The Book Case

This week we take a look back at last year’s Book Case episodes focussing on the methodology of writing. We love talking to authors about their technique, their inspirations, and we love exploring how they do what they do. So this week we sew together some of our favorite ideas and methods coming from our authors, on how to write a book. We hope that we have some aspiring authors listening, and that there is inspiration to be taken from each of these ideas. Books mentioned in this week's episode: We Solve Murders by Richard Osman The Grey Wolf by Louise Penny The Time of the Child by Niall Williams Bel Canto: The Annotated Edition by Ann Patchett Colored Television by Danzy Senna Tell me Everything by Elizabeth Strout The History of Sound: Stories by Ben Shattuck Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club by J Ryan Stradal Shanghai by Joseph Kanon The Demon of Unrest by Erik Larson Table for Two by Amor Towles The Hunter by Tana French After Anna by Anna Quindlen Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We decided to break format this week, and we might do it again at that (it was wonderful).  To ring in the holiday week, we had to spend a little time talking about A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.  And we must admit we had never read it until now.  We sit down with Dean Natalie McKnight at Boston University, and Professor Joel Brattin at Worcester Polytechnic. Both top Dickensian scholars in their field, we ask them why this book still universally resonates….hundreds of years later. Books mentioned in this week's episode: A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens Great Expectations by Charles Dickens Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens Barnaby Rudge by Charles Dickens The Chimes by Charles Dickens Martin Chuzzlewit by Charles Dickens The Cricket on the Hearth by Charles Dickens The Battle of Life: A Love Story by Charles Dickens The Haunted Man and the Ghost’s Bargain by Charles Dickens Dombey and Son by Charles Dickens David Copperfield by Charles Dickens Bleak House by Charles Dickens Hard Times by Charles Dickens Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens  A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens The Mystery of Edwin Drood by Charles Dickens Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We know we want to talk to an author if we argue long and lustily about a book’s themes. And Like Mother, Like Mother, the newest by Susan Rieger, has so many themes: how we cannot escape our mothers, the concept of whether women can “have it all”, the debate on nature vs. nurture…and so much more. These are characters that will stay with you long after you have finished, and is a great selection for book clubs out there. Take a break from holiday prep and join us for our conversation with Susan Rieger and with Warwick books in La Jolla California. Books mentioned in this week's episode: Like Mother, Like Mother by Susan Rieger The Heirs by Susan Rieger The Divorce Papers by Susan Rieger Mosaic of the Mind by Susan Rieger By the Lake by John McGahern This is Happiness by Niall Williams Time of the Child by Niall Williams Netherland by Joseph O’Neill The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Delia Ephron is a courageous woman. Not only did she lose her husband Jerry, she then faced death in the form of leukemia and a very risky bone marrow transplant all while falling in love with her husband Peter. As if all of this weren’t enough, she wrote an amazing memoir about it, Left on Tenth, and THEN she turned it into a major play on Broadway where hundreds of people could react to her story, live. How did she do it and why? We find out on this week’s Book Case. We also talk to the bookstore Francie and French, and tell you where they got that name. Books mentioned in this week's episode: Left on Tenth by Delia Ephron The Lion is In by Delia Ephron Heartburn by Delia and Nora Ephron Siracusa by Delia Ephron Big City Eyes by Delia Ephron Hanging Up by Delia Ephron Sister Mother Husband Dog Etc. by Delia Ephron The Girl with the Mermaid Hair by Delia Ephron Frannie in Pieces by Delia Ephron Love Lost and What I Wore: A Play by Delia and Nora Ephron The Time of the Child by Niall Williams Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices