Best Book Ever Podcast

Bookworms, do you ever think to yourself, “I’m so glad I get to be alive at the same time as this magical person?” That was my exact thought after I talked with Adrian Cepeda, owner of the Golden Lab Bookshop in Queens, New York. His infectious love of books and commitment to celebrating diversity and inclusivity in literature is a joy to behold. Adrian uplifts voices that aren’t always at the forefront of popular literature, so readers can connect with stories they can relate to. In today’s episode, Adrian and I grappled with how we can continue to appreciate classic literature, even if social norms have changed, and how Gabriel García Márquez didn’t invent magical realism, but perfected it. Finally, Adrian nearly gave me a heart attack when he showed me the horror book he’s currently reading.

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: Adrian Cepeda

Golden Lab Bookshop/Instagram/TikTok

 

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: I’m not doing any of my usual affiliate links this week. All of the links for this episode take you to the Golden Lab Bookshop. Thank you for supporting this indie bookstore, not just for the books we talk about on today’s episode, but for any book buying you do! Remember to show our beloved indie bookstores ALL the love this holiday season!)

 

Discussed in this episode:

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez

(If you can read Spanish, Adrian especially recommends this book in its original language.)

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz

Leaf Storm and Other Stories by Gabriel García Márquez

Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel García Márquez

A Farewell to Gabo and Mercedes: A Son’s Memoir of Gabriel García Márquez and Mercedes Barcha by Rodrigo Garcia

Nothing But Blackened Teeth by Cassandra Khaw

 

Discussed in our Patreon Segment:

Get a personalized book recommendation from the Golden Lab Bookshop

Liane Moriarty

Juliet Takes a Breath by Gabby Rivera

The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo

With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo

I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sánchez

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

My, my, my, how the turn tables.

Jaimie Morimoto is now a Romance reader, and I, for one, couldn’t be happier.

We start by discussing what it means when we dismiss an entire genre/hobby/aesthetic because it is largely by and for women. Then we cover the strange experience of cringing at our old favorite books, movies, and TV shows. And we wrap it up with the fascinating history of Monopoly. I absolutely love talking with Jaimie!

 

Support the Best Book Ever Podcast on Patreon

In this week's Patreon clip, Jaimie and I admit the truth about the authors we tell other people we have read, but have not actually read. We also talk about how easy it is to get into a habit of reading books by people who look just like us. According to Jaimie, “I was reading my own story back to myself over and over.” This clip is available exclusively to my Patreon supporters.

 

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

 

Host: Julie Strauss

Website/Instagram  

 

Guest: Jaimie Morimoto

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:

Best Book Ever Episode 024 – Jaimie Morimoto on Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Beach Read by Emily Henry

Best Book Ever Episode 014 – Jeff Adams on The Understatement of the Year by Sarina Bowen

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

Best Book Ever Episode 057 – Ellene Glenn Moore on “Bitterblue” by Kristen Cashore

Book of the Month Club

Best Book Ever Episode 043 Jami Albright on The Hating Game by Sally Thorne

The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren

Having and Being Had by Eula Biss

On Immunity: An Inoculation by Eula Biss

 

Discussed in our Patreon Segment

Damnation Spring by Ash Davidson

Tolstoy Together: 85 Days of War and Peace by Yiyun Li

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

Beloved by Toni Morrison

Homie: Poems by Danez Smith

(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 thrill it was to chat with Robin Whitten, founder and editor of AudioFile Magazine. I rely on their reviews for all of the audiobooks I check out at my library (yes! You can check out audiobooks at your library). Today, Robin and I chatted about how a narrator can bring you deeper into a story or drag you further out of it, how a good narrator can redeem an average book (and vice versa) and why the movie version of The Golden Compass didn’t work. If you have never read The Golden Compass, I highly recommend you take Robin’s advice and experience it on audio. It’s a full cast production and it is truly something special.

