WYPL Book Talk

Kristen Meinzer is a former public radio producer and current podcaster, whose podcasts include By The Book, Movie Date, and We Love You (And So Can You). She's recently written a why and how to book called So You Want to Start a Podcast: Finding Your Voice, Telling Your Story, and Building a Community That Will Listen, which is published by William Morrow.

Pico Iyer is one of the world's great writers on our current age of travel and what it means to our connected societies. He writes for many publications, including Time Magazine and Harper's, and he has authored 15 books. Today we'll talk about his latest, A Beginner's Guide to Japan: Observations and Provocations which is published by Knopf.

Karen Abbott is a best-selling and respected writer of historical non-fiction. Her previous efforts are Sin in the Second City, American Rose: A Nation Laid Bare, and Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War.Today, we'll be talking about her latest, The Ghosts of Eden Park: The Bootleg King, the Women Who Pursued Him, and the Murder that Shocked Jazz-Age America, which is published by Crown

Guest host Blake McVey talks with writer Paul Tough about his new book, The Years That Matter Most:How College Makes Or Breaks Us, which was inspired by a chapter in his previous bestseller, How Children Succeed. It is a wide-ranging look at how cultural and economic factors can drastically affect students in higher learning, which is supposed to be one of the biggest contributors to social mobility in our society.

Lisa Howorth and her husband Richard are owners of Square Books in Oxford, Mississippi, one of the most beloved independent book stores in the country. In 2014, Lisa published her debut novel, Flying Shoes. Today we'll be talking about her second one, Summerlings, which is set in suburban Washington, DC during the summer of 1959.

William Kent Krueger is best known for his award-winning Cork O'Connor mystery series set in Minnesota. He's also written three stand-alone novels, The Devil's Bed, Ordinary Grace, which won the Edgar award for best novel, and the latest one, This Tender Land, which is published by Atria.

Brock Clarke is the chair of the English department at Bowdoin College and has written three collections of short stories and five novels, including An Arsonist's Guide to Writers' Homes in New England. He was previously on the program to talk about the novel, The Happiest People in the World, and today we'll be talking about his latest, Who Are You, Calvin Bledsoe?, which is published by Algonquin.

The Honorable Martin Clark is a recently retired circuit court judge from the Commonwealth of Virginia and a respected writer of legal fiction. His previous novels are The Many Aspects of Mobile Home Living, Plain Heathen Mischief, The Legal Limit, and The Jezebel Remedy. Today, we'll be talking about his latest book, The Substitution Order,which is published by Knopf.

Richard Zoglin has worn many hats at Time Magazine of the the years, writer, critic, and editor. He's also written three books looking at the history of American entertainment: Comedy at the Edge: How Stand-up in the 1970s Changed America, Hope:, Entertainer of the Century, about Bob Hope and now Elvis in Vegas: How the King Reinvented the Las Vegas Show which is published by Simon and Schuster.

Philip Mudd worked for the CIA for 20 years and the FBI for five. His last position a the CIA was a deputy director of the Counter Terrorism Center, in 2005 then FBI Director Robert Mueller appointed him the deputy director of the newly-established National Security Branch. He left government service in 2010, started a consulting company, began speaking in the media on security issues, and has written three books, Takedown: Inside the Search for Al Qaeda, The HEAD Game: High-Efficiency Analytic Decision Making and the Art of Solving Complex Problems Quickly, and today we will be talking about his latest, Black Site: The CIA in the Post-9/11 World, which is published by Liveright.