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I’m chatting with Matt Mattson, a writer, speaker, social mystic, & spiritual leader dedicated to cultivating sacred human connection. Matt is the founder of BETWEEN, an innovative and deeply inclusive global faith community that invites people into curiosity, conversation, and shared moments of meaning. His work blends ancient wisdom with modern insight, helping people notice and name the sacred woven into everyday encounters. We are here today to celebrate the release of his newest book, Cathedrals of Connection.

Connect with Matt:

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Books mentioned:

• Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain
• How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie
• Everything is a Story by Kaitlin B. Curtice

Book Flight

• Aflame by Pico Iyer
• The Healing Power of the Santuario de Chimayó by Brett Hendrickson
• Holy Envy by Barbara Brown Taylor

✨ Find Your Next Great Read! We just hit 175 episodes of Bookish Flights, and to celebrate, I created the Bookish Flights Roadmap — a guide to all 175 podcast episodes, sorted by genre to help you find your next great read faster.

Explore it here → www.bookishflights.com/read/roadmap

Support the show

Be sure to join the Bookish Flights community on social media. Happy listening!

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Today is our latest BFF Book Club. This month, we’re joined by by Annie Harnett, author of The Road to Tender Hearts. Annie is the award-winning author of two additional novels, Rabbit Cake and Unlikely Animals.

Episode Highlights:

• The inspiration behind The Road to Tender Hearts and how Annie transformed personal anxiety into sharp, heartfelt fiction.
• Her writing process of “going for the joke first” and then layering in what she calls the “emo copy” to bring emotional depth.
• Why humor is her entry point into heavier themes.
• How her experience as a former bookseller shaped her storytelling and reading life.
• Annie’s book flight featuring four of her all-time favorite books.

Connect with Annie:

• Instagram
• Website

📚 Next Meet the Author Event
🗓️ March 15th | 🕓 3 pm PST / 5 pm CST / 6 pm EST

We’re thrilled to welcome Carmela Dutra, author of A Murder Most Fowl, a cozy food truck murder mystery, to our next Book Club gathering! Come for the conversation and stay for the community. 👉 Register Here.

Books and authors mentioned in the episode:

• Karmen Somers episode featuring The Road to Tender Hearts (E168)
• Moby Dick by Herman Melville
• Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
• Save the Cat by Blake Snyder
• Emily Henry’s book
• Margo’s Got Money Trouble by Rufi Thorpe
• Shark Heart by Emily Habeck
• The Wedding People by Alison Espach
• Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
• Anxious People by Fredrik Bakman

Book Flight

• Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
• The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender
• Swamplandia! by Karen Russell
• John Irving’s books

✨ Find Your Next Great Read! We just hit 175 episodes of Bookish Flights, and to celebrate, I created the Bookish Flights Roadmap — a guide to all 175 podcast episodes, sorted by genre to help you find your next great read faster.

Explore it here → www.bookishflights.com/read/roadmap

Support the show

Be sure to join the Bookish Flights community on social media. Happy listening!

• Instagram
• Facebook
• Website

Send a text

In today’s episode, I’m chatting with Lindsay Marie Morris, a novelist and journalist based in Los Angeles whose work is deeply rooted in her Sicilian-American heritage. Lindsay’s debut novel, The Last Letter from Sicily, was inspired by her grandmother’s story and explores love, resilience, and long-held family secrets during World War II. Her second novel, Beneath the Sicilian Stars, returns to this era, following a family divided between California and Sicily as the war forces them to confront questions of loyalty, belonging, and sacrifice.

Episode Highlights:

• The often-overlooked history of Sicilians and Italian Americans during World War II, including the impact of the Alien Enemy Act and the internment of Italian Americans, history rarely taught in American schools.
• How family stories are often passed down in fragments, and the role fiction can play in uncovering the fuller, more complicated truth.
• Exploring Sicilian culture through food, including why arancini are shaped differently depending on where you are on the island.
• A Sicily-focused book flight, plus additional reading recommendations on Italian and Italian-American history.
• How Lindsay connects with readers through her newsletter, sharing behind-the-scenes insights, upcoming events, and travel notes from the road.

Connect with Lindsay:

• Website
• Facebook
• Instagram

Show Notes

Some links are affiliate links, which are no extra cost to you but do help to support the show.

Books and authors mentioned in the episode:

• Una Storia Segreta by Lawrence DiStasi
• Laura Ingalls Wilder books
• Neopolitan Quartet by Elena Ferrante
• Eternal by Lisa Scottoline
• Renata Tebaldi: The Voice of an Angel by Carlamaria Casanova

Book Flight

• The Peoples of Sicily by Louis Mendola & Jacqueline Alio
• The Leopard by Giovanni Di Lampedusa
• Sicily on My Mind by Joseph Cione

✨ Find Your Next Great Read! We just hit 175 episodes of Bookish Flights, and to celebrate, I created the Bookish Flights Roadmap — a guide to all 175 podcast episodes, sorted by genre to help you find your next great read faster.

Explore it here → www.bookishflights.com/read/roadmap

Support the show

Be sure to join the Bookish Flights community on social media. Happy listening!

• Instagram
• Facebook
• Website