Four Books a Fortnight

Hannah is in Paris and the bookstore owners are just going right ahead and asking her to take over their shops. Not happening! But she did buy three books from the Red Wheelbarrow, with a train theme of sorts that she didn't plan, a couple of which aren't available yet here in the States. We then chat briefly about "Saxophone Colossus" (don't miss the special episode Sam recorded, EP35), and a book Hannah probably won't finish even though she sorta likes it (yes, Elizabeth Hardwick and Robert Lowell were married in Beverly Farms), but then we move into a long discusion of the neurological underpinnings of why we like the music and books that we like. Oh, plus "Zig Zag," a good book about doing drugs, and "Demon Copperhead," which is making Hannah sad even though it might win the Pulitzer.

In this special episode, Hannah is away in France, so of course Sam decides to interview Aidan Levy, author of the brand-new "Saxophone Colossus," a definitive biography of the great jazz musician Sonny Rollins. In addition, we're joined by Carl Smith, a fellow Mainer and the authoritative archivist of Rollins' live recordings. Even if you're not a huge jazz fan, take a listen to hear about putting together a 750-page biography over the course of seven years and about the passion Rollins inspired. Also, don't miss Aidan and Carl at Print, in Portland, ME, March 10, 2023, at 7 p.m.

This episode, we come out firing, dicussing the editing of Roald Dahl texts, which we are very much troubled by. So, you die and then they change your texts? That seems dangerous and a search for fool's gold. Children are not some delicate class that needs to be protected from all potential language harms. This leads seamlessly into a discussion of Tom Crewe's "The New Life," an important new piece of fiction exploring gay life in the late 1800s, and the language choices Crewe makes, which leads to "After Sappho," which Hannah was ensorceled by, and explores the lives of lesbian women. But there's more! Campus novels! Hannah read "My Last Innocent Year" and enjoyed its lack of easy answers; Sam read "Hell Bent" and thinks it's maybe not Leigh Bardugo's best; Hannah read "A Likely Story" and you know she's a sucker for books about writers (but it's a bad-dad story, which sorta sucks). Also: The return of Book Shop Book Club! You should come!

It was the morning after the Grammys, so we were thinking about literary awards, including the National Book Critics Circle Awards, which have nominated friend-of-the-pod Morgan Talty's debut book of short stories for their John Leonard Prize. Have we read any of the other nominees? A few, but we have thoughts, in general. How is it we've never even heard of at least one of these (Lewis Mumford was an American historian who died in 1990, apparently)? Is "The Rabbit Hutch" actually amazing? Hannah's not sure. Then we move onto "The Magic Kingdom," and why it makes Sam like Florida more (Shakers!); "Trust," and its cool organization structure and why Hannah didn't get any stock for graduation; and "Weyward," and whether Hannah is just reading it because she loves that show "Wednesday." Finally, we wrap by discussing what the future is for the Book Shop Book Club.

It's a jam-packed episode this week, as Hannah is knee-deep in sticky (sorry, POST-IT) notes full of the books we and you love with all your hearts. It's a bit of Valentine's Day fun that has taken on a life of its own in the Book Shop windows, thanks to Twitter (a friendly wasteland), and offers up some great suggestions for books to check out that you might love, too. Can you believe Hannah has never read "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn"? That done, we get into a long discussion of works in translation and whether translators get enough credit, Murakami's brand of humility that makes Hannah feel bad (also, Kotaro Watanabe is sorta famous, with lots of voiceover credits, but Sam probably hadn't actually heard of him), and a book about going on a writers' retreat only to get murdered (side note: Jericho is on Route 15 not Route 25 and Amtrak does appear to come near to Burlington, anyway). But there's more! Hannah's reading the feminist dystopia "Ice," though she doesn't know why; Sam's starting the late Russell Banks' last novel ("Affliction" is probably the movie Hannah's remembering); and we're celebrating the three-year anniversary of signing the papers on the Shop!

It might be the hottest book going right now: "SAM," by Allegra Goodman, set in Beverly, and telling the coming-of-age story of a young girl from age 6 to 19. We've both read it now and so spend a lot of time talking about why it's so good. But we've had a lot of time to read lately! So, we also run through a bunch more titles, something like 24 in all, including thoughts about Bret Easton Ellis, why we're struggling to read hard books right now, coffee table books that are actually good, why Reddit hates Murakami, and much more!

It doesn't get any more straightforward than this. We each share five of our favorite books from the past 12 months (maybe Hannah cheated and snuck in six?), and then we spin through the top-20 bestsellers of the past year in the Shop. It's wild. It's crazy. It's the last podcast of the year! Find them all right on our bookstore homepage if you're not finding them on our podcast landing page. Oh, and here's where to find the HarperCollins Union Solidarity Fund. You should donate to it.

Why and how do books make it to the top of the "New York Times" best books of the year list? We have no idea, but we go through the top 10 and give our thoughts as to why these books are so big and what we think about them. We love Jennifer Egan! The rest of these? Well. You'll see. For some of them, we're not sure about the hullabaloo. We also get into why and how we bring books like these into the Shop and how we make our buying decisions. Should we have ordered more of these books? We'll find out. Then we dive into what we're reading — identifying a whole genre we've named "desperately seeking mommy" books — with a rom-com ("The Ex Talk") and some further shots at Stephen King that are probably gratuitous. Note, however, that Chris Colfer did NOT write the Artemis Fowl books — that's Eoin Colfer, who is a different person. Finally, we wrap up with some books about miserable situations you may or may not be into.

We're decorated, stocked up, and ready to enter the holiday season — with "Shoebert the Traveling Seal." Hear all about Industry Books, our micropublishing house, and our latest project, a children's book that details the travels of the real-life Shoebert, a seal who arrived in a Beverly pond in an industrial park and promptly became a social media star and beloved mascot. It's fun. But we've also been reading, and you can hear our thoughts on RF Kuang's "Babel" (one of the more important books of the last decade? What is the moral culpability of the person who inveted the "like" button? Are we crossing the HarperCollins picket line by talking about this book? How is Kuang only 26?), "Lavender House" (an LGBTQ mystery), the new Stephen King (the King Paradox!), the "Graceling" graphic novel, and the latest by a Waring School graduate(!), which drives a discussion of what "women's literature" might be.

This week, we're legitimately live from the Book Shop, where we've already got the Christmas crackers out — even Thanksgiving crackers! — and things are heating up. But don't worry: This is just a regular discussion of the books we're reading, including the new Veronica Roth (chased off Twitter, but Hannah remains a fan), the discussion of which reminds Sam of "Andor" and "Station Eleven" and leads to a social media diatribe; a Greek mythology rehash Sam doesn't like much; more on why "The Golden Enclaves" is awesome; the genius behind the brand-new "Babel"; the new Claire Keegan, which is not a Christmas book but is awesome like "Small Things Like These" and makes a wonderful hostess gift; and a fun new murder mystery featuring real-life medical workers who've done evil things.