The Book Case

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

We have expressed a desire to keep The Book Case non-political. But there is one issue we feel should not be a source of contention - and that is book banning and book challenges. We have been looking for a relatively safe way to approach the issue and think we’ve found it in a book by Amy Sarig King entitled Attack of the Black Rectangles. The "black rectangles" to which she refers are those black stripes that represent redactions of language. Amy writes for young people— target audience probably 11 to 16. But this book reads well for adults as well and addresses an important subject. It is a fictionalized account of an actual book redaction that her son discovered in a school assigned novel about the Holocaust. Amy argues, persuasively we feel, that young people don’t need this kind of ‘protection’ and that it’s a slippery slope from redactions to actual book bans. She has both a lovely book and a powerful argument.Afterwards we talk with Jonathan Friedman of PEN America who has written a thorough report about how the number of book challenges and bans are growing across the United States at an alarming rate.Books mentioned in the podcast: Attack of the Black Rectangles by Amy Sarig King (A.S. King) Me and Marvin Gardens By Amy Sarig King (A.S. King) The Devil's Arithmetic by Jane Yolen To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee Dig by Amy Sarig King (A. S. King) Ask the Passengers by Amy Sarig King (A. S. King) Reality Boy by Amy Sarig King (A. S. King) Everybody Sees the Ants by Amy Sarig King (A. S. King) God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

So you’re in your mid-50s, you’ve got a great career going as a television personality in Great Britain, so what might be enjoyable to do next? Why write a hugely successful series of mysteries of course. And that is what Richard Osman has done. His novel The Thursday Murder Club is about four bold septuagenarian friends who meet to discuss about unsolved crimes in their retirement village. The Man Who Died Twice and The Bullet That Missed are two riveting extensions of The Thursday Murder Club. Osman talks about casting the film adaptation of his novels and how his mother’s retirement village in England inspired his writing process. The independent bookstore this week is 27th Letter Books and we talk to Erin Pineda, the owner about their incredible story of survival.Books mentioned in the podcast: The Bullet That Missed by Richard Osman The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie Mystic River by Dennis Lehane One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou Scorpionfish by Natalie Bakopoulos Gag Reflex by Elle Nash Parker Looks Up: An Extraordinary Moment by Parker Curry, Jessica Curry and Brittany Jackson Crescenciana: An Art Book and Memoir by Crescenciana Tan + Kenneth Tan Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Elizabeth Strout is our guest this week, and our conversation couldn’t be more timely. First, her novel, Oh William! has just been short listed for the Booker Prize - perhaps the most prestigious award for a writer of literary fiction. And second, her latest novel in the Lucy Barton series has just been published - Lucy by the Sea. For those who love her writing, and we are among her greatest admirers, you know that Lucy by the Sea represents a continuation of the series that includes Oh William! The book allows us to see the chaos of the last years through Lucy's eyes, and it's a tumultuous, beautiful journey. The independent bookstore this week is Tattered Cover and we talk to Jeremy Patlen, their head buyer.Books mentioned in the podcast: Amy and Isabelle by Elizabeth Strout Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout Abide with Me by Elizabeth Strout Lucy by the Sea by Elizabeth Strout Oh William! By Elizabeth Strout The Burgess Boys by Elizabeth Strout My Name Is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout Anything Is Possible by Elizabeth Strout This is Happiness by Niall Williams The Collected Stories of William Trevor War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy Pigeon Feathers and Other Stories by John Updike Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage by Alice Munro Woman of Light by Kali Fajardo-Anstine Upgrade by Blake Crouch Just Kids by Patti Smith We are the Light by Matthew Quick Less Is Lost by Andrew Sean Greer Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Sue Miller is one of America’s finest and most admired authors. From the time of her first published novel in 1986, (The Good Mother), to her most recent, (Monogamy), Sue has developed a legion of devoted readers. Her plots often involve major events, but her greatest skill is the intimate understanding she has of her characters. She knows their head and their heart, or maybe it is that they know hers. How she writes, how she develops those characters, and what they mean to her are all subjects of our conversation. Sue Miller is one of our finest practitioners of literary fiction. We feel honored to have her in The Book Case. This week, we also talk to the host of “Moms Don’t Have Time to Read," Zibby Owens. She invited us on her podcast, so we returned the invitation.Books mentioned in this podcast: The Good Mother by Sue Miller Family Pictures by Sue Miller While I Was Gone by Sue Miller Inventing the Abbotts and Other Stories by Sue Miller Monogomy by Sue Miller The Lake Shore Limited by Sue Miller The Senator's Wife by Sue Miller The Arsonist by Sue Miller The Distinguished Guest by Sue Miller The World Below by Sue Miller The Story of My Father: A Memoir by Sue Miller Lost in the Forest by Sue Miller For Love by Sue Miller Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak The Short Stories of Leo Tolstoy by Leo Tolstoy Slow Motion: A Memoir of a Life Rescued by Tragedy by Dani Shapiro Hourglass: Time, Memory, Marriage by Dani Shapiro Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love by Dani Shapiro Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It was just a year ago that the U.S. withdrew its troops from Afghanistan. On that date, Nahid Shahalimi, an Afghan female writer living in Germany, realized that she needed to hurry to record the stories of prominent Afghan women who soon would try to escape their country, or stay and risk death. She did so, and compiled their stories in “We Are Still Here.” The world’s attention has turned to the crisis in Ukraine, but Afghanistan is still there and should not be forgotten, particularly the stories of women oppressed by the Taliban. This week, a conversation with Nahid Shahalimi, as she writes, “Listen to these women. See them. See their commitment to freedom and to their rights."Books mentioned in this podcast: We are Still Here edited by Nahid Shahalimi The Book of Life by Jidda Krishnamurti The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood A Land of Permanent Goodbyes by Atia Abawi The Secret Sky: A Novel of Forbidden Love in Afghanistan by Atia Abawi The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini And The Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini A House Without Windows by Nadia Hashimi When the Moon is Low by Nadia Hashimi Sparks Like Stars by Nadia Hashimi One Half from the East by Nadia Hashimi The Sky at Our Feet by Nadia Hashimi The Pearl that Broke Its Shell by Nadia Hashimi Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices