On this special bonus episode of Blind Date With a Book, we sit down with Meghan Phillips to discuss our favorite boarding school novels. Meghan is the author of the upcoming flash fiction chapbook Abstinence Only. Titles mentioned include:

Bonus picks

On this episode, we're setting up Sterling Melcher. Sterling is an multidisciplinary artist who lives in Philly. His work investigates the connections between performance, absurd philosophy, hard sciences, and the political landscape. He also manages a restaurant, so his weekends and nights are usually busy. Sterling’s favorite season is fall, for its mood lighting and perfect wardrobe options, and his dream vacation would be backpacking in Scandinavia, then skipping over to St. Petersburg before flying back to the US. He’s a self proclaimed movie snob, especially in that he believes movies should be experienced in a theater with others, and his perfect double feature is watching the slasher film Mandy, starring Nicholas Cage, leading into the 2019 film version of Cats.

The picks

Open Me by Lisa Locasio

The Seventh Mansion by Maryse Meijer

Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell

The Architecture of Happiness by Alain de Botton

Stay and Fight by Madeline Ffitch

An Olive Grove in Ends by Moses McKenzie

Where to find us:

Find our show online at blinddatewithabookpod.com and @bookmeetcute on Twitter and Instagram. Please follow and tell us all the books you've fallen in love with recently.

Today, we're setting up Nicole Brinkley, Bookseller and Manager at Oblong Books in Rhinebeck, NY (and host of the Misshelved podcast). Nicole read and recently loved Year of the Witching and A Spindle Splintered, and she’s Oblong’s resident specialist for kids and SciFi Fantasy books. She loves autumn, and is impressed by other people’s generosity with their friends. She could give an on-the-spot TED talk about why frontline booksellers should make more money (we agree), or how Slenderman has big arms for big hugs. She’s looking to expand her reading list outside of her usual genres, and we’re more than happy to help.

The picks

Shop from the Lit.Bar

Neon Gods by Katee Robert

My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me: Forty New Fairy Tales

Well Matched by Jen DeLuca

The Inheritance of Orquidea Divina by Zoraida Cordova

White Is for Witching by Helen Oyeyemi

Kill the Farm Boy by Delilah S. Dawson and Kevin Hearne

Where to find us:

Find our show online at blinddatewithabookpod.com and @bookmeetcute on Twitter and Instagram. Please follow and tell us all the books you've fallen in love with recently.

This episode, we're setting up Chelsey Hill, chorus manager and New York City-based illustrator. Chelsey’s work is often inspired by eccentric New Yorkers, as well as legendary musicians and performers. Her work has been featured as part of the LinkNYC Urban Haiku program, the Women Conductor’s Series, and clients include the Met Opera Chorus, Broadway Roulette and more. She recently read and loved Fun Home by Alison Bechdel and Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert, and she’s a total fan of sweater weather and awesome coats. She adores iced coffee, doesn’t believe in horoscopes, and wouldn’t consider herself a romantic. Her dream vacation would be to Scotland, and she loved Somebody Somewhere on HBO’s nice nod to Midwestern life.

The picks

Unlikely Animals by Annie Hartnett

Pop Song by Larissa Pham

Anatomy: A Love Story by Dana Schwartz

The Final Revival of Opal and Nev by Dawnie Walton

This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straub

Bel Canto by Ann Patchett

Where to find us:

Find our show online at blinddatewithabookpod.com and @bookmeetcute on Twitter and Instagram. Please follow and tell us all the books you've fallen in love with recently.

Rachel chats with Emi Nietfeld, author of the debut memoir, ACCEPTANCE. ACCEPTANCE comes out on August 2, 2022, and follows Emi during her young adulthood, through the foster care system, mental health facilities, residence at an arts high school, temporary homelessness, and more on her way to college and beyond. Emi talks about the process of writing a memoir, plus recommendations for books she's loved recently.

Find Emi on Twitter, Instagram, or subscribe to her newsletter.

The Books We Talked About:

Acceptance by Emi Nietfeld

Blueprint your Bestseller by Stuart Horwitz

Notes on a Silencing by Lacy Crawford 

NSFW by Isabel Kaplan 

Post Traumatic by Chantal B Johnson 

Counterfeit by Kirsten Chen 

Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson (audiobook) 

Sirens and Muses by Antonia Angress

On this week's show, we're setting up Bria Schirripa. Bria is a product manager by day and a writer and creator by night. She documents the latest happenings in New York’s charming West Village neighborhood on her page, the Bleecker Street Beat. Naturally, her dream Saturday consists of a walk in the neighborhood, in addition to drinking an overpriced latte and hoping for a Timothee Chalamet sighting. 

Bria is an avid reader, and recently loved the novels The Boys Club by Erica Katz, Who is Maud Dixon by Alexandra Andrews, and Greenwich Park by Katherine Faulkner, but generally doesn’t love fantasy novels. A self-proclaimed snob about pasta, her dream vacation would be in Florence. She thinks she would have thrived in the late ‘70s and ‘80s thanks to big hair and disco.

