Steve Bertrand on Books

Charles Schutt is a former Chicago priest who left the Church after 17 years and then successfully moved to the world of corporate recruiting. And he wants you to know why. He’s got a new book out called “A True Story of a Catholic Priest: Why I Got In, Why I Got Out, and What […]

Maybe it’s in our 30s that the rubber finally meets the road and it’s time to confront life, maybe accept the fact that you can’t be anything you want to be after all. In a way, that’s a way to read Rachel Khong’s short story collection. It’s called “My Dear You.” Rachel says each short […]

Sometimes a small story can help to paint a much bigger picture. That’s the case with The Feather Wars by James H. McCommons. Actually, his is not a small story at all, it’s a remarkable accounting of America’s assault on birds around the Gilded Age. McCommons writes about flocks of birds more than a hundred […]

Clay Cane has written a pretty remarkable book in a personal, novel way. Burn Down Master’s House is a fictional account of a variety moments of resistance by several separate slaves in the days before the civil war. He fictionalizes the stories into one strand that stands as its own narrative. As a descendant of slaves, […]

When you think of Bob Dylan, what comes to mind? A cultural revolutionary, right? Lyrics, musicianship, even painting. But did you know Bob Dylan was a filmmaker? Fellow filmmaker Michael Glover Smith did….and his book Bob Dylan as Filmmaker: No Time to Think is out.

Irish writer Tana French joins Steve to talk about her Cal Hooper Series. Hooper is a retired Chicago police detective who settles into life in small town Ireland. It’s not as easy as it is sounds. And, don’t tell Steve, but the latest book The Keeper is the last in what turns out to be […]

Irish writer Colm Tóibín is a master, whether it’s his novels like Brooklyn or Nora Webster or The Testament of Mary, he has a settled style of writing that brings you not just to a place but to a specific moment. It’s the same for his short stories. His latest collection of stories is The […]

Alright, it’s time to move to the edge of your seat. Nick Petrie joins Steve to talk about his new thriller, The Dark Time. It’s the ninth book in his acclaimed Peter Ash series. The book takes on the threat of rapidly expanding Artificial Intelligence in a way only Peter Ash can.

One of the spring’s most anticipated books is a biography of American literary icon Judy Blume. Author Mark Oppenheimer joins Steve to talk about the writer who helped us grow up and how she’s developed as she’s grown up. Blume cooperated with the writing of the book but has kept her distance from the final […]

In this episode, Steve talks with two authors. Johnny Compton writes horror/fantasy stories and his latest is Dead First. Johnny has and interesting theory on horror stories. He says most of our most famous stories all have some aspect of horror in them. You might agree after you hear what he has to say. Also […]

Mark Greaney joins Steve to talk about The Hard Line, the 15th installment of his Gray Man thriller series. In the book, the intelligence community is under attack by selective assassins. It’s up to Court Gentry and his team to stop them. Greaney is well known to those who like to read on the edge of […]

How about we get a few chuckles from the emergency room? Dr. Ashely Alker takes a light-“hearted” look at how we die in “99 Ways to Die: And How to Avoid Them”. It’s actually a fun read with a very personal origin story. Ashely’s mom was diagnosed with a serious illness and the family couldn’t […]

Why is it we’re so drawn to Victorian novels? Charles Finch has some ideas. He’s the author behind the Charles Lenox detective series. His novel The Hidden City was a hit last year. Charles is also a respected book critic. That’s a job that comes with some heavy responsibility. He talks about that and about […]

In this episode of Steve Bertrand on Books, Steve talks with author Brad Meltzer. Brad has succeeded in every type of writing he’s explored, including television, non-fiction and even children’s books, but he’s best known for his thrillers. Brad is currently on the New York Times best seller list with The Viper. In the interview, […]

British writer Kazuo Ishiguro has been named the winner of the 2017 Nobel Prize in Literature. In 2015, he spoke with WGN Radio’s Steve Bertrand about his novel The Buried Giant: Kazuo Ishiguro, who has won the Man Booker Prize and been awarded the O.B.E., has been called one of Britain’s most important living novelists. […]

The New York Times has called Alan Furst “America’s preeminent spy novelist.” His new book, A Hero of France, about the French Resistance, is the first in a long time set during the war years, rather than the eve of World War II. He talks with Steve Bertrand on Books about the novel and about […]

Let’s go back to Boston in 1721. Historian Stephen Coss says it was one of the most influential years in U.S. history. And why not: We meet a young Ben Franklin, a chastised Cotton Mather and the beginning American arguments over faith and science. You’ll be surprised by who is on which side. Coss talks […]

Anna Quindlen has been telling us what we’re thinking,  or maybe how we’re thinking, for decades. First as a columnist for Newsweek and the New York Times and now as a novelist. She talks with Steve Bertrand on Books about her latest novel, “Miller’s Valley,” with stops along the way about what it means to […]

How many bad ideas have you had today? Wharton School of Business professor Adam Grant says the more the merrier, or original anyway. In his book Originals: How Non-conformists Move the World, Grant looks at what makes a truly original thinker. Bad ideas can be a good sign. Much more in this interview with Steve […]

Chris Pavone is not your run of the mill espionage writer. Think of it this this way: Pavone writes and about real and compelling people who happen to be spies. His latest novel, “The Travelers,” proves that point wonderfully. He talks with Steve Bertrand on Books about the novel, about writing, and about being a […]

Did you know the idea of an average person was unheard of until the 19th century?  Today, we measure ourselves against the average: the average ACT score, the average income, it goes on and on.  Harvard professor Todd Rose, who’s written “The End of Average,” says that’s a big mistake that costs us all.  He […]

Let’s do lunch with the 1960s socialites of New York City. Truman Capote will be there, so will Baby Paley. Novelist Melanie Benjamin writes about the rise and fall of Capote as seen through his relationships with the very rich in “Swans of Fifth Avenue: A Novel.” Melanie is the guest on  this edition of Steve Bertrand […]

Author Eric Weiner is chasing genius, trying to figure out what made Athens or Renaissance Florence tick. For that matter, what does today’s Silicon Valley have in common with Vienna during Mozart’s time or Edinburgh during the Enlightenment? He talks about his book The Geography of Genius in this edition of Steve Bertrand on Books.

Author Rebecca Makkai talks with Steve Bertrand on Books about her short story collection Music for Wartime.

Novelist Vanessa Diffenbaugh adopted her son when he was 25-years-old. That’s not surprising at all if you know her. Diffenbaugh writes books but she rescues hearts. She created the Camellia Network after her first novel “The Language of Flowers.” The non-profit helps children who “age-out” of foster care at 18-years-old and are then left on […]

Jami Attenberg, author of The Middlesteins, talks with Steve Bertrand on Books about her latest novel: Saint Mazie.

Pet coke, crooked politicians and corruption at Wrigley Field: today’s news or a new Sara Paretsky novel? Sara talks with Steve Bertrand on Books about V.I. Warshawky’s latest adventures in Brush Back. She and Steve also discuss her challenges as the president of the Mystery Writers of America.

Ryan Stradal’s debut novel Kitchens of the Great Midwest is getting rave reviews and it’s no wonder.  He talks with Steve Bertrand on Books about growing up in Minnesota and writing the book his mom would have loved.

Michel Faber talks with Steve Bertrand on Books about The Book of Strange New Things, a fantastical novel set in another world, but a story grounded very much on earth.

With the release of Harper Lee’s novel Go Set a Watchman, Steve Bertrand on Books gets the lowdown on Harper and Alice Lee with Marja Mills. Her book The Mockingbird Next Door details her time living next door to the Lee sisters in Monroeville, Alabama.

Brad Meltzer talks with Steve Bertrand on Books about the pull of parents, the secrets of Devil’s Island, and Ronald Reagan’s gun. It’s all in Meltzer’s latest political thriller, The President’s Shadow.

Michael Alan Peck is the winner of the 2015 Soon to Be Famous Authors Project. He talks with Steve Bertrand on Books about his award winning novel and the wonder of librarians.

Michael Harvey knows Chicago. The former CBS news producer proves that time and again with his hard-boiled Michael Kelly detective novels. He talks with Steve Bertrand on Books about his latest, The Governor’s Wife. Spoiler alert: The governor is a crook.

Mary Morris talks Jazz, Al Capone, and Chicago in the days of Prohibition with Steve Bertrand on Books. It’s all in her novel The Jazz Palace.

Maz Jobrani is an Iranian-born, American comedian who is looks at his life with both comedy and introspection in his memoir I’m Not a Terrorist, But I’ve Played One on TV. He talks with Steve Bertrand on Books about why he refuses to play a terrorist and why the King of Jordan has his cell […]

Kazuo Ishiguro, who has won the Man Booker Prize and been awarded the O.B.E., has been called one of Britain’s most important living novelists. His latest, The Buried Giant, examines the frailty of collective memory with the story of an elderly post-King Arthur era couple on their way to visit their long lost son. Their […]

New York Times columnist David Brooks says we’ve lost focus on the virtues that matter most: we worry too much about shallow accomplishments and not enough about the more meaningful behavior that truly makes a difference in the world. He talks with Steve Bertrand on Books about his book The Road to Character.

Erik Larson talks with Steve Bertrand on Books about Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania. It was 100 years ago this week that a German U-boat sank the ocean liner with a single torpedo.