Enjoy recent author events, interviews, and bookseller series. Visit our website to learn more: www.skylightbooks.com
Episodes
Thursday Feb 22, 2024
SKYLIT: Tommy Orange, WANDERING STARS
Thursday Feb 22, 2024
Thursday Feb 22, 2024
It's a sneak peek special! Skylight's own Elodie sits down with the incredible Tommy Orange (There, There) to talk about his new novel Wandering Stars (Feb. 27)...listen in for a reading of an excerpt, Tommy's thoughts on Native American representation and why he's hopeful for the future.
To pre-order Wandering Stars: https://www.skylightbooks.com/book/9780593318256
Edited by Mick Kowaleski
Music by Duck the Piano Wire
Thursday Sep 28, 2023
Thursday Sep 28, 2023
It's spooky season, and our LITTLE GREY CELLS are HAUNTED! Former Skylight booksellers Natalie Freeman and Allison Miriam Smith return to the store to join Allan, Tyler, and Justin for the Better Than the Movie crew's most rambunctious (and, let's admit it, CHAOTIC) episode yet.
This fulsome fivesome discuss Kenneth Branagh's third movie outing as detective Hercule Poirot, A HAUNTING IN VENICE, and its credited source material, HALLOWE'EN PARTY by Agatha Christie, which is a completely different story. It's a SPOILERS-HEAVY discussion, full of digressions and talking over each other. Lots of laughter and fun.
Produced by Justin Remer and Mick Kowaleski.
Opening music: "Rumination: If I Should Die (Slowed / Instrumental)" by Duck the Piano Wire
Closing music: "Rule of 3s (Solemnity Child)" by Elastic No-No Band
Thursday Aug 24, 2023
Better Than the Movie, Ep. 6: MISERY w/ Mark Rennie
Thursday Aug 24, 2023
Thursday Aug 24, 2023
She's his number one fan. The hilarious and well-read Mark Rennie (TWO OLD QUEENS podcast) joins a reduced BTTM crew to discuss MISERY, the Stephen King novel and the Oscar-winning film from screenwriter William Goldman and director Rob Reiner. (And cinematographer Barry Sonnenfeld!!) With a new documentary about King adaptations out in theaters, KING ON SCREEN, the fellas also discuss some other King faves on page and screen.
Produced by Justin Remer and Mick Kowaleski.
Opening music: "Optimism (Instrumental)" by Duck the Piano Wire
Closing music: "Rule of 3s (Solemnity Child)" by Elastic No-No Band
Thursday May 18, 2023
Better Than the Movie, Ep.4: ARE YOU THERE GOD? IT’S ME, MARGARET
Thursday May 18, 2023
Thursday May 18, 2023
It's Three Men and a Little Lady! Allan, Justin, and Tyler tackle the long-delayed feature film adaptation of the iconic "Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret" by legendary children's author Judy Blume. The flick has got a great creative team, including director Kelly Fremon Craig ("The Edge of Seventeen") and Oscar-winning producer James L. Brooks ("Terms of Endearment"). The BTTM fellas talk coming-of-age stories, Rachel McAdams's Oscar chances, Benny Safdie's unexpected suavity, Kathy Bates's Jewish grandmother qualities, and much more. (BTW the movie Justin can't remember around the 10-minute mark is a French-Canadian film called "Slut in a Good Way." Check it out, it's fun!)
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Produced by Justin Remer and Mick Kowaleski
Opening music: "Optimism (Instrumental)" by Duck the Piano Wire
Closing music: "Rule of 3s (Solemnity Child)" by Elastic No-No Band
Thursday Mar 23, 2023
Better Than the Movie, Ep. 2: ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT
Thursday Mar 23, 2023
Thursday Mar 23, 2023
The boys are back! Justin, Allan, and Tyler return for the second episode of Better Than the Movie. This time, they're going over not one, but TWO adaptations of Erich Maria Remarque's war classic All Quiet on the Western Front: the 1930 Best Picture winner, directed by Lewis Milestone, and the 2022 German-language version directed by Edward Berger. What are the gang's takes on the war movie canon? Does either adaptation stack up to the original novel? What did you, the fans decide? The anticipation is killing me!
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Produced by Mick Kowaleski and Justin Remer
Music by Duck the Piano Wire
Thursday Feb 16, 2023
Better Than the Movie, Ep. 1: CABIN AT THE END OF THE WORLD/KNOCK AT THE CABIN
Thursday Feb 16, 2023
Thursday Feb 16, 2023
This episode contains spoilers of both Paul Tremblay's book The Cabin at the End of the World and its 2023 film adaptation, Knock at the Cabin. Proceed with caution!
Welcome to our first new Bookseller Special Series of 2023! Three of Skylight's biggest CinemaHeads, Justin, Tyler, and Allan, will get together once a month to discuss their favorite adaptations from page to screen. For the first episode, they're tackling Paul Tremblay's 2019 insta-classic horror novel Cabin at the End of the World, and M. Night Shyamalan's 2023 adaption, Knock at the Cabin.
In this episode, they talk about the substantial philosophical and narrative differences in the two projects, the difficulties of communicating interiority on film, and the faithful commitment of Rupert Grint's Boston accent.
Produced and edited by Mick Kowaleski
Music by Duck the Piano Wire
Thursday Feb 02, 2023
SKYLIT: Jessica Johns, ”Bad Cree”
Thursday Feb 02, 2023
Thursday Feb 02, 2023
Produced by Nat Freeman & Mick Kowaleski.
Music by Duck the Piano Wire
Thursday Nov 17, 2022
SKYLIT: Emil DeAndreis, ”TELL US WHEN TO GO” w/ Joseph Bien Kahn
Thursday Nov 17, 2022
Thursday Nov 17, 2022
The post-recession Bay Area is a land fertile for world-changers and dreamers. This is the setting for Emil DeAndreis's Tell Us When To Go, a millennial coming-of-age story, part Silicon Valley satire and part urgent glimpse into the darker sides of privilege, troll culture, and class disparity. It asks the question, what comes of a friendship, or a city, with so much splitting it apart? Can it be saved?
Cole Gallegos is the ace of his college pitching staff, projected to make millions in the big leagues. But a ruthless case of "yips" leads him to break down and drop out of college.
Cole's teammate Isaac Moss is a wallflower who lacks direction and independence, so he follows Cole to San Francisco, where they rent a dingy apartment and attempt adult lives.
Desperate for a job, Cole is hired by Seaside High to work one-on-one with foster youth Dizzy Benson, who is one strike from getting expelled. The two do not vibe, to say the least. Days are turbulent with standoffs and threats. But their disconnect is not without humor, and with time their grudges against the world clumsily unite them.
Meanwhile Isaac is hired as a temp at a growing startup in Silicon Valley, where he enjoys breakrooms with hammocks, and teambuilding beer-tastings. Through this, he begins to gel with this fast paced and vibrant workforce that's begun to sweep through San Francisco. For once, he feels confident, even cool.
With such different days and perspectives, Cole and Isaac begin to diverge, much like the city itself. Told across one semester, Tell Us When To Go explores a city amid change, and the people and friendships that are liable to change with it.
Produced by Nat Freeman & Michael Kowaleski.
Theme: "I Love All My Friends," an unreleased demo by Fragile Gang.
Tuesday Nov 15, 2022
SKYLIT: Anna Moschovakis, ”PARTICIPATION” w/ Amina Cain
Tuesday Nov 15, 2022
Tuesday Nov 15, 2022
Produced by Nat Freeman & Michael Kowaleski.
Theme: "I Love All My Friends," an unreleased demo by Fragile Gang.
Tuesday Nov 08, 2022
SKYLIT: Danny Ramadan, ”THE FOGHORN ECHOES” w/ Lance Morgan
Tuesday Nov 08, 2022
Tuesday Nov 08, 2022
Hussam and Wassim are teenage boys living in Syria during America's 2003 invasion of Iraq. When a surprise discovery results in tragedy, their lives, and those of their families, are shattered. Wassim promises Hussam his protection, but ten years into the future, he has failed to keep his promise. Wassim is on the streets, seeking shelter from both the city and the civil war storming his country. Meanwhile Hussam, now on the other side of the world, remains haunted by his own ghosts, doing his utmost to drown them out with every vice imaginable.
Split between war-torn Damascus and Vancouver, The Foghorn Echoes is a tragic love story about coping with shared traumatic experience and devastating separation. As Hussam and Wassim come to terms with the past, they begin to realise the secret that haunts them is not the only secret that formed them.Produced by Nat Freeman & Michael Kowaleski.
Theme: "I Love All My Friends," an unreleased demo by Fragile Gang.
Tuesday Oct 25, 2022
LIVE ON CROWDCAST: Billy-Ray Belcourt, ”A MINOR CHORUS”
Tuesday Oct 25, 2022
Tuesday Oct 25, 2022
Produced by Nat Freeman, Lance Morgan, & Michael Kowaleski.
Theme: "I Love All My Friends," an unreleased demo by Fragile Gang.
Visit https://www.skylightbooks.com/event for future offerings from the Skylight Books Events team.
Wednesday Oct 05, 2022
SKYLIT: Anne K. Yoder, ”THE ENHANCERS” w/ Amanda Goldblatt
Wednesday Oct 05, 2022
Wednesday Oct 05, 2022
Produced by Nat Freeman, Lance Morgan, & Michael Kowaleski.
Theme: "I Love All My Friends," an unreleased demo by Fragile Gang.
Monday Oct 03, 2022
Live On Crowdcast: Writing Bisexuality w/ Antonia Angress & Jen Winston
Monday Oct 03, 2022
Monday Oct 03, 2022
Produced by Nat Freeman, Lance Morgan, & Michael Kowaleski.
Theme: "I Love All My Friends," an unreleased demo by Fragile Gang.
Visit https://www.skylightbooks.com/event for future offerings from the Skylight Books Events team.
Wednesday Sep 21, 2022
SKYLIT: Andrew Sean Greer, ”LESS IS LOST”
Wednesday Sep 21, 2022
Wednesday Sep 21, 2022
Less roves across the “Mild Mild West,” through the South and to his mid-Atlantic birthplace, with an ever-changing posse of writerly characters and his trusty duo – a human-like black pug, Dolly, and a rusty camper van nicknamed Rosina. He grows a handlebar mustache, ditches his signature gray suit, and disguises himself in the bolero-and-cowboy-hat costume of a true “Unitedstatesian”... with varying levels of success, as he continues to be mistaken for either a Dutchman, the wrong writer, or, worst of all, a “bad gay.”
We cannot, however, escape ourselves—even across deserts, bayous, and coastlines. From his estranged father and strained relationship with Freddy, to the reckoning he experiences in confronting his privilege, Arthur Less must eventually face his personal demons. With all of the irrepressible wit and musicality that made Less a bestselling, Pulitzer Prize-winning, must-read breakout book, Less Is Lost is a profound and joyous novel about the enigma of life in America, the riddle of love, and the stories we tell along the way.
Produced by Nat Freeman, Lance Morgan, & Michael Kowaleski.
Theme: "I Love All My Friends," an unreleased demo by Fragile Gang.
Monday Sep 12, 2022
SKYLIT: Meghan Gilliss, ”LUNGFISH” w/ Kendall Storey
Monday Sep 12, 2022
Monday Sep 12, 2022
Relying on the island for sustenance and answers—bladderwrack, rosehips, tenacious little green crabs; smells held by the damp walls of the house, field guides and religious texts, a failed invention left behind by her missing father—Tuck lives moment-by-moment through the absurdity, beauty, paranoia, and hunger that shoots through her life, as her husband struggles to detox.
Exquisitely written and formally daring, Lungfish tells the story of a woman grappling through the lies she has been told—and those she has told herself—to arrive at the truth of who she is and where she must go. Meghan Gilliss’s debut is a brilliant and heartbreaking novel about addiction, doubt, marriage, motherhood, and learning to see in the dark.
Produced by Nat Freeman, Lance Morgan, & Michael Kowaleski.
Theme: "I Love All My Friends," an unreleased demo by Fragile Gang.