Podcasts about kyung sook shin

April 13, 2023 - An instant bestseller in Korea and the follow up to the international bestseller, Please Look After Mom, I Went to See My Father by Kyung-Sook Shin centers on a woman's efforts to reconnect with her aging father, uncovering long-held family secrets. More than just the portrait of a single man, I Went to See My Father opens a window onto humankind, family, loss, and war. With this long-awaited follow-up to Please Look After Mom—flawlessly rendered by award-winning translator Anton Hur—Kyung-Sook Shin has crafted an ambitious, global, epic, and lasting novel. In a rare personal appearance in the U.S., Kyung-Sook Shin will be joined by Jenny Wang Medina to discuss her latest novel. For more information, please visit the link below: https://www.koreasociety.org/arts-culture/item/1666-kyung-sook-shin-with-jenny-wang-medina

Greenlight welcomed celebrated Korean author and Man Asian Literary Prize winner Kyung-sook Shin (Please Look After Mom) and acclaimed translator Anton Hur, who called in live from Seoul, Korea to grace our virtual stage. Celebrating their joint achievement, Violets—written by Shin, translated by Hur, and published by Feminist Press—Hur both interviewed and translated for Ms. Shin, who led a contemplative, lyrical discussion regarding her process and aspirations for the book, traveling to farms in the middle of the night to get the smell of soil and flowers just right, and how “sadness becomes beauty the more you look at it, and beauty likewise becomes sadness the more you look at it.” (Recorded May 10, 2022.) 

Anna and Annie discuss the mystery surrounding a killing in Zambia and Delia Owens, author of Where the Crawdads Sing. Our book of the week is Violets by Kyung-Sook Shin translated by Anton Hur.  This novel explores violence and loneliness in Korean society.  Described as a 'requiem to the unseen women' (Washington Independent Review of Books) it's a thoughtful book if not our favourite by this author.  We read this for Women in Translation month. Coming up: Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan. Follow us! Email: booksonthegopodcast@gmail.com Instagram: @abailliekaras and @mr_annie Facebook: Books On The Go Twitter: @abailliekaras and @mister_annie Credits Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz

Anna and Annie discuss their book recommendations for Women in Translation month.  There is also a #WITreadathon on BookTube hosted by Matthew Sciarappa, Kendra Winchester and Insert Literary Pun Here if you're interested. Our WIT month books: Books of Jacob by Olga Tokarczuk translated by Jennifer Croft Long Live the Post Horn! by Vigdis Hjorth translated by Charlotte Barslund Second Hand Time by Svetlana Alexievich translated by Bela Shayevich The Woman in the Purple Skirt by Natsuko Imamura translated by Lucy North Heaven by Mieko Kawakami translated by Sam Bett and David Boyd The Old Woman With the Knife by Gu Byeong-Mo translated by Chi-Young Kim Cursed Bunny by Bora Chung translated by Anton Hur Waiting for the Waters to Rise by Maryse Condé translated by Richard Philcox Paradais by Fernanda Melchor translated by Sophie Hughes The Mermaid's Tale by Lee Wei-Jing translated by Darryl Sterk Violets by Kyung Sook-Shin translated by Anton Hur Follow us! Email: Booksonthegopodcast@gmail.com Facebook: Books On The Go Instagram: @abailliekaras and @mr_annie Twitter: @abailliekaras and @mister_annie Litsy: @abailliekaras Credits Artwork: Sascha Wilcosz    

Award-winning South Korean author Kyung-sook Shin on urban loneliness, rejection, beauty, and her new critically acclaimed book ‘Violets'. This episode is also available as a blog post: http://eshe.in/2022/06/23/south-korean-author-kyung-sook-shin-on-her-new-novel-violets/

Anna and Amanda discuss the William Dean Howells Medal, awarded to Richard Powers for The Overstory. Our book of the week is The Girl Who Wrote Loneliness by Kyung-sook Shin translated by Ha-yun Jung.  A coming-of-age story of a factory girl in Seoul in the 1970s, this shows a different side of the rapid development of South Korea. Cited in Korea as one of the most important literary novels of the decade.   Coming up: our isolation reading recommendations. Follow us! Facebook: Books On The Go Email: booksonthegopodcast@gmail.com Instagram: @abailliekaras and @amandalhayes99 Twitter: @abailliekaras Litsy: @abailliekaras Credits Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz  

Amanda and Jenn discuss horror westerns, adventure novels, books in translation, and more in this week’s episode of Get Booked. This episode is sponsored by Book Riot Insiders, Upon a Burning Throne by Ashok K. Banker, and Extraordinary Birds by Sandy Stark-McGinnis. Subscribe to the podcast via RSS, Apple Podcasts, or Stitcher.   Questions 1. Hello! My friend is about to have her 2nd baby, and I’m putting together a postpartum care package for her. Obviously I need to include books! Pregnancy brain and a toddler running around have made it hard for her to concentrate on anything substantial for very long, so I’m looking for quick reads that she can dip in and out of (graphic novels, poetry, short story collections, etc.). She loves cooking, especially with the food she grows herself, and anything nature-related. I’ve already got Lumberjanes, Misfit City, and Relish on my list, as well as Mary Oliver and Walt Whitman (if I can find something of his she hasn’t read). Thank you so very much for any suggestions! -Sarah   2. I absolutely loved a Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles. I also read Rules of Civility. I love books with great character development set around historical events or spanning a long time with cultural or historical significance. Some of my favorite authors are Margaret Mitchell, John Jakes, Fredrik Backman and Michael Chabon. Please recommend some books or authors that can grab me like these authors. Thanks Helen   3. First of all, I love listening to the Podcast, I discovered it a couple weeks ago and have since then gotten caught up, I literally was listening for probably 10 hours a day! You guys are all super amazing and I love hearing what you will all choose for the different rec’s. Here is mine: I recently rediscovered my love of adventure books. Growing up my favorite adventure books/movies were Jurassic Park, Jumanji, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Congo and Indiana Jones. As an adult I am having trouble finding good quality adventure books. Are there any that would read like an Indiana Jones movie? I recently read The Anomaly by: Michael Rutger which has a similar concept and I did enjoy it. I am also currently reading Sandstorm by: James Rollins which is what got me thinking that I need more adventure books in my life. I want to be an archaeologist in another life, and since that is not an option I would love to read more archaeology books. I hope you can help me find some! -Alexis   4. Hello! I am an avid reader, but I sometimes think I’m not great at gauging my own tastes in books. My favorite books tend to be when the prose, themes, plot all feel intentionally aligned by the author to form a perfectly crafted present to a reader. Some of my favorite reads that fall into this category are The Vegetarian, The Song of Achilles, Freshwater, The Poet X, and Tin Man. I prefer standalone novels, but any genre/age range recommendations are welcome. I am also open to any suggestions to bump up books that are on my already very large Goodreads tbr. Thanks for the help! -Danielle   5. I would like to read some amazing books in translation. I’m really into science fiction, but it doesn’t have to be science fiction. I just want something totally gripping from another culture and language. Probably my all-time number one favorite book in translation is The Man with Compound Eyes by Ming-yi Wu (though they usually write his name as Wu Ming-yi). Some other favorite books in translation are: April Witch by Majgull Axelsson, The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend by Katrina Bivald, The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery, The Great Passage by Shion Miura, The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa, The Three Body Problem & The Dark Forest by Cixin Liu, One Hundred Years of Solitude & Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky. [Does the Mere Wife by Maria Dahvana Headley count?] Some books in translation that didn’t thrill me include: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho (actually I haven’t liked anything by him but I can’t remember the other ones I’ve read), The Inferno by Dante Alighieri (though I feel the translation I read might have been subpar), The Nakano Thrift Shop by Hiromi Kawakami, The Girl Who Loneliness by Kyung-Sook Shin, Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, We by Yevgeny Zamyatin, HWJN by Ibraheem Abbas, Girls of Riyadh by Rajaa Alsanea, and Target in the Night by Ricardo Piglia. I want books that help me understand people, so I do want an internal world in my books. But they don’t have to be exclusively internal. I like action and plot as well. Of course, beautiful prose is always great but not necessary. Think the Martian Chronicles- lots of societal commentary done in a beautiful way. I don’t need any European books, but I won’t say no if you think it’s amazing. I’d rather expand my reading though and get somewhere new in my reading life. I think I’ve done little to no reading of African writers in translation, and the books that I’ve read set in Africa have been mostly in Nigeria and Egypt. I love short stories too and am open to anthologies. I also would prefer to read female authors!!! Thanks so much! You guys are awesome!!! I’m new to Get Booked and Book Riot but I am so thrilled to have found you guys!! PS: I just download about 8 books from World Book Day on Amazon! -Teresa   6. I’ve really loved reading Shout and Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, Solo by Kwame Alexander and Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo. I want to read something in this same vein – novels written in verse. Not sure if you’ve answered this before but please help! -Holly   7. My little book club (Ogden Lit and Libations) is celebrating three years this October. While discussing a good creepy read to pick along with picks for a couple of other months, we realized we had yet to read a western novel. We’ve already picked all our other books for this year, so we want a combined genre pick for October. We’re looking for a western horror or horror western that will keep us reading and that has great discussion potential. Our general guidelines are to pick backlist (but we will go new for a fabulous read) that aren’t extremely popular due to an impending movie or TV show (again, fabulous will override this) that are around 400 pages (less is fine, more than 500 requires the book be outstanding). Thank you! Looking forward to hearing your recs! -Amanda   Books Discussed The Unsettlers by Mark Sundeen When Women Were Birds by Terry Tempest Williams The Architect’s Apprentice by Elif Shafak That Deadman Dance by Kim Scott Time Salvager by Wesley Chu Labyrinth by Kate Mosse Insurrecto by Gina Apostol (tw genocide) Tentacle by Rita Indiana, translated by Achy Obejas (tw: sexual assault, homophobia, slurs) August by Romina Paula, translated by Jennifer Croft Future Fiction, edited by Bill Campbell Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai Blood Water Paint by Joy McCollough (tw: rape, suicidal ideation) Daughters Unto Devils by Amy Lukavics Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse

It’s only through action that our lives will change. “When you walk on the way, the way appears.” This is my favorite quote by the poet, Rumi. When we have big dreams, it can seem intimidating at first and we don’t even know where to begin. I share with you how we can start to take one small action towards our goals and eventually achieve big dreams. In episode 15 (https://celinalee.co/episode15/), I talked about how my mom laughed at me when I decided to pursue my childhood dream of writing a book and get it published in South Korea. One of the things she said was, “Who is going to publish your book?!” In this episode, I share with you how setting the intention and taking action to achieve my dream led to me meeting one of the most famous writers from South Korea, and how my book ended up getting published by one of the best publishers in the country. 1. Dream Big and Start Small. 2. Follow your curiosity, not your passion. 3. Give yourself the permission to do things that makes you happy and brings you joy even if it has nothing to do with your career right now. 4. Action lessens fears and grows confidence. 5. Share your ideas, goals and dreams with others. 6. Set the intention and commit to it, then you will start to see opportunities you would have otherwise never seen. This is the third episode of the 3-Step framework that I use to coach people out of jobs they hate and into careers they love. This framework has been proven effective in transforming careers and the lives of many professionals. If you haven’t yet listened to the first step, How to Gain Self-Awareness (https://celinalee.co/episode20), and the second step, Overcome Internal Obstacles(https://celinalee.co/episode22), I highly recommend you listen to them first. It would be helpful for you to listen to them in order. Other episodes I mentioned. Five Things I learned from Starting My Podcast (https://celinalee.co/episode18/) How to Pursue Your Dreams Even When Your Loved Ones Don’t Believe in Them (https://celinalee.co/episode15/) Interview with Chef Hooni Kim: How to Have the Courage to Pursue Your Dream (https://celinalee.co/episode2) Check out my friend & mentor, writer Kyung-Sook Shin’s books! She helped me to achieve my dream :) (http://tinyurl.com/yxvcdnnb) I’d love to hear from you about what actions you are taking to get one step closer to your dream! Send me a message www.celinalee.co/contact  Today’s show notes: www.celinalee.co/episode23 

Amanda and Jenn discuss novels about the Balkans, contemporary YA, really weird books, and more in this week's episode of Get Booked. This episode is sponsored by Book Riot Insiders, Legendary by Stephanie Garber, and Megabat by Anna Humphrey, illustrated by Kass Reich.   Questions   1. Hello Ladies! My friend and I are going on a trip to the Balkans (Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia, Bosnia, Belgravia, Macedonia and Albania). We love historical fiction or narrative non-fiction and would love to read more about these countries before visiting. Thanks! -Britany   2. Looking for an interesting essay collection for the Read Harder Challenge! -Rachael   3. Hello from Canada! I love your show :) I'm looking for book recommendations for my sister. She's in her late 20s, and has described herself as "enjoys reading, not books shopping, but only likes weird stuff". She seems to like John Wyndham books...Books that are weird, creepy, not very sci fi, and not very magical- something more in between. I suggested the Library at Mount Char (one of the weirdest I own), but she was turned off due to the title and perhaps my poor pitch. She will pick up Dark Matter, and the Southern Reach Trilogy due to my persistence. but I'm not sure they are right for her. Please help! -Dominique   4. Hi ladies! I just finished Retta’s So Close To Being The Sh*t Y’all Don’t Even Know and loved it. I was hoping you could recommend something similar. I loved the behind the scenes stories and comedic tone. I’ve also read and enjoyed books by Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Mindy Kaling and Anna Kendrick. -Whitney   5. Hello ladies!! Love your podcast and look forward to listening to it every week at work!! I love your passion for books and helping people find new books!! Anyways, I am in the process of pursuing my dream and writing my first novel, however I would love your thoughts on books for creativity and writing. I've read Big Magic, and Stephen King's novel on writing, so anything that could help with encouragement and motivation would be lovely! Open to nonfiction and fiction! Thank you so much!! -Kaitlin   6. Hello, I love to listening to YA novels and could use some new recommendations. I have recently listened to and enjoyed When Dimple Met Rishi, I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter, And What I Saw and How I Lied. I also really enjoy Rainbow Rowell. Eleanor & Park is the only one I have left to read and it is currently on my to be listened to list, as well as Dumplin'. Thanks! -Megan   7. Thanks to Read Harder, I've read 2 books this year - Pachinko and Do Not Say We Have Nothing - which really made me realize that I know very little about 20th century East Asian history. I'm looking for nonfiction to give me some more grounding in the topic. It doesn't have to specifically be about the Japanese colonization of Korea or the Cultural Revolution, I'd be happy with anything compelling and readable about 19th or 20th century China, Japan, Korea, or even southeast Asia. Thanks! -Laura   Books Discussed Girl At War by Sara Novic The Tiger’s Wife by Téa Obreht The Fire This Time edited by Jesmyn Ward How to Write an Autobiographical Novel by Alexander Chee (tw: child abuse) The Beauty by Aliya Whiteley The Book of M by Peng Shepherd This is Just My Face by Gabourey Sidibe We’re Going to Need More Wine by Gabrielle Union (tw: rape) Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott 13 Ways of Looking at the Novel by Jane Smiley (rec’d by Attica Locke on Recommended) Valley Girls by Sarah Nicole Lemon Anger is a Gift, narrated and written by Mark Oshiro Wild Swans by Jung Chang The Court Dancer by Kyung-Sook Shin

