The Book Show

Joe Donahue

4.6 (35)
BOOKS
UPDATED WEEKLY

Each week on The Book Show, host Joe Donahue interviews authors about their books, their lives and their craft. It is a celebration of both reading and writers.

FEB 10

The Book Show | Karl Ove Knausgaard - The School of Night

Few contemporary writers have examined the inner life with the intensity and candor of Karl Ove Knausgaard. His latest is “The School of Night.” In it, he interrogates memory, identity, art, and the meaning we try to impose on our lives.

27 min
JAN 27

The Book Show | George Saunders - Vigil

George Saunders is one of the most original voices in American fiction. His new novel, “Vigil,” follows Jill “Doll” Blaine, an afterlife usher summoned to guide an unrepentant oil tycoon toward death. Over one wild night, Saunders confronts power, greed, climate reckoning, and mercy itself.

27 min
JAN 6

The Book Show | Patrick Ryan - Buckeye

In his newest novel, "Buckeye," Patrick Ryan explores the ways families hold together even as the past threatens to pull them apart. Moving between generations, Ryan explores how we inherit not just our parents’ habits and hopes, but their unfinished business.

27 min
12/30/2025

The Book Show | Allison Russell - The Antidote [encore airing]

Karen Russell's latest, “The Antidote,” is a dust bowl novel and a reckoning with a nation’s forgetting that enacts the settler amnesia and omissions passed down from generation to generation.

27 min
12/23/2025

The Book Show | Ron Chernow - Mark Twain

In his latest biography, “Mark Twain,” Ron Chernow brings to life the man known as the father of American literature, Mark Twain. Chernow peels back the layers of this complex figure, showing us the man behind classics like “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” and “The Innocents Abroad.”

27 min
12/16/2025

The Book Show | Ann Packer - Some Bright Nowhere

Ann Packer’s newest novel, “Some Bright Nowhere,” marks a profound return after a decade: it tells the story of Eliot and Claire, married nearly forty years in a quiet Connecticut town, facing the toughest chapter of their lives when Claire’s long-running illness draws toward its end.

27 min
12/09/2025

The Book Show | Susan Orlean - Joyride

The Book Show

27 min
12/02/2025

The Book Show | Michael Connelly - The Proving Ground

Michael Connelly has long been a master at mapping the evolving landscape of crime and justice in America, and in his latest, "The Proving Ground," he turns his attention to one of the defining questions of the moment: what happens when artificial intelligence crosses dangerous ethical lines—and real people pay the price?

27 min

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4.6

out of 5

35 Ratings

Love it!

04/08/2025

Mavis M

I just discovered The Book Show and am enjoying it so much! I love hearing some of my favorite authors like Billy Collins (the definition of poetry is awesome), Kaveh Akbar (I'm a huge fan!), and Scott Turow (who knew he had a Chicago or Michigan accent (I think)? Looking forward to catching up! (PS - Joe Donahue sounds like David Letterman, right?!)
Best Author Interviews Out There

04/23/2017

Gingerrsnapped

Such an underrated show in the podcast sphere. I used to listen on the radio back east and it's a treasure trove for listening to some of the best authors.

Each week on The Book Show, host Joe Donahue interviews authors about their books, their lives and their craft. It is a celebration of both reading and writers.