Just the Right Book with Roxanne Coady

Roxanne recently sat down with author and friend Amy Bloom to talk about her new book White Houses, inspired by one of the most intimate relationships in history between Eleanor Roosevelt and journalist Lorena Hickok. Listen to Amy read an excerpt from her latest bio-fiction in this week's episode. Also, stay tuned for a sneak peek into our next episode featuring Julia Samuel where she discuss...

A.J. Jacobs, journalist and contributing writer for Esquire, shares how he chronicled his three-year journey to help build the biggest family tree in history in his latest book, "It's All Relative: Adventures Up and Down the World's Family Tree." We also speak to Gael LeLamer, Book Buyer at Books & Books in Miami who shares what is on their front table and the books the changed...

In this episode, Bustle's Senior Books Editor Cristina Arreola talks to Roxanne about everything from BookCon to Broadway and their shared love of Cheryl Strayed. Also in this episode, we hear from author Amy Bloom who was at RJ Julia recently to launch her new book White Houses. The bio-fiction which USA Today called "irresistibly audacious" is inspired by one of the most intriguing r...

A.J. Jacobs is an author, journalist, and contributing writer for Esquire. His latest book "It's All Relative: Adventures Up and Down the World's Family Tree" chronicles Jacobs's three-year journey to help build the biggest family tree in history. In this week’s Bookmarks, we give you a special look inside the book with an excerpt read by A.J. Jacobs himself. Later this week, y...

On this week's episode we meet Daphne De Marneffe, the author of "The Rough Patch: Marriage and the Art of Living Together." She takes us through some of the major stressors of marriage like money and sex, and offers tips for couples who might be going through rough patches or want to avoid them. Also in this episode, we hear from the patrons of RJ Julia who share what's on their n...

Nicole Lamy is a writer, book critic and literary matchmaker for The New York Times' Match Book column. Nicole joined Just the Right Book to talk book recommendations, the most outrageous letter that she has ever received, and the books that changed her life. And stay tuned after Roxanne’s conversation with Nicole to hear a recent live event with author Min Jin Lee who talks about her book “Pa...

Looking for a good book to curl up with this winter? We've got you covered! In this week's episode of Just the Right Book Podcast Roxanne is joined by Ellen Gamerman, the Arts and Culture reporter for the Wall Street Journal. Also in this episode, Roxanne speaks to author, journalist and Rolling Stone contributor Jeff Goodell about his latest book, "The Water Will Come." The book d...

In Einstein and the Rabbi: Searching for the Soul, Rabbi Naomi Levy dives into the mystery of what prompted one of the greatest scientific minds in history to write so eloquently about the human condition and what it says about our own interconnectedness. Rabbi Levy joined Just the Right Book Podcast to take us on this journey of discovering other dimensions of Einstein and the backstory of this g...

Dr. Beverly Tatum's 1997 book on race relations, Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria has become a modern classic found in many classrooms. In this week's episode of Just the Right Book Podcast, the former Spelman College president joins Roxanne for a live event at Wesleyan RJ Julia to talk about the 20th anniversary edition of her time-honored book and how race rel...

llende, who’s novels include “The House of the Spirits” and “City of the Beasts,” joined our Roxanne Coady at a live event hosted by RJ Julia to chat about her latest work, "In the Midst of Winter." And in case you missed it, Roxanne gives you the titles of the 2017 National Book Award winners! 

In this week's episode of Just the Right Book Podcast, Mad Men creator, Matthew Weiner joins Roxanne in New York City to dish on his debut book, Heather The Totality. The 138 page work which Weiner refers to as "novel concentrate" explores the intertwining lives of a privileged Manhattan couple, their beautiful daughter Heather and a sociopathic stalker. The screenwriter-turned-author...

The heroic story of Suzanne Spaak who risked everything and gave her life to save hundreds of Jewish children from deportation in Nazi-occupied Paris to Auschwitz is one of many untold stories of the Holocaust. Just the Right Book welcomes author Anne Nelson who tells Spaak's story in her latest book, Suzanne's Children: A Daring Rescue in Nazi Paris. Also in this episode, some fantastic b...

Why do certain moments influence us so strongly? In this week's episode of Just the Right Book Podcast, we speak to Dan Heath, one half of the dynamic writing team which includes his brother Chip Heath. Dan explains how their latest book, The Power of Moments: Why Certain Experiences Have Extraordinary Impact is about defining the moments that bring special meaning to our lives and the importa...

In today's Tidbits episode, we hear Claire Messud read a passage from her latest book, The Burning Girl. Roxanne describes the novel as "a fascinating look at friendships between young girls and how they arc over time." Also in today's Tidbits, we give you a sneak peek at next week's interview with novelist Dan Heath, who spoke to Roxanne about his new book, The Power of Moment...

You may know Cheryl Strayed from her #1 New York Times bestselling memoir Wild, which inspired the blockbuster film starring Reese Witherspoon or from one of her other bestsellers, Tiny Beautiful Things or Brave Enough. The Portland resident, who's popular advice column Dear Sugar inspired the podcast Dear Sugars is also the co-author of The Sweet Spot advice column in the New York Times Thurs...

Ron Chernow is the Pulitzer Prize-winning writer who wrote the biography which became the inspiration for the record-breaking, hip-hop Broadway musical Hamilton. Chernow joins Roxanne to talk about his latest expository biography on Ulysses S. Grant. Chernow reveals that after getting thrown out of the Army for drinking on payday, Grant must beg his father for a menial job selling leather goods wh...

The New York Times best-selling author of The Emperor's Children joins Just the Right Book to discuss her latest novel, The Burning Girl, which explores the unraveling of two adolescent girls' friendship as they set out on a dangerous journey. Roxanne describes Claire as "one of the finest storytellers today about women's friendships." 

One of the questions that Roxanne loves to ask all of our guests is "What is the book that changed your life?" "The stories are often poignant, personal or funny", says Roxanne "and inevitably they become a list of books that you are dying to read." On a special edition of Just the Right Book Podcast, we take a look back at some of our favorite stories from the past forty e...

One of Roxanne's favorite authors, Elizabeth Strout joins Just the Right Book Podcast to talk about her latest novel, Anything is Possible. The Pulitzer Prize-winning author also gives us the scoop on the Emmy Award-winning HBO series, Olive Kitteridge (based on Strout's book of the same name) and shares her thoughts on Frances McDormand as the title character. "You read Strout, really...

Colm Toibin is the bestselling, award-winning author of seven novels, including The Master and Brooklyn. The Irish-born author joins Just the Right Book Podcast to talk about his new novel, House of Names, a retelling of the Greek myth of Clytemnestra, Agamemnon, and their children.  And later in this episode, we hear from Miriam Sontz, CEO of the famous Powell's Books in Portland Oregon for a...

Deborah Tannen is a mega bestselling author and renowned Georgetown linguist. Her previous book, You Just Don't Understand: Women and Men in Conversation, was on the NY Times Bestseller List for four years, and as Roxanne puts it, "has become the bible for the differences in the way in which girls and women and boys and men converse." Tannen joins Just the Right Book to discuss her new...

John Grisham recently sat down with Roxanne in a rare and candid interview as part of his first book tour in twenty-five years! The bestselling author chose RJ Julia for the second stop of his thirteen-city tour to promote his latest book, Camino Island. "If this book doesn't work, I'm quitting this." says Grisham of The Firm, the book that changed his life. The former lawyer also...

Novelist and television writer Sarah Dunn may be the creator and executive producer of the hit ABC sitcom, American Housewife, but it's her latest novel, The Arrangement that has everyone buzzing. The novel, which Roxanne called "absolutely delicious," tells the story of a couple that embarks on an open marriage while raising a special-needs son. The Arrangement has been called "th...

Charles Duhigg is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter and author of "The Power of Habit," which has spent over two years on the New York Times best-seller list. The Harvard Business School and Yale graduate, recently joined Just the Right Book Podcast to talk about his latest book, "Smarter Faster, Better: The Transformative Power of Real Productivity." "People ofte...

RJ Julia recently hosted an event for one of their favorite authors, Dani Shapiro and Just the Right Book Podcast was there every step of the way. The best-selling novelist and memoirist caught up with Roxanne prior to the event to discuss her latest memoir, "Hourglass: Time, Memory, Marriage." The book, says Roxanne, is an "exquisite jewel" that you will want to read whether you a...