Books mentioned in this episode:

1- The Pale Blue Eye by Louis Bayard

2- Nasty, Brutish, and Short: Adventures in Philosophy with Kids by Scott Hershovitz

3- American Cheese: An Indulgent Odyssey Through the Artisan Cheese World by Joe Berkowitz

4- Cork Dork by Bianca Bosker

5- The One and Only Bob / The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate

6- Pax by Sara Pennypacker

7- A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

8- The Watsons Go to Birmingham, 1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis

9- The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly

10- Dragonwings by Laurence Yep (Gold Mountain Chronicles)

11- The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

12- American Gods by Neil Gaiman

13- Sandman by Neil Gaiman

14- Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett

15- The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

16- Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

17- The War That Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

18- The Wednesday Wars by Gary Schmidt

19- Same Sun Here by Silas House and Neela Vaswani

20- Echo by Pam Munoz Ryan

21- The Greenglass House by Kate Milford (series)

22- A History of Scotland by Neil Oliver

23- 44 Scotland Street by Alexander McCall Smith

24- The Witch's Heart by Genevieve Gornichec

25- The Weaver and the Witch Queen by Genevieve Gornichec

26- Raw Dog: The Naked Truth About Hot Dogs by Jamie Loftus

27- Once Upon a Tome: The Misadventures of a Rare Book Seller by Oliver Darkshire

28- Dream Girl by Laura Lippmann

29- The Lady in the Lake by Laura Lippmann

Films mentioned--

1- The Pale Blue Eye (Netflix 2022)

2- Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)

3- Marcel the Shell with Shoes On (2021)

Books Mentioned In This Episode:

1- Creep: A Love Story by Lygia Day Peñaflor

2- Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb

3- Unscripted Joss Byrd by Lygia Day Peñaflor

4- All of This is True by Lygia Day Peñaflor

5- You by Caroline Kepnes

6- The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger

7- Macbeth by William Shakespeare

8- Atonement by Ian McEwan

9- The Body by Stephen King

10-Mystic River by Dennis LeHane

11- Fleishman is in Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner

12- His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman

13- Nothing To See Here by Kevin Wilson

14- Edie Richter is Not Alone by Rebecca Handler

18- Now is Not the Time to Panic by Kevin Wilson

19- The Golden Couple by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen

20- Upright Women Wanted by Sarah Gailey

Movies/Shows mentioned--

1- Banshees of Inisherin (2022)

2- Shrinking (Apple +, 2023)

3- The Devil Wears Prada (2006)

4- Atonement (2007)

5- Stand By Me (1986)

6- Mystic River (2003)

7- Fleishman is in Trouble (HULU, 2022)

8- His Dark Materials (2022)

9- Stranger Things (Netflix 2022)

Books mentioned in this episode:

1- Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl

2- The Witches by Roald Dahl

3- A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman

4- The Martian by Andy Weir

5- Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

6- Nightbirds by Kate J. Armstrong (published Feb 28, 2023)

7- A Week in Winter by Maeve Binchy/narrated by Rosalyn Landor

8- The Pale Blue Eye by Louis Bayard

9- A Beautiful Mind by Sylvia Nasar

10- Dune by Frank Herbert

11- Lady Chatterley's Lover by DH Lawrence

12- The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Annie Barrows and Mary Ann Shafer

13- All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque

14- Emma by Jane Austen

15- Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

16- Bullet Train by Kōtarō Isaka

17- Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

18- We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver

19- Truman Capote by Gerald Clarke

20- In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

21- Angels and Insects (Morpho Eugenia) by A. S. Byatt

22- The Woman in Black by Susan Hill

23- Nightmare Alley by William Lindsay Gresham

24- The Storied Life of AJ Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin

25- Chengli and the Silk Road Caravan by Hildi Kang

26- Bad Indians: A Tribal Memoir by Deborah A. Miranda

27- All the Dangerous Things by Stacy Willingham

28- Your Driver is Waiting by Priya Guns

29- Stealing by Margaret Verble

Movies mentioned--

1- The Pale Blue Eye (2022)

2- A Beautiful Mind (2001)

3- The Imitation Game (2014--based on Alan Turing: The Enigma by Andrew Hodges)

4- Dune (1984)

5- Dune (BBC, 2000)

6- Lady Chatterley's Lover (2022)

7- The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (2018)

8- All Quiet on the Western Front (2022)

9- Emma (2020)

10- Anna Karenina (2012)

11- Bullet Train (2022)

12- Little Women (2019)

13- We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011)

14- Capote (2005)

15- Angels & Insects (1995)

16- The Woman in Black (2012)

17- Lord of the Rings series

18- Nightmare Alley (2021)

19- The Storied Life of A J Fikry (2022)

20- Taxi Driver (1976)

Articles mentioned--

A Film That Makes Sex Scenes Look Like Works of Art, Shirley Lee, The Atlantic, Dec 2022

This week we welcome special guest Rachel Harper to Perks. Rachel is on the faculty at Spalding University’s Naslund-Mann Graduate School of Writing in Lousiville, KY and is the author of three novels. Her most recent, The Other Mother, was published in 2022 and has racked up the accolades. It was named one of Amazon’s best books of 2022, was a Good Morning America buzz pick, and has been awarded the American Library Association’s Stonewall Book Award for Excellence in LGBTQIA fiction.

We chat with Rachel about how her book is like an onion, with many layers to peel back and explore. While it deals with motherhood, it also deals with father-child relationships, identity, race, and how our past affects our present.

You can find Rachel on Instagram @harpsincali and her website www.rachelmharper.com

Books Mentioned In This Episode:

1- The Other Mother by Rachel Harper

2- This Side of Providence by Rachel Harper

3- Brass Ankle Blues by Rachel Harper

4- Born a Crime by Trevor Noah

5- As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner

6- The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner

7- The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

8- The Secret History by Donna Tartt

9- Long ass books by Jonathan Franzen

10- Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry

11- The Case of the Missing Moonstone (The Wollstonecraft Detective Agency) by Jordan Stratfor

12- Enola Holmes series by Nancy Springer

13- Women Talk Money: Breaking the Taboo edited by Rebecca Walker

14- Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art by James Nestor

15- The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating by Elizabeth Tove Bailey

16- Shutter by Ramona Emerson

Books Mentioned in this Episode--

1- Dirtbag, Massachusetts by Isaac Fitzgerald

2- Two Nights in Lisbon by Chris Pavone

3- Truth and Other Lies by Maggie Smith

4- Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

5- A Separate Peace by John Knowles

6- Mystic River by Dennis Lehane

7- Leonard and Hungry Paul by Ronan Hession

8- Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry

9- Love & Saffron by Kim Fay

10- The Kitchen God’s Wife by Amy Tan

11- Rules for Visiting by Jessica Francis Kane

12- Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix

13- Cackle by Rachel Harrison

14- Who Will Run the Frog Hospital? by Lorrie Moore

15- Doctors & Friends by Kimmery Martin

16- The Eves by Grace Sammon

17- Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier

18- Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt

19- Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See

20- White Noise by Don DeLillo

21- We All Want Impossible Things by Catherine Newman

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

23- Atalanta by Jennifer Saint

24- Ariadne by Jennifer Saint

25- Everyone Knows Your Mother is A Witch by Rivka Galchen

26- The Line Tender by Kate Allen

27- Trespasses by Louis Kennedy

28- The Red-Headed Pilgrim by Kevin Maloney

29- Fieldwork: A Forager's Memoir by Aliana Regan

Podcasts mentioned--

The To Be Read podcast

Movies/shows mentioned--

1- Wildcat (no release date yet)

2- Reality Bites (1994)

3- Gattaca (1997)

4- Mystic River (2003)

5- White Noise (Netflix 2022)

6- White Lotus (HBOMax 2021 - 2022)

Our guest this week, Jayne Moore Waldrop traded legal briefs of a law practice for her writing journals in an MFA program. Her first book, Drowned Town, is a novel in linked stories about the families who lost their homes in the 1960s when President Kennedy announced the creation of Land Between the Lakes, a national recreation area that resulted from damning several rivers and taking land from residents through eminent domain. Jayne explores what the meaning of home becomes when one’s home is now underwater. Her book was selected as one of the best southern books of 2021 by the Southern Review of Books.

Jayne has changed gears once again, this time to tell a picture book story for children titled A Journey in Color: The Art of Ellis Wilson about one of the great artists of the Harlem Renaissance, native Kentuckian Ellis Wilson, who won two Guggenheim Fellowships but has been virtually unknown in his home state. Jayne teamed up with acclaimed Nashville artist Michael McBride to create a book that helps give Wilson his due but also inspire children to follow their dreams.

You can find Jayne on her website www.jaynemoorewaldrop.com and social media on Instagram @jaynemoorewaldrop and FB Jayne Moore Waldrop, Author.

Books Mentioned In This Episode:

1- Drowned Town by Jayne Moore Waldrop

2- A Journey in Color: The Art of Ellis Wilson by Jayne Moore Waldrop and illustrated by Michael McBride

3- The Rabbit Hutch. by Tess Gunty

4- Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

5- These Silent Woods by Kimi Cunningham Grant

6- Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

7- David Copperfield by Charles Dickens

8- Lark Ascending by Silas House

9- Ben Yokoyama and the Cookie of Doom by Matthew Swanson and Robbi Behr

10- Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak

Films mentioned--

1- So Much to Paint (A documentary on the work of Ellis Wilson

education.ket.org/resources/ellis-…lson-much-paint/

Nonprofit mentioned:

International Book Project - intlbookproject.org/

Books mentioned in this episode:

1- Truly Devious series by Maureen Johnson

2- The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

3- His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman

4- Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

5- Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

6- Happenings by Annie Ernaux

7- The Most Precious Substance on Earth by Shashi Bhat

8- Lucia by Alex Pheby

9- Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

10- American Ghost: A Family's Haunted Past in the Desert Southwest by Hannah Nordhaus

11- Lady in the Lake by Laura Lippman

12- Spare by Prince Harry

13- Storyteller by Dave Grohl

14- Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

15- Gallant by VE Schwab

16- The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by VE Schwab

17- The Pale Blue Eye by Louis Bayard

18- Big Girl, Small Town by Michelle Gallen

19- Factory Girls by Michelle Gallen

20- Sewer by Jessica Leigh Hester

21- The Ghost Map by Steven Johnson

22- The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

23- I Dream of Dinner by Ali Slagle

24- Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree

Articles mentioned--

Prince Harry has decided it just doesn't matter by Erin Keane

erinkeane.substack.com/p/prince-harr…cided-it-just

Shows/mentioned mentioned--

1- His Dark Materials (HBOMax)

2- The Pale Blue Eye (Netflix)

3- The Watcher (Netflix)

4- Derry Girls (Netflix)

5- All Quiet on the Western Front (Netflix)

This week we chat with Tracy Clark, an author whose latest book Hide is set in Chicago and features a seasoned black female police detective who has joined a new precinct and not only has to navigate a new professional network but also solve a recent murder on the waterfront.

This is Tracy's fifth novel but the first in this new series featuring detective Harriet Foster. By day Tracy is a puzzle editor for a Chicago newspaper which is perfect for her role as a writer of crime fiction creating puzzles for her protagonists and readers to figure out.

Books mentioned in this episode:

1- Hide by Tracy Clark

2- The Nightmare Man by JH Markert

3- Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys

4- Her Name is Knight series by Yasmin Angoe

5- Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

6-The Ninja's Oath (Lily Wong series) by Tori Eldridge

7- A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

8- Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

9- David Copperfield by Charles Dickens

10- American Fever by Dur e Aziz Almna

Authors mentioned:

1- Sarah Paretsky

2- Sue Grafton

3- Agatha Christie

4- Valerie Wilson Wesley

5- Barbara Neely

Movies mentioned--

1- Thin Man series

2- Bowery Boys movies

Books Mentioned in This Episode:

1- The Mist by Ragnar Jónasson

2- Snowblind by Ragnar Jónasson

3- Who is Vera Kelly? by Rosalie Knecht

4- Burial Rites by Hannah Kent

5- Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys

6- The Island of Adventure by Enid Blyton

7- How the Penguins Saved Veronica by Hazel Pryor

8- A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman

9- A Polar Affair: Antarctica's Forgotten Hero and the Secret Love Lives of Penguins by Lloyd Spencer Davis

10- The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty

11- Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward

12- Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank

13- The Snowchild by Eowyn Ivey

14- The Raven and the Reindeer by T. Kingfisher

15- Midnight in Everwood by Maria Kuzniar

16- Tiger Eyes by Judy Blume

17- The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley

18- Bellwether Rhapsody by Kate Racculia

19- The Fires by Sigrídur Hagalín Björnsdóttir

20- Octavian Nothing: The Pox Party (The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation #1) by M. T. Anderson

21- Slave Nation: How Slavery United the Colonies and Sparked the American Revolution by Alfred Blumrosen

22- Snow by John Banville

23- The Annotated Classic Fairy Tales edited by Maria Tatar

24- A Spindle Splintered by Alix E. Harrow

25- Excellent Women by Barbara Pym

26- The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston

27- Braineater Jones by Stephen Kozeniewski

Shows mentioned--

Santa Clarita Diet (Netflix)

Articles mentioned--

Invisible Evidence by Jo Marchant (Smithsonian Vol 53, No 6 )

We got together on the first day of 2023 to review our top books of 2022 and we’re already busy reading books to discuss this year. Time was too short to talk about all of our favorite books but you can see a full list of our 5 star reads from 2022 as well as a list of all the books we mention in this episode on our website at perksofbeingabooklover.com.

Our year in review episode is always fun because we ask our guests from the past 12 months to tell us about their favorite book. It brings back great memories to hear all their voices again.

Books mentioned in this episode:

1- Babel by RF Kuang

2- The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune

3- The Stone Loves the World by Brian Hall

4- I Should Be Extremely Happy in Your Company by Brian Hall

5- Let the Record Show: A Political History of ACT UP New York, 1987-1993 by Sarah Schulman

6- Two Nights in Lisbon by Chris Pavone

7- The Marmalade Diaries by Ben Aitken

8- The Broken Earth series by N. K. Jemisin

9- Another Appalachia by Neema Avashia

10- Where I Can’t Follow by Ashley Blooms

11- Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch

12- Odin’s Child by Siri Pettersen

13- The Monsters of Rookhaven by Padraig Kenny

14- The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborthy

15- The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by VE Schwab

16- Gallant by VE Schwab

17- The Nightmare Man by JH Markert

18- Devolution by Max Brooks

19- Leech by Hiron Ennes

20- Finna by Nino Cipri

21- Defect by Nino Cipri

22- Morning Glory Milking Farm (Cambric Creek) by CM Nascosta

22- Sweet Berries (Cambric Creek) by CM Nascosta

23- How the Word is Passed by Clint Smith

24- The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green

25- Pleading Out: How Plea Bargaining Creates a Permanent Criminal Class by Dan Canon

26- Ban This Book by Alan Gratz

27- A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

28- Wolf Hollow by Lauren Wolk

29- The Beatryce Prophecy by Kate DiCamillo

30- The Last Cuentista by Donna Barba Higuera

31- When You Trap a Tiger by Tae Keller

32- The Storyteller - Tales of Life and Music by Dave Grohl

33- The Marmalade Diaries: The True Story of an Odd Couple by Ben Aitken

34- What’s So Funny? A Cartoonist’s Memoir by David Sipress

35- Girl at War by Sara Nović

36- Haven by Emma Donoghue

37- Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

38- Champagne Widows (Veuve Clicquot) by Rebecca Rosenberg

39- The Guncle by Steven Rowley

40 - Notes on an Execution by Danya Kukafka

41- Shit Cassandra Saw by Gwen E. Kirby

42- Nightmare Alley by William Lindsay Gresham

43- How to Fake It in Hollywood by Ava Wilder

44- The Dance of Time: The Origins of the Calendar by Michael Judge

45- Dinosaurs by Lydia Millet

46- Thistlefoot by Jenna Rose Nethercott

47- Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty

48- Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

Movie - Nightmare Alley ( 2022)

App - Storygraph