This week we talk to Huda Fahmy, a graphic novelist whose 4th book Huda F Cares? was a finalist for the 2023 National Book Award in Young People’s Literature. Her book focuses on a teenage Muslim girl named Huda who takes a road trip in the family’s station wagon from Michigan to Florida to visit Disneyworld with her parents and many sisters. There she grapples with wanting to fit in with her peers but also wanting to stay true to her family and her Muslim religion with issues like wearing her hijab and praying in public.

The character Huda in her book is based on the author’s experience growing up in an Egyptian family that immigrated to the US. Huda talks about her love of comics and how she picked up English in part by reading Garfield comic books. Huda began writing graphic novels at the age of 30 when two of her sisters encouraged her to turn her essays of Muslim American life into illustrated stories.

Books mentioned in This Episode:

1- Huda F Cares? by Huda Fahmy

2- Huda F Are You? by Huda Fahmy

3- Yes, I'm Hot in This by Huda Fahmy

4- Huda F Wants To Know by Huda Fahmy

5- That Can be Arranged by Huda Fahmy

6- Murder by Degrees by Rita Mukerji

7- Hide by Tracy Clark

8- Graveyard of Lost Children by Katrina Monroe

9- Erasure by Percival Everett

10- Mexikid by Pedro Martin

11- American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang

12- Brave by Svetlana Chmakova

13- It Won't Always Be Like This by Malaka Gharib

14- Love From A to Z by S.K. Ali

15- All My Rage by Sabaa Tahir

16- A Tempest of Tea by Hafsah Faizal

17- As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow by Zoulfa Katouh

18- The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Juno Diaz

19- Hidden Systems by Dan Nott

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

21- Checkmate by Ali Hazelwood

22- Lady in the Lake by Laura Lippman

23- The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell by Robert Dugoni

24- The Falconer by Elizabeth May

Shows/Films mentioned--

1- Poor Things (2023)

2- American Fiction (2023)

3- The Old Man and the Pool (Netflix 2023)

Books Mentioned in this Episode:

1- Paddling North by Audrey Sutherland (Rec by Ritu Mukerji)

2- Buddenbrooks by Thomas Mann (Rec by Anna Pitoniak)

3- The Creative Act by Rick Rubin (Rec by Anna Pitoniak)

4- Working by Robert Caro (Rec by Rachel M. Harper)

5- The Seven Moons by Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka (Rec by Mel Joulwan of Strong Sense of Place Podcast)

6- A Stranger in the Woods by Michael Finkel (Rec by David Humphries of Strong Sense of Place Podcast)

7- The Gilded Page by Mary Wellesley (Rec by Kristine Eckart of Gilmore Book Club)

8- Ink Blood Sister Scribe by Emma Torzs (Rec by Kristine Eckart of Gilmore Book Club)

9- Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett (Rec by Kika Hatzapoulou)

10- All the Sinners Bleed by SA Cosby (Rec by Katrina Kittle)

11- Happiness Falls by Angie Kim (Rec by Katrina Kittle)

12- Camera Man: Buster Keaton, the Dawn of Cinema, and the Invention of the 20th Century by Dana Stephens (Rec by Mick Sullivan of The Past and The Curious Podcast)

13- River of Shadows: Eadweard Muybridge and the Technological Wild West by Rebecca Solnit (Rec by Mick Sullivan of The Past and the Curious Podcast)

14- If We Were Villains by ML Rio (Rec by Katrina Monroe)

15- The Wanderers by Meg Howrey (Rec by Lydia Welker of the Appalachian Prison Book Project)

16- Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin (Rec by Kelsey Madges, middle school librarian)

Carrie's Favorite Books of the Year

1- The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean

2- Atomic Family by Ciera Horton McElroy

3- Luckenbooth by Jenni Fagan

4- Bea Wolf by Zach Weinersmith

5- We All Wants Impossible Things by Catherine Newman

Amy's Favorite Books of the Year

1- Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn

2- Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher

3- Martin Marten by Brian Doyle

4- Landings: A Crooked Creek Farm Year by Arwen Donahue

5- The Keeper by Kelcey Ervick

6- Horse by Geraldine Brooks

Other Recommendations:

