← Book Riot - The Podcast
Book Riot - The Podcast
The It Books of April
00:45:50
Jeff and Rebecca consider contenders for the It Book of April, 2025.
Loading summary
Transcript225 lines
- [00:02]
Nordstrom Ad
Nordstrom brings you the season's most wanted brands, Skims, Mango Free People and Princess.
- [00:08]
Jeff O'Neill
Polly, all under $100.
- [00:10]
Nordstrom Ad
From trending Sneakers to beauty must haves, we've curated the styles you'll wear on repeat this spring. Free shipping, free returns and in store.
- [00:19]
Jeff O'Neill
Pickup make it easier than ever. Shop now in stores and@nordstrom.com McDonald's meets the Minecraft universe with one of six collectibles and your choice of a Big Mac or 10 piece McNuggets with spicy nether flame sauce. Now available with a Minecraft movie meal and participating McDonald's for a limited time, a Minecraft movie only in theaters. This is the Book Riot podcast. I'm Jeff O'Neill. And I'm Rebecca Schinsky and I'm back from vacation. Long travel day yesterday, made longer by delay, so I'm gonna try to keep my energy up. Rebecca. But it is April, the sun is shining, the flowers are blooming here and I've got a pretty good list of books today to get started, I think.
- [01:00]
Rebecca Schinsky
Yeah, I feel like spring got sprung and that came for the bookshelves as well. Like we are into new release season is feeling exciting now.
- [01:10]
Jeff O'Neill
Yeah, let's see. Programming notes, Moms, Dads and Grads recommendation requests. We're accepting them now. Do you want people to email or were they. Yeah.
- [01:19]
Rebecca Schinsky
Podcastookriot.com and for those of you who are always like, how do I email you? That is the email address we sent on every episode. Put Moms, Dads and grads request in the subject line so that we'll know to look for it. Of course, our wheelhouse members over on Patreon get priority. They've already got a form and we have a few requests coming in there. And then let's see, next week, midweek, we're going to talk about audition by Katie Kitamura. That'll be freshly out and we'll be checking in on the hot list at the end of next week in the Patreon as well. A couple interesting things coming up. Week after next we'll have a whole episode dedicated to bibliotherapy with Emily Rumble, who is a clinical social worker who uses bibliotherapy in her practice in the Bronx. I had a great conversation with her last week and you get to take a midweek episode off because it went so well that we filled not just like a b splot, but an entire episode.
- [02:14]
Jeff O'Neill
That's the nicest thing I've ever welcome.
- [02:16]
Rebecca Schinsky
Back from vacation, Jen.
- [02:17]
Jeff O'Neill
Let's see, in addition on First Edition. I did talk to Katie Kitamura. That episode will be out on First Edition next week. Tilt. My conversation with Emma Petit is out now. That came out on Thursday. You've all heard me talking about that. And then let's see. Coming up on I'll shout out other stuff coming out when we get there. Thank you all so much for the emails about white light in the interview over there about phosphorus. I think people heard me being not teased so much as jauntingly seen in my discussion of my interest in phosphorus and white light. So that was very cool to see over there. Thank you. I'm just checking in. I saw a lot of good conversation and feedback around our episode with Laura McGrath and our Patreon episodes about the classics to read, the books to read. If you want to be considered well read. We probably have enough to do like six more of those, like the top 50. And oh yeah, that was really cool.
- [03:11]
Rebecca Schinsky
I think we could make some hay out of that.
- [03:13]
Jeff O'Neill
Yeah. So all right, without further ado, let's do a sponsor break and get into the books of the month.
- [03:19]
Rebecca Schinsky
This episode is sponsored by Heartbreaker by Mike Campbell. Stick around after the show to hear an excerpt from the audiobook edition provided by our sponsors at Hachette Audio. A fast paced, tender rock and roll memoir for the ages. Mike Campbell's Heartbreaker is part rags to riches story and part raucous seat of the pants adventure recounting Campbell's life and times as lead guitarist of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. The audiobook is read by Mike Campbell himself. Petty and Campbell wrote countless songs, including some of the band's biggest hits like Girl, you Got Lucky and Runnin Down a Dream among many more. But few know of the less than glamorous background from which Campbell emerged. A hardscrabble childhood on the north side of Jacksonville, often just days ahead of homelessness. Raised by a single mother who was struggling on minimum wage, Campbell opens up within these pages or within this audiobook for the very first time, revealing himself to be an astute observer of the triumphs, tragedies and absurdities alike. This is great for fans of music memoirs, Tom, and even non music fans who are looking for inspirational backgrounds of success stories like Mike Campbell. Stick around after the show to hear an excerpt from Heartbreaker by Mike Campbell.
- [04:37]
Nordstrom Ad
Today's episode is brought to you by Kamkat Books, publishers of A Dagger of Lightning by Meredith R. Lyons 45 year old Imogen has always struggled to fit in, but that doesn't mean she's ready to ditch the planet. Like altogether like she still has some things going on, you know? But then she gets kidnapped by an alien prince in disguise and there's nothing she can do to stop him. He has, after all, powerful abilities and he's used to getting what he wants. On top of all of that, the prince is convinced that Imogen's new powers, once she's transformed, will help protect his country. With the help of the prince's much more tolerable brother, Imogen starts to get her feet back under her. But if Imogen can't find a way to fight for herself, she'll become a pawn in a world that has already decided what she's going to be. Now this is an exciting genre bending book that combines beloved tropes from both science fiction and fantasy with a steamy, swoon worthy romance between the two main characters. And this is perfect for people who love a little romantasy in their lives. Make sure to check out A Dagger of Lightning by Meredith R. Lyons and thanks again to Camcat Books for sponsoring this episode. Today's episode is brought to you by Penguin Random House Audio for readers of cozy murder mysteries, Vera Wong is back and just as meddling as ever. In this follow up to the hit Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for murderers, USA TODAY best selling author Jesse Q. Setanto serves up another feel good mystery brimming with charm and intrigue. Vera Wong's Guide to Snooping on a Dead man, narrated by Eunice Wong, is now available wherever audiobooks are sold. But let me tell you a little bit about it. See, it follows Xander, who seemingly had it all, at least on line. He had private jets, fab parties with socialites, a burgeoning career as a social media influencer. But then he's found dead in Mission Bay and the police can't seem to actually identify him. They don't know who he is, no one seems to know, and every contact is a dead end. Even his parents, alleged parents, say they don't know who he is. So Vera is determined to solve Xander's murder after all. Doing so would be a big favor to Officer Selena Gray, who is her future daughter in law. So make sure to check out the new audiobook. And thanks again to Penguin Random House Audio for sponsoring this episode.
