The Book Case

Kao Kalia Yang Captures Her Mother's Story

18 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Kao Kalia Yang is a Hmong writer who has written her family and country’s history through deeply personal prisms. She told the story of her family’...

Tommy Orange Traces Indigenous Trauma and Triumph

11 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Tommy Orange has written a second novel. Although technically a sequel, you can easily read Wandering Stars without having experienced There There. Bu...

Amor Towles Writes a Novella His Way

04 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Amor Towles is publishing a short story collection (with a novella included) called Table for Two, and we waited with bated breath as it arrived in ou...

Richard Roper Delights With New British Rom-Com

28 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

This Disaster Loves You is the newest by Richard Roper, which we would probably best describe as a quirky British romcom, sort of... a little. But it...

Introducing the 'Writer in Residence' Series with J. Ryan Stradal

21 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

THE WRITER IN RESIDENCE SHOW! We kick off our new series, Writer in Residence, with our resident writer, J. Ryan Stradal. A great writer, a national ...

Tana French On Writing An Irish Western Murder Mystery

14 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

If you are a mystery fan who hasn’t read Tana French, then you have missed one of the great modern mystery writers of our time. American by birth an...

Anna Quindlen Explores Life After Death

07 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

We believe that Anna Quindlen should be declared a national treasure. Her new novel, After Annie, is an intimate look at a family recovering from the...

Sloane Crosley Processes Her Grief With Humor

29 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

It’s never a great idea to pigeonhole a talented writer, but you could probably call Sloane Crosley a humorist... most of the time. Her newest, Grie...

Diane Oliver's Posthumous Debut

22 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A few weeks ago Kate received an email informing her of a debut author: Diane Oliver. But this debut book stood out because the author had been dead f...

Kate and Charlie Gibson's Favorite Love Stories

15 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

It doesn’t happen often, but sometimes we just want to talk to each other. And that’s what happened this week. We spent some time reflecting on le...

Ilyon Woo on the Self-Emancipation of Ellen and William Craft

08 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Have you ever heard of William and Ellen Craft? They were an escaped enslaved husband and wife whose stories read like a blockbuster action movies. Sy...

Live: Kate Gibson Revisits Horror

01 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Kate revisits her favorite genre: horror (but she prefers the moniker of dark fiction), and this one is taped in front of a live audience! Plus: you ...

Kaveh Akbar Finds Meaning in Martyrdom

25 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Kaveh Akbar weighs every word that he writes. An accomplished and published poet, any reader can tell that he understands the undeniable power of lan...

Inci Atrek Lives In Two Worlds at Once

18 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Inci Atrek is a debut novelist to watch. We recommend going out and picking up a copy of her debut, Holiday Country, a novel it would be easy to over...

Ashley Elston On How To Write A Whodunnit Heist Novel

04 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Happy New Year! The first episode of the year is a truly terrific mystery. Entertaining in the extreme, this is a whodunnit that breaks the mold. As...

Viktoria Lloyd-Barlow Explores Mother-Daughter Dynamics

28 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Viktoria Lloyd-Barlow's All the Little Bird-Hearts is a novel that will stay with you long after you close the book. It takes place in the 1980’s, a...

Mitch Albom Wrote a Tale of Lies and Truth

21 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Mitch Albom became a household name with his bestseller Tuesdays with Morrie. His new novel, The Little Liar, is an original and fascinating look at t...

Patricia Cornwell Dives into the Mysterious World of Kay Scarpetta

14 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

If you haven’t heard of Patricia Cornwell you’ve never been to a bookstore, or an airport, or a library…heck. She is everywhere and there is a r...

How to Inspire Your Kids to Love Reading

07 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

When we first began the podcast, our main goal was to inspire more folks to read. But we also talked about how we might offer content to help parents ...

Jon Clinch Explores the Final Days of Ulysses S. Grant

30 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The General and Julia is a wonderful novel, delving deeply into the final days of Ulysses S. Grant. Not many know this, but at the end of his life, Gr...

Lawrence Wright Takes On Texas Politics

23 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Lawrence Wright’s newest novel, Mr. Texas, revolves around Texas politics and how they relate to our national political conversation, and he knows ...

Jennifer Vanderbes Chronicles the Dark History of Thalidomide

16 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

You might know the historical fiction of Jennifer Vanderbes, but just wait until you read Wonder Drug: The Secret History of Thalidomide in America an...

Diana Walsh Shares Her Manual on Leadership

09 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Being the president of anything takes vision, ambition, and leadership. Being the president of a leading academic institution takes courage (and a wh...

Alice McDermott on the Women Behind the Vietnam War

02 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Alice McDermott has written one of THE great novels of 2023. Absolution is so many things…a portrait of diplomatic wives carving out lives for them...

Our Halloween Horror Reading Recommendations

26 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

So we have come to the last of our horror genre shows…although we have decided we like the moniker 'dark literature’ better. We have a game-chang...

Tan Twan Eng Takes Us Through The House of Doors

19 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Tan Twan Eng, in some ways, has the perfect bibliography. He has written three books, all novels. All three have been on the short or long list for ...

Writers of the Movie "Airplane!" On The Rules of Comedy

12 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Surely You Can’t be Serious - heard that before? Surely you have, if you have seen the movie Airplane! Made in 1980. The incredibly successful and...

Amanda Gorman’s Poetry Slays Monsters

05 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Amanda Gorman is an American treasure. Her inaugural poem, The Hill We Climb, stunned audiences around the world in 2021, and her tome of poetry, Call...

Kate DiCamillo Transforms Children's Fiction

28 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Kate DiCamillo has probably been honored as much or more than any living American children’s author. If her awards were all displayed on a mantle, s...

Stephen Graham Jones Writes Hopeful Horror

21 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

We have two horror genre shows left and this week we bring you Stephen Graham Jones. Although not all of his books fall squarely in horror category, ...

Sebastian Barry Carries the Irish Torch

14 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Have you ever noticed that when it comes to great writers, Ireland seems to have had more than its fair share? Maybe it’s the difficult history, or ...

William Kent Krueger Takes Us To Minnesota

07 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

We don't want to pigeon hole William Kent Krueger as a mystery writer. He writes terrific mysteries that will keep you guessing, sure, but what will k...

James McBride Masters Historical Fiction

31 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Kate often says that if she were a writer she would have trouble reading James McBride. It's hard not to hear a mic drop when you close the back cover...

Andrew Ridker Writes With Hope

24 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Andrew Ridker is but 32 years of age - yet already he has written what promises to be his second very successful novel - Hope. The title is an acronym...

Jennifer McMahon Writes What Scares Her

17 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

We have three horror shows left. But we are not sure Jennifer McMahon fits within the genre so neatly. If you are dipping your toe into the genre......

Esmeralda Santiago is Back in the Book Case

10 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

We talked to the renowned bilingual author Esmeralda Santiago a few months about her incredible trilogy of memoirs. So when she sent us her new novel,...

Ann Patchett Juggles Writing and Bookselling

03 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

PATCHETT PUBLISHES!! That should be big news in the literary world. Ann Patchett has a new book out as of August 1st.  Tom Lake is the title - a ...

Markus Zusak Revisits The Book Thief's Legacy

27 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

This week we take you back in time to a book that is so good it’s ageless. Charlie interviewed author Markus Zusak about his phenomenal novel The ...

Laura Spence-Ash Travels Back in Time

20 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Historical fiction is the genre this week, and it centers around a lesser WWII phenomenon. During the Blitz, many British families sent their children...

Mihret Sibhat Writes an Ethiopian Epic

13 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The History of a Difficult Child is a beautiful and sprawling family story set in Ethiopia during the Socialist Revolution. It is narrated by a young ...

Josh Malerman Delivers the Scares

06 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Second Horror Thursday on The Book Case! Kicking off our month, we speak to the incredible Josh Malerman. How does one write a best selling horror nov...

Shelley Read Starts Her Second Act

29 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

There are times where Shelley Read’s Go as a River reads less like a novel and more of a philosophical teaching. Grounded in Buddhist philosophy, th...

Michael Finkel Catches an Art Thief

22 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

If you have never heard of Stéphane Breitwieser don’t feel bad, we hadn’t either. Turns out he is one of the most successful art thieves of all t...

Kate and Charlie Pick Winners

15 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

We wanted to affectionately title this episode, Kate and Charlie are really smart and have great taste, but ABC thought that would be a little obnoxio...

Dave Eggers Crafts New Fables

08 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Dave Eggers is a writer who does not want to be put in a box. His writing often defies easy cataloging or genre classification and he doesn’t like ...

Christopher Golden Scares Us

01 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Kate is dragging her father by the collar to the horror section of the bookstore and the first Thursday of every month for awhile is going to be Horro...

James Comey Writes a Thriller

25 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Our principal guest this week is James Comey. Yes, that James Comey. Ex-FBI Director James Comey. Some of Hillary Clinton’s supporters think he may ...

Alexandra Robbins Studies Teachers

18 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The Teachers: A Year Inside America’s Most Important and Vulnerable Profession by Alexandra Robbins takes us inside the classroom to show us the dai...

Henry Grabar Parks That Thought

11 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Henry Grabar is a writer for Slate, the online magazine, and he has written “Paved Paradise: How Parking Explains the World.” Now you probably are...

Dave Barry Makes Us Laugh

04 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Dave Barry's sense of humor should be on display at the Smithsonian; it is truly one America's great treasures. His latest novel, Swamp Story, is set ...

Brendan Slocumb Finds Hidden Notes

27 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Brendan Slocumb is a renaissance man who writes his novels with a mission in mind. A violin virtuoso, music teacher, clarinetist AND oboist, he is als...

J Ryan Stradal is Back in the Book Case

20 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

If you aren't seeing the world through the eyes of J. Ryan Stradal's fiction, you are missing out on something truly special. He writes largely about ...

Charles Frazier Sheds Light on American Optimism

13 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Charles Frazier comes across as a writer in love with America. Beyond the rolling plains and purple mountains majesty, he loves the stories of average...

Rebecca Boggs Roberts Unveils Edith Wilson

06 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Has the United States ever had a female president? An easy question to answer. Has it ever had an ‘acting’ female President? Harder to answer. Che...

Timothy Egan Rewrites History

30 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

This week, we turn to non-fiction and events in a decade of U.S. history that is unknown to most Americans. The 1920’s were known for remarkable soc...

Harlan Coben Will Find You

23 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Harlan Coben is as successful a mystery writer as we have in the country today. He is probably known best for his page-turner plots. In his more than ...

Beverly Horowitz Adapts Heather McGhee for YA

16 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Quite a few of you have written us that you would be interested in hearing from a book editor, so we went out and find one of the best. Beverly Horowi...

Michael Schulman Goes To the Oscars

09 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

It's Oscar Week! A week we’ll always love… even if we haven’t seen the all the movies. Our guest this week is Michael Schulman, author of Os...

Alex Prud'homme Dines at the White House

02 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

This week, The Book Case welcomes journalist Alex Prud’homme! His new book Dinner with the President explores the long history of food and America...

Rebecca Makkai Has Some Questions For You

23 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Five years ago Rebecca Makkai was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize and the National Book award. Now, in what is a treat for readers, Rebecca Makkai has...

Amity Gaige Knows How to Write Tension

16 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Amity Gaige is our featured author this week - her latest book is Sea Wife. But when we say latest - it’s been out for almost three years. With ap...

Julie Otsuka is a Master of Memory

09 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Julie Otsuka doesn't just write, she crafts. Trained as a painter, Otsuka took up writing as her second career, and man oh man are we lucky she did. H...

Stuart Gibbs is Back in the Book Case

02 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Stuart Gibbs is a man who loves his audience and his audience loves him. He has written six series of books for kids and all them offer a glimpse into...

Ayana Gray Creates New Worlds

26 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Ayana Gray doesn't just write books, she creates worlds. At 29 years old, she is already one of the best selling YA authors on the market (yes, it's ...

John Boyne Revisits The Past

19 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

You may have noticed that most weeks in our ‘rapid fire’ questions to featured authors, we ask if they have a favorite author. Little secret: Some...

David Sedaris is Back in the Book Case

12 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

This week it is David Sedaris part two - or David Sedaris redux. We loved our conversation with him and as we said last week, were we to limit the co...

David Sedaris Journals Gold

05 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

David Sedaris is our guest this week and next. Our conversation with him was so delightful and insightful that we could find no way to edit our conver...

Esmeralda Santiago Dreams Her Reality

22 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

It might seem a bit presumptuous to write a three volume autobiography about the first 29 years of your life, wouldn’t you think? But Esmerelda Sant...

The Holiday Gift Guide

15 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

After you’ve bought Sister Sally the alpaca sweater, brother Billy his baseball bat, Mom her mixer and Dad his golf ball retriever, what small prese...

Barbara Kingsolver Grapples with American Poverty

08 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The book is Demon Copperhead , the author is Barbara Kingsolver. That should be enough said. If you read it and don’t come away thinking it is the b...

Nelson DeMille Keeps His Readers Guessing

01 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Nelson DeMille - to meet him you’d think of him as the prototypical grandfatherly guy, mild-of-manner with a gentle soul. And you’d be right. It w...

Kate and Charlie Talk Turkey

24 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Let’s do the math. A human’s average life span: 80 years. Years after Similac and Gerbers: say 75 years. At approximately 1000 meals per year, tha...

Kate Goes to The Brooklyn Book Festival

17 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

This week on the Book Case we have two more authors from the Brooklyn Book Festival. You can find Angeline Boulley's The Firekeeper's Daughter on the ...

Cleyvis Natera Finds Joy Unexpectedly

10 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Cleyvis Natera took 15 years to write Neruda on the Park, and you can see why when you read the novel. There many pieces of the book that speak to Nat...

John Irving is Back in the Book Case

03 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

When this podcast was in its infancy, John Irving joined us to talk about his work and what he described as “his last big novel,” that was, at the...