Amanda and Jenn discuss Korean fiction, Central American authors, fluffy audiobooks, and more in this week's episode of Get Booked. This episode is sponsored by Girls Burn Brighter by Shobha Rao and Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi.   Questions   1. Hello Get Booked friends! I would love some book recommendations for books written by Korean authors or about Korea. I recently read The Vegetarian by Han Kang and The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson and realized that I do not know very much about Korean culture and history. I loved the cultural side notes that were included about Japan in Ozeki's Tale for the Time Being and would enjoy something like that, but about Korea. I am open to fiction or non-fiction and historical or contemporary works. --Sally   2. First, I just wanted to give Amanda a huge thank you for recommending Captive Prince! I’ve heard you recommend it a few times before, but I just never got around to reading it. After hearing you recommend it a few weeks ago I finally decided to pick it up from the library. Suffice it to say, I think this is the book I’ve been looking for all my life and I finished the series in three days. I’d love to know if there are any read-alikes out there? The Captive Prince series checked almost all of my boxes. M/M relationships are strongly preferred and no need to worry about trigger warnings for me. I’ve already read and loved Amberlough. I’ve also read The Magpie Lord, but only thought it was ok. Thanks again for the Captive Prince recommend! --Kevin   3. Coming off Black History Month I need help. I listened to The Bone Tree, read Brown Girl Dreaming, and read Invisible Man. Also read Banthology. These were all great esp, Brown Girl Dreaming. My request....I have noticed as with Homegoing, several of the books by people of color are very mentally heavy when reading one after the other. Justifiably so. I am looking for a female voice, mid 20-40's, lyrical, fun, a bit biting, with her girls with a story to tell. Something almost musical. I don't want YA. Something where the setting even plays a part. Got anything? --Michele   4. I know this is really last minute and I have no idea if you'll be able to help me, but I am really stuck. I am supposed to be getting a book for someone who I don't know based on their "reading" profile. They said they like autobiographies, especially ones related to travel and sports and that they are looking to get into self help books. They also mentioned that their favorite books are The Last Lecture, Mud Sweat and Tears and 1000 Days of Spring. They have a completely different reading taste to mine, so I am really out of my depth and hoping you could help. Thanks in advance and I LOVE the show! --Marija   5. Greetings! My husband and I are going on the trip of a lifetime during the month of April. We will be traveling through the Panama Canal and stopping at all the Central American countries except El Salvador. We will also be making 3 stops in Mexico and Cartegena, Colombia. I'm looking for literary fiction novels that take place in Central America (rather than Mexico or South America.) No short stories, please! Here are some books that I've read or are familiar with. (None of them take place in Central America, but you get the idea!): The Sound of Things Falling by Juan Gabriel Vasquez Like Water for Chocolate How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents Anything by Gabriel Garcia Marquez Thanks! --April   6. For about a year now I've been listening to podcasts (mostly Book Riot ones) at work. I haven't quite found enough to fill all my hours, but I find I prefer listening to talking over music. To fill the gaps, I tried turning to audiobooks. (Libby is the best.) My typical fare is heavily Sci Fi and Fantasy, but I was finding them a little too complicated to follow while working - so I tried YA (another love of mine) and it was still too important that I caught every detail. After that I tried nonfiction, but kept finding things that were either too dry on audio so it became basically white noise, or super depressing. TL:DR can you help me find books that are A) on audio, B) light in subject matter (as a grad student in my "free time" I spend a lot of time stressed out and would like my audiobooks to be a break from that), and C) simple enough that I can still follow even if I get a little distracted by a more-complicated-than-usual problem at work? Something like a cozy mystery or a fluffy romance (like Austenland?) might be good, but I don't know where to start. Bonus points for SF/F flavors, but they're not necessary, and extra bonus points for diversity of any kind, which I feel like I don't get enough of. Already read: Sarah Maclean, and Tessa Dare. Also, I used to love Lillian Jackson Braun's The Cat Who series, but have not kept up with the latest in cozy mystery good stuff. Thanks in advance! I love the show - a part of me wishes I could just fill all of my weekly hours with listening to Get Booked, but I imagine that would be very tiring for you. --Anne   7. Hi Amanda and Jenn, I'm in dire need of help! ! I'm going through a major life transition and I've found that the books that I would normally turn to don't seem to work anymore. I would like some recommendations of memoirs, nonfiction, or fiction that feature strong women who have made radical changes to their lives. Thank you! --Daniela   Books Discussed Empress: The Astonishing Reign of Nur Jahan by Ruby Lal (July 2018) Salt Houses by Hala Alyan The Fact of a Body by Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich While the City Slept by Eli Sanders Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity by Katherine Boo I’ll Be Right There by Kyung-Sook Shin, translated by Sora Kim-Russell The Calligrapher’s Daughter by Eugenia Kim Sorcerer of the Wildeeps by Kai Ashante Wilson Valdemar: Last Herald Mage series (Magic’s Pawn #1) trigger warnings for rape, child abuse, suicide The Sisterhood of Blackberry Corner by Andrea Smith The Unleashing by Shelly Laurenston A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson A Guidebook to Relative Strangers by Camille T Dungy The Dream of My Return by Horacio Castellanos Moya, translated by Katherine Silver Central American author recommendations post The World In Half by Christina Henriquez Shades of Milk and Honey by Mary Robinette Kowal Death Comes to Pemberley by PD James Hammer Head by Nina MacLaughlin Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed Braving The Wilderness by Brene Brown

Amanda and Jenn discuss Hallmark movie read-alikes, gift recommendations, kids' London reads, and more in this week's episode of Get Booked. This episode is sponsored by Libby and Bookaxe.   Questions 1. Hello Book Riot goddesses! We're getting dangerously close to the holiday season, which is why it hit me I have less than two months to finish the Book Riot reading challenge! I'm doing pretty well overall, but am now left with the really difficult (ie out of my comfort zone) books - and I need your help. I have four books left to tackle: a book about sports, a book published by a micropress, and a book of translated poetry on a theme other than love. I'm a queer, latinx, feminist grad student currently earning my MSc in paleontology and the history of women in science. Normally, I gravitate towards fantasy, scifi, YA, and historical fiction/romance (I'm very much about reading as escapism). When I'm not reading fiction, I love popular science books and history books (especially about non-western countries). Maybe my tastes can meet these book riot prompts somewhere in the middle? Note: I'm bilingual (spanish/english) so books translated from or available in Spanish are also super welcome! --Michelle Barboza-Ramirez   2. I hope it's not too late to ask for recommendations! My mom has asked for books for Christmas but I don't know what to buy her! She likes narrative nonfiction, like The Elephant Whisperer, Unbroken, and The Boys in the Boat. She also likes Jodi Picoult and reads a lot of historical fiction (The Red Tent, All the Light We Cannot See, and News of the World are some of her favorites). She's generally read most of the super buzzy bestsellers of the past few years for her book club, so new, backlist, and/or under-the-radar picks would be awesome! Thanks! --Katie   3.  Hi Amanda and Jenn! We are traveling to London for Christmas with our daughters, ages 13 and almost 11, and I would love it if before we go, they could develop a deeper appreciation for (or at least understanding of) the historical significance of the city than they've gleaned from Harry Potter or schoolbooks. My ideal vision would be to visit some place like the Tower of London or Kensington Palace or the replica of the Globe Theater, they would say, "Oh yeah! I know about that place from my book." I want them to have some reference points other than what I've told them. Both girls are avid readers of YA fiction, and they especially love the fantasy and mystery genres -- Harry Potter, anything Rick Riordan, the Divergent Series, the Flavia de Luce series, and Nnedi Okorafor are just some examples of books/authors they love. My older daughter also branches out to YA literary fiction such as "The Hate You Give" by Angie Thomas and "Between Shades of Gray" by Ruta Sepetys. Can you recommend any YA fiction in which London features prominently? I was wondering if "My Lady Jane" might fit the bill, but I don't really have any ideas beyond that. Any recommendations you can provide would be greatly appreciated. You don't have to worry about making different recommendations for their ages -- they exchange books all the time, and the younger one has the maturity and skills to read what her sister does. Thanks so much for all you do, and keep up the great work! --Courtney   4. Hi Jenn and Amanda, I am writing in to request read-alikes to cheesy Hallmark-esque holiday romance movies. I personally don't celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, or any of the religious/commercial holidays of winter but my kryptonite is the seasonal holiday tv entertainment. I especially love when they are set in the past and/or have themes of mistaken/disguised identity or leads that hate each other and then slowly grow to love and respect each other. Some of my favorite series/movies include When Calls the Heart, One Small Hitch, A Christmas Kiss 1 and 2, Snow Bride, While You Were Sleeping, and A Royal Christmas. Bonus points for books available on audio with non-irritating narrators so I can listen during my commute. Thanks so much! --Sel   5. Hello! I have been under a fair amount of stress lately with a job change and the realities of adult-ing which has lead to some trouble sleeping. During these restless nights I have been reading a lot of fiction (which is great) - but I figure I might benefit from using this reading time to read some non-fiction about stress management, mindfulness, or meditation. Are there any well written beginner guides for these subjects (or others) that you would recommend? Thank You! --Ariel   6. Hey Jenn and Amanda I was raised in a very fundamentalist religious environment where homophobia, racism and misogyny were interwoven into the rhetoric and doctrine. I have since broken away from it but still feel an involuntarily discomfort and, at times, lack of understanding when reading about some of these issues. I want to overcome this discomfort of and develop empathy for such topics and am hoping you can recommend me books that will expose me to any or all of these issues. YA or adult, any genre. I do prefer fiction to nonfiction but am open to highly readable nonfiction. Thanks! --Haley   7. I want to share my love of reading with my dad, especially as he is now retired and needs things to do during the long winter months. Unfortunately, I've never had much luck getting him to pick up a book, even when it seems tailored to his interests. The one book I've seen him read and re-read is The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, a slim book of poetry by an 11th century Persian dude. This self-proclaimed non-reader can quote about half the book from memory and likes to weave snippets of it into daily conversation. I suspect he has a soft spot for old poetry and/or philosophy. Can you recommend anything that might have a similar feel to it? Any help is appreciated.   Books Discussed bookriot.com/bookriottop20 Eternal Life by Dara Horn Living With a Wild God by Barbara Ehrenreich The Complete Poems of Anna Akhmatova, translated by Judith Hemschemeyer Poetry collections in translation (not about love!) post The Legend of Pradeep Mathew by Shehan Karunatilaka Border by Kapka Kassabova Please Look After Mom by Kyung-Sook Shin, translated by Chi-Young Kim The Agency series by YS Lee (A Spy In The House #1) Shades of London series by Maureen Johnson (The Name of the Star #1) An Affair Before Christmas by Eloisa James A Mistletoe Affair by Farrah Rochon Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics by Dan Harris (rec’d by Rebecca) Start Where You Are by Pema Chodron March by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, Nate Powell Dreadnought by April Daniels Meditations by Marcus Aurelius The Conference of the Birds by Farid ud-Din Attar, illustrated by Peter Sis