Are you stuck in a reading rut? The Book Case makes the case for books outside of your usual genre. Wander the aisles of your local bookstore with Kate and Char...
Our first book show of the year is a first-time novelist, Karissa Chen. Her new book Homecoming is a novel a portrait in longing, an epoch love story between two characters torn apart by political unrest at the time of the Communist Revolution in China. It’s ambitious, it’s beautiful and it’s one of the best historical portrayals of China’s complex histories we have ever read. Join us!
Books mentioned in this week's episode:
Homecoming by Karissa Chen
Written on the Water by Eileen Chang
Do Not Say We Have Nothing by Madeleine Thien
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
Everything Inside by Edwidge Danticat
Autobiography of Red by Anne Carson
Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney
The Poetry of Derek Walcott 1948-2013 by DerekWalcott
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32:33
We Explore How to Write a Book
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
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27:24
A Christmas Carol Still Haunts Readers
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
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36:06
Susan Rieger and Surviving Your Mother
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
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41:36
Delia Ephron Takes Broadway
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
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Are you stuck in a reading rut? The Book Case makes the case for books outside of your usual genre. Wander the aisles of your local bookstore with Kate and Charlie Gibson and meet fascinating characters who will open your appetite to new categories while deepening your hunger for books. This weekly series will journey cover to cover through the literary world, featuring interviews with best-selling authors, tastemakers, and independent bookstore owners. New episodes post every Thursday.