Front Porch Book Club

We're leaning into Mother's Day month with Stories for My Kids: Learning to Yodel and Other Life Lessons, by first time author Ileen Dunivent. This charming and warm memoir tracks Ileen's life from a mischievous Rocky Mountain tomboy to a crazy in love teenager to a mom and grandma in Missouri. Ileen has a gift for storytelling and she manages to find humor and joy, as well as convey deep wisdom, throughout the episodes of her life. Reading this book is like sitting down with your favorite grandma and laughing with her until your stomach hurts, and maybe shedding a few tears, too. Born in 1934, Ileen's life has spanned much of the 20th century's incredible challenges and innovations. Oh, and she even shares some of her favorite recipes in the book, too.

We learn about mental skills athletes use to compete at the highest levels. Dr. Jennifer Cumming, former competitive athlete and now sports psychologist and professor, describes techniques for building mental skills. She trains professional and recreational athletes, and applies her work in other fields such as medicine, law enforcement, and the military, as well as working with youth who are experiencing homelessness. She shares how mental skills training could have helped our April book protagonist, Carrie Soto, in Taylor Jenkins Reid’s Carrie Soto is Back.

Carrie Soto is Back, by best-selling novelist Taylor Jenkins Reid, plunges us into the world of professional tennis. We meet retired phenom, Carrie, who decides to return to the circuit to defend her Grand Slam titles record. Carrie's singular focus on her tennis legacy has Linny and Nancy talking legacy, what it means, and why it matters.

We take an incredible journey through Spain's 20th century, the setting of this month's book, The Shadow of the Wind, with our guest Sara Brenneis, an Amherst professor specializing in this era. Delving more deeply into Spain's social, political, religious, and economic context opened up this book in ways we never expected. Linny has a new admiration for the women in the book. Nancy is amazed by the authorial restraint of not explaining everything shown by the author, Carlos Ruiz Zafon. And yes, we also have some great laughs, too!

In post-civil war Spain, young Daniel is cast into danger when he refuses to sell his rare copy of a Julian Carax novel to a mysterious cloaked man intent on destroying all copies of the author's books. Over a ten-year period, Daniel uncovers old resentments, past loves, deadly lies, and true love as he learns the secrets of the mysterious man and of the author who has disappeared. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon sets this unforgettable novel in Barcelona, a city teeming with secrets of its own.

Shelby Van Pelt's debut novel, Remarkably Bright Creatures, has become a word-of-mouth bestseller. No surprise, since this warm and generous novel introduces three very different characters all facing their own "stuckness": a grieving widow, an aquarium-confined octopus, and a struggling young man. Shelby joins us on the front porch to talk about her journey as a first-time author, these remarkable characters, Community Reads programs, and so much more. Yes, we also laugh!

Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus, has lived most of his life in the Sowell Bay Aquarium but yearns for the ocean's currents while he watches the humans who pass his tank with disdain. That is, until Tova, the night janitor saves him from dying on one of his nighttime expeditions. They form a sort of friendship that will change their lives and the lives of those around them, including Ethan the small town's grocer and Cameron an aimless newcomer. This warm and generous novel by Shelby Van Pelt is a celebration of the power of connection and of second chances.

We delve into the research-based side of talent development with Dr. Kenneth Kiewra, an educational psychology professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln who is an expert in talent development. We learn about talent development in children and adults, along with Ken's other fascinating research on learning in and teaching of children, young people, scholars, and older adults. We are astounded to learn of the many parallels between Ken's research-based findings and Adam Gopnik's experiential themes in our January book, The Real Work.

In his latest book, The Real Work, Adam Gopnik undertakes a George Plimpton-esque journey to master skills as diverse as boxing and drawing, bread baking and driving, dancing and overcoming a mental health illness. Gopnik, along the way, shares three themes of mastery and seven mysteries of mastery. Gopnik has called this book a “self-help book that doesn’t help” because it does not prescribe steps or tasks. Instead, readers are inspired by his comic essays and by the masters he introduces. Linny and Nancy discuss new skills they want to learn or continue to sharpen.

Linny and Nancy look back at 2023 and share some of their favorite books, moments, surprises, and behind-the-scenes mix-ups. Looking forward to 2024, they announce the first three book selections for 2024.

It's children's book month and our 2023 is a gem: Marshmallow Clouds, written by Ted Kooser and Connie Wanek and illustrated by Richard Jones. The book features 30 poems that celebrate finding wonder through imagination and are loosely categorized by the four classical elements: Fire, Water, Air, and Earth. These are poems to be savored and enjoyed over and over.

