On this episode, Melissa Joulwan, author and co-host of the podcast Strong Sense of Place, discusses the way her personal reading life and work for the show overlap. We talk about her deep and varied book preferences, our shared love for diving deep into a backlist, and you get to hear the fabulous way she describes the books she loves.
Strong Sense of Place website
https://strongsenseofplace.com
For the podcast, extensive show notes, book lists, and travel tips and photos.
For people new to the show, this is a good place to start:
https://strongsenseofplace.com/welcome
Substack
https://strongsenseofplace.substack.com/
Free newsletter with photos and book recommendations, behind-the-scenes stories, secret recipes, inspiring ideas, and (sometimes) silly stuff.
Books mentioned in this episode:
What Betsy’s reading:
King of Ashes by S.A. Cosby
The Ghostwriter by Julie Clark
Skeleton Crew by Stephen King
Books Highlighted by Melissa:
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
A Room with a View by E.M. Forester
The Inn at Lake Divine by Elinor Lipman
Fresh Water for Flowers by Valérie Perrin
The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
Circe by Madeline Miller
Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Less by Andrew Sean Greer
The Trick by Emanuel Bergman
Spoonbenders by Daryl Gregory
A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
Odds Against by Dick Francis
Dietland by Sarai Walker
Piglet by Lottie Hazell
The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss
Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson
All books available on my Bookshop.org episode page.
Other books mentioned in this episode:
Well Fed Weeknights by Melissa Joulwan
Rollergirl by Melissa Joulwan
The Kill Artist by Daniel Silva
This Rough Magic by Mary Stewart
Wakenhyrst by Michelle Paver
The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
The Madwoman Upstairs by Catherine Lowell
What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher
Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Carmilla by Joseph Sherican Le Fanu
Hungerstone by Kat Dunn
The Curse of Pietro Houdini by Derek B. Miller
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
A Curious Beginning by Deanna Raybourn
A Great Deliverance by Elizabeth George
The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley
The Bedlam Stacks by Natasha Pulley
The Kingdoms by Natasha Pulley
2 A.M. at The Cat’s Pajamas by Marie-Helene Bertino
Beautyland by Marie-Helene Bertino
The Way Men Act by Elinor Lipman
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
Silver Nitrate by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Less is Lost by Andrew Sean Greer
My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh
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