Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Tuesday was Radio Day, in Two Parts--Talking with Kathleen Dunn and Susan Stamberg.

1. Yesterday morning I appeared on the Kathleen Dunn show on Wisconsin Public Radio (WHAD, 90.7 in Milwaukee), chatting about summer reading. As promised, here's the list of the titles that were discussed.

The Art Forger, by B.A. Shapiro. This event is being held at the Charles Allis Art Museum on Wednesday, July 24, 6:30 pm.

The Testing, by Joelle Charbonneau. This event is Monday, July 8 at Boswell.

The Son, by Philipp Meyer, is the novel everyone was recommending at the Book Expo.

The Book of My Lives, by Aleksandar Hemon was the book recommended by David Sedaris.

David Sedaris’s current book is Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls.

Mary and Lou and Rhoda and Ted, by Jennifer Keishin Armstrong, which was our Tuesday night event. She’s still doing some Chicago appearances, including Printer’s Row.

Hothouse, by Boris Kachka, is a history of Farrar, Straus, Giroux, and it was the nonfiction book that everybody talked about at Book Expo.

We’re going to talk about Look Homeward Angel, by Thomas Wolfe, for a book club discussion in September.

The Dinner, by Herman Koch, is a great novel for folks who loved Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl.

The Other Typist, by Suzanne Rindell is another great Gillian Flynn-ish type read, set in the 1920s.

The Chaperone, by Laura Moriarty. It is not a novelization per se, but uses the life of Louise Brooks as a jumping off point.

Melissa Olson’s urban fantasies are Dead Spots and Trail of Dead.

Speaking of the 1920’s, we discussed a little Gatsby, what with the film's recent opening. This led into Beautiful Fools, by F. Clifton Spargo is about the Fitzgeralds. The author will be at Boswell on Monday, June 10, at Boswell.

Between Man and Beast: An Unlikely Explorer, the Evolution Debates, and the African Adventure That Took the Victorian World by Storm, by Monte Reel, will be at Boswell on Tuesday, June 11, at Boswell.


The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II, by Denise Kiernan will be at Boswell on Saturday, June 8, 2 pm. This is from our category, "People that would make good guests on the Kathleen Dunn Show."

The World According to Garp, by John Irving is a beloved book from a caller, wonders whether writers are changing their style for ebooks. That was a good question. Yes and no, depending on the writer!

A caller wanted a comforting novel having read a number of Ayn Rand novels.

Grasping at straws I found comfort in suggesting David Rhodes and his novels Driftless and Jewelweed, who is appearing on Thursday, June 6, at Boswell.

Queen of the Air: A True Story of Love and Tragedy at the Circus, by Dean Jensen might be a suggestion. He’s coming to Boswell on Thursday, June 13.

Inspirational? Perhaps Tuesdays with Morrie or The Five People You Meet in Heaven, by Mitch Albom.

The Uncommon Reader, by Alan Bennett, is short and sweet and philosophical.

The hot book of the same type this fall might well be The President’s Hat, by Antoine Laurain.

A Dog Walks Into a Nursing Home: Lessons in the Good Life from an Unlikely Teacher, by Sue Halpern is the book Dunn wants to read this summer.

The Stolen Dog, by Tricia O’Malley, chronicles a dognapping on the East Side of Milwaukee. Our event is Friday July 12.

Maddie on Things, by Theron Humphrey, is a wonderful book based on the Maddie the Coonhound blog, and is coming to Boswell on Tuesday July 23.

A novel with a dog character is The Dog Stars, by Peter Heller, coming Wednesday, June 19, at Boswell.

Beautiful Ruins, by Jess Walter, is the subject of our window diorama.

A listener has bought a lot of Sandra Brown for her elderly neighbor and wants suggesting. Can she try Nora Roberts or Mary Higgins Clark. The author I was trying to think of that wouldn’t come to me was Catherine Coulter, by the way.

A listener got a suggestion to read The Road when he told them he had enjoyed The Grapes of Wrath and Peace Like a River. I went back to The Dog Stars.

Listen to Tuesday's show here.

2. Coincidentally, my seasonal recommendations for Susan Stamberg aired on June 4, along with recommendations from Rona Brinlee of the Florida independent, The Book Mark, as well as Lucia Silva, former buyer for the late, lamented Portrait of a Bookstore in Studio City.

 From Rona Brinleee:
Daily Rituals, by Mason Curry
Equilateral, by Ken Kalfus
Life after Life, by Jill McCorkle
The Other Typist, by Suzanne Rindell
The Woman Upstairs by Claire Messud
The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls, by Anton Disclafani.

From Lucia Silva:
A Guide to Being Born, by Ramona Ausubel
Ways of Going Home, by Alejandra Zambra
Poems to Learn by Heart, by Caroline Kennedy
Pacific, by Tom Drury
The Dark Road, by Ma Jian.

From me:
Mary and Lou and Rhoda and Ted, by Jennifer Keishin Armstrong
The View from Penthouse B, by Elinor Lipman
How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia, by Mohsin Hamid
Queen of the Air, by Dean Jensen
The Book of My Lives, by Aleksandar Hemon
The Supremes at Earl’s All You Can Eat, by Edward Kelsey Moore.

This was on Morning Edition, which airs on 89.7 WUWM, Milwaukee Public Radio, in Milwaukee and Wisconsin Public Radio in the rest of the state.  Here is the link to the annotations.

I don't have the energy to link to every book, alas.

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