On this week’s episode, undefeated world champion boxer Laila Ali joins us to discuss A Spark of Greatness: The Autobiography of a Fighter, illustrated by Caldecott honoree Cosby A. Cabrera (Crown, Sept. 8). “Boxing champion Ali describes how, growing up in the shadow of a legend, she at last stepped into the ring on her own terms,” Kirkus writes. “[A]n inspiring portrait of resilience and ambition.”

THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS: 

• Jack and Lulu Go to the Tree Farm by Julie Ryan McGue, illus. by Mariia Stepanova
• Shallcross by Charles Porter
• Emil by Patrick Matthews

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On this week’s episode,  New York Times bestselling translator and classicist Emily Wilson joins us to discuss Crossing the Wine-Dark Sea: Journeys Through Ancient Literature (Liveright/Norton, Sept. 1). “Enchanting academic essays about translating the classics,” Kirkus writes in a starred review, calling this insightful, accessible essay collection, “a lively exploration of ancient literature.”

THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS: 

• Revenge Is the Best Revenge by James A. Scott
• Mall Goddess by Marilee Dahlman
• Revelations of Grimm Lohr by William Potter
• Life and Music by Idil Biret with Dominique Xardel, trans. by Gunesh Guran Gery
• Parrot Heaven by Jessica Howland Kany

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On this week’s episode, No. 1 New York Times bestselling author Liane Moriarty joins us to discuss Big Little Truths (Crown, Aug. 25). “Ten years later, the friends from Big Little Lies (2014) have new headaches, traumas, and secrets,” Kirkus writes in a starred review. “Don’t wait for the TV series—Moriarty’s sparkling writing is worth the read.” 

THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS: 

• Waymaker by Michael D. Warden
• Maud and Pearl by Pearl Allen Andree
• Parrot Heaven by Jessica Howland Kany 
• The Riddle of the Trees by Marc S. Perlman
• Los Rios by Bryan Zimmerman

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On this week’s episode, New York Times bestselling author Tia Williams joins us to discuss The Missed Connection (Grand Central Publishing, June 16), book two in her North Falls series. Kirkus: “Desperate to reconnect with the perfect man she met on a plane, a woman hires a private detective with ties to her past…. Flawed yet lovable characters shine in this celebration of human connection.”

THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS: 

• This Never Happened by Kent Heckenlively
• In His Own Time by Kathy Lemoine
• Awaken Your Sexuality by Stephanie Covington and Vanessa Carlisle
• Parrot Heaven by Jessica Howland Kany
• Beauty by Christina Chiu

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On this week’s episode, No. 1 New York Times bestselling author Karin Slaughter joins us to discuss The Secrets We Keep (William Morrow/HarperCollins, Aug. 4), book two in her North Falls series. Kirkus: ““Every twist in the path to the truth is riveting—especially the final revelation, which puts all the others in the shade—but the most important relationship is between the two investigators, one of whom harbors a secret the other can’t imagine.”

THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS: 

• This Never Happened by Kent Heckenlively
• The Hypókrisis Mirror and Other Stories by Raymond Fortunato
• Tapestries by Patrick Summers
• Virtuality, Book Two, by Ragnar Kroll
• Avatars of the Pantheon by Jackson Owens

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On this week’s episode, No. 1 New York Times bestselling author Lisa Gardner join us to discuss her latest thriller, You’ll Be Sorry (Grand Central Publishing, Aug. 4). “A small-town sheriff uncovers centuries’ worth of secrets,” Kirkus writes in an admiring review. “Gardner deftly juggles a number of characters, plot threads, secrets, time periods, and motives, delivering a satisfyingly layered novel that interrogates the insular lives and histories of small towns.”

THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS: 

• This Never Happened by Kent Heckenlively  
• Blood Moon Over Bentonville by Bernard Doucette
• Death on Warriors Way by Dave Pyle
• The Murder Investigation of Adolf Hitler by Peter Clenott
• Dear Laura, A Lost Chapter of WWII by Laura Elliott 

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On this week’s episode, No. 1 New York Times bestselling author Chris Bohjalian joins us to discuss his new novel, The Amateur (Doubleday, Aug. 4). “An accident at the golf course cuts short one life and totally upends another,” Kirkus writes in a starred review. “It’s hard to think of any reason not to call this a perfect novel—our critic writes—a hole in one.” 

THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS: 

• This Never Happened by Kent Heckenlively
• Lifers by Keith G. McWalter
• Chemstories by Maya Mourshed

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On this week’s episode,  novelist Julie Buntin joins us to discuss Famous Men (Random House, July 14). “A personal and professional entanglement with an acclaimed writer shapes a young woman’s life,” kirkus writes in a starred review. Buntin’s stellar sophomore offering is “a searing, brilliant novel about power, and stories, and who gets to tell them.”

THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS: 

• The Book of Don by T.B. Calder
• Dear Laura, A Lost Chapter of WWII by Laura Elliott
• Blood Lasts Forever by Jeff Gunhus

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On this week’s episode, No. 1 New York Times bestselling author Colson Whitehead joins us to discuss Cool Machine (Doubleday, July 21). “Whitehead’s justly celebrated Harlem Trilogy comes to a triumphant, satisfying conclusion,” Kirkus writes in a starred review of Cool Machine, calling Whitehead “a master novelist in full command of his powers as a storyteller, prose stylist, and social observer.”

THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS: 

• Finding Our Voice by Adam Castillo

• American Gyro by Jim Zervanos

• The Needs of the Heart by Phillip Anderson

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On this week’s episode, internationally bestselling author Robinne Lee joins us to discuss her new novel, Crash Into Me (St. Martin’s, July 7). “After moving to Los Angeles, a biracial photographer navigates the complexities of celebrity, wealth, race, and her own past,” Kirkus writes in an admiring review of Crash Into Me, calling this “sharp and often slyly funny” novel “thoughtful social commentary meets sensual queer awakening among the Beautiful People.”

THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS: 

• Carrie’s Children by Clarence T. Jones
• A Slaughter of Iguanas by Anne Loiselle

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