BookLovers: A Podcast from Spartanburg County Public Libraries

We've talked about romance novels before on the podcast, but this episode takes a different approach, because Joseph has a lot of questions about the genre. Why do we read romance? What are the implications of the genre on readers, and how do we as a society view romance novels? For that matter, what’s the difference between a romance book and a romance movie? Jess and Rea explain the importance of romance, the reimagining of t...

Who gets to tell what stories? It’s a question authors—and all of us—have grappled with for years now, and R. F. Kuang’s novel Yellowface digs into that question and pulls out a very sloppy and difficult main character. A skewering, funny, intense look at the publishing industry warts and all, Yellowface also digs into the messy world of female friendships, jealousy, and cultural appropriation.

In this episode, we’re talk...

We found the intersection of Joseph’s conspiracy theory-addled brain and Rea & Jess’s obsession with pop culture: Patricia Wants to Cuddle. Our titular queen just wants what we all want: to love and be loved. So what if she’s a bigfoot? And so what if America’s biggest reality dating competition happens to be in Patricia’s actual backyard? If anything, that just means that she’s more likely to find what she’s looking for. The ...

In America, only 8% of parents had deaf children wish to learn American Sign Language.

A statistic like that seems unfathomable, doesn’t it? But in True Biz, Sara Nović deftly and realistically explores her main character Charlie’s world: Charlie is deaf, but but her divorcing parents, especially her mother, have never attempted to communicate with her on her terms. When Charlie’s father is assigned primarily custody, things chang...

Here in 2023, everyone knows the general meaning of a catch-22. It’s a situation where you can’t win no matter what you do. You’re trapped, you’re stuck, and there’s no other option. But in 1961, when Joseph Heller’s seminal novel Catch-22 was published, there was no phrase for what it meant to be that kind of trapped. Thankfully for us all, Doc Daneeka, the endlessly bummed medical professional of the Air Force Corps on Piano...

Mythological retellings seem to be everywhere these days. Since Madeline Miller’s novel The Song of Achilles was released in 2011, many authors—mostly women—have taken up the effort to share the untold stories of the many female, nonbinary and queer characters of ancient mythology. A shining example of this type of storytelling is Pat Barker’s novel The Silence of the Girls, which focuses on a well-known part of Greek mythology, t...

What is a Western? What is western? What is the west? All fair questions, and all hard to really define, especially when it comes to reading tastes. Thankfully, we’re getting an idea of what the new west is, complements of bestselling author C.J. Box, who joined us (!!!!) for part of this episode of Booklovers. Box’s 23rd Joe Pickett novel, Storm Watch, was released to high praise in February, and the mystery amplifies the question...

Hello, we’re back! After an extended holiday break, Joseph and Jess have returned to discuss the latest Grady Hendrix novel, How to Sell a Haunted House, which throws generational trauma, grief, puppets and Charleston into a blender to see what happens. Joining us for this episode is our colleague Derrick, a superfan of both horror novels and horror movies, to discuss the popularity of comical horror, how horror helps readers explo...

On August 12, 2022, Salman Rushdie was scheduled to give an author talk at the Chautauqua Institute in upstate New York. During his introduction, Rushdie was attacked onstage and stabbed multiple times, including in the eye, hand and chest. The surprising attack drew the spotlight back onto Rushdie, whose novel The Satanic Verses caused Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to issue a fatwā in 1989 that called for the death of Rushdie.

This ...

It isn’t just rare for an Amazon film to be released on DVD, it’s virtually unheard of. So when the 2019 film Sound of Metal entered the catalog of the Criterion Collection and was slated for physical release, Jess knew we had to highlight it. Sound of Metal reflects the deterioration of hearing for a avant-garde metal drummer, which leads to the deterioration of both his job and his relationship with his bandmate/partner. While Ru...

When a reader thinks about fantasy books, there are probably specific images that are evoked in the reader’s mind. Magic, for sure. Probably some dragons. Hobbits and wild mythologies. Maybe even some fairies, right?

None of these things appear in Susanna Clarke’s praised and prized fantasy novel Piranesi, but it is absolutely one of the finest examples of the genre. Following our titular main character has he navigates an endless ...

Even if you don’t know Tom Perrotta, chances are pretty good that you know Tracy Flick. The indefatigable class-presidential-hopeful first made her mark in the 1998 book and 1999 film Election, going toe to toe with (and ultimately taking down) the teacher that everyone loved but hated her. Now, 20+ years later, Tracy is back, and her plans for Georgetown, law school, Supreme Court clerking, Appeals Court Judge, and so on haven’t e...

Detransition, Baby has become an incredibly popular book club book. How can it not be, really? It has all the great hallmarks: a dry sense of humor, creative writing style, and most importantly, messy people living messy lives. Torrey Peters’s first novel explores the sloppy quasi-triangle of Reese, a trans woman who can’t quite get it together; her ex-partner Ames (previously Amy, previously previously James), who detransitioned a...

Nella Larsen’s slender novel Passing was published in 1929, and has maintained a legacy of lifting the veil on the complicated nature of racial passing. When Irene encounters her friend from childhood, Clare, she’s shocked to find that Clare has made the decision to permanently pass for white: she’s married a white man, lives in a white neighborhood, has what everyone believes is a white daughter, and lives the privileged life of u...

In 1955, the concepts of true crime and psychological thriller were still quite nascent. Truman Capote’s masterwork of true crime, In Cold Blood, wouldn’t be published for another 11 years, while Daphne du Maurier’s original piece of psychological thriller writing, Rebecca, was dismissed by critics as a “here today, gone tomorrow” type of story. But Patricia Highsmith had a reputation behind her, having published The Price of Salt ...

In the award-winning musical Hamilton, the main characters pose a central question: who lives, who dies, who tells your story? But in Devil House, John Darnielle’s new novel, the better question may be: who lives with your story, who gets to tell it?

Gage Chandler is a true crime writer working on his next project, that of an unsolved double homicide in the suburban city of Milpitas, California that took place in 1986. Gage is bes...

You might not know him by name, but you know the aesthetic. A soft warm filter, perfectly framed still shots, vintage-yet-modern costumes, and bubbly but moody music. Since his first film Bottle Rocket in 1996, and especially since the release of 2012’s Moonrise Kingdom, Wes Anderson has become one of the most recognizable film auteurs of the last 25 years. But beyond the looks of Anderson’s films lies a unifying set of themes, esp...

All people, except this rich cream, living and scraping and fighting and dying, and for what, nothing, the cold millions with no chance in this world.

So thinks Rye Dolan, the main character of Jess Walter’s seventh novel, as he navigates the wealthy world and poor underbelly of Spokane, Washington, in 1909. Rye is sucked into the outer edges of history as it’s being made during the free speech riots of 1909 and 1910, an effort by ...