The Book Case

Jemimah Wei’s The Original Daughter is the GMA book club pick for May, and we loved it. In some ways, this book is not just a compelling family drama, but it is also a thoughtful depiction of Singapore, a country often misunderstood by Americans as being simply a home for glamour and high tech discovery. This novel centers around the lives of everyday Singaporeans, and how one family is torn apart when a new daughter is introduced to the home by way of a grandfather’s polygamy. Why did this book take Jemimah ten years to write and how does this story put a new twist on the clichés of sibling rivalry? We ask her, so tune in and find out. Find books mentioned on The Book Case: https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/shop/story/book-case-podcast-reading-list-118433302 Books mentioned on this week's episode: The Original Daughter by Jemimah Wei The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald Lolita by Vladimir Nabakov Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin Mrs. Caliban by Rachel Ingalls Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones The Dutch House by Ann Patchett This is What Inequality Looks Like by Youyenn Teo The South by Tash Aw The Great Reclamation by Rachel Heng Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We loved talking to David K. Shipler so much that we wanted to squeeze one more show out of our conversation. We talked so much on our last episode about the role of interpreters in journalism, but we also talked about going from fiction to nonfiction and the importance of good journalism, now more than ever. We hope you enjoy as much as we did. Find books mentioned on The Book Case: https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/shop/story/book-case-podcast-reading-list-118433302 Books mentioned on this week's episode: The Interpreter by David K. Shipler The Working Poor: Invisible in America by David K. Shipler Arab and Jew: Wounded Spirits in a Promised Land by David K. Shipler The Rights of the People by David K. Shipler Freedom of Speech: Mightier Than the Sword by David K. Shipler Russia: Broken Idols, Solemn Dreams by David K. Shipler A Country of Strangers: Black and White in America by David K. Shipler Rights at Risk: The Limits of Liberty in Modern America by David K. Shipler Resurrection by Leo Tolstoy Without Honor: Defeat in Vietnam and Cambodia by Arnold R. Isaacs The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien The Street Without Joy by Bernard B. Fall Shrapnel in the Heart: Letters and Remembrances from the Vietnam Memorial by Laura Palmer When Heaven and Earth Changed Places: A Vietnamese Woman’s Journey from War to Peace by Le Ly Hayslip Dust Child by Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai The Mountains Sing by Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Interpreter is a beautiful book about the end of the war in Vietnam and one interpreter’s story as his country is torn apart and remade over and over throughout his lifetime. David K. Shipler is arguably one of the greatest journalists of our time. A veteran reporter who wrote about Russia, Vietnam, and Israel (to name a few), he has a Pulitzer to his name and his non-fiction books are legendary. I mean, the man ran a foreign desk for the New York Times and taught at Princeton. So why write a book of fiction? We don’t know, but we are so glad he did. Tune in to find out why. Our bookstore is Charlie’s local, so you don’t want to miss it. Find books mentioned on The Book Case: https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/shop/story/book-case-podcast-reading-list-118433302 Books mentioned on this week's episode: The Interpreter by David K. Shipler The Working Poor: Invisible in America by David K. Shipler Arab and Jew: Wounded Spirits in a Promised Land by David K. Shipler The Rights of the People by David K. Shipler Freedom of Speech: Mightier Than the Sword by David K. Shipler Russia: Broken Idols, Solemn Dreams by David K. Shipler A Country of Strangers: Black and White in America by David K. Shipler Rights at Risk: The Limits of Liberty in Modern America by David K. Shipler Driving Miss Daisy: A Play by Alfred Uhry The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald This is Happiness by Niall Williams The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman The Barn: The Secret History of a Murder in Mississippi by Wright Thompson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

If you are a devoted GMA watcher (and you should be), you know that about a month ago we sat down with the great Irish native writing couple of Niall Williams and Christine Breen. What an amazing twosome they make, and we can’t get enough of talking to them. So we offer you the extended Niall Williams and Christine Breen interview. It was such fun to discuss why Ireland was vital to their writing careers and how they came into their own ….tune in and have a listen. Find books mentioned on The Book Case: https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/shop/story/book-case-podcast-reading-list-118433302 Books mentioned in this week's episode: This is Happiness by Niall Williams Time of the Child by Niall Williams Four Letters of Love by Niall Williams History of the Rain by Niall Williams In Kiltumper: A Year in an Irish Garden by Niall Williams and Christine Breen O Come Ye Back to Ireland by Niall Williams and Christine Breen As it is in Heaven by Niall Williams Boy and Man by Niall Williams Only Say the Word by Niall Williams Her Name is Rose by Christine Breen Great Expectations by Charles Dickens Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare North by Seamus Heaney Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Harlan Coben has authored close to 40 books with some seriously good writing. His latest, Nobody’s Fool, takes a detective from an already existing book and TV series, blows up their story and creates mysteries within mysteries. Great plot twists, memorable characters and page turning action are all here…how does he turn great books out over and over? Tune in and find out. Find books mentioned on The Book Case: https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/shop/story/book-case-podcast-reading-list-118433302 Books mentioned in this week's episode: Nobody’s Fool by Harlan Coben Fool Me Once by Harlan Coben Deal Breaker by Harlan Coben Drop Shot by Harlan Coben Fade Away by Harlan Coben Back Spin by Harlan Coben One False Move by Harlan Coben The Final Detail by Harlan Coben Darkest Fear by Harlan Coben Promise Me by Harlan Coben Long Lost by Harlan Coben Live Wire by Harlan Coben Home by Harlan Coben Think Twice by Harlan Coben Caught by Harlan Coben Just One Look by Harlan Coben I Will Find You by Harlan Coben The Stranger by Harlan Coben Aurora by David Koepp The Time of the Child by Niall Williams The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M. Cain Valediction by Robert B. Parker Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It’s a two for one show and do bear with us, because it’s two books we loved, AND you get two authors in one podcast. One book is a darkly comic novel, All the Other Mothers Hate Me by Sarah Harman, and the other is Homestand, which is a wonderful nonfiction read about the loss of minor league baseball in small town America by Will Bardenwerper. Please tune in, because we believe that spring is in the air and these two great summer reads came a touch early. Find books mentioned on The Book Case: https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/shop/story/book-case-podcast-reading-list-118433302 Books mentioned in this week's episode: Homestand: Small Town Baseball and The Fight for the Soul of America by Will Bardenwerper All The Other Mothers Hate Me by Sarah Harman The Prisoner in His Palace by Will Bardenwerper Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris Jayne Eyre by Charlotte Bronte Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Colum McCann’s newest, Twist, explores how the world of underwater fiber cables has vital physical and metaphoric meaning in our day to day lives. Sound dull? We promise you, it’s a literary marvel and a page turner to boot. The men and women who live to make, repair and find these cables are fascinating characters. And Twist is a beautiful novel all about how we can tear ourselves apart as we obsess about reparation and healing. Is instant communication making us one community or ruining our sense of belonging? Are we making the earth better or burning it slowly to the ground? Tune in this week to find out. Find books mentioned on The Book Case: https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/shop/story/book-case-podcast-reading-list-118433302 Books mentioned in this week's episode: Twist by Colum McCann Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann Zoli by Colum McCann Everything in this Country Must by Colum McCann Dancer by Colum McCann TransAtlantic by Colum McCann Apierogon by Colum McCann Thirteen Ways of Looking by Colum McCann Letters to a Young Writer by Colum McCann This Side of Brightness by Colum McCann Songdogs Colum McCann Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Kaveh Akbar and Tommy Orange are a writer’s circle of two. We can’t remember how we first heard they were close friends, but we knew it when we interviewed them and were thrilled when we heard they might be touring together. Tune in to find out how these two amazing authors encourage and challenge each other. Find books mentioned on The Book Case: https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/shop/story/book-case-podcast-reading-list-118433302 Books mentioned in this week's episode: There There by Tommy Orange Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar Portrait of the Alcoholic by Kaveh Akbar Calling a Wolf a Wolf by Kaveh Akbar Pilgrim Bell: Poems by Kaveh Akbar Moby Dick by Herman Melville Beowulf by Beowulf Poet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We love short story collections. We hope this doesn’t put us in the minority, because when authors do it well the books can be transcendent. Case in point, Curtis Sittenfeld’s latest is Show Don’t Tell. We didn’t find one story in there we didn’t like. Each feels like a breath of fresh aired emotional honesty, a glimpse into the lives of memorable characters at various turning points questioning their own choices. Join us to find out what made Curtis release this collection. And we sit down with Plot Twist, our first romance-based independent bookstore. Find books mentioned on The Book Case: https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/shop/story/book-case-podcast-reading-list-118433302 Books mentioned in this week's episode: Show Don’t Tell by Curtis Sittenfeld Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld You Think It, I’ll Say It by Curtis Sittenfeld Sisterland by Curtis Sittenfeld A Prayer for Owen Meaney by John Irving Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

There is no greater classic in Kate’s mind than The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. So when our audiences liked our holiday revisit of the Christmas Carol, we knew Gatsby had to be next. Join us as we sit down with two of the country’s greatest Gatsby and Fitzgerald scholars. Find out why the book is still so studied, so beloved, and still so relevant to our lives. Find books mentioned on The Book Case: https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/shop/story/book-case-podcast-reading-list-118433302 Books mentioned in this week's episode: The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald The Love of the Last Tycoon by F. Scott Fitzgerald Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald The Beautiful and the Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald The Curious Case of Benjamin Button by F. Scott Fitzgerald Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Geraldine Brooks' latest, Memorial Days, is a deeply personal memoir about the sudden loss of her husband Tony Horowitz. In this beautiful and deeply felt book, Geraldine remembers her husband and honors his legacy and their love. She walks us through the days after his death while simultaneously also taking us through her mourning process. Find out why Memorial Days was important to her survival, and how writing the book helped her and her family deal with the impossible task of grieving. Find books mentioned on The Book Case: https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/shop/story/book-case-podcast-reading-list-118433302 Books mentioned in this week's episode: Memorial Days by Geraldine Brooks March by Geraldine Brooks Horse by Geraldine Brooks Caleb’s Crossing by Geraldine Brooks The Secret Chord by Geraldine Brooks People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks Nine Parts of Desire by Geraldine Brooks After Annie by Anna Quindlen Grief is for People by Sloane Crossley The Light of the World by Elizabeth Alexander A Widow’s Story by Joyce Carol Oates I Should Be Extremely Happy in Your Company by Brian Hall Overstory by Richard Powers Gilead by Marilynne Robinson The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Politics are heavily loaded in today’s America; we seem to be so angry at one another. Jeffrey Toobin’s newest, The Pardon: The Politics of Presidential Mercy, is a fascinating and oblique way of examining politics, studying the history and use of the Presidential pardon. Both Democrats and Republicans have made huge partisan mistakes with pardons, contributing to the cynical way that pardons are viewed today. Want to know some of the mistakes that led us to such an angry election? Tune in and hear why one of the best political journalists in the country thinks it might have all started with Gerald Ford and Richard Nixon. Find books mentioned on The Book Case: https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/shop/story/book-case-podcast-reading-list-118433302 Books mentioned in this week's episode: The Pardon: The Politics of Presidential Mercy by Jeffrey Toobin The Run of His Life: The People v. O.J. Simpson by Jeffrey Toobin American Heiress: The Wild Safa of the Kidnapping, Crimes and Trial of Patty Hearst by Jeffrey Toobin The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court by Jeffrey Toobin Homegrown: Timothy McVeigh and the Rise of Right Wing Extremism by Jeffrey Toobin A Vast Conspiracy: The Real Story of the Sex Scandal That Nearly Brought Down a President by Jeffrey Toobin The Oath: the Obama White House and the Supreme Court by Jeffrey Toobin True Crimes and Misdemeanors: The Investigation of Donald Trump by Jeffrey Toobin Too Close to Call: The Thirty Six Day Battle to Decide the 2000 Election by Jeffrey Toobin All the President’s Men by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jeff Hobbs is a best-selling author, but the way he listens to his subjects and retells their stories brings a deeply human perspective to really difficult topics. His newest, Seeking Shelter, is the story of homelessness told through the eyes of Evelyn, a devoted and fierce mother of six, determined to keep her kids out of the welfare system. Jeff spent hundreds of hours talking to Evelyn and her kids about surviving the streets as a family (though not unscathed). Jeff is a compelling storyteller, a thoughtful author, and his subjects trust him with some of the toughest moments of their lives. Tune in to find out why. Find books mentioned on The Book Case: https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/shop/story/book-case-podcast-reading-list-118433302 Books mentioned in this week's episode: Seeking Shelter: A Working Mother, Her Children, and a Story of Homelessness in America by Jeff Hobbs The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace by Jeff Hobbs Children of the State: Stories of Survival and Hope in the Juvenile Justice System by Jeff Hobbs Show Them You’re Good: A Portrait of Boys in the City of Angels the Year Before College by Jeff Hobbs Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This is a Love Story by Jessica Soffer sees love’s complexities, beauties; its selfishness, difficulties, and maddening passions. Jessica Soffer tells us the story of a 50 year marriage between Abe and Jane as Jane lies dying in a hospital bed. The backdrop of their romance is Central Park, and despite the constant presence of love in the story, it is not overly sentimental or maudlin. Tune in and find out how a writer spent years writing a marriage that lasted decades. Books mentioned in this week's episode: This is a Love Story by Jessica Soffer Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf By Nightfall by Michael Cunningham Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Adam Haslett’s new novel, Mothers & Sons is a brilliant book examining the relationships between mothers and sons from all sorts of angles. The story of Peter and his mother Ann, who have so much in common and yet are estranged. Compelling, original and moving, this a novel that stays with you. Books mentioned in this week's episode: Mothers & Sons by Adam Haslett Imagine Me Gone by Adam Haslett You are Not a Stranger Here by Adam Haslett Union Atlantic by Adam Haslett My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout King Lear by William Shakespeare Moby Dick by Herman Melville Tinkers by Paul Harding Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Booker Prize is awarded each year to the best work of sustained fiction in the English language. In other words, it doesn’t get any more prestigious than the Booker. And we are honored this week to have Samantha Harvey who wrote the 2024 Booker winner entitled “Orbital”. When you read her beautiful prose, you’ll know why she won. And when you listen to her tell us how and why she wrote “Orbital”, you’ll be as impressed with Samantha Harvey as we are. Books mentioned in this week's episode: “Orbital” by Samantha Harvey “The Shapeless Unease” by Samantha Harvey “Mrs. Dalloway” by Virginia Woolf “The Western Wind” by Samantha Harvey “The Wilderness” by Samantha Harvey “Dear Thief” by Samantha Harvey Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

If like your drama in a courtroom, Scott Turow is the writer for you. His newest, Presumed Guilty, is the conclusion to the story of Rusty Sabitch, his best known protagonist. It’s a wonderfully written page turner that we bet you won’t be able to put down. If your heart pounds to the sound of a gavel and a bailiff saying ALL RISE, tune in and listen to find out why Scott thinks law is still the noblest pursuit of them all. Books mentioned in this week's episode: Presumed Guilty by Scott Turow Presumed Innocent by Scott Turow Burden of Proof by Scott Turow One L by Scott Turow Innocence by Scott Turow The Last Trial by Scott Turow Suspect by Scott Turow Reversible Errors by Scott Turow Personal Injuries by Scott Turow The Laws of Our Fathers by Scott Turow Identical by Scott Turow Limitations by Scott Turow Ordinary Heroes by Scott Turow Testimony by Scott Turow The Orphan’s Son by Adam Johnson The Magic Barrel by Bernard Malamud The Natural by Bernard Malamud The Fixer by Bernard Malamud Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Our first book show of the year is a first-time novelist, Karissa Chen. Her new book Homecoming is a novel a portrait in longing, an epoch love story between two characters torn apart by political unrest at the time of the Communist Revolution in China. It’s ambitious, it’s beautiful and it’s one of the best historical portrayals of China’s complex histories we have ever read. Join us! Books mentioned in this week's episode: Homecoming by Karissa Chen Written on the Water by Eileen Chang Do Not Say We Have Nothing by Madeleine Thien Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov Everything Inside by Edwidge Danticat Autobiography of Red by Anne Carson Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney The Poetry of Derek Walcott 1948-2013 by DerekWalcott Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week we take a look back at last year’s Book Case episodes focussing on the methodology of writing. We love talking to authors about their technique, their inspirations, and we love exploring how they do what they do. So this week we sew together some of our favorite ideas and methods coming from our authors, on how to write a book. We hope that we have some aspiring authors listening, and that there is inspiration to be taken from each of these ideas. Books mentioned in this week's episode: We Solve Murders by Richard Osman The Grey Wolf by Louise Penny The Time of the Child by Niall Williams Bel Canto: The Annotated Edition by Ann Patchett Colored Television by Danzy Senna Tell me Everything by Elizabeth Strout The History of Sound: Stories by Ben Shattuck Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club by J Ryan Stradal Shanghai by Joseph Kanon The Demon of Unrest by Erik Larson Table for Two by Amor Towles The Hunter by Tana French After Anna by Anna Quindlen Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We decided to break format this week, and we might do it again at that (it was wonderful). To ring in the holiday week, we had to spend a little time talking about A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. And we must admit we had never read it until now. We sit down with Dean Natalie McKnight at Boston University, and Professor Joel Brattin at Worcester Polytechnic. Both top Dickensian scholars in their field, we ask them why this book still universally resonates….hundreds of years later. Books mentioned in this week's episode: A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens Great Expectations by Charles Dickens Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens Barnaby Rudge by Charles Dickens The Chimes by Charles Dickens Martin Chuzzlewit by Charles Dickens The Cricket on the Hearth by Charles Dickens The Battle of Life: A Love Story by Charles Dickens The Haunted Man and the Ghost’s Bargain by Charles Dickens Dombey and Son by Charles Dickens David Copperfield by Charles Dickens Bleak House by Charles Dickens Hard Times by Charles Dickens Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens The Mystery of Edwin Drood by Charles Dickens Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices