Editor's note: Summer reading season is upon us! As always, we encourage you to do whatever you can to support your local bookstore, including purchasing audiobooks from our sponsor Libro.fm. Stay safe, get vaccinated, and keep reading!—Daniel Ford
Travis M. Andrews watched “Vibes” multiple times during his writing/research process, so you should probably buy his book. He clearly knows what he’s talking about.
The Light of Days is powerful, informative, illuminating, and inspiring. All the best “i” adjectives.
We’re bound to love any historical fiction thriller that’s set in our neck of the woods.
I was on a podcast panel with Layne Fargo recently (she’s the co-host of Unlikeable Female Characters) and I was totally hooked by her book’s premise (and its stellar paperback cover).—Daniel Ford
You can't beat this for an author bio: "Physician by day, crime writer by night." She's also a damn good podcaster.
I know Pop Literacy covered how great Mark Harris’ Mike Nichols: A Life is, but I had to add my own two cents. This book has generated a lot of good buzz, but it might actually even be underrated. Nichols’ life is in such deft hands with Harris. It’s the perfect match between author and subject. The Graduate is one of my favorite movies, so I was destined to love those sections, but I found just as much enjoyment learning about Nichols’ failures as I did his triumphs. If you read one celebrity bio this summer, make sure it’s this one.—Daniel Ford
Lauren Hough’s debut collection of essays is razor-sharp, funny, poignant, and thoughtful. It’s such an illuminating and necessary exploration into working-class life. There’s really no rest because at any moment a missed paycheck or illness can wreck havoc and bring down a tenuous existence. Hough’s upbringing in a cult is also eye-opening in 10 different ways. Did we mention this book is also laugh-out-loud funny? We can’t wait for what Hough writes next (perhaps a novel based on a cable guy?).
Pam Jenoff made us readers for life with The Orphan’s Tale. Can’t wait to dig into her new book The Woman with the Blue Star!
We love a good coming of age story, especially when it involves New York City. Johnson entangles her own story with Elizabeth Arden’s inspiring rise to the top of the cosmetics world. Walk through your own red door and enjoy!
We are always game for Sebastian Junger latest work, but we’re even more pumped for his upcoming conversation with Writer’s Bone favorite Matt Gallagher.
Mariame Kaba’s book We Do This ‘Til We Free Us is essential reading and will prove to be a timeless guide. Kaba’s empathetic and practical work over the years comprise this collection of essays and interviews about how one can start taking part in transformative justice and abolition, to undo our notions of punishment as a form of justice. Kaba recognizes that our collective resolve is tried constantly and it is easy to feel hopeless in the face of systemic injustice. But small wins are still truly big steps. Every act means something to somebody, and “hope is a discipline and we...have to practice it every day.”—Cailitn Malcuit
This cover! We also love smart twists on the murderous rom-com genre. That’s a thing, right?
Pop Literacy’s Kimberly Potts never fails to deliver a book I know I’m going to love when I see the cover and description wherever I ask for her a recommendation. This was an instant purchase.—Daniel Ford
Author Jenny Milchman crowned Hannah Mary McKinnon “the Queen of Happily Never After” and she could not be more spot on. McKinnon got us again with You Will Remember Me and here’s hoping she’s got 40 or 50 more surprise, and utterly dark, endings up her sleeves.
How does Steven Rowley do it? Yet another book where we’re laughing and crying at the same time. The dialogue featured in The Guncle is the kind you lust after as a writer. A winning narrative from start to finish.
"The mass murderer has supplanted the serial killer as our dominant monster,” Harold Schechter told us during his Friday Morning Coffee appearance. "Every era in our history was afflicted with certain fears and anxieties and then a particular crime will come along which will seem to crystalize, embody, or incarnate those anxieties."
We love any author whose mantra is “maintain crazy.”
Andy Weir has been a Writer’s Bone favorite since we started the podcast (right around when The Martian exploded into pop culture consciousness). His fiction will always have a home in our #bookradar posts.
Author’s Corner
Malinda Lo, author of Last Night at the Telegraph Club, stopped by the podcast recently and gave us a pair of great recommendations, so you should add them to your reading list and buy them from your local bookstore, Bookshop.org, Indiebound, or Libro.fm.
Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith
Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters
