In Episode 36, Claire Gibson, author of Beyond the Point (my review), talks about the inspiration behind the novel, what it was like growing up on the West Point campus, two editorial choices she made, and…of course, shares her book recommendations!

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Highlights

• What it was like to grow up on the West Point campus.
• A story about one of the women she interviewed as research for the book that didn’t make it into the book.
• Which of the three main characters is most like Claire herself.
• How Claire decided to more or less reveal the crux of the ending in the Prologue.
• Why Claire decided to make her three main characters competitive athletes (they all played basketball for West Point).
• A glimpse into Claire’s second novel (which she’s currently working on).
• Claire’s favorite book of all-time.

Claire’s Book Recommendations

Two OLD Books She Loves 

• East of Eden by John Steinbeck (My Review) | Buy from Amazon [19:27]
• So Big by Edna Ferber | Buy from Amazon [21:22]

Two NEW Books She Loves

• A Woman is No Manby Etaf Rum (My Review) | Buy from Amazon [23:03]
• All That You Leave Behind by Erin Lee Carr | Buy from Amazon [24:36]

One Book She DIDN’T Love

• Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes (My Review) | Buy from Amazon [27:09]

One NEW RELEASE She’s Excited About

• The Book of Longingsby Sue Monk Kidd (Release Date: April 28, 2020) | Buy from Amazon [30:33]

Other Books Mentioned

• The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares | Buy from Amazon [3:27]
• Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides | Buy from Amazon [22:51]
• The Night of the Gun by David Carr | Buy from Amazon [25:02]
• All This Could Be Yours by Jami Attenberg (My Review) | Buy from Amazon [29:20]
• The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11 by Garrett M. Graff (My Review) | Buy from Amazon [29:45]
• The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd | Buy from Amazon [30:40]
• The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd | Buy from Amazon [30:40]

Other Links

• Book of the Month
• “David Carr, Times Critic and Champion of Media, Dies at 58”, The New York Times
• My Best Books of 2019 So Far
• My Brain Candy Books List

About Claire

Website | Instagram | Twitter

When people ask Claire where she’s from, she doesn’t have a good answer. Just like millions of other Army Brats around the world, she moved somewhere new every few years, so she has plenty of answers to choose from: I grew up at the United States Military Academy at West Point, where her father was a professor. She attended Furman University in South Carolina. She studied in Asia as a young adult. And sometime in 2009, she put down roots in Nashville. 

She writes about anything that strikes her as interesting, which means she’s written about the military, travel, faith, food and education. 

Her work has been featured in The Washington Post, The Christian Science Monitor, and Entrepreneur Magazine, among many other publications. Her debut novel, Beyond the Point, was published April 2, 2019 by William Morrow, an imprint of Harper Collins. 

Next Episode

Mini Episode…featuring Elizabeth Chapman (@samandscout), airing Wednesday, November 6.

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What are your thoughts on novels about female friendship?

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