A hefty book haul for our final #bookradar of 2021! We’ll be back in December with our favorite reads of the year. As always, buy all of these books from your local indie bookseller, Bookshop.org, or Libro.fm. Stay safe, get vaccinated, and keep reading!—Daniel Ford

Mark Cecil’s A Mighty Blaze interview with author and journalist Mitch Albom earlier this year is a must listen. Albom has always wrestled with some big questions and explored some deeply human themes in his work, which is why he’s been such a popular and best-selling author. The premise of this one sounds like we’ll be asking a few questions of ourselves and our world views after we finish reading.

The world is in desperate need of this memoir. You think it might include more than a few humorous anecdotes? Can Mel Brooks add a book award to his EGOT? We need to see the legendary director and comedian make an appearance on Film Freaks Forever!

Clive Cussler’s The Devil’s Sea brought me right back to middle school when my aunt handed me a copy of Raise the Titanic! and hooked me on Dirk Pitt and NUMA. Pitt is one of my favorite characters of all time and I love his kids, Dirk Jr. and Summer, Al Giordino, and all of the characters that have given this series such lasting staying power. Stay tuned for my interview with Dirk Cussler.—Daniel Ford

Dave Eggers has a permanent home on #bookradar. We love how he made the hardcover version of his new book exclusive to independent bookstores.

Omar El Akkad’s American War was one of our favorite reads of 2017. Author Tommy Orange called the novel “tender and brutal in its truths",” which is all we needed to hear to add it to our #TBR pile.

Louise Erdrich’s new book The Sentence proves once again that she is a writer at the top of her class. The book manages to be a family drama, a social commentary, funny, sharp, and, oh yeah, a ghost story that takes place in a bookstore. It really doesn’t get any better.

Stephanie Gangi’s Carry the Dog is gripping, funny, and goes to some dark places. It’s filled with the kind of dialogue we love reading and writing.

Megan Abbott recommended this book during her appearance on the show and we included it in October’s “Author’s Corner,” but we figured promoting it one more time couldn’t hurt.

Max Greenfield (“New Girl,” “The Neighborhood”) targets reluctant readers with his first children’s book I Don’t Want to Read This Book. The book also cleverly explains some of the ins and outs of words, sentences, and paragraphs. "The real goal here, and I'll tell you guys this first,” Greenfield says, “is that I want to become Dr. Seuss. What a transition. From Schmidt to Dr. Seuss."

We’re still awed by Amanda Gorman’s reading at Joe Biden’s inauguration this past January (doesn’t that feel like 100 years ago?!). We’ll be first in line at our local indie when her collection Call Us What We Carry pubs in December.

We love seeing Writer's Bone favorites Carol Anderson, Yaa Gyasi, Barry Jenkins, Ibram X. Kendi, Jesmyn Ward, Wesley Morris, Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, and Robert Jones, Jr. featured in this collection of essays, poetry, and fiction.

Our literary friend Min Jin Lee called Jay Caspian Kang’s The Loneliest Americans “smart, vulnerable, and incisive.” High praise indeed. “This book is about that desperate need to find oneself within the narrative of a country that would rather write you out of it,” Kang writes in his introduction. His superb writing continues from there as he ties his family’s history with past and current events.

Juhea Kim’s novel has landed on just about every must-read list you can imagine. And now it’s on this one. The book’s Dec. 7 pub date can’t come soon enough.

We’re going to have to invite Michael Imperioli back in the show to discuss Woke Up This Morning, an oral history about “The Sopranos.” Maybe if we ask nicely he can bring actor Steve Schirripa along too. If you’re a fan of the show and haven’t subscribed to the pair’s podcast Talking Sopranos, you should rectify that immediately.

A startling, heart-stopping narrative about a thwarted domestic terrorist attack in Garden City, Kan., by award-winning author Dick Lehr.

Dan Levy, Eugene Levy, this is your official invitation to appear on our show. You may bring along any of your luminous “Schitt’s Creek” co-stars.

John Nardizzi was on an early episode of the show, so we can’t wait to have an excuse to bring him back and pick his brain all over again. His latest, The Burden of Innocence, pubs Dec. 5.

We like any book that’s billed as “funny, consequential, awkward, and ridiculous.”

It doesn’t happen often, but Jodi Picoult really got me with her new book Wish You Were Here. It’s the kind of storytelling you love as a reader and you’d die for as a writer. Any reader with a pulse should be in love with her main character Diana O'Toole by the time they're finished reading. Keep your ears peeled for our interview with the author.—Daniel Ford

Hat tip to author Eric Rickstad for putting Rex Pickett’s work on our #bookradar. At 774 pages, The Archivist might be the perfect book to settle down with as the weather gets even colder here in the Northeast.

At the core of Sam Quinones’ The Least of Us, at its soul, is the stories from people who have been affected by these opioid, fentanyl, and meth epidemics. Not only addicts, but their families, their found families, and these communities doing the hard work of trying to dig out from years under the crushing spell of these drugs. "What I set out to do was fill half to the book with stories that are the most unnoticed, unsexy, small tales of Americans doing the hard work of doing community repair,” Quinones told us. "It's not magical answers. It's small, daily work."

Rudy Ruiz’s The Resurrection of Fulgencio Ramirez is the kind of book I love reading and wish I wrote. I could not love his first chapter more. I think I've read it 10 times at this point. Delicious.—Daniel Ford

A wonderful combination of premise, title, cover, and author. Ready for more charming love stories from Eric Smith.

Sarah Winman’s Tin Man landed on “The 50 Best Books of 2018,” and we have a good feeling her new book Still Life may end up on the 2021 edition.

Author’s Corner

The Missing Hours author Julia Dahl stopped by the pod recently and shared a bunch of titles that should land on your #bookradar ASAP. The holidays are a good time to visit your local bookstore or Libro.fm.