Season 14, Episode 279 Summer Reads with guest Sam Miller

We were sad last fall that we weren’t able to record with our favorite bookseller, Sam Miller, manager at the Frankfort Ave location of Carmichael’s Bookstore for our Holiday Book Buying episode. But she is back for summer, telling us all about the new titles that will get you excited to sit back on a hot afternoon, either at the pool or in the air conditioning, and read to your heart’s content. 

Books Mentioned In This Episode:

1- The Last Garden in England by Julia Kelly 

2- The Grand Paloma Resort by Cleyvis Natera 

3- Angel Down by Daniel Kraus 

4- A book that Changed a Life - Sisters of the Yam by bell hooks recommended by Briana Lathon Bluford 

5- Yesteryear by Claro Claire Burke 

6- American Fantasy by Emma Straub 

7- Whistler by Ann Patchett 

8- Puck by Samantha Allen 

9- Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett 

10- Fortune of Sand by Ruta Sepetys 

11- Go Gentle by Maria Semple 

12- Country People by Daniel Mason 

13- These Days by Lucy Caldwell 

14- Devotions by Lucy Caldwell 

15- Opening by Lucy Caldwell 

16- Pirate Queen by Ariel Lawhorn 

17- The Keeper by Tana French (Cal Hooper #3)

18- Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth 

19- Killer Vibes by Jack Friday 

20- Fishbone Cinderella by Elizabeth Lim 

21- Ignore All Previous Instructions by Ada Hoffman 

22- Sublimation by Isabel Kim 

23- Book Witch by Meg Shaffer 

24- We Burn So Bright b y TJ Klune 

25- Moss'd in Space by Rebecca Thorrne

26- American Rambler by Isaac Fitzgerald 

27- Checkmate: Genius, Lies, Ambition, and the Biggest Scandal in Chess by Ben Mezrich 

28- The Housewives Underground: The Untold Story of the Women who Made the JFK Assassination Our Most Enduring Mystery by Kaitlyn Tiffany 

29- The Carpool Detectives by Chuck Hogan 

30- The Family Man: Blood and Betrayal in the House of Murdaugh by James Lasdun 

31- True Biz by Sara Novíc 

32- Mother Tongue by Sara Novíc

33- The Left and the Lucky by Willy Vlautin 

34- London Falling: A Mysterious Death in a Gilded City and Family's Search for Truth by Patrick Radden Keefe 

35- 4 Janes by Marian See 

36- Love and Other Monsters by Emily Franklin 

37- This Is Not About Us by Allegra Goodman 

38- Darkology: Blackface and the American Way of Entertainment by Rhae Lynn Barnes 

39- Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano 

40- The Forest Lover by Susan Vreeland 

Media Mentioned:

1- White Lotus (2021 - present, HBO Max)

2-2026  Pulitzer Prize Winner for Fiction - https://www.pulitzer.org/news/2026-pulitzer-prize-announcement