Best Book Ever Podcast

Chris Angel Murphy (they/them) is a queer, trans, and nonbinary LGBTQ+ educator and consultant living in Denver, CO, but is originally from Los Angeles, CA. They have a background in social work and LGBTQ+ community organizing. Chris Angel started LGBTQ+ community organizing as a freshman in high school back in 2001 and has been speaking and presenting on various topics ever since. They also have their own podcast, Allyship is a Verb, in which they interview LGBTQ+ community members from various lived experiences and backgrounds. In addition to all that, Chris Angel is just a great conversationalist, fearless when it comes to tackling difficult subjects with love and compassion. I loved this conversation with them, and fell wildly in love with their Best Book Ever, “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” by Stephen Chbosky. WHAT a book!

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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: Chris Angel Murphy

Instagram /Podcast/Etsy Store/Website/Gumroad

 

Discussed in this episode:

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

The Animorphs series

The Goosebumps series by R.L. Stine

Go Ask Alice by Anonymous

Over the Top: A Raw Journey to Self Love by Jonathan Van Ness (Julie’s note: JVN narrates the audiobook version of this book; if you aren’t in love with them yet, you for sure will be after you listen to it!)

The Perks of Being a Wallflower movie

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Sissy: A Coming of Gender Story by Jacob Tobia

 

 

Discussed in our Patreon Exclusive clip

PFLAG

Raising LGBTQ Allies: A Parents’ Guide to Changing the Messages from the Playground by Chris Tompkins

 

(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

It’s always a delight to talk to one of the readers I admire most: returning guest of the show Marion Hill. Today, Marion joined me to talk about the sci-fi classic “Parable of the Sower,” and we had a great discussion about repeated readings, what makes a book sci-fi, and how Octavia Butler transcends any genre.

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: Marion Hill

Instagram/Website

 

Discussed in this episode:

The Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler

(After we recorded this episode, I spotted this haunting graphic novel version of the book)

The Autobiography of Malcolm X as told to Alex Haley

Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson

The Fifth Season by NK Jemison

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. LeGuin

The Dispossessed by Ursula K. LeGuin

Kindred by Octavia Butler

Parable of the Talents by Octavia Butler

Artpace Gallery, San Antonio, Texas

Wild Seed by Octavia Butler (Listen to Marti Dumas tell me about Wild Seed on Episode 030)

The Little Country by Charles de Lint

Memory and Dream by Charles de Lint (Listen to Marion’s tell me about this book on Episode 008)

Winter’s Tale by Mark Helprin

The Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

 

Discussed in our Patreon Exclusive clip

All the Seas of the World by Guy Gavriel Kay

The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead

Sag Harbor by Colson Whitehead

 

(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

Today I'm talking to Jasmin Darznik, the New York Times bestselling author of The Bohemians, a novel that imagines the friendship between photographer Dorothea Lange and her Chinese American assistant in 1920s, San Francisco. Her debut novel, Song of a Captive Bird was a New York Times Book Review editor’s choice book, and a Los Angeles Times best seller. She's also the author of The Good Daughter: A Memoir of My Mother's Hidden Life. Her writing has appeared in New York times, Washington Post and Los Angeles Times. I had the best time talking with Jasmin about writing historical fiction, the creative life, and why Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters is the Best Book Ever.

 

 

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  

 

Guest: Jasmin Darznik

Instagram/Facebook/Website

 

Note: Most of the book links this week lead to Jasmin’s favorite bookstore, the Book Passage in Corte Madeira. Please shop indies whenever you buy books!!

