KERA Journalists On The Books That Shaped Their Lives

Ask a reporter "what book shaped your life?" and you're likely to hear about more than one.

That was the case with four of our radio journalists — Sam Baker, Stella Chavez, Rachel Osier Lindley and Jerome Weeks — who recently got a chance to chat about exactly that.

This month, Half Price Books hosted a Coffee with KERA gathering with contest winners from a recent KERA membership drive. Sam, Stella, Rachel and Jerome discussed their work, how they got into radio and — you guessed it — books that they love.

They shared a list of more than a dozen favorite titles at the meet-and-greet. Here they go into one or two that have especially impacted them.

Local Morning Edition host and health reporter | bio

» The House That George Built: But With a Little Help Irving, Cole and a Crew of About Fifty by Wilfrid Sheed

The title refers to Gershwin (George), Berlin (Irving), Porter (Cole) and dozens of others composers and lyricists whose work — largely for Broadway and movies — during the first half of the 20th century make up what’s been called the “Great American Songbook.”

Through individual profiles mixing historical research, keen insight, humor and lots of “good dish,” Sheed traces the evolution of American popular song, how jazz influenced its growth and what all of it says about America.

House works as a “straight-through” read, but each profile stands on its own, so you can dive in or even cherry-pick at will to great satisfaction.

— Sam

More of Sam's favorite books:

• Why Jazz Happenedby Marc Myers
• I Know Why the Caged Bird Singsby Maya Angelou
• Lush Life: A Biography of Billy Strayhornby David Hajdu
• Norman Granz: The Man Who Used Jazz for Justiceby Tad Hershorn

Education and immigration reporter | bio

» Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania and Isaac's Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in Historyby Erik Larson

Erik Larson is one of my all-time favorite writers. He started out as a journalist, so I’m often drawn to writers who began their career that way.

As a narrative non-fiction writer, Larson masterfully draws the reader in. I’m always amazed at the amount of research he does for his books. It’s so extensive that when he writes, he puts you right there, in a particular place and time.

Reading his books is like reading a great novel. But you also learn about important historical events, like the deadly 1900 hurricane that devastated Galveston or the sinking of a luxury ocean liner, the Lusitania during World War I.

— Stella

More of Stella's favorite books:

• Homelands: Four Friends, Two Countries, and the Fate of the Great Mexican-American Migrationby Alfredo Corchado
• I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughterby Erika Sanchez
• The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journeyby Candice Millard
• How to Live Safely in Science Fictional Universe: A Novel by Charles Yu

Statewide coordinating editor, Texas Station Collaborative | bio

» The Rise and Fall of Dinosaurs: A New History of a Lost World by Steve Brusatte

If you’ve ever watched "Jurassic Park" and wished you could go back and walk among the dinosaurs, you’ll love this book. The author paints a vivid picture of what the world was like millions of years ago. You’ll learn a lot about dinosaurs and the ins and outs of how a modern paleontologist works and makes new discoveries. He uses his own experiences collecting bones in the field as an entryway into the past.

» The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon

This book takes place in New York, before and after World War II. It follows two cousins who create a hit comic book superhero. It’s a thrilling, fantastical and immersive story, the kind of book that makes you want to leave a party so you can go home and read. The characters are larger-than-life, but Chabon breathes such life and detail into them that they feel like old friends. I recommend this book because it’s fun, while also being a deep look at human connection.

— Rachel

More of Rachel's favorite books:

• Boys Lifeby Robert McCammon
• The Shiningby Stephen King
• I Served the King of Englandby Bohumil Hrabal
• Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer
• A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities That Arise in Disasterby Rebecca Solnit

Senior arts reporter, Art&Seek | bio

» City of Nets: A Portrait of Hollywood in the 1940s by Otto Friedrich

City of Nets is one of the richest, most fascinating narrative histories of the movie industry. Friedrich did not set out to uncover new sources. Rather, he compiled many of the already extant memoirs, studies and histories into a complex narrative that intertwines the lives and creative output of directors, producers, actors, union leaders, mobsters and political opportunists.

Friedrich begins with what is often considered the peak year for the Hollywood studio system (1939,  which saw the release of "Citizen Kane," "Stagecoach," "Gone with the Wind "and "The Wizard of Oz") through World War II and the immigration of great European talents — some of whom delighted in L.A., many of whom never fit in (the novelist Thomas Mann, the atonal composer Arnold Schoenberg, the playwright Bertolt Brecht).

We move through the battles with unions and the rise of the mob (and its move to Las Vegas) all the way up to 1949 and the arrival of the House Un-American Activities Committee investigation into the "Red" influence in Hollywood.

City of Nets is not just an indispensable study in understanding this American art form and culture factory; it’s a tremendously entertaining book to read, period.

— Jerome

More of Jerome's favorites:

• Tom Jones by Henry Fielding
• Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954-1963 by Taylor Branch
• The Season: A Candid Look at Broadway by William Goldman
• Flaubert's Parrotby Julian Barnes
• True Confessions by John Gregory Dunne
• A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again by David Foster Wallace
• White Teeth by Zadie Smith
• Possession by A.S. Byatt
• Libra by Don DeLillo