The Perks Of Being A Book Lover Podcast

By Amy SmalleyEducation Language Learning

The Perks Of Being A Book Lover Podcast episodes

April 07, 2020 Ep. 40 Life and Literary Loss with The Long Before the End Bookclub 4-8-20
When we recorded with our guests for today’s episode over a month and a half ago, we had no idea how timely our discussion would be. Our topic today is mortality. The vast majority of people probably don’t like talking or thinking about that topic, but with Covid-19 confronting us every day, it's a subject that is certainly taking up space in our heads. But what we discovered during our discussion is that thinking about death also makes you think about the joys of life and humanity; and that’s something we can all use more of.
Justin Magnuson and Rebecca Sturgeon are co-moderators of a book club called The Long Before the End Book Club that started as part of The Before I Die Festival in Louisville Kentucky. They are an organization that along with other groups like Bevival and the Trager Institute at the University of Louisville promote discussions about the end of life through a variety of means including the arts. While it may seem bleak, the Long Before the End book club gives members a chance to be honest in a safe space in which everyone is in a shared boat of limited life.
Justin and Rebecca talk to us about how every book we read is a little bit about death, how their book discussions help members get through hard conversations with loved ones, and how it has been a gift to form a community by connecting with people they wouldn’t ordinarily meet.
Under normal circumstances, their book club meets once a month at a local coffee shop.
The COVID-19 pandemic has recently made it necessary for the book club to use distance technology for their book discussion. Toward the end of this episode, Carrie checks back in with Justin to find out how their bookclub is adjusting and thoughts on how the pandemic is affecting the way we live and the way we die.
Book Discussed:
1- The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes
2- Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
3- Spoon River Anthology by Edgar Lee Masters
4- Being Mortal by Atul Gawande
5- Spaceman of Bohemia by Jasoslav Kalfar
6- She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb
7- The Vegetarian by Han Kang
8- The Plaque by Albert Camus
9- All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
10- How Not to Die Alone by Richard Roper
11- The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai
12- The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin
13- Near the Exit by Lori Erickson
14- The Memory of Old Jack by Wendell Berry
15- LovingKindness by Sharon Salzburg
16- The Eyre Affair and the Thursday Next Series by Jasper Fforde
17- The Undying by Anne Boyer
18- The Last Massai Warriors by Jackson Ntirkana, Wilson Meikuya, and Susan McClelland
19- Short Stories by Kelly Barnhill
20- The Last Romantics by Tara Conklin
21- The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy
You can find us on FB, instagram (@perksofbeingabookloverpod) and on our blog site at www.perksofbeingabooklover.com
Perks airs on Forward Radio 106.5 FM and forwardradio.org every Wednesday at 6 pm, Thursdays at 6 am and 12 pm. We have purchased the rights to the theme music used.
1 hr
April 01, 2020 REBROADCAST - Knocking on Fantasy's Door with Alix Harrow 4-1-20
Alix Harrow is a Hugo award-winning writer of historical fantasy fiction who also happens to be a fellow Kentuckian. Her debut novel, The Ten Thousand Doors of January, has been called by Kirkus Reviews a ‘A love letter to imagination, adventure, the written word,’ and NPR books says it is one that should go on your Favorites Shelf. It has been on the Los Angeles Times Bestsellers List. It was recently nominated for the Nebula Award. She is a rising star in the burgeoning female revolution taking place in the science fiction and fantasy genres.
We interviewed Alix at the library of her alma mater, Berea College, in Berea, KY. She talked with us about the sub-genre of portal fantasies and her love-hate relationship with them
as a child, what influence becoming a mother had on writing the book, why she loves Chicago-style footnotes, and details about her second novel she is furiously trying to finish.
Books discussed in this episode:
1- The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix Harrow
2- The Man Who Sold Rope to the Gnoles by Margaret St. Clair (short story)
3- Gideon the 9th by Tamsyn Muir
4- The City We Became by N. K. Jemesin
5- The Unlikely Escape of Uriah Heep by H. G. Parry
6- The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
You can find us on FB, instagram (@perksofbeingabookloverpod) and on our blog site at www.perksofbeingabooklover.com
Perks airs on Forward Radio 106.5 FM and forwardradio.org every Wednesday at 6 pm, Thursdays at 6 am and 12 pm. We have purchased the rights to the theme music used.
1 hr
March 25, 2020 Ep. 39 Mountain Mamas and the Meaningful Memoir with Cassie Chambers 3-25-20
Our guest today grew up in poverty in eastern Kentucky, but attended Yale and Harvard, received her law degree, and came back to Kentucky to work for the Legal Aid Society, helping at-risk women in her home state. Cassie Chambers has also written a memoir, called Hill Women: Finding Family and a Way Forward in the Appalachian Mountains, about life and culture in Owsley County through the lens of three generations of women in her own family.
Her book came out in January of this year. Newsweek has named it a must-read book to savor this Spring, and Publisher’s Weekly called it a “passionate memoir”.
Cassie talks to us about her favorite book series from childhood that she still rereads as an adult, why she felt the women of Appalachia specifically need their stories told and what compelled her to write it, and why she thinks more women don’t run for office and why that needs to change.
Books Discussed during this Episode:
1- Anne of Green Gables series by Lucy Maude Montgomery
2- Fair and Tender Ladies by Lee Smith
3- The Wonder by Emma Donoghue
4- Castaway: Poems for our Time by Naomi Shihab Nye
5- Walkable City by Jeff Speck
You can find us on FB, instagram (@perksofbeingabookloverpod) and on our blog site at www.perksofbeingabooklover.com
Perks airs on Forward Radio 106.5 FM and forwardradio.org every Wednesday at 6 pm, Thursdays at 6 am and 12 pm. We have purchased the rights to the theme music used.
59 min
March 18, 2020 Ep. 38 When Reading Goes To The Dogs with Emily McKeehan 3-18-20
Our guest this week, Emily McKeehan, left a job in the insurance industry to follow her dream of becoming a high school English teacher because she felt that was what she has been called to do.
When she saw a Facebook article about how therapy dogs can help young elementary students with their reading, she had the crazy idea of trying them with her students at Eastern High School, which is in eastern Jefferson county outside Louisville. What she hoped for was to build confidence in her reluctant freshman readers, but what she got was so much more.
Emily talks to us about some books that are reliable favorites of her students year after year, what kind of students she feels get the most from working with a reading therapy dog, and what TV show was her bridge to loving the true crime genre.
We feel lucky to have had the chance to interview Emily the day before the Kentucky governor called off schools in the state for the corona virus pandemic.
Books discussed in this episode:
1- The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
2- The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
3- The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare
4- The Freedom Writers Diary by Erin Gruwell and the Freedom Writers
5- Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls by David Sedaris
6- The Stranger Beside Me by Ann Rule
7- I'll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara
8- In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
9- Notes from a Young Black Chef by Kwame Onwuachi and Joshua David Stein
10- Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann

You can find us on FB, instagram (@perksofbeingabookloverpod) and on our blog site at www.perksofbeingabooklover.com
Perks airs on Forward Radio 106.5 FM and forwardradio.org every Wednesday at 6 pm, Thursdays at 6 am and 12 pm. We have purchased the rights to the theme music used.
59 min
March 11, 2020 Ep. 36 Books Help the Medicine Go Down with Kimmery Martin 3-11-20
“Wherever the art of medicine is loved, there is also the love of humanity”. This quote from Hippocrates, the father of medicine, is especially true when doctors imbue their experiences into artistic pursuits like today’s guest. Kimmery Martin is an emergency room physician turned author whose medical fiction features female doctors shouldering the life and death responsibilities of their profession but also dealing with questions of friendship, love, and the thorny cultural Issues of our times with a good dose of humor thrown into the mix.
Her first novel Queen of Hearts, published in 2018, was praised by the New York Times and cited as a most anticipated book by Southern Living and Writers Digest.
Her newest book, The Antidote for Everything, explores the friendship between a female specialist and her best friend, a male family physician who also happens to be gay. Her book explores what happens when her best friend is told by the administration of the hospital that he can no longer provide care for LGBTQ patients or risk being fired.
Kimmery talks to us about her childhood growing up in Eastern Kentucky, the humorous way she chose the profession for her main character, what the storyline of her next book will look like, and why physicians have a unique perspective for writing fiction.
Books and Authors Discussed in this Episode:
1- Any book by Bill Bryson
2- Queen of Hearts by Kimmery Martin
3- The Antidote for Everything by Kimmery Martin
4- Any book by Chris Bohjalian
5- Booked by Kwame Alexander
6- Emma by Jane Austen
7- The Innocents by Micheal Crummey
You can find us on FB, instagram (@perksofbeingabookloverpod) and on our blog site at www.perksofbeingabooklover.com
Perks airs on Forward Radio 106.5 FM and forwardradio.org every Wednesday at 6 pm, Thursdays at 6 am and 12 pm. We have purchased the rights to the theme music used.
58 min
March 04, 2020 Ep. 36 The Literary Luck of the Irish with Niamh Lutes
It’s the beginning of March; a time for signs of spring, shamrocks, and St. Patrick’s Day when we all feel a little Irish.
Our guest today, Niamh Lutes, is a local music teacher, vocalist, and avid reader who grew up near Kilkenny, Ireland. She gives us a glimpse of a childhood in Ireland and a whole new world of Irish authors to add to our TBR.
Niamh talks to us about some of the Irish folktales she learned in school including the one for which she is named, why she hates the word chick lit, and what you absolutely shouldn’t ask for on St. Patrick’s Day if you are lucky enough to spend it in Ireland.

Books Mentioned in This Episode:
1- The Faraway Tree series / Famous Five series / Malory Towers series by Enid Blyton
2- Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
3- New Patches for Old by Christobel Mattingley
4- Peig: The Autobiography of Peig Sayers
5- Rachel's Holiday by Marian Keyes
6- P.S. I Love You / Roar by Cecelia Ahern
7- The Woman at 72 Derry Lane by Carmel Harrington
8- Crime fiction by Patricia Gibney
9- Angela and the Baby Jesus / Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt
10- The Commitments / The Snapper /The Van by Roddy Doyle
11- Ulysses by James Joyce
12- In the Woods by Tana French
13- How Many Miles to Babylon by Jennifer Johnston
14- Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward
15- Star of the Sea / Irish Man At Home and Abroad by Joseph O'Connor
16- Oh My God, What a Complete Aisling by Emer McLysaght and Sarah Breen
17- Under the Hawthorn Tree by Marita Conlon-McKenna
18- My Southern Journey: True Stories from the Heart of the South by Rick Bragg
19- March by Geraldine Brooks

You can find us on FB, instagram (@perksofbeingabookloverpod) and on our blog site at www.perksofbeingabooklover.com
Perks airs on Forward Radio 106.5 FM and forwardradio.org every Wednesday at 6 pm, Thursdays at 6 am and 12 pm. We have purchased the rights to the theme music used.
59 min
February 26, 2020 Ep. 35 Revision and Riding the Tiger with Katy Yocom 2-26-20
This week Carrie and I traveled to record at the Tompkins-Buchanan-Rankin Mansion, which is a Victorian era mansion built in 1871, with 12-foot ceilings, hand-carved wood balusters, and intricately designed colorful wallpapers. It has been preserved and enveloped by the campus of Spalding University and is the location of their School of Creative and Professional Writing and home base for today’s guest, debut novelist Katy Yocom.
Katy’s novel, Three Ways to Disappear, was published in 2019 and has won numerous awards including The Siskiyou Prize for Environmental Fiction. It has also been selected as a Barnes and Noble Indie Book Favorite.
Katy has vivid memories of as a child reading All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriott out loud with her mother. It was a short leap to her writing her own book about the intricacies of animal conservation and family bonds.
Katy tells us how her obsession with a set of newborn tiger cubs at the Louisville Zoo 14 years ago started her on the path to write her book, how a suggestion from an astute editor changed the trajectory of her novel, and why she believes much of the riskier and cutting edge literature is being published by small independent presses and how important it is to support them.
Books Discussed in this Episode
1- One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia
2- Severance by Ling Ma
3- The Road by Cormac McCarthy
4- Kindred by Octavia Butler
59 min
February 19, 2020 Ep. 34 A Literary Gang of Merry Millennials with Hannah Zimmerman and Amelia Reesor 2-19-20
Our guests today are members of a group they comicly refer to as a “literary gang”, a book club called The Monstrous Regiment, a name based on a book by author Terry Pratchett that features a feminist manifesto.
Hannah Zimmerman and Amelia Reesor started the group 3 ½ years ago with a focus on female-centric books, although as you will soon realize, every rule is meant to be broken in this high energy crowd of both male and female 20 and 30 somethings.
Hannah and Amelia talk to us about the difference between being a group that is female-centric versus feminist, why having male members adds interesting insights to their book discussions, and how they were surprised that the group has gone from a typical book club to a supportive social network.

Books Mentioned in this Episode:
Even Cowgirls Get the Blues by Tom Robbins
Coraline by Neil Gaiman
The Monstrous Regiment by Terry Pratchett
Beloved by Toni Morrison
My Sister the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite
The Power by Naomi Alderman
The Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers
The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George
Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
The Magician's Assistant by Ann Patchett
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert
Medallion Status by John Hodgman
The Dutch House by Ann Patchett
Winter's Solstice by Rosamunde Pilcher
From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg
You can find us on FB, instagram (@perksofbeingabookloverpod) and on our blog site at www.perksofbeingabooklover.com
Perks airs on Forward Radio 106.5 FM and forwardradio.org every Wednesday at 6 pm, Thursdays at 6 am and 12 pm. We have purchased the rights to the theme music used.
1 hr
February 12, 2020 Ep. 33 What WAS That? Let's Do It Again with Robert Eric Shoemaker 2-12-20
Our guest this week, Robert Eric Shoemaker, likes art that defies categorization. He is drawn to literary experiences that he would describe as “all kinds of crazy”. He is a poet, playwright, and translator who is the artistic director of Poetry Is: A Sound Experience, a collaboration between musicians and poets to create an event where the audience interacts with the performance in a way that perhaps makes poetry more accessible.
Eric tells us why some poets think poetry can have the power of magic, why he was drawn to write a musical about famous married poets Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes, and why he believes poetry is currently having a resurgence.
You can find us on FB, instagram (@perksofbeingabookloverpod) and on our blog site at www.perksofbeingabooklover.com
Perks airs on Forward Radio 106.5 FM and forwardradio.org every Wednesday at 6 pm, Thursdays at 6 am and 12 pm. We have purchased the rights to the theme music used.
59 min
February 05, 2020 Ep. 32 What Will We Read Next with Anne Bogel 2-5-20
Our guest this week, Anne Bogel, is a fellow Kentuckian, as well as the person thousands of readers turn to for new book recommendations with both her popular book and lifestyle blog, Modern Mrs. Darcy and on her podcast, What Should I Read Next. On her blog, you can sign up for book journaling classes, be part of a monthly online book club or read lifestyle articles like her tips for cozy sweater care. Her podcast examines the reading life of her guests and suggests new titles for them based on their favorites as well as a book they love to hate.
She is also a published author of two books. Her newest, which comes out in March, is titled, Don’t Overthink It: Make Easier Decisions, Stop Second Guessing, and Bring More Joy to Your Life.
Anne talks to us about how her blog started as an off-handed suggestion by her husband on New Years Eve 10 years ago, why she doesn’t feel the need to finish books she isn’t enjoying even if she is over halfway through, and some interesting things you may learn if you read the acknowledgements at the end of a book .
You can find us on FB, instagram (@perksofbeingabookloverpod) and on our blog site at www.perksofbeingabooklover.com
Perks airs on Forward Radio 106.5 FM and forwardradio.org every Wednesday at 6 pm, Thursdays at 6 am and 12 pm. We have purchased the rights to the theme music used.
1 hr

About The Perks Of Being A Book Lover Podcast

From the publisher's feed

Perks of Being a Book Lover is a show about books, people who read, and how reading, at its very best, is a social experience. Whether it be a book club, a poetry slam, or the production of a play;…