WYPL Book Talk

John Grisham is of course one of the most beloved writers of fiction in the world today, having sold close to 300 million books worldwide including The Firm, A Time To Kill, Camino Island, and A Painted House, as well as the Theodore Boone  series for younger readers. He spent much of his childhood in Southhaven, Mississippi just across the border from Memphis. He recently returned to town to sign copies of his latest novel for Burke's Books, a store which was one of his earliest supporters. His new novel is The Rooster Bar, a thriller about a trio of third-year law school students who take unusual steps to deal with their mountain of student debt which they built up at a shady for-profit program in Washington, DC. A little bit later, we'll be joined by Memphis-native and best-selling non-fiction author Hampton Sides who joined Mr. Grisham later in the day for a conversation at Christian Brothers University for an audience of 500 fans.

Hampton Sides who is a Memphis native and author of best-selling non-fiction books like Hellhound on His Trail and Blood and Thunder. There were some technically difficulties, so Mr. Sides microphone wasn't operating properly, but we salvaged what was overheard by Mr. Grisham's microphone.

Linda Lloyd talks to Elizabeth Heiskell about her cookbook, What Can I Bring? Southern Food for Any Occasion Life Serves Up. Mississippian Elizabeth is farmer and a contributor for Southern Living magazine and NBC's Today show. This highly-spirited and charming conversation will be a winner for people who might be looking for something to take to potlucks this coming holiday season.

Michelle Kuo graduated from Harvard Law and teaches in the History, Law, and Society program at the American University of Paris on issues related to race, punishment, immigration, and the law. We recently spoke about her debut book, a memoir, Reading with Patrick: A Teacher, a Student, and a Life-Changing Friendship.

Tova Mirvis has published three novels, The Ladies Auxiliary, The Outside World, and Visible City, but today we'll be talking about her memoir which deals with her ending her marriage at the same time she questions her commitment to Modern Orthodox Judaism. It's called The Book of Separation, published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Daren Wang is the founding Executive Director of AJC Decatur Book Festival. As a public radio producer, he produced and or hosted several series  including The Spoken Word, Porches: The South and Her Writers, and Atlanta Forum. His writing has appeared in Paste Magazine, The Atlanta Journal Constitution, The Saporta Report, and others. Today we talk about his debut novel, The Hidden Light of Northern Fires, which is available from Thomas Dunne Books.

Reed Farrel Coleman is the author of the much-lauded Mo Prager detective series. He recently started a new new series starring grief-stricken retired cop and current hotel detective Gus Murphy. The first of which Where it Hurts just won the 2017 Shamus award for best detective novel. Earlier this year, we spoke about the second in the series, What You Break. But today we'll be talking about the fourth Jesse Stone book he has written for the Robert B. Parker estate. It's called Robert B. Parker's The Hangman's Sonnet, and it's published by GP Putnam's Sons.

This week, Blake McVey talks to best-selling writer Will Schwalbe. Will has careers as editor in the publishing world , as the founder of cookstr.com, and has turned his hand to writing books. His first, Send: Why People Email So Badly and How to Do it Better—was co-written  with David Shipley. The second, The End of Your Life Book Club, and today he and Blake will discuss his third, Books For Living, which is now in paperback, published by Vintage.

Thomas Mullen has published five novels, The Last Town on Earth, which won the James Fenimore Cooper prize, The Many Deaths of the Firefly Brothers, The Revisionists. His latest Lightning Men is a continuation of a series begun with his previous novel, Darktown, which follows two of Atlanta's first African-American police officers following World War Two. It's now 1950 and when three African-American families move into a formerly all-white neighborhood, Officers Lucius Bogs and Tommy Smith, as well as white policeman Denny Rakestraw, discover that morality often lies outside the law.

Anne Gisleson's writing has appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, The Oxford American, The Believer, and The Los Angeles Times, among others. Today we'll be talking about her first book, The Futilitarians: Our Year of Thinking, Drinking, Grieving, and Reading which is published by Little, Brown.