WEBVTT
00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:07.040
The morning was bright and clear, with a whisper of fog floating around the edges of town, blurring the periphery.
00:00:07.120 --> 00:00:09.679
It made Hent Town look otherworldly.
00:00:09.919 --> 00:00:14.880
An hour was one minute longer here, according to the courthouse clock tower.
00:00:15.199 --> 00:00:22.559
The only eggs sold at the grocery store were bright blue, and old Alice Wester knew all your secrets.
00:00:22.879 --> 00:00:26.559
Sarah Addison Allen, paper ghosts.
00:00:34.880 --> 00:00:36.960
Hi and welcome to the podcast.
00:00:37.039 --> 00:00:40.240
I'm Tanya, your host here at The Well Read Life.
00:00:40.399 --> 00:00:47.359
In this space I talk about books, sharing titles and authors, hopefully to add to your reading lineup.
00:00:47.600 --> 00:01:00.240
Initially there was a book club accompanying the podcast, but I had uh trouble with the live stream logistics, and so because of that, we're gonna put that on hold for a while.
00:01:00.320 --> 00:01:05.120
So we're just gonna talk bookish and maybe do a book club another time.
00:01:05.519 --> 00:01:25.280
On today's show, I wanted to delve into some authors that have been publishing books for quite a while, and I thought I would talk about the current book that I'm reading, which was a recent purchase at Barnes and Noble, and that will get us into that topic because it really is fitting for that theme.
00:01:25.519 --> 00:01:32.079
So my husband and I were at Barnes and Noble just the other night, and oh, I wanted to buy a book.
00:01:32.159 --> 00:01:46.079
You know, I get in the bookstore and I want it all, but I want a book that I'm going to want to read when I get home, you know, not books to just pack on the bookshelf, but definitely just one that I want to sink my teeth into.
00:01:46.400 --> 00:01:56.640
So I was looking for that particular book and I found it within like I think 10 minutes, and that was the newest one from Sarah Addison Allen.
00:01:56.959 --> 00:02:04.079
And I'll have to tell you that I didn't know she had a new book and that she was actually still writing books.
00:02:04.159 --> 00:02:05.519
I mean, why wouldn't she?
00:02:05.760 --> 00:02:17.840
But the newest book is called Paper Ghosts, and it came out September of this year, 2026, and the cover drew me in, as well as seeing her name.
00:02:18.080 --> 00:02:26.400
I'm quite one to be drawn into book covers, as I'm sure you are, and sometimes you know that doesn't do you a good service.
00:02:26.479 --> 00:02:30.240
Sometimes the book itself is not good, but the cover is stunning.
00:02:30.479 --> 00:02:36.960
But this one, I know the author, I knew I would not be led astray, and again, the cover is so pretty.
00:02:37.199 --> 00:02:47.360
So if you can just imagine this beautiful cover, it's kind of an off-white background, and the lettering and the illustration is very similar in color.
00:02:47.599 --> 00:02:51.599
This beautiful ocean teal coloring of the font.
00:02:51.680 --> 00:03:03.919
It has the author's name and then the title, paper ghosts, is in blue, and there are three feathers as if they're cascading down the page, and it's just really, really lush.
00:03:04.080 --> 00:03:15.360
For generations, Webster House has stood as a monument to influence and mystery in a small North Carolina town, and the Webster women have held the community enthralled.
00:03:15.599 --> 00:03:20.400
People respect them, many fear them, but no one truly understands them.
00:03:20.639 --> 00:03:25.599
How do they possess such an intimate, unsettling knowledge of those around them?
00:03:25.840 --> 00:03:28.800
Why is no one ever allowed inside the house?
00:03:28.960 --> 00:03:35.599
And why is Willamina Wester finally reaching out to the granddaughter she once pushed away?
00:03:35.840 --> 00:03:44.400
The Westers have always balanced their need for control with their desire for love, but when that balance is off, disaster happens.
00:03:44.719 --> 00:03:57.599
To truly understand, you have to meet Wilhelmina fifty years before, as a love struck young woman trapped in a stifling, picture perfect life, she makes a fateful choice that changes her life forever.
00:03:57.840 --> 00:04:10.000
Now Willamina's granddaughter Bailey is coming back to a town she tried to outrun only to realize that the grandmother she feared was actually her fiercest protector.
00:04:10.800 --> 00:04:15.520
In a world of hidden truths can a legacy of unhappiness be unmade?
00:04:15.680 --> 00:04:18.319
And what does it take to finally break a curse?
00:04:18.560 --> 00:04:24.240
Bailey is about to learn that even the oldest hauntings can be healed by a new spark of hope.
