The Avid Reader on WCHE

Sam talks with the "wickedly talented" (Boston Globe) and "darkly funny" (New York Times Book Review) Ryan Boudinot, on his new book Blueprints of the Afterlife.

Take an attractive young blonde, a sex shop, a political candidate, and add a Catholic Church for good measure, and you have the recipe for a riveting controversy that riddled a wealthy Philadelphia suburb and divided a community. Follow the quandaries of Jill McDevitt, a determined recent college graduate with a degree in sexuality and a love of pushing the envelope.

Isabel is a single, twentysomething thrift-store shopper and collector of remnants, things cast off or left behind by others. Glaciers follows Isabel through a day in her life in which work with damaged books in the basement of a library, unrequited love for the former soldier who fixes her computer, and dreams of the perfect vintage dress move over a backdrop of deteriorating urban architecture and the imminent loss of the glaciers she knew as a young girl in Alaska.

Glaciers unfolds internally, the action shaped by Isabel's sense of history, memory, and place, recalling the work of writers such as Jean Rhys, Marguerite Duras, and Virginia Woolf. For Isabel, the fleeting moments of one day can reveal an entire life. While she contemplates loss and the intricate fissures it creates in our lives, she accumulates the stories?the remnants?of those around her and she begins to tell her own story.

What a pleasure to encounter a first novel as self-assured and effortlessly told as Ayad Akhtar’s “American Dervish.” Mr. Akhtar, a first-generation Pakistani-American, has written an immensely entertaining coming-of-age story set during the early 1980s among the Pakistanis in the author’s hometown, Milwaukee.

Lev Grossman, author of The Magician King

Sam talks to Lily King, author of Father of the Rain, a New York Times editor's choice book.

Michael Sims, whose new biography of E.B. White, The Story of Charlotte's Web, has been featured on NPR and in USA Today.

Also, join us at Wellington Square Bookshop on Thursday, July 28th from 7:00-9:00PM for a signing by Michael Sims and a Charlotte's Web giveaway!

Sam talks to Kate Christensen, author of The Astral (2011) and The Great Man, which won the 2008 PEN/Faulkner award.

On this edition of the Avid Reader, Sam talks with David J. Linden, professor of neuroscience at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He's the author of "The Compass of Pleasure: How Our Brains Make Fatty Foods, Orgasm, Exercise, Marijuana, Generosity, Vodka, Learning and Gambling Feel So Good."

Listen in to the Avid Reader interview with Craig Johnson, author of Hell is Empty and six other Walt Longmire mysteries (coming soon to A&E!).

In 2003, Erik Larson published "The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic and Madness at the Fair that Changed America" to an incredible response from critics and readers. His latest book, "In the Garden of Beasts," follows the first American ambassador to Nazi Germany.

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Geraldine Brooks joins Sam on this edition of the Avid Reader. Her newest novel, CALEB'S CROSSING, tells the story of the first Native American to graduate from Harvard University.

Sam talks to Jean Thompson, whose newest novel, The Year We Left Home, follows an Iowa family over three decades.

When Alice Ozma was in fourth grade, she and her father made a pact: he would read aloud to her every night for 100 nights. 100 nights quickly turned into 1000, and when they saw no reason to stop their tradition, the reading streak continued for nine years-- until Ozma left home for college. Alice talks to Sam about her journey through L. Frank Baum's Oz series, Shakespeare, J.K. Rowling, and Dickens. Sickness, sleepovers and teenage rebellion threaten to break the streak, but Alice and her father are up for the challenge.

In his novel Union Atlantic Adam Haslett describes a global economic crisis similar to our own. He and Sam discuss writing and economics in novels on this edition of the Avid Reader.

Sam talks to Peter Mountford, author of A Young Man's Guide to Late Capitalism.

Arthur Phillips, author of Prague and The Tragedy of Arthur, joins Sam on the Avid Reader Show.

On this edition of the Avid Reader, Sam talks Lionel Shriver, whose newest novel So Much for That is now available in paperback. In 2005, Shriver was awarded the Orange Prize for her eighth novel, We Need to Talk About Kevin. She shares her thoughts on writing, social novels, and questionable book covers assigned to female authors.

Jonathan Evison joins Sam to talk about West of Here, his epic novel of the Pacific Northwest.

David Halperin talks about his coming-of-age novel Journal of a UFO Investigator. It's a story of aliens, alienation and imagination set in the 1960s.

Sam talks to Bradford Morrow, author of the Diviner's Tale and editor of Conjunctions literary magazine.

Justin Kramon talks to Sam about his debut novel Finny, a coming-of-age tale set at a Maryland boarding school and featuring a "Dickensian coterie" of secondary characters.

An interview with Téa Obreht, whose debut novel "The Tiger's Wife" has been receiving rave reviews. She's also the youngest member of the New Yorker's list of the 20 best writers under 40!

Two regulars from Wellington Square Bookshop's eclectic monthly open mic stop by: Jeff Mastroberti, local poet and Zak Theis, the host of Open Mic and a talented guitarist.

Karen Russell talks to Sam about her first novel, Swamplandia!, a family tale set at a shabby tourist attraction in the Everglades.

The author of The Memory Keeper's Daughter joins Sam on this edition of the Avid Reader to talk about her new book, The Lake of Dreams.

Sam Hankin is joined by Michael Sims, the author of "Adam's Naval," "Natural And Cultural History Of The Human Form," and "Apollo's Fire: A Day On Earth." He's the editor of "The Penguin Book of Victorian Women in Crime," a new anthology of stories featuring fearless, witty women with a knack for exposing injustice.

The Avid Reader talks to Tracy Kidder, prolific author of literary non-fiction, about his books Strength in What Remains and Mountains Beyond Mountains.

Charles Yu, author of How To Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe, talks to Sam about time travel and more.

Sam interviews Thrity Umrigar, bestselling author of THE SPACE BETWEEN US and THE WEIGHT OF HEAVEN.

Sam talks with Chris Cleave, author of LITTLE BEE and INCENDIARY.

We listen to a chapter from David Byrne's travel memoir the Bicycle Diaries.

Sam talks to Susan Weidener about memoirs, writing groups, and her book Again in a Heartbeat.

Helen Simonson, author of Major Pettigrew's Last Stand, talks to Sam about her novel. It's also our book club pick for January!

Paul Harding, 2010 Pulitzer Prize winner for Tinkers, chats with Sam about writing, belief, and the father-son relationship at the heart of his novel.

Sam talks with Jen Bryant, Caldecott Award Honoree for River of Words and author of young adult novel The Fortune of Carmen Navarro.

The best-selling author and book club favorite talks to the Avid Reader about her novels Sarah's Key and A Secret Kept.