Bibliography

Tess Gunty on Narrative Voice, Her Writing Process, and the Books That Most Inspire Her Nov 04, 2022

Tess Gunty is an award-winning novelist based in Los Angeles, whose fascinating (and acclaimed) debut novel, The Rabbit Hutch, was recently published by Knopf (North America) and Oneworld (UK & Commonwealth) and is a finalist for the National Book Award. For this week’s episode she chatted with David about her creative approach, the books that inspire her most, and much, much more. Here’s to long TBR lists!

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Tyler Dunne on the state of the NFL and good sports books Oct 27, 2022

Sports writer, Tyler Dunne has written “the definitive guide to the real men of the gridiron: NFL tight ends”. It’s called The Blood and Guts: How Tight Ends Save Football and it’s available wherever books are sold. This week, Ty joins Bibliography to chat about the state of the NFL, his favorite sports books, and more.

You can grab a copy of the book here.

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Scott Avett on His Favorite Books, Truth in Art, and the Notion of the Contemplative Life Oct 05, 2022

Scott Avett is perhaps best known for his work in the acclaimed and much-loved band, The Avett Brothers, but he’s also a very accomplished visual artist who has two exhibitions running concurrently this fall.

Scott Avett: Purpose at Random, is showing at the SOCO Gallery in Charlotte, NC until November 2. You can learn more about this show here. Meanwhile, Scott Avett: After the Fact is at the Greenville Museum of Art from October 7 until January 21, 2023. Click here for tickets to this show.

Recently, Scott joined the show to discuss some of his favorite books, his ongoing journey as an artist, the question of truth in art, his affection for the mystics, the role of books in his home, and much, much more.

Thanks for checking out our show—and happy reading!

The Exhibitions

Scott Avett: Purpose at Random, is showing at the SOCO Gallery in Charlotte, NC until November 2. You can learn more about this show here.

Scott Avett: After the Fact is at the Greenville Museum of Art from October 7 until January 21, 2023. Click here for tickets to this show.

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The Best Fiction of 2022 So Far (with Sam Sacks) Sep 21, 2022

Sam Sacks writes the Fiction Chronicle for the Wall Street Journal Book Review, one of the best sections in the world of book criticism. He is eloquent in his defense of good books, tactful in his criticism of bad ones, and always interesting in his taste. In this episode, he joins David to chat about several stand-out novels that have been published so far in 2022.

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Audio Book Narrator Edoardo Ballerini Jul 29, 2022

Edoardo Ballerini has been in your head—or at least there’s a good chance he has if you listen to audio books. Having narrated more than 350 books (including classics by Dante, Dostoevsky, Eliot, Camus, and others and books by a plethora of popular modern writers like Amor Towles, Jess Walter, Isabel Allende), Ballerini is one of the superstars of the audio book world. So on this episode of Bibliography we talked about how he jumped into that line of work, how he prepares to narrate a book, and how the experience has impacted his reading life.

Of course, Ballerini is also successful television and movie actor, the son of a poet, and a parent of multiple children, so we chatted about the books that have been staples of his life over the years in each of these roles.

We hope this conversation helps you find a great book to add to your TBR list. Happy listening!

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Alissa Wilkinson Talks Great Food Writing (and more) Jul 02, 2022

You know that classic question, if you could have a dinner party with anyone dead or alive, who would it be? Well, Alissa Wilkinson’s new book, Salty: Lessons on Eating, Drinking, and Living from Revolutionary Women, is her fascinating and perhaps a tad unconventional answer to that question. She has gathered a hypothetical table of women who challenged norms and defied conventional wisdom: Ella Baker, Alice B. Toklas, Hannah Arendt, Octavia Butler, Agnes Varda, Elizabeth David, Edna Lewis, Maya Angelou, and Laurie Colwin. And she explores the ways food managed to root these women into their various callings. As the book jacket describes, “Salty is Alissa Wilkinson's invitation to you. Join these sharp, empowered, and often subversive women and discover how to live with courage, agency, grace, smarts, snark, saltiness, and sometimes feasting--even in uncertain times.”

Salty is out this week from Broadleaf Books so it seemed like a good time to chat about some of the best food writing out there. So, in addition to sharing some of her favorite books, Alissa also shared her Mount Rushmore list of the best very books of food writing.

Alissa Wilkinson is a senior culture reporter and critic at Vox.com, where she writes about film, TV, and culture, often where they intersect with media, religion, and rhetoric. She is also an associate professor of English and humanities at The King's College in New York City, where since 2009 she has taught courses on criticism, cinema studies, literature, and cultural theory.

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Chris Beha Shares the Books He Loves Jun 24, 2022

“Christopher Beha is one of the most talented young writers at work today.” —Jess Walter, author of Beautiful Ruins

This episode’s guest is Chris Beha, author of one of my favorite recent novels, The Index of Self Destructive Acts, which was nominated for the 2020 National book award and is one of the best books about people talking about ideas.

Beha is also the author of a memoir, The Whole Five Feet, and the novels Arts & Entertainments and What Happened to Sophie Wilder. Plus, he is the editor of Harper’s Magazine, one of the most consistently interesting and thoughtful periodicals available right now.

A while back he joined me to talk about the books he loves the most, including titles by Beverly Cleary, Muriel Spark, Leo Tolstoy, and others. I have been saving it for summertime because I think Index is a great book for this time of year. Thanks for tuning in.

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David McCloskey Shares His Favorite Spy Novels May 30, 2022

David McCloskey knows spy fiction. Having been a CIA analyst in a former life, he knows what makes a spy novel realistic and as a novelist he knows what makes the drama work. His 2021 novel, Damascus Station, is one of my favorite books of recent vintage precisely because it blends the two so beautifully. So on this episode of Bibliography, McCloskey joined the show to discuss some of his favorite books in the genre—new and old—as well as several other books that have defined his reading life over the years. Careful: You’re TBR list is about to get longer.

Thanks for listening!

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Historian Megan Kate Nelson Shares Her Favorite Books of History (and more) May 12, 2022

Megan Kate Nelson is an expert in the history of the American Civil War, the U.S. West, and popular culture. In fact, she’s such an expert that in 2021 she was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in History for her book, The Three-Cornered War: The Union, the Confederacy, and Native Peoples in the Fight for the Wes. Her new book, out this Spring, is called Saving Yellowstone and is about the historical context in which Yellowstone was discovered, preserved, and established as a national park.

As her website puts it, it is “a narrative of adventure and exploration, Saving Yellowstone is also a story of Indigenous resistance, the expansive reach of railroad, photographic, and publishing technologies, and the struggles of Black southerners to bring racial terrorists to justice. It reveals how the early 1870s were a turning point in the nation’s history, as white Americans ultimately abandoned the higher ideal of equality for all people, creating a much more fragile and divided United States.”

Recently Megan joined Bibliography to chat about the books she loves, the challenges of writing history, and much more. So if you love books of history, national parks, and adding to your to-be-read list be sure to tap that play button.

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Austin Kleon Spreads Some Book Love Apr 26, 2022

Austin Kleon is an enthusiast, a man of joy, who takes great pleasure in contemplating the creative process and who has built a loyal following by sharing his love for books, music, movies, comics, journaling, notebooks, brush-pens, and so much more. He’s a man with eclectic tastes that are both curated and wide-ranging, and so he is an ideal guest for a podcast like this. Kleon joined the show recently to discuss his life in books, his own book writing process, books he reads with his kids, and much more.

Be sure to check out his Substack newsletter at austinkleon.substack.com. You’ll get a joyful dose of all that enthusiasm a few times a week.

And, of course, thanks for listening!

Books Mentioned in this episode:

* Lynda Barry, What It Is

* Anne Patchett, These Precious Days

* James Kochalka, The Cute Manifesto

* Lewis Hyde, The Gift

* Scott McCloud, Understanding Comics

* Journal of Henry D. Thoreau

* Jenny Odell, How to Do Nothing

* Alan Jacobs, Breaking Bread with the Dead

* Peanuts comincs

* Calvin and Hobbes comics

* Tove Jansson, History of Moomins

* Jack Kirby comics

* Liana Finck, Passing for Human

* Kristin Radke, Seek You

* James Marshall, George and Martha books

* Jon Klassen’s hat books

* Ernie Bushmiller’s Nancy

* Alan Taylor’s Assassin’s Cloak

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William Kent Krueger shares his most beloved books Apr 15, 2022

William Kent Krueger is the author of the Cork O’Connor series of mystery books about a detective who is part Irish, part Ojibwa and who solves crimes on the frozen tundra of northern Minnesota. Eighteen books in, it is one of the most beloved active crime series. Book eighteen, Lightning Strike, came out last fall, and the next iteration, Fox Creek, is due out autumn 2022. As with each of his last nine books, this new title is sure to be a New York Times best seller.

Of course, some of you might know Krueger for his recent standalone novels, This Tender Land and Ordinary Grace—books with a touch of mystery, a dose of Americana, and a healthy serving of Krueger’s customary high-octane prose.

Krueger joined the show recently to chat about the books he loves the most: the titles he loved as a kid and that inspire him as a writer today. He’s a born conversationalist and I think his love of books, stories, and his home shine through in this chat. Be prepared to add a few titles to that ever-growing TBR list you keep.

Thanks for listening (and happy reading)!

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Michelle Nijhuis Mar 15, 2022

One of David’s favorite books last year was Michelle Nijhuis’ Beloved Beasts: Fighting for Life in an Age of Extinction, a fascinating history of the way human knowledge about species extinction (and survival) has evolved. There was a time, she writes, that scientists (and human culture at-large) simply didn’t understand the way animals lived and died. Most people figured that even creatures that seemed to be getting scared with find a way to come back. But then in the twentieth century things changed, and this book is the story of people like Rachel Carson, Aldo Leopold, and other scientists set out to learn the truth and preserve the creature that make the planet so wonderful. It’s a great book, and in this episode of Bibliography, Nijhuis came on to chat about the books that have inspired her—as an individual, as a scholar, and as a parent—over the years.

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Josh Ritter On Books He Loves and the Differences Between Songwriting and Novel Writing Dec 15, 2021

This week’s guest is Josh Ritter, novelist, musician, all around highly intelligent gentleman. In 2006, he was named one of the "100 Greatest Living Songwriters" by Paste magazine and his music has won numerous accolades. His albums The Animal Years and So Runs the World Away are both extremely important to me.

But of course we’re here to talk books, including his own. His first novel, Brights Passage, came out in 2011, and then earlier this autumn, his second novel was published. It’s called THE GREAT GLORIOUS GODDAMM OF IT ALL, and its both a coming-of-age novel and a memory novel set during the last age of the lumberjacks. The protagonist is ninety-nine year old Weldon Applegate, and he’s looking back at his life among larger-than-life characters that populated the Pacific Northwest around the turn of the twentieth century.

Ritter is from Moscow, Idaho, and the novel captures that part of the world in vivid detail. He writes in poetic, playful prose that is consistent with what we have seen in his songs for more than two decades now.

As the book’s jacket says, it’s a novel that is “Braided with haunting saloon tunes and just the right dose of magic,” and “is a novel bursting with heart, humor and an utterly transporting adventure that is sure to sweep you away into the beauty of the tall snowy mountain timber.”

Ritter joined the show recently to discuss the books that have inspired him and the differences he sees in songwriting and fiction writing.

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Jess Walter's Reading Life Nov 26, 2021

Walter is the author of seven novels, one book of short stories and one nonfiction book. His work has been selected three times for Best American Short Stories as well as the Pushcart Prize and Best American Nonrequired Reading. He’s been published in, Harper's, Esquire, McSweeney's, Tin House, Ploughshares, the New York Times, the Washington Post and many others.

He began his writing career in 1987 as a reporter for his hometown newspaper, The Spokesman-Review where he was a finalist for the 1992 Pulitzer Prize as part of a team covering the shootout and standoff at Ruby Ridge, in Northern Idaho. Eventually he wrote about this in his first book, Every Knee Shall Bow, in 1995. He has also worked as a screenwriter and has taught graduate creative writing at the University of Iowa, Pacific University, Eastern Washington and Pacific Lutheran.

