Book Dreams

When’s the last time a book made your skin crawl? Megan Rosenbloom--a collection strategies librarian at the UCLA library, president of the Southern California Society for the History of Medicine, research team leader of The Anthropodermic Book Project, and author of Dark Archives: A Librarian's Investigation into the Science and History of Books Bound in Human Skin--delves into the who, what, whe...

“Trail Weight,” a new podcast from the Podglomerate network, follows host Andrew Steven on an ambitious, surprising, and transformative journey as he tries to get in shape for a month-long backpacking trip through the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Through audio diaries, recordings from the trail, and conversations with authors, experts, Olympians, and more, Andrew takes listeners through an eye-opening...

If we humans can't own the air or sea, why can we own land? And what happens when we do? Simon Winchester--an Officer of the Order of the British Empire and acclaimed author of the New York Times bestsellers The Professor and the Madmen, The Map That Changed the World, Krakatoa, Atlantic, and Pacific--explores with Julie and Eve how he addressed the man-made notions of land ownership and disposses...

When was the last time you let yourself feel the power of poetry and a poet’s voice? Here’s the perfect chance! Jasmine Mans--author of the poetry collections Chalk Outlines of Snow Angels and, most recently, Black Girl, Call Home; resident poet of the Newark Public Library; and viral sensation behind the poem Footnotes for Kanye--talks with Eve and Julie about how she discovered her own narrative...

How do you write a trailblazing woman back into history after her iconic colleagues wrote her out? Dr. Sally Roesch Wagner--founder and executive director of the Matilda Joslyn Gage Foundation and Center for Social Justice Dialogue; a founder of one the first college-level women’s studies programs in the United States; and author of The Women’s Suffrage Movement and Sisters in Spirit--introduces E...

What’s it like to delve into the origins, psyche, and after-effects of evil, and set it all on the page? Author Ashley Audrain, whose debut novel The Push became an instant New York Times bestseller, shares with Julie and Eve her thinking behind her remarkable thriller. Together, they explore whether malevolence is inherited, if a child can be truly monstrous, and what it’s like to be, simultaneou...

Family is forever, and so, it appears, is our fascination with reading about them. Allegra Goodman--author of The Family Markowitz, Kaaterskill Falls (National Book Award finalist), Intuition, Paradise Park, The Chalk Artist, and short stories included in The New Yorker, The O. Henry Prize Stories, and Best American Short Stories--dishes with Eve and Julie about why families remain such a compelli...

Can a compelling novel positively and radically change the way we think about living? Matt Haig--author of the bestselling memoir Reasons to Stay Alive; the novel and upcoming major motion picture A Boy Called Christmas; and, most recently, The Midnight Library, a New York Times bestseller, winner of the Good Reads Choice Award for Fiction, and a Good Morning America Book Club pick--shares his phi...

How can books help us discover uncelebrated trailblazing women? Janice P. Nimura--author of the biography The Doctors Blackwell, for which she received a Public Scholar Award from the National Endowment for the Humanities--shares with Eve and Julie the long neglected history of Elizabeth and Emily Blackwell, who were the first and third women respectively in America to receive medical degrees. Tog...

MINI EPISODE: After 40 episodes of book dreaming together, Eve and Julie know each other’s preferences as well as they know their own. In this one-on-one conversation, our two best book friends swap book recs. And although they’ve chosen these titles with the other in mind, we hope you’ll like them too! Join Eve and Julie as they commiserate over the pressure of being on the receiving end of a boo...

Couldn’t we all use some heartwarming tales from bookstore aisles right about now? Eve and Julie have plenty to share after speaking with VaLinda Miller--the owner of Turning Pages Bookshop, the only African-American female-owned bookstore in South Carolina and only the second African-American owned bookstore in South Carolina--and Jamie Rogers Southern--the interim executive director of Bookmarks...

There’s no place like home, but does it need to have an address? Deirdre Mask--lawyer, academic, and author of The Address Book: What Street Addresses Reveal About Identity, Race, Wealth, and Power--explores with Julie and Eve how the seemingly narrow topic of street addresses underpins a powerful book that addresses (no pun intended) some of the most formative issues of our time. Deirdre discusse...

How do you use historical and speculative fiction to tell the truth when America has fabricated its own fictions about its history, and particularly its ongoing racial inequities, for centuries? Bethany C. Morrow--one of USA Today’s “100 Black novelists and fiction writers you should read” and the indie bestselling author of the novels Mem, A Song Below Water, and the upcoming So Many Beginnings:...

Self-help books: How helpful are they? Jolenta Greenberg and Kristen Meinzer--co-hosts of the highly acclaimed By The Book podcast and co-authors of How to Be Fine: What We Learned from Living by the Rules of 50 Self-Help Books--pull up their handcrafted (not really) armchairs to discuss with Eve and Julie the keys to picking the right self-help book, the reality of diversity (or lack thereof) wit...

It takes one language to write a book; it takes many to share it with the world--so how exactly does the process of translation work? Romy Hausmann, debut German author of the thriller novel Dear Child, and Jamie Bulloch, German-to-English translator of Dear Child, discuss with Julie and Eve how the author and translator communicate (if at all) during the translation process; why conveying charact...

How can science fiction help us radically improve the world we’re living in now? Author and activist adrienne maree brown discusses with Julie and Eve how the principles of science fiction--and particularly the work of Octavia E. Butler--can help shape movements for social change. adrienne is co-editor of the anthology Octavia’s Brood: Science Fiction Stories from Social Justice Movements and co-h...

In our last episode of 2020, Eve and Julie reflect on some of the moments, books, guests, and friendships that have brought us (and we hope you!) joy this year. They also share a sneak peek at what’s in store for Book Dreams in 2021. Find us on Twitter (@bookdreamspod) and Instagram (@bookdreamspodcast), or email us at contact@bookdreamspodcast.com. We encourage you to visit our website and sign u...

How can we turn to fiction for a reality check? Mark Oshiro, the award-winning YA author of Anger Is a Gift--winner of the 2019 Schneider Family Book Award and finalist for a 2019 Lambda Literary Award--and the newly released Each of Us a Desert, discusses with Julie and Eve how the rapidly-growing genre of speculative fiction provides authors and readers alike the perspective and imaginative scop...

Bryan Washington, the author of Lot: Stories--one of President Obama’s Favorite Books of 2019--and Memorial--a New York Times Notable Book of 2020, a TIME Magazine Must-Read Book of 2020, Good Morning America’s November 2020 Book Club read, and nominee for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence--takes a seat at the table with Julie and Eve to discuss how the cookbooks, foreign films, and family...

In one of our most illuminating conversations to date, Eve and Julie explore ancient texts with Michelle Brown, Professor of Medieval Manuscript Studies at the School of Advanced Study of the University of London and former Curator of Illuminated Manuscripts at the British Library. They examine the illustrated margins and piquant commentary of medieval texts to understand when a porcupine is just...

It’s the question that launched Book Dreams: What did Harper Lee do all day in the fifty-plus years between the publication of To Kill a Mockingbird and her death? Finally, after years of speculation, we have an answer! Casey Cep--staff writer at The New Yorker, graduate of Harvard University and the University of Oxford, and author of Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee...

Michelle Bowdler, Executive Director of Health at Tufts University, joins Julie and Eve to discuss her recently released book, Is Rape a Crime?: A Memoir, an Investigation, and a Manifesto, which was long listed for the National Book Award. They talk about the stifling and silencing impact of sexual assault, the healing conversations that memoir can engender, and the key steps needed to increase a...

In desperate need of a distraction from 2020, Eve and Julie turn to ROMANCE. Jane Igharo--a Nigerian-born immigrant to Canada and author of the newly released debut romance novel Ties That Tether--joins to discuss why romance readers are such avid fans, what qualities make romance novels so compulsively readable, and how to embrace the shameless delights of writing erotic scenes. Find us on Twitte...

What are the books that have shaped some of the most famous authors writing today? Nancy Pearl and Jeff Schwager, co-authors of the newly released The Writer’s Library, share with Eve and Julie recommendations they’ve collected from writers such as Luis Alberto Urrea, Laila Lalami, Jonathan Lethem, Louise Erdrich, and Maaza Mengiste; surprising details about which famous novels consistently didn’t...

Dr. Edith Eger--eminent psychologist, Auschwitz survivor, author of the New York Times bestseller The Choice: Embrace the Possible and the newly released The Gift: 12 Lessons to Change Your Life--talks with Julie and Eve about how to escape the prison of victimhood, fight feelings of hopelessness and powerlessness through choice, and learn to turn hate into pity as we journey through uncertain tim...