AViD author Tayari Jones takes part in the DMPL Podcast ahead of her virtual visit this coming Saturday. She talks about her favorite story growing up, the scene she considered toughest in her award-winning novel An American Marriage, and when she thinks she writes best. 

Tayari Jones will be taking part in AViD on Saturday, March 27, at 3:00 PM as part of the DSM Book Festival. You can register for the event on our AViD page.

Show Notes

Tayari Jones' Books

• An American Marriage (2018)
• Silver Sparrow (2011)
• The Untelling (2005)
• Leaving Atlanta (2002)

Tayari Jones on the Web

• Tayari Jones | Website
• Tayari Jones | Facebook
• Tayari Jones | Instagram
• Tayari Jones | Twitter

Tayari's Recommendations

• "Trees" by Joyce Kilmer
• Mercy, by Lucille Clifton
• The Tradition, by Jericho Brown
• The Street, by Ann Petry
• All the Devils are Here, by Louise Penny
  
• The Kindest Lie, by Nancy Johnson
• A Promised Land, by Barack Obama

On the latest episode of the DMPL Podcast, Jenny from the Book Chat team joins us to talk about books with crazy plots and premises. As Jenny describes them, these books feature "a thriller sympathetic towards the murderer, a heist that focuses on student debt, and a remake of an old favorite children's book as an adult horror story."

Show Notes

Jenny's Picks Discussed on the Podcast

• My Sister, the Serial Killer, by Oyikan Braithwaite
• The Assistants, by Camille Perri
• Meddling Kids, by Edgar Cantero
  

Other "MAD" Books, with Notes from Jenny

• Playing Nice, by J.P. Delaney: A couple finds out the son they’ve been raising for two years was switched at birth and have some terrible choices to make. But the couple raising their biological child is not what they seem. Part family drama, part courtroom adventure, part thriller.
• My Best Friend’s Exorcism, by Grady Hendrix: Abby has been best friends with Gretchen since she was the only girl who didn’t stand her up at her roller-rink birthday party. In absolute 80s style, best friend drama gets complicated when one of the girls may be possessed by a demon. The exorcist is a bodybuilder. This book is wonderfully weird.
• A Madness so Discreet, by Mindy McGinnis: A teenage girl is in an 1890s mental institution for being pregnant, fakes a lobotomy to escape with a Sherlock-Holmes-esque doctor to track down a serial killer. Suffragettes, corrupt politicians, positive portrayals of people with mental health problems, and just so much adventure. I straight up forgot about Zoom Game Night because I was too engrossed reading this!

Other Links

• AViD Homepage
• Register for AViD: Tayari Jones
• Register for AViD: Hanif Abdurraqib
• Book Chat

Author and Iowa native Greer Macallister is the guest on the latest episode of The DMPL Podcast. Her newest novel, The Arctic Fury, follows an all-female expedition to the north as they try to uncover what happened to the lost Franklin expedition.

Greer discusses why she wanted to set a book in this ice cold setting and how she assembled the Ocean's 13-esque crew of characters. She also lets us know what she's working on next - it's a big change!

Spoilers are discussed from about 13:20-29:50.

Show Notes

• The Arctic Fury at DMPL
• Other Greer Macallister books at DMPL
• Greer Macallister | website
• Greer Macallister | Facebook
• Greer Macallister | Twitter
• Greer Macallister | Instagram