Best Book Ever Podcast

In her podcast Word To Your Mama, Ritzy Periwinkle showcases diverse voices with common themes of non-linear career paths, normalizing mental health within marginalized communities, women in male dominated spaces, and much more. After years of working in various cubicles in the music industry, she decided to launch Ritzy Periwinkle, a moniker for personal art exhibits, and now a vehicle to provide creative direction, graphic design, illustration, strategic branding and more to a broad spectrum of clients and causes. A proud supporter of culture, justice, and diversity, she is dedicated to ensuring that her role as a strong, Latinx, female creative pays respect to those that helped to pave the way.

Bookworms, I had so much fun talking to Ritzy. Our conversation covered a wide range of topics, including representation in Children’s and YA books, and artist’s need to constantly create, the rewards of therapy, our mutual shame at not reading more Octavia Butler, and the biggest question of all: how can we convince an author to write another book in a series?

 

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: Ritzy Periwinkle

Website/Ritzy’s Instagram/Word to Your Mama Podcast/WTYMama Podcast 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:

Dealing in Dreams by Lilliam Rivera

Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume (Attention Bookworms of a Certain Age: click that link to see the modern, updated cover for this classic!)

White Teeth by Zadie Smith

The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel Van Der Kolk, M.D.

The Education of Margot Sanchez by Lilliam Rivera

The Mother of Black Hollywood: A Memoir by Jennifer Lewis

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

Parable of the Sower Octavia E. Butler

Best Book Ever Episode 008, Marion Hill on “Memory and Dream” by Charles de Lint

Octavia E. Butler Landing

Parable of the Sower movie

 

Discussed in the Patreon Exclusive Clip

Unearthed: A Jessica Cruz story by Lilliam Rivera, illustrated by Steph C.

Moses Sumney

What If… Animated Series

(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

Why is it that horror writers are the nicest people you’ll ever meet? My guest this week has some theories. Mona Kabbani is a horror fan, writer, and reviewer obsessed with psychology and the human condition. An award-winning author, she emulates the conflict of the good versus the bad and all of the in between in her work while providing an entertainingly horrifying experience. She is a Lebanese immigrant living the American dream in New York City where much of her writing is inspired. Today, Mona joined me to talk about a non-horror book (though I was horrified by most of it) called “Fight Club” by Chuck Palahniuk. We had very different readings of this book, and it was so interesting to talk about how re-reads at different stages of your life make it almost an entirely new book.

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: Mona Kabbani

Website/Instagram/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:

Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk

Fight Club Movie

Vanilla by Mona Kabbani

The Bell Chime by Mona Kabbani

Interview With the Vampire by Anne Rice

Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam

Mark Leslie Lefebvre, Horror Author

Body Art by Kristopher Triana

Leigh Bardugo

Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke by Eric LaRocca

The Living Dead by George A. Romero

Creep Show Movie (1982)

 

(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

The Kids and YA Gift Giving Guide (Episode 027) was my most popular episode last year, and it’s not hard to see why – kids are friggen awesome. Today I’m sharing something that’s usually reserved for my Patrons: the outtakes from that episode. I’m gearing up to start work on the 2021 Kid’s Episode, so if you know a young person who likes to read, stay tuned until the end of the episode to hear how they can be a guest on the Best Book Ever Podcast.

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

Listen to the First Kids/YA Gift Giving Guide Episode HERE.

These are the books the kids talked about in Episode 27:

 

Henry:

The Amazing Spiderman World of Reading This is Spiderman by Marvel Press

 

Charley:

Thea Stilton and the Land of Flowers

Thea Stilton Cloud Castle

Thea Stilton Treasure Seekers

 

Katie:

Echo Mountain by Lauren Wolk

Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls

 

Jaden:

The Pandava Series by Roshani Chokshi

Jaden’s favorite is Book 2, Arusha and the Song of Death

 

Jack:

The Warrior Cats by Erin Hunter

There are several series; Jack’s favorite is the New Prophecy Series

His favorite book in that series is  Warrior Cat: Sunset by Erin Hunter

 

Miles:

The Geronimo Stilton Books

Miles mentioned the following:

Geronimo Stilton: The Island of Dragons

Thea Stilton: The Land of Flowers

Thea Stilton and The Dragon’s Code

Geronimo Stilton: The Wizard’s Wand

Geronimo Stilton: The Kingdom of Fantasy

Dog Man Books Series by Dav Pilkey

 

Joey

Scythe by Neal Shusterman (Part of the Arc of a Scythe Series)

Dry by Neal Shusterman

Percy Jackson and the Olympians Series by Rick Riordan

Trials of Apollo Series by Rick Riordan

Generations Trilogy by Scott Sigler: Alive, Alight, Alone

Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling

The Story Thieves Series by James Riley: Story Thieves, The Stolen Chapters, Secret Origins, Pick the Plot, Worlds Apart

 

Jala

The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie (Part of the First Law Trilogy)

The Wheel of Time Series by Robert Jordan

The Wind Up Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi

 

Erin

Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane

The Mother Daughter Book Club Series by Heather Vogel Frederick (Erin’s favorite is Pies and Prejudice)

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

 

Ella

Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson

The Butchering Art: Joseph Lister’s Quest to Transform the Grisly World of Victorian Medicine by Lindsey Fitzharris

 

Aidan

Mortal Lessons: Notes on the Art of Surgery by Richard Selzer

Do No Harm: Stories of Life, Death, and Brain Surgery by Henry Marsh

Bodies in Motion and at Rest: On Metaphor and Mortality by Thomas Lynch

Smoke Gets in Your Eyes and Other Lessons from the Crematory by Caitlin Doughty

(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

Listen, we don’t judge anyone for their book habits. But I came close when I heard about Lori’s book in the bathtub habits. After I revived myself from a dead faint, we discussed the strong female leads in Urban Fantasy books. Lori told me about how she is able to make reading a priority by changing the format of consumption depending on her life stage. And we discussed the sly humor and gender bending in this sometimes hyper-masculine genre.

 

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: Lori Ryan

Website/Facebook

 

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 Warrior Chronicles Series by K.F. Breene

Chosen - #1

Hunted - #2

Shadow Lands - #3

Invasion - #4

Siege - #5

Overtaken - #6

The Sutton Billionaire Series by Lori Ryan

The Heroes of Evers Texas Series by Lori Ryan

The Sumner Brothers Series by Lori Ryan and Kay Manis

Dagger for Hire: An Urban Fantasy Serial by Lori Collier on Kindle Vella

Ilona Andrews

Faith Hunter

Jeaniene Frost

Patricia Briggs

Discussed in the Patreon Exclusive Clip

The giant cookie cutter Lori and I bought on our Target sin-spiral is no longer available, but I highly recommend you keep your eyes peeled for one, so it can gather dust in a forgotten drawer of your house, too.

Neck Fans

Oculus Quest VR Gaming Headset

Oculus Quest Bogo

Oculus VR for Good: Traveling While Black

(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've been out of the office for a while, so instead of doing a new interview this week, I wanted to share an episode from one of my favorite bookish podcasts, The Your Favorite Book podcast. If that title sounds familiar, it's because I had the host Malavika Praseed as a guest on my podcast back in episode 29, when we talked about The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers. Malavika is, quite honestly, a brilliant book critic and a thoughtful reader, not to mention a truly funny human being. Although our podcasts have a similar premise, she often takes a more critical and even academic approach to the books. I learn something new with each episode I listen to.

When Malavika invited me onto her podcast, we did a deep dive into my all time favorite, Howard’s End. I have both highly personal and critical reasons for loving it so much. And I thought you might enjoy listening to my side of the story. The E.M. Forster classic is both my comfort read and my critical favorite and is, in my opinion, the Best Book Ever.

