Mari, Jessica, and Cheryl discuss books on travel, messy times, and a few scary reads as autumn begins.

 

Cheryl’s Books: 

The Living Mountain by Nan Shepherd

The Waters:  A Novel by Bonnie Jo Campbell

The Waters book trailer

Catalina:  A Novel by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio

The Third Gilmore Girl: A Memoir by Kelly Bishop

Mentioned:

The Book of Pintxos: Discover the Legendary Small Bites of Basque Country by Marti Buckley

Jessica’s Books: 

The Message by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Somewhere Beyond the Sea by TJ Klune

Threads of Life: A History of the World Through the Eye of a Needle by Clare Hunter

Mentioned: 

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune

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

Black Homesteaders—Stories and history collected by the National Park Service.

Mari’s Books: 

One Big Open Sky by Lesa Ransome-Cline

Everything We Never Had by Randy Ribay

No More Señora Mimí by Meg Medina

Mentioned: 

The Strangers by Jon Bilbao

Electrodomésticos: Stories by Moira McCavana

Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay

Small Spaces by Katherine Arden

Hell Followed with Us by Andrew Joseph White

Coraline by Neil Gaiman

Back on Friday the 13th we asked about spooky stories and since Halloween is coming up we thought we’d share some of your picks.

The Shining, Black House (with Peter Straub)—Stephen King in general

Incidents Around the House by Josh Malerman

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

The Fisherman by John Langan

Ghost Road Blues by Johnathan Mayberry

Learn more about the books discussed here.

Mari, Jessica, and Cheryl are back to discuss what they've been reading as summer comes to a close. School reading, nostalgia, slowing down and Hispanic Heritage Month with our producers Cassidy and Rissa.

Cheryl’s Books: 

Paperback Crush: The Totally Radical History of '80s and '90s Teen Fiction by Gabrielle Moss

Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya

The Volcano Daughters:  A Novel by Gina Maria Balibrera

Mentioned:

Francine Pascal

Christopher Pike

R.L. Stine

The Girls of Canby Hall (available from MELCAT)

Sweet Valley Twins Graphic Novels

National Hispanic Heritage Month 

Isabel Allende

Jessica’s Books: 

 Hampton Heights: One Harrowing Night in the Most Haunted Neighborhood in Milwaukee, Wisconsin by Dan Kois

The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo

The Full Moon Coffee Shop by Mai Mochizuki

Mentioned: 

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

What You Are Looking For is at the Library by Michiko Aoyama

We’ll Prescribe You a Cat by Syou Ishida 

The Healing Season of Pottery by Yeon Somin (10/22 release)

Mari’s Books: 

How It All Ends by Emma Hunsinger

Little Shrew by Akiko Miyakoshi

Mentioned: The Tea Party in the Woods by Akiko Miyakoshi

Grandma Gatewood's Walk: The Inspiring Story of the Woman Who Saved the Appalachian Trail by Ben Montgomery

Grandma Gatewood Hikes the Appalachian Trail by Jennifer Thermes

The Queens of Animation: The Untold Story of the Women Who Transformed the World of Disney and Made Cinematic History by Nathalia Holt

Hatchet by Gary Paulsen

The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton

James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett

Judy Blume

Beverly Cleary 

Summary: Microhistory, finding self, and summer adventures.

Frostbite: How Refrigeration Changed Our Food, Our Planet, and Ourselves by Nicola Twilley

Amrikan: 125 Recipes from the Indian American Diaspora by Khushbu Shah

Welcome to Glorious Tuga: A Novel by Francesca Segal

Mentioned:

Gastropod podcast

The Pairing by Casey McQuiston

Unexploded Remnants by Elaine Gallagher

My Black Country by Alice Randall

Mentioned:

Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

Black Bottom Saints by Alice Randall

Cruzita and the Mariacheros by Ashley Granillo

Where Wolves Don’t Die by Anton Treuer

Mentioned

On the Trapline by Davidson A. Roberton

 Gardens, Life, Death, and... Food?

