This week's show brings back our friend Petra Mayer of NPR Books. Like me, Petra is fresh off a trip to Book Expo America (a/k/a BEA, FYI), where we both heard about a whole lot of new books. We'll mention some of the titles (though in many cases we haven't actually received the books yet), and we'll try to give you a sense of how this enormous trade show followed by a fan event actually works. For more on BEA, check out my post yesterday on one of the better represented groups of fans in attendance, and this piece from NPR's Bilal Qureshi on the #WeNeedDiverseBooks campaign.

Our other topic this week came from a listener who asked us to talk about how pieces of culture help us through times of grief. Glen talks about the way everything seems to be about your own sadness when it's fresh enough, Petra explains the escape she gets from silent movies and Doctor Who, and Stephen unsurprisingly advocates for some music he cares about, including the music that "slows your blood."

As always, we close the show with what's making us happy this week. Stephen is happy about all of you and how amazing you are, but let's face it — we're all happy about that. He's also happy about adding a subscription service to his life (because that's what we all need), and about the new season of Orange Is The New Black. And of course, because it's the law, he has a music recommendation. Glen is happy about a museum he visited abroad, and about a conversation he particularly enjoyed. Petra is very, very happy about a book she thought she would never see. I was very happy about a live event I got to enjoy that you really would have enjoyed too, I promise! And while I'm not sure I'm happy about this New York Times Magazine profile of Damon Lindelof, I'm happy that they did it.

While our live show tickets are sold out for June 24th (thank you thank you thank you), stay tuned for future news of future shows, because we hope there will be some. In the meantime, find us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter: me, Stephen, Glen, Petra, producers Jessica, Lauren and Nick, and our dear pal Mike Katzif.

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