The Book Swap Podcast
By Cassandra Berger
Categories: Arts, Books, Fiction, Society & Culture
Friends and book connoisseurs Cassandra Berger and Liza Hamm comb through suggestions for the best hidden gem books that more people should know about.
9 episodes indexed on PodSearch.
Recent episodes
- Aging, Regrets, and the Art of Living Well
Is it ever too late to change your life? And what does it really mean to grow old gracefully?This week on Book Swap, Cassandra Berger and Liza Hamm kick off a new season pairing buzzy new releases with overlooked literary gems. First up is Emma Cline's much-hyped, Booker Prize-longlisted Switzy…
- Shakespeare: To Retell Or Not to Retell?
For the season finale of Book Swap, Liza and Cassandra explore why Shakespeare's stories continue to resonate centuries later as new remakes for the modern age. Their featured book is Dunbar by Edward St. Aubyn, a clever modern retelling of King Lear filled with family drama, power struggles, and…
- Bookstore Discoveries From Japan
After a three-week journey through Japan, Cassandra returns with a suitcase full of book recommendations and a deeper appreciation for Japanese storytelling.The books grapple with themes from high stakes competitions and childhood friendships to memory, impermanence, and the search for meaning…
- War, What Is It Good For?
This week on Book Swap, Liza and Cassandra dive into two unforgettable novels about war, memory, and survival. They discuss Arturo Pérez-Reverte’s The Painter of Battles, a haunting philosophical novel about a retired war photographer confronted by a man whose life was changed by one of his…
- What to Read This Summer
Summer reading season is officially here, and Liza and Cassandra are diving into the books they can’t wait to spend the season with. The books speak to a range of summer moods from a glamorous modern-day Gatsby romp to sweeping novels about societies on the brink of collapse. They talk through…
- Unpredictable Love Stories
On this week’s episode of The Book Swap, Cassandra and Liza dive into romantic novels that are heartfelt without becoming saccharine sweet or predictable, centering their conversation on Leonard and Hungry Paul by Rónán Hession. They explore why this quiet Irish novel about friendship, grief…
- Writing Your Way Into the World
This week on The Book Swap Podcast, Liza Hamm and Cassandra Berger dive into the the intoxicating, messy, deeply ambitious world of writers for this episode on books about writers. The deep-five is Three Martini Lunch by Suzanne Rendell, set in late-1950s New York publishing culture, the novel…
- Don’t Judge A Book By Its Title
On this special premiere episode of The Book Swap Podcast Liza and Cassandra delve into their first episode theme on books with misleading titles.Their deep dive pick of the week is When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill, which may sound like YA fantasy, and, sure, it may include a phenomenon…
- Season One Trailer - Hidden Gems of Fiction
In this season one trailer Cassandra and Liza introduce the concept of the show, their approach to finding hidden gems, and preview the categories they'll be diving into in later episodes.
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