The Garden Against Time: In Search of a Common Paradise by Olivia Laing

Garden Wonderland: Create Life-Changing Outdoor Spaces for Beauty, Harvest, Meaning, and Joy by Leslie Bennett and Julie Chai

Dispersals: On Plants, Borders, and Belonging by Jessica J. Lee

A Garden Called Home by Jessica J. Lee & illustrated by Elaine Chen

The Black Bird Oracle by Deborah Harkness

Briefly Perfectly Human by Alua Arthur

The Nameless Restaurant by Tao Wong

Mentioned

The Deep Sea by Neal Agarwal

TED: Why Thinking About Death Helps You Live a Better Life by Alua Arthur

The Lamplighter by Crystal J. Bell

Dive!: The Story of Breathing Underwater by Chris Gall

Tasty: A History of Yummy Experiments by Victoria Grace Elliott

Sam Thayer’s Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants of Eastern and Central North America by Sam Thayer

Titles mentioned in the segment about food in books:

Love and Saffron: A Novel of Friendship, Food and Love by Kim Fay

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

Arsenic and Adobo by Mia P. Manansala

The Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J. Ryan Stradal

The Lager Queen of Minnesota by J. Ryan Stradal

Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club by J. Ryan Stradal

Delicious: A Novel by Ruth Reichl

Breakfast of Champions: Or, Goodbye Blue Monday by Kurt Vonnegut

Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs

Consider the Lobster: And Other Essays by David Foster Wallace

Black Cake: A Novel by Charmaine Wilkerson

Chocolat: A Novel by Joanne Harris

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café by Fannie Flagg

Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant:  A Memoir by Curtis Chin

Crying in H Mart:  A Memoir by Michelle Zauner

A Spoonful of Promises: Stories and Recipes from a Well-Tempered Table by T. Susan Chang

Come On Shore and We Will Kill and Eat You All:  A New Zealand Story by Christina Thompson

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

French Milk by Lucy Knisley

Eat a Peach: A Memoir by David Chang

Heat: An Amateur's Adventures as Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta-maker, and Apprentice to a Dante-quoting Butcher in Tuscany by Bill Buford

Cook In A Book Board Book Series by Lotta Nieminen

Boys Don’t Fry by Kimberly Lee

Celebrating summer reading and listening (It’s Audiobook Month!) with a range of titles.

Something About the Sky by Rachel Carson and Nikki McClure

Force of Nature: A Novel of Rachel Carson by Ann E. Burg and illustrated by Sophie Blackall

Corn Dance: Inspired First American Cuisine by Loretta Barrett Oden with Beth Dooley

The Siren of Sussex by Mimi Matthews

Mentioned: 

A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black of Black Performance by Hanif Abdurraqib

Palomino by Danielle Steele

There's Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension by Hanif Abdurraqib

Solitaire by Alice Oseman, origin of the Heartstopper Universe.

Winter Lost by Patricia Briggs, start with Moon Called

Mentioned: 

Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan

The Truth About the Couch by Adam Rubin

Painting the Game by Patricia MacLachlan

Have You Seen This Girl by Nita Tyndall

Segment on Audio Books – Titles and Series Mentioned

The North Woods by Daniel Mason

The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster

Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer

We Loved it All:  A Memory of Life by Lydia Millett

Remember: Listening to audiobooks counts as reading!

This episode explores environmentalism, international history, and adventure.

Smoke and Ashes: Opium’s Hidden Histories by Amitav Ghosh

Windrush Child: The Tale of a Caribbean Child Who Faced a New Horizon by John Agard and illustrated by Sophie Bass

Granny Came Here on the Empire Windrush by Patrice Lawrence and illustrated by Camilla Sucre

Mentioned

The Ibis Trilogy by Amitav Ghosh

Small Island by Andrea Levy

Birdgirl: Looking to the Skies in Search of a Better Future by Mya-Rose Craig

When Among Crows by Veronica Roth

Mentioned

The Home Place: Memoirs of a Colored Man’s Love Affair with Nature by J. Drew Lanham

Better Living Through Birding: Notes from a Black Man in the Natural World by Christian Cooper

The Perseverance by Raymond Antrobus

The Circuit: The Graphic Novel by Andrew Rostan

The Mystery of Locked Rooms by Lindsay Currie

Mentioned

I Was Their American Dream by Malaka Gharib

Segment on Re-Reading Books – Titles and Series Mentioned

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

The Earthsea Series by Ursula K. Le Guin

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

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

Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

Beartown Series by Fredrick Backman

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

Somebody’s Horse by Dorothy Nafus Morrison

Homesick:  My Own Story by Jean Fritz

The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins

Summary: Food memoir, academic mystery, fiction, and “strange” books

The Language of Baklava: A Memoir by Diana Abu-Jaber

Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts: Stories and Recipes from Five Generations of Black Country Cooks by Crystal Wilkinson

Faebound by Saara El-Arifi

The Life and Time of Hannah Crafts: The True Story of The Bondwoman’s Narrative by Gregg Hecimovich

I Cheerfully Refuse by Leif Enger

The Luminous Life of Lucy Landry by Anna Rose Johnson

The Great Lakes Our Freshwater Treasure by Barb Rosenstock

“Strangest” Books mentioned

1Q84 by Haruki Murakami

Strange Library by Haruki Murakami

Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami

Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs

Bunny by Mona Awad

Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders

Gift from the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Still Life with Woodpecker by Tom Robbins

Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins

Swamplandia by Karen Russell

Border: A Journey to the Edge of Europe by Kapka Kassabova

 We're going wild for Reading Month! Books with wild animals, wild girls, and bite sized reads.

Otter Country: An Unexpected Adventure in the Natural World by Miriam Darlington

Gator Country:  Deception, Danger, and Alligators in the Everglades by Rebecca Renner

Koreatown Dreaming: Stories & Portraits of Korean Immigrant Life by Emauel Hahn

Wild Girls: How the Outdoors Shaped the Women Who Challenged a Nation by Tiya Miles

Floating Hotel by Grace Curtis

The Kamogawa Food Detectives by Hisashi Kashiwai

The Smallest Owlet by Georgia Graham

Jerry Changed the Game How Engineer Jerry Lawson Revolutionized Video Games Forever by Don Tate

Call Me Iggy by Jorge Aguirre

To Free the Captives: A Plea for the American Soul by Tracy K. Smith

§  Mentioned:  Ordinary Light: A Memoir by Tracy K. Smith

This Is the Honey: An Anthology of Contemporary Black Poets by Kwame Alexander

Kin: Rooted in Hope by Carole Boston Weatherford and illustrated by Jeffery Boston Weatherford

§  Mentioned: The Life and Times of Hannah Crafts: The True Story of The Bondwoman’s Narrative by Gregg A. Hecimovich

Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange

Nearer My Freedom:The Interesting Life of Olaudah Equiano by Himself by Monica Edinger and Lesley Younge

Shark Teeth by Sherri Winston

Big by Vashti Harrison

§  Mentioned: Little Leaders: Black Women in History by Vashti Harrison

The Eyes & The Impossible by Dave Eggers

The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters

§  Which we discussed in Reader’s Roundtable Episode 88

We Were Once a Family: A Story of Love, Death, and Child Removal in America by Roxanna Asgarian

RUSA Book and Media Awards Announcement (including the Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Non-Fiction):

We’ve got some memoirs, animal related picks and more. Plus we share some info on how other readers are tracking their reading, and the Michigan Notable Books for 2024.

 

Turtle Bread: A Graphic Novel About Baking, Fitting In, and the Power of Friendship by Kim-Joy 

Writing Black Beauty: Anna Sewell, the Creation of a Novel, and the Story of Animal Rights by Celia Brayfield

The Hebridean Baker: Recipes and Wee Stories from the Scottish Islands by Coinneach MacLeod 

The Tusks of Extinction by Ray Nayler

Also mentioned: The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler

Enough to Lose by RS Deeren

Also mentioned The Waters by Bonnie Jo Campbell

The Upcycled Self: A Memoir on the Art of Becoming Who We Are by Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter

A First Time For Everything: A True Story by Dan Santat

Once There Was by Kiyash Monsef

I Can Open It For You by Shinsuke Yoshitake