Book festivals for beginners

CHRISTINA: I hated that book up until the end, and then I had to read it again, and I loved it. [ANNE LAUGHS]

[CHEERFUL INTRO MUSIC]

ANNE: Hey, readers, I'm Anne Bogel and this is What Should I Read Next?.

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[MUSIC]

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Readers, today's guest, Christina McCormick, sent in her guests' admission just before attending her very first book festival because she had questions. And you know she came to the right place.

Christina has always loved to read and has a healthy to-be-read list with more than 1,500 titles—and she's not sad about that. But until recently, she had never attended a literary festival. When she decided to go to the Bookmarks Festival of Books & Authors in Winston-Salem this fall, she knew she needed some help.

In her submission, Christina told me she was curious about what to expect and wanted to know about any unwritten etiquette that may apply to book festivals. Plus, she had a few universally relatable questions like, "How do I behave when I meet authors? And is it okay to be a fangirl? And is there something more reasonable to say than "I love your book"?"

Well, that festival, as you may know from listening, has come and gone. I really enjoyed getting to connect with Christina in person while we were both in Winston-Salem. And I invited her to join me today to share about her first book festival experience. Of course, I'll also leave her with a few recommended titles. I hope she will enjoy everything next.

Let's get to it.

Christina, welcome to the show.

CHRISTINA: Hello.

[00:03:02]

ANNE: Christina, we got to meet when you attended the Bookmarks Festival of Books & Authors in Winston Salem, which I mean, it wasn't in your backyard. This was kind of a commitment to go to this festival. And I'd love to hear how did you happen to attend this particular festival?

CHRISTINA: That was pretty much due to you. A couple years ago, I read your book, I'd Rather Be Reading, and I could not believe when I was reading it how you just wrote everything that was in my heart. Every chapter was something I had thought at some time.

I don't know if it was in the book or on your website that I started listening to your podcasts. And one of the first podcasts... I mean, there were 300 so it was hard to catch up.

One of the first podcasts had an author maybe who attended online reading club that was from the Bookmarks bookstore. It was the Romance Book Club. And I had never thought about looking into that before but I joined it. Then they had a reading festival I really wanted to go last year because I think you were doing a luncheon with Kendra Adachi.

ANNE: Oh, I was or I was supposed to.

CHRISTINA: Yes. I really wanted to go last year.

ANNE: Readers, what Christina and I know that you may not is that that luncheon was a blast. Kendra had COVID so she was not in that luncheon. But a good time was had by all.

CHRISTINA: So I have been obsessing for a year and I've also been obsessing about whoever catered that lunch. I think at the time was Lavender and Honey. They've since changed their name to Louie and Honey. And that place was absolutely fabulous.

ANNE: Christina, I have to tell you something wild about the What Should I Read Next? episode you listened to about the reader that was involved in all those online book clubs, including the Romance Book Club run by Bookmarks NC. And that is that the guest on that episode was Brigid Misselhorn, who you met in Winston Salem.

CHRISTINA: Yes! Oh my gosh, she was so sweet. She actually forced me to do this.

ANNE: I would love to hear more about that. What did that look like?

[00:05:11]

CHRISTINA: So when I wrote in, I really wasn't writing in to be on the show. I just wanted some advice and just to know what to know beforehand for a book festival. But she was so wonderful to talk to that she made this sound like a lot of fun.

ANNE: I'm so glad to hear it. Because Brigid went last year, and she knew it was a lot of fun. And listeners, the missing piece where you're thinking, "How did this happen?" is that Bridgid is helping out our team this fall. That is how she had the opportunity to talk to Christina about this. Oh, that's so fun.

See, once we get our hooks in you as What Should I Read Next? guest, we're never letting go. Christina, watch out. [CHRISTINA LAUGHS]

I'm so glad that she persuaded you to give it a shot because this is something that was new to you. So you came down by yourself from Maryland to Winston-Salem. Tell me a little bit about how you made that work.

CHRISTINA: So I'm not a stranger to North Carolina. I went to school there way back when I went to college. I went to Greensboro College. Although I've never been to Winston-Salem.

It's just six hours. I didn't think it'd be a big deal. My husband is great with my son so I knew they would be in safe hands. Probably more of a vacation for them.

I was lucky enough to attend several of the ticketed events. So I went early. I went on Thursday. And I got to see the opening keynote with Taylor Jenkins Reid, which was so cute, but more low-key than I thought it would be.

