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  • A quick episode this week with updates about how you can support the podcast and links to what Julie has been reading on her own time recently.

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    Host: Julie Strauss

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    Subscribe for FREE to receive weekly emails with complete show notes, photos of our guests, and updates on what Julie is reading on her own time.

    Support the podcast for just $5/month and you’ll receive the weekly newsletter AND a monthly themed curated book list.

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    Discussed in this episode:

    Episode 118 Tyler Foley on “The Fool’s Progress” by Edward Abbey, still one of my favorite episodes even though I hated the book

    Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell

    Episode 125 3rd Annual Kids/YA Gift Giving Guide

    The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

    The Survivors by Jane Harper

    Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman

    Jaymi Couch – Let’s Read Nonfiction

    (Note: Some of the above links are affiliate links. If you shop using my affiliate link on Bookshop, a portion of your purchase will go to me, at no extra expense to you. Thank you for supporting indie bookstores and for helping to keep the Best Book Ever Podcast in business!)



    This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bestbookeverpodcast.substack.com
  • Today I’m joined by Kim Sherwood, an author and creative writing lecturer at the University of Edinburgh. Kim’s newest release, "A Wild and True Relation," has the tremendous distinction of a gushing review by Dame Hilary Mantel herself, who said that Sherwood’s book is “a rarity – a novel as remarkable for the vigour of the storytelling as for its literary ambition. Kim Sherwood is a writer of capacity, potency and sophistication.” In addition to that, this April Kim is releasing the first book in a new James Bond trilogy, called "Double Or Nothing," commissioned the Ian Fleming estate. Kim and I had a wonderful talk about these different genres, and what brings these iconic characters to life, and why "Wolf Hall" is the Best Book Ever.

    Follow the Best Book Ever Podcast on Instagram or on the Best Book Ever Website

    Host: Julie Strauss

    Website/Instagram

    Kim Sherwood

    Website/Twitter/Instagram

    Discussed in this episode:

    Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

    Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel (book 2 in the Wolf Hall trilogy)

    The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel (book 3 in the Wolf Hall trilogy)

    A Wild and True Relation by Kim Sherwood

    Orlando by Virginia Woolf

    Double or Nothing: A Double O Novel by Kim Sherwood

    From Russia with Love by Ian Fleming

    Casino Royale by Ian Fleming

    (This one also exists in graphic novel form!)

    George Baker

    Spare by Prince Harry

    Waverly by Walter Scott

    Testament by Kim Sherwood

    Greenway House – the Home of Agatha Christie

    V.I. Warshawski Novels by Sara Paretsky (There are, to date, 21 novels in this series.)

    (Note: Some of the above links are affiliate links. If you shop using my affiliate link on Bookshop, a portion of your purchase will go to me, at no extra expense to you. Thank you for supporting indie bookstores and for helping to keep the Best Book Ever Podcast in business!)



    This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bestbookeverpodcast.substack.com
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  • Aleenah Ansari (she/her) is equal parts storyteller, creative problem solver, and journalist at heart who's rooted in the stories of people behind products, companies, and initiatives. She writes about travel, entrepreneurship, mental health and wellness, and representation in media for Insider, The Seattle Times, Byrdie, and more. You can usually find her searching for murals in Seattle and beyond, reading a book, and planning her next trip to New York.

    Aleenah joined me today for a particularly canded discussion about BIPOC representation in our reading life, and the way books and therapy are crucial to our mental health

    Follow the Best Book Ever Podcast on Instagram or on the Best Book Ever Website

    Host: Julie Strauss

    Website/Instagram

    Aleenah Ansari

    Website/Twitter/Instagram/Linked In

    Discussed in this episode:

    Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb

    The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

    The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

    Aleenah’s article about the best indie bookstores across the United States

    Footnotes from the World’s Greatest Bookstores: True Tales and Lost Moments from Book Buyers, Booksellers, and Book Lovers by Bob Eckstein

    Word on the Water – The London Bookbarge

    More Than Enough by Elaine Welteroth

    Attached: The New Science of Adult Attachment and How It Can Help You Find – And Keep – Love by Amir Levine and Rachel Heller

    Dear Therapists podcast with Lori Gottlieb and Guy Winch

    Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner

    Funny You Should Ask by Elissa Sussman

    (Note: Some of the above links are affiliate links. If you shop using my affiliate link on Bookshop, a portion of your purchase will go to me, at no extra expense to you. Thank you for supporting indie bookstores and for helping to keep the Best Book Ever Podcast in business!)



    This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bestbookeverpodcast.substack.com
  • “Twenty Years at Hull House” is the acclaimed memoir of social reformer Jane Adams. It contains unflinching descriptions of poverty and degradation of the Industrial Revolution, and the steps she took to establish housing, food, clean water, and education for the poor of Chicago.

