Fully Booked by Kirkus Reviews

On this special Work Episode of the podcast, Ellyn Gaydos joins us to discuss Pig Years (Knopf, June 14), a lyrical debut memoir of four years of seasonal farm work in New York and Vermont. Kirkus: “Lyrical and cleareyed insight into farming from a writer devoted to both crafts.” Then our editors recommend some of their favorite books contending with jobs and professions. See Privacy Policy at htt...

Sidik Fofana joins us to discuss Stories From the Tenants Downstairs (Scribner, Aug. 16), eight interconnected stories set in a fictional high-rise in Central Harlem. Kirkus: “A potentially significant voice in African American fiction asserts itself with wit and compassion” (starred review). Then our editors join with their reading recommendations for the week. See Privacy Policy at https://art19...

Carmen Rita Wong joins us to discuss Why Didn’t You Tell Me?: A Memoir (Crown, July 12). Kirkus: “The gradual unraveling of lifelong deceptions about her parenthood teaches a Dominican Chinese woman unsettling lessons about the mutability of identity” (starred review). Then our editors join with their reading recommendations for the week. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and Califor...

On our 2022 Fall Preview episode, Beth Macy discusses Raising Lazarus: Hope, Justice, and the Future of America’s Overdose Crisis (Little, Brown, Aug. 16), “a profoundly disconcerting book that, with luck, will inspire reform to aid the dopesick and punish their suppliers” (starred review). Then our editors highlight a few of their favorite titles from the Fall Preview issue of Kirkus Reviews. See...

In this episode, sponsored by Amazon Original Stories, Mohsin Hamid joins us to discuss the novel The Last White Man (Riverhead, Aug. 2), “a provocative tale that raises questions of racial and social justice at every turn” (starred review). Then our editors join with their reading recommendations for the week. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https:...

Monique Roffey joins us to The Mermaid of Black Conch (Knopf, July 12). Kirkus: “In this Costa Award–winning novel, the discovery of a mermaid makes waves on a fictional Caribbean island….A mournful tour through Caribbean history via one of its most indelible legends.” Then our editors join with their reading recommendations for the week. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and Califor...

Oscar Hokeah joins us to discuss Calling for a Blanket Dance (Algonquin, July 26), an outstanding debut novel about the life of Ever Geimausaddle, a Kiowa-Cherokee-Mexican American man, artfully told from the perspectives of 11 family members, as well as his own. Then our editors join with their reading recommendations for the week. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Pr...

Chrysta Bilton joins us to discuss Normal Family: On Truth, Love, and How I Met My 35 Siblings (Little, Brown, July 19), the debut memoir Kirkus calls “a wholly absorbing page-turner that everyone will want to read. You should probably buy two” (starred review). Then our editors join with their reading recommendations for the week. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Pri...

Mecca Jamilah Sullivan joins us to discuss Big Girl (Liveright, July 12). Kirkus: “In this debut novel set in 1990s Harlem, a young girl learns—and redefines—what it means to take up space….A lyrical and important coming-of-age novel.” Then our editors join with their reading recommendations for the week. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art1...

New York Times-bestselling author Tom Perrotta joins us to discuss Tracy Flick Can’t Win (Scribner, June 7). In this 10th novel from the “master of dark comedy,” “the campaign to create a Hall of Fame at a suburban New Jersey high school lures a few skeletons out of their closets” (Kirkus). Then our editors join with their reading recommendations for the week. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.c...

Literary critic and cultural historian Joanna Scutts joins us to discuss Hotbed: Bohemian Greenwich Village and the Secret Club That Sparked Modern Feminism (Seal Press, June 7), “an enlightening contribution to the history of feminism” (Kirkus). Then our editors join with their reading recommendations for the week. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at h...

Ada Calhoun joins us to discuss Also a Poet: Frank O’Hara, My Father, and Me (Grove, June 14). Kirkus: “Art critic Peter Schjeldahl's daughter takes a shot at finishing her father's derailed biography of Frank O'Hara and ends up writing a fascinating memoir….A wonderfully convoluted, catty, candid, and clever piece of work” (starred review). Then our editors join with their reading recommendations...

