Episodes
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Host Jason Blitman talks to author Laura Dave about her latest thriller, The First Time I Saw Him, a Reese's Book Club Pick. This conversation was recorded live at Warwick's in San Diego.
Laura Dave is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of several novels, including The Last Thing He Told Me and Eight Hundred Grapes. Her novels have sold more than six million copies and have been translated into forty languages. The Last Thing He Told Me was the Goodreads Mystery & Thriller of the Year for 2021 and is now a series on Apple TV+, cocreated by Laura. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and their son.
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In the season finale, host Jason Blitman talks to Jessica Knoll about her latest thriller, Helpless, plus what actually makes a "poolside book" and the best ones to have in your bag this summer.
Jessica Knoll is the New York Times bestselling author of Bright Young Women, The Favorite Sister, and Luckiest Girl Alive—now a major motion picture from Netflix starring Mila Kunis. She has been a senior editor at Cosmopolitan and the articles editor at Self. She lives in New York City with her family.
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In this episode of What Are You Reading? host Jason Blitman talks to designer Nate Berkus about what he's been reading and about his newest book, Foundations.
Nate Berkus is one of the world’s most influential interior designers, known for his elevated yet accessible approach to interiors. Along with creating award-winning interiors for private clients, his thirty-year-and-counting career has included innumerable television shows and brand collaborations. Consistently named to the AD100 and Elle Décor A-List, Nate lives in New York with his husband Jeremiah Brent and their children Poppy and Oskar.
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Host Jason Blitman welcomes back author and editor Jenny Jackson (Pineapple Street) to discuss her new novel, The Shampoo Effect, a Read with Jenna pick. Come for the chat about donuts (Lookin at you, Dunkin!), stay for Jenny's anticipated book recommendations.
Jenny Jackson is the New York Times bestselling author of Pineapple Street. A graduate of Williams College and the Columbia Publishing Course, Jenny is vice president and editorial director of fiction at Alfred A. Knopf. Raised in Ipswich, Massachusetts, she lives in Brooklyn Heights with her family.
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Host Jason Blitman talks to Ryan O'Connell (Netflix's Special) about what he's been reading and learn about his newest book, Inspiration Porn.
Ryan O’Connell is the Emmy-winning creator, writer, and star of Netflix’s Special, which is based on his memoir, I’m Special: And Other Lies We Tell Ourselves. He’s also written for other TV shows, including Will & Grace, Awkward, and Peacock’s Queer as Folk revival, which he stars in. He lives in Los Angeles with his partner, Jonathan Parks-Ramage.
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Host Jason Blitman talks to newly minted Oprah's Book Club author Sophie Chen Keller about her new novel, Little Wonder.
Conversation highlights include
How becoming a parent helped shape the storySocial inequalities as added context for the bookCapturing the leaps in technology in ChinaSophie Chen Keller is the author of The Luster of Lost Things, which was also released in Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands. Her first publication came at the age of fifteen, with a short story in Glimmer Train literary magazine. A classically trained pianist, she was born in China and raised in California; after graduating from Harvard, she lived in New York City and Beijing before moving to Germany, where she currently resides with her husband and two children.
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In this special Father's Day episode, host Jason Blitman sits down with Colton Underwood to talk fatherhood and learn about his new book, a letter he wrote (and read) to his son, Dear Bishop.
Colton Underwood is an American TV personality, executive producer, philanthropist, entrepreneur and NY Times Best Seller. During his time in the NFL, Colton was inspired by his young cousin Harper to launch the Legacy Foundation and bring awareness to Cystic Fibrosis- a genetic disease that affects the lungs and digestive system.
In recent years he has become a Mental Health Advocate, speaking on his own experience in hopes to help others. Because of this and the mental health side effects of CF treatment modalities, Colton transitioned the foundation to mental health awareness. Most recently he has been in Washington DC to introduce new legislation that would provide mental health resources to student athletes and he’s just getting started!
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Jason Blitman talks with Pulitzer Prize winer Andrew Sean Greer (Less) about his newest novel, Villa Coco. This conversation was recorded live in Los Angeles at the First Congressional Church sponsored by Book Soup.
