May 26, 2023 • 33 mins
Book blogger Susan Matheson stops by the podcast to talk about her favourite reads for summer. Her selections range from a cozy mystery to a contemporary memoir.
Books and Resources discussed:
Go as a River by Shelley Read
The Golden Spoon by Jessa Maxwell
All the Beauty in the World by Patrick Bingley
Darling by India Knight
The Mitford Affair by Marie Benedict
The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford
The House of Lincoln by Nancy Horan
Loving Frank by Nancy Horan
March by Geraldine Brooks
The African Samurai by Craig Shreve
One Night in Mississippi by Craig Shreve
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Unknown (00:11):
Hi, icwsm Hello, welcome back to the Red
Fern book review. I am yourhost, Amy Mair. And today I am
joined by one of my favoritepeople to have on the podcast,
(00:32):
Susan Matheson. And there's acouple things that are really
great about having Susan on. AndI usually have her on at the end
of the season, which is, this isthe very last episode that I'm
doing until the fall, becauseit's a nice thing for people to
check back in over the summer.
Because she always does a roundup with me about in this time,
(00:54):
we're gonna do roundup for whatto read over the summer. And
also, I really don't have to doany work on this podcast. So
this is really lovely. I just, Iknow what she's going to talk
about, but I don't I know thebooks we're going to cover. But
other than that, we're just I'mwinging it. I'm sure she's done
some prep, but it's a nicelittle kind of break for me.
(01:14):
Thank you, Susan, for being sogood at what you do,
I wouldn't count yourself out, Icame to you with a list of about
35 books that I'd edited to 12.
And you managed to get it downto seven. And now we've settled
on six. So there's some workinvolved. Okay,
okay. That we have so much tosay, I think she just dive right
in. And what we're going to dois, Susan, if you're a regular
(01:39):
listener, she will pick sixbooks, we pick six books, and
then she has her own. She has areally great blog on books
called bedside table books. Andwhen this drops, and this is
coming out on May 26, she's alsogoing to drop her own blog, so
of corresponding blog withanother six books. And also the
(02:01):
other thing to note, I would sayyou don't usually pick the hot,
hottest books, because that'seasy for anyone to find. I think
you've done a little moredigging. And kind of maybe those
books that are not the everyone,the first thing people would
think of, and kind of, I guess,give them a little bit of a
(02:23):
support or recognition.
Yeah, so I always love to knowmore about the author's before I
read a book. And there'scertainly lots of mainstream
books that are absolutelywonderful. And I was, I do find
the delight in digging aroundand finding something it might
seem a little obscure, butbrings great joy I love I love
(02:44):
supporting the writers, but alsofinding a book that's kind of
not out there that everybodyelse is reading. However, having
said that, I was so excited tocome to you with this book that
I've had bookmarked for sometime. And it was the cutting for
stone author Abraham Berkey seasbook, the covenant of water, and
(03:05):
the day that you and I spoke toset this up, Oprah, Oprah sized
it up. So I have removed thatfrom the list. However, it's
actually holding my computer upright now it's we're on Zoom,
because it's so big. But I amvery much looking forward to
getting into that one. Because Ithink a number of us really
enjoyed cutting for stone. Sothat's a bonus book, but we
(03:28):
aren't going to go forth withoutany Oprah picks as far as I
know, or any other ones andchoose our own. So our first one
that I it is getting sometraction, but I was quite
excited about this one. And it'scalled go as a river. And it's
written by Shelley Reed. And ifyou know me, you know my taste
(03:51):
in books. I love a book that hasa setting that you feel immersed
in. And this one is set inColorado and the writer Shelley
is a fifth generation ColoradanI guess you call them a person
from Colorado. So she's livedthere all this time. And this
(04:11):
story is actually set on a truestory of a little tiny town that
in the 1960s was destroyed. Andyou know, in our own news, I
love when there's this sort of acurrent contemporary tie in.
When we think of cache Creek andMerritt, our own little interior
towns, they've had their owndevastation. So this starts in
(04:35):
that sort of a setting. LittleTown. Really going through tough
times, beautifully set. All thereviews say the scenery is
breathtaking. It's gorgeouslydescribed, and so you really
feel like you're there. But thebig part of this is the
character. She's one of thesevery resilient and memorable
(04:58):
young women that faces sometough times and, and carries
forth and so go as a river isindicating that she flows
through some tough times andmoves along. So the reviews I've
seen make this historicalfiction with a contemporary feel
about it only because theselittle towns are still going
(05:20):
through these big challengesnow, but I know we all share a
delight in a really strong womancharacter, or man, but in this
case of women, who we can reallyget engaged with. So this one
while it's a quiet book has abeautiful cover in every
iteration, whether it's the USor the UK, or Canada, and we've
talked about that before I trulyconfess to being smitten by a
(05:44):
good cover. Anyway, this one,every little independent
bookstore I've been in, in thelast little while is singing the
praises of this one. So let'sget a board. I think it's going
to be a good one.
And I, I read comparisons towhere the crawdads sings, and I
think they're definitely tryingto tap into that with the cover
looks a little similar. And Iguess the whole idea of the
(06:06):
natural world.
Yes. And I think there is thetie in there, as well as that
the main character is young,like the character and where the
crawdads she's, she's not. She'smore, I don't know if she's teen
or if she's young 20s. But she'scertainly in the same timeframe,
Aries frame, and she also setsoff into the wilderness on her
(06:27):
own and faces challenges,natural challenges there as
well. Okay, what's the nextbook? Well, I can't have a list
without one of these juicymysteries. Now, I don't get into
them quite as often. And yet,every time I do, I'm absolutely
delighted. So I'm not sure why Idon't. But this one looks like
one it's definitely worthjumping into, especially in this
(06:50):
summer. And it combines a numberof again, really current
interests. So it's called thegolden spoon by Jessa Maxwell,
and she's a debut author. Andwhat it does is, well, I loved
the fact that it was describedas a brilliant puzzle. And it's
a mystery, but it's set withthis kind of crazy host of a
(07:14):
baking show. And she hosts thebaking show, like we're all used
to watching the great British orgreat Canadian Bake Off is so
similar to that. And she hostedin her family childhood home,
which is an impressive estate, Ithink it was in Vermont. And so
the setting again, is really itsown character. And then while
(07:34):
all of this is going on, she'shaving this show. There are all
these eccentric characters whoas we often see on these shows,
I think that's probably part ofit is all these eccentric
characters get together and sheeven though she's sort of
presented as you know,grandmother, America, the Miss,
you know, sweet baking queen,she has a bit of a dark side. So
(07:56):
there's a mystery. There's amurderer, I gather, there's
something big that goes down.
