The 12th Story: Recent Episodes
From the Mercantile Library in Cincinnati, Ohio
A podcast produced by the Mercantile Library in Cincinnati, OH. Most episodes contain spoilers, so please read the book before listening.
The 12th Story returns with a recap of the "In Pieces" group's discussion of 1,001 Arabian Nights, featuring Mercantile Book Advisor Hillary Copsey, group leader Joe Heyd, and Xavier University Associate Professor Stephen Yandell.
Linda Seiter, Executive Director of Caracole, Greater Cincinnati's AIDS service organization in Northside, talks to Carter Sickels about his new book The Prettiest Star.
An irreverent, spoiler-filled discussion of Ann Patchett's The Dutch House, led by Lit Review host Virginia Anderson and featuring Mercantile member Lindsay Nichols.
An irreverent, spoiler-filled discussion of Sally Rooney's Normal People, led by Virginia Anderson, one of the Mercantile's most avid readers. Featuring Joshua Chowdhury and Curtis Scribner.
Hillary talks with Withrow High School English teacher Olivia McKinney about Angie Thomas's The Hate U Give, the YWCA's Real Reads discussion book for February and March. Interspersed with Hillary and Olivia's conversation are audio clips of Olivia's students describing their interactions with police officers.
Joe Heyd and Mary Curran Hackett talk about the Mercantile's Impossible Dreamers group, which is reading Don Quixote in manageable chunks.
Katherine Durack discusses The Genius of Liberty, a podcast series about the crucial yet forgotten role Ohio played in the fight for woman suffrage. The Genius of Liberty is produced in partnership with the Mercantile Library.
The Mercantile and the Mini Microcinema are teaming up to offer a new discussion group exploring films and the books that inspired them. In this episode, Hillary talks with Lillian and Michael of the Mini Micro to introduce the series. For more information, visit the Library's website.
Hillary discusses Tommy Orange's There There with Jheri Neri and April Hester of the Greater Cincinnati Native American Coalition.
The discussion continues at the Main Library at 6:30 on 4/15/19, followed by a panel with Native American community leaders: https://www.facebook.com/events/public-library-of-cincinnati-and-hamilton-county/panel-discussion-of-there-there-by-tommy-orange/399886087474353/
Mercantile Book Advisor Hillary Copsey discusses Rebecca Makkai's The Great Believers with Linda Seiter, Executive Director of Caracole, Greater Cincinnati's nonprofit HIV/AIDS service organization.
This episode contains minor plot spoilers.
The Mercantile's Hillary Copsey talks to Timothy Douglas, who is directing CIncinnati Playhouse in the Park's production of August Wilson's Two Trains Running. Preview performances begin on March 2, 2019. Visit cincyplay.com for more information.
The Mercantile's Reeling in Moby Dick discussion group begins on January 10, 2019. To help listeners prepare, NKU professor Dr. Robert Wallace and artist Matt Kish talk about ways to approach the novel and why it's worth reading.
The Mercantile's Hillary Copsey talks to Andrew Fallaize and Ayana Workman, who are appearing in Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park's production of Miss Bennet: Christmas At Pemberley. The play, written by Lauren Gunderson and Margot Melcon and directed by Eleanor Holdrige, runs through November 10, 2018.
A conversation with Eli Meiners, Director of Museum Operations for 21C Museum Hotels. Eli was also part of the team that worked on the renovation of the Mercantile Library's Reading Room in 2010, as part of the celebration of our 175th year.
Hillary Copsey, the Mercantile's resident Book Advisor, talks to Sara Clark of Cincinnati Shakespeare Company and Steve McGowan of Brave Berlin about CSC's production of 1984.
In a conversation recorded last spring, Tim Guilfoile of Northern Kentucky Fly Fishers talks to Jim Babb, author and former editor-in-chief at Gray's Sporting Journal
Sam Nelson and Kat Reynolds, both of whom appeared in the Mercantile's April 2017 production of All Day Permanent Red, read selections from Virginia Woolf's "The Sun and the Fish" and Annie Dillard's "Total Eclipse".
The Mercantile's Chris Messick talks to C. Jacqueline Wood, Director of the Mini Microcinema in Over the Rhine. Note that this conversation was recorded in late April, so some of the screenings mentioned have already happened... all the more reason why you should sign up for the Mini Micro's email list!
Mercantile member Kamal Southall has a knack for finding odd, obscure, and interesting books deep in the Library's stacks. In this episode, he shares two of his most recent discoveries with the Mercantile's Adam Kosan.
Mercantile member Tim Guilfoile talks to Jen Ripple, editor-in-chief at Dun, a fly fishing magazine for - and largely by - women.
