It's one of our listeners’ favorite shows: a review of books that made (or should have made) the best-seller lists of 2017.
Guests: Joshua Bodwell, Executive Director of the Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance
Elizabeth Pohl, Director of the Lithgow Public Library
Ari Gersen, owner of Longfellow Books
Here is a list of some of the books mentioned on the show:
Here are the books recommended on today's program, "Best and Overlooked Books" of the year. Panelist recommendations first... then listener recommendations, in no particular order. Scroll through!!
From Besty Pohl, Director of the Lithgow Public Library:
Fiction
Mrs. Fletcher, by Tom Perrotta
The Arrangement, by Sarah Dunn
Little Fires Everywhere, by Celeste Ng
The Power, by Naomi Alderman
Knife Creek, by Paul Doiron
Bluebird, Bluebird, by Attica Locke
The Forgotten Girls, by Owen Laukkanen
Since We Fell, by Dennis Lehane
The Switch, by Joseph Finder
Nonfiction
Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI, by David Grann
Logical Family, by Armistead Maupin
Roots, Radicals and Rockers: How Skiffle Changed the World, by Billy Bragg
No One Cares About Crazy People: The Chaos and Heartbreak of Mental Health in America
Megafire: The Race to Extinguish a Deadly Epidemic of Flame, by Michael Kodas
From Ari Gersen, Owner of Longfellow Books:
Spoonbenders, Daryl Gregory
Underground Airlines, Ben H Winters
Golden Hill, Francis Spufford
In the Shadow of the Sun, Anne Sibley Obrien
Young Adult
Astrophysics for People in a Hurry, Neil Degrasse Tyson
David Seders, Theft by Finding: Diaries 1977-2002
From Joshua Bodwell, Executive Director of the Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance -
THE ACCOMPLISHED GUEST, Ann Beattie
BETWEEN THEM: REMEMBERING MY PARENTS, Richard Ford
THE SUMMER BOOK, Tove Jansson
THE RIDER, Tim Krabbé
THE HILLS OF TUSCANY: A NEW LIFE IN AN OLD LAND, Ferenc Máté
AMERICAN RUST, Philipp Meyer
McSORLEY’S WONDERFUL SALOON, Joseph Mitchell
AM I ALONE HERE? : NOTES ON LIVING TO READ AND READING TO LIVE, Peter Orner
THE ORCHARD, Adele Crockett Robertson
TRAJECTORY, Richard Russo
THE WORLD TO COME, Jim Shepard
LEAN ON PETE, Willy Vlautin
2017 BONUS LISTS!
Favorite Publisher of the Year - DAVID R. GODINE
Best Poetry Collection of the Year - THE UNFASTENING, by Wesley McNair
Best Reissues of the Year - SO LONG: STORIES 1987-1992, by Lucia Berlin
WHERE I LIVE NOW: STORIES 1993-1998, by Lucia Berlin
Favorite Craft of Writing Read - THE ART OF FICTION, by James Salter
Stellar Books On Books Reads - AVID READER, by Robert Gottlieb
THE ACCIDENTAL LIFE: An Editor’s Notes on Writing and Writers, by Terry McDonell
BARNEY: Grove Press and Barney Rosset, America’s Maverick Publisher and His Battle against Censorship, by Michael Rosenthal
Totally Nerdy Reads - WHEN PEOPLE PUBLISH: ESSAYS ON WRITERS & WRITING, by Frederick Busch
(ALTERNATIVE) LITERARY PUBLISHING: FIVE MODERN HISTORIES by Sally Dennison
Mega Nerdy Reads - A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE BLACK SPARROW PRESS 1966-1978 Bradford Morrow & Seamus Cooney, with a Foreword by Robert Kelly
A CHECKLIST OF THE FIRST ONE HUNDRED PUBLICATIONS OF THE BLACK SPARROW PRESS, by Seamus Cooney, with 30 Passing Remarks by Robert Kelly
Why Hadn’t I Read This Year’s Ago? DREAMS FROM BUNKER HILL by John Fante
Beloved English Pamphlets Reads - ENGLAND YOUR ENGLAND by George Orwell
POLITICS AND THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE by George Orwell
Hate-Read of the Year: THE STRANGER IN THE WOODS: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit, by Michael Finkel
Begun But Abandoned, i.e. Almost Read
THE SHEPHERD’S LIFE, James Rebanks
GREAT SHORT READS!
“Intervention” by Lewis Robinson (The Baffler, No. 35)
“The Floating Christmas Tree” by Frederick Busch, from When People Publish
“The Bookshop Strikes Back” by Ann Patchett
“The Gifts of Reading” by Robert MacFarlane
“Points of Intersection: A Conversation with Geoffrey & Tobias Wolff” (Zyzzyva, No. 107)
RECOMMENDATIONS FROM LISTENERS:
DESERT BOYS, by Chris McCormick
THE NAME OF THE WIND, by Patrick Rothfuss
BIRDS WITHOUT WINGS, by Louis de Bernières
SIGN OF THE APOCALYPSE, by John Getchell
STILL LIFE, by Louise Penny
OPERATION GLADIO: THE UNHOLY ALLIANCE BETWEEN THE VATICAN, THE CIA AND THE MAFIA, by Paul L. Williams
EVICTED, by Matthew Desmond
HARD CHANCE, by Peter Pfeiffer
FIRST IN, by Gary Schroen
HEAD OF FALLS, THE DAM COMMITTEE (2 different books), by Earl H. Smith
WHAT UNITES US, by Dan Rather and Elliot Kirschner
SMALL GREAT THINGS, by Jodi Picoult
THE NAME JAR (Children's Book), by Yangsook Choi
BARK SKINS, by Annie Proulx
LOVE AND OTHER CONSOLATION PRIZES, by Jamie Ford
BROOKLYN ENCOUNTERS, by John Simonds
SO YOU'VE BEEN PUBLICLY SHAMED (audiobook recommendation!), by John Ronson
THE LILAC GIRLS, by Martha Hall Kelly
THE ALICE NETWORK, by Kate Quinn
THE NIGHTINGALE, by Kristin Hannah
THE RENT COLLECTOR, by Camron Wright