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 history of the Cyprus conflict and describes barriers to reunification. We also hear about his personal connection to Cyprus and his experience as a historical consultant for Elif Shafak as she wrote The Island of Missing Trees.

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 who focuses on trees. Their career paths mirror the emotional journeys they have taken since they were separated. Defne has buried the secrets from her past. Kostas has not healed from his memories of times with Defne at the local tavern, The Happy Fig. We discuss the book, what we remember about the war in Cyprus, sentient trees, #CanYouHearMeNow, and much more.

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 scientists faced a lot of barriers! We also learn about Julie’s current work to increase diversity in STEM fields at the Center for Quantum Networks at the University of Arizona. She outlines for us the 21st century challenges for women in science as well as the strategies she is using to create cultural change in STEM fields.

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 Evans, the renowned but awkward chemist who is as dazzled by her mind as her beauty. He wants to marry her, which she refuses on the basis it will destroy what small career she has been able to carve out for herself. Within a year, Calvin is gone, Elizabeth has had his child, she has been fired, she has become a TV cooking show phenomenon, and she is as far from her dream to be left alone to do chemistry as she possibly could be. And people and one incredibly perceptive dog keep attaching themselves to her. Is chemistry all there is, or might there be more for Elizabeth? Linda and Nancy discuss this book, its zany characters, and sexism in the 1960s.

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 Hildegard of Bingen and professor of Musicology and Gender and Women's Studies at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Think the multi-hyphenates of today are impressive? You need to hear about Hildegard!

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 Manufacturing, we meet the residents of an affordable housing building, particularly the brilliant but lost 17-year-old, Blandine, who has “graduated” from foster care and is now living with three boys, also products of the broken system. We meet Blandine’s lecherous high school teacher, a developer who plans to build on the only remaining green space in the city, and an aged former child star who has died. Blandine, guided by the writings of medieval saints, tries to find a future for herself, her city, and the only remaining green space which is about to go under the developer’s shovel. “Inventive, heartbreaking and acutely funny” Observer.

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 different courts distinguished themselves and the roles they played. We also talk about some of the finer things in Renaissance life, such as art, music, and fashion. Our guide in this immersion is Dr. Deanna Shemek, a University of California Irvine professor and Italian expert who specializes in Italian literature, Italian and European history, women and gender studies, and Renaissance and early modern studies. We learn a lot and share some laughs, too!

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 that he means to murder her there. As the novel skips around in chronology we learn about Lucrezia’s conception, birth, and childhood that brought her to this moment. She is a sensitive, artistic, and misunderstood youngest daughter. We hang on by our fingernails to see how her story ends.

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 the U.S. government in a treaty. However, government mistakes, prejudice, and people following orders from their superiors led to the Ponca being stripped of their Nebraska homeland in 1877, many deaths on their journey to a reservation in Oklahoma, and eventually Chief Standing Bear’s suit against the federal government, the first time a Native American had been allowed to testify in a US courtroom. And he won. Join us to learn more about this remarkable, heartbreaking, and inspiring man.

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 ancestral graveyard back along the Niobrara River in northeast Nebraska. On his journey home with his son’s body, he was jailed for leaving the Oklahoma reservation and for visiting his friends and relatives on the Omaha reservation. The US Army intended to force him to return to Oklahoma. However, a newspaperman and two attorneys in Omaha helped him file a suit against the US government. He ended up being the first Native person to testify in a US court and his case established that Native persons have the same rights as the nation’s White and Black citizens, which was not clear in the muddle of the way Native Americans were treated. His most famous lines are from his testimony in court about his personhood. He stood and held out his hand and said: “That hand is not the color of yours, but if I pierce it, I shall feel pain. If you pierce your hand, you also feel pain. The blood that will flow from mine will be of the same color as yours. I am a man. The same God made us both.”

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 from their parents is not unprecedented in US history and she alludes to indigenous child removal, as well as the separation of children from their parents who have illegally crossed the country’s southern border. In this episode, we learn about the reality of these past policies and also Indigenous and Non-indigenous people working together to forge a reconciliation over these past wrongs.

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 against an authoritarian government in the United States. When Bird receives a mysterious letter, he goes on a journey to find his mother.

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 and when the children are different from them, parents often react negatively. Six chapters deal with categories of difference that have been long-classified as illnesses: children who are deaf, those who are dwarfs, and those who have down syndrome, autism, schizophrenia, other disabilities. Four chapters deal with more socially-constructed difference: children who: are prodigies, the product of rape, commit crimes, and are transgender.

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 us about her inspiration for Sitara, her family’s experience leaving Afghanistan and the nostalgia they still experience for a Kabul that has disappeared. We also learn Nadia's opinion about whether Shair pulled the trigger.

Director of the Center for Afghanistan Studies at the University of Nebraska 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 expands our understanding of historical and current day Afghanistan, the setting for this month's book, Sparks Like Stars by Nadia Hashimi.

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 safety. But healing will take decades until she finally returns to Afghanistan and comes face to face with the her buried past.

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 at Mourning Hope Grief Center in Lincoln, Nebraska.

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 joggers. Ove has lost his beloved wife and just been forcibly retired from his job. He has no friends. He decides to end his life. When a new neighbor backs a moving trailer into Ove’s empty rose bed, Ove’s plans to end his life are thwarted again and again. Soon Ove has unintentionally drawn around him a muddle of neighbors, and a stray cat, who collectively shape a new purpose for his life.

We welcome Front Porch Book Club friend Marlene Castillo to discuss Kiley Reid’s debut novel Such A Fun Age.

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 incident. Alix and Kelley have their own ideas about Emira's future, until they meet each other (again!).

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 building blocks of positive psychology. We learn that elite athletes struggle with the same mindset challenges Linny does when she's on the pickleball court. Doc shares with us  that the same strategies that made Jordan Larson an Olympic gold medalist may help Linny improve her game, too.

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.

Author Sue Ray-Smolik joins us on the front porch to tells us about her brand-new children’s picture book, The Evening Walk, a story about how visually-impaired Mommy shows toddler Liam that sight is only one way to experience the world around them, but love is everywhere.

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 touch, smell, taste, and sound.

Dr. Kevin Bower takes us to the post-Civil War South, interpreting the fascinating political, social, and economic upheavals that are the backdrop for Nathan Harris' The Sweetness of Water.

The Sweetness of Water by Nathan Harris received all the awards! No wonder as it transports readers to the American south in the turbulent weeks following the end of the Civil War. As the characters struggle to make lives for themselves in the changing world, we see the book's application to today's bitter acrimony over who will decide what our country will be.

Behavioral consultant Jess Hess joins us on the front porch to share her insights on one of her favorite books, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab.

We discuss Theodore Roosevelt’s disastrous expedition to map a tributary of the Amazon River retold in Candice Millard’s gripping New York Times bestseller, River of Doubt.

An early, exceptional episode: By special arrangement, four-time New York Times bestselling author and speaker for the 27th annual Nebraska Governor’s Lecture in the Humanities on September 28, 2022, Candice Millard joins us to discuss her first best-seller, River of Doubt, that traces Theodore Roosevelt’s disastrous Amazon River expedition after his devastating defeat in the 1912 presidential election.

In The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab, unforgettable Addie makes a pact with the devil for immortality, with the curse she will be forgotten whenever she leaves others’ presence. When she falls in love with Henry and finds out he, too, has made a deal with the devil, she takes extraordinary actions to try to save him. Linda and Nancy discuss immortality, codependence, tragedy, and grit.

New York Times best-selling author, Robert Kolker, joins us on the front porch to discuss his book, Hidden Valley Road. The book, based on the true life story of a family of 12 children, six of whom were diagnosed with schizophrenia, has made all the lists -- from New York Times, to Oprah, to President Obama. Robert shares his interest in writing about everyday people faced with extraordinary circumstances and gives us the behind the scenes peek at two films based on his writing.

The true story of one family with 12 children, six of whom are diagnosed with schizophrenia. We discuss the unforgettable story of the Galvin family and the evolution and research breakthroughs of treatment for this cruel disease.

Van Jones presents solutions in four areas that liberals and conservatives can agree on. Linda and Nancy delve into policy and Van’s life experiences that have led him to his broadcasting, policy, and advocacy work.

Is it possible to find bipartisan solutions to the problems America faces? Van Jones says it is in his book, Beyond the Messy Truth. Join us in finding hope in America’s acrimonious political landscape.

Join our mini-book club discussion about The Nightingale with sweet tea drinker Jona Green.

We discuss Kristin Hannah’s best seller, The Nightingale, the captivating tale of two sisters in World War II France.

Erin shares the funny side of young motherhood in this book of hilarious snippets.

Linda and Nancy share their favorite snippets from this book of short takes on parenthood. Hilarity ensues as Linda and Nancy recount the fires and near miss flooding they caused in their early parenting years.

Dr. Dawne Curry takes us on an incomparable journey through South Africa's social and political structures that set up Apartheid and led to its eventual dismantling, all the while relating it to Trevor Noah's experience. Grab your suitcases -- we're going on a trip!