Please enjoy this spotlight episode of the Your Favorite Book podcast, and I will be back with a new episode next week.

 

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

 

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

 

Discussed in this episode:

Howard’s End by E.M. Forster

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers

Howard’s End Movie Review/Trailer

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

On Beauty by Zadie Smith

A Passage to India by E.M. Forster

One Day by David Nicholls

The Magnificent Ambersons by Booth Tarkington

Alice Adams by Booth Tarkington

The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton

Howard’s End Miniseries

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

Pride and Prejudice 2005 (Jaimie’s favorite)

Pride and Prejudice 1995 miniseries (Julie’s favorite)

 

 

Overlapped topics on our twin podcasts:

 

Zenobia Neil on “A Song of Achilles” on Best Book Ever

Deedi Brown on “A Song of Achilles” on Your Favorite Book

Jami Albright on “The Hating Game” on Best Book Ever

Rachel Allen on “The Hating Game” on Your Favorite Book

Casey Starnes on “The Catcher in the Rye” on Best Book Ever

Kaylee Craft Mitchell on “The Catcher in the Rye” on Your Favorite Book

Daman Tiwana on “Lean In” on Best Book Ever

Damn Tiwana on “Quiet” on Your Favorite Book

Jasmine Vyas on “Laziness Does Not Exist” on Best Book Ever

Jasmine Vyas on “What We Carry” on Your Favorite Book

 

(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!)

KJfP2QP6C3zM3uEeCpad

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

Jasmine Vyas is an attorney, a privacy professional, a mother, and a serious bookworm. Which sounds like a Wonder Woman biography, doesn’t it? Interestingly, today she joined me to talk about laziness. Specifically, how toxic the “work harder” mentality can be, and how the book “Laziness Does Not Exist” changed her attitude toward work.

 

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: Jasmine Vyas

Instagram/GoodReads

 

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

 

Discussed in this episode:

Laziness Does Not Exist by Dr. Devon Price

Your Favorite Book Podcast with Malavika Praseed

The Stacks Podcast

What Should I Read Next Podcast

What We Carry: A Memoir by Maya Shanbhag Lang

Two Spies in Caracas by Moisés Naím

Slouching Toward Bethlehem: Essays by Joan Didion

Libertie by Kaitlyn Greenidge

Britt Marie Was Here by Fredrik Backman

A Man Called Ove by Frederik Backman

Beartown by Frederick Backman

Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri

 

Discussed in our Patreon Excerpt:

Romana Quimby, Age 8 by Beverly Cleary (check out this cute 8-book box set of Ramona and Beezus books!)

The Baby-Sitter’s Club by Ann M. Martin– I found a fun Retro Set and a Graphic Novel collection!

Sweet Valley Twins

Hatchet by Gary Paulson

Captain Underpants by Dav Pilkey

 

(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

Music lovers, this one’s for you! My dear friend Mark Lefebvre is back, this time to discuss a book written by the drummer of his favorite band, Rush. Neil Peart wrote “Traveling Music” as a meditation on his life, traveling with a rock and roll band, experiencing huge professional wins and terrible personal loss, and all of the music that influenced his life. Mark is a classic Rush fanboy, and it was a delight to listen to his excitement about this book, even when we disagreed about it.

 

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: Mark Lefebvre

Website/Instagram/YouTube/TikTok/Twitter/Stark Reflections Podcast

 

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

 

Discussed in this episode:

Traveling Music: The Soundtrack to My Life and Times by Neil Peart

Mark’s previous appearance on the Best Book Ever Podcast

Earth Abides by George R. Stewart

Rush

Shock Rock 2 edited by Jeff Gelb

The Masked Rider: Cycling in West Africa by Neil Peart

Ghost Rider: Travels on the Healing Road by Neil Peart

Clockwork Angels by Neil Peart and Kevin J. Anderson

Assembling California by John McPhee

Sinatra Live in Paris

Nina Simone at Town Hall

David Suzuki

Naïda by Scott Overton

The Skin We’re In: A Year of Black Resistance and Power by Desmond Cole

The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America by Thomas King

Masquerade: The Complete Series by Valerie Francis

 

 

Discussed in our Patreon Excerpt:

Terminal House by Sean Costello

Terry Fallis

Linwood Barclay

Louise Penny

Rollback by Robert J. Sawyer (I never voluntarily pick up sci-fi, but after hearing Mark’s description of this book, I immediately grabbed a copy of this one at my library!)

The Hope Sze Medical Mystery Series by Melissa Yi (an 8-book series that begins with Code Blues: When Medicine Becomes Murder)

Lightning by Dean Koontz

(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

Ellene Glenn Moore is a Philadelphia based, award-winning writer of poetry, lyric non-fiction, and critical essays. Her book How Blood Works won the 2020 Stan and Tom Wick Poetry Prize and will be published by Kent State University Press later this year. I’ve already pre-ordered my copy, because I love her careful, thoughtful way with words. Today we talked about the intersection between poetry and fantasy genres, truth and gaslighting, and how a body holds on to trauma.

 

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: Ellene Glenn Moore

Website/Instagram

 

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

 

Discussed in this episode:

How Blood Works by Ellene Glenn Moore

 

The Graceling Realm Series by Kristin Cashore:

Graceling (Book 1) (This one will be available this November as a graphic novel)

Fire (Book 2)

Bitterblue (Book 3)

Winterkeep (Book 4)

 

Shel Silverstein

Ogden Nash

A.A. Milne

Finding Baba Yaga: A Short Novel in Verse by Jane Yolen

One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston (Ellene is really enjoying this one on audio)

Upstream: Selected Essays by Mary Oliver

Libertie by Kaitlyn Greenidge

(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 so grateful that people like Chris Cochran exist – people with the giant brains for the tech world who are also committed to keeping the rest of us safe from the nefarious criminals. Lucky for us, Chris is a tech geek with a wicked book habit. I loved talking to him about “Ready Player One,” the appeal of gamer culture, and escaping into good storytelling.

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: Chris Cochran

Website/Instagram /Linkedin

 

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

 

Discussed in this episode:

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

Goosebumps books by R.L. Stine

The Art of the Impossible: A Peak Performance Primer by Steven Kotler

Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman

Rocky

The Matrix

Ready Player One movie

 

Discussed in our Patreon conversation:

Sneakers

 

(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 we’re getting real about mental well-being, and the women who make us laugh in the midst of our pain. We also touched on representation in YA and children’s literature, brutal, scary honesty, and how a person can be brave and terrified at the same time. Ashley Shannon is my own personal Jenny Lawson, is what I’m saying.

 

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: Ashely Shannon

Instagram/TikTok/Medium

 

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

 

Discussed in this episode:

Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things by Jenny Lawson

Didn’t See That Coming by Rachel Hollis

Girl, Wash Your Face by Rachel Hollis

Girl, Stop Apologizing by Rachel Hollis

Harry Potter Boxed Set by J.K. Rowling (Check out this stunning illustrated version)

Roots: The Saga of an American Family by Alex Haley

Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

David Levithan

Nina Lacour

Let’s Pretend This Never Happened: A Mostly True Memoir by Jenny Lawson

And That’s Why You Should Learn to Pick Your Battles - this is the Jenny Lawson blog post that Ashley and I talked about. Do yourself a favor and read it – it’s one of my favorite pieces of writing ever. Ever. Ever.

Unrelated to our podcast, but I think you should read anyway: this blog post Jenny Lawson wrote about her non-binary daughter.

Broken (In the Best Possible Way) by Jenny Lawson

This is Me Letting You Go by Ashley Shannon

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

 

(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