09-15-12 UPDATE:Podcast Update: Time to Read Episode 64: Tad Williams, 'The Dirty Streets of Heaven'
Click image for audio link.
Here's the sixty-fourth 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.
09-13-12:Carlos Ruiz Zafón Live at Copperfield's Books, Santa Rosa, California, July 2012
Click image for audio link.
"Why can't a book stay a book?"
—Carlos Ruiz Zafón
It was a beautiful summer day at Copperfield's Books in Santa Rosa; the venue was outdoors, and there was a large crowd waiting to hear the author speak on all topics of the Zafóniverse. We were all there to literally celebrate the arrival of 'The Prisoner of Heaven,' the latest foray into Zafón's vision of life, love, reading and libraries.
It was not an easy journey there. Zafón and I had spoken earlier in the day in San Francisco. While the drive is not such a great distance in terms of terrain, the traffic was nearly interminable. It took me foprever to get out of the city and once I hit the freeway, things were no better. What might have been a 45-minute trip without traffic turned into a solid three hours.
The not-to-be-named mapping software I used on my gadget did not make matters better; there are two streets with just about he same exact name. The first time I pulled up to what I expected to be a bookstore or a mall, I was parked in front of a weedy vacant lot. It was, in retrospect rather like something out of one of the books. Fortunately, the wrong address was not too far from the right address.
Once I made my way there, we got set up, plugged and once Mr. Zafón arrived and we had a quick, it was showtime — and lots of fun. The audience questions were superb, the vibe was very easygoing and a great time was had by all. Copperfield's hosts a lot of great authors; coming soon and definitely worth your valuable time are Junot Díaz and T. C. Boyle.
The subtitle for this article is derived from Zafón's answer to a question addressed to him by a member of the audience who asked about seeing the books as movies. You can hear just how great by following this link to the MP3 audio file.
09-10-12:A 2012 Interview with Charles Yu
Click image for audio link.
"...a rigorous definition of what sorry is..."
— Charles Yu
Charles Yu is easily one of the most interesting writers working today. In his most recent collection of short stories, 'Sorry Please Thank You,' he explores the depths of intense emotions and seriously abstract notions in fiction that seems so precisely written it feel like non-fiction, even when he is writing stories that are clearly absurd. He's the perfect example of infinity in the creative realms; you could never imagine anything he writes ever having been written before or by anyone else. He's a human singularity.
He's also great fun to speak to, and we had a grand time talking about 'Sorry Please Thank You' at NPR West. Yu is as funny in person as he is on the page, but he also brings everything else well. You can sense the sentiments for his family, and his keenly mathematical vision of the world. They never seem at odds; he encapsulates extremes of emotional and intellectual excellence.
It is true that when we talk about his stories, we tend to explore them in the same manner that they explore his world, and yes, we find out things about his stories that are not necessarily apparent to him even after he's finished them. In any conversation with Charles Yu, I feel like a guy who goes into a giant model of the solar system in the dark with a flashlight. I try to keep from tripping over my own feet, and then we see planet, up close and personal. It's literary science in the dark. You can hear us cast some new light on his excellent stories by following this link to the MP3 Audio file.
New to the Agony Column
09-18-15: Commentary : William T. Vollman Amidst 'The Dying Grass' : An Epic Exploration of Simultaneity
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2015 Interview with William T. Vollman : "...a lot of long words that in our language are sentences..."
09-05-15: Commentary : Susan Casey Listens to 'Voices in the Ocean' : Science, Empathy and Self
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2015 Interview with Susan Casey : "...the reporting for this book was emotionally difficult at times..."
08-21-15: Agony Column Podcast News Report : Senator Claire McCaskill is 'Plenty Ladylike' : Internalizing Determination to Overcome Sexism [Incudes Time to Read EP 211: Claire McCaskill, Plenty Ladylike, plus A 2015 Interview with Senator Claire McCaskill]
Agony Column Podcast News Report : Emily Schultz Unleashes 'The Blondes' : A Cure by Color [Incudes Time to Read EP 210: Emily Schultz, The Blondes, plus A 2015 Interview with Emily Schultz]
07-05-15: Commentary : Dr. Michael Gazzaniga Tells Tales from Both Sides of the Brain : A Life in Neuroscience Reveals the Life of Science
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2015 Interview with Michael Gazzaniga : "We made the first observation and BAM there was the disconnection effect..."
04-21-15: Commentary : Kazuo Ishiguro Unearths 'The Buried Giant' : The Mist of Myth and Memory
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2015 Interview with Kazuo Ishiguro : ".... by the time I was writing this novel, the lines between what was fantasy and what was real had blurred for me..."
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2015 Interview with Marc Goodman : "...every physical object around us is being transformed, one way or another, into an information technology..."
Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 199: Marc Goodman : Future Crimes: Everything Is Connected, Everyone Is Vulnerable and What We Can Do About It
