Episodes

In this interview, I chat with Katherine Reay about The Berlin Letters , setting a story during the Cold War and the fall of the Berlin Wall, what surprised her the most when writing this one, why the Cold War …

In this interview, I chat with Deborah Jackson Taffa about Whiskey Tender , telling an intersectional story, portraying blended backgrounds versus oversimplifying the Native experience, weaving history into her own story, wha...

In this interview, I chat with Amanda Churchill about The Turtle House , how this story is inspired by her grandmother's life, incorporating a Minogame into the book, deciding on Lia's career path, telling an intergenerationa...

In this interview, I chat with Robin Oliveira about A Wild and Heavenly Place , how she set out to write an epic love story, creating a strong sense of place, her title and cover, understanding her characters' motivations, sh...

In this interview, I chat with Brandy Schillace about The Framed Women of Ardemore House , writing a mystery series, creating an authentic neurodiverse character, her title and cover, how she named the house in the book, her ...

In this interview, I chat with Karen Outen about Dixon, Descending, how she came upon with the idea for this story, the mental component of climbing Mt. Everest, her research and the way she depicts the mountain, having to decide …

In this interview, I chat with Jessica Bryant Klagmann about This Impossible Brightness, how she came up with the idea for this novel, climate change and incorporating it into the story, focusing on the idea of listening, echoes, genre mashups, …

In this Behind the Scenes interview, Adam Vitcavage and I chat about Debutiful, how Debutiful got started, his First Taste Reading series, why he focuses on debuts, why he doesn't believe in spoilers, how he decides who to interview, and …

In this interview, I chat with ReShonda Tate about The Queen of Sugar Hill, how she became interested enough in Hattie McDaniel to write about her, how Hattie opened doors for others, the research she did for the book, how …

In this interview, I chat with Benjamin Stevenson about Everyone On This Train Is a Suspect, subverting the unreliable narrator trope, setting this book on the Ghan and his trips on the train, creating homages to Golden Age mysteries, weaving …

In this interview, I chat with Laurie Frankel about Family Family, exploring adoption in a positive manner, her research, unpacking the idea of chosen family, infusing humor into her stories, cancel culture, how much the book transformed over time, and …

In this interview, I chat with Karl Marlantes about Cold Victory, how he came up with the idea for this story, why the Cold War enthralls people even today, his title and cover, educating people about the past because it …

In this interview, I chat with Julie Chavez about Everyone But Myself, her publishing journey including working with Zibby Books, what surprised her the most about writing a memoir, how involved the editing process can be, her title and cover, …

In this interview, I chat with Amy Pease about Northwoods, writing about addiction and how her health care background helped her depict it authentically on the page, why she decided to write a mystery, getting the cover right for the …

For today’s episode, I am running an episode of one of my favorite podcasts, Book Bumble. This is their Episode 7 of Season 2 and focuses on the theme of surprises.

In lieu of my January Behind the Scenes episode, today I am running a joint episode with Victoria Wood, founder of Bibliolifestyle and The Reader’s Couch, and Amy Allen Clark, founder of MomAdvice.com and the Book Gang podcast. We are …

In this interview, I chat with Ashley Elston about First Lie Wins, how she came up with the idea for this one, switching to adult fiction from YA, focusing on identity, the screen adaptation of the book, incorporating technology into …

In this episode, I reminisce about some of my favorite episodes of 2023: Amanda Peters about The Berry Pickers Hugh Howey about Wool Alice Hoffman about The Invisible Hour Pip Williams about The Bookbinder Bruce Borgos about ...

In this episode, Kelly Hooker and I discuss our favorite books of 2023. Kelly’s Selections: Favorite Book of the Year : Go As a River by Shelley Read Best Book To Recommend to Anyone: The Mostly True Story of Tanner …

Mary and Pamela join me to discuss their recommended reads for Winter 2024. Mary’s Selections: Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar You Only Call When You're In Trouble by Stephen McCauley Mercury by Amy Jo Burns Family Family by Laurie Fr...

In this interview, I chat with Jon Clinch about The General and Julia , how he decided to write about Ulysses S. Grant, the impact Samuel Clemens had on the publishing of Grant's memoirs, how he structured the story, preservi...

In this episode, Thoughts from a Page listeners share their favorite reads of 2023: Kristen Smith - The wishing Game by Meg Shaffer Karen McNamara - The Road to Dalton by Shannon Bowring Jayda Justus - After Anne: A Novel …

In this episode, I revisit some of my favorite Behind the Scenes conversations from 2023.

In this interview, I chat with Katie Cotugno about Meet the Benedettos , her love of Pride and Prejudice, taking on the challenge of a reimagining of a classic, choosing character names, reality TV and its cultural impact tod...