    Joining me today is Rebecca Sive, author of three books on women’s politics and power. She’s also a motivational speaker for women’s audiences; a former professor at the Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago, and the recipient of numerous awards for her public leadership and service. Rebecca and I talked about how to find rest as a feminist voter, the way every public service is bound up in all aspects of society, and how the messages from Jane Adams’ work, written over one hundred years ago, are still so relevant today.

    Follow the Best Book Ever Podcast on Instagram or on the Best Book Ever Website

    Host: Julie Strauss

    Website/Instagram

    Rebecca Sive

    Website

    Discussed in this episode:

    Twenty Years at Hull House by Jane Addams

    Every Day is Election Day: A Woman’s Guide to Winning Any Office, from the PTA to the White House by Rebecca Sive

    Vote Her In: Your Guide to Electing our First Woman President by Rebecca Sive

    Make Herstory Your Story: Your Guided Journal to Justice Every Day for Every Woman by Rebecca Sive

    Paul Wellstone

    Unbought and Unbossed by Shirley Chisholm

    Rebecca’s article about Twenty Years at Hull House in Windy City Times

    Division Street: America by Studs Terkel

    Rebel Bayou by Samuel and Sarah Hyde

    The Promised Land: The Great Black Migration and How it Changed America by Nicholas Lemann

    (Note: Some of the above links are affiliate links. If you shop using my affiliate link on Bookshop, a portion of your purchase will go to me, at no extra expense to you. Thank you for supporting indie bookstores and for helping to keep the Best Book Ever Podcast in business!)



    This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bestbookeverpodcast.substack.com
  • We are going a little off script for today’s episode. I’m not sure either one of us would call “Spare” the Best Book Ever, though I’m sure it has plenty of people who would. But it is definitely the book of the week, and a book that I think will come to be seen as a watershed moment in the history of the royals.

    Suswati Basu is a multilingual journalist, mental health books show podcast host, and award-winning activist, and one of my favorite guests of the show. I was eager to get her take on this book that has been in the news basically nonstop for the last week, and talk beyond the headlines. Besides settling the score with his family, there are a lot of really big issues in this book, and I was eager to get her take on them. We also talked about the biggest issue for all of us readers – is it actually any good?

    Follow the Best Book Ever Podcast on Instagram or on the Best Book Ever Website

    Host: Julie Strauss

    Website/Instagram

    Suswati Basu

    Website/Instagram/Podcast/YouTube/Facebook/Twitter

    Listen to Suswati talk to me about “The Stranger” by Albert Camus

    Discussed in this episode:

    Spare by Prince Harry

    Suswati’s Review of Spare in National World

    Shoe Dog by Phil Knight (co-written by J.R. Moehringer)

    Age of Vice by Deepti Kapoor

    The Bandit Queens by Parini Shroff

    The Godfather by Mario Puzo

    The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga

    (Note: Some of the above links are affiliate links. If you shop using my affiliate link on Bookshop, a portion of your purchase will go to me, at no extra expense to you. Thank you for supporting indie bookstores and for helping to keep the Best Book Ever Podcast in business!)



    This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bestbookeverpodcast.substack.com
  • This week I’m joined by the fabulous Katy Leep Arditti, consumer of all things Thriller and Fantasy, business owner, massage therapist, and one of my favorite book club friends. Friends, Katy introduced me to a book so totally out of my wheelhouse, I actually contemplated not reading it, and just having her on to tell me about it. But I’m so glad I avoided that temptation, because Ordinary Monsters turned out to be easily one of my favorite reads of 2022. It was a delightful talk about the importance of smart heroines, rollicking adventures through foggy London, and surviving tremendous personal grief.

    Follow the Best Book Ever Podcast on Instagram or on the Best Book Ever Website

    Host: Julie Strauss

    Website/Instagram

    Katy Leep Arditti

    Instagram

    Discussed in this episode:

    Ordinary Monsters by J.M. Miro

    Rock Paper Scissors by Alice Feeney

    The Magic of Oz by L. Frank Baum

    Thrillers by the Book Club

    Empire of the Vampire by Jay Kristoff

    The Bechdel Test

    Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

    BBE Episode 119 – V.P. Morris on Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

    Ben Onwukwe (audiobook narrator)

    Small Town Big Magic by Hazel Beck

    Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark

    (Note: Some of the above links are affiliate links. If you shop using my affiliate link on Bookshop, a portion of your purchase will go to me, at no extra expense to you. Thank you for supporting indie bookstores and for helping to keep the Best Book Ever Podcast in business!)



    This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bestbookeverpodcast.substack.com
  • To kick off the new year with a very special edition of Best Book Ever, my daughter Erin is taking over the hosting duties this week, interviewing me. She asked me all the things I normally like to ask my weekly guests – favorite books, goals for 2023, Mr. Darcy, and everything in between.

    Follow the Best Book Ever Podcast on Instagram or on the Best Book Ever Website

    Host: Julie Strauss

    Website/Instagram

    Erin Strauss

    Instagram

    Discussed in this episode:

    Unwind by Neal Shusterman

    Maze Runner by James Dashner

    The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

    Divergent by Veronica Roth

    Scythe by Neal Shusterman

    Life After Life by Kate Atkinson

    Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson

    Howard’s End by E.M. Forster

    A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle

    The Giver by Lois Lowry

    The Remember Balloons by Jessie Oliveros

    Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh

    Bo Burnham

    Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling

    The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

    The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

    Verity by Colleen Hoover

    The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick

    Ain’t Burned All the Bright by Jason Reynolds

    (Note: Some of the above links are affiliate links. If you shop using my affiliate link on Bookshop, a portion of your purchase will go to me, at no extra expense to you. Thank you for supporting indie bookstores and for helping to keep the Best Book Ever Podcast in business!)



    This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bestbookeverpodcast.substack.com
  • Time for an end of year wrap up with my Podcast Twin, Malavika Praseed. Malavika is putting her marvelous podcast on hiatus for the time being while she pursues a Master’s Degree in Fiction Writing. She is one of my very favorite readers, and I always love catching up with her and finding out what books she loved over the past year, and how she thinks her reading life will change now that she’s not running her podcast. As always, it was a great chat, with lots of laughs about serious and not-so-serious books.

    Follow the Best Book Ever Podcast on Instagram or on the Best Book Ever Website

    Host: Julie Strauss

    Website/Instagram

    Malavika Praseed

    Instagram/Chicago Review of Books

    Malavika on Best Book Ever Podcast:

    Episode 029 Malavika Praseed on “The Heart is a Lonely Hunter” by Carson McCullers

    Episode 079 Malavika’s 2021 End of Year Wrap Up

    And I went on her podcast once to talk about, you guessed it, My Favorite Book

    Your Favorite Book Podcast: Howard’s End with Julie Strauss

    Discussed in this episode:

    National Book Award Long List

    The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

    A Death in the Family by James Agee

    Ethan From by Edith Wharton

    The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton

    The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton

    William Faulkner

    Jhumpa Lahiri

    Jeff Pearlman

    Carson McCullers

    Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

    Best Book Ever Episode 089 Stephen Pelton on Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

    Howard’s End by E.M. Forester

    The Hours movie

    The Hours by Michael Cunningham

    The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers

    East of Eden by John Steinbeck

    The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy

    Why is Santa Claus Erotica Suddenly So Popular?

    All This Could Be Different by Sarah Thankam Mathews

    The Pultizer Prize Winners for Fiction, by year

    Fuckbois of Literature podcast

    Viviana Valentine Gets Her Man: A Girl Friday Mystery by Emily J. Edwards

    Chicago Review of Books

    (Note: Some of the above links are affiliate links. If you shop using my affiliate link on Bookshop, a portion of your purchase will go to me, at no extra expense to you. Thank you for supporting indie bookstores and for helping to keep the Best Book Ever Podcast in business!)



    This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bestbookeverpodcast.substack.com
  • Episode 126 Memoir-Palooza with Denise Massar

    Today, I’m so happy to welcome back the very first guest of the show, an amazing writer and reader, and, not to brag, but my best friend and soul sister, Denise Massar. Denise is a memoir junkie, and it occurred to me that mid-December is a perfect time to host a Memoir-Palooza, since so many of us like to give them as gifts over the holiday season, and I thought it would be interesting to hear which ones she liked best over the last year. A lot of the ones we talk about today deal with grief and loss, which also makes a lot of sense to address right now, as the holidays can be rough for a lot of people. Denise is my all-time most trusted memoir resource, and I know you’re going to love hearing her tell me why she thinks Memoirs are the Best Books Ever.

    Denise Massar is an author, a mom via birth and adoption, and an adoptee. She writes about parenting, caregiving, racism, and anything else she can’t stop thinking about. As a reader, she’s most interested in stories about women’s day-to-day lives—in the 80s when grade-school classmates were reading Judy Blume, Denise was into Erma Bombeck.

    Her essays have been published in RAISE Magazine, TODAY Parenting, An Injustice!, MUTHA Magazine, and Jane Friedman’s blog.

    Denise’s memoir, SEARCH HISTORY: A Memoir of Loss, Obsession, and Meeting My Mom at 40, is currently on submission. She is represented by Jacquie Flynn at Joelle Delbourgo Associates.

    Follow the Best Book Ever Podcast on Instagram or on the Best Book Ever Website

    Host: Julie Strauss

    Website/Instagram

    Denise Massar

    Website/Instagram/Twitter/Facebook

    Discussed in this episode:

    Denise Massar on Best Book Ever Episode 002

    Mothers of Sparta by Dawn Davies

    I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jeanette McCurdy

    A Three Dog Life by Abigail Thomas

    What Comes Next and How to Like it by Abigail Thomas

    Episode 097 – Lizbeth Meredith on “What Comes Next and How to Like It” by Abigail Thomas

    In Love: A Memoir of Love and Loss by Amy Bloom

    How We Fight For Our Lives: A Memoir by Saeed Jones

    Heavy: An American Memoir by Kiese Laymon

    The Liar’s Club by Mary Karr

    The Salt Path by Raynor Winn

    Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed

    A Heart That Works by Rob Delaney

    Catastrophe

    Open: An Autobiography by Andre Agassi

    Spare by Prince Harry

    J.R. Moehringer

    (Note: Some of the above links are affiliate links. If you shop using my affiliate link on Bookshop, a portion of your purchase will go to me, at no extra expense to you. Thank you for supporting indie bookstores and for helping to keep the Best Book Ever Podcast in business!)



    This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bestbookeverpodcast.substack.com
  • It’s time for my favorite episode of the year – our Annual Kids/YA Gift Giving Guide. I asked a group of young people, ages 8-19, to tell me about their favorite book. As always, their answers were as smart, funny, interesting, and diverse as the kids themselves. I love talking to young people about books, and even if you don’t have any young people to buy for this year, I know you’re going to love hearing these interesting people tell me about their favorite books.

    A note: as always, the interviews go in age order, and the older kids talk about books with some very mature themes.

    Follow the Best Book Ever Podcast on Instagram or on the Best Book Ever Website

    Host: Julie Strauss

    Website/Instagram

    Discussed in this episode:

    Hope, Age 8

    Mysteries in Our National Park: Cliff-Hanger: A Mystery in Mesa Verde National Park by Gloria Skurzynski and Alane Ferguson

    (This is part of a 12-book series all set in national parks across the United States.)

    The Magic Tree House series by Mary Pope Osborne

    (Both Hope and her twin sister Mackenzie talked to me about multiple Magic Tree House books in last year’s episode)

    Henry, Age 8

    Wayside School is Falling Down by Louis Sachar

    Holes by Louis Sachar

    Sideways Stories from Wayside School by Louis Sachar

    Wayside School Gets a Little Stranger by Louis Sachar

    Wayside School Beneath the Cloud of Doom by Louis Sachar

    Supernatural Bear, Age 10

    Dog Man by Dav Pilkey

    The Adventures of Captain Underpants by Dav Pilkey

    Dante, Age 10

    The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate

    The One and Only Ivan movie

    The One and Only Bob by Katherine Applegate

    The One and Only Ruby by Katherine Applegate

    Odder by Katherine Applegate

    Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan

    Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling

    Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling

    Percy Jackson and the Olympians (series on Disney+)

    Dorian, Age 10

    Spy School Project X by Stuart Gibbs

    Spy School Secret Service by Stuart Gibbs

    Spy School Revolution by Stuart Gibbs

    The Fun Jungle Collection by Stuart Gibbs

    Kate, Age 12

    My Heart and Other Black Holes by Jasmine Warga

    The Storyteller’s Death: A Novel by Ann Dávila Cardinal

    Jack, Age 14

    Maus by Art Spiegelman

    Joey, Age 15

    The Umbrella Academy by Gerard Way and Gabreil Bá

    The Umbrella Academy on Netflix

    Paper Girls by Brian K. Vaughan and Cliff Chiang

    Paper Girls Series on Amazon Prime

    Scythe by Neal Shusterman

    Terminator Genisys movie

    The Black Panther Party: A Graphic Novel History by David F. Walker and Marcus Kwame Anderson

    Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe

    Erin, Age 19

    The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

    Thrillers by the Book Club Pod

    Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane

    (Note: Some of the above links are affiliate links. If you shop using my affiliate link on Bookshop, a portion of your purchase will go to me, at no extra expense to you. Thank you for supporting indie bookstores and for helping to keep the Best Book Ever Podcast in business!)



    This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bestbookeverpodcast.substack.com
  • Skye Pratt Epperson writes about family, history, religion, and fitness. She is working on a memoir about her childhood in Eswatini, Africa, and the varying expectations of the different faiths represented there. Skye joined me today to talk about “Educated: A Memoir" by Tara Westover, that has some remarkable similarities to her own life. I know you will agree that it is fascinating to hear someone with real insight into the school free childhood tell me why “Educated” is the Best Book Ever.

    Follow the Best Book Ever Podcast on Instagram or on the Best Book Ever Website

    Host: Julie Strauss

    Website/Instagram

    Guest: Skye Pratt Epperson

    Website

    Discussed in this episode:

    Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover

    United World College

    Glennon Doyle memoirs – Love Warrior, Untamed, Carry On Warrior

    What My Bones Know: A Memoir of Healing from Complex Trauma by Stephanie Foo

    This American Life

    Snap Judgment

    This Is Not A Pity Memoir by Abi Morgan

    Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich

    Future Home of a Living God by Louise Erdrich

    (Note: Some of the above links are affiliate links. If you shop using my affiliate link on Bookshop, a portion of your purchase will go to me, at no extra expense to you. Thank you for supporting indie bookstores and for helping to keep the Best Book Ever Podcast in business!)



    This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bestbookeverpodcast.substack.com
  • Episode 123 Jessica Bell on “Housekeeping” by Marilynne Robinson

    I love noticing book covers, and paying attention to what I like and dislike about them, and it was really run to talk about them with a professional. Today I’m talking to multi-talented book-cover designer Jessica Bell about “Housekeeping” by Marilynne Robinson. Jessica examined the cover of my copy of the book, and we talked about why it worked on me. Even better, we talked about the insides of books, and why this one, in particular, is hard to describe and even harder to forget. It’s a book that sticks with you forever, particularly if you get the quotes inscribed on your coffee mugs!

    Jessica Bell is a multi-award-winning author/poet, and singer-songwriter who was born in Melbourne, Australia. In addition to having published a memoir, five novels, three poetry collections, and her bestselling Writing in a Nutshell series, she has been featured in a variety of publications and radio shows such as Writer’s Digest, Publisher’s Weekly, The Guardian, Life Matters, and Poetica. She is also the Publisher of Vine Leaves Press, and a highly sought-after book cover designer. She currently resides in Athens, Greece, with her partner and son, and a pile of dishes that still don’t know how to wash themselves despite her consistently teaching by example.

    Follow the Best Book Ever Podcast on Instagram or on the Best Book Ever Website

    Host: Julie Strauss

    Website/Instagram

    Guest: Jessica Bell

    Newsletter/Website/Facebook/Twitter/Instagram/Linkedin/YouTube

    Discussed in this episode:

    Can You Make the Title Bigga? By Jessica Bell

    Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson

    Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

    Home by Marilynne Robinson

    Lila by Marilynne Robinson

    Gilead by Marilynne Robinson

    Giving Birth to Motherhood by Amie McCracken & Katie Rössler, LPC

    (Note: Some of the above links are affiliate links. If you shop using my affiliate link on Bookshop, a portion of your purchase will go to me, at no extra expense to you. Thank you for supporting indie bookstores and for helping to keep the Best Book Ever Podcast in business!)



    This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bestbookeverpodcast.substack.com
  • Michelle Cox is the author of the Henrietta and Inspector Howard series, a mystery/romance saga set in the 1930s Chicago often described as “Downton Abbey Meets Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries.” To date, the series has won over sixty international awards and has received positive reviews from Library Journal (starred), Booklist (starred), Publishers Weekly, Kirkus, and various media outlets, such as Popsugar, Buzzfeed, Redbook, Elle, Brit&Co., Bustle, Culturalist, Working Mother, and many others. Cox also pens the wildly popular, “Novel Notes of Local Lore,” a weekly blog chronically the lives of Chicago’s forgotten residents. She lives in the northern suburbs of Chicago with her husband and three children and is hard at work on her next novel.

    Follow the Best Book Ever Podcast on Instagram or on the Best Book Ever Website

    Host: Julie Strauss

    Website/Instagram

    Guest: Michelle Cox

    Website/Facebook/Twitter/Instagram/BookBub/TikTok

    We are hard at work on our annual Kids/YA Gift Giving Guide. Do you know a young person who’d like to talk to me about their favorite book? For more information, GO HERE!

    Previous Kids/YA Episodes:

    2021

    2020

    And, just for fun, here’s an episode of outtakes from my chats with kids.

    Discussed in this episode:

    My Cousin Rachel by Daphne DuMaurier

    Henrietta and Inspector Howard Series by Michelle Cox:

    A Girl Like You

    A Ring of Truth

    A Promise Given

    A Veil Removed

    A Child Lost

    A Spying Eye

    The Interview Show on PBS (filmed at The Hideout Bar Chicago)

    My Cousin Rachel film adaptation

    Get Out tea scene

    Life After Life by Kate Atkinson

    Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson

    (Note: Some of the above links are affiliate links. If you shop using my affiliate link on Bookshop, a portion of your purchase will go to me, at no extra expense to you. Thank you for supporting indie bookstores and for helping to keep the Best Book Ever Podcast in business!)



    This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bestbookeverpodcast.substack.com
  • Brina Patel is a freelance content writer, copywriter, and journalist from Sacramento, California. Her writing has appeared in Business Insider, Byrdie, Well and Good, and Verywell Mind. When she isn't putting words to the page, Brina loves curling up with a thought-provoking memoir, making memories in new places across the globe, and spoiling her sassy Maltese. Today, she joined me to talk about this searing memoir of recovery from cancer, and why can be emotionally attached to people we’ve never met just by reading their words.

    Follow the Best Book Ever Podcast on Instagram or on the Best Book Ever Website

    Host: Julie Strauss

    Website/Instagram

    Guest: Brina Patel

    Website/Instagram/GoodReads/TikTok/Twitter/LinkedIn

    We are hard at work on our annual Kids/YA Gift Giving Guide. Do you know a young person who’d like to talk to me about their favorite book? For more information, GO HERE!

    Previous Kids/YA Episodes:

    2021

    2020

    And, just for fun, here’s an episode of outtakes from my chats with kids.

    Discussed in this episode:

    Between Two Kingdoms: A Memoir of a Life Interrupted by Suleika Jaouad

    Suleika Jaouad TED talk (Julie’s note: this is well, well worth watching)

    Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused life in a Noisy World by Cal Newport

    Solito: A Memoir by Javier Zamora

    (Note: Some of the above links are affiliate links. If you shop using my affiliate link on Bookshop, a portion of your purchase will go to me, at no extra expense to you. Thank you for supporting indie bookstores and for helping to keep the Best Book Ever Podcast in business!)



    This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bestbookeverpodcast.substack.com
  • Today’s our lucky day, listener, because one of my favorite guests is back to talk about a book written by another one of my favorite guests. Kenya Goree Bell is herself a steamy romance author and fearless autism advocate who loves to talk books on her own show, the KGB Grown and Sexy book club. Today she joined me to talk about some of the lesser known romance subgenres and the authors we trust to make us care about common and uncommon tropes. And as always, we had a lot of laughs as Kenya told me why “His Revenge Baby” is the Best Book Ever.

    Follow the Best Book Ever Podcast on Instagram or on the Best Book Ever Website

    Host: Julie Strauss

    Website/Instagram

    Guest: Kenya Goree Bell

    Website/Instagram/Twitter/Facebook

    We are hard at work on our annual Kids/YA Gift Giving Guide. Do you know a young person who’d like to talk to me about their favorite book? For more information, GO HERE!

    Previous Kids/YA Episodes:

    2021

    2020

    And, just for fun, here’s an episode of outtakes from my chats with kids.

    Discussed in this episode:

    His Revenge Baby by Theodora Taylor

    Theodora Taylor on Best Book Ever Episode 046, talking about Warrior’s Woman by Johanna Lindsey

    Naima Simone books

    Naima Simone on Best Book Ever Episode 113

    KGB’s first appearance on Best Book Ever Episode 016, when we talked about Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake by Sarah MacLean

    Ella Maven

    Elizabeth Stephens

    The Honey Badger Chronicles by Shelly Laurenston

    Knud: Her Big Bad Wolf by Theodora Taylor

    Lotus Flower Bomb by Kenya Goree Bell

    Demon’s Dream: An Unexpected Love by Elle Kayson

    Sharonda Isadora TikTok

    Beverly Jenkins

    Brenda Jackson

    A Merry Little Meet Cute by Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone

    (Note: Some of the above links are affiliate links. If you shop using my affiliate link on Bookshop, a portion of your purchase will go to me, at no extra expense to you. Thank you for supporting indie bookstores and for helping to keep the Best Book Ever Podcast in business!)



    This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bestbookeverpodcast.substack.com
  • I’ve been waiting for someone to choose this book for SO LONG!

    Today, V.P. Morris, an award-winning thriller author, joined me to talk about the book everyone loves, hates, or loves to hate. I fall firmly into the love category, and I loved re-reading it to see if Gillian Flynn’s twisty masterpiece holds up to a re-read. Along the way, V.P and I discussed unreliable narrators and why shady women are so interesting.

