Kousha Navidar: This is All Of It on WNYC. I'm Kousha Navidar. I'm in for Alison Stewart, who is on vacation right now. We are opening the phones this hour. Later on the show, we want to know what you are doing this weekend. That's coming up in about 25 minutes. Get ready to shout out your plans. Plus, if your plans include watching the finale of Severance, we are going to be talking about it on the show on Monday. Be sure to tune in then. That's all in the future. Let's get this hour started with spring books. March, April, and May are major months in the publishing world.

Many of the year's most hotly anticipated new books will be released in the upcoming weeks, from Ocean Vuong's new novel to a new book from master biographer Ron Chernow. Let's talk about some of the spring's most exciting new books with Jordan Loff, All Of It and Get Lit producer. I am very lucky that she is sitting right across the table from me. Jordan, hello.

Jordan Lauf: Hello, Kousha. So fun to be right here with you.

Kousha Navidar: It's fun to have you. Listeners, we want to hear from you, too. What book are you reading right now and loving? What's a book that you want to recommend to our listeners? Give us a call at 212-433-9692. That's 212-433-WNYC. We're taking your book recommendations. Give us a call. Send us a text. That's 212-433-9692. All right. Jordan, before we get into your list, are there any big trends that you're seeing this spring?

Jordan Lauf: I think the trend I'm seeing which is perfect for Women's History Month is that women writers are releasing just great acclaimed novels. You've got a new book from Karen Russell. You've got a new book from Katie Kitamura. You've got a new one from Laila Lalami. All coming out in the next couple weeks if they're not out already. It's always nice to see women taking center stage during Women's History Month in the publishing world.

Kousha Navidar: That's wonderful. Are other people talking about that? Is that something that you've just noticed?

Jordan Lauf: It's something that I've just noticed and I've been trying to figure out whether it's just something I gravitate towards naturally. Am I more drawn to women writers? No. Even if you look at the lists of most anticipated books, a lot of them are female-centric this year and I think that's great.

Kousha Navidar: That's awesome. I also hear that you have a tip, which I'm very interested in. I want to know this. You have a tip for how to follow the schedule of new books in the spring, right?

Jordan Lauf: Yes. Something that I've learned just from working on booking the show that I realized maybe people don't know is that most new releases come out on Tuesdays. The publishing industry tends to release all of their new books on a Tuesday. That means that if you are trying to stay on top of the newest of the new, you want hot off the press, you want the stuff that just got released, you should go to your bookstore on Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday.

Don't go Tuesday morning. I made this mistake once when the new Sally Rooney came out. I showed up to my bookstore bright and early, like 9 AM. I was like, "I'm here for the new Sally Rooney." They're like, "It's not here yet. We haven't gotten the mail." Sometimes, the mail comes on a Tuesday afternoon. I would say Tuesday after work to Wednesday morning, that's when you're getting like the brand new books.

Kousha Navidar: Did you just hang out at the bookstore for another 12 hours?

Jordan Lauf: Oh, no. I came back later in the afternoon. They're like, "Didn't we see you already?" I'm like, "Yes, I'm back."

Kousha Navidar: Jordan, do they know you by name at your local bookstore?

Jordan Lauf: Yes, actually, they do because I know the owner.

Kousha Navidar: Okay. Humble brag.

[laughter]

Kousha Navidar: We're going to get to calls real fast. Before we do, I want to bring up at least one fiction book that I'm very interested in. Jordan, the biggest story right now in publishing is the release of the new Hunger Games book. I'm a fan of the Hunger Games series. What can you tell us about Sunrise on the Reaping?

Jordan Lauf: Yes. I have to say, I get a little skeptical of prequels, especially of a series that is as beloved as The Hunger Games. I was big into those books as a kid. I read them all. I think they're really excellent. I've reread them as an adult. Suzanne Collins does a really, really good job of writing stuff for kids that's challenging and scary, but also just so well written and doesn't dumb anything down.

This new prequel is actually getting fantastic reviews. It just got a rave in The New York Times, which I was so happy to see. People are so excited about this book that they're dressing up like characters from the books to go to the bookstore and get it, which I feel is something I haven't seen since Harry Potter or Twilight or whatever. This one is set in the 50th annual Hunger Games, and it is all about Haymitch Abernathy, who, if you're a fan of The Hunger Games, you know him as Woody Harrelson in the movies.

Or in the books, he is Peeta and Katniss's mentor. He's an alcoholic who's struggling, clearly, with the trauma from his time in the games. In this book, we learn what he went through in those 50th annual Hunger Games. I was just really excited to see it get such good reviews.

