08-09-13 UPDATE:Podcast Update: Time to Read Episode 114: Phillip Meyer, 'The Son'
Click image for audio link.
Here's the one hundred and fourteenth episode of my series of podcasts, which I'm calling Time to Read. Hitting the two-year mark, I'm still trying to make an effort to stay ahead, so that podcast listeners can get the same sort of "sneak preview" effect that radio listeners get each Friday morning.
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.
The one hundred and fourteenth episode is a look at Phillip Meyer and 'The Son.'
"...going to parties and not really knowing how to have ordinary interactions with people..."
— Gabriel Roth
Gabriel Roth is, of course, impossibly young. As we sit down to talk about his new novel, 'The Unknowns,' I'm thinking that he looks like a programmer I might have hired back in the before-time, when dinosaur-like giant disc drives three-feet across spun in stacks above hollow flooring filled with thick cables.
But Roth is from about two generations after those years. Still, it's clear that in 'The Unknowns,' he's on to some timeless truths about how some of us think and live. As one of the folks with a squeaky hamster wheel in his head, I found Roth's novel hilarious and horrifying.
Roth knows whereof he speaks. One of the great appeals of 'The Unknowns' is his insight into the minds of the computer programming generation, and he and I spoke about what it takes to program. As this becomes more and more a part of our daily lives, these sorts of insights become more necessary than ever. We live in a world where we must spend a lot of time dealing with abstractions that impact our lives, and that distancing has got to take a toll.
One of the strengths of this book is the level of empathy you feel for characters who are over the border of pathetic and sometimes into the realm of the repulsive. You might not like what the people you read about, but you will enjoy the reading experience. That's a very difficult feat to pull off and it was fun to talk to Roth about doing so.
08-07-13 UPDATE:Podcast Update: Time to Read Episode 113: Gabriel Roth, 'The Unknowns'
Click image for audio link.
Here's the one hundred and thirteenth` episode of my series of podcasts, which I'm calling Time to Read. Hitting the two-year mark, I'm going to make an effort to stay ahead, so that podcast listeners can get the same sort of "sneak preview" effect that radio listeners get each Friday morning.
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.
The one hundred and thirteenth episode is a look at Gabriel Roth and 'The Unknowns.'
It was a sad day when Lisa Lutz decided to move from San Francisco to New York. She tells us, after a fashion, just how sad it proved to be in Spellman Document #6, 'The Last Word.' Lutz's novels are personal. This time more so than usual.
I always have fun when I speak with Lutz, who is super smart and every bit as witty as her novels. She has a great combination of fearlessness and spontaneity that makes conversation about her books, life and writing process a joy. And talking about this book, it became clear to me once again how books break away from their authors and the creative process; that is, this super-fun, witty and insightful novel that is over before you know it was not so easy to write as it is to read.
When you read the novel, it seems that Lutz is practically channeling Isabel. It's method acting. But all that ease is not so easy to put on the page, apparently. There are some definite call-outs in here, particularly with regards to moving. If you are in any way considering moving, you need to read this book to determine what not to do.
Readers and listeners who are familiar with the podcast know that in general I begin the interview by having the writer read from the work we are going to discuss. But Lutz told me that she had prepped something original for her tour, and I had her read that; first at the beginning and then the rest later in the interview. What's of course interesting is that Lutz as Lutz is eerily reminiscent of Lutz as Isabel Spellman. I guess you could call it reverse method acting.
I'd suggest that readers get all their Lutz titles lined up nice and neat in a row before listening to this interview. I know I went back and revisited my favorite parts of each book in the series after the conversation. When I spoke with Karen Joy Fowler recently, she told me that she found books with ample doses of humor and comedy to be eminently re-readable. And thus the Spellman library stays accessible.
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
