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September 15, 2025 66 mins

On this episode, Liv Hoselton, an indie bookseller in Chicago, talks about their impulse to dive deep into the horrors of the world to better understand them, how their teachers and librarians were so impactful for their reading life, and one of our shared favorites that kids just aren’t interested in (much to our chagrin). I anticipate you’ll also be surprised at how engrossing Liv’s description of the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald is and it might make you want to read that book. 

 

Books mentioned in this episode: 

 

What Betsy’s reading: 

North Woods by Daniel Mason

Uzumaki by Junji Ito 

Summerdale II by David Jay Collins 

 

Books Highlighted by Liv:

The Einstein of Sex by Daniel Brook

Murderland by Caroline Fraser 

The Gales of November by John U. Bacon

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh by Robert C. O’Brien

The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster 

The Bandit Queens by Parini Shroff

City of Thieves by David Benioff

Winter’s Tale by Mark Helprin

 

All books available on my Bookshop.org episode page.  

Other books mentioned in this episode:

I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman 

The Clique by Lisi Harrison 

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer 

Women Talking by Miriam Toews 

Redwall by Brian Jacques 

Where Men Win Glory by Jon Krakauer 

Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin 

A Noble Madness by James Delbourgo 

Playing Possum by Susana Monso 

Good and Evil and Other Stories by Samanta Schweblin 

The Essential Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson 

Mark as Played

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