A live in-studio reading of this Christmas classic, with comments and discussion, featuring KZSM Volunteers and Bookmarked guests: Carol Coburn, Mark Decker, Chris Gardner, Jennifer Kabay, Gene Randall, Gregory Ross, Jim Wagner, and E. D. Watson. Produced by Rob Roark.

"Why do people even live here?" asks a character in J J Rusz's engaging mystery set in the Big Bend country of far west Texas. My conversation with the author answered that question and many more!

If you thought there was nothing left to learn about the Beatles, you were wrong. Jennifer Kabay, host of "The McCartney Diaries" on The Mop Tops and the King, talked with me about this insightful new book.

Chris Gardner talks with playwright Christa French about "Calm Your Tits," a satirical musical about bodies, blame, and the pressure to hold it all together.

"'This world? And everything in it? Illusions, Richard.'" Greg Ross and I discussed Richard Bach's thought-provoking best seller, “a semi-autobiographical, semi-fictional account of Richard encountering a mysterious man named Donald Shimoda while barnstorming (offering $3 rides in an antique biplane) one glorious 1970s Midwest summer,”  as author Richard Bach describes it.

Film authority Dr. Rebecca Bell-Metereau joined me to explore this lively biography of producer Darryl Zanuck, a cinematic genius and a flawed human being with an outsized personality.

 Du Mez traces the history of a militant masculinity that has shaped white evangelism from the early 20th century until the first election of Donald Trump. She explains how “a nostalgic commitment to rugged aggressive militant white masculinity serves as the thread binding together” attitudes towards women, gays, immigrants, Blacks, and anyone perceived as other, along with support for military action abroad. 

Historian Dwight Watson talked with me about this insightful book.

Amelia leaves Germany for Texas, where she marries a man she barely knows. The Doctor’s Wife, part of a trilogy about German migration into Texas—from 1845-1875, chronicles her coming-of-age, along with the founding and development of the Texas port city of Indianola. Author Myra McIlvain talked with me about her vivid historical novel about German immigrants in Texas.

"Maud thought he hadn't figured out yet that Indian maidens weren't exactly the lovely wildflowers they were made out to be in books." Garrie Borden and I explored Margaret Verble's compelling account of an aspiring young Cherokee woman coping with life in Eastern Oklahoma in 1928.

Ghosts, snakes, family lost and found, and plenty of sweetened ice tea! India Hayford talked with me about her lively, compelling debut novel.