It’s Grab Bag Month — a month on the podcast celebrating the grand opening of The Jiffy-Mart. Each week on the show, I’m pulling out a new adventure from the Grab Bag Of Goods (the digital gift bag that all premium subscribers receive when they upgrade). Here’s what it looks like:

So far, we’ve seen the Bodega Cat Room, the cash register, and the statue of Joan Didion. And it’s been so hot lately that I thought it was time to show you the special refrigerators I just had installed.

One of them, the Forest Refrigerator Of The Woods, takes us straight into the heart of the Catskill forest, while another takes me directly into novelist Tom Grattan’s living room!

In my latest podcast episode, we walk into both of these refrigerators and find ourselves witnessing woodlands of birch and aspen, before hearing about books called “The God Of The Woods.”

It’s a lot of woods in this episode! I hope you like it.

_{Thank you for being here,
James}

For many people, summertime is known as a Major Book Season, and for others, it’s A Time For Taking Hikes.

I happen to be a member of both groups, and I love taking a summer book into the woods to read amongst the trees. Most of the time, I have no idea what tree I’m sitting under. But that’s all going to change, because I’m starting a new series on the Instagram Feed called, “Tree Minute,” all about trees.

Giovanna D’Angelo, a forestry educator with the Catskill Forest Association, will show us how to identify some of New York’s most interesting trees. In the podcast, Giovanna explains why quaking aspens wave to us and shows me how delicious birch tastes (just like a wintergreen Tic Tac).

Then we visit our friend Tom Grattan for his seasonal book recommendation: four books you should check out from your local library and put into your Jiffy Type Tote Bag:

It’s a fun episode, and in my interview with Tom, we also talked about one of my favorite literary topics of all time: The Book Blurb.

Tom tells me how he approaches the blurb, what it's like to be blurbed, and when it might be important to refrain from blurbing.

"This is an Audio Exclusive you don't want to miss!" -- a blurb by James Cave

I saved it for premium members, so if you’re a paying subscriber, you can check that out right here:

And if you’d like to upgrade to a membership tier, I’ve got three options for you! Check them out here; each membership helps support the storytelling I do through The Jiffy.

Tom actually wrote a blurb for one of the books he recommends on the show: "Tramps Like Us," by Joe Westmoreland.