Martin selects the books, the hosts, and menu and gets additional help from savvy cooks who add a great deal to the show. She even decorates the set to go along with the themes and occasionally a destination point like sampling rum drinks at the LaSalle Grill with Wally Ruston and guest Mike Keen for Tom Gjelten’s book "Bacardi and the Long Fight for Cuba." Guest Gabrielle Robinson and Martin recreated a menu from the Burgundy region of France for Irene Nemirovsky’s "Fire in the Blood."

Here next trips include Kosovo, Montenegro and Albania with guest host Nancy McCaslin who appeared on the show that focused on "The Orientalist," a study of Baku, Azerbaijan.

This is the eight season that the Rex and Alice A. Martin Foundation has underwritten DINNER AND A BOOK. Gail admires their love of great food and superb entertaining and adventuresome travel. Alice has been a guest on numerous programs with the last three taped in her home in Lakeside, Michigan. This year’s book featured Lucinda Streiker-Schmidt's "A Separate God."