Book Nook
316 episodes - English - Latest episode: 16 days ago - ★★★★★ - 6 ratingsListen to the Book Nook with Vick Mickunas for intimate conversations about books with the writers who create them.
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Episodes
Book Nook: Tinfoil Butterfly, by Rachel Eve Moulton
October 07, 2019 14:27 - 48 minutes - 2.87 KBRachel Eve Moulton dropped by the studio to talk about her new book "Tinfoil Butterfly." Rachel grew up in Yellow Springs-this is her debut novel-she was about to make her first public appearance to do a reading from her book-so this interview was a very special occasion. Listen to our conversation to hear about her eerie story line-it reminds me of an episode of the Twilight Zone.Very scary. And since Rod Serling, that program's creator lived in Yellow Springs during the 1950's that seems ra...
Book Nook: Altamont, by Joel Selvin
September 27, 2019 13:42 - 28 minutes - 1.69 KBIn August of 1969 the legendary Woodstock Music Festival took place. It has been known as having been a wonderful event, something to celebrate. Four months later, in December 1969, The Rolling Stones gave a free concert in northern California at the site of what was then the Altamont Speedway. The concert at Altamont will always be remembered as a horrific event in which people died and thousands of spectators experienced really bad acid trips. The journalist Joel Selvin wrote about it in "A...
Book Nook: Saving Jemima: Life and Love with a Hard-Luck Jay, by Julie Zickefoose
September 25, 2019 13:37 - 49 minutes - 2.89 KBJulie Zickefoose returned to the program to discuss her thoroughly heart warming and utterly amazing book "Saving Jemima: Life and Love with a Hard-Luck Jay." Julie rescued a baby blue jay and raised it for about a month until it was ready to be released back into the wild. She named the bird Jemima and when you read this story you will fall in love with this spunky little bird just like Julie did. Julie's watercolor paintings and photos of Jemima are incredible and they complement this engag...
Book Nook: The Swallows, by Lisa Lutz
September 23, 2019 14:42 - 28 minutes - 1.69 KBI love writers who are unpredictable. That's one reason I am a huge fan of the novelist Lisa Lutz. I never know what to expect from her and her latest novel "The Swallows" certainly came as a total surprise to me. This is a book about female rage and a gender war at a boarding school. She is so clever and this story is so very compelling. Heaven only knows what her next book will be about-I'm certainly looking forward to reading it! The Book Nook on WYSO is presented by the Greene County Publ...
Best of the Book Nook: Mrs. Paine's Garage: and the Murder of John F. Kennedy, by Thomas Mallon
September 20, 2019 19:03 - 50 minutes - 2.98 KBThomas Mallon has written a number of works of historical fiction that are based on actual events. He likes to have political themes in many of them and his book "Mrs. Paine's Garage: and the Murder of John F. Kennedy" was a fascinating story about a woman who was a peripheral figure in the events surrounding the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas in 1963. Ruth Paine lived in Dallas-she had befriended Marina Oswald, the wife of JFK's future assassin Lee Harvey Oswald. After ...
Book Nook: A Better Man, by Louise Penny
September 18, 2019 13:59 - 28 minutes - 1.69 KBA few years ago I received an e-mail from the publicist for the author Louise Penny. She was wondering if I would be reviewing the latest book in Penny's massively popular series set in Quebec which features Inspector Armand Gamache. When I responded I asked her if Louise would be willing to be my guest on the radio. I wasn't expecting a positive response. I understood how an author who routinely tops the best-seller lists might be too busy to make an appearance in The Book Nook. I was pleasa...
Best of the Book Nook: Tayari Jones And Iris Chang
September 16, 2019 13:52 - 50 minutes - 2.95 KB"Leaving Atlanta" by Tayari Jones 17 years ago a writer named Tayari Jones came through Dayton on a book tour for her debut novel. At that time she was virtually unknown. That afternoon she made her first appearance on a live radio program. Today Tayari Jones is no longer an unknown author. Her most recent novel, "An American Marriage," was an Oprah's Book Club selection and a best-seller. "The Rape of Nanking" by Iris Chang In our final segment of the program we went back to play an excerpt ...
Best of the Book Nook: Encounter with Tiber, by Buzz Aldrin (and John Barnes)
September 13, 2019 15:22 - 28 minutes - 1.69 KBOver the years that I have been hosting this program I have had the opportunity to interview a number of historical figures. Three of those individuals have been astronauts; John Glenn, Eugene Cernan, and Buzz Aldrin. Our early astronauts are mostly gone now. Of those three Buzz Aldrin is the only one who remains with us today. Fifty years ago Buzz Aldrin was the second man to set foot upon the surface of the moon. I have interviewed him twice. This podcast of the recording of my first conver...
Best of the Book Nook: Remembering Tony Horwitz
September 10, 2019 15:44 - 50 minutes - 2.93 KBThe first time I had Tony Horwitz on the program he had just published his landmark work of non-fiction "Confederates in the Attic." Tony gave a wonderful interview that day. I loved that book so much that I had him on the show again for the paperback release. Over the years I did four interviews with Tony. His partner, the novelist Geraldine Brooks has made three appearances in the Book Nook. Tony put out his most recent book, "Spying on the South," earlier this year. This new book feels lik...
Book Nook: Stay and Fight, by Madeline ffitch
September 03, 2019 14:25 - 28 minutes - 1.69 KBEvery once in a great while I will read a debut novel and say to myself; what an extraordinary story written by a writer who I will hopefully be reading for many years to come. "Stay and Fight" is one of those rare books that simply knocked me over with the raw power of the writing and storytelling. I am so impressed with Madeline ffitch. This is the story of some incredible women who are living off the grid in southeastern Ohio. They are raising a child and that boy will steal your hearts. T...
Best of the Book Nook: In His Own Voice, co-edited by Herbert Woodward Martin
September 01, 2019 17:45 - 49 minutes - 2.92 KBHerbert Woodward Martin returned to the program to discuss the work of Paul Laurence Dunbar. At the time we originally presented this radio program Herb had just published a collection of Dunbar's work, "In His Own Voice: Dramatic & Other Uncollected Works," which he co-edited along with the scholar Ronald Primeau. Two years later his collaborator on this project would publish his own study of the work of Herb Martin. In my view Herb is our leading authority on Dunbar's work. He has devoted y...
Book Nook: A Dangerous Man, by Robert Crais
August 30, 2019 17:49 - 29 minutes - 1.7 KBRobert Crais is one of my favorites. Over the years we have done over a dozen interviews. Only one other guest has done more; James Lee Burke. As this interview began I mentioned this fact to Bob and he suggested that he should hang up and call me right back. Then hang up again and call me back. He thought if he did that several more times that he could numerically surpass James Lee Burke and become the #1 guest in terms of appearances. Of course he was joking. By the way, we edited that part...
Best of the Book Nook: A Well-Seasoned Appetite: Recipes from an American Kitchen, by Molly O'Neill
August 28, 2019 15:17 - 49 minutes - 2.92 KBFor the past 30 years or so I have been a faithful reader of the New York Times. They have excellent coverage of books. During the 1980's and 1990's I was a fan of the food writer Molly O'Neill. Her culinary column in the New York Times was something I always anticipated with a sense of joy. In 1996 when Molly published a cookbook and she was coming through the area on book tour I eagerly contacted her publicist and arranged an interview. We had to talk on the phone. She had a busy schedule t...
Book Nook: Growing Things, by Paul Tremblay
August 23, 2019 19:12 - 28 minutes - 1.69 KBPaul Tremblay's new collection of horror stories, "Growing Things," has been impressing a lot of readers. Some of his admirers are quite impressive, too. Here's what the eminent horror writer Stephen King had to say about it: "Can't praise Paul Tremblay's GROWING THINGS highly enough. 19 creepy classics that will turn your favorite easy chair into an uneasy chair. One of the best collections of the 21st century." (from Twitter) Wow, can you imagine being a writer and having someone like him s...
Book Nook: Lady in the Lake, by Laura Lippman
August 17, 2019 17:17 - 28 minutes - 1.69 KBLaura Lippmann returned to the program to discuss her latest impressive mystery novel. This one, "Lady in the Lake," is set in Baltimore in 1966. Lippmann was inspired to write the novel after reading about two actual murder cases from the period. In one murder a young white girl vanished after stopping by a pet store. The police spared no efforts trying to solve that crime. In the other homicide a young black woman was discovered dead in a fountain out in the middle of a lake. Before this gr...
Book Nook: Dayton Beer - a History of Brewing in the Miami Valley, by Timothy R. Gaffney
August 14, 2019 17:40 - 48 minutes - 2.87 KBWhen I was a child I didn't keep track of the days of the week before I began going to school. When I was about four years-old I began to recognize when it was a Friday. That was the day that my dad would come home from work with a six pack of beer. His brand was Budweiser. Years later I tried some of his beer, just a sip, and I spit it out. It was awful stuff; I could not understand the attraction. One day when I was finally old enough to legally consume beer I tried a taste of some German b...