Better World Books Podcast: Chris Cleave

03/09/10 • 17 min

Have you ever eaten a dessert so delicious you had no words to describe it? I mean you could try; “it’s rich...delicious...so chocolatey”, or maybe “so delicate...it melts in your mouth...the perfect blend”, but really the words just don’t do it justice.

That’s kind of how I feel about Little Bee. And whoever wrote the back cover copy clearly agrees with me. Little Bee IS a great story – and it IS filled with well developed characters and though it is not drenched in raspberry sauce, it is indescribably good. It unfolds in a unique way. It plays with language. It asks you questions and it puts you in uncomfortable positions without judging.

You will read this book. I’m not telling you to, I just know you will. And then you’ll want to talk about it. So please do. Tell everyone else to read it, but as the back cover suggests – don’t give anything away.

In the mean time, tune in to my interview the author. Meet Chris Cleave and learn a tad more about the book, what’s in it and why. Then grab a copy and get to reading.

Enjoy the interview, and click here to check out the rest of the great authors talking about their books on our podcast!

— Dana

In the mean time, tune in to my interview the author. Meet Chris Cleave and learn a tad more about the book, what’s in it and why. Then grab a copy and get to reading.

Enjoy the interview, and click here to check out the rest of the great authors talking about their books on our podcast!

— Dana

Previous Episode

Better World Books Podcast: Wendy Wax

I met Wendy Wax, author of Magnolia Wednesdays and The Accidental Bestseller several years ago through work and we became friends. Good friends. The kind of friends that know each others families and drink wine together whenever possible.

So, reading a book by a friend has an interesting quality to it, as does interviewing them. When reading, I think “Hmmm. That living room she is describing sounds a lot like her living room” or better yet ” I think I might know who she based that character on!”. While interviewing Wendy I struggled not to lapse into our usual chit chat about the struggles of the day – and I didn’t jump in to admit that indeed I was the friend who went ballroom dancing with her in the name of research.

But in the name of sharing, I thought you should know. And I also think you should know that all biases of friendship aside, the books is a page turner. You’ll want to know what happens next. It’s a story about women and the struggles we face at various places in our lives. It’s also a story of secrets and lies which Wendy explains in the interview. And most of all Magnolia Wednesdays contains plenty of Wendy’s trademark humor which is aimed squarely at suburbia.

Let’s face it, any book that starts with someone getting shot in the butt is bound to make you laugh and want to keep on reading.

Enjoy the interview, and click here to check out the rest of the great authors talking about their books on our podcast!

— Dana

Next Episode

Better World Books Podcast: Patricia Sprinkle

Patricia Sprinkle has written almost thirty books in her writing career. Most of them are mysteries but she takes a break from all that for her latest work Hold Up the Sky.

Hold Up the Sky is a story about 4 women relying on each other through some fairly difficult times. It takes place during a drought in a small Georgia farming town and though not the kind of book I would normally be interested in, I was drawn in.

The characters Patricia creates have heart and though the dilemmas they face may not directly be facing us all, they do force us to question how we would behave in similar circumstances.

When Patricia and I sat down for the interview we focused on where the story comes from and some of the situations the characters found themselves in. But we also dealt with the idea of looking deeper into “genre” fiction for the issues the book is handling. For example, in Hold Up the Sky, Patricia humanizes US immigration through the character of Emerita. She doesn’t have the answer for us, but she does put a human face on it.

Enjoy the interview, and click here to check out the rest of the great authors talking about their books on our podcast!

— Dana