    I have to give you an official spoiler warning: VP and I decided there is really no way to discuss this book without discussing the twists. So if you haven’t read Gone Girl, I suggest you go do it now, and then come back and listen to this episode. It’s well worth your time!

    Follow the Best Book Ever Podcast on Instagram or on the Best Book Ever Website

    Host: Julie Strauss

    Website/Instagram

    Guest: VP Morris

    Website/Instagram/Twitter/Facebook

    We are hard at work on our annual Kids/YA Gift Giving Guide. Do you know a young person who’d like to talk to me about their favorite book? For more information, GO HERE!

    Previous Kids/YA Episodes:

    2021

    2020

    And, just for fun, here’s an episode of outtakes from my chats with kids.

    Discussed in this episode:

    Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

    Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

    ShadowCast by V.P. Morris

    Dead Ringer by V.P. Morris

    The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov

    The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton

    Gone Girl Movie

    Persuasion – this is the much-reviled latest version

    When All The Girls Are Sleeping by Emily Arsenault

    Home Before Dark by Riley Sager

    How to Decide: Simple Tools for Making Better Choices by Annie Duke

    (Note: Some of the above links are affiliate links. If you shop using my affiliate link on Bookshop, a portion of your purchase will go to me, at no extra expense to you. Thank you for supporting indie bookstores and for helping to keep the Best Book Ever Podcast in business!)



    This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bestbookeverpodcast.substack.com
  • Tyler Foley is an accomplished actor, public speaker, and coach. He also has the dubious distinction of being the only guest I had to contact in advance of our recording and admit that I hated the book he chose! Tyler is extremely gracious, and we went ahead anyway, which is lucky for me, because it turned out to be one of my favorite conversations ever on this show. Whether or not you decide to read “A Fool’s Progress,” I know you’re going to enjoy hearing Tyler tell me why it’s the Best Book Ever.

    Follow the Best Book Ever Podcast on Instagram or on the Best Book Ever Website

    Host: Julie Strauss

    Website/Instagram

    Guest: Tyler Foley

    Website/Instagram/Twitter/Facebook/YouTube

    We are hard at work on our annual Kids/YA Gift Giving Guide. Do you know a young person who’d like to talk to me about their favorite book? For more information, GO HERE!

    Previous Kids/YA Episodes:

    2021 Kids/YA Gift Giving Guide

    2020 Kids/YA Gift Giving Guide

    And, just for fun, here’s an episode of outtakes from my chats with kids.

    Discussed in this episode:

    The Fool’s Progress by Edward Abbey

    The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

    The Shack by William Paul Young

    On the Devil’s Court by Carl Deuker

    Faust by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

    The Power to Speak Naked: How to Speak with Confidence, Communicate Effectively, and Win Your Audience by Sean Tyler Foley

    Don’t Sit Under the Grits Tree with Anyone Else But Me by Lewis Grizzard

    The Journey Home: Some Words in the Deense of the American West by Edward Abbey

    Beyond the Wall: Essays from the Outside by Edward Abbey

    Abbey’s Road by Edward Abbey

    Mike Birbiglia

    The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy

    The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz

    Money Master the Game by Tony Robbins

    Get the Hell Out of Debt by Erin Skye Kelly

    Of Dreams and Angels by Jared Morrison

    (Note: Some of the above links are affiliate links. If you shop using my affiliate link on Bookshop, a portion of your purchase will go to me, at no extra expense to you. Thank you for supporting indie bookstores and for helping to keep the Best Book Ever Podcast in business!)



    This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bestbookeverpodcast.substack.com
  • If you follow me on Instagram you may have seen that I absolutely lost my mind over the book “Darling Girl” a couple of weeks ago. It’s a modern day examination of the Peter Pan fairy tale, in which Wendy Darling’s granddaughter Holly must take on Peter Pan in order to save her daughter’s life. I think it’s such a clever take on the story, with fresh characters and a mature, nuanced look at the real heart of the story.

    Today, the author of that marvelous book, Liz Michalski, is here to talk to me about the original Peter Pan and why she wrote her take on it. Along the way we discussed her love of the fantastic in every day life, the joy and grief of sending our adult children into the world, the often tragic life of author J.M. Barrie and how it influenced his strange literary world, and why “Peter Pan” is the Best Book Ever.

    Follow the Best Book Ever Podcast on Instagram or on the Best Book Ever Website

    Host: Julie Strauss

    Website/Instagram

    Guest: Liz Michalski

    Website/Instagram/Twitter/Facebook

    Want to be a guest on the Best Book Ever Podcast? Go here!

    Discussed in this episode:

    Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie

    Darling Girl: A Novel of Peter Pan by Liz Michalski

    Fun with Dick and Jane

    The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis

    Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder

    The Crystal Cave by Mary Stewart

    The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

    Taproot: A Story About a Gardener and a Ghost by Keezy Young

    Disney’s Peter Pan

    Peter Pan (2003 Live action movie)

    If you are looking for more iterations of Peter Pan, there is also a sort of prequel 2015 movie with Hugh Jackman, and of course, Hook with Robin Williams. They all have really different vibes!

    The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

    The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell

    Other Birds by Sarah Addison Allen

    Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen

    (Note: Some of the above links are affiliate links. If you shop using my affiliate link on Bookshop, a portion of your purchase will go to me, at no extra expense to you. Thank you for supporting indie bookstores and for helping to keep the Best Book Ever Podcast in business!)



    This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bestbookeverpodcast.substack.com
  • Thriller author J.P. Choquette writes atmospheric suspense novels with themes of nature, art, and folklore. She started writing "books" when she was old enough to hold a crayon. These were held together with staples and left some painful scratches. When she's not working, you'll find her sipping a hot beverage, reading, or in the woods with her family.

    Today J.P. joined me to talk about the modern gothic thriller, “The Stranger Diaries,” a book that hit every one of my literary sweet spots. We talked Anglophilia, gothic literature, books that are thrilling but not scary, and the joys of letter writing.

    Follow the Best Book Ever Podcast on Instagram or on the Best Book Ever Website

    Host: Julie Strauss

    Website/Instagram

    Guest: JP Choquette

    Website/Instagram

    Want to be a guest on the Best Book Ever Podcast? Go here!

    Discussed in this episode:

    The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths

    Agatha Christie Inspector Poirot novels

    Monsters in the Green Mountains books by J.P. Choquette

    Every reference to Castle Rock in Stephen King books

    Crossing Places by Elly Griffiths (Book 1 in the Ruth Galloway Series)

    The Postscript Murders by Elly Griffiths (featuring DS Harbinder Kaur from The Stranger Diaries)

    The Yellow Room by Mary Roberts Rinehart

    (Interesting side note: when I researched Rinehart’s books, I came across The Bat, a three act-play of hers that is the original inspiration for Bob Kane’s Batman. Reading is AWESOME.)

    I’ve Got You Under My Skin by Mary Higgins Clark

    Let the Dead Rest by J.P. Choquette

    (Note: Some of the above links are affiliate links. If you shop using my affiliate link on Bookshop, a portion of your purchase will go to me, at no extra expense to you. Thank you for supporting indie bookstores and for helping to keep the Best Book Ever Podcast in business!)



    This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bestbookeverpodcast.substack.com
  • Like nearly everyone else in the world, I am watching the funeral preparations for Queen Elizabeth II, and the transition to the new King, with great interest. I thought you might like a compilation of my favorite books about the royals, and royally-adjacent fiction that I return to again and again.

    In addition to what I have already read, I am also very fascinated by all of the work that writers and activists from colonized countries are providing, and I look forward to broadening my understanding of the points of view of People of the Global Majority. I would love to hear any book recommendations you have, fiction or nonfiction.

    Follow the Best Book Ever Podcast on Instagram or on the Best Book Ever Website

    Host: Julie Strauss

    Website/Instagram

    Want to be a guest on the Best Book Ever Podcast? Go here!

    Discussed in this episode:

    HRH: So Many Thoughts on Royal Style by Elizabeth Holmes.

    Our Rainbow Queen: A Tribute to Queen Elizabeth II and Her Colorful Wardrobe by Sali Hughes.

    The Other Side of the Coin: The Queen, the Dresser, and the Wardrobe by Angela Kelly.

    The Diana Chronicles by Tina Brown

    The Palace Papers by Tina Brown

    Diana, Her True Story by Andrew Morton

    Elizabeth and Margaret: The Intimate World of the Windsor Sisters by Andrew Morton.

    Prince Charles: the Passions and Paradoxes of an Improbable Life by Sally Bedell Smith

    Elizabeth the Queen: The Life of the Modern Monarch by Sally Bedell Smith

    The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett

    The Madness of King George

    The Royal We by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan.

    The Fug Girls

    Red White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston.

    BBE episode 068 – Lauren Regenhardt on Red, White and Royal Blue

    The Secret Guests by Benjamin Black

    The Rose Code by Kate Quinn

    (Note: Some of the above links are affiliate links. If you shop using my affiliate link on Bookshop, a portion of your purchase will go to me, at no extra expense to you. Thank you for supporting indie bookstores and for helping to keep the Best Book Ever Podcast in business!)



    This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bestbookeverpodcast.substack.com