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Books on the Nightstand published our final episode in July 2016. This is a place for listeners to find old episodes. 

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  2. BOTNS Podcast #166: Odds, Ends, and Kindred Spirits

BOTNS Podcast #166: Odds, Ends, and Kindred Spirits

Feb 6, 2012

A mish-mash of things we want to tell you about. Connecting with a stranger over the shared love of an obscure book. Raves for Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo, and History of a Pleasure Seeker by Booktopia VT author Richard Mason

Odds and Ends

Segment one this week is a cornucopia of bookish news:

  • Check out this line of bookmark greeting cards: In My Book, with lovely illustrated fronts that can be detached and used as bookmarks, has been around for over ten years. They are new to me, but not a new line of cards as I mistakenly say in the podcast. They're very cool and you can probably buy them at a store near you!
  • Many folks attending Booktopia have started a The Sense of an Ending  read-along. They'll read the book now, then discuss it at the Booktopia events (so far we have attendees for VT and MS reading along). We've decided to expand the event into a sort of "One Podcast, One Book" and we encourage you all to read the book and share your thoughts at our Goodreads group! (For more info on the three Booktopia events, click here.)
  • Last week I told you about Quiet by Susan Cain, who will be joining us at Booktopia VT. Since being published, Quiet has been anything but. It's been getting tons of attention and Susan is scheduled to appear on The Colbert Report on 2/16. Set your DVRs!
  • A recent article in The Guardian alerted Ann to The Library Book, a very cool sounding collection of "famous writers on libraries real or imagined, past and future; why libraries matter and to whom." It's a book that's only available in the UK, as far as we can tell, but we're sure hoping it will published in the States so we can check it out as well!
  • Some folks are using The BOTNS 12 in '12 Reading Challenge as a way to visit 12 bookstores they've always meant to see in person. In that vein, we'd love for everyone to call our voicemail line (209.867.7323) and briefly describe your favorite bricks-and-mortar (i.e. physical) bookstore.

Kindred Spirits (12:00)

Ann has been geting back into knitting, and recently discovered 2 Knit Lit Chicks, a podcast that is half about knitting and half about books. When Barb, one of the women on the podcast, recommended The Sex Lives of Cannibals by J. Maarten Troost, Ann actually cheered out loud. It was that exciting moment when you find out that someone else shares your love of a less-than-well-known book. For me, it happened recently when someone friended me on a social networking site and his favorite book listed was Pfitz by Andrew Crumey, a book I sadly thought I was the only person in the world to have read.

In the comments below we'd love to hear what obscure book would make an instant connection between you and another fan.

And Two Books We Can't Wait For You to Read (21:44)

     

Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo is an intimate, revealing and heartbreaking look into the lives of the residents of Annawadi, a small slum on the edge of Mumbai's international airport. I feel quite certain saying this is a book that will garner widespread attention and will win awards.

Set in 1907, History of a Pleasure Seeker by Richard Mason, follows Piet Barol a young tutor brought into the home of a bourgeois Amsterdam family. It's a book that Ann lost herself in and she's thrilled that the author will be continuing Piet's story in future books. For more on Richard Mason, check out this great interview.