Roger Rosenblatt on the Magic of Books

The Book Case

ABC News

Fiction, Arts, Society & Culture, Books

4.7 • 913 Ratings

🗓️ 29 January 2026

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Roger Rosenblatt wrote a column for the NY Times called Before You Toss that Book… We already loved Roger’s books, and this column moved us to reach out to him. We asked if he would come on our show to read the column for our audience and to talk to us about what makes books so important, what keeping books can do to grow your love for the written word. Roger is a national treasure and this conversation was both moving and insightful. If you love books, you must join us. Roger's column: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/28/opinion/favorite-books-cleaning-out.html Find books mentioned on The Book Case: https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/shop/story/book-case-podcast-reading-list-118433302 Books mentioned on this week's episode: Making Toast by Roger Rosenblatt Rules for Aging by Roger Rosenblatt The Man in the Water by Roger Rosenblatt The Boy Detective by Roger Rosenblatt Cold Moon by Roger Rosenblatt Unless it Moves the Heart by Roger Rosenblatt Anything Can Happen by Roger Rosenblatt Thomas Murphy By Roger Rosenblatt Life Itself: Abortion and the American Mind by Roger Rosenblatt Where We Stand by Roger Rosenblatt Lapham Rising by Roger Rosenblatt Beet by Roger Rosenblatt The Story I am by Roger Rosenblatt The Book of Love by Roger Rosenblatt Cataract Blues by Roger Rosenblatt A Steinway on the Beach by Roger Rosenblatt Children of War by Roger Rosenblatt Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov Frankenstein by Mary Shelley Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson Hamlet by William Shakespeare The Far Field by Theodore Roethke Great Expectations by Charles Dickens Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:32.6	It's another Thursday, another bookcase, and this one is a unique one.
0:41.4	But before I tell you why, I will introduce myself.
0:44.3	I am Kate Gibson, and I will introduce the gentleman who's on the video phone with me right now, who's also my father, who he?
0:51.1	I'm the unique father.
0:52.9	I'm the Charlie part of the bookcase with Kate and Charlie.
0:56.0	We do welcome you.
0:57.0	Kate said this is a very different edition of the bookcase.
1:00.0	Tell them why.
1:01.0	Well, an old friend of ours, who's also a friend and fan of the podcast, whose name is John
1:05.0	Dougie.
1:06.0	Sometimes we exchanged text messages if I've turned him onto a new author or you listen to a podcast, he's
1:11.4	excited about. And he texted me this column by Roger Rosenblaff from the New York Times that was
1:16.9	online on December 28th of 2025. So last year, and it was called Before You Toss That Book, dot, dot, dot.
1:24.0	And the essay expounds on why we love our bookshelves and why we have an emotional
1:29.7	connection with what is just essentially paper and cardboard. And how that relationship with
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