WYPL Book Talk

Gail Godwin - Flora

Stephen Usery interviews National Book Award finalist Gail Godwin about her thirteenth novel, Flora. Flora is the story of ten year-old Helen Anstruther and her 22 year-old cousin Flora who spend the summer of 1945 in a run-down grand home on top of a hill in western North Carolina. Helen's father is helping the war effort over in Oak Ridge, TN, while Flora has come up from Alabama to stay with her.

Vince Vawter - Paperboy

Stephen Usery interviews Memphis native Vince Vawter about his semi-autobiographical novel, Paperboy. July 1959 is a pivotal month for a young boy, who has a prominent stutter and takes over a friend's paper route. He gets to know some of the customers on his route and learns lessons that he will carry the rest of his life.

Daniel Wallace - The Kings and Queens of Roam

Stephen Usery welcomes Daniel Wallace to the program to talk about his new novel, The Kings and Queens of Roam. Helen and Rachel McCallister are inseparable adult sisters who cannot outrun the evil done by their great-grandfather Elijah McCallister when setting up his silk-worm empire in the remote, magical town of Roam. Sins of previous generations are compounded by more recent misdeeds and do not bode well for them or their hometown.

Joel Harrington - The Faithful Executioner

Tune into Book Talk this week as Stephen Usery interviews Vanderbilt history professor Joel Harrington about his new book The Faithful Executioner: Life and Death, Honor and Shame in the Turbulent Sixteenth Century. Frantz Schmidt was the master executioner of Nuremberg in the late 1500s. His father was forced into the execution profession, and Frantz had little choice but follow, yet he worked tirelessly to restore the family's honor. Joel Harrington on this week's Book Talk, Saturday evening at 6:00 p.m. and Sunday afternoon at 1:30 p.m. on FM89.3 WYPL Memphis.

Jill McCorkle - Life after Life

Stephen Usery interviews Jill McCorkle about her first novel in 17 years, Life After Life. It's the story of the patients, employees, and neighbors of the Pine Haven Retirement Center in Fulton, North Carolina. Each character is at a major transition point in life, and it forces them to reflect on the choices they made in their past and deal with the regrets that plague us all.

Ann B Ross - Miss Julia Stirs Up Trouble

Linda Lloyd interviews Ann B. Ross about the 14th book in her hilarious Ms. Julia Series.

In Miss Julia Stirs Up Trouble, friend Hazel Marie's maid falls down the stairs, leaving Hazel Marie overwhelmed with all the chores and her two babies. Miss Julia tries to rally support in the community to teach Hazel Marie cooking and other domestic lessons, all while Hazel Marie's good-for-nothing uncle comes back on the scene to stir up some trouble of his own.

Dana Sachs - The Secret of the Nightingale Palace

Stephen Usery Interviews Memphis native Dana Sachs about her second novel, The Secret of the Nightingale Palace. Anna is a young widow who travels to meet with her demanding grandmother, Goldie, from whom she has been estranged for five years. As we learn more about Anna's brief marriage, the story of Goldie's time in San Francisco prior to WWII reveals why she holds such strong opinions.

Alan Huffman - Here I Am

Stephen Usery interviews Alan Huffman about his new book, Here I Am: The Story of Tim Hetherington, War Photographer. Hetherington was the Oscar-nominated filmmaker and photographer of the Afghan war documentary, Restrepo. Huffman looks at his career's beginnings during the Liberian civil war until his untimely death while covering the Libyan revolution in 2011.

Maureen Johnson - The Madness Underneath

Stephen Usery interviews Maureen Johnson about her new novel The Madness Underneath, the second book in the Shades of London series. Louisiana high-school student Rory Deveau is recovering from a run in with a killer who imitated the crimes of Jack the Ripper, and now she has to make some tough decisions while being pulled in different directions by family, friends, and government while attending boarding school in London.

Jenny Milchman - Cover of Snow

Stephen Usery interviews Jenny Milchman about her debut novel, Cover of Snow.  It's the suspenseful story of Nora Hamilton, a home restoration contractor, who wakes up to find her world turned upside down. Her small town becomes difficult to navigate as the Adirondack Mountains snow piles up, and she doesn't know if she can trust anyone to tell her the truth.

Cory Doctorow - Homeland

 

credit Jonathan Worth

 Stephen Usery interviews author Cory Doctorow about the sequel to his best-selling novel, Little Brother. The new book, Homeland, also a New York Times bestseller, picks up with Marcus Yallow, a teenage hacker who took on the Department of Homeland Security over their illegal tactics, as he tries to get his life straight and work for a congressional candidate. But government operatives want revenge and some members of the hacking community think he isn't doing enough.

Ben Schrank - Love Is a Canoe

Stephen Usery speaks with Ben Schrank about his third novel Love Is a Canoe. It's a story that spans the breadth of the book business from publishers, marketers and readers, and their love for books and the people in their lives.

David Wesley Williams - Long Gone Daddies

Stephen Usery speaks with Commercial Appeal sports editor David Williams about his debut novel Long Gone Daddies, which looks at three generations of traveling musicians and how they all ended up in Memphis and the trouble they have with love.

Ruta Sepetys - Out of the Easy

 

 

 Stephen Usery interviews Ruta Sepetys talks about the follow-up to her bestselling debut, Between Shades of Gray. Her new novel is Out of the Easy, and it stars the seventeen year-old Josie Moraine who has raised herself since elementary school. Her mother is a prostitute, and the precocious Josie wants to better her own lot in life at the beginning of the 1950s in New Orleans.

Alan Lightman - Mr g

Stephen Usery interviews Memphis native Alan Lightman about his latest book, Mr g: A Novel About the Creation. Lightman, who has taught both physics and creative writing at MIT, spins a yarn of a being outside of space and time who creates a universe while dealing with his loving, yet constantly bickering, aunt and uncle. An ominous stranger comes on the scene and tries to influence Mr g as he refines the laws for his new creation.

Jeanette Keith - Fever Season

Sara Hoover interviews Jeanette Keith about her book, Fever Season: The Story of a Terrifying Epidemic and the People who Saved a City. Heroes and cowards are revealed during the yellow fever outbreak which claimed 17,000 lives.

Da Chen - My Last Empress

Sara Hoover interviews Da Chen about his novel, My Last Empress, a tale of ill-fated love. Set in the 19th century, madness and obsession propel Samuel Pickens to leave Yale behind for imperial China, where he becomes embroiled in a dangerous love affair within the Forbidden City.

John Perry - The Art of Procrastination

 Stephen Usery interviews Stanford philosophy professor John Perry about his book, The Art of Procrastination: Guide to Effective Dawdling, Lollygagging and Postponing.

Molly Caldwell Crosby - The Great Pearl Heist

Molly Caldwell Crosby worked for National Geographic Magazine before scoring a critical and commercial hit with he first book, The American Plague about the scourge of yellow fever. Her next book was Asleep: The Forgotten Epidemic That Remains one of Medicine's Greatest Mysteries. Molly's newest book is The Great Pearl Heist: London's Greatest Thief and Scotland Yard's Hunt for the World's Most Valuable Necklace.    

Sal Lizard - Being Santa Claus

Stephen Usery gets in the holiday spririt as he interviews Sal Lizard about his memoir Being Santa Claus: What I Learned About the True Meaning of Christmas.