It's that time of year where kids and teachers are back at school or almost back at school so we thought we would offer recommendations for books related to education—novels or memoirs set in schools or colleges; books with teachers, deans, students, or staff as characters; literature in which education or learning plays an important if not essential role.

Books mentioned in this episode:

1- The Whale Rider by Witi Ihimaera

2- Shanghailanders by Juli Min

3- A Five-Star Read Recommended by Fellow Book Lover Dawn Nacker @dawndevoursbooks - How To Read a Book by Monica Wood

4- Truly, Devious by Maureen Johnson

5- Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

6- The Faculty Lounge by Jennifer Matthieu

7- Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution by RF Kuang

7- New Kid by Jerry Craft

8- The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead

9- The Reformatory by Tananarive Due

10- The Gilded Years by Karin Tanabe

11- The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart

12- True Biz by Sara Nović

13- Girl at War by Sara Nović

14- All Summer in a Day (short story) by Ray Bradbury

15- Love at First Book by Jenn McKinlay

16- The Rom-commers by Katherine Center

Bookish events—

1- Poe: A Dream Within a Dream
fareharbor.com/embeds/book/belle…ow=1089772&g4=yes

2- Untimely Ripp’d
kyshakespeare.com/season/untimely/

3- Cincy Bookstore Crawl
cincybookstorecrawl.my.canva.site/

4- Books by the Banks
booksbythebanks.org/

5- Cynthiana KY Skeletons
wkdq.com/small-kentucky-city-halloween/

6- Rail Explorers
www.railexplorers.net/

7- Fenrir Viking Festival
www.kyrenfaire.com/viking-fest

8- New Kid by Jerry Craft Book Banning
www.npr.org/2022/12/28/11444585…jerry-craft-new-kid

Media mentioned—

1- The Whale Rider — 2002
www.imdb.com/title/tt0298228/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk

2- Happiness for Beginners (Netflix, 2023)

This week we chat with Sierra Hollabaugh, one of the co-owners and founders of Bookery Cincy, an independent bookstore located in Cincinnati, OH. When Amy went to Cincinnati recently, she met Sierra so we thought it would be nice if everyone got to know a little more about the bookstore as well as a cool October event, the Cincy Bookstore Crawl, which includes 16 small bookstores in the area. Cincinnati is a great place for a weekend visit, and the bookstore crawl just makes it an even more appealing location.

We talk about the resurgence of the independent brick and mortar bookstore, what it’s like running a small business when you have young kids, and what visitors can expect if they come to Cincy for the Bookstore Crawl which is the weekend of Oct 4-6.

Books Mentioned in this Episode:

1- Orbital by Samantha Harvey

2- American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis

3- Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis

4- Sociopath by Patric Gagne

5- A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

6- Bel Canto by Ann Patchett

7- Tom Lake by Ann Patchett

8- The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin

9- A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle

10- Black Beauty by Anna Sewell

11- Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan

12- Trust by Hernan Diaz

13- In the Distance by Hernan Diaz

14- The English Understand Wool by Helen DeWitt

15- A Five Star Read Recommended by Fellow Book Lover Elias Eells @eliaseells - The West Passage by Jared Pechaček

16- Cocktails and Consoles by Elias Eells

17- All the Sinners Bleed by SA Cosby

18- Blacktop Wasteland by SA Cosby

19- Sandwich by Catherine Newman

20- We All Want Impossible Things by Catherine Newman

21- Waiting for Birdy: A Year of Frantic Tedium, Neurotic Angst, and the Wild Magic of Growing a Family by Catherine Newman

22- A Heart That Works by Rob Delaney

Media mentioned--
1- American Psycho (2000, Netflix)

2- Catastrophe (2015-2019, Prime Video)

3- Art is Not a Luxury with Ethan Hawke - www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeCuqtFKLHI

4- Utah Book Ban -Utah recently banned 13 books by 7 authors from all public schools in the state. apnews.com/article/utah-school…a6cd2cb5ddd25fca700

Books Mentioned in This Episode:

1- The Most Precious of Cargoes by Jean-Claude Grumberg

2- The Paris Affair by Maureen Marshall

3- A Five Start Read Recommended by Fellow Book Lover Stephanie Affinito @affinitolit - The Book That Matters Most by Ann Hood

4- Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

5- Leviathan Wakes by James SA Corey

6- The Calculating Stars (Lady Astronaut Universe) by Mary Robinette Kowal

7- Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

8- Spaceman of Bohemia by Jaroslav Kalfar

9- Orbital by Samantha Harvey

10- The Lion of Mars by Jennifer L. Holm

11- A Rovers Story by Jasmine Warga

12- Old Man’s War by John Scalzi

13- Bright Objects by Ruby Todd

14- Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

15- A Quantum Life: My Unlikely Journey From the Street to the Stars by Hakeem Oluseyi and Joshua Horwitz

Media mentioned--

1- Constellation (Apple+, 2024)

2- Zone of Interest (HBOMax, 2023)

3- Cat Video Fest--www.catvideofest.com

4- For All Mankind (Apple+, 2019)

5- The Expanse (Prime Video, 2015)

6- Spaceman of Bohemia (Netflix, 2024)

7- Literature as an Olympic Sport - lithub.com/did-you-know-that-p…tual-olympic-sport/

If you can’t get enough of sports and global camaraderie watching the Paris Summer Olympics on your TV screens, we have an interview for you today to scratch that itch even more; books that include women’s soccer.

In Season 10, we did a dual-interview with two authors who wrote Jane Austen-inspired books: AH Kim and Melodie Edwards. It was so much fun, we thought we would do it again. This time, though, we’re pairing two women who wrote books related to soccer

Sarahlyn Bruck is the author of several novels; her most recent is titled Light of the Fire, which is about two adult women who were connected by soccer in high school. Jean Duffy’s debut nonfiction book is titled Soccer Grannies: The South African Women Who Inspire the World, about older women who play recreational soccer. These two writers, who both have an abiding love of the game, were down with joining each other and us to chat about their respective books.

While these books on the surface deal with soccer, they ultimately address friendship and teamwork, the elements of the game that change lives for the better.

Books Mentioned in this Episode:

1- Light of the Fire by Sarahlyn Bruck

2- Soccer Grannies: The South African Women Who Inspire the World by Jean Duffy

3- The Keeper: Soccer, Me, and the Law That Changed Women's Lives by Kelcey Ervick

4- A Five Star Read Recommended by Fellow Book Lover, Patricia @patriciapluggedin - Funny Story by Emily Henry

5- I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak

6- Anna Bright is Hiding Something by Susie Orman Schnall

7- Invisible Women: Exploring Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado-Perez

8- Magonia Wu Unfolds It All by Chanel Miller

9-Know My Name by Chanel Miller

10- Starter Villain by John Scalzi

11- Old Man's War by John Scalzi

Media mentioned—

1- Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019)

2- Trying (2024, Apple+)

3- Catastrophe (2015, Amazon Prime)

4- The Dropout (2022, Hulu)

Our Episode with Kelcey Ervick about her graphic memoir, The Keeper -ThePerksofBeingaBookLover.podbean.com/e/s9ep…21323/

This week we chat with Carter Wilson, a thriller writer and podcast host who lives in Colorado and who is the author of nine novels. His most recent is titled The Father She Went to Find, a story of Penny, a girl who suffered a brain injury at an early age that left her a savant with curious abilities. It was at this time that her father disappeared, but he has remained in contact via a birthday card every year. Until she turns 21. And that is the impetus she needs to go find him. This is a road trip/ scavenger hunt thrill ride that even has a few Stranger Things vibes. It’s set in the 1980s after all.

Carter talks to us about why this book is different from all his others and his favorite TV thriller series he has watched this year. And we laugh when he tells us one of the reasons why someone might start writing a book.

Books mentioned--

1- The Father She Went to Find by Carter Wilson

2- Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, illustrated by Yayoi Kusama (Penguin Classics) 2012

3- Deception at Diamond D Ranch by GR Stahl

4- Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner

5- Pines by Blake Crouch

6- Where'd You Go Bernadette by Maria Semple

7- Greenwood by Michael Christie

8- My Mama, Cass: A Memoir by Owen Elliot-Kugell

9- The Mysterious Case of Rudolph Diesel by Douglas Brunt

10- The Last Murder at the End of the World by Stuart Turton

11- The Seven and a Half Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

12- The Language of Love and Loss by Bart Yates

13- The Five Star Read Recommended by a Fellow Book Lover Iresha Jayasinghe @resh_bookstagram - Cinder Luna by Marie Soleil

Movies and Series

1- Where'd You Go Bernadette (2019)

2- Shogun (Hulu, 2024)

3- Ripley (Netflix, 2024)

Links--

1- Salted Brown Butter Krispie Treats recipe - smittenkitchen.com/2009/11/salted-…-crispy-treats/

2-Yayoi Kusama Exhiition - www.speedmuseum.org/yayoi-kusama-in…urvive-forever/

3- Rediscovered Books in Boise, ID - www.rdbooks.org/

4- Free Little Art Galleries (FLAGS) - freelittleartgalleries.art/

So back during Season 10 we flew to Los Angeles, California for the LA Times Festival of Books, which was held on the campus of USC. We were able to meet our bookish friend, Jennifer Caloyeras from the Books Are My People podcast; hear cool authors and audiobook narrators speak; and visit some awesome places in LA.

Amy is usually the one who reads around the places she is visiting, although she is apparently rubbing off on me because I’m finding myself doing it too. We decided to make an episode centered around Los Angeles/Hollywood reads.

