The Book Case

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

In this, the second part of our interview with Louise Penny we talk to her about the art of writing, how she stays fresh and what her year looks like as she writes and completes a Gamache mystery. We widen our lens on the art of writing with Louise Penny. Stay with us, you won't want to miss it.Books mentioned in this week's episode:The Grey Wolf by Louise PennyStill Life by Louise PennyA Fatal Grace by Louise PennyThe Cruelest Month by Louise PennyA Rule Against Murder by Louise PennyThe Brutal Telling by Louise PennyBury Your Dead by Louise PennyThe Hangman by Louise PennyA Trick of the Light by Louise PennyThe Beautiful Mystery by Louise PennyHow the Light Gets In by Louise PennyThe Nature of the Beast by Louise PennyA Great Reckoning by Louise PennyGlass Houses by Louise PennyKingdom of the Blind by Louise PennyA Better Man by Louise PennyAll the Devils Are HereThe Madness of Crowds by Louise PennyState of Terror by Louise Penny and Hillary Rodham ClintonWorld of Curiosities by Louise PennyThe Complete Collection of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan DoyleAnd Then There Were None by Agatha ChristieA Prayer for Owen Meaney by John IrvingThe Devil in the White City by Eric LarsonSolomon Gursky Was Here by Mordecai RichlerLeft on Tenth by Delia Ephron Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We read fan comments, and several of you wrote us about Louise Penny.  Charlie has always been a fan (he would want me to say that) but Kate was shamefully new to her work.  But she is now a HUGE fan and has read them all and could not put down The Grey Wolf, Penny’s newest and her 19th Inspector Gamache in the series. Join us for part 1 of a 2 part Book Case podcast with Louise Penny.Books mentioned in this week's episode:The Grey Wolf by Louise PennyStill Life by Louise PennyA Fatal Grace by Louise PennyThe Cruelest Month by Louise PennyA Rule Against Murder by Louise PennyThe Brutal Telling by Louise PennyBury Your Dead by Louise PennyThe Hangman by Louise PennyA Trick of the Light by Louise PennyThe Beautiful Mystery by Louise PennyHow the Light Gets In by Louise PennyThe Nature of the Beast by Louise PennyA Great Reckoning by Louise PennyGlass Houses by Louise PennyKingdom of the Blind by Louise PennyA Better Man by Louise PennyAll the Devils Are HereThe Madness of Crowds by Louise PennyState of Terror by Louise Penny and Hillary Rodham ClintonWorld of Curiosities by Louise PennyThe Time of the Child by Niall WilliamsOne Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia MarquezHouse of Spirits by Isabel AllendeMonogamy by Sue Miller Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When Niall Williams releases a book, we positively cheer.  His writing feels like coming home to us.  A home full of warm fires, good stories, kind neighbors, strong community and unspoken love.  All of them and more illuminate his latest: The Time of the Child.  We could not recommend this book more.  Buy it.  And then buy it for everyone on your holiday list who loves to read.  And then sit by your holiday fire with all of those folks who read it and listen to this episode of the Book Case.  You will be so glad you did.Books mentioned in this week's episode:The Time of the Child by Niall WilliamsThis is Happiness by Niall Williams History of Rain by Niall Williams Four Letters of Love by Niall WilliamsAs it Is in Heaven by Niall WilliamsO Come Ye Back to Ireland: Our First Year in County Clare by Niall Williams and Christine BreenThe Fall of Light by Niall WilliamsIn Kiltumper: A Year in an Irish Garden by Niall Williams and Christine BreenBoy in the World by Niall WilliamsJohn by Niall WilliamsWhen Summer’s in the Meadow by Niall Williams and Christine BreenBel Canto: The Annotated Edition by Ann Patchett Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices