Narrated by the authors, Sarah Stewart Holland and Beth A. Silvers.

Two friends on opposite sides of the aisle provide a practical guide to grace-filled political conversation while challenging readers to put relationship before policy and understanding before argument.

More than ever, politics seems driven by conflict and anger. People sitting together in pews every Sunday have started to feel like strangers, loved ones at the dinner table like enemies. Sarah Stewart Holland and Beth Silvers say there is a better way.       

As working moms on opposite ends of the political spectrum and hosts of a fast-growing politics podcast, Holland and Silvers have learned how to practice engaging conversation while disagreeing. In I Think You're Wrong (But I'm Listening), they share principles on how to give grace and be vulnerable when discussing issues that affect families, churches, the country, and the world. They provide practical tools to move past frustration and into productive dialogue, emphasizing that faith should inform the way people engage more than it does the outcome of that engagement. This urgently needed new book reveals how to talk about politics in a way that inspires rather than angers and that pays spiritual dividends far past election day.

Order Audiobook

I THINK YOU'RE WRONG (BUT I'M LISTENING) by Sarah Stewart Holland and Beth A. Silvers

From one of America's most inspiring political leaders, a book about the core truths that unite us, and the long struggle to discern what those truths are and how best to act upon them, in her own life and across the life of our country. Senator Kamala Harris' commitment to speaking truth is informed by her upbringing. The daughter of immigrants, she was raised in an Oakland, California community that cared deeply about social justice; her parents--an esteemed economist from Jamaica and an admired cancer researcher from India--met as activists in the civil rights movement when they were graduate students at Berkeley. Growing up, Harris herself never hid her passion for justice, and when she became a prosecutor out of law school, a deputy district attorney, she quickly established herself as one of the most innovative change agents in American law enforcement. She progressed rapidly to become the elected District Attorney for San Francisco, and then the chief law enforcement officer of the state of California as a whole. Known for bringing a voice to the voiceless, she took on the big banks during the foreclosure crisis, winning a historic settlement for California's working families. Her hallmarks were applying a holistic, data-driven approach to many of California's thorniest issues, always eschewing stale "tough on crime" rhetoric as presenting a series of false choices. Neither "tough" nor "soft" but smart on crime became her mantra. Being smart means learning the truths that can make us better as a community, and supporting those truths with all our might. That has been the pole star that guided Harris to a transformational career as the top law enforcement official in California, and it is guiding her now as a transformational United States Senator, grappling with an array of complex issues that affect her state, our country, and the world, from health care and the new economy to immigration, national security, the opioid crisis, and accelerating inequality. By reckoning with the big challenges we face together, drawing on the hard-won wisdom and insight from her own career and the work of those who have most inspired her, Kamala Harris offers in THE TRUTHS WE HOLD a master class in problem solving, in crisis management, and leadership in challenging times. Through the arc of her own life, on into the great work of our day, she communicates a vision of shared struggle, shared purpose, and shared values. In a book rich in many home truths, not least is that a relatively small number of people work very hard to convince a great many of us that we have less in common than we actually do, but it falls to us to look past them and get on with the good work of living our common truth. When we do, our shared effort will continue to sustain us and this great nation, now and in the years to come. Available for purchase at: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FC47R8D?tag=randohouseinc7911-20">Amazon</a><a href="http://www.anrdoezrs.net/click-8373827-11819508?sid=PRHD39095A662&url=http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/?ean=9780525560722">Barnes & Noble</a><a href="http://www.tkqlhce.com/click-8373827-10876509?SID=PRHD39095A662--9780525560722&url=http://www.booksamillion.com/p/9780525560722">Books A Million</a><a href="http://www.hudsonbooksellers.com/book/9780525560715?utm_source=prh&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_term=301&utm_content=PRHD39095A662--9780525560715&utm_campaign=9780525560715">Hudson Booksellers</a><a href="http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780525560715?aff=PenguinGroupUS">IndieBound</a><a href="http://www.powells.com/book/-9780525560715?utm_source=randomhouse&utm_campaign=randomhouse&utm_content=PRHD39095A662--9780525560715">Powell's</a><a href="http://goto.target.com/c/128773/81938/2092?subId1=PRHD39095A662--9780525560715&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.target.com%2Fs%3FsearchTerm%3D9780525560715">Target</a><a href="http://linksynergy.walmart.com/fs-bin/click?id=VD9*lkiWNd8&subid=0&offerid=183959.1&type=10&tmpid=273&u1=PRHD39095A662--9780525560715&RD_PARM1=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.walmart.com%2Fsearch%2Fsearch-ng.do%3F&RD_PARM2=search_query%3D9780525560715%2526ic%3D16_0%2526Find%3DFind%2526search_constraint%3D3920">Walmart</a><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1409388390?at=11l3IH&ct=PRHD39095A662--9780525560722">Apple Books</a><a href="https://google.prf.hn/click/camref:1011ld4r/pubref:PRHD39095A662--9780525560722/destination:https://play.google.com/store/search?q=9780525560722&c=books">Google Play Store</a><a href="http://click.linksynergy.com/link?id=VD9*lkiWNd8&offerid=258185.12829781935712206&type=2&u1=PRHD39095A662--9780525560722}&murl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.kobo.com%2Fsearch%3FQuery%3D9780525560722">Kobo</a>

The Truths We Hold by Kamala Harris, read by Kamala Harris

Like a lot of people, lockdown has made us think about intimacy. As separation from our loved ones drags on, we're all having to find different ways to connect, and in this socially distant reality, intimacy feels more necessary than ever - however we can get it (hot tip: books are good!). Writing and reading can be intimate acts, so for this episode we'll be discussing what intimacy means in literature, which writers - from Henry James to Sally Rooney to Maggie Nelson - have been able to capture it, and what it means to write in an intimate way. Our guest this month is Garth Greenwell, a writer whose work chronicles and explores intimacy in many forms, so he couldn't be a better person to talk to. His second book, Cleanness, follows an American teacher living in Sofia, Bulgaria as he navigates relationships with his students, love and sex. Listen in for our interview with Garth, our thoughts about intimacy in literature, and all the usual recommendations. Come closer, let us put our arms around you, and get enveloped for the next hour by Literary Friction. 

Recommendations on the theme, Intimacy: 
Octavia: The Argonauts by Maggie Nelson https://www.graywolfpress.org/books/argonauts
Carrie: Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/573/57368/giovanni-s-room/9780141186351.html

General Recommendations:
Octavia: This Brutal House by Niven Govinden https://www.hachette.co.uk/titles/niven-govinden/this-brutal-house/9780349700687/
Garth: Where Reasons End by Yiyun Li https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/594959/where-reasons-end-by-yiyun-li/
Carrie: The Years by Annie Ernaux https://fitzcarraldoeditions.com/books/the-years

Email us: litfriction@gmail.com
Tweet us & find us on Instagram: @litfriction 
This episode is sponsored by Picador https://www.panmacmillan.com/picador

Literary Friction - Intimacy With Garth Greenwell

A GOOD MORNING AMERICA&#160;Book Club Pick!&#160;&ldquo;Bennett&rsquo;s tone and style recalls James Baldwin and Jacqueline Woodson, but it&rsquo;s especially reminiscent of Toni Morrison&rsquo;s 1970 debut novel,&#160;The Bluest Eye.&rdquo;&#160;&mdash;Kiley Reid,&#160;Wall Street Journal&#160;&ldquo;This is sure to be one of 2020&rsquo;s best and boldest . . . Bennett&rsquo;s next masterpiece is a triumph of character-driven narrative.&rdquo;&#160;&mdash;Elle&#160; From&#160;The&#160;New York Times-bestselling author of&#160;The Mothers, a stunning new novel about twin sisters, inseparable as children, who ultimately choose to live in two very different worlds, one black and one white.The Vignes twin sisters will always be identical. But after growing up together in a small, southern black community and running away at age sixteen, it's not just the shape of their daily lives that is different as adults, it's everything: their families, their communities, their racial identities. Many years later, one sister lives with her black daughter in the same southern town she once tried to escape. The other secretly passes for white, and her white husband knows nothing of her past. Still, even separated by so many miles and just as many lies, the fates of the twins remain intertwined. What will happen to the next generation, when their own daughters' storylines intersect? Weaving together multiple strands and generations of this family, from the Deep South to California, from the 1950s to the 1990s, Brit Bennett produces a story that is at once a riveting, emotional family story and a brilliant exploration of the American history of passing. Looking well beyond issues of race, The Vanishing Half considers the lasting influence of the past as it shapes a person's decisions, desires, and expectations, and explores some of the multiple reasons and realms in which people sometimes feel pulled to live as something other than their origins. As with her New York Times-bestselling debut The Mothers, Brit Bennett offers an engrossing page-turner about family and relationships that is immersive and provocative, compassionate and wise. Available for purchase at: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07XNG5L99?tag=randohouseinc7911-20">Amazon</a><a href="http://www.anrdoezrs.net/click-8373827-11819508?sid=PRHD39095A662&url=http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/?ean=9780525536970">Barnes & Noble</a><a href="http://www.tkqlhce.com/click-8373827-10747236?SID=PRHD39095A662--9780525536970&url=http://www.booksamillion.com/p/9780525536970">Books A Million</a><a href="https://bookshop.org/a/2186/9780525536291?prhc=PRHD39095A662">Bookshop.org</a><a href="http://www.hudsonbooksellers.com/book/9780525536291?utm_source=prh&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_term=301&utm_content=PRHD39095A662--9780525536291&utm_campaign=9780525536291">Hudson Booksellers</a><a href="http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780525536291?aff=penguinrandom">IndieBound</a><a href="http://www.powells.com/book/-9780525536291?utm_source=randomhouse&utm_campaign=randomhouse&utm_content=PRHD39095A662--9780525536291">Powell's</a><a href="http://goto.target.com/c/128773/81938/2092?subId1=PRHD39095A662--9780525536291&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.target.com%2Fs%3FsearchTerm%3D9780525536291">Target</a><a href="http://linksynergy.walmart.com/fs-bin/click?id=VD9*lkiWNd8&subid=0&offerid=183959.1&type=10&tmpid=273&u1=PRHD39095A662--9780525536291&RD_PARM1=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.walmart.com%2Fsearch%2Fsearch-ng.do%3F&RD_PARM2=search_query%3D9780525536291%2526ic%3D16_0%2526Find%3DFind%2526search_constraint%3D3920">Walmart</a><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1479330315?at=11l3IH&ct=PRHD39095A662--9780525536970">Apple Books</a><a href="https://google.prf.hn/click/camref:1011ld4r/pubref:PRHD39095A662--9780525536970/destination:https://play.google.com/store/search?q=9780525536970&c=books">Google Play Store</a><a href="http://click.linksynergy.com/link?id=VD9*lkiWNd8&offerid=258185.12829781935712206&type=2&u1=PRHD39095A662--9780525536970}&murl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.kobo.com%2Fsearch%3FQuery%3D9780525536970">Kobo</a>

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett, read by Shayna Small

This month, we're going behind closed doors with Carmen Maria Machado, who dialled in from the States to talk to us. Her innovative memoir, In The Dream House, is about her experience of domestic abuse, something that is so often hidden from view, and even more so when it happens in a queer relationship. What does it mean to write into archival silence? How do we tell the most difficult stories? As usual, our theme is inspired by our guest, so join us as we talk about literature that looks at what happens behind closed doors, both in the literal sense - domestic spaces that are not what they seem, or hold secrets - but also those books that show us narratives that are usually left out of literature and culture. Plus, of course, our usual book recommendations - so sit back, and let us open YOUR door on Literary Friction.

Recommendations on the theme, Behind Closed Doors:
Octavia: The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/40771/the-year-of-magical-thinking-by-joan-didion/9781400078431/readers-guide/
Carrie: We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/133/133431/we-have-always-lived-in-the-castle/9780141191454.html

General Recommendations:
Octavia: The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter https://www.bl.uk/20th-century-literature/articles/an-introduction-to-the-bloody-chamber-and-other-stories
Carmen: Milk Fed by Melissa Broder http://www.melissabroder.com/about/
Carrie: Hurricane Season by Fernanda Melchor https://www.ndbooks.com/book/hurricane-season-1/#/

Email us: litfriction@gmail.com
Tweet us & find us on Instagram: @litfriction

This episode is sponsored by Picador https://www.panmacmillan.com/picador

Literary Friction - Behind Closed Doors With Carmen Maria Machado

OPRAH&rsquo;S BOOK CLUB PICK &bull;&#160;The Pulitzer Prize&ndash;winning, bestselling author of&#160;The Warmth of Other Suns&#160;examines the unspoken caste system that has shaped America and shows how our lives today are still defined by a hierarchy of human divisions. &#160; &ldquo;An instant American classic.&rdquo;&mdash;Dwight Garner, The New York Times &ldquo;As we go about our daily lives, caste is the wordless usher in a darkened theater, flashlight cast down in the aisles, guiding us to our assigned seats for a performance. The hierarchy of caste is not about feelings or morality. It is about power&mdash;which groups have it and which do not.&rdquo; &#160; In this brilliant book, Isabel Wilkerson gives us a masterful portrait of an unseen phenomenon in America as she explores, through an immersive, deeply researched narrative and stories about real people, how America today and throughout its history has been shaped by a hidden caste system, a rigid hierarchy of human rankings. &#160; Beyond race, class, or other factors, there is a powerful caste system that influences people&rsquo;s lives and behavior and the nation&rsquo;s fate. Linking the caste systems of America, India, and Nazi Germany, Wilkerson explores eight pillars that underlie caste systems across civilizations, including divine will, bloodlines, stigma, and more. Using riveting stories about people&mdash;including Martin Luther King, Jr., baseball&rsquo;s Satchel Paige, a single father and his toddler son, Wilkerson herself, and many others&mdash;she shows the ways that the insidious undertow of caste is experienced every day. She documents how the Nazis studied the racial systems in America to plan their out-cast of the Jews; she discusses why the cruel logic of caste requires that there be a bottom rung for those in the middle to measure themselves against; she writes about the surprising health costs of caste, in depression and life expectancy, and the effects of this hierarchy on our culture and politics. Finally, she points forward to ways America can move beyond the artificial and destructive separations of human divisions, toward hope in our common humanity. Beautifully written, original, and revealing,&#160;Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents&#160;is an eye-opening story of people and history, and a reexamination of what lies under the surface of ordinary lives and of American life today.

Caste (Oprah's Book Club) by Isabel Wilkerson, read by Robin Miles

Will Harris and Nick Makoha, prizewinning poets both, talk about Nick’s poems in the spring 2020 issue of The Poetry Review and how these poems exemplify his interest in song, story and myth, the parameters of self, reconfiguring the problem of the white lens, and how the act of writing poems produces unlooked-for discoveries. Nick gives electrifying readings of his poems ‘Codex 1’ and Codex 2, both published in the Review, and ‘Bird In Flames’ from his Forward-shortlisted debut Kingdom of Gravity.

Nick Makoha talks to Will Harris

Listen to an excerpt from ANXIOUS PEOPLE by Fredrik Backman and read by Marin Ireland

ANXIOUS PEOPLE Audiobook Excerpt

Listen to an excerpt from THE GIFT by Edith Eva Eger and read by Tovah Feldshuh

THE GIFT Audiobook Excerpt

Listen to an excerpt from DARK TIDES by Philippa Gregory and read by Louise Brealey

DARK TIDES Audiobook Excerpt

Twelve early pieces never before collected that offer an illuminating glimpse into the mind and process of Joan Didion. Mostly drawn from the earliest part of her astonishing five-decade career, the wide-ranging pieces in this collection include Didion writing about a Gamblers Anonymous meeting, a visit to San Simeon, and a reunion of WWII veterans in Las Vegas, and about topics ranging from Nancy Reagan to Robert Mapplethorpe to Martha Stewart. Here are subjects Didion has long written about -- the press, politics, California robber barons, women, the act of writing, and her own self-doubt. Each piece is classic Didion: incisive and, in new light, stunningly prescient.

Let Me Tell You What I Mean by Joan Didion, read by Kimberly Farr

Harper Audio proudly traces its roots back to 1952, when Dylan Thomas first recorded for our Caedmon label. For more than five decades, HarperAudio/Caedmon has been synonymous not only with distinguished poets reading their works, but also with equally distinguished authors and readers performing classic and contemporary texts.

I THINK YOU'RE WRONG (BUT I'M LISTENING) by Sarah Stewart Holland and Beth A. Silvers

HarperAudio US