 

Discussed in this episode:

The Bohemians by Jasmin Darznik

Song of a Captive Bird by Jasmin Darznik

The Good Daughter: A Memoir of My Mother’s Hidden Life by Jasmin Darznik

Migrant Mother by Dorothea Lange

Dorothea Lange: A Life Beyond Limits by Linda Gordon

Montgomery Block, San Francisco

Mary Karr

Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters

Book Passage in Corte Madeira

The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters

Fingersmith by Sarah Waters

The Oakland Museum – The Dorothea Lange Archive

The Plot by Jean Hanff Korleitz

The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith

Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead

 

Discussed in our Patreon Exclusive clip

Fierce Attachments: A Memoir by Vivan Gornick

Men We Reaped: A Memoir by Jesmyn Ward

The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts by Maxine Hong Kingston

 

 

 

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.

 

(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

Erica Appelros is a Doctor in Theology and Associate Professor in Philosophy of Religion with more than 20 years of experience as a teacher, coach and speaker, works as an associate professor in philosophy of religion at Lund University, Sweden. She is also a published author in Swedish and in English, and she is dedicated to creating courses, books and workshops to empower people to advance in their growth towards more clarity, knowledge and self-knowledge to live a life with a deeper purpose. She is a lifelong learner and reader, and her university training includes Philosophy, Theology, Mathematics, Biology, Linguistics, Religious Studies, and Horticulture. She is also a certified dance leader in Liberating dance and Sacred dance, a raving reader, a lively language learner and loves playing with clay. I could have talked to her about her background all day, but we also talked about her favorite book – a Swedish classic I’d never heard of, called “The Emigrants,” by Vilhelm Moberg.

 

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  

 

Guest: Erica Appelros

Website/Twitter

 

Discussed in this episode:

The Emigrants by Vilhelm Moberg

Unto a Good Land by Vilhelm Moberg

The Settlers by Vilhelm Moberg

The Last Letter Home by Vilhelm Moberg (Gah! The title alone brings tears to my eyes.)

Bookstore Funchal – Livraria Esperança (do yourself a favor and look up photos of this bookstore. We’re moving to Madeira, right? I feel like we have to move to Madeira.)

The Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

1984 by George Orwell

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis

The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers

Ten Lessons for A Post-Pandemic World by Fareed Zakaria

Here’s a clip of Liv Ullman talking about the goodbye scene in the 1973 Emigrants movie

And here’s a clip for a remake of the movie, coming in March 2022

Karl Oskar and Kristina monument in Karlshamn, Sweden

There is a matching one in Lindstrom, Minnesota!

 

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.

 

(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

I’m kicking off the New Year with a solo episode – a list of my favorite reads of 2020.

 

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  

 

 

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.

 

Discussed in this episode:

 

Romance

Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert

I love this one on audio, thanks to the incredible voice work of Adjoa Andoh (voice actor for series)

A Rogue by Any Other Name by Sarah MacLean

(I mistakenly called this “A Scandal by Any Other Name” in the podcast; forgive my error. It’s part of Sarah MacLean’s The First Rule of Scoundrels series, and I should know better than to try to record a podcast while sick!)

 

Thriller/Mystery

The Witch Elm by Tana French

Louise Penny’s Inspector Gamache Series

 

Memoir

Crying in H Mart: A Memoir by Michelle Zauner

Beautiful Country by Qian Julie Wang

 

Graphic Novels

In Waves by AJ Dungo

 

Historical Fiction

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

The Iliad of Homer

The Rose Code by Kate Quinn

 

Fiction

The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai

Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam

Severance by Ling Ma

Joanna Balfour on “The Body Papers: A Memoir” by Grace Talusan, Best Book Ever Episode 051

Bel Canto Books, Long Beach, California – ships all over the world, support indie bookstores!

Zenobia Neil on “The Song of Achilles” by Madeline Miller, Best Book Ever Episode 035

Lisa Marie Cabrelli on “Severance” by Ling Ma, Best Book Ever Episode 050

 

(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

Malavika Praseed is the host of the Your Favorite Book Podcast, a show with a similar theme as the Best Book Ever, but with a different format and philosophy. She’s been my guest here a couple of times, and I love talking books with her. Today, we got together to talk about what it’s like to ask people about their favorite books. What episodes are our most popular? Which ones are our personal favorites? What genres are we missing? Do we have an unpopular book opinions? Hosting these podcasts have changed both of our reading lives, in mostly (but not exclusively) positive ways, and I had so much fun digging in to the good, the bad, and the ugly of bookish podcasting with her.

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  

 

Guest: Malavika Praseed

Podcast/Instagram/Twitter/Chicago Review of Books

 

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.

 

Discussed in this episode:

Deerskin by Robin McKinley

The Golden Compass by Phillip Pullman

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

Debra Dean

Best Book Ever Episode 26 with Debra Dean

The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro

Best Book Ever Episode 007 with H. Claire Taylor

The Princess Bride by William Goldman

Your Favorite Book Podcast with Brandon Taylor

Persuasion by Jane Austen

Real Life by Brandon Taylor

Filthy Animals by Brandon Taylor

Your Favorite Book Podcast with Malavika’s Mom

(Also, don’t miss Malavika’s episode with her Dad, which is also an absolute delight. I do so love a bookish family!)

Your Favorite Book Podcast with sportswriter Jeff Pearlman

Best Book Ever Episode 071 with Jeremy Patlen

Just Kids by Patti Smith

Barack Obama’s Summer Reading Lists

Liane Moriarty

Your Favorite Book Podcast with Shruthi Swamy

The Archer by Shruthi Swamy

Always Coming Home by Ursula K. Le Guin

Best Book Ever Episode 063 with Mona Kabbani

Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk

The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan

The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

Your Favorite Book Episode with Kota Connell-Ledwon

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

Your Favorite Book Episode with Maxwell Dunn

Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

Best Book Ever Episode 047 with Aime Austin

What Came Before He Shot Her by Elizabeth George

Howard’s End by E.M. Forster

Three Pines Mysteries by Louise Penny

My Cousin Vinny

Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums of All Time

Rumors Fleetwood Mac

Black Panther

Elvis Costello The Best Of The First 10 Years

My Autobiography of Carson McCullers: A Memoir by Jenn Shapland

Best Book Ever Episode 029 Malavika Praseed

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers

All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley’s Sack, a Black Family Keepsake by Tiya Miles

(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

Ambria Waller has one of my favorite Bookstagram and BookTube accounts – she’s funny, insightful, and always gives me great reading ideas. Today, she joined me to talk about “An American Marriage” by Tayari Jones, an extremely popular book with some extremely unpopular characters. It was so much fun to re-read this modern classic and re-examine it with Ambria.

 

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  

 

Guest: Ambria Waller

Instagram/YouTube

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.

 

Discussed in this episode:

An American Marriage by Tayari Jones

The Rules of Survival by Nancy Werlin

The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory

Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert

Take a Hint, Dani Brown by Talia Hibbert

Act Your Age, Eve Brown by Talia Hibbert

His Only Wife by Peace Adzo Medie

The Street by Ann Petry

The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw

The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

A Song Below Water by Bethany C. Morrow

A Chorus Rises by Bethany C. Morrow

 

(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

It’s time for my favorite episode of the year – the Kids/YA gift Giving Guide! I invited a bunch of kids to tell me about their favorite books, and once again these kids are funny, thoughtful, wise, smart, and so interesting. If you have young people to buy for this holiday season, this episode will give you lots of great ideas. If you don’t have young people to buy for, you will still get some wonderful reading suggestions. I’m telling you – kid lit and YA lit is the most innovative writing out there.

 

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

 

Host: Julie Strauss

Website/Instagram  

 

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.

 

Discussed in this episode:

Hope, Age 7

Christmas in Camelot by Mary Pope Osborne

Buffalo Before Breakfast by Mary Pope Osborne

These books are part of The Magic Treehouse Series by Mary Pope Osborne

 

McKenzie, Age 7

Haunted Castle on Hallows Eve by Mary Pope Osborne

Revolutionary War on Wednesday by Mary Pope Osborne

Vacation Under the Volcano by Mary Pope Osborne

Earthquake in the Early Morning by Mary Pope Osborne

Monday with a Mad Genius by Mary Pope Osborne

 

The Supernatural Bear, Age 9

(SNB is a regular guest on the Word to Your Mama Podcast, so if you enjoyed hearing me talk to him, definitely check him out over there!)

The Gideon Trilogy by Linda Buckley-Archer

Book 1: The Time Travelers

Book 2: The Time Thief

Book 3: The Time Quake

 

Rohan, Age 11

The Adventures of Rabbi Harvey: Graphic Novels of Jewish Wisdom and Wit in the Wild West by Steve Sheinkin

Rabbi Harvey Rides Again by Steve Sheinkin

Rabbi Harvey vs. the Wisdom Kid: A Graphic Novel of Dueling Jewish Folktales in the Wild West by Steve Sheinkin

 

Kate, Age 11

Alone by Megan E. Freeman

 

Jack, Age 13

The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton

The Outsiders Movie

The Sun Trail (Warrior Cats Book) by Erin Hunter

(Jack talked to me about the Warrior Cats books in last year’s Kids/YA Episode. If you are looking for an expansive book universe, you can’t beat this series.)

 

Joey, Age 14

The Generations Trilogy by Scott Sigler:

Book 1: Alive

Book 2: Alight

Book 3: Alone

The Maze Runner by James Dashner

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Trials of Apollo by Rick Riordan

Game Changer by Neal Shusterman

Divergent by Veronica Roth

 

Erin, Age 18

Life in a Fishbowl by Len Vlahos

(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

Lya Badgley has led a fascinating life, and talking to her about the role books have played in her life was a fantastic conversation. She introduced me to the atmospheric thrillers of Lawrence Osborne, who we’ll be hearing a lot more from in the near future – all of his books have been optioned for movies. Lya and I also discussed writers who communicate an immersive sense of place, her life as a rock star, and how she hung on to her humanity while documenting some of the worst atrocities humans have ever committed.

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  

 

Guest: Lya Badgely

Website/Instagram/Facebook

 

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.

 

Discussed in this episode:

Hunters in the Dark by Lawrence Osborne

The Foreigner’s Confession by Lya Badgely (releases Feb 1, 2022; available for pre-order now)

From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg (Has anyone else noticed how often my guests refer to this book? It’s one of my all-time favorites, too!)

The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith

The Wet and the Dry: A Drinker’s Journey by Lawrence Osborne

In the Shadow of the Banyan: A Novel by Vaddey Ratner

The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris

 

Discussed in the Patreon Exclusive Clip

Cambodian Amok

The Cambodian Community in Long Beach, California

(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

What a delight to chat with world traveler and book lover Carol Yee about her favorite book. “The World Unseen” is a slim love story that manages to touch on racial, sexual, and political tensions, while somehow manages to also be a compelling love story. We also discuss how travel and reading are similar, and the rules of Turkish coffee.

One note about our conversation: Carol and I use the word “colored” a lot in the context of the book, which is the correct terminology for the time and place this book is set. When Carol and I talk about this term, we are, in fact, discussing the ridiculousness of these complex and nonsensical forms of racist distinctions. We talk about the traditions of a culture we are unfamiliar with, and grapple with the social implications of such distinctions, and, as always, marvel at the way fiction can bring us to the truths of the lives of other people.

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  

 

Guest: Carol Yee

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.

 

Discussed in this episode:

The World Unseen by Shamim Sarif

Welcome Back to Abuja Once Again: How I Became a Citizen of the World by Carol J. Yee

Georgetown University Book Creators Program

The World Unseen (Movie)

I Can’t Think Straight (Movie)

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

I Can’t Think Straight by Shamim Sarif

Despite the Falling Snow by Shamim Sarif

The Athena Protocol by Shamim Sarif

The Shadow Mission by Shamim Sarif

All Four Stars by Tara Dairman

Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White

From The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg

The Many Meanings of Meilan by Andrea Wang

(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