S14:Ep272 - The Place Where They Buried Your Heart with Guest Christina Henry + House as a Character Book Recs
Wed Feb 04 2026
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You can find Christina Henry at christinahenry.net or on IG @authorchristinahenry
In this week’s episode, our focus is on houses that are so important to a story that they essentially become a character. When we started thinking about this idea, we realized that Chicago writer Christina Henry would be a perfect guest because her last two novels are focused on houses. Her most recent is titled The Place Where They Buried Your Heart and is about a neighborhood house that lures people in, causing heartache for neighbors as well as a sense of family among a handful of them. Prior to this novel, Christina wrote The House That Horror Built. We talk to Christina about the importance of houses in her stories and how a house can straddle setting and character.
In our book rec section, we continue the house idea with a range of titles in which houses are critically important—-we’ve got a memoir, a National Book Award winner, children’s fantasy, classic literature, and propulsive literary fiction.
Books Mentioned in this Episode:
1- The Place Where They Buried Your Heart by Christina Henry
2- The House That Horror Built by Christina Henry
3- Howards End by E.M. Forster
3- War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
3- Viewfinder: A Memoir of Seeing and Being Seen by Jon M. Chu
4- Double Indemnity by James Cain
5- From the Moment They Met It Was Murder: Double Indemnity and the Rise of Film Noir by Alain Silver and James Ursini
6- Out by Natsuo Kirino
7- Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata
8- Earthlings by Sayaka Murata
9- The Mantis by Kotaro Osaka
10- Three Assasins by Kotaro Osaka
11- Bullet Train by Kotaro Osaka
12- A Five Star Read by Fellow Book Lover Kris Wyatt @froggyreadteach - The Labors of Hercules Beal by Gary D. Schmidt
13- Cabin: Off the Grid Adventures with a Clueless Craftsman by Patrick Hutchison
14- House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus III
15- The Yellow House by Sarah broom
16- Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
17- The House with the Clock in it's Walls by John Bellairs
18- Behind the Waterline by Kionna Walker LeMalle
19- The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
20- Rebecca by Daphne duMaurier
Media Mentioned:
1- If I Had Legs I'd Kick You (2025)
2- Platonic (Apple +, 2023 - present)
3- Train Dreams (2025)
4- The Studio (Apple +, 2025)
5- Howards End (1992)
6- Howl's Moving Castle (2004)
7- The House with the Clock in it's Walls (2018)
8- House of Sand and Fog (2003)
9- LibroVox app for free audiobooks of books in the public domain
10- Whitehall House and Gardens Book Club - https://www.historicwhitehall.org/whitehall-book-club
More
Our website - www.perksofbeingabooklover.com. Instagram - @perksofbeingabookloverpod Facebook - Perks of Being a Book Lover. To send us a message go to our website and click the Contact button. You can find Christina Henry at christinahenry.net or on IG @authorchristinahenry In this week’s episode, our focus is on houses that are so important to a story that they essentially become a character. When we started thinking about this idea, we realized that Chicago writer Christina Henry would be a perfect guest because her last two novels are focused on houses. Her most recent is titled The Place Where They Buried Your Heart and is about a neighborhood house that lures people in, causing heartache for neighbors as well as a sense of family among a handful of them. Prior to this novel, Christina wrote The House That Horror Built. We talk to Christina about the importance of houses in her stories and how a house can straddle setting and character. In our book rec section, we continue the house idea with a range of titles in which houses are critically important—-we’ve got a memoir, a National Book Award winner, children’s fantasy, classic literature, and propulsive literary fiction. Books Mentioned in this Episode: 1- The Place Where They Buried Your Heart by Christina Henry 2- The House That Horror Built by Christina Henry 3- Howards End by E.M. Forster 3- War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy 3- Viewfinder: A Memoir of Seeing and Being Seen by Jon M. Chu 4- Double Indemnity by James Cain 5- From the Moment They Met It Was Murder: Double Indemnity and the Rise of Film Noir by Alain Silver and James Ursini 6- Out by Natsuo Kirino 7- Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata 8- Earthlings by Sayaka Murata 9- The Mantis by Kotaro Osaka 10- Three Assasins by Kotaro Osaka 11- Bullet Train by Kotaro Osaka 12- A Five Star Read by Fellow Book Lover Kris Wyatt @froggyreadteach - The Labors of Hercules Beal by Gary D. Schmidt 13- Cabin: Off the Grid Adventures with a Clueless Craftsman by Patrick Hutchison 14- House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus III 15- The Yellow House by Sarah broom 16- Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones 17- The House with the Clock in it's Walls by John Bellairs 18- Behind the Waterline by Kionna Walker LeMalle 19- The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson 20- Rebecca by Daphne duMaurier Media Mentioned: 1- If I Had Legs I'd Kick You (2025) 2- Platonic (Apple +, 2023 - present) 3- Train Dreams (2025) 4- The Studio (Apple +, 2025) 5- Howards End (1992) 6- Howl's Moving Castle (2004) 7- The House with the Clock in it's Walls (2018) 8- House of Sand and Fog (2003) 9- LibroVox app for free audiobooks of books in the public domain 10- Whitehall House and Gardens Book Club - https://www.historicwhitehall.org/whitehall-book-club