Episodes
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A quick episode this week with updates about how you can support the podcast and links to what Julie has been reading on her own time recently.
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Host: Julie Strauss
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Discussed in this episode:
Episode 118 Tyler Foley on “The Fool’s Progress” by Edward Abbey, still one of my favorite episodes even though I hated the book
Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell
Episode 125 3rd Annual Kids/YA Gift Giving Guide
The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
The Survivors by Jane Harper
Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman
Jaymi Couch – Let’s Read Nonfiction
(Note: Some of the above links are affiliate links. If you shop using my affiliate link on Bookshop, a portion of your purchase will go to me, at no extra expense to you. Thank you for supporting indie bookstores and for helping to keep the Best Book Ever Podcast in business!)
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bestbookeverpodcast.substack.com -
Today I’m joined by Kim Sherwood, an author and creative writing lecturer at the University of Edinburgh. Kim’s newest release, "A Wild and True Relation," has the tremendous distinction of a gushing review by Dame Hilary Mantel herself, who said that Sherwood’s book is “a rarity – a novel as remarkable for the vigour of the storytelling as for its literary ambition. Kim Sherwood is a writer of capacity, potency and sophistication.” In addition to that, this April Kim is releasing the first book in a new James Bond trilogy, called "Double Or Nothing," commissioned the Ian Fleming estate. Kim and I had a wonderful talk about these different genres, and what brings these iconic characters to life, and why "Wolf Hall" is the Best Book Ever.
Follow the Best Book Ever Podcast on Instagram or on the Best Book Ever Website
Host: Julie Strauss
Website/Instagram
Kim Sherwood
Website/Twitter/Instagram
Discussed in this episode:
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel (book 2 in the Wolf Hall trilogy)
The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel (book 3 in the Wolf Hall trilogy)
A Wild and True Relation by Kim Sherwood
Orlando by Virginia Woolf
Double or Nothing: A Double O Novel by Kim Sherwood
From Russia with Love by Ian Fleming
Casino Royale by Ian Fleming
(This one also exists in graphic novel form!)
George Baker
Spare by Prince Harry
Waverly by Walter Scott
Testament by Kim Sherwood
Greenway House – the Home of Agatha Christie
V.I. Warshawski Novels by Sara Paretsky (There are, to date, 21 novels in this series.)
(Note: Some of the above links are affiliate links. If you shop using my affiliate link on Bookshop, a portion of your purchase will go to me, at no extra expense to you. Thank you for supporting indie bookstores and for helping to keep the Best Book Ever Podcast in business!)
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bestbookeverpodcast.substack.com -
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Aleenah Ansari (she/her) is equal parts storyteller, creative problem solver, and journalist at heart who's rooted in the stories of people behind products, companies, and initiatives. She writes about travel, entrepreneurship, mental health and wellness, and representation in media for Insider, The Seattle Times, Byrdie, and more. You can usually find her searching for murals in Seattle and beyond, reading a book, and planning her next trip to New York.
Aleenah joined me today for a particularly canded discussion about BIPOC representation in our reading life, and the way books and therapy are crucial to our mental health
Follow the Best Book Ever Podcast on Instagram or on the Best Book Ever Website
Host: Julie Strauss
Website/Instagram
Aleenah Ansari
Website/Twitter/Instagram/Linked In
Discussed in this episode:
Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
Aleenah’s article about the best indie bookstores across the United States
Footnotes from the World’s Greatest Bookstores: True Tales and Lost Moments from Book Buyers, Booksellers, and Book Lovers by Bob Eckstein
Word on the Water – The London Bookbarge
More Than Enough by Elaine Welteroth
Attached: The New Science of Adult Attachment and How It Can Help You Find – And Keep – Love by Amir Levine and Rachel Heller
Dear Therapists podcast with Lori Gottlieb and Guy Winch
Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner
Funny You Should Ask by Elissa Sussman
(Note: Some of the above links are affiliate links. If you shop using my affiliate link on Bookshop, a portion of your purchase will go to me, at no extra expense to you. Thank you for supporting indie bookstores and for helping to keep the Best Book Ever Podcast in business!)
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bestbookeverpodcast.substack.com -
“Twenty Years at Hull House” is the acclaimed memoir of social reformer Jane Adams. It contains unflinching descriptions of poverty and degradation of the Industrial Revolution, and the steps she took to establish housing, food, clean water, and education for the poor of Chicago.
Joining me today is Rebecca Sive, author of three books on women’s politics and power. She’s also a motivational speaker for women’s audiences; a former professor at the Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago, and the recipient of numerous awards for her public leadership and service. Rebecca and I talked about how to find rest as a feminist voter, the way every public service is bound up in all aspects of society, and how the messages from Jane Adams’ work, written over one hundred years ago, are still so relevant today.
Follow the Best Book Ever Podcast on Instagram or on the Best Book Ever Website
Host: Julie Strauss
Website/Instagram
Rebecca Sive
Website
Discussed in this episode:
Twenty Years at Hull House by Jane Addams
Every Day is Election Day: A Woman’s Guide to Winning Any Office, from the PTA to the White House by Rebecca Sive
Vote Her In: Your Guide to Electing our First Woman President by Rebecca Sive
Make Herstory Your Story: Your Guided Journal to Justice Every Day for Every Woman by Rebecca Sive
Paul Wellstone
Unbought and Unbossed by Shirley Chisholm
Rebecca’s article about Twenty Years at Hull House in Windy City Times
Division Street: America by Studs Terkel
Rebel Bayou by Samuel and Sarah Hyde
The Promised Land: The Great Black Migration and How it Changed America by Nicholas Lemann
(Note: Some of the above links are affiliate links. If you shop using my affiliate link on Bookshop, a portion of your purchase will go to me, at no extra expense to you. Thank you for supporting indie bookstores and for helping to keep the Best Book Ever Podcast in business!)
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bestbookeverpodcast.substack.com -
We are going a little off script for today’s episode. I’m not sure either one of us would call “Spare” the Best Book Ever, though I’m sure it has plenty of people who would. But it is definitely the book of the week, and a book that I think will come to be seen as a watershed moment in the history of the royals.
Suswati Basu is a multilingual journalist, mental health books show podcast host, and award-winning activist, and one of my favorite guests of the show. I was eager to get her take on this book that has been in the news basically nonstop for the last week, and talk beyond the headlines. Besides settling the score with his family, there are a lot of really big issues in this book, and I was eager to get her take on them. We also talked about the biggest issue for all of us readers – is it actually any good?
Follow the Best Book Ever Podcast on Instagram or on the Best Book Ever Website
Host: Julie Strauss
Website/Instagram
Suswati Basu
Website/Instagram/Podcast/YouTube/Facebook/Twitter
Listen to Suswati talk to me about “The Stranger” by Albert Camus
Discussed in this episode:
Spare by Prince Harry
Suswati’s Review of Spare in National World
Shoe Dog by Phil Knight (co-written by J.R. Moehringer)
Age of Vice by Deepti Kapoor
The Bandit Queens by Parini Shroff
The Godfather by Mario Puzo
The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga
(Note: Some of the above links are affiliate links. If you shop using my affiliate link on Bookshop, a portion of your purchase will go to me, at no extra expense to you. Thank you for supporting indie bookstores and for helping to keep the Best Book Ever Podcast in business!)
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bestbookeverpodcast.substack.com -
This week I’m joined by the fabulous Katy Leep Arditti, consumer of all things Thriller and Fantasy, business owner, massage therapist, and one of my favorite book club friends. Friends, Katy introduced me to a book so totally out of my wheelhouse, I actually contemplated not reading it, and just having her on to tell me about it. But I’m so glad I avoided that temptation, because Ordinary Monsters turned out to be easily one of my favorite reads of 2022. It was a delightful talk about the importance of smart heroines, rollicking adventures through foggy London, and surviving tremendous personal grief.
Follow the Best Book Ever Podcast on Instagram or on the Best Book Ever Website
Host: Julie Strauss
Website/Instagram
Katy Leep Arditti
Instagram
Discussed in this episode:
Ordinary Monsters by J.M. Miro
Rock Paper Scissors by Alice Feeney
The Magic of Oz by L. Frank Baum
Thrillers by the Book Club
Empire of the Vampire by Jay Kristoff
The Bechdel Test
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
BBE Episode 119 – V.P. Morris on Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
Ben Onwukwe (audiobook narrator)
Small Town Big Magic by Hazel Beck
Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark
(Note: Some of the above links are affiliate links. If you shop using my affiliate link on Bookshop, a portion of your purchase will go to me, at no extra expense to you. Thank you for supporting indie bookstores and for helping to keep the Best Book Ever Podcast in business!)
