Bookworm

Latest Episodes:

Favorite Books: John Waters and Elif Batuman Jul 08, 2010

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Role Models (Farrar, Straus & Giroux) and The Possessed (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)

John Waters’ gives a passionate description of his favorite books, and for good measure, Elif Batuman gives a lively count-down of her favorite Russian novels.

Isabel Allende: Island Beneath the Sea Jul 01, 2010

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Isabel Allende's historical novel about slavery and the Haitian revolution becomes a springboard for a conversation about global injustice and the re-emergence of slavery.

Zachary Mason Jun 24, 2010

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The Lost Books of the Odyssey (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)

Higher mathematics and logic problems have long intrigued fiction writers, including Zachary Mason. Both Lewis Carroll (the Alice books) and Vladimir Nabokov (Lolita) had a profound love of logic and chess..

Jean-Philippe Toussaint Jun 17, 2010

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Self-Portrait Abroad (Dalkey Archive); Running Away (Dalkey Archive)

French fiction had become austere and theoretical until Jean-Philippe Toussaint took it in the direction of the wacky, even goony. His earlier stories focused on characters retreating from contemporary life, but that has given way to work with a light, lyrical approach...

Yann Martel Jun 10, 2010

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Beatrice & Virgil (Spiegel & Grau)

After recognizing that most holocaust literature is centered on personal testimony, Yann Martel decided to create an allegory about the holocaust — a different approach to this traumatic material...

David Shields and Ander Monson on the New Prose Jun 03, 2010

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Reality Hunger: A Manifesto (Knopf) and Vanishing Point: Not a Memoir (Graywolf Press)

New web technologies (and the ever-increasing availability of information) have made possible a new kind of writing. This prose uses fact and randomness rather than story and structure. Two active practitioners wave the banner for the new.

Ian McEwan May 27, 2010

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Solar (Doubleday)

Along the way in our conversation about bad morals and good intentions, Ian McEwan dabbles in the background subjects of his new novel...

Anne Carson May 20, 2010

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Nox (New Directions)

Anne Carson's brother ran away, and she never saw him again. After learning of his death some twenty years later, she assembled Nox as a form of grieving....

Sam Lipsyte: The Ask May 13, 2010

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In the midst of all his scandalous anger and shenanigans, it's the shape of a great sentence that keeps Sam Lipsyte's interest in writing fiction at fever pitch.

Chang-rae Lee: The Surrendered May 06, 2010

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The Surrendered (Riverhead)

Renowned for his novels about repressed, withdrawn characters, Chang-rae Lee new novel explores new ground....