Conversation highlights include:
🇮🇹 How living in Italy inspired aspects of the book
👑 His experience with a real-life princess
🎶 Intel on the musical adaptation of Less
ANDREW SEAN GREER is the bestselling author of seven works of fiction, including Pulitzer Prize winner Less and its companion Less Is Lost. He is the recipient of the Northern California Book Award, the California Book Award, the New York Public Library Young Lions Award, the O. Henry award for short fiction, and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York Public Library. Greer lives in Venice.
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Host Jason Blitman is joined by debut novelist Haili Blassingame to hear about what she's been reading and learn about her book, They All Fall in Love at the End.
Haili Blassingame is a producer for the NPR program 1A. She has written for publications like The New Republic and The New York Times, in which she published the viral “My Choice Isn’t Marriage or Loneliness” for “Modern Love”. She was one of twelve essayists selected to write a follow-up piece for the column’s 20th anniversary in October 2024. She’s also been a guest on the Modern Love podcast, NPR’s Life Kit, and NPR’s 1A. She previously worked on NPR’s Code Switch and Weekend Edition. She is pursuing an MFA in creative writing from American University. She lives in Washington, DC.
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Host Jason Blitman talks to author Matt Haig (The Midnight Library) about his latest novel, The Midnight Train. This conversation was recorded live at University of San Diego presented by Warwick's.
Matt Haig was born in Sheffield, England. His novels include The Humans, How to Stop Time, and The Midnight Library, which has been a number one New York Times bestseller and sold more than fourteen million copies world-wide. His non-fiction works include his award-winning mental illness memoir Reasons to Stay Alive and The Comfort Book. His most recent fiction, The Life Impossible, was a New York Times bestseller. He has also written several children’s books, including A Boy Called Christmas, which became a major feature film. His work has been published in fifty-six languages and he is an advocate for literacy, libraries, and better mental health provision for everyone.
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Host Jason Blitman is joined by prolific author Melissa Albert to talk about her debut adult novel, The Children, named June 2026's Read with Jenna Book Club pick.
Melissa Albert is the New York Times and indie bestselling author of The Bad Ones, Our Crooked Hearts, and the Hazel Wood series. Her work has been translated into more than twenty languages and included in the New York Times list of Notable Children’s Books. The Children is her first adult novel.
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Host Jason Blitman welcomes Ann Patchett back to the podcast—last heard discussing her annotated Bel Canto in fall 2024—for a conversation about her newest novel, Whistler.
Conversation highlights include:
⏱️ Changes made to the book moments before it went to print
😔 The relationship between missing something and grief
🎭 Whether Ann might ever write for the stage
Ann Patchett is the author of novels, most recently the #1 New York Times bestselling Tom Lake, works of nonfiction, and children's books. She has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the PEN/Faulkner, the Women's Prize for Fiction in the UK, and the Book Sense Book of the Year. Her novel The Dutch House was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Her work has been translated into more than thirty languages, and Time magazine named her one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World. President Biden awarded her the National Humanities Medal in recognition of her contributions to American culture. She lives in Nashville, Tennessee, where she is the owner of Parnassus Books.
Ann Patchett's New Yorker essay Glowworms
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Host Jason Blitman is joined by the most frequent Gays Reading guest, Rasheed Newson, to discuss his latest book, There's Only One Sin in Hollywood.
Conversation highlights include:
📖 Stories that don't get their due in the history books
🎥 Rumors in Hollywood and how they continue today
🪞How the understanding of ourselves change as we get older
Rasheed Newson is the author of the national bestseller My Government Means to Kill Me, which was selected as a Lambda Literary finalist for Gay Fiction and was named one of the “100 Notable Books of 2022” by The New York Times. He is also a television drama writer, producer, and showrunner. He codeveloped Bel-Air and worked on The Chi, Animal Kingdom, and Narcos, among other drama series. Newson is a 2025–26 American Library in Paris Visiting Fellow. He currently lives with his husband and their two children in Pasadena.
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Host Jason Blitman talks to debut novelist Sonia Feldman about her book Girl's Girl, this month's The Nod™️ by Gays Reading with Aardvark Book Club.
Conversation highlights include:
👯♀️ What it means to be a good friend
💧 Why Sonia describes the book as "dewey"
🌎 The universality of specific stories and what it means to love
Sonia Feldman lives in Cleveland, Ohio. She won the PEN America PEN/Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers, and her poetry and fiction have appeared in The Missouri Review, The Southern Review, and Waxwing. She also runs Sonia’s Poem of the Week, a popular email newsletter. Girl’s Girl is her first novel.
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On this episode of What Are You Reading?, host Jason Blitman is joined by New York Times bestselling author Steven Rowley for a conversation about what he's been reading, what goes into writing a great blurb, and his latest novel, Take Me With You, an instant USA Today bestseller.
Steven Rowley is the New York Times bestselling author of Lily and the Octopus, a Washington Post Notable Book; The Editor, an NPR Best Book of the Year; The Guncle, winner of the Thurber Prize for American Humor and Goodreads Choice Awards finalist for Novel of the Year; The Celebrants, a Today Show Read with Jenna book club pick; The Guncle Abroad, a USA Today bestseller; and The Dogs of Venice. His fiction has been translated into twenty languages. He resides in Palm Springs, California.
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Host Jason Blitman finally sits down with author Rachel Howzell Hall now that he's survived a full year of agony waiting for the follow-up to her cliffhanger-ending crime novel, Fog and Fury. Today, they're celebrating the arrival of Mist and Malice, the long-awaited sequel. New to the series? No problem. This spoiler-free conversation is the perfect entry point into the world of Haven.
Conversation highlights:
🌽 Rachel's favorite foods at the county fair
🎵 The song from Hamilton as a character's theme song
👵 Which Golden Girl Rachel identifies with
Rachel Howzell Hall is the New York Times bestselling author of Fog and Fury, The Cruel Dawn, The Last One, What Never Happened, We Lie Here, These Toxic Things, And Now She’s Gone, They All Fall Down, and, with James Patterson, The Good Sister, which was included in Patterson’s collection The Family Lawyer. A two-time Los Angeles Times Book Prize finalist as well as an Anthony, International Thriller Writers, and Lefty Award nominee, Rachel is also the author of Land of Shadows, Skies of Ash, Trail of Echoes, and City of Saviors in the Detective Elouise Norton series. A past member of the board of directors for Mystery Writers of America, she has been a featured writer on NPR’s acclaimed Crime in the City series and the National Endowment for the Arts weekly podcast. Rachel lives in Los Angeles with her husband and daughter.
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Host Jason Blitman talks to Ayelet Waldman about what she's been reading (spoiler alert: a lot of audiobooks while quilting!) and about her new book, A Perfect Hand. Come for the book recs, stay for the Heated Rivalry conversation.
Ayelet Waldman is the author of A Really Good Day, Love and Treasure, Red Hook Road, Love and Other Impossible Pursuits, Daughter’s Keeper, Bad Mother and the Mommy-Track Mystery series. She co-developed and was an Executive Producer on the Netflix series Unbelievable, which received a Peabody Award and Best Limited Series nominations at the Critics’ Choice Awards, the Golden Globes, and the Primetime Emmys in 2020. Waldman lives in Berkeley, California with her husband Michael Chabon.
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Host Jason Blitman is joined by debut novelist Paige Lewis to talk about their book, Canon.
Conversation highlights include:
⚠️ Perseverance in the face of danger
🐀 Animal fun facts
🦸 What makes a hero
Paige Lewis is the author of the poetry collection Space Struck and coeditor of Another Last Call: Poems on Addiction and Deliverance. Lewis teaches at the University of Iowa; Canon is their first novel.
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Host Jason Blitman talks to author Davin Malasarn about what he's been reading and the books that influenced his debut novel, The Outer Country.
Davin Malasarn was born and raised in Southern California. After completing his PhD in biology at the California Institute of Technology, he earned his MFA in creative writing from Bennington College and completed the Queens University of Charlotte Book Development Program. He was a PEN America Emerging Voices Fellow, a Plympton Writing Downtown Fellow, and a Bennington Alumni Fellow. He co-founded The Granum Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to supporting writers, and hosts The Artist’s Statement podcast.
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Host Jason Blitman is joined by debut author Portia Elan to talk about her book, Homebound, named May 2026's Good Morning America Book Club selection.
Highlights from this spoiler-free conversation:
💾 evolution of technology
🏳️🌈 history of the queer community
👍 how people experience different truths
Portia Elan studied history at Stanford University and earned an MFA from the University of Victoria, British Columbia, before returning to California, where she has worked as a teacher and public librarian. A former Lambda Literary Fellow, she lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her wife and an abundance of cats. Homebound is her first novel.
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