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Since WETA is currently running this series about England’s royal family, I thought it only proper to provide viewers with a list of books that you can read while you watch, after you watch, or even if you miss the series entire (although I’d never recommend that and, just so you won’t have an excuse, here are the broadcast times.)

I’m going to get this started now, and add to it over the next few days, so please come back — and please offer your own suggestions for books about the Windsors in the comments.

Majesty : Elizabeth II and the House of Windsor by Robert Lacey is the best introduction I know to this enigmatic monarch and her lineage.

The Firm: The Troubled Life of the House of Windsor by Penny Junor is a comprehensive but softpedal look at the challenges (including all the scandals) that the contemporary royal family has faced - sometimes well, sometimes not.

The House of Windsor by Andrew Roberts and Antonia Fraser is part of their A Royal History of England — although the book isn’t as in-depth as others, it is a helpful and well-illustrated way to get to know the “players” on this particular stage.

The Rise and Fall of the House of Windsor by A.N. Wilson is a loyalist’s look at how a great British institution has survived its troubles.

Back with more quite soon, but looking forward to your recommendations.

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It’s not every author who can discuss Pontrefact cakes and Yorkshire Gold tea (I’m a bit tea-obsessed this week), but Ross Raisin not only knows his native Yorkshire’s delicacies — he planned to serve them at his September wedding.

The reason I find this food interest of Raisin’s so important is that he is a young (twentysomething) novelist with an MFA (from London’s Goldsmith College) who has chosen to set his first book back home when that home isn’t a particularly fashionable or fascinating place. He just makes it that way. By the time you’ve finished Out Backward, the seasons of a sheep farmer’s year will seem more important and more interesting than anything regarding the upcoming election (or perhaps I’m just tired of anything regarding the upcoming election, but I digress…).

This interview was Raisin’s first in America; he had just arrived from the U.K. a few hours earlier and was gearing up for his U.S. book tour. (Make sure you check out his extremely cool wristwatch.) For someone operating on very little sleep and experiencing jet lag, he was very charming; what must he be like fully rested?

Raisin and I discussed everything from strong Yorkshire tea (I told you I was obsessed…) to the change in his book’s title from U.K. to U.S. to his technique for developing the novel’s extraordinary language. I hope you’ll enjoy listening to this interview as much as I did conducting it.

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Continuing my conversation with Sarah Lyall from over here…

Please feel free to take a peek at my PW blog to get the first part of my interview with Sarah Lyall, London correspondent for The New York Times and the author of a new book called The Anglo Files: A Field Guide to the British. Sarah and I had a fun, relaxed phone conversation last week while she was in DC for some events. She was at the Hotel Monaco and said “It’s so nice to just recline during an interview; book tours are tiring!”

Lyall’s reporter’s eye notices everything from those aforementioned Parliament pubs to the differences between her own childhood and that of her two daughters, Alice and Isobel, 11 and 9 respectively: “They’ll roll their eyes and say ‘Mum, please says ‘trousers,’ not ‘pants’!”

While the Demoiselles McCrum are definitely “English girls,” their mother remains quite American. “When I’m away from the U.S. for a time, I miss the openness. There’s a sense of possibility in America, and people are much more straightforward than they are in England. You simply can’t take what they say at face value. “Sorry” or “I’m so pleased” can take on five different layers of motivation, depending on the person you’re addressing. Whereas people here in the U.S. strive to be happy, and are not embarrassed about it.”

But: “When I’m away from England for too long, I miss irony, and I miss people who joke. ” Lyall points out the homage of her book’s cover art to “Monty Python’s Flying Circus,” the opening minutes of which were a weekly pastiche of animation, collage, and line drawing. Lyall also says that despite the American confidence in possibility, the English display a different kind of confidence: “They’re taught not to whine — to just get on with it. Remember, one of their role models is Margaret Thatcher, who essentially functioned as a man. It’s still pretty old-fashioned over there in some ways.”

Is “over there” Britain? Or England? “In the paperback I’m going to add some material that will examine English character versus British character further,” the author says. That might have something to do with her veddy English husband, McCrum. When I ask her how she dealt with including some of his personal anecdotes, she replies, “Very good question. I didn’t leave out whole topics, but I was more gentle than I otherwise might have been. He was so nice about the whole thing, totally a good sport, said everything was fair game.” (Even the point at which Lyall, during a domestic argument, hurls the insult at him “You’re emotionally autistic!” McCrum responds phlegmatically, “Yes, I am quite emotionally artistic.”)

“After all,” Lyall says, “I didn’t want to write a snarky, mean-spirited book.”

After speaking with her, I’m not sure if that statement is more American, or more British. Perhaps it’s a perfect balance of American natural kindness and British cultivated manners; a perfect cup of tea for a fall day.

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I tend to love novels with strong voices, misanthropes, and “loser lit,” so this week’s pick was a no-brainer for me. Out Backward is Ross Raisin’s debut novel, but there’s nothing first-timer about it. Raisin was born and bred in Yorkshire like his singular protagonist Sam Marsdyke, but (thank goodness) there the comparison ends. Raisin (whom you’ll meet a bit later this week in our interview) is smart, charming, and articulate — none of which descriptors could be applied to Sam.

Yet I think, like me, that you’ll swept up in Sam’s narrative and unable to stop reading the train wreck that is his life. Sam left school after an “incident,” and at 19 works on his family’s farm and interacts with more sheep than humans. As Sam’s rural environs grow increasingly gentrified, a big-city family moves in nearby (”next door” doesn’t really apply in North Yorkshire), and the teenaged daughter becomes one of Sam’s obsessions, to a bad end.

While the “bad end” is easily predicted, Raisin paces his book like a thriller, so it doesn’t matter. However, it wasn’t the suspenseful pitch of the book the grabbed me; it was Raisin’s way with language. Sam may be a strange and solitary youth, but he’s not stupid. His glib way with vocabulary, melding made-up words with Yorkshire dialect, makes Sam’s book-length monologue nearly hypnotic.

We’ve got ten copies of Out Backward to give away to the first ten readers who share their favorite summer vacation read with us; don’t forget to check out our Giveaway Rules. Thanks for reading!

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 I’m pleased to be able to present the second part of my interview with Alexander McCall Smith, who in this installment discusses his decision to give up his  position as a professor medical ethics at the University of Edinburgh to pursue writing full time. He also talks about the soon-to-be-released film of his first Mma Ramotswe novel, which was directed by the late, great Anthony Minghella. Was he pleased? Disappointed?

You’ll have to listen to find out…

May your weekends be full of happy reading hours. Thanks to all of you who sent in responses for our Alexander McCall Smith giveaway; I’ll be emailing you next week so I can send your books along!

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Over the years I believe I have interviewed Alexander McCall Smith five times; this is the sixth. The thing is, McCall Smith could tell me the same thing five times over and I’d still be delighted. He’s a natural raconteur and truly seems to consider his characters (both in The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency Series, and in The Sunday Philosopy Club series) as people with lives of their own.

I love to hear him discuss Mma Ramotswe and her husband, Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni, as if they actually exist. I think, once you listen to him for a few minutes, that like me, you’ll start to believe that they just might actually be out there, living their purposeful and busy lives in a parallel universe. As you’ll see in this conversation, McCall Smith feels that his subconscious mind is tuned in to the Botswanan world his characters inhabit, and that he is just a “chronicler” of their activities.

I feel sure you’ll enjoy listening to McCall Smith here, but don’t forget to come back Friday, when we’ll post the second part of my conversation with him. Thanks for watching!

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Good morning all you Mmas and Rras out there — if you’re already fans of Alexander McCall Smith’s “No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency” books, you’ll know that those are the courtesy titles used in Botswana for women and men.

Through eleven books, Mma Precious Ramotswe has earned a solid place in the hearts of many readers for her “traditional build,” impeccable manners, and thirst for red bush (or rooibos) tea. Her careful detection skills and marriage to Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni have kept the story moving through its multiple volumes — and we’ve got 10 giveaway copies of the latest, The Miracle at Speedy Motors.

To “claim” your copy, tell us: what’s your all-time favorite book series? Agatha Christie? Tom Clancy? Tony Hillerman? Anne of Green Gables? We’d love to know. The first ten responses will get hardcovers of McCall Smith’s new book. Happy Reading!

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I’d like to give a shout-out to my endlessly patient producer, Mark (I’m not giving his full name because I haven’t asked his permission), who not only keeps this site going (i.e., sends me cyber-kicks in the keister when I need them, which is FREQUENTLY) but also produces all of the video and images you see here, including — and this is why he’s earned a place in my personal pantheon — having to listen to, edit, encode, and sometimes transcribe all of these interviews. Mark is talented, kind, and dedicated. And now, I hope that he will smile a little and forgive me for posting this interview several days late. THANKS MARK!

Here’s my conversation with Vikram Chandra, who is one of the most engaging authors I’ve ever interviewed. I could have talked with Chandra all day. He’s wickedly smart and witty. He has to be, to claim that he promises a “quick read” of Sacred Games, which is — wait for it — 992 pages!

Chandra explains why his novel is so long, and he has good reasons. He also had a lot of work to do in order to explore India’s underworld, and while he conducted many interviews of his own with crime bosses and others, ultimately he says that the story uplifted him and convinced him that the network connecting us all is our strength and not our downfall. He compares his technique to Buddhist mandala, in which many things are connected around a central image or theme.

I hope you’ll enjoy, and for those lucky three who won giveaway copies, we’ll be emailing shortly for your mailing info. Thanks for commenting!

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We’ve got just three giveaway copies this week of Sacred Games by Vikram Chandra — but their combined page count equals that of our usual ten! Yes, this is a LONG book. Reading it is an event and an undertaking, but it is worth it.

To snag one of our copies, tell us in the comments about the longest book you’ve ever read (and that can be in terms of page count, or of how long it felt, or even of years to finish). Come back on Wednesday, too, for our interview with Chandra.

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My apologies to all for taking so long to post the second half of this interview. I’m going to push it live now and then come back with some comments; that way you won’t have to wait any longer. I seem to have some kind of adverse affect on consumer electronics…this time it wasn’t my recording device, but my modem. Thank you for your patience!

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