Episode 201 - A Great Last Night with Luanne Rice

Episode 201 Show Notes

– GIVEAWAYS! –
Sign up for the monthly newsletter by February 15th be entered to win:
Last Seen in Havana – Teresa Dovalpage
A World of Curiosities – Louise Penny
Mother Country – Jacinda Townsend
The Refusal Camp – James R. Benn

Join our Patreon Community by February 15th  to be entered to win:
The Kamogawa Food Detectives – Hisashi Kashiwai, translated by Jesse Kirkwood

– 1st Quarter 2024 Readalong –
Our first quarter readalong is Indigo by Beverly Jenkins.  
Our Zoom discussion will take place on Sunday, March 3rd at 7pm (ET), send an email if you would like to reserve a spot. You can join the Indigo Goodreads discussion here. We’ve also created a Goodreads thread for general romance chit chat.

– Currently Reading –  
We Should Not Be Friends – Will Schwalbe (EF)(audiobook)
Vampires of El Norte – Isabel Cañas (CW)(audiobook)
Always Home: A Daughter’s Recipes & Stories – Fanny Singer (EF)
Chris decided to DNF The Iliad – Homer (translated by Emily Wilson) (CW)(audiobook)

– Just Read –
The Sicilian Inheritance – Jo Piazza (EF) release date 4/2/24
River of the Gods: Genius, Courage, and Betrayal in the Search for the Source of the Nile – Candice Millard (CW)
Emily read two short stories: “The Irish Wedding” from the story collection The Souvenir Museum by Elizabeth McCracken and “Such Fun” from the story collection Last Night by James Salter
Last Night – Luanne Rice (CW)(EF)
Blood Sisters – Vanessa Lillie (CW)(EF)

– Episode Sponsor –
Brooklyn ’76 by Anthony Ausiello

– Biblio Adventures –
Chris and Emily recorded with Luanne Rice at the Old Lyme Phoebe Griffin Noyes Library and then attended Luanne’s book launch at Bank Square Books in Mystic, CT and the after party at The Captain Daniel Packer Inne.

Emily saw American Fiction based on the novel Erasure by Percival Everett.

Chris put together new bookcases from IKEA and began filling the shelves via a stop at Barnes and Noble in Milford where she picked up The Major of Maxwell Street by Avery Cunningham, Wild and Distant Seas by Tara Karr Roberts, and First to the Front: The Untold Story of Dickey Chapelle, Trailblazing Female War Correspondent by Lorissa Rinehart and online shopping via Blackwell’s where she purchased Women of the Anarchy by Sharon Bennett Connolly and Stranger Within the Gates by Bertha Thomas.

Emily went to Charter Books in Newport, RI for the book launch of Float Up, Sing Down by Laird Hunt.

– Upcoming Jaunts –
Chris is registered for an event on February 15th at 2PM (ET) with Rebecca Rego Barry about her new book The Vanishing of Caroline Wells : Investigations into a Forgotten Mystery Author sponsored by The Ohio State University’s Rare Books & Manuscripts Library.

Emily is looking forward to watching a video with Roxane Gay in conversation with Sohla El-Waylly about her new cookbook Start Here: Instructions for Becoming a Better Cook.

– Upcoming Reads –
Finding Margaret Fuller – Allison Pataki (CW) release date 3/19/2024
Moby Dick – Herman Melville (CW) send an email if you want to join the buddy read
Indigo – Beverly Jenkins (CW)(EF)
Mrs. Caliban – Rachel Ingalls (EF)
Black Love Matters: Real Talk on Romance: Real Talk on Romance, Being Seen, and Happily Ever Afters – Jessica P. Pryde (EF)

– Out Now –
The Fury – Alex Michaelides
No One Can Know – Kate Alice Marshall
Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts: Stories and Recipes from Five Generations of Black Country Cooks – Crystal Wilkinson
Imagination: A Manifesto – Ruha Benjamin
One Wrong Word – Hank Phillippi Ryan
The Kamogawa Food Detectives – Hisashi Kashiwai, translated by Jesse Kirkwood
The Cemetery of Untold Stories – Julia Alvarez

– Author Spotlight with Luanne Rice –
We had a chat with Luanne about her most recent novel Last Night.
Learn more about Luanne and her long backlist here.
Her upcoming young adult suspense novel is If Anything Happens to Me, publishing on 9/17/24.

– Also Mentioned –
Tom Lake – Ann Patchett (audiobook)
The Dutch House – Ann Patchett (audiobook)
The Odyssey – Homer translated by Emily Wilson
The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey – Candice Millard
Seating Arrangements – Maggie Shipstead
Author Jill McCorkle
Also by Luanne Rice: The Shadow Box and Last Day
Author Nevada Barr
Young Rich Widows by Vanessa Lillie, Layne Fargo, Cate Holahan, and Kimberly Belle
The White Ship: Conquest, Anarchy and the Wrecking of Henry I's Dream by Charles Spencer
Zorrie – Laird Hunt
The Professor’s House – Willa Cather
Author Gustave Flaubert
Author Debra Goodrich Royce
The Ocean House Author’s Series
Artist Maureen McCabe
Artist Linden Frederick
Night Stories: Fifteen Paintings and the Stories they Inspired – Linden Frederick
Feud: Capote vs. The Swans
The Two Mrs. Grenvilles – Dominick Dunne

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Episode 200 - Two Books We Can't Wait for You to Read (times 18!)

Episode Two Hundred Show Notes

– 1st Quarter 2024 Readalong –
Our first quarter readalong is Indigo by Beverly Jenkins.  The Zoom discussion will take place on Sunday, March 3rd at 7pm (ET), send an email if you would like to reserve a spot. You can also join the Indigo Goodreads discussion online anytime!

We’ve also created a Goodreads thread for general romance chit chat.

– Listener Top Ten –
You can find these books on the
Listener Top Ten of 2023 list on our Bookshop.org page
Tom Lake – Ann Patchett
Hello Beautiful – Ann Napolitano
Demon Copperhead – Barbara Kingsolver
The Covenant of Water – Abraham Verghese
Lessons in Chemistry – Bonnie Garmus
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store – James McBride
Yellowface – R.F. Kuang
The Reading List – Sara Nisha Adams
Remarkably Bright Creatures – Shelby Van Pelt
The Fraud – Zadie Smith
Unlikely Animals – Annie Hartnett
Signal Fires – Dani Shapiro
Absolution – Alice McDermott
The Postcard – Anne Berest

– Currently Reading –
The Iliad – Homer (translated by Emily Wilson) (CW)(audiobook)
River of the Gods: Genius Courage, and Betrayal in the Search for the Source of the Nile – Candice Millard
The Sicilian Inheritance – Jo Piazza (EF) release date 4/2/24
Unmasking AI: My Mission to Protect What Is Human in a World of Machines – Joy Buolamwini (CW)
Upstream: Selected Essays – Mary Oliver (EF)

– Currently Reading –
An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination – Elizabeth McCracken (EF)
Thirst – Marina Yuszczuk (CW) release date 3/5/2024
Tom Lake – Ann Patchett (audiobook) (EF)
Chris read the short story “Behind the Singer Tower” by Willa Cather. Learn more about the Willa Cather Short Story Project.
Emily read the short story “These are the Meditations of My Heart” from the collection Uncommon Type: Some Stories by Tom Hanks and “Old Crimes” from the collection Old Crimes: And Other Stories by Jill McCorkle
Erasure – Percival Everett (EF)
The Marriage Portrait – Maggie O’Farrell (EF)

– Biblio Adventures –
Chris went to Illinois to pay her respects and bid farewell to the Barnes and Noble in Naperville that is closing. She also got a good browse at her favorite used bookstore, The Frugal Muse. She picked up Hudson River Bracketed by Edith Wharton, Writing a Jewish Life: Memoirs by Lev Raphael, and The Chancellor: The Remarkable Odyssey of Angela Merkel by Kati Marton.

Emily went to Colorado and attended an event via Aspen Words featuring Ann Patchett in conversation with Elizabeth McCracken.

Books recommended by Elizabeth:
Night Wherever We Go – Tracey Rose Peyton
Leg: The Story of a Limb and the Boy Who Grew from It – Greg Marshall
Mrs. Caliban – Rachel Ingalls

Books recommended by Ann:
So Big – Edna Ferber
The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year – Margaret Renkl
Martyr! – Kaveh Akbar
James – Percival Everett
This is Happiness – Niall Williams

Emily visited White River Books in Carbondale, CO where she picked up a copy of The Last Ranger by Peter Heller and the Carbondale Public Library.

Chris watched the movie The Princess Bride based on the novel by William Goldman.

Emily watched the movie Boys in the Boat based on the novel by Daniel James Brown. The audiobook is narrated by Edward Herrmann.

Chris participated in an online forum about craft via the Biography Lab. There was a panel with Janice P. Nimura, “Nasty Women: Making a Good Story out of Bad Behavior.” Janice is the author of The Doctors Blackwell and was a guest on Episode 139. Other panels included James McGrath Morris and Ray A. Shepard. You can watch the video with the keynote speaker, Kai Byrd.

– Upcoming Jaunts –
Chris and Emily are going on a Joint Jaunt to Bank Square Books for the launch of Luanne Rice’s new book Last Night.

Emily is planning to see the movie American Fiction at Madison Art Theatre based on the novel Erasure by Percival Everett.

Chris will be attending a reading of her wife Laura’s work-in-progress at the Chester Arts & Literary Weekend on February 11th at 5pm

– Two Books We Can’t Wait for You to Read –

Chris Wolak
Imagination: A Manifesto – Ruha Benjamin release date 2/6/24
Rift: A Memoir of Breaking Away from Christian Patriarchy – Cait West release date 4/30/24

Emily Fine
How to End a Love Story – Yulin Kuang release date 4/2/24
The Paris Novel – Ruth Reichl release date 4/23/24

Michael Kindness
The Unclaimed: Abandonment and Hope in the City of Angels by Pamela Prickett and Stefan Timmerans release date 3/12/24
The God of the Woods by Liz Moore release date 6/11/24

Ann Kingman
Service by Sarah Gilmartin release date 6/4/24
The Bog Wife by Kay Chronister release date 10/1/24

Author Amy Tector
Death At the Sign of the Rook: A Jackson Brodie Book by Kate Atkinson release date 9/3/24
Honor the Dead: A Dominion Archives Mystery  by Amy Tector release date 4/16/24

Author Andrea Wang
Summer at Squee by Andrea Wang release date 3/5/24
Next Stop: A Graphic Novel by Debbie Fong release date 3/19/24

Author Bianca Marais
The Husbands by Holly Gramazio release date 4/2/24
The Guncle Abroad by Steven Rawley release date 5/21/24
Same as It Ever Was by Claire Lombardo release date 6/18/24
Weird Black Girls by Elwin Cotman release date 4/16/24

Author Caroline Leavitt
Splinters by Leslie Jamison release date 2/20/24
Days of Wonder by Caroline Leavitt release date 4/23/24

Davina from BookBrowse
Becoming Madam Secretary by Stephanie Dray release date 3/12/24
Daughters of Shandong by Eve J. Chung release date 5/7/24

Author Fiona Davis
Anna Bright is Hiding Something by Susie Orman Schnall release date 6/4/24
A Novel Summer by Jamie Brenner release date 7/16/24

Author Hank Phillippi Ryan
One Wrong Word by Hank Phillippi Ryan release date 2/6/24
Murder in the Family by Cara Hunter and her DI Fawley series starting with Close to Home

Author Jennifer Savran Kelly
Cactus Country: A Boyhood Memoir by Zoe Bossiere release date 5/21/24
Memory Piece by Lisa Ko release date 3/19/24

Author
Jenna Miller
We Got the Beat by Jenna Miller release date 2/20/24
Dear Wendy by Ann Zhao release date 4/`16/24

Author Rachel Barenbaum
Flyboy by Kasey LeBlanc release date 5/14/24

Author Kelcey Ervick
My Favorite Thing Is Monsters Book Two by Emil Ferris release date 5/28/24
Victory Parade by Leela Corman release date 4/2/24

Author Luanne Rice
Last Night by Luanne Rice release date 2/1/24
If Anything Happens to Me by Luanne Rice release date 9/17/24
The Lost Boy of Santa Chionia by Juliet Grames release date 7/23/24

Author Jung Yun
Memory Piece by Lisa Ko release date 3/19/24
Bear by Julia Phillips release date 6/25/24

Our Mystery Man John Valeri
A Killing on the Hill: A Thriller by Roberrt Dugoni release date 4/9/24
Shadowheart by Meg Gardiner release date 6/18/24
An Upcoming Release from Marcia Clark….

Also Mentioned
The Giant’s House – Elizabeth McCracken
Vlad – Carlos Fuentes translated by Alejandro Branger
Telephone – Percival Everett
My Last Duchess – Robert Browning
Also by Lev Raphael: The Edith Wharton Murders
Also by Ann Patchett: Bel Canto and The Patron Saint of Liars
Jacqueline Woodson
Viral Justice – Ruha Benjamin
Long Bright River – Liz Moore
Dinner Party – Sarah Gilmartin
Sweetbitter – Stephanie Danler
We Have Always Lived in the Castle – Shirley Jackson
The Water Cure – Sophie Mackintosh
The Virgin Suicides – Jefrey Eugenides|
99% Invisible podcast Episode 445 – The Clinch
Louise Penny
The Most Fun We Ever Had – Claire Lombardo
Disappearing Earth – Julia Phillips