
Just the Right Book with Roxanne Coady
Just the Right Book is a podcast hosted by Roxanne Coady, owner of famous independent bookstore R.J. Julia Booksellers in Madison, CT, that will help you discover new and note-worthy books in all genres, give you unique insights into your favorite authors, and bring you up to date with what’s happening in the literary world.
Latest episodes

Apr 12, 2017 • 33min
Kimberly Williams-Paisley Finds Light After Loss
You probably know Kimberly Williams-Paisley as Annie Banks in the popular Father of the Bride movies, from one of her many TV roles or as the wife of country music star, Brad Paisley. The NY Times bestselling author of "Where the Light Gets in: Losing My Mother Only to Find Her Again" opens up to Roxanne (who lost her own mother, Viola Ohlbaum just days prior to recording this interview) on a special episode of "Just the Right Book." Kimberly documents her mother’s rare form of dementia and tracks her family’s actions and emotions through the process and her death last year. “My mother didn’t want us to talk about her illness; she wanted it to be the family secret,” says Williams-Paisley. While she wanted to honor her mother’s wishes and “protect her pride, it was a mistake and I regret it. By keeping it secret, we missed out on a lot of resources we could have been using.” The book, says Roxanne, “does a brilliant job of normalizing a situation that many people find hard to think of as normal.”
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For More Information on Alzheimer's & Dementia visit the Alzheimer's Association website
Books in this episode:
Where the Light Gets in: Losing My Mother Only to Find Her Again by Kimberly Williams-Paisley
In Lieu of Flowers: A Conversation for the Living by Nancy Howard Cobb

Mar 22, 2017 • 35min
Jason Stanley tells us "How Propaganda Works"
Author, professor, philosopher, Jason Stanley stopped by the Just the Right Book studios to talk propaganda, how it works and how language influences the way we think and reason about public issues. The "How Propaganda Works" author holds a PhD from MIT, has taught philosophy at Cornell, University of Michigan and Rutgers, and is now a professor of philosophy at Yale University. Also in this episode, Roxanne gives us some of her favorite picks from the National Book Critics Circle Awards.
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Books in this episode:
How Propaganda Works by Jason Stanley
The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois
Narrative of Sojourner Truth by Soujourner Truth
Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond
Lab Girl by Hope Jahren
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

Mar 15, 2017 • 41min
Amy Dickinson says "Strangers Tend to Tell Me Things"
You probably know Amy Dickinson from the nationally syndicated advice column "Ask Amy", which is carried in over 150 newspapers and read by an estimated 22 million readers daily! She is also a best-selling author and featured panelist on NPR's popular comedy quiz show "Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me." Amy's new book "Strangers Tend to Tell Me Things: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Coming Home", picks up where her New York Times best-selling memoir, "The Mighty Queens of Freeville" left off. She recently joined "Just the Right Book" to chat about finding love at middle-age, the heartbreak of caring for an ailing parent at the end of life and of course her moving back to her hometown of Freeville, NY.
Be sure to like us on Facebook and join our mailing list to hear more news about “Just the Right Book Podcast.”
Strangers Tend to Tell Me Things: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Coming Home by Amy Dickinson
The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost

Mar 1, 2017 • 31min
Trainwreck: The Women We Love to Hate, Mock, and Fear...and Why
Sady Doyle is an award-winning writer and journalist who's work has appeared in The Guardian, Slate, Buzzfeed, The Atlantic, just to name a few. The Brooklyn resident and founder of the feminist blog Tiger Beatdown joined Roxanne to talk about her latest book "Trainwreck: The Women We Love to Hate, Mock, and Fear...and Why.” In her interview, Sady talks about Britney Spears, Amy Winehouse, Hillary Clinton, Marilyn Monroe and even Mary Wollstonecraft. Later in the episode, Just the Right Book hits the streets of the Big Apple to find out what people are reading in NYC.
Books mentioned in this episode:
Trainwreck: The Women We Love to Hate, Mock, and Fear…and Why By Sady Doyle
Valencia by Michelle Tea
Ariel by Sylvia Plath
Black Wave by Michelle Tea
We Were Feminists Once: From Riot Grrrl to Covergirl, the Buying and Selling of a Political Movement by Andi Zeisler
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling
Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon
Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver
Emma by Jane Austin

Jan 25, 2017 • 42min
"If You Lean In, Will Men Just Look Down Your Blouse?"
Dr. Gina Barreca is a women's humorist, author, writer, speaker and professor at UConn. Her latest book, "If You Lean In, Will Men Just Look Down Your Blouse?: Questions and Thoughts for Loud, Smart Women in Turbulent Times" is a collection of fun, feminist-infused essays. The feminist humor maven stopped by "Just the Right Book" right before the Women's Marches to chat with Roxanne about the women empowerment books that we all need to read.
Gina's site: http://ginabarreca.com/
Books in this episode:
"If You Lean In, Will Men Just Look Down Your Blouse?": Questions and Thoughts for Loud, Smart Women in Turbulent Times By Gina Barreca
The Second Sex By Simone De Beauvoir
The Golden Notebook By Doris Lessing
Purity and Danger: An Analysis of Concepts of Pollution and Taboo By Mary Douglas
How Institutions Think By Mary Douglas
The Powers of the Weak By Elizabeth Janeway
We Should All Be Feminists By Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman By Robert K. Massie
Cleopatra: A Life By Stacy Schiff
Personal History By Katharine Graham
She By H. Rider Haggard
My Age of Anxiety: Fear, Hope, Dread, and the Search for Peace of Mind By Scott Stossel
Pretty Is By Maggie Mitchell
In Praise of Folly By Desiderius Erasmus

Jan 4, 2017 • 44min
Kidnapped and Displayed as Circus Freaks in the Jim Crow South
Beth Macy's last book, "Factory Man" is a New York Times best-seller and now in development to become an HBO mini-series produced by Tom Hanks. Beth's latest book "Truevine: Two Brothers, a Kidnapping, and a Mother's Quest: A True Story of the Jim Crow South" is already generating film buzz. Beth came straight to Roxanne to dish about the book that is catching the attention of one of Hollywood's hottest leading men. Also in this episode, RJ Julia's General Manager stops by to tell us just what it takes to become a bookseller.
Books in this episode:
Truevine: Two Brothers, a Kidnapping, and a Mother's Quest: A True Story of the Jim Crow South by Beth Macy
Commonwealth by Ann Patchett
Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah
The Women in the Castle by Jessica Shattuck
News of the World by Paulette Jiles