Adriana Trigiani's You Are What You Read

On today’s episode of You Are What You Read, we are joined by acclaimed screenwriter, director and author, Tim Sullivan. Tim’s screen credits include A Handful of Dust, starring Kristen Scott Thomas, Where Angels Fear to Tread, starring Helen Mirren and Helena Bonham Carter, Jack and Sarah (which he also directed) starring Richard E Grant, Judi Dench and Ian McKellen and Letters to Juliet, with Amanda Seyfried. Tim has directed the television series: Sherlock Holmes and Cold Feet. Tim has written extensively in Hollywood in both live action and animation, working with Ron Howard, Scott Rudin and with Jeffrey Katzenberg on the fourth Shrek movie. He has now embarked on a series of crime novels featuring the autistic, and brilliantly persistent DS George Cross, which have hit shelves in the United States this fall.

On this week’s episode of You Are What You Read, we are joined by the great Rob Reiner with his new memoir, A Fine Line Between Stupid and Clever: The Story of Spinal Tap, which he co-wrote with Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer with David Kamp. Rob is a two-time Emmy–winning actor for his role in All in the Family. He is also the acclaimed director of This Is Spinal Tap, Stand By Me, The Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally, Misery, A Few Good Men, The American President, Ghosts of Mississippi, and The Bucket List. Recently, Rob directed the Emmy–nominated documentary Albert Brooks: Defending my Life, and the sequel to This Is Spinal Tap. Rob is a dedicated political activist, he spearheaded a tobacco tax initiative in California to fund early childhood development and chaired the state commission to oversee its implementation. In 2008, he cofounded The American Foundation For Equal Rights, which paved the way for marriage equality nationwide.

On this episode of You Are What You Read, we are joined by our good friend Mitch Albom with his brand new novel, TWICE. Mitch is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Tuesdays with Morrie. His books of fiction and nonfiction have sold forty-two million copies in forty-eight languages worldwide. Mitch is founder of the nonprofit SAY Detroit, supporting Detroit community members with healthcare, housing and education initiatives. He also founded a dessert shop and a gourmet popcorn line to help fund it. saydetroit.org Mitch operates Have Faith Haiti, a home and school for impoverished children and orphans in Port-au-Prince, which he visits monthly. havefaithhaiti.org TWICE is all about second chances, and we were thrilled that some of you wrote in with your questions and second-chance stories to share with Mitch today.

On this episode of You Are What You Read, we are joined by poet and author Silas House who has not one but two books out this September that you don’t want to miss: a new novel, Dead Man Blues, and a book of poetry, All These Ghosts. Silas was the recipient of the Duggins Prize, the largest award for an LGBTQ writer in the nation. He was inducted as the Poet Laureate of Kentucky for 2023–2025 and became a Grammy finalist. Silas teaches at Berea College and at the Naslund-Mann Graduate School of Creative Writing. 

Welcome to Season Three of You Are What You Read, a podcast with the luminaries of our time about the books that built their souls. This season, we have an incredible lineup of special guests you don’t want to miss. We are kicking off Season Three with a fan favorite who is touring the country now, the great Matthew McConaughey. Matthew joined us for a few conversations about his bestselling book Greenlights, which we discuss in this episode. Matthew tells us later about his plans to write more books, which culminated into his latest, Poems & Prayers. 

You can watch this week’s episode with Matthew now on Youtube! Head to the You Are What You Read podcast YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@youarewhatyoureadpodcast 

 On this week’s episode of You Are What You Read, we are in the kitchen with one of the world’s most celebrated chefs, Jacques Pepin. You know Jacques as the award-winning cooking show host, master chef, food columnist, cooking teacher, and author of nineteen cookbooks. In this conversation, we talked about one of our favorite cookbooks by Jacques, Art of the Chicken. Jacques’ latest cookbook, The Art of Jacques Pepin, just hit shelves in time for his 90th birthday. It’s a collection of Jacques’ favorite recipes and signature artworks- don’t miss it! 

On today’s episode of You Are What You Read, we are joined by biographer Nicholas Boggs to talk about literary icon James Baldwin. Nick is the author of Baldwin: A Love Story, a deep dive into Baldwin’s personal relationships and their influence on his life and work. Nick’s biography was named a “A Most Anticipated Book” by The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, the Chicago Tribune, Publisher’s Weekly and more. Nicholas also co-edited a new edition of Baldwin's collaboration with French artist Yoran Cazac, Little Man, Little Man: A Story of Childhood.

On this week’s episode of You Are What You Read, we are traveling back in time to 1962 when the one-and-only Johnny Carson redefined late-night television as host of The Tonight Show. Traveling with us, is Mike Thomas with the best selling biography he co-wrote with Bill Zehme, Carson the Magnificent. In 2002, Bill Zehme landed one of the most coveted assignments for a magazine writer: an interview with Johnny Carson—the only one he’d granted since retiring from hosting The Tonight Show a decade earlier. Following Carson’s passing in 2005, Zehme embarked on an exhaustive nearly decade-long research journey, interviewing dozens of Carson’s colleagues and friends to craft this biography, although his efforts were halted by a cancer diagnosis. ” Mike Thomas, Zehme’s former research assistant, completed Carson the Magnificent to offer this honest assessment of who Johnny Carson really was.

.On this week’s episode of You Are What You Read, we are joined by Jeffrey Eugenides. Jeffrey is the bestselling novelist, short story writer and Pulitzer Prize-winner known for The Virgin Suicides, Middlesex and The Marriage Plot. Jeffrey was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2018 and to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2013. He has taught at Princeton and now serves as the Lewis and Loretta Glucksman Professor in American Letters at NYU. His next project, Icarus, is an Audible original coming this fall.

On this week’s episode of You Are What You Read, we are joined by a one-of-a-kind actress, author, comedian, and the ultimate dramatist, Fannie Flagg, with her latest offering, Something to Look Forward To. You know Fannie’s work, the New York Times best sellers: Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man and Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe. Fannie’s script for the movie Fried Green Tomatoes was nominated for an Academy Award and the Writers Guild of America Award and won the highly regarded Scripter Award for best screenplay of the year. She joins us today for a conversation like we’ve never had before about the books that shaped her and the legacy she leaves for writers everywhere.