Kousha Navidar: Yes, absolutely. I feel like I have to go back and refresh my memory of what happened in The Hunger-- Or maybe I don't because it's the prequel and I can just dive in.

Jordan Lauf: Yes, exactly. You can go straight in.

Kousha Navidar: Folks, we are taking your calls about spring books that you're most excited about or just, hey, books you're excited about this spring. We want to hear from you. What's a book you're reading and loving? We're here with producer Jordan Lauf to give a bunch of recommendations. If you have one, give us a call. We're at 212-433-9692. That's 212-433-WNYC. Let's go to our first caller, Muriel in South Orange, New Jersey. Muriel, hey, what are you reading? What do you want to recommend?

Muriel: I would love to recommend a memoir called The Harder I Fight the More I Love You by Neko Case. It's just an amazing book. I've so enjoyed it. I always liked her music, but she's an incredible writer and honest. Just [inaudible 00:05:49] recommend it.

Kousha Navidar: Wonderful. Thank you so much, Muriel. I want to point out Neko Case was on All Of It, talking about this book on January 28th, 2025. I didn't know that off the top of my head. Somebody gave me that note. Just credit where credit is due.

Jordan Lauf: [laughs] Wow, you've really been listening since you've been gone.

Kousha Navidar: I am very dedicated to this job, Jordan. You should know that. People can go back and listen to that convo. Anything you want to say about Muriel's call about that book?

Jordan Lauf: I didn't get to read it personally, but we did have a great conversation with Neko Case, and I'm such a fan of her music. I think that sounds great.

Kousha Navidar: Thanks so much for that call, Muriel. We got a text, "Loving this short story collection. Short stories, so underrated. The Office of Historical Corrections: A Novella and Stories by Danielle Evans." Let's go to some more of your recommendations, Jordan. Let's talk about new novels for adults, starting with one that's out this week. What can you tell us about O Sinners! by Nicole Cuffy?

Jordan Lauf: This is about a cult. I love books about cults. It follows a journalist who becomes embedded with a cult that is led by a charismatic Black Vietnam War veteran who is leading this group that ends up in a conflict with a fundamentalist church in the area. This journalist embeds with them for what he thinks is going to be maybe a couple days or a couple weeks, and he ends up being there for a couple months, just following the cult and the story of this leader and also grieving the loss of someone in his life who was a devout Muslim and grappling with ideas of faith and belief and trying to sort out what this cult is all about and what these ideas are that draw people in and want them to follow this leader.

I'm always really interested in the psychology behind groups like this. I think this is what will be a great novel for people who are interested in that kind of thing.

Kousha Navidar: Yes, that's what draws you towards the theme of cults in general, is just what gets people there in the first place.

Jordan Lauf: Exactly.

Kousha Navidar: Up next, there's a debut novel you're really excited about. It's set in Unified Korea, is that right?

Jordan Lauf: Yes. This is Luminous by Silvia Park. I believe it's out now. I actually was able to hear a little bit of Silvia speaking about this book a couple months ago, and I was really impressed with how they were describing their process and the creative intention behind the book. This is set in a future where North and South Korea have become reunified. It's also a future in which robots are incredibly lifelike. It follows these two siblings whose parents were pioneers in the robotics space.

They actually grew up with a robot brother who, again, was so lifelike and part of their family. Then, one day he disappeared. The book is following these two siblings as they're trying to figure out what's happened to their brother. Maybe he's still "alive". I don't know what that means for robots, but maybe he's still out there somewhere and they have to see if they want to find him. I was fascinated by this article in The New York Times about this woman who fell in love with an AI boyfriend. I think we're closer than we might think to the future that's being depicted in this book. I think for people who like a little bit of speculative fiction, this would be a really good option.

Kousha Navidar: Absolutely. It sounds so fascinating. Let's take some more calls. We've got Maria in Lower East Side. Hey, Maria, welcome to the show.

Marja: It's Marja.

Kousha Navidar: Oh, Marja. Sorry, I was reading your pronouncer wrong. My apologizes. Marja, how are you doing?

Marja: It's a Finnish name. Yes, Marja. Thanks. I wanted to recommend this book that I recently acquired. It's called Mondrian. It's about the painter. I'm actually from the Netherlands and moved here as an artist. I was so interested in reading this book because it's about the life and his work, how he travels from Amsterdam to Paris and eventually escapes the World War II and lands here in New York. Some of what he's going through and what he's fighting for and his work and the times that were changing so rapidly in a way is a translate to what I could say what might be going on with some people in their lives right now.

It felt very interesting to be reading about a writer from, say, the 1910, 1920, who died later here in New York. His work is amazing. It's called Mondrian: His Life, His Art, His Quest for the Absolute. It's written by Nicholas Fox Weber.

Kousha Navidar: Wonderful. Marja, thank you so much for that call. Really appreciate it. Let's hear some more recommendations. Let's go to Mark in Union County, New Jersey. Mark, hey. Welcome to the show.

Mark: Hello.

Kousha Navidar: Hi. What's your recommendation?

Mark: It's not a new spring book, but it's an older novel, Straight Man by Russo. I told the screener one of the most interesting things-- I read a lot of fiction. Anyway, there's one of the most interesting characters. It's a lesser character, not a lead character, but it's hilarious. He's courting or he's pursuing the protagonist's mother as a friend. He says instead of tarpaulin, he says tarkalin but the son knows what he's talking about because he does malapropisms. It's just interesting. Guy drives a truck and-

Kousha Navidar: What's the name of the book, Mark?

Mark: Straight Man.

Kousha Navidar: Straight Man by Russo. Thank you so much for that recommendation. Let's go to one more caller before we turn it back to you, Jordan. Saeeda in Queens. Hi, Saeeda, welcome to the show.

Saeeda: Hey. How are you? Thank you for having me. I appreciate the segment. I just wanted to share that I have a 7-year-old son who wakes up at 6 AM just so he can read a book. What kind of books he's crazy excited to read? Manga. He is super addicted to this thing called Demon Slayer. It's a crazy thing, but we've hunted together over the past two weeks different libraries that actually have the series in order. [laughs] It's just wonderful, in an age of super screen, to see just that return to the page. I just wanted to share that and say that, yes, there are ways-

Kousha Navidar: Yes. Saeeda, thank you so much for that. I don't think this is TMI, but your son and I have something in common because we both like Demon Slayer. That's really great. Happy reading. I hope you guys are able to hunt down all the copies of that manga that you're looking for. Jordan, I'll turn it back to you. There's another debut novel you're looking forward to. This one is titled Big Chief by Jon Hickey. What makes you excited about this one?

Jordan Lauf: This one is sort of being described as a political thriller about a tribal election. That's just something I don't know much about. Our internal tribal politics from the very little I've read, I know it can get very intense and there are all sorts of different, depending on the tribal nation, rules about who is allowed to be in the nation and what running for an office there looks like.

I also got a chance to meet Jon Hickey and he said that a lot of this was inspired by a family member's experience in tribal politics as a member of a tribe that his family is a part of. I just think that's an interesting new take on a political thriller. I think that one is out on April 8th.

Kousha Navidar: I know because we talked about this beforehand, but April 8th seems to be a very important date for books.

Jordan Lauf: Remember that thing I said about Tuesday?

Kousha Navidar: There you go.

Jordan Lauf: It's a Tuesday in the beginning of April and April is a big book publishing month. It seems like all the publishers have decided like, "Hey, every exciting book that we have, April 8th, that's where it's going." Again, April 8th or 9th, if you want to head to the bookstore, you'll have a whole new selection of things to choose from.

Kousha Navidar: We got to take a break. Before we do, I want to know, April 8th being such a big day, are there any other books that you want to highlight from that day?

Jordan Lauf: Oh, there are so many. I will pick one that I think we won't have the chance to talk about more on the show since it's a work of translated literature. This one is titled Perspective(s) by Laurent Binet, who is a French writer. It's translated by Sam Taylor. This author has some really interesting books. My partner really enjoyed his last novel, Civilizations, which was a counterfactual history about Incas and Martin Luther and Conquistadors.

He really likes these offbeat speculative fiction almost versions of history. This one is also historical. It's a murder mystery set in Renaissance Florence. It is about a master painter like a da Vinci or a Michelangelo, who's found murdered underneath this big fresco he's been working on. On the fresco, a goddess is painted with the face of Marie de' Medici, a daughter of the leaders of Florence. What does it all mean? Is she connected to the death? Who killed him? What's going on? I love Renaissance Italy. I love a murder mystery. Bang, the two together.

Kousha Navidar: It's got everything you want.

Jordan Lauf: It's got everything you want.

Kousha Navidar: If there's a cult, even better for you.

