Books on the Nightstand

Sadly, we have come to the true end of Books on the Nightstand. Happily, this final episode is filled with bloopers!     Information on our special Two Dozen Books We Can’t Wait For You to Read Sweepstakes is available here. Be sure to enter now. The deadline is July 31, 2016. While entering, you can opt-in to a mailing list, where we can keep you updated on BOTNS news. We can’t guarantee what we will be sending out via this list other than that we will share our two monthly selections that will go to the winners of the sweepstakes.   If you’d like to join the mailing list for possible future BOTNS news, but can’t enter the sweepstakes because you live outside the US, or because you’ve reached this page after the sweepstakes has ended, you can sign up here.   Ways to interact with Books on the Nightstand, as well as with Ann and Michael, going forward: * The Books on the Nightstand Goodreads Group * Older episodes of the podcast * Twitter: @annkingman and @mkindness * Litsy: @mkindness

A preview of fiction titles we’re looking forward to in the next nine months. _______________________________________________ Don’t Forget! Although this is the final “regular” episode of Books on the Nightstand, there will be an episode 390 – filled with hilarious bloopers! _______________________________________________ Information on our special Two Dozen Books We Can’t Wait For You to Read Sweepstakes is available here. Be sure to enter now! While entering, you can opt-in to a mailing list, where we can keep you updated on BOTNS news. We can’t guarantee what we will be sending out via this list other than that we will share our two monthly selections that will go to the winners of the sweepstakes. (Something many of you asked for!) If you’d like to join the mailing list for possible future BOTNS news, but can’t enter the sweepstakes because you live outside the US, you can sign up here. Tell me what to read this summer! Go here to vote on which of  six titles I’m embarrassed to say I still haven’t read I should read before Labor Day.   Audiobook of the week (05:37)  My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante, narrated by Hillary Huber, is Ann’s pick for this week’s Audiobooks.com Audiobook of the Week. Special thanks to Audiobooks.com for sponsoring this episode of Books on the Nightstand. Audiobooks.com allows you to listen to over 100,000 audiobooks, instantly, wherever you are, and the first one is free. Download or stream any book directly to your Apple or Android device. Sign up for a free 30-day trial and free audiobook download by going to www.audiobooks.com/freebook   Fiction Preview (11:39)                   There’s a ton of great fiction titles coming out in the next 9 months. Here are our picks: * DC: The New Frontier by Darwyn Cooke * The Wolf Road by Beth Lewis * How to Set a Fire and Why by Jesse Ball * The Dream Life of Astronauts by Patrick Ryan * Dr. Knox by Peter Spiegelman * The Last One by Alexandra Oliva * The Heavenly Table by Donald Ray Pollock * The Invoice by Jonas Karlsson * Heroes of the Frontier by Dave Eggers

A preview of non-fiction titles coming in the next eight months.   Information on our special Two Dozen Books We Can’t Wait For You to Read Sweepstakes is available here. Be sure to enter now! If you’d like to join the mailing list for possible future BOTNS news, but can’t enter the sweepstakes because you live outside the US, you can sign up here. We can’t guarantee what we will be sending out via this list other than that we will share our two monthly selections that will go to the winners of the sweepstakes. (Something many of you asked for!)   Tell me what to read this summer! Go here to vote on which of  six titles I’m embarrassed to say I still haven’t read I should read before Labor Day.   Audiobook of the week (03:35)  Before the Fall by Noah Hawley, narrated by Robert Petkoff, is my pick for this week’s Audiobooks.com Audiobook of the Week. Special thanks to Audiobooks.com for sponsoring this episode of Books on the Nightstand. Audiobooks.com allows you to listen to over 100,000 audiobooks, instantly, wherever you are, and the first one is free. Download or stream any book directly to your Apple or Android device. Sign up for a free 30-day trial and free audiobook download by going to www.audiobooks.com/freebook   Non-Fiction Preview (06:52)                         Lots of great non-fiction titles coming out in the next 8 months or so. Here are our picks: * How to Be a Person in the World by Heather Havrilesky * Dark Night: A True Batman Story by Paul Dini and Eduardo Risso * American Heiress by Jeffrey Toobin * We Are Not Such Things by Justine van der Luen * Hero of the Empire by Candice Millard * Women in Science by Rachel Ignotofsky * Eyes on the Street by Robert Kanigel * Textbook Amy Krouse Rosenthal by Amy Krouse Rosenthal * Designing Your Life by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans * Patient H.M. by Luke Dittrich *

We recommend tons of podcasts, then rave about Anatomy of a Solder by Harry Parker, and The Girls by Emma Cline.   The Summer reading packet came home from Ann’s daughters’ school. In addition to reading David Copperfield, the students must choose one of the following contemporary books: The Handmaid’s Tale, The Interestings, or The Poisonwood Bible. They also must read selected chapters from How to Read Literature Like a Professor, and also must keep a reading journal using the prompts included in the handout.  Information on our special Two Dozen Books We Can’t Wait For You to Read Sweepstakes is available here. Be sure to enter now! If you’d like to join the mailing list for possible future BOTNS news (no promises!), but can’t enter the sweepstakes because you live outside the US, you can sign up here.   Audiobook of the week (10:30)  A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman, narrated by George Newbern, is Ann’s pick for this week’s Audiobooks.com Audiobook of the Week. Special thanks to Audiobooks.com for sponsoring this episode of Books on the Nightstand. Audiobooks.com allows you to listen to over 100,000 audiobooks, instantly, wherever you are, and the first one is free. Download or stream any book directly to your Apple or Android device. Sign up for a free 30-day trial and free audiobook download by going to www.audiobooks.com/freebook   Podcasts to Keep Your Nightstand Full (14:07) When we announced the end of BOTNS, a common cry from listeners was, “What will I listen to now?” This podcast is your resource. Here are many bookish podcasts for you to check out! (Keep in mind, what’s included here is just the list. For descriptions of the podcasts, be sure to listen to this episode.) * Checkout the Podcasts – Books & Authors thread at the BOTNS Goodreads Group for an existing list of podcasts * The Readers * Literary Disco * Literally Unplanned * Adventures with Words * Book Riot has several podcasts, including

We answer your burning questions, and then recommend The Happiness Equation by Neil Pasricha, and Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi.   Thank you to everyone who sent us messages, tweets, comments, etc. about the ending of Books on the Nightstand. Though you all shared your disapointment, nearly all of you said you understood why were bowing out now, and thanked us for the nearly 400 episodes.  Information on our special Two Dozen Books We Can’t Wait For You to Read Sweepstakes is available here. Be sure to enter now!   Audiobook of the week (14:38)  Imagine Me Gone by Adam Haslett, narrated by Ellen Archer and Robert Fass, is my pick for this week’s Audiobooks.com Audiobook of the Week. Special thanks to Audiobooks.com for sponsoring this episode of Books on the Nightstand. Audiobooks.com allows you to listen to over 100,000 audiobooks, instantly, wherever you are, and the first one is free. Download or stream any book directly to your Apple or Android device. Sign up for a free 30-day trial and free audiobook download by going to www.audiobooks.com/freebook   The Final Interrogation (18:35) When we announced the end of BOTNS, we encouraged you all to write in with final Q&A questions. I won’t recount every question and answer in these show notes (you can listen to the podcast for that!), but here are a few questions for which the answers have links: * Jessie from Maine asked if we’ll continue to recommend books via social media (yes – twitter: @AnnKingman and @mkindness, and Michael is using Litsy more). * Yes, Heidi, the Books on the Nightstand Goodreads group will continue to exist! * Joanne asked about becoming a more focused reader. Ann recommends taking a creative writing class (like the one she took at Grub Street in Boston), and also reading Francine Prose’s Reading Like a Writer. * Anne asked about how we create the podcast. Awhile back we wrote up our workflow for a presentation we did at BEA. You can find that info at the very end of these show notes.   Two Books We Can’t Wait For You to Read (51:44)       I recommend The Happiness Equation by Neil Pasricha. It is one book in a sea of books about happiness, but it is speaking to me in a way that other books haven’t. Filled with 9 secrets informed by insights gleaned by the author as well as wisdom from past great thinkers, The Happiness Equation is showing me simple things I can do (and am doing) to be happier every day. Ann recommends Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi. It’s the story of two half-sisters (each unaware of the other) in 18th-century Ghana. One is married off to an Englishman who is a slave trade...

Author talks from Booktopia Petoskey, including W. Bruce Cameron, Janis Cooke Newman, and Luis Alberto Urrea.   This week we have an amazing lineup of author talks from our final Booktopia event. These talks were recorded in September 2015 at the fabulous McLean & Eakin bookstore in Petoskey, MI. Authors featured this week:     W. Bruce Cameron, author of The Dog Master       Janis Cooke Newman, author of A Master Plan for Rescue       Luis Alberto Urrea, author of The Water Museum   We’ll be back next week with a new episode. Until then, happy reading!

A big announcement. The start of BOTNS Book Bingo. We recommend Everything is Teeth by Evie Wyld and Joe Sumner, and Sweetbitter by Stephanie Danler.    Listen to the podcast for a big announcement about Books on the Nightstand!   Audiobook of the week (11:15)  The Assistants by Camille Perri, narrated by Jorjeana Marie, is Ann’s pick for this week’s Audiobooks.com Audiobook of the Week. Special thanks to Audiobooks.com for sponsoring this episode of Books on the Nightstand. Audiobooks.com allows you to listen to over 100,000 audiobooks, instantly, wherever you are, and the first one is free. Download or stream any book directly to your Apple or Android device. Sign up for a free 30-day trial and free audiobook download by going to www.audiobooks.com/freebook   The Beginning (16:22) Memorial Day weekend is days away which means the start of Books on the Nightstand Summer Book Bingo! Go to http://tinyurl.com/BOTNSBingo2016, and hit refresh to get a brand new card. As in the past, the “rules” are what you make them. However, we suggest you: * Interpret the categories as you see fit * Not use a book for more than one square * Use the Free Square for any book that you read that won’t fit in another category   Some of the categories and books Ann and I discuss in this episode: * With an alliterative title – The Wind in the Willows, Brazzaville Beach * Hated by someone you know – A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius * About books, bookstores or publishing – Be Frank With Me * With a flower in the title or on the cover – The Black Dahlia (which actually is fiction, not true crime as we said in the episode) * Written by two (or more) authors – Will Grayson, Will Grayson * Reread a book you hated in school – The Catcher in the Rye, The Last of the Mohicans, Giants in the Earth * That you think you will dislike – Me Before You * Mentioned on The Gilmore Girls – Here’s a list of all 339 titles mention...

Sad author news, a roundup of book news featuring girls and women, and two books we can’t wait for you to read.   Booklovers, especially Michael,  are mourning the passing of two authors that have touched many with their work. Katherine Dunn, author of Geek Love, died at age 70. Darwin Cooke, writer and artist of Michael’s favorite superhero graphic novel ever, DC The New Frontier, passed away at the age of 53.   Audiobook of the week (04:49):    Be Frank With Me by Julia Claiborne Johnson, narrated by Tavia Gilbert, is my pick for this week’s Audiobooks.com Audiobook of the Week. Special thanks to Audiobooks.com for sponsoring this episode of Books on the Nightstand. Audiobooks.com allows you to listen to over 100,000 audiobooks, instantly, wherever you are, and the first one is free. Download or stream any book directly to your Apple or Android device. Sign up for a free 30-day trial and free audiobook download by going to www.audiobooks.com/freebook   Women and girls in books and bookstores (09:49):   This week, we wanted to talk about three unrelated stories, and Michael realized that they all had women at the center. * Judy Blume opened an independent bookstore! She’s partnering with the fabulous Books and Books to open a location in Key West, Florida. I’m dying to visit. If you go, please let us know how it is. * The Nebula awards for 2015 were given out this past weekend, and of the six major awards, five were given to women. The winner of Best Novel, Uprooted by Naomi Novik, was an Audiobooks.com Audiobook of the Week in episode #337, chosen by Michael. Other winners: Best Novella: Nnedi Okorafor for Binti Best Novelette: Sarah Pinsker for “Our Lady of the Open Road,” featured in the June 2015 issue of Asimov’s Science Fiction Best Short Story: Alyssa Wong for “Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers,” featured in the Oct. 2015 issue of Nightmare Magazine Winner of the Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy: Fran Wilde for Updraft * After hearing a lot about a young adult graphic novel called

Misconstruing the Man Book Club, and we recommend Paper Girls by Brian K. Vaughan and Cliff Chiang, and Everybody’s Fool by Richard Russo.   Booktopia was this past weekend, and it was the first Booktopia not organized by us. Northshire Bookstore and the Inn at Manchester put together a wonderful weekend, judging by the comments and photos we saw online. If you weren’t able to attend, but want to read some of the books that were featured, here’s a list. * The Sunlit Night by Rebecca Dinerstein * Shelter by Jung Yun * The Hummingbird by Stephen P. Kiernan * The Unfortunates by Sophie McManus * She Called Him Raymond by Ray O’Conor * Written on my Heart by Morgan Callan Rogers * The Mirror Thief by Martin Seay * The Muralist by B.A. Shapiro   Audiobook of the week (02:42)  The Wild Robot by Peter Brown, narrated by Kate Atwater, is my pick for this week’s Audiobooks.com Audiobook of the Week. Special thanks to Audiobooks.com for sponsoring this episode of Books on the Nightstand. Audiobooks.com allows you to listen to over 100,000 audiobooks, instantly, wherever you are, and the first one is free. Download or stream any book directly to your Apple or Android device. Sign up for a free 30-day trial and free audiobook download by going to www.audiobooks.com/freebook   No Women Allowed? (07:18) A recent New York Times article, called Men Have Book Clubs, Too, led to a bit of discussion on my Facebook page. I made a pretty harsh pronouncement about the members of The Man Book Club, however my opinion was very much colored by the article and by my slight misreading of it. One of their rules (which they admittedly don’t always follow) is no books by a woman about a woman. Ann and I discuss the possible reasons for this rule and whether it could ever be considered a good thing to limit one’s reading this way. Be sure to read the group’s blog post, titled An Apologia, where they respond to the omissions in, and misconceptions perpetrated by, the NYT article. And do check out the list of books they have read thus far.

So many books, in praise of novellas, and we recommend a new novella by Graham Swift and a novel that is the first in a new science-fiction trilogy. Audiobook of the week (03:12) Hidden Bodies by Caroline Kepnes, performed by Santino Fontana, is my pick for this week’s Audiobooks.com Audiobook of the Week. Special thanks to Audiobooks.com for sponsoring this episode of Books on the Nightstand. Audiobooks.com allows you to listen to over 100,000 audiobooks, instantly, wherever you are, and the first one is free. Download or stream any book directly to your Apple or Android device. Sign up for a free 30-day trial and free audiobook download by going to www.audiobooks.com/freebook   One-sit Wonders (07:30) This week’s episode was inspired by an article on Publishersweekly.com by Cynan Jones called “The Case for Very Short Novels.” Michael and I talk a bit about the terminology (“novella,” specifically), our relationship to short novels, and how we approach them. Titles discussed: * On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan * The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes * The Clothes They Stood Up In by Alan Bennett * Bartleby the Scrivener * Animal Farm by George Orwell * A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens * Coraline by Neil Gaiman * The Time Machine by HG Wells * Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton * Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Truman Capote * The Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad * The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway More titles are listed on the Wikipedia page for “Novella.” Please let us know your thoughts on novellas, and share some of your favorites.   Two books we can’t wait for you to read (22:55)         My pick this week is a novella, Mothering Sunday by Graham Swift. Just 177 pages, it packs a punch that belies its small size. Most of the novel is set in just 5 hours in the spring of 1924, with the story of a young housemaid who spends her day off in an illicit assignation with the son of the wealthy neighbors. There, her life changes in an instant. Michael takes a different direction, telling us about the first book in a science fiction trilogy. Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Nouvel starts with a young girl, Rose, who falls off her bicycle into a hole in the ground that turns out to be a chamber that is actually a metal hand. Fast forward 20 years, and Rose is a physicist who is helping to investigate the origin of this hand and what it means.          

A weekly conversational podcast about books, from two longtime veterans of the publishing industry. If you love to read, this podcast is for you. Listen in to hear what's new, what's great, and the books we just can't stop talking about.

A weekly conversational podcast about books, from two longtime veterans of the publishing industry. If you love to read, this podcast is for you. Listen in to hear what's new, what's great, and the books we just can't stop talking about.

A weekly conversational podcast about books, from two longtime veterans of the publishing industry. If you love to read, this podcast is for you. Listen in to hear what's new, what's great, and the books we just can't stop talking about.

A weekly conversational podcast about books, from two longtime veterans of the publishing industry. If you love to read, this podcast is for you. Listen in to hear what's new, what's great, and the books we just can't stop talking about.

A weekly conversational podcast about books, from two longtime veterans of the publishing industry. If you love to read, this podcast is for you. Listen in to hear what's new, what's great, and the books we just can't stop talking about.