So it was in the church and it was really hard to see Taylor and the moderator. I think it was Tia Williams. I probably only arrived a half an hour early so the church was pretty full when I got there. However, I was able to understand where I needed to sit for the next day during your panel. So I know exactly which seat I needed to be in.

ANNE: That's so interesting. I hadn't thought about just getting familiar with the venue and how that can make a difference. Christina, a funny thing about this is that I was supposed to be at that event Thursday night or had planned to come to hear Tia and Taylor because that sounded like a rollicking good time to me.

Instead, I hadn't seen my good friend Kendra when I was in the area last year because she had COVID. So we went to dinner, and I didn't get to hear this event.

But I'm really happy to hear about it now and to hear how great it was from everybody who was at the festival. Because, you know, that's something that happens at the festival is that you turn to a stranger in the signing line and say, "Hey, how's your experience been? What have you been to? Tell me about it." And in those conversations, I kept hearing how entertaining this conversation was between these two women. I heard there was a lot of laughter and also a lot of insights into the writing life from both of them.

But I'm so curious and wonder if you didn't imagine that it would be more formal than it turned out to be.

[00:08:02]

CHRISTINA: Well, I made sure to read the book before I got there just in case they were talking about the book. And they hardly talked about their books, actually. So I probably didn't need to read it to have any context.

But it's just interesting to hear authors talk. I guess it would be the same thing to see a movie star doing an interview. You know, it's just interesting to see them be real people.

Taylor Jenkins Reid, she's written so many books and so many books in different genres, I think they're not all the same. I actually like most of her earlier books better than these ones with the key female players.

ANNE: Like Maybe in Another Life or One True Loves, from that era?

CHRISTINA: Yes. And to hear how during COVID, you know, she had to get used to her daughter in the other room and trying to find a space in her house for it to be quiet. I just found that very interesting.

ANNE: Oh, I'm glad you enjoyed hearing the backstory that you couldn't get out of the book itself for what you got to hear them talk about at the event.

And then on Friday you attended the Southern Literary Lunch with Sarah Addison Allen and Wiley Cash. Tell me about that.

CHRISTINA: I was worried about this one because I hadn't read either of the authors. I had prepared to read both of them at least one book of each, but I just didn't get to that on my list. But they were so good.

That luncheon, Wiley Cash was hysterical. I kind of wished that I would have gone to a college with someone like him. I wonder where I would have been now had he been a professor of mine.

And Sarah Addison Allen was so sweet and gentle. And she looked exactly like the picture in her book. I mean, she was just perfectly lovely.

ANNE: That was an entertaining time. So I was actually at this event. I was in the corner at a table. Yeah, there was a lot of laughter during the conversation about... It was actually a very serious book and like, lots of discussion about magic, yes, but also grief yet they were cracking everybody up.

CHRISTINA: And I was lucky enough to sit at a really great table with some wonderful ladies. Actually, one of the ladies asked if I wanted to take her number because she knew I was from out of town in case I needed any help. Such great people in North Carolina.

ANNE: I'm so glad you felt so welcomed. So that was the Southern Literary Lunch on Friday. So you came in early for these smaller ticketed events. What else did you decide to do while you were in the area? Because I think that's intimidating to a lot of people. They look at the schedule, and they say, "Okay, I can see that Saturday is the big day but I'm interested in these events grouped throughout the weekend but what would I do the rest of the time?" What would you tell somebody in that position?

[00:10:51]

CHRISTINA: You're probably not the normal person. I'm such a nerd. I made an itinerary for myself. I knew when I was arriving, I knew when wine and cheese time was at the hotel. I knew when they were getting cookies out.

In between those times, I had a couple places I wanted to try to walk to. I'm horrible with directions. So I like to walk everywhere first so I know where I'm going. So I wanted to walk to the church to make sure I could find that on Thursday night. And I wanted to walk to Footnote, the coffee place. And really, I wanted to figure out if I could find where the festival was going to be.

And there was the one other bakery shop, the Louis and Honey's. And that was the hardest place to find. It is down this enormous Hill, which if I was driving, it would have been a big deal. But I decided to walk and that was quite a walk.

ANNE: How were the baked goods?