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: Robin Whitten

Website/Twitter/Behind the Mic with AudioFile Podcast/Audiobook Break Podcast

 

Discussed in this episode:

The Golden Compass by Phillip Pullman

His Dark Materials Series by Phillip Pullman

Call for the Dead: A George Smiley Novel by John LeCarré

 

Kate Winslet narrated audiobooks:

The Twits, The Minpins, and The Magic Finger by Roald Dahl

Matilda by Roald Dahl

You’re a Bad Man, Mr. Gum by Andy Stanton

Thérèse Raquin by Émile Zola

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

 

The Golden Compass movie

His Dark Materials television series

Other audiobooks narrated by Sean Barrett (voice of lorick Byrnison)

Neil Gaiman self-narrated audiobooks

Always by Morris Gleitzman

Always is the final book in the story of Felix, the hero of Morris Gleitzman’s Once, Then, Now, After, Soon, and Maybe

The Madness of Crowds by Louise Penny

The Murder on the Links by Agatha Christie, read by Alfred Molina and a Full Cast

The Iliad, narrated by Anton Lesser

David Copperfield by Charles Dickens

 

Discussed in our Patreon Segment

The AudioFile Magazine Golden Voices

Simon Jones

George Guidall

Gerard Doyle

Laura Lippman

Linda Emond

Robert Bathurst

Jason Culp

 

(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 had a hard time keeping my cool when I chatted with Jeremy Patlen, Director of Buying at Tattered Cover Bookstore in Denver, Colorado, one of the world’s best bookstores in one of the world’s best cities. Jeremy and I talked about the artist’s life and the cities that sustain it, the joys of opera, and a heartbreaking and beautiful memoir by Patti Smith.

 

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: Jeremy Patlen

Website/Instagram/Tattered Cover Bookstore

 

Do you know a young person who’d like to appear on the 2nd Annual Kids/YA Gift Guide Episode? GO HERE!

 

Discussed in this episode:

Just Kids by Patti Smith

(Also check out this gorgeous Illustrated Edition)

Intimacies by Katie Kitamura

Whereabouts by Jumpha Lahiri

Comfort Me With Apples by Catherynne M. Valente

Comfort Me With Apples: More Adventures at the Table by Ruth Reichl

Save Me the Plums: My Gourmet Memoir by Ruth Reichl

Robert Mapplethorpe: The Photographs

The Chelsea Hotel, Manhattan

My Accidental Visit to the Pandemic’s Party Capital (New York Times)

Woolgathering by Patti Smith

M Train by Patti Smith

Devotions by Patti Smith

My Heart is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones

Harlem Shuffle: A Novel by Colson Whitehead

Beautiful Country: A Memoir by Qian Julie Wang

The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina: A Novel by Zoraida Córdova

Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez

Fuzz by Mary Roach

Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel

The Magician by Cólm Toibín

Brooklyn by Cólm Toibín

Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney

 

Discussed in our Patreon Segment

Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen

What Happened by Hillary Rodham Clinton

Becoming by Michelle Obama

(FYI - there is also a version of this book adapted for young readers, as well as a Becoming Guided Journal for Discovering Your Voice – these would make fantastic gifts for the young readers in your life!)

A Promised Land by Barack Obama

 

(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

Mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and author of ten books, Joyce Fields joined me today to talk parenting, patience, and why she stopped reading fiction. I also got her to share her family favorite recipes. This episode is guaranteed to make you starving.

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: Joyce Fields

Website/Facebook/Twitter/Instagram/TikTok

 

Do you know a young person who’d like to appear on the 2nd Annual Kids/YA Gift Guide Episode? GO HERE!

 

Discussed in this episode:

Jump by Steve Harvey

Line of Serenity by Joyce Fields

Mother’s Dozen: An Easy Recipe for Raising Great Kids by Joyce Fields

 

(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 joined by the brainy and delightful bestselling sci-fi/fantasy author Lindsey Sparks, who got me to read a book that approximately one million people have recommended to me. Lindsey calls “A Discovery of Witches” a grown-up Twilight meets the Da Vinci Code, which I think is spot on. She also blew my mind when she explained how a good sci-fi or fantasy novel will stand on its own when all fantastical elements are pulled out of it, which in turn made me rethink what I have liked about the few books in those genres I’ve read.

One warning: we delve into the topic of miscarriage in this episode, and how it can be a trigger for many readers, and how hard it is to avoid. I’ve moved this part of our conversation to the end of the podcast, so if this is a topic you aren’t up to, you may want to tap out at about the 20 minute mark. You’ll still get the book chat, but you can skip over the part you are sensitive to.

 

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: Lindsey Sparks

Website/Facebook/Facebook Reader Group/Instagram/Podcast

 

Do you know a young person who’d like to appear on the 2nd Annual Kids/YA Gift Guide Episode? GO HERE!

 

Discussed in this episode:

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

Julie’s appearance on Lindsey’s podcast “No Shelf Control”

The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis

The Redemption of Althalus by David Eddings

Dead Witch Walking: Book One of The Hollows Series by Kim Harrison

The Heroine’s Journey: For Writers, Readers, and Fans of Pop Culture by Gail Carriger

The Hero’s Journey by Joseph Campbell

Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling

The Ending Series, co-authored by Lindsey Pogue and Lindsey Sparks

Lindsey Pogue on the Best Book Ever podcast

True Blood Television Series

Dead Until Dark: (Sookie Stackhouse Book 1) by Charlaine Harris

Guilty Pleasures: An Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter Novel (Book 1) by Laurell K. Hamilton

The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown

Virgin River by Robyn Carr

Virgin River TV Show

The Elemental Mysteries by Elizabeth Hunter

The Martian by Andy Weir

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

 

(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 met librarian Lauren Regenhardt when I participated in my local “Book Connect” program, and I was thrilled to get a chance to ask so many questions without getting shushed! The Children/YA Librarian told me about how she abandoned her first career for the library and the different types of libraries for different industries. Or, as she puts it, “Libraries in unsuspecting places.” We also talked about why she specializes in Children’s/YA books, how a book can ease anxiety and depression, and the delicious perfection of Casey McQuiston’s hilarious, sexy, and sweet romance, “Red, White & Royal Blue.”

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: Lauren Regenhardt

Podcast/Twitter/Instagram

 

Do you know a young person who’d like to appear on the 2nd Annual Kids/YA Gift Guide Episode? GO HERE!

 

Discussed in this episode:

 

The Mission Viejo Library

Red White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

The Baby Sitters Club Series by Ann M. Martin

The Baby Sitters Little Sisters Series by Ann. M. Martin

The Dog Man Series by Dav Pilkey

Lauren uses NoveList to find readalikes – check to see if your local library offers this service, and if not, you can go directly to the NoveList site to request it.

Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner

Fresh off the Boat by Eddie Huang

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

The Long Call by Ann Cleves

A Duty to the Dead by Charles Todd

The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls by Anissa Gray

The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune

One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston

The Selection Series by Kiera Cass

Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare (great news! This is part of a 3-book series!)

Damaged Like Us by Krista and Becca Ritchie (this is the first in the 10-book “Like Us” series; the books can be read in any order.)

The Failed Audition: Book 1 in A Circus is Family Series by Becca and Christy Ritchie

Libra by Don Delillo

 

Discussed in our Patreon Exclusive Clip:

 

Percy Jackson and the Olympians (Book 1 of the the Lightning Thief Series) by Rick Riordan

Rick Riordan Presents This is a series of middle grade books centering on mythology from around the world. Lauren particularly called out these two:

Sal and Gabi Break the Universe by Carlos Hernandez

Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky by Kwame Mbalia

 

(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 don’t need to like the books my guests choose – the whole point is, it’s their favorite book. Not mine. But today someone chose one of my all-time favorites, a book that I honestly think will be taught in lit classes for generations. Today I’m talking to about Brit Bennet’s “The Mothers” with Taevia Norris, the brilliant mind behind Books and Brown Sugar Co., an apparel line designed amplify Black literature. Taevia and I talked about diversifying our bookshelves, and how a good writer helps us relate to a character emotionally even if we have no exterior connection to him or her. Bonus: Taevia has the best idea for how The Mothers should be made on film.

 

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: Taevia Norris

Website/Taevia’s Instagram/Books and Brown Sugar Co Instagram

 

Do you know a young person who’d like to appear on the 2nd Annual Kids/YA Gift Guide Episode? GO HERE!

 

Discussed in this episode:

The Mothers by Brit Bennett

The Hunger Games Series by Suzanne Collins

Seven Days in June by Tia Williams

 

Discussed in our Patreon Exclusive Clip:

@diversespines on Instagram

@WellReadBlackGirl on Instagram

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

 

(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’ll never pass up a chance to talk to a bookseller! Marianne Reiner of Run for Cover Books in San Diego joined me to talk books today. We talked about the special handwritten notes she adds to the books she sells, and how a non-reading child can become a book obsessed adult if they can only find the right book. We also talked some heavy subjects, including white privilege and the books that make you confront that. Marianne considers “Just Mercy” by Bryan Stevenson to be a fundamental book, and I completely agree.

 

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: Marianne Reiner

Website/Instagram/Facebook/Twitter

 

Do you know a young person who’d like to appear on the 2nd Annual Kids/YA Gift Guide Episode? GO HERE!

 

Discussed in this episode:

Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson

Oprah’s Book Club

Reese Book Club

Read with Jenna

Target Book Club

Susie Morgenstern

The Equal Justice Initiative

Just Mercy (Adapted for Young Adults) by Bryan Stevenson

Becoming by Michelle Obama

Becoming: Adapted for Young Readers by Michelle Obama

Amnesty International

Dear Girls: Intimate Tales, Untold Secrets & Advice for Living Your Best Life by Ali Wong

Immediate Family by Ashley Nelson Levy

Learning in Public: Lessons for a Racially Divided America from My Daughter’s School by Courtney E. Martin

Howard Zinn, historian, playwright, and activist

Survivor Tree by Marcie Colleen

 

Discussed in our Patreon Exclusive Clip:

The Lager Queen of Minnesota by J. Ryan Stradal

Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J. Ryan Stradal

 

(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 hope you’re hungry, Bookworms – this episode is going to give you the munchies. Today’s guest Nikki Furrer is the author of “A Woman’s Guide to Cannabis.” She is also a cannabis lawyer, yoga teacher, and cannabis product developer. Nikki joined me today to talk about bookstores and cookbooks, learning to cook well instead of simply following a recipe, and the joys of a just little bit too much salt.

 

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: Nikki Furrer

Website/Instagram/Bend and Blaze Yoga

 

Do you know a young person who’d like to appear on the 2nd Annual Kids/YA Gift Guide Episode? GO HERE!

 

Discussed in this episode:

Salt Fat Acid Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking by Samin Nosrat

A Woman’s Guide to Cannabis: Using Marijuana to Feel Better, Look Better, Sleep Better, and Get High Like a Lady by Nikki Furrer

A Really Good Day: How Microdosing Made a Mega Difference in My Mood, My Marriage, and My Life by Ayelet Waldman

Yoga Nidra

The Colombia Publishing Course

Tana French

Gillian Flynn

Where’d You Go, Bernadette? By Maria Semple

Salt Fat Acid Heat Netflix Show

Crossroads by Jonathan Franzen

Nancy Pearl

Freedom by Jonathan Franzen

 

Alice Waters Cookbooks (they’re all brilliant)

We Are What We Eat: A Slow Food Manifesto

The Art of Simple Food: Notes, Lessons, and Recipes from a Delicious Revolution

The Art of Simple Food II: Recipes, Flavor, and Inspiration from the New Kitchen Garden

Chez Pannisse Cooking

Chez Panisse Menu Cookbook

My Pantry: Homemade Ingredients That Make Simple Meals Your Own

 

The Pat Conroy Cookbook: Recipes and Stories of My Life

The Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy

 

(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