Books with Betsy
Books with Betsy is a podcast that celebrates the reading life of all readers. Each week, Betsy interviews a different person about their reading life. Listen for book recommendations, reading tips, and to join in the joy that reading brings. And remember, anyone who reads is a reader.
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Episodes
Monday Mar 03, 2025
Monday Mar 03, 2025
On this episode, Rebecca Schinsky and Jeff O’Neal of Book Riot sit down and talk to me about their reading lives. We talk about their professional work in the world of books, how Oliver Burkeman would feel about my bad bookish habit, and how any book can be interesting if you’re curious enough.
Listen to the Book Riot Podcast
Listen to First Edition
Better Living Through Books Newsletter (and the rest of the Book Riot Newsletters!)
Jeff and Rebecca Live at Powells!
Books mentioned in this episode:
What Betsy’s reading:
B.F.F.: A Memoir of Friendship Lost and Found by Christie Tate
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
Madwoman by Chelsea Bieker
Books Highlighted by Rebecca & Jeff:
Sula by Toni Morrison
The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russel
The English Understand Wool by Helen DeWitt
Lab Girl: A Memoir by Hope Jahren
Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes
We Ride Upon Sticks by Quan Barry
The Street by Ann Petry
How to Be Perfect: The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question by Michael Schur
The Orchard: A Memoir by Adele Crockett Robertson
Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman
When Women Were Birds: Fifty-Four Variations on Voice by Terry Tempest Williams
Radical Candor: Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity by Kim Scott
Conscious Business: How to Build Value through Values by Fred Kofman
All books available on my Bookshop.org episode page.
Other books mentioned in this episode:
Post-Traumatic by Chantal V. Johnson
House of Cotton by Monica Brashears
Sipsworth by Simon Van Booy
Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
Ingrained: The Making of a Craftsman by Callum Robinson
Cabin: Off the Grid Adventures with a Clueless Craftsman by Patrick Hutchinson
Life in Three Dimensions: How Curiosity, Exploration, and Experience Make a Fuller, Better Life by Shigehiro Oishi
Meditations for Mortals: Four Weeks to Embrace Your Limitations and Make Time for What Counts by Oliver Burkeman
Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
The Hobbit: Or There and Back Again by J.R.R. Tolkien
The Shining by Stephen King
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante
Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover
All Fours by Miranda July
Passing by Nella Larsen
Monday Feb 24, 2025
Monday Feb 24, 2025
On this episode, Betsy Kipnis, a multi-hyphenate who loves a wide variety of authors, and I discuss some shared favorites, great Chicago bookstores, and she has some great stories. She discusses books that are multi-sensory and we get spicy about a beloved author.
Betsy’s Blog - Bookisshh
Barbara Kingsolver’s Recovery Center
Books mentioned in this episode:
What Betsy’s reading:
The Road to the Salt Sea by Samuel Kọláwọlé
Fundamentally by Nussaibah Younis
Books Highlighted by Betsy:
Black Butterflies by Priscilla Morris
How to Say Babylon by Safiya Sinclair
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
Forty Rooms by Olga Grushin
The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak
The Vegetarian by Han Kang
Human Acts by Han Kang
Native Son by Richard Wright
Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee by Casey Cep
Meditations for Mortals: Four Weeks to Embrace Your Limitations and Make Time for What Counts by Oliver Burkeman
All books available on my Bookshop.org episode page.
Other books mentioned in this episode:
Chocolat by Joanne Harris
Annie Bot by Sierra Greer
Hum by Helen Phillips
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
Colored Television by Danzy Senna
We Do Not Part by Han Kang
Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews
Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
Rouge by Mona Awad
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Suskind
The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
Yellowface by R.F. Kuang
Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano
Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu
Breasts and Eggs by Meiko Kwakami
Girl in Snow by Danya Kukafka
Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by J.D. Vance
Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company that Addicted America by Beth Macy
Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover
The Guest by Emma Cline
The Girls by Emma Cline
Luster by Raven Leilani
The Bean Trees by Barabara Kingsolver
The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
There Are No Children Here: The Story of Two Boys Growing Up in the Other America by Alex Kotlowitz
Oedipus Rex by Sophocles
There are Rivers in the Sky by Eilf Shafak
Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee
Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman
Monday Feb 17, 2025
Monday Feb 17, 2025
On this episode, Jordan Hernandez, who organizes the book community Completely Booked and I discuss what diverse books means to her, how to curate a feed that provides diverse options, and so many amazing book recommendations. If you want to join Completely Booked, you can send Jordan a DM on Instagram to get added to the email list!
