We are so excited to interview Eowyn Ivey about her latest book, BLACK WOODS, BLUE SKY. Eowyn was raised in Alaska and continues to live there with her husband and two daughters. Her debut novel, THE SNOW CHILD, has sold more than a million copies worldwide and is a New York Times bestseller published in more than 25 languages and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Our book, BLACK WOODS, BLUE SKY is hot off the presses - having just been published last month. This book transports us to Alaska and the remote wilderness where everyone may not be exactly who they seem to be. Birdie, a young mom, is trying to carve out a life for herself and her 6-year-old daughter, Emaleen. Arthur, a mysterious man who rarely comes to town, seems to offer everything Birdie has dreamed of. In our interview, We have a blast talking with Eowyn about the amazing character and setting of this story. Nancy gets to talk about Sandhill cranes, who also make an appearance. We also talk about the similarities between Eowyn's writing and that of one of our recent author, Louise Erdrich. We are thrilled to hear about Eowyn and Erdrich's relationship. By the end of the interview, Eowyn tells Linny and Nancy they'd fit right in at one of her community's solstice parties. Our bags are packed!!

It's our 100th episode and this is an episode with a lot of laughter. To celebrate we reminisce about why we decided to start the podcast. Nancy and Linny have VERY different reasons! We laugh about some of our early missteps and nervousness. Nancy quizzes Linny about some of the statistics about the podcast. Linny has her own curveball quiz question for Nancy. Nancy and Linny talk about what they've learned, favorite books, and dreams for the next 100 episodes.

Black Woods, Blue Sky is set in contemporary Alaska where Birdie, a 26-year-old mom, is trying to forge a life for herself and her 6-year-old daughter, Emaleen, in a small town. When Arthur, a local misfit who spends most of his time alone in his remote cabin, starts frequenting the roadside lodge where Birdie works as a waitress, they strike up an unlikely relationship. And then things get strange! Louise Erdrich says, “Black Woods, Blue Sky is a fable about what it is to love, a tale of longing, a call to renew our deepest bonds with the living world. It will draw you along like a fast-moving stream, and you will find yourself in places you have never been.”

Nancy and Linny discover they read this book differently, but both loved it and its complex characters and vivid descriptions of remote and mystical Alaska.

In THE STORM WE MADE, Cecily, an ordinary Malayan housewife, beguiled by a Japanese propaganda that Asians should rule Asia, becomes a secret agent for the Japanese in 1935. Ten years later, suffering under Japanese oppression, she and her children (aged 7 to 17) try to survive the consequences of her deception. Told from the perspectives of Cecily and each of her three children, the novel plunges us into horrific settings with only bad choices to be made. THE STORM WE MADE by debut author Vanessa Chan is one of a relatively few Western novels that tells a World War II story from the perspective of the colonized rather than the colonizer or liberator.

Nancy is excited that we are reviewing a Louise Erdrich book, THE MIGHTY RED, her latest novel, published last year. Nancy read Erdrich's book, THE BINGO PALACE, a number of years ago (it was published in 1994) and really loved it. THE MIGHTY RED is a New York Times bestseller, A Read with Jenna book club pick, and a finalist for the Kirkus Prize for Fiction. Erdrich is a contemporary American author. Many of her writings center on the Ojibwe people of the northern Great Plains. Her novels have received the National Book Award and a Pulitzer Prize for fiction. Linny and Nancy discuss the book's themes of mothers and daughters, large-scale agricultural practices, and faith and spirituality. Linny also learns a lot about sugar beets.

We talk with John Janovy, Jr., author of our February book, Life Lessons from a Parasite. John is one of the world's preeminent experts on parasites, a best-selling author, and an artist. In this fun and wide-ranging conversation, we discuss parasites, of course, but we also talk about what it means to be a decent human being, how to evaluate ideas and words we're exposed to, how the Vietnam War changed John's approach to teaching, and the fundamental importance of curiosity. We learn about John's early roots in the outdoors and his love of painting. John also tells us about the tapeworm in Robert Kennedy, Jr.'s brain. A jam-packed episode, for sure!

Our book for January is Life Lessons from a Parasite by John Janovy, Jr. John is one of the world's pre-eminent parasitologists. In his book we learn all about parasites -- the minuscule life forms that live inside other organisms. We learn about the scientists that study them. And, we are introduced to how theories about parasites and infections help us understand how infected words and ideas become parasites in our modern-day life. Linny's traumatic experience in high school biology was a challenge for her in reading about dissection, but both Linny and Nancy learned a lot about parasites and then enjoyed discussing the generalizations into how words and ideas travel through populations.

James Clear's bestselling book, Atomic Habits, tells us that tiny changes can yield remarkable results. Clear writes, "The quality of our lives often depends on the quality of our habits. With the same habits, you'll end up with the same results. But with better habits, anything is possible." Linny and Nancy discuss their initial attempts to implement what they learned from this book. Not surprisingly, they took two very different approaches. Nancy, ever the planner, created an entire system. Linny, the free spirit, embraced good habits as they presented themselves. They share these new habits and early results.