And there's all sorts ofcompetitive high jinks and what
a great idea. I just think it'sterrific, and light and fun,
something we can all envision,but very twisty and turny.
From what I gather. So soundslike a cozy mystery.
(08:16):
Yes, there you go. Yes. I thinkthe first time I heard about
cozy mysteries was on yourpodcast.
And I wonder if there's a cat soI had someone on talk about
what's in a cozy mystery. Andapparently some people say there
always has to be cat and oh,well, we'll have to keep an eye
out for the cat then because itsounds like it's got the big old
house that could warrant havinga cat aboard.
(08:39):
Okay, what's the next one?
Okay, I think both you and I aresuper excited about this one.
And then I actually gave a copyto my mom for Mother's Day. It's
out now and it's called all thebeauty in the world. And it's by
Patrick Brinkley. Now it'sanother debut. And this one is a
nonfiction or it's memoir, hisstory of the Met Museum in New
(09:04):
York City. And many of us havebeen lucky enough to go through
the hallways of the Met. We cando it again with Patrick because
he was a writer for The NewYorker. So that establishes his
street cred there for thewriting element. But he had kind
of a tough time and olderbrother was diagnosed with
(09:24):
terminal cancer. And he neededto sort of step out of his
writing life and go do somethingcompletely different. And he
always loved the map museum. Sohe ended up getting a job there
as a guard. And he worked for 10years in the Met museum. And
it's over 2 million square feet.
And through this book, you getto see every corner of the
(09:47):
museum. You get to meet all ofthe wonderful people he worked
with, and sort of see the innerworkings of a big museum and the
big museum. It's It's anincredible and lively glimpse
into all the behind the scenesgoings on. So I think it's I'm
just so excited about this one.
(10:10):
It's not a huge book, but it's,I think, quite well annotated.
Like every, you know, there arereferences and, and in the back,
there's a whole kind ofconnection to all the pieces
mentioned. So he talks about theart. But I think the heart of
the book is in the community ofthis little subculture of
workers who are in the in themuseum behind the scenes that
(10:31):
make it all come to life for allof us, when we pop into, check
it out for a couple of hours.
I really would love to read thisbook. I just think it sounds so
fun, so much fun. Andinteresting, too, because I
haven't you often looked at agarden, someone like that and
thought, what are they thinkingabout? Like,
we know what's really funny insome of these things. So there's
(10:53):
two things remind me two thingsto talk about here. One is that
it was probably a month ago, ormaybe a little bit longer,
because I've known about thisbook for over a month. But a
little while ago, I came acrossan article in the Smithsonian,
which is a great magazine toread, I read it online, and it
was how they have an event. Sothese museums have an event
(11:16):
where the guards get to put ontheir own artwork, they bring
their own art, and they show itand they have their own little
art show. And I read thisarticle, I thought how fantastic
that's like flipping the scriptand, and you know, I'm sure all
these guards, they're exposed tothis incredible art in the
world, I'm sure they'reinspired, many of them are
probably there because they loveart. And I thought that was such
(11:37):
a great, it just sort of, youknow, those things that kind of
stick in your brain. And then Icame across this biography or
memoir, and I thought, oh,that's an interesting kind of
connection there. And then theother one, and I think you
blogged about this not long ago,was the behind the scenes of the
waiter? And was he in France orin New York? Oh, that's
(11:57):
a good book. I just finishedthat. Yeah. It was in New York.
Okay, your table is ready,right. And there's one that's
also set in France, same sort ofsituations in American going to
France and works as a waiterbehind the scenes in France. So
these ones, you know, there'sall that kind of behind the
scenes, you know, the curtaingets moved, and we get that
(12:17):
glimpse into these other worlds.
And that's what reading is allabout. It's so much fun. But
when you can do it with anexpert like that, in memoir,
it's super exciting.
There's another book that when Iwas reading about this book that
came out a few years ago, that'ssupposed to be good, called
metropolitan stories by anauthor Christine Colson, who I
(12:40):
believe also worked for the Metsfor 25 years in different
capacities. And I think whatshe's doing is she picks her
favorite objects. And it's asmall book, right? Not
necessarily the most famousobjects, but the ones that she
liked. And then I have to Ialso, I know this probably was
(13:00):
one of your favorite books.
Growing up was the Mixed UpFiles of Mrs. Basil. What's her
name? Basil?
I don't know. Oh, do you knowabout this? Okay, I'm writing
a kid's book. And what happenedwas, they got trapped in the mat
overnight. Okay. And so thenthey basically kind of party in
(13:24):
the mat. Like, they're, youknow, they're like, 10 years
old. And they're like, jumpingup and down. With kids. Down,
yeah, jumping and fountainsjumping on the bed and all that
it's really cute book. But itwas kind of a love letter to the
mat as well. Isn't that great?
Mixed Up Files of Mrs. I'll lookit up while we're talking. But
(13:45):
yeah, we'llhave to link there's another one
I'm thinking of, because when mykids were little we were living
in London. And of course we goto the American Museum of
History, not we wouldn'tactually go to the American one
would we, we would go to theMuseum of Natural History in
London. And there's a wonderfulbook to a little girl who goes
and visits the museum and haveto remember what that one is and
(14:09):
share it with you. But anyway,it's obviously inspiration
that's been followed before, butI think this one all the beauty
in the world is going to be aparticularly good one.
So this is called from the MixedUp Files of Mrs. Basil E Franken
Weiler, and it won like a cow,the cod or one of the big Oh,
(14:29):
wonderful. That's old. Yeah,yeah. Anyway, but okay. All
right. Well, I think we bothhave to read that and chat.
Well, andyou know, you bring up another
kind of cool thing. It's I didhave a few children's books I
was going to add and then Ithought, You know what, they're
kind of worth their own blogpost unto themselves or so many
fantastic children's bookscoming out. And gosh, they're so
creative and colorful and andthey explore all sorts of really
(14:54):
interesting topics now. Soanyway, that's it
That's a little aside. Okay,well, let's next one,
okay, this one's called darling,by India night. Now. This is I
first came across India nightwhen I was living in London. She
was a columnist in the Britishnewspapers. And she's a
(15:17):
lifestyle writer, she was sortof got her kickoff in the air
around the same time as BridgetJones's Diary. So, she was known
for whatever books was called MyLife on a plate. And she was
always is always she continuesto write now, sort of no
nonsense, but obviouslyhilarious, very honest,
(15:38):
commentary. So she's sort of thekickoff of all of that type of
thing. This book, she's hernovel, she's written tons in
them, but they're sort of theywere the original chick lit like
Bridget Jones. And not alwayswell reviewed. She's had some
kind of stingers sent her way.
But this one is getting greatreviews. And what she's done is
she's taken the story of thepursuit of love, which is
(16:01):
written by Nancy Mitford. Andthe Mitford sisters were all
kind of the, you know, hoitytoity ease of England. And they
put they, they were writers, butthey all lived this very, you
know, special life, it sort ofgives you the feeling of The
Great Gatsby kind of vibe.
(16:22):
Anyway, she, Indian Knight haswritten this book called
darling. And it is based on thepursuit of love, which was
published in 1945. And was very,very popular at the time. And it
features again, this strong maincharacter, she's kind of She's
very beautiful. She's young,she's high strung, she's
(16:45):
flighty. She's, as I said, kindof wealthy, reminds you of The
Great Gatsby set. And there'sactually a movie, the pursuit of
love. It's on I think it's onPrime starring Lily James. And
it's, you know, the gorgeouscostumes and everything else.
Now, Indian Knight has takenthat story. And she's brought in
(17:07):
cell phones and Instagram and,you know, all sorts of, you
know, trips on the Eurostar andreally modernized it in the same
setting, but in a modern day. Soshe has the same strong
character. And this character isjust always in search of love
and gets herself into all sortsof quandaries. And so it's quite
(17:29):
a neat glimpse into this otherworld, certainly for mine. And
it is, it has a playful element,but a little bit darkly comic
too. So that's, and then, youknow, talking about all our book
club friends, this is one whereyou could actually read the two
books, I don't think they'redying. You could tie the two in
(17:49):
and bit of a challenge, but itcould be kind of fun to, to read
the one that was from 1945. Andthen see what India night has
done with it. Now.
I did that for a book club yearsago. And what we did we did the
hours, and then we did yeah,this is Dalloway, which is what
it's based on. And what we didwas we said, Read whichever one
(18:14):
you want. And for Keeners, orpeople that just love reading
all read both of them. That waskind of cool. And then everyone
just sort of shared. But thatwas that same idea like that
idea. Have you heard of theMitford affair? Here's a copy of
it. Oh, yes,I have heard well, Marie
Benedict, she's such a greatwriter. And she's so good at
tying in these prominent storiesof people that are basing
(18:38):
stories on these prominentpeople. It's, she does it very
well.
Yeah. So I just read that. Andit's about the Mitford sisters
and one of the sisters had anaffair with Hitler. Oh,
charming. Crazy. So thenovelist, so there's six of
them. And to have an what'sinteresting about that family,
(18:59):
it was they were fascists andcommunists on opposite sides of
spectrum. But they were it wasweird. They were very wealthy.
But it was that time where theyhad this interest in, you know,
I guess a different type ofpolitics. And so two of those
sisters go over to Germany. Andthe novelist Nancy is the only
(19:21):
one who can kind of reach themkind of going back and forth.
Trying to bring them home. Andanyway, so she plays this role.
And so that's, that'll beinteresting to see. Oh,
well, you're well set then tolaunch into this book, because
it's, um, it's very much. Ithink it involves sisters in the
(19:44):
story itself as well becauseit's based on their lives or has
been themes that are in theirlives. That sounds cool. Okay,
what's the next one? All right,we're on to number five. Okay,
super excited about this one. Ithink we're gonna let you LOL
Get on a scoop before itactually hits the mainstream
book clubs. This one is writtenby Nancy Horne. And if that
(20:06):
sounds familiar, it's becauseNancy wrote loving Frank, which
was the Frank Lloyd Wright,fictionalized memoir. And it was
huge when it came out. Andremember the bright yellow cover
and with a gorgeous, I haven'tmet anyone that didn't love that
book that read it. It was sucha surprise because I think it
(20:26):
was so well researched. And Ithink very few of us actually
knew Frank Lloyd Wright's storyand his story read more
dramatically than any novel likeit was just fascinating. So
Nancy Horan had done theresearch so well, and had
created this loving Frank. Now.
(20:50):
So coming out on June 6, is hernew release. And it's the house
of Lincoln. So we are she's gonedeep into the world of Abraham
Lincoln. So the setting is againback in time. And she follows
three families. One is a Blinkenand his family, but most
(21:12):
specifically, it's the voice ofMary Todd Lincoln, his wife. And
there are all sorts of tie insto Mary Todd Lincoln, there are
a number of books that have beenwritten about her. She, at the
time, had what now we would callbipolar. She had three of her
four children died, she had avery dramatic life. And so she
(21:36):
is one of the three voices inthis book. The other is a
Portuguese theory. Let's trythat again. Portuguese immigrant
family. And so it's a Portuguesehouse girl who works in the
Lincoln household. And shenarrates and then the third
person to narrate is a friedblack family from Kentucky. And
(21:59):
the father of the family is aminister and a barber to a blink
him. And he has ties to theUnderground Railroad. So this
whole thing all gets woventogether. And I mean, all you
had to say me was Nancy Horan.
And I would read it because Iwas so impressed by her research
as well as her writing. And sothat's that'll be kind of the
(22:23):
Civil War and its aftermath. Soa literal time travel. So that's
a good one for the summer, too.
I think,Oh, I really want to I want to
read that I am. It wasinteresting. With loving Frank,
I went to Frank Lloyd Wright'shome in Oak Park to visit it and
they don't talk like So FrankLloyd Wright wasn't the greatest
(22:44):
guy, at least personally. Theydon't talk about any of that. We
knowit feels very polished. Like I
was shocked when I read that herbook. And most people were to
find out, you know, sort of allof this, I guess, word I don't
know, maybe sinister comes tomind. But this very dark
background to his life that yes,when I googled it all afterwards
(23:08):
was like, Okay, it's there tosee but certainly not the image
that is portrayed with him ingeneral.
The other book that comes tomind, I was thinking is March by
Geraldine Brooks. I was lookingso that's a really cool book.
It's set. It came out it won thePulitzer Prize in 2006. And it's
(23:29):
it's historical fiction. Well,no, no, that's not I don't know
if you call that what do youcall that? It took little women?
Yes. And then it takes thecharacter. So in Little Women,
the father doesn't appear. Andso this is sort of about what
he's off at war and what'shappening, but in that same time
period, sort of Lincoln Yeah.
(23:49):
And it's funny with theterminology, because I think
that is historical fiction, thathistorical fiction. I think the
other thing that Nancy Horandoes well, is this fictionalized
memoir. So she's telling thestory as if it's actually
happening, the person isnarrating their story. But it's
not really their story. It'sbased on her research. So she's
(24:10):
imagining what the person wouldsay. So I think it's called
fictionalized memoir, but who'sto know?