Just in time for Halloween, the Mercantile's Collector Cedric Rose heads to the Cincinnati Art Museum to discuss H. P. Lovecraft's From Beyond with CAM's Russell Ihrig. Ced and Russell talk about the ways Lovecraft's short story relates to themes explored in the work of Ana England, whose work is currently on display at CAM.
This discussion also appeared in an episode posted on the museum's podcast, Art Palace.
John Faherty, Jack Greiner, and Jay Stowe talk to Sridhar Pappu, author of The Year of the Pitcher: Bob Gibson, Denny McLain, and the End of Baseball's Golden Age
Brendon Cull talks to Erica Wagner, who recently spoke at the Mercantile about her book Chief Engineer: The Man Who Built the Brooklyn Bridge.
Actor Landon Hawkins reads selections from books that have recently been added to the Mercantile's collection.
Ben Greenberg talks to Ry Walker, Founder and CEO of locally based data engineering platform Astronomer.
Mercantile member Tim Guilfoile talks with author, scholar, editor, and avid fly fisher Robert DeMott.
Landon Hawkins performs excerpts from Christopher Logue's War Music, and we hear an excerpt from a composition by Knee Play.
In the inaugural episode of the 12th Story's new Founders Series, Ben Greenberg talks with Bryant Goulding, co-founder of Rhinegeist Brewery.
Polly Campbell, Brendon Cull, and John Faherty discuss Bruce Springsteen's memoir Born to Run
Cincinnati Magazine's Joanne Drilling and Alyssa Brandt talk to Zell Schulman, author of Passover Seders Made Simple.
Aspiring authors Colm Hackett and Will Moran (along with moms Mary Curran Hackett and Abby Moran) talk to YA author Chris Tebbetts about writing, reading, and his upcoming appearance at the Mercantile on 3/11.
Visit our event calendar for more information:http://new.mercantilelibrary.com/events-calendar/
Gabrielle Blocher, Grace Dobush, and Andrew Garth discuss Neal Stephenson's epic sci-fi novel Seveneves
Our intrepid reporter roams the floor of the 2016 Books by the Banks festival asking authors, attendees, Librarians, and others a question that everyone agrees is kind of dumb, while an unnamed author attempts to reunite with a missing pair of sunglasses.
In the second installment of an ongoing series on novels set in New York City, Jason Barron, Brendon Cull, and Chris Messick discuss Tom Wolfe's The Bonfire of the Vanities.
Brendon Cull, Hillary Copsey, and Brian Muething discuss Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by J. D. Vance.
Chris Messick sits down with RJ Smith and Jay Stowe of Cincinnati Magazine to discuss Trouble Boys: The True Story of the Replacements by Bob Mehr.
Note: this episode contains the occasional swear word.
Buck Niehoff, Albert Pyle, and Frank Russell talk to architectural critic Paul Goldberger about Cincinnati's architectural history, how buildings contribute to the urban experience, and what happened to all the doors in today's great buildings.
Paul Goldberger will deliver the Pyle Urban Lecture on September 22nd.
John Faherty, Niamh O'Leary of Xavier University, and Cincinnati Shakespeare Company's Brian Isaac Phillips discuss the plays of Shakespeare that appear in Emily St. John Mandel's novel Station 11.
To celebrate The 12th Story's first anniversary, Gabrielle Blocher, Brendon Cull, Chris Messick, and Cedric Rose discuss some of the pop culture they've been enjoying lately, then recap their favorite moments from the podcast's first year.
Abby Moran, Will Moran, Mary Curran Hackett, and Colum Hackett discuss James Patterson's Treasure Hunter series for young readers.
Ben and Brendon talk to award winning journalist Alex Blumberg, podcast host and founder of Gimlet Media. Alex will deliver the 2035 Lecture on 8/15/16.
Emily St. John Mandel, who will be appearing at the Mercantile on September 15th, calls in to talk to Brendon Cull, John Faherty, and Abby Moran about her novel Station 11.
Brendon Cull, Kevin Necessary, and Chris Wetterich discuss Howard Means' "67 Shots: Kent State and the End of American Innocnece."
Abby Moran, Mary Curran Hackett, Joe Heyd, and Linda Maupin re-cap the fourth and final War in Pieces session.
Paula Boggs Muething, Mike O'Neill, and Cedric Rose discuss The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson, which won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
Mary Curran Hackett, Joe Heyd, Linda Maupin, and Abby Moran recap the third session of the Mercantile's War in Pieces discussion group, which is tackling War and Peace in four easy-to-read parts.
Alyssa Brandt, Mary Curran Hackett, Abby Moran, and P. G. Sittenfeld on Eligible, Curtis Sittenfeld's modern retelling of Pride and Prejudice.
CONTAINS SPOILERS
Becky Cull, Mary Curran Hackett, Joe Heyd, and Abby Moran recap the second session of the Mercantile's War in Pieces discussion group, which is tackling War and Peace in four easy-to-read parts.
The group will meet to discuss Volume Three on May 10th.
Becky Cull, Mary Curran Hackett, and Abby Moran recap the first session of the Mercantile's War in Pieces discussion group, which is tackling War and Peace in four easy-to-read parts.
The group will meet to discuss Volume Two on April 9th. For more information, visit the Library's website: http://new.mercantilelibrary.com/event/war-in-pieces-2/
Anthony Graziani of Article Menswear (http://articlemenswear.com/) joins Ben Greenberg and Chris Messick in a discussion of W. David Marx's Ametora: How Japan Saved American Style
Brendon Cull, John Faherty, Michael Link, and Abby Moran discuss David Benioff's City of Thieves.
CONTAINS SPOILERS
Garth Risk Hallberg received a record-setting $2 million advance for his sprawling debut novel, City on Fire, which is set in late 1970s New York City. In this episode, Jason Barron, Brendon Cull, and Chris Messick decide if it was worth the money.
As always, EPISODES CONTAINS SPOILERS.
Alyssa Brandt, Grace Dobush, John Faherty, and Deborah Ginocchio discuss Carrie Brownstein's memoir "Hunger Makes Me A Modern Girl."
Brendon Cull, Grace Dobush, and Austin Radcliffe talk about Lois Lowry's The Giver, and in the process invent the concept of the Flu Trilogy. Contains spoilers, including a minor and fairly oblique spoiler for Dave Eggers' The Circle.
Gabrielle Blocher, Brendon Cull, Chris Messick, and Cedric Rose have a freewheeling and spoiler filled conversation about the current pop culture they've been consuming lately.
In this vaguely holiday-themed episode (Father Christmas makes a brief and largely gratuitous appearance), Jason Barron, Gabrielle Blocher, and Deborah Ginocchio discuss C. S. Lewis' The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.
Gabrielle Blocher, Becky Cull, and Angela Potochnik discuss Voices from Chernobyl by Svetlana Alexievich.
Cedric Rose asks authors and attendees at the 2015 Books by the Banks festival which books they'd like to have with them if they are ever stranded on a desert island.
Jason Barron, Becky Cull, Grace Dobush, and Mike O'Neill discuss Paula Hawkins' The Girl on the Train.
Paul De Marco, Joe Heyd, Abby Moran, and Tim Plunkett discuss David Brooks' recent appearance the the Mercantile's 2015 Niehoff Lecture, then finish with a discussion of his book The Road to Character.
Gabrielle Blocher, Abby Moran, and Jay Stowe discuss Marlon James's Man Book Prize-winning novel A Brief History of Seven Killings
Jason Barron, Brendon Cull, John Faherty, and Michael Link discuss Andy Weir's The Martian
Chris Messick, Gaby Blocher, Ben Greenberg, and Austin Radcliffe recommend pop culture that might appeal to people who like the Mercantile.
Brendon Cull, Grace Dobush, and Cedric Rose discuss Emily St. John Mandel's Station 11.
CONTAINS SPOILERS
Abby Moran, Cynthia Cole, Carolyn Nightingale, and Jo Anne Warren discuss Loving Frank and Under the Wide and Starry Sky by Nancy Horan.
CONTAINS SPOILERS
Luke Blocher, Grace Dobush, Jen Glaser, and Ben Greenberg discuss Miranda July's The First Bad Man.
CONTAINS SPOILERS
Chris Messick, Abby Moran, and Paula Boggs-Muething discuss Harper Lee's Go Set A Watchman. CONTAINS SPOILERS
John Faherty, Cedric Rose, Brendon Cull, and Michael Link discuss Ernest Cline's "Ready Player One".
CONTAINS SPOILERS
Brendon Cull, the Mercantile's John Faherty and Cedric Rose, and Michael Link of Joseph-Beth talk about the books they've enjoyed recently, and their most anticipated upcoming releases.
A discussion of Kate Atkinson's A God in Ruins by Brendon Cull, Deborah Ginocchio, Albert Pyle, and Cedric Rose
CONTAINS SPOILERS
A discussion of The Whites by Richard Price (writing as Harry Brandt) by Gabby Blocher, Mike O'Neill, and Albert Pyle.
CONTAINS SPOILERS
A discussion of Jon Ronson's book "So You've Been Publicly Shamed" by Gabby Blocher, Brendon Cull, Chris Messick, and Cedric Rose.