Alison Stewart: This is All Of It. I'm Alison Stewart, live from the WNYC studios in Soho. Thanks for sharing part of your day with us. I'm really grateful you're here. On today's show, it's book day. We're going to speak with two authors who have brand new books out today. Patrick Radden Keefe joins us to talk about his latest, London Falling. Emma Straub will be here to discuss her new novel, American Fantasy. Plus, we will preview this month's Get Lit event with Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney, author of Lake Effect. That's the plan. Let's get this started.

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Alison Stewart: Today is a massive day for book publishing with tons of novels and works of nonfiction released and available for you to buy from your local indie bookseller right now. There's Ben Lerner's Transcription. Yesterday, we spoke with Caro Claire Burke about her novel Yesteryear. There are so many to choose from. Joining me now to discuss some of the biggest books of the spring is All Of It and Get Lit producer Jordan Lauf. Hi, Jordan.

Jordan Lauf: Hi, Alison.

Alison Stewart: Listeners, we want to hear from you. What's a book you'd like to recommend? What are you reading, and what are you loving? We're taking your book recommendations now at 212-433-9692, 212-433-WNYC. A couple of rules. Please do not call us if you are driving, and also, no speakerphone. Plus, we want to let you know that we will post a transcript of this segment tomorrow, so you don't have to write things down right away. Remember, no driving and no speakerphone. We'd like to hear from you. Our number is 212-433-9692, 212-433-WNYC. Jordan, why is today such a big day for book publishing?

Jordan Lauf: April is really the month where things kick off for the spring publishing season. It's a huge month for book publishing in general, and Tuesdays are pub day for books. Just as a rule of thumb, if you want to figure out when there are great new books coming out, go to your local indie bookstore on a Tuesday, and they will have a whole stack of new books for you. Because today is the first Tuesday of April, those authors and publishing companies are looking to make a big splash with their book at the start of the month. Today is the day to do it. There's a whole big stack of books that will be landing in your local bookstore today.

Alison Stewart: Let's start out with some of the books that are out Today, big pub day. First, you've got a book for fans of mystery novels. The Ending Writes Itself by Evelyn Clarke. Okay, you have to explain who Evelyn Clarke is.

Jordan Lauf: Yes. Evelyn Clarke is actually two people. It is their pen name. It's two friends writing a novel together. The first is writer V. E. Schwab, who people might know from her mostly fantasy novels, a very popular writer, and Cat Clarke, who has written typically nonfiction and some YA novels. They're friends. They've joined together as this fictional person, Evelyn Clarke, to write a mystery novel. It is set on a remote Scottish island. Here's the setup.

Six writers are invited to this private island owned by a famous author named Arthur Fletch, where they learn that Arthur is dead and his last book has been left unfinished. What Arthur is really good at is writing a book with an excellent ending. These six writers have been recruited by Arthur's publishers to compete to see who can come up with the best ending for his unfinished book. They might do just about anything to be the winner because it comes with a lot of money and prestige, and career resuscitation. A lot of these writers are struggling and are looking to really take this prize home. Maybe some murder might ensue.

Alison Stewart: Dun dun dun.

Jordan Lauf: Exactly. That's The Ending Writes Itself by Evelyn Clarke. I think that's the type of book you could read in one day if you really wanted to.

Alison Stewart: I mentioned Ben Lerner. His latest is getting big reviews.

Jordan Lauf: Yes, this is Transcription. If you are looking for something you can get today that you could also finish very quickly. This is a slim little novel you could take with you on your spring break. It is about a man heading to conduct one final interview with his mentor. The mentor is a man in his 90s. He's a very famous person in the arts. As the man conducting the interview is on his way there, he drops his phone in water and realizes he has no other way of recording this interview, but decides not to tell the subject of the interview that he's not actually able to record.

It's about our over-reliance on technology, it's about conversation. It's about the art of the interview, about being in the moment. Kirkus Reviews called it full of rich ethical and philosophical questions, as any good Ben Lerner novel is. That is Transcription also out today.

Alison Stewart: That sounds like a book that I would like. [laughs]

Jordan Lauf: It does indeed. A book about interviewing.

Alison Stewart: There you go. April's National Poetry Month. We've been celebrating here on the show. Are there any new poetry collections you'd like to recommend?

Jordan Lauf: Yes. Julia Alvarez has a new collection out today called Visitations. People probably know her for books like How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accent. This is her first book of poetry in over 20 years. It's a big deal that she is back to poems. My understanding is this is almost like a memoir in poems. The poems are going to trace her childhood in the Dominican Republic, her move to the United States, and her adjustment to life here. It's brand new poetry from one of the best poets out there to do it, who hasn't returned to the medium in a long time. That's Visitations by Julia Alvarez out today.

Alison Stewart: My guest is Jordan Lauf, Get Lit producer as well as All Of It producer. We are discussing books being published this spring with Jordan, and we want to talk to you as well. What books are you reading and loving? We're taking your book recommendations. Give us a call at 212-433-9692, 212-433-WNYC. Let's talk to Peter in the East Village. Hey, Peter, thanks for making the time to call All Of It.

Peter: Yes, I'm glad to mention the book that I'm reading, and most of you might find it not particularly interesting, but the book is entitled St. Marks is Dead, and it's by Ada Calhoun. Anyone who listens to this station that grew up in New York would probably identify with the subject matter. St. Mark's was a very vibrant place. What happens is it probably played a pivotal role in the youth movement, breaking away from parental control and whatnot. She goes into such detail. She was a young kid back then, and she grew up probably more observant than most of us because we were all high. The fact is that-- Have you ever had her on as a guest?

Alison Stewart: We have had her on as a guest. Yes.

Jordan Lauf: Yes, we had her on for her debut novel, Crush, a couple years ago.

Peter: [inaudible 00:07:15] to hear her read. I had to go out and get the book. The kid is-- I think [unintelligible 00:07:22] is famous, too. Anyway, I just wanted to drop that on the listeners who are now rich and powerful who used to run to the Fillmore East and the whole thing, and now they've forgotten that period of their lives. Am I making any sense?

Alison Stewart: You're making perfect sense, Peter. Thanks a lot. That's called St. Mark's Dead: The Many Lives of America's Hippest Street. It was the hippest street. Let's talk to Meredith from South Orange. Hey, Meredith, thanks for calling All Of It. Tell us what you're reading.

Meredith: Okay. I'm reading The Slip by Lucas Schaefer. I just actually finished it, and it was great.

Alison Stewart: Tell us what it's about.

Meredith: It's about a kid in the 1980s who comes to Austin, Texas, and he gets involved in this whole boxing culture. It's more about mistaken identity, sexual fluidity. It's a little bit of a thriller, but the author's also very humorous, too. I'm not the best at describing it, but it really kept my interest. It was very poignant and funny, and it was a really good read.

Alison Stewart: You did a fine job explaining. Thank you so much. Let's talk to Virginia in Union, New Jersey. Hi, Virginia. Thanks for calling All Of It. You're on the air.

Virginia: Hi. I wanted to tell people about Pod, P-O-D. It's an incredible story from the point of view of a female dolphin. It's the life in the ocean. It's astonishing. It's written for adults. There's extraordinary research that the author has done. The author is Laline, L-A-L-I-N-E. Last name Paull, P-A-U-L-L. It's a fictional story, and there's all kinds of drama. It's breathtaking, and I could never have anticipated it. I really encourage people to read it.

Alison Stewart: Virginia, thank you so much for calling. I would not have expected dolphin drama to be exciting.

Jordan Lauf: Me neither. I love hearing what our listeners are reading for that very reason. You're hearing about stuff you never would have thought you would have heard today.

Alison Stewart: We'd like to know what you're reading and loving. We're taking your book recommendations. Give us a call at 212-433-9692, 212-433-WNYC. We'd love to have you on the air, but please remember, if you're driving, don't call us, and don't call us on speakerphone. We'd like to hear from you on the real phone. 212-433-9692, 212-433-WNYC. We're discussing books being published this spring with All Of It and Get Lit producer Jordan Lauf. All right, if I'm looking for a good thriller, what should I look for?

Jordan Lauf: Yes, there is a new thriller out today called A Killer in the Family by Amin Ahmad. This one actually has a lot of parallels to the Patrick Radden Keefe true crime book we're going to talk about with him a little bit later. This story follows Ali, a Mumbai party boy, as he is described, who ends up in an arranged marriage with the daughter of a New York City real estate tycoon. His name is Abbas Khan. This main character moves to New York and starts his new life with his new wife, but he begins to suspect that something isn't quite right with his new father-in-law, that there might be something corrupt there, and maybe something even potentially dangerous about him.

He starts to investigate this world of this real estate tycoon, and doesn't like what he finds. That one, as you'll hear in the Patrick Radden Keefe conversation, has a little bit in common with that true story about underworlds and how corruption in a big city can work. That is A Killer in the Family by Amin Ahmad.

Alison Stewart: What about historical fiction?

Jordan Lauf: Yes, there's a great new debut novel out today again by Jiyoung Han. It is called Honey in the Wound. This is about a group of Korean women who all have a special mystical abilities, and they are all grappling with the effects of Japanese imperialism in Korea. I get the sense that this might be good for fans of Pachinko who really enjoyed exploring those themes of that period of history in Korea, but also for people who enjoy a little bit of magical realism with their historical fiction. It's got a little bit of both. That is out today.

Alison Stewart: All right, we are talking about the International Booker Prize. The shortlist was recently announced. There's a book that's coming out in the States today. Could you explain that for me?

Jordan Lauf: Yes, yes. This is a book that was actually published in the 1990s. Because of how the Booker Prize works, in order for something to be nominated, it has to have been published, I believe, in the UK and in English. This is a novel that was published in the UK a little bit earlier, is being published in the US today. It is translated from French. It is titled The Witch by Marie NDiaye. The story follows a bored housewife who has been living in provincial France with her husband and her two daughters. Although she is bored and is at home with these kids, she's also got the powers of a witch, and her husband has been trying to convince her to suppress these powers for a while.

Alison Stewart: No. [laughs]

Jordan Lauf: Exactly, no. If you're a witch and your husband says "stop," maybe divorce. You should think about that.

Alison Stewart: Something else either, maybe.

Jordan Lauf: Yes, exactly.

Alison Stewart: Go ahead. I'm sorry.

Jordan Lauf: No, I love it. Yes, exactly. No. She decides, "You know what? I'm bored. I'm going to pass some of my witchly abilities on to my daughters." She starts to educate them in her ways, and it doesn't always go so well. You'll have to read on to find out what happens. Like some of the other books I've recommended so far, this one is really, really quick. You could almost call it more of a novella. It's only 130 pages in English. Also, if you want to be up with your literary friends on, "Ooh, I'm reading one of the novels from the shortlist of the International Booker Prize." There you go. That's The Witch by Marie NDiaye out today.

Alison Stewart: Let's check in with Laurie, who pulled over. Thank you, Laurie, for pulling over. You're on the air.

Jordan Lauf: Oh, modeling good behavior, Laurie. Thank you.

Laurie: Yes, I did.

Alison Stewart: You're on the air.

Laurie: Yes. I'm super excited to talk about a book that I just finished, and I'm hosting books club next month. This is the book that I chose, and it's called The Keeper of Lost Children. It's historical fiction, which is my favorite genre. What I love about this is that I learned something new in history that I didn't know before, which was about the Brown Baby Project. This was about post-World War II Germany, and it was about children that were left behind in orphanages, oftentimes from African American soldiers and the German women. It was from no fault of their own, quite honestly, from soldiers that either tried to marry the German women, and they were denied permission by the government, and by the German women that were ostracized--

Alison Stewart: Oh, we just lost Laurie. Laurie, thank you so much for calling in. That sounds really interesting. It's called The Keeper of Lost Children. This said, just about to finish Melissa Auf der Maur's memoir as a whole die-hard. I don't want it to end. Let's talk to Mark who's calling from Rochester. Hi, Mark. Thanks for calling All Of It.

Mark: Hey, Alison, how are you?

Alison Stewart: I'm doing well.

Mark: Wonderful. Highly recommend a new book and first book in English by Svetlana Sachkova. It's called The Undead. It's on Melville House Publishing. It starts with an amazing conceit. A filmmaker wants to do a film, a horror film about Lenin, and what would happen if-- You know how Lenin's body's been preserved by God knows what kind of chemicals. What would happen if that body came back to life?

Alison Stewart: Ooh.

Mark: We had a Lenin zombie. The filmmaker, she's making the film, and things go horribly awry politically. Basically, this is like a cautionary tale about complacency and being complicit, sorry, at a time of slipping authoritarianism. It's highly recommended. It's basically all I can tell you. It's set in Putin's Russia.

Alison Stewart: Okay. Can you say the name again?

Mark: The Undead by Svetlana. Svetlana Sachkova, S-A-C-H-K-O-V-A.

Alison Stewart: Thank you so much, Mark. We are discussing the books that we are loving and reading right now. We're taking your book recommendations. You can give us a call at 212-433-9692, 212-433-WNYC. When we come back after the break, we'll get to more books that are out later in this month.

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Alison Stewart: You're listening to All Of It on WNYC. I'm Alison Stewart. Joining me in studio is All Of It and Get Lit producer Jordan Lauf. We are talking books. All right. Out later this month is a familiar name to a lot of us. Her new book was Last Night in Brooklyn. Who are we talking about?

Jordan Lauf: This is Xochitl Gonzalez, who you might know from her previous books, Olga Dies Dreaming, and the Get Lit With All Of It book club selection, Anita de Monte Laughs Last. One thing I really love about Xochitl is she's so good about writing about New York and specifically a changing New York City. She's a Brooklyn native, and so she's really seen how that borough has changed throughout her lifetime and is really interested in capturing that in her fiction. This latest book is about just that. It takes place in 2007 in Fort Greene at a time when the neighborhood is quickly changing and gentrifying.

It follows, I believe, either Alicia or Alicia, not sure the correct pronunciation, but it's a young woman who finds herself torn between two different people who arrive in Fort Greene. There's La Garza, who is a fashion designer who has these epic house parties. She lives across the street from Alicia, and she's this bon vivant inspiration to her. Then there's Alicia's cousin, who is a wealthy banker whose move to the neighborhood symbolizes the changes that Fort Greene is going through. She finds herself torn between these two different poles in her life and influences. This one is out April 21st, and I think, like I said, Xochitl is just so good at capturing Brooklyn in particular. I'm glad that this one is focusing on one neighborhood.

Alison Stewart: That's called Last Night in Brooklyn. You should follow her on Instagram, too, because she's got a lot to say about a lot of things. She's great. The woman who wrote Where'd You Go, Bernadette has a new one out.

Jordan Lauf: Yes, that is Maria Semple. This is her new novel, Go Gentle. This one is also set in New York City, a different area of our great city. This follows a woman on the Upper West Side who is a local philosopher. This is my favorite part of her character description. She serves as a moral tutor to wealthy twin boys. She's also got what is described as a "coven" of devoted women followers who all live in the Ansonia, and they-

Alison Stewart: A lot of witches here. [laughs]

Jordan Lauf: -follow her teachings. That's so true. I don't know that she has mystical powers, but she does have a cult-like influence, let's say, in the philosophy world. Her moral, well-ordered life is upended when a new stranger comes into her life. She starts this new romance. He brings her into the world of black market art dealing, and international intrigue, and crime. It's about like how desire can change your life and upend it for better or for worse. That is Go Gentle, and it is out April 21st.

Alison Stewart: All right, we're having another book about having an affair. Like our Get Lit book. This is called Permanence.

Jordan Lauf: Yes, this one I'm really excited about. This one follows two people having an affair. There's Francis, who is married with children, and Clara, who is unmarried. They've been having an affair, and one morning they wake up to find themselves in a strange apartment that they've never been to before in a city that is designed to let people in affairs live openly as a couple. Suddenly, they don't have to be secretive anymore. They can just live their lives as they would like to.

Is that what they really want? How long will Clara and Francis enjoy their new life together before it starts to feel like a trap? One blurb about the book said it reads like a dream that is secretly a nightmare. Which seems like a really good way to describe this one. I'm realizing I forgot to write down exactly who the author is. That is what I'm frantically googling as we are sitting here. I believe it's Sophie Mackintosh, but let me just double-check. That is, yes, I'm right, Sophie Mackintosh. That one is out April 21st. That is Permanence. I'm really excited to pick that one up.

Alison Stewart: This text says, "I'm reading Freyja's Garden by Mary Dockray Miller. It tells the story of an enigmatic female figure in Beowulf, a medieval feminist tale." This one said, "I just finished the memoir by Carole Radziwill, All That Remains. It is just a beautifully written, poignant, heartbreaking story of surviving two of the greatest tragedies of her life, but also for a generation, witnessing yet another tragedy for the Kennedy family." Let's talk to Richard in Jersey City. Hi, Richard. Thanks for taking the time to call All Of It. You're on the air.

Richard: I am on the air. I pulled over. I'm going 60 miles an hour in my kitchen.

[laughter]

Richard: I wanted to give a shout-out to Barry Walters' new book. It's called Mighty Real. It's so new that-- Mighty Real: A History of LGBTQ Music, 1969-2000. It's so new, I don't even have my copy yet. I've only been reading bits of it on the Internet.

Alison Stewart: That sounds like an interesting book title and book subject. Thank you so much for calling, Richard. Follow the speed limit in your kitchen. Let's talk to Sema in Peter Cooper Village. Hi, Sema. Thank you so much for calling All Of It.

Sema: Hi, it's Sema.

Alison Stewart: Sema.

Sema: Glad to be on. I just want to tell you about this wonderful memoir I'm reading by Ved Mehta. He was a New Yorker writer for 30 years. He wrote for the New Yorker under William Shawn. I think William Shawn was the third editor of the magazine, which happens to be my favorite magazine. This is a wonderful story. It's called Remembering Mr. Shawn's New Yorker: The Invisible Art of Editing. It's a wonderful memoir of New York, the social culture, the literary culture. A number of authors that we've all read are mentioned, who were contemporaries of Mehta, who became blind at a very young age and managed to go to Oxford and to Harvard.

He left when working on a PhD because he really liked working with William Shawn, who was a very nurturing editor who worked this way with all of his writers. It's a wonderful memoir and, as I said, a social history for those who love the New Yorker magazine.

Alison Stewart: Thank you so much, Sema, for calling in. Let's talk to Rachel in Port Washington. Hi, Rachel. Thanks for making the time to call All Of It.

Rachel: Thank you so much for taking my call. I pulled over and parked my car.

Alison Stewart: Right on.

Rachel: The book that I am currently reading is the first book in a new series by a husband and wife team who write under the name Ilona Andrews. It's called This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me. It's the story of a young woman who has read and reread her favorite fantasy books and one day wakes up in the kingdom of her book. The story is how she survives and uses her knowledge of-- the way the storyline goes, to manipulate events and to survive and thrive. I have read everything that this author has written, and I have loved every single book they have written.

Alison Stewart: Thank you so much for calling in. We are talking about your favorite books. What are you loving? What are you reading on this day when so many books come into the world and being published. Our guest is Get Lit producer and All Of It producer Jordan Lauf, who has a stack of books on your desk. All right, we've got a recommendation from a woman who's known in YA.

Jordan Lauf: Yes, this is Rainbow Rowell, who is loved for her YA fiction, but her new one is for adults. It is titled Cherry Baby. It is about a woman named Cherry whose husband has created this popular comedic web show called Thursday that's really taken off in popularity. It's becoming a movie. The main character in the movie is a caricature of Cherry herself. She doesn't really love the way she's being portrayed. Suddenly, as this character takes off, Cherry's being recognized everywhere. She ends up leaving her husband. She has to start over just as he's becoming this famous Hollywood figure.

Soon, Cherry meets this guy who remembers her from the past but knows nothing about this new fictional character that depicts her. It's a fun love story. It's being billed as Rainbow Rowell's sexiest novel yet.

Alison Stewart: It's spicy.

Jordan Lauf: Alison is here to say it's spicy.

Alison Stewart: It's spicy. I will tell you that much.

Jordan Lauf: You heard it from the source. One thing I like is that it's a spicy love story that features a plus-sized woman, which you don't often get to see in fiction these days. I love that about Rainbow Rowell's stories. She's always very size-inclusive. That's a big part of her ethos as a writer. That one is out April 14th. Alison Stewart says it's spicy.

Alison Stewart: It's a little spicy.

Jordan Lauf: Maybe that makes you want to pick it up. I don't know.

Alison Stewart: We're going to keep up the spice alert with A Private Man.

Jordan Lauf: Yes, this is a debut novel out April 14th by Stephanie Sy-Quia. It is based on her grandparents' story of their love story. It is about an affair that happens between a Catholic priest and a female feminist theologian in 1960's England. Ooh, spicy. You can imagine that is not something very accepted at that time. The story also heads into the future as their grandson puts together the pieces of the story of his grandparents' past. That is out April 14th. It is called A Private Man, and I think that's my last spicy recommendation. I'm sorry for everyone looking for more spice.

Alison Stewart: Go get yourself a glass of water while we take more calls. This is Christina, who is calling us from Maplewood. Hi, Christina, thanks for calling All Of It.

Christina: Thank you. This is one of my favorite things is like talking about books and learning books.

Alison Stewart: Perfect.

Christina: Perfect segment. I'm reading a book called The Gales of November, and it is about the Edmund Fitzgerald boat that went down in 1975. It's a fiction book, and I don't normally read fiction, but the story focuses on the economy of the Great Lakes and really how important they are to keeping commerce going through, pushing material from Lake Ontario all the way to Lake Superior. One of the great things about the book is not-- everybody knows of what happened in the boat going down, but the chapters really give the stories of each one of the crew members and the captain.

You really learn of who was on the boat and what their lives were about when the ship went down. It's multifaceted, and I'm not done. I know how it's going to end. It's been a really enjoyable book.

Alison Stewart: That's called The Gales of November: The Untold Story of the Edmund Fitzgerald. Thank you for calling in, Christina. David is calling us from Windsor Terrace. Hi, David, what are you reading lately?

David: Hi. This is not exactly unknown to your avid readers, but The Loneliness of Sunny and Sonia by Kiran Desai, which was much praised when it came out last year. It should have been praised more. It's a love story. Its settings are here in New York City, and Queens, and Manhattan. There is a stand-in for Bennington College in Vermont. There's Goa in India and Venice in Italy. It's a story about expats, the expat experience. It's also what do we do with our aging parents and how do we relate to them, and what are our responsibilities, and what is love? I've been reading for eight decades. This went into my top five. It's so, so good.

Alison Stewart: Oh, David, thank you for the recommendation. We had on Kiran Desai.

Jordan Lauf: We did. She spent 20 years working on that novel, which is amazing. I think about half of it was left on the cutting room floor. When you see the size of that book, you know she put a lot of work into it. I just want to add that that book had a really fun-- It's about all the things that the caller just described, but it had a really fun subplot about a recipe for chicken skewers that made me so hungry every time they read about it that I went to a Goan restaurant after I finished reading the novel. It got me thinking, maybe someone should start a book club where you read a book and then go to a restaurant inspired by the location.

Alison Stewart: Oh, I was in that book club.

Jordan Lauf: Were you really?

Alison Stewart: I was in that book club. It was really fun. [laughs]

Jordan Lauf: That's so excellent. I would like to join. If anyone wants to do that with me, let me know.

Alison Stewart: We got a text here. "Annabelle Gurwitch, The End of My Life is Killing Me. Lung Cancer essays. It's also very humorous." Let's get to Arthur, because we didn't get a chance to talk to Arthur. Arthur's calling from East Orange. Hi, Arthur. Thank you for holding. You're on the air.

Arthur: Hi, Allison.

Alison Stewart: Hi.

Arthur: Hi. I want to recommend to everybody a book called No Obvious Distress by Amanda Quaid. Came out summer of last year. It sounds dire. It's a verse memoir, uses various forms of poetry, including erasure and haiku, and anagrams. It tells a story in her life of getting a very unusual cancer and the treatment for it. The thing that makes the book so astonishing is that it's really a book about joy. Joy in words, joy in language. It takes place in New York, more or less. There are lots of characters in her life that come into the poems in one way or another to illuminate a point about her life, or the way that she's treated, or the way that she feels about things.

I can only tell you this about that, which is that-- First of all, it's the best poetry book I've read in a long time. I read a lot of poetry books. Another poet I know, Gregory Crosby, said of this book and of Amanda, that poetry has been waiting for Amanda Quaid, and now she's here. I can't say much more about it than that. It's a wonderful book. I read it all in one sitting, which I've never done, usually just read two or three poems at a time. I just sat there and read the whole thing from beginning to end. It got dark, and I was sitting outside and had to go in.

Alison Stewart: That's a good sign of it.

Arthur: Just [unintelligible 00:32:06] there. It's called-- Yes, it was Amanda Quaid's No Obvious Distress.

Alison Stewart: That's a good signal when it gets dark when you're reading.

Jordan Lauf: Absolutely.

Alison Stewart: Let's get some nonfiction in before we wrap up. For fans of music, this is a big one for them.

Jordan Lauf: Yes, there is a new biography of the Rolling Stones coming out by Bob Spitz, who is a previous full bio guest. For fans of the show who know that we do this biography series, this great in-depth interview that Alison spearheads, we spoke with Bob about his Led Zeppelin biography a couple years ago. It was great fun. This one is a deep dive into the history of the Rolling Stones. It's a great book for anyone who loves rock and roll history. I know we're a little ways out from Father's Day, but that seems like a surefire win for a lot of the dads in your life if you're looking for a new book to get them. That one is out April 21st, Rolling Stones by Bob Spitz.

Alison Stewart: I'm really interested in this book about Mary Kay.

Jordan Lauf: Yes, I'm really excited about this one, too. This is titled Selling Opportunity: The Story of Mary Kay by Mary Lisa Gavenas. It tells the story of Mary Kay Ash, the founder of Mary Kay. I have to say, I know very little about her. I only know Mary Kay as the brand that people try to sell you out of their car. This is about Mary Kay Ash herself. She was married at 16. She was a grandmother by the age of 34. She didn't start Mary Kay until she had been divorced twice, widowed three times, had had this whole life. Yes.

Alison Stewart: Wow.

Jordan Lauf: Then began the Mary Kay Company. It's the story of the beginning of her life and her ascent through this company that she founded in a tiny little storefront in Texas that grew into this behemoth. That is out on April 28th.

Alison Stewart: We have, for lovers of history, there's a new book pegged to the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution by a name that you will recognize, probably.

Jordan Lauf: Yes. This is from another All Of It Full bio guest, Beverly Gage, who won a lot of acclaim for her recent biography of J. Edgar Hoover titled G-Man. This new one is titled This Land is Your Land: A Road Trip Through US History. It's her tour through 13 different sites where American history is preserved and litigated, from museums to battle reenactment sites to roadside attractions. Through this book, she's looking to explore how Americans understand our history and the areas where we are critical of ourselves or not.

This one, actually, is also out today if you're looking to grab a new history book. I think we're all grappling with this 250th anniversary. How do we think about our country and our history in this moment? I think Beverly Gage is a good person to steer that ship if you're looking for something to think about.

Alison Stewart: All right. Any other books that you want to mention that are coming up?

Jordan Lauf: Oh, in May. May is another big book month. I want to just give a shout out to a local author. He's originally from Scotland, but he does live here. Douglas Stuart. You may know him from his Booker Prize-winning novel, Shuggie Bain. His new one is John of John. It is out May 5th. It follows a closeted gay man returning to his home on a farm in remote islands in Scotland, where he has to learn how to live and get along with his ultra-religious father and his ailing grandmother. All his novels are very sensitive. They're full of family drama and emotional turmoil. I think he's just a beautiful writer. That one is John of John by Douglas Stuart. It is out May 5th.

Alison Stewart: This says, "I'm late to the party, but has anyone mentioned the new Tana French? Can't wait to read The Keeper, which is the third in a series that started with The Searcher and then The Hunter, about a retired Chicago policeman, Cal, who moves to a small town in Ireland and the complex and colorful people he comes to like and love and fear. Plus, there's always a murder to be solved."

Jordan Lauf: That's right. There's a new one, yes, out this month.

Alison Stewart: This says, "I'm reading Opus by Gareth Gore. It's about the Roman Catholic group who were initially funded by Banco Popular Spain, and a group that ran the bank out of money. It's also about the group's beginning and why it is so conservative. It's important to read because there are judges on SCOTUS who are members of the group. The author of the Project 2025 as well. That's called Opus by Gareth Gore. We got this really nice text that says, "Lake Effect on audiobook is fantastic."

Jordan Lauf: Wow.

Alison Stewart: That is our Get Lit pick for this month. Tell us a little bit about it. We've got Cynthia D'Aprix on Zoom waiting to talk to us about the book. You also wanted to talk about the newsletter, as well.

Jordan Lauf: Yes. I feel like I'll let Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney tell us most about her books since she is the best person to share. That is our selection this month. It is Lake Effect by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney. It is about a woman named Nina who is living in Rochester in the '70s, and she's a little bit bored in her marriage. A friend gives her a book called The Joys of Sex, and maybe an affair starts from there and changes her family's life forever. I will let Cynthia take it from there. If you hear just from this description, and you're like, "Oh, I want to go check out this book to read right now." Thanks to our partners at the New York Public Library, you can do just that.

You can head to wnyc.org/getlit. You'll find instructions on how to borrow the book. You can get your tickets to our April 27th Get Lit event with Cynthia. Also, you can subscribe to the Get Lit newsletter, which is where you can find book recommendations, Get Lit updates. You'll see, from the newsletter, today is a list of some of the recommendations we had today on the show. You can subscribe by heading to wnyc.org/getlitnewsletter if you would like to subscribe. I'm so excited that Cynthia is coming up right after this.

Alison Stewart: Jordan Lauf is the producer of All Of It and Get Lit. Thank you so much for your recommendations.

Jordan Lauf: Thanks, Alison. Thanks so much to our listeners.

Alison Stewart: Remember, the transcript for this segment will be up tomorrow.

 

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