Every month Linda and Nancy discuss a book and then invite the author or some other expert to join t
December is all about wonder and imagination and our book, Marshmallow Clouds, encourages readers to take another look at the world around them to find the magic hidden there. Authors Ted Kooser and Connie Wanek share 30 poems categorized in themes of fire, water, air, and earth. The accompanying illustrations by Richard Jones are a joy. Thanks Candlewick Press! https://frontporchbookclub.com/podcast/67-marshmallow-clouds/
We had the absolute pleasure of spending an hour chatting with Professor James Ker-Lindsay about the island of Cyprus, the setting for Elif Şafak / Elif Shafak 's The Island of Missing Trees. Aside from his deep expertise on all things Cyprus and his serving as a historical consultant for Elif on the book, he is charming and funny AND has an adorable English accent. Do yourself a favor, brew a tea and enjoy this episode!
https://frontporchbookclub.com/podcast/66-james-ker-lindsay-talks-cyprus/
In Elif Şafak / Elif Shafak 's The Island of Missing Trees, it's 1970s Cyprus and although the patrons at The Happy Fig are enjoying their libations under an unusually observant fig tree, not all is well with tensions boiling between Greek Christian and Muslim Turkish islanders. In the midst of this, two young lovers, Defne and Kostas struggle to find a life for themselves, but they are torn apart. Decades later when they reunite, they wonder whether love overcome their difficult past. We discuss this inventive and enveloping book in our latest episode! https://frontporchbookclub.com/podcast/65-the-island-of-missing-trees/
Super excited cultural historian Dr. Julie Des Jardins stopped by the Front Porch to discuss the time period for Bonnie Garmus' Lessons in Chemistry. Think Elizabeth Zott's challenges as a women in science are all fictional exaggeration? We're chagrined to learn of their similarity to those faced by women Nobel prize winning scientists. Julie also relays her current diversity work at Center for Quantum Networks at The University of Arizona and her role as a member of the Scholars Advisory Council at National Women's History Museum. https://frontporchbookclub.com/podcast/64-julie-des-jardins-on-lessons-in-chemistry/
Bonnie Garmus does the impossible - she explores the violence of sexism in 1960s America, but has you laughing and loving her zany characters at the same time. Chief among them is brilliant chemist Elizabeth Zott who has been reduced to hosting a TV cooking show. She reluctantly sparks a rowing revolution. There's a dog with a rich intellectual and emotional life. It's sorta hard to explain. Get this book! We discuss it on our latest episode. https://frontporchbookclub.com/podcast/63-lessons-in-chemistry/
We were super intrigued with Blandine's obsession with the 12th century saint, Hildegard of Bingen, in Tess Gunty's The Rabbit Hutch. To learn more about this amazing, creative abbess, we asked Dr. Jennifer Bain to join us. She is editor of The Cambridge Companion to Hildegard of Bingen and professor of Musicology and Gender and Women's Studies at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. We also learn about Jennifer's amazing work to identify fragments of Gregorian chants (DACT Fragments)!
https://frontporchbookclub.com/podcast/62-jennifer-bain-talks-hildegard-of-bingen/
The Rabbit Hutch by Tess Gunty is our September book and one that Linny and Nancy have some differing opinions on! We talk about brilliant but damaged Blandine the protagonist, literary fiction and why it might be hard to follow, rabbits, and dying post-industrial rust-belt cities. Don't worry, there's lots of laughter, too! The Rabbit Hutch won the National Book Award, so you know it's worth a read and charging up some brain cells over, too. As we get back into the swing of fall, swing on by the Front Porch!
https://frontporchbookclub.com/podcast/61-the-rabbit-hutch/
Today is the big day. Celeste Ng's third novel, a Reese's Book Club pick, New York Times bestseller, and more—is now in paperback. We're so pleased to share it with you! https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/710187/our-missing-hearts-by-celeste-ng/
Did powerful men in Renaissance Italy really kill their wives and strangle their sisters' lovers, as Maggie O'Farrell portrays in her newest historical fiction blockbuster, The Marriage Portrait? We learn all about the real courts of northern Italy when Dr. Deanna Shemek joins us on the Front Porch. Lincoln friends: Deanna is a Lincolnite who lost her heart to Italy, received her PhD in Italian Studies (Johns Hopkins), and is now on the faculty of University of California Irvine. We have a rollicking good time! https://frontporchbookclub.com/podcast/60-dr-deanna-shemek-on-renaissance-italy/
We loved this story...now available in paperback!
It’s finally August and I’m excited to share the paperback release of Our Missing Hearts with you all on the 22nd 😍 Perfect for any Labor Day travels you’re planning!
The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farrell couldn't wait another day to drop! Are you ready for a riveting read, set in the sinister court of the Grand Duke of Ferrara? We meet the very young Duchess, Lucrezia, who believes her husband of less than a year has taken her to his remote hunting lodge to murder her. In this satisfying read that skips around in chronology, we learn what brought Lucrezia to this point and then hang on with our fingernails to see how her story will end. The book is historical fiction, based on the real-life Lucrezia de'Medici. https://frontporchbookclub.com/podcast/59-the-marriage-portrait-by-maggie-ofarrell/
The best-selling author returns with 'Our Missing Hearts,' a novel that boldly tackles anti-Asian racism
Inspiring. Thrilling. Riveting. Joe Starita joins us on the Front Porch to tell us how he came to write the seminal book about Chief Standing Bear, I Am A Man. Chief Standing Bear just wanted to live peaceably, with his tribe, on their ancestral homeland that was deeded to them by the U.S. Government in a treaty. However, government mistakes, prejudice, and people following orders from their superiors led to the Ponca being stripped of their homeland in 1877, many deaths on their journey to their reservation in Oklahoma, and eventually Chief Standing Bear’s suit against the federal government -- the first time a Native American had been allowed to testify in a US courtroom. And he won. This is a story of Chief Standing Bear’s love of his people, his son, and of justice. https://frontporchbookclub.com/podcast/58-author-joe-starita/
Every month Linda and Nancy discuss a book and then invite the author or some other expert to join t
So thrilled to see that Bulldogger's BBQ (Bulldoggers BBQ) in downtown Valentine, Nebraska celebrates Native People with Monday discounts. Valentine sits near Chief Standing Bear's ancestral homelands along the beautiful Niobrara River. Seeing this was a fitting coincidence given our book this month is I Am A Man by Joe Starita -- the story of Ponca Chief Standing Bear. By the way the food was DELICIOUS!!
It's an early July Front Porch Book Club drop! As we celebrate the founding of the United States, we recognize the Indigenous Peoples who lived on these lands long before White settlers. In Joe Starita's terrific book, I Am A Man, we learn about Chief Standing Bear and his journey to recognition in US court that Native Americans have personhood. This was in 1879 after he and his Ponca tribe had endured many broken treaties and been forced from their northeast Nebraska homeland along the Niobrara River. Starita documents the history of this peace-loving tribe and the rights they established for other Native populations. https://frontporchbookclub.com/podcast/57-i-am-a-man-by-joe-starita/
"One older woman--a Choctaw woman, whose granddaughter had been taken--looked at Margaret for a long time with weary eyes, then clicked her teeth.
"'You think this is something new?' She shook her head.
"Margaret listened. She began to learn... About the schools where Indigenous children were shorn and stripped, renamed, reeducated, and returned home broken and scarred--or never at all."
---From Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng
Dr. Margaret Jacobs (University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Dept of History and Director, UNL Center for Great Plains Studies), joins us to uncover what that Choctaw grandmother knew. Margaret weaves the story of indigenous child removal policies from the 19th and 20th centuries and describes efforts, such as Reconciliation Rising, to bring healing to this difficult past.
https://frontporchbookclub.com/podcast/56-dr-margaret-jacobs-on-government-policies-separating-children-from-their-parents/
If you haven't read Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng, add it to your to-be-read pile. Now. Right now. We loved this novel's depiction of maternal love that knows no bounds. Ng introduces us to Bird, a 12-year-old boy whose mother has left him and his father years earlier. His father disavows her and her poetry that is being used by resisters standing up against an authoritarian government in the United States. When Bird receives a mysterious letter, he goes on a journey to find his her. https://frontporchbookclub.com/podcast/55-our-missing-hearts-by-celeste-ng/
https://www.facebook.com/celestengwriter
Mother's Day in May; Father's Day in June. It's all about parents on the front porch as we discuss Andrew Solomon's book Far From the Tree: Parents, Children and the Search for Identity. This fascinating book explores how differences separate parents and children, but charts ways to bridge those differences and find meaning in the journey.
Parenting children with differences can be challenging, but ultimately rewarding, according to Andrew Solomon in Far From the Tree.
We are thrilled to invite author Nadia Hashimi to the front porch to discuss her blockbuster book, Sparks Like Stars. This book is a beautiful and haunting evocation of what is left behind and what is taken when tragedy strikes. In Sparks Like Stars, 10-year old Sitara is living a privileged life in Kabul, until the 1978 revolution strips everything she loves from her and she is forced to create a new life in America. Years later she returns to discover what happened to her loved ones and herself in the bloody coup. Nadia shares her inspirations for the story, her writing process, and her hopes for Afghanistan. https://frontporchbookclub.com/podcast/53-author-nadia-hashimi/
The podcast for people who love books and discussing characters and the worlds they live in. Join us the1st & 3rd Wednesdays every month.
Join us for a FASCINATING chat with Sher Jan Ahmadzai, Director of the Center for Afghanistan Studies at the University of Nebraska Omaha. We hear about his family's devastating experience in the 1979 Communist revolution, their flight to Pakistan, his remarkable journey back to Afghanistan serving in the Presidential Palace, and his immigration to the United States. Our book this month, Sparks Like Stars, by Nadia Hashimi begins in 1978 Afghanistan. Sher Jan helps us better understand the world of Nadia's book - historically to current day challenges.
We learn the real-life harrowing tale of Sher Jan Ahmadzai's flight from Afghanistan and his insights about the country's current challenges.
April is all things Sparks Like Stars by Nadia Hashimi. We loved this international bestseller and can't wait to share all THREE episodes we recorded. First up is Linny and Nancy talking about the book. Linny even gets a little teary. Join us on this fascinating adventure that begins in the Afghanistan King's palace in 1978 in a westernized Kabul! https://frontporchbookclub.com/podcast/51-sparks-like-stars-by-nadia-hashimi/
Happy birthday to Linny!
So what's the deal with Ove? Why is he so cranky? Why doesn't he have any friends? We discuss grief with two experts from Mourning Hope Grief Center (Lincoln, Nebraska) to better understand grief, mourning, and healing. We loved visiting with Alyssa Christensen and Amy Lipins. Our context, naturally, is Fredrik Backman's (Fredrik Backman) book: A Man Called Ove. https://frontporchbookclub.com/podcast/50-grief-experts-discuss-a-man-called-ove/
Our dear cousin Denise Dykhuizen Kaufman McDaniel shared with us how much she loved A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman. She thought we might like to read it for the book club and she was right! We love this book and its story of hope and redemption - religious words, but this book is very far from religious. Ove, the protagonist, is a grumpy guy who criticizes everyone, usually calling them coarse names. Not super lovable. But, unwillingly, he begins drawing people (and a cat!) toward him and this changes everything. https://frontporchbookclub.com/podcast/49-a-man-called-ove/
We have SUCH A FUN TIME discussing SUCH A FUN AGE with therapist Marlene Castillo.
Linny's co-worker and therapist, Marlene Castillo, joins us to discuss Kiley Reid's debut novel - Such a Fun Age. We dissect all the isms!
It's getting real in Kiley Reid's debut novel, Such a Fun Age. The book starts with a racial profiling incident that sets a series of "well-meant" actions in motion. The book satirizes, well, basically all of us living in 21st century America, even those of us who think they're beyond reproach (maybe especially that person!).
We discuss Such a Fun Age, by debut novelist Kiley Reid. We remember the aimlessness of first jobs & discuss issues of racism & classism.
We're talking with author and mindset coach Dr. Larry Widman about the 15 mindset skills he teaches to elite athletes and that we can apply to our recreational athletics and lives. Turns out, elite athletes struggle with the same self-talk and confidence challenges Linny does when she's on the pickleball court. Doc gives us some practical approaches to achieving our goals using positive psychology. It's evidence-based, y'all!
Doc Widman shares the 15 Max Out Mindset powers he uses to help elite athletes that will help us in our recreational athletics and lives.
Do you love New Year’s resolutions? Hate ‘em? Join our discussion about Max Out Mindset by Dr. Larry Widman. This book isn’t just warm fuzzies and fingers crossed. Nope. Doc describes the evidence-based practices he uses with elite athletes and then translates them for the rest of us who aren’t quite so elite! We reveal how we’ll apply these approaches to our own “athletic” and other life goals. Nebraska peeps will especially enjoy the behind-the-scenes at Nebraska volleyball, gymnastics, bowling, and Creighton volleyball, too. Linny isn't a Nebraskan and she isn't much of a sports fan, but loved hearing about these amazing athletes (some of whom she remembered killing it in the Olympics!).
Resolutions don't work! Linny and Nancy discuss the evidence-based approaches described in Dr. Larry Widman's book, Max Out Mindset.
Could these two be any cuter? Here are Steph and Liam, the inspirations for Mommy and Liam in Sue Ray-Smolik 's new children's book, The Evening Walk. We talk to Sue on our latest episode: https://frontporchbookclub.com/podcast/44-author-sue-ray-smolik/
How about a cozy children's picture book for the holidays? Here's our guest author, Sue Ray-Smolik, sharing her new children's picture book, The Evening Walk, with her grandson Liam who inspired it. Sue shares the 30 year journey to writing and publishing this beautiful, loving book. Oh, and there may be a few laughs about Sue and Nancy's time as college roommates, too!
We loved Sue Ray-Smolik's new children's picture book, The Evening Walk. On the podcast episode we drop on Wednesday,, Sue tells us about the real-life inspirations for her book. Hint: here's a photo of them! Adorable, right??!!
It's December which means it's time for a children's' book! This year we review the Sue Ray-Smolik book, The Evening Walk. Sue was Nancy's college roommate (and they haven't aged a day, they keep telling themselves... ah, delusion!). The book is a wonderful and joyful story of toddler Liam and his sight-impaired Mommy who explore their neighborhood using all their senses. We love the gentle and subtle representation of sight-impairment -- in fact it is never mentioned, but just a part of the way Mommy is shown interacting, quite capably, in Liam's and her world. Bottom line? Mommy rocks, Liam is a adorable, and Tiggy the dog is an enjoyable companion. We highly recommend this book for a little one in your life, or for your public or school library!
We discuss The Evening Walk, a picture book by Sue Ray-Smolik in which toddler Liam and visually-impaired Mommy explore their neighborhood.
We have a fascinating episode for you. We interview Dr. Kevin Bower (Nebraska Wesleyan University!) to enlarge our understanding of the chaotic days following the end of the Civil War, the setting of Nathan Harris' acclaimed book, The Sweetness of Water. You won't want to miss this episode: it is entertaining, but will also grow your brain and challenge your assumptions!
Dr. Kevin Bower helps us understand the days following the Civil War, the setting of The Sweetness of Water, and their relevance today.
This month we find ourselves in Old Ox, Georgia in the tumultuous weeks following the end of the Civil War. Nathan Harris' widely-adored book, The Sweetness of Water, introduces us to the tragic and triumphant characters who struggle to make a life for themselves in a world without slavery.
The Sweetness of Water by Nathan Harris has it all - grief, triumph, hope, and cruelty. We discuss the book and its relevance to our world.
We're back to Addie LaRue (after our heart-stopping sojourn down the Amazon with Candice Millard) and her Faustian deal to be forgotten by everyone she meets, until she meets Henry in a New York City bookstore. Behavioral consultant Jess Hess joins us to tell us why The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is one of her favorite books and why it gives her hope.
We're back to The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab, joined by behavioral consultant, Jess Hess, who recommended the book.
Ever want to take a deadly trip in Jerry-rigged canoes down a tributary in the Amazon without enough food? Us either! But Theodore Roosevelt did and we discuss this misadventure, told in gripping detail, in Candice Millard's River of Doubt. The book will have you on the edge of your seat and questioning everything you thought you remembered about Theodore Roosevelt!
We discuss River of Doubt, the riveting book recounting Theodore Roosevelt's disastrous expedition to map an Amazon River tributary.
Had a great evening at Humanities Nebraska 27th Annual Governor's Lecture in the Humanities and meeting Candice Millard, our most recent guest on the Front Porch! What a treat!!
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