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Read ME: Maine Authors Discuss Their Work & Recommend Good Reads

macmillan.com/encirclepub.com

Read ME is a statewide summer reading program offered by the Maine Humanities Counciland Maine State Library with the goal of getting Mainers to all read the same books. Each year a well known Maine author recommends two titles. This year, Gerry Boyle is recommending Mill Town by Kerri Arsenault and Mainely Power by Matt Cost. We will discuss those two books and get recommendations for other books to read this summer.

Panelists:
Gerry Boyle, author of 15 mystery novels, including the dozen installments in the Jack McMorrow series.
Kerri Arsenault, book critic and editor; author of Mill Town: Reckoning with What Remains
Matt Cost, author of Mainely Power, the first of the Mainely Mystery trilogy featuring private detective Goff Langdon

VIP Callers:
Gigi Georges, author of Downeast: Five Maine Girls and the Unseen Story of Rural America
Stephanie Mulligan, owner, McSea Books

Resources:
Maine Calling interview with Kerri Arsenault about Mill Town
For more about Gerry Boyle's award-winning crime novels: http://gerryboyle.com
To learn more about William Carpenter's new novel, Silence: https://www.islandportpress.com/product-page/silence
For more about the reissue of Ruth Moore's Candlemas Bay: https://www.islandportpress.com/product-page/candlemas-bay
For more on Amy Bass's book One Goal: https://www.amybass.net/one-goal

Below are the books mentioned during the show. Happy reading!

Kerri Arsenault, author of Mill Town: Reckoning with What Remains, recommends:

The Divorce by Cesar Aira
The Hard Crowd: Essays 2000-2020 by Rachel Kushner
The Penguin Book of the Modern American Short Story edited by John Freeman
The Every by Dave Eggers (forthcoming)
The Tiny Bee That Hovers at the Center of the World by David Searcy (forthcoming)

Kerri also mentioned:
Beneficence by Meredith Hall* (former All Books Considered pick).

Matt Cost, author of Mainely Power recommends:

Aliens, Dry Wall and a Unicycle, by Kevin St. Jarre*
Within Plain Sight, by Bruce Robert Coffin*
The Perfect Daughter, by Joseph Souza*

Matt’s forthcoming books: Mainely Angst, the next in his Mainely Power series, and Love in a Time of Hate

Gigi Georges, author of Downeast: Five Maine Girls and the Unseen Story of Rural America, recommends:

The Lowering Days, by Gregory Brown*
Landslide, by Susan Conley*

Stephanie Mulligan, owner of McSea Books, mentioned:
How To Catch A Keeper, by Stephanie Mulligan* (children’s book)
Shredding Paper: The Rise and Fall of Maine's Mighty Paper Industry, by Michael G. Hillard*

From listeners:

Deadly Trespass, Sandra Neily*
Deadly Turn, Sandra Neily*
The Power of Giving Away Power, by Matthew Barzun
Little Big Year: Chasing Acadia’s Birds, by Richard MacDonald*
Ring Shout, by P.Djeli Clark
The Echo Wife, by Sarah Gailey
Dogs vs. Aliens, Robert Ristino*
Nightingale, by Deva Fagan*
The Midnight Library, by Matt Haig
Shuggie Bain, by Douglas Stuart
Normal People, by Sally Rooney
Detective Byron series, by Bruce Robert Coffin*
The Field House: A Writer's Life Lost and Found on an Island in Maine, by Robin Clifford Wood*

From our social media:

From tcobelle via Instagram: Finding Freedom, by Erin French*
From Kelly Vaillancourt via Facebook: Strong for Potatoes, by Cynthia Thayer*
From Alexander Carson via Facebook: authors Regina Welling* and Erin Lynn*

*Titles marked with an asterisk denote books from Maine authors.


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Jonathan was born in Monsey, New York. A field trip to Washington, DC when he was in 7th grade started him on his circuitous path to a career in public radio. The trip inspired a love of politics and led to his desire to one day call DC home. After graduating from Grinnell College, he worked on a couple of campaigns in Iowa (presidential and congressional) and moved to Washington, DC.