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Do you have a book you want to tell me about? Go HERE to apply to be a guest on the Best Book Ever Podcast.

Host: Julie Strauss

Website/Instagram

Guest: Liam Jenkins

Website/Facebook/Instagram

Discussed in this episode:

Dylan McFinn & The Sea Serpent's Fury by Liam Jenkins

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova

Percy Jackson & the Olympians by Rick Riordan

Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling

The Discworld Series by Terry Pratchett (there are 41 novels in this series, and the books can be read in any order. But, avid fans have suggestions for different approaches you might take.)

The Carpet People by Terry Pratchett

Mort by Terry Pratchett

The Sandman by Neil Gaiman

Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl

Mind Magic Methods: A Complete Magickal System by Merlin Starlight

The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Wells

The Island of Dr. Moreau movie

Origin by Dan Brown

(Note: Some of the above links are affiliate links, meaning I get a few bucks off your purchase at no extra expense to you. Anytime you shop for books, you can use my affiliate link on Bookshop, which also supports Indie Bookstores around the country. If you're shopping for everything else – clothes, office supplies, gluten-free pasta, couches – you can use my affiliate link for Amazon. Thank you for helping to keep the Best Book Ever Podcast in business!)

"Jonathan Livingston Seagull" is one of those books that I've seen my whole life, but never actually picked up. I always thought it was a kids' book. And it kind of is – it's definitely assigned in a lot of schools. But many adults claim it as an all-time favorite. It's often cited as the book that starts people on spiritual journeys. Today I am delighted to welcome poet, actress, and podcaster Sonia Iris Lozada to talk about this famously tiny but profound book.

Follow the Best Book Ever Podcast on Instagram or on the Best Book Ever Website

Do you have a book you want to tell me about? Go HERE to apply to be a guest on the Best Book Ever Podcast.

Host: Julie Strauss

Website/Instagram

Guest: Sonia Iris Lozada

Website/Instagram/Facebook/Poetic Resurrections Podcast/Chica and the Man Podcast

Discussed in this episode:

Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach

Follow: Akashic Dreaming Through Time by Sonia Iris Lozada

The Untethered Soul by Michael A. Singer

Inspire Me: Raw by Sonia Iris Lozada

The John Pilate Mystery Series by J. Alexander Greenwood

(Note: Some of the above links are affiliate links, meaning I get a few bucks off your purchase at no extra expense to you. Anytime you shop for books, you can use my affiliate link on Bookshop, which also supports Indie Bookstores around the country. If you're shopping for everything else – clothes, office supplies, gluten-free pasta, couches – you can use my affiliate link for Amazon. Thank you for helping to keep the Best Book Ever Podcast in business!)

I have loved implementing the lessons from "The Artist's Way" over the years, and it was a delight to talk about it with someone who has an entirely different creative life than I do. Shay Dominguez is a comedian, podcaster, and mindfulness live event creator, and I absolutely loved talking to her about the vulnerability of an authentically creative life.

Follow the Best Book Ever Podcast on Instagram or on the Best Book Ever Website

Do you have a book you want to tell me about? Go HERE to apply to be a guest on the Best Book Ever Podcast.

Host: Julie Strauss

Website/Instagram

Guest: Shay Dominguez

Website/Instagram/TikTok/Podcast

Discussed in this episode:

The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron

Yes Please by Amy Poehler (PS – Julie recommends this one on audio!)

Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang by Chelsea Handler

An Anatomy of An Illness: As Perceived by the Patient by Norman Cousins

High Performance Habits: How Extraordinary People Become That Way by Brendan Burchard

Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert

(PS – for more Liz Gilbert content, we talked about Big Magic in Episode 025!)

(Note: Some of the above links are affiliate links, meaning I get a few bucks off your purchase at no extra expense to you. Anytime you shop for books, you can use my affiliate link on Bookshop, which also supports Indie Bookstores around the country. If you're shopping for everything else – clothes, office supplies, gluten-free pasta, couches – you can use my affiliate link for Amazon. Thank you for helping to keep the Best Book Ever Podcast in business!)

I've never been a comics reader, and have been looking forward to the day when a guest chose a graphic novel for me to read. Led Bradshaw Brooklyn-born graphic artist who is quickly making a name for himself as one of New York's up-and-coming black comic book illustrators. As the creator of Jetpulse Comics, his Flagship title "The New Adventures of Jake Jetpulse" is a comic book adventure story that was inspired by his son Jacob who was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder at the age of four. Today Led joined me to talk about "The Dark Knight Returns" by Frank Miller, a graphic novel that is considered the best of the genre, and changed how superheroes are viewed in modern pop culture.

Follow the Best Book Ever Podcast on Instagram or on the Best Book Ever Website

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Host: Julie Strauss

Website/Instagram

Guest: Led Bradshaw

Website/Instagram/Twitter/TikTok

Discussed in this episode:

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller

Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak

How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way by Stan Lee and John Buscema

The Adventures of Jake Jetpulse: Queen of the Goblin Hive by Led Bradshaw

Graphic Artists Led loves:

George Perez

Jim Lee

Todd McFarlane

Alex Ross

Frank Frazetta

(Note: Some of the above links are affiliate links, meaning I get a few bucks off your purchase at no extra expense to you. Anytime you shop for books, you can use my affiliate link on Bookshop, which also supports Indie Bookstores around the country. If you're shopping for everything else – clothes, office supplies, gluten-free pasta, couches – you can use my affiliate link for Amazon. Thank you for helping to keep the Best Book Ever Podcast in business!)

Leah Carey is a Sex and Intimacy coach and host of the podcast "Good Girls Talk About Sex," where she interviews people who grew up as little girls plus transgender women about their sex lives. As a coach, she works with people eager to explore new avenues of their sexuality and fulfill their greatest desires, like: learning to talk with current or future partners about sexual desires, diving back into the dating pool after a long time away, having first-time queer experiences, investigating consensual non-monogamy, or learning how to communicate about kink. I was thrilled that Leah joined me to talk about Kate Stayman-London's "One To Watch," a whip-smart rom-com that I immediately pressed on all of my girlfriends to read.

** Content warnings: sex and sexuality, brief mention of suicide.**

Follow the Best Book Ever Podcast on Instagram or on the Best Book Ever Website

Do you have a book you want to tell me about? Go HERE to apply to be a guest on the Best Book Ever Podcast.

Host: Julie Strauss

Website/Instagram

Guest: Leah Carey

Website/Podcast

Discussed in this episode:

One to Watch by Kate Staymon London

Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean Auel

What We Don't Talk About When We Talk About Fat by Aubrey Gordon

Maintenance Phase (Aubrey Gordon podcast)

Hedonism II Resort

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

(Note: Some of the above links are affiliate links, meaning I get a few bucks off your purchase at no extra expense to you. Anytime you shop for books, you can use my affiliate link on Bookshop, which also supports Indie Bookstores around the country. If you're shopping for everything else – clothes, office supplies, gluten-free pasta, couches – you can use my affiliate link for Amazon. Thank you for helping to keep the Best Book Ever Podcast in business!)

Episode 091 Rohit Marawar on "Quiet" by Susan Cain

Rohit Marawar is a father of two, a husband, a physician, and an immigrant. Rohit is also a self-described introvert. But nowadays he feels empowered by introversion and is attuned to its needs. However, this was not always the case.

I had the best time talking to Rohit about living, parenting, and working as an introvert in a world made for extroverts. We discussed "Quiet" by Susan Cain, a book many readers (including me) describe as "life changing."

Follow the Best Book Ever Podcast on Instagram or on the Best Book Ever Website

Do you have a book you want to tell me about? Go HERE to apply to be a guest on the Best Book Ever Podcast.

Host: Julie Strauss

Website/Instagram

Guest: Rohit Marawar

Twitter/LinkedIn

Discussed in this episode:

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain

Bonus for parents of young people - there is also a YA version of this week's book: Quiet Power: The Secret Strengths of Introverted Kids by Susan Cain

The Art and Business of Online Writing by Nicolas Cole

The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race by Walter Isaacson

Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson

Benjamin Franklin: An American Life by Walter Isaacson

Storyworthy: Engage, Teach, Persuade, and Change Your Life through the Power of Storytelling by Matthew Dicks Caste: The Origins of our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson

(Note: Some of the above links are affiliate links, meaning I get a few bucks off your purchase at no extra expense to you. Anytime you shop for books, you can use my affiliate link on Bookshop, which also supports Indie Bookstores around the country. If you're shopping for everything else – clothes, office supplies, gluten-free pasta, couches – you can use my affiliate link for Amazon. Thank you for helping to keep the Best Book Ever Podcast in business!)

Jerry Fu is a conflict resolution coach who helps Asian American leaders advance in their career and life journeys. He's also a voracious and wide-ranging reader, and I was delighted he joined me today to talk about a classic true story of survival and forgiveness, "Unbroken" by Laura Hillenbrand.

Follow the Best Book Ever Podcast on Instagram or on the Best Book Ever Website

Do you have a book you want to tell me about? Go HERE to apply to be a guest on the Best Book Ever Podcast.

Host: Julie Strauss

Website/Instagram

Guest: Jerry Fu

Website/LinkedIn

Discussed in this episode:

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume

Forgotten Realms by R. A. Salvatore

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

The Awakening by Kate Chopin

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X as told to Alexander Hailey

The Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Thomas Wolf\

Crazy Love by Francis Chan

Forgotten God by David Pleiss Radical

Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die by Dan Heath and Chip Heath

Switch: How To Change Things When Change is Hard by Dan Heath and Chip Heath

Decisive: How to Make Better Choices in Life and Work by Dan Heath and Chip Heath

Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel H. Pink

When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing by Dan Fink

Michael Crichton

The Bourne Trilogy by Robert Ludlum

Barking Up the Wrong Tree by Eric Barker

Designing Your Life by Bill Burnett & Dave Evans

Unbroken movie

Unbroken: The Young Adult Adaptation by Laura Hillenbrand

Atomic Habits by James Clear

Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer

Between a Rock and A Hard Place by Aron Ralston (the basis of the movie 127 Hours)

Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End by Atul Gawande

Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl

The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

(Note: Some of the above links are affiliate links, meaning I get a few bucks off your purchase at no extra expense to you. Anytime you shop for books, you can use my affiliate link on Bookshop, which also supports Indie Bookstores around the country. If you're shopping for everything else – clothes, office supplies, gluten-free pasta, couches – you can use my affiliate link for Amazon. Thank you for helping to keep the Best Book Ever Podcast in business!)

Today I'm thrilled to be joined by Stephen Pelton, artistic director of the Stephen Pelton Dance Studio in London, England. Stephen is, by his own admission, obsessed with Virgina Woolf, and today we talk about "Mrs. Dalloway" through the eyes of a dancer. He tells me how he uses literature in his choreography, and how Woolf is a surprisingly physical artist. I also got a tour of his Woolf-filled bookshelves!

Support the Best Book Ever Podcast on Patreon

Follow the Best Book Ever Podcast on Instagram or on the Best Book Ever Website

Do you have a book you want to tell me about? Go HERE to apply to be a guest on the Best Book Ever Podcast.

