Readers, like so many of you, I have such fondness for Asheville and the Blue Ridge mountain region, which is desperately hurting in the wake of Hurricane Helene. We’ve been thinking constantly of those affected, both in Asheville and now in Florida in the aftermath of Milton.

While it feels like nothing we can do can touch the enormity of what is happening on the ground, today I’m sharing fond memories of my very first visit to Asheville and the Blue Ridge mountains, along with actual literary matchmaking audio of my first visit to Malaprop’s Bookstore in Asheville’s downtown. After sharing that clip with you, I’ll talk a bit about what’s changed since this 2017 conversation, and also share a handful of my favorite North Carolina books.

Malaprop’s is closed while they assess the damage caused by Helene, so they’re directing those who wish to support the local book community to two organizations: BeLoved Asheville, and the Binc Foundation. To help not only Malaprop’s but the local community in Asheville, we’re donating all proceeds from today’s episodes to these two organizations. That means both advertising revenue, and any affiliate earnings we get when you shop at our links below.

If you’d like to support the Asheville community during this time, we thank you for listening today, and encourage you to check out these two organizations, too.

Portions of this episode originally aired in December 2017 as Episode 108: What Should I Read Next LIVE from Asheville.

Tell us about your favorite North Carolina books or Asheville memories in the comments section.

Books mentioned in this episode:

As mentioned in today’s episode, we’ll be donating the proceeds of any affiliate purchases. Shop with us via Bookshop, any of the links below, or our Amazon link.

• Reading People by Anne Bogel
• Sing Unburied Sing by Jesmyn Ward
• Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
• Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng
• You Are A Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life by Jen Sincero
• You Are A Badass at Making Money: Master the Mindset of Wealth by Jen Sincero
• The Resurrection of Joan Ashby by Cherise Wolas 
• The End We Start From by Megan Hunter 
• No One is Coming to Save Us by Stephanie Watts
• A Midwife’s Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812 edited by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich 
• Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing 
• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
• She’s Come Undone by Wally Lamb
• I Know This Much Is True by Wally Lamb
• To The Bright Edge of the World by Eowyn Ivey
• Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner
• These Is My Words by Nancy Turner 
• The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II by Denise Kiernan
• The Last Castle by Denise Kiernan 
• Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers of World War II by Liza Mundy
• As Bright as Heaven by Susan Meissner
• The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden by Jonas Jonasson
• I’ll Have What She’s Having: How Nora Ephron’s Three Iconic Films Saved the Romantic Comedy by Erin Carlson
• The Inspector Gamache series by Louise Penny (#1: Still Life)
• The Wonder by Emma Donaghue
• Room by Emma Donaghue
• Stella by Starlight by Sharon M. Draper
• Silence by Shusaku Endo
• Elizabeth George (try the Inspector Lynley series: #1 A Great Deliverance)
• A Share in Death by Deborah Crombie
• A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
• September by Rosamund Pilcher
• In This House of Brede by Rumer Godden 
• The Starbridge Series by Susan Howatch (#1: Glittering Images)
• Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books by Azar Nafisi
• The Almost Sisters by Joshilyn Jackson
• Dorothy Sayers (try the Lord Peter Wimsey series, #1: Whose Body?)
• Instructions for a Heatwave by Maggie O’Farrell
• The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley by Hannah Tinti 
• The Women in the Castle by Jessica Shattuck
• Himself by Jess Kidd
• The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
• Before I Go To Sleep by S.J. Watson
• Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl
• My Absolute Darling by Gabriel Tallent
• The Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman
• See What I Have Done by Sarah Schmidt 
• The Deal of a Lifetime by Fredrik Backman
• Three Daughters of Eve by Elif Shafak
• The Bastard of Istanbul by Elif Shafak
• The Architect’s Apprentice by Elif Shafak
• Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk by Kathleen Rooney
• The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry
• The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton 
• Deanna Raybourn (try A Curious Beginning)
• The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon
• Those We Thought We Knew by David Joy
• Iron Lake by William Kent Krueger
• The Unquiet Dead by Ausma Zehanat Khan
• Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen 
• When Ghosts Come Home by Wiley Cash
• Evensong by Gail Godwin
• Book Lovers by Emily Henry
• If I Had Two Wings: Stories by Randall Kenan

Also mentioned:

• Malaprop’s Bookstore/Cafe
• BeLoved Asheville
• The Binc Foundation
• WSIRN Episode 409: Stories you can’t stop thinking about
• Modern Mrs Darcy Book Club