Follow Completely Booked on Instagram
Double Dough
HobokenGirl
Books mentioned in this episode:
What Betsy’s reading:
Less by Andrew Sean Greer
The Road to the Salt Sea by Samuel Kọláwọlé
Books Highlighted by Jordan:
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
Year of Yes: How to Dance it Out, Stand in the Sun and Be Your Own Person by Shonda Rhimes
Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams
James by Percival Everett
Sisters in Arms by Kaia Alderson
Notes From a Young Black Chef by Kwame Onwuachi
Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson
The Beauty of Your Face by Sahar Mustafah
All books available on my Bookshop.org episode page.
Other books mentioned in this episode:
Sky Full of Elephants by Cebo Campbell
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
In the Country We Love: My Family Divided by Diane Guerrero
Nuclear War: A Scenario by Annie Jacobsen
On the Come Up by Angie Thomas
This Could Be Us by Kennedy Ryan
Before I Let Go by Kennedy Ryan
Can’t Get Enough by Kennedy Ryan
Black Buck by Mateo Askaripour
This Great Hemisphere by Mateo Askaripour
Isaac’s Song by Daniel Black
Don’t Cry for Me by Daniel Black
The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese
Finding Me by Viola Davis
Speak: Find Your Voice, Trust Your Gut, and Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be by Tunde Oyeneyin
More Than Enough: Claiming Space for Who You Are (No Matter What They Say) by Elaine Welteroth
You Are a Badass(r): How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life by Jen Sincero
Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson
A Manual for Cleaning Women: Selected Stories by Lucia Berlin
Monday Feb 10, 2025
Monday Feb 10, 2025
On this episode, bookstagrammer and journalist Jocelyn Aspa and I discuss books with extensive character development, how everything makes us cry, and why we gravitate towards books with low ratings on Goodreads. We also discuss how we determine books to pack on a trip which can be a little extra.
Follow Jocelyn on Instagram
Books mentioned in this episode:
What Betsy’s reading:
Devil is Fine by John Vercher
Original Sins: The (Mis)education of Black and Native Children and the Construction of American Racism by Eve L. Ewing
Books Highlighted by Jocelyn:
4 3 2 1 by Paul Auster
Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica, trans. Sarah Moses
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
Same as it Ever Was by Clarie Lombardo
The Prettiest Star by Carter Sickels
A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
All the Ugly and Wonderful Things by Bryn Greenwood
Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women That a Movement Forgot by Mikki Kendall
All books available on my Bookshop.org episode page.
Other books mentioned in this episode:
There’s a Nightmare in my Closet by Mercer Mayer
Normal People by Sally Rooney
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
The Secret History by Donna Tartt
My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler
The Most Fun We Ever Had by Claire Lombardo
The Wedding People by Alison Espach
Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance by Alison Espach
The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai
Fire Exit by Morgan Talty
Night of the Living Rez by Morgan Talty
Orbital by Samantha Harvey
American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
Maeve Fly by C.J. Leede
Monday Feb 03, 2025
Monday Feb 03, 2025
On this episode, indie author David Jay Collins and I discuss his work writing books in and about Chicago, how he keeps going by honoring his characters, and the unique ways that he connects with his readers. We also discuss his reading life, including a current fast from horror content which blows my mind!
Follow David on Instagram
Order any of David’s books from his website
Where you can see David in 2025!
Books mentioned in this episode:
What Betsy’s reading:
Lilith by Eric Rickstad
A Great Country by Shilpi Somaya Gowda
Just Want You Here by Meredith Turtis
Books Highlighted by David:
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
Billion Dollar Loser: The Epic Rise and Spectacular Fall of Adam Neumann and We Work by Reeves Wiedeman
Dry. A Memoir by Augusten Burroughs
The Death of the Artist: How Creators are Struggling to Survive in the Age of Billionaires and Big Tech by William Deresiewicz
The Man With the Golden Arm by Nelson Algren
The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
All books available on my Bookshop.org episode page.
Other books mentioned in this episode:
John Adams by David McCullough
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
Monday Jan 27, 2025
Monday Jan 27, 2025
On this episode, Ree @Read_withree on instagram, discusses her love for thrillers and mysteries. We also talk about a shared favorite author, the joy that book people can bring, and how to make bookstagram a place of enjoyment.
Follow Ree on Instagram
Books mentioned in this episode:
What Betsy’s reading:
There is a Rio Grande in Heaven by Ruben Reyes, Jr.
Nuclear War: A Scenario by Annie Jacobsen
Books Highlighted by Ree:
Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby
The Passengers by John Marrs
Before I Let Go by Kennedy Ryan
Goodnight Beautiful by Aimee Molloy
So Let Them Burn by Kamilah Cole
The Housemaid by Frieda McFadden
Pretty Girls by Karen Slaughter
All books available on my Bookshop.org episode page.
Other books mentioned in this episode:
Night of the Living Dummy (Goosebumps #1) by R.L. Stine
Holes by Louis Sachar
Vampires Don’t Wear Polka Dots by Marcia Thornton Jones
Blacktop Wasteland by S.A. Cosby
King of Ashes by S.A. Cosby
Legendborn by Tracy Deonn
Oathbound by Tracy Deonn
The Chestnut Man by Søren Sveistrup
A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
The Only One Left by Riley Sager
Monday Jan 20, 2025
Monday Jan 20, 2025
On this episode, Leah Rachel von Essen, whose job is books, and I discuss our shared love of translated literature, especially genre fiction from other countries, and our shared love of reading and walking. She also talks about her very entertaining experiences with the library as a child and shares about her current work with Chicago Books to Women in Prison.
Follow Leah on Instagram!
Find Leah’s posts about books in translation here
More information about how to support Chicago Books to Women in Prison
Books mentioned in this episode:
What Betsy’s reading:
Sky Full of Elephants by Cebo Campbell
Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands by Kate Beaton
Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix
Books Highlighted by Leah:
This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone
Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy
Manhunt by Gretchen Felker-Martin
The Neapolitan Novels by Elena Ferrante, trans. Ann Goldstein
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen
Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor
Chain Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
The Broken Earth Trilogy by N.K. Jemisin
The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa, trans. Stephen Snyder
Eve Out of Her Ruins by Ananda Devi, trans. Jeffrey Zuckerman
Palestine +100 ed. Basma Ghalayini
They Will Drown in Their Mother’s Tears by Johannes Anyuru, trans. Saskia Vogel
The Waves by Virginia Woolf
Who’s Afraid of Gender by Judith Butler
The Death and Life of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs
All books available on my Bookshop.org episode page.
Other books mentioned in this episode:
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
Wanderlust: A History of Walking by Rebecca Solnit
The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar
The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai
Freedom by Jonathan Franzen
To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
Monday Jan 13, 2025
Monday Jan 13, 2025
On this episode, Shakia Perry, a very creative book lover who creates amazing book-related experiences for friends and family, discusses how she loves fiction to get into the messiness of other people. We also discuss our love for the library, reading pretty much wherever, and how much Libby can stress you out.
Follow Shakia on Instagram!
Books mentioned in this episode:
What Betsy’s reading:
The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai
All Fours by Miranda July
Books Highlighted by Shakia:
Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
A Love Song for Ricki Wilde by Tia Williams
Reel by Kennedy Ryan
Saving Noah by Lucinda Berry
Little Rot by Akwaeke Emezi
Perfect Peace by Daniel Black
Someday, Maybe by Onyi Nwabineli
Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson
Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Mrs. Wiggins by Mary Monroe
I’m Glad my Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy
Soothe Your Nerves: The Black Woman’s Guide to Understanding and Overcoming Anxiety, Panic, and Fears by Dr. Angela Neal-Barnett
All books available on my Bookshop.org episode page.
Other books mentioned in this episode:
Kristy’s Great Idea by Ann M. Martin
The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner
The Coldest Winter Ever by Sister Souljah
Love & Whiskey: The Remarkable True Story of Jack Daniel, His Master Distiller Nearest Green, and the Improbable Rise of Uncle Nearest by Fawn Weaver
Curvy Girl Summer by Danielle Allen
The Final Revival of Opal and Nev by Dawnie Walton
The Teacher by Frieda McFadden
Isaac’s Song by Daniel Black
The Housemaid by Frieda McFadden
It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover
Will by Will Smith & Mark Manson
Bits and Pieces: My Mother, my Brother, and Me by Whoopi Goldberg
Finding Me: A Memoir by Viola Davis
Sky Full of Elephants by Cebo Campbell
Monday Jan 06, 2025
Monday Jan 06, 2025
On this episode, past guests of Books with Betsy and I share our favorite books of 2024! Listen to hear about lots of great 2024 books and the excellent backlist we got to this year.
Books mentioned in this episode:
Betsy’s Top 11 Books (in no particular order):
Margo’s Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe
The Reformatory by Tananarive Due
Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammad
Ordinary Notes by Christina Sharpe
My Friends by Hisham Matar
Punk Rock Karaoke by Biana Xunise
Headshot by Rita Bullwinkle
Shred Sisters by Betsy Lerner
We Used to Live Here by Marcus Kliewer
Chain Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
James by Percival Everett
Books Highlighted by Guests:
Sam Luchsinger
The Biography of X by Catherine Lacey
The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows by John Koenig
Wellness by Nathan Hill
Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk
Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice
Moon of the Turning Leaves by Waubgeshig Rice
Francesca Musumeci
Tranny: Confessions of Punk Rock’s Most Infamous Anarchist Sellout by Laura Jane Grace
One of Our Kind by Nicola Yoon
Nestlings by Nat Cassidy
Cynthia Okechukwu
Before I Let Go by Kennedy Ryan
Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler
Parable of the Talents by Octavia Butler
Last Summer on State Street by Toya Wolfe
Rachel Kilthorne
The Expanse Series by James S.A. Corey
There’s Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension by Hanif Abdurraqib
Anyone’s Ghost by August Thompson
The Age of Deer: Trouble and Kinship with our Wild Neighbors by Erika Howsare
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
Annette LaPlaca
The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride
On Getting Out of Bed: The Burden and Gift of Living by Alan Noble
Slough House by Mick Herron
Mind’s Eye by Hakan Nesser
The Penderwicks on Gardam Street by Jeanne Birdsall
Allison Yates
Cuba: An American History by Ada Ferrer
Iris Kelly Doesn’t Date by Ashley Herring Blake
The Secret Life of Groceries: The Dark Miracle of the American Supermarket by Benjamin Lorr
The Age of Magical Overthinking: Notes on Modern Irrationality by Amanda Montell
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
Jenn Moland-Kovash
Shark Heart: A Love Story by Emily Habeck
Take What You Need by Idra Novey
The Husbands by Holly Gramazio
The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World by Robin Wall Kimmerer
Unreasonable Hospitality: The Remarkable Power of Giving People More Than They Expect by Will Guidara
Just For the Summer by Abby Jimenez
Mike Finucane
A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life by George Saunders
The Best Minds: A Story of Friendship, Madness, and the Tragedy of Good Intentions by Jonathan Rosen
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer
Come, Have Breakfast: Meditations on God and the Earth by Elizabeth Johnson
Couldn’t Keep it to Myself: Testimonies from our Imprisoned Sisters ed. Wally Lamb
Carolyn Latshaw
The Bridge on the Drina by Ivo Andric
That Time I got Drunk and Yeeted a Love Potion at a Werewolf by Kimberly Lemming
All The Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy
Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales by Nathan Hale
Monika Janas
Ink Blood Sister Scribe by Emma Törzs
Chain Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
When Among Crows by Veronica Roth
The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells
Elantris by Brandon Sanderson
Tim Mueller
The Thirteen Ways we Turned Darryl Datson into a Monster by Kurt Fawver
Helliconia Spring by Brian Wilson Aldiss
The Room by Hubert Selby
The Terror by Dan Simmons
Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry
Monday Dec 30, 2024
Monday Dec 30, 2024
On this episode, past guests of Books with Betsy and I share our favorite books of 2024! Listen to hear about lots of great 2024 books and the excellent backlist we got to this year.
Books mentioned in this episode:
Betsy’s Best Categorically (books that…):
Shocked me:
How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix
None of This is True by Lisa Jewell
The Night House by Jo Nesbø
Nightwatching by Tracy Sierra
Made me Cry:
North Woods by Daniel Mason
The Bee Sting by Paul Murray
Underrated:
God Bless You, Otis Spunkmeyer by Joseph Earl Thomas
Witness by Jamel Brinkley
Victim by Andrew Boryga
Fire Exit by Morgan Talty
Recommend Widely:
Erasure by Percival Everett
Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar
Hard to Recommend:
Yr Dead by Sam Sax
Sisters of the Lost Nation by Nick Medina
Made me Think About my Life Differently:
When Crack Was King: A People’s History of a Misunderstood Era by Donovan X. Ramsey
Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman
Books Highlighted by Guests:
Mawuli Grant Agbefe:
Opposable Thumbs: How Siskel and Ebert Changed Movies Forever by Matt Singer
Having and Being Had by Eula Bliss
Your Face Belongs to Us: A Tale of AI, a Secretive Startup, and the End of Privacy by Kashmir Hill
Mean Girl Feminism: How White Feminists Gaslight, Gatekeep, and Girlboss by Kim Hong Nguyen
We Refuse: A Forceful History of Black Resistance by Kellie Carter Jackson
Mapping the Stars: Celebrity, Metonymy and the Networked Politics of Identity by Claire Sisco King
Sam Wilmes:
Such Kindness by Andre Dubus III
We Spread by Iain Read
We Used to Live Here by Marcus Kliewer
My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell
The Haunting of Alejandra by V. Castro
Amie Medley:
Crossroads by Jonathan Franzen
Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
North Woods by Daniel Mason
The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolaño
Tanima Kazi:
The Lantern of Lost Memories by Sanaka Hiiragi
One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig
Two Twisted Crowns by Rachel Gillig
Home is Where the Bodies Are by Jeneva Rose
The Perfect Marriage by Jeneva Rose
Stacy Jezerowski:
We Solve Murders by Richard Osman
Beautiful Villain by Rebecca Kenney
Sarah Sabet:
Klara & The Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro
Atonement by Ian McEwan
Men Have Called Her Crazy by Anna Marie Tendler
The Housemaid by Frieda McFadden
The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen
Anna Deem:
The Nix by Nathan Hill
Rebel Girl: My Life as a Feminist Punk by Kathleen Hanna
Cat Shieh:
Give Me Space But Don’t Go Far: My Unlikely Friendship with Anxiety by Haley Weaver
Bullshit Jobs: A Theory by David Graeber
Just Us: An American Conversation by Claudia Rankine
The Message by Ta-Nehisi Coates
I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki by Baek Sehee
Mo Smith:
The Truth About Melody Browne by Lisa Jewell
The Lightning Bottles by Marissa Stapley
The Third Gilmore Girl by Kelly Bishop
All The Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker
Is She Really Going Out With Him? by Sophie Cousens
Leah @Dishingonbooks:
Nuclear War: A Scenario by Annie Jacobsen
Grief is For People by Sloane Crosley
Clean by Alia Trabucco Zerán
James by Percival Everett
A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
Emily McClanathan:
Babel by R.F. Kuang
Relinquished: The Politics of Adoption and the Privilege of American Motherhood by Gretchen Sisson
Mean Spirit by Linda Hogan
A Well-Trained Wife: My Escape from Christian Patriarchy by Tia Levings