Month: October 2018

Lydia Kiesling tricked herself into writing a novel by starting with small vignettes about her feelings as a new parent and setting them in a northern California that’s rarely explored in literature. The result of tying those scenes together is her excellent debut, THE GOLDEN STATE. She and James talk about her work as editor of THE MILLIONS, spreadsheets, local newspapers, present tense, and barfing toddlers. Plus, Shuchi Saraswat from Brookline Booksmith talks about the Transnational Literature Series and book sales.

Lydia Kiesling: 

Lydia and James Discuss: 

CAL SUNDAY MAGAZINE

Sarah Smarsh

Hamilton College

OFF COURSE by Michelle Huneven

MODOC COUNTY RECORD

David Lodge

Sarah Blackwood

LUCKY JIM by Kingsley Amis

Tobias Wolff

Brandon Taylor

THE MILLIONS

Laura van den Berg

Emily Bell

Charles Dickens

THE GRADUATE dir by Mike Nichols

C. Max Magee

THE LAST SAMURAI by Helen DeWitt

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Shuchi Saraswat

Shuchi and James discuss:

Brookline Booksmith

The Transnational Literature Series

KINGDOM OF OLIVE AND ASH ed by Chabon & Waldman

THIS IS NOT A BORDER ed by Soueif & Hamilton

Ru Freeman

Khury Petersen-Smith

BEACON PRESS

Tom Hallock

HILLBILLY ELEGY by J.D. Vance

VISITATION by Jenny Erpenbeck

GO WENT GONE by Jenny Erpenbeck

Laura van den Berg

DISORIENTAL by Negar Djavadi

POSO WELLS by Gabriela Aleman

Coolidge Corner Theatre

PERSEPOLIS dir by Marjane Satrapi

Words Without Borders

The Forum Network

Bob Woodward

EXIT WEST by Mohsin Hamid

HOME FIRE by Kamila Shamsie

PACHINCO by Min Jin Lee

THE INCENDIARIES by R.O. Kwon

THE MARS ROOM by Rachel Kushner

CIRCE by Madeline Miller

SONG OF ACHILLES by Madeline Miller

BookScan

The realization that distance will always be present in even the most connected of people is one of the recurring themes in Rita Bullwinkel’s spectacular debut story collection, BELLY UP (out now from A STRANGE OBJECT). Rita and James talk about spanning the real and the unreal, finding balance in sequencing, and loving stories where characters have tools to leave their bodies. Plus Dick Scanlon on RENASCENCE, the new musical featuring the poetry of Edna St. Vincent Millay.

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Rita Bullwinkel

Rita and James discuss:

Jill Meyers

A STRANGE OBJECT

AMERICAN SHORT FICTION

Vanderbilt University

Kelly Link

Diane Williams

ALTMANN’S TONGUE by Brian Evenson

EVERYTHING RAVAGED, EVERYTHING BURNED by Wells Tower

COAST OF CHICAGO by Stuart Dybek

Mills College

Center for New Music

PURE HOLLYWOOD by Christine Schutt

Blair School of Music

Mark Jarman

Michael Alec Rose

Ben Marcus

“Slatland” by Rebecca Lee

NEW AMERICAN SHORT STORIES

STORIES ON STAGE

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Dick Scanlon

Dick and James discuss:

MOTOWN: THE MUSICAL

Barry Gordy

EVERYDAY RAPTURE

Carmel Dean

William Finn

Edna St. Vincent Millay

THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE

Steepletop

The Millay Colony

Edna St. Vincent Millay Society

Holly Peppe

Danny Kornfeld

Kathleen Millay

Caroline B. Dow

Mikaela Bennett

Norma Millay

Eugen Jan Bossevain

Elaine Ralli

Vassar

Donald Webber Jr.

Brett Banakis

Daniel Torday makes a triumphant return to talk about his new novel, BOOMER1. He and James chat about creating the world around the book, reinventing like Dylan, aspiring to anti-lyricism, and getting excited about liking stuff. They try to parse out a comic novel vs. a funny one and what constitutes satire. Plus, Emory Harkins discusses the mobile and now brick-and-mortar book store he co-founded and co-owns with Alexa Trembly, Twenty Stories.

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Daniel Torday

Daniel and James Discuss:

David Crosby

THE RUMPUS

“Pretty Polly”

Fleet Foxes

Dirty Projectors

Dr. Dog

WXPM

“Superstitious” by Stevie Wonder

The Velvet Underground

PASTORALIA by George Saunders

MAGIC FOR BEGINNERS by Kelly Link

Junot Diaz

Karen Russell

David Foster Wallace

Flannery O’Connor

Bob Dylan

William Faulkner

THE ADVENTURES OF AUGIE MARCH by Saul Bellow

SEIZE THE DAY by Saul Bellow

INFINITE JEST by David Foster Wallace

John Updike

Philip Roth

Netflix

TREE OF SMOKE by Denis Johnson

JESUS’ SON by Denis Johnson

TRAIN DREAMS

RED CALVARY by Isaac Babel

Twenty Stories Bookstore

FLORIDA by Christine Schutt

THE AGE OF WIRE AND STRING by Ben Marcus

Aleksandar Hemon

BLOOD MERIDIAN by Cormac McCarthy

NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN by Cormac McCarthy

SUTTREE by Cormac McCarthy

James Joyce

ABSALOM, ABSALOM by William Faulkner

LIBRA by Don DeLillo

Dana Spiotta

Leonard Michaels

Grace Paley

Thomas Bernhard

Laszlo Krasznahorkai

Franz Kafka

Samuel Beckett

Jack Ruby

Lee Harvey Oswald

The Titanic

Occupy Wall Street

ORLANDO by Virginia Woolf

WE ARE LEGION

McSweeney’s

DAWN OF THE DEAD dir George A. Romero

David Remnick

Fyodor Dostoevsky

YOUR DUCK IS YOUR DUCK by Deborah Eisenberg

Lydia Davis

Dave Barry

Colson Whitehead

Rivka Galchen

OZARK

ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT

Gary Shteyngart

John Mulaney

Pitchfork

Mike Nichols & Elaine May

Dave Chappelle

Chris Rock

THE SOPRANOS

Alfred Hitchcock

Chris Farley

Jane Goodall

Harold Bloom

Lewis Hyde

Yaddo

Best American Short Stories

The O. Henry Prize Stories

Mary Gaitskill

ESQUIRE

“Messiah” by George Friderick Handel

Chris Thile

The Ramones

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TWENTY STORIES

Emory and James discuss:

ON THE ROAD by Jack Kerouac

FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS by Hunter S. Thompson

Alexa Trembly

Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra

DISQUIET

AMERICAN SHORT FICTION

TWO DOLLAR RADIO

CURBSIDE SPLENDOR

THE DEEPER THE WATER, THE UGLIER THE FISH by Katya Apekina

HALF OF A YELLOW SUN by Chimamanda Adichie

COMEMADRE by Roque Larraquy, translated by Heather Cleary

WHEN RAP SPOKE STRAIGHT TO GOD by Erica Dawson

JESUS’ SON by Denis Johnson

WHITE GIRLS by Hilton Als

something bright, then holes by Maggie Nelson