The Book Case

Jeff Hobbs is a best-selling author, but the way he listens to his subjects and retells their stories brings a deeply human perspective to really difficult topics.  His newest, Seeking Shelter, is the story of homelessness told through the eyes of Evelyn, a devoted and fierce mother of six, determined to keep her kids out of the welfare system.  Jeff spent hundreds of hours talking to Evelyn and her kids about surviving the streets as a family (though not unscathed).  Jeff is a compelling storyteller, a thoughtful author, and his subjects trust him with some of the toughest moments of their lives.  Tune in to find out why. Find books mentioned on The Book Case: https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/shop/story/book-case-podcast-reading-list-118433302Books mentioned in this week's episode:Seeking Shelter: A Working Mother, Her Children, and a Story of Homelessness in America by Jeff HobbsThe Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace by Jeff HobbsChildren of the State: Stories of Survival and Hope in the Juvenile Justice System by Jeff HobbsShow Them You’re Good: A Portrait of Boys in the City of Angels the Year Before College by Jeff Hobbs Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This is a Love Story by Jessica Soffer sees love’s complexities, beauties; its selfishness, difficulties, and maddening passions. Jessica Soffer tells us the story of a 50 year marriage between Abe and Jane as Jane lies dying in a hospital bed. The backdrop of their romance is Central Park, and despite the constant presence of love in the story, it is not overly sentimental or maudlin. Tune in and find out how a writer spent years writing a marriage that lasted decades.Books mentioned in this week's episode:This is a Love Story by Jessica SofferMrs. Dalloway by Virginia WoolfBy Nightfall by Michael Cunningham Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Adam Haslett’s new novel, Mothers & Sons is a brilliant book examining the relationships between mothers and sons from all sorts of angles.  The story of Peter and his mother Ann, who have so much in common and yet are estranged.  Compelling, original and moving, this a novel that stays with you. Books mentioned in this week's episode:Mothers & Sons by Adam HaslettImagine Me Gone by Adam HaslettYou are Not a Stranger Here by Adam HaslettUnion Atlantic by Adam HaslettMy Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth StroutKing Lear by William ShakespeareMoby Dick by Herman MelvilleTinkers by Paul Harding Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Booker Prize is awarded each year to the best work of sustained fiction in the English language.   In other words, it doesn’t get any more prestigious than the Booker.  And we are honored this week to have Samantha Harvey who wrote the 2024 Booker winner entitled “Orbital”.   When you read her beautiful prose, you’ll know why she won.  And when you listen to her tell us how and why she wrote “Orbital”, you’ll be as impressed with Samantha Harvey as we are. Books mentioned in this week's episode:“Orbital” by Samantha Harvey“The Shapeless Unease” by Samantha Harvey“Mrs. Dalloway” by Virginia Woolf“The Western Wind” by Samantha Harvey “The Wilderness” by Samantha Harvey“Dear Thief” by Samantha Harvey Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

If like your drama in a courtroom, Scott Turow is the writer for you.  His newest, Presumed Guilty, is the conclusion to the story of Rusty Sabitch, his best known protagonist.  It’s a wonderfully written page turner that we bet you won’t be able to put down.  If your heart pounds to the sound of a gavel and a bailiff saying ALL RISE, tune in and listen to find out why Scott thinks law is still the noblest pursuit of them all.   Books mentioned in this week's episode:Presumed Guilty by Scott TurowPresumed Innocent by Scott TurowBurden of Proof by Scott TurowOne L by Scott TurowInnocence by Scott Turow The Last Trial by Scott TurowSuspect by Scott TurowReversible Errors by Scott TurowPersonal Injuries by Scott TurowThe Laws of Our Fathers by Scott TurowIdentical by Scott TurowLimitations by Scott TurowOrdinary Heroes by Scott TurowTestimony by Scott TurowThe Orphan’s Son by Adam JohnsonThe Magic Barrel by Bernard MalamudThe Natural by Bernard MalamudThe Fixer by Bernard Malamud  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Our first book show of the year is a first-time novelist, Karissa Chen.  Her new book Homecoming is a novel a portrait in longing, an epoch love story between two characters torn apart by political unrest at the time of the Communist Revolution in China.  It’s ambitious, it’s beautiful and it’s one of the best historical portrayals of China’s complex histories we have ever read.  Join us!Books mentioned in this week's episode:Homecoming by Karissa ChenWritten on the Water by Eileen ChangDo Not Say We Have Nothing by Madeleine ThienLolita by Vladimir NabokovEverything Inside by Edwidge DanticatAutobiography of Red by Anne CarsonGuess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratneyThe Poetry of Derek Walcott 1948-2013 by DerekWalcott Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week we take a look back at last year’s Book Case episodes focussing on the methodology of writing. We love talking to authors about their technique, their inspirations, and we love exploring how they do what they do. So this week we sew together some of our favorite ideas and methods coming from our authors, on how to write a book. We hope that we have some aspiring authors listening, and that there is inspiration to be taken from each of these ideas.Books mentioned in this week's episode:We Solve Murders by Richard OsmanThe Grey Wolf by Louise PennyThe Time of the Child by Niall WilliamsBel Canto: The Annotated Edition by Ann PatchettColored Television by Danzy SennaTell me Everything by Elizabeth StroutThe History of Sound: Stories by Ben ShattuckSaturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club by J Ryan StradalShanghai by Joseph KanonThe Demon of Unrest by Erik LarsonTable for Two by Amor TowlesThe Hunter by Tana FrenchAfter Anna by Anna QuindlenMartyr! by Kaveh Akbar Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We decided to break format this week, and we might do it again at that (it was wonderful).  To ring in the holiday week, we had to spend a little time talking about A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.  And we must admit we had never read it until now.  We sit down with Dean Natalie McKnight at Boston University, and Professor Joel Brattin at Worcester Polytechnic. Both top Dickensian scholars in their field, we ask them why this book still universally resonates….hundreds of years later.Books mentioned in this week's episode:A Christmas Carol by Charles DickensThe Pickwick Papers by Charles DickensOliver Twist by Charles DickensGreat Expectations by Charles DickensNicholas Nickleby by Charles DickensThe Old Curiosity Shop by Charles DickensBarnaby Rudge by Charles DickensThe Chimes by Charles DickensMartin Chuzzlewit by Charles DickensThe Cricket on the Hearth by Charles DickensThe Battle of Life: A Love Story by Charles DickensThe Haunted Man and the Ghost’s Bargain by Charles DickensDombey and Son by Charles DickensDavid Copperfield by Charles DickensBleak House by Charles DickensHard Times by Charles DickensLittle Dorrit by Charles Dickens A Tale of Two Cities by Charles DickensOur Mutual Friend by Charles DickensThe Mystery of Edwin Drood by Charles Dickens Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We know we want to talk to an author if we argue long and lustily about a book’s themes. And Like Mother, Like Mother, the newest by Susan Rieger, has so many themes: how we cannot escape our mothers, the concept of whether women can “have it all”, the debate on nature vs. nurture…and so much more. These are characters that will stay with you long after you have finished, and is a great selection for book clubs out there. Take a break from holiday prep and join us for our conversation with Susan Rieger and with Warwick books in La Jolla California.Books mentioned in this week's episode:Like Mother, Like Mother by Susan RiegerThe Heirs by Susan RiegerThe Divorce Papers by Susan RiegerMosaic of the Mind by Susan RiegerBy the Lake by John McGahernThis is Happiness by Niall WilliamsTime of the Child by Niall WilliamsNetherland by Joseph O’NeillThe Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Delia Ephron is a courageous woman. Not only did she lose her husband Jerry, she then faced death in the form of leukemia and a very risky bone marrow transplant all while falling in love with her husband Peter. As if all of this weren’t enough, she wrote an amazing memoir about it, Left on Tenth, and THEN she turned it into a major play on Broadway where hundreds of people could react to her story, live. How did she do it and why? We find out on this week’s Book Case. We also talk to the bookstore Francie and French, and tell you where they got that name.Books mentioned in this week's episode:Left on Tenth by Delia EphronThe Lion is In by Delia EphronHeartburn by Delia and Nora EphronSiracusa by Delia EphronBig City Eyes by Delia EphronHanging Up by Delia EphronSister Mother Husband Dog Etc. by Delia EphronThe Girl with the Mermaid Hair by Delia EphronFrannie in Pieces by Delia EphronLove Lost and What I Wore: A Play by Delia and Nora EphronThe Time of the Child by Niall Williams Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices