Hey, it's Empair's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbong. You know that question, which books would

you take with you if you were stranded on a desert island? You can interpret that as, oh, what are your

favorite books? Or you can interpret it as what books have the most to give? What books have

enough juice in them that they can continue to feed your

thinking mind for days on end? Author Madeline Tian's new novel, The Book of Records, takes this

question very seriously. In it, a father picks up three books before embarking with his

daughter on a long journey, and they are books that Tian herself has spent years reading and wrestling with.

She talks to Amper's R. Shapiro about what she inherited from these writers.

That's ahead.

The new novel, The Book of Records, begins when a seven-year-old girl named Lena arrives

with her father in a place called the C-S-E-A.

It's buildings that are a way station for people who are fleeing one place

and trying to make a home elsewhere.

And usually people just stay there for a day or two enough to touch land

and then begin their journey again.

Author Madeline Tien told me she wanted to set her novel in a place that is not a natural home.

Somewhere different centuries might converge.

Three historical figures eventually enter the story.

They come from different places and different eras.

There were many people I hoped,

would come in a company, Lena and her father. Her father only takes three books off the shelf.

They have to leave in a hurry. He grabs three books that he tells her looked like the most

...