James Ker-Lindsay introduces us to the beautiful and complex island of Cyprus, the setting of Elif Shafak’s The Island of Missing Trees. Ker-Lindsay is a scholar whose research focuses on conflict, and peace and security in South East Europe. He tells us about the...

In The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak, young lovers Defne and Kostas are torn apart by the Cyprus war in the 1970s. When they meet again, 25 years later, Defne has become part of a team dedicated to finding graves of war victims and Kostas has become a scholar...

Was sexism in the STEM workplace really as bad as that faced by Elizabeth Zott in Bonnie Garmus’ Lessons in Chemistry? Cultural historian Julie Des Jardins leads us through the experiences of women in the workforce in the 20th-century. Let’s just say, most women...

In this laugh out loud funny novel, Elizabeth Zott is a brilliant chemist who just wants to do her research, but it's the 1960s and none of the men in her field quite know what to do with this determined woman, so mostly they attempt to ruin her. Except for Calvin...

In Tess Gunty’s The Rabbit Hutch, Blandine is obsessed by Hildegard of Bingen, the 12th century abbess. We wanted to learn more about this German theologian, composer, and botanist, so asked Dr. Jennifer Bain to join us. She is the editor of The Cambridge Companion to...

In the New York Times bestselling novel, The Rabbit Hutch, Tess Gunty introduces us to Vacca Vale, Indiana, a dying city clinging to its past automobile manufacturing glory days. After decades of economic disintegration brought on by the closing of Zorn Automotive...

Intrigue abounds as we learn how 16th century Italian courts schemed and fought to maintain their power, as we read about in Maggie O'Farrell's latest historical novel, The Marriage Portrait. In the swirl of wars and murder, we talk about how women in...

The Marriage Portrait, a riveting historical fiction novel, plunges us into the 16th-century world of Lucrezia de’ Medici whose parents have forced her to wed Alfonso, Duke of Ferrara. He has taken her to his isolated hunting lodge and she becomes aware of the fact...

Today we interview Joe Starita about his book, I Am A Man. The narrative non-fiction book describes the real life story of Ponca Chief Standing Bear. He was a man who just wanted to live peaceably, with his tribe, on their ancestral homeland that was deeded to them by...

I Am a Man by Joe Starita documents the heartbreaking exile of Chief Standing Bear from his homeland to his journey to establishing the personhood of Native Americans in US courts. Chief Standing Bear promised his dying teenage son that he would bury him in the...

Dr. Margaret Jacobs joins us on the front porch to investigate how the US has forcibly removed children from their parents, a policy expanded in Celeste Ng’s Our Missing Hearts. In Our Missing Hearts, a Choctaw grandmother reminds Noah’s mom that taking children away...

To what lengths would you go to protect your child? In Our Missing Hearts, Celeste Ng introduces us to Bird, a 12-year-old boy whose mother has left him and his father years earlier. His father disavows her and her poetry that is being used by resisters standing up...

It's Mother's Day as we record this episode about Far From the Tree by Andrew Solomon. This nonfiction book explores the differences that separate children from their parents, often in damaging ways. Solomon believes that parents have children to perpetuate themselves...

Nadia Hashimi joins us to discuss her bestselling book, Sparks Like Stars. This book is the darling of book clubs. The story of Sitara, a privileged young girl living in Kabul, draws you in as the 1978 coup strips everything away from her that she loves. Nadia tells...

Director of the Center for Afghanistan Studies at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, Sher Jan Ahmadzai tells us his remarkable story: fleeing Afghan as a child, returning to work for the President of Afghanistan, and eventual immigrating to the United States. He...

Discussing Sparks Like Stars by Nadia Hashimi, we dive into the harrowing tale of Sitara, a young girl from a privileged Kabul family whose life changes forever in the 1978 coup of the government. Sitara must assume another identity and travel across the ocean to find...

Grief experts, Alyssa Christensen and Amy Lipins join us on the front porch to discuss A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman. We discuss the power of community and support to help those who have lost a loved one honor their person and learn to heal. Alyssa and Amy work...

In Frederik Backman’s A Man Called Ove, Ove is the quintessential grumpy old man. The self-appointed enforcer of Residents’ Association rules. The responsible man frustrated by the incompetence of everyone around him. The despiser of computers and consultants and...

We welcome Front Porch Book Club friend Marlene Castillo to discuss Kiley Reid’s debut novel Such A Fun Age. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/frontporchbookclub/support

In Kiley Reid’s debut novel, Such A Fun Age, a racial profiling sets college-educated Emira on a collision course with her employer, Alix, and new boyfriend Kelley. Emira is looking for a good job with health insurance and would prefer not to be the latest racial...

In his book, Max Out Mindset, Larry “Doc” Widman describes the mindset skills we can apply to max out our performance in athletics and life. Most New Year’s resolutions have been abandoned by February. Doc shares with us how to set and achieve our goals using the...

Just in time for New Year’s resolutions, we discuss Max Out Mindset, Dr. Larry Widman’s book describing how elite athletes achieve results through his evidence-based approach and how we can apply them to improve our performance in life, work, and play. --- Support...

Join us on the Front Porch as we revel in Sue Ray-Smolik’s joyful new children’s book, The Evening Walk, a beautifully illustrated story in which toddler Liam describes what he sees to his visually-impaired Mommy who lovingly helps him experience their walk with...