WYPL Book Talk

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 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 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 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.

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 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 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.

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 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.

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 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 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.

Daniel Brook is a writer of non-fiction and his journalism has appeared in Harper's, The Nation, and The New York Times Magazine. His books are The Trap, A History of Future Cities, and his most recent one, The Accident of Color: A Story of Race in Reconstruction, which is published by W.W. Norton.

 

Chanelle Benz was first on Book Talk to discuss her first book, the short story collection, The Man Who Shot Out My Eye Is Dead, which won the 2018 Sergio Troncoso Award for Best First Fiction and the Philosophical Society of Texas 2018 Book Award for fiction. In this episode, we'll be talking about her new novel, The Gone Dead, which is published by Ecco/Harper Collins.

 

Mary Miller teaches at the University of Mississippi and has published five books of fiction, including three short story collections, and the novel The Last Days of California. We'll be talking about her latest novel, Biloxi, which is published by Liveright, an imprint of W.W. Norton.

Deb Spera is known as Deborah Spera in the television industry where she has executive produced series like Criminal Minds, Reaper, and Army Wives. Today we'll be talking about her debut historical novel, Call Your Daughter Home, which is published by Park Row Books.

David Maraniss is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist for The Washington Post. His non-fiction books are always best-sellers which also receive critical acclaim like winning the Robert F. Kennedy Book Award and the Anthony Lukas Book Prize. Today we'll be discussing his latest book, A Good American Family: The Red Scare and My Father.

Michael Knight teaches creative writing at the University of Tennessee Knoville and has written seven books of fiction including, The Holiday Season and The Typist. Today we'll be talking about his latest novel, At Briarwood School for Girls which is published by The Atlantic Monthly Press.

Casey Cep is a writer of non-fiction whose work has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, and The New Republic, among others. We'll be discussing her first book today, Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee, which is published Knopf.

Mary Kay Andrews has a phenomenal track record of publishing engaging best-selling novels. She and Linda Lloyd talk about her latest, Sunset Beach, the story of a young woman who inherits a broken down beach bungalow and becomes involved is a decades old mystery.