Joseph Han joins us to discuss the novel Nuclear Family (Counterpoint, June 7), “a raucous and adroit debut” in which “an immigrant family is haunted by the past” (Kirkus). Then our editors join with their reading recommendations for the week. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Julio Torres joins us to discuss I Want To Be a Vase (Atheneum, June 7), illus. by Julian Glander, a gorgeous debut picture book about the self-actualization of everyday objects. Kirkus: “Great for stimulating creative thinking and art activities: What else can ordinary objects be?” Then our editors join with their reading recommendations for the week. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/priva...

Ann Leary joins us to discuss The Foundling (Marysue Rucci Books, May 31), a “thoroughly satisfying novel” in which the New York Times bestselling author “turns her mordant eye to the interplay of feminism, racism, and eugenics at a state institution for women deemed unfit to bear children in 1927” (starred review). Then our editors join with their reading recommendations for the week. See Privacy...

Author Marie Myung-Ok Lee joins us to discuss her new novel The Evening Hero (Simon & Schuster, May 24), the story of Yungman Kwak, a Korean American doctor grappling with forced retirement and family secrets. Kirkus says Lee’s brilliant novel is “filled with as much heartache and healing as it is historical significance.” Then our editors join with their reading recommendations for the week. See...

New York Times bestselling author Emma Straub joins us to discuss her latest novel, This Time Tomorrow (Riverhead, May 17). “Combine Straub's usual warmth and insight with the fun of time travel and you have a winner,” Kirkus writes in a starred review. Then our editors join with their reading recommendations for the week. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Noti...

Margo Jefferson joins us to discuss Constructing a Nervous System: A Memoir (Pantheon, April 12), “a dynamic, unflinchingly candid examination of the impacts of race and class on culture and the author’s own life” (starred review). Then our editors join with their reading recommendations for the week. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.co...

R.M. Romero joins us to discuss The Ghosts of Rose Hill (Peachtree Teen, May 10), a magical realist romance in verse Kirkus calls “a must-read for lost souls everywhere” (starred review). Then our editors join with their reading recommendations for the week. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Leigh Newman joins us to discuss Nobody Gets Out Alive (Scribner, April 12), “bighearted stories of domestic discord by a writer with a cleareyed view of Alaska's romance and hardscrabble realism” (starred review). Then our editors join with their reading recommendations for the week. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-...

Rhea Ewing joins us to discuss Fine: A Comic About Gender (Liveright, April 2), a work of graphic nonfiction Kirkus calls “A vital, richly textured resource for anyone seeking a better understanding of gender identity” (starred review). Then our editors join with their reading recommendations for the week. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art...

Booker Prize-winning author Douglas Stuart joins us to discuss his new novel, Young Mungo (Grove, April 2), a sophomore effort Kirkus calls “romantic, terrifying, brutal, tender, and, in the end, sneakily hopeful” (starred review). Then our editors join with their reading recommendations for the week. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.co...

Novelist Grant Ginder joins us to discuss Let’s Not Do That Again (Henry Holt, April 5), a “ timely comic novel set in New York and Paris” wherein “a political family deals with drama past and present” (starred review) Then our editors offer their weekly reading recommendations. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-m...

Writer and humorist Jill Gutowitz joins us to discuss Girls Can Kiss Now (Atria, March 8), “a witty essay collection about pop culture and queerness” (Kirkus). Then our editors join with their reading recommendations for the week, with books by Kate Folk and Matt Phelan. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Future forecaster and game designer Jane McGonigal joins us to discuss Imaginable: How To See the Future Coming and Feel Ready for Anything—Even Things That Seem Impossible Today (Spiegel & Grau, March 22), “a fascinating book about how the future does not have to be an undiscovered country.” Then our editors join with their reading recommendations for the week, with books by Adib Khorram, Chuck K...