Transatlantic Bookmarks

What makes a country worth loving? Is patriotism about flags, freedom, democracy, or the people who hold a nation together behind the scenes?In this episode of Transatlantic Bookmarks, we celebrate America’s 249th Independence Day by moving beyond the headlines to ask a bigger question: What makes a country worth fighting for, protecting, or simply loving? We discuss patriotism, democracy, American history, the Fourth of July, Michael Lewis’s Who Is Government?, Hamilton, Lonesome Dove, nationalism, citizenship, NATO, the European Union, Montenegro, and what literature can teach us about civic life.Whether you’re interested in books, politics, history, literary fiction, democracy, public service, patriotism, or thoughtful long-form conversations, we hope you’ll join us.📚 Books Mentioned• Who Is Government? edited by Michael Lewis• South and West by Joan Didion• Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry• Steep Trails by John Muir• The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain• Moneyball by Michael Lewis• Flash Boys by Michael Lewis• Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto• Ms. Mabel Goes to the Chopping Block by Jesse Q. Sutanto• The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell• Taiwan Travelogue by Yang Shuang-Zi💌 Our Substack & Show Notes:https://transatlanticbookmarks.substack.com/📚 Read Ksenija’s Novels:https://transatlanticbookmarks.substack.com/p/publications📚 Ksenija on Goodreads:https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6449766.Ksenija_Popovi_🎙️ ABOUT TRANSATLANTIC BOOKMARKSHosted by European novelist Ksenija Popović and American engineer Sue Graham Johnston, Transatlantic Bookmarks is a weekly literary podcast that uses books as the starting point for conversations about culture, history, psychology, morality, politics, and the questions hiding between the lines.New episodes every Saturday.👉🏻 CHAPTERS00:00 Intro00:42 Happy Fourth of July03:31 What We’re Reading08:09 American Democracy and Independence13:17 The Price of Independence in the Balkans24:05 Unsung Heroes in Government34:41 What Is Patriotism Today?51:34 Post-9/11 America and Post-Bataclan Paris54:57 Can One Person Make a Difference?01:04:12 Alexander Hamilton and the Founding Fathers01:14:19 Book Recommendations

What happens when distance changes the way we see the world—and ourselves?Inspired by Samantha Harvey’s Orbital, we explore the Overview Effect: the profound shift astronauts describe after seeing Earth from space. From there, the conversation expands into borders, war, loneliness, mortality, perspective, and the relief that can come from stepping back.Along the way, we discuss the International Space Station, the former Yugoslavia, Viktor Frankl's Man’s Search for Meaning, climate anxiety, AI and art, social media, body image, and why some books help us see familiar things from a completely different angle.📚 BOOKS MENTIONED:• Training for the Uphill Athlete by Steve House, Scott Johnston, and Kilian Jornet• Reading Like a Writer by Francine Prose• Orbital by Samantha Harvey• In Ascension by Martin MacInnes• Awe by Dacher Keltner• Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl• The Living Mountain by Nan Shepherd• Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell💌 Our Substack & Show Notes:https://transatlanticbookmarks.substack.com/📚 Read Ksenija’s Novels:https://transatlanticbookmarks.substack.com/p/publications📚 Ksenija on Goodreads:https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6449766.Ksenija_Popovi_🎙️ ABOUT TRANSATLANTIC BOOKMARKSHosted by European novelist Ksenija Popović and American engineer Sue Graham Johnston, Transatlantic Bookmarks uses books as the starting point for conversations about culture, history, psychology, morality, politics, and the questions hiding between the lines.New episodes every Saturday.👉🏻 CHAPTERS00:00 Intro00:25 What We’re Reading08:03 The Overview Effect19:14 Isolation vs. Connection26:09 When Borders Disappear33:46 Judging from a Distance39:05 Above Situationalists48:26 Literature and Human Empathy52:39 Literature, Climate, and the Earth59:08 Mortality, Meaning, and Daily Life01:01:40 Body Image and Beauty Standards01:08:08 Book Recommendations

