Book Gang

Laurie Frankel joins Book Gang to discuss Enormous Wings, a bold, bighearted novel about aging, autonomy, and the messiness of modern family life. This week’s Book Gang conversation welcomes New York Times bestselling author Laurie Frankel, whose latest novel delivers a juicy book club premise wrapped in the chaos and warmth of a multigenerational Jewish family. When breast cancer survivor Pepper...

Author Janelle Brown joins us as our May MomAdvice Book Club pick to discuss What Kind of Paradise, a 1990s-set literary thriller filled with twists and turns. In our May Book Club episode, we welcome New York Times bestselling author Janelle Brown for a spoiler-free conversation about her latest literary thriller, What Kind of Paradis e. This psychologically rich novel plunges readers into the ch...

Dur e Aziz Amna joins us to discuss A Splintering, a sharp, compulsive novel about class, ambition, and the cost of becoming who you believe you’re meant to be. This week’s Book Gang conversation brings us together with award-winning author Dur e Aziz Amna to talk about A Splintering , a novel that pulls you in from its very first line and refuses to let the reader go. This novel made my Best Book...

Gill Paul discusses Scandalous Women, the 1960s publishing world, and the iconic female authors who redefined storytelling in this backlist feature. Let's get some literary hinges to our reading lives in this backlist feature. This week's Book Gang conversation brings us together with international bestselling author Gill Paul to talk about Scandalous Women . Paul transports readers into the elect...

Author Sam Wachman joins us as our April MomAdvice Book Club pick to discuss The Sunflower Boys, a powerful coming-of-age story set during the war in Ukraine. This week, Sam Wachman joins Book Gang to discuss The Sunflower Boys , our April MomAdvice Book Club pick. This story offers a remarkable blend of the tenderness of boyhood and the brutality of war, set against the backdrop of the 2022 invas...

Rebecca Lehmann discusses The Beheading Game, a lyrical reimagining of Anne Boleyn awakening after her execution to reclaim her story. This week, we're stepping into a story we think we know and unsettling it completely. Rebecca Lehmann joins Book Gang to talk about The Beheading Game , a bold and genre-bending debut, with Anne Boleyn awakening in her coffin, gathering herself—quite literally—and...

In The Lady’s Handbook for Her Mysterious Illness, Sarah Ramey shares her journey through chronic illness and the medical system’s blind spots. This week, we're bringing forward a powerful 2022 conversation with Sarah Ramey, author of The Lady's Handbook for Her Mysterious Illness, whose novel was selected as a MomAdvice Book Club Book the year that this conversation was recorded. This discussion...

Bestselling author Meagan Church returns to discuss our March Book Club selection, The Mad Wife, and its whirlwind success. This month, we welcome Meagan Church back to Book Gang to celebrate our March Reader's Choice selection , The Mad Wife—the most-voted book by our community. Meagan first joined us earlier in her writing journey to discuss the inspiration behind this story. Now she returns fol...

Kate Schatz joins the show to discuss Where the Girls Were, a novel inspired by the hidden history of maternity homes and the young women sent away during the 1960s. This week, Kate Schatz joins the Book Gang podcast to discuss her adult fiction debut, Where the Girls Were , a novel that explores a little-discussed chapter of American history: the maternity homes that housed more than a million yo...

Rachel Hochhauser joins us to discuss her debut novel, Lady Tremaine, a reimagining of Cinderella told from the perspective of its most misunderstood figure. This week, we're stepping back into a story we think we know, and turning it inside out. Rachel Hochhauser joins us to talk about her debut novel, Lady Tremaine , a bold and lyrical reimagining of Cinderella told from the perspective of its m...

Aisha Hassan discusses her debut novel, When the Fireflies Dance, a moving family saga set in Lahore and the research inspired by real stories of bonded labor. In this week's episode of Book Gang , I'm excited to share my conversation with debut novelist Aisha Hassan about her first novel, When the Fireflies Dance . This moving family saga is set in Lahore and draws on real-life stories of bonded...

Debut author Lauren Morrow joins us to discuss Little Movements, a sharp, funny, and deeply perceptive literary novel set in the world of professional dance. Lauren Morrow joins Book Gang to discuss her satirical novel, Little Movements , which follows Layla, a Black choreographer navigating a fragile marriage, a long-delayed hope of motherhood, and a career-defining opportunity at a prestigious a...

Author Nancy Johnson joins us to discuss People of Means, our February Book Club selection for Black History Month, a powerful, moving dual-timeline novel. Nancy Johnson joins Book Gang to discuss her richly layered second novel, which explores race, class, ambition, and resistance in 1960s Nashville and 1992 Chicago, offering readers a perfectly baked reading experience for Black History Month. I...

Journalist Christine Kuehn joins us to discuss Family of Spies and her gripping emotional reckoning with her family’s shocking personal ties to Nazi espionage. The book begins in 1994, when a single letter from a historian pierces Kuehn’s quiet suburban life, revealing a secret she never suspected. Kuehn discovered that members of her own family were Nazi intelligence agents. What follows is a thi...

Author Lior Torenberg unpacks her debut Just Watch Me, a darkly funny livestream novel that exposes the cost of performing pain online, and our hunger to watch. Debut author Lior Torenberg joins us to talk about Just Watch Me , a bold, internet-shaped novel that unfolds over seven days of nonstop livestreaming. Together, we dig into what it means to write fiction rooted in our current digital mome...

Author Elizabeth DeLozier joins us to discuss Eleanore of Avignon, our January Book Club pick, and her bold debut, shaped by plague, medicine, and female power. In this free conversation, Elizabeth DeLozier takes us behind the scenes of Eleanore of Avignon —a richly researched historical novel set during the Black Death, written during the modern pandemic that reshaped how many of us think about i...

We read a total of 443 books and are excited to share twenty-five of our favorite titles from our 2025 reading list. Explore these new releases alongside our favorite backlist books for your best reading year yet. We read a total of 443 books and are excited to share twenty-five of our favorite titles from our 2025 reading list. Explore these new releases alongside our favorite backlist books for...

Head to the Arctic with Nathaniel Ian Miller and discover the true story that inspired his debut, The Memoirs of Stockholm Sven, for our final episode of 2025. For our final episode of 2025, we’re bringing forward a beloved conversation from the Book Gang archives with debut novelist Nathaniel Ian Miller, discussing his magical winter read, The Memoirs of Stockholm Sven , and the enduring pull of...

Get ahead of 2026’s biggest releases this year. We highlight ten must-read backlist books from authors with upcoming titles, so you have your best library day. What could be better than a discussion on 2026’s biggest releases? We wanted to do something fun (and genuinely helpful) to help you plan next year's TBR. Today, Jessica Bearak is back, and she’s bringing her idea to pair readers with books...

Join the 2026 MomAdvice Book Club to explore 12 handpicked novels, enjoy lively author chats, and celebrate a year of stories that inspire and delight. Get ready to kick off another unforgettable reading year with the 2026 MomAdvice Book Club. In this episode, I’m unveiling my twelve handpicked selections—an extraordinary lineup of novels that challenge perspective and remind us what it means to l...

Marisa Kashino turns being new to publishing into a superpower, revealing her surprising journey from first draft to the darkly funny thriller, Best Offer Wins. Being brand-new to publishing turned out to be this author's secret weapon in landing her book deal. This week on Book Gang , we’re stepping into the ruthless, dream-chasing world of real estate with Marisa Kashino, journalist and author o...

Discover the writing hack that Emma Pattee uncovered with a creativity coach, which helped her debut novel, Tilt, transition from her Google Drive to publication. Emma Pattee, climate journalist and fiction writer, joins the Book Gang podcast to discuss her heartpounding debut novel, Tilt . In Tilt , we follow a pregnant woman through a single, intense day as an earthquake hits Portland, where Pat...

Discover Pagebound, the social reading app by Lucy Zhao & Jennifer Dobak. Learn how to gamify your reading life from quests to forums in today's beginner chat. Ever wish Goodreads had a heart or deeply desired a buddy read for every book in your book stack? It exists. This week, we're stepping inside Pagebound, the new social reading app built by readers for readers, with co-founders Lucy Zhao and...

Take a crash course in Gothic fiction with Junie author Erin Crosby Eckstine as we trace the genre's origins, evolution, and enduring allure. Erin returns to Book Gang to share what surprised her most about debut life and what she's learned about balancing writing, book promotion, and an ever-growing TikTok community. Then, we dive deep into the eerie, elegant world of Gothic literature — where de...

Go behind the scenes with Bindery Books to discover their innovative publishing process, where tastemakers reshape how diverse books are made and sold. In this week's episode, we sit down with Matt Kaye, cofounder and CEO of Bindery Books, to explore how his multifaceted career—from traditional publishing to Amazon to Patreon—shaped a bold new model for the book world. Matt shares how the company...