Book Nook

By Vick MickunasArts Books

Book Nook episodes

January 26, 2019 Book Nook: The Widows, by Jess Montgomery
This is the debut novel by an author who goes by the name Jess Montgomery. If you read the book you might think, gosh, this is quite the polished work by a first-time author. Well, I'll let you in on a secret; this is the first novel by the writer known as Jess Montgomery but that is actually the new pen name for an author who has published a number of previous books. This story is set in southern Ohio during the mid-1920's. If you listen to the interview you'll learn the details of how a true
51 min
January 23, 2019 Best of the Book Nook: Dave Barry in Cyberspace, by Dave Barry
Dave Barry is one of those humorists who is always on. He's relentless. He never stops cracking jokes. In this interview Dave had some fun talking about this book that was on the cutting edge of computer technology when it came out in 1997. The world of computing has changed a lot since then and Dave's descriptions of what seemed high tech 22 years ago now seem rather quaint. Dave even brought along his laptop computer for the interview. He had a software program that created rude anagrams
29 min
January 21, 2019 Best of the Book Nook: The Dean's List, by Jon Hassler
Jon Hassler was considered to be the dean of Minnesota writers. He wrote stories about life in small towns in Minnesota and a number of novels that lampooned academia. It was a subject he knew well, he had been a college professor for many decades in small towns in Minnesota. His novel "The Dean's List" was a sequel to his popular book "Rookery Blues" and it was yet another farcical send-up of academic life. Professor Hassler came out to see us that day in Yellow Springs. When I listened back to
50 min
January 17, 2019 Best of the Book Nook: 2018 Fiction Interviews
We closed out the year with some of my favorite interviews for works of fiction during 2018. I chose excerpts from three interviews that were some of my most enjoyable conversations about some of my best loved novels. One interview was actually recorded in December of 2017. The book came out in January of 2018 and we aired it then. My guest was an author who has appeared on this program more times than any other writer. The first time I interviewed him was in 1997. He came out to Yellow Springs
50 min
January 15, 2019 Best of the Book Nook: 2018 Nonfiction Interviews
I took a listen back to some of my favorite interviews for non-fiction titles during 2018 and chose several that really stood out. When I picked segments for this re-broadcast I had a number of criteria to consider. The major considerations were these: did I love the book? Did I have a really good conversation with the author? And finally, was the sound quality good? A couple of the interviews for my favorite books from 2018 were conducted by phone and the authors were using cell phones. I avoid
50 min
January 10, 2019 Book Nook: Kingdom of the Blind, by Louise Penny
Louise Penny had been an author on my bucket list for years. Last year I finally was able to book her as a guest on the program for her novel "Glass Houses." You can listen to that interview in our archive of podcasts here . She was absolutely wonderful to interview. I was charmed. On the Sunday morning that interview aired her book debuted at #1 on the New York Times fiction list. When she published her latest novel in her series which features Inspector Armand Gamache, "Kingdom of the Blind,"
29 min
January 04, 2019 Book Nook: Sins As Scarlet, by Nicolás Obregon
We had Nicolás Obregon on the program for his debut novel "Blue Light Yokohama." That dark murder mystery introduced readers to the deeply troubled Inspector Iwata. The author returns with his second book in the series, "Sins as Scarlet," and readers of his first book are in for a major surprise; the first novel was set in Japan while the new one takes place in Los Angeles and along the Mexican border. And Iwata is now working as gumshoe in L.A. Classic! Illegal immigration across the Mexican
51 min
January 03, 2019 Book Nook: The Darkness, by Ragnar Jonasson
Icelandic crime novelists face a peculiar challenge; the murder rate in Iceland is so low that during some years not one single murder has taken place there. If you are setting your murder mysteries in Iceland you are forced to be extremely creative. The Icelandic novelist Ragnar Jonasson's book "The Darkness" is a murder mystery but it took some serious detective work to turn what had been a suspicious death written off as a suicide into an unsolved homicide. Jonasson's sleuth is a long-serving
29 min
December 28, 2018 Book Nook: Wright Brothers, Wrong Story, by William Hazelgrove
The Wright Brothers are the most famous of Daytonians. Their achievements in inventing manned flight are indisputable. William Hazelgrove decided there was something about the Wrights narrative that didn't feel right to him. In his new book "Wright Brothers, Wrong Story - How Wilbur Wright Solved the Problem of Manned Flight" the author attempts to re-Wright and alter that narrative. Listen to this interview and decide whether you agree with him. The Book Nook on WYSO is presented by the Greene
49 min
December 21, 2018 Book Nook: 52 Things I Wish I Could Have Told Myself When I Was 17 by Shuly Xóchitl Cawood
In January of 1993 I moved to Ohio from Des Moines. One of the first things I discovered about the area was this wonderfully quirky radio station. In June of 1993 I finally got up the nerve to contact WYSO to volunteer to host some radio shows. I had been hosting music shows on the radio in Iowa since 1979 and I hoped my experience might become an asset to the station. Ruth Yellowhawk answered the phone when I called and she said, "sure, come on over, I want to meet you." Ruth was one of those
29 min

About Book Nook

From the publisher's feed

Listen to the Book Nook with Vick Mickunas for intimate conversations about books with the writers who create them.Vick Mickunas introduced the Book Nook author interview program for WYSO in 1994.…