Earth Day is upon us in a few weeks, April 22, and what better time to explore literature that comments on the health of Mother Earth. This week we are talking eco-literature. Eco-literature engages readers on environmental concerns through the interactions between humans and the environment. And it encourages thought about our impact on the planet.

Books Mentioned in this Episode:

1- Wishtree by Katherine Applegate

2- That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon by Kimberly Lemming

3- That Time I Got Drunk and Yeeted a Love Potion at a Werewolf by Kimberly Lemming

4- Ramayana: Divine Loophole by Sanjay Patel

5- Kaikeyi by Vaishnavi Patel

6- Did You Hear About Kitty Karr by Crystal Smith Paul - A 5 Star Read Recommended by a Fellow Book Lover Kristin @paws.read.repeat

7- Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver

8- Bicycling with Butterflies by Sara Dykman

9- Dune by Frank Herbert

10- Don't Call Me a Hurricane by Ellen Hagan

11- Beaverland: How One Weird Rodent Made America by Leila Philips

12- The Last Animal by Ramona Ausubel

13- Three Ways to Disappear by Katy Yocom

14- State of Wonder by Ann Patchet

15- What Blooms From Dust by James Markert

16- The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

17- Days of Sand by Aimee de Jongh

18- The Fifth Season by NK Jemisin

19- Death in the Air: The True Story of a Serial Killer, the Great London Smog, and the Strangling of a City by Kate Winkler Dawson

20- Hoot by Carl Hiassen

Links to articles we reference:

Library Book Returned After 102 Years

people.com/family-returns-pair…ranch%20on%20Monday.

Wishtree censorship—

www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/…ishtree.html

Sting Ray article—

www.npr.org/2024/03/07/12366785…tery-north-carolina

Bringing Back the Wooly Mammoth

www.npr.org/sections/health-sho…-mammoth-extinction

You can find this week’s Austen authors at their websites: www.ahkim.net/ and melodieedwards.com/. They are also on IG @ melodiewritesedwards and @ahkim.writer

Jane Austen was born in 1775 and died in 1817 but she remains a writer who has captured the minds and hearts of many readers. The themes she addressed in her time remain ones that are relevant today: the need to be an individual despite the binds of society’s rules, the complications of marriage, and the power and powerlessness that comes with changes in social class.

Our guests this week, AH Kim, and Melodie Edwards, both love Jane Austen and with such gusto that they wrote their own reimaginings of her novels. They talk about the potential pitfalls of their endeavors given how exacting many Austen fans are, as well as the things they wanted to ensure they kept from Austen versus the creative license they took to make their stories unique to their own experiences and modern times.

Books Mentioned in this Episode:

1- Relative Strangers by A.H. Ki

2- Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

3- Once Persuaded, Twice Shy by Melodie Edwards

4- Persuasion by Jane Austen

5- Death Comes to Pemberley by PD James

6- Jane and Edward by Melodie Edwards

7- A Good Family by A.H. Kim

8- Long Live by V. B. Lacey - A Book recommended by a fellow book lover Brianna Wright @bwrightsbookreviews

9- Deacon King Kong by James McBride

10- Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano

11- Every Time We Say Goodbye by Natalie Jenner

12- The Fetishist by Katherine Min

13- Murder Your Employer: The McMasters Guide to Homicide by Rupert Holmes

14- The Mostly True Story of Tanner and Louise by Colleen Oakley

TV series mentioned:

1- Northern Exposure ( Amazon, 1990-1995)

2- The Reluctant Traveler (Apple +, 2023-present)

Movies mentioned-

1- Pride and Prejudice (1995) with Colin Firth

2- Sense and Sensibility (1995) with Emma Thompson

3- Persuasion (Netflix, 2022) with Dakota Johnson

4- Persuasion (2007, iTV) with Sally Hawkins

5- Persuasion (1995) with Ciarin Hinds

6- Emma (1996) with Gwyneth Paltrow

7- American Fiction (2023)

This week we’re talking about linked short story collections. What are linked short stories, though?

