Get rowdy with Roxanne Coady, indie bookstore owner and host of the Just the Right Book podcast. Roxanne finds common ground with Frank and Gwen, talking about places where people seek connection and community with books at their heart.
Roxanne's Book Recommendation
My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite
Also mentioned:
A Drinking Life by Pete Hamill
Lucky by Alice Sebold
Bastard Out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison
The Curse of Bigness: Antitrust in the New Guilded Age by Tim Wu
The Common Good by Robert Reich
Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl
Embers by Sándor Márai
You can visit Roxanne's bookstore, RJ Julia, in Madison, Conneticuit and check out one of their events. And definitely have a listen to her podcast Just the Right Book for more book recommendations and interviews with a wide-range of authors and guests. (Including Frank and Gwen!)
Gwen's quest to learn more about Carol Channing took both her and Frank to a place where divas and dames truly reign- Broadway! Plus: Frank's book taps into the cultural obsession with visiting the past (repeatedly) to figure out the future, leading us into the arms of "Russian Doll" creator Natasha Lyonne.
Book Recommendations
Nothing Like a Dame: Conversations with the Great Women of Musical Theater by Eddie Shapiro
The Heavens by Sandra Newman
Non-Book Recommendations
Check out the new Netflix series "Russian Doll," and you'll obsess over it too!
And watch "Happy Death Day" for more time loops, laughs and life on other planes.
Books have lives too! Frank and Gwen take a break from talking about the words on the page and get into the stories of items in NYPL's archives. In this specially curated tour, meet the Mary Poppins doll that made peace between author and illustrator, hear about a woman spymaster during the Civil War, and find out what limp vellum is. Plus: Nancy Drew has a secret.
Guest: Meredith Mann, Librarian for Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books at NYPL
You can learn more about the Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division here. Also check out Meredith's blog posts to discover more about NYPL's living artifacts. There is even one on marcas del fuego (marks of fire) and the Mexico City imprint that is discusssed in this episode.
Meredith's Book Recommendation
Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James
... or the joy of evolution? Frank's book traces the whole history of humankind and Gwen's is a short narrative about big changes. Plus: You can't talk about joy without talking about Christine Baranski. It's the law.
Book Recommendations
Speak No Evil by Uzodinma Iweala
Sapiens: A brief history of humankind by Yuval Noah Harari
Non-Book Recommendation
The pure and consuming joy of Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again