The guest: Bria Schirripa

The picks:

Happy Hour by Marlowe Granados

Velvet Was the Night by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Beauty Queens by Libba Bray

Save Me the Plums by Ruth Reichl

Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter

Malibu Rising by Taylor Reid Jenkins

Where to find us:

Find our show online at blinddatewithabookpod.com and @bookmeetcute on Twitter and Instagram. Please follow and tell us all the books you've fallen in love with recently.

On this week's show, we're setting up John-Paul Gurnett, a multidisciplinary artist. JP is the co-founder of Queer Nite and serves as communications director for BFF Omaha, both now long-running queer institutions in Nebraska. When not building community through arts engagement, he taught English as a Second Language in a high school. 

JP recently read and loved A History of My Brief Body by Billy-Ray Belcourt and Go Home, Ricky! by Gene Kwak, but sometimes struggles with reading fiction since he often reads with a priority to learn. He absolutely believes in astrology, and is a aries sun, sag moon, and gemini rising. He can be a snob about music and art, and he recently adored Yellowjackets.

The guest: JP Gurnett

The picks:

Head over to Montana 

Fake Like Me by Barbara Bourland

Mouth to Mouth by Antoine Wilson

Ace of Spades by Faridah Abike-Iyimide

Known and Strange Things by Teju Cole

Some of My Best Friends: Essays on Lip Service by Tajja Isen

Bath Haus by PJ Vernon

Where to find us:

Find our show online at blinddatewithabookpod.com and @bookmeetcute on Twitter and Instagram. Please follow and tell us all the books you've fallen in love with recently.

On this week's show, we're setting up Shalita Grant, actress and founder of the company Four Naturals Hair. Shalita is a Tony-award nominated actress whose career on the stage has included runs at The Public Theater and Lincoln Center Theater, including originating the role of Cassandra in Christopher Durang's comedy Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike. Grant is well known for her recurring character on NCIS: New Orleans, Search Party, the Santa Clarita Diet, and the most recent season of YOU.

She recently read and loved Octavia Butler’s  Bloodchild and other short stories and Brene Brown’s Power of Vulnerability, and says that she loves fall (especially because of the cozy socks) and could spend a whole autumn season in Barcelona. Her perfect day includes a hike with her girlfriend and a cuddle with her dogs, and she’s a snob about pizza.

The guest: Shalita Grant

The picks:

In the Shadow of the Mountain by Silvia Vasquez-Lavado

The Verifiers by Jane Pek

Trust Exercise by Susan Choi

The Gilda Stories by Jewelle Gomez

We Are Never Meeting in Real Life by Samantha Irby

How to Find a Princess by Alyssa Cole

Where to find us:

Find our show online at blinddatewithabookpod.com and @bookmeetcute on Twitter and Instagram. Please follow and tell us all the books you've fallen in love with recently.

Today, we're setting up Celia Aniskovich, New York City-based director and producer, well known for her co-production of How to Fix a Drug Scandal and her production of Surviving Jefferey Epstein. In 2021, she released a six-part podcast series for Wondery called the Spy Affair about Maria Butina and is working on a feature length film about disability rights. She recently read and loved How to Stop Time by Matt Haig and A Lesson Before Dying by Earnest Gaines. She considers herself a romantic, and her dream Saturday is a loungey morning with pastries and a long walk. If tattoos only lasted one year, she’d get the line “Do it for the Fat Lady” from her favorite book, Franny and Zooey, though she says she doesn’t love classics. She thinks everyone should watch One Tree Hill and she is a snob about snobby people.

The Guest: Celia Aniskovitch

The Picks

Plain Bad Heroines by emily m danforth

End of the World House by Adrienne Celt

Several People Are Typing by Calvin Kasulke

When We Lost Our Heads by Heather O’Neill

Olga Dies Dreaming by Xochitl Gonzalez

Go Home, Ricky by Gene Kwak

Where to find us:

Find our show online at blinddatewithabookpod.com and @bookmeetcute on Twitter and Instagram. Please follow and tell us all the books you've fallen in love with recently.

Today, we're setting up Molly Armstrong, a social justice analyst who focuses on child welfare issues. She has received the prestigious Kathryn A McDonald Award in Service in the NYC Family Court and was a Root-Tilden Scholar at NYU School of Law. She enjoys relaxing with a long walk, good book, and a delicious meal– but you probably won’t watch her enjoying reality TV, which she thinks is too cringey. She recently loved Michael Lewis’s The Premonition and Louise Penny’s All the Devils are Here. Her favorite season is fall, and if tattoos only lasted one year, she would get a tattoo of Our Lady of Guadalupe because of Our Lady’s strong feminine energy.

The Guest: Molly Armstrong

The Picks: 

Judas by Astrid Holleeder

When I'm Gone, Look for Me in the East by Quan Barry

The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russel

Matrix by Lauren Groff

Lady in the Lake by Laura Lippman

Saints for All Occasions by J. Courtney Sullivan

Where to find us:

Find our show online at blinddatewithabookpod.com and @bookmeetcute on Twitter and Instagram. Please follow and tell us all the books you've fallen in love with recently.