00:04:24.560 --> 00:04:35.439
Sarah Addison Allen's stunning prose will transport you to a place where magic mixes with the mundane, turning shadows into the most beautiful kind of light.
00:04:35.759 --> 00:04:41.680
All of Sarah Addison Allen's books have a theme of magical realism.
00:04:41.839 --> 00:04:58.160
There's something a little off about the story, and going into each novel knowing that you have to realize your reality might be a little suspended there, just for a time being, but you're going to be given this beautiful story.
00:04:58.399 --> 00:05:04.000
Now I'm not really a big fan of magical realism, except for Ms.
00:05:04.160 --> 00:05:10.959
Allen, and you know, books like Shock a lot and those kind of storylines.
00:05:11.279 --> 00:05:18.720
There are so many beautiful books out there that do this theme justice, and I just really have to be in the mood.
00:05:18.879 --> 00:05:25.120
It has to be a really good pairing of author and writing for me to get it, shall we say?
00:05:25.519 --> 00:05:28.720
And this author just really clicks for me.
00:05:28.879 --> 00:05:33.600
So I have read her books since they came out, but I don't want to get ahead of that right now.
00:05:33.759 --> 00:05:38.399
This story I'm currently reading, and I'm really enjoying it.
00:05:38.480 --> 00:05:41.519
So it opens out in 1976.
00:05:41.920 --> 00:05:52.879
We are in this fictional town called Hen Town, and the grandmother, you learn very early on, is very protective of her granddaughter Wilhelmina.
00:05:53.360 --> 00:06:03.519
And she is a senior in high school, and she has these friends that she can't socialize with because the grandmother says that's a no.
00:06:04.160 --> 00:06:17.279
And yeah, it's it's just beautiful, beautiful Alan writing, and the characters just leap off the page, and you are quickly immersed into this story.
00:06:17.439 --> 00:06:19.600
I'm so so enjoying it.
00:06:19.839 --> 00:06:35.600
So the first book I read by Sarah Addison Allen was back in 2010 called The Garden Spell, and she has several books since, and I've read all of them except for there are two that I had missed actually.
00:06:35.680 --> 00:06:38.000
I need to go back and read those.
00:06:38.160 --> 00:06:43.439
But her books are really beautiful, and she's an author that I I adore.
00:06:44.000 --> 00:06:48.800
And I guess she would fall in that category of author auto-buy.
00:06:49.360 --> 00:06:57.279
So when an author comes out that you know you enjoy their writing, you wouldn't be disappointed to buy their books.
00:06:57.519 --> 00:07:05.759
And that goes into the theme that I wanted to share today about authors that have been writing books for many years.
00:07:06.000 --> 00:07:10.240
So on that theme, I came up with a few that I wanted to share.
00:07:10.639 --> 00:07:24.160
The first one immediately I thought of was Elizabeth Strout, and I looked through Goodreads quickly to see on these authors the furthest back that I had read their works.
00:07:24.319 --> 00:07:24.959
And for Ms.
00:07:25.120 --> 00:07:30.399
Strout, the first one I read was Olive Kitteridge, and that was in 2008.
00:07:30.800 --> 00:07:38.480
And I was in a mom's book club way back when, when my oldest was in preschool.
00:07:38.639 --> 00:07:42.399
He's now 27, so it was quite a while ago.
00:07:42.720 --> 00:07:51.040
And we read all those Oprah books, you know, when she came out with them, and we really read a lot of really good books.
00:07:51.279 --> 00:07:59.120
And that was the first time that I had heard of Elizabeth Stroud, and that one again I read in 2008.
00:07:59.439 --> 00:08:09.920
She is continuing to write very prolifically, and uh I've read most of her books, uh, if not all.
00:08:10.079 --> 00:08:15.360
So the last one I read was The Things We Never Say, and that came out this year.
00:08:15.600 --> 00:08:34.159
So another author that comes to mind is Anna Quindlin, and looks like I read her novel Black and Blue in 2011, and she is still publishing books, and the last one I read was More Than Enough, and that came out this year, 2026.
00:08:34.879 --> 00:08:53.600
Another author is Ann Tyler, and the first one that I read of hers was called Back When We Were Grown Ups in 2001, and she is still very much in the author's scene, and the last one I read was Three Days in June.
00:08:53.759 --> 00:09:04.639
That one came out 2025, and I just found out that she has a book coming out next year in 2027 called The Return Trip is Shorter.
00:09:05.039 --> 00:09:05.919
I can't wait.
00:09:06.080 --> 00:09:07.759
I love Tyler's writing.
00:09:08.000 --> 00:09:17.039
Now, a couple other ones that came to mind as authors uh I would auto-buy if I saw their books would be Kay Gibbons.
00:09:17.360 --> 00:09:22.240
She is at the top top of the list of my favorite authors.
00:09:22.320 --> 00:09:35.360
I've read all her books, and I think there are only like five of them, but she doesn't write anymore or publish anymore, and I'm always hopeful that she's going to release a book and just surprise me.
00:09:35.519 --> 00:09:38.879
And oh, I would be so so giddy over that.
00:09:39.360 --> 00:09:47.120
But she does not continue to publish books, and on the flip, there is Elizabeth Berg.
00:09:47.519 --> 00:09:55.120
Now, when Elizabeth Berg came out with books, um, I read from the very beginning, and I read faithfully.
00:09:55.279 --> 00:10:12.399
Every time she had a book, I read it, and then somewhere along the way, I don't know, it just her writing it wasn't as exciting or it didn't appeal as it once did, and I stopped kind of really desiring to read her books.
00:10:12.559 --> 00:10:30.879
So that was a sad thing, but she is still writing and publishing books, and then there's also Anita Shreve, and I didn't uh I forgot to look her up, but she was one that I remember Oprah had chosen a book, The Pilot's Wife.
00:10:31.120 --> 00:10:41.039
That was an amazing story, and I remember that that was made into a TV movie, which was good, but there's nothing like the book, right?
00:10:41.360 --> 00:10:45.200
So Anita Shreve was one every time she published a book.
00:10:45.360 --> 00:11:12.480
I read it, and I really don't think that she's come out with a book in years, but you know, these books, these authors that I'm talking about, you know, they go back um 10, 15, 20 years, and so it's exciting when you find an author that you really love their style and their writing, and that they're still writing, and you can keep on keeping on with those uh books that you love.
00:11:13.120 --> 00:11:19.759
So those are just a few to highlight, and of course, that's just fiction and literary fiction per se.
00:11:19.919 --> 00:11:23.679
So that's what I have for you today, and I hope you've enjoyed the show.
00:11:24.000 --> 00:11:34.159
I will see you again soon with more book recommendations and uh bookish talk to share to further curate a well read life.
00:11:34.399 --> 00:11:36.159
Thank you for joining me!
00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:07.040
The morning was bright and clear, with a whisper of fog floating around the edges of town, blurring the periphery.
00:00:07.120 --> 00:00:09.679
It made Hent Town look otherworldly.
00:00:09.919 --> 00:00:14.880
An hour was one minute longer here, according to the courthouse clock tower.
00:00:15.199 --> 00:00:22.559
The only eggs sold at the grocery store were bright blue, and old Alice Wester knew all your secrets.
00:00:22.879 --> 00:00:26.559
Sarah Addison Allen, paper ghosts.
00:00:34.880 --> 00:00:36.960
Hi and welcome to the podcast.
00:00:37.039 --> 00:00:40.240
I'm Tanya, your host here at The Well Read Life.
00:00:40.399 --> 00:00:47.359
In this space I talk about books, sharing titles and authors, hopefully to add to your reading lineup.
00:00:47.600 --> 00:01:00.240
Initially there was a book club accompanying the podcast, but I had uh trouble with the live stream logistics, and so because of that, we're gonna put that on hold for a while.
00:01:00.320 --> 00:01:05.120
So we're just gonna talk bookish and maybe do a book club another time.
00:01:05.519 --> 00:01:25.280
On today's show, I wanted to delve into some authors that have been publishing books for quite a while, and I thought I would talk about the current book that I'm reading, which was a recent purchase at Barnes and Noble, and that will get us into that topic because it really is fitting for that theme.
00:01:25.519 --> 00:01:32.079
So my husband and I were at Barnes and Noble just the other night, and oh, I wanted to buy a book.
00:01:32.159 --> 00:01:46.079
You know, I get in the bookstore and I want it all, but I want a book that I'm going to want to read when I get home, you know, not books to just pack on the bookshelf, but definitely just one that I want to sink my teeth into.
00:01:46.400 --> 00:01:56.640
So I was looking for that particular book and I found it within like I think 10 minutes, and that was the newest one from Sarah Addison Allen.
00:01:56.959 --> 00:02:04.079
And I'll have to tell you that I didn't know she had a new book and that she was actually still writing books.
00:02:04.159 --> 00:02:05.519
I mean, why wouldn't she?
00:02:05.760 --> 00:02:17.840
But the newest book is called Paper Ghosts, and it came out September of this year, 2026, and the cover drew me in, as well as seeing her name.
00:02:18.080 --> 00:02:26.400
I'm quite one to be drawn into book covers, as I'm sure you are, and sometimes you know that doesn't do you a good service.
00:02:26.479 --> 00:02:30.240
Sometimes the book itself is not good, but the cover is stunning.
00:02:30.479 --> 00:02:36.960
But this one, I know the author, I knew I would not be led astray, and again, the cover is so pretty.
00:02:37.199 --> 00:02:47.360
So if you can just imagine this beautiful cover, it's kind of an off-white background, and the lettering and the illustration is very similar in color.
00:02:47.599 --> 00:02:51.599
This beautiful ocean teal coloring of the font.
00:02:51.680 --> 00:03:03.919
It has the author's name and then the title, paper ghosts, is in blue, and there are three feathers as if they're cascading down the page, and it's just really, really lush.
00:03:04.080 --> 00:03:15.360
For generations, Webster House has stood as a monument to influence and mystery in a small North Carolina town, and the Webster women have held the community enthralled.
00:03:15.599 --> 00:03:20.400
People respect them, many fear them, but no one truly understands them.
00:03:20.639 --> 00:03:25.599
How do they possess such an intimate, unsettling knowledge of those around them?
00:03:25.840 --> 00:03:28.800
Why is no one ever allowed inside the house?
00:03:28.960 --> 00:03:35.599
And why is Willamina Wester finally reaching out to the granddaughter she once pushed away?
00:03:35.840 --> 00:03:44.400
The Westers have always balanced their need for control with their desire for love, but when that balance is off, disaster happens.
00:03:44.719 --> 00:03:57.599
To truly understand, you have to meet Wilhelmina fifty years before, as a love struck young woman trapped in a stifling, picture perfect life, she makes a fateful choice that changes her life forever.
00:03:57.840 --> 00:04:10.000
Now Willamina's granddaughter Bailey is coming back to a town she tried to outrun only to realize that the grandmother she feared was actually her fiercest protector.
00:04:10.800 --> 00:04:15.520
In a world of hidden truths can a legacy of unhappiness be unmade?
00:04:15.680 --> 00:04:18.319
And what does it take to finally break a curse?
00:04:18.560 --> 00:04:24.240
Bailey is about to learn that even the oldest hauntings can be healed by a new spark of hope.
00:04:24.560 --> 00:04:35.439
Sarah Addison Allen's stunning prose will transport you to a place where magic mixes with the mundane, turning shadows into the most beautiful kind of light.
00:04:35.759 --> 00:04:41.680
All of Sarah Addison Allen's books have a theme of magical realism.
00:04:41.839 --> 00:04:58.160
There's something a little off about the story, and going into each novel knowing that you have to realize your reality might be a little suspended there, just for a time being, but you're going to be given this beautiful story.
00:04:58.399 --> 00:05:04.000
Now I'm not really a big fan of magical realism, except for Ms.
00:05:04.160 --> 00:05:10.959
Allen, and you know, books like Shock a lot and those kind of storylines.
00:05:11.279 --> 00:05:18.720
There are so many beautiful books out there that do this theme justice, and I just really have to be in the mood.
00:05:18.879 --> 00:05:25.120
It has to be a really good pairing of author and writing for me to get it, shall we say?
00:05:25.519 --> 00:05:28.720
And this author just really clicks for me.
00:05:28.879 --> 00:05:33.600
So I have read her books since they came out, but I don't want to get ahead of that right now.
00:05:33.759 --> 00:05:38.399
This story I'm currently reading, and I'm really enjoying it.
00:05:38.480 --> 00:05:41.519
So it opens out in 1976.
00:05:41.920 --> 00:05:52.879
We are in this fictional town called Hen Town, and the grandmother, you learn very early on, is very protective of her granddaughter Wilhelmina.
00:05:53.360 --> 00:06:03.519
And she is a senior in high school, and she has these friends that she can't socialize with because the grandmother says that's a no.
00:06:04.160 --> 00:06:17.279
And yeah, it's it's just beautiful, beautiful Alan writing, and the characters just leap off the page, and you are quickly immersed into this story.
00:06:17.439 --> 00:06:19.600
I'm so so enjoying it.
00:06:19.839 --> 00:06:35.600
So the first book I read by Sarah Addison Allen was back in 2010 called The Garden Spell, and she has several books since, and I've read all of them except for there are two that I had missed actually.
00:06:35.680 --> 00:06:38.000
I need to go back and read those.
00:06:38.160 --> 00:06:43.439
But her books are really beautiful, and she's an author that I I adore.
00:06:44.000 --> 00:06:48.800
And I guess she would fall in that category of author auto-buy.
00:06:49.360 --> 00:06:57.279
So when an author comes out that you know you enjoy their writing, you wouldn't be disappointed to buy their books.
00:06:57.519 --> 00:07:05.759
And that goes into the theme that I wanted to share today about authors that have been writing books for many years.
00:07:06.000 --> 00:07:10.240
So on that theme, I came up with a few that I wanted to share.
00:07:10.639 --> 00:07:24.160
The first one immediately I thought of was Elizabeth Strout, and I looked through Goodreads quickly to see on these authors the furthest back that I had read their works.
00:07:24.319 --> 00:07:24.959
And for Ms.
00:07:25.120 --> 00:07:30.399
Strout, the first one I read was Olive Kitteridge, and that was in 2008.
00:07:30.800 --> 00:07:38.480
And I was in a mom's book club way back when, when my oldest was in preschool.
00:07:38.639 --> 00:07:42.399
He's now 27, so it was quite a while ago.
00:07:42.720 --> 00:07:51.040
And we read all those Oprah books, you know, when she came out with them, and we really read a lot of really good books.
00:07:51.279 --> 00:07:59.120
And that was the first time that I had heard of Elizabeth Stroud, and that one again I read in 2008.
00:07:59.439 --> 00:08:09.920
She is continuing to write very prolifically, and uh I've read most of her books, uh, if not all.
00:08:10.079 --> 00:08:15.360
So the last one I read was The Things We Never Say, and that came out this year.
00:08:15.600 --> 00:08:34.159
So another author that comes to mind is Anna Quindlin, and looks like I read her novel Black and Blue in 2011, and she is still publishing books, and the last one I read was More Than Enough, and that came out this year, 2026.
00:08:34.879 --> 00:08:53.600
Another author is Ann Tyler, and the first one that I read of hers was called Back When We Were Grown Ups in 2001, and she is still very much in the author's scene, and the last one I read was Three Days in June.
00:08:53.759 --> 00:09:04.639
That one came out 2025, and I just found out that she has a book coming out next year in 2027 called The Return Trip is Shorter.
00:09:05.039 --> 00:09:05.919
I can't wait.
00:09:06.080 --> 00:09:07.759
I love Tyler's writing.
00:09:08.000 --> 00:09:17.039
Now, a couple other ones that came to mind as authors uh I would auto-buy if I saw their books would be Kay Gibbons.
00:09:17.360 --> 00:09:22.240
She is at the top top of the list of my favorite authors.
00:09:22.320 --> 00:09:35.360
I've read all her books, and I think there are only like five of them, but she doesn't write anymore or publish anymore, and I'm always hopeful that she's going to release a book and just surprise me.
00:09:35.519 --> 00:09:38.879
And oh, I would be so so giddy over that.
00:09:39.360 --> 00:09:47.120
But she does not continue to publish books, and on the flip, there is Elizabeth Berg.
00:09:47.519 --> 00:09:55.120
Now, when Elizabeth Berg came out with books, um, I read from the very beginning, and I read faithfully.
00:09:55.279 --> 00:10:12.399
Every time she had a book, I read it, and then somewhere along the way, I don't know, it just her writing it wasn't as exciting or it didn't appeal as it once did, and I stopped kind of really desiring to read her books.
00:10:12.559 --> 00:10:30.879
So that was a sad thing, but she is still writing and publishing books, and then there's also Anita Shreve, and I didn't uh I forgot to look her up, but she was one that I remember Oprah had chosen a book, The Pilot's Wife.
00:10:31.120 --> 00:10:41.039
That was an amazing story, and I remember that that was made into a TV movie, which was good, but there's nothing like the book, right?
00:10:41.360 --> 00:10:45.200
So Anita Shreve was one every time she published a book.
00:10:45.360 --> 00:11:12.480
I read it, and I really don't think that she's come out with a book in years, but you know, these books, these authors that I'm talking about, you know, they go back um 10, 15, 20 years, and so it's exciting when you find an author that you really love their style and their writing, and that they're still writing, and you can keep on keeping on with those uh books that you love.
00:11:13.120 --> 00:11:19.759
So those are just a few to highlight, and of course, that's just fiction and literary fiction per se.
00:11:19.919 --> 00:11:23.679
So that's what I have for you today, and I hope you've enjoyed the show.
00:11:24.000 --> 00:11:34.159
I will see you again soon with more book recommendations and uh bookish talk to share to further curate a well read life.
00:11:34.399 --> 00:11:36.159
Thank you for joining me!
