WYPL Book Talk

Tune into Book Talk this week as Stephen Usery interviews the author of the best-selling memoir The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls about her book Half Broke Horses: A True Life Novel, which is new in paperback. It's the story of her maternal grandmother as she moves around the American southwest in the first half of the twentieth century, eking out a living in frontier conditions while teaching school and running a ranch with her husband.

Stephen Usery interviews Michael Knight about his first novel in ten years, The Typist. Set amid the early days of the occupation of Japan after the end of World War II, Army typist Private Francis VanCleave tries to make sense of his new post, fellow soldiers, commanding officers, Japanese citizens, and his wife back in the States.

 

Stephen Usery interviews Eileen Sisk about her look at one of the most successful country musicians of all time in Buck Owens:The Biography.

Stephen talks to Dianne Glave about her new book Rooted in the Earth: Reclaiming the African-American Environmental Heritage.

Stephen Usery interviews former CNN correspondent Kathleen Koch about her new book Rising from Katrina: How My Mississippi Hometown Lost It All and Found What Mattered. As we approach the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, Koch recounts Bay St. Louis, Mississippi's experience during the storm and the slow path to recovery and rebuilding over the intervening years.

Stephen Usery interviews Nashville native Susan Gregg-Gilmore about her second novel, The Improper Life of Bezellia Grove, which has just hit bookstore shelves.

Stephen Usery interviews Denise Hildreth, author of the popular Savannah series, about her new stand-alone novel, Hurricanes in Paradise, which follows four women at a Caribbean resort as a storm bears down on the island.

Stephen talks to legendary radio man George Klein about his memoir Elvis:My Best Man: Radio Days Rock'n'Roll Nights, and My Lifelong Friendship with Elvis Presley.

Stephen Usery interviews Alex Heard about his new book The Eyes of Willie McGee: A Tragedy of Race, Sex and Secrets in the Jim Crow South. It's a fascinating look at one of the most complex rape trials of the late forties and early fifties which captured the interest of people and governments around the world.

Stephen Usery interviews Tess Gerritsen about Ice Cold, her eighth book featuring Boston homicide detective Jane Rizzoli and medical examiner Maura Isles. Dr. Isles goes missing while in Wyoming for a conference, and Rizzoli must control her temper when out of her jurisdiction while trying to help find her colleague and friend.

Stephen Usery interviews Aram Goudsouzian about his new book, King of the Court: Bill Russell and the Basketball Revolution. It's an in-depth look at the greatest champion in American team sports, two NCAA titles, an Olympic Gold Medal, and eleven NBA championships. Special attention is paid to Russell's involvement in raising the racial consciousness of America during the Civil Rights era and ever since.

 

Stephen Usery interviews Nashvillian Adam Ross about his debut novel Mr. Peanut. Stephen King calls Mr. Peanut "...the most riveting look at the dark side of marriage since Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" It's a complex look at love, hate, murder suicide, and resignation in three marriages that are tied together by the eternal struggle to actually communicate between married partners.

Tune into Book Talk this Saturday evening as Stephen Usery interviews Sebastian Junger about his new best-selling book, War, a look at a year in the life of a United States Army company stationed in the Korengal Valley in Afghanistan, which has the highest casualty rate for any outpost in the country. Not intended as a political view of the war, it's a grunt's-eye-view of battle in some of the toughest terrain on Earth. Sebastian Junger on Book Talk this Saturday evening at 6:00 p.m. on FM89.3 WYPL Memphis.

Stephen Usery interviews Sam McLeod about his hilarious new memoir, Big Appetite:My Southern Fried Search For the Meaning of Life. As adult Sam drives across county to attend a neighborhood reunion in Nashville, he reflects back on his family, neighbors, and not least of all, the delicious food of his childhood years in central Tennessee.

Stephen Usery interviews Glenn Taylor about his second critically-acclaimed novel, The Marrowbone Marble Factory. It's a intriguing look at post- World War II West Virginia, dealing with race, class, and the conflict of traditional mountain life with the coming space age.

Stephen Usery interviews National Book Award-Winner Nathaniel Philbrick about his latest best-seller, The Last Stand: Custer, Sitting Bull, and the Battle of the Little Bighorn. In addition to a remarkably detailed recounting of the two-day battle, The Last Stand looks at Sitting Bull and George Armstrong Custer's careers leading up to their fight and the effect to their legacies in the 134 years since The Last Stand.

Stephen Usery interviews Karl Marlantes about his New York Times bestselling debut novel Matterhorn. A searing look at futility, racism, and the changing nature of American military missions, Matterhorn is one of the finest fiction debuts in recent memory.

Stephen Usery interviews Memphis native Hampton Sides about his latest best-seller Hellhound on His Trail: The Stalking of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the International Hunt for His Assassin. It follows James Earl Ray starting with his escape from a Missouri prison in 1967 until his capture a few months after the murder of Dr. King.

Stephen Usery interviews Reif Larsen about his debut novel, The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet. Brand new in paperback, The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet is about a 12 year-old map maker whose incessant diagramming of the world around him leads him on an amazing journey from his home ranch in Montana to the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. There's a bonus of sixteen minutes of conversation on the podcast!

Stephen Usery interviews Ace Atkins about his latest historical crime novel, Infamous. Infamous is the darkly humorous story of Memphis-native George "Machine Gun" Kelly, his wife Kathryn, and the kidnapping of an Oklahoma City oil baron that draws the unwanted attention of J. Edgar Hoover and his Bureau of Investigation.