Jo Hamya’s novel “The Hypocrite” follows a famous English novelist as he watches a new play by his daughter, Sophia, in London. The lights go down in the theater, and immediately the novelist realizes: The play is about him, the vacation he took with Sophia a decade earlier and the sins he committed while they were away. In this week’s episode, the Book Revi ... Show More
Nov 14
Nicholas Boggs on Writing a James Baldwin Biography
<p>Nicholas Boggs’s “Baldwin: A Love Story,” is many things at once. It’s a comprehensive biography of James Baldwin. It’s a nimble excavation of Baldwin’s work, filled with astute literary analysis of his books and prose. And, most pressingly, it’s an argument for a new critical ... Show More
36m 28s
Nov 7
The Sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald, 50 Years Later
<p>On Nov. 10, 1975, during a calamitous storm, the Edmund Fitzgerald sunk below the waves of Lake Superior. All 29 men aboard went down with the vessel. With no survivors and no eyewitnesses, there’s always been a sense of mystery to what is arguably the most famous shipwreck in ... Show More
39m 33s
Sep 20
Coco Mellors: Cleopatra & Frankenstein and Blue Sisters
Coco Mellors is the author of two novels, and her love of her craft is just infectious. Her debut, Cleopatra and Frankenstein exploded onto the literary scene in 2022, documenting one couple’s impulsive marriage in New York City and the ripple effect it has on their close circle ... Show More
41m 41s
May 2023
Jessica Stilling, "After the Barricades" (DX Varos, 2023)
Today I talked to Jessica Stilling about her new novel After the Barricades (DX Varos, 2023).
After her mother dies in a tragic accident, Anna cleans out her closet and finds a striking painting that she’d never seen before. She also finds a trove of letters from Stefan Terre, a ... Show More
29m 22s
May 2024
Embracing Smut with Reese’s Book Club Author Yulin Kuang
<p>Yulin Kuang was born for this moment. Growing up, Yulin rewrote movies in her head to include more kissing scenes and transcribed romantic comedies into her diary before bedtime. In her career as a screenwriter and director, Yulin’s credits include “I Ship It”, “Dollface” and ... Show More
36m 9s
Oct 27
744 Love, Sex, and Frankenstein (with Caroline Lea) | #10 Greatest Book of All Time | My Last Book with Geoffrey Turnovsky | A Letter from a Middle School Teacher and Mom
The year is 1816, and 18-year-old Mary Shelley has fled London with her lover, Percy Shelley, and her sister, Claire. They're on their way to visit Lord Byron's villa in Lake Geneva, Switzerland - and to change the course of literary history. In this episode, Jacke talks to Carol ... Show More
1h 26m
Dec 2022
Zadie Smith on The Wife of Willesden, David Tennant on Litvinenko and Rick Wakeman's stolen gear
Zadie Smith talks about her play The Wife of Willesden, a modern re-telling of Chaucer’s The Wife of Bath starring Clare Perkins in the title role at Kiln Theatre, London. David Tennant discusses playing Russian Alexander Litvinenko in a new ITV drama based on the real life event ... Show More
42m 34s
Aug 2023
M. A. Carrick, "Labyrinth's Heart" (Orbit, 2023)
M. A. Carrick’s newest novel Labyrinth’s Heart (Orbit, 2023) is the culmination of their Rook and Rose trilogy, which chronicles the life of the thief Arenza Lenskaya after she returns home to the city of Nadežra to con her way into one of the city’s noble families.
The co-writer ... Show More
52m 51s
Oct 2
Pride and Prejudice Part 2
<p>After dazzling the wealthy Mr Bingley at the Meryton Ball, the eldest Bennet sister, Jane, receives an invitation to visit him and his sister at Netherfield Park, the grand estate he's renting nearby. At her mother's insistence, she makes the journey on horseback, arriving dre ... Show More
33m 53s