Best Book Ever Podcast

Victoria Snow is currently in her second year of grad school, working towards licensure of a marriage and family therapist. A bookstagrammer since 2019, she spends her free time reading an eclectic array of literature. She also enjoys her guilty pleasure of watching reality TV (especially any Real Housewives series). Victoria joined me to talk about the challenges of reading for pleasure while in school, and how to use Net Galley to read early release books. That’s where she found today’s book, “Hidden Valley Road,” a heart breaking true story of a mid-century family torn apart by mental illness.

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

Host: Julie Strauss

Website/Instagram

 

Guest: Victoria Snow

Instagram

 

Want to be a guest on the Best Book Ever Podcast? Go here!

 

Discussed in this episode:

Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family by Robert Kolker

Thrillers by the Book Club

Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

NetGalley

I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy

(Note: Some of the above links are affiliate links. If you shop using my affiliate link on Bookshop, a portion of your purchase will go to me, at no extra expense to you. Thank you for supporting indie bookstores and for helping to keep the Best Book Ever Podcast in business!)

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bestbookeverpodcast.substack.com

Naima Simone is a USA today bestselling romance author I’ve admired for so long, and I knew we would have a lot of laughs when we finally got to sit down and chat. We had so much fun discussing the art of a perfect sex scene, which this book is full of, and why she and I are the perfect historical romance fans (spoiler alert: it’s because neither of us are interested in looking up the accuracy of the historical details, so we pretty just go with the flow.) This book is new to me, but I absolutely fell in love with it, and I think I might agree with Naima that “Saving Grace” is the Best Book Ever.

 

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

 

Host: Julie Strauss

Website/Instagram

 

Guest: Naima Simone

Website/Instagram/Twitter/ Facebook

 

Want to be a guest on the Best Book Ever Podcast? Go here!

 

Discussed in this episode:

Saving Grace by Julie Garwood

Episode 16 – Kenya Goree Bell on “Nine Rules to Break” by Sarah MacLean

The Road to Rose Bend by Naima Simone

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl

The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

Superfudge by Judy Blume

Forever by Judy Blume

Lisa Gardner

John Saul

Nalini Singh

Christine Feehan

Sherrilyn Kenyon

Kristen Ashley

The Thornheart Trials by Sherilee Grey:

A Curse in the Darkness

A Vow of Ruin

Honor’s Splendor by Julie Garwood

Lion’s Lady by Julie Garwood

Castles by Julie Garwood

The LOTR Battle of Helm’s Deep (I totally forgot that the best line of the whole series – “I am no man!” is in this scene, as is Legolas sliding down the elephant trunk!)

Heated by Naima Simone

Black Sheep Bargain by Naima Simone

 

(Note: Some of the above links are affiliate links. If you shop using my affiliate link on Bookshop, a portion of your purchase will go to me, at no extra expense to you. Thank you for supporting indie bookstores and for helping to keep the Best Book Ever Podcast in business!)

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bestbookeverpodcast.substack.com

The only thing better than talking to Valerie Francis about writing is talking to Valerie Francis about reading. She is a writer and literary editor who thinks very deeply about story, and we had a blast talking about why Agatha Christie's classic "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd" is the Best Book Ever.

Note: this episode is spoiler-free!

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

 

Host: Julie Strauss

Website/Instagram

 

Guest: Valerie Francis

Website/Instagram/Twitter/Story Nerd Podcast/

Facebook

 

Want to be a guest on the Best Book Ever Podcast? Go here!

 

Discussed in this episode:

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Listen to Valerie talk about Gone Girl on the Story Grid Editor Roundtable Podcast (this is episode one of a seven-part deep dive)

The Inspector Rebus Novels by Ian Rankin (Note: there are 22 Inspector Rebus books, but they don’t have to be read in order)

Knives Out

Listen to Valerie talk about Knives Out on the Story Nerd Podcast

Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

Angela’s Ashes: A Memoir by Frank McCourt

The Maid by Nita Prose

(Note: Some of the above links are affiliate links. If you shop using my affiliate link on Bookshop, a portion of your purchase will go to me, at no extra expense to you. Thank you for supporting indie bookstores and for helping to keep the Best Book Ever Podcast in business!)

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bestbookeverpodcast.substack.com

Whenever someone new to my podcast asks me where they should start, I recommend this episode. It’s one of my all-time favorite conversations with one of my all-time favorite people. Since I’m on vacation this week, I thought it was time to reach back into the archive and replay this episode, in the hopes that you will pick up this lovely book.

