Alice McDermott has written one of THE great novels of 2023. Absolution is so many things…a portrait of diplomatic wives carving out lives for themselves in Saigon before the start of the war, a moralistic novel about the dangers of colonialism and good intentions, the story of the complex relationships women have with motherhood, and with each other. Why did she write it? And what has convinced so many that it's going to be a Pulitzer finalist this year? Tune in and find out. Our bookstore this week comes from one of our beloved listeners-The Lost Bookshop in Delhi, NY. Join us, and keep sending in suggestions!


Books mentioned in this week's episode:

Absolution by Alice McDermott

Charming Billy by Alice McDermott

Someone by Alice McDermott

The Ninth Hour by Alice McDermott

That Night by Alice McDermott

At Weddings and Wakes by Alice McDermott

A Bigamist’s Daughter by Alice McDermott

After This by Alice McDermott

What About the Baby?: Some Thoughts on the Art of Fiction by Alice McDermott

The Quiet American by Graham Greene

This is Happiness by Niall Williams

The Holy Bible

Hamlet by William Shakespeare

The Art of Seeing Things by John Burroughs

A Month in the Country by J.L. Carr


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Alice McDermott on the Women Behind the Vietnam War

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.

Society & Culture

Personal Journals

History

Philosophy

Places & Travel

Arts

Literature

Performing Arts

Design

Food

Fashion & Beauty

Visual Arts

Books

Fiction

This episode is a double whammy of extreme talent. First, we have George Stephanopoulos, giving us history through the perspective of one of the most mysterious and powerful rooms in the White House: The Situation Room. It's the title of his new book...and it's an illuminating read. Second, the great J. Ryan Stradal and our second installment of the Writer in Residence series. He says he is doing a lot of writing these days...and he knows most of it won't make it in the book. You don't want to miss this week's Book Case.

Books mentioned in this week's episode:

 The Situation Room: The Inside Story of Presidents in Crisis by George Stephanopoulos

 All Too Human: A Political Education by George Stephanopoulos

 Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club by J. Ryan Stradal

 Lager Queen of Minnesota by J. Ryan Stradal

 Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J. Ryan Stradal

 Think Twice by Harlan Coben

 I Will Find You by Harlan Coben

 Table for Two by Amor Towles


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George Stephanopoulos Takes Us To The Situation Room

It's always a pleasure for us to talk to a debut author and we have a good one this week in Heidi Reimer. Her novel, The Mother Act, is the story of mothers and daughters and the heap of complexities that come in those relationships. How do we know we are going to be a good mom? Once we have a child are we ALWAYS a mother first? This book asks these questions and challenges the reader to question the concepts of motherhood, empathy and family.

Books mentioned in this week’s episode:

The Mother Act by Heidi Reimer

Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Dear Life by Alice Munro

Maybe Baby: 28 Writers Tell the Truth About Skepticism, Infertility, Baby Lust, Childlessness, Ambivalence, and How They Made the Biggest Decision of Their Lives by Lori Leibovich

Bomb Shelter: Love, Time, and Other Explosives by Mary Laura Philpott

Middlemarch by George Eliot

The Giver by Lois Lowry

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst


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Heidi Reimer Examines Motherhood, Sacrifice, and Redemption

If you haven’t heard of Erik Larson, you don’t read enough non-fiction. A giant in the industry and an immense talent, Erik is turning his attention to the beginnings of the Civil War in his latest, The Demon of Unrest. It’s the nail biting account of how we ended up turning guns against one another, North to South, with a specific focus on the stand off at Fort Sumter. Told through the eyes of rich characters through their unique perspectives, Larson brings new learning to an oft discussed topic…how the Union tore itself apart over slavery. You won’t want to miss this one.


Books mentioned in this week's episode:

The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War by Erik Larson 

The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson 

Isaac’s Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History by Erik Larson 

Lethal Passage by Erik Larson Thunderstruck by Erik Larson 

The Naked Consumer: How Our Private Lives Become Public Commodities by Erik Larson 

Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania by Erik Larson

In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson 

No One Goes Alone: A Novel by Erik Larson 

The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz by Erik Larson 

Mary Chesnut's Diary by Mary Boykin Chestnut 

The Johnstown Flood by David McCullough 

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman 


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Erik Larson Illuminates History

We try not to do books about politics — political discourse in this country is, currently, divisive in the extreme. However, Carlos Lozada, in his new book, The Washington Book: How to Read Politics and Politicians, gives us a survey of Washington literature that will surprise, delight and inform you. From Tocqueville to Trump, from The Muller Report to DeSantis’ plea for the presidency, Carlos has read it all, and written about almost everything he has read. This book is a compendium of his best columns about books…why does Carlos think presidents insist on writing their own biographies? Why is George H.W. Bush one of the only presidents without a presidential autobiography? Tune in and find out.


Books mentioned in this week's episode:

The Washington Book: How to Read Politics and Politicians by Carlos Lozada

What We Were Thinking: A Brief Intellectual History of the Trump Era by Carlos Lozada

Dreams From My Father by Barack Obama

The Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant by Ulysses S. Grant

An Hour Before Daylight: Memories of a Rural Boyhood by Jimmy Carter

Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush by Jon Meacham

Heartburn by Nora Ephron

Wise Blood by Flannery O’Connor


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Carlos Lozada Makes the Case for Political Memoirs

Kao Kalia Yang is a Hmong writer who has written her family and country’s history through deeply personal prisms. She told the story of her family’s beginnings via her grandmother’s story in The Latehomecomer, shared the life of her father in The Song Poet and now writes her mother’s journey in Where Rivers Part. Told in the first person, Where Rivers Part is the beautiful and compelling story of Tswb, who fled Laos to Thailand, eventually fighting her way to Minnesota to give a better future to her children. It is an epic tale of mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, struggle and triumph. Our bookstore this week is a 22-year-old dynamo who has already taken Mendham, NJ by storm…watch out world, it’s Chapter One Books.


Books mentioned in this week's episode:

Where Rivers Part by Kao Kalia Yang

The Song Poet by Kao Kalia Yang

Latehomecomer by Kao Kalia Yang

A Map into the World by Kao Kalia Yang

The Shared Room by Kao Kalia Yang

From the Tops of the Trees by Kao Kalia Yang

The Most Beautiful Thing by Kao Kalia Yang

Yang Warriors by Kao Kalia Yng

The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich

The Round House by Louise Erdrich

The BFG by Roald Dahl

Danny the Champion of the World by Roald Dahl

The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston


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Alice McDermott on the Women Behind the Vietnam War

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