Host: Julie Strauss

Website/Instagram

Guest: Stephen Pelton

Facebook/Twitter

Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2022

Discussed in this episode:

Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

Comedian David Mills, who is a mutual friend of ours, appeared on Episode 005 of the podcast, talking about Five Star Billionaire by Tash Aw

Eugene O'Neill

The Waves by Virginia Woolf

The Hours movie

The Hours by Michael Cunningham

Mrs. Dalloway map of London

The Promise by Damon Galgut

The Good Doctor by Damon Galgot

In A Strange Room by Damon Galgot

No One is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood

Discussed in the Patreon Exclusive Clip

Alan Bennett

Vaughn Williams

Johnathan Miller

The Lady in the Van by Alan Bennett

Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall

Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff

(Note: Some of the above links are affiliate links, meaning I get a few bucks off your purchase at no extra expense to you. Anytime you shop for books, you can use my affiliate link on Bookshop, which also supports Indie Bookstores around the country. If you're shopping for everything else – clothes, office supplies, gluten-free pasta, couches – you can use my affiliate link for Amazon. Thank you for helping to keep the Best Book Ever Podcast in business!)

I can't even with how much fun this guest is. Can't. Even. Margit Sperling leads food tours in Madrid! And she's hilarious! And she reads books. I'm not saying she's the coolest person alive, but I'm not not saying it.

Support the Best Book Ever Podcast on Patreon

Follow the Best Book Ever Podcast on Instagram or on the Best Book Ever Website

Do you have a book you want to tell me about? Go HERE to apply to be a guest on the Best Book Ever Podcast.

Host: Julie Strauss

Website/Instagram

Guest: Margit Sperling

Website/Instagram/Facebook

Discussed in this episode:

Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris

Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown

Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez

Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters

The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy

This American Life

Santaland Diaries (Essay read by David Sedaris on This American Life)

You can read all of David Sedaris' Christmas themed essays in his book Holidays on Ice

Calypso by David Sedaris

Commonwealth by Ann Patchett

Bel Canto by Ann Patchett

Truth and Beauty: A Friendship by Ann Patchett

The Dutch House by Ann Patchett

Discussed in our Patreon Exclusive Clip

Ruta'l Quesu y la Sidra

Stewed cockscomb

My Octopus Teacher

The Soul of an Octopus by Sy Montgomery

(Note: Some of the above links are affiliate links, meaning I get a few bucks off your purchase at no extra expense to you. Anytime you shop for books, you can use my affiliate link on Bookshop, which also supports Indie Bookstores around the country. If you're shopping for everything else – clothes, office supplies, gluten-free pasta, couches – you can use my affiliate link for Amazon. Thank you for helping to keep the Best Book Ever Podcast in business!)

I've always thought I was a voracious reader, until I met Liz Scully. Trust me – you really need to hear how much she reads, and how she does it. We also discussed the joys of an audiobook, and how they help us get through books we wouldn't have attempted on paper.

After that, Liz introduced me to a business strategy book. Even if you aren't a business person, don't miss this conversation. "Lingo" is not really about business, but about psychology – why do we buy certain things? Why do we feel comfortable in certain places? Who do we think we are when we buy things? I learned a lot about business in this book, but even more than that, I felt like I learned a lot about myself.

Also, Liz is So. Damn. Funny.

Support the Best Book Ever Podcast on Patreon

Follow the Best Book Ever Podcast on Instagram or on the Best Book Ever Website

Do you have a book you want to tell me about? Go HERE to apply to be a guest on the Best Book Ever Podcast.

Host: Julie Strauss

Website/Instagram

Guest: Liz Scully

Website/Instagram/Alter Ego's Instagram

Discussed in this episode:

Lingo: Discover Your Ideal Customer's Secret Language and Make Your Business Irresistible by Jeffrey Shaw

Aftermath: Life in the Fallout of the Third Reich, 1945-1955 by Harald Jähner

Blackwell's Bookshop in UK

Devil Wears Prada Blue Sweater Scene

Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano

Anthony Trollope

Charles Dickens

Swans Way by Marcel Proust

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (Narrated by Maggie Gyllenhaal)

The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

(Note: Some of the above links are affiliate links, meaning I get a few bucks off your purchase at no extra expense to you. Anytime you shop for books, you can use my affiliate link on Bookshop, which also supports Indie Bookstores around the country. If you're shopping for everything else – clothes, office supplies, gluten-free pasta, couches – you can use my affiliate link for Amazon. Thank you for helping to keep the Best Book Ever Podcast in business!)