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Happy To Be Here

Summer Reads!

Happy To Be Here

Greta Johnsen

Books, Tv, Nerds, Self, Society & Culture, Nerd, Culture, Tv & Film, Pop, Improvement, Nerdette, Technology, Wbez

4.6 • 924 Ratings

🗓️ 5 July 2019

⏱️ 12 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

When anyone at WBEZ needs book recommendations, they go to Greta Johnsen, the station’s resident bookworm.

So please enjoy Greta talking about some fantastic reads that you might want to pick up this summer.

Contemporary Romantic Fiction

Fantasy

Mystery/Thriller

Biography/Memoir

Historical Fiction

Historical Non-Fiction

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Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

From WBEZ Chicago, this is Nerdette. I'm Greta Johnson. And this week we've got a little treat for you.

0:08.2

It's me on WBEZ's daily talk show talking all about books. If you were like, man, Fourth of July just ended, I could really use somebody just telling me all the books in nine straight minutes. Well, you're welcome.

0:21.5

This is exactly that.

0:23.6

So, without further ado, here I am talking with WBEZ Morning Shift host, Jen White.

0:29.2

Books.

0:29.6

Okay, so first of all, for you, what makes a book a good summary?

0:33.9

I think it's something that you can get completely lost in, right?

0:36.8

Whether that's an afternoon at the beach or maybe on the couch under a pile of blankets with some hot tea, depending

0:42.1

on what temperatures you're working with. I love a book that just completely sucks you in from

0:46.5

the first page and that you just totally lose yourself in. Now, I know you're into audio books. Is that

0:52.6

how you find yourself getting through your reading list nowadays?

0:55.3

I listen to a lot of books.

0:56.8

I do still read paper books too.

0:59.2

But yeah,

0:59.6

I actually did a little of tallying before I came on.

1:03.1

I've read 31 books so far this year.

1:05.8

23 of those were audiobooks and eight of them were books, real books paper. How is that experience? I mean, how is it different? I will confess. I can't believe I'm saying. I've never listened to an audio book. Well, I have some good recommendations for you then. I mean, to me, it depends on the kind of book. If it's too literary, if the language is too flowery, it doesn't really work. Or if there's like

1:27.8

huge, like time travel books can be real tricky in audio, right? Because all of a sudden you're like, wait, where are we? What just happened? But if it's a linear plot and if it's a compelling story, audio can be so great. Okay, I'm going to take you up on some of those recommendations because Is there something about the tactile experience of holding a book that I really, for sure.

1:26.9

I really love, but'm going to take you up on some of those recommendations because there's something about the tactile experience of holding a book that I really, for sure. I really love,

1:47.5

but I want to hear. Okay, so let's talk recommendations in, let's say, contemporary fiction.

1:53.3

Okay. I think my top recommendation is a book called Evie Drake starts over.

2:03.6

And it's by someone you may have heard of.

...

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