Shows / The Book Case
The Book Case
Are you stuck in a reading rut? The Book Case makes the case for books outside of your usual genre. Wander the aisles of your local bookstore with Kate and Charlie Gibson and meet fascinating characters who will open your appetite to new categories while deepening your hunger for books. This weekly series will journey cover to cover through the literary world, featuring interviews with best-selling authors, tastemakers, and independent bookstore owners. New episodes post every Thursday…
Episodes
- The Book Case
Catherine Newman Brings Us to Cape Cod
Sandwich: A Novel by Catherine Newman is full of great characters, evocative nostalgic imagery and a love for Cape Cod that we share with her. It is full of…
- The Book Case
Sarah Langan Crafts a Dystopian Mystery Thriller
Want a great summer read? We have it. A Better Place by Sarah Langan is a page turning mystery/thriller….like if The Stepford Wives met Shirley Jackson in The…
- The Book Case
Scott Preston Writes a UK Western
This week, a dark and funny tale of sheep farming in Rural England that reads like an American Western by Cormac McCarthy. Sound a little strange? Well, it is…
- The Book Case
Two Editors Who Changed Publishing
Today we have a book that helped us to lift the curtain on the inner workings of the book business. The Editor by Sara B. Franklin tells us the story of Judith…
- The Book Case
Book Store Owners Present Their Top Summer Reads
We love the summer because it means trips the bookstore! We have some of our favorite bookstores recommending their favorite summer titles. If you are in need…
- The Book Case
George Stephanopoulos Takes Us To The Situation Room
This episode is a double whammy of extreme talent. First, we have George Stephanopoulos, giving us history through the perspective of one of the most…
- The Book Case
Heidi Reimer Examines Motherhood, Sacrifice, and Redemption
It's always a pleasure for us to talk to a debut author and we have a good one this week in Heidi Reimer. Her novel, The Mother Act, is the story of mothers…
- The Book Case
Erik Larson Illuminates History
If you haven’t heard of Erik Larson, you don’t read enough non-fiction. A giant in the industry and an immense talent, Erik is turning his attention to the…
- The Book Case
Carlos Lozada Makes the Case for Political Memoirs
We try not to do books about politics — political discourse in this country is, currently, divisive in the extreme. However, Carlos Lozada, in his new book…
- The Book Case
Kao Kalia Yang Captures Her Mother's Story
Kao Kalia Yang is a Hmong writer who has written her family and country’s history through deeply personal prisms. She told the story of her family’s beginnings…
- The Book Case
Tommy Orange Traces Indigenous Trauma and Triumph
Tommy Orange has written a second novel. Although technically a sequel, you can easily read Wandering Stars without having experienced There There. But you…
- The Book Case
Amor Towles Writes a Novella His Way
Amor Towles is publishing a short story collection (with a novella included) called Table for Two, and we waited with bated breath as it arrived in our…
- The Book Case
Richard Roper Delights With New British Rom-Com
This Disaster Loves You is the newest by Richard Roper, which we would probably best describe as a quirky British romcom, sort of... a little. But it’s also…
- The Book Case
Introducing the 'Writer in Residence' Series with J. Ryan Stradal
THE WRITER IN RESIDENCE SHOW! We kick off our new series, Writer in Residence, with our resident writer, J. Ryan Stradal. A great writer, a national…
- The Book Case
Tana French On Writing An Irish Western Murder Mystery
If you are a mystery fan who hasn’t read Tana French, then you have missed one of the great modern mystery writers of our time. American by birth and Irish by…
- The Book Case
Anna Quindlen Explores Life After Death
We believe that Anna Quindlen should be declared a national treasure. Her new novel, After Annie, is an intimate look at a family recovering from the loss of…
- The Book Case
Sloane Crosley Processes Her Grief With Humor
It’s never a great idea to pigeonhole a talented writer, but you could probably call Sloane Crosley a humorist... most of the time. Her newest, Grief Is for…
- The Book Case
Diane Oliver's Posthumous Debut
A few weeks ago Kate received an email informing her of a debut author: Diane Oliver. But this debut book stood out because the author had been dead for more…
- The Book Case
Kate and Charlie Gibson's Favorite Love Stories
