A few months ago, the recording studio we usually use at Wisconsin Public Radio was completely gutted, stripped of its wiring, microphones, and anything on the walls. The renovation is moving closer to completion, and this week we at TTBOOK got to do something pretty exciting in the new studio – stock an enormous floor-to-ceiling, wall-to-wall bookcase full of our favorite things – books. The volumes will act as inspiration and double as sound baffling (when the engineers told us that, it was like finding out ice cream is good for you).
We started with the books written by people we’ve interviewed for the show. As we added the novels, biographies, memoirs, and books of poems, we all remembered the conversations sparked by each book.
This week is also a milestone for us as we launch our micropodcast, “Bookmarks,” where we hear from authors about a book that has left a mark on them in some way. Tommy Orange shares how the absurdity of “Confederacy of Dunces” inspired his own novel, "There There." Jericho Brown shares the unusual role that “Witches of Eastwick” had in his early sexual education. And Anne Lamott fondly recalls how “Pippi Longstocking” helped her evade cleaning her room.
We celebrate this new podcast through our hour-long show this week, "Books We Can’t Forget," featuring these bookmarks, plus live interviews about books Anne Strainchamps has done around the country, an essay about a book club, and an interview with the editor of the New York Times Book Review. If you love books, you are not going to want to miss this show, or Bookmarks.
So, please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts (here’s the iTunes link), share it with your friends and, hey — let us know what book changed your life. Send me a note about the book you can’t forget at listen@ttbook.org.
—Shannon