Come stare moodily out a lonely window with us! Frank falls into a book trance after reading a French novel with a double meaning in its title, and Gwen unpacks a heartbreaker about a woman who leaves Jamaica for Brooklyn.
Frank is feeling all the feelings about a book of experimental prose poetry, Gwen is charmed by a semi-autobiographical YA story, and everyone has "Let It Go" stuck in their heads now. You're welcome!
Frank reads 19th-century Russian verse out loud for a solid two minutes. What more could you want in this world? Plus: Ben Platt, call us. Maybe.
Your hosts wax rhapsodic about two of their mainstay favorite authors. Plus: Gwen takes "cozy intellectual" suggestions from a listener's email and Frank discovers a YouTube celebrity crush.
Third time's the charm! Gwen and Frank join the fine folks from the Overdue podcast to discuss Ken Kesey's 1962 novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.
We all love libraries, but what books do you just NEED to own? Frank coins a new genre, Gwen falls for a book about mistakes, and they both share some deep thoughts about the oxford comma.
This Week’s Books:
The Grammarians by Cathleen Shine
The Other’s Gold by Elizabeth Ames
Dreyer's English : An Utterly correct Guide to Clarity and Style by Benjamin Dreyer
Book synergy abounds with two titles that explore the sometimes dark, sometimes funny, sometimes supernatural relationship between parents and children. Plus, a listener question about "leisure reading" proves to be more complicated than it first seems.
Books Discussed:
Lanny by Max Porter
A Life's Work: On Becoming a Mother by Rachel Cusk
This week it's Frank and Gwen's turn in the hot seat. They recently joined the Books on the Subway Podcast with Hollie and Rosy for a discussion about all things books and libraries, and we're bringing you that episode this week. Make sure to check them out at www.booksonthesubway.com.
A look at how some libraries reflect the communities they're a part of through their special collections. Plus, Gwen's son weighs in on a children's book with some very un-scary dragons and Frank dives into some mind-bending stories about alternate realities and the nature of consciousness.
This weeks titles:
Rise of the Earth Dragon by Tracey West
Exhalation by Ted Chiang
Frank and Gwen do a deep dive into their summer reading pick, Mona Awad's new novel, Bunny—a dark satirical take on female friendship, loneliness, desire, and creative writing MFA programs. Alert: spoilers! tons of 'em!
Tell us what everybody's talking about in your world of books and libraries! Suggest Hot Topix(TM) by email or voice memo to podcasts[at]nypl.org or call 507-NYPL-LIB.
Do you dog-ear? Use bookmarks or sticky notes? Write notes in margins? Or do you—heaven forbid—underline? We delve deep into the ethical implications of leaving your mark on library books. Plus: two new summer reads and one musical cue.
Suggest Hot Topix(TM) or tell us what you think about summer reading!
Email podcasts[at]nypl.org or call 507-NYPL-LIB.
To prequel or not to prequel? Frank and Gwen debate the new installment of the Hunger Games franchise and two very different books about life in two very different places.
Suggest Hot Topix(TM) or tell us what you think about summer reading! Email podcasts[at]nypl.org or call 507-NYPL-LIB.
Frank and Gwen announce their return date plus reveal their Summer Reading Challenge
What's the opposite of a book slump? We're calling it a flare, and Gwen is on one. She and Frank have a flurry of adult book recommendations, from dystopian novels to innovative science fiction.
What we are reading now
The Female Persuasion by Meg Wolitzer
Red Clocks by Leni Zumas
Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi
Semiosis by Sue Burke
Neverworld Wake by Marisha Pessl
The Sparsholt Affair by Alan Hollinghurst
Another crossover episode with our fine friends from the Overdue podcast! Frank and Gwen join Craig and Andrew in Philadelphia to discuss the 1956 novel Peyton Place. Is it a classic? A soap opera? A groundbreaking statement about sexuality? Is it “ripe, hotly passionate, but fickle” — the first line of the book? You decide.
Peyton Place by Grace Metalious
More Peyton Place...
If you liked this episode, check out our first TLII/Overdue collab: "Lord of the Guys," back in January 2017!
This week we take you back to our first-ever live show, recorded in Frank's very own Jefferson Market Library! Gwen and Frank talk to Eric Klinenberg, sociologist and author of a new book about libraries and social infrastructure. Plus: the audience offers an invaluable assist during the guessing game.
Palaces for the People by Eric Klinenberg
More of his work in our catalog and on his website
$2.00 a Day: Living on Almost Nothing in America by Kathryn Edin
Books by Barbara Ehrenreich
O Cafe in Greenwich Village (and pão de queijo)
It's the first-ever Reading Challenge episode! Gwen and Frank assigned books to each other to read and discuss on the air. Hijinks ensue...
Book Recommendations
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling
Ava Gardner: 'Love Is Nothing' by Lee Server
Also mentioned:
Our fourth episode, when Gwen flipped out on Frank for not having read Harry Potter.
Several of Ava's movies, available from NYPL:
The Golden Girls of MGM by Jane Ellen Wayne
Pottermore online
That great tweet about girls with frizzy hair (warning: language!)
This week: a rebroadcast of one of our favorite episodes. Gwen and Frank take a deep, emotional dive into Nobel Prize winner Kazuo Ishiguro's 'Never Let Me Go.'
This episode is brought to you by our soon-to-be-rival podcast, dreamed up by YA librarian Crystal Chen—who's also this week's guest! All rights reserved by her! We talk musicals, poetry, what it really means to create a list of "best" books, and professional development for library staff members.
Book Recommendations
NYPL's Best Poetry Books (and our most recent best books lists)
Red Notice: A True Story of High Finance, Murder, and One Man's Fight for Justice by Bill Browder
Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief by Lawrence Wright
Bad Blood Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou
Kiss Number 8 by Colleen A.F. Venable
Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino
Also recommended:
The Woodstock Library in the Bronx
ASMR, or autonomous sensory meridian response
"VEEP" and "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend"
Gwen and Frank tackle one book that feels comforting and homey; one that's distinctly unsettling; and one that's somewhere in between. Plus: A stranger on the train helps us deconstruct the genius of J-Patt.
Your Duck Is My Duck: Stories by Deborah Eisenberg
The Farm by Joanne Ramos
Emily Blunt and the rest of the cast going down the bathtub slide!
Everything Doris Day
Dr. Carla Hayden sits down with Gwen and Frank to discuss what it really means to lead the Library of Congress—which, by the way, isn't only FOR Congress. Plus: lessons she learned from storytime, how she organizes her home library, and the first time she ever saw herself reflected in a book.
It's the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, and Jason Baumann—NYPL curator and Grand Marquessa of All Things Stonewall—joins Gwen and Frank to discuss the Library's new anthology about the uprising and its role in the LGBTQ civil rights movement. And then he walks us through some yoga breathing, and it's legit.
The Stonewall Reader in our catalog and the NYPL shop
Love and Resistance: Out of the Closet Into the Stonewall Era in our catalog and the NYPL shop
City of Night by John Rechy
City Boy: My Life in New York during the 1960s and 70s (and more books) by Edmund White
The History and Practices of Hatha Yoga by James Mallinson
Kay Tobin Lahusen's photographs in our Archives & Manuscripts Division
Jason's first appearance on The Librarian Is In (episode 2!)
And check out more of the exhibition and the rest of the Library's Stonewall coverage at nypl.org/stonewall50.
Aminatou Sow, writer and co-host of the popular podcast "Call Your Girlfriend," talks with Gwen and Frank about poetry, the mental treadmill of the Internet, and her childhood best friend: the librarian.
Book Recommendations
Looking for Lorraine: The Radiant and Radical Life of Lorraine Hansberry by Imani Perry
Magical Negro by Morgan Parker
If They Come for Us by Fatimah Ashgar
Feminism Is for Everybody: Passionate Politics by bell hooks
Also mentioned:
"won't you celebrate with me" by Lucille Clifton
"Final Notations" by Adrienne Rich can be found in her collection, An Atlas of the Difficult World
What makes a place home? Frank follows a book rec from a listener and discovers a powerful memoir that makes him rethink the American dream. Gwen's book is a new fairytale retelling... sort of... that involves feudalism and magical gingerbread and... well, maybe you should just have a listen.
Book Recommendations
Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth by Sarah Smarsh
Gingerbread by Helen Oyeyemi
Also mentioned:
The recent Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Amity and Prosperity: One Family and the Fracturing of America by Eliza Griswold
The Netflix series "Working Moms"
The network TV show "The Rookie"
Our Poetry Bonanza has arrived! In this episode --titled to pay homage to Frank's favorite Emily Dickinson stanza-- he and Gwen get to read and hear poetry recommendations from their listeners.
Listener Poetry Recommendations:
"My Mother Says I am Sickening" in The New Kid On the Block: Poems by Jack Prelutsky
“Good Hot Dogs” by Sandra Cisneros in A Family of Poems: My Favorite Poems for Children by Caroline Kennedy
"Why I Am Not a Good Kisser" in Selected Poem by Mary Ruefle
"Kal" in If They Come for Us by Fatima Asghar
The title poem in What the Living Do: Poems by Marie Howe
"What Resembles the Grave But Isn't" by Anne Boyer
IRL by Tommy Pico
The title poem in Inventory by Dionne Brand
"I want a dyke for president" by Zoe Leonard
"Girls of the Wild" in Wild Embers by Nakita Gill
"Fold" in You & Yours by Naomi Shihab Nye
"Scientific Romance" by Tim Pratt
"Where the Mind is Without Fear" from Gitanjali (Song Offerings) by Rabindranath Tagore
Also mentioned: