates with you, Pen America has a terrific report detailing which books are most threatened, and in what places: Banned in the USA: https://pen.org/report/banned-in-the-usa-state-laws-supercharge-book-suppression-in-schools/?utm_source=google_cpc&utm_medium=ad_grant&utm_campaign=awareness&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjw5ea1BhC6ARIsAEOG5py9WkRy2rN0y9K2DKnXtZpo0cjgQ9KCgbA_Or5Hkyvo3-3EKWQnkgMaAj1-EALw_wcB You can find more about Dice here: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dice_circles/ Website: https://geofox.studio/ And, as always, you can follow the pod: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisbookmademe/ email: ThisBookMadeMe@gmail.com