Bookworm

Latest Episodes:

Tony D'Souza: Mule Nov 10, 2011

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Tony D'Souza reveals the life events that led him to write a novel about a solid, middle-class kid who becomes a drug mule...

Lawrence Weschler: Uncanny Valley Nov 03, 2011

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The veteran contributor to The New Yorker and McSweeney's distills his knowledge about how to structure the essay—from cultural comedies to political tragedies.

Russell Banks: Lost Memory of Skin Oct 27, 2011

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The author of Affliction and The Sweet Hereafter takes breathtaking risks in exploring a morally complex story. The protagonist is a renegade and convicted sex offender...

Harold Bloom: The Shadow of a Great Rock Oct 20, 2011

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We visited Harold Bloom to talk about his new book,but when you talk with Bloom, you talk about politics, poetry, teaching, aging, reading and ultimately, respect...

Justin Torres: We the Animals Oct 13, 2011

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This sequence of short stories, or prose poems, or vignettes (author Justin Torres is open to all three descriptions) adds up to a little novel about an underclass family....

Kevin Wilson: The Family Fang Oct 06, 2011

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Wilson's goofy, sweet-hearted first novel is about a family of performance artists. The Fang family's siblings are struggling to leave their parents behind in order to lead a normal life...

Hector Tobar: The Barbarian Nurseries Sep 29, 2011

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Araceli Ramirez, the heroine of Héctor Tobar's new novel, is a nanny is accused of kidnapping her charges, when she is, in fact, taking them to their grandfather....

Maggie Nelson: The Art of Cruelty-A Reckoning Sep 22, 2011

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Modern and post-modern art have gone up to a level of transgressive and theoretical border play that leave many viewers bewildered or repelled...

Simon Reynolds: Retromania-Pop Culture's Addiction to Its Own Past Sep 15, 2011

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The Bookworm learns about retro culture from a master of rock criticism. Simon Reynolds meditates on the aspects of global music that have led to endless recycling....

Rikki Ducornet: Netsuke Sep 08, 2011

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An explorer of sensuality and violator of taboos, Rikki Ducornet allows a predatory psychoanalyst to narrate her new novel...