Jon Meacham Rewrites Abraham Lincoln's Story

27 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

A quick Google search will tell you there are over 15,000 books about Abraham Lincoln. Do we need another? Well yes, considering that none of them so ...

Doug Bauer Steps Up to Bat

20 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Doug Bauer has written a love story, "The Beckoning World". A man and a woman. A father and son. A love for a more innocent time. A lovely homage to A...

Angie Cruz Teaches How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water

13 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Once again it was a title that caught our eye, leading us to a the book that was even more intriguing than the title. The book is How Not to Drown in...

Amy Sarig King Stands Up To Censorship

06 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

We have expressed a desire to keep The Book Case non-political. But there is one issue we feel should not be a source of contention - and that is book...

Richard Osman Writes Mysteries You Can Sink Your Dentures Into

29 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

So you’re in your mid-50s, you’ve got a great career going as a television personality in Great Britain, so what might be enjoyable to do next? Wh...

Elizabeth Strout Hears her Characters' Voices

22 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Elizabeth Strout is our guest this week, and our conversation couldn’t be more timely. First, her novel, Oh William! has just been short listed fo...

Sue Miller Examines Marriage, Intimately

15 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Sue Miller is one of America’s finest and most admired authors. From the time of her first published novel in 1986, (The Good Mother), to her most r...

Nahid Shahalimi Gathers the Voices of Afghan Women

08 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

It was just a year ago that the U.S. withdrew its troops from Afghanistan. On that date, Nahid Shahalimi, an Afghan female writer living in Germany, r...

Stuart Gibbs Takes Kids on Wild Journeys

01 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Stuart Gibbs is this week’s guest and begins what we intend to be a periodic look at children's’ literature, or in the parlance of the day, “kid...

David Koepp Writes Thrillers Differently These Days

25 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Our author this week is David Koepp. You may not realize it, but you’ve been exposed to David’s writing. Probably many times. Did you see the firs...

Sidik Fofana Steps Out of the Classroom

18 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Sidik Fofana has written “Stories from the Tenants Downstairs.” This is his first novel and very much worth a reader’s time. His book is eight i...

Jenny Lawson is Broken (In the Best Possible Way)

11 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Jenny Lawson is a funny writer, but that label doesn’t tell the whole story. In her three books, her "parenthetical ramblings" are hilarious glimpse...

Julia Glass Reimagines the Future

04 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Julia Glass burst on the writing scene in 2002 when her first novel, “Three Junes”, won the National Book Award for fiction. Her newest novel “V...

Hernan Diaz Trusts His Characters

28 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Hernan Diaz is an author, essayist, and finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in fiction and the PEN/Faulkner Award. His newest novel, "Trust," has just thi...

J. Ryan Stradal Writes From the Heart

21 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

J. Ryan Stradal is one of America’s finest young authors. His two novels have been out for some time - both highly acclaimed. Another is releasing...

Anna Quindlen Wants You to Write

14 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Anna Quindlen can write pretty much anything – years of insightful columns for the “New York Times,” wonderful fiction as evidenced by nine wide...

Jennifer Egan Plays with Form

07 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Twelve years ago, Jennifer Egan won a Pulitzer Prize for her novel, “A Visit from the Goon Squad.” It was wildly successful and totally original. ...

Claire Stanford is Happy For You

30 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

What if an app could quantify exactly how happy you are? That's the premise for Clare Stanford's debut novel, "Happy For You," in which a philosopher ...

David Gergen Knows Politics

23 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

David Gergen says it's time for new American leadership. As a political advisor who served four presidential administrations, Gergen has a perspective...

Delia Ephron Falls In Love, Again

16 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Delia Ephron went through hell. Her leukemia almost killed her - so did the treatments to cure it. In “Left on Tenth”, her new book that is on man...

Introducing 'Reclaimed: The Story of Mamie Till-Mobley'

11 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

You may know the story of Emmett Till. But you might’ve never heard his story if it weren't for one woman: Mamie Till-Mobley. In a new three-part se...

Azar Nafisi Reads Dangerously

09 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Azar Nafisi offers you - a reader - a challenge. It is the title of her latest book - “Read Dangerously”. Azar comes with a unique perspective. Sh...

Shelby Van Pelt Makes Her Debut

02 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Odds are you’ve never heard of Shelby Van Pelt. She is a new author, and as we spoke she was just a week away from the publication of her first nove...

John Irving Reinvents The Classics

26 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

John Irving has written fourteen novels, is working on a fifteenth, has been translated into more than thirty languages, and is one of America’s mos...

Dr. Carla Hayden is the Top Librarian

19 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Dr. Carla Hayden is the Librarian of Congress. In the 222 year history of the Library of Congress there has never before been a female Librarian of Co...