Books Discussed in This Episode:

1- Everything I Learned, I Learned In a Chinese Restaurant by Curtis Chin

2- The Copenhagen Trilogy by Tove Ditlevsen

3- The Library Book by Susan Orlean

4- A 5 Star Read Recommended by a Fellow Book Lover Lauren Becker @laurenashleybecker- Elephant and Castle by Hannah Ledford

5- Devil in a Blue Dress (Easy Rawlins series) by Walter Mosley

6- The Monstrous Misses Mai by Van Hoang

7- Love & Saffron by Kim Fay

8- Daytime Drama by Sarahlyn Bruck

9- Code Name Edelweiss by Stephanie Landsem

10- California Dreamin: The True Story of the Mamas and Papas by Michelle Phillips

12- Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis

13- Black Dahlia by James Ellroy

14- The People of Paper by Salvador Plascencia

15- Tortilla Curtain by TC Boyle

16- Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor

17- Muse of Nightmares by Laini Taylor

18- Icebreaker by Hannah Grace

19- Wildfire by Hannah Grace

Movies mentioned--

Feast of Death (documentary about James Ellroy) - 2001

Articles mentioned--

100 Best Books of the 21st Century - www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/…21st-century.html

Episodes mentioned--

1- www.perksofbeingabooklover.com/episodes/…m-vidrine

2- www.perksofbeingabooklover.com/episodes/…akespeare

This episode begins Season 11 for us–we’ve got over 200 episodes under our belts and are back to bring you more.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you probably know that fantasy is big right now, and we discovered a fun fantasy that feels like an Ocean’s 11 type romp with multiple characters trying to take down a king. The book is titled Five Broken Blades and it is written by Mai Corland. We were delighted to speak with her a couple weeks back, especially since she is now an international bestselling author. And in fact, while recording this episode you will hear Mai receiving some good news. While some people might let this success go to their heads, Mai is down-to-earth and gets entirely too much pleasure poking fun at her new status.

We chat about the fantasy series she can’t stop recommending, why writing middle grade and YA novels was such good prep for pacing in her new romantic fantasy, and how riding the subway opened up her world as a teen.

Books Discussed In This Episode:

1- Five Broken Blades by Mai Corland

2- Four Ruined Realms by Mai Corland

3- You Are Here: Connected Flights edited by Ellen Oh

4- Emma and the Love Spell by Meredith Ireland

5- The Jasmine Project by Meredith Ireland

6- Mirrored Heavens by Rebecca Roanhorse

7- Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse

8- The Jane City trilogy by Fonda Lee

9- The Serpent and the Wings of Night by Carissa Broadbent

10- 5 Star Read Recommended by a Fellow Book Lover Marné Deranger @readerbythewater - Sandwich by Catherine Newman

11- Curbing Traffic: The Human Case for Fewer Cars in Our Lives by Melissa Bruntlett and Chris Bruntlett

12- Such Charming Liars by Karen McManus

13- One of Us is Lying by Karen McManus

14- The Cousins by Karen McManus

15- Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts by Crystal Wilkinson

Our guest this week is Nathan Gower, a writer with roots in Kentucky, having earned degrees from Spalding University and the University of Louisville. He now serves as a professor of English at Campbellsville University. His debut novel, The Act of Disappearing, publishes on May 28 with Mira Books, an imprint of HarperCollins.

The novel is about a woman named Julia, who her friends call Jules. Julia has been trying to make a name for herself as a fiction writer, but she works at a bar to make ends meet. It is there that she meets a famous older man named Jonathan Aster who gives her a photograph and offers to pay her to tell the story of the woman in the picture: the woman in the photo is jumping off a bridge holding a baby. Julia begins a quest to discover who this woman is and learns about herself in the process

He also talks to us about how terrifying it was to write a book from a female POV, how the women in his family inspired this story, and the sci-fi book he just read and thoroughly enjoyed even though he doesn’t like sci-fi.

Books Mentioned in This Episode:

1- The Act of Disappearing by Nathan Gower

2- Dark Matter by Blake Crouch

3- Dead Boy Detectives by Neil Gaiman

4- Out of the Easy by Ruta Sepetys

5- Gumbo Tales: Finding My Place at the New Orleans Table by Sara Roahen

6- The Moviegoer by Walker Percy

7- The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty - A 5 Star Read Recommended by Fellow Book Lover Claire Boswell @clairesbookobsession

8- The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

9- The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas

10- The Man In The Iron Mask by Alexandre Dumas

11- Made for You by Jenna Satterthwaite

12- Johanna Porter is Not Sorry by Sara Read

Entertainment mentioned—

1- Beetlejuice (1988)

2- Beetlejuice (Broadway Across America)

3- Seinfeld (1989- 1998, Netflix)

4- Dark Matter (2024, Apple+)

5- The Dead Boys Detective (2024, Netflix)

6- Locke & Key (2020, Netflix)

7- The Man in the Iron Mask (1998)

Photograph mentioned—

time.com/3456028/the-most-bea…h-an-immortal-photo/

This week we have our annual summer reading episode with our favorite bookseller, Sam Miller, store manager at Carmichaels Bookstore in Louisville, KY. By this point in our spring season, we are tired, so having Sam on and letting her do the heavy lifting on book suggestions is what we’re about. Sam clues us in to some new fiction, nonfiction, traditional summer reading, mysteries, sci-fi/fantasy, and children’s books you may want to scoop up.

Books Mentioned in This Episode:

1- James by Percival Everett

2- Hamilton by Ron Chernow

3- We All Want Impossible Things by Catherine Newman

4- Sandwich by Catherine Newman

5- Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult

6- By Any Other Name by Jodi Picoult

7- Long Island by Colm Tóibín

8- Brooklyn by Colm Tóibín

9- Peace Like a River by Leif Enger

10- I Cheerfully Refuse by Leif Enger

11- The Summer Pact by Emily Giffen

12- Soldier Sailor by Claire Kilroy

13- Nightbitch by Rachel Yoder

14- Knife by Salman Rushdie

15- The Demon of Unrest by Erik Larsen

16- 1974 by Francine Prose

17- The Backyard Bird Chronicles by Amy Tan

18- Sociopath by Patric Gagne

19- An Unfinished Love Story by Doris Kearns Goodwin

20- The Searcher by Tana French

21- The Hunter by Tana French

22- One Perfect Couple by Ruth Ware

23- Midnight Feast by Lucy Fole

24- Highway 13 by Fiona McFarland

25- This Bright River by Liz Moore

26- God of the Woods by Liz Moore

27- The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley

28- Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride

29- The Book of Elsewhere by Keanu Reeves and China Miéville

30- Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky

31- House on the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune

32- Somewhere Beyond the Sea by TJ Klune

33- The Deading by Nicholas Belardes

34- Unicorn Woman by Gayl Jones

35- Eva’s Man by Gayl Jones

36- You Are Here edited by Ada Límon

37- Black Gold by Marguerite Henry

38- The Kentucky Oaks by Avalyn Hunter

39- Bourbonland by Edward Lee

40- Smoke and Pickles by Edward Lee

41- Buttermilk Graffiti by Edward Lee

42- The Gaga Mistake by Emma Straub

43- Julian is a Mermaid by Jessica Love

44- The Squish by Brianna Carzoo

45- The Berlin Letters by Katherine Reay

46- Horrorstor by Grady Hendrix

47- Finna by Nino Cipri

48- The Divorcees by Rowan Beaird

49- I’m Afraid You Have Dragons by Peter S. Beagle

50- The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle

Apps mentioned—

Merlin app (birds)

May is Audiobook Appreciation Month so this week we suggest 10 plus books that give a little added dimension when you listen to the audiobook version. And we aren't even entertaining the notion that listening to audiobooks isn't reading. Listening counts!

Books mentioned-

1- Jinn Daughter by Rania Hanna

2- The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller

3- Rules for Second Chances by Maggie North (A 5 star read recommended by fellow book lover Shannon Loar @shopcoffeekids

4- Invasion of the Body Snatchers by Jack Finney, narrated by Kristoffer Tabori

5- Taste: My Life Through Food by Stanley Tucci, narrated by Stanley Tucci

6- Nothing is Wrong and Here is Why by Alexandra Petri, narrated by Rebecca Gibel

7- Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson, narrated by Marin Ireland

8- The Assasination of Brangwain Spurge by MT Anderson and Eugene Yelchin narrated by Gildart Jackson

9- Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid, narrated by an ensemble cast

10- A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess, narrated by Tom Hollander

11- Heartbreak: A Personal and Scientific Journey by Florence Williams, narrated by author

12- Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam, narrated by Marin Ireland

13- Ava's Man by Rick Bragg

14-The Speckled Beauty: A Dog and his People by Rick Bragg

15- My Southern Journey: True Journeys from the Heart of the South by Rick Bragg

16- It's All Over But the Shoutin' by Rick Bragg

17- Calypso by David Sedaris

18- Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris

19- Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith, narrated by Bronson Pinchot

20- The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith

21- The Husbands by Holly Gramazio

22- The People of Paper by Salvador Plascencia

Movies and Shows mentioned--

1- Big Night (1996)

2- Stanley Tucci Searching for Italy (CNN)

3- The Hunger Games (2012)

4- The Devil Wears Prada (2006)

5- Daisy Jones and the Six (Amazon, 2023)

6- Leave the World Behind (Netflix, 2023)

7- Ripley (Netflix, 2024)