08-05-12 UPDATE:Podcast Update: Time to Read Episode 57: Alan Cheuse, 'Paradise, or Eat Your Face'
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Here's the fifty-seventh episode of my new series of podcasts, which I'm calling Time to Read. Hitting the one-year mark, I'm going to make an effort to get ahead, so that podcast listeners can get the same sort of "sneak preview" effect that radio listeners get each Friday morning. And yes, I know this means I have one more to go this week — and here it is!
My hope is that in under four minutes I can offer readers a concise review and an opportunity to hear the author read from or speak about the work. I'm hoping to offer a new one every week.
08-05-12:A 2012 Live Conversation with Carlos Ruiz Zafón
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"...the way I do it is working in circles..."
—Carlos Ruiz Zafón
Carlos Ruiz Zafón's description of his method of revising his own work is also an apt description of how our conversations work as we talk multiple times about 'The Prisoner of Heaven.' This is a recording of our third conversation; first we spoke at KQED, in a studio setting, always a wonderful experience.
Our next conversation followed directly on that interview; we spoke in front of an audience in Sonoma, for Copperfield's Books. The audio for that recording requires just a bit of doctoring, and I' m preparing for another trip to Southern California to pick up a couple of interviews, so I'm posting our third talk about 'The Prisoner of Heaven.'
This interview was recorded live at All Saints Chrurch in Pasadena, sponsored by Vroman's Books. All Saints Church is a remarkably beautioful, so much so that while I was waiting outside, a couple arrived with a professional photographer to have portraits taken on the Church grounds.
Inside, it was equally beautiful, and we got a great crowd of smart readers. After a conversation that strayed quite far from our original studio talk, the audience asked excellent questions. In much the same way that Zafón revises his work, so, too do he and circle in on digging into how he does what he does, in a manner that I believe will enhance your reading experience. You can hear our conversation by following this link to the MP3 audio file.
07-31-12:Three Books with Alan Cheuse: The Short Story
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Alix Ohlin, Signs and Wonders ; Charles Yu, Sorry Please Thank You ; Jonathan Carroll, The Woman Who Married A Cloud
One of the pleasures of sitting down and talking with Alan Cheuse is that our conversations about books often go beyond the specific books in question. It's important to remember that Cheuse spends a fair amount of his time teaching, and the teacher often emerges when we review books as our analysis slides from the specifics to the genera; or the other direction. This time we were talking about three story collections, so it should come as no surprise that the short story form came under discussion.
The specifics of this conversation were certainly outstanding. Alix Ohlin's 'Signs and Wonders' lives up to the title, offering the readers wondrous stories of everyday life filled with emotion and plot, using the form with the sort of power that one rarely finds. It's not just a great collection, it is a consistently great collection. Like the other books we talked about, the stories in here are each good enough to fill your head for a day or two. It's probably a good idea to read one from each until you run out.
I've reviewed Charles Yu's collection 'Sorry Please Thank You' today, but I will add that the many readers who liked his novel, 'How to Live in a Science-Fictional World' are likely to find this collection every bit as enjoyable as the novel. Let me suggest that readers should keep an eye out for the Lambshead reference.
And finally Jonathan Carroll. Neither Cheuse nor I can find enough great things to say about this writer. In some ways, the description might seem similar to Charles Yu; Carroll is funny, very weird, but also fills his stories with powerful emotions. That said, the two are really nothing alike, other than the fact that they are both remarkably entertaining.
You can hear in-depth reviews of these books, plus a discussion of the short story form and the Cheever Rule, in case you decide to try your hand after reading these inspiring stories, by following this link to the MP3 audio file.
07-30-12:A 2012 Interview with Deborah Harkness
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"...he would not have been a nice guy..."
—Deborah Harkness
Not surprisingly, speaking with Deborah Harkness is like reading 'A Discovery of Witches' or 'Shadow of Night.' She knows what she's about, she's confident with the details, and she's having a lot of fun with it all — and so will you.
When last I spoke to Deborah, she'd written 'A Discovery of Witches,' a supernatural document thriller. That sort of novel suggests a certain set of questions, about documents and her setup of the supernatural world she creates. There was a certain amount of history inherent in the subject, but it was not exactly center-stage.
With 'Shadow of Night,' Harkness steps straight into history and pretty much stays there for nearly 600 pages. (It does not feel like a long book, by the way.) This is a very different novel from her first novel, even though it is a direct sequel. The upshot is that I found myself with a whole new set of questions. And Harkness had ready a whole new set of answers.
Agony Column Podcast News Report : Mary Robinette Kowal Reads "Evil Robot Monkey" at SF in SF on April 20, 2013 : "...not that there's anything remotely Regency about evil robot monkeys..."
05-06-13: Commentary : Glennon Doyle Melton Suggests 'Carry On, Warrior' : Fighting for Life in the Too Much Information Age
05-04-13: Commentary : Reasons Not to Leave the House, Reality Check : The Truth Hurts Edition: 'Down the Up Escalator' by Barbara Garson, 'The Wolf and the Watchman' by Scott C. Johnson,'The Book of Woe' by Gary Greenberg, 'Confessions of a Sociopath' by M. E. Thomas
05-01-13: Commentary : Mario Guslandi Reviews An Emporium of Automata by DP Watt : "...from the bizarre to the grotesque, from the baroque to the uncanny..."
Agony Column Podcast News Report : : Rick Klaw Reads at SF in SF on April 20, 2013 : "...those are the kind of people that don't get work anymore..."
04-29-13: Commentary : Ben Katchor Catalogues 'Hand Drying in America' : Subversive Cities of the Heart
04-27-13: Commentary : Mark Morris Introduces 'Toady' : A New World of Horror
Agony Column Podcast News Report : : Thomas Frank from The Easy Chair and Harper's Magazine: TV's DC Fantasies : "... basically, everyone is corrupt ..."
04-22-13: Commentary : Danielle Trussoni Maps 'Angelopolis' : The Afterlife of Angels
04-17-13: Commentary : How Not to Leave the House : Reach for the Recycling
Agony Column Podcast News Report : Matt Richtel, Sophie Littlefield and Terry Bisson at SF in SF on February 9, 2013 : "You cannot do this all day long." Sophie Littlefield
04-16-13: Commentary : Stephen Kessler 'Scratch Pegasus' : Lens of Language
04-08-13: Commentary : Ruth Ozeki Clocks 'A Tale for the Time Being' : Reading is the Future
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2013 Interview with Ruth Ozeki : "...through the act of writing, she would somehow conjure the reader into being..."