- [06:57]
Jeff O'Neill
Rebecca a couple programming notes on this. I have 11 instead of my normal 10.
- [07:02]
Rebecca Schinsky
Okay.
- [07:02]
Jeff O'Neill
I don't know why.
- [07:03]
Rebecca Schinsky
And none of them are clumped so it's just another book.
- [07:06]
Jeff O'Neill
Just 11. This dial, this one goes to 11. I do have four entries into the The Stephen King Zone for the month.
- [07:13]
Rebecca Schinsky
Okay. Okay.
- [07:14]
Jeff O'Neill
They're notable releases, but they're not IT books because of reasons.
- [07:18]
Rebecca Schinsky
There's a way of looking at this where you have seven.
- [07:21]
Jeff O'Neill
No, no, I have, I have an additional four. I'm going to get them out of the way right now. I just left them out. There's a way of looking at when I have 15.
- [07:27]
Rebecca Schinsky
Okay. Oh, we should pause and explain to folks who are new this month how this works.
- [07:31]
Jeff O'Neill
Yes. So every month I make a selection of generally 10, but for this month, 11 books that I think are interesting and candidates for the IT book of the month. The IT book is trying to discover, describe a book that does more than one of the following things. Or if it does one of them, it has to like really blow it out of the water. People are going to be buying it, like huge sales. They're going to be really talking about it. It's going to be super buzzy. It's going to be super good. Right. It's just really interesting and it's got a lot going on that is beyond just sort of the page turning pleasureness of it. And then arts award season. Plaudits of those kinds. We try to. We do this by feel. There is no formula. I present them one at a time, knockout style. So the first one will automatically go into round two in which it will face the next book. And if it survives, it advances and if it's out, it's out. So we are left with one book at the end. This, this, this. The King Throne is for authors who publish enough and sell enough. That is notable. They have a book coming out, but they've entered this weird. Purgatory is the wrong word. This weird stratosphere. Like the clouds that just sort of float there, they don't like really make weather, they just kind of float there.
- [08:44]
Rebecca Schinsky
Like there's always a new Stephen King book. It's always pretty good. If you like Stephen King, you're gonna like a new Stephen King book. And that means that somehow it's not like an event.
- [08:55]
Jeff O'Neill
Right.
- [08:55]
Rebecca Schinsky
In the same way.
- [08:56]
Jeff O'Neill
Yeah. And so these are authors on this month's list. I think both Emily Henry and Abby Jimenez usually post later in the summer, but they're both coming out in April this month. I don't know if that they're trying to get out of each other's way or there's something else happening this summer. That's. There's Anita Prose novel. This is now in the this zone. The third of these, the Maid series, I believe it's called there's also been a novella. I think the second one I included as a candidate because the first one was a hit.
- [09:25]
Rebecca Schinsky
Yeah.
- [09:25]
Jeff O'Neill
But the third one, the second one was also hit. But there you know what you're gonna. I think that's another thing. You kind of know what you're gonna get with these and that tends to be less interesting. There's also new Jennifer Weiner book and I also should just say I look at the most anticipated list on Goodreads and it's just a. Just that just is for me. It's not for you that care about this listener. It is for our purposes a lot of stuff that we don't consider for this. There's a ton of commercial romance. There's a ton of romanticy and it's really hard to differentiate between them. As someone who does this professionally, but I don't live in that niche. I think the sameness feeling of it is a reason to keep it out of this discussion. You could do a whole new episode about this just for those kinds of titles and I'm sure people do that and God love you and have fun and go find them.
- [10:14]
Rebecca Schinsky
And that sameness or the like familiarity of the tropes, that thing that is a feature for a passionate romantasy reader makes a book a bug for a game like this. Because we are looking for is it unique in some way? Is it going to get critical acclaim? Will it be super buzzy? And there's only, you know, a couple of the romanticies that have actually been really buzzy and it has to be good. And at least in our we have a set of one. We have a sample size of one in our romantasy reading experience but we did not find it to so we're gonna. We'll stay in our zone here.
- [10:45]
Jeff O'Neill
Yeah. So those caveats aside again, this is the first time hearing we tend not to do a lot of genre writ large like category romance or mystery thriller or sci fi fantasy that again things that can cross over and there's gonna be a few here. But this is really a list for the general reader of a certain kind. I'd say okay with that up first again, this is one I It's not gonna be the book at the month Rebecca but I wanted to mention it because this book every now and again you can get a book like this that does generate some discussion and you can tell that I'm vamping while edelweiss loads because Girl on Girl by Sophie Gilbert Colon How Pop Culture Turned a Generation of Women against Themselves is out from Penguin Press at the end of the month.
- [11:28]
Rebecca Schinsky
This is on my.
- [11:29]
Jeff O'Neill
Yeah, so it's. It's a cultural. Cultural criticism about early aughts pop culture. So. And Gilbert herself has been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. She writes for the Atlantic. And this time period is really fascinating. It's when I was in high school into college. So, like the pop culture stuff I was super, super aware of, I think this. The phrase here, excess materialism and power worship colliding with cultures, reactionary, puritanical and chauvinistic currents. And I think probably if you're going to have one example of this Britney, Brittany is the one. And it doesn't say there. I don't have like a press. I don't have an epub or I don't have anything here. But my first thought is Brittany. And actually, if I look at the COVID can I tell just from the. It looks like maybe Pam Anderson is on the COVID and Whitney. And so, yeah, similar, similar.
- [12:27]
Rebecca Schinsky
Whole group of women, like really got done dirty by the media and pop culture in the 90s in terms. In all kinds of ways. In terms of how they were just generally treated, how they were sexualized, how their bodies criticized as just an open topic of public conversation and how that trickled into culture for young women and teen girls. I was just ranting to a friend the other night, like, the aesthetics of thinness and whiteness are coming back around on TikTok. And I was like, we freed Britney for God's sake, and we're doing this again.
- [12:57]
Jeff O'Neill
Yeah.
- [12:57]
Rebecca Schinsky
So I'm glad to see a serious cultural consideration of it.
- [13:01]
Jeff O'Neill
Also, be careful with your Googling. If you're looking to add girl on.
- [13:05]
Rebecca Schinsky
Girl to your tbr, make sure you add book and the author.
