Synopsis
Just the Right Book is a podcast hosted by Roxanne Coady, owner of famous independent bookstore R.J. Julia Booksellers in Madison, CT, that will help you discover new and note-worthy books in all genres, give you unique insights into your favorite authors, and bring you up to date with whats happening in the literary world.
Episodes
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Julie Orringer and Rebecca Frankel: Why We Still Need to Tell the Stories of the Holocaust
28/07/2022 Duration: 56minThis week on Just the Right Book with Roxanne Coady, Julie Orringer and Rebecca Frankel joins Roxanne to discuss their books, The Invisible Bridge and Into the Forest: A Holocaust Story of Survival, Triumph, and Love as well as Mala Kacenberg’s new book Mala’s Cat: A Memoir of Survival in World War II. Julie Orringer is the author of the award-winning short-story collection How to Breathe Underwater, which was a New York Times Notable Book. She is the winner of The Paris Review’s Discovery Prize and the recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, Stanford University, and the Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library. She lives in Brooklyn, where she is researching a new novel. Rebecca Frankel is a longtime editor and journalist. She is the author of New York Times best-selling book War Dogs: Tales of Canine Heroism, History, and Love and Into the Forest: A Holocaust Story of Survival, Triumph, and Love, which was named one of "The Te
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Zain Asher: Never Let the Perception of Yourself Hold You Back
15/07/2022 Duration: 58minZain Ejiofor Asher was born to first-generation Nigerian parents in South London. She was raised by her mother after losing her father in a tragic car accident when she was just 5. A graduate of Oxford University and Columbia University, she is currently the anchor of One World with Zain Asher on CNN International. Ejiofor Asher’s brothers are Oscar-nominated actor Chiwetel Ejiofor, successful entrepreneur Obinze. Her sister Kandibe is a medical doctor. She is passionate about her family, career, and being of service. She lives in New York City with her husband and two sons. Buy the book.
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What Should You Read This Summer?
30/06/2022 Duration: 51minWhether you’re traveling or not this summer, right now is the perfect time to catch up on all the great books that have recently been published. In this episode of Just the Right Book with Roxanne Coady, Roxanne talks with critic and book reviewer Bill Goldstein to guide you through which books you want to read, have read, are thinking about reading, or you should know about. Books discussed include: Geraldine Brooks, Horse (Viking) Margot Jefferson, Constructing a Nervous System (Pantheon) Ann Hood, Fly Girl (W.W. Norton) Meredith Hall, Beneficence (David R. Godine Publisher) Claire Keegan, Small Things Like These (Grove Press)
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Linda Greenhouse on When the Republican Party Was the Party of Reproductive Choice
16/06/2022 Duration: 36minThis week on Just the Right Book with Roxanne Coady, Linda Greenhouse returns to discuss the recent Roe v. Wade investigation leak and her book, Before Roe V. Wade: Voices That Shaped the Abortion Debate Before the Supreme Court’s Ruling. Listen to our prior conversation with Linda here. ________________________________ Linda Greenhouse, recipient of the Pulitzer Prize and other major journalism awards, covered the Supreme Court for The New York Times for nearly thirty years. Since 2009, she has taught at Yale Law School and written a biweekly op-ed column on the Court as a contributing writer for the Times. She is a graduate of Radcliffe College, Harvard, and earned a master of studies in law degree from Yale Law School. * Roxanne Coady is owner of R.J. Julia, one of the leading independent booksellers in the United States, which—since 1990—has been a community resource not only for books, but for the exchange of ideas. In 1998, Coady founded Read To Grow, which provides books for newborns and children and e
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Senator Chris Murphy: How Do We Solve the Violence Inside Us
02/06/2022 Duration: 01h18minThis week on Just the Right Book with Roxanne Coady, we revisit our conversation with Senator Chris Murphy where he discussed his book The Violence Inside Us: A Brief History of an Ongoing American Tragedy. Elected in 2012 as the youngest member of the U.S. Senate, Chris Murphy has earned a reputation as a serious legislator who is willing to stand up for his principles and reach across the aisle. Since the Newtown school shooting in December 2012, he has also become the best-known leader in Congress in confronting the plague of gun violence in America. Now in his second term representing Connecticut, he and his wife, Cathy, an attorney, have two young sons, Owen and Rider. Related Episodes: Senator Will Haskell John McCain in His Own Words Discover more books at RJ Julia Booksellers.
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Sunita Puri: Why a Life Well Lived Is a Good Death
19/05/2022 Duration: 01h11minA lot of times there’s an interview that just sticks in your brain and stays there and pops up periodically. And one of those interviews for us was with Dr. Sunita Puri, who’s an assistant professor of clinical medicine at the University of Southern California and medical director of the Palliative Medicine Unit at Keck Hospital, and the author of That Good Night: Life and Medicine in the Eleventh Hour, out now in paperback from Penguin Press. The reason we’re revisiting this conversation this week on Just the Right Book is because we hear too many times about somebody who was diagnosed with cancer or some other life-threatening disease, and a lot of times medical doctors goal is to cure you, even if it kills you. However, what these palliative care doctors do is become your advocate for the notion that a life well-lived is a good death. Dr. Sunita Puri is an assistant professor of clinical medicine at the University of Southern California, and medical director of palliative medicine at the Keck Hospital and
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Anna Quindlen: You're Never Alone When You Read Great Novels
05/05/2022 Duration: 59minIn this episode of Just the Right Book with Roxanne Coady, Anna Quindlen joins Roxanne Coady to discuss her latest book, Write For Your Life, out now from Random House. Anna Quindlen is a novelist and journalist whose work has appeared on fiction, nonfiction, and self-help bestseller lists. She is the author of many novels: Object Lessons, One True Thing, Black and Blue, Blessings, Rise and Shine, Every Last One, Still Life with Bread Crumbs, and Miller’s Valley. Her memoir Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake was a #1 New York Times bestseller. Her book A Short Guide to a Happy Life has sold more than a million copies. While a columnist at The New York Times she won the Pulitzer Prize and published two collections, Living Out Loud and Thinking Out Loud. Her Newsweek columns were collected in Loud and Clear.
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Has Our Thinking About Regret Been All Wrong?
21/04/2022 Duration: 01h01minIn this episode of Just the Right Book with Roxanne Coady, Daniel Pink joins Roxanne Coady to discuss his latest book, The Power of Regret: How Looking Backward Moves Us Forward, out now from Riverhead Books.
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Introducing Storybound
20/04/2022 Duration: 18minNow celebrating its fifth season, Storybound is a radio theater program designed for the podcast age. Hosted by 2021 KCRW Radio Race winner Jude Brewer, Storybound presents the voices of today’s best writers reading accomplished works of fiction and non-fiction. You’ll also hear original music specially composed for the respective text. Needless to say, it’s an immersive storytelling experience. The episode we’re sharing today features Stephanie Danler reading from her Stray, a memoir about what happens after you’ve achieved success without fully processing your past. It’s a bracing, honest, and sometimes painful book, and on Storybound, you hear it straight from Stephanie. If you enjoy what you hear, make sure to follow Storybound (for free) wherever you get your podcasts.
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Barry Nalebuff: Don't Fight Fire With Fire; Fight Fire With Water
07/04/2022 Duration: 53minOn this week's episode, Roxanne talks with leading Yale expert and serial entrepreneur Barry Nalebuff about his new book, Split the Pie: A Radical New Way to Negotiate. Barry Nalebuff is the Milton Steinbach Professor at the Yale School of Management, where he has taught for over thirty years. An expert on game theory, he has written extensively on its application to business strategy. His bestsellers include Thinking Strategically, The Art of Strategy, and Mission in a Bottle. This is his seventh book. He has advised the NBA in their negotiations with the Players Association and several firms in major M&A transactions. Nalebuff has been teaching the Split the Pie method to MBAs and executives at Yale and online at Coursera. His Introduction to Negotiation course has over 350,000 enrolled students and a 4.9/5.0 rating. He is also a serial entrepreneur; his ventures include Honest Tea, Kombrewcha, and Real Made Foods. A graduate of MIT, a Rhodes Scholar, and a Junior Fellow at the Harvard Society of Fe
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Freedom Must Still Be Defended: Remembering Madeleine Albright
31/03/2022 Duration: 50minWith Madeleine Albright's passing, we thought it might be useful, interesting, even fun to revisit our conversation with the American diplomat and political scientist from January of 2019, when her latest book came out called Fascism: A Warning. This conversation, given what's going on in the world today with Ukraine and the role of NATO, provides insights into the foreign policies over the last 50 years that might have contributed or mitigated the aggression we're now seeing by Russia. So while the conversation is from three years ago, Madeleine Albright had a lot to share that is extremely pertinent to what we're seeing today.
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Nick Davis on Writing Himself Into a Biography–And Taking Himself Out
24/03/2022 Duration: 01h07minIn this episode of Just the Right Book with Roxanne Coady, Nick Davis joins Roxanne Coady to discuss his latest book, Competing with Idiots: Herman and Joe Mankiewicz, a Dual Portrait, out now from Knopf. ________________________________ Nick Davis is a writer, director, and producer. His most recent film is Once Upon A Time in Queens about the 1986 Mets. He lives in New York City with his wife and daughters. Roxanne Coady is owner of R.J. Julia, one of the leading independent booksellers in the United States, which—since 1990—has been a community resource not only for books, but for the exchange of ideas. In 1998, Coady founded Read To Grow, which provides books for newborns and children and encourages parents to read to their children from birth. RTG has distributed over 1.5 million books.
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Amy Bloom: Grief is the Price You Pay for Love
10/03/2022 Duration: 55minIn this episode of Just the Right Book with Roxanne Coady, Amy Bloom joins Roxanne Coady to discuss his first book, In Love: A Memoir of Love and Loss, out now from Random House. ________________________________ Amy Bloom is the author of Come to Me, a National Book Award finalist; Love Invents Us; A Blind Man Can See How Much I Love You, nominated for the National Book Critics Circle Award; Normal; Away, a New York Times bestseller; Where the God of Love Hangs Out; Lucky Us, a New York Times bestseller; and White Houses. Her stories have appeared in The Best American Short Stories, The O. Henry Prize Short Stories, The Scribner Anthology of Contemporary Short Fiction, and many other anthologies here and abroad. She has written for The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic, Vogue, Slate, Tin House, and Salon, among other publications, and has won a National Magazine Award. She is the Shapiro-Silverberg Professor of Creative Writing at Wesleyan University. Roxanne Coady is owner of R.J. Julia,
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Senator Will Haskell on Why We Should Feel Optimistic About Politics
24/02/2022 Duration: 55minIn this episode of Just the Right Book with Roxanne Coady, Senator Will Haskell joins Roxanne Coady to discuss his first book, 100,000 First Bosses: My Unlikely Path as a 22-Year-Old Lawmaker, out now from Avid Reader Press. Will Haskell was elected in 2018 to represent seven towns, including his hometown, in the Connecticut State Senate. Just a few months after graduating from college, he and his roommate-turned-campaign manager unseated a Republican incumbent who had been in the legislature for longer than Will had been alive. Their campaign activated an army of young volunteers who were energized by the fight to end gun violence, and together they broke a tie in the Senate by flipping the district Blue. In the Senate, Will serves as the Chair of the Transportation Committee and the Vice Chair of the Government Administration and Elections Committee. His spent his first term focusing on college affordability, transportation improvements, and voting rights. In 2019, he helped create Connecticut’s free commu
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Beth Macy on the Future of Families and Communities in the Opioid Epidemic
10/02/2022 Duration: 57minIn this episode of Just the Right Book with Roxanne Coady, Beth Macy joins Roxanne Coady to discuss her landmark book, Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company that Addicted America, out in paperback from Back Bay Books and now a critically-acclaimed TV series from Hulu. ________________________________ Beth Macy is the author of the widely acclaimed and bestselling books Truevine and Factory Man. Based in Roanoke, Virginia for three decades, her reporting has won more than a dozen national awards, including a Nieman Fellowship for Journalism at Harvard. Roxanne Coady is owner of R.J. Julia, one of the leading independent booksellers in the United States, which—since 1990—has been a community resource not only for books, but for the exchange of ideas. In 1998, Coady founded Read To Grow, which provides books for newborns and children and encourages parents to read to their children from birth. RTG has distributed over 1.5 million books.
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Oliver Burkeman on What It Means to Be Finite Creatures With Infinite Minds
27/01/2022 Duration: 01h03minIn this episode of Just the Right Book with Roxanne Coady, Oliver Burkeman joins Roxanne Coady to discuss her new book, Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals, out now from Farrar, Straus & Giroux. Oliver Burkeman is the author of The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can’t Stand Positive Thinking. He wrote a long-running weekly column on psychology for The Guardian, This Column Will Change Your Life, and his work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Psychologies, and New Philosopher. He lives in New York City. Roxanne Coady is owner of R.J. Julia, one of the leading independent booksellers in the United States, which—since 1990—has been a community resource not only for books, but for the exchange of ideas. In 1998, Coady founded Read To Grow, which provides books for newborns and children and encourages parents to read to their children from birth. RTG has distributed over 1.5 million books.
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Sarah Ruhl on Why We Should Love Imperfection and Asymmetry
13/01/2022 Duration: 56minIn this episode of Just the Right Book with Roxanne Coady, Sarah Ruhl joins Roxanne Coady to discuss her new book, Smile: The Story of a Face, out now from Simon & Schuster. Subscribe and download the episode, wherever you get your podcasts! ________________________________ Sarah Ruhl is a playwright and writer of other things. Her fifteen plays include In the Next Room (or the Vibrator Play), The Clean House, and Eurydice. She has been a two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist, a Tony Award nominee, and the recipient of the MacArthur “genius” Fellowship. Her plays have been produced on- and off-Broadway, around the country, internationally, and have been translated into many languages. Her book 100 Essays I Don’t Have Time to Write was a New York Times Notable Book. Her other books include Letters from Max, with Max Ritvo, and 44 Poems for You. She has received the Steinberg Playwright Award, the Samuel French Award, Feminist Press Under 40 Award, the National Theater Conference Person of the Year Award, the Su
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Ending the Year With Bishop Michael B. Curry
30/12/2021 Duration: 01h09minTo end the year on Just the Right Book with Roxanne Coady, we revisit our conversatoin with Bishop Michael B. Curry as he discussed his latest book, Love Is the Way: Holding On to Hope in Troubled Times. This week's sponsor: This episode is presented by Audible.
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Dorie Greenspan Still Finds Joy in Baking
16/12/2021 Duration: 53minIn this episode of Just the Right Book with Roxanne Coady, Dorie Greenspan joins Roxanne Coady to discuss her new book, Baking with Dorie: Sweet, Salty & Simple, out now from Mariner Books. Subscribe and download the episode, wherever you get your podcasts! ________________________________ Inducted into the James Beard Foundation’s Who’s Who of Food and Beverage in America, Dorie Greenspan is the author of 14 cookbooks, including Baking with Dorie; Dorie’s Cookies, a 2017 James Beard Award-winner for Best Baking and Dessert book; Around My French Table, a New York Times bestseller that was named Cookbook of the Year by the IACP; Baking Chez Moi, also a Times bestseller; and Baking: From My Home to Yours, a James Beard Award winner. She lives in New York City, Westbrook, Connecticut, and Paris.
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The 2021 Holiday Gift Guide Episode!
09/12/2021 Duration: 45minJoin Roxanne Coady and the staff of RJ Julia Booksellers as we explore the best books of the year to give as gifts to the readers in your life. Books discussed include: The Baseball 100 – Joe Pasnanski 50 Hikes with Kids New England - Wendy Gorton Zorrie – Laird Hunt All of the Marvels – Douglas Wolk Oh William! - Elizabeth Strout Smile: The Story of a Face – Sarah Ruhl Bewilderment – Richard Powers American Christmas Stories – Ed. Connie Willis Pajamas Pilates – Maria Mankin Your Guide to Not Getting Murdered in a Quaint British Village - Maureen Johnson See the full list here.