Fully Booked by Kirkus Reviews

On this week’s special episode, recorded live at the National Book Festival in Washington, D.C., we’re joined by Jordan Moblo, Executive Vice President of Creative Acquisitions and IP Management at Universal Studio Group, and founder of Jordy’s Book Club, for a conversation about what it takes to develop books for TV series, book clubs, reading recommendations, and more. THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS:&nb...

On this week’s episode, comedian, host, actor, writer, and producer Murray Hill joins us to discuss Showbiz! My Life as a Middle-Aged Man (Gallery Books, Oct. 6). Kirkus: “A rip-roaring story of Liza-esque unsinkability from a Don Rickles–esque entertainer.” THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS:  It Could Have Been Her by Lisa Jewell (Simon & Schuster Audio) The Stirling Defense by Gerald Patnode Life...

On this week’s special Kirkus Indie Awards episode, C.W. Johnson discusses his award-winning novel, A Life Full of Quarks (Baryon Dreams Press, Sept. 24, 2024). “In Johnson’s novel, a brilliant physicist tries to build a life after narrowly surviving a childhood filled with reanimated dinosaurs, runaway aliens, and mutated Mexican beaded lizards,” Kirkus writes in a starred review. “Heartbreaking...

On this week’s episode, actor and writer Nadia Bowers joins us to discuss her stunning debut memoir, Dear Dealer (Gallery Books, Sept. 15). “A sister struggles to accept her sibling’s overdose death,” Kirkus writes in a starred review. “A moving embodiment of the powerful, creative energy of grief.” THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS:  The Big Dream by Owen Thomas Indigo, The Deep by Kellye Abernathy&nbs...

On this week’s episode, undefeated world champion boxer Laila Ali joins us to discuss A Spark of Greatness: The Autobiography of a Fighter, illustrated by Caldecott honoree Cosby A. Cabrera (Crown, Sept. 8). “Boxing champion Ali describes how, growing up in the shadow of a legend, she at last stepped into the ring on her own terms,” Kirkus writes. “[A]n inspiring portrait of resilience and ambitio...

On this week’s episode,   New York Times bestselling translator and classicist Emily Wilson joins us to discuss Crossing the Wine-Dark Sea: Journeys Through Ancient Literature (Liveright/Norton, Sept. 1). “Enchanting academic essays about translating the classics,” Kirkus writes in a starred review, calling this insightful, accessible essay collection , “a lively exploration of ancient l...

On this week’s episode, No. 1 New York Times bestselling author Liane Moriarty joins us to discuss Big Little Truths (Crown, Aug. 25). “Ten years later, the friends from Big Little Lies (2014) have new headaches, traumas, and secrets,” Kirkus writes in a starred review. “Don’t wait for the TV series—Moriarty’s sparkling writing is worth the read.”  THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS:  Waymaker by Mi...

On this week’s episode, New York Times bestselling author Tia Williams joins us to discuss The Missed Connection (Grand Central Publishing, June 16), book two in her North Falls series. Kirkus: “Desperate to reconnect with the perfect man she met on a plane, a woman hires a private detective with ties to her past…. Flawed yet lovable characters shine in this celebration of human connection.” THANK...

On this week’s episode, No. 1 New York Times bestselling author Karin Slaughter joins us to discuss The Secrets We Keep (William Morrow/HarperCollins, Aug. 4), book two in her North Falls series. Kirkus: ““Every twist in the path to the truth is riveting—especially the final revelation, which puts all the others in the shade—but the most important relationship is between the two investigators, one...

On this week’s episode, No. 1 New York Times bestselling author Lisa Gardner join us to discuss her latest thriller, You’ll Be Sorry (Grand Central Publishing, Aug. 4). “A small-town sheriff uncovers centuries’ worth of secrets,” Kirkus writes in an admiring review. “Gardner deftly juggles a number of characters, plot threads, secrets, time periods, and motives, delivering a satisfyingly layered n...

On this week’s episode, No. 1 New York Times bestselling author Chris Bohjalian joins us to discuss his new novel, The Amateur (Doubleday, Aug. 4). “An accident at the golf course cuts short one life and totally upends another,” Kirkus writes in a starred review. “It’s hard to think of any reason not to call this a perfect novel—our critic writes—a hole in one.”  THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS: ...

On this week’s episode,  novelist Julie Buntin joins us to discuss Famous Men (Random House, July 14). “A personal and professional entanglement with an acclaimed writer shapes a young woman’s life,” kirkus writes in a starred review. Buntin’s stellar sophomore offering is “a searing, brilliant novel about power, and stories, and who gets to tell them.”   THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS:&nbs...

On this week’s episode, No. 1 New York Times bestselling author Colson Whitehead joins us to discuss Cool Machine (Doubleday, July 21). “Whitehead’s justly celebrated Harlem Trilogy comes to a triumphant, satisfying conclusion,” Kirkus writes in a starred review of Cool Machine, calling Whitehead “a master novelist in full command of his powers as a storyteller, prose stylist, and social observer....

On this week’s episode, internationally bestselling author Robinne Lee joins us to discuss her new novel, Crash Into Me (St. Martin’s, July 7). “After moving to Los Angeles, a biracial photographer navigates the complexities of celebrity, wealth, race, and her own past,” Kirkus writes in an admiring review of Crash Into Me , calling this “sharp and often slyly funny” novel “thoughtful social comme...

On this week’s episode, New York Times bestselling author Jessica Knoll joins us to discuss her latest novel, Helpless (Scribner, July 7). “A Hollywood writer returns to her college town for a funeral only to get pulled back into the complicated relationships she left behind,” Kirkus writes in an admiring review of a scintillating novel that “puts the ‘erotic’ back in ‘erotic thriller.’” THANKS TO...

On this week’s episode, New York Times bestselling novelist Jenny Jackson joins us to discuss The Shampoo Effect (Pamela Dorman Books, June 30). Kirkus: “A beginning author gets in over her head, personally and professionally” in a winning novel that “combines a literary rom-com with an acute portrait of midlife among millennials.”   THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS: A Name Unbroken by Donald Proffit A...

On this week’s episode, Eva zu Beck joins us to discuss The Wilder Way: A Memoir of Adventure, Freedom, and an Uncharted Life (Gallery Books, June 2). In a starred review, Kirkus calls this bold debut by the YouTube adventurer and National Geographic TV host “an inspiring, action-packed journey to find one’s self through perilous adventures in exotic, far-flung destinations.”   THANKS TO OUR...

On this week’s episode, sponsored by Cambridge University Press, Deb Olin Unferth joins us to discuss her latest novel, Earth 7 (Graywolf, June 9), which Kirkus calls “a quirky, bold, and endearing masterpiece of climate fiction” (starred review). THANKS TO OUR SPONSOR:  The Elephants in the Room   by Seth Masket (Cambridge University Press) See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privac...

On this week’s episode, comedian and former SNL writer Rosebud Baker joins us to discuss  Fully Baked: A Messy Memoir  (Gallery Books, June 9. Kirkus: “A scathingly funny memoir about a late-bloomer’s wild ride from debauched youth to motherhood and comedy success.”   THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS: Queen of the Styx  by Buell Hollister Diamonds and Roses, Vipers and Toads &n...

On this week’s episode, No. 1  New York Times  bestselling novelist Christina Baker Kline joins us to discuss  The Foursome  (Mariner Books, May 12). “Famous conjoined twins Chang and Eng Bunker were married to Sarah and Adelaide Yates, a pair of sisters in the Civil War–era South, where they produced 21 children between them,” Kirkus writes, in a starred review.&nbsp...

On this week’s episode, Lisa Lee joins us to discuss  American Han  (Algonquin, March 31). “A long-simmering tragedy unfolds in the Kim family of California, from the 1980s to the early 2000s,” Kirkus writes in a starred review of this stunning debut novel. “Lee’s self-aware, relentlessly honest narrator feels absolutely real, and her story cuts deep.”  See Privacy Po...

On this week’s episode, Tom Selleck joins us to discuss  You Never Know: A Memoir  (Dey Street, May 5), out now in paperback with bonus material. “The beloved actor shares his splendid life and career” Kirkus writes in a review of Selleck’s excellent memoir, written with Ellis Henican, calling it “a celebrity memoir worth reading.” THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS: So Many Are the D...

On this week’s episode, actress Jamie Lynn Sigler  joins us to discuss  And So It Is…: A Memoir of Acceptance and Hope  (Harper, May 5). Kirkus: “A memoir of pain, recovery, and, of course, an enduring classic TV series.” And in a sponsored interview, author Jeff Gottesfeld and illustrator Matt Tavares discuss their stunning new picture book,  Honor Flight: Celeb...

On this week’s episode, No. 1  New York Times  bestselling crime novelist Patricia Cornwell joins us to discuss  True Crime: A Memoir  (Grand Central Publishing, May 5). “The life of a hugely popular crime novelist has been full of outsized violations and blessings,” Kirkus writes in a starred review of  True Crime . “This literary memoir is as good as it ge...

On this week’s episode,   New York Times  bestselling novelist Xochitl Gonzalez joins us to discuss  Last Night in Brooklyn  (Flatiron Books, April 21). “Two Brooklyn women forge identities and careers in their rapidly gentrifying borough,” Kirkus writes in a starred review of Gonalez’s latest, calling it “smart, tough-minded, and passionate: a pleasure from star...