- [13:08]
Jeff O'Neill
That's not gonna help you, I think go right into. In Edelweiss, some things came up. I was like, oh, you know what?
- [13:13]
Rebecca Schinsky
Don't even Google. You just go straight to the retailer of your choice and you put the author's name on there.
- [13:19]
Jeff O'Neill
Yes, the bookseller. I'd like some girl on girl. And they'll be fine and everything will work out.
- [13:23]
Rebecca Schinsky
It'll be. There are bookstores where that would be fine. Welcome and everybody have fun out there.
- [13:27]
Jeff O'Neill
Everyone enjoy themselves and be careful. Okay? So it advances by default. Up next, Jenna's April 1st pick again. Sometimes this matters. Usually this is not enough. But I already had this one on my radar and I think that made it onto the list. This is the one that I don't think it was a genepick who had made the top 10. So that's why it's kind of the 11th. But it sounds really cool. It is Main woods. It's, it's Peter Heller but for ladies.
- [13:56]
Rebecca Schinsky
Oh, what's the title?
- [13:57]
Jeff O'Neill
Heartwood. I'm sorry. Oh, yeah.
- [13:59]
Rebecca Schinsky
Yes. I've been hearing good stuff about this.
- [14:01]
Jeff O'Neill
Yeah. So a 42 year old woman, she's vanished on a hike. Rebecca, is this too soon?
- [14:07]
Rebecca Schinsky
I mean, how, how good for her age does she look at 42?
- [14:10]
Jeff O'Neill
Well, I'm just saying she's on a, she's on a trail.
- [14:12]
Rebecca Schinsky
This is feeling familiar.
- [14:13]
Jeff O'Neill
This is. Maybe I'm stepping on future half baked ideas, but my family was in Hawaii this week and one of the things we did which was very cool, we went and got a behind the scenes tour or show how they do green turtle rescue.
- [14:28]
Rebecca Schinsky
Oh yeah, that's really awesome.
- [14:29]
Jeff O'Neill
Which is very cool. And you know, they put the tags in them like these little, you know, there's the grain of rice and they put them in there and look, I'm not saying you should put them on kids, but at some point I maybe would need one.
- [14:42]
Rebecca Schinsky
You know, I have seen bachelorettes with air tags attached to them like roaming around Nashville and my dog has an ID chip in him, so we're not that far off. Maybe you make it voluntary. But like I don't honestly hate the idea of a trackable way to locate me if I am hiking in a place where my phone is not gonna work.
- [15:02]
Jeff O'Neill
So let me tell you more about Heartwood. So someone goes missing and then we get it sounds like a little bit of a, you know, we get, we get the Scooby gang together, a 76 year old bird watcher. We get game warden.
- [15:14]
Rebecca Schinsky
I'm so in.
- [15:15]
Jeff O'Neill
Yeah, so I really think this sounds like fun. It's out April 1st, so it's out today from Simon and Schuster. I'm into this. It has a cool cover. I hope this does well. I hope it's good. I hope it does well. Got some good buzz. So there we go.
- [15:26]
Rebecca Schinsky
This is on my radar. But I didn't know what it was about. I think it was on my list from having perused catalogs and I must have thought, oh, that looks good and I've heard good things about Amity Gage. We're going to pass this ahead of girl on girl purely by virtue of it got picked for read with Jenna, so that's big attention. Also, I'm not sure that anything has ever been more in my wheelhouse than 42 year old woman Gets lost while walking in the woods.
- [15:48]
Jeff O'Neill
Yeah. With a blurb by Jennifer Egan. And blurbs don't matter, but sometimes they do.
- [15:52]
Rebecca Schinsky
Sometimes they do. Jennifer Egan, not a prolific blurber.
- [15:55]
Jeff O'Neill
So I think she doesn't mind putting pen to paper to a.
- [15:59]
Rebecca Schinsky
She's not Gary Steingarding.
- [16:00]
Jeff O'Neill
Well, I mean, come on. That's like. Okay, anyway, we don't. We don't have to get into a blurb. Off. Up next.
- [16:06]
Rebecca Schinsky
Talk about a Good Half Bakery.
- [16:07]
Jeff O'Neill
April 22, 2025. From One World, it's Matriarch, a memoir from one Tina Knowles. And if you need me to say more, then it will not advance for you. She is the mother of Beyonce in Solange and bonus daughter of Kelly Rowland. I do not know enough to know what that means. Bonus mother, bonus mother and bonus daughter. Mother two, bonus daughter. What does that mean?
- [16:33]
Rebecca Schinsky
I mean, it's like you're basically a part of the family.
- [16:36]
Jeff O'Neill
Okay, all right. So it's her memoir. And this is interesting. I think there's not as like, in terms of parents of really famous people, I was trying to think, what's the equivalent? Oh, did Richard Williams write a book?
- [16:52]
Rebecca Schinsky
Yeah, because, I mean, I couldn't think of it.
- [16:54]
Jeff O'Neill
That's the only one I couldn't find. But that was the only one.
- [16:57]
Rebecca Schinsky
Serena's father, he did write a book.
- [16:59]
Jeff O'Neill
Earl Woods, I don't think wrote a book.
- [17:01]
Rebecca Schinsky
I don't think so. This. The, like, the spectrum of variability for celebrity memoirs is already really big, very wide. And Beyonce's image is so carefully and, like, masterfully controlled that the things that make a memoir good and it booky are the, like, juicy tidbits that come out and the items that get leaked early and the stuff that comes out in interviews. And I have a hard time believing that Tina Knowles is going to drop any big bombs that would be newsworthy in that way, precisely because it would not serve either of her daughter's careers, but especially Beyonce's. So I'm. I think this will be interesting. Tina Knowles is a fascinating person, but I don't know that you're actually going to get that much out of the book because her incentives to stay relatively private are really compelling.
- [17:56]
Jeff O'Neill
Yeah. Though, I mean, it does sound like it's a lot memoir, like growing up so those people are dead. Maybe there's it interesting story.
- [18:01]
Rebecca Schinsky
Oh, maybe.
- [18:02]
Jeff O'Neill
I don't know. I mean, I think you're right. I don't think there's going to be a lot of, you know, uncensored text screenshots.
- [18:10]
Rebecca Schinsky
Yeah.
- [18:10]
Jeff O'Neill
You know, think of the group chats. Amazing.
- [18:13]
Rebecca Schinsky
I'm gonna pass Hartwood forward.