Walter has twice won the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Award (for The Zero and We Live in Water), the Washington State Book Award (The Cold Millions) and was a finalist for the L.A. Times Book Prize (The Zero) and the PEN/USA Award in both fiction (The Zero) and nonfiction (Every Knee Shall Bow). His novel Beautiful Ruins was a #1 New York Times bestseller and spent more than a year on the bestseller list. It was also Esquire's Book of the Year and NPR Fresh Air's Novel of the Year. The Financial Lives of the Poets was Time Magazine's#2 novel of the year and Walter's story collection, We Live in Water, was longlisted for the Story Prize and the Frank O'Connor Short Story Award. Walter's latest novel is the national bestseller, The Cold Millions, A BOOK OF HISTROICAL FICTION “Featuring an unforgettable cast of cops and tramps, suffragists and socialists, madams and murderers, The Cold Millions is a tour de force from a “writer who has planted himself firmly in the first rank of American authors” (Boston Globe).

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James Lee Burke Nov 19, 2021

Best known for his David Robicheaux series of novels, James Lee Burke is a New York Times best selling author many times over, who has been awarded two Edgar Awards for best novel, as well as the Grand Master Master Award, by the Mystery Writers of America. His novels have been translated into almost every language in the world and his stories of the Deep South and American West make him on the essential American novelist of the last half century.

His newest book came out this fall and its called ANOTHER KIND OF EDEN. It’s described as a captivating tale of justice, love, brutality, and mysticism set in the turbulent 1960s. And for my money, it’s well worth a read this fall. It’s rollicking and weird in exactly the right sort of ways, while also featuring the precise prose that led to one publication calling him “America’s best novelist.”

Burke joined the show recently to discuss the books that inspire him, his favorite of his own books, the life of the writer, and much more.

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Kate Baer Nov 11, 2021

Kate Baer is a #1 New York Times bestselling poet and author of What Kind Of Woman, a book that Publishers Weekly describes as“ confident and fearless.” Her new collection of poems, I Hope This Finds You Well, is out this week and is inspired by critical messages and comments she has received over the past year, primarily on Instagram. Baer created the poems in the collection by deleting words from the original more-ugly messages such that what is left over is a poem. Erasure poetry is not new, per se, but in Baer’s hands it to becomes a contemporary feminist vision that both explores and comments on what it means to be a woman in the twenty-first century. It’s a deeply personal collection of poems, yet its also full of so much empathy that it can’t help but be universal.

In this episode, she chatted with David about the books inspire her the most. They discuss books that take risks, lit Twitter, comedy writing, a book about a hermit, and how we are all going to die.

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Wiley Cash Nov 04, 2021

Wiley Cash is a NC-based writer whose new novel is called When Ghosts Come Home. It’s the story of a NC sheriff named Winston Barnes who is forced to reckon with a complicated and strange murder investigation on the NC coast that is instigated by a mysterious plane crash. Cash’s previous award winning fiction includes A Land More Kind Than Home, The Last Ballad and This Dark Road to Mercy and he has received numerous awards including the Southern Book Prize, The Thomas Wolfe Book Prize, The Appalachian Writer’s Association Book of the Year, among many other prestigious awards. He’s been a fellow at Yaddo and the MacDowell Colony, and he teaches fiction writing and literature at the University of North Carolina-Asheville, where he serves as Alumni Author-in-Residence. He lives in North Carolina with his wife, photographer Mallory Cash, and their daughters.

In this conversation, David chats with Mr. Cash about the books that mean the most to him.

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Alexandra Andrews Oct 27, 2021

Alexandra Andrews is the author of Who is Maude Dixon, a delightfully twisty new mystery that has been described as heir to Patricia Highsmighth’s legacy (think Strangers on a Train or The Talented Mr. Ripley). It's the story of a young woman who works in publishing, is disillusioned with her prospects, and suddenly finds herself as the assistant for an Elene Ferrante-like novelists. Suddenly, the two of them are caught up in an international mystery complete with mistaken identities, cliffside car crashes, and foreign investigators that may or may not be bribable. It's a great time between two covers.

So join David as he chats with Alexandra about the books she loves the most, the titles that inspired her to become a writer.

