Bookmarks: Authors on Their Life-Changing Encounters With Books

If you could ask Margaret Atwood one question, what would it be? We came up with a good one. In fact, we asked Atwood, Tommy Orange, Lidia Yuknavitch, Jericho Brown and many more writers and creators the same question – “What book have you read that you’d consider personally life-changing, and why?” Their answers are the subject of “Bookmarks,” a new podcast from Wisconsin Public Radio and the producers of “To The Best Of Our Knowledge.”

“Great writers are great readers. And boy do they have stories to tell. Not just about the books they write, but about the books they read,” said Charles Monroe-Kane, senior producer of “To The Best Of Our Knowledge” and “Bookmarks.” “We’ve been asking authors for years to tell a story about that one book that left a mark. And oh my God, they’re so good. Funny, sexy, surprising, poignant. So now, we’re sharing them with listeners in this special bite-sized podcast. The lineup is incredible: Alice Walker, Phillip Pullman, Anne Lamott, Orhan Pamuk, even Werner Herzog. In the end, maybe the book that marked one of these authors just might leave a mark on you. It’s about three minutes every week of awesome.”

About "To The Best Of Our Knowledge" (TTBOOK)

TTBOOK is a nationally syndicated, Peabody award-winning radio show where long-form interviews lead us to dive headlong into the deeper end of ideas. We have conversations with novelists and poets, scientists and software engineers, journalists and historians, filmmakers and philosophers, artists and activists—anyone with a big idea and a passion to have a creative and engaging conversation about it.

About Wisconsin Public Radio 

For over 100 years, Wisconsin Public Radio has served the people of Wisconsin with quality news, music, talk and entertainment. On air, online and in the community - we work for Wisconsin. WPR is a service of the Educational Communications Board and University of Wisconsin-Madison. Listen, learn more and donate at www.wpr.org. 

Catch up on previous episodes

an illustration of a knight in armor

Helen Macdonald On 'The Dark Is Rising'

Every year, at holiday time, "H is for Hawk" author Helen Macdonald reads this tale of a boy who finds out he's one of the "old ones," part of a series from author Susan Cooper. She says it reconnects her with a sense of wonder inspired by what might lurk beneath the surface of the seen world.

Huck Finn

Enrique Salmon on 'The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'

“The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain is one of the most controversial books in the American literary canon, particularly because of its frequent use of the N word. But for Enrique Salmon, a young Native kid trying to master the English language, “Huckleberry Finn” was the book that launched his lifelong love of reading.

A wolf

Quan Barry on 'White Fang'

"White Fang" by Jack London is a classic outdoor adventure story about a wild wolf-dog's struggle to survive in the Yukon Territory during the 1890's Gold Rush. Writer Quan Barry read it for the first time at age 11 and learned just how powerful a book can be. 

pie

Lulu Miller on 'The Search for Delicious'

Lulu Miller, author of “Why Fish Don’t Exist,” first read the young adult book “The Search for Delicious” when she was in that transformative and uncertain stage in between childhood and adulthood.

children's book illustration of a city street

Ada Calhoun on 'Street Through Time'

There’s a book that author Ada Calhoun thinks of as both one of her favorites to read out loud with her son, as well as one that has inspired her own writing. It’s “A Street Through Time: The 12,000 Year Journey Along the Same Street ” — a story of one street, leading the reader through historical events and the passage of time, with the street itself starring as the main character.

A knight at the gates

Nicola Griffith on 'The Blue Sword'

A girl, a horse, and a magical sword save a kingdom in Robin McKinley's young adult classic, "The Blue Sword" — a book beloved by women of all ages. "Hild" author Nikola Griffith explains why. 

Street Through Time by Anne Millard
Gene Smith's Sink by Sam Stephenson
'A Confederacy of Dunces' by John Kennedy Toole
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Kamikaze Diaries
Anne of Green Gables by LM Montgomery
Reasons of the State