Jordan Lauf: Exactly. Maybe he was in a cult. I don't know. [crosstalk]

Kousha Navidar: Maybe he was in a cult. Wow. What's the name of the book?

Jordan Lauf: That one is titled Perspective(s), and the S is in parentheses. We'll see what that means. It's Perspective(s) by Laurent Binet.

Kousha Navidar: Wonderful. We've got way more book recs coming up. We're going to take a quick break. When we come back, Producer Jordan Loff is going to give us some more. Listeners, give us a call if you have a book rec or send us a text. The number is 212-433-9692. That's 212-433-WNYC. If you're listening right now and you're saying, "Hey, this is great, but how am I going to remember all this?" Have I got good news for you? The transcript of this and every episode are all released on our website on wnyc.org normally within 48 hours of the show airing.

If there's something that you feel like you want to go back and visit, just look at our website next couple days. It'll be there on the transcript for you. Give us a call, 212-433-9692. We will be right back after a break.

[MUSIC]

Kousha Navidar: This is All Of It on WNYC. I'm Kousha Navidar. We are here with Producer Jordan Lauf talking about spring books that she's most excited about and of course, books that you are most excited about listening right now this spring. If you've got a book recommendation, give us a call or send us a text. I'm going to read some texts here. We've got These Days by Lucy Caldwell, publishing date April 8th. It's Belfast in 1941 during the Blitz. We've also got, for fans of the show Adolescence, which we talked about two segments ago today at the beginning of the show, the text reads, "For fans of the show Adolescence, people should read Wrong Place Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister. It's about a mother who witnesses her straitlaced son kill a man in front of their house and she ends up going back in time to figure out what caused him to kill this man." Wow. We've got another text here, "I recommend Road to Surrender by Evan Thomas which uses apparently new research in Japan to tell how Japan came to surrender in World War II." Those all sound super fascinating. Very good reads.

If you've got a recommendation listening right now for a book you're excited about this spring, maybe something you're reading right now, something you want to read, give us a call. We're at 212-433-9692. That's 212-433- WNYC. Jordan, I'm going to turn back to you. We talked about April 8th, which is the blockbuster day for books. Let's move on to May. One of the most anticipated books of the year comes out May 13th and that is the new novel The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong. It's his second novel after the acclaimed On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous. What's the new one about?

Jordan Lauf: This is definitely going to be one of the biggest books of the spring. This novel follows a 19-year-old boy in Connecticut who makes the decision that he's going to end his own life. As he's standing on a bridge about to jump, an elderly woman is driving by and stops him. It turns out that this woman has dementia. This teenage boy ends up becoming her caretaker. It's really this book about intergenerational friendship and how these two people who used to be strangers had this really meaningful connection and now are influencing each other's lives and how they see the world.

Ocean Vuong is a poet. I think poets can write really, really beautifully about human nature and relationships and just also, on a sentence level, tend to have just really beautiful detail and structure. If you are a fan of On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, his first novel, you should definitely be excited for this one that's out May 13th.

Kousha Navidar: Wonderful. Wow. I love that point that you bring up about poets turning to prose and how that structure can come through.

Jordan Lauf: Yes. Kaveh Akbar had a really big novel last year with Martyr!, and that was another one. He's a poet who wrote a debut novel that was just huge. I think part of the reason that people loved that book so much is that just on the sentence level, there were profound little throwaway lines that in any other book, you just sort of keep going past. In this novel, you're like, "Oh, yes. I'm going to read that a couple more times." Even as it does still have a plot and interesting characters, but just these little sentences tend to jump out. I think that's what makes poets really interesting fiction writers.

Kousha Navidar: Absolutely. For me, it brings up a book that I've been reading, which is Hyperion, which I mentioned to you, Jordan, when we ran into each other on the street last week by chance. In that book series, poets are actually a big-- It's a sci-fi book, but poetry and poets are a huge part of the book. They make a big difference in society. I won't give too much away, but really happy to always talk about poetry. That's very cool.

Jordan Lauf: Cool.

Kousha Navidar: Okay. We finished talking about novels. Now, we're going to talk about nonfiction. Let's start with some American history. First up is a hotly anticipated new biography from acclaimed biographer Ron Chernow, which, of course, wrote the biography of Alexander Hamilton that Lin-Manuel Miranda drew from. Who's his next subject?

Jordan Lauf: Okay, drumroll. It is Mark Twain.

Kousha Navidar: Oh, dang.

Jordan Lauf: When I heard this, I was sort of like, "Huh?" I have to admit. This is a bad confession. I am an English major who has never read Mark Twain. I somehow got through all of high school, all of middle school, all of college not having read a single word of Mark Twain. That's bad. I know that's bad. I'll probably fix it. I did really like James by Percival Everett.

Kousha Navidar: Who we talked to last year around this time.

Jordan Lauf: Exactly. This will be a chance to learn more about him. What I will say is that Ron Chernow writes these incredibly readable and compelling biographies. My dad just finished his biography on Ulysses S. Grant. I know, Luke, our producer on the show who'll be on in a minute, also read the Grant biography and just loved it, even though it was like 900-something pages. This one is 1,200 pages long.

Kousha Navidar: Wow.

Jordan Lauf: It will be an undertaking. You might not want to take it with you on the subway, but if Chernow is to be trusted, and I think that he is, it'll be really readable and compelling, even if you're a little daunted by the size.

Kousha Navidar: Don't take it on the subway unless you want something for self-defense because it's so big and heavy.

Jordan Lauf: You said it, not me.

Kousha Navidar: Sure. We've got a text here that I'd love to read, "Children's librarian on my lunch break here. I can't wait for the picture book Don't Trust Fish by Neil Sharpson." According to Amazon, it's an absurdly laugh-out-loud funny picture book about the villainy of fish." I'll have to check that one out. I have a nephew that might be interested in that book. That's pretty great. Thanks for that text during your lunch break. Let's go to Sheila in Westchester. Hey, Sheila, what are you reading?

Sheila: Hi, there. This is actually a children and middle grades novel. It's called Ice Apprentices by Jacob North. It's a debut novel and it's brilliant in terms of the fantasy. The new world that he creates is incredible. The characters are so relatable. Oswin, he's a foundling that is in the Tundra, the frozen wasteland, and he's been brought up and then he's recruited to become an ice apprentice, just like this magical thing in an enchanted world. I just have gotten through a few chapters and it's definitely compelling. Oswin, you immediately relate to him. You're like, "Oh, what a wonderful kid, kind, curious."

Kousha Navidar: Very cool. Can you give me the name of it one more time, Sheila? Is it Ice Apprentices? Is that right?

Sheila: Yes, Ice Apprentices, and it's Jacob North.

Kousha Navidar: Jacob North?

Sheila: J-A-C-O-B, Jacob North.

Kousha Navidar: Sheila, thank you so much. I love hearing recommendations from across the age spectrum. That's really wonderful.

Jordan Lauf: Totally. I actually think part of the reason that romantasy as a genre-- This is people might know about the Iron Flame series-- Or sorry. Fourth Wing or A Court of Thorns and Roses. I honestly think part of why those series are taking off in the way that they are is because people miss that feeling of being a middle school reader and reading a really good fantasy series for the first time. That first time you read Harry Potter or Eragon-- I know people really into Eragon, the dragon series. I think that's a feeling that adult readers are chasing. One way you can chase it is by reading romantasy or fantasy. Another way you can chase it is just by reading young adult novels. No shame in that at all.

Kousha Navidar: No shame. I just finished the second book of the Fourth Wing series.

Jordan Lauf: Oh, there you go.

Kousha Navidar: It's a very fun read. It's a good book. We've got some more texts that I'd like to read, "For Women's History Month, I would like to recommend Marlene Daut, The First and Last King of Haiti: The Rise and Fall of Henry Christophe. I believe that the author is the first woman to write a biography of one of the heroes of the Haitian revolution." She was on All Of It pretty recently, right, Jordan?

Jordan Lauf: She was on All Of It. This was just a fascinating story that I honestly didn't know much about. You can go back and listen to the interview. She's a really great talker. This guy who was a revolutionary in Haiti participated in the American Revolution. He fought against the French, then he joined with the French, then he declared himself king, and built a palace. The story is just an epic tale. Honestly, maybe Lin-Manuel Miranda wants another inspiration for a musical that this guy's life is pretty nuts.

Kousha Navidar: Let's bring it all the way back to the early history of North and South America while we're talking about nonfiction here. There's one book titled America, América: A New History of the New World. What can you tell us about that?

Jordan Lauf: This is by Greg Grandin and he's a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian. This is a five-century history of the New World. They're counting that as North and South America. What this book is arguing and examining is that the relationships between Latin America and North America did as much to develop the identities of both of those places as their relationship to European colonizers. He's arguing like, "We spent all this time talking about how Spain and South America, their relationship, and the relationship between the colonies and England. What we should be thinking more about is the relationship between the settlers in America, what we now call America, and the settlers in South America, and that relationship between the Southern border, which obviously is at the center of so much of our political tension and conversations right now."

He goes through five centuries of that history of those relationships between those two areas. I think it's a good new lens through which to be examining history that isn't so Eurocentric and is really thinking more about-- I just did a trip to Mexico City and was in a museum about Mexican history and I just realized there's so much about this that I don't know and the conflicts between Texas and Mexico and the territories and all the back and forth. I think this book will really examine those relationships over the course of a long period of time.

Kousha Navidar: That's wonderful. I want to switch gears a little bit. You want to recommend a new book from Sophie Gilbert. It's titled Girl on Girl: How Pop Culture Turned a Generation of Women Against Themselves. Tell me about this one. Why are you excited about reading it?

Jordan Lauf: This is about a period of pop culture from the late 90s into the early 2000s, which is the era that I grew up in as a young girl starting to consume pop culture and singing Britney Spears karaoke and engaging in all of that. What this author is arguing is that the late 90s and early 2000s for women in the public eye was a, "period of hyper-objectification, sexualization, and infantilization." She's also sort of arguing that these beauty standards that women were held to and were enforced also by other women-- I remember just horrible stuff about celebrities' bodies. I watched a lot of America's Next Top Model which was--

If you go back and watch some of that, the stuff that they were saying on television is just brutal by today's standards. I'm really interested to hear her thoughtful and maybe a little more academic take on just what was going on in this period and why there was so much negative attention focused on women and our bodies and policing how we should behave and how we should be valued in society.

Kousha Navidar: Absolutely. That sounds like a really important piece of work and something that I'm sure a lot of listeners, especially those around our age, will strike very close to.

Jordan Lauf: Exactly.

Kousha Navidar: I want to read some more text before we close it out. I'm just going to go down the list. Listeners, it is so wonderful, as always, to hear all of your recommendations, see all your calls. Don't stop. I'm going to go a little bit more. Here is one actually from All Of It producer Simon Close, "I'm reading our very own John Schaefer's book, New Sounds: A Listener's Guide to New Music. It's not just a radio show. It's a book too." Pretty great. Thanks for that shout-out, Simon. I got another text here, "Hello, I am reading Before You Say Anything: The Untold Stories and Failproof Strategies of a Very Discreet Speechwriter by Victoria Wellman, which is Kitchen Confidential meets a really effective self-improvement book. For anyone who wants to be better at writing and speaking, very helpful and hilarious too." I will say right now, as a former speechwriter myself, I love reading pieces by other speechwriters because it's a craft that brings so many different people from different parts of the world together on this idea of rhetoric.

We were talking about poetry before. It is its own form of poetry. Another text here, "New book I'm reading Songs She Wrote Forty Hits by Pioneering Women of Popular Music by Michael Garber, which is perfect for our series equalizer right now." Thank you all so much for sending those texts. Jordan, I'm going to let you close it out. Anything else you want to close it out? Any advice or anything else you want to talk about?

Jordan Lauf: I just want to say that I always really appreciate hearing our listeners' suggestions. I think this is the first time I've done this where I haven't even heard of 95% of the books that were recommended. That's awesome. I heard so much stuff today that I want to write down and put in my Goodreads and go check out right away.

Kousha Navidar: Is Demon Slayer one of them?

Jordan Lauf: I'm not a huge manga fan, I have to say.

[laughter]

Kousha Navidar: Oh, okay. Fair. That's why there's so many great recommendations.

Jordan Lauf: That's why we span all genres. We're doing nonfiction. We're doing fiction. We're covering it all. I just want to say a heartfelt thank you always to people who want to weigh in and share what they're reading because it helps me build my to-be-read pile that's growing increasingly large over my bedside table. It's just always so great hearing from so many of you.

Kousha Navidar: I was just told I should read one more text, "This is J. Lauf and I am suggesting The Wide Wide Sea by Hampton Sides about the last voyage of Captain Hook, a riveting story that feels like a mixture of Moby Dick and The Wager." Also, he said, "You guys rock." That's Jordan's dad and today is his birthday.

Jordan Lauf: It is his birthday. Happy 61st birthday to my dad, J. Lauf. [laughs] That was like reverse nepo baby or something. He was like, "I get to go on the air because this is my daughter." Sure, we'll take it.

Kousha Navidar: Perks of the job. Thanks, Jordan.

Jordan Lauf: Happy birthday, Dad.