Our guest this week, Anna Ford, is the CEO and founder of Bookclubz which started out as a simple computer program she used to help keep her own large bookclub organized. Over time, what was a rudimentary program has been featured in Forbes magazine and has blossomed into a business that helps tens of thousands of book clubs all over the world.

Go to their website at www.bookclubz.com

Books discussed in this episode:

1- The Death of Expertise by Tom Nichols

2- Our Own Worst Enemy: The Assault from Within on Modern Democracy by Tom Nichols

3- The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters by Priya Parker

4- The Secret Lives of Groceries: The Dark Miracle of the American Supermarket by Benjamin Lorr

5- The Speckled Beauty by Rick Bragg

6- Just Kids by Patti Smith

7- The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion

8- The Education of an Idealist by Samantha Power

9- Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner

10- The Men We Reaped by Jesmyn Ward

11- Books by Elena Ferrante

This week’s guest, Jeremy Hance, writes about three topics in his most recent book that we are always drawn to; mental health, travel, and animals. Baggage: Confessions of a Globe-trotting Hypochondriac is a memoir that uses humor to help readers understand what life is like for someone who has a mental health issue like Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. In Jeremy’s case, his anxiety is always worse when he travels. While traveling to all corners of the globe is one of the best parts of his life as an environmental writer and is necessary for the work he does, travel is also fraught with rumination and fear.

Jeremy is an environmental journalist who is currently a Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT.

Books Mentioned in this Episode:

1- Baggage: Confessions of a Globe-Trotting Hypochondriac by Jeremy Hance

2- The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton

3- The Princess Bride by William Goldman

4- My Antonia by Willa Cather

5- The Night Diary by Veera Hiranandani

6- Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkein

7- The Hobbit by JRR Tolkein

8- A Time of Gifts by Patrick Leigh Fermer

9- Sorry, I'm Late, I Didn't Want to Come: One Introvert's Year of Saying Yes by Jessica Pan

Websites mentioned

news.Mongabay.com

Our favorite bookseller, Sam Miller from Carmichael’s Books, talks to us about the holiday gift giving season. We love inviting Sam on the show twice a year to tell us all about books to look forward to for summer reading and holiday gift buying. She gives us suggestions in all the categories.

1- Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan

2- The Sentence by Louise Erdrich

3- The Every by Dave Eggers

4- The Circle by Dave Eggers

5- Palmares by Gail Jones

6- Tell the Bees That I'm Gone (Outlander 9) by Diana Gabaldon

7- The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune

8- Dune by Frank Herbert

9- Foundation by Isaac Asimov

10- Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr

11- All the Light You Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

12- Mordew by Alex Pheby

13- A Fortnight in September by JC Sherriff

14- Jim the Boy by Tony Earley

15- The Storied Life of AJ Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin

16- First Christmas: A Story of New Beginnings by Stephen Mitchell

17- Secret Santa by Andrew Shaffer

18- It's Beginning to Look a Lot like F*ck This by Andrew Shaffer

19- Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris

20- It's Beginning to Look Like Zombies: The Book of Zombie Christmas Carols by Michael Spradlin

21- Never Saw Me Coming by Vera Kurian

22- Silverview by John Le Carre

23- The Big Book of Victorian Mysteries by Otto Penzler

24- Your Guide to Not Getting Murdered in a Quaint English Village by Jay Cooper and Maureen Johnson

25- Smile by Sarah Ruhl

26- The Speckled Beauty: A Dog and His People by Rick Bragg

27- The Prince of Frogtown by Rick Bragg

28- Renegades: Born in the USA by Bruce Springsteen and Barack Obama

29- The 1619 Project by Nikole Hannah-Jones

30- The 1619 Project: Born on the Water by Nikole Hannah-Jones and Renee Watson

31- Best Wishes, Warmest Regards by Dan Levy and Eugene Levy

32- Taste: My Life Through Food by Stanley Tucci

33- Cooking at Home by David Chang and Priya Krishna

34- Black Food by Bryant Terry

35- Garlic and the Vampire by Bree Paulsen

36- All the Marvels by Douglas Wolk

37- The Beatryce Prophecy by Kate DiCamillo

38- A Dark Room in Glitter Ball City by David Domine

39- The Strange Case of Isaac Crawley by James Markert

40- Doctors and Friends by Kimmery Martin

41- Theft by Finding Diaries by David Sedaris

42- The Wife Upstair by Rachel Hawkins

43- Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

45- Circe by Madeline Miller

46- To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

47- Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee

48- Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys

49- Eligible: A modern retelling of Pride and Prejudice by Curtis Sittenfeld

50- Dark Tales by Shirley Jackson

51- Shirley: A Novel by Susan Scarf Merrell

52- The Letters of Shirley Jackson edited by Laurence Jackson Hyman

53- The Close to Okay by Leesa Cross-Smith

54- Whiskey and Ribbons by Leesa Cross-Smith

Shows mentioned

1- Foundation series (2021)

2- Shirley (2020)

Podcasts mentioned

1- Renegades

This week’s guest is Bailey, host of the To Read List Podcast. With her co-hosts Andrew (her brother), Toby (her friend), and her husband Dillon (the sound recordist), she attempts to get through all the books on her (and their) shelves. Every other week they each read a book from their collections that is randomly selected. And at the end of the episode they have to decide if their books stay on their shelves or whether a new home needs to be found; like a free little library.

You can find the To Read List Podcast:

thetorepadlistpodcast.libsyn.com

and on Instagram @thetoreadlistpodcast

Books mentioned--

1- The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare

2- Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace

3- Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy

4- Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell by Susannah Clarke

5- Moby Dick by Herman Melville

6- White Teeth by Zadie Smith

7- The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon

8- One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

9- Sadie by Courtney Summers

10- Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

11- Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe

12- The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

13- The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

14- Les Miserables by Victor Hugo

15- The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo

16- Dracula by Bram Stoker

17- A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki

18- Poison for Breakfast by Lemony Snicket

19- The Beatrice Letters by Lemony Snicket

20- Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner

21—Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

22—The Country of the Pointed Firs by Sarah Orne Jewett

Movies mentioned-

Inception (2010)

Social Media mentioned--

The To Read List podcast

Karen Puzzles (Youtube)

Our guests this week are members of the same family. Jeremy and Hermione Tankard are a father-daughter duo behind the graphic novel series Yorick and Bones. Yorick, as any Shakespeare lover knows, is the skull that Hamlet speaks to in the play of the same name. In this graphic novel, Yorick is unearthed by a friendly dog, and they begin a series of adventures. In the second book, Yorick and Bones meet up with some familiar faces from Shakespeare’s plays.

Jeremy and Hermione have a fun story behind their books. Hermione was in high school when her dad recruited her to join him on this journey to tell the story of Yorick and his little dog because Hermione has long been a Shakespeare fan and has an uncanny ability to translate anything into iambic pentameter. They combined forces to create a fun series that helps gently introduce kids and adults to Shakespeare characters.

You can find out more about Jeremy Tankard’s books including the ones who created with Hermione at his website, jeremytankard.com and on instagram, @Jeremytankboy.

Books Mentioned in this Episode:

1- Rainbow Magic series

2- Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkein

3- Yorick and Bones series

4- Comet in Moominland by Tove Jansson

5- Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster

6- 10 Things I Can See From Here by Carrie Mac

7- All the Bad Apples by Moira Fowley-Doyle

8- The Expanse series by James S. A. Corey

9- Dead Dead Demons DeDeDe Destruction by Inio Asano

10- Under the Egg by Laura Marx Fitzgerald

Movies mentioned

1- Melancholia (2011)

Game mentioned:

1- Telestrations

This week’s guest is Johann Trotter, a researcher who lives in Northern Ireland. She is a self-professed horror junkie and is a bit obsessed with Stephen King. On her instagram page @jobis89, you can find a wide variety of non-Stephen King horror book suggestions and reviews to make any spooky reader happy.

She is currently doing a 2 year project to read a horror book set in each of the 50 US States. We do a deep dive into the horror genre this week.

Books mentioned--

1- Turn of the Screw by Henry James

2- The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

3- His Hideous Heart edited by Dahlia Adler

4- "The Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar Allan Poe

5- "The Oval Portrait" by Edgar Allan Poe

6- Roald Dahl books

7- Goosebumps series

8- Babysitters Club series

9- The Hobbit by JRR Tolkein

10 Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkein

11- The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty

12- Whisper Man by Alex North

13- Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

14- Dracula by Bram Stoker

15- In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

16- Moon Over Babylon by Michael McDowell

17- The Elementals by Michael McDowell

18- The Haunting of Alma Fielding: A True Story by Kate Summerscale

19- Ghost Story by Peter Straub

20- A Spindle Splintered by Alix E. Harrow

Johann's Top Horror Writers

1- Stephen King

2- H. P. Lovecraft

3- Clive Barker

4- Ania Ahlborn

5- David Sodergren

6- Kealan Patrick Burke

Websites/ phone app mentioned--

The Storygraph

Podcasts mentioned--

1- Ghost Stories from the London Dungeon

2- Poe Theater on the Air

TV/Movies mentioned--

1- Only Murders in the Building

2- A Nightmare on Elm Street

3- Scream

4- Trick or Treat

5- Halloween

6- Sleepy Hollow

7- Hocus Pocus

Music mentioned--

1- The Evil Eye and the Hideous Heart, composed by Alan Lee Silva

Our guest this week, David Domine', adopted Louisville as his hometown and has a following here as an author, tour guide, and storyteller in the city. He has written a new book called A DARK ROOM IN GLITTER BALL CITY about a sensational murder that was discovered after a domestic disturbance in Old Louisville in 2010. The story includes drugs, drag queens, and maybe even the CIA.

His book is true crime, but it also veers into memoir and history. And it introduces readers to quirky characters whose eccentricities are why we have a saying here to “Keep Louisville Weird.”

His book is getting some attention. Publisher's Weekly gave it a starred review and Amazon named it as one of the top true crime reads of the season.

You can find David Domine’ on instagram, @bluegrasspeasant, on FB David Domine’, The Bluegrass Peasant and at his website www.daviddomine.com. You can find information about David’s historical tours of Old Louisville at www.louisvillehistorictours.com

Books Mentioned in this Episode:

1- A Dark Room in Glitter Ball City by David Domine

2- The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin

3- When Stars Rain Down by Angela Jackson Browne

4- The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

5- Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

6- Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid

7- The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

8- The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper by Hallie Rubenhold

9- You Never Forget Your First by Alexis Coe

Shows Mentioned:

1- Unsolved Mysteries (2020) Netflix

2- Only Murders in the Building - Hulu

Today we talk to Kendra Winchester, the co-founder and executive director of the 'Reading Women' podcast and a Book Riot contributing editor. But she is also the person behind the Read Appalachia Instagram account. She tells us what makes Appalachian literature special and why it’s so important to her.

You can find Kendra Winchester on various instagram pages including at @readappalachia, @thebookcorgi and @thereadingwomen.

Books Mentioned in this episode:

1- Moby Dick by Herman Melville

2- Percy Jackson & The Olympians by Rick Riordan

3- Sabriel by Garth Nix

4- Books by Tamora Pierce

5- Twilight by Stephanie Meyer

6- Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray

7- Rise to the Sun by Leah Johnson

8- The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw

9- The Birds of Opulence by Crystal Wilkinson

10- Affrilachia by Frank X. Walker

11- Southernmost by Silas House

12- Black Bone: 25 Years of Affrilachian Poets edited by Bianca Lynne Spriggs and Jeremy Paden

13- Water Street by Crystal Wilkinson

14- Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance

15- What You're Getting Wrong about Appalachia by Elizabeth Catte

16- Step Into the Circle: Writers in Modern Appalachia edited by Amy Greene and Trent Thomson

17- Even As We Breathe by Annette Saunooke Clapsaddle

18- Me and Banksy by Tanya Lloyd Kyi

19- Carework: Dreaming Disability Justice by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha

20- Disability/Visability: First-Person Stories from the Twenty-First Century edited by Alice Wong

21- The Trauma Cleaner: One Woman's Extraordinary Life in Death, Decay & Disaster by Sarah Krasnostein

22- The Believer: Encounters with Love, Death & Faith by Sarah Krasnostein

Podcasts mentioned--

1- Reading Women

Instagram mentioned--

1- @readappalachia

2- @thebookcorgi

TV shows mentioned

1- Explained (Netflix)

Our guest this week, Grace Sammon, has written a novel that tackles this modern dilemma for older women. Titled The Eves, it features a main character named Jessica who struggles with her own aging but is helped along in her journey by a group of even older women whose experiences and insights get Jessica to screw her head on straight again.

You can find Grace Sammon on Instagram at @gracesammonwrites and on Facebook on the group "Bookish Road Trip". You can find links to her radio show at her website www.gracesammon.net.

Books we discuss in this episode:

1- The Eves by Grace Sammon

2- Black Beauty by Anna Sewell

3- Subtract: The Untapped Science of Less by Leidy Klotz

4- Dolly Madison and the War of 1812 by Libby Carty McNamee

5- Susannah’s Midnight Ride: The Girl Who Won the Revolutionary War by Libby Carty McNamee

6- The Spiral Shell: A French Village Reveals Its Secrets of Jewish Resistance in World War II by Sandell Morse

7- Little Tea by Claire Fullerton

8- Mourning Dove by Clair Fullerton

9- Brave Girl, Quiet Girl by Catherine Ryan Hyde

Podcasts mentioned—

1- The Storytellers with Grace Sammon

Movies mentioned—

1- Nomadland (2020)

Social Media Group

1- The Bookish Road Trip

In this week’s episode, we speak to Elizabeth Senn-Alvey, executive director of Emerging Workforce Initiative, a nonprofit in Louisville that targets ways to help marginalized youth who have systemic or personal issues that could impede their journey into the workforce and develop marketable skills. One of the programs they offer is The Book Works.

The Book Works is a social enterprise, which is a program that helps address local teens and young adults unmet needs such as poverty, homelessness, and limited education through a market-driven approach; or in other words teaching through learning a business.

The Book Works book sale takes place September 18-19. Go to their website at www.thebookworks.org for more details.

You can find The Book Works on instagram at @thebookworkslou or on Facebook at The Book Works Louisville.

Books mentioned in this episode:

1- Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer

2- Towers Falling by Jewel Parker Rhodes

3- The Awakening by Kate Chopin

4- The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic--And How it Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World by Steven Johnson

5- Caste by Isabel Wilkerson

6- Born a Crime by Trevor Noah

7- Neanderthal Opens the Door to the Universe by Preston Norton