Books with Betsy

Episode 80 - Reading as a Mom with Julie P

On this episode, Julie P., a mom who is finding her reading life to look differently than it has in the past, talks about how audiobooks have been a huge part of her reading life, the ways she brings reading to life with her kiddos, and how important and amazing children’s books are. Julie also gives a lot of great children’s book recommendations for many difficult topics.
 
Books mentioned in this episode: 
 
What Betsy’s reading: 
What Kind of Paradise by Janelle Brown
The Director by Daniel Kehlmann
 
Books Highlighted by Julie:
Weetzie Bat by Francesca Lia Block
Never Lie by Frieda McFadden 
Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds
Night by Elie Wiesel
The Invisible String by Patrice Karst
Dog Heaven by Cynthia Rylant
Bodies are Cool by Tyler Feder
I Said No by Kimberly King
Wasteland by Francesca Lia Block 
No Drama Discipline by Daniel J. Siegel & Tina Payne Bryson
Tiny Humans, Big Emotions by Alyssa Blask Campbell & Lauren Elizabeth Stauble 
 
All books available on my Bookshop.org episode page.  
Other books mentioned in this episode:
Uglies by Scott Westerfeld 
Delirium by Lauren Oliver 
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins 
Divergent by Veronica Roth 
The Not-So-Friendly Friend by Christina Furnival 
Into the Game! Minecraft Woodsword Chronicles #1 by Nick Eliopulos 
Who Would Win? By Jerry Pallotta 
The Housemaid by Freida McFadden 
Necklace of Kisses by Francesca Lia Block 
The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix 
Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough 
Ghost by Jason Reynolds 
The Invisible Leash by Patrice Karst 
The Invisible String Backpack by Patrice Karst 
The Invisible Web by Patrice Karst 
The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein 
The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister 
Go Ask Alice by Beatrice Sparks 
It Happened to Nancy by Beatrice Sparks
A Hug From Above by Pamela Quinn 
On the Night You Were Born by Nancy Tillman

Episode 79 - Ways to Escape and Ways to Learn with Jen Price

On this episode, Jen Price, of Travel Books and Movies, discusses her life that involves a great deal of travel, how she incorporates reading into travelling, and her book club that has a brilliant idea about how to choose books. We also get into some of the shared perils of being feral readers. 
 
Travel Books and Movies Blog
Jen on Instagram
Travel Books and Movies Facebook Group
Reading Retreat Guide/Newsletter
Bon Voyage Book Box 
 
Books mentioned in this episode: 
 
What Betsy’s reading: 
Katabasis by R.F. Kuang 
Pan by Michael Clune
 
Books Highlighted by Jen:
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg 
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides 
Travels of Terror by Kelly Florence and Meg Hafdahl 
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini 
The Seven Sisters by Lucinda Riley
 
All books available on my Bookshop.org episode page.  
Other books mentioned in this episode:
Kristy’s Great Idea by Ann M. Martin
The Secret of Secrets by Dan Brown 
The View from Saturday by E.L. Konigsburg 
The Girl from Donegal by Carmel Harrington 
A Journey to the New World (Dear America) by Kathryn Lasky 
The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown 
What I Was Doing While You Were Breeding by Kristin Newman

Episode 78 - Absolute Freaks with Taylor Thornburg

On this episode, Taylor Thornburg, multi-media creator and fan talks about how to plug in to the local literary scene, his connection to physical media, and how he loves authors that are just entirely out of the box. We also talk about a lot of the great benefits of the Chicago reading life. 
 
Agathe, 6:00 p.m. to 7:27
 
Books mentioned in this episode: 
 
What Betsy’s reading: 
Katabasis by R.F. Kuang 
Flashlight by Susan Choi 
 
Books Highlighted by Taylor:
Ubik by Philip K. Dick 
In Praise of the Stepmother by Mario Vargas Llosa 
White Cat, Black Dog by Kelly Link
Lapovona by Ottessa Moshfegh
My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante 
Gravity’s Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon
Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov
 
All books available on my Bookshop.org episode page.  
Other books mentioned in this episode:
Herscht 07769 by Lázló Krasznahorkai
Schattenfroh by Michael Lentz 
The Instructions by Adam Levin
The Möbius Book by Catherine Lacey 
Bluets by Maggie Nelson 
The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis 
The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien 
Frindle by Andrew Clements 
Severance by Ling Ma 
Bliss Montage by Ling Ma 
Shadow Ticket by Thomas Pynchon 
All Fours by Miranda July 
My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh 
Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh 
Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace 
Chain Gang All Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah 
North Woods by Daniel Mason

Episode 77 - Book Club - Little Eyes

On this episode, Lorna Sherry and Cara Sandlass join me to discuss the most recent Off Color Book Club book, Little Eyes by Samanta Schweblin. 
 
My Book Club Guide
If you’re interested in joining the Off Color Book Club in November, we will be meeting on Tuesday, November 18th to discuss Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar. All are welcome!

Episode 76 - TMSH with Tina of TBR, etc.

On this episode, Tina of TBR, etc., talks about how being an active book person in multiple internet formats affects her reading life, her favorite genre acronym, and we go deep into the world of reading trackers. We also talk about her viral moment this past summer when she broke an AI-related book story. 
 
Books to Read if You Liked Unknown Caller
Books With Covers We Hate and Why We Read Them Anyway
 
Tina TBR, etc Instagram
TikTok
Tina Books | TBR, etc. - YouTube
Book Talk, etc.
Books mentioned in this episode: 
 
What Betsy’s reading: 
It’s Not the End of the World by Jonathan Parks-Ramage 
Hot Air by Marcy Dermansky
Little Eyes by Samanta Schweblin
 
Books Highlighted by Tina:
Look Closer by David Ellis 
Hush Little Baby by R.H. Herron
Next of Kin by Kia Abdullah
One Yellow Eye by Leigh Radford
Red Clay by Charles B. Fancher
Dominion by Addie E. Citchens 
Saving Noah by Lucinda Berry 
Nobody Knows You’re Here by Bryn Greenwood 
When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi 
 
All books available on my Bookshop.org episode page.  
Other books mentioned in this episode:
The House Across the Lake by Riley Sager 
We Used to Live Here by Marcus Kliewer 
Nestlings by Nat Cassidy 
Mary by Nat Cassidy 
King of Ashes by S.A. Cosby 
Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby 
All the Sinners Bleed by S.A. Cosby 
The Nix by Nathan Hill 
When the Wolf Comes Home by Nat Cassidy 
Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy 
Play Nice by Rachel Harrison 
Baby Teeth by Zoje Stage 
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig 
The Humans by Matt Haig 
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab
Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab 
All the Ugly and Wonderful Things by Bryn Greenwood

Episode 75 - Alchemize it Into Art with Rebecca Tucker

On this episode, Rebecca Tucker, who is working on writing her own fantasy novel, talks about how reading was incentivized for her at an early age but had ups and downs in her reading later in life. We also talk about some great fantasy novels and I make a claim about a book I believe will be considered one of the great memoirs. 
 
Books mentioned in this episode: 
 
What Betsy’s reading: 
The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones
It’s Not the End of the World by Jonathan Parks-Ramage 
 
Books Highlighted by Rebecca:
When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill 
The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon 
The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones 
Modernist Woman Poets 
Eurydice by Sara Ruhl
Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan
The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk
I’m Glad my Mom Died by Jenette McCurdy
The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang
Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Melinda Lo
The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
 
All books available on my Bookshop.org episode page.  
Other books mentioned in this episode:
Red Rising by Pierce Brown
Katabasis by R.F. Kuang
The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien

Episode 74 - Make Me Hallucinate with Eirien

On this episode, Eirien, author of The Riven War, discusses her love of fantasy, including a classic series that I really believe is underrated. She also talks about her first moment understanding the power of a book, how she looks for books that speak to her more than popularity, and how being a slower reader can actually be a benefit. 
 
Get The Riven War here!
 
Books mentioned in this episode: 
 
What Betsy’s reading: 
The Secret History by Donna Tartt 
The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones
 
Books Highlighted by Eirien:
Black Beauty by Anna Sewell 
The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg
The Witcher Blood of Elves by Andzrej Sapowski
Dune by Frank Herbert 
The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
The Picture of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde 
 
All books available on my Bookshop.org episode page.  
Other books mentioned in this episode:
Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis 
The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon 
The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien 
Marley & Me by John Grogan 
Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas 
Frankenstein by Mary Shelly

Episode 73 - Reading Writers on Writing with Marla Taviano

On this episode, Marla Taviano, writer and poet, who has a very fun project she’s attempting to complete before her 50th birthday talks about her love for annotating books, why she loves to read writers on writing, and her bookstagram project that greatly influenced her reading life. 
 
Please Cut Up My Poems
Liberation is Lit
 
Books mentioned in this episode: 
 
What Betsy’s reading: 
The Secret History by Donna Tartt 
Make Your Way Home by Carrie R. Moore 
 
Books Highlighted by Marla:
You Could Make This Place Beautiful by Maggie Smith 
A Handful of Earth, A Handful of Sky: The World of Octavia Butler by Lynell George
The Autobiography of Malcolm X as told to Alex Haley 
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander 
The Book of Alchemy: A Creative Practice for an Inspired Life by Suleika Jaouad
Undrowned: Black Feminist Lessons from Marine Mammals by Alexis Pauline Gumbs 
Traveling with Pomegranates: A Mother Daughter Journey to the Sacred Places of Greece, Turkey, and France by Sue Monk Kidd and Ann Kidd Taylor 
Books & Islands in Ojibwe Country: Traveling Through the Lands of My Ancestors by Louise Erdrich 
Old in Art School: A Memoir of Starting Over by Nell Painter
Faith Unraveled: How a Girl Who Knew All the Answers Learned to Ask Questions by Rachel Held Evans 
Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived by Rob Bell 
 
All books available on my Bookshop.org episode page.  
Other books mentioned in this episode:
The Backyard Bird Chronicles by Amy Tan 
Novelist as Vocation by Haruki Murakami 
Conversations with Toni Morrison by Toni Morrison & Danille K Taylor-Guthrie 
Absolutely on Music by Haruki Murakami & Seji Ozawa 
What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami 
Toni at Random by Dana A. Williams 
Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson 
Back in Blues by Imani Perry 
South to America by Imani Perry 
Looking for Lorraine by Imani Perry 
Full of Myself by Austin Channing Brown 
Frog and Toad are Friends by Arnold Lobel 
unbelieve by Marla Taviano 
jaded by Marla Taviano 
whole by Marla Taviano 
What makes you Fart? by Marla Taviano 
Between Two Kingdoms by Suleika Jaouad 
The Dance of the Dissident Daughter by Sue Monk Kidd 

Episode 72 - Book Club - North Woods

On this episode, Laura Ustick and Emily Bogaert  join me to discuss the most recent Off Color Book Club book, North Woods by Danel Mason. 
 
My Book Club Guide
 
If you’re interested in joining the Off Color Book Club in October, we will be meeting on Tuesday, October 21st to discuss Little Eyes by Samanta Schweblin. All are welcome! 

Episode 71 - Something Completely Terrible with Liv Hoselton

On this episode, Liv Hoselton, an indie bookseller in Chicago, talks about their impulse to dive deep into the horrors of the world to better understand them, how their teachers and librarians were so impactful for their reading life, and one of our shared favorites that kids just aren’t interested in (much to our chagrin). I anticipate you’ll also be surprised at how engrossing Liv’s description of the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald is and it might make you want to read that book. 
 
Books mentioned in this episode: 
 
What Betsy’s reading: 
North Woods by Daniel Mason
Uzumaki by Junji Ito 
Summerdale II by David Jay Collins 
 
Books Highlighted by Liv:
The Einstein of Sex by Daniel Brook
Murderland by Caroline Fraser 
The Gales of November by John U. Bacon
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh by Robert C. O’Brien
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster 
The Bandit Queens by Parini Shroff
City of Thieves by David Benioff
Winter’s Tale by Mark Helprin
 
All books available on my Bookshop.org episode page.  
Other books mentioned in this episode:
I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman 
The Clique by Lisi Harrison 
Twilight by Stephenie Meyer 
Women Talking by Miriam Toews 
Redwall by Brian Jacques 
Where Men Win Glory by Jon Krakauer 
Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin 
A Noble Madness by James Delbourgo 
Playing Possum by Susana Monso 
Good and Evil and Other Stories by Samanta Schweblin 
The Essential Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson