Editor’s note: You’ll notice all the links we feature below lead to Bookshop.org or IndieBound. We encourage you to do whatever you can to support your local bookstore, including purchasing audiobooks from our sponsor Libro.fm. Feel free to share what’s on your bunker reading list by tweeting us @WritersBone or in the comments section below. Stay safe, stay home, and keep reading!—Daniel Ford
Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge
Daniel Ford: Do. The. Homework.
Tomboyland by Melissa Faliveno
Daniel: Any essay collection that starts with “Twister” and Waldenbooks references is going to vault pretty high on my list of favorites. The collection’s description refers to it as “intrepid,” which is totally apt. Tomboyland is an insightful blend of personal narrative, investigative journalism, and boundless curiosity.
The Bright Lands by John Fram
Daniel: A Kelly J. Ford Twitter recommendation was all we needed to put John Fram’s The Bright Lands on our #bookradar.
Daniel: While Jean Guerrero’s latest might be a tough sell for some of you, especially during an already fraught election year during a pandemic and economic crisis, Hatemonger is essential reading for anyone interested in the human cost of radical right ideas and rhetoric that have been legitimized even more by the current President of the United States. Guerrero investigates how Stephen Miller’s rise to power is a textbook case of radicalization, how this administrations’ immigration policies were formed and the fallout from their execution, and what news media can do to combat fascist and white supremacist views while also staying faithful to the First Amendment.
A Cosmology of Monsters by Shaun Hamill
Daniel: Who am I to argue with Stephen King and Rachel Harrison?
When These Mountains Burn by David Joy
Daniel: I know 2020 is a raging dumpster fire, but any year we get a David Joy novel can’t be all bad. It’s incredible how he hypnotizes you with his poetry and then brains you with his violence and emotional destruction. There are few writers today that match his power on the page.
His Truth Is Marching On: John Lewis and the Power of Hope by Jon Meacham
Daniel: Read Jon Meacham’s new John Lewis biography and Lewis’ graphic novel March, and then go get into some “good trouble.”
A Star Is Bored by Byron Lane
Daniel: I don’t know what brought me more joy: Byron Lane’s debut novel A Star Is Bored (inspired in part by his time as Carrie Fisher’s assistant) or his engagement to Writer’s Bone favorite Steven Rowley.
Daniel: We were hooked by Morgan Jerkins’ premise for her new book Wandering in Strange Lands, but her execution is pitch perfect. Jerkins explores how The Great Migration disconnected Black people from more than just the land and customs they were leaving. She illuminates the journey taken by approximately six million African Americans took between 1916 and 1970 through her investigation into her own family’s past. I’m also inclined to like anything written by someone who says this about their writing process: "I got my ass whooped."
With or Without You by Caroline Leavitt
Daniel: We love Caroline Leavitt’s interviews for A Mighty Blaze, especially her chat with John freakin’ Irving, so we can’t wait to get our hands on her latest novel, which is available now from Algonquin Books.
My Life as a Villainess by Laura Lippman
Daniel: A superb essay collection by one of my favorite authors. More Waldenbooks mentions. Simply sensational.
Reaganland by Rick Perlstein
Daniel: President Jimmy Carter’s face on that cover… Rick Perlstein’s series about the rise of the radical right pairs well with Jean Guerrero’s Hatemonger. And don’t be daunted by Reaganland’s heft. Perlstein’s engaging style will have you turning pages like you’re reading a Harry Potter novel (Voldemort would have totally been a Republican).
Daniel: Step one, follow author Matt Ortile on Twitter. Step two, buy his excellent essay collection The Groom Will Keep His Name from your local indie bookstore.
The First to Lie by Hank Phillippi Ryan
Daniel: I don’t really need a hook for a Hank Phillippi Ryan novel, but wowser: “when the stakes are life and death, do a few lies really matter?”
Rules for Being Dead by Kim Powers
Daniel: I loved Kim Powers’ new book Rules for Being Dead; everything from the cover, to the time it’s set in, to the characters he populated the book with. I especially loved the relationship between the two brothers. That hit me right where I live. A fine mystery and a powerful depiction of a fractured family.
Shuntoll Road by Leslie Wheeler
Daniel: I giggled every time “New Yawker” appeared in Leslie Wheeler’s twisty Shuntoll Road.
Separation Anxiety by Laura Zigman
Daniel: R.L. Maizes recommended this one the last time she was on the podcast and, of course, it’s terrific. It's a real slice of life novel. It’s almost like novel as a short story!
Author’s Corner
Paul Tremblay, author of Survivor Song and The Cabin at the End of the World, stopped by the podcast recently and gave us a ton of great recommendations, so you should add them all to your reading list and buy them from your local bookstore by any means necessary.
The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones
Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
The Loop by Jeremy Robert Johnson
Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth
NovelClass
In Episode 4.06, Dave Pezza is joined by John Vercher, author of the novel, Three-Fifths. John and Dave sat down to discuss The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead.