Stay ConnectedSarah’s Bookshelves Live is a bi-weekly show featuring real talk about books and book recommendations from a featured guest. Each week, Sarah of the blog Sarah’s Bookshelves will talk with her guest about:
– 2 OLD BOOKS THEY LOVE
– 2 NEW BOOKS THEY LOVE
– 1 BOOK THEY DON’T LOVE
– AND 1 NEW RELEASE THEY’RE EXCITED ABOUT
I’m getting real about all things books and serving you up a bit of snark on the side.
Copyright: © Sarah Dickinson | Sarah's Bookshelves
In Episode 119, Keri Blakinger joins me to discuss her debut memoir, Corrections in Ink, a mind-blowing personal story, also speaks to the broader issues of addiction and women in the prison system. Keri went from being an elite figure skater in her youth to being arrested for possession of heroin while a student at Cornell, and then serving two years in the New York prison system. In her memoir, Keri is self-reflective, sharing what is ultimately a hopeful and redemptive story, despite the dark places it goes along the way.
This post contains affiliate links, through which I make a small commission when you make a purchase (at no cost to you!).
HighlightsTwo OLD Books She Loves
Two NEW Books She Loves
One Book She DIDN'T LOVE
One NEW RELEASE She's Excited About
Last 5-Star Book Keri Read
Mexican Gothic by Sylvia Moreno-Garcia | Amazon | Bookshop.org [47:20]
Keri Blakinger is a Texas-based investigative reporter and the author of the Corrections in Ink, a memoir tracing her path from figure skating to heroin addiction to prison and, finally, to life as a journalist covering mass incarceration. Currently reporting for The Marshall Project, her work covering criminal justice, has previously appeared in VICE, the New York Daily News, the BBC, and The New York Times. She previously worked for the Houston Chronicle and was a member of the Chronicle's Pulitzer-finalist team in 2018. Her 2019 coverage of women's jails for The Washington Post Magazine helped earn a National Magazine Award.
In Episode 118, Caroline Zancan, Senior Editor at Henry Holt, joins me for another episode in the Genre 101 series — this time with a twist. Caroline answers behind-the-scenes questions about editing literary fiction, as well as a deep dive into the genre itself.
This post contains affiliate links, through which I make a small commission when you make a purchase (at no cost to you!).
AnnouncementsTwo OLD Books She Loves
Two NEW Books She Loves
The Series of Books She DIDN'T Love
One NEW RELEASE She's Excited About
Last 5-Star Book Caroline Read
Caroline Zancan is a Senior Editor at Holt, acquiring literary and upmarket fiction and memoir, and the author of We Wish You Luck and Local Girls. She is a graduate of Kenyon College and holds an MFA from the Bennington Writing Seminars. Caroline lives in Brooklyn with her husband and their children.
In Episode 117, Annie Hartnett, author of Unlikely Animals, shares the intriguing backstory behind her new novel. She is wonderfully candid and shares interesting tidbits from the germ of the idea, through some of the editing process, all the way to the finished book and finding a publisher.
This post contains affiliate links, through which I make a small commission when you make a purchase (at no cost to you!).
HighlightsTwo OLD Books She Loves
Two NEW Books She Loves
One NEW RELEASE She's Excited About
Last 5-Star Book Annie Read
Sigh, Gone by Phuc Tran | Amazon | Bookshop.org : [46:26]
In addition to her new book, Unlikely Animals, Annie Hartnett is the author of Rabbit Cake, which was listed as one of Kirkus Reviews's Best Books of 2017 and a finalist for the New England Book Award. She has received fellowships from the MacDowell Colony, Sewanee Writers' Conference, and the Associates of the Boston Public Library. She studied philosophy at Hamilton College, has an MA from Middlebury College, and an MFA from the University of Alabama. When she began writing Unlikely Animals, she was living in the groundskeeper's house in a cemetery. She now lives in a small town in Massachusetts with her husband, daughter, and darling border collie, Mr. Willie Nelson.
In Episode 116, Susie Boutry (@NovelVisits) joins me to talk about niching down from traditional genre categories into the micro genres we love. Over the past year, I have picked up on some key themes and types of books that I can generally count on for successful reading. Today, we're putting them all in one special episode as Susie and I bring you a delightfully overflowing list of the micro genres that work for us, books from each, and why we love them. This post contains affiliate links, through which I make a small commission when you make a purchase (at no cost to you!). Micro Genres We Love [2:41] Books by Former or Current Attorneys [3:20] Sarah The Damage by Caitlin Wahrer | Amazon | Bookshop.org [5:08] & [6:11] Miracle Creek by Angie Kim | Amazon | Bookshop.org [6:13] A Good Marriage by Kimberly McCreight | Amazon | Bookshop.org [6:15] The Boys' Club by Erica Katz | Amazon | Bookshop.org [6:18] All Her Little Secrets by Wanda M. Morris | Amazon | Bookshop.org [6:20] The Eddie Flynn Series by Steve Cavanagh [6:24] The Bad Muslim Discount by Syed M. Masood | Amazon | Bookshop.org [6:29] Fake by Erica Katz | Amazon | Bookshop.org [6:44] What Comes After by JoAnne Tompkins | Amazon | Bookshop.org [6:52] Susie Whisper Network by Chandler Baker | Amazon | Bookshop.org [6:57] Frenzied but Favorable Family Dynamics [7:19] Sarah Commonwealth by Ann Patchett | Amazon | Bookshop.org [10:04] The Dutch House by Ann Patchett | Amazon | Bookshop.org [10:05] Ask Again, Yes by Mary Beth Keane | Amazon | Bookshop.org [10:39] Olympus, Texas by Stacey Swann | Amazon | Bookshop.org [10:44] Susie The Most Fun We Ever Had by Claire Lombardo | Amazon | Bookshop.org [8:31] The Children's Crusade by Ann Packer | Amazon | Bookshop.org [8:44] Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid | Amazon | Bookshop.org [9:07] French Braid by Anne Tyler | Amazon | Bookshop.org [9:13] The Family Tabor by Cherise Wolas | Amazon | Bookshop.org [9:16] Suspenseful Books That Are Not Truly Thrillers,But That Publishers Market as Thrillers [11:09] Sarah The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb | Amazon | Bookshop.org [12:47] My Sunshine Away by M. O. Walsh | Amazon | Bookshop.org [12:59] The Ballerinas by Rachel Kapelke-Dale | Amazon | Bookshop.org [13:31] The Cutting Season by Attica Locke | Amazon | Bookshop.org [13:46] You Should Have Known by Jean Hanff Korelitz (also retitled as The Undoing for the tie-in edition) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [14:00] Susie Our American Friend by Anna Pitoniak | Amazon | Bookshop.org [15:09] The Golden Couple by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen | Amazon | Bookshop.org [15:16] Hell No! Women's Stories [16:22] Sarah Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus | Amazon | Bookshop.org [19:01] Susie Circe by Madeline Miller | Amazon | Bookshop.org [17:27] The Change by Kirsten Miller | Amazon | Bookshop.org [17:33] The Book of Essie by Meghan MacLean Weir | Amazon | Bookshop.org [17:46] Songs in Ursa Major by Emma Brodie | Amazon | Bookshop.org [18:05] Hurricane Girl by Marcy Dermansky (June 14, 2022) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [18:12] City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert | Amazon | Bookshop.org [18:17] The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah | Amazon | Bookshop.org [18:40] Finlay Donovan Is Killing It by Elle Cosimano | Amazon | Bookshop.org [18:51] Historical Fiction About Women Breaking the Stereotypes and Limitations of Their Time [19:19] Sarah Loving Frank by Nancy Horan | Amazon | Bookshop.org [20:44] Circling the Sun by Paula McLain | Amazon | Bookshop.org [21:13] The Secrets We Kept by Lara Prescott | Amazon | Bookshop.org [21:24] The Lunar Housewife by Caroline Woods (June 14, 2022) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [21:31] Susie Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead | Amazon | Bookshop.org [21:46] The Age of Light by Whitney Scharer | Amazon | Bookshop.org [22:06] Literary Angst [22:41] Sarah Seven Days in June by Tia Williams | Amazon | Bookshop.org [25:55] The Roughest Draft by Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka | Amazon | Bookshop.org [26:08] Book Lovers by Emily Henry | Amazon | Bookshop.org [26:35] Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott | Amazon | Bookshop.org [27:07] On Writing by Stephen King | Amazon | Bookshop.org [27:11] What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami | Amazon | Bookshop.org [27:16] I Came All This Way to Meet You by Jami Attenberg | Amazon | Bookshop.org [27:26] Susie Writers & Lovers by Lily King | Amazon | Bookshop.org [23:51] Groundskeeping by Lee Cole | Amazon | Bookshop.org [24:00] We Wish You Luck by Caroline Zancan | Amazon | Bookshop.org [24:09] Hell of a Book by Jason Mott | Amazon | Bookshop.org [24:27] Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney | Amazon | Bookshop.org [25:29] Oral Histories [28:13] Sarah Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid | Amazon | Bookshop.org [29:21] The Final Revival of Opal & Nev by Dawnie Walton | Amazon | Bookshop.org [29:23] Live From New York by James Andrew Miller and Tom Shales | Amazon | Bookshop.org [30:40] These Guys Have All the Fun by James Andrew Miller and Tom Shales | Amazon | Bookshop.org [30:51] From Scratch by Allen Salkin | Amazon | Bookshop.org [31:13] The Only Plane in the Sky by Garrett M. Graff | Amazon | Bookshop.org [31:20] The Office by Andy Greene | Amazon | Bookshop.org [31:29] Bourdain by Laurie Woolever | Amazon | Bookshop.org [31:33] Voice From the Pandemic by Eli Saslow | Amazon | Bookshop.org [31:57] Trust No One [33:45] Sarah Who is Maud Dixon? by Alexandra Andrews | Amazon | Bookshop.org [37:35] Tangerine by Christine Mangan | Amazon | Bookshop.org [37:43] Susie I'm Thinking of Ending Things by Ian Reid | Amazon | Bookshop.org [35:25] Foe by Ian Reid | Amazon | Bookshop.org [35:33] Based on a True Story by Delphine de Vigan | Amazon | Bookshop.org [36:00] Cover Story by Susan Rigetti | Amazon | Bookshop.org [36:39] Sunburn by Laura Lippman | Amazon | Bookshop.org [36:53] Anonymous Girl by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen | Amazon | Bookshop.org [36:59] Two Nights in Lisbon by Chris Pavone | Amazon | Bookshop.org [37:03] Badass Female Athlete Fiction / Competition Novels [38:09] Sarah The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb | Amazon | Bookshop.org [41:37] The Ballerinas by Rachel Kapelke-Dale | Amazon | Bookshop.org [41:51] The Turnout by Megan Abbott | Amazon | Bookshop.org [42:02] The Unraveling of Mercy Louis by Keija Parssinen | Amazon | Bookshop.org [42:23] Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley | Amazon | Bookshop.org [42:41] Home or Away by Kathleen West | Amazon | Bookshop.org [42:46] Carrie Soto Is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid (August 30, 2022) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [43:07] We Came Here to Forget by Andrea Dunlop | Amazon | Bookshop.org [43:36] Faithful Friends / Ensembles [44:05] Sarah The Other's Gold by Elizabeth Ames | Amazon | Bookshop.org [48:10] Shotgun Lovesongs by Nickolas Butler | Amazon | Bookshop.org [49:25] Susie The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer | Amazon | Bookshop.org [45:45] A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara | Amazon | Bookshop.org [46:08] The Dearly Beloved by Cara Wall | Amazon | Bookshop.org [46:25] The Ensemble by Aja Gabel | Amazon | Bookshop.org [46:44] Beyond the Point by Claire Gibson | Amazon | Bookshop.org [47:44] Other Books Mentioned Smacked by Eilene Zimmerman [4:20] Dare Me by Megan Abbott [13:39] Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll [13:41] One Day in September by Simon Reeve [32:23] We Spread by Ian Reid (September 27, 2022) [35:53] About Susie Boutry Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram Susie has loved reading for as long as she can remember. Some of her fondest childhood memories involve long afternoons at the library and then reading late into the night. More than ten years ago, she began journaling about the books she read and turned that passion into writing about books. Her first forays were as a guest reviewer on a friend's blog, but she soon realized she wanted to be reviewing and talking about books on a blog of her own. From there, Novel Visits was born. That was in 2016 and, though the learning curve was steep, she loves being a part of the book community. Novel Visits focuses on new novel reviews (print and audio), previews of upcoming releases, and musings on all things bookish.
Full show notes at the publisherIn Episode 115, Bonnie Garmus, author of Lessons in Chemistry, discusses the inspiration behind her best-selling debut novel, sexism in the workplace, and the story behind Six-Thirty the dog. Plus, Bonnie's book recommendations!
This post contains affiliate links, through which I make a small commission when you make a purchase (at no cost to you!).
Introducing Summer Shelves (a companion to my Summer Reading Guide)…
Two OLD Books She Loves
Two NEW Books She Loves
One Book She DIDN'T LOVE
One NEW RELEASE She's Excited About
Last 5-Star Book Bonnie Read
Nightbitch by Rachel Yoder | Amazon | Bookshop.org [38:25]
Bonnie Garmus is a copywriter and creative director who has worked widely in the fields of technology, medicine, and education. She's an open-water swimmer, a rower, and mother to two pretty amazing daughters. Born in California and most recently from Seattle, she currently lives in London with her husband and her dog, 99. Lessons in Chemistry is her first novel.
Welcome to the Summer 2022 Book Preview with Catherine of Gilmore Guide to Books!
In this episode, Catherine and I share our most anticipated books coming out June through mid-August.
This post contains affiliate links, through which I make a small commission when you make a purchase (at no cost to you!).
Introducing Summer Shelves (a companion to my Summer Reading Guide)…June
Sarah's Picks:
Catherine's Picks:
July
Sarah's Picks:
Catherine's Picks:
August
Sarah's Pick:
Catherine's Pick:
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Catherine started The Gilmore Guide to Books over 6 years ago after wrapping up a career as a corporate librarian. She loves books and reading (surprise!) and currently lives in Ann Arbor, MI.
In the Spring 2022 Book Preview, Catherine (Gilmore Guide to Books) and I shared our most anticipated books that released April – May 2022. In today's episode, we're circling back to update you on the books we've had a chance to read — or at least attempted. Given my ongoing success rate with spring releases, I'm starting to wonder if that is just the best season for my type of books!
This post contains affiliate links, through which I make a small commission when you make a purchase (at no cost to you!).
Introducing Summer Shelves (a companion to my Summer Reading Guide)…Sarah's Picks:
Catherine's Pick:
April
Sarah's Picks:
Catherine's Picks:
May
Sarah's Pick:
Catherine's Picks:
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Catherine started The Gilmore Guide to Books over 6 years ago after wrapping up a career as a corporate librarian. She loves books and reading (surprise!) and currently lives in Ann Arbor, MI.
Susie Boutry (@NovelVisits) and I share our favorite books that missed last year's Summer Reading Guides, some deep backlist books we think are great for summer reading, and our #1 picks for four categories featured in Sarah's 2022 Summer Reading Guide.
This post contains affiliate links, through which I make a small commission when you make a purchase (at no cost to you!).
Introducing Summer Shelves (a companion to my Summer Reading Guide)…Sarah
Susie
Sarah
Susie
Something Light / Fun
Something Fast Paced / Intense
Something with a Bit More Substance
Something Different
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Susie has loved reading for as long as she can remember. Some of her fondest childhood memories involve long afternoons at the library and then reading late into the night. More than ten years ago, she began journaling about the books she read and turned that passion into writing about books. Her first forays were as a guest reviewer on a friend's blog, but she soon realized she wanted to be reviewing and talking about books on a blog of her own. From there, Novel Visits was born. That was in 2016 and, though the learning curve was steep, she loves being a part of the book community. Novel Visits focuses on new novel reviews (print and audio), previews of upcoming releases, and musings on all things bookish.
In Episode 111, Dolen Perkins-Valdez (author of Take My Hand) shares details about the real-life events that inspired the book about a tragic story and historical landmark in the battle for women's rights. Dolen also talks about her research methods and a couple of key themes from the book. Take My Hand was a 5-star book for me and will be one of my favorite books of 2022!
This post contains affiliate links, through which I make a small commission when you make a purchase (at no cost to you!).
HighlightsTwo OLD Books She Loves
Two NEW Books She Loves
One Book She DIDN'T LOVE
One NEW RELEASE She's Excited About
Last 5-Star Book Dolen Read
Miss Chloe by A. J. Verdelle (May 10) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [45:22]
Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
Dolen Perkins-Valdez is the New York Times bestselling author of Wench and Balm. She was a finalist for two NAACP Image Awards and the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award for fiction, and she was awarded the First Novelist Award by the Black Caucus of the American Library Association. Dolen is the current Chair of the Board of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation. On behalf of the foundation, she has visited nearly every public high school in the District of Columbia to talk about the importance of reading and writing. She is currently Associate Professor in the Literature Department at American University and lives in Washington, DC with her family.
In Episode 110, Mary Laura Philpott (author of Bomb Shelter) joins me for a deep dive into the memoir & essays genre, including the differences between a memoir and an essay collection, the level of involvement from editors and publishers, and how she personally approaches writing a memoir or essays.
This post contains affiliate links, through which I make a small commission when you make a purchase (at no cost to you!).
HighlightsTwo OLD Books She Loves
Two NEW Books She Loves
The CURRENT READING TREND She DOESN'T Love [45:35]
One NEW RELEASE She's Excited About
Last 5-Star Book Mary Laura Read
Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
Mary Laura Philpott is the author of the brand-new memoir, Bomb Shelter: Love, Time, and Other Explosives, which has been named an Indie Next pick by booksellers nationwide, an Amazon Editor's Choice selection, and a best book of the spring or most anticipated book of the year by publications ranging from the Washington Post to TODAY.com, among others. She is also the author of the national bestseller I Miss You When I Blink — which was named one of NPR's Favorite Books of 2019 and a finalist for the Southern Book Prize. Her writing has been featured by The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, and other publications. Additionally, Mary Laura (yes, she goes by both names) is a former bookseller and was an Emmy-winning co-host of A Word on Words, the literary interview program on Nashville Public Television. She lives in Nashville, Tennessee, with her family.
Our TOPPODCAST Picks 