CHRISTINA: Oh, my God, totally worth it. [ANNE LAUGHS]

ANNE: I am glad to hear that. Okay, so you mentioned that this was almost like a vacation and you know how you enjoy spending those weekends on your own. Is that a fair way to characterize that?

CHRISTINA: Yes. I don't mind going places alone.

ANNE: Well, I really love hearing how you were able to make a weekend out of this event. And I can hear how you took care to make sure that you could experience the things you wanted to experience from the books to the baked goods. And also that bakery was on my list and I didn't make it there. And now I'm so sad about that, Christina. There's always next time. This is what I tell myself when I visit places.

CHRISTINA: You've got to go back. You know, I didn't do as much reading that weekend as I thought I would. Of course, I took like three books and I got four more. [ANNE LAUGHS] But I did not do as much reading as I thought I would do.

ANNE: You were definitely having a literary weekend. But that doesn't necessarily mean that you spend a lot of time reading. Well, you definitely made up for it before and I imagine after. We'll get to that. Right now I'd love to hear about the big festival day.

Listeners, if you've seen literary festivals advertised or this particular literary festival advertised, there were events that were happening Thursday, Friday, Sunday, Monday. But the big festival event where most things happen was on Saturday. There were lots of talks, lots of panels, lots happening from early in the morning to very late at night.

So, Christina, I would love to hear what your experience was like on the big day.

[00:13:30]

CHRISTINA: I had everything really planned. I knew I was getting up early to eat breakfast. 9:30 you had your meet up and so I had to make my way over for that to meet like everybody, which was so nice because that was one of the things... I don't mind doing things by myself. I am perfectly comfortable being places by myself. But it was so nice to meet the people in your meetup. Everybody was just so sweet. You felt like you knew them right away. Everybody was just open and excited.

And so throughout the day I saw these women and it was nice to be able to say, "Hey, what panel session did you go to?" or walk to a panel session with somebody or grimace because you're waiting in this long signing line. Actually, I followed one woman over to the local library because they were giving out a book which adds to my collection of books I didn't read that weekend.

ANNE: I'm so glad that worked out like that. And listeners, we will definitely do this again in the future but we just spread the word that we were having just an open house get-together first thing Saturday morning for What Should I Read Next? listeners, Modern Mrs. Darcy readers and book lovers.

And Christina, I'm so glad to hear your day unfolded like that because that's why we wanted to do it early in the morning so we could meet and connect and put faces to names. And also because we knew we keep seeing each other all day long. So I'm so glad that worked out. And you even got a book out of it. What happened next?

[00:15:00]

CHRISTINA: So I went to one of the sessions, Ties That Bind. And that was with Jamie Ford, Sarah McCoy, and Rita Woods. That started that day off. It was a great panel.

One thing I was so impressed about was, for my work, I watch a lot of panel sessions and they are very—sometimes not all the times—they're very awkward. These panels... It was like a long conversation. It just seemed to flow.

ANNE: I think Bookmarks does such a good job in this regard as well. I mean, you've seen a lot of panels. You know that sometimes that feels like luck, a great moderator, great chemistry. But it also has to do with how the panel is set up. And I know that a lot of these panels the authors were individually mic'd, which sounds like a small detail, but makes such a big difference. And the difference between everybody having a turn to give a speech and having an actual flowing conversation.

CHRISTINA: I also learned you try not to sit up close. If they're stadium seating, you sit up high so you can see everything. The sound was phenomenal. You could hear everything.

ANNE: So what other panels did you see that were especially interesting?

CHRISTINA: So I saw the Build Your TBR panel. The All the Love panel was hysterical. [ANNE LAUGHS]

ANNE: With the romance authors?

CHRISTINA: Yes. But yours in the church would probably be, I don't know, rated PG-13.

ANNE: Well, readers have heard about that from me. What was that like for you?

CHRISTINA: I also enjoyed hearing the recording again. It was just as funny as being there.

ANNE: We're talking about the panel with Tia Williams, TJ Klune, Brendan Slocum, and Andrew Sean Greer, that we ran several weeks ago as an episode of What Should I Read Next?. So what was it like to be in the room, especially you've had the experience of listening but you were also there when we recorded? I'd love to hear what it was like to be there live.

CHRISTINA: Well, I was lucky enough to have a great seat, since I had scouted it out so I could see everybody. And so I could see everybody speaking whereas during the Taylor Jenkins Reid panel, I could only hear them. So it was a lot better when you can see who's speaking.

Everybody just seemed to really gel. And maybe I had a misconception. For some reason I thought TJ Klune would be so shy and introverted. And he could have had a panel to himself. He was very interesting.

[00:17:32]

ANNE: There was a lot happening at Bookmarks over the course of that packed Saturday. How did you decide what to go to?

CHRISTINA: That was very hard. I printed out the agenda. And I had to print it out a couple times because I have things highlighted I hadn't crossed out. It was very hard to figure out which ones I was going to. I didn't want to leave early and I didn't want to come late to a session. So I really had to pick and choose. And I also had to put in time to eat and to walk around. I got four sessions in which I thought was pretty good.

ANNE: Christina, you had some very specific questions in advance about navigating the Book Festival. But I know that you figured some things out before you showed up. I think you had a pretty good idea of what to expect. But I'd love to hear, now that you've been, what do you wish that you had known before going?

CHRISTINA: So I do wish I would have read all the books that I've wanted to read before I went. The one book I was in the middle of reading while I was there, The Violin Conspiracy, that was the one author I actually spoke to. And so I felt really bad when I couldn't tell him that I read his book, you know.

I had to say, "Well, I'm in the middle of it, and I really don't like the mother in the book." He responded by saying, "Well, she's rough but maybe she's just trying to support the son. Maybe she's just trying to save him from future heartache." And I found that really interesting.

ANNE: So have you finished it since?

CHRISTINA: I did. And I still don't like the mom. [ANNE LAUGHS]

ANNE: That would be really interesting to talk about in a book club conversation. Brendan I think did a really great job of making people want to read his book describing it, talking about it throughout the festival.

CHRISTINA: And it was amazing. It was a great book.

ANNE: I'm glad to hear it. Okay, so you wished you'd read more of the books. What else do you wish that you'd known before you've gone? Or maybe if we put it like this. If someone told you that they were going to their first festival or that they were thinking about it like, what would you tell them?

CHRISTINA: While I don't mind doing things alone, it probably would have been more fun with a friend. I had a blast and don't regret going alone but it might have been more fun chatting with somebody about the sessions about "Do you remember this? Did he really say that?" after the sessions, meeting up so I could hear what... Like I wish I would have been in the session before yours with TJ Klune where he offended somebody because he said he didn't like Charles Dickens, maybe. [ANNE LAUGHS] So I wish I would have been there for that.

[00:20:23]

ANNE: That's so funny because TJ Klune discussed how his book is like his spin on Dickens's Christmas Carol.

CHRISTINA: Yeah.

ANNE: Interesting. I'm so curious to hear what you learned from your experience in Winston.

CHRISTINA: Oh, I definitely want to go to more book festivals. [ANNE LAUGHS]

ANNE: What makes you want to go back?

CHRISTINA: This may just be nerdy me, but I love just watching these authors talk. I don't get the same satisfaction doing that on YouTube. So that's what I would want to do again. I wish I would have taken notes.

ANNE: What would you have wanted to capture?

CHRISTINA: The build your TBR. I think they went around to each of the authors and asked them, you know, what was their favorite book or what are they reading now. I just love hearing about that. It makes me want to put it on my TBR.

ANNE: And you wish you had more details with what the titles were and why.

CHRISTINA: And I wish, yes, I would have taken notes on that.

ANNE: It's so interesting to me that you said that you enjoyed hearing authors live compared to YouTube. Because something that I do hear a lot is, "Well, since I could watch anybody I wanted to on the internet, is it worth the trouble of going?" Could you talk a little bit more about that?

CHRISTINA: It's the whole experience. It's being around all these people who feel the same way you do about books, about authors. The lines, the signing lines... I mean, some people miss out on some of the panels just to stand in a line because in a half an hour that author was going to be signing books. It's such a great community. It's a wonderful experience. The food was pretty good, too.

ANNE: Now, Christina, before the festival, you had some very specific questions that you wanted to know the answers to in advance so you felt really comfortable about. So you figured that out going in. But I would love to let our listeners know so they know before going to their first literary festival. How do you behave when you meet authors, Christina? What did you figure out?

CHRISTINA: Well, you try and read their book ahead of time, you try not to be a total fangirl, you try not to be like, "Oh my god, I loved your book."

ANNE: And is there something more original to say than "I love your book"?

CHRISTINA: I probably said, "You know, this book really changed my thinking on things." Brendon was the only author I actually spoke with besides you.

ANNE: How did that come to pass?

CHRISTINA: Two of the women I met at your meetup wanted to speak to him, ask him a question. So I just followed along. And it was after the one panel session, Build Your TBR, and we just kind of went out and approached him.

ANNE: I think that sounds great. Like yes, authors are people too, even if they've written books that you really love. And it's fine to say, "I love your book." It's fine to say, "I'm so glad to meet you." It's also fine, Christina, for next time, completely fine to say, "I loved hearing you talk about your book. I'm so looking forward to reading it," or "that panel was amazing. Thank you very much," or "That was such an interesting insight. Thank you very much." It is okay.

I appreciated the way you said that it was important to you to read the books in advance. But that is absolutely not a requirement of attending literary festivals because, Christina, tell me how this rings to you. At literary festivals there is definitely a component of getting to see authors whose work you have already read, already admired, already really enjoyed and you want to go connect in person.

But also discovery is a huge element. And getting to hear from authors that you haven't read but also maybe that you've never heard of before, that is also really important, really valuable, and a really exciting part of the experience. And not one you need to apologize for.

[00:24:05]

CHRISTINA: That's true. I didn't think about it like that. I guess if I knew that beforehand, maybe I would have chosen to go to different panels. Although I'm really happy about the panel's I went to.

ANNE: Christina, you've mentioned how you prepared in advance to go to this festival by doing a lot of reading. How did you put together that reading list and what did you end up reading before you came?

CHRISTINA: So Bookmarks started sending out... A month or two before the festival, they started sending out which authors were going to be there—the whole list of authors. So I just started adding on to a list of all the books that I wanted to read before this weekend in September. And I wanted at least one book from each author I thought I was going to see at a panel. I made it through about six or seven, but I did not finish my list.

ANNE: That's quite a list. Did that feel ambitious to you?

CHRISTINA: I feel bad that I didn't finish it. But the ones that I did listen to were amazing.

ANNE: I'd love to hear more about those.

CHRISTINA: So I started with Seven Days in June from Tia Williams. Such a great book. I didn't know what to expect. I try not to read any of the descriptions. So I read Seven Days in June. I've read Carrie Soto Is Back. I read It Happened One Summer by Tessa Bailey.

Under the Whispering Door is what I was listening to on the way down from TJ Klune. And then I finished that maybe Friday night and started The Violin Conspiracy, which I finished then on the way home.

Somewhere in there I read Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford. That kind of blew me away. I'm not such a historical fiction, but I just didn't know all of that happened right after Pearl Harbor and the discrimination. That was a sensational book.

ANNE: Christina, you were reading with purpose a set list of books in advance of going to this literary event. But I'd love to hear how that differs from your regular reading life.

CHRISTINA: So I have so many books on my TBR list. I get emails on best books of the fall or best romances. I've read the description. Something sounds good, I put it on my list. I have lots of audiobooks. I mostly listen to audiobooks. I used to have a two-hour commute each day. So I have a huge list.

And I make a spreadsheet because sometimes I forget if I've read a book and I can't stand that. So I have everything on a spreadsheet. Once I read it, I give them a star, and then I put a tiny little summary whether I liked it or not, why I liked it, why I didn't.

The books that I really enjoy, a lot of times I can remember where I was reading them when I enjoyed it so much.

[00:27:09]

ANNE: That's so interesting. I do that too. I'll come across a photo on my phone and be like, "Oh," all of a sudden I'm thinking of Bird By Bird or Parable of the Sower because that was the place where I was when I was reading it.

Christina, I loved hearing about how much you love your reading life. And I especially loved hearing about your appreciative relationship with a very long to-be-read list. Would you tell me more about that?

CHRISTINA: There are just so many books that come out daily that sound so good. I don't want to lose track of them. Also, listening to your podcasts does not help. [ANNE LAUGHS] I don't feel pressure.

Like I don't look at this and think, "1,500 books, how am I ever gonna read those when I'm doing so bad on my Goodreads challenge for this year, and I think it's only 75 books and I'm like 12 behind?" I'm not pressured to get through all these books. But I love looking through the list and knowing I have so many good ones to be read.

ANNE: I love hearing that perspective. Christina, I thought it might be fun to leave you with some recommendations of books from festival authors that sound perfect for you, but that you have not yet read or that aren't necessarily on top of your TBR but while this festival experience is still so fresh that now could be a really good time to dive into these books.

What I'd love our listeners to hear first that you've already told me is the kinds of books that you find yourself really being drawn to. The ones that you know consistently work for you. Would you tell us about those?

CHRISTINA: Well, I'd love to hear any recommendations you have for me. I'm a pretty easy mark. [ANNE LAUGHS] I love books about libraries or bookstores.

The Book Charmer by Karen Hawkins was a total shock of a book that I didn't know I needed. I mean, books that talk to you, sign me up. I love grumpy old men looking at you [inaudible 00:29:11], and love a book where someone is looking out for somebody else secretly, sort of like a You've Got Mail. But I also like the books where the bad guy or girl gets it in the end: Behind Closed Doors or The Last Mrs. Parrish.

ANNE: That's such a fun description.

CHRISTINA: For Behind Closed Doors, I hated that book up until the end. And then I had to read it again, and I loved it. [ANNE LAUGHS]

[00:29:38]

ANNE: I love it when your experience transforms at a certain point. Oh, that's fun.

CHRISTINA: I like sarcasm and like really tight fun dialogue like Emily Henry or Abby Waxman. And I especially love books that just sneak into the soul: Kindred, One True Loves, November 9, In an Instant-

ANNE: Oh, I feel like that might be the hardest to put into words, but I'm gonna ask you to try. What is it about a book that gives them an ability to sneak in like that? Is that something you're even able to articulate?

CHRISTINA: I guess it's a book about something I had no idea about, a book that makes me scared while reading it. In Kindred, I was disturbed through the book and I was so scared through the whole book up until the end.

In An Instant, that just hit me. And days after months after reading that, I am still reminded of what happened in that book.

ANNE: I wonder if the Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet would fit into this category for you?

CHRISTINA: Yes, definitely.

ANNE: Okay. I really love how the kinds of books you know you love so beautifully illustrate we're not OneNote readers, you know. I mean, some of us will say, "Okay, look, I'm in a phase right now, where this one genre is the only thing I'm reading. Don't come at me with anything else." And I respect that. There are times for that.

But this is such a wide variety of very specific interests, Christina, and I love it. There are so many ways we can go with this. The way that we are going to go today though is with recommendations that may fulfill these categories from our festival authors. Are you ready?

CHRISTINA: Yes.

ANNE: Okay. I just realized two of the books that I want to give you are from one event. So you talked about attending that Southern Literary Lunch on Friday, and how you enjoyed listening to Sarah Addison Allen and Wiley Cash so much. If you've never read Wiley's works but you want to and you haven't read all of Sarah Addison Allen's works, I have books for you.

So we're gonna start with Sarah Addison Allen's book, The Sugar Queen. This is her second book that came out after her debut Garden Spells, which is also so much fun and magical. Have you read that one yet?

CHRISTINA: I haven't. I was going to pick that one up, but I didn't.

ANNE: Okay, well, it is so fun. People will talk about the Waverly sisters and the food Claire—I think it's Claire—can make and how that makes people feel certain things depending on the ingredients she uses because that is her gift. But there's also a character who feels compelled to give odd little gifts and trinkets to her friends and neighbors.

The giver never knows what they're for when she gives them but they end up being extremely important to the person who receives them. Like she may feel compelled to give Strawberry Pop Tarts or two quarters or a silk shirt that's three sizes too big. But then later the recipient will find that those Strawberry Pop-Tarts are the perfect breakfast for an unexpected guest or the two quarters are to make an emergency phone call or somebody's life will change when she goes to return that shirt.

And the gifts seem odd or even random when they're given but they're soon revealed to be absolutely indispensable. It's just a joy to watch that play out on the page.

But that's not the one that I want to start with for you because you'd like that magical touch. But the books about books is what we see in her second book, The Sugar Queen. And this book also features like so many of her books, sparkly southern women, and challenging family dynamics and a touch of magic. And also like there's a little bit of quirkiness and often a little bit of romance. You can totally read them in an afternoon. I feel like that's characteristic of Sarah Addison Allen.

But this book is about 27-year-old Josey. She lives in North Carolina, a place that I imagine you wouldn't mind visiting on the page as well as in real life. And she would really prefer to eat sugary treats and read romance novels, then practice being the perfect Southern belle that her family wants her to be. But her unique magic, I think would be so appreciated by you.

In Josey's life she is usually mostly really annoyed to discover that this specific book that she needs for her life at the exact right moment will mysteriously appear beside her. Like she'll find it on her bedside table or on her desk at work or in her handbag. And the content will be very specific, the title will be very pointed. She'll go, Oooh."

You know, when somebody like diagnosis you and you're like, "Ooh, that just hit a little too close to home, back off, why don't you?" That's how Josey feels when these books keep appearing in her life. You won't be annoyed, you won't groan. And I think you'll just be like, "Oh, I wish I could get some of that book magic for myself." So that's The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen.

And then you mentioned that you hadn't read any Wiley Cash. I think a great place to start would be with his most recent book. It was just out in paperback. It came out last year. So at the festival last year he did the panels and the talks and talked about the book then. I'll share one of the questions or one of the answers he gave to a question in just a moment.

But this really struck me as a bit of a departure and I did not mind a bit. He's written historical North Carolina fiction in the past, but this one is set in the, well, the more present day. It's set in Oak Island, North Carolina 1984. And his previous stories have been a little more leisurely paced, but this one unfolds over just four days.

I was hooked from the first scene when the local sheriff is jolted awake in the middle of the night by a loud noise. And it sounds like it's in the direction of an airport, so he goes to investigate. And that's where he finds a crashed plane that's been stripped bare and a dead body.

As the sheriff begins to probe to discover what has happened here, what is going on, like drugs are immediately suspected. That pursuit uncovers old grievances and also crises in the community. The small, insular everybody knows everybody else's business community that are still very fresh and raw.

Okay. A question Wiley Cash got in the panel that I did with him and Charlie Lovett was, "Talk to me about that ending." And he said, "You know, it wasn't the ending my heart wanted but I think it's the ending the story demanded." He might not have said "demanded".

CHRISTINA: That's so interesting.

[00:36:00]

ANNE: I think this would be so good to read with another reader so you can say, "What did you think? I know. Ah" together about how things unfold and the choices made through the whole story.

This is also in some respects a book about like the small communities, the old grievances. It's a book about crime, about racism, and about parenting, all set in North Carolina—in real North Carolina communities. That novel is When Ghosts Come Home by Wiley Cash.

And then I really want you to take a look at the new Jamie Ford. This is the book that brought him to the festival. It's called The Many Daughters of Afong Moy, who actually is a real woman from history, which I didn't know when I first picked this book up, Christina, but I know now. So I want to share that with you.

Afong Moy was the first woman's immigrate to the United States from China. So he is the author of the Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, which came out I think maybe over a decade now. We've talked about it on the podcast before. You really enjoyed it.

This new one, The Many Daughters of Afong Moy, is just out this past August. And it can rightly be described I think as an epic because it spans 250 years and its aims are really ambitious. It runs from the 1830s to 2086, like more than 50 years from now. This is a really fascinating exploration of states of consciousness and how we are connected to each other.

And in his story, he's specifically showing how seven generations of Chinese women are connected, beginning with that woman from history Afong Moy. It can get a little explanation heavy in places as he explains what's going on, how it works, how when woman in 2045 is having hallucinations, maybe dreams from the point of view of women from her past lineage. And so she seeks help from a native woman who knows things about the science... I feel like that needs air quotes of epigenetics.

And so he does get into the explanations—and there are a bit. But as that groundwork gets established, the story can really get rolling. And these individual women's stories are powerful, and they are so well told. I think this might be one of those books that sneaks into your soul. It's about finding yourself, finding your soulmate.

It's also one of the... we're seeing increasingly more of these I think like the multigenerational climate epics that are putting like serious tense action together with deep questions about what it means to be alive. And this 250 years seven generations I think would be really fascinating for you.

CHRISTINA: I think that sounds really good too.

ANNE: Finally, I know you have a 13-year-old. And one of the things that I love about literary festivals is the serendipity that comes from like walking to an event because you had a free spot in your calendar and just having it be your absolute favorite thing you did all weekend. Or bumping into an author that you didn't realize you wanted to meet and having that be the memory that lingers and that, you know, takes your reading life down some threads that you would not have gone down otherwise.

I have a 12-year-old. So when I bumped into Kwame Mbalia in the lobby of the hotel after I finished one of my events, I was tired, I was holding cheeseburgers in my hands and I bumped into Tui Sutherland, who I talked to the night before.

And so I was just saying hello but we ended up hanging out in the lobby chatting about the school visits we've been on. Because listeners, what Bookmarks does... They are a nonprofit and one of the big things they do is send all these authors who are here in Winston for the festival into local K-12 schools and I think even some authors went to colleges to talk about their work. And Bookmarks donates a ton of books beside.

But I said, "Okay, how do you engage the kids? What questions do you ask?" He was sharing how he ran his Zoom when he's at home and during COVID, but how he engaged with the kids during school visit and how he kept a group of like wiggly grade schoolers at the end of a long week engaged, the questions that he encouraged them to ask and what he would ask them and how he'd make them laugh.

And I came home and said to my 12-year-old, I was like, "This guy is really funny. I came home with the book, you're going to love it. Read this next." He's the author of The Tristan Strong series, which already has so many readers.

But I just want to slide that in on your radar with maybe an eye towards that thing that you didn't know you were looking for. Because you were thinking about your own reading life, Christina. And I admire that on a weekend away devoted to your literary pursuits. But also coming away with something we weren't even looking for is fun. So I want to sneak that series into your consciousness.

CHRISTINA: That's wonderful. That sounds really good.

[00:40:48]

ANNE: And you know, just to like bring that around, he was not talking about his book at all. And you mentioned that some of the events you went to at this festival, the authors weren't necessarily talking about their work but you hear them talk about their process, the things they find interesting, the themes they're obsessed with.

And you come away thinking, "Yes, you sound interesting. Whatever you are writing, I want to go check it out." And that's something I really love about the festivals. Or author talks in general. And there were so many of them at these festivals.

CHRISTINA: Yeah, that's what I really liked as well.

ANNE: I'm so curious to hear Were any of those books already on your radar and what do you think you may pick up now that the festival is over.

CHRISTINA: So they were all on my radar, yes. I have not read any of them. I'm kind of on a rut right now. So I think I'm going to jump into When Ghosts Come Home, and then do The Sugar Queen because I think that'll be, you know, serious, and then do the Jamie Ford, The Many Daughters.

ANNE: That sounds fantastic. Have you already started scanning the horizons for your next festival?

CHRISTINA: Actually, I sat beside a really nice man during the Paperbacks from Hell event the Saturday evening. And he was telling me... he lives in Northern Virginia. And he was telling me there's a great festival in Charlottesville in March. So I think that's going to be my next one.

ANNE: Oh, I have heard of this. This is the Virginia Festival of the Book. I think it really speaks to what your experience was like, that you're already looking for ways to do it again. Christina, I'm so excited to hear about your experience and how it turned out. I can't wait to hear what you decide to read, but also where you decide to go next. Please keep us posted.

And readers, we will keep Christina and all of you posted on any festivals that I or we will be at in some way, shape or form.

Christina, thanks so much for taking the time to talk about your experience and your reading life with me today.

[00:42:49]

CHRISTINA: Oh, thank you so much.

[CHEERFUL OUTRO MUSIC]

ANNE: Hey, readers, I hope you enjoyed my discussion with Christina. I'd love to hear what you think she should read next. Find the full list of titles we talked about today at whatshouldireadnextpodcast.com/354.

We've shared photos from the Bookmarks Literary Festival Christina and I talk about over on our Instagram. Follow us there @whatshouldireadnext. And be sure to check out my highlights on my account @Annebogel for a full behind-the-scenes peek at my festival experience. Find me on Instagram @annbogel.

If you haven't checked your inbox yet for this week's newsletter, take a look because today's email included some insider information about some of the themes and topics we're excited to explore in 2023 and details on how you can submit to be a guest on the show. If you don't get those free weekly emails, get on the list at whatshouldireadnextpodcast.com/newsletter.

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Next week we're sharing our annual roundup of bookish gifts recommendations for readers of all ages. You won't want to miss it. Subscribe now wherever you get your podcasts.

Thanks to the people who make this show happen! What Should I Read Next? is produced by Brenna Frederick, with production assistance by Holly Wielkoszewski, and sound design by Kellen Pechacek.

Readers, that's it for this episode. Thanks so much for listening.

And as Rainer Maria Rilke said, "Ah, how good it is to be among people who are reading." Happy reading, everyone!