The Book Case

When this podcast was in its infancy, John Irving joined us to talk about his work and what he described as “his last big novel,” that was, at the time, still being written. It is now “in better bookstores everywhere” as they say. And “big” is something of an understatement. “The Last Chairlift” is close to 900 pages! Is it worth that much an investment of time? If you’re a John Irving admirer—how can you say no? And we are among John’s many admirers. The novel has all of John’s familiar themes: the search for an unknown father, sexual politics, a highly unusual family, ghosts as well as skiing, wrestling and Exeter Academy. John even includes a couple of screenplays as part of the story. Reading “The Last Chairlift” is a significant investment of time, but it is both moving and entertaining. This is our second conversation with John Irving, and he never fails to fascinate us.

Books in this podcast:

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A quick Google search will tell you there are over 15,000 books about Abraham Lincoln. Do we need another? Well yes, considering that none of them so far has been written by Jon Meacham who is one of America’s best biographers. “And There Was Light” has just been released. It is a most readable 420 page biography of our 16th President and it is timely. America is probably more divided now that at any time since Lincoln’s. Jon writes, “A President who led a divided country in which an implacable minority gave no quarter…has much to teach us in a twenty-first century moment of polarization.” Jon is a great conversationalist. At one point he says, "Some think I’m the love child of Mr. Rogers and Doris Kearns Goodwin.” How is that for a tease?

Books mentioned in this podcast:

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Doug Bauer has written a love story, "The Beckoning World". A man and a woman. A father and son. A love for a more innocent time. A lovely homage to America’s midwest. And a love story about baseball. It’s a simple book really—until it’s not. Boy meets girl. Boy is a promising pitcher. Girl's father says, "You pick: my daughter or baseball." He picks the girl. But then the book veers back to baseball and the protagonist pitcher and his son are barnstorming across America with Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. Sound implausible? Doug makes it seem perfectly reasonable. The Beckoning World is evocative of the early 20th century, conjures up small town baseball parks (you can almost smell the peanuts), and makes you feel like you know the Babe and Lou. Especially the Babe.

And speaking of small towns, this week’s bookstore is Fact and Fiction in Missoula, Montana. Give it all a listen.

Books mentioned in this podcast:

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Once again it was a title that caught our eye, leading us to a the book that was even more intriguing than the title. The book is How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water. The author is Angie Cruz. The book is a fascinating character study of Cara Romero, a Dominican immigrant who came to this country more than 25 years ago. She needs a job. There are 12 chapters— each a transcription of one of Cara’s meetings with a professional job counselor. You come to know Cara - or do you really? As she talks to the counselor and tells her/him not just about herself but about the immigrant community of which she is a part? A reader, we believe, will thoroughly enjoy getting to know Cara. A listener to The Book Case will enjoy getting to know Angie Cruz.

Instead of an independent bookstore this week we talk to each other about books we’ve read this year that we loved, but might not have been suited to a podcast.

How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water by Angie Cruz

Dominicana by Angie Cruz

Let It Rain Coffee by Angie Cruz

Soledad by Angie Cruz

Widow Basquiat by Jennifer Clement

Incidents in the Life of a Slave by Harriet Jacobs

The City We Became by N. K. Jemisin

The Lost Kings by Tyrell Johnson

The Guest List by Lucy Foley

Head Full of Ghosts by Paul G. Tremblay

Full Throttle by Joe Hill and Stephen King

The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson

The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson

Robert E Lee: A Life by Allen C. Guelzo

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We have expressed a desire to keep The Book Case non-political. But there is one issue we feel should not be a source of contention - and that is book banning and book challenges. We have been looking for a relatively safe way to approach the issue and think we’ve found it in a book by Amy Sarig King entitled Attack of the Black Rectangles. The "black rectangles" to which she refers are those black stripes that represent redactions of language. Amy writes for young people— target audience probably 11 to 16. But this book reads well for adults as well and addresses an important subject. It is a fictionalized account of an actual book redaction that her son discovered in a school assigned novel about the Holocaust. Amy argues, persuasively we feel, that young people don’t need this kind of ‘protection’ and that it’s a slippery slope from redactions to actual book bans. She has both a lovely book and a powerful argument.

Afterwards we talk with Jonathan Friedman of PEN America who has written a thorough report about how the number of book challenges and bans are growing across the United States at an alarming rate.

Books mentioned in the podcast:

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So you’re in your mid-50s, you’ve got a great career going as a television personality in Great Britain, so what might be enjoyable to do next? Why write a hugely successful series of mysteries of course. And that is what Richard Osman has done. His novel The Thursday Murder Club is about four bold septuagenarian friends who meet to discuss about unsolved crimes in their retirement village. The Man Who Died Twice and The Bullet That Missed are two riveting extensions of The Thursday Murder Club. Osman talks about casting the film adaptation of his novels and how his mother’s retirement village in England inspired his writing process. The independent bookstore this week is 27th Letter Books and we talk to Erin Pineda, the owner about their incredible story of survival.

Books mentioned in the podcast:

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Elizabeth Strout is our guest this week, and our conversation couldn’t be more timely. First, her novel, Oh William! has just been short listed for the Booker Prize - perhaps the most prestigious award for a writer of literary fiction. And second, her latest novel in the Lucy Barton series has just been published - Lucy by the Sea. For those who love her writing, and we are among her greatest admirers, you know that Lucy by the Sea represents a continuation of the series that includes Oh William! The book allows us to see the chaos of the last years through Lucy's eyes, and it's a tumultuous, beautiful journey. The independent bookstore this week is Tattered Cover and we talk to Jeremy Patlen, their head buyer.

Books mentioned in the podcast:

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Sue Miller is one of America’s finest and most admired authors. From the time of her first published novel in 1986, (The Good Mother), to her most recent, (Monogamy), Sue has developed a legion of devoted readers. Her plots often involve major events, but her greatest skill is the intimate understanding she has of her characters. She knows their head and their heart, or maybe it is that they know hers. How she writes, how she develops those characters, and what they mean to her are all subjects of our conversation. Sue Miller is one of our finest practitioners of literary fiction. We feel honored to have her in The Book Case.

 This week, we also talk to the host of “Moms Don’t Have Time to Read," Zibby Owens. She invited us on her podcast, so we returned the invitation.

Books mentioned in this podcast:

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It was just a year ago that the U.S. withdrew its troops from Afghanistan. On that date, Nahid Shahalimi, an Afghan female writer living in Germany, realized that she needed to hurry to record the stories of prominent Afghan women who soon would try to escape their country, or stay and risk death. She did so, and compiled their stories in “We Are Still Here.” The world’s attention has turned to the crisis in Ukraine, but Afghanistan is still there and should not be forgotten, particularly the stories of women oppressed by the Taliban. This week, a conversation with Nahid Shahalimi, as she writes, “Listen to these women. See them. See their commitment to freedom and to their rights."

Books mentioned in this podcast:

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Stuart Gibbs is this week’s guest and begins what we intend to be a periodic look at children's’ literature, or in the parlance of the day, “kids’ books”. Stuart has five different series of kids’s books in print - all successful, each aimed at the middle grades. His latest Spy School book is just out. Kate and I (grown-up who like to believe) loved it, as did our 12-year-old grandson and nephew, Lang (but then Stuart is his favorite author). To be a successful author of kids’ books we believe you have to be a good writer as well as a bit of a kid yourself. Stuart checks both boxes.

Books mentioned in the podcast:

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