November 8, 2024 • 34 mins
Book blogger Susan Matheson stops by the podcast to share her top picks for the fall season.
Books discussed:
Apeirogon by Colum McCann
The Trade Off by Samantha Green Woodruff
Absolution by Alice McDermott
Time of the Child by Niall Williams
The Notebook: A History of Thinking on Paper by Roland Allen
Big in Sweden by Sally Franson
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Amy Mair (00:20):
Amy, hello, welcome back to the red firm book
review. I am your host, AmyTyler, and today we are talking
with book blogger SusanMatheson, and you might
(00:40):
recognize her name. She comes onabout twice a year and talks
about what to read for theseason. So today she's here to
talk about what to read thisfall. But before we get to
Susan, I wanted to talk with youabout an exciting new feature on
my podcast, and that is fanmail. So if you go on my
(01:02):
episode, it doesn't matter whichplatform you're using, Spotify
or Buzz sprout or Apple podcast,if you go down into the show
notes, you'll see a line rightbefore the text, the majority of
the text that says, Send me atext, and so if you click on
(01:23):
that, you can send me fan mail.
And I just received my firstpiece of fan mail this week, and
I was super excited, and Iwanted to read it to you. It
says, I love all your reviews,and look forward to hearing them
interested in having you reviewreal Americans. Thanks, Lisa
from Los Angeles. So I was superexcited. So I took a break today
(01:46):
at lunch and walked over to myneighborhood bookstore, which is
chapters, and picked up realAmericans by Rachel Kong. And
I've never read it. I've seen itaround, but I bought it, and I
just wanted to do the littleblurb on the back by Britt
Bennett. It says Kongmasterfully explores a family
(02:08):
splintered by science,struggling to redefine their own
lives after uncovering harrowingsecrets. Real Americans is a
mesmerizing, multi generationalnovel about privilege identity
and the illusions of theAmerican dream. So thanks Lisa
for that suggestion, and I willbe reading it, and will feature
(02:29):
this book on a future podcast.
So if send me your suggestionsand feedback, and one of your
suggestions might appear on afuture episode. With that, I
wanted to move over and talkwith Susan. Susan selected six
books for the season, and asusual, she goes a little bit off
(02:54):
piece there. Her books skew moretowards the literary but I like
that, because you can find youcan go to any bookstore and find
kind of what the big hits arefor the season, but she's kind
of delved a little bit deeperand also picked things that
personally appeal to her.
There's a lot of historicalfiction, and she threw in a fun
(03:15):
beach read or easy buck ifyou're getting away. So with
that, let's move over and talkwith Susan. Hello, Susan,
welcome back to the podcast.
Unknown (03:30):
Thanks, Amy, happy to be here as always.
Amy Mair (03:33):
So as usual, you've sent me your list of books ahead
of time, and I looked at them.
And also, as usual, I thinkthey're going to be a little bit
of, I would say, differentselections from the norm, which
you'd like to do. So they're notall ones. They're more they lean
more towards literary, withmaybe the last one being kind of
a fun, yeah,
Unknown (03:56):
I always like to try and do a little bit of a
balance, and have non fiction aswell as something a little
lighter. But I think I don'tknow right now, it just feels
like there's a lot going on inthe world. So some of these
choices kind of popped upbecause of their timeliness. So
yeah, sometimes when we read, Iguess we have to be responsible
(04:17):
too and connect with what'sgoing on in the outer world.
Amy Mair (04:20):
Yes, I would say you've definitely done that with
these selections. So let's,let's get started, and start
with the first book.
Unknown (04:29):
All righty, so this book is, it actually came out in
February of 2020, and it's byColum McCann, who's an Irish
writer. And he if people ask me,What's your favorite book you've
ever read? I inevitably that's atough question. Don't ever ask
me, because it gets me in a bitof a state. But his book let the
good world spin is one of my alltime favorites, and not just for
(04:54):
the content, but the the way heweaves a story. So this book
that I'm choosing. Amy to launchus off with, is called
Apeirogon. And a Paragon is amath term, referring to
something that has an infinitenumber of sides. And so he's
very creatively taken a storyand put it into, I think there
(05:17):
are 1000 or 1001 little shortsegments. Some of them only
align long so don't run awayyet. Book isn't that
overwhelming, but they're littletiny, you know, components that
build a bigger story. And thestory, and this is why this
seems like a really interestingchoice to go back to the back
(05:38):
list for in my mind, is itfollows the story of two men who
were fathers, one is Israeli andone is Palestinian, and they
each lost a daughter in aviolent manner related to the
conflicts that going on in thatregion. So this was four years
ago, and things have only rampedup since then, these two men.
(06:00):
And it's based on a true story,even though it is fiction, these
two men met in the way ofgrieving fathers. That was
that's how they come together,and their choice is to use their
grief to find a road to peace.
So it's their conversations,their reflections, they're
united with their mutual losses,but in the grand scheme, they're
(06:24):
on opposite sides. So it makesfor a really interesting story.
But again, the way Colin McCannwrites, people always refer to
the way he braids the story andhe stitches pieces together. So
it's it's kind of an interestingway to read something on a
heavy, heavy topic, but also tokeep in mind, it's sort of, it's
(06:45):
based on a real story. So itfeels like it's almost, it's a
really good thing to know more,in my mind, anyway, to know more
about the region in a way that'spresented without prejudice,
without sides taken, withoutthose filters. So I kind of feel
like it's, it's been on mybookshelf for a long time. I
(07:05):
think I actually blogged aboutit in the past, you know,
anticipating it was going to bea good read, simply because the
author is such a great writer.
But I think now the topic is ina different way. Now I really
look forward to kind of readingit and and, you know, maybe
finding out a bit more. I don'tknow about you, Amy, but you
(07:27):
know, you're very well read. AndI get up in the morning like,
holy smokes, where do I start?
There's so many topics, and I'veoften laughed with friends. How
now we, we used to go deep ontopics. Now we skip along the
top. So this feels like a goodopportunity to kind of go deeper
on one of the many issues that'sout there in our world.
Amy Mair (07:46):
Well, we're recording this the day before the US
election. So talking about but Iknow what you mean, and I
wonder, like even in referenceto this topic, I find I'm afraid
to talk about it with anyone,yes, yes. And sometimes I'm
afraid because I I don't want tooffend someone or say the wrong
(08:11):
thing. And then sometimes I'mafraid because I don't actually
think I know enough about it.
Yeah, that's
Unknown (08:15):
where I fall. Exactly I relate to what you just said.
So, so well and I but yet I sortof feel, as a global citizenry,
you know, obligation tounderstand, like I need to step
up and understand some of thesethings a bit more. And, you
know, I always love myhistorical fiction because it's
a way of, kind of understandingand finding a launching pad to
(08:36):
educate yourself with facts, butthrough the entryway of a story
set in the region or in therealm of the conflict.
Amy Mair (08:46):
So the next book is A is historical fiction. So tell
us about that. Yes, and I think
Unknown (08:51):
this one will be quite a bit lighter it is, but it's a
different, different world.
Again, we sort of, I find myselfkind of falling into the same
patterns of reading and thingsthat you know you find comfort
in when you read. This one iscalled The Trade Off. It came
out on October 8, so just a newrelease now. It's written by
(09:13):
Samantha green Woodruff. It ishistorical fiction, and it
follows a young woman in NewYork in the 1920s and she's
gifted with an ability to reallyunderstand math and numbers, and
she sees patterns andconnections and trends in
numbers, which makes her anabsolute shoe in for the world
(09:34):
of the stock market and WallStreet, and that's what She
really aspires to do, but she'sliving in a lower East Side
tenement. She's Jewish, which inthe 1920s late 20s, was not kind
of like today. It's, there's,it's, it's a power packed place
to exist and with all sorts ofdiscrimination and so forth. Her
(09:56):
chart. Amy brother, however,finds it a lot easier. He's sort
of the man who's got all thecharisma, but not the math
brights, not the actualunderstanding of what's going
on. So they team up, and thehe's her cover. She does the fun
stuff at the math and everythingelse that she enjoys, and he's
(10:17):
the front man. But this ends upgoing, there's the stock market
crash in 30 there's this hugemoney and morality and family
dynamics, and it all gets reallycomplex So, and there's a little
romance woven into you, just forgood measure. So I think this is
kind of a step out from so manyof these. You know, women is on
(10:40):
her own, moves to Ireland andopens a bookstore. I seem to
read a lot of those. This is adifferent environment. And is
Amy Mair (10:53):
this based on a true it
Unknown (10:55):
is yes, yes. It is inspired by a true story. And I
don't know who it is exactly,but I know that once you read
this, you'll probably want to goand read more about who, who
actually this was based on. Butisn't it just an interesting
world, you know, the whole worldof finance and and all the
factors involved. And I thinkit's, it'll be quite
(11:18):
interesting, but it's not aheavy, heavier one. It's more of
a lighter story, but I thinkjust in an intriguing
environment and setting. Have
Amy Mair (11:28):
you as an aside, have you seen the new Martha Stewart
documentary?
Unknown (11:32):
I have not. I am saving it to watch. I just got caught
up in the whole binge watch thatwon the territory, set in
Australia. I think I'm inrecovery now. It's supposed to
be a blend of Yellowstone andsuccession, and it's set in on a
big station in Australia. And Iwas going into it going, Oh, my
(11:55):
favorite book was The ThornBirds. I'll just love this. You
know, that's all the accents andthe horses and the whole bit, oh
my goodness, it's so intense.
And then it's very violent. Andhave to say, I had some
nightmares, but it's acompelling story. But again,
like this, there's nothing likemorality of money and ownership
and family dynamics. It's allthere. But the Martha one looks
(12:16):
very intriguing, and also,because she was on Wall Street,
she's she was in that
Amy Mair (12:23):
world in the 60s, and talks about how hard it was. So
imagine 40 years prior. But thisbook also made me think a bit
about, I don't know if you'veread anything by Marie Benedict,
yes. So she always chooses, it'salways women in history, and
usually they were some type ofunderdog or maybe not covered.
(12:45):
And it kind of made me thinkabout that. She wrote the
Mitford affair, the mystery ofMrs. Christie, librarian, kind
of that vibe.
Unknown (12:55):
So I should add, she wrote the lobotomist wife, which
I have not read, but that washer previous book, and that one
was all about the history ofmental illness and the
treatment. And so she is thewife of the, obviously, the wife
of the lobotos, but she it's hertake on how mental health was
(13:16):
treated back in the day. That'sher previous book that was also
well reviewed.
Amy Mair (13:22):
Okay, so what is the next book zipping
Unknown (13:25):
along here? This one is called Absolution. It's just
come out by Alice. Let's comeout in paperback. It was
released last year. It's byAlice McDermott. And I don't
know about you, but there aresome authors that are big names
like Alice McDermott. A numberof these ones, there you see
them, but I've never actuallyread their work. And I've
Amy Mair (13:44):
read charming, I've read charming Billy, I've read
that. Oh, did you, yeah, good.
Unknown (13:48):
So I think so I'm just sort of, I feel like, okay,
here's the book. This is the oneI'm going to read in Alex
McDermott. And it, you know, allof us, or everybody I know
anyway has read Kristen Hahn asthe women about the women, the
take on the Vietnam War, sort ofthis, like limitation. Statute
(14:10):
of limitations is sort of givenout now and and Vietnam is sort
of popping up here and there.
This one goes back. It is abouttwo women, and it involves a
time in Vietnam, but it'searlier. It's in 1963 so it's
set in Saigon, 1963 and the erathese women are the trailing
spouses. They are their prefeminist movement to support
(14:34):
their husbands, and each of themhas a husband who's involved.
One is an attorney on loan tothe Navy intelligence. The other
is involved in the CIA, andthey're these women are there to
kind of engage with thecommunity and make their
husbands look good. So that'ssort of the premise. But then
what happens is it goes intothis whole. Whole element of the
(14:59):
complicated relationshipsbetween expats and locals and
these women of privilege wantingto help and do things for the
locals who they perceive asneeding their help. And it
starts down this exploration ofsort of white savior complex,
(15:21):
and then how these women bringtheir own flaws and their own
personal stories to this intothis capacity of trying to help
others. And then it's like,Okay, so where does the image
come in? Are they actually doinggood? And this is a, I don't
think it's a comfortable topicI've lived as an expat, and
there you do cross like is abalance to try and strike. And
(15:45):
if you're an overthinker whoalways wants to help you find
yourself really assessing, okay,is this the right thing or not
the right thing? So she goesinto this very complex world and
but it's reflective back to thattime, because the daughter and
one of one woman and the otherwoman meet together many, many
(16:06):
years later, and they look backon that time and and how it
impacted their lives goingforward. And Anne Patchett
called it a moral masterpiece,and I thought that was an
interesting thing. It's verymuch a moral tale. I don't think
it's necessarily going to becomfortable reading, but the
(16:29):
characters, apparently, arereally well developed, and you
get very engaged in the story.
And I think it's kind of aninteresting way again, of
looking at a time in historythat, well, 1963 was before our
time, but it's definitely partof our understanding of the path
(16:49):
you're American, and we have,you know, that's probably even
more impactful on family,everything you've lived through
that time. So I think it's kindof an interesting thing. I think
Kristin Hannah sort of piquedour interest in the region. This
is coming at it from a differentangle. And yeah, has me
interested anyway. Well,
Amy Mair (17:06):
she's more assuming this is the same she's a
literary writer, and yeah,called Kristen Hannah's more
popular, exactly. So it's kindof what your vibe is, what you'd
want. The the women said alittle later, okay, it was
really good, but that's more Imean, the women, it could be a
beach read. It could be, yeah,easy, but Alice is more of a
(17:31):
Yeah,
Unknown (17:34):
yeah. I think to writing is, yeah, it's a step
higher on the bookshelf. Maybeit's right, depending on
demanding of you. Okay,
Amy Mair (17:41):
what about the next book? Okay, it's
Unknown (17:45):
coming out on November 19, and it's has a holiday
element to it. I think I'mgathering so my favorite book of
the last year that I bloggedabout, but also I have put into
the hands of as many people as Ican was by the writer Niall
Williams, and that book wascalled This Is happiness, and
(18:07):
it's on my keeper shelf. It'sabsolutely one of my favorites,
most beautiful language in theworld, where you're you
literally are turning the pageand you stop and you're like,
just a minute, I need to readthat again. It's so evocative
the imagery. And he's an Irishwriter that of some acclaim,
lots people are very engagedwith his he's written, I think,
nine books. So this book buildson this is happiness, and it's
(18:32):
called time of the child. It canbe stand alone. But because this
is happiness, was such anamazing story, and this carries
on from that story, takes two ofthe characters from that or not
two, but takes a number of thecharacters from that first book
and revisits them. It would benice to read them together, but
(18:52):
you don't have to. So thepremise of both books is, it's a
tiny Irish village. It's calledFAHA. It's set in 1962 and in
this what this time of the childbook that's coming out? It takes
the village doctor and hisunmarried daughter who lives at
(19:16):
home with him, and a baby isleft in their care, and the
entire village and comes around,and it's set in one December,
and it's all the people in thevillage who are just totally
ordinary people going abouttheir business. But how this
brings everybody together? And Iwrote down the quote by Karen J
(19:41):
Fowler, and she says, a powerfulpleasure to find myself back in
FAHA, where the prose isluminous, the people
irresistible, the storiesmesmerizing, and it never stops
raining, which is kind of a goodthing to have today, but we're
sitting here in big stormstalking to each other, but it.
Yes, you just get in grossed inthis little village and the
(20:04):
people, you're so engaged withthem. So this is a really nice
one, whether you've read theother or not, read this one
first and then go back to theother, it doesn't really matter,
but do yourself a favor, becausethe language, it's what reading
is all about. And writing, he'sjust a wizard with words and and
the descriptions are sobeautiful, and it's all set in
(20:24):
Ireland, which, for me, is aanother bonus. But yeah, this is
kind of nice because it's, it'slike a feels like a festive
read, a Christmas all the goodthings about Christmas read
Amy Mair (20:36):
is it kind of like A Man Called Ove. Is this kind of
like that, where you like, takeaway. Is that the idea that you
take away sort of, yeah,
Unknown (20:45):
moral or Yeah, theme? I think so, yeah. The The this is
happiness. It's one of thesebooks I've been calling sort of
a gentle book, where you getit's almost like you're I
remember going and hearingStuart McLean talk once about
writing. And he said, it's likewhen you take a box and you cut
a hole in it, and you look in,and then you put a hole in the
(21:05):
other side of the box and lookat, you're looking at the same
thing, but you just see it froma different way. So he takes all
of these villagers, and heweaves together their back
stories, but they're, you know,walking the same streets, and
it's very simple, quiet, but youare so engaged in these people's
stories, and so this like thedoctor, the dynamics the
(21:26):
doctors, because He's thedoctor, and everybody sort of
respects him, he finds himself abit separated from the community
because He's the doctor and hedoesn't he's not one of the
gang. They sort of put him onthis pedestal and keep him away,
and his daughter has her ownreasons for being separated. So
when this baby comes, it's abouteverybody coming together and
(21:48):
and I think that that's, yeah,there'll be that kind of good
feeling about, as you say, a mancalled of as well.
Amy Mair (21:55):
Okay, and what about the next one? Alright, so
Unknown (21:59):
here's the non fiction choice, and this totally left
field, really, I'm sure you'rethinking you saw it
Amy Mair (22:08):
well, sort of, I'll tell you, go ahead.
Unknown (22:11):
So it's called The Notebook
on Paper and it's written byRoland Allen. Came out here in
North America in September 3.
He's a British writer. He'sactually a publisher in the UK,
but so it's been out for a yearover there, but it's come out
here. He takes topics and hegoes deep on them. And this one
(22:33):
he was going to he lovesstationery. And he was thinking,
Oh, I'm just going to go andlearn everything I can about
stationery. And then as he gotdoing the research, he realized
this isn't about stationery,it's a history of ideas. And so
he's taken this simple notebook,and he's gone back to its
origins, which was the firstnotebooks were like in 1300
(22:54):
Florence, Italy, and they wereledgers for storekeepers. So
that's how it started. And then,of course, now, you know, we
know Leonardo da Vinci and hisnotebooks are, you know, so
famous because he sketched allof these incredible thoughts all
in this, these notebooks. And sowe have those people started
(23:15):
keeping diaries and sketchbooks,like Da Vinci's sailors started
to keep logs of their trips andeverything. So he just goes
crazily deep. And when you stopand think about, you know,
there's cookbooks, we all havethese little notebooks filled
with things. And I learned theterm this year, which actually
explains something I've done myentire life, but I've always,
(23:38):
always have two notebooks on thego. One is just for quotes and
things that I hear, or or littlesnippets of this, that and
everything else. And it all goesinto this notebook, just so I
have a place to keep it anddon't forget it. And it's called
a common place book. And I neverknew, but it was a common place
to put a wide variety of ideas.
(24:01):
And so this goes way back, likeVictorian times, people had
their commonplace books. So hegoes into all of this in great
detail, but it seems like it'snot overwhelming. I think it's
like a book, a little bit oftrivia here, there and
everywhere. And he has thestories behind Da Vinci but
Frida Kahlo Newton, Marie, CurieChaucer, Henry, James, Darwin,
(24:25):
Agatha Christie. And then hegoes into the story of the
Moleskine notebooks and theirconnection to Bruce Chatwin, who
is a travel writer. Heinterviews modern authors on how
they use notebooks and and thenhe talks a little bit about, you
know, how we've come to thiscraze of bullet journaling and
(24:45):
all of these things. It's allkind of linked together in this
one concept of the notebook. AndI just find like, Well, I'm a
total geek when it comes tostationery too. So I he had me
at the stationary element beforehe got into all the ideas. But
I. Find it really interesting.
And like you, probably, I followa lot of writers on Instagram,
and inevitably, somebody has anotebook. It gets always have a
(25:07):
notebook with you and and I do,I always have it in my bag and
and I love my notebooks to goback and read about them. And I
don't think mine are ever goingto be written about in the
future anyone. But this justseems like a really interesting
step out of our usual reads.
Amy Mair (25:26):
So the funny, the last book, right before we went
online, some friends, Jenniferand Tiffany, hello, if you're
listening, they were FaceTimingme. They're together on
vacation, and they're like,Well, what should we be reading
now? So then I just pulled thislast book because I knew it was
a popular selection. It kind oflooks like a Sophie Kinsella
(25:49):
cover, and so I kind of stoleit, and I didn't, I have to say
I didn't give you credit. I waslike, Oh, this book. No, now I'm
giving you credit, but so tellus about the last book.
Unknown (26:03):
Okay, so, big departure from the other choices. It's
called Big in Sweden, by SallyFranson, as you say, has, you
know, the bubble gum cover, verycute, cartoony cover, and it
follows the, you know, it'sinteresting. They call it. They
called it a what do they callit? Some serial comic. So I
(26:24):
think it's actually more movingand more deep than it appears to
be.
Amy Mair (26:32):
So hold on. They're saying serial comic the genre.
That's what never did that. No,
Unknown (26:38):
I know they had to look it up. And so it's an American
woman. She's big. She's six feettall, so she's literally big in
Sweden. She's an American womanwho competes in a reality,
Swedish based reality show in anattempt to discover her roots.
Now, the surprising thing aboutthis is the author actually did
(27:00):
this. She This is a novel. It'snot her story, but her
experience. She actually won theshow. This experience prompted
her to write the book and tofind the funny in it, but also
kind of the poignancy as well.
So it's um, this 35 year old,very tall woman goes to Sweden,
and it's sort of like Survivor.
(27:23):
It's a reality show, but youhave to, you know, kayak through
fjords and go to some littletown and perform some ritual,
and then come back and in sodoing, you learn about your
Swedish heritage. So she goesthrough this. This character
goes through this. She's 35years old. She's in a romantic
(27:44):
relationship that's sort of a gonowhere relationship in the US.
She goes over sort of drunkenly,applies for this, ends up
getting invited to join, andsays, What the heck? Here I go.
And off she goes. And so there'sgreat humor in it, it's very
much the show is actually ashow, and apparent. We love it
(28:06):
because it's kind of watchingthese goofy Americans trying to
find their Swedish roots, and,you know, botching it up all the
way. So there's, it's theentertainment value of it. But
in this, she starts to find herfamily roots. She starts to make
new friends and and there's thisnew appreciation for the country
(28:29):
of Sweden. So all of that comestogether. They call it, you
know, charming and funny, butwith a warmth and an optimism
about it as well. So yeah,something quite light. I was
looking through the Amazoncomments on the book, an actual
contestant wrote a review thatsaid, Oh yeah, the author
totally gets this, like shenailed it. This is exactly what
(28:52):
it's like. So I like that kindof level of authenticity to it,
that it's not all farce, but atthe same time, what a funny kind
of setting for for a novel.
Amy Mair (29:03):
Well, that sounds fun, yeah, good. Good escape with
some with some heart Yes. And
Unknown (29:09):
you know, again, we're often in Irish or English
bookstores, or we're wherever wedon't go to Sweden very often in
our books, unless there's somedire murder or something, those
dark, Nordic kind of mysteries.
This one is definitely lighterand it's interesting. You know,
just on an aside, you brought upSophie Kinsella, but her latest
book, I almost put it on thelist, is about, it's a novel,
(29:31):
but it's about her experiencewith brain cancer that she's
just recently been oh my gosh,yeah, yeah. So it's taken quite
a different route, and it'sgetting very good reviews
because it's sad, because it'sher actual story, but it's also
a different take for a writerthat has never really been given
(29:56):
credit for being a. Or anythingother than a light hearted
writer. So that's interesting,but yeah, an aside.
Amy Mair (30:07):
Well, the light hearted is can be challenging
too, like the I reviewed Ellenhildebrands books, and she's
highly trained, yes, andactually, I highly recommend
her, because it's the charactersare super well developed, but it
is light, yes,
Unknown (30:23):
yeah, well, it's interesting. She, she has done
very, very well, but she's justannounced that she's stepping
out of writing altogether. Andthat's right idea. And I just
thought was funny. And I guessat some point you almost have to
make that break to start her.
Her genre is always said inNantucket, and it's sort of
always this very predictableenvironment. She's done some
(30:43):
great stories, and I agree withyou. I've any one of the ones
I've read, I've always sort ofcome away going, Oh, that's
interesting, like, a little bitdeeper than I was expecting, or
a creative way of telling astory. But I wonder if she's
going to come back, but with awhole different approach. I
don't know it'll be interesting.
I heard
Amy Mair (31:01):
she was writing a book with her daughter. Oh, I don't
know what that is, and I thinkshe's done with think she's gone
to enough clam bakes or I thinkshe needs to change it. I don't
know, yeah, doing next, butyeah.
Unknown (31:15):
I read the blog Cup of Joe, which you're probably
familiar. Oh, yeah, yeah. Andthrough that, I found a woman, a
writer called Caroline, Donnafrio, and I followed her her
blog. She's exceptional writer,so every Sunday, she puts out a
essay. And her essay last weekwas on embarrassing books, and
(31:37):
she was talking about how she'sjust moved house, and she said
that she had to find a new placefor her embarrassing books that
don't go on the bookshelf. Andshe said, we all have them. And
I started to laugh, because it'squite true. Like, if you redo
your bookshelf, there are alwaysa few books that don't make the
front, you know, the front rowbookshelf in the living room
(31:58):
kind of thing. It's always, youknow, there's sort of, and I was
laughing, and some of the peoplestarted to chime in. Everybody
in the comments has anembarrassing book, or grouping
of books, and, you know, shesaid, people were saying, the
self help books don't appear.
Other people said, Oh, it's my,you know, Sophie Kinsella books.
I don't put those out because itdoesn't seem that I'm a literary
(32:18):
reader. And it was just reallyinteresting, food for thought.
Anyway, if you have embarrassingbooks, let Amy know, like
Amy Mair (32:26):
listening to Madonna in the car, we all do that. What
do you recommend? Yes, well,thanks so much. Susan, that
Unknown (32:35):
was great. Always a pleasure. Amy, that's great.
Look forward to Happy readingahead.
Amy Mair (32:39):
Okay, thank you. Bye.
Bye. Thanks so much to Susan forcoming on the podcast, and I'm
really excited now I have awhole new group of selections to
choose from, and I think I'mgonna, actually the first thing
I think I'm gonna tackle on thislist is big in Sweden. It just
(33:01):
looks fun, but has a bit of aheart to it as well. And I also
think I am going to next look atthe Colin McCann book. It has me
really intrigued. Wait. Thanksso much for tuning in, and I
will talk with you later. Okay,Bye. You.
