Bookish with Sonya Walger

Huma Abedin has spent her entire career in public service and national politics, beginning as an intern in First Lady Hillary Clinton’s office in 1996. After four years in the White House, she worked in the U.S. Senate as Senior Advisor to Senator Clinton and was Traveling Chief of Staff for Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign. In 2009, she was appointed Deputy Chief of Staff at the U.S. Department of State. Huma served as Vice Chair of Hillary for America in 2016, resulting in the first woman elected nominee of a major political party. She currently serves as Hillary Clinton’s Chief of Staff. Born in the United States and raised in Saudi Arabia, Huma moved back to the U.S. in 1993. She lives in New York City with her son, Jordan. She is the New York Times best-selling author of BOTH/AND: A Life in Many Worlds. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

John Simm is an English actor, director, and musician, best known for playing Sam Tyler in Life on Mars, the master in Doctor Who, and DS Roy Grace in Grace. His other television credits include State of Play, The Lakes, Crime and Punishment, Exile, Prey, and Cracker. He has been nominated for a BAFTA for best actor and the Lawrence Olivier Award for best actor.  John's Books Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger, 1951 Salem's Lot by Stephen King, 1975 Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens, 1838 Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, 1866 East of Eden by John Steinbeck, 1952 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

My guest this week is one of my closest friends, Dan Houser. Dan created a cultural phenomenon. He is the former lead writer and creative director of Rockstar Games and he was the head writer and creative director of Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption. GTA5 is the most successful entertainment product in history. It has sold over 150 million copies. Red Dead Redemption 2 made a billion dollars in three days. Dan is my dearest friend from Oxford and Godfather to my daughter. Dan's Books Winter Holiday by Arthur Ransome, 1933 Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte, 1847 Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald, 1934 The Thin Red Line by James Jones, 1962 Middlemarch by George Eliot, 1872 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

My guest this week is Aimee Mullins. Aimee is an American athlete, actress, model, and public speaker. She was born with a medical condition that resulted in the amputation of both of her lower legs when she was one year old. She was told that she would use a wheelchair for the rest of her life but by the age of two she was walking with prosthetics. She went on to be the first amputee to compete against able bodied athletes in the National Collegiate Athletic Association events. She competed in the Paralympics. She has modeled on the catwalk for Alexander McQueen. She has starred as an actress in many tv shows and movies. Aimee is a motivational speaker and has given multiple TED talks.  Aimee's Books The Wicked Pigeon Ladies in the Garden by Mary Chase, 1968 Le Morte d’Arthur by Sir Thomas Mallory, 1485 The Second Circle by Patsy Rodenburg, 2008 CivilWarLand in Bad Decline by George Saunders, 1996 Liar’s Club by Mary Karr, 1995 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week my guest is Krista Tippett, creator and host of the spiritual nourishment podcast, On Being. She has interviewed everyone of spiritual consequence from the Dalai Lama to Mary Oliver. She was the recipient of the National Humanities Medal at the White House, given by Barack Obama. She has won a Peabody award. She reported and wrote for The Times, Newsweek, the BBC, the International Herald Tribune, and Die Zeit. Krista has authored many books, and her book Einstein's God, was a New York Times bestseller.  Krista's Books Let your Life Speak by Parker Palmer, 1999 My Grandmother’s Hands by Resmaa Menakem, 2017 When Things Fall Apart by Pema Chodron, 1996 Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke, 1929 The Invention of Nature by Andrea Wulf, 2015 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

My guest this week is my friend Bill, better known as William H. Macy. Bill is an American writer, actor, and director. He has written films, tv series, and screenplays. He has won two Emmy awards, and has been nominated for 15. He has won four screen actors guild awards. He was nominated for an Academy award for best supporting actor for his performance in Fargo.  Bill's Books The Kid Who Batted a Thousand by Bob Allison and Frank Ernest Hill, 1951 Call of the Wild by Jack London, 1903 Electric Universe by David Bodanis, 2004 American Buffalo by David Mamet, 1961 Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlasky, 2002 Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World by Mark Kurlansky, 1997 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

My guest this week is Scottish writer Douglas Stuart. Douglas' debut novel, Shuggie Bain was awarded the 2020 Booker Prize. It was a finalist for the National Book Award, the Pen/Hemingway, the National Book Critics Circle, and named a notable book of the year by The New York Times and The Washington Post.  Douglas' Books Jude The Obscure by Thomas Hardy A Kestrel for a Knave by Barry Hines The Swimming Pool Library by Alan Hollinghurst Young Adam by Alexander Trocchi The Trick is to Keep Breathing by Janice Galloway Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

My guest this week is British American businessman Chris Anderson. Chris is the head of TED, a non-profit organization that provides idea-based talks and hosts an annual conference in Canada. He is also the founder of Future Publishing. He published a book, TED Talks: The Official TED Guide to Public Speaking, which immediately became a New York Times best seller.  The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis, 1956 How the Mind Works by Steven Pinker, 1997 The Happiness Hypothesis by Jonathan Haidt, 2006 The Beginning of Infinity by David Deutsch, 2011 The Blue Sweater by Jacqueline Novogratz, 2009 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Isha Sesay is a British journalist of Sierra Leonean descent who became a TV news star in 2014 when she led a CNN team to a Peabody award for her coverage of the kidnapping of 276 school girls in Nigeria. Isha stayed with the story over the years and spent time with the girls that escaped, as well as with the families of the girls that are still unaccounted for. She put her experiences into a book, Beneath the Tamarind Tree: A Story of Courage, Family, and the Lost Schoolgirls of Boko Haram. Isha also launched an educational humanitarian nonprofit organization called W.E. Can Lead, which was created to support African girls in receiving educational support so that they can become future leaders.   Isha's Books Beloved by Toni Morrison, 1987 To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, 1960 The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, 1970 When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi, 2016 The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, 1985 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

My guest this week is Carol Dysinger, Director of the short documentary, Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone if You're a Girl. This film won the Academy Award for best short documentary as well as the BAFTA for best short, and best documentary short from the IDA and the Tribeca Film Festival. She is the recipient of multiple awards, among them the David Payne Carter award for excellence in teaching and a Guggenheim Fellowship. She is Associate Professor at NYU Film School. Under My Skin: Volume One of My autobiography, to 1949, by Doris Lessing, 1994 The Golden Notebook, by Doris Lessing, 1962 Wuthering Heights, by Emily Brontë, 1847 Middlemarch, by George Eliot, 1871 The Giving Tree, by Shel Silverstein, 1964 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

My guest this week is Rory Stewart, British academic, diplomat, explorer, author, soldier, and politician. Rory is a Senior Fellow at Yale University's Jackson Institute for Global Affairs, where he teaches politics and international relations. He has served as a Minister in four different departments of the UK government, including Secretary of State for International Development. He resigned from this role when Boris Johnson became Prime Minister. He was also a Member of Parliament. He has walked across Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, India, and Nepal, and written a best selling book, The Places In Between, about his experiences. Rory's Books Tristram Shandy by Lawrence Sterne, 1759 Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy, 1877 The Civilisation of the Renaissance in Italy by Jacob Burckhardt, 1860 The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene, 1940 The Master and his Emissary by Ian McGilchrist, 2009 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

My guest this week is best selling author Darin Strauss. His book Half a Life received the National Book Critics Circle award for memoir. He is also the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship in fiction writing and numerous other awards. Darin is an Associate Professor of writing at NYU.  Darin's Books Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy, 1877 Pnin by Vladimir Nabokov, 1957 Like Life by Lorrie Moore, 1990 Collected Stories by VS Pritchett, 1990 Eye of the Needle by Ken Follett, 1978 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week I spoke with Dr. Marion Turner, a professor of English Literature at Oxford and a Fellow of Jesus College, Oxford. Her latest book, Chaucer: A European Life is a major biography of the great medieval poet. Her book was chosen as Book of the Year in 2019 in The Times, The Sunday Times, and the TLS. In 2020 it was shortlisted for the Wolfson History prize and for which she was awarded the Rose Mary Crawshay Prize. Marion's Books The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, C. S. Lewis, 1950 A Room of One's Own, Virginia Woolf, 1929 Emma, Jane Austen, 1815 The Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer, 1392 The Buried Giant, Kazuo Ishiguro, 2015 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

My first guest of season 3 is my friend and colleague, Garrett Reisman. Garrett is a NASA veteran who flew on all three space shuttles. During these missions Garrett performed three space walks. After leaving NASA Garrett joined Elon Musk at SpaceX, most recently as the Director of Space Operations, and now a Senior Advisor. He now works full time as a Professor of Astronautical Engineering at USC. I met Garrett on my show, For All Mankind, where he serves as Consultant, Producer, and sometimes actor. Garrett's Books Wind, Sand and Stars by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, 1939 Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad, 1900 Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs, 2002 Vacationland: True Stories from Painful Beaches by John Hodgman, 2017 Welcome to Hard Times by E.L. Doctorow Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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My final guest of season 2 is Eric Garcetti, Mayor of Los Angeles. Mr. Garcetti is the 42nd Mayor of LA; a member of the Democratic Party, he was first elected in 2013 and won re-election in 2017. He is married with one daughter and it was my absolute honor and pleasure to talk to him about his formative books in the Rare Books room of the Central Library in downtown LA.  Eric's Books • Ficciones, by Jorge Luis Borges, 1941 • Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism by Benedict Anderson, 1983 • Stone, Paper, Knife by Marge Piercy, 1983 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week my guest is historian Dr. Amanda Foreman. Amanda is author of award-winning best sellers, Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire and A World on Fire as well as the BBC/Netflix series The Ascent of Woman. She writes a column for the Wall Street Journal and her next book, The World Made By Women is scheduled to be published later this year.  Amanda's Books • A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett, 1905 • Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, 1813 • The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien, 1954-1955 • Britons: Forging the Nation 1707–1837 by Linda Colley, 1992 • In A Different Voice: Psychological Theory In Women's Development by Carol Gilligan, 1982 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Iggy (10) and Phoebe (8) are brother and sister; Jack (11) and Hayden (10) are best friends. Their Books: • Ig 1: The Odyssey (Graphic Novel version), by Homer. Illustrated by Gareth Hinds: 2010 • Ig 2: Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library, by Chris Grabenstein: 2013 • Phoebe 1: Raymie Nightingale, by Kate DiCamillo: 2016 • Phoebe 2: Because of Winn-Dixie, by Kate DiCamillo: 2000 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week my guest is my friend novelist Piers Torday. Piers’s first book The Dark Wild won the Guardian’s Children’s Fiction Prize. His books include The Dark Wild trilogy, There May Be a Castle, A Wisp of Wisdom and Winter Magic.  Piers' Books • The Tale of Samuel Whiskers or The Roly-Poly Pudding, by Beatrix Potter: 1908 • The Swimming-Pool Library, by Alan Hollinghurst: 1988 • A Dance to the Music of Time, by Anthony Powell: 1951-1975 • The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History, by Elizabeth Kolbert: 2014 • The Underground Railroad, by Coleson Whitehead: 2016 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode I talk to my friend, actress, screenwriter and producer Emily Mortimer. Emily’s many credits include Doll and Em, The Newsroom, Shutter Island, Lars and the Real Girl, Lovely and Amazing, and the new Mary Poppins. Emily's Books • A Hero of Our Time, by Mikhail Lermontov: 1839 • Tale Of Mr. Tootleoo, by Bernard & Elinor Darwin: 1925 • Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens: 1861 • Hons and Rebels, by Jessica Mitford: 1960 • The River Cafe Cookbook, by Ruth Rogers and Rose Gray: 1996 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices