Ep. 97: Christine Pride and Jo Piazza (Authors of We Are Not Like Them) + Book Recommendations
Sarah's Bookshelves Live
Sarah Dickinson
4.9 • 732 Ratings
🗓️ 27 October 2021
⏱️ 58 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In Episode 97, Christine Pride and Jo Piazza share how their co-authored novel (We Are Not Like Them) explores how hard it is to have conversations about difficult topics even between dear friends. We discuss why they decided to write a book with a lifelong, interracial friendship at its core, and how they handled collaborating on a book with a plot revolving around a fraught topic.
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Highlights
- How they met and began their professional relationship.
- Who had the initial idea for We Are Not Like Them.
- How they decided to go from an editor/writer relationship to co-writing and what that looked like for them.
- Why it was important to work collaboratively on both main characters, rather than each taking one.
- Christine’s and Jo’s own challenges while working on this novel.
- How they handled any “creative friction” that came up.
- How the discussions around character development really opened up how they had to consider race on the page.
- How their own personal experiences and perspectives really informed both characters
- They share some key thoughts to having these important conversations.
- The surprising but similar reaction from both Black and white readers.
- They also share a little teaser about the next book they are writing together.
Christine’s and Jo’s Book Recommendations [32:55]
Two OLD Books They Love
- Christine: The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw | Buy from Amazon | Buy from Bookshop.org [33:23]
- Jo: In Five Years by Rebecca Serle | Buy from Amazon | Buy from Bookshop.org [36:21]
Two NEW Books They Love
- Christine: No Cure for Being Human by Kate Bowler | Buy from Amazon | Buy from Bookshop.org [38:05]
- Jo: Matrix by Lauren Groff | Buy from Amazon | Buy from Bookshop.org[40:42]
Other Books Mentioned:
Everything Happens for a Reason by Kate Bowler [38:13]
Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff [42:01]
Bonus Pick: Three Girls from Bronzeville by Dawn Turner [42:42]
Two Books They DIDN’T LOVE
- Christine: The Push by Ashley Audrain | Buy from Amazon | Buy from Bookshop.org [44:26]
- Jo: Her thoughts on sharing books she doesn’t like. [48:47]
Other Books Mentioned:
The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller [48:18]
Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl [48:20]
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens [49:53]
Two NEW RELEASES They’re Excited About
- Christine: I Hope This Finds You Well by Kate Baer (November 9, 2021) | Buy from Amazon | Buy from Bookshop.org
[50:14]
- Jo: Wish You Were Here by Jodi Picoult (November 30, 2021) | Buy from Amazon | Buy from Bookshop.org
Other Books Mentioned:
56 Days by Catherine Ryan Howard [53:51]
Voices from the Pandemic by Eli Saslow [54:02]
Last 5 Star Books They Read
- Christine: Somebody’s Daughter by Ashley C. Ford | Buy from Amazon
- Jo: Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead | Buy from Amazon
Other Book Mentioned
- Marriage Vacation by Pauline Brooks [5:09]
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to Sarah's Bookshelves Live. I'm talking with one bookish guest about two old books they |
| 0:12.8 | love, two new books they love, one book they don't love, and one new release they're excited about. |
| 0:18.9 | We're going to get real and sometimes a bit snarky, |
| 0:21.9 | about all things books. If you like the show, I'd really love your support. Spread the word |
| 0:27.0 | to your reader friends, subscribe to the show, rate and review it wherever you listen to podcasts. |
| 0:32.8 | Let's get rolling. Hey, everyone. I feel like we are not like them has been the book of fall 2021. It's been on Good |
| 0:41.3 | Morning America as the October book club pick. It's been all over bookstagram. It's been in big name |
| 0:47.3 | publications. This story explores how hard it is to have difficult conversations, particularly |
| 0:53.3 | about race, even amongst dear friends. |
| 0:56.3 | It explores unconscious bias and microaggressions within a true friendship, and it lays out the |
| 1:01.3 | typical points you hear from both sides when the police shoot a person of color, and the reasons |
| 1:06.5 | why each side feels the way they do. And it does all of this within an incredibly compelling |
| 1:12.6 | and highly readable story. So I am thrilled to have Christine Pride and Joe Piazza co-authors of |
| 1:19.2 | We Are Not Like Them with me today. Christine is a writer, editor, and longtime publishing veteran. |
| 1:25.5 | She's held editorial posts at many different trade imprints, |
| 1:28.7 | including Doubleday, Crown, and Simon & Schuster. She's also a freelance editorial consultant |
| 1:33.5 | and writes a regular column called Race Matters for the Blog Cup of Joe. And she's based in New York |
| 1:38.6 | City. Joe is an award-winning journalist, editor, and podcast hosts. Two shows you might know of hers are committed |
| 1:45.3 | and under the influence. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, |
| 1:49.9 | CNN, Marie Claire, Glamour, and other publications. She's also the author of Charlotte Walsh likes to |
| 1:55.4 | win, which I absolutely loved, how to be married, I also loved, the Knockoff Fitness Junkie, and if Nuns ruled the |
| 2:02.7 | world. She lives in Philadelphia with her husband and two children. Welcome, Joe and Christine. |
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