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Ron Rash Oct 20, 2021

Ron Rash is one of the Carolina's most beloved authors, known in equal measure for his novels and his short fiction. He's the author of Serena, an award-winning 2008 novel about love and timber in depression-era North Carolina, and Something Rich and Strange, a 2014 collection of stories, and most recently 2020's In the Valley, a collection of stories and novella that follow up on Serena. Rash has won several awards for his writing, has been anthologised multiple times in the Best Short Stories of the year collections, and today is the Parris Distinguished Professor in Appalachian Cultural Studies at Western Carolina University.

In this conversation David and Ron chat about the books he loved as a child, the books he reads when he's writing, and much, much more.

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Graham Greene the Spy, with Christopher Hull Jul 13, 2019

In this episode of Libromania, a podcast for the book-obsessed, David chats with historian, Christopher Hull, about his new book Our Man Down in Havana: The Story Behind Graham Green's Cold War Novel. Although he's obviously best known for his many wonderful novels (and screenplays), Greene spent most of his adult life working for Great Britain's secret service. He was an adventurer, and a bit of rogue, and in many ways his work in the world of espionage met a deep-seated psychological need. In this episode, David and Dr. Hull cover this back-story (and much more).

Be sure to find Our Man Down in Havana wherever you love to buy books -- and be on the lookout for the brand new audio book, out now.

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On the Work of the Regional Novelist, with David Joy Jul 03, 2019

In this episode of Libromania, a podcast for the book-obsessed, David chats with novelist David Joy about what it's like to be a regional novelist and whether that was something he set out to be when he first started writing fiction. They discuss the authors that influenced his work, how his neighbors have responded to his novels, and much more.

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Callie Feyen on Teaching Shakespeare Jun 17, 2019

In this episode of Libromania, a podcast for the book-obsessed, David chats with author and teacher Callie Feyen about her book, The Teacher Diaries: Romeo and Juliet, in which she contemplates her time teaching Shakespeare to a group of students who didn't seem ready for it. They discuss her classroom strategies, her own love of Shakespeare, her love of libraries, and much, much more.

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The Summer Reading Episode Jun 06, 2019

Join David Kern and guest Levi Stahl (marketing director for University of Chicago Press and a wonderful books-based Twitter follow) for a conversation about some great summer reads. They start by chatting about what makes for a good summer read, then dive in to their own lists.

Here are some of the books discussed on this show:

A Month in the Country, by J. L. Carr

Novels and stories by Craig Rice

Dorothy Dunnett's House of Niccolo series, Lymond Chronicles, and King Hereafter

The Canterbury Tales

The Country of the Pointed Firs, Sarah Orne Jewett

David Epstein's Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World

A.E. Stallings' “Like”

Eric Ambler's Journey into Fear

P.G. Wodehouse's Carry on Jeeves

Wallace Stegner's Crossing to Safety

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Paul Sahre, One of the World's Foremost Book Cover Designers May 31, 2019

In which David chats with Paul Sahre, one of the world's foremost book cover designers. Sahre's designed covers for the likes of Chuck Klosterman and Malcolm Gladwell, and he's done updates for Hemingway and Spark, among others. In this conversation, David and Paul discuss the process of designing a cover, some of his favorite covers of all time, and much more.

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Discussing the 2019 Pulitzer Prize Finalists with John Wilson May 22, 2019

In this episode, longtime book critic and former editor of Books and Culture, John Wilson, joins the show to discuss the three finalists for the 2019 Pulitzer Prize: Richard Powers' The Overstory, Rebecca Makkai's The Great Believers, and Tommy Orange's There There. They discuss what makes each book appealing, some of their flaws, and what these choices say about the contemporary literature world at-large.

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Christian Kiefer on "Phantoms" and the Writing Life May 16, 2019

Welcome to Libromania, a podcast for the book-obsessed from the Close Reads Podcast Network. Each week David Kern will be chatting with authors, biographers, designers, collectors, critics and other people who help make book's so worthy of our attention.

In this episode, David chats with novelist Christian Kiefer about his new novel, Phantoms, a page-turner that weaves the "splintered stories" of two broken families torn apart by two key twentieth century wars, the cruelty of Japanese internment camps, and the devastation of dishonesty. They chat about Kiefer's writing process, revision and working with editors, the influence of Faulkner on his work, the diversity of bookstores, and much more.

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Please note: this episode does include bleeps.

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Dostoevsky's Gambling Problem (featuring Dr. Jessica Hooten Wilson) Apr 22, 2019

Welcome to Libromania, a podcast for the book-obsessed from the Close Reads Podcast Network. Each week David Kern will be chatting with authors, biographers, designers, collectors, critics and other people who help make book's so worthy of our attention.

In this episode David chats with Dr. Jessica Hooten Wilson, author of Walker Percy, Fyodor Dostoesvsky, and the Search for Influence (among other books),about Dostoevsky's gambling problem and the impact that it had on his life and his work. They talk about the way he was an open book as a writer, the role of his second wife, Anna, and his seemingly autobiographical novel, The Gambler.

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Eighth Day Book's owner, Warren Farha Apr 02, 2019

Welcome to Libromania, a podcast for the book-obsessed from the Close Reads Podcast Network. Each week David Kern will be chatting with authors, biographers, designers, collectors, critics and other people who help make book's so worthy of our attention.

In this episode David chats with Warren Farha, proprietor of one of America's most beloved book stores: Eighth Day Books, in Wichita, Kansas. They talk about the life of a bookshop owner, the landscape of bookshops, choosing books for the stacks, and much more. Make sure you head over to https://www.eighthdaybooks.com/ to learn more.

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The Tragic Story of A Confederacy of Dunces Mar 21, 2019

Welcome to Libromania, a podcast for the book-obsessed from the Close Reads Podcast Network. Each week David Kern will be chatting with authors, biographers, designers, collectors, critics and other people who help make book's so worthy of our attention.

In this episode David chats with Cory MacLauchlin, author of the book Butterfly in the Typewriter, about the tragic and wild story of John Kennedy Toole and his beloved novel, A Confederacy of Dunces. Conversation explores the book's tremendous popularity in Europe, the book's cult following, the dramatic story of Toole's life, his audacious mother, and much more.

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On Sans Forgetica, a new font to aid memory retention Mar 08, 2019

Welcome to Libromania, a podcast for the book-obsessed from the Close Reads Podcast Network. Each week David Kern will be chatting with authors, biographers, designers, collectors, critics and other people who help make book's so worthy of our attention.

In this episode, David chats with renowned typographer, Stephen Banham, about his work on a new font called Sans Forgetica, which was designed in association with RMIT in Australia, in hopes of helping students improve memory retention.They discuss the art of typography, the goals behind the font, how it was conceived, and much more.

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On the Best Film Adaptations of Books, with Jeffrey Overstreet and Steven Greydanus Mar 02, 2019

Welcome to Libromania, a podcast for the book-obsessed from the Close Reads Podcast Network. Each week David Kern will be chatting with authors, biographers, designers, collectors, critics and other people who help make book's so worthy of our attention.

In this episode David chats with noted film critics Jeffrey Overstreet and Steven Greydanus about some of the best film adaptations of books. Many of the titles they discuss will be familiar to you. Others not so much. Either way, tune in for a lively conversation about what makes a good film adaptation, the role of the critic in reviewing such movies, and Jeffrey and Steven's top five choices.

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Libromania Top 5: The Most Romantic Books Feb 13, 2019

Welcome back to Libromania, a podcast for the book-obsessed. In this episode, David is joined by Heidi White and Tim McIntosh to talk the most romantic books ever written. In honor of Valentine's Days, they each present their 5 favorite romantic books - with a little bit of discussion on what makes a book really, truly romantic.

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Matthew Zapruder, author of WHY POETRY, on life as a poet Feb 01, 2019

Welcome to Libromania, a podcast for the book-obsessed from the Close Reads Podcast Network. Each week David Kern will be chatting with authors, biographers, designers, collectors, critics and other people who help make book's so worthy of our attention.

This week, poet Matthew Zapruder, author of Why Poetry, joins the show to discuss his life as a poet. Discussion touches on how he became a poet, his interest in Russian literature, teaching poetry, knowing when a poem is finished, the new Instagram poets, and much more.

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This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit closereads.substack.com/subscribe

Remembering Mary Oliver (with A.M. Juster and Allison Backous Troy) Jan 26, 2019

Welcome to Libromania, a podcast for the book-obsessed from the Close Reads Podcast Network. Each week David Kern will be chatting with authors, biographers, designers, collectors, critics and other people who help make book's so worthy of our attention.

This week, guests Allison Backous Troy, a writer for IMAGE's "Good Letters" blog, and A.M. Juster, the poetry editor for First Things, join the show to discuss the work and legacy of Mary Oliver, who passed away last week at age 83. They discuss the very personal nature of her work and influence, the way she inspired so many people (inside and outside of the world of poetry writers), and what her passing means for the state of contemporary poetry.

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This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit closereads.substack.com/subscribe

Why Do We Love the Smell of Old Books? Jan 17, 2019

In this episode of Libromania, David chats with Cecilica Bembibre, a researcher at University College London, about the science behind the smell of old books: why people love it, why it matters, and what it means for the preservation of culture.

Cecilia Bembibre is a doctoral candidate at the Centre for Doctoral Training in Science and Engineering in Arts Heritage and Archaeology (SEAHA), University College London. She holds a degree in Communication from the University of Buenos Aires and an MRes from the Institute of Sustainable Heritage, The Bartlett School of Graduate Studies (UCL). She is interested in historic smells and they ways we engage with the olfactory aspect in heritage spaces. You can read more about her work at www.smellofheritage.org.

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This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit closereads.substack.com/subscribe

S.D. Smith, Jonathan Rogers, & Douglas McKelvey talk process and vocation Jan 10, 2019

Welcome to Libromania, a new podcast for the book-obsessed from the Close Reads Podcast Network. Each week David Kern will be chatting with authors, biographers, designers, collectors, critics and other people who help make book's so worthy of our attention.

Here in chapter 4, David chats with middle-grade (as they call themselves) novelists S.D. Smith (The Green Ember series), Jonathan Rogers (The Wilderking Trilogy), and Douglas McKelvey (The Angel Knew Papa and the Dog) about their writing process, how they see their vocation, when they know a story is finished, their advice for young writers, and much, much, much more.

Join us for this in-depth contemplation of the trials and joys of the writing life.

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This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit closereads.substack.com/subscribe

Why "To Kill a Mockingbird" is America's most popular novel Jan 04, 2019

Welcome to Libromania, a new podcast for the book-obsessed from the Close Reads Podcast Network. Each week David Kern will be chatting with authors, biographers, designers, collectors, critics and other people who help make book's so worthy of our attention.

Here in chapter 3, we contemplate the incredible (and enduring) popularity of Harper Lee's 1960 novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, which was recently named "America's most-loved book" on The Great American Read. More than 4.3 million votes were cast and Lee's novel came in first place. But why do so many people love it so passionately? And why, even after all these years, do we continue to read it so often? To answer these questions David chatted with Adam Andrews, the director of the Center for Lit and the author of Teaching the Classics, about the literary merit of the book; and Dr. Joseph Crespino, professor of history at Emory University and the author of Atticus Finch: The Biography, about the book's place in the culture at-large.

Join us for this deep-dive into one of America's most beloved books.

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This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit closereads.substack.com/subscribe

The Year in Movies, with Jeffrey Overstreet Dec 29, 2018

Welcome to Libromania, a new podcast for the book-obsessed from the Close Reads Podcast Network. Each week David Kern will be chatting with authors, biographers, designers, collectors, critics and other people who help make book's so worthy of our attention.

Here in chapter 2, David goes off-book a bit and talks to film critic and novelist, Jeffrey Overstreet, about the year in movies. Jeffrey offers his ten favorite films of the year, which is capped by a few choices that might surprise most listeners.

Be sure to check out Jeffrey's film reviews (and other work) at lookingcloser.org.

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This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit closereads.substack.com/subscribe

John Wilson on his favorite books of 2018 Dec 16, 2018

Welcome to Libromania, a new podcast for the book-obsessed from the Close Reads Podcast Network. Each week David Kern will be chatting with authors, biographers, designers, collectors, critics and other people who help make book's so worthy of our attention.

Here in chapter 1, David chats with John Wilson (former editor of Books & Culture, which he ran for 20+ years, and currently a contributing editor at the Englewood Review of Books and a book columnist at First Things) about the best books of 2018.

Be sure to check out John's First Things article on his favorite books of the year here: https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2018/12/favorite-books-of-2018

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This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit closereads.substack.com/subscribe

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