What We're Reading

Tammy Bobrowsky talks with Rachel Lynn Solomon, writer and former public radio producer, about her new novel called "The Ex Talk." It’s a romantic comedy about two public radio personalities who fall in love while pretending to be exes.

Sister-writer duo Maika and Maritza Moulite tell us about their new novel "One of the Good Ones." It’s a story about a family grieving the loss of a sister in an incident of police brutality, and brings to light what it means to be deemed “worthy” when you’re Black.

In 1998, author Sharon G Flake wrote the novel The Skin I’m In. Aimed at young adults, it told the story of 13 year-old Maleeka Madison: tall, skinny, and dark-skinned--she struggles against the burden of low self-esteem that many black girls face when they're darker skinned. To make her life easier, Maleeka befriends the toughest girl in school, Charlese Jones, who only makes life harder for Maleeka until she finally learns to stand up for herself and love the skin she’s in.

We talk with Minnesota Writer Lin Enger. His new novel is called American Gospel. It's a father-son story told amidst the approach of an impending rapture.

Cal Hooper thought a fixer-upper in a bucolic Irish village would be the perfect escape. After twenty-five years in the Chicago police force and a bruising divorce, he just wants to build a new life in a pretty spot with a good pub where nothing much happens. But when a local kid whose brother has gone missing arm-twists him into investigating, Cal uncovers layers of darkness beneath his picturesque retreat, and starts to realize that even small towns shelter dangerous secrets. This is highly acclaimed author Tana French’s newest novel it’s called The Searcher.

Ken Follett is one of the world's best-loved authors—having written thirty-two books. Follet’s first bestseller was Eye of the Needle (1978), a spy story set in the Second World War. In 1989, The Pillars of the Earth, book 1 of the Kingsbridge series was published and has since become Follett's most popular novel. Now Ken Follet adds another book to the series--he takes us back in time with a prequel to The Pillars of the Earth. The new book is called The Evening and the Morning.

Atomic Love is Jennie Fields' new book. It’s a work of historical fiction set in Chicago after WW2, where we meet Rosalind Porter, who five years previously was a bright physicist on the Manhattan Project and in the midst of a passionate love affair with her colleague Thomas Weaver--but suddenly, she loses everything. When Weaver reappears in her life—so does the FBI. Special Agent Charlie Szydlo wants Roz to spy on Weaver, whom the FBI suspects of passing nuclear secrets to Russia. As Rosalind's feelings for each man deepens, so too does the danger she finds herself in.

Though it has been 4 years since the death of their mother, 17 year-old twins Savannah and Thomas McClair, and their grandmother Maggie, still mourn her loss. In search of answers and family ties, Savannah and Thomas attempt to search for their biological father, documenting the process through a podcast -- hoping it will help get answers to a seemingly fruitless search. The podcast goes viral, but they are shocked to see how their search ignites a national debate over privacy.

In 2018 writer Hank Green debuted his book An Absolutely Remarkable Thing, where we met April May, a 23 year old New Yorker, who one night stumbles across  a giant sculpture—"like a ten-foot-tall Transformer wearing a suit of samurai armor"—April and her best friend Andy name the sculpture Carl, they post a video on social media-- it goes viral, and they learn that other identical Carls have appeared all over the world. April finds herself at the center of an intense international media spotlight as she works to figure out not just what the Carls are, but what they want from us.

Tracy Kampa is the children’s librarian at the Grand Rapids Area Library, she joins Heidi on the Tuesday Morning Show.  Tracy tells us about the permanent Storywalk, consisting of 18 stations that run along the river walk.  Readers start the story next to the fishing pier and end at the walking bridge.  The first book is “One Dark Night” by Lisa Wheeler. 

Tracy and Heidi give us tips on how to choose books to read and they share what they have been reading to get them through the pandemic.