These are stories that are collected and somehow linked to each other. That link can be very explicit or very subtle. They can be linked by one character who threads her/his way throughout every one or who is only mentioned marginally. They can be linked by several characters. They can be linked by the setting–if they are set in a certain town or state or country.

But they can also be linked by theme or symbol or a common experience of characters. They could all be about a shared experience, like parenthood or death or

love. Or a combination of these things.

Books Mentioned in This Episode:

1- Spaceman of Bohemia by Jaroslav Kalfar

2- We Are Never Meeting in Real Life by Samantha Irby

3- Good Taste by Caroline Scott

4- Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

5- The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer

6- The Decameron by Giovanni Boccacio

7- Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

8- The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien

9- Dubliners by James Joyce

10- Dear Chrysanthemums: A Novel in Stories by Fiona Sze-Lorrain

11- The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros

12- Birth Canal by Dias Novita Wuri

13- There, There by Tommy Orange

14- Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange

15- What Makes You Think You’re Supposed to Feel Better by Jody Hobbs Hessler

16- The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw

17- A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan

18- Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

19- Music of the Swamp by Lewis Nordan

20- To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

21- Crooked Hallelujah by Kelly Jo Ford

22- Frying Plantain by Zalika Reid-Benta

23- Gwen and Art are Not in Love by Lex Croucher

24- Throne of Glass (series) by Sarah J. Maas

25- The Bone People by Keri Hulme

26- The Extinction of Irina Rey by Jennifer Croft

Podcasts mentioned--

Ologies with Alie Ward - www.alieward.com/ologies/oikologyencore

NPR's Book of the Day - www.npr.org/2024/03/14/11969793…-rey-jennifer-croft

Movies mentioned--

Oppenheimer (2023)

Spaceman (2024, Netflix)

This week we chat with Kari Heggen, a bookstagrammer from Iowa who set herself a goal to read all the Newbery Award winners from the past 102 years. Originally she had planned to read 10 a year but she ultimately decided to just get her done. She read 49 of the winners in 2023 and got a jump start on 2024 by reading this year’s winner, The Eye and the Impossible by Dave Eggers.

Kari talks about the highs and lows of her Newbery Award challenge. Books from the early days of the award were decidedly not great. But by the 1960s, Kari got into a better groove and found herself enjoying books for the first time and often the second time which brought back some childhood nostalgia.

Books Mentioned in this Episode:

1- Erasure by Percival Everett

2- Tulip Fever by Deborah Moggach

3- Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell

4- Holes by Louis Sachar

5- The Giver by Lois Lowr

6- Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O'Brien

7- The Story of Mankind by Hendrik Willem van Loom

8- A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle

9- The Last Cuentista by Donna Barba Higuera

10- Criss Cross by Lynne Rae Perkins

11- The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron

12- Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices by Paul Fleischman

13- A Visit to William Blake's Inn by Nancy Willard

14- Number the Stars by Lois Lowry

15- King of the Wind by Marguerite Henry

16- Misty of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry

17- Dicey's Song by Cynthia Voigt

18- Homecoming by Cynthia Voigt

19- Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool

20- The Crossover by Kwame Alexander

21- The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo

22- The Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Patterson

23- Jacob Have I Loved by Katherine Patterson

24- The Eyes and the Impossible by Dave Eggers

25-Breaking Stalin's Nose by Eugene Yelchin

26- When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead

27 - Five Star Read Recommended by a Fellow Book Lover Hope @lifewithhopeann- Divine Rivals Duology by Rebecca Ross

28- Nick Drake: The Life by Richard Morton Jack

29- The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon

30- Starter Villain by John Scalzi

31- Sword of the Rightful King by Jane Yolen

32- Morgan is My Name by Sophie Keetch

33- The Idylls of the King by Alfred Tennyson

34- The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley

Movies and TV Series mentioned:

1- Oppenheimer (2023)

2- American Fiction (2023)

3- Poor Things (2023)

4- The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (2023, Netflix)

5- Peaky Blinders (2013-2022, Netflix)

Article about Serving on the Newbery Awards committee-

www.fairfaxcounty.gov/library/what-i…y-medal-winner

This week we talk about some of our favorite books coming out of small and independent presses. The Big 5 publishers print those blockbusters we love to stick in our beach bag but smaller presses support much more diverse authors and innovative and important stories that may be your next favorite read! We give you a little primer about the difference between a small press and an imprint by on the Big 5.

Books mentioned--

1- The Changeling by Victor Lavalle

2- The Odyssey by Homer

3- Men Explain Things To Me by Rebecca Solnit

4- Everyman by Philip Roth

5- Italian Shoes by Henning Mankell

6- Gilead by Marilynne Robinson - 5 star readrecommended by fellow book lover Amy Bernath @mrsmillardfillmorereads

7- The Wild Hunt by Emma Seckel (Tin House)

8- Three Ways to Disappear by Katy Yocom (Ashland Creek Press)

9- The Salt Fields by Stacy D. Flood (Lanternfish Press)

10- Whiskey and Ribbons by Leesa Cross Smith (Hub City Press)

11- Landings: A Crooked Creek Farm Year by Arwen Donahue (Hub City Press)

12- Places We Left Behind: A Memoir in Miniature by Jennifer Lang (Vine Leaves Press)

13- What Ben Franklin Would Have Told Me by Donna Gordon (Regal House)

14- Menopause: A Comic Treatment edited by MK Czerwiec (Penn State University Press)

15- Bad Tourist by Suzanne Roberts (Univeristy of Nebraska Press)

16- Another Appalachia (WVU Press)

17- World of Wonders by Aimee Nezhukumatathil (Milkweed Editions)

18- Late Migrations by Margaret Renkl (Milkweed Editions)

19- Lungfish by Meghan Gillis (Catapult Books)

20- Tidepool by Nicole Willson (Parliament House)

21- The Keeper of the Key by Nicole Willson (Parliament House Books - coming Nov. 12, 2024)

Movies/Shows mentioned--

Maestro (Netflix, 2023)

The Changeling (Apple+, 2023)

For All Mankind (Apple+, 2019)

Links mentioned:

Odysseus Lunar Landing - www.cnn.com/2024/02/22/world/mo…nasa-scn/index.html

Solar Flare -

www.cbsnews.com/philadelphia/news…outage-earth-att/

Human Isolation on Mars-

www.nytimes.com/2024/02/25/magazi…n-experiment.html

LA Public Library now owns a small press -

www.latimes.com/entertainment-art…makes-total-sense

We have a remix episode for you this week on Valentine’s Day, and the book we discuss is all about love and the loss of it.

We first talked with author Minda Honey back in the summer of 2019 During that interview, she spoke about her book of essays tentatively titled “An Anthology of Assholes,” which was about her dating experiences from her mid-20s to age 30 as a single black woman. In October 2023, her book now titled The Heartbreak Years was published by Little A.

We catch up with Minda about her memoir. We then transition back to parts of our original interview which also focuses on the Toni Morrison documentary, Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am. In the summer of 2019, Speed Cinema featured this film, but if you missed it then you can find it now on most streaming platforms, including Netflix and Hulu. When we discussed Morrison, she was still living but she died a few weeks later, in Aug 2019.

Books Discussed in this Episode:

1- The Heartbreak Years by Minda Honey

2- All Our Wrong Todays by Elan Mastai

3- Thief of Time by Terry Pratchett

4- What The Wind Knows by Amy Harmon

5- Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison

6- Sula by Toni Morrison

7- Beloved by Toni Morrison

8- The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

9- The Mothers by Brit Bennett

10- Ruby by Cynthia Bond

11- Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward

12- How to Be Remembered by Michael Thompson - A Five star read recommended by Jessica Bearak @tonightsbookishfeast

13- The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline

14- Yinka, Where Is Your Husband? by Lizzie Damilola Blackburn; audiobook narrated by Ronke Adékoluejo

Shows mentioned--

1- Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am (2019)

2- Time Trap (2018, Netflix)

3- Dark (2017-2020, Netflix)

4- Will & Harper (2024)

5- Six Feet Under (2001-2005, Netflix)

6- Will and Grace (1998-2006, Hulu)

This week we chat with a Lexington, Kentucky bookstagrammer, Shawntaye, who is such a devoted reader that she makes books part of virtually everything she does, from socializing to volunteering. Amy met Shawntaye in real life before COVID and the Perks has been following her bookish adventures ever since.

Shawntaye talks to us about a panel discussion she lead in which she recommended books that uplift Black women, as well as what she has learned from being a board member of her local library and how the reading events she attends enrich her life. She also shares her very strong (and funny) feelings about why she does not set numerical reading goals each year.

Books Discussed in this Episode:

1- Finna by Nino Cipri

2- What We Found in the Sofa and How it Saved the World by Henry Clark

3- What We Found in the Corn Maze and How It Saved a Dragon by Henry Clark

4- Heidi by Johanna Spyri

5- Forever by Judy Blume

6- Waiting to Exhale by Terry McMillan

7- Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson

8- Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy

9- You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson

10- The House of Eve by Sadeqa Johnson

11- Power: The Rise of Black Women in America by Charity C. Elder

12 - My Beautiful Black Hair by St. Clair Detrick-Jules

13- My Hair is Like the Sun by St. Clair Detrick-Jules

14- Hell of a Book by Jason Mott

15- The Prophets by Robert Jones Jr.

16- Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

17- Enter the Body by Joy McCullough

18- Titus Andronicus by William Shakespeare

19- Dixon, Descending by Karen Outen

20- The Weather Woman by Sally Gardner

As podcast people ourselves, we are always interested in checking out other unique book-related podcasts. You can find a podcast to fit any interest no matter how obscure; there is something for everyone out in the pod universe.

Our guest this week is Amy Drown, the founder, producer, and host of Gibson Girl Review, a podcast that focuses on novels from the Gilded Age and Progressive era, circa 1870-1920. Edith Wharton and Henry James are authors from this time you may have had to read in high school, but for the most part, novels from these time periods have mostly been forgotten among the general reading public. Amy likes to give them a fresh reading. She has found that many of the problems we deal with in 2024 are very similar to the ones people dealt with some 130+ years ago.

Amy is a historian herself with a vast collection of old books she inherited from her family. In the end, she just wanted to read them instead of have them languishing on a shelf, and The Gibson Girl Review podcast was born.

Books Discussed in This Episode:

1- The Passionate Epicure by Marcel Rouff

2- The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant

3- My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier

4- A Room With A View by E.M. Forster

5- The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry

6- Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux

7- Jan of the Windmill by Juliana Horatia Ewing

8- Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

9 - Heidi by Johanna Spyri

10- Pollyanna by Eleanor H. Porter

11- Poor Dear Theodora by Florence Irwin

12- The Prisoner of Zenda by Anthony Hope

13- Her First Appearance by Richard Harding Davis

14- Five Star Book Recommendation from Nelwina @toallreaders - The Sun and the Star by Rick Riordan

15- The Fertile Earth and the Ordered Cosmos: Reflections on the Newark Earthworks and World Heritage edited by M. Elizabeth Weiser and others

16- The Wright Brothers by David McCullough

17- Winterfrost by Michelle Houts

Movies and Shows mentioned—

1- The Taste of Things (2023)

2- A Room With a View (1985)

3- The Gilded Age (HBOMax, 2022- present)

4- Downton Abbey (Peacock, 2010- 2015)

This week we are talking time bending books, series, and movies including time travel, time loop, and time slip. Here is a link for more info on this subgenera.

www.abookgeek.com/exploring-the-pa…hrough-the-ages/

Books mentioned--

1- Number The Stars by Lois Lowry

2- Intrigue in Istanbul by Ericka Ruth Neubauer

3- The Other Valley by Scott Alexander Howard

4- Time Machine by HG Wells

5- A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain

6- The House on the Strand by Daphne Du Maurier

7- Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

8- The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Neffenegger

9- Midnight Library by Matt Haig

10- Doomsday Book by Connie Willis

11- Transall Saga by Gary Paulsen

12- Time and Again by Jack Finney

13- 11/22/63 by Stephen King

14- Da Vinci's Cat by Catherine Gilbert Murdoch

15- When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead

16-Kindred by Octavia Butler

17- Neverworld Wake by Marissa Pessl

18- Wrong Place, Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister

19- A Boy And His Dog At The End of The World by C.A. Fletcher - 5 star read recommended by Heather Crotwell @readingwithavengeance

20- Orchard by Larry Watson

21- Poor Things by Alasdair Gray

22- Soccer Grannies: The South African Women Who Inspired the World by Jean Duffy

Other stuff mentioned--

1- Radiolab episode about Einstein's brain - radiolab.org/podcast/g-relative-genius

2- Disney's Frozen (Broadway Across America)

3- Number the Stars (Stage One theater production)

4- Dark (Netflix, 2017-2020) German

5- Bodies (Netflix, 2023) British

6- BeForeigners (Amazon Prime, 2019- ) Norwegian

7- Interstellar (2014)

8- Tenet (2020)

9-Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989)

10- Back to the Future (1985)

11- Sliding Doors (1998)

12- Time Bandits (1981)

13- Hot Tub Time Machine (2010)

14- Donnie Darko (2001)

15- Kindred (Hulu, 2022)

16- Altering Picture Books link - popular.info/p/pressed-by-moms-for-liberty-florida

** This was not a source I was familiar with even though it was being quoted by Pen America so I consulted www.Mediabiasfactcheck.com. This was their summary of this source. "Overall, we rate Popular Information Left Biased based on story selection and editorial content that routinely favors liberal causes. We also rate them High for factual reporting due to proper sourcing and a clean fact-check record."

This week we talk to the father-daughter team of Marty Ohlhaut and Grace Ly. They have written a travel memoir called Tent for Seven: A Camping Adventure Gone South Out West.

This book is based on the true story of their family camping trip to the Canadian Rockies which went horribly wrong in the 1990s. Marty, his wife Jolene, and their 5 children flew from Charlotte NC to the Pacific Northwest and then drove a van to several spots in the majestic Canadian mountains. They camped in their family tent, lovingly referred to as Big Blue. While there, so many things went awry but most importantly, Jolene was severely injured and had to be taken to a hospital where she spent many days. The Ohlhaut family was in disarray but Good Samaritans named the Walshes came to the rescue.

This family is genetically predisposed to adventure. You will hear Marty talk about some wild things he has seen and done, and even though Grace doesn’t doesn’t mention it, she also is an adventure seeker. She dog sleds in Finland and rock climbs in Colorado. Carrie and I are so boring in comparison.

Books Discussed in this Episode:

1- Tent for Seven: A Camping Adventure Gone South Out West by Marty Ohlhaut and Grace Ly

2- A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail by Bill Bryson

3- Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer

4- Tread of Angels by Rebecca Roanhorse

5- The Scent of Burnt Flowers by Blitz Bazawule

6- A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson

7- In Harm's Way by Doug Stanton

8- Slow Horses by Mick Herron

9- Standing by the Wall: The Collected Slough House Novellas by Mick Herron

10- The Future by Naomi Alderman - 5 star read recommended by Shelley Anderson @shelleyanderson4127

11- Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner

Shows mentioned--

1- Slow Horses (Apple +)

Links mentioned--

www.poets.org to sign up for the Poem-a-day email