It doesn’t happen often, but sometimes we just want to talk to each other. And that’s what happened this week. We spent some time reflecting on lessons we have…
- The Book Case
Ilyon Woo on the Self-Emancipation of Ellen and William Craft
Have you ever heard of William and Ellen Craft? They were an escaped enslaved husband and wife whose stories read like a blockbuster action movies. Symbols in…
- The Book Case
Live: Kate Gibson Revisits Horror
Kate revisits her favorite genre: horror (but she prefers the moniker of dark fiction), and this one is taped in front of a live audience! Plus: you get three…
- The Book Case
Kaveh Akbar Finds Meaning in Martyrdom
Kaveh Akbar weighs every word that he writes. An accomplished and published poet, any reader can tell that he understands the undeniable power of language with…
- The Book Case
Inci Atrek Lives In Two Worlds at Once
Inci Atrek is a debut novelist to watch. We recommend going out and picking up a copy of her debut, Holiday Country, a novel it would be easy to overlook and…
- The Book Case
Ashley Elston On How To Write A Whodunnit Heist Novel
Happy New Year! The first episode of the year is a truly terrific mystery. Entertaining in the extreme, this is a whodunnit that breaks the mold. Ashley…
- The Book Case
Viktoria Lloyd-Barlow Explores Mother-Daughter Dynamics
Viktoria Lloyd-Barlow's All the Little Bird-Hearts is a novel that will stay with you long after you close the book. It takes place in the 1980’s, and the…
- The Book Case
Mitch Albom Wrote a Tale of Lies and Truth
Mitch Albom became a household name with his bestseller Tuesdays with Morrie. His new novel, The Little Liar, is an original and fascinating look at the…
- The Book Case
Patricia Cornwell Dives into the Mysterious World of Kay Scarpetta
If you haven’t heard of Patricia Cornwell you’ve never been to a bookstore, or an airport, or a library…heck. She is everywhere and there is a reason for that…
- The Book Case
How to Inspire Your Kids to Love Reading
When we first began the podcast, our main goal was to inspire more folks to read. But we also talked about how we might offer content to help parents inspire…
- The Book Case
Jon Clinch Explores the Final Days of Ulysses S. Grant
The General and Julia is a wonderful novel, delving deeply into the final days of Ulysses S. Grant. Not many know this, but at the end of his life, Grant was…
- The Book Case
Lawrence Wright Takes On Texas Politics
Lawrence Wright’s newest novel, Mr. Texas, revolves around Texas politics and how they relate to our national political conversation, and he knows from where…
- The Book Case
Jennifer Vanderbes Chronicles the Dark History of Thalidomide
You might know the historical fiction of Jennifer Vanderbes, but just wait until you read Wonder Drug: The Secret History of Thalidomide in America and Its…
- The Book Case
Diana Walsh Shares Her Manual on Leadership
Being the president of anything takes vision, ambition, and leadership. Being the president of a leading academic institution takes courage (and a whole lot of…
- The Book Case
Alice McDermott on the Women Behind the Vietnam War
Alice McDermott has written one of THE great novels of 2023. Absolution is so many things…a portrait of diplomatic wives carving out lives for themselves in…
- The Book Case
Our Halloween Horror Reading Recommendations
So we have come to the last of our horror genre shows…although we have decided we like the moniker 'dark literature’ better. We have a game-changing author to…
- The Book Case
Tan Twan Eng Takes Us Through The House of Doors
Tan Twan Eng, in some ways, has the perfect bibliography. He has written three books, all novels. All three have been on the short or long list for the Man…
- The Book Case
Writers of the Movie "Airplane!" On The Rules of Comedy
Surely You Can’t be Serious - heard that before? Surely you have, if you have seen the movie Airplane! Made in 1980. The incredibly successful and popular…
- The Book Case
Amanda Gorman’s Poetry Slays Monsters
Amanda Gorman is an American treasure. Her inaugural poem, The Hill We Climb, stunned audiences around the world in 2021, and her tome of poetry, Call Us What…
- The Book Case
Kate DiCamillo Transforms Children's Fiction
Kate DiCamillo has probably been honored as much or more than any living American children’s author. If her awards were all displayed on a mantle, she’d…
- The Book Case
Stephen Graham Jones Writes Hopeful Horror
We have two horror genre shows left and this week we bring you Stephen Graham Jones. Although not all of his books fall squarely in horror category, My Heart…
- The Book Case
Sebastian Barry Carries the Irish Torch
Have you ever noticed that when it comes to great writers, Ireland seems to have had more than its fair share? Maybe it’s the difficult history, or the never…
- The Book Case
William Kent Krueger Takes Us To Minnesota
We don't want to pigeon hole William Kent Krueger as a mystery writer. He writes terrific mysteries that will keep you guessing, sure, but what will keep you…
- The Book Case
James McBride Masters Historical Fiction
Kate often says that if she were a writer she would have trouble reading James McBride. It's hard not to hear a mic drop when you close the back cover. He is a…
- The Book Case
Andrew Ridker Writes With Hope
Andrew Ridker is but 32 years of age - yet already he has written what promises to be his second very successful novel - Hope. The title is an acronym for a…
- The Book Case
Jennifer McMahon Writes What Scares Her
We have three horror shows left. But we are not sure Jennifer McMahon fits within the genre so neatly. If you are dipping your toe into the genre...start with…
- The Book Case
Esmeralda Santiago is Back in the Book Case
We talked to the renowned bilingual author Esmeralda Santiago a few months about her incredible trilogy of memoirs. So when she sent us her new novel, Las…
- The Book Case
Ann Patchett Juggles Writing and Bookselling
PATCHETT PUBLISHES!! That should be big news in the literary world. Ann Patchett has a new book out as of August 1st. Tom Lake is the title - a novel…
- The Book Case
Markus Zusak Revisits The Book Thief's Legacy
This week we take you back in time to a book that is so good it’s ageless. Charlie interviewed author Markus Zusak about his phenomenal novel The Book Thief…
- The Book Case
Laura Spence-Ash Travels Back in Time
Historical fiction is the genre this week, and it centers around a lesser WWII phenomenon. During the Blitz, many British families sent their children abroad…
- The Book Case
Mihret Sibhat Writes an Ethiopian Epic
The History of a Difficult Child is a beautiful and sprawling family story set in Ethiopia during the Socialist Revolution. It is narrated by a young girl born…
- The Book Case
Josh Malerman Delivers the Scares
Second Horror Thursday on The Book Case! Kicking off our month, we speak to the incredible Josh Malerman. How does one write a best selling horror novel while…
- The Book Case
Shelley Read Starts Her Second Act
There are times where Shelley Read’s Go as a River reads less like a novel and more of a philosophical teaching. Grounded in Buddhist philosophy, this is a…
- The Book Case
Michael Finkel Catches an Art Thief
If you have never heard of Stéphane Breitwieser don’t feel bad, we hadn’t either. Turns out he is one of the most successful art thieves of all time. In his…
- The Book Case
Kate and Charlie Pick Winners
We wanted to affectionately title this episode, Kate and Charlie are really smart and have great taste, but ABC thought that would be a little obnoxious. Maybe…
- The Book Case
Dave Eggers Crafts New Fables
Dave Eggers is a writer who does not want to be put in a box. His writing often defies easy cataloging or genre classification and he doesn’t like to be…
- The Book Case
Christopher Golden Scares Us
Kate is dragging her father by the collar to the horror section of the bookstore and the first Thursday of every month for awhile is going to be Horror…
- The Book Case
James Comey Writes a Thriller
Our principal guest this week is James Comey. Yes, that James Comey. Ex-FBI Director James Comey. Some of Hillary Clinton’s supporters think he may have cost…
- The Book Case
Alexandra Robbins Studies Teachers
The Teachers: A Year Inside America’s Most Important and Vulnerable Profession by Alexandra Robbins takes us inside the classroom to show us the daily lives of…
- The Book Case
Henry Grabar Parks That Thought
Henry Grabar is a writer for Slate, the online magazine, and he has written “Paved Paradise: How Parking Explains the World.” Now you probably are thinking…
- The Book Case
Dave Barry Makes Us Laugh
Dave Barry's sense of humor should be on display at the Smithsonian; it is truly one America's great treasures. His latest novel, Swamp Story, is set in the…
- The Book Case
Brendan Slocumb Finds Hidden Notes
Brendan Slocumb is a renaissance man who writes his novels with a mission in mind. A violin virtuoso, music teacher, clarinetist AND oboist, he is also a best…