- [18:15]
Jeff O'Neill
Really? Okay, cool. Yeah, I think that makes sense. I think that this one for a certain kind of person will be a really exciting event in itself. But I think that I don't see a world in which the Tina Knowles becomes more of a mainstream crossover. Like that's an interest within an interest for. For a lot of. Oh, you know what? Edelweiss. I really. I now have to just Google like an animal this thing because you lost my thing because authority is a very generic title.
- [18:44]
Rebecca Schinsky
Andrea Longchu.
- [18:45]
Jeff O'Neill
We were talking to Laura about being excited for this book. Chu has won the Pulitzer Prize already for criticism. She just recently ended the life of.
- [18:54]
Rebecca Schinsky
Pamela Paul, the most satisfying hatchet job ever.
- [19:02]
Jeff O'Neill
So there is stuff that she's already published in N&1, but she writes about and she took Zadie and Maggie Nelson out beside the shed. At one point she questioned some reading people's readings of Octavia Butler. Like, this is not a shoe. If you are online in a certain kind of way on the bookish Internet, you. I would encourage you to read this. I'd also encourage you to be ready to have some stuff challenged.
- [19:34]
Rebecca Schinsky
Yes. I think that fair. Yeah. That's a good way to put it. If you send Andrea Long Chu to Survivor, she's the one in the opening scene who's like, I'm not here to make friends.
- [19:44]
Jeff O'Neill
Yeah.
- [19:44]
Rebecca Schinsky
Like there's going to be tough analysis. Anybody who's willing to be like Zadie Smith has lost her touch. Is that it's bold. She is a pretty fearless critic. Like Godspeed to anyone who finds themselves in choose Crosshairs is really put on.
- [20:02]
Jeff O'Neill
Our draft board of people. We don't want to find ourselves a.
- [20:05]
Rebecca Schinsky
Subject of an essay about extremely high up.
- [20:08]
Jeff O'Neill
I'm going to pill if that happens. I'm pulling out my chip and disappearing.
- [20:12]
Rebecca Schinsky
We're done. Jeff's no more head in a jar. Jeff has gone into the woods.
- [20:17]
Jeff O'Neill
Yeah, I'm going in the woods and I don't. I'm not being found.
- [20:21]
Rebecca Schinsky
RIP my friend. We'll pour one out for you should that ever happen.
- [20:25]
Jeff O'Neill
Yeah, that's on sale next week, I should say from McMillan.
- [20:30]
Rebecca Schinsky
I am personally so excited about this and I think that this book is going to be a discourse machine in certain corners of the literary Internet. But. Well, I mean there's also the acclaim. Like Chu has won the Pulitzer. It's probably not going to be a huge seller. I think you can count on like a book of criticism. If a book of Criticism is going to sell well. It might be this one, but like criticism in general does not perform very well. But it will be good. People will talk about it.
- [20:58]
Jeff O'Neill
It's gonna be nominated for criticism awards.
- [21:00]
Rebecca Schinsky
I mean, it will probably be nominated for criticism awards.
- [21:04]
Jeff O'Neill
Tough one.
- [21:05]
Rebecca Schinsky
But it's not totally fresh, like, because it's reprints of some things. How tough?
- [21:08]
Jeff O'Neill
50K print run for a book like this is pretty significant.
- [21:11]
Rebecca Schinsky
Yeah, that is. But on the other hand, like that Pamela Paul piece, it hits so hard because it's so timely when it's published and that we've all been sick of Pamela Paul. But if when that one gets bound up into something that she publishes in several years, I don't know quite how it will land.
- [21:27]
Jeff O'Neill
I. And it does sound like the new stuff here because a lot of it's repo. This happens with critics and that's fine.
- [21:33]
Rebecca Schinsky
Yeah.
- [21:34]
Jeff O'Neill
But it sounds like the stuff that's new is largely about criticism, which again.
- [21:40]
Rebecca Schinsky
Who is a critic? Well, the book is called Authority.
- [21:42]
Jeff O'Neill
Right, right. And you know, again, that's interesting for people like us. I'm sure we'll find a lot to talk about there. But yeah, beyond that, I'm not sure it's gonna be.
- [21:52]
Rebecca Schinsky
I think we're gonna go with Heartwood for one more. And we're also early. There's seven more to go. So I'm not too worried about my.
- [22:00]
Jeff O'Neill
I mean, Heartwood, if you think about best cases. Right. Or like the ceilings. Yeah, the ceilings for Heartwood is God of the woods.
- [22:08]
Rebecca Schinsky
Yeah. And there's for.
- [22:09]
Jeff O'Neill
This is.
- [22:10]
Rebecca Schinsky
I won't be surprised if we get something. That's a great point. Yeah. I won't be surprised if we get adaptation news about Heartwood. That feels really ripe for it. Yeah. And also, like Andrea Long Chu is not out there titling their books in a way that looks like sex, drugs and Cocoa Puffs and packaging things in a way that's trying to grab on to more casual readers. Closerman is really savvy about that and interested in doing it. And I don't think that Andrea Longchu is that interested in appealing to the normie reader, which is totally fine, but does put a lower ceiling on your sales potential.
- [22:42]
Jeff O'Neill
Yeah. Okay. So I mean, excited for that, but. But, oh yeah, it's tough to another one that I'm just excited to read. Unlikely Animals by Annie Hartnett is a favorite strange book of mine and she has a new book out called the Road to Tender Hearts from Ballantine out April 29, which is a sneaky big day when I was looking at it. And as I was reading the synopsis of this and then thinking about unlikely animals, I've been thinking about, as you know, I've been thinking about Tom Robbins a lot recently and like, where do I go? And it's not quite that flavorful. But listen to this synopsis and tell me if he doesn't have a little manic, zany, strange, fun, wild ride stuff going on here. At 63 years old, million dollar lottery winner PJ Halladay would be the luckiest man in Pondale, Massachusetts, if it weren't for the tragedy of his life, the sudden death of his Elvis daughter and the way his marriage falls apart. And then he spends his money and time at the bar and then he has three heart attacks. But he reads her obituary of an old romantic rival and he realizes that his old sweetheart is finally single again. So he decides to drive across country to the Tender Hearts Retirement community to win Michelle back.
- [23:53]
Rebecca Schinsky
It's called the Tender Hearts Retirement Community.
- [23:55]
Jeff O'Neill
Yes.
- [23:56]
Rebecca Schinsky
This is giving me left on 10th vibes.
- [23:58]
Jeff O'Neill
Yeah, yeah, I think it's not going to be quite as sweet. Left on 10th was super dark in like cut scenes from the pit a little bit in left.