The only reason I agreed to read another pandemic book was because I totally trust my friend Lisa Marie Cabrelli, who is a writer, academic, and adventurer. She told me I would love it, and she wasn’t wrong. Holy moly. There was so much to talk about.

BTW – you cannot talk about this book without talking about the end. Lisa-Marie and I had totally different interpretations. But I also don’t want to spoil the end for you. So I moved that part of the conversation to the very end, and added a warning so you know when to hit the pause button if you don’t want to hear that part.

 

Support the Best Book Ever Podcast on Patreon

 

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

 

Host: Julie Strauss

Website/Instagram/Facebook

 

Guest: Lisa Marie Cabrelli

Website/Instagram/Twitter

 

Want to be a guest on the Best Book Ever Podcast? Go here!

 

Discussed in this episode:

Severance by Ling Ma

The Stand by Stephen King

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

The Witch Elm by Tana French

(Note: Some of the above links are affiliate links. If you shop using my affiliate link on Bookshop, a portion of your purchase will go to me, at no extra expense to you. Thank you for supporting indie bookstores and for helping to keep the Best Book Ever Podcast in business!)

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bestbookeverpodcast.substack.com

It is so much fun for me when a guest takes me up on the offer to return to the show when they have a new book to talk to me about. Jasmine Vyas is one of my all-time favorite guests, an avid reader with incredible taste. Jasmine primarily focuses on books by underrepresented authors, and she posts reviews books under the handle @bookblanketfort on Instagram, GoodReads, and Storygraph. During the day she works as an attorney and privacy professional and is a mother of three school aged children. Today she joined me to talk about the searing memoir, “Tastes Like War” by Grace M. Cho.

 

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: Jasmine Vyas

Instagram/Goodreads

 

Discussed in this episode:

 

Tastes Like War: A Memoir by Grace M. Cho

Crying in H Mart: A Memoir by Michelle Zauner

The Collected Schizophrenias: Essays by Esmé Weijun Wang

Ratatouille – Anton Ego eats ratatouille

Best Book Ever Episode with the Three Kitchens Podcast

Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family by Robert Kolker

Haunting the Korean Diaspora: Shame, Secrecy, and the Forgotten War by Grace M. Cho

What My Bones Know: A Memoir of Healing from Complex Trauma by Stephanie Foo

Jasmine’s first appearance on Best Book Ever Podcast – Episode 059

Set Boundaries, Find Peace: A Guide to Reclaiming Yourself by Nedra Glover Tawwab

Ten Steps to Nanette: A Memoir Situation by Hannah Gadsby

 

(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!)

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bestbookeverpodcast.substack.com

Guests and listeners recommend new books to me every week, and I always intend to read them. But since I only have 24 hours a day, it’s tough to get to all of them. This week’s guest is someone I frequently bump into at my local library, and so she had more opportunities than most to remind me to read her favorite. Ultimately, I cut a deal with her: I’ll read the YA Fantasy book you want me to read, but only if you come on back on the show.

Lauren Regenhardt is the Senior Children's Librarian at the Mission Viejo Library in Southern California. She loves young adult fiction but forces herself to read adult nonfiction and fiction when required. She also enjoys videogames, watching ghost hunting shows, sloths, Marvel, and guinea pigs. She's a strong advocate for mental health services and LGBT Rights, and she loves the challenge of getting young adults and Millennials into their local library.

 

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: Lauren Regenhardt

Instagram/Twitter/Gamers Read Podcast

 

Discussed in this episode:

Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare

Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy: The Story of Little Women and Why it Still Matters by Anne Boyd Rioux

Lauren’s first appearance on the Best Book Ever Podcast, Episode 068

Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

The Mortal Instruments Series by Cassandra Clare

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

Atomic Habits by James Clear

When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill

 

(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!)

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bestbookeverpodcast.substack.com

For today’s episode I got to sit down with Chelsea Hoffman and Yolanda Skeete, founders of Thrillers by the Book Club. I can tell you from personal experience that both of these women are sweet and kind in real life, but they have an affinity for, as Chelsea calls it, murder-y books. They found each other online and formed a book club, which has morphed into a real-life book group with 27 chapters around the world. I asked them to join me for a Thriller-Palooza, because I wanted the lowdown on the best of the best in the world of thrillers, and holy moly, did these ladies ever deliver.

 

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  

 

Chelsea Hoffman Instagram

 

Yolanda Skeete Instagram

 

Thrillers by the Book Club Instagram

 

Thrillers by the Bookclub Pod

 

Discussed in this episode:

Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling

Ivy + Bean by Annie Barrows and Sophie Blackall

Dork Diaries by Rachel Ren Russell

The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner

Nancy Drew by Carolyn Keene

The Hardy Boys by Franklin W. Dixon

Verity by Colleen Hoover

Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak

The Push by Ashley Audrain

His and Hers by Alice Feeney

Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

The Maidens by Alex Michaelides

This Might Hurt by Stephanie Wrobel

The House Across the Lake by Riley Sager

Midwinter Murder by Agatha Christie

Rock Paper Scissors by Alice Feeney

Sometimes I Lie by Alice Feeney

Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney

In My Dreams I Hold a Knife by Ashley Winstead

The Last Housewife by Ashley Winstead

The Mary Shelley Club by Goldy Moldavsky

I Know Everything by Matthew Farrell

Find Me by Anne Frasier

Nothing Important Happened Today by Will Carver

Who is Maud Dixon? by Alexandra Andrews

The Chain by Adrian McKinty

The Island by Adrian McKinty

The Damage by Caitlin Wahrer

Blood Will Tell by Heather Chavez

No Bad Deed by Heather Chavez

Secluded Cabin Sleeps Six by Lisa Unger (releases Nov 8, 2022)

Last Girl Ghosted by Lisa Unger

The It Girl by Ruth Ware

Run Time by Catherine Ryan Howard

The Nothing Man by Catherine Ryan Howard

My Heart is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones

Don’t Fear the Reaper by Stephen Graham Jones (sequel to “My Heart is a Chainsaw;” releases Feb 7, 2023)

Just the Nicest Couple by Mary Kubica (releases Jan. 10, 2023)

The Return by Rachel Harrison

Such Sharp Teeth by Rachel Harrison (releases Oct 4, 2022)

How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix (releases Jan. 17, 2023)

The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix

Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix

The Maid by Nita Prose

Frightmares by Eva V. Gibson

The Counselors by Jessica Goodman

A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson

(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!)

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bestbookeverpodcast.substack.com

Maci Nelson is a landscape designer, educator, and podcaster. She launched the Landscape Nerd Podcast in 2020, and has collaborated with leaders in landscape architecture, ecology, and art. She is also an avid reader, and she joined me today to talk about “Howl’s Moving Castle,” a book she loves because the landscapes in the animated movie deeply inspired her.

 

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: Maci Nelson

Website/Instagram/Podcast

 

Discussed in this episode:

Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

Howl’s Moving Castle Film Comic by Hayao Miyazaki (this is the graphic novel based on the art of the 2004 animated film from Studio Ghibli)

There is also this beautiful companion book of the sketches and concept art from the movie: The Art of Howl’s Moving Castle

Howl’s Moving Castle Movie

Spirited Away Movie

Castle in the Air by Diana Wynne Jones

House of Many Ways by Diana Wynne Jones

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum

The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd

The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes

Best Book Ever Episode 098 – Sivan Hong on “The Sense of an Ending” by Julian Barnes

(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!)

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bestbookeverpodcast.substack.com

Becca Syme is a Gallup-Certified Strengths Coach and holds a Master’s degree in Transformational Leadership. She is the host of the Quitcast for Writers and the teacher of the popular Write Better-Faster class. Becca has coached 5000+ authors using success alignment and predictive reasoning to help authors write and market better-faster. She lives in the mountains of Montana where it is always winter and never Christmas. Becca joined me to today to talk about Jennifer Crusie’s hilarious rom-com “Bet Me,” and given that we both have a tendency to think hard about the bigger picture, we got serious very fast. We discussed why representation matters so much, what happens to our lives when our inner perception is wrong, how curvy girl romances have gotten so much more nuanced over the years, and, of course, the best way to make chicken marsala.

 

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: Becca Syme

Website/Facebook/Twitter/Instagram/Patreon/YouTube

 

Discussed in this episode:

Bet Me by Jennifer Crusie

 

Writer books by Becca Syme:

Dear Writer, Are You in Burnout?

Dear Writer, You’re Doing It Wrong

Dear Writer, You’re Doing It Right

Dear Writer, You Need to Quit

Dear Writer, Are You Intuitive?

 

Lucy Foley

Clifton Strengths Finder

Enneagram

Jennifer Weiner

Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty

What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty

Penance on the Prairies by R.L. Syme

 

(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!)

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bestbookeverpodcast.substack.com

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bestbookeverpodcast.substack.com