Bookworm Library for July
When I read a first novel, I usually reserve my judgment about the writer until I've read a second or even third book. But Reif Larsen is one of those rare exceptions. I recommend his novel, The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet (Penguin Press) because it's such a large-hearted and original work, and T.S. Spivet seems destined to join the scout-troop of adolescents who earn their merit badges by starring in classic American fiction.
Michael Silverblatt
A must for the serious reader, Bookworm showcases writers of fiction and poetry - the established, new or emerging - all interviewed with insight and precision by the show's host and guiding spirit, Michael Silverblatt.
On March, 19, 2009, Michael Silverblatt was interviewed on The Marketplace of Ideas, a public radio show and podcast about books, culture, commerce and fascinating concepts. You can download the interview or listen to it on iTunes.
Photo credit: Marc Goldstein
Modern Life (Graywolf Press)
Like dangerous toys or perilous amusement park rides, Matthea Harvey's
poems careen into the unknown...
Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)
Wells Tower is the most talked-about new story writer to emerge on the
literary scene. This conversation focuses on the weird details he uses
to illuminate a mostly conventional narrative arc...
Flannery: A Life of Flannery O'Connor (Little, Brown)
While we take a mini-tour of Flannery O'Connor's life and writing, biographer Brad Gooch
describes his difficulties in gaining access to the author's inner
life.
All-American Poem (American Poetry Review)
Kate Tufts Discovery Award-winner Matthew Dickman writes emotional and accessible poetry...
Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi (Pantheon)
Geoff Dyer on the secrets that structure his new novel (which
might, on the surface, seem like two novellas)....
Don’t Cry (Pantheon)
The extraordinary levels of empathy and sadness in Mary Gaitskill’s new stories provide the basis for this intense discussion of the emotional subtexts of her fiction.
Jacques Roubaud, Ian Monk, Daniel Levin Becker, Marcel Bénabou, Anne F. Garréta and Hervé Le Tellier
When members of the Oulipo convened in New York, Bookworm was there to record this mini-anthology of the transcendentally witty, sometimes hilarious goings-on.
The Loop (Dalkey Archive)
Jacques Roubaud describes the mesh of image and memory that makes up his fascinating, newly translated, unclassifiable book.
...on his translation of Pierre Martory's The Landscapist (The Sheep Meadow Press)
As John Ashbery remembers his early years in Paris, he reflects on French poetry and about the very special case of his long-time friend, Pierre Martory.
The Shanghai Gesture (Two Dollar Radio)
Out of fantasias of the past (Fu Manchu novels, exotic Hollywood films, documents of "friendly" imperialism from the twenties to the forties), Gary Indiana concocts the nightmare present of The Shanghai Gesture..
Praise Song for the Day: A Poem for Barack Obama’s Presidential Inauguration (Graywolf); American Sublime (Graywolf)
When Elizabeth Alexander presented Barack Obama's inaugural poem, few of us had considered that in the history of the United States there had been only three previous inaugural poets...
Warhorses: Poems (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)
The extraordinary part of this interview is the opportunity to hear Komunyakaa's
voice as he reads his poetry. These poems are about love and war
simultaneously, traumatic upheavals that may often be conjoined in this
poet's vision of life.
Follow Me (Little, Brown)
It has been said that life is like a river, and the river in this novel
twists and turns, changes direction and may even be inhabited by river
fairies...
Salvation Army (Semiotext(e))
In Abdellah Taïa's family and in his native country, homosexuality is surrounded by silence. All sorts of behaviors are tolerated if they are not spoken of, an intolerable circumstance for a writer...
The Women (Viking)
This richly layered conversation with T.C. Boyle centers on the subjects of art and arrogance. The Women
is a biographical novel, a fiction derived from the life of Frank Lloyd
Wright, focused particularly on Wright's up-and-down experiences with
women.
Eamon Grennan: Matter of Fact (Graywolf)
Major Jackson: Hoops (Norton)
Pattiann Rogers: Wayfare (Penguin)
Three poets join us on Bookworm to celebrate Walt Whitman. They read from Leaves of Grass, describe Whitman's influence on their work, read their own poems, and, in general, paint a raucous, friendly, informal portrait of the Good Gray Poet — America's greatest.
The Mercy Papers: A Memoir of Three Weeks (Scribner)
Fact and fiction. Robin Romm has written a book of short stories and now a memoir arising from one central event: her mother’s gradual death by cancer...
Bookworm Michael Silverblatt is the guy authors go to when they want a serious literary conversation about their writing, because Michael reads everything they’ve ever written, often surprising the authors with insights about their work that they themselves hadn’t realized.
Live
A CD copy of Bookworm is available by calling 888-600-5279.
Transcripts of Bookworm are not available.
Click the Full Details link to read an excerpt from the featured book.
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