- [24:09]
Rebecca Schinsky
We read that one very differently.
- [24:11]
Jeff O'Neill
No, but I mean, there was like a lot of people dying of cancer. I mean, come on. Anyway, this sounds great. I'm into this love story and I know enough about Unlikely Animal Hardnet that it's not going to be. There's a way of reading this that feels very saccharine and it could certainly be that way. I think it's going to be weird enough. You know, there's a couple ways you can do saccharine. You can do like the lemon zest, like add some sharpness or you can add some gummy bears. And it just feels weird and unusual. And I think she's gonna do a little bit of the gummy bear stuff.
- [24:41]
Rebecca Schinsky
Yeah, I think she might too. I believe Unlikely Animals was nominated for a few things. Maybe long listed.
- [24:48]
Jeff O'Neill
Long listed for the Joyce Carol Oates Prize. I'm really going thin there, but I think in terms of commercial fiction that isn't formulaic but also approachable, you know, is this 2am in the cat's pajamas adjacent?
- [25:04]
Rebecca Schinsky
I feel like maybe. Yeah. And I think that in our criteria, like Hartwood will probably outsell Annie Hartnett, but this could have acclaim, you know, award nominations. It might get positive reviews. There could be some buzz. And I do believe it will be good. I believe in Annie Hartnett. So we're gonna Go with the Road to Tender Hearts.
- [25:27]
Jeff O'Neill
That is weird, but okay. That's fine.
- [25:31]
Rebecca Schinsky
I'm feeling.
- [25:32]
Jeff O'Neill
Yeah. You do this sometimes you're gonna give people a little rope here because you know that you're not gonna be married to them forever. Okay. This one is one that was a discovery off the Goodreads, most anticipated. I hadn't heard about this. And it's a debut thriller which I don't know. It's got a cool cover, very commercial like, but essentially a young woman takes on her twin's life when she dies and her twin is a huge influencer.
- [26:00]
Rebecca Schinsky
Oh, what's it called?
- [26:02]
Jeff O'Neill
It's called Julie Chan is Dead and by Lian Zhang. Is the Author. Comes out April 25th from Goodreads. Really doesn't want you to know Atria Books. I don't know. A chance for a buzzy kind of fun, voyeuristic send up take down of social media influencers. If it really reads well. Good early reviews overall, the Goodreads, I don't know, you know, something like this can take off. Sure. I thought it was worth mentioning.
- [26:33]
Rebecca Schinsky
Yeah. What I'm realizing I want is an RF Kuang send up of influencers.
- [26:39]
Jeff O'Neill
Well, yeah, I mean, yellowface, if. If it was a. An influencer rather than author. It's a different kind of book, but it could have done a lot of the same stuff.
- [26:49]
Rebecca Schinsky
Something like that would be really fun.
- [26:50]
Jeff O'Neill
Yeah.
- [26:51]
Rebecca Schinsky
So this Julie Chen is dead. That sounds interesting. It does have like catchy potential. I think we're going to ride with Annie Hartnett for one more.
- [27:01]
Jeff O'Neill
Okay. All right. Here you go. We're going to do a little streak of debuts. I did not fudge the order this month, I should say. Okay, just so everyone knows, I try to be. I don't promise never to fudge it, but I do promise to if I do fudge it, let everyone know.
- [27:14]
Rebecca Schinsky
And usually I can guess that next.
- [27:16]
Jeff O'Neill
One is from Knopf out. April 15th, tax day. It's called Open Heaven and it's by a Irish poet and I don't know how to say se A with a thing over at N. Is that Sean Sian? See, I don't know how you say it. It's. If I was just being me, I'd say Sean Hewitt, but it's Irish and so you probably say it some different way is how you say that particular name. So this is an Irish poet is. Hewitt is actually an Irish poet himself, writing a novel set in a remote village in the north of England over the course of one year in which Two teenage boys fall in love with each other. Oh, so that sounds kind of beautiful, right? It's a brisk 224 pages. Maybe a little bit of. Can you do some of call me by your name in Ireland. But maybe you get. You close that age gap a little bit. You have a poet. I'm going to be very interested in this poetry.
- [28:13]
Rebecca Schinsky
We love a novel by a poet almost as much as we love a memoir by a poet. Just a quiet, lovely situation. I think there's in this setup, like, you have a poet who's moving into fiction. If it's done well, often that is a wards fodder, because the kind of prose that a poet can write can be creative and really beautiful. Probably lower ceiling for sales here than we're talking about with some of the other ones, but it's.
- [28:40]
Jeff O'Neill
It.
- [28:41]
Rebecca Schinsky
It does sound beautiful. Why not? Let's let open heaven ride for a minute.
- [28:44]
Jeff O'Neill
All right, let's go. Let's give it a moment in the sun. Up next, we're gonna do a sponsor break real quick. Sponsor.
- [28:54]
Nordstrom Ad
Today's episode is brought to you by Splashtide Publishing, llc, publishers of Bleeding Roses by April Savage. The Romans are slaughtered while trying to colonize Dacia territory. This thrusts the elite Axius and famed hero Nestor into a painful realization that their fallen were not killed by human. They embark on a journey to save their beloved commander Titus and the army, who undertake a mission to avenge their fallen. Now Axius believes the Dacian queen Phasaliki holds the key to uncovering the truth about the killers, as a plot seeking to undermine Rome from within is discovered. As they confront their worst fears, they realize this bloody war is already spilling into the streets of Rome. But the beasts in Dacia want more than Rome. They want the world. So it turns out Dacia has hidden an ancient power able to turn humans into something that's not so human. Maybe a little wolfy, if you catch my drift. Make sure to check out Bleeding Roses by April Savage. And thanks again to splashtide Publishing, LLC for sponsoring this episode. Today's episode is brought to you by Sourcebooks, publishers of I'll Never Call Him Dad Again by Carolyn Darian. Now, this book comes with a bit of a trigger warning. In November 2020, Carolyn Darion received an unthinkable call. Her father was in custody. Investigators had uncovered the unimaginable for years. He drugged his wife, Giselle Pellico, and handed her over unconscious to dozens of men. But rather than stay silent, Giselle testified in open court, reclaiming her life and Shifting shame to the abusers, Caroline turned their pain into action, launching hashtag Mindorpa to fight chemical submission. And together, they transform trauma into a powerful call for justice. I'll Never Call him dad Again is an international bestseller and recounts the story of Dominique Pellico and his drugging and abuse of his wife over the course of seven years. But it isn't just another true crime story. It is a call to action. So let's support survivors everywhere. Make sure to pick up I'll Never Call Him Dad Again by Carolyn Darion. And thanks again to Sourcebooks for sponsoring this episode.
- [31:09]
Jeff O'Neill
This is one. I don't know how I missed this, because if I had known that this existed, it would already have been in the can for first edition. So take that for what it's worth. It's called Searches by Valhini Vara, who wrote the Immortal King Rao, which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize a few years ago. If you remember that, out from Norton. This is a memoir based on a personal exploration of how textbook technology companies have fulfilled and exploited the human desire for understanding connection. Scripts that for just for a second, because the root of the root, the heartwood here, if you will. If you remember that a few years ago, there was this essay about a writer having ChatGPT write about a dead sister. And this was. This was Vara. That's the core of this.
- [31:52]
Rebecca Schinsky
Oh, okay.
- [31:53]
Jeff O'Neill
And so that went viral, was all over the place. And then this is a fleshing out, wider consideration of how these technologies can get in our feelings, I guess, for lack of a better term, like they're part of our lives and how that can work. 350 pages from Pantheon out a week from today, April 8th. Now, this could be interesting because it's hard to know with something like this, but every now and again, a book like this, like a Monsters by Claire Letter or the Anxious Generation, like, if you can tap into something that people are worried about, thinking about, feeling about, you can get a Jenny Odell or, you know, you can get one of these books that are about something people care about. I think this is one where, like, if we were doing an auction draft, you could probably get it pretty cheaply.
- [32:37]
Rebecca Schinsky
Yeah.
- [32:38]
Jeff O'Neill
But then really, like, the. The top end is unlikely, but there.
- [32:42]
Rebecca Schinsky
Yeah, that sounds right, because these. This sounds like it might lean a little academic or it's going to lean serious.
- [32:50]
Jeff O'Neill
Yeah. Yeah. If we. We need it to be, we need to kind of be like the book we wanted Doppelganger to be, like a little more memoiry and a little bit.
- [32:58]
Rebecca Schinsky
Less you need like something juicy, something kind of gossipy while still being substantial. But if it leans into the like quiet more straight ahead, I think that's a tough road for it. I remember that essay and I don't know that we're gonna get like a glommy, really exciting moment from this. So I think I'm gonna ride for Open heaven for one more round.
- [33:23]
Jeff O'Neill
All right, fair enough. I feel like this book has been on my radar for a long time because I was super curious to see what Ray Naylor his career would look like after the enormous success of the Mountain and the Sea, which I don't know if it was a social media thing or not, but I knew it became a big seller and I've recommended a bunch. It's a very cool science fiction novel, a real brick of a book. And this is his follow up. It's out now comes out today from MCD150K print run for a book like this Is Serious. A high tech thriller about a crew of rebel spies and scientists on a mission to thwart a tyrannical autocrat.
- [34:01]
Rebecca Schinsky
Cool and timely. What's it called?
- [34:03]
Jeff O'Neill
It's called where the Ax is Buried. I'm sorry, I buried.
- [34:06]
Rebecca Schinsky
What a great.
- [34:07]
Jeff O'Neill
I buried the lead and the axe there. Very cool. The COVID feels different. It has like a throwback 50s Scientific American or Popular Science, what will the future look like vibe. Nice blurb from Blake Crouch. Okay, I am going to read this book. I think this is the moment where you go from you had a hit to you. How do you have fans, you know, the Vandermeers, the Blake Crouches of the worlds, many of whom are blurbed and or comped here. They have careers because they had a couple in a row. They had multiple books that people really cared about. If this is good, Naylor's a name. If this is. I don't even think it has to sell. I think if it's good and becomes part of it, I just think it's.
- [34:49]
Rebecca Schinsky
Good and talked about.
- [34:50]
Jeff O'Neill
Yeah, I just, I think that's it. So anyway.
- [34:52]
Rebecca Schinsky
So great. What a good.
- [34:54]
Jeff O'Neill
So cool. It's very cool and it's. I think it's going to be readery. A thriller I think is smart to come out of the last book. Yeah, I, you know, I think, I.
- [35:05]
Rebecca Schinsky
Mean this is a little on the edges of what I typically read, but it's like if you text me that it's great, I will read it immediately. So I'm gonna, we're gonna go with this one now.
- [35:14]
Jeff O'Neill
It's Political too. I mean it has this political element as well.
- [35:17]
Rebecca Schinsky
Yeah. If they're marketing around that and like tying it into the current moment, which like it sounds like the book is a product of at least recent moments in thinking.
- [35:26]
Jeff O'Neill
So.
- [35:26]
Rebecca Schinsky
Yeah, we'll go with where the axis buried into the next round.
- [35:30]
Jeff O'Neill
I think that feels right to me. I'm going to try very hard not to spoil audition by Katie Kitamura because I haven't read the book. It's unusual in this new era, first edition. I gotta be careful. Careful because I forgetful and my mouth will run.
- [35:44]
Rebecca Schinsky
In our like more than a decade of doing this, you've usually never been reading ahead.
- [35:49]
Jeff O'Neill
No, it's not generally my vibe again, it's only because I'm booking stuff and trying to get people doing that homework. Yeah. So this is her third book after Intimacy is in a Separation. Both of them extremely, extremely well received finalists for all kinds of awards. A separation were on the hundred. Was a separation in the hundred.
- [36:09]
Rebecca Schinsky
I believe it was the New York Times.
- [36:11]
Jeff O'Neill
Both of them made the hundred notable books for their years. Short, Sharp and deadly is how the Guardian describes Kitamura's books. This is no different.
- [36:22]
Rebecca Schinsky
That's correct.
- [36:23]
Jeff O'Neill
God, how to describe this book? Okay, so the setup is not hard and it's right here in the blurb. So this woman who is. She's not older, she's. She's had, she's an actress and she's had a career for a while. I, I'm guessing she's in her late 30s, early 40s is probably said. But she's in that age group and she's meeting a much younger man for, for coffee one day. And while she's doing that, she sees her husband, who is supposed to be working from home, come into the restaurant that kind of searches pockets, look befuddled and leave the restaurant. And that he doesn't see her. Or at least she thinks he doesn't. You see where I'm going with this? That then enters into a story. Consideration, examination of performance and seeing and interpretation. How to do the. How to do this next part without. I don't even know. So it's in the interview I do with Katie Kimura. I talk about explicitly because it's so important to talk about the book. So I'll just say the book is in two halves and that having is super important around that half.
- [37:32]
Rebecca Schinsky
Okay. Okay.
- [37:34]
Jeff O'Neill
And it becomes about something else as well. And I thought this book was flipping awesome. So I don't know what to do with myself. Rebecca. How do I Help. How do I give this to you without stacking the deck or what's going on?
- [37:45]
Rebecca Schinsky
I was sitting in your living room when you finished reading downstairs.
- [37:50]
Jeff O'Neill
That's right. I forgot about that.
- [37:52]
Rebecca Schinsky
Yeah. And it was one of those, dude, dude. And at the time, you were. I think you were finishing it. You had a day or two left to get ready for the interview. So you were like, I don't even know how to make sense of this, but you were just making the kinds of sounds that lead me to believe you've had a really good reading experience.
- [38:09]
Jeff O'Neill
I'll say. I'm not often intimidated in doing an interview, and I was a little intimidated because I think she's so smart. These books, she can do things I could never imagine doing. The response, restraint is unbelievable.
- [38:22]
Rebecca Schinsky
Short, sharp, and deadly means so many things. And that is such a good way to describe her. So good job to whoever at the Guardian wrote that. I mean, Audition is going to be my next. Like, that's going to take over here. And this also just to note for Book Riot podcast listeners, if we have both read and liked three of an author's books, they go on the list. They're now one of our.
- [38:42]
Jeff O'Neill
I mean, she's one of mine. Like, I didn't even need three, really. But she was so cool to me on the interview, and the interview was so good. And if you. If you do read this book and end up liking it or not in an interesting way. And again, I'm trying not to spoil it here, that conversation really was fruitful, I felt.
- [38:58]
Rebecca Schinsky
Yeah. To contrast, like, my experience with her, I haven't read Audition yet, but the pitches for her book are always great, and, like, they grab you, and the book will do that thing, and it will do a whole bunch of other things where, like, recently we read Death Takes. Or is it Death Takes Me? Cristina Rivera Garza.
- [39:16]
Jeff O'Neill
Right.
- [39:17]
Rebecca Schinsky
The pitch for that was great. And then the book did something completely different that was interesting, but that was not really the way that it was pitched. And Ketamura just manages to do all of it. She's juggling, like, 17 balls, and it's so impressive. And that she can do it, as you were saying, in, like, 150 pages. Yeah, yeah.
- [39:35]
Jeff O'Neill
And they feel of a piece of each other. Like, they feel like a triptych.
- [39:37]
Rebecca Schinsky
Like, they're kind of. I think you can talk about, like, Katie Kitamura's project as a writer. Like, there is something cohesive there.
- [39:45]
Jeff O'Neill
I'd love to talk to the branders about the covers for these books, because I think I see what they're trying to do. There's often either really bright colors, like Instagram friendly with like a black accent, or vice versa. And I think they're even trying to figure out how to position it because there's a world in which these are like almost feels like they could be European novels in some way. These nameless narrators having these upper middle class experiences. Though Race is involved in these books too. Yeah. Amazing, amazing, amazing.
- [40:16]
Rebecca Schinsky
I'm reading it this weekend. I can't wait.
- [40:18]
Jeff O'Neill
Okay. Well, I ruined everything though. I do think the way this shook out that this last book could end up being. I don't think you'll pick it, but I think there's a world in which it does become it. Because Olivy Blake has a huge following from Atlas 6, she's doing something a little different with this new book. It's called Talented and Gifted. It's an adult book, but it still has a spec fic thing. It's Succession plus X Men is what it seems like. So there's this family company, the patriarch is died and the. The progeny all have powers. Successman. That's nothing. Success. No, that's worse. So that's what it's going.
- [40:56]
Rebecca Schinsky
It's got succession.
- [40:57]
Jeff O'Neill
Yeah. I think there's all kinds of adaptation stuff. New series, different kinds of readers. I think that's one thing for a writer like this who's come off these big series to get into the conversation like this, you got to be doing something different. Switching genres, switching approach, which in medium. Something else going on. I think she does here. Huge print run. She has a lot of fans. But we know that's very difficult when you're switching series and switching kind of modes. Again, it's still speculative fiction though. It's more science fiction than. Well, anyway.
- [41:25]
Rebecca Schinsky
But she broke out with Romantasy.
- [41:27]
Jeff O'Neill
No, I think it was more. I think that Alice 6 was a little more sci fi. I never read it. I'm just trying to remember blurbs here. People can email us podcastride.com but coming off one series, even if your series is in the same thing, it's so hard. Does she have fans or do her. Does her series have fans?
- [41:44]
Rebecca Schinsky
I think that's a great question.
- [41:45]
Jeff O'Neill
That's how we figure these things out.
- [41:47]
Rebecca Schinsky
I think this might sell more than anything else on the list and TikTok might like it. But I will be surprised if we see Olivey Blake in like the literary discourse or getting critical acclaim. I haven't read any of her books, so I don't know where they fall on the like is it good or not.
- [42:04]
Jeff O'Neill
Right.
- [42:05]
Rebecca Schinsky
Neither do I. I have no idea. People seem to think that they are good for the vein that she's working in so.
- [42:09]
Jeff O'Neill
And they sell. They got big fans.
- [42:11]
Rebecca Schinsky
Yeah. That's a piece of data. Yeah. This one's going to Katie Kitamura.
- [42:15]
Jeff O'Neill
I. I think that's right. I think the only thing really that Ketamura doesn't have going for is I just have no idea how much it's going to sell.
- [42:22]
Rebecca Schinsky
Yeah.
- [42:23]
Jeff O'Neill
None. But it's going to be there for all for the award stuff. It just is. It's going to be in the conversation. I'll be shocked if it isn't. I think I'm really trying to be careful here. I think the thing that she does in this book for me will separate wheat from the chaff readers for what I the kind of reading I like to do. Not in terms of like gold standards or value but if you deal with this book in a way there's a couple ways you can deal with what happens in this book. And I think for a lot of commercial fiction readers they're going to be stumped by it. And that's fine. I get that. But for reading like I like to do, this is maybe like the most interesting kind of stuff you can do. So I think I can't. You know for me I'm self recommending it to myself again.
- [43:10]
Rebecca Schinsky
A good year. When there's a new Katie Keeter.
- [43:14]
Jeff O'Neill
I hadn't really thought of her as being one of my favorites and recency bias and it's always hard when you've talked to someone.
- [43:20]
Rebecca Schinsky
Yeah.
- [43:21]
Jeff O'Neill
And they say to you man, that's a good question. I mean I'm just. I'm disarmed. There's nothing I can do when someone. Someone says that.
- [43:27]
Rebecca Schinsky
Yeah.
- [43:28]
Jeff O'Neill
I'm putty. So all those things having been said. Yeah. Genre fantasy. It says with Olivey Blake.
- [43:33]
Rebecca Schinsky
Okay.
- [43:33]
Jeff O'Neill
Really one of the great success stories to fan fiction and Anonymous and the whole thing. Cool. So that's it. So yeah. I think audition by Katie Kid and more. I think. I don't think for how we normally do this it's particularly close. I think if we're gonna get surprises if this talented and gifted gets turned into a giant series or something. I just don't think the market is right for adaptation. It's going to take to do something like this. I just don't think it is.
- [44:00]
Rebecca Schinsky
I mean given that stuff has stopped for acotar and we haven't heard about progress on the fourth wing adaptation. And I know those are romantasy and this is a different thing, but, like, the budgets for a big, expensive adaptation are just not there.
- [44:15]
Jeff O'Neill
I think actually audition is more likely to get picked up. You could do it inexpensively. There's a wonderful couple of parts. There's three amazing parts.
- [44:23]
Rebecca Schinsky
Or was it Apple that had the Oscar Isaacs, Jessica Chastain, Scenes from a Marriage? Like, that was hbo. No. Yeah, it was hbo. Real spicy. And like they will get in there and let.
- [44:35]
Jeff O'Neill
Or ScarJo and what driver's Marriage story.
- [44:39]
Rebecca Schinsky
Oh, marriage story. The Bombach. That was Netflix. Yeah.
- [44:42]
Jeff O'Neill
Again, this is. This is. This does those things and then does something else.
- [44:47]
Rebecca Schinsky
Just put it right in my veins.
- [44:49]
Jeff O'Neill
Yeah, it should. It should really come as a saline solution that Dr. Robbie can shoot into us. Okay. I think that's our show, Rebecca. Happy April.
- [44:58]
Rebecca Schinsky
Thank you. This was a good round show.
- [45:00]
Jeff O'Neill
Notes bookride.com Listen. We do not put the names of the books in the show notes because.
- [45:06]
Rebecca Schinsky
We want you to listen to the episode.
- [45:07]
Jeff O'Neill
We want you to listen to the episode. We've got some questions about this. I know it can be annoying, but we make the show for people to listen to it, not to look at the show notes and look at the 10 titles. So there you go. I will say this as a member of our Patreon, we do have listeners that will listen to the show and put it there, which is fine, because they are subscribing to the Patreon and already contributing, and they're making their own.
- [45:31]
Rebecca Schinsky
Rules over there, which is fine. Everybody consents to look at those comments.
- [45:34]
Jeff O'Neill
Yeah. So podcast.com for moms, dads, grads, and other, if you've got feedback or responses or things, you know about these books or other things that I missed, always like to hear those if they are presented with, you know, constructive. Constructive approach. That's very helpful. And we're back in the saddle, Rebecca. It's. It's. We're coming into the heart of the. The first half of the book reading season.
- [45:56]
Rebecca Schinsky
Yeah. Glad to have you back. Welcome back to, you know, not Hawaii, but hopefully not too bad.
- [46:01]
Jeff O'Neill
Yeah, you know, this is a good way to come back. There's always a good time. All right, talk to y'all later.
- [46:11]
Rebecca Schinsky
Thanks so much for listening today. We hope you'll enjoy this excerpt from the audiobook edition of Heartbreaker, written and read by Mike Campbell.
- [46:20]
Mike Campbell
You don't know about me without having heard a band by the name of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, but that's okay. We played rock and roll together for a long time. So much has been written about us. Some of it is even true. But this is the first time one of us has tried to tell our story. I should say stories. A few of them, at least. There are a lot we could tell. Nobody would ever have imagined it would be me, of all people, to tell them. I was never much of a talker, but my wife, Marcy says I have gotten downright chatty in my old age. And she has been with me from the very beginning, so she would know. The Heartbreakers started in Los Angeles in 1976, but we all came from Gainesville, Florida. I was the guitar player. Stan was the drummer. He was wild and funny. And there was Ron, a sweet and sensitive guy and an incredible bass player. Rock and roll is not always the best line of work if you're sweet and sensitive. So for many years we had another bass player named Howie. It was a hard job for him, too, but in different ways. Benmont was there from the start. He was from Gainesville, too, but he was a little different from us. He was younger, he came from a good, loving home, and he was a genius. He could turn two chords into Booker T. Playing Beethoven symphonies. I would say he became one of the greatest rock and roll keyboard players of all time. But he was about as good as he is now. When he was 17, Tom used to say that about me, that I was as good a guitar player when he first heard me as I was when we got famous. The first time Tom ever heard me play was in 1970, in a shack outside Gainesville that I lived in. When I had nowhere else to go and I didn't know what to do with my life. I can't say the same for Tom. He was pretty good when we met. He had been playing in bands for a couple of years already. And then he got better and better and better. But even early on, when I couldn't fathom, not in my wildest dreams, how far he would take us, he never doubted it for a second. He once told his dad that if he would just get off his back, he would be a millionaire by the time he was 35. And he was right. Tom was a songwriter, too, like me, but also not like me. I could give Tom a tape of three chords that I recorded to play over while I practiced, and he would come back with lyrics. Thousands of people would sing with tears in their eyes. He wrote songs that gave people great courage and comfort. And sometimes he would give me a few verses over two chords and I would write a guitar part that made it a hit, that made people roll down the windows and drive faster when it came on the radio. Sometimes I would write a guitar line like that and try to throw it away, but he'd save it. Time after time, he heard things in me that I couldn't hear in myself. Tom never doubted that we would make it, when all I knew was that I had nowhere to go. Tom knew we were going to the top. Nothing was going to stop him. He was little and he was skinny, but he could be unbreakable. He could withstand pressure like nobody I have ever seen. Tom Petty was one of the toughest people I had ever met, but it could make him hard on people. And then he would feel bad and get down on himself. He worried a lot. Sometimes he made me so angry I couldn't look at him. But nothing could ever split us up. We were brothers from the same muse. Early on, before we even knew it, we made some unspoken deal that we were going down the line together, no matter what, me and him, full speed ahead, from the very beginning to the very end.