Book Nook

By Vick MickunasArts Books

Book Nook episodes

February 14, 2018 Best of the Book Nook: Footfalls in Memory-Readings and Reflections, by Terry Waite
Hundreds of cassette tapes are filed away in drawers in my office. These are author interviews I recorded years ago when cassette tapes were still considered to be a perfectly respectable way to preserve sound. As I scan the names on the tapes I am often puzzled to encounter unfamiliar names. I'm sure if I listened to these mysterious authors I would say, oh, that's right, I remember this interview. I used to do 4 or 5 interviews every week and sometimes it could become a blur. Then there are
51 min
February 12, 2018 Book Nook: The Story of Alfred Truluv, by Elizabeth Berg
Elizabeth Berg had had enough. She was tired of reading bad news and hearing about things that were upsetting. She wanted to feel good and to think pleasant thoughts. So she sat down and wrote a thoroughly charming, feel-good book, "The Story of Alfred Truluv." Arthur, her protagonist is a pleasant older man, a widower who is grieving for his wife. Most days he heads over to the graveyard where his wife is interred and has lunch with her. He talks to her. He even talks to some of the other
28 min
February 07, 2018 Best of the Book Nook: Janet Leigh and Erik Larson
"Psycho: Behind the Scenes of the Classic Thriller" by Janet Leigh (original recording made in 1995) 1995 was my Hollywood year on the program. Over a thirty day period I had interviews with two of the greatest movie stars of their era, Charlton Heston and Janet Leigh. Janet Leigh was coming to Dayton for the Janet Leigh Film Festival and she was publicizing a book about her experiences making a film in which she only made a brief but career defining appearance; Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho." I
50 min
February 05, 2018 Book Nook: The Wanted, by Robert Crais
Robert Crais returned to the program to talk about his latest installment in a mystery series that features Elvis Cole, a private investigator who Crais likes to call "The World's Greatest Detective." In "The Wanted" Elvis is contacted by a woman who is worried about her son. The youth is still in high school, he doesn't have a job, and lately he's been sporting some very flashy and expensive apparel. She got suspicious and searched his room. That is when she became really upset and very
29 min
February 01, 2018 Best of the Book Nook: Late Bloomers, by Brendan Gill
Brendan Gill began working for The New Yorker magazine straight out of college in 1936. In 1996 he celebrated his 60th year with the publication and he published his final book, "Late Bloomers." In that book Gill celebrated individuals who had blossomed after reaching middle age or even later. He came out to Yellow Springs to see me. I gave him a detailed introduction and later on he joked that what I had said about him sounded like I had been reading from his obituary. He was 81 years old at
51 min
January 31, 2018 Book Nook: Robicheaux, by James Lee Burke
Dave Robicheaux is a character James Lee Burke imagined many years ago. When Burke tried to find a publisher for what became the first book in this series about a troubled Louisiana lawman the response was a blizzard of rejection slips. But the author is steadfast and a bit stubborn and he never gave up. All these years later he is recognized as the writer who invented this type of character in the crime fiction genre, a character that is often imitated but never surpassed. The author is now in
29 min
January 24, 2018 Book Nook: Glass House, by Brian Alexander
One of the most impressive works of non-fiction that I read during 2017 was the book "Glass House - the 1% Economy and the Shattering of the All-American Town" by Brian Alexander. Alexander's hometown of Lancaster, Ohio has seen the once vital industrial core of the community withering. Like many towns in the region known as the Rust Belt Lancaster's manufacturing base has shriveled and this once vibrant little town has been dealing with the aftermath of this decline in local employment and all
49 min
January 09, 2018 Book Nook: Poison Girls, by Cheryl Reed
During the early 1990's a crime reporter for the Dayton Daily News named Cheryl Reed was investigating the crack cocaine epidemic that was underway during that period. Reed was able to interview some young women who were using crack. Reed had been assured by the local police that she would not find any users of one particular race, young white girls, that they simply did not exist in Dayton. Their claims were dubious. As Reed was in the process of disproving that theory a tragedy took place; one
50 min
January 05, 2018 Book Nook: The Man in the Crooked Hat, by Harry Dolan
Harry Dolan returned to the program to talk about his delightfully deceptive new mystery novel "The Man in the Crooked Hat." Dolan is a masterful plotter and this story is brilliantly conceived. Our protagonist is Jack Pellum, a reluctant private investigator and former cop who is obsessed with identifying the person who killed his wife. Pellum suspects that is was a mysterious man who had been spotted in the vicinity. This fellow had been wearing the "crooked hat" of the title. While the killer
29 min
January 02, 2018 Best of the Book Nook: The Alphabet Versus the Goddess, by Leonard Shlain
Some interviews can make a powerful impression. One interview that has stood the test of time is the one that I had in 1998 with Dr. Leonard Shlain about his book "The Alphabet Versus the Goddess: The Conflict Between Word and Image." Nearly twenty years later listeners will still mention it. Leonard had a brilliant mind. When he spoke the flow of information and his ability to present it concisely and in an entertaining way was quite amazing. He was passionate about his work. There are
50 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.…