Quick Picks

Tana is back to discuss some of our favorite memoirs by folks who are not celebrities, who have, arguably better stories to tell.

Discussed:

The Girl Who Smiled Beads, by Clemantine Wamariya

I Guess I Haven't Learned That Yet, by Shauna Niequist

Almost American Girl, by Robin Ha

We Ate Wonder Bread, by Nicole Hollander

I'm Still Alive, by Roberto Saviano

Poppies of Iraq, by Bridgitte Findakly

Ducks, by Kate Beaton

Educated, by Tara Westover

Hillbilly Elegy, by JD Vance

Brain on Fire, by Suzannah Cahalan

Wild, by Cheryl Strayed

All That You Leave Behind, by Erin Lee Carr

The Liar's Club, by Mary Carr

In a Dream House, by Carmen Maria Machado

The Dirty Life, by Kristen Kimball

Stitches, by David Small

Maus, by Art Spiegelman

Discussed:

Movies

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Rainman

What's Eating Gilbert Grape?

Forrest Gump

Girl, Interrupted

The Other Sister

Snow Cake

Silver Linings Playbook

Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

Still Alice

Please Stand By

The Accountant

Perks of Being a Wallflower

TV Shows

Big Bang Theory

The Good Doctor

As We See It

Nanette

Books

10 Steps to Nanette, by Hannah Gadsby

The Reason I Jump, Naoki Higashida

The Rosie Project, by Graeme Simsion

The Maid, by Nita Prose

Lessons in Chemistry, by Bonnie Garmus

Kiss Quotient, by Helen Hoang

Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time, by Mark Haddon

Miracle Creek, by Angie Kim

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, by Jonathan Safran Foer

The Good Sister, by Sally Hepworth

The Hilarious World of Depression, by John Moe

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, by Gail Honeyman

Fan Girl, by Rainbow Rowell

Unlike me, Tana is a big movie-watcher and she's joining me this episode to discuss all the movies nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture, and we'll also discuss a few others in other categories or nominees for other major awards.

Oscar: Best Picture

All Quiet on the Western Front

Avatar: The Way of Water

The Banshees of Inisherin

Elvis

Everything Everywhere All at Once

The Fabelmans

Top Gun: Maverick

Triangle of Sadness

Women Talking

Tár

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (Nominated for Supporting Actress, Costume Design, Original Song, Visual Effects, Makeup and Hairstyling)

Menu (Nominated for Golden Globe Actor in Musical or Comedy)

Woman King (Nominated for Golden Globe Best Actress, BAFTA and others, snubbed by Academy)

RRR (Nominated for Original Song)

Tell It Like a Woman (Nominated for Original Song)

Argentina, 1985 (Nominated for International Film)

For Valentine's Day, Tana and I are happily talking about some of our favorite books with our favorite dogs, because the love of a dog is the purest love there is. We focus on modern books but pull from fiction, nonfiction, romance, memoirs, and children's books, and we will let you know if the dog dies. If ever in question and you need to know before committing to something, you can check www.doesthedogdie.com to find out if you'll need privacy, tissue and pet hugs or if it's safe to read while in public.

The Friend, by Sigrid Nunez (Dog: Apollo, may or may not die, ending ambiguous)

London's Number One Dog Walking Agency, by Kate MacDougall (Many dogs, one dies)

Love Story of Missy Carmichael, by Beth Morrey (Dog: Bob, dies)

Ten Thousand Doors of January, by Alix E. Harrow (Dog: 'Bad, does not die)

Lessons In Chemistry, by Bonnie Garmus (Dog: 6:30, does not die)

My Grandmother Asked Me To Tell You She's Sorry, Fredrik Backman (Dog: The Wurse, dies)

Once There Were Wolves, Charlotte McConaghy (Dog: wolf pack, some die)

Under the Whispering Door, by TJ Klune (Dog: Apollo, is a ghost)

Daily Coyote, by Sherve Stockton (Dog: Charlie the coyote, does not die)

Mongrel, by Steven Graham Jones (Dog: family of werewolves, do not die)

Stay, by Allie Larkin (Dog: Joe, does not die)

Fairy Tale, by Stephen King (Dog: Radar, doesn't die in the story, but does in the epilog)

Mountaintop School For Dogs, by Ellen Cooney (Dog: many, none die)

Ryder Creed series, by Alex Kava (Dog: many, none die in book 1)

Bernie and Chet series, by Spencer Quinn (Dog: Chet, does not die)

Andy Carpenter series, by David Rosenfelt (Dog: Tara, does not die)

Mrs. Murphy series, by Rita Mae Brown (Dog: many)

No Ordinary Dog, by Will Chesney (Dog: Cairo, dies)

War Dogs, by Rebecca Frankel (Dog: many, some die)

Love That Dog, by Sharon Creech (Dog: Sky, dies)

Before You Were Mine, Maribeth Boelts (Dog: two of them, one dies, one does not die)

With the end of the year, in every area of entertainment, you can find lists of the best, and between reading everyone else's lists, Tana and I compiled our own book lists and we're happy to share with the hopes you might also find something to love.

Remarkably Bright Creatures, Shelby Van Pelt

Lessons in Chemistry, Bonnie Garmus

Cover Story, Susan Rigetti

Book of Goose, Yiyun Li

Signal Fires, Dani Shapiro

Mad Honey, Jodi Picoult

The Lioness, Chris Bohjalian

Swimmers, Julie Otsuka

Fresh Water for Flowers, Valérie Perrin

Honorable mention:

Black Cake, Charmaine Wilkerson

Last House on the Street, Diane Chamberlain

Nikki's List

The Winners, Fredrik Backman

Remarkably Bright Creatures, Shelby Van Pelt

Lessons in Chemistry, Bonnie Garmus

The Golden Enclaves: #3 in Scholomance Series, Naomi Novik

Take My Hand, Dolen Perkins-Valdez

Nine Lives, Peter Swanson

Ink Black Heart, Robert Galbraith

Fever, Mary Beth Keane

Braiding Sweetgrass, Robin Wall Kimmer

Honorable mention:

Killers of a Certain Age, Deanna Raybourn

Woman in the Library, Sulari Gentill

The Hacienda, Isabel Cañas

The Book of Cold Cases, Simone St. James

Once There Were Wolves, Charlotte McConaghey

On a Quiet Street, Serafina Nova Glass

Thistlefoot, JennaRose Nethercott

At my library, Nick has an Adult Popular Fiction book discussion group and he joins me today to discuss the more recent books they've read. I'd like to apologize for some of the audio glitches that occurred while Nick spoke -- we had hours of technical difficulties and at the end, I accepted whatever I could get.

Discussed:

Last Night at the Lobster, by Stewart O'Nan

Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Jacqueline in Paris, by Ann Mah

One Italian Summer, by Rebecca Serle

Briefly mentioned:

This Time Tomorrow, by Emma Straub

Malibu Rising, by Taylor Jenkins Reid

A lot of popular series have a new book that either just came out or is coming soon and Tana joins me to discuss our recent favorites.

Discussed:

The Mason Series: The Confession Club, by Elizabeth Berg

The Jaipur Trilogy: The Perfumist of Paris, by Alka Joshi

Before the Coffee Gets Cold Series: Before Your Memory Fades, by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

Finlay Donovan Series: Finlay Donovan Jumps the Gun, by Elle Cosimano

Beartown Series: The Winners, by Fredrik Backman

Scholomance Series: The Golden Enclaves, by Naomi Novik

Thursday Murder Club Series: The Bullet That Missed, by Richard Osman

When I was thinking of an episode that I could do about scary material, I didn't want to repeat last year so I thought, what scares me most? And to that, it's always been human monsters, the ones who kill other humans. So for October, I have a list of shows, podcasts, and books for all of you interested in... MURDER!

Discussed:

Streaming

Mindhunter (Netflix)

Unbelievable (Netflix)

Under the Benner of Heaven (on Hulu, not Prime as mentioned in the podcast)

Only Murders in the Building (on Hulu, not Prime as mentioned in the podcast)

Reacher (Prime)

True Detective (HBO)

The Killing (Hulu)

Top of the Lake (Hulu)

Luther (Hulu)

Broadchurch (PBS)

Very Scary People (Discovery+)

Podcasts

Casefile

Crime Junkie

Serial 

Sword and Scale

Man in the Window

Over My Dead Body: Fox Lake

Books

I'll Be Gone In the Dark, by Michelle McNamara

Furious Hours, by Casey Cep

Midnight Assassin, by Skip Hollandsworth

The phrase "of a certain age" is so emblematic of the vague way we describe women in midlife and beyond because they seem to become more and more invisible as they age, and as I'm venturing through this precarious stage in life, I'm looking for more female characters I can relate to, who are not tied to hearth and home as their identity. I've had a few in my head for this episode for a while, but I found a few more with some research, and I'd like to share those with everyone so you also can enjoy spunky, sharp women who are not just someone's mom or someone's grandmom. Enjoy!

Discussed:

Britt-Marie Was Here, by Fredrik Backman

State of Wonder, by Ann Patchett

Unsheltered, by Barbara Kingsolver

Celine, by Peter Heller

Emily Maxwell series, by Stewart O'Nan

The Beach House series, by Mary Alice Monroe

Thursday Murder Club, by Richard Osmon

The Woman with the Knife, by Gu Byeong-mo

The Marlow Murder Club, by Robert Thorogood

Brigid Quinn series, by Becky Masterman

The Mother-in-Law, by Sally Hepworth

The Elderly Lady series, by Helene Turston

Apples Never Fall, by Liane Moriarty

Also recommended:

Jody Picoult, Fannie Flagg, Anne Tyler, Terry McMillan, and Kristen Hannah.

Women in Translation

I don't know what it is about summer that makes me want to read only fun books but I know I'm not alone. Whether it's a good thriller, a visit to a French graveyard, a safari, or a humorous letter to a man's son about life, we have a bunch of books that you can devour in a warm afternoon by the pool or on a road trip while there's still time. Buckle up, we've got some doozies.

Discussed: 

The Lioness, by Chris Bohjalian

Fresh Water for Flowers, by Valérie Perrin

Remarkably Bright Creatures, by Shelby Van Pelt

Music of Bees, by Eileen Garvin

The Winners, by Fredrik Backman

The Stranger, by Harlan Coben

Things My Son Needs to Know About the World, Fredrik Backman

The Old Woman With the Knife, by Gu Byeong-mo

The Woman in the Library, by Sulari Gentill