Tell Me What You’re Reading

About Tell Me What You’re Reading

Talking about books on the streets of New York, in the mountains of the Catskills and on the road. I find that when I ask people about what they’re reading, they tend to start talking about books generally and then start talking to others about books. Encouraging the discussion of books cannot be a bad thing! “Books are a sort of cultural DNA, the code for who, as a society, we are, and what we know. All the wonders and failures, all the champions and villains, all the legends and ideas and revelations of a culture last forever in its books.” @susanorlean, The Library Book

Publisher

Howard Altarescu

Category

society & culture

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

5 Sept 2018

Latest episode

12 Jul 2026

Latest episodes

59 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   12 Jul 2026

   Writers of the Catskills: In Conversation with Mikhail Horowitz (TMWYR Ep. #59)

   Writers of the Catskills: In Conversation with Mikhail Horowitz A series of self-portraits by Catskills’ literary voices (Photo Credit: Dion Ogust) These are clips from my conversation on November 21, 2025, with Mikhail Horowitz, poet, writer, journalist, musician, satirist, performance artist and activist. Mikhail has written more than 1,000 poems (“maybe 25 are any good,” he says), along with book reviews, spoofs and satires. His work includes “Spoon River Apology,” performed at the Woodstock Community Center last June. Mikhail lived in the Town of Saugerties for 34 years, has been living in Woodstock for the past three years, and also lived in Woodstock briefly in the 1980s. In our conversation Mik described his creative process as relying on “a gift from the Muse.” Mik was introduced to me by my Woodstock friend, Frank Spinelli, who participated in the discussion, as did my Woodstock friend, Dion Ogust.They were both also photographing Mik as we talked. A condensed and edited version of this interview was published on December 25, 2025, in (https://theoverlooknews.com/writers-of-the-catskills-in-conversation-with-elizabeth-lesser/)The Overlook, a nonprofit news outlet serving the Catskills communities of Hunter, Hurley, Olive, Saugerties, Shandaken, and Woodstock (https://theoverlooknews.com/writers-of-the-catskills-in-conversation-with-mikhail-horowitz/). and my interview with Mikhail can be heard on my podcast, “Tell Me What You’re Reading”, available on Apple Podcasts, (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tell-me-what-youre-reading/id1437308020)  Spotify (https://spotify.link/TYNpKAEDxXb)  and wherever else you listen to podcasts. Howard Altarescu

2. 

   22 Feb 2026

   Writers of the Catskills: In Conversation with Rebecca Rego Barry (TMWYR Ep. #60)

   My discussion with Rebecca Rego Barry for The Overlook (https://theoverlooknews.com/writers-of-the-catskills-in-conversation-with-rebecca-rego-barry/), the online nonprofit news outlet serving the Catskills communities of Hunter, Hurley, Olive, Saugerties, Shandaken, and Woodstock. Rebecca has had an exceptional literary journey as a book historian, a library preservationist and archivist, a magazine editor, bibliophile and publisher, as well as the author of hundreds of articles, essays, book reviews, two books, and a chapter in another. Rebecca, who was introduced to me by my friend Beth Waterman of the Phoenicia Library, lives in Chichester, a hamlet of Shandaken, with her husband Brett Barry, the host of the popular Catskills’ podcast “Kaatscast.” The couple recently became part owners of Catskills book publisher, the Purple Mountain Press. In our discussion, Rebecca observed “I literally think of nothing else but books all the time.” We discussed Rebecca’s books, Rare Books Uncovered, and The Vanishing of Carolyn Wells, Investigations into a Forgotten Mystery Author, Rebecca's writing process (‘bird by bird”) and routine, the challenges of writing and publishing, the books she’s currently reading, including with her local book club, and finally the Purple Mountain Press. A condensed and edited version of our discussion was published in The Overlook (https://theoverlooknews.com/writers-of-the-catskills-in-conversation-with-rebecca-rego-barry/).The complete transcript of our discussion can be found on my website, Bookworms In the Wild (https://www.bookwormsinthewild.com/home/2026/1/7/writers-of-the-catskills-in-conversation-with-rebecca-rego-barry-tmwyr-ep-60). (Photo credit: Dion Ogust)

3. 

   9 Nov 2025

   WW II Veteran Albert Lerman at 100 years old (TMWYR Ep. #58)

   While we refer to a few books in the discussion that follows, this discussion with my dear old friend Albert Lerman is primarily about his experience as an 18 year old infantryman in World War II. And when I say old friend, I really mean it. Albert turned 100 earlier this year and Albert’s son Bill, a dear and old friend as well, suggested that it would be timely to have this discussion. Albert was a grunt in the Army, an infantryman, tough, resilient, essential,  the backbone of the army, and part of The Greatest Generation. Carol and I have known and loved Albert for more than 50 years, and he's exemplified The Greatest Generation his entire life.  I’m so pleased to have had this discussion with Albert and Bill. (U.S. forces met allied Russian forces at the Elbe River in Germany on April 25, 1945, effectively splitting Nazi Germany in half and symbolizing the imminent end to the war.  In the picture above, Albert is the grunt with the cigarette in his mouth greeting Russian soldiers at the Elbe.) Albert discusses the drafting of the entire freshman and sophomore classes from Penn into the Army gearing up to fight the war; the hell of war for the soldiers (“you know, the guy beside you, all of a sudden, he ain’t alive anymore. That’s tough. That’s tough”), including the misery of living in foxholes, and for the German civilians as well (“absolutely, war is hell for them too, the people that we flushed out of these houses were women and children“); his war injuries; the historic meeting of U.S. and allied Russian forces at the Elbe River; the preference of the Germans to surrender to American forces (“they were deathly afraid of the Russians”); his extended honeymoon with Evelyn after the war; and his hope for the U.S. to avoid war in the future. My 2018 discussion with Evelyn, who we all loved beyond measure - Tell Me What You’re Reading No. 32: Evelyn Lerman - Ev's tribute to her Mom, and my tribute to Ev - can be found on Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/episode/7lX8yBAE1743HYmLcdC3kE?si=9hJ0fBNfQQi9NVvjvh35EQ)or Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tell-me-what-youre-reading/id1437308020?i=1000515246992) Books referred to in my discussion with Albert. D-Day, June 9, 1944, by Stephen Ambrose The Greatest Generation, by Tom Brokaw When Time Stopped, A Memoir of my Father’s War and What Remains, by Ariana Neumann Some of the other WWII books I’ve read. Roosevelt the Soldier of Freedom, by James MacGregor Burns No Ordinary Time, by Doris Kearns Goodwin Eleanor and Franklin, by Joseph P Lash Roosevelt and Hopkins, by Robert  E Sherwood Leadership in Turbulent Times, by Doris Kearns Goodwin Five Days in London, May 1940, by John Lucas Churchill: Walking with Destiny, by Andrew Roberts The Last Lion, by William Manchester The Conquerors, by Michael Beschloss From the Crash to the Blitz 1929 1939, by Cabel Phillips In the Garden of Beasts, by Eric Larson Hitler's Willing Executioners, by Daniel Jonah Goldhagen Inside the Third Reich, by Albert Speer The Brass Ring,by Bill Mauldin Unbroken, A World War II Story, by Laura Hillenbrand Hiroshima, by John Hersey Truman, by David McCullough The Winds of War, by Herman Wouk War and Remembrance, by Herman Wouk #WWII #Veterans #104th Infantry #First Army #First Canadian Army #The Big Red One - The First Infantry Division #General Patton - The Third Army #Terrible Terry Allen.

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

4.9 / 5

14 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

3 ratings

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Guest appearances

Does not typically book guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.