Amy, hello, welcome back to the red firm book
review. I am your host, AmyTyler, and today we are talking
with book blogger SusanMatheson, and you might
(00:40):
recognize her name. She comes onabout twice a year and talks
about what to read for theseason. So today she's here to
talk about what to read thisfall. But before we get to
Susan, I wanted to talk with youabout an exciting new feature on
my podcast, and that is fanmail. So if you go on my
(01:02):
episode, it doesn't matter whichplatform you're using, Spotify
or Buzz sprout or Apple podcast,if you go down into the show
notes, you'll see a line rightbefore the text, the majority of
the text that says, Send me atext, and so if you click on
(01:23):
that, you can send me fan mail.
And I just received my firstpiece of fan mail this week, and
I was super excited, and Iwanted to read it to you. It
says, I love all your reviews,and look forward to hearing them
interested in having you reviewreal Americans. Thanks, Lisa
from Los Angeles. So I was superexcited. So I took a break today
(01:46):
at lunch and walked over to myneighborhood bookstore, which is
chapters, and picked up realAmericans by Rachel Kong. And
I've never read it. I've seen itaround, but I bought it, and I
just wanted to do the littleblurb on the back by Britt
Bennett. It says Kongmasterfully explores a family
(02:08):
splintered by science,struggling to redefine their own
lives after uncovering harrowingsecrets. Real Americans is a
mesmerizing, multi generationalnovel about privilege identity
and the illusions of theAmerican dream. So thanks Lisa
for that suggestion, and I willbe reading it, and will feature
(02:29):
this book on a future podcast.
So if send me your suggestionsand feedback, and one of your
suggestions might appear on afuture episode. With that, I
wanted to move over and talkwith Susan. Susan selected six
books for the season, and asusual, she goes a little bit off
(02:54):
piece there. Her books skew moretowards the literary but I like
that, because you can find youcan go to any bookstore and find
kind of what the big hits arefor the season, but she's kind
of delved a little bit deeperand also picked things that
personally appeal to her.
There's a lot of historicalfiction, and she threw in a fun
(03:15):
beach read or easy buck ifyou're getting away. So with
that, let's move over and talkwith Susan. Hello, Susan,
welcome back to the podcast.
Unknown (03:30):
Thanks, Amy, happy to be here as always.
Amy Mair (03:33):
So as usual, you've sent me your list of books ahead
of time, and I looked at them.
And also, as usual, I thinkthey're going to be a little bit
of, I would say, differentselections from the norm, which
you'd like to do. So they're notall ones. They're more they lean
more towards literary, withmaybe the last one being kind of
a fun, yeah,
Unknown (03:56):
I always like to try and do a little bit of a
balance, and have non fiction aswell as something a little
lighter. But I think I don'tknow right now, it just feels
like there's a lot going on inthe world. So some of these
choices kind of popped upbecause of their timeliness. So
yeah, sometimes when we read, Iguess we have to be responsible
(04:17):
too and connect with what'sgoing on in the outer world.
Amy Mair (04:20):
Yes, I would say you've definitely done that with
these selections. So let's,let's get started, and start
with the first book.
Unknown (04:29):
All righty, so this book is, it actually came out in
February of 2020, and it's byColum McCann, who's an Irish
writer. And he if people ask me,What's your favorite book you've
ever read? I inevitably that's atough question. Don't ever ask
me, because it gets me in a bitof a state. But his book let the
good world spin is one of my alltime favorites, and not just for
(04:54):
the content, but the the way heweaves a story. So this book
that I'm choosing. Amy to launchus off with, is called
Apeirogon. And a Paragon is amath term, referring to
something that has an infinitenumber of sides. And so he's
very creatively taken a storyand put it into, I think there
(05:17):
are 1000 or 1001 little shortsegments. Some of them only
align long so don't run awayyet. Book isn't that
overwhelming, but they're littletiny, you know, components that
build a bigger story. And thestory, and this is why this
seems like a really interestingchoice to go back to the back
(05:38):
list for in my mind, is itfollows the story of two men who
were fathers, one is Israeli andone is Palestinian, and they
each lost a daughter in aviolent manner related to the
conflicts that going on in thatregion. So this was four years
ago, and things have only rampedup since then, these two men.
(06:00):
And it's based on a true story,even though it is fiction, these
two men met in the way ofgrieving fathers. That was
that's how they come together,and their choice is to use their
grief to find a road to peace.
So it's their conversations,their reflections, they're
united with their mutual losses,but in the grand scheme, they're
(06:24):
on opposite sides. So it makesfor a really interesting story.
But again, the way Colin McCannwrites, people always refer to
the way he braids the story andhe stitches pieces together. So
it's it's kind of an interestingway to read something on a
heavy, heavy topic, but also tokeep in mind, it's sort of, it's
(06:45):
based on a real story. So itfeels like it's almost, it's a
really good thing to know more,in my mind, anyway, to know more
about the region in a way that'spresented without prejudice,
without sides taken, withoutthose filters. So I kind of feel
like it's, it's been on mybookshelf for a long time. I
(07:05):
think I actually blogged aboutit in the past, you know,
anticipating it was going to bea good read, simply because the
author is such a great writer.
But I think now the topic is ina different way. Now I really
look forward to kind of readingit and and, you know, maybe
finding out a bit more. I don'tknow about you, Amy, but you
(07:27):
know, you're very well read. AndI get up in the morning like,
holy smokes, where do I start?
There's so many topics, and I'veoften laughed with friends. How
now we, we used to go deep ontopics. Now we skip along the
top. So this feels like a goodopportunity to kind of go deeper
on one of the many issues that'sout there in our world.
Amy Mair (07:46):
Well, we're recording this the day before the US
election. So talking about but Iknow what you mean, and I
wonder, like even in referenceto this topic, I find I'm afraid
to talk about it with anyone,yes, yes. And sometimes I'm
afraid because I I don't want tooffend someone or say the wrong
(08:11):
thing. And then sometimes I'mafraid because I don't actually
think I know enough about it.
Yeah, that's
Unknown (08:15):
where I fall. Exactly I relate to what you just said.
So, so well and I but yet I sortof feel, as a global citizenry,
you know, obligation tounderstand, like I need to step
up and understand some of thesethings a bit more. And, you
know, I always love myhistorical fiction because it's
a way of, kind of understandingand finding a launching pad to
(08:36):
educate yourself with facts, butthrough the entryway of a story
set in the region or in therealm of the conflict.
Amy Mair (08:46):
So the next book is A is historical fiction. So tell
us about that. Yes, and I think
Unknown (08:51):
this one will be quite a bit lighter it is, but it's a
different, different world.
Again, we sort of, I find myselfkind of falling into the same
patterns of reading and thingsthat you know you find comfort
in when you read. This one iscalled The Trade Off. It came
out on October 8, so just a newrelease now. It's written by
(09:13):
Samantha green Woodruff. It ishistorical fiction, and it
follows a young woman in NewYork in the 1920s and she's
gifted with an ability to reallyunderstand math and numbers, and
she sees patterns andconnections and trends in
numbers, which makes her anabsolute shoe in for the world
(09:34):
of the stock market and WallStreet, and that's what She
really aspires to do, but she'sliving in a lower East Side
tenement. She's Jewish, which inthe 1920s late 20s, was not kind
of like today. It's, there's,it's, it's a power packed place
to exist and with all sorts ofdiscrimination and so forth. Her
(09:56):
chart. Amy brother, however,finds it a lot easier. He's sort
of the man who's got all thecharisma, but not the math
brights, not the actualunderstanding of what's going
on. So they team up, and thehe's her cover. She does the fun
stuff at the math and everythingelse that she enjoys, and he's
(10:17):
the front man. But this ends upgoing, there's the stock market
crash in 30 there's this hugemoney and morality and family
dynamics, and it all gets reallycomplex So, and there's a little
romance woven into you, just forgood measure. So I think this is
kind of a step out from so manyof these. You know, women is on
(10:40):
her own, moves to Ireland andopens a bookstore. I seem to
read a lot of those. This is adifferent environment. And is
Amy Mair (10:53):
this based on a true it
Unknown (10:55):
is yes, yes. It is inspired by a true story. And I
don't know who it is exactly,but I know that once you read
this, you'll probably want to goand read more about who, who
actually this was based on. Butisn't it just an interesting
world, you know, the whole worldof finance and and all the
factors involved. And I thinkit's, it'll be quite
(11:18):
interesting, but it's not aheavy, heavier one. It's more of
a lighter story, but I thinkjust in an intriguing
environment and setting. Have
Amy Mair (11:28):
you as an aside, have you seen the new Martha Stewart
documentary?
Unknown (11:32):
I have not. I am saving it to watch. I just got caught
up in the whole binge watch thatwon the territory, set in
Australia. I think I'm inrecovery now. It's supposed to
be a blend of Yellowstone andsuccession, and it's set in on a
big station in Australia. And Iwas going into it going, Oh, my
(11:55):
favorite book was The ThornBirds. I'll just love this. You
know, that's all the accents andthe horses and the whole bit, oh
my goodness, it's so intense.
And then it's very violent. Andhave to say, I had some
nightmares, but it's acompelling story. But again,
like this, there's nothing likemorality of money and ownership
and family dynamics. It's allthere. But the Martha one looks
(12:16):
very intriguing, and also,because she was on Wall Street,
she's she was in that
Amy Mair (12:23):
world in the 60s, and talks about how hard it was. So
imagine 40 years prior. But thisbook also made me think a bit
about, I don't know if you'veread anything by Marie Benedict,
yes. So she always chooses, it'salways women in history, and
usually they were some type ofunderdog or maybe not covered.
(12:45):
And it kind of made me thinkabout that. She wrote the
Mitford affair, the mystery ofMrs. Christie, librarian, kind
of that vibe.
Unknown (12:55):
So I should add, she wrote the lobotomist wife, which
I have not read, but that washer previous book, and that one
was all about the history ofmental illness and the
treatment. And so she is thewife of the, obviously, the wife
of the lobotos, but she it's hertake on how mental health was
(13:16):
treated back in the day. That'sher previous book that was also
well reviewed.
Amy Mair (13:22):
Okay, so what is the next book zipping
Unknown (13:25):
along here? This one is called Absolution. It's just
come out by Alice. Let's comeout in paperback. It was
released last year. It's byAlice McDermott. And I don't
know about you, but there aresome authors that are big names
like Alice McDermott. A numberof these ones, there you see
them, but I've never actuallyread their work. And I've
Amy Mair (13:44):
read charming, I've read charming Billy, I've read
that. Oh, did you, yeah, good.
Unknown (13:48):
So I think so I'm just sort of, I feel like, okay,
here's the book. This is the oneI'm going to read in Alex
McDermott. And it, you know, allof us, or everybody I know
anyway has read Kristen Hahn asthe women about the women, the
take on the Vietnam War, sort ofthis, like limitation. Statute
(14:10):
of limitations is sort of givenout now and and Vietnam is sort
of popping up here and there.
This one goes back. It is abouttwo women, and it involves a
time in Vietnam, but it'searlier. It's in 1963 so it's
set in Saigon, 1963 and the erathese women are the trailing
spouses. They are their prefeminist movement to support
(14:34):
their husbands, and each of themhas a husband who's involved.
One is an attorney on loan tothe Navy intelligence. The other
is involved in the CIA, andthey're these women are there to
kind of engage with thecommunity and make their
husbands look good. So that'ssort of the premise. But then
what happens is it goes intothis whole. Whole element of the
(14:59):
complicated relationshipsbetween expats and locals and
these women of privilege wantingto help and do things for the
locals who they perceive asneeding their help. And it
starts down this exploration ofsort of white savior complex,
(15:21):
and then how these women bringtheir own flaws and their own
personal stories to this intothis capacity of trying to help
others. And then it's like,Okay, so where does the image
come in? Are they actually doinggood? And this is a, I don't
think it's a comfortable topicI've lived as an expat, and
there you do cross like is abalance to try and strike. And
(15:45):
if you're an overthinker whoalways wants to help you find
yourself really assessing, okay,is this the right thing or not
the right thing? So she goesinto this very complex world and
but it's reflective back to thattime, because the daughter and
one of one woman and the otherwoman meet together many, many
(16:06):
years later, and they look backon that time and and how it
impacted their lives goingforward. And Anne Patchett
called it a moral masterpiece,and I thought that was an
interesting thing. It's verymuch a moral tale. I don't think
it's necessarily going to becomfortable reading, but the
(16:29):
characters, apparently, arereally well developed, and you
get very engaged in the story.
And I think it's kind of aninteresting way again, of
looking at a time in historythat, well, 1963 was before our
time, but it's definitely partof our understanding of the path
(16:49):
you're American, and we have,you know, that's probably even
more impactful on family,everything you've lived through
that time. So I think it's kindof an interesting thing. I think
Kristin Hannah sort of piquedour interest in the region. This
is coming at it from a differentangle. And yeah, has me
interested anyway. Well,
Amy Mair (17:06):
she's more assuming this is the same she's a
literary writer, and yeah,called Kristen Hannah's more
popular, exactly. So it's kindof what your vibe is, what you'd
want. The the women said alittle later, okay, it was
really good, but that's more Imean, the women, it could be a
beach read. It could be, yeah,easy, but Alice is more of a
(17:31):
Yeah,
Unknown (17:34):
yeah. I think to writing is, yeah, it's a step
higher on the bookshelf. Maybeit's right, depending on
demanding of you. Okay,
Amy Mair (17:41):
what about the next book? Okay, it's
Unknown (17:45):
coming out on November 19, and it's has a holiday
element to it. I think I'mgathering so my favorite book of
the last year that I bloggedabout, but also I have put into
the hands of as many people as Ican was by the writer Niall
Williams, and that book wascalled This Is happiness, and
(18:07):
it's on my keeper shelf. It'sabsolutely one of my favorites,
most beautiful language in theworld, where you're you
literally are turning the pageand you stop and you're like,
just a minute, I need to readthat again. It's so evocative
the imagery. And he's an Irishwriter that of some acclaim,
lots people are very engagedwith his he's written, I think,
nine books. So this book buildson this is happiness, and it's
(18:32):
called time of the child. It canbe stand alone. But because this
is happiness, was such anamazing story, and this carries
on from that story, takes two ofthe characters from that or not
two, but takes a number of thecharacters from that first book
and revisits them. It would benice to read them together, but
(18:52):
you don't have to. So thepremise of both books is, it's a
tiny Irish village. It's calledFAHA. It's set in 1962 and in
this what this time of the childbook that's coming out? It takes
the village doctor and hisunmarried daughter who lives at
(19:16):
home with him, and a baby isleft in their care, and the
entire village and comes around,and it's set in one December,
and it's all the people in thevillage who are just totally
ordinary people going abouttheir business. But how this
brings everybody together? And Iwrote down the quote by Karen J
(19:41):
Fowler, and she says, a powerfulpleasure to find myself back in
FAHA, where the prose isluminous, the people
irresistible, the storiesmesmerizing, and it never stops
raining, which is kind of a goodthing to have today, but we're
sitting here in big stormstalking to each other, but it.
Yes, you just get in grossed inthis little village and the
(20:04):
people, you're so engaged withthem. So this is a really nice
one, whether you've read theother or not, read this one
first and then go back to theother, it doesn't really matter,
but do yourself a favor, becausethe language, it's what reading
is all about. And writing, he'sjust a wizard with words and and
the descriptions are sobeautiful, and it's all set in
(20:24):
Ireland, which, for me, is aanother bonus. But yeah, this is
kind of nice because it's, it'slike a feels like a festive
read, a Christmas all the goodthings about Christmas read
Amy Mair (20:36):
is it kind of like A Man Called Ove. Is this kind of
like that, where you like, takeaway. Is that the idea that you
take away sort of, yeah,
Unknown (20:45):
moral or Yeah, theme? I think so, yeah. The The this is
happiness. It's one of thesebooks I've been calling sort of
a gentle book, where you getit's almost like you're I
remember going and hearingStuart McLean talk once about
writing. And he said, it's likewhen you take a box and you cut
a hole in it, and you look in,and then you put a hole in the
(21:05):
other side of the box and lookat, you're looking at the same
thing, but you just see it froma different way. So he takes all
of these villagers, and heweaves together their back
stories, but they're, you know,walking the same streets, and
it's very simple, quiet, but youare so engaged in these people's
stories, and so this like thedoctor, the dynamics the
(21:26):
doctors, because He's thedoctor, and everybody sort of
respects him, he finds himself abit separated from the community
because He's the doctor and hedoesn't he's not one of the
gang. They sort of put him onthis pedestal and keep him away,
and his daughter has her ownreasons for being separated. So
when this baby comes, it's abouteverybody coming together and
(21:48):
and I think that that's, yeah,there'll be that kind of good
feeling about, as you say, a mancalled of as well.
Amy Mair (21:55):
Okay, and what about the next one? Alright, so
Unknown (21:59):
here's the non fiction choice, and this totally left
field, really, I'm sure you'rethinking you saw it
Amy Mair (22:08):
well, sort of, I'll tell you, go ahead.
Unknown (22:11):
So it's called The Notebook
on Paper and it's written byRoland Allen. Came out here in
North America in September 3.
He's a British writer. He'sactually a publisher in the UK,
but so it's been out for a yearover there, but it's come out
here. He takes topics and hegoes deep on them. And this one
(22:33):
he was going to he lovesstationery. And he was thinking,
Oh, I'm just going to go andlearn everything I can about
stationery. And then as he gotdoing the research, he realized
this isn't about stationery,it's a history of ideas. And so
he's taken this simple notebook,and he's gone back to its
origins, which was the firstnotebooks were like in 1300
(22:54):
Florence, Italy, and they wereledgers for storekeepers. So
that's how it started. And then,of course, now, you know, we
know Leonardo da Vinci and hisnotebooks are, you know, so
famous because he sketched allof these incredible thoughts all
in this, these notebooks. And sowe have those people started
(23:15):
keeping diaries and sketchbooks,like Da Vinci's sailors started
to keep logs of their trips andeverything. So he just goes
crazily deep. And when you stopand think about, you know,
there's cookbooks, we all havethese little notebooks filled
with things. And I learned theterm this year, which actually
explains something I've done myentire life, but I've always,
(23:38):
always have two notebooks on thego. One is just for quotes and
things that I hear, or or littlesnippets of this, that and
everything else. And it all goesinto this notebook, just so I
have a place to keep it anddon't forget it. And it's called
a common place book. And I neverknew, but it was a common place
to put a wide variety of ideas.
(24:01):
And so this goes way back, likeVictorian times, people had
their commonplace books. So hegoes into all of this in great
detail, but it seems like it'snot overwhelming. I think it's
like a book, a little bit oftrivia here, there and
everywhere. And he has thestories behind Da Vinci but
Frida Kahlo Newton, Marie, CurieChaucer, Henry, James, Darwin,
(24:25):
Agatha Christie. And then hegoes into the story of the
Moleskine notebooks and theirconnection to Bruce Chatwin, who
is a travel writer. Heinterviews modern authors on how
they use notebooks and and thenhe talks a little bit about, you
know, how we've come to thiscraze of bullet journaling and
(24:45):
all of these things. It's allkind of linked together in this
one concept of the notebook. AndI just find like, Well, I'm a
total geek when it comes tostationery too. So I he had me
at the stationary element beforehe got into all the ideas. But
I. Find it really interesting.
And like you, probably, I followa lot of writers on Instagram,
and inevitably, somebody has anotebook. It gets always have a
(25:07):
notebook with you and and I do,I always have it in my bag and
and I love my notebooks to goback and read about them. And I
don't think mine are ever goingto be written about in the
future anyone. But this justseems like a really interesting
step out of our usual reads.
