Lake Effect Recommendations from a Yappy Bookseller (Me)

Hey, my Lake Effect interview with Stephanie Lecci aired on Tuesday morning. You never know how these things are going to go--I probably got at least one plot point, factoid, and maybe even a title incorrect, but I don't sound like a fool, and that's an important thing. Here are the books.

The Cookbook Collector, by Allegra Goodman
The Invisible Bridge, by Julie Orringer
Day for Night, by Frederick Reiken
Bury Your Dead, by Louise Penny
Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter, by Tom Franklin
Lord of Misrule, by Jaimy Gordon
The Warmth of Other Suns, by Isabel Wilkerson
Autobiography of Mark Twain, Vol. 1, by Mark Twain, and edited by Harriet E. Smith, Benjamin Griffin, Victor Fischer, Michael B. Frank, Sharon K. Goetz, Leslie Diane Myrick

Apollo's Angels, by Jennifer Homans
Cleopatra, by Stacy Schiff
Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand

and by website podcast only:

It's a Book, by Lane Smith

Children Make Terrible Pets, by Peter Brown

I blab on about all my usual soapbox subjects. What happened to the fiction this fall? Why are so many prizes going to small presses? And why does the media continue to ask why the usual suspect doesn't get the prize?

You can listen here. Thanks to Lake Effect for transcribing the interview into a list.

This is another case where Milwaukee doesn't know how good they have it. I talk to authors at events all the time who are really impressed by this show--they read the book and do lots of research beforehand. Let's just say other cities don't have it so good. Let's raise a glass to Mitch and Bonnie and Stephanie! Oh, and Dan, whom I've never met. But here's to you anyway.

Here's an archive of their previous book shows this year. Maybe you missed some.

October

Jacki Potratz of the Milwaukee Public Library focuses on grammar books, but also recommends Emma Donogue's Room and Christos Tsiolkos's The Slap. In September, she focused on nature books.

August

Carla Allison of Reader's Choice on great books by African Americans. Here's another case where many cities our size and larger don't have stories that focus on African American interests, but it's a great store to shop for folks who want their minds expanded. I know I've said this before, but go visit them (and on Friday or Saturday, you can also visit Northern Chocolate). Be sure to listen to the supplemental piece where Allison talks up one of my favorites, Attica Locke's Black Water Rising.

July

Linda Berg and Patti Weber of Little Read Book talk about great summer reads. And I didn't even know about one of them, Danny Tobey's The Faculty Club. That's what happens when you don't buy the books. Linda liked it a lot--always looking for recs.