JD Vance first made news when he published his book Hillbilly Elegy in 2016, but he has since become a senator in Ohio and a vice presidential candidate. When his memoir came out, there were many people who had strong negative feelings about his book, namely other people from Appalachia who felt that he misrepresented them and their struggles.

When JD Vance was selected as Donald Trump’s VP, we thought it might be a good time to look at some other Appalachia-related books that perhaps provide a fuller picture of the region, which spans 206,000 square miles, 423 counties, and six states. A region this large cannot be summed up by one person in one book.

So our goal this week is to give you some diverse Appalachian voices to add to your TBR for a broader view of this region.

Books Mentioned In This Episode:

1- Hillbilly Elegy by JD Vance

2- Storyteller by Dave Grohl

3- Monsters: A Fan's Dilemma by Clare Dederer

4- Womb: The Inside Story of Where We All Began by Leah Hazard

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

6- The Sirens of Soleil City by Sarah C. Johns

7- A Five Star Recommended by Fellow Book Lover Nikki Lee @nikkileethrillseeker - The Mechanics of Memory by Audrey Lee

8- "A Ribbon for Baldy" by Jesse Stuart (short story)

9- The Beatinest Boy by Jesse Stuart

10- Andy Finds a Way by Jesse Stuart

11-Many-Storied House: Poems by George Ella Lyon

12 - Gay Poems for Red States by Willie Carver Jr.
ThePerksofBeingaBookLover.podbean.com/e/s9-e…-9623/

13- "Where I'm From" by George Ella Lyon (poem)

14- Prodigals: A Sister's Memoir of Appalachia and Loss by Sarah Beth Childers

15- Township by Jamie Lyn Smith

16- Water street by Crystal Wilkinson

17- Affrilachia by Frank X Walker

18- "Burying Albatross" by Frank X. Walker (poem)-
poetrysociety.org/poems-essays/ars…a/frank-x-walker

19- "Neoteric Kama no Sutra" by Frank X. Walker (poem)-
poets.org/poem/neoteric-kama-no-sutra

20- Where I Can't Follow by Ashley Blooms
ThePerksofBeingaBookLover.podbean.com/e/ep-6…30-20/

21- Smothermoss by Alisa Alering

22- Belle Prater's Boy by Ruth White

23- Clay's Quilt by Silas House

24- The Coal Tattoo by Silas House

25- Parchment of Leaves by Silas House

26- Fair & Tender Ladies by Lee Smith

27 - Hill Women: Finding Family and a Way Forward in the Appalachian Mountains by Cassie Chambers
ThePerksofBeingaBookLover.podbean.com/e/ep-3…25-20/

28- Another Appalachia: Coming Up Queer and Indian in a Mountain Place by Neema Avashia
ThePerksofBeingaBookLover.podbean.com/e/s-6-…-6-22/

29- A Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson

Media mentioned--

1- The To Read List Podcast

2- Slow Horses (Apple +)

3- The Bear (Hulu)

4- Ripley (Netflix)

5- True Detective: Night Country (HBO MAX, 2024)

6- Steve! (documentary) (Apple +, 2024)

7- Kaos (Netflix, 2024)

8- The Princess Bride (1987)

9- The Tourist (Netflix)

10- The Good Girl's Guide to Murder - (Netflix, 2024)

News articles

1- Dave Grohl Announcement -
www.usatoday.com/story/life/healt…ock/75176681007/

2- Neil Gaiman controversy -
www.theguardian.com/books/2024/sep/…xual-misconduct

This week we chat with Kelly Hill who published her debut novel, A Home for Friendless Women, this year in March. It is the story of three Victorian-era women who experience a home for “fallen” women in very different ways.

What makes this novel especially unique is that Kelly got the idea for it from her time interning at The Filson Historical Society while she was completing her dissertation at the University of Louisville. She came across historic documents about a home for pregnant women here in Louisville and fictionalized them to create a powerful story. While the story is about a tough time for women over a century ago.

Books Mentioned In this Episode:

1- A Home for Friendless Women by Kelly Hill

2- The Age of Grievance by Frank Bruni

3- The Wild Robot by Peter Brown

4- A Five Star Read Recommended by fellow Book Lover Tracey Myers-Quesada @cubadianmom3 - Finding Freedom: A Cook’s Story; Remaking a Life from Scratch by Erin French

5- Prophet Song by Paul Lynch

6- When the Clock Broke: Con Men, Conspiracists, and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s by Jon Ganz

7- Washington’s Gay General: The Legends and Loves of Baron von Steuben by Josh Trujillo and Levi Hastings

Media:

1- The Lost Kitchen (Hulu, Amazon, 2021- present)

2- The Wild Robot (2024)

For a lot of people, Labor Day, which this year fell on September 2, marks the end of summer, although astronomical summer doesn’t end until September 22 (and meteorological fall actually begins on September 1). And according to Carrie, summer ends on the first day of school, which was Aug 8 here in Louisville KY. And what was a common assignment when you returned back to schook? That's right. Write about what you did this summer. So this episode is a recap of what the two of us did this summer told in the form of books!

Books mentioned--

1- Bad Monkey by Carl Hiassen

2- Hoot by Carl Hiassen

3- Flush by Carl Hiassen

4- Border Crossings: A Journey on the Trans-Siberian Railway by Emma Fick

5- Summer of the Mariposas by Guadalupe Garcia McCall

6- A Five Star Read Recommended by Fellow Book Lover Amanda Pavlov @pavlovsbooks - A Novel Obsession by Caitlin Barasch

7- The Kindred Spirits Supper Club by Amy E. Reichert

8- Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club by J. Ryan Stradal

9- Hum If You Don't Know the Words by Bianca Marais

10- Cry the Beloved Country by Alan Paton

11- Death’s Door: True Tales of Tragedy, Mystery, and Bravery from the Great Lakes’ Most Dangerous Waters by Barbara M. Joosse

12- The Elephants of Thula Thula by Francois Malby-Anthony

13- A Death in Door County (Monster Hunter Mystery) by Annelise Ryan

14- The Woman Next Door by Yewande Omotoso

15- I Cheerfully Refuse by Leif Enger

16- The Deepest Lake by Andromeda Romano-Lax

17- Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke, audiobook narrated by Brendan Fraser

18- Death Stalks Door County (Dave Cubiak #1) by Patricia Skalka

Media mentioned--

1- Jack Whitehall: Travels with My Father (Netflix, 2017)

2- Jack Whitehall: Fatherhood with my Father (2024)

3- The Tourist (Netflix, 2022)

4- Bad Monkey (Apple+, 2024)

5- Strong Sense of Place Podcast - strongsenseofplace.com/podcasts/

6-Lawsuit Against Florida Book Bans - people.com/publishers-authors-…a-book-bans-8704020

11- A Novel Love Story by Ashley Poston

12- The Hundred Loves of Juliet by Evelyn Skye

13- One of Us is Lying by Karen McManus

Shows mentioned--

The Decameron (Netflix, 2024)

Links:

1- Pandora Productions - Little Shop of Horrors - www.pandoraprods.org/

2- Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest-- www.bulwer-lytton.com

3- Louisville Book Festival - www.louisvillebookfestival.com/

This week we chat with Britton Perelman, a unique artist and craftsperson who creates miniature bookshelves. We saw her at the Columbus OH Book Festival in 2023, which was the first festival she attended selling her amazing creations, and we were delighted when she agreed to be a guest.

We chat with her about how she sort of fell into designing and crafting miniature bookshelves during COVID and how the business has been booming, which leaves Britton, who has a BA in journalism and an MFA in screenwriting, with little time to compose written work. Britton has had to get all hands on deck, including her mom and sister, which means Books by Britton is a female-owned, family business.

Books Mentioned In this Episode:

1- The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio

2- The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer

3- Tiny Treasures: Amazing Miniatures You Can Make by Nancy Holyoke

4- The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

5- The Guest List by Lucy Foley

6- Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney

7- Truly, Devious series by Maureen Johnson

8- A Five-Star Read Recommended by Fellow Book Lover Steve Elliot @stevereadthatbook - All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker

9- Those We Thought We Knew by David Joy

10- The Measure by Nikki Erlick

11- A Novel Love Story by Ashley Poston

12- The Hundred Loves of Juliet by Evelyn Skye

13- One of Us is Lying by Karen McManus

Shows mentioned--

The Decameron (Netflix, 2024)

Links:

1- Pandora Productions - Little Shop of Horrors - www.pandoraprods.org/

2- Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest-- www.bulwer-lytton.com

3- Louisville Book Festival - www.louisvillebookfestival.com/

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