What makes a book dangerous?In this episode of Transatlantic Bookmarks, we discuss banned books, censorship, school libraries, Pride Month, LGBTQ literature, free speech, and the role books play in helping us understand lives different from our own. From John Steinbeck and Upton Sinclair to Alice Walker and Andrew Sean Greer, we explore why certain books become cultural battlegrounds and who gets to decide what belongs on the shelf.We also discuss book bans in the United States, the difference between age-appropriate reading and censorship, the role of librarians, LGBTQ representation in literature, and why societies often seem more comfortable with violence than with sex. At the center of the conversation is a simple question: what do we lose when access to books becomes restricted?📚 BOOKS MENTIONED:• No Shortcuts to the Top by Ed Viesturs (with David Roberts)• Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer• White Teeth by Zadie Smith• The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck• Das Kapital by Karl Marx• Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck• The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand• The Works of Immanuel Kant• Less by Andrew Sean Greer• The Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer• The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare• Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell• The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M. Auel• Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak• The Jungle by Upton Sinclair• The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes• The Color Purple by Alice Walker💌 Our Substack & Show Notes:https://transatlanticbookmarks.substack.com/📚 Read Ksenija’s Novels:https://transatlanticbookmarks.substack.com/p/publications📚 Ksenija on Goodreads:https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6449766.Ksenija_Popovi_🎙️ ABOUT TRANSATLANTIC BOOKMARKSHosted by European novelist Ksenija Popović and American engineer Sue Graham Johnston, Transatlantic Bookmarks uses books as the starting point for conversations about culture, history, psychology, morality, politics, and the questions hiding between the lines.New episodes every Saturday.👉🏻 CHAPTERS00:00 Intro02:49 What We’re Reading05:21 The Fear of a Different Opinion08:54 The Role of Literature in Critical Thinking09:20 Pride Month and LGBTQ Representation16:23 Cultural Divides in America21:23 Book Banning in the United States25:55 The Case for Censorship33:46 The Hypocrisy of Censorship38:03 Censoring Socialism43:36 LGBTQIA+ in the Balkans49:28 Unexpected Events and Personal Stories51:13 Pride Marches: Corporate Influence vs. Authenticity52:45 The Role of Librarians in Democracy56:13 Both Sides Are Banning

What happens to a book when it crosses a border?In this episode of Transatlantic Bookmarks, we discuss translation, multilingualism, dialects, cultural context, and whether it is ever possible to experience a book exactly as its author intended. Ksenija shares her experience writing a novel in English rather than her native language, the politics of language in the former Yugoslavia, and the disastrous translation that nearly ruined Steinbeck for her forever.Along the way, we explore translated literature, Asian fiction, letter writing, the global dominance of English, the challenge of translating poetry, and the books that helped us understand cultures far beyond our own.📚 BOOKS MENTIONED:• The Correspondent by Virginia Evans• Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler• Orbital by Samantha Harvey• Fathers Before Sons by Ksenija Popović• Commissario Montalbano by Andrea Camilleri• Swann’s Way by Marcel Proust• The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck• Journey to the West by Wu Cheng’en• Sputnik Sweetheart by Haruki Murakami• Pachinko by Min Jin Lee• The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy• Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell• The Castle of Crossed Destinies by Italo Calvino• The Solitude of Prime Numbers by Paolo Giordano💌 Our Substack & Show Notes:https://transatlanticbookmarks.substack.com/📚 Read Ksenija’s Novels:https://transatlanticbookmarks.substack.com/p/publications📚 Ksenija on Goodreads:https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6449766.Ksenija_Popovi_🎙️ ABOUT TRANSATLANTIC BOOKMARKSHosted by European novelist Ksenija Popović and American engineer Sue Graham Johnston, Transatlantic Bookmarks uses books as the starting point for conversations about culture, history, psychology, morality, politics, and the questions hiding between the lines.New episodes every Saturday.👉🏻 CHAPTERS00:00 Intro07:57 The Football World Cup10:49 What We’re Reading12:32 How Many Languages Do Ksenija (and Melania Trump) Speak?19:08 The Challenges of Writing in a Foreign Language24:57 Accents and Dialects34:15 The Woes of Reading in Translation41:25 The United States and the Hegemony of English49:36 Asian Literature55:48 Why Ksenija Talks (a Lot!)58:15 Getting a Sense of Place Through Literature1:03:05 The Translator from Hell1:06:18 Translating Poetry1:08:20 Examples of Translation Gems1:10:07 Book Banning in the United States1:12:44 Book Recommendations1:14:29 Setting the Record Straight on Tolstoy

Daniel Kehlmann’s The Director, shortlisted for the 2026 International Booker Prize, tells the story of legendary filmmaker G.W. Pabst and raises a question that extends far beyond one artist or one historical moment: what happens when creative people find themselves face to face with power?In this episode of Transatlantic Bookmarks, we discuss the uneasy relationship between artists and tyrants, artistic freedom, censorship, free speech, and the compromises creators make to survive. From Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia to modern publishing, Hollywood, and social media, we explore where the line lies between pragmatism and complicity, whether great art can be separated from its creator, and why these debates remain as relevant today as ever.📚 BOOKS MENTIONED:• The Director by Daniel Kehlmann• The Sisters by Jonas Hassen Khemiri• Isola by Allegra Goodman• Departure(s) by Julian Barnes• Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling• Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy• War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy• Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak• The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli• Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl• One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez• The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand• Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand💌 Our Substack & Show Notes:https://transatlanticbookmarks.substack.com/📚 Read Ksenija’s Novels:https://transatlanticbookmarks.substack.com/p/publications📚 Ksenija on Goodreads:https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6449766.Ksenija_Popovi_🎙️ ABOUT TRANSATLANTIC BOOKMARKSHosted by European novelist Ksenija Popović and American engineer Sue Graham Johnston, Transatlantic Bookmarks uses books as the starting point for conversations about culture, history, psychology, morality, politics, and the questions hiding between the lines.New episodes every Saturday.👉🏻 CHAPTERS00:00 Intro00:44 What We’re Reading06:42 The Director by Daniel Kehlmann11:33 Historical Context of Artists and Power18:05 Moral Dilemmas in Artistic Integrity25:15 The Different Standards for Artists, Tech Bros, and Podcast Bros30:00 Censorship in the Publishing Industry39:03 The Nuances of Free Speech41:06 Art, Politics, and the Artist’s Responsibility49:05 Does Great Art Require Angst?51:14 The Compromises of Artistic Freedom1:06:26 Book Recommendation

The 2025 adaptation of Wuthering Heights has reignited debate about race, casting, and fidelity to the source material. But the controversy raises a larger question: why do some books survive adaptation beautifully while others lose everything essential about them?In this episode of Transatlantic Bookmarks, we discuss Wuthering Heights, Hollywood’s relationship with literature, the challenges of adapting classic novels, and whether some books should simply be left alone. From Emily Brontë and Milan Kundera to Sally Rooney and Maggie O’Farrell, we explore what happens when stories move from page to screen, why authors often lose control of their work, and whether film can ever truly capture what makes a novel great.📚 BOOKS MENTIONED:• The Correspondent by Virginia Evans• Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë• The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera• Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell• Normal People by Sally Rooney• Life of Pi by Yann Martel• Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir• The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón• One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez• The Favorites by Layne Fargo• Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry• Butter by Asako Yuzuki💌 Our Substack & Show Notes:https://transatlanticbookmarks.substack.com/📚 Read Ksenija’s Novels:https://transatlanticbookmarks.substack.com/p/publications📚 Ksenija on Goodreads:https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6449766.Ksenija_Popovi_🎙️ ABOUT TRANSATLANTIC BOOKMARKSHosted by European novelist Ksenija Popović and American engineer Sue Graham Johnston, Transatlantic Bookmarks uses books as the starting point for conversations about culture, history, psychology, morality, politics, and the questions hiding between the lines.New episodes every Saturday.👉🏻 CHAPTERS00:00 Intro04:39 Wuthering Heights, the 2025 Adaptation13:45 The Racial Component of Wuthering Heights and the 2011 Adaptation19:08 Why Charlotte Brontë Renounced Wuthering Heights22:53 Hollywood’s Relationship with Literature28:29 An Author’s Perspective on Adaptations32:11 Why Jacob Elordi’s Heathcliff Disappointed Ksenija33:18 How Sue Discovered The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera34:16 Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell35:47 Normal People by Sally Rooney and the Masterful Acting of Paul Mescal38:06 Do Authors Write with a Movie in Mind?41:59 Life of Pi by Yann Martel43:22 Books That Shouldn’t Be Adapted45:52 The Good and Bad of Audiobooks47:46 Female Authors and Adaptations50:20 Retellings of Classics: The Favorites by Layne Fargo51:59 Playful Remakes of Jane Austen and William Shakespeare53:37 Ksenija’s Favorite Wuthering Heights Adaptation

The shortlist for the 2026 Women’s Prize for Fiction is out, sparking an important debate: does the term “women’s writing” still make sense today, and do we still need prizes dedicated exclusively to female authors?In the very first episode of Transatlantic Bookmarks, we discuss women’s writing, literary prizes, and whether male experience is still treated as the default universal perspective in literature. We also share some of our favorite female authors and talk about the books we love most.📚 BOOKS MENTIONED:• The Ending Writes Itself by Evelyn Clarke• Heart the Lover by Lily King• The Correspondent by Virginia Evans• 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff• Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver• The Secret History by Donna Tartt• The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt• The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy• The Bridge on the Drina by Ivo Andrić💌 Our Substack & Show Notes:https://transatlanticbookmarks.substack.com/📚 Read Ksenija’s Novels:https://transatlanticbookmarks.substack.com/p/publications📚 Ksenija on Goodreads:https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6449766.Ksenija_Popovi_🎙️ ABOUT TRANSATLANTIC BOOKMARKSHosted by European novelist Ksenija Popović and American engineer Sue Graham Johnston, Transatlantic Bookmarks uses books as the starting point for conversations about culture, history, psychology, morality, politics, and the questions hiding between the lines.New episodes every Saturday.👉🏻 CHAPTERS00:00 Intro01:14 The Ending Writes Itself by Evelyn Clarke04:35 Heart the Lover by Lily King05:33 The Correspondent by Virginia Evans07:05 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff07:24 Defining Women’s Fiction12:20 Women Read More13:06 The Balkan Perspective15:53 The American Perspective19:59 The Disparity in Literary Awards22:42 Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver and the Opioid Epidemic33:20 Is Women’s Prize for Fiction DEI?41:55 Do We Read More Female or Male Authors?46:04 The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy47:39 Donna Tartt’s The Goldfinch and The Secret History50:00 The Bridge on the Drina by Ivo Andrić53:20 Book Recommendations