On this episode, Melissa Joulwan, author and co-host of the podcast Strong Sense of Place, discusses the way her personal reading life and work for the show overlap. We talk about her deep and varied book preferences, our shared love for diving deep into a backlist, and you get to hear the fabulous way she describes the books she loves.

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Books mentioned in this episode:

What Betsy’s reading:

King of Ashes by S.A. Cosby

The Ghostwriter by Julie Clark

Skeleton Crew by Stephen King

Books Highlighted by Melissa:

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

A Room with a View by E.M. Forester

The Inn at Lake Divine by Elinor Lipman

Fresh Water for Flowers by Valérie Perrin

The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery

Circe by Madeline Miller

Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Less by Andrew Sean Greer

The Trick by Emanuel Bergman

Spoonbenders by Daryl Gregory

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

Odds Against by Dick Francis

Dietland by Sarai Walker

Piglet by Lottie Hazell

The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss

Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson

All books available on my Bookshop.org episode page.

Other books mentioned in this episode:

Well Fed Weeknights by Melissa Joulwan

Rollergirl by Melissa Joulwan

The Kill Artist by Daniel Silva

This Rough Magic by Mary Stewart

Wakenhyrst by Michelle Paver

The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde

The Madwoman Upstairs by Catherine Lowell

What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Carmilla by Joseph Sherican Le Fanu

Hungerstone by Kat Dunn

The Curse of Pietro Houdini by Derek B. Miller

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

A Curious Beginning by Deanna Raybourn

A Great Deliverance by Elizabeth George

The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley

The Bedlam Stacks by Natasha Pulley

The Kingdoms by Natasha Pulley

2 A.M. at The Cat’s Pajamas by Marie-Helene Bertino

Beautyland by Marie-Helene Bertino

The Way Men Act by Elinor Lipman

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

Silver Nitrate by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Less is Lost by Andrew Sean Greer

My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh