First hour: Rochester and Western New York's favorite books of 2018, part 1
Second hour: Rochester and Western New York's favorite books of 2018, part 2
We continue an annual Connections tradition by talking to community leaders about their favorite books of the year. We also get insight into how they think, what they read, and why. Our guests:
- Leslie C. Youngblood, author of “Love Like Sky” (“The Season of Styx Malone” by Kekla Magoon)
- Gary Craig, watchdog reporter at the Democrat & Chronicle, and author of “Seven Million: A Cop, a Priest, a Soldier for the IRA, and the Still-Unsolved Rochester Brink’s Heist” (“Crimes of the Father” by Thomas Keneally)
- Annette Ramos, executive director of the Rochester Latino Theatre Company, and co-chair of La Cumbre’s Arts & Culture Committee (“War Against All Puerto Ricans: Revolution and Terror in America’s Colony” by Nelson A. Denis)
- Pastor of Matthew Martin Nickoloff, pastor of the South Wedge Mission (“Consolations: The Solace, Nourishment and Underlying Meaning of Everyday Words” by David Whyte)
- BJ Scanlon, local activist and member of the theatre community (“Everything is Horrible and Wonderful: A Tragicomic Memoir of Genius, Heroin, Love, and Loss” by Stephanie Wittels Wachs and “Bread & Wine: An Erotic Tale of New York” written by Samuel R. Delaney and illustrated by Mia Wolff)
- Elissa Orlando, senior vice president for television and news at WXXI (“Lincoln in the Bardo” by George Saunders)
- Amit Batabyal, Arthur J. Gosnell Professor of Economics at RIT (“China’s Crony Capitalism” by Minxin Pei) Emily Hessney Lynch, director of content for I Heart ROC and freelance social media strategist (“They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us“ by Hanif Abdurraqib; “Exit West: A Novel” by Mohsin Hamid; and “Gmorning, Gnight! Little Pep Talks for Me & You” written by Lin-Manuel Miranda and illustrated by Jonny Sun)
- Brian Koberlein, senior lecturer of physics and astronomy at RIT, and author of One Universe at a Time (“The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet” by Becky Chambers)
Then in our second hour, more community leaders and more books for your reading list! Our guests:
- Mark Brummitt, professor of Hebrew bible interpretation at the Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School (“Bitten by Witch Fever: Wallpaper & Arsenic in the Victorian Home” by Lucinda Hawksley and “Frankenstein” by Mary Shelley)
- Penny Sterling, storyteller (“Anansi Boys“ by Neil Gaiman; “In Such Good Company: Eleven Years of Laughter, Mayhem, and Fun in the Sandbox” by Carol Burnett; and “So, Anyway…” by John Cleese)
- Sareer Fazili, local attorney, and immediate past president of the Islamic Center of Rochester (“The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine” and “Liar’s Poker: Rising through the Wreckage on Wall Street” by Michael Lewis)
- Chris Fanning, director of communications for Writers & Books, and associate producer of the Rochester Fringe Festival (“Boy Erased” by Garrard Conley)
- Meaghan de Chateauvieux, president and CEO of Willow Domestic Violence Center (“Let the Great World Spin” by Colum McCann)
- Kyle Semmel, writer and former director of Writers & Books (“Insurrections“ by Rion Amilcar Scott)
- Barry Strauber, professor of advertising in the School of Communication at RIT (“Born to Run” by Bruce Springsteen)
- Reverend Judy Davis, commissioner-elect of the Rochester City School Board and member of the steering committee for the Movement for Anti-Racist Ministry and Action (“Speaking Treason Fluently: Anti-Racist Reflections from an Angry White Male” by Tim Wise)
- Julia Figueras, music director and midday host of WXXI’s Classical 91.5 (“Educated“ by Tara Westover)