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bestbookeverpodcast.substack.com -
To kick off the new year with a very special edition of Best Book Ever, my daughter Erin is taking over the hosting duties this week, interviewing me. She asked me all the things I normally like to ask my weekly guests – favorite books, goals for 2023, Mr. Darcy, and everything in between.
Follow the Best Book Ever Podcast on Instagram or on the Best Book Ever Website
Host: Julie Strauss
Website/Instagram
Erin Strauss
Instagram
Discussed in this episode:
Unwind by Neal Shusterman
Maze Runner by James Dashner
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Divergent by Veronica Roth
Scythe by Neal Shusterman
Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson
Howard’s End by E.M. Forster
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
The Giver by Lois Lowry
The Remember Balloons by Jessie Oliveros
Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh
Bo Burnham
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling
The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
Verity by Colleen Hoover
The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick
Ain’t Burned All the Bright by Jason Reynolds
(Note: Some of the above links are affiliate links. If you shop using my affiliate link on Bookshop, a portion of your purchase will go to me, at no extra expense to you. Thank you for supporting indie bookstores and for helping to keep the Best Book Ever Podcast in business!)
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bestbookeverpodcast.substack.com -
Time for an end of year wrap up with my Podcast Twin, Malavika Praseed. Malavika is putting her marvelous podcast on hiatus for the time being while she pursues a Master’s Degree in Fiction Writing. She is one of my very favorite readers, and I always love catching up with her and finding out what books she loved over the past year, and how she thinks her reading life will change now that she’s not running her podcast. As always, it was a great chat, with lots of laughs about serious and not-so-serious books.
Follow the Best Book Ever Podcast on Instagram or on the Best Book Ever Website
Host: Julie Strauss
Website/Instagram
Malavika Praseed
Instagram/Chicago Review of Books
Malavika on Best Book Ever Podcast:
Episode 029 Malavika Praseed on “The Heart is a Lonely Hunter” by Carson McCullers
Episode 079 Malavika’s 2021 End of Year Wrap Up
And I went on her podcast once to talk about, you guessed it, My Favorite Book
Your Favorite Book Podcast: Howard’s End with Julie Strauss
Discussed in this episode:
National Book Award Long List
The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon
A Death in the Family by James Agee
Ethan From by Edith Wharton
The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton
William Faulkner
Jhumpa Lahiri
Jeff Pearlman
Carson McCullers
Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
Best Book Ever Episode 089 Stephen Pelton on Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
Howard’s End by E.M. Forester
The Hours movie
The Hours by Michael Cunningham
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers
East of Eden by John Steinbeck
The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
Why is Santa Claus Erotica Suddenly So Popular?
All This Could Be Different by Sarah Thankam Mathews
The Pultizer Prize Winners for Fiction, by year
Fuckbois of Literature podcast
Viviana Valentine Gets Her Man: A Girl Friday Mystery by Emily J. Edwards
Chicago Review of Books
(Note: Some of the above links are affiliate links. If you shop using my affiliate link on Bookshop, a portion of your purchase will go to me, at no extra expense to you. Thank you for supporting indie bookstores and for helping to keep the Best Book Ever Podcast in business!)
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bestbookeverpodcast.substack.com -
Episode 126 Memoir-Palooza with Denise Massar
Today, I’m so happy to welcome back the very first guest of the show, an amazing writer and reader, and, not to brag, but my best friend and soul sister, Denise Massar. Denise is a memoir junkie, and it occurred to me that mid-December is a perfect time to host a Memoir-Palooza, since so many of us like to give them as gifts over the holiday season, and I thought it would be interesting to hear which ones she liked best over the last year. A lot of the ones we talk about today deal with grief and loss, which also makes a lot of sense to address right now, as the holidays can be rough for a lot of people. Denise is my all-time most trusted memoir resource, and I know you’re going to love hearing her tell me why she thinks Memoirs are the Best Books Ever.
Denise Massar is an author, a mom via birth and adoption, and an adoptee. She writes about parenting, caregiving, racism, and anything else she can’t stop thinking about. As a reader, she’s most interested in stories about women’s day-to-day lives—in the 80s when grade-school classmates were reading Judy Blume, Denise was into Erma Bombeck.
Her essays have been published in RAISE Magazine, TODAY Parenting, An Injustice!, MUTHA Magazine, and Jane Friedman’s blog.
Denise’s memoir, SEARCH HISTORY: A Memoir of Loss, Obsession, and Meeting My Mom at 40, is currently on submission. She is represented by Jacquie Flynn at Joelle Delbourgo Associates.
Follow the Best Book Ever Podcast on Instagram or on the Best Book Ever Website
Host: Julie Strauss
Website/Instagram
Denise Massar
Website/Instagram/Twitter/Facebook
Discussed in this episode:
Denise Massar on Best Book Ever Episode 002
Mothers of Sparta by Dawn Davies
I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jeanette McCurdy
A Three Dog Life by Abigail Thomas
What Comes Next and How to Like it by Abigail Thomas
Episode 097 – Lizbeth Meredith on “What Comes Next and How to Like It” by Abigail Thomas
In Love: A Memoir of Love and Loss by Amy Bloom
How We Fight For Our Lives: A Memoir by Saeed Jones
Heavy: An American Memoir by Kiese Laymon
The Liar’s Club by Mary Karr
The Salt Path by Raynor Winn
Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed
A Heart That Works by Rob Delaney
Catastrophe
Open: An Autobiography by Andre Agassi
Spare by Prince Harry
J.R. Moehringer
(Note: Some of the above links are affiliate links. If you shop using my affiliate link on Bookshop, a portion of your purchase will go to me, at no extra expense to you. Thank you for supporting indie bookstores and for helping to keep the Best Book Ever Podcast in business!)
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bestbookeverpodcast.substack.com -
It’s time for my favorite episode of the year – our Annual Kids/YA Gift Giving Guide. I asked a group of young people, ages 8-19, to tell me about their favorite book. As always, their answers were as smart, funny, interesting, and diverse as the kids themselves. I love talking to young people about books, and even if you don’t have any young people to buy for this year, I know you’re going to love hearing these interesting people tell me about their favorite books.
A note: as always, the interviews go in age order, and the older kids talk about books with some very mature themes.
Follow the Best Book Ever Podcast on Instagram or on the Best Book Ever Website
Host: Julie Strauss
Website/Instagram
Discussed in this episode:
Hope, Age 8
Mysteries in Our National Park: Cliff-Hanger: A Mystery in Mesa Verde National Park by Gloria Skurzynski and Alane Ferguson
(This is part of a 12-book series all set in national parks across the United States.)
The Magic Tree House series by Mary Pope Osborne
(Both Hope and her twin sister Mackenzie talked to me about multiple Magic Tree House books in last year’s episode)
Henry, Age 8
Wayside School is Falling Down by Louis Sachar
Holes by Louis Sachar
Sideways Stories from Wayside School by Louis Sachar
Wayside School Gets a Little Stranger by Louis Sachar
Wayside School Beneath the Cloud of Doom by Louis Sachar
Supernatural Bear, Age 10
Dog Man by Dav Pilkey
The Adventures of Captain Underpants by Dav Pilkey
Dante, Age 10
The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate
The One and Only Ivan movie
The One and Only Bob by Katherine Applegate
The One and Only Ruby by Katherine Applegate
Odder by Katherine Applegate
Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling
Percy Jackson and the Olympians (series on Disney+)
Dorian, Age 10
Spy School Project X by Stuart Gibbs
Spy School Secret Service by Stuart Gibbs
Spy School Revolution by Stuart Gibbs
The Fun Jungle Collection by Stuart Gibbs
Kate, Age 12
My Heart and Other Black Holes by Jasmine Warga
The Storyteller’s Death: A Novel by Ann Dávila Cardinal
Jack, Age 14
Maus by Art Spiegelman
Joey, Age 15
The Umbrella Academy by Gerard Way and Gabreil Bá
The Umbrella Academy on Netflix
Paper Girls by Brian K. Vaughan and Cliff Chiang
Paper Girls Series on Amazon Prime
Scythe by Neal Shusterman
Terminator Genisys movie
The Black Panther Party: A Graphic Novel History by David F. Walker and Marcus Kwame Anderson
Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe
Erin, Age 19
The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
Thrillers by the Book Club Pod
Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane
(Note: Some of the above links are affiliate links. If you shop using my affiliate link on Bookshop, a portion of your purchase will go to me, at no extra expense to you. Thank you for supporting indie bookstores and for helping to keep the Best Book Ever Podcast in business!)
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bestbookeverpodcast.substack.com -
Skye Pratt Epperson writes about family, history, religion, and fitness. She is working on a memoir about her childhood in Eswatini, Africa, and the varying expectations of the different faiths represented there. Skye joined me today to talk about “Educated: A Memoir" by Tara Westover, that has some remarkable similarities to her own life. I know you will agree that it is fascinating to hear someone with real insight into the school free childhood tell me why “Educated” is the Best Book Ever.
Follow the Best Book Ever Podcast on Instagram or on the Best Book Ever Website
Host: Julie Strauss
Website/Instagram
Guest: Skye Pratt Epperson
Website
Discussed in this episode:
Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover
United World College
Glennon Doyle memoirs – Love Warrior, Untamed, Carry On Warrior
What My Bones Know: A Memoir of Healing from Complex Trauma by Stephanie Foo
This American Life
Snap Judgment
This Is Not A Pity Memoir by Abi Morgan
Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich
Future Home of a Living God by Louise Erdrich
(Note: Some of the above links are affiliate links. If you shop using my affiliate link on Bookshop, a portion of your purchase will go to me, at no extra expense to you. Thank you for supporting indie bookstores and for helping to keep the Best Book Ever Podcast in business!)
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bestbookeverpodcast.substack.com -
Episode 123 Jessica Bell on “Housekeeping” by Marilynne Robinson
I love noticing book covers, and paying attention to what I like and dislike about them, and it was really run to talk about them with a professional. Today I’m talking to multi-talented book-cover designer Jessica Bell about “Housekeeping” by Marilynne Robinson. Jessica examined the cover of my copy of the book, and we talked about why it worked on me. Even better, we talked about the insides of books, and why this one, in particular, is hard to describe and even harder to forget. It’s a book that sticks with you forever, particularly if you get the quotes inscribed on your coffee mugs!
Jessica Bell is a multi-award-winning author/poet, and singer-songwriter who was born in Melbourne, Australia. In addition to having published a memoir, five novels, three poetry collections, and her bestselling Writing in a Nutshell series, she has been featured in a variety of publications and radio shows such as Writer’s Digest, Publisher’s Weekly, The Guardian, Life Matters, and Poetica. She is also the Publisher of Vine Leaves Press, and a highly sought-after book cover designer. She currently resides in Athens, Greece, with her partner and son, and a pile of dishes that still don’t know how to wash themselves despite her consistently teaching by example.
Follow the Best Book Ever Podcast on Instagram or on the Best Book Ever Website
Host: Julie Strauss
Website/Instagram
Guest: Jessica Bell
Newsletter/Website/Facebook/Twitter/Instagram/Linkedin/YouTube
Discussed in this episode:
Can You Make the Title Bigga? By Jessica Bell
Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Home by Marilynne Robinson
Lila by Marilynne Robinson
Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
Giving Birth to Motherhood by Amie McCracken & Katie Rössler, LPC
(Note: Some of the above links are affiliate links. If you shop using my affiliate link on Bookshop, a portion of your purchase will go to me, at no extra expense to you. Thank you for supporting indie bookstores and for helping to keep the Best Book Ever Podcast in business!)
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bestbookeverpodcast.substack.com -
Michelle Cox is the author of the Henrietta and Inspector Howard series, a mystery/romance saga set in the 1930s Chicago often described as “Downton Abbey Meets Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries.” To date, the series has won over sixty international awards and has received positive reviews from Library Journal (starred), Booklist (starred), Publishers Weekly, Kirkus, and various media outlets, such as Popsugar, Buzzfeed, Redbook, Elle, Brit&Co., Bustle, Culturalist, Working Mother, and many others. Cox also pens the wildly popular, “Novel Notes of Local Lore,” a weekly blog chronically the lives of Chicago’s forgotten residents. She lives in the northern suburbs of Chicago with her husband and three children and is hard at work on her next novel.
Follow the Best Book Ever Podcast on Instagram or on the Best Book Ever Website
Host: Julie Strauss
Website/Instagram
Guest: Michelle Cox
Website/Facebook/Twitter/Instagram/BookBub/TikTok
We are hard at work on our annual Kids/YA Gift Giving Guide. Do you know a young person who’d like to talk to me about their favorite book? For more information, GO HERE!
Previous Kids/YA Episodes:
2021
2020
And, just for fun, here’s an episode of outtakes from my chats with kids.
Discussed in this episode:
My Cousin Rachel by Daphne DuMaurier
Henrietta and Inspector Howard Series by Michelle Cox:
A Girl Like You
A Ring of Truth
A Promise Given
A Veil Removed
A Child Lost
A Spying Eye
The Interview Show on PBS (filmed at The Hideout Bar Chicago)
My Cousin Rachel film adaptation
Get Out tea scene
Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson
(Note: Some of the above links are affiliate links. If you shop using my affiliate link on Bookshop, a portion of your purchase will go to me, at no extra expense to you. Thank you for supporting indie bookstores and for helping to keep the Best Book Ever Podcast in business!)
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bestbookeverpodcast.substack.com -
Brina Patel is a freelance content writer, copywriter, and journalist from Sacramento, California. Her writing has appeared in Business Insider, Byrdie, Well and Good, and Verywell Mind. When she isn't putting words to the page, Brina loves curling up with a thought-provoking memoir, making memories in new places across the globe, and spoiling her sassy Maltese. Today, she joined me to talk about this searing memoir of recovery from cancer, and why can be emotionally attached to people we’ve never met just by reading their words.
Follow the Best Book Ever Podcast on Instagram or on the Best Book Ever Website
Host: Julie Strauss
Website/Instagram
Guest: Brina Patel
Website/Instagram/GoodReads/TikTok/Twitter/LinkedIn
We are hard at work on our annual Kids/YA Gift Giving Guide. Do you know a young person who’d like to talk to me about their favorite book? For more information, GO HERE!
Previous Kids/YA Episodes:
2021
2020
And, just for fun, here’s an episode of outtakes from my chats with kids.
Discussed in this episode:
Between Two Kingdoms: A Memoir of a Life Interrupted by Suleika Jaouad
Suleika Jaouad TED talk (Julie’s note: this is well, well worth watching)
Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused life in a Noisy World by Cal Newport
Solito: A Memoir by Javier Zamora
(Note: Some of the above links are affiliate links. If you shop using my affiliate link on Bookshop, a portion of your purchase will go to me, at no extra expense to you. Thank you for supporting indie bookstores and for helping to keep the Best Book Ever Podcast in business!)
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bestbookeverpodcast.substack.com -
Today’s our lucky day, listener, because one of my favorite guests is back to talk about a book written by another one of my favorite guests. Kenya Goree Bell is herself a steamy romance author and fearless autism advocate who loves to talk books on her own show, the KGB Grown and Sexy book club. Today she joined me to talk about some of the lesser known romance subgenres and the authors we trust to make us care about common and uncommon tropes. And as always, we had a lot of laughs as Kenya told me why “His Revenge Baby” is the Best Book Ever.
Follow the Best Book Ever Podcast on Instagram or on the Best Book Ever Website
Host: Julie Strauss
Website/Instagram
Guest: Kenya Goree Bell
Website/Instagram/Twitter/Facebook
We are hard at work on our annual Kids/YA Gift Giving Guide. Do you know a young person who’d like to talk to me about their favorite book? For more information, GO HERE!
Previous Kids/YA Episodes:
2021
2020
And, just for fun, here’s an episode of outtakes from my chats with kids.
Discussed in this episode:
His Revenge Baby by Theodora Taylor
Theodora Taylor on Best Book Ever Episode 046, talking about Warrior’s Woman by Johanna Lindsey
Naima Simone books
Naima Simone on Best Book Ever Episode 113
KGB’s first appearance on Best Book Ever Episode 016, when we talked about Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake by Sarah MacLean
Ella Maven
Elizabeth Stephens
The Honey Badger Chronicles by Shelly Laurenston
Knud: Her Big Bad Wolf by Theodora Taylor
Lotus Flower Bomb by Kenya Goree Bell
Demon’s Dream: An Unexpected Love by Elle Kayson
Sharonda Isadora TikTok
Beverly Jenkins
Brenda Jackson
A Merry Little Meet Cute by Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone
(Note: Some of the above links are affiliate links. If you shop using my affiliate link on Bookshop, a portion of your purchase will go to me, at no extra expense to you. Thank you for supporting indie bookstores and for helping to keep the Best Book Ever Podcast in business!)
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bestbookeverpodcast.substack.com -
I’ve been waiting for someone to choose this book for SO LONG!
Today, V.P. Morris, an award-winning thriller author, joined me to talk about the book everyone loves, hates, or loves to hate. I fall firmly into the love category, and I loved re-reading it to see if Gillian Flynn’s twisty masterpiece holds up to a re-read. Along the way, V.P and I discussed unreliable narrators and why shady women are so interesting.
I have to give you an official spoiler warning: VP and I decided there is really no way to discuss this book without discussing the twists. So if you haven’t read Gone Girl, I suggest you go do it now, and then come back and listen to this episode. It’s well worth your time!
Follow the Best Book Ever Podcast on Instagram or on the Best Book Ever Website
Host: Julie Strauss
Website/Instagram
Guest: VP Morris
Website/Instagram/Twitter/Facebook
We are hard at work on our annual Kids/YA Gift Giving Guide. Do you know a young person who’d like to talk to me about their favorite book? For more information, GO HERE!
Previous Kids/YA Episodes:
2021
2020
And, just for fun, here’s an episode of outtakes from my chats with kids.
Discussed in this episode:
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
ShadowCast by V.P. Morris
Dead Ringer by V.P. Morris
The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
Gone Girl Movie
Persuasion – this is the much-reviled latest version
When All The Girls Are Sleeping by Emily Arsenault
Home Before Dark by Riley Sager
How to Decide: Simple Tools for Making Better Choices by Annie Duke
(Note: Some of the above links are affiliate links. If you shop using my affiliate link on Bookshop, a portion of your purchase will go to me, at no extra expense to you. Thank you for supporting indie bookstores and for helping to keep the Best Book Ever Podcast in business!)
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bestbookeverpodcast.substack.com -
Tyler Foley is an accomplished actor, public speaker, and coach. He also has the dubious distinction of being the only guest I had to contact in advance of our recording and admit that I hated the book he chose! Tyler is extremely gracious, and we went ahead anyway, which is lucky for me, because it turned out to be one of my favorite conversations ever on this show. Whether or not you decide to read “A Fool’s Progress,” I know you’re going to enjoy hearing Tyler tell me why it’s the Best Book Ever.
Follow the Best Book Ever Podcast on Instagram or on the Best Book Ever Website
Host: Julie Strauss
Website/Instagram
Guest: Tyler Foley
Website/Instagram/Twitter/Facebook/YouTube
We are hard at work on our annual Kids/YA Gift Giving Guide. Do you know a young person who’d like to talk to me about their favorite book? For more information, GO HERE!
Previous Kids/YA Episodes:
2021 Kids/YA Gift Giving Guide
2020 Kids/YA Gift Giving Guide
And, just for fun, here’s an episode of outtakes from my chats with kids.
Discussed in this episode:
The Fool’s Progress by Edward Abbey
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
The Shack by William Paul Young
On the Devil’s Court by Carl Deuker
Faust by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
The Power to Speak Naked: How to Speak with Confidence, Communicate Effectively, and Win Your Audience by Sean Tyler Foley
Don’t Sit Under the Grits Tree with Anyone Else But Me by Lewis Grizzard
The Journey Home: Some Words in the Deense of the American West by Edward Abbey
Beyond the Wall: Essays from the Outside by Edward Abbey
Abbey’s Road by Edward Abbey
Mike Birbiglia
The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy
The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz
Money Master the Game by Tony Robbins
Get the Hell Out of Debt by Erin Skye Kelly
Of Dreams and Angels by Jared Morrison
(Note: Some of the above links are affiliate links. If you shop using my affiliate link on Bookshop, a portion of your purchase will go to me, at no extra expense to you. Thank you for supporting indie bookstores and for helping to keep the Best Book Ever Podcast in business!)
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bestbookeverpodcast.substack.com -
If you follow me on Instagram you may have seen that I absolutely lost my mind over the book “Darling Girl” a couple of weeks ago. It’s a modern day examination of the Peter Pan fairy tale, in which Wendy Darling’s granddaughter Holly must take on Peter Pan in order to save her daughter’s life. I think it’s such a clever take on the story, with fresh characters and a mature, nuanced look at the real heart of the story.
Today, the author of that marvelous book, Liz Michalski, is here to talk to me about the original Peter Pan and why she wrote her take on it. Along the way we discussed her love of the fantastic in every day life, the joy and grief of sending our adult children into the world, the often tragic life of author J.M. Barrie and how it influenced his strange literary world, and why “Peter Pan” is the Best Book Ever.
Follow the Best Book Ever Podcast on Instagram or on the Best Book Ever Website
Host: Julie Strauss
Website/Instagram
Guest: Liz Michalski
Website/Instagram/Twitter/Facebook
Want to be a guest on the Best Book Ever Podcast? Go here!
Discussed in this episode:
Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie
Darling Girl: A Novel of Peter Pan by Liz Michalski
Fun with Dick and Jane
The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
The Crystal Cave by Mary Stewart
The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
Taproot: A Story About a Gardener and a Ghost by Keezy Young
Disney’s Peter Pan
Peter Pan (2003 Live action movie)
If you are looking for more iterations of Peter Pan, there is also a sort of prequel 2015 movie with Hugh Jackman, and of course, Hook with Robin Williams. They all have really different vibes!
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell
Other Birds by Sarah Addison Allen
Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen
(Note: Some of the above links are affiliate links. If you shop using my affiliate link on Bookshop, a portion of your purchase will go to me, at no extra expense to you. Thank you for supporting indie bookstores and for helping to keep the Best Book Ever Podcast in business!)
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bestbookeverpodcast.substack.com -
Thriller author J.P. Choquette writes atmospheric suspense novels with themes of nature, art, and folklore. She started writing "books" when she was old enough to hold a crayon. These were held together with staples and left some painful scratches. When she's not working, you'll find her sipping a hot beverage, reading, or in the woods with her family.
Today J.P. joined me to talk about the modern gothic thriller, “The Stranger Diaries,” a book that hit every one of my literary sweet spots. We talked Anglophilia, gothic literature, books that are thrilling but not scary, and the joys of letter writing.
Follow the Best Book Ever Podcast on Instagram or on the Best Book Ever Website
Host: Julie Strauss
Website/Instagram
Guest: JP Choquette
Website/Instagram
Want to be a guest on the Best Book Ever Podcast? Go here!
Discussed in this episode:
The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths
Agatha Christie Inspector Poirot novels
Monsters in the Green Mountains books by J.P. Choquette
Every reference to Castle Rock in Stephen King books
Crossing Places by Elly Griffiths (Book 1 in the Ruth Galloway Series)
The Postscript Murders by Elly Griffiths (featuring DS Harbinder Kaur from The Stranger Diaries)
The Yellow Room by Mary Roberts Rinehart
(Interesting side note: when I researched Rinehart’s books, I came across The Bat, a three act-play of hers that is the original inspiration for Bob Kane’s Batman. Reading is AWESOME.)
I’ve Got You Under My Skin by Mary Higgins Clark
Let the Dead Rest by J.P. Choquette
(Note: Some of the above links are affiliate links. If you shop using my affiliate link on Bookshop, a portion of your purchase will go to me, at no extra expense to you. Thank you for supporting indie bookstores and for helping to keep the Best Book Ever Podcast in business!)
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bestbookeverpodcast.substack.com -
Like nearly everyone else in the world, I am watching the funeral preparations for Queen Elizabeth II, and the transition to the new King, with great interest. I thought you might like a compilation of my favorite books about the royals, and royally-adjacent fiction that I return to again and again.
In addition to what I have already read, I am also very fascinated by all of the work that writers and activists from colonized countries are providing, and I look forward to broadening my understanding of the points of view of People of the Global Majority. I would love to hear any book recommendations you have, fiction or nonfiction.
Follow the Best Book Ever Podcast on Instagram or on the Best Book Ever Website
Host: Julie Strauss
Website/Instagram
Want to be a guest on the Best Book Ever Podcast? Go here!
Discussed in this episode:
HRH: So Many Thoughts on Royal Style by Elizabeth Holmes.
Our Rainbow Queen: A Tribute to Queen Elizabeth II and Her Colorful Wardrobe by Sali Hughes.
The Other Side of the Coin: The Queen, the Dresser, and the Wardrobe by Angela Kelly.
The Diana Chronicles by Tina Brown
The Palace Papers by Tina Brown
Diana, Her True Story by Andrew Morton
Elizabeth and Margaret: The Intimate World of the Windsor Sisters by Andrew Morton.
Prince Charles: the Passions and Paradoxes of an Improbable Life by Sally Bedell Smith
Elizabeth the Queen: The Life of the Modern Monarch by Sally Bedell Smith
The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett
The Madness of King George
The Royal We by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan.
The Fug Girls
Red White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston.
BBE episode 068 – Lauren Regenhardt on Red, White and Royal Blue
The Secret Guests by Benjamin Black
The Rose Code by Kate Quinn
(Note: Some of the above links are affiliate links. If you shop using my affiliate link on Bookshop, a portion of your purchase will go to me, at no extra expense to you. Thank you for supporting indie bookstores and for helping to keep the Best Book Ever Podcast in business!)
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bestbookeverpodcast.substack.com - Show more