Amy Mair (25:26):
So the funny, the last book, right before we went
online, some friends, Jenniferand Tiffany, hello, if you're
listening, they were FaceTimingme. They're together on
vacation, and they're like,Well, what should we be reading
now? So then I just pulled thislast book because I knew it was
a popular selection. It kind oflooks like a Sophie Kinsella
(25:49):
cover, and so I kind of stoleit, and I didn't, I have to say
I didn't give you credit. I waslike, Oh, this book. No, now I'm
giving you credit, but so tellus about the last book.
Unknown (26:03):
Okay, so, big departure from the other choices. It's
called Big in Sweden, by SallyFranson, as you say, has, you
know, the bubble gum cover, verycute, cartoony cover, and it
follows the, you know, it'sinteresting. They call it. They
called it a what do they callit? Some serial comic. So I
(26:24):
think it's actually more movingand more deep than it appears to
be.
Amy Mair (26:32):
So hold on. They're saying serial comic the genre.
That's what never did that. No,
Unknown (26:38):
I know they had to look it up. And so it's an American
woman. She's big. She's six feettall, so she's literally big in
Sweden. She's an American womanwho competes in a reality,
Swedish based reality show in anattempt to discover her roots.
Now, the surprising thing aboutthis is the author actually did
(27:00):
this. She This is a novel. It'snot her story, but her
experience. She actually won theshow. This experience prompted
her to write the book and tofind the funny in it, but also
kind of the poignancy as well.
So it's um, this 35 year old,very tall woman goes to Sweden,
and it's sort of like Survivor.
(27:23):
It's a reality show, but youhave to, you know, kayak through
fjords and go to some littletown and perform some ritual,
and then come back and in sodoing, you learn about your
Swedish heritage. So she goesthrough this. This character
goes through this. She's 35years old. She's in a romantic
(27:44):
relationship that's sort of a gonowhere relationship in the US.
She goes over sort of drunkenly,applies for this, ends up
getting invited to join, andsays, What the heck? Here I go.
And off she goes. And so there'sgreat humor in it, it's very
much the show is actually ashow, and apparent. We love it
(28:06):
because it's kind of watchingthese goofy Americans trying to
find their Swedish roots, and,you know, botching it up all the
way. So there's, it's theentertainment value of it. But
in this, she starts to find herfamily roots. She starts to make
new friends and and there's thisnew appreciation for the country
(28:29):
of Sweden. So all of that comestogether. They call it, you
know, charming and funny, butwith a warmth and an optimism
about it as well. So yeah,something quite light. I was
looking through the Amazoncomments on the book, an actual
contestant wrote a review thatsaid, Oh yeah, the author
totally gets this, like shenailed it. This is exactly what
(28:52):
it's like. So I like that kindof level of authenticity to it,
that it's not all farce, but atthe same time, what a funny kind
of setting for for a novel.
Amy Mair (29:03):
Well, that sounds fun, yeah, good. Good escape with
some with some heart Yes. And
Unknown (29:09):
you know, again, we're often in Irish or English
bookstores, or we're wherever wedon't go to Sweden very often in
our books, unless there's somedire murder or something, those
dark, Nordic kind of mysteries.
This one is definitely lighterand it's interesting. You know,
just on an aside, you brought upSophie Kinsella, but her latest
book, I almost put it on thelist, is about, it's a novel,
(29:31):
but it's about her experiencewith brain cancer that she's
just recently been oh my gosh,yeah, yeah. So it's taken quite
a different route, and it'sgetting very good reviews
because it's sad, because it'sher actual story, but it's also
a different take for a writerthat has never really been given
(29:56):
credit for being a. Or anythingother than a light hearted
writer. So that's interesting,but yeah, an aside.
Amy Mair (30:07):
Well, the light hearted is can be challenging
too, like the I reviewed Ellenhildebrands books, and she's
highly trained, yes, andactually, I highly recommend
her, because it's the charactersare super well developed, but it
is light, yes,
Unknown (30:23):
yeah, well, it's interesting. She, she has done
very, very well, but she's justannounced that she's stepping
out of writing altogether. Andthat's right idea. And I just
thought was funny. And I guessat some point you almost have to
make that break to start her.
Her genre is always said inNantucket, and it's sort of
always this very predictableenvironment. She's done some
(30:43):
great stories, and I agree withyou. I've any one of the ones
I've read, I've always sort ofcome away going, Oh, that's
interesting, like, a little bitdeeper than I was expecting, or
a creative way of telling astory. But I wonder if she's
going to come back, but with awhole different approach. I
don't know it'll be interesting.
I heard
Amy Mair (31:01):
she was writing a book with her daughter. Oh, I don't
know what that is, and I thinkshe's done with think she's gone
to enough clam bakes or I thinkshe needs to change it. I don't
know, yeah, doing next, butyeah.
Unknown (31:15):
I read the blog Cup of Joe, which you're probably
familiar. Oh, yeah, yeah. Andthrough that, I found a woman, a
writer called Caroline, Donnafrio, and I followed her her
blog. She's exceptional writer,so every Sunday, she puts out a
essay. And her essay last weekwas on embarrassing books, and
(31:37):
she was talking about how she'sjust moved house, and she said
that she had to find a new placefor her embarrassing books that
don't go on the bookshelf. Andshe said, we all have them. And
I started to laugh, because it'squite true. Like, if you redo
your bookshelf, there are alwaysa few books that don't make the
front, you know, the front rowbookshelf in the living room
(31:58):
kind of thing. It's always, youknow, there's sort of, and I was
laughing, and some of the peoplestarted to chime in. Everybody
in the comments has anembarrassing book, or grouping
of books, and, you know, shesaid, people were saying, the
self help books don't appear.
Other people said, Oh, it's my,you know, Sophie Kinsella books.
I don't put those out because itdoesn't seem that I'm a literary
(32:18):
reader. And it was just reallyinteresting, food for thought.
Anyway, if you have embarrassingbooks, let Amy know, like
Amy Mair (32:26):
listening to Madonna in the car, we all do that. What
do you recommend? Yes, well,thanks so much. Susan, that
Unknown (32:35):
was great. Always a pleasure. Amy, that's great.
Look forward to Happy readingahead.
Amy Mair (32:39):
Okay, thank you. Bye.
Bye. Thanks so much to Susan forcoming on the podcast, and I'm
really excited now I have awhole new group of selections to
choose from, and I think I'mgonna, actually the first thing
I think I'm gonna tackle on thislist is big in Sweden. It just
(33:01):
looks fun, but has a bit of aheart to it as well. And I also
think I am going to next look atthe Colin McCann book. It has me
really intrigued. Wait. Thanksso much for tuning in, and I
will talk with you later. Okay,Bye. You.
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