We're finding our midsummer vacation reading groove! Gwen is spectacularly awed by a debut novel and Frank gets drawn into a thriller (with a dash of reader real-estate jealousy).
Our Book Recommendations
"There There" by Tommy Orange
"One Dark Throne" by Kendare Blake
Transcription by Kate Atkinson
"The Incendiaries" by R.O. Kwan
"The Woman in the Window" by A.J. Finn
Non-Book Recommendations
Frank: The film "Shadow of a Doubt"
Gwen: These seriously comfortable boxer briefs
We're 100 episodes old! Frank and Gwen mark their centennial by responding to listener messages and revisiting some favorite themes. Plus: a list of our favorite episodes for new (or new-ish) listeners.
It's time again for our Summer Reading Challenge! In this mini-episode, Frank and Gwen pick a book to dive into together and invite you to read along with them, so place those library holds for a copy of "America Is Not the Heart" by Elaine Castillo. Discussion to air August 9!
Gwen is so moved by one of the three poems she brings to the studio that she can't even read it (she tried!). And Frank is transported by a novel about a marriage in Nigeria he can't NOT talk about it. Plus: the perils of social media and why Frank feels he is pretty much free of FOMO.
Frank's Book Recommendation
Stay With Me by Ayobami Adebayo
You can also listen to the author discuss this book on the NYPL podcasts here.
Gwen's Poetry Recommendations
“Airplanes” by Maggie Smith, in the Spring/Summer issue of Ninth Letter
“Ghazal: America the Beautiful” by Alicia Ostriker, and the Dear Poet video series of her reading her own work
"Wild Geese" by Mary Oliver