1- American Murderer by Gail Jarrow

2- Walking with Sam: A Father, a Son, and 500 Miles Across Spain by Andrew McCarthy

3- These Silent Woods by Kimi Cunningham Grant

4- Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith

5- Nora Goes Off Script by Annabel Monaghan

6- The Sweetness of Water by Nathan Harris

7- Blacktop Wasteland by SA Cosby

8- Wool by Hugh Howey (and the TV adaptation on Apple + called Silo)

Escambia County Dictionary Ban -

www.usatoday.com/story/news/natio…ban/72202686007/

This week we chat with Kelcey Ervick whose graphic memoir The Keeper: Soccer, Me, and the Law That Changed Women’s Lives I (Amy) discovered after our friend and former guest, Bethany, told us about what a great book it was.

Kelcey is the author of four books but The Keeper is her first foray into a full graphic experience. She weaves her own personal story of being a high school and Division I college soccer player with the history and effect Title IX has had on women in all areas of their lives, not just in sports. If you loved the feminist bent of the movie Barbie, this book will give you similar vibes.

The Keeper has been recommended by the NYT Book Review, Publisher’s Weekly, School Library Journal, and was the winner of the state literary prize of Ohio, the Ohioana Book Award, which has been awarded to other notable authors including Celeste NG, Ross Gay, and John Scalzi. Even if you aren’t a sports fan (and I am not), you will thoroughly enjoy this book.

Remember, that in Season 10, Amy has a new project which is to give listeners book recommendations. If you’re looking for a book set in Romania, or a book about rabbits, or a book about changelings, or anything in between, send us a message and we’ll recommend a similar read you can add to your nightstand.

Books Mentioned in this Episode:

1- The Keeper: Soccer, Me, and the Law That Changed Women's Lives by Kelcey Ervick

2- The Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

3- The Bitter Life of Bozena Nemcova: A Biographical Collage by Kelcey Ervick

4- The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Graphic Literature edited by Kelcey Ervick and Tom Hart

5- Good Talk by Mira Jacob

6- Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

7- Fun Home by Alison Bechdel

8- Pretending is Lying by Dominique Goblet

9- The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity by Julia Cameron

10- Art and Fear by David Bayles and Ted Orland

11- Wild Seed by Octavia Butler

12- Mind of My Mind by Octavia Butler

13- Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler

14- America Redux by Ariel Aberg-Riger

15- Your Brain on Art: How the Arts Transform Us by Ivy Ross and Susan Magsamen

16- Landings: A Crooked Creek Farm Year by Arwen Donahue

5 Star Book Recommendation by a Fellow Book Lover Barbara K. - @msbarbarasbookshelf - Where The Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak

Podcasts mentioned--

The To Read List Podcast (Jul 2020 episode)

Books Mentioned in this Episode:

1- Hester by Laurie Lico Albanese

2- The Friend by Sigrid Nunez

3- Prophet Song by Paul Lynch

4- Threads That Bind by Kika Hatzopolou

5- Krazyland by Mar Romasco-Moore

6- Seven Days of Us by Francesca Hornak

7- This is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper

8- Walking with Sam: A Father, a Son, and Five Hundred Miles Across Spain by Andrew McCarthy

9- The Weight We Carry by Christina Consolino

10- The Sunset Years of Agnes Sharp by Leonie Swann

11- House of Gold by CT Rwizi

12- The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell by Robert Dugoni

13- Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead

14- Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead

15- Mastering the Art of French Murder by Colleen Cambridge

16- Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind who changed the Bible and Why by Bart Ehrman

17- The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul Tremblay

18- The Night Eaters by Marjorie Liu

19- Those We Thought We Knew by David Joy

20- I Am Not Your Eve by Devika Ponnambalam

Five Star Read Recommended by a Fellow Book Lover Carol @pirotandpinot

We Begin at the End by Chris Whitaker

Movies and TV series Discussed

1- Creature (2023/Netflix)

2- The Frankenstein Chronicles (2015-2017)

3- Mary Shelley (2015)

4- The Family Stone (2005)

5- Knock at the Cabin (2023)√

This week we chat with our favorite bookseller, Sam Miller, from Carmichael’s Bookstore. Each November we let her do the heavy lifting and share books that have come out and might be good choices for your holiday shopping.

If you would like to check out Carmichael’s Bookstore Holiday Book Gift Guide, you can find it online at www.carmichaelsbookstore.com/

Books Mentioned in this Episode:

1- Wrong Place Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister

2- Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan

3- Foster by Claire Keegan

4- So Late in the Day by Claire Keegan

5- Let us Descend by Jesmyn Ward

6- Fraud by Zadie Smith

7- Armor of Light by Ken Follett

8- Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett

9- Julia by Sandra Newman

10- 1984 by George Orwell

11- Reformatory by Tananarive Due

12- Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead

13- A Haunting on the Hill by Elizabeth Hand

14- The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

15- West Heart Kill by Dann Mcdorman

16- The Twyford Code by Janice Hallett

17- The Appeal by Janice Hallett

18- The Christmas Appeal by Janice Hallett

19- Stalking Shakespeare by Lee Durkee

20- They Flew by Carlos Eire

21- Waiting for Snow in Havana by Carlos Eire

22- Wild Girls by Tiya Miles

23- The Comfort of Crows by Margaret Renkl

24- Late Migrations by Margaret Renkl

25- Watership Down (graphic novel) by James Sturm and Joe Sutphin

26- Watership Down by Richard Adams

27- Energy Follows Thought by Willie Nelson

28- World Within a Song by Jeff Tweedy

29- Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros

30- Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

31- Starling House by Alix E. Harrow

32- Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree

33- Legend & Lattes by Travis Baldree

34- World Central Kitchen Cookbook by Jose Andres

35- Every Cook, Every Kitchen by Feed Louisville

36- Oldest Louisville by Kevin Gibson

37- Always Moving Forward by David Jones and Bob Hill

38- Back Page by Byron Crawford

39- Fathers by Richard Taylor

40- From the Heads of the Hollers by Shelby Lee Adams

41- Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts by Crystal Wilkinson

42- Lewis Sinclair and the Gentlemen Cowboys by DMS Fick

43- Rabbit Heart by Kristine S. Ervin

44- My Dark Places by James Ellroy

45- Shot in the Heart by Mikal Gilmore

46- Tom Lake by Ann Patchett

47- The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride

48- The Man who Invented Christmas: How Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol Rescued his Career and Revived our Holiday Spirits by Les Standiford

49- Mr. Dickens and his Carol by Samantha Silva

5 Star Read Recommended by Fellow Book Lover Casey @Caseys_reads

12 Months To Live by James Patterson and Mike Lupica

Movie and Series Mentioned:

- CODA (2021) - Apple +

- Bodies (2023) - Netflix

Our guest this week, Ritu Mukerji, is a busy, full-time physician and a mother of 3, but she managed to find time to write her first novel, a recently published historical fiction mystery titled Murder by Degrees about a female physician in late 19th century Philadelphia. She was inspired by her love of the mystery genre as well as her experience living in Philadelphia while getting her medical degree where she would often visit places where female doctors had paved the way for other women to follow.

We chat with Ritu about why physicians can make good detectives, and she shares some of her favorite mystery series and the recipe for her favorite Thanksgiving side dish that’s been prepared in her family for over 30 years.

You can find Ritu on socials at @ritumukerji and at her website: www.ritumukerji.com

To send us a message, go to our website and click the Contact button.

Books Mentioned in this Episode:

1- Murder by Degrees by Ritu Mukerji

2- And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

3- Sherlock Holmes stories by Arthur Conan Doyle

4- Maisie Dobbs series by Jaqueline Winspear

5- Inspector Rutledge series by Charles Todd

6- Books by PD James, Ruth Rendell, and Barbara Vine

7- Kurt Wallander series by Henning Mankell

8- Truman by David McCullough

9- Grant by Ron Chernow

10- Lincoln by David Herbert Donald

11- The Dry by Jane Harper

12- Mother of Strangers by Suad Amiry

13- The Night Diary by Veera Hiranandani

14- The Mistress of Bhatia House by Sujata Massey

15- George: A Magpie Memoir by Frieda Hughes

16- H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald

5 Star Read Recpmmended by Fellow Book Lover Amy @readthisandsteep - Mercury by Amy Jo Burns

Ritu Mukerji's family recipe

Cranberry Salsa

(adapted from Oakland Tribune, Nov 1990)

-2 cups cranberries

-4 tsp grated orange peel

-2 large oranges, peeled to remove white membrane, then coarsely chopped

-1/4 cup minced onion

-1/4 cup olive oil

-1 tbsp minced cilantro

-1 tbsp minced ginger

-1 small hot green chile (jalapeno or serrano)--stemmed, seeded and minced

-salt to taste

Whirl cranberries in a blender until chopped, then empty in a bowl. Add orange peel, chopped orange (drained), onion, oil, cilantro, ginger and chile. Mix well and blend sauce; add salt to taste. Serve, or cover and chill, as long as overnight.

This week is one of the funniest shows we’ve done simply because our guests are delightful. In fact this show may be just a tad longer than normal because we almost couldn’t bear to cut any of our conversation out. They are the author/illustrator and husband/wife team of Matthew Swanson and Robbi Behr whose Cookie Chronicles books are a big hit among the 8-12 year old crowd, although, honestly, their stuff is good no matter how old you are.

They recently completed a year long cross-country trip called the Busload of Books Tour in a remodeled school bus with their four kids and grumpy dog to do school visits to Title I schools in the continental United States. They teamed up with a nonprofit to fund the trip and provide books for children. We talk with Matthew and Robbi about their cross-country trip, what “thing” they collected along the way, and Robbi’s favorite scent that you can’t buy.

Books Mentioned In this Episode:

1- Ben Yokohama and the Cookie of Doom (Cookie Chronicles series) by Matthew Swanson and Robbi Behr

2- The Real McCoys by Matthew Swanson and Robbi Behr

3- Babies Ruin Everything by Matthew Swanson and Robbi Behr

4- Sunrise Summer by Matthew Swanson and Robbi Behr

5- Praying with Jane Eyre: Reflections on Reading as a Sacred Practice by Vanessa Zoltan

6- Why Fish Don't Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life by Lulu Miller

7- A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russian Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life by George Saunders

8- Dirty Birds by Morgan Murray

9- Charm City Rocks by Matthew Norman

5 Star Read Recommended by a Fellow Book Lover-

Liltle Thieves by Margaret Owen recommended by Amber @amber.always.reading

Podcasts mentioned--

Harry Potter and the Sacred Text podcast

Websites mentioned--

Fireball.imo.net

You can find our guests at their website robbiandmatthew.com/

This week we have a book recommendation episode. We hunker down for November and embrace fall. We call this our Free For F(all) episode because we each give you a recommendation in 5 November themed categories: Autumn, Native American Heritage Month, Diwali, Day of the Dead/ All Soul's Day, and No-Shave November.

Books mentioned in this episode:

1- Rez Dogs by Joseph Bruchac

2- We All Want Impossible Things by Catherine Newman

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

4- Love Deleted by Paul Indigo

5- An Event in Autumn by Henning Markell

6-Deer Season by Erin Flanagan

7-Sees Behind Trees by Michael Dorris

8- Winter Counts by David Heska Wanbli Weiden

9- When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi

10- A People's History of Heaven by Mathangi Subramanian

11- The Orphan of Cemetery Hill by Hester Fox

12- The Forgetting Time by Sharon Guskin

13- Where the World Ends by Geraldine McCaughrean

14- These Honored Dead (A Lincoln and Speed mystery) by Jonathan F. Putnam

15- Determined: A Science of Life without Free Will by Robert M. Sapolsky

16- Plight of the Living Dead: What Real Life Zombies Reveal About Our World and Ourselves by Matt Simon

A 5 star book recommendation by a fellow book Lover -

The Change by Kirsten Miller. recommended by Anne Persico @annother_bookstagram

Podcasts mentioned--

1- Ologies with Alie Ward

www.alieward.com/ologies/neuroparasitology

Movies mentioned--

1- Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

2- Fargo (1996) - movie

3- Fargo - (2014 - present, FX) - TV series

Bookish news--

She challenges one book a week:

www.washingtonpost.com/education/202…spotsylvania/

1 parent is responsible for a book ban in North Carolina-

www.npr.org/2023/09/08/11983736…behind%20the%20move.

Scholastic Book Fair Dilemna

www.nytimes.com/2023/10/25/us/sch…-race-gender.html

Erin Flanagan podcast episode episode:

ThePerksofBeingaBookLover.podbean.com/e/s-7-…17-22/

Robert Sapolsky doesn't believe in free will

www.nytimes.com/2023/10/16/scienc…ill-sapolsky.html

Carrie happened upon the audiobook Graveyard of Lost Children by Katrina Monroe on Libby and was riveted by how the horror novel explored the postpartum period while also bringing in supernatural elements. It totally sucked her back into the early weeks after delivering her first child and left her with that same sense of shellshock, and she thought, “OF COURSE having a baby is a horror story.”

We reached out to Katrina to see if she would be interested in chatting with us, and we’re so glad she was. We talk with her about Graveyard of Lost Children and her first novel They Drown Our Daughters and about why motherhood and the mother-daughter relationship are perfect topics to write about because they are steeped in fear and confusion, and inspire terror at times.

Books Mentioned in this Episode:

1- The Woman in Black by Susan Hill

2- They Drown our Daughters by Katrina Monroe

3- Graveyard of Lost Children by Katrina Monroe

4- Goosebumps series by RL Stine

5- The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan

6- Nothing But Blackened Teeth by Cassandra Khaw

7- The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw

8- The Changeling by Victor Lavalle

9- The Electric Woman by Tessa Fontaine

10- Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann

11- Under an Outlaw Moon by Dietrich Kalteis

12-Just Another Missing Person by Gillian McAllister

13- Wrong Place Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister

14- A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

5 Star Read Recommended by Fellow Book Lover Jen @bookedupgirl - Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

Movies/Shows mentioned--

1- The Woman in Black (2012)

2- The Fall of the House of Usher (Netflix - 2023)

3- Midnight Mass (Netflix - 2021)

4- The Haunting of Hill House (Netflix - 2018)

5- Goosebumps TV series (1995)

6- Goosebumps (Netflix - 2023)

7- The Changeling (Apple + - 2023)

8- Killers of the Flower Moon (2023)

9- A Monster Calls (2016)

In episode 86, we first spoke with Melissa Joulwan during the COVID pandemic. She is one of the co-hosts of the Strong Sense of Place podcast. Melissa has been one of our favorite guests to date. You will here the original interview in the second half of the show. For something a little new, you will hear us chat this time around to both Mel and her partner David Humphreys. Since we last spoke with Melissa in 2021, they have added a short weekly podcast to their lineup called the Library of Lost Time in which they each recommend a book and a fun distraction. In this remix, they tell us all about this short concept podcast and they each share a book about a library with us! (Carrie is now reading David’s suggestion.)

A Strong Sense of Place is both a podcast and a website where readers can find interesting bookish conversations with our guest this week, Melissa Joulwan, and her husband David, two expatriates living in Prague located in the Czech Republic. In this week’s episode, she tells us about how they select the places they will visit each season, why place in a book has to meet very stringent specifications, and how roller derby helped her make some big life decisions.

Books Mentioned in this Episode:

Podcasts mentioned--

Strong Sense of Place (strongsenseofplace.com)

The Library of Lost Time

Books mentioned--

1- Pockets: An Intimated History of How we Keep Things Close by Hannah Coulson

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

3- The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty

3- Revenge of the Librarians by Tom Gauld

4- Unseen City by Amy Shearn

5- Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret. by Judy Blume

6- Forever by Judy Blume

7- The First Deadly Sin by Lawrence Sanders

8- Archie McNally series by Lawrence Sanders

9- Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

10- My Antonia by Willa Cather

11- Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

12- The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova

13- The Shadow Land by Elizabeth Kostova

14- She Walks These Hills by Sharyn McCrumb

15- The Phryne Fisher mysteries by Kerry Greenwood

16- Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell

17- Less by Andrew Sean Greer

18- The Curse of Jacob Tracy by Holly Messinger

Movies or TV adaptations mentioned in this episode:

1- Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries (Amazon)