The Book Case

After you’ve bought Sister Sally the alpaca sweater, brother Billy his baseball bat, Mom her mixer and Dad his golf ball retriever, what small presents should you add? A book, of course! Everyone appreciates the thought that goes into giving just the right book. So have no fear, Kate and Charlie are here with what will be our annual “just the right book for everyone’s End-of-year book list.” If you can't find it here, you can’t find it anywhere. Mitchell Kaplan of Florida’s "Books and Books" gives us fiction selections. Bradley Graham of Washington’s "Politics and Prose" on non-fiction, Celia Sack of San Francisco’s "Omnivore Bookstore" on cookbooks, Justin Colussi-Estes of Decatur, Georgia’s 'Little Shop of Stores' on young adult books broken down by age groups, Otto Penzler from New York City’s The Mysterious Bookstore” on mysteries. And best for last, Kate and Charlie ourselves on coffee table books. Why us? Well, we each occasionally drink coffee and we each have a living room table. Oh yeah, and we didn’t want to feel left out. Enjoy! And if you want to give US a present, rate us and write a comment where you get your podcasts. We read ‘em. Happy Holidays listeners! We love you all! We love you all!Non-Fiction: (Bradley Graham)Books mentioned in this podcast:Non-Fiction: (Bradley Graham) Lost and Found: A Memoir by Kathryn Schulz Path Lit By Lightening: The Life of Jim Thorpe by David Maraniss The Great Air Race: Glory, Tragedy and the Dawn of American Aviation by John Lancaster Waging a Good War: A Military History of the Civil Rights Movement, 1954-1968 by Thomas E. Ricks Lady Justice: Women, the Law, and the Battle to Save America by Dahlia Lithwick Mysteries: (Otto Penzler) Desert Star by Michael Connelly A World of Curiosities by Louise Penny Death and the Conjuror by Tom Mead The Twist of a Knife by Anthony Horowitz Silent Nights: Christmas Mysteries Edited by Martin Edwards The Dark Hours by Michael Connelly Coffee Table Books: (Us) Football: Designing the Beautiful Game by James Bird, Sam Handy, Jacques Herzog, Thomas Turner, Eleanor Watson The Philosophy of Modern Song by Bob Dylan African Art Now by Osei Bonsu The Space Shuttle: A Mission-by-Mission Celebration of NASA’s Extraordinary Spaceflight Program by Roland Miller Cookbooks: (Celia Sack) Woks of Life: Recipes to Know and Love from a Chinese American Family by Bill Leung, Kaitlin Leung, Judy Leung, Sarah Leung What’s for Dessert by Claire Saffitz BUDMO! Recipes from a Ukrainian Kitchen by Anna Voloshyna Diasporican: A Puerto Rican Cookbook by Illyanna Maisonet The Bartender’s Guide to the World: Cocktails and Stories from 75 Places by Lauren Mote Children’s Books: (Justin Colussi-Estes) Three Billy Goats Gruff by Mac Barnett The Mouse Who Carried a House on His Back by Jonathan Stutzman Everything in Its Place: A Story of Books and Belonging by Pauline David-Sax A Rover’s Story by Jasmine Warga Thirteen Witches by Jodi Lynn Anderson The Sea of Always (Thirteen Witches Book 2) by Jodi Lynn Anderson Two Degrees by Alan Gratz The Star that Always Stays by Anna Rose Johnson Shuna’s Journey by Hayao Miyazaki Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The book is Demon Copperhead , the author is Barbara Kingsolver. That should be enough said. If you read it and don’t come away thinking it is the best book you’ve read this year, it will be among the best. Her book is a prodigious feat on many levels. It is beautifully written. It gives you a sense of a part of America often ignored. It has wonderful characters. It is funny, and she writes it as a parallel to David Copperfield , Charles Dickens' most personal novel. She’s a great writer and a great talker. Give a listen.Our bookstore this week is Rainy Day Books in Kansas City, where the state line runs right through the center of town.Books mentioned in this podcast:The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara KingsolverThe Bean Trees by Barbara KingsolverFlight Behavior by Barbara KingsolverDemon Copperhead by Barbara KingsolverKing Lear by ShakespeareA Thousand Acres by Jane SmileyDavid Copperfield by Charles DickensAnimal Dreams by Barbara KingsolverCannery Row by John SteinbeckMiddlemarch by George EliotPilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie DillardHamnet by Maggie O’FarrellLove & Saffron by Kim Fay84 Chairing Cross by Road Helene HanffDouble Agent by Tom BradbyA Single Spy by William ChristieI Am Pilgrim by Terry HayesThe River of Gods by John SpekeRiver of Doubt Candice MillardRadical Kindness: The Life-Changing Power of Giving and Recieving by Angela Santomero Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Nelson DeMille - to meet him you’d think of him as the prototypical grandfatherly guy, mild-of-manner with a gentle soul. And you’d be right. It would be most unlikely that you’d also spot him as a guy who has written dozens of murder mysteries, spy novels and thrillers that have gained him a devoted audience. He has devised lots of ways to bump off his characters. You must watch out for those grandfatherly types. With 23 books in circulation and over 50 million sold, DeMille still debuts on the bestseller list with each release, and his latest, The Maze, was no exception. The bookstore this week is also an American institution: The Faulkner House Bookstore in New Orleans. The store sells all kinds of books in a space that also happens to be a Faulkner landmark.Books mentioned in this podcast:  The Maze by Nelson DeMille The Gate House by Nelson DeMille The Gold Coast by Nelson DeMille The Panther by Nelson DeMille The General’s Daughter by Nelson DeMille The Charm School by Nelson DeMille The Quest by Nelson DeMille Night Fall by Nelson DeMille Plum Island by Nelson DeMille The Lion’s Game by Nelson DeMille The Lion by Nelson DeMille The Deserter by Nelson and Alex DeMille Radiant Angel by Nelson DeMille Wild Fire by Nelson DeMille The Sniper by Nelson DeMille The Hammer of God by Nelson DeMille Spencerville by Nelson DeMille Cathedral by Nelson DeMille By the Rivers of Babylon by Nelson DeMille The Cuban Affair by Nelson DeMille Mayday by Nelson DeMille and Thomas Block Superfudge by Judy Blume Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro Ashton Hall by Lauren Belfer As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner Absalom, Absalom! By William Faulkner The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner Some Go Home by Odie Lindsey Welcome to our Senses by Odie Lindsey Collected Stories by William Faulkner Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Let’s do the math. A human’s average life span: 80 years. Years after Similac and Gerbers: say 75 years. At approximately 1000 meals per year, that’s a lifetime of 75,000 meals. What if you had a different recipe for every one of those 75,000 meals? Celia Sack does. She is one of the owners of Omnivore Books in San Francisco. They sell nothing but cookbooks and books about food and drink. You don’t go into her store asking, “What should I be reading?” but instead, “What should I be cooking or baking?" We ‘drop’ this podcast on Thanksgiving Day when everyone is thinking about food. Celia thinks about it every day. And, of course, we’re all thinking about things to be thankful for, including our listeners. We’re thankful for our chance to talk with Celia. She is a delight.Books mentioned in this podcast: Small Victories by Julia Turshen Kitchen Simple: Essential Recipes for Everyday Cooking by James Peterson The Nutmeg Trail: Recipes and Stories Along the Ancient Spice Routines by Eleanor Ford The Joy of Cooking by Irma S. Rombauer The New Basics Cookbook by Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins The Food of Morocco by Paula Wolfert The Art of Mexican Cooking by Diana Kennedy Mourad: New Moroccan by Mourad Lahlou Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child, Simone Beck, and Louisette Bertholle The Way to Cook by Julia Child Julia's Kitchen Wisdom: Essential Techniques and Recipes from a Lifetime of Cooking by Julia Child The Pat Conroy Cookbook: Recipes and Stories of My Life by Pat Conroy The Escoffier Cookbook: and Guide to the Fine Art of Cookery for Connoisseurs, Chefs, Epicures by Auguste Escoffier Nothing Fancy by Alison Roman Dining In: Highly Cookable Recipes by Alison Roman The Zuni Cafe Cookbook by Judy Rogers Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week on the Book Case we have two more authors from the Brooklyn Book Festival. You can find Angeline Boulley's The Firekeeper's Daughter on the YA shelves of your local library or bookstore, but the book transcends the genre. She'll talk about how she approaches world-building and gives us a sneak preview of her highly-anticipated new novel coming out next spring. Kate also catches up with Book Case favorite Sidik Fofana and sits down with Jory Southurst, the manager of the bookstore at the Center for Fiction. This episode was recorded at The Center for Fiction. It's a beautiful part of the Brooklyn literary community with classes and events. Their bookstore shouldn't be missed!Books mentioned in this podcast; Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley Stories from the Tenants Downstairs by Sidik Fofana Crazy Horse’s Girlfriend by Erika T. Wurth A Lesson in Vengeance by Victoria Lee Murder on the Red River by Marcie R. Rendon The Last Time They Met by Anita Shreve The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline Sisters of the Neversea by Cynthia Leitich Smith Babel by R.F. Kuang A Little Life Hanya Yanagihara Lapvona by Ottessa Moshfegh Greenland by David Santos Donaldson A Novel Obsession by Caitlin Barasch The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb Neruda on the Park by Cleyvis Natera The Turner House by Angela Flournoy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Cleyvis Natera took 15 years to write Neruda on the Park, and you can see why when you read the novel. There many pieces of the book that speak to Natera's life: navigating America with and on behalf of her parents, seeing gentrification slowly creep into the neighborhoods she has loved, the flawed and complex relationships between generations of women within one community. Kate had a chance to sit down with Cleyvis at the recent Brooklyn Book Festival and they talked about how Cleyvis' growth and maturity contributed to the growth and maturity of her novel. We then talk to Book Ends and Beginnings in Evanston, Illinois, a book lovers bookstore in a great college town.Books mentioned in this podcast: Neruda on the Park by Cleyvis Natera When I was Puerto Rican by Esmeralda Santiago The Candy House by Jennifer Egan The Street by Ann Petry The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats Matrix by Lauren Groff Marrying the Ketchups by Jennifer Close Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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: The Last Chairlift by John Irving Setting Free the Bears by John Irving The Water-Method Man by John Irving The 158-Pound Marriage by John Irving The World According to Garp by John Irving The Hotel New Hampshire by John Irving The Cider House Rules by John Irving A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving Trying to Save Piggy Sneed by John Irving A Son of the Circus by John Irving The Imaginary Girlfriend by John Irving A Widow for One Year by John Irving My Movie Business: A Memoir by John Irving The Fourth Hand by John Irving Until I Find You by John Irving Last Night in Twisted River by John Irving In One Person by John Irving Avenue of Mysteries by John Irving David Copperfield by Charles Dickens Moby Dick by Herman Melville Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy A Saint from Texas by Edmund White A Previous Life by Edmund White Original Prin by Randy Boyagoda Dante's Indiana by Randy Boyagoda The Absolutist by John Boyne The Heart's Invisible Furies by John Boyne A History of Loneliness by John Boyne The Way Home by Kardea Brown South of Broad by Pat Conroy Embassy Wife by Katie Crouch Neruda on the Park by Cleyvis Natera Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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: And There was Light by Jon Meacham The Soul of America by Jon Meacham American Lion by Jon Meacham Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power by Jon Meacham Franklin and Winston by Jon Meacham His Truth is Marching On by Jon Meacham American Gospel by Jon Meacham The Hope of Glory by Jon Meacham Destiny and Power by Jon Meacham All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren The Wise Men by Walter Isaacson and Evan Thomas Barchester Towers by Anthony Trollope The Prime Minister by Anthony Trollope The Warden by Anthony Trollope Emma by Jane Austen The Chain by Adrian McKintey Catch-22 by Joseph Heller The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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: The Beckoning World by Douglas Bauer The Book of Famous Iowans by Douglas Bauer The Very Air by Douglas Bauer Dexterity by Douglas Bauer Great Expectations by Charles Dickens Sister Noon by Karen Joy Fowler Wild Kingdom by Vijay Seshadri War and Peace By Leo Tolstoy Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy The Beautiful and the Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald Thrust by Lidia Yuknavitch Body Grammar by Jules Ohman Killing Custer by James Welch Penguin Problems Jory John Dragons Love Tacos by Adam Rubin illustrated by Daniel Salmieri Mother Bruce Book Series by Ryan T. Higgins Winter in the Blood by James Welch Perma Red by Debra Magpie Earling The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster Once Sentence Journal by Chris La Tray Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 CruzDominicana by Angie CruzLet It Rain Coffee by Angie CruzSoledad by Angie CruzWidow Basquiat by Jennifer ClementIncidents in the Life of a Slave by Harriet JacobsThe City We Became by N. K. JemisinThe Lost Kings by Tyrell JohnsonThe Guest List by Lucy FoleyHead Full of Ghosts by Paul G. TremblayFull Throttle by Joe Hill and Stephen KingThe 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas JonassonThe Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel WilkersonRobert E Lee: A Life by Allen C. Guelzo Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices