Meet Your Co-hosts
Cassandra Berger and Liza Hamm met at The Cosmopolitan Club, a social club in New York City, while both were working on the Library Committee (very sexy stuff, we know). Cassandra was a lawyer, then a stay-at-home mom, and now an empty-nester. Liza had a busy career as a journalist at People magazine before jumping into the world of podcasts.
We were both looking for a new adventure and immediately bonded over the idea of a podcast where we could recommend and discuss books.
Cassandra’s Story
I was born and raised in Sherman, CT, a tiny town in the middle of the woods. I spent my childhood running around outdoors trying to keep up with my two older siblings. Eventually, we all went away to boarding school, so by the time I was in the 8th grade, there really wasn’t a lot to do at home. Thus began my love affair with books.
At the tender age of 13, I trotted off to Andover. I then went to Wellesley College, where I double majored in History and English. I spent two years working in public policy, attended the University of Virginia School of Law, became a corporate attorney, and practiced law for a few years.
Once I had kids, I decided to stay at home. And I started to read again. Books. For pleasure. I started a book club with some other moms that has met monthly for almost twenty years. As a school and Cos Club volunteer, I’ve organized lots of lectures, book discussions, and author visits.
Liza’s Story
I was born in Brooklyn and raised in Bronxville, New York. My mother passed her love of reading on to me. I have never been good at napping, but apparently, I would quietly and happily lie in bed for hours as long as books surrounded me. And as you can see from the photo above, my goal even then was to get others to join the fun.
Growing up, I met many friends through a shared obsession with Pippi Longstocking, Trixie Belden, and Nancy Drew. That bookish bonding continued in boarding school while attending Exeter (it’s the arch nemesis of Cassandra’s high school, by the way!) and then studying History at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio.
My first job after graduation was working for the PBS television show The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour. But print media is where I really wanted to be. I worked in magazines for over twenty years, the majority of them spent as a fact-checker, interviewer, and writer for People magazine.
Season One: Hidden Gems
This season, we are focusing on underrated fiction that we believe deserves more readers. Have you ever noticed how only a few books often get all the hype? Sometimes the buzz makes total sense, but other times… they just got lucky while other very worthy novels struggle to get any publicity and end up sitting on the bookshelf.
Our goal is to uncover these hidden gems, so we launched Operation Book Swap and asked friends, family members, and even some bookstore employees to tell us their favorite book that no one else has read—or even heard about. We received over 100 recommendations. (Yes, we have been very busy reading.) Each week, we will post one spoiler-free episode featuring a main novel that we both loved. And that book selection inspires the two of us (and some guests) to share what we’re calling B-Side Books - similarly-themed stories. We hope you will discover some new favorites, too.
Hey, we’d love to hear from you!
Do you have a favorite hidden gem? Love an up-and-coming author or an unsung writer? Share with our book swapping community!