Or you could also maybe, maybecall it wolf with Mark, it could
be called fanfictionpotentially. I don't know. Yeah,
we're taking a book and thendoing like a.
There's so much of this lately.
I know. So you just read nowI've not read it. So you have to
(24:33):
forgive me, but you just readromantic comedy by Curtis
Sittenfeld?
I did. Yeah.
Excuse me. And so she haswritten books about Hillary
Clinton if I'm right, yeah. Andalso
(24:54):
the what American wife with Oh,Bush, Laura Bush. The
exceptional. I like that betterthan Hillary.
Yeah, well, the Hillary wouldhave felt a bit. I don't know,
maybe too close. But anyway,she's so she takes these modern,
interesting people who haveinteresting stories, and she
creates her own narrative out ofit all. And I think it's quite
(25:18):
interesting. So the one tell usabout romantic comedy there.
What was that? Oh, yeah,it's so good. It's, um, well,
I've read, I think I've read allof her books, which is almost
all of her books. And it just,it takes some, it's about late
night television. So it's a takeoff on SNL. And as you know, on
SNL, particularly Pete Davidson,who's not attractive, just gonna
(25:41):
say, that gets all the hottestwomen in the world. And so she
flips the script on that scripton that, and has a kind of
average looking woman who's awriter on the show, attracts a
famous man. And so without theflipping of the script, and also
very realistic, it seems likelife of what it's like to work
(26:02):
for one of these shows, which iscrazy. Yeah, basically, you
don't sleep. You're, it's,you're up all night. You're,
you're you're under hugepressure. But it also sounds
like a lot of fun, I think.
Yeah, I think it's a youngperson's game. But yeah, I
reallylike what a great glimpse into
(26:22):
that. And I'm going to apologizebecause somebody just started up
their lawnmower. So that's justour summer theme, background
noise for you. Okay, look betterthan my coughing fits.
So is that we just that we areactually, we didn't record this
a few months ago, this isno. Okay, well, I'll move on
then to our last one here. Andthis is one again, I am, I'm
(26:49):
having it recorded here. Thatthis, I believe is going to be a
huge book. And the great thingabout it is that it is written
by Canadian writer. And this iscalled the African samurai. And
it's written by Craig Shrieve,who is Canadian. This is also
following a theme here based onthe true life of a person, this
(27:14):
person's name is yassky. And hewas the first foreign born
samurai in history. So there areactually I think there's a
series I looked it up onNetflix, it's an anime series.
There's also a documentary thatwas done a few years ago about
(27:35):
this person. So he started off,he was born in Africa. And then
he became a slave. And he wastaken in by the Portuguese. And
he's just to make it reallymulticultural. He is charged
with protecting a high rankingItalian priest. So he's a big
(28:00):
guy, and he was picked up as achild and in Africa became a
slave then becomes this guard.
And he's on this ship thatarrives in Japan. And while he's
there protecting this highranking Italian priest, he
somehow gets in mired in thecivil war that's going on in
(28:22):
Japan at the time. And it leadsto an encounter with a warlord
Nobunaga. And they somehowdevelop kind of a trusting and
respectful relationship with oneanother. And he gets brought
into Nova Nagas world andNobunaga is like the big cheese,
he's brought into his world andis granted samurai status. And
(28:49):
it's worth I don't know ifyou've ever read show goon. But
if you go back and read aboutthe samurai culture, this is
astounding that a foreigner andsomeone that's African or
African is brought into thisworld and it feels like it's got
that epic like Pachinko orWashington black kind of or
(29:09):
horse I just read GeraldineBrooks, book horse. And it it
brings this whole feeling oflike this big international
journey and and this incrediblejourney of cultures. So I really
think this will be an excitingone. This is also I'm very
conscious. I often choose allthese books that women might
(29:32):
like, but I have a good friendthat I always want to make sure
I have one or two on the listfor him because it's it's good
to have ones that the men in ourlives like as well.
This sounds sounds reallyinteresting. It sounds like the
author. read a bit about him. Hehe has he's part African
(29:54):
himself. Yes, yeah. And he hassome interesting history and
Canon I forget, but his almostlike famous parents in some way
I can't remember.
But he's he has one other book,it's called one night in
Mississippi, and the little townwhere he lives, I believe was
the end point for theUnderground Railroad. So he's
(30:16):
kind of sounds like has, hedoesn't seem like he's very old
fellow, but he's grown up inthis environment where those
stories were being told aboutthe African experience and the
slavery and that sort of thing.
And he, he was shocked, hedidn't know this story. And as
he came across it, he thought,well, this is a story that needs
to be told. And so there is thatpersonal connection for him.
(30:39):
And, you know, the little bitthat I've read about him, he
seems like a very good writer aswell, which makes for a good
combination.
That's great. Well, that I thinkwe've got a lot of choices for
people to choose from. And thenpeople can tune into your or
subscribe to your blog, or checkout your blog, which I'll put
(31:00):
links in the show notes. And sothey can get 12 More
books, not 12, six, six, a bitmuch. Come up with there's so
many good books, it's it's anexciting time, I feel like and
you know, I've follow a lot ofthese independent bookstores.
(31:21):
And there's certainly a goodfeeling emerging of people that
are opening new bookstores andengaging and reading and it
seems like we've kind of comeback where people are tossing
out their e readers and comingback to real books. And there's
great marketing being done withwriters and their books. And I
mean, you and I can sit here andchat. But gosh, there's so much
(31:42):
information that we're able toaccess to have these
conversations. And it's soanyway, it makes me feel
optimistic about reading ingeneral. But there's nothing
better either than a nice long,hot summer coming and great big
books to read. And few littleones to get in there as our
palate cleansers and, and lotsof different directions to like,
if you look at this list, youknow, we're all over the map,
(32:05):
literally, in different places,and from Colorado to Japan. And
it's a great way to travel ifwe're not out traveling
ourselves.
Well, thanks so much, Susan.
That was a lot of fun as always,and enjoy it, too. Okay, I'll
talk to you soon.
Perfect. Take care. Happyreading.
(32:26):
Thanks so much to Susan Mathesonfor coming back on the podcast.
And I'm super excited about allthe choices that she has
presented. And I think I'm goingto start with all the beauty of
the world by Patrick Bingleyabout them that I just think
that sounds really interestingto me. And then I'm probably
(32:49):
going to check out the Africansamurai i think that sounds
really cool. So thanks so muchfor listening and have a great
summer. And please follow me onInstagram at Red Fern book
review and send me yoursuggestions. You can message me
(33:09):
or send me a voicemail aboutwhat you'd like to like to see
in the fall. I'm going to starta whole new lineup in the fall
and talk to different authors totalk to Jeff and I'm only lineup
so I will thank you so much forlistening and I will talk to you
later. Have a great summer
Hi, icwsm Hello, welcome back to the Red
Fern book review. I am yourhost, Amy Mair. And today I am
joined by one of my favoritepeople to have on the podcast,
(00:32):
Susan Matheson. And there's acouple things that are really
great about having Susan on. AndI usually have her on at the end
of the season, which is, this isthe very last episode that I'm
doing until the fall, becauseit's a nice thing for people to
check back in over the summer.
Because she always does a roundup with me about in this time,
(00:54):
we're gonna do roundup for whatto read over the summer. And
also, I really don't have to doany work on this podcast. So
this is really lovely. I just, Iknow what she's going to talk
about, but I don't I know thebooks we're going to cover. But
other than that, we're just I'mwinging it. I'm sure she's done
some prep, but it's a nicelittle kind of break for me.
(01:14):
Thank you, Susan, for being sogood at what you do,
I wouldn't count yourself out, Icame to you with a list of about
35 books that I'd edited to 12.
And you managed to get it downto seven. And now we've settled
on six. So there's some workinvolved. Okay,
okay. That we have so much tosay, I think she just dive right
in. And what we're going to dois, Susan, if you're a regular
(01:39):
listener, she will pick sixbooks, we pick six books, and
then she has her own. She has areally great blog on books
called bedside table books. Andwhen this drops, and this is
coming out on May 26, she's alsogoing to drop her own blog, so
of corresponding blog withanother six books. And also the
(02:01):
other thing to note, I would sayyou don't usually pick the hot,
hottest books, because that'seasy for anyone to find. I think
you've done a little moredigging. And kind of maybe those
books that are not the everyone,the first thing people would
think of, and kind of, I guess,give them a little bit of a
(02:23):
support or recognition.
Yeah, so I always love to knowmore about the author's before I
read a book. And there'scertainly lots of mainstream
books that are absolutelywonderful. And I was, I do find
the delight in digging aroundand finding something it might
seem a little obscure, butbrings great joy I love I love
(02:44):
supporting the writers, but alsofinding a book that's kind of
not out there that everybodyelse is reading. However, having
said that, I was so excited tocome to you with this book that
I've had bookmarked for sometime. And it was the cutting for
stone author Abraham Berkey seasbook, the covenant of water, and
(03:05):
the day that you and I spoke toset this up, Oprah, Oprah sized
it up. So I have removed thatfrom the list. However, it's
actually holding my computer upright now it's we're on Zoom,
because it's so big. But I amvery much looking forward to
getting into that one. Because Ithink a number of us really
enjoyed cutting for stone. Sothat's a bonus book, but we
(03:28):
aren't going to go forth withoutany Oprah picks as far as I
know, or any other ones andchoose our own. So our first one
that I it is getting sometraction, but I was quite
excited about this one. And it'scalled go as a river. And it's
written by Shelley Reed. And ifyou know me, you know my taste
(03:51):
in books. I love a book that hasa setting that you feel immersed
in. And this one is set inColorado and the writer Shelley
is a fifth generation ColoradanI guess you call them a person
from Colorado. So she's livedthere all this time. And this
(04:11):
story is actually set on a truestory of a little tiny town that
in the 1960s was destroyed. Andyou know, in our own news, I
love when there's this sort of acurrent contemporary tie in.
When we think of cache Creek andMerritt, our own little interior
towns, they've had their owndevastation. So this starts in
(04:35):
that sort of a setting. LittleTown. Really going through tough
times, beautifully set. All thereviews say the scenery is
breathtaking. It's gorgeouslydescribed, and so you really
feel like you're there. But thebig part of this is the
character. She's one of thesevery resilient and memorable
(04:58):
young women that faces sometough times and, and carries
forth and so go as a river isindicating that she flows
through some tough times andmoves along. So the reviews I've
seen make this historicalfiction with a contemporary feel
about it only because theselittle towns are still going
(05:20):
through these big challengesnow, but I know we all share a
delight in a really strong womancharacter, or man, but in this
case of women, who we can reallyget engaged with. So this one
while it's a quiet book has abeautiful cover in every
iteration, whether it's the USor the UK, or Canada, and we've
talked about that before I trulyconfess to being smitten by a
(05:44):
good cover. Anyway, this one,every little independent
bookstore I've been in, in thelast little while is singing the
praises of this one. So let'sget a board. I think it's going
to be a good one.
And I, I read comparisons towhere the crawdads sings, and I
think they're definitely tryingto tap into that with the cover
looks a little similar. And Iguess the whole idea of the
(06:06):
natural world.
Yes. And I think there is thetie in there, as well as that
the main character is young,like the character and where the
crawdads she's, she's not. She'smore, I don't know if she's teen
or if she's young 20s. But she'scertainly in the same timeframe,
Aries frame, and she also setsoff into the wilderness on her
(06:27):
own and faces challenges,natural challenges there as
well. Okay, what's the nextbook? Well, I can't have a list
without one of these juicymysteries. Now, I don't get into
them quite as often. And yet,every time I do, I'm absolutely
delighted. So I'm not sure why Idon't. But this one looks like
one it's definitely worthjumping into, especially in this
(06:50):
summer. And it combines a numberof again, really current
interests. So it's called thegolden spoon by Jessa Maxwell,
and she's a debut author. Andwhat it does is, well, I loved
the fact that it was describedas a brilliant puzzle. And it's
a mystery, but it's set withthis kind of crazy host of a
(07:14):
baking show. And she hosts thebaking show, like we're all used
to watching the great British orgreat Canadian Bake Off is so
similar to that. And she hostedin her family childhood home,
which is an impressive estate, Ithink it was in Vermont. And so
the setting again, is really itsown character. And then while
(07:34):
all of this is going on, she'shaving this show. There are all
these eccentric characters whoas we often see on these shows,
I think that's probably part ofit is all these eccentric
characters get together and sheeven though she's sort of
presented as you know,grandmother, America, the Miss,
you know, sweet baking queen,she has a bit of a dark side. So
(07:56):
there's a mystery. There's amurderer, I gather, there's
something big that goes down.
And there's all sorts ofcompetitive high jinks and what
a great idea. I just think it'sterrific, and light and fun,
something we can all envision,but very twisty and turny.
From what I gather. So soundslike a cozy mystery.
(08:16):
Yes, there you go. Yes. I thinkthe first time I heard about
cozy mysteries was on yourpodcast.
And I wonder if there's a cat soI had someone on talk about
what's in a cozy mystery. Andapparently some people say there
always has to be cat and oh,well, we'll have to keep an eye
out for the cat then because itsounds like it's got the big old
house that could warrant havinga cat aboard.
(08:39):
Okay, what's the next one?
Okay, I think both you and I aresuper excited about this one.
And then I actually gave a copyto my mom for Mother's Day. It's
out now and it's called all thebeauty in the world. And it's by
Patrick Brinkley. Now it'sanother debut. And this one is a
nonfiction or it's memoir, hisstory of the Met Museum in New
(09:04):
York City. And many of us havebeen lucky enough to go through
the hallways of the Met. We cando it again with Patrick because
he was a writer for The NewYorker. So that establishes his
street cred there for thewriting element. But he had kind
of a tough time and olderbrother was diagnosed with
(09:24):
terminal cancer. And he neededto sort of step out of his
writing life and go do somethingcompletely different. And he
always loved the map museum. Sohe ended up getting a job there
as a guard. And he worked for 10years in the Met museum. And
it's over 2 million square feet.
And through this book, you getto see every corner of the
(09:47):
museum. You get to meet all ofthe wonderful people he worked
with, and sort of see the innerworkings of a big museum and the
big museum. It's It's anincredible and lively glimpse
into all the behind the scenesgoings on. So I think it's I'm
just so excited about this one.
(10:10):
It's not a huge book, but it's,I think, quite well annotated.
Like every, you know, there arereferences and, and in the back,
there's a whole kind ofconnection to all the pieces
mentioned. So he talks about theart. But I think the heart of
the book is in the community ofthis little subculture of
workers who are in the in themuseum behind the scenes that
(10:31):
make it all come to life for allof us, when we pop into, check
it out for a couple of hours.
I really would love to read thisbook. I just think it sounds so
fun, so much fun. Andinteresting, too, because I
haven't you often looked at agarden, someone like that and
thought, what are they thinkingabout? Like,
we know what's really funny insome of these things. So there's
(10:53):
two things remind me two thingsto talk about here. One is that
it was probably a month ago, ormaybe a little bit longer,
because I've known about thisbook for over a month. But a
little while ago, I came acrossan article in the Smithsonian,
which is a great magazine toread, I read it online, and it
was how they have an event. Sothese museums have an event
(11:16):
where the guards get to put ontheir own artwork, they bring
their own art, and they show itand they have their own little
art show. And I read thisarticle, I thought how fantastic
that's like flipping the scriptand, and you know, I'm sure all
these guards, they're exposed tothis incredible art in the
world, I'm sure they'reinspired, many of them are
probably there because they loveart. And I thought that was such
(11:37):
a great, it just sort of, youknow, those things that kind of
stick in your brain. And then Icame across this biography or
memoir, and I thought, oh,that's an interesting kind of
connection there. And then theother one, and I think you
blogged about this not long ago,was the behind the scenes of the
waiter? And was he in France orin New York? Oh, that's
(11:57):
a good book. I just finishedthat. Yeah. It was in New York.
Okay, your table is ready,right. And there's one that's
also set in France, same sort ofsituations in American going to
France and works as a waiterbehind the scenes in France. So
these ones, you know, there'sall that kind of behind the
scenes, you know, the curtaingets moved, and we get that
(12:17):
glimpse into these other worlds.
And that's what reading is allabout. It's so much fun. But
when you can do it with anexpert like that, in memoir,
it's super exciting.
There's another book that when Iwas reading about this book that
came out a few years ago, that'ssupposed to be good, called
metropolitan stories by anauthor Christine Colson, who I
(12:40):
believe also worked for the Metsfor 25 years in different
capacities. And I think whatshe's doing is she picks her
favorite objects. And it's asmall book, right? Not
necessarily the most famousobjects, but the ones that she
liked. And then I have to Ialso, I know this probably was
(13:00):
one of your favorite books.
Growing up was the Mixed UpFiles of Mrs. Basil. What's her
name? Basil?
I don't know. Oh, do you knowabout this? Okay, I'm writing
a kid's book. And what happenedwas, they got trapped in the mat
overnight. Okay. And so thenthey basically kind of party in
(13:24):
the mat. Like, they're, youknow, they're like, 10 years
old. And they're like, jumpingup and down. With kids. Down,
yeah, jumping and fountainsjumping on the bed and all that
it's really cute book. But itwas kind of a love letter to the
mat as well. Isn't that great?
Mixed Up Files of Mrs. I'll lookit up while we're talking. But
(13:45):
yeah, we'llhave to link there's another one
I'm thinking of, because when mykids were little we were living
in London. And of course we goto the American Museum of
History, not we wouldn'tactually go to the American one
would we, we would go to theMuseum of Natural History in
London. And there's a wonderfulbook to a little girl who goes
and visits the museum and haveto remember what that one is and
(14:09):
share it with you. But anyway,it's obviously inspiration
that's been followed before, butI think this one all the beauty
in the world is going to be aparticularly good one.
So this is called from the MixedUp Files of Mrs. Basil E Franken
Weiler, and it won like a cow,the cod or one of the big Oh,
(14:29):
wonderful. That's old. Yeah,yeah. Anyway, but okay. All
right. Well, I think we bothhave to read that and chat.
Well, andyou know, you bring up another
kind of cool thing. It's I didhave a few children's books I
was going to add and then Ithought, You know what, they're
kind of worth their own blogpost unto themselves or so many
fantastic children's bookscoming out. And gosh, they're so
creative and colorful and andthey explore all sorts of really
(14:54):
interesting topics now. Soanyway, that's it
That's a little aside. Okay,well, let's next one,
okay, this one's called darling,by India night. Now. This is I
first came across India nightwhen I was living in London. She
was a columnist in the Britishnewspapers. And she's a
(15:17):
lifestyle writer, she was sortof got her kickoff in the air
around the same time as BridgetJones's Diary. So, she was known
for whatever books was called MyLife on a plate. And she was
always is always she continuesto write now, sort of no
nonsense, but obviouslyhilarious, very honest,
(15:38):
commentary. So she's sort of thekickoff of all of that type of
thing. This book, she's hernovel, she's written tons in
them, but they're sort of theywere the original chick lit like
Bridget Jones. And not alwayswell reviewed. She's had some
kind of stingers sent her way.
But this one is getting greatreviews. And what she's done is
she's taken the story of thepursuit of love, which is
(16:01):
written by Nancy Mitford. Andthe Mitford sisters were all
kind of the, you know, hoitytoity ease of England. And they
put they, they were writers, butthey all lived this very, you
know, special life, it sort ofgives you the feeling of The
Great Gatsby kind of vibe.
(16:22):
Anyway, she, Indian Knight haswritten this book called
darling. And it is based on thepursuit of love, which was
published in 1945. And was very,very popular at the time. And it
features again, this strong maincharacter, she's kind of She's
very beautiful. She's young,she's high strung, she's
(16:45):
flighty. She's, as I said, kindof wealthy, reminds you of The
Great Gatsby set. And there'sactually a movie, the pursuit of
love. It's on I think it's onPrime starring Lily James. And
it's, you know, the gorgeouscostumes and everything else.
Now, Indian Knight has takenthat story. And she's brought in
(17:07):
cell phones and Instagram and,you know, all sorts of, you
know, trips on the Eurostar andreally modernized it in the same
setting, but in a modern day. Soshe has the same strong
character. And this character isjust always in search of love
and gets herself into all sortsof quandaries. And so it's quite
(17:29):
a neat glimpse into this otherworld, certainly for mine. And
it is, it has a playful element,but a little bit darkly comic
too. So that's, and then, youknow, talking about all our book
club friends, this is one whereyou could actually read the two
books, I don't think they'redying. You could tie the two in
(17:49):
and bit of a challenge, but itcould be kind of fun to, to read
the one that was from 1945. Andthen see what India night has
done with it. Now.
I did that for a book club yearsago. And what we did we did the
hours, and then we did yeah,this is Dalloway, which is what
it's based on. And what we didwas we said, Read whichever one
(18:14):
you want. And for Keeners, orpeople that just love reading
all read both of them. That waskind of cool. And then everyone
just sort of shared. But thatwas that same idea like that
idea. Have you heard of theMitford affair? Here's a copy of
it. Oh, yes,I have heard well, Marie
Benedict, she's such a greatwriter. And she's so good at
tying in these prominent storiesof people that are basing
(18:38):
stories on these prominentpeople. It's, she does it very
well.
Yeah. So I just read that. Andit's about the Mitford sisters
and one of the sisters had anaffair with Hitler. Oh,
charming. Crazy. So thenovelist, so there's six of
them. And to have an what'sinteresting about that family,
(18:59):
it was they were fascists andcommunists on opposite sides of
spectrum. But they were it wasweird. They were very wealthy.
But it was that time where theyhad this interest in, you know,
I guess a different type ofpolitics. And so two of those
sisters go over to Germany. Andthe novelist Nancy is the only
(19:21):
one who can kind of reach themkind of going back and forth.
Trying to bring them home. Andanyway, so she plays this role.
And so that's, that'll beinteresting to see. Oh,
well, you're well set then tolaunch into this book, because
it's, um, it's very much. Ithink it involves sisters in the
(19:44):
story itself as well becauseit's based on their lives or has
been themes that are in theirlives. That sounds cool. Okay,
what's the next one? All right,we're on to number five. Okay,
super excited about this one. Ithink we're gonna let you LOL
Get on a scoop before itactually hits the mainstream
book clubs. This one is writtenby Nancy Horne. And if that
(20:06):
sounds familiar, it's becauseNancy wrote loving Frank, which
was the Frank Lloyd Wright,fictionalized memoir. And it was
huge when it came out. Andremember the bright yellow cover
and with a gorgeous, I haven'tmet anyone that didn't love that
book that read it. It was sucha surprise because I think it
(20:26):
was so well researched. And Ithink very few of us actually
knew Frank Lloyd Wright's storyand his story read more
dramatically than any novel likeit was just fascinating. So
Nancy Horan had done theresearch so well, and had
created this loving Frank. Now.
(20:50):
So coming out on June 6, is hernew release. And it's the house
of Lincoln. So we are she's gonedeep into the world of Abraham
Lincoln. So the setting is againback in time. And she follows
three families. One is a Blinkenand his family, but most
(21:12):
specifically, it's the voice ofMary Todd Lincoln, his wife. And
there are all sorts of tie insto Mary Todd Lincoln, there are
a number of books that have beenwritten about her. She, at the
time, had what now we would callbipolar. She had three of her
four children died, she had avery dramatic life. And so she
(21:36):
is one of the three voices inthis book. The other is a
Portuguese theory. Let's trythat again. Portuguese immigrant
family. And so it's a Portuguesehouse girl who works in the
Lincoln household. And shenarrates and then the third
person to narrate is a friedblack family from Kentucky. And
(21:59):
the father of the family is aminister and a barber to a blink
him. And he has ties to theUnderground Railroad. So this
whole thing all gets woventogether. And I mean, all you
had to say me was Nancy Horan.
And I would read it because Iwas so impressed by her research
as well as her writing. And sothat's that'll be kind of the
(22:23):
Civil War and its aftermath. Soa literal time travel. So that's
a good one for the summer, too.
I think,Oh, I really want to I want to
read that I am. It wasinteresting. With loving Frank,
I went to Frank Lloyd Wright'shome in Oak Park to visit it and
they don't talk like So FrankLloyd Wright wasn't the greatest
(22:44):
guy, at least personally. Theydon't talk about any of that. We
knowit feels very polished. Like I
was shocked when I read that herbook. And most people were to
find out, you know, sort of allof this, I guess, word I don't
know, maybe sinister comes tomind. But this very dark
background to his life that yes,when I googled it all afterwards
(23:08):
was like, Okay, it's there tosee but certainly not the image
that is portrayed with him ingeneral.
The other book that comes tomind, I was thinking is March by
Geraldine Brooks. I was lookingso that's a really cool book.
It's set. It came out it won thePulitzer Prize in 2006. And it's
(23:29):
it's historical fiction. Well,no, no, that's not I don't know
if you call that what do youcall that? It took little women?
Yes. And then it takes thecharacter. So in Little Women,
the father doesn't appear. Andso this is sort of about what
he's off at war and what'shappening, but in that same time
period, sort of Lincoln Yeah.
(23:49):
And it's funny with theterminology, because I think
that is historical fiction, thathistorical fiction. I think the
other thing that Nancy Horandoes well, is this fictionalized
memoir. So she's telling thestory as if it's actually
happening, the person isnarrating their story. But it's
not really their story. It'sbased on her research. So she's
(24:10):
imagining what the person wouldsay. So I think it's called
fictionalized memoir, but who'sto know?
Or you could also maybe, maybecall it wolf with Mark, it could
be called fanfictionpotentially. I don't know. Yeah,
we're taking a book and thendoing like a.
There's so much of this lately.
I know. So you just read nowI've not read it. So you have to
(24:33):
forgive me, but you just readromantic comedy by Curtis
Sittenfeld?
I did. Yeah.
Excuse me. And so she haswritten books about Hillary
Clinton if I'm right, yeah. Andalso
(24:54):
the what American wife with Oh,Bush, Laura Bush. The
exceptional. I like that betterthan Hillary.
Yeah, well, the Hillary wouldhave felt a bit. I don't know,
maybe too close. But anyway,she's so she takes these modern,
interesting people who haveinteresting stories, and she
creates her own narrative out ofit all. And I think it's quite
(25:18):
interesting. So the one tell usabout romantic comedy there.
What was that? Oh, yeah,it's so good. It's, um, well,
I've read, I think I've read allof her books, which is almost
all of her books. And it just,it takes some, it's about late
night television. So it's a takeoff on SNL. And as you know, on
SNL, particularly Pete Davidson,who's not attractive, just gonna
(25:41):
say, that gets all the hottestwomen in the world. And so she
flips the script on that scripton that, and has a kind of
average looking woman who's awriter on the show, attracts a
famous man. And so without theflipping of the script, and also
very realistic, it seems likelife of what it's like to work
(26:02):
for one of these shows, which iscrazy. Yeah, basically, you
don't sleep. You're, it's,you're up all night. You're,
you're you're under hugepressure. But it also sounds
like a lot of fun, I think.
Yeah, I think it's a youngperson's game. But yeah, I
reallylike what a great glimpse into
(26:22):
that. And I'm going to apologizebecause somebody just started up
their lawnmower. So that's justour summer theme, background
noise for you. Okay, look betterthan my coughing fits.
So is that we just that we areactually, we didn't record this
a few months ago, this isno. Okay, well, I'll move on
then to our last one here. Andthis is one again, I am, I'm
(26:49):
having it recorded here. Thatthis, I believe is going to be a
huge book. And the great thingabout it is that it is written
by Canadian writer. And this iscalled the African samurai. And
it's written by Craig Shrieve,who is Canadian. This is also
following a theme here based onthe true life of a person, this
(27:14):
person's name is yassky. And hewas the first foreign born
samurai in history. So there areactually I think there's a
series I looked it up onNetflix, it's an anime series.
There's also a documentary thatwas done a few years ago about
(27:35):
this person. So he started off,he was born in Africa. And then
he became a slave. And he wastaken in by the Portuguese. And
he's just to make it reallymulticultural. He is charged
with protecting a high rankingItalian priest. So he's a big
(28:00):
guy, and he was picked up as achild and in Africa became a
slave then becomes this guard.
And he's on this ship thatarrives in Japan. And while he's
there protecting this highranking Italian priest, he
somehow gets in mired in thecivil war that's going on in
(28:22):
Japan at the time. And it leadsto an encounter with a warlord
Nobunaga. And they somehowdevelop kind of a trusting and
respectful relationship with oneanother. And he gets brought
into Nova Nagas world andNobunaga is like the big cheese,
he's brought into his world andis granted samurai status. And
(28:49):
it's worth I don't know ifyou've ever read show goon. But
if you go back and read aboutthe samurai culture, this is
astounding that a foreigner andsomeone that's African or
African is brought into thisworld and it feels like it's got
that epic like Pachinko orWashington black kind of or
(29:09):
horse I just read GeraldineBrooks, book horse. And it it
brings this whole feeling oflike this big international
journey and and this incrediblejourney of cultures. So I really
think this will be an excitingone. This is also I'm very
conscious. I often choose allthese books that women might
(29:32):
like, but I have a good friendthat I always want to make sure
I have one or two on the listfor him because it's it's good
to have ones that the men in ourlives like as well.
This sounds sounds reallyinteresting. It sounds like the
author. read a bit about him. Hehe has he's part African
(29:54):
himself. Yes, yeah. And he hassome interesting history and
Canon I forget, but his almostlike famous parents in some way
I can't remember.
But he's he has one other book,it's called one night in
Mississippi, and the little townwhere he lives, I believe was
the end point for theUnderground Railroad. So he's
(30:16):
kind of sounds like has, hedoesn't seem like he's very old
fellow, but he's grown up inthis environment where those
stories were being told aboutthe African experience and the
slavery and that sort of thing.
And he, he was shocked, hedidn't know this story. And as
he came across it, he thought,well, this is a story that needs
to be told. And so there is thatpersonal connection for him.
(30:39):
And, you know, the little bitthat I've read about him, he
seems like a very good writer aswell, which makes for a good
combination.
That's great. Well, that I thinkwe've got a lot of choices for
people to choose from. And thenpeople can tune into your or
subscribe to your blog, or checkout your blog, which I'll put
(31:00):
links in the show notes. And sothey can get 12 More
books, not 12, six, six, a bitmuch. Come up with there's so
many good books, it's it's anexciting time, I feel like and
you know, I've follow a lot ofthese independent bookstores.
(31:21):
And there's certainly a goodfeeling emerging of people that
are opening new bookstores andengaging and reading and it
seems like we've kind of comeback where people are tossing
out their e readers and comingback to real books. And there's
great marketing being done withwriters and their books. And I
mean, you and I can sit here andchat. But gosh, there's so much
(31:42):
information that we're able toaccess to have these
conversations. And it's soanyway, it makes me feel
optimistic about reading ingeneral. But there's nothing
better either than a nice long,hot summer coming and great big
books to read. And few littleones to get in there as our
palate cleansers and, and lotsof different directions to like,
if you look at this list, youknow, we're all over the map,
(32:05):
literally, in different places,and from Colorado to Japan. And
it's a great way to travel ifwe're not out traveling
ourselves.
Well, thanks so much, Susan.
That was a lot of fun as always,and enjoy it, too. Okay, I'll
talk to you soon.
Perfect. Take care. Happyreading.
(32:26):
Thanks so much to Susan Mathesonfor coming back on the podcast.
And I'm super excited about allthe choices that she has
presented. And I think I'm goingto start with all the beauty of
the world by Patrick Bingleyabout them that I just think
that sounds really interestingto me. And then I'm probably
(32:49):
going to check out the Africansamurai i think that sounds
really cool. So thanks so muchfor listening and have a great
summer. And please follow me onInstagram at Red Fern book
review and send me yoursuggestions. You can message me
(33:09):
or send me a voicemail aboutwhat you'd like to like to see
in the fall. I'm going to starta whole new lineup in the fall
and talk to different authors totalk to Jeff and I'm only lineup
so I will thank you so much forlistening and I will talk to you
later. Have a great summer
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