Among Books

Kouvenda Media
  • 5.0 (3)
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Among Books is a passion project about reading and more. The show brings the spirit of Kouvenda — a Greek word for chat, talk, conversation — front and center. With a focus on reading, guests discuss various books and share aspects of their lives in conversations that unfold from the lighthearted to the profound and everything in between. Produced and hosted by Stephanie Marudas of Kouvenda Media and mixed by Brad Linder, Among Books is recorded in person at the cozy Hilltop Books in Northwest Philadelphia. Show notes for episodes include reading lists based on the conversations. For more about Kouvenda Media: https://www.kouvendamedia.com/ For more about Hilltop Books: https://hilltopbooks.org/

Episodes

  1. 10/24/2025

    Among Books with John Lobron | Ep 6

    John Lobron sits down at Hilltop Books for an Among Books conversation with Stephanie Marudas. John is the librarian and a social studies teacher at Central High School in Philadelphia.    To learn more about John:  https://centralhighalumni.com/2016/12/students-dont-know-todays-library-can-set-back/   Episode hosted and produced by Stephanie Marudas of Kouvenda Media and mixed by Brad Linder. For more about Kouvenda Media and Hilltop Books: https://www.kouvendamedia.com/ https://www.instagram.com/kouvendamedia/?hl=en https://www.facebook.com/kouvendamedia https://hilltopbooks.org/ https://www.instagram.com/hilltopbooksphilly/?hl=en https://www.facebook.com/hilltopbooksphilly/   POST-SHOW READING LIST The Underground Railroad By  Colson Whitehead    The East Indian  By Brinda Charry    Curious George By Margret Rey and H.A. Rey    The Hobbit  By J.R.R. Tolkien    Biographies of  Thomas Alva Edison, Ben Franklin, Amelia Earhart, Henry Ford    National Geographic Magazine   The Grapes of Wrath  By John Steinbeck   The Pearl By John Steinbeck   Two Years Before the Mast  By Richard Henry Dana Jr.   "There's a Very Good Reason College Students Don't Read Anymore" By Jonathan Malesic Guest Essay published in The New York Times October 25, 2024  https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/25/opinion/college-university-students-reading.html   The Bible    The Quran    Billy Budd, Foretopman  By Herman Melville    ***Additional titles John shared after the recorded conversation:    The Name of the Rose  By Umberto Eco      Meditations  By Marcus Aurelius    A Farewell to Arms By Ernest Hemingway   The Old Man and the Sea  By Ernest Hemingway    The Sun Also Rises  By Ernest Heminway    The Fire Next Time  By James Baldwin    Go Tell it on the Mountain  By James Baldwin    Notes of a Native Son  By James Baldwin    Native Son  By Richard Wright    Small Things Like These By Claire Keegan   The Hunter By Tana French   The Searcher By Tana French   In the Woods  By Tana French   The Heather Blazing By Colm Tóibín   Brooklyn  By Colm Tóibín   Heart, Be at Peace By Donal Ryan   The Queen of Dirt Island By Donal Ryan   From a Low and Quiet Sea  By Donal Ryan   The Spinning Heart  By Donal Ryan   The Thing About December By Donal Ryan   All We Shall Know By Donal Ryan   A Slanting of the Sun: Stories  By Donal Ryan   History Through Literature booklist that John discussed on the episode:  https://sites.google.com/philasd.org/history-through-literature

    34 min

  2. 10/17/2025

    Among Books with Daralyse Lyons | Ep 5

    Daralyse Lyons sits down at Hilltop Books for an Among Books conversation with Stephanie Marudas. Until recently, Daralyse was the publisher and executive director of The Chestnut Hill Local, an independent weekly newspaper serving Northwest Philadelphia and Southeastern Montgomery County. This conversation was recorded earlier this year when she was still in that position. Daralyse is now Chief Revenue Officer for The Bucks County Beacon. To learn more about Daralyse:  https://www.daralyselyons.com/   Episode hosted and produced by Stephanie Marudas of Kouvenda Media and mixed by Brad Linder. For more about Kouvenda Media and Hilltop Books: https://www.kouvendamedia.com/ https://www.instagram.com/kouvendamedia/?hl=en https://www.facebook.com/kouvendamedia https://hilltopbooks.org/ https://www.instagram.com/hilltopbooksphilly/?hl=en https://www.facebook.com/hilltopbooksphilly/   POST-SHOW READING LIST The Red Tent  By Anita Diamant   Can't Stop Thinking: How to Let Go of Anxiety and Free Yourself from Obsessive Rumination By Nancy Colier   Mirrors, Windows, and Sliding Glass Doors By Rudine Sims Bishop  *Essay was published in Perspectives: Choosing and Using Books for the Classroom. Vo. 6., no. 3. Summer 1990  https://scenicregional.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Mirrors-Windows-and-Sliding-Glass-Doors.pdf Video with Rudine Sims Bishop  https://www.bing.com/videos/riverview/relatedvideo?q=rudine+bishop+mirrors&mid=31495DB44F953A75790231495DB44F953A757902&FORM=VAMTRV   Year of Yes: How to Dance It Out, Stand In the Sun and Be Your Own Person By Shonda Rhimes   The Emotional Yoga Experience: Use Your Body to Heal Your Mind By Daralyse Lyons   The EFT Manual By Gary Craig   A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of "A Course in Miracles" By Marianne Williamson  *Includes the poem "Our Deepest Fear"    The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Englightenment  By Eckhart Tolle    The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life  By Mark Manson    Do or Do Not: How to Improvise Like a Jedi By Mary C Carpenter    Bridge to Terabithia  By Katherine Paterson ***Remember Reading podcast episode about Bridge to Terabithia produced by Kouvenda Media*** https://pod.link/1447897366/episode/dGFnOnNvdW5kY2xvdWQsMjAxMDp0cmFja3MvNjMyMTc5NjY1   Number the Stars By Lois Lowry   Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters  By John Steptoe   Anansi the Spider: A Tale from the Ashanti By Gerald McDermott   The Art of Memoir  By Mary Karr    Summer Sisters By Judy Bloom

    28 min

  3. 10/10/2025

    Among Books with David Woo | Ep 4

    David Woo sits down at Hilltop Books for an Among Books conversation with Stephanie Marudas. David is an actor and serves on the Philadelphia local board of the SAG-AFTRA union.  To learn more about David:  https://www.southcamdentheatre.org/how-the-light-gets-in/ https://www.sagaftra.org/philadelphia-0 https://whyy.org/articles/audio-of-radio-times-program-featuring-weavers-ways-david-woo/   Episode hosted and produced by Stephanie Marudas of Kouvenda Media and mixed by Brad Linder. For more about Kouvenda Media and Hilltop Books: https://www.kouvendamedia.com/ https://www.instagram.com/kouvendamedia/?hl=en https://www.facebook.com/kouvendamedia https://hilltopbooks.org/ https://www.instagram.com/hilltopbooksphilly/?hl=en https://www.facebook.com/hilltopbooksphilly/   Post-Show Reading List  Democracy in America  By Alexis De Tocqueville    Jack Ryan Series By Tom Clancy    The Brotherhood of War Series By W.E.B. Griffin   Boards That Make a Difference: A New Design for Leadership in Nonprofit and Public Organizations By John Carver   The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness By Michelle Alexander   Respect for Acting By Uta Hagen with Haskel Frankel   National Cooperative Business Association: NCBA CLUSA https://ncbaclusa.coop/   Weavers Way Co-Operative Association: The First 50 Years, published in The Germantown Crier, 2023 By Thomas F. Boyle *Related article published in The Shuttle, the newspaper of Weavers Way Co-op https://share.google/kD3X0V5XkxdyTwLO0   In Wake of financial scandal, Weavers Way looks to implement additional oversight By Aaron Moselle https://share.google/Mvq8ZS7tTH5l4YEqN   Encyclopedia Britannica https://www.britannica.com/   Gen. Robert E. Lee owned slaves https://apnews.com/article/archive-fact-checking-9009420680

    37 min

  4. 10/03/2025

    Among Books with Marlene Patterson and Nadine Patterson | Ep 3

    Marlene Patterson and Nadine Patterson sit down at Hilltop Books for an Among Books conversation with Stephanie Marudas. They are mother and daughter and run a film production company called HipCinema, which stands for Harmony Image Productions Cinema.   To learn more about Marlene Patterson and Nadine Patterson:  https://hipcinema.net/ https://archive.storycorps.org/interviews/marlene-patterson-and-nadine-patterson/   Episode hosted and produced by Stephanie Marudas of Kouvenda Media and mixed by Brad Linder. For more about Kouvenda Media and Hilltop Books: https://www.kouvendamedia.com/ https://www.instagram.com/kouvendamedia/?hl=en https://www.facebook.com/kouvendamedia https://hilltopbooks.org/ https://www.instagram.com/hilltopbooksphilly/?hl=en https://www.facebook.com/hilltopbooksphilly/   POST-SHOW READING LIST Don Quixote By Miguel De Cervantes Saavedra   The Good Earth  By Pearl S. Buck    Various speeches and writings by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., including:  Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?   Green Eggs and Ham  By Dr. Seuss   The First Hidden Figure: Lewis Latimer  By Steve Mitnick    Popular Mechanics Magazine   Nancy Drew Mystery Stories  By Carolyn Keene   History/Biography of George Washington Carver   The Oz Books  By L. Frank Baum   Biographies/African American History Golden Legacy Series https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Legacy   The Foundation Trilogy  By Isaac Asimov   The Illustrated Man  By Ray Bradbury   Kindred By Octavia Butler    Lovely One: A Memoir By Ketanji Brown Jackson    Proud Shoes: The Story of an American Family  By Pauli Murray   The Short: Personal Writing Tools to Free the Imagination  By Rae Shaw   God Bless the Child By Kristin Hunter   Zamani Goes to Market By Muriel Feelings   Moja Means One  By Muriel Feelings   Jambo Means Hello: Swahili Alphabet Book By Muriel Feelings   Beloved  By Toni Morrison    The Salt Eaters By Toni Cade Bambara    The Abolitionist Sisterhood: Women's Political Culture in Antebellum America  Edited by Jean Fagan Yellin and John C. Van Horne    Aurora Reading Club of Pittsburgh   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurora_Reading_Club_of_Pittsburgh   Nadine Patterson's collaboration with Emiko Tonooka, a Japanese American photographer and writer at Scribe Video Center:  https://scribe.org/catalogue/shizue    Anna Russell Jones documentary produced by HipCinema with Toni Cade Bambara. https://hipcinema.net/work/

    41 min

  5. 09/26/2025

    Among Books with PA State Senator Art Haywood | Ep 2

    Pennsylvania State Senator Art Haywood sits down at Hilltop Books for an Among Books conversation with Stephanie Marudas. Senator Haywood represents the state's 4th Senatorial District, which includes Montgomery & Philadelphia Counties. To learn more about Senator Haywood:  https://www.palegis.us/senate/members/bio/1689/senator-art-haywood Senator Haywood's Book Campaigns for COMPASSION: A Story of Community Change  https://outskirtspress.com/arthaywood   Episode hosted and produced by Stephanie Marudas of Kouvenda Media and mixed by Brad Linder. For more about Kouvenda Media and Hilltop Books: https://www.kouvendamedia.com/ https://www.instagram.com/kouvendamedia/?hl=en https://www.facebook.com/kouvendamedia https://hilltopbooks.org/ https://www.instagram.com/hilltopbooksphilly/?hl=en https://www.facebook.com/hilltopbooksphilly/   POST-SHOW READING LIST Lovely One: A Memoir By Ketanji Brown Jackson   Dying of Whiteness: How the Politics of Racial Resentment Is Killing America's Heartland By Jonathan M. Metzl   The Bible   Gandhi: An Autobiography - The Story of My Experiments With Truth By Mahatma Gandhi   Clyde: The Walt Frazier Story  By Walt Frazier and Joe Jares   Waging a Good War: A Military History of the Civil Rights Movement, 1954-1968 By Thomas E. Ricks   Campaigns for COMPASSION: A Story of Community Change  By Art Haywood   The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters  By Priya Parker    The Crisis of the Negro Intellectual: A Historical Analysis of the Failure of Black Leadership  By Harold Cruse   Dusk of Dawn: An Essay Toward an Autobiography of a Race Concept  By W.E.B. Du Bois   The Souls of Black Folk   By W.E.B. Du Bois   The Negro's Civil War: How American Blacks Felt and Acted During the War for the Union  By James M. McPherson

    40 min

  6. 09/19/2025

    Among Books with Lauren Cristella | Ep 1

    Lauren Cristella sits down at Hilltop Books for an Among Books conversation with Stephanie Marudas. Lauren is the President and CEO for the Committee of 70, a nonpartisan good government watchdog group in Philadelphia. To learn more about Lauren: https://seventy.org/staff-board/lauren-cristella Episode hosted and produced by Stephanie Marudas of Kouvenda Media and mixed by Brad Linder. For more about Kouvenda Media and Hilltop Books: https://www.kouvendamedia.com/ https://www.instagram.com/kouvendamedia/?hl=en https://www.facebook.com/kouvendamedia https://hilltopbooks.org/ https://www.instagram.com/hilltopbooksphilly/?hl=en https://www.facebook.com/hilltopbooksphilly/   POST-SHOW READING LIST  Harry Potter By J.K. Rowling    Little Women  By Louisa May Alcott   Madame Secretary: A Memoir  By Madeleine Albright   Hell and Other Destinations: A 21st-Century Memoir By Madeleine Albright    Sideways Stories from Wayside School By Louis Sachar ***Remember Reading podcast episode about Sideways Stories from Wayside School produced by Kouvenda Media*** https://pod.link/1447897366/episode/dGFnOnNvdW5kY2xvdWQsMjAxMDp0cmFja3MvNjE0MzE2MDg0   The Gatekeepers: How the White House Chiefs of Staff Define Every Presidency  By Chris Whipple   A Full Life: Reflections at Ninety By Jimmy Carter    Churchill: Walking with Destiny By Andrew Roberts   Grant By Ron Chernow   The Man Who Ran Washington: The Life and Times of James A. Baker III By Peter Baker and Susan Glasser   Romney: A Reckoning By McKay Coppins   Oath and Honor: A Memoir and a Warning  By Liz Cheney   The Art of Power: My Story as America's First Woman Speaker of the House By Nancy Pelosi   Inner Excellence: Train Your Mind for Extraordinary Performance and the Best Possible Life By Jim Murphy   Chain-Gang All-Stars By Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah   How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America  By Clint Smith   Meditations By Marcus Aurelius   Eleven Rings: The Soul of Success By Phil Jackson and Hugh Delehanty     A Sense of Where You Are: Bill Bradley at Princeton By John McPhee   The Education of an Idealist: A Memoir  By Samantha Power   An Unfinished Love Story: A Personal History of the 1960s By Doris Kearns Goodwin   The Gift of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You're Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are By Brené Brown And for additional titles by Brené Brown https://brenebrown.com/books-audio   A Story Lately Told: Coming of Age in Ireland, London, and New York By Anjelica Huston    Watch Me: A Memoir By Anjelica Huston   Orbiting the Giant Hairball: A Corporate Fool's Guide to Surviving with Grace By Gordon MacKenzie   The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters By Priya Parker   Democracy for Kids Reading List https://seventy.org/youth-civics/democracy-for-kids/reading-list/70-children-s-books-from-c70 https://seventy.org/youth-civics/democracy-for-kids/reading-list   The Soul of America: The Battle for Our Better Angels By Jon Meacham   Calm the Chaos: A Fail-Proof Road Map for Parenting Even the Most Challenging Kids  By Dayna Abraham   How to Stop Losing your Sh*t with Your Kids: A Practical Guide to Becoming a Calmer, Happier Parent  By Carla Naumburg   The Whole-Brain Child: 12 Revolutionary Strategies to Nurture Your Child's Developing Mind  By Daniel J. Siegel M.D. and Tina Payne Bryson

    33 min
  7. Trailer: Among Books

    Season 1 Trailer

    Trailer: Among Books

    Among Books is a passion project about reading and more. The show brings the spirit of Kouvenda — a Greek word for chat, talk, conversation — front and center. With a focus on reading, guests discuss various books and share aspects of their lives in conversations that unfold from the lighthearted to the profound and everything in between. Produced and hosted by Stephanie Marudas of Kouvenda Media and mixed by Brad Linder, Among Books is recorded in person at the cozy Hilltop Books in Northwest Philadelphia. Show notes for each episode include a related reading list. https://www.kouvendamedia.com/ https://hilltopbooks.org/

    2 min

Trailer

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
3 Ratings

About

Among Books is a passion project about reading and more. The show brings the spirit of Kouvenda — a Greek word for chat, talk, conversation — front and center. With a focus on reading, guests discuss various books and share aspects of their lives in conversations that unfold from the lighthearted to the profound and everything in between. Produced and hosted by Stephanie Marudas of Kouvenda Media and mixed by Brad Linder, Among Books is recorded in person at the cozy Hilltop Books in Northwest Philadelphia. Show notes for episodes include reading lists based on the conversations. For more about Kouvenda Media: https://www.kouvendamedia.com/ For more about Hilltop Books: https://hilltopbooks.org/

Information

  • Creator
    Kouvenda Media
  • Years Active
    2K
  • Episodes
    7
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2025
  • Show Website
    Among Books