WYPL Book Talk

Jeremy Scott - Strings

Jeremy Scott is perhaps best known for being the voice and co-founder of the extremely popular YouTube channel Cinema Sins where he nitpicks the plots an details of movies. A few years ago, he started a young adult book series about a world were super heroes are real, but must remain in the shadows while keeping the world safe. It starts Philip a young, but blind hero, who bands together with other young, but physically handicapped fellow students, to help protect the protectors. The first book was called The Ables, and Turner  has recently released the second book in the series, Strings.

Jan Brett - The Tale of the Tiger Slippers

Jan Brett is one of the most-respected authors and illustrators of children's book in the world. Among her dozens of books are Berlioz the Bear, The Umbrella, and The Animals' Santa. Today we'll be discussing her latest, The Tale of the Tiger Slippers, which is published by G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers.

Elizabeth Chiles Shelburne - Holding On To Nothing

Elizabeth Chiles Shelburne was an editor for The Atlantic Monthly, and her writing has also appeared in The Boston Globe, GlobalPost, and elsewhere. In this episode, she talks to Linda Lloyd about her east Tennessee roots and her debut novel, Holding On To Nothing, which is available from Blair.

Jami Attenberg - All This Could Be Yours

Jami Attenberg is a best-selling novelist whose titles include The Kept Man, The Middlesteins, and All Grown Up. Today we'll be talking about her latest, All This Could Be Yours, which was named to best books of the fall lists by many media outlets, including Time, Entertainment Weekly, and BBC.

Gene Ha - Mae Volumes One and Two

Gene Ha is four-time Eisner award-winning comic artist, having worked on books like Alan Moore's Top 10, Batman, Green Lantern, and Marvel Knights. Today we will be talking about the series he created, Mae, which he writes and draws, as well. Lion Forge recently released the second volume collection, which is about a pair of sisters from Indiana who find a portal to an amazing alien world.

Kristen Meinzer - So You Want to Start a Podcast

Kristen Meinzer is a former public radio producer and current podcaster, whose podcasts include By The Book, Movie Date, and We Love You (And So Can You). She's recently written a why and how to book called So You Want to Start a Podcast: Finding Your Voice, Telling Your Story, and Building a Community That Will Listen, which is published by William Morrow.

Pico Iyer - A Beginner's Guide to Japan: Observations and Provocations

Pico Iyer is one of the world's great writers on our current age of travel and what it means to our connected societies. He writes for many publications, including Time Magazine and Harper's, and he has authored 15 books. Today we'll talk about his latest, A Beginner's Guide to Japan: Observations and Provocations which is published by Knopf. 

Karen Abbott - The Ghosts of Eden Park

Karen Abbott is a best-selling and respected writer of historical non-fiction. Her previous efforts are Sin in the Second City, American Rose: A Nation Laid Bare, and Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War.Today, we'll be talking about her latest, The Ghosts of Eden Park: The Bootleg King, the Women Who Pursued Him, and the Murder that Shocked Jazz-Age America, which is published by Crown

Paul Tough - The Years That Matter Most

Guest host Blake McVey talks with writer Paul Tough about his new book, The Years That Matter Most:How College Makes Or Breaks Us, which was inspired by a chapter in his previous bestseller, How Children Succeed. It is a wide-ranging look at how cultural and economic factors can drastically affect students in higher learning, which is supposed to be one of the biggest contributors to social mobility in our society.

Lisa Howorth - Summerlings

Lisa Howorth and her husband Richard are owners of Square Books in Oxford, Mississippi, one of the most beloved independent book stores in the country. In 2014, Lisa published her debut novel, Flying Shoes. Today we'll be talking about her second one, Summerlings, which is set in suburban Washington, DC during the summer of 1959.

William Kent Krueger - This Tender Land

William Kent Krueger is best known for his award-winning Cork O'Connor mystery series set in Minnesota. He's also written three stand-alone novels, The Devil's Bed, Ordinary Grace, which won the Edgar award for best novel, and the latest one, This Tender Land, which is published by Atria.

Brock Clarke - Who Are You Calvin Bledsoe?

Brock Clarke is the chair of the English department at Bowdoin College and has written three collections of short stories and five novels, including An Arsonist's Guide to Writers' Homes in New England. He was previously on the program to talk about the novel, The Happiest People in the World, and today we'll be talking about his latest, Who Are You, Calvin Bledsoe?, which is published by Algonquin.

Martin Clark - The Substitution Order

The Honorable Martin Clark is a recently retired circuit court judge from the Commonwealth of Virginia and a respected writer of legal fiction. His previous novels are The Many Aspects of Mobile Home Living, Plain Heathen Mischief, The Legal Limit, and The Jezebel Remedy. Today, we'll be talking about his latest book, The Substitution Order,which is published by Knopf.

Richard Zoglin - Elvis in Vegas

Richard Zoglin has worn many hats at Time Magazine of the the years, writer, critic, and editor. He's also written three books looking at the history of American entertainment: Comedy at the Edge: How Stand-up in the 1970s Changed America, Hope:, Entertainer of the Century, about Bob Hope and now Elvis in Vegas: How the King Reinvented the Las Vegas Show which is published by Simon and Schuster.

Philip Mudd - Black Site

Philip Mudd worked for the CIA for 20 years and the FBI for five. His last position a the CIA was a deputy director of the Counter Terrorism Center, in 2005 then FBI Director Robert Mueller appointed him the deputy director of the newly-established National Security Branch. He left government service in 2010, started a consulting company, began speaking in the media on security issues, and has written three books, Takedown: Inside the Search for Al Qaeda, The HEAD Game: High-Efficiency Analytic Decision Making and the Art of Solving Complex Problems Quickly, and today we will be talking about his latest, Black Site: The CIA in the Post-9/11 World, which is published by Liveright.

Erin A. Craig - House of Salt and Sorrows

Linda Lloyd talks with Memphis author Erin A. Craig about her debut YA novel, House of Salt and Sorrows, which was inspired by The Brothers Grimm's "The Twelve Dancing Princesses" and contains more than a couple of Edgar Allen Poe references, in a tale of a cursed family coming to grips with the tragedies that haunt them. 

Erin will be signing copies of House of Salt and Sorrow at Burke's Books, 936 Cooper Street, on Saturday, September 14 at 11:00 a.m. during the Cooper Young Festival.

Stephen Hunter - Game of Snipers

Stephen Hunter is the Pulitzer Prize-winning former film critic for The Washington Post and has enjoyed a very successful career writing thrillers, both series and stand alones. He's best known for his Bob Lee Swagger series. He was last on the program to discuss the sixth entry into the series, I Sniper. In this episode, we'll be talking about book number eleven, Game of Snipers, which is published by G.P. Putnam's Sons.

Mark Greaney and Rip Rawlings - Red Metal

It's my pleasure to not only welcome back frequent guest best-selling novelist Mark Greaney to the program today but also his co-author, the newly-retired Marine Lt. Colonel Hunter Ripley Rawlings IV, who goes by Rip. Rip served over 22 years in the Corps, having been deployed ten times to combat and peacekeeping missions. Together they have written Red Metal, a near-future military thriller in which their version of the Russian Government launches a series of attacks on western forces that they believe essential to maintaining and improving Mother Russia's strength and relevancy on the international stage. Red Metal is published by Berkley.

Margaret Renkl - Late Migrations

Margaret Renkl is a contributing op-ed writer for The New York Times. Her writing has also appeared in Guernica and The Oxford American, among others. Margaret was the founding editor of the literary website of HumanitiesTennessee, Chapter16.org. She has recently left the site to concentrate on her own writing. Today, we'll be talking about her debut book, Late Migrations: A Natural History of Love and Loss which is published by Milkweed Editions.

Rea Frey - Because You're Mine

Rea Frey has written several non-fiction titles about health and fitness, but Book Talk listeners may remember that we talked to her last year about her debut novel, Not Her Daughter, which has been optioned for production in Hollywood. Today we'll we'll be talking about her brand new thriller, Because You're Mine, which is published by St. Martin's Griffin.