WYPL Book Talk

Elizabeth Passarella - It Was an Ugly Couch Anyway

Memphis native Elizabeth Passarella is a writer and editor. Currently, she is a contributing editor for Southern Living, and previously worked as an editor at Vogue and Real Simple. Her writing has appeared in numerous publications, including The New York Times, Parents, The Wall Street Journal, among many others. In 2021, she published her first collection of essays, Good Apple: Tales of a Southern Evangelical in New York, and recently Thomas Nelson Books released her second collection, It Was an Ugly Couch Anyway: And Other Thoughts on Moving Forward.

 

Michael Farris Smith - Salvage This World

Michael Farris Smith is a novelist who has previously appeared on Book Talk for his books, Rivers, Desperation Road, The Fighter, and Blackwood. His other titles are Nick and The Hands of Strangers. Today we’ll be discussing his latest, Salvage This World, which is published by Little, Brown. 

 

Rebecca Boggs Roberts - Untold Power - part two

 

Rebecca Boggs Roberts is a journalist and author, having been a correspondent for NPR, PRI, and the BBC, including the programs Morning Edition, The World, and Talk of the Nation. She is currently the deputy director of events for The Library of Congress. Her first book in 2012, co-authored with Sandra Schmidt, was Historic Congressional Cemetery. Her second was 2017’s Suffragists in Washington, D.C. : The 1913 Parade and the Fight for the Vote. 2020 brought The Suffragist Playbook : Your Guide to Changing the World, co-authored by Lucinda Robb. Today, we’ll continue our discussion of her newest work, Untold Power: The Fascinating Rise and Complex Legacy of First Lady Edith Wilson, which is published by Viking.

Rebecca Boggs Roberts - Untold Power - part one

 

Rebecca Boggs Roberts is a journalist and author, having been a correspondent for NPR, PRI, and the BBC, including the programs Morning Edition, The World, and Talk of the Nation. She is currently the deputy director of events for The Library of Congress. Her first book in 2012, co-authored with Sandra Schmidt, was Historic Congressional Cemetery. Her second was 2017’s Suffragists in Washington, D.C. : The 1913 Parade and the Fight for the Vote. 2020 brought The Suffragist Playbook : Your Guide to Changing the World, co-authored by Lucinda Robb. Today, we’ll begin our discussion of her newest work, Untold Power: The Fascinating Rise and Complex Legacy of First Lady Edith Wilson, which is published by Viking.

Eli Cranor - Ozark Dogs

 

Eli Cranor is a former pro football player and high school football coach. He’s now a writer with a column in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette and has recently published his second novel set in the Arkansas River valley. The first one was Don’t Know Tough, and the new one, recently released by Soho Crime, is Ozark Dogs. 

 

Oline Eaton - Finding Jackie

 

Dr. Oline Eaton is a lecturer at Howard University. Today we'll be talking about her first book, Finding Jackie: A Life Reinvented, which is published by Diversion Books.

Adam Brookes - Fragile Cargo - Part Two

Adam Brookes is back on the program for the second of a two-part interview. Adam is a true world traveler, having been born in Canada, grew up in Britain, and worked all over Asia. He is a journalist and novelist. He primarily served as BBC correspondent for Beijing, Jakarta, and Washington, DC. His novels are Night Heron, Spy Games, and The Spy’s Daughter. Today we’ll finish our discussion his new non-fiction title, Fragile Cargo: The World War II Race to Save the Treasure of China’s Forbidden City, which is published by Atria. 

 

Adam Brookes - Fragile Cargo - Part One

Adam Brookes is on the program today for the first of a two-part interview. Adam is a true world traveler, having been born in Canada, grew up in Britain, and worked all over Asia. He is a journalist and novelist. He primarily served as BBC correspondent for Beijing, Jakarta, and Washington, DC. His novels are Night Heron, Spy Games, and The Spy’s Daughter. Today we’ll begin discussing his new non-fiction title, Fragile Cargo: The World War II Race to Save the Treasure of China’s Forbidden City, which is published by Atria. 

 

Mark Greaney - Burner

New York Times Best-Selling author Mark Greaney returns to the program to talk about the latest installment in his Gray Man series, Burner, which finds Court Gentry facing off against a Russian hit team as they both race to find a phone drive full of international, money-laundering secrets.

Chuck Thompson - The Status Revolution, Part Two

 

 

Chuck Thompson has appeared on Book Talk for his three previous titles, Smile When You’re Lying: Confessions of a Rogue Travel Writer, To Hellholes and Back: Bribes, Lies, and the Art of Extreme Tourism, and Better Off Without ’Em: A Northern Manifesto for Southern Secession. Today, we have the second of a two-part interview about his most recent book: The Status Revolution: The Improbable Story of How the Lowbrow Became the Highbrow which is published by Simon and Schuster, and we’ll also talk about the recent documentary he wrote about soft rock called, Sometimes When We Touch, which is streaming on Paramount Plus. 

 

Chuck Thompson - The Status Revolution, Part One

 

Chuck Thompson has appeared on Book Talk for his three previous titles, Smile When You’re Lying: Confessions of a Rogue Travel Writer, To Hellholes and Back: Bribes, Lies, and the Art of Extreme Tourism, and Better Off Without ’Em: A Northern Manifesto for Southern Secession.  Today, we have the first of a two-part interview about his most recent book: The Status Revolution: The Improbable Story of How the Lowbrow Became the Highbrow which is published by Simon and Schuster.

 

Brad Taylor - The Devil’s Ransom

Brad Taylor is a retired Army Lt. Colonel who served in what is popularly known as Delta Force. After his service, he became a thriller author, creating the Pike Logan thriller series. We’ll be talking about his brand new one, The Devil’s Ransom, where the covert ops department Logan is part of has been hacked for ransom, to be complicated by Afghan assassins also chasing his target. 

 

Andy Davidson - The Hollow Kind

Andy Davidson is an author of literary horror who has garnered much acclaim for his three published novels. The first was In the Valley of the Sun. He visited the WYPL studios in early 2020 to talk about The Boatman's Daughter. Today, he speaks to us from his home in Georgia about his most recent release, The Hollow Kind, which is published MCDxFSG Originals.

Stacy Schiff - The Revoluntionary (Part Two)

Stacy Schiff is a Pulitzer-winning biographer, having won for Véra (Mrs. Vladimir Nabokov), among her other works are The Witches: Salem, 1692, Cleopatra: A Life, and A Great Improvisation: Franklin, France, and the Birth of America. Today we have the second of a two-part interview about her most recent biography, in which she returns to the American Revolution, with The Revolutionary, about the life and times of Samuel Adams, which is published by Little, Brown, and Co.

 

Stacy Schiff - The Revolutionary (Part One)

 

Stacy Schiff is a Pulitzer-winning biographer, having won for Véra (Mrs. Vladimir Nabokov), among her other works are The Witches: Salem, 1692, Cleopatra: A Life, and A Great Improvisation: Franklin, France, and the Birth of America. Today we have the first of a two-part interview about her most recent biography, in which she returns to the American Revolution, with The Revolutionary, about the life and times of Samuel Adams, which is published by Little, Brown, and Co.

 

Teresa Lim - The Interpreter’s Daughter

Teresa Lim is a journalist originally from Singapore, now living in England. She has recently published in America her debut book, a multigenerational memoir of her family’s journey from Southern China in the late 19th century up to the Japanese invasion of Singapore during World War II, entitled: The Interpreter’s Daughter, and it is available in America from Pegasus. 

 

Aram Goudsouzian - Man on a Mission : James Meredith and the Battle of OLE Miss

Aram Goudsouzian is a professor and the chair of the history department at the University of Memphis. He’s appeared on Book Talk before to discuss his books, King of the Court about NBA legend Bill Russell, Down to the Crossroads: Civil Rights, Black Power, and the Meredith March Against Fear, and The Men and the Moment: The Election of 1968 and the Rise of Partisan Politics in America. Today we’ll be talking about his latest project, Man on a Mission:James Meredith and the Battle of Ole Miss, an illustrated graphic history of James Meredith’s attempts to attend The University of Mississippi in the early 1960s during Jim Crow. The illustrator for the book is Bill Murray, and the editor is Vijay Shah, and it is published by The University of Arkansas Press. 

 

Jake S. Friedman - Part Two - The Disney Revolt

Jake S. Friedman is a former animator and current educator, as well as a researcher and writer about the history of animation. His first book was The Art of Blue Sky Studios, and today in the second of a two-part interview, we'll discuss his new book, The Disney Revolt: The Great Labor War of Animation's Golden Age, which is published by Chicago Review Press. 

 

Jake S. Friedman - Part One - The Disney Revolt

Jake S. Friedman is a former animator and current educator, as well as a researcher and writer about the history of animation. His first book was The Art of Blue Sky Studios, and today in the first of a two-part interview, we'll discuss his new book, The Disney Revolt: The Great Labor War of Animation's Golden Age, which is published by Chicago Review Press. 

 

Grant McCracken - Return of the Artisan

Grant McCracken is an anthropologist and author who researches culture and commerce. His previous books include: Culture and Consumption, Plenitude, and Chief Culture Officer. Today we’ll be discussing his most recent title, Return of the Artisan: How America Went from Industrial to Handmade, which is published by Simon Element, an imprint of Simon and Schuster.