I'm Natalie Moore. I fell in love with soap operas when I was just five years old, and I still

watch them. Their television's longest scripted series and have zero reruns. Now let me tell you,

soap operas aren't just some silly art form. They are significant. In this season of making,

Stories Without End from WBEZ Chicago.

Join me as I share how the genre began, their social impact, and why these stories endure.

Listen wherever you get your podcast.

From WBEZ Chicago, this is Nerdette.

I'm Greta Johnson. We did it. We made it to another weekend. And in peak, June, no less. Right around now is probably my favorite time of year. Pianese are in bloom here in Chicago. Everybody just seems friendlier and summer books are here. Here to tell us about some of the best books of this great season is one of the most enthusiastic readers. I know. Her name is Liberty Hardy, and she hosts Book Riot's All the Books Podcasts. She reads hundreds of books a year, and we asked her to make a list of some of her favorites that are coming out soon. Liberty, hello. Hello! I'm, as always, very excited to do this.

Yay, we are very excited to have you. So can we, you sent over a list. Can we go in chronological order and start with Night of the Living Res, which I just heard about and sounds really cool.

Yes, of course. It's Night of the Living Res, which is a collection of short stories by Morgan

Talty. This is a debut collection, and the short stories are set in Maine, so of course I was like,

yay, because I live in Maine, and Maine is the best place, and you know, everybody wants to be here.

It's just the best. And it's published by Tin House, one of my favorite small presses.

These are 12 stories set in a native community, and they examine what it means to be

Pinobscot, what it means to be native in America in the 21st century.

They are stories of humor and love and family, but also tragedy and grief.

You know, some of them deal with some dark subject matter, such as depression

and chemical dependency, that will break your heart. But he's such an incredible writer. These

stories are incendiary. Like, this is a debut collection, and people have been talking about

this since, like, before the deal was even announced, I think. So I'm just going to be so bold as to say, I call National Book Award Longlist for this collection. It's that excellent. Yeah. That's really exciting. I can't wait to read that one. Tell us about Our Wives Under the Sea. This is one that you have been like text raving at me about for

probably almost a year now. Yeah. Yeah. So this is my favorite book of the year. It comes out on July 12th. It's called

Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield. And I was looking through my notes and I literally read it

...