Joan Didion describes the main characters Charlotte and Charlotte's ex-husbands, Warren and Leonard of her novel, "A Book of Common Prayer". Didion said she based her novel from the song, "If I Ever Cease to Love You". A fan of Didion, who after reading her novel, made the comparison and asked Didion, "So you knew my ex-husband, too?"

Author Madeleine L'Engle discusses her novel "A Severed Wasp," about a retired concert pianist (Katherine Forrester, who appeared in L'Engle's first novel, "The Small Rain") who puts on a benefit concert at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine at the request of her old friend, Felix Bodeway. Like Katherine, L'Engle is a pianist and the interview is interspersed with Bach fugues throughout. In addition to discussing the plot, Terkel and L'Engle discuss several of the book's characters and their histories and motivations.

Joan Chase discusses and reads from her book "During the Reign of the Queen of Persia: a Novel." This book is told from the perspective of four granddaughters of an Ohio farm wife during the 1950s and is broken into three parts that follow these women throughout their life recounting family stories and the struggles of rural life in modern America. Studs plays "Down in the Valley" - Pete Seeger, Bess Lomax, and Tom Glazer (1951), "Yes Sir, That's My Baby" - Kai Winding & J.J. Johnson (1959), and "Frankie and Johnny" - Burl Ives (1955).

Having spent time as a Marine in southeast Asia and his military experience became material for Asa Baber's first book, "Land of a Million Elephants". Baber also talks about how he formulated his book. "Writing is music. Writing is jazz," said Baber. He didn't believe writing was about concepts and structure.

Discussing the books "Burnt water" and "Distant relations" with the author Carlos Fuentes.

Discussing the book "Charlie boy" with Peter Feibleman.

Author Susan Brownmiller discusses and reads from her book “Waverly Place”, a fictional story heavily inspired by the Lisa Steinberg child abuse case of 1987. Brownmiller discusses the details of the case and how domestic abuse, law enforcement, and the judicial system affected the outcome of this case. Studs plays "She Sits on the Table" - Tom Paxton (1980).