Otherppl with Brad Listi: Books & Culture

Latest Episodes:

Episode 356 — Erika Krouse Apr 29, 2015

Show notes

Erika Krouse is the guest. Her new novel, Contenders, is available now from Rare Bird Books. It is the official April pick of The Nervous Breakdown Book Club. Bookslut says "Krouse...writes with a pulse-pounding and engaging ferocity that grabs at the reader...Contenders is heart-racingly original." And Steve Almond says "Contenders is a knockout! I've never read anything like it. The marvelous Erika Krouse has crafted one of the most unforgettable heroines in modern fiction. Nina Black is not the kind of woman you'd want to meet in a dark alley. But she's precisely the kind of character I always hope to encounter in fiction: a badass streetfighter forced by fate to confront her capacity for maternal tenderness, her need for love, and the anguished contents of her heart." Monologue topics: San Diego, roadtrips, carsickness, wipes, fatherhood, going to see a bluegrass band, catching up, the antisocial nature of live music.

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Episode 355 — Heidi Pitlor Apr 22, 2015

Show notes

Heidi Pitlor is the guest. She is the editor of the Best American Short Stories anthologies and the author of the new novel The Daylight Marriage, available now from Algonquin Books. Stephen King calls it "Hypnotically readable--I absolutely couldn't put it down. The structure is brilliant, and I turned the pages with increasing dread. This book is terrific.” And Booklist, in a starred review, says “Pitlor brings forth the emotions that surge beneath the surface with the precision and power of a conductor . . . This powerful analysis of how dreams become nightmares will make readers want to hold their loved ones close.” Monologue topics: iTunes rating, pregnancy update, Dustin Hoffman.

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Episode 354 — Sarah Nicole Prickett Apr 15, 2015

Show notes

Sarah Nicole Prickett is the guest. She is the founder of Adult magazine and a contributing editor at The New Inquiry. Monologue topics: Ex Machina, artificial intelligence, hiking, nature, mountain lions.

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Episode 353 — Monica McClure Apr 08, 2015

Show notes

Monica McClure is the guest. Her debut poetry collection, Tender Data, is now available from Birds LLC. NPR says "McClure may be the poster-girl for a new generation of poets: irreverent, well-read, sexy, even dirty, snarky, but ultimately fighting an earnest battle against reductiveness and easy answers to the complex problems of the Internet age: 'Every citizen of this world is on trial/ I'm learning to speak legalese/ as I stroll through civil law like/ a gamine through a sample sale.'" Monologue topics: the Michiko Kakutani April Fool's Day episode, mail, listener reactions

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Episode 352 — Michiko Kakutani Apr 01, 2015

Show notes

Michiko Kakutani is the guest. She is the chief book critic for the New York Times and a recipient of the Pulitzer Prize. Monologue topics: kicking, worrying, mail, bless you, all businesses are awful.

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Episode 351 — Daniel Handler Mar 25, 2015

Show notes

Daniel Handler is the guest. His new novel We Are Pirates is now available from Bloomsbury. Booklist, in a starred review, says "Handler (aka children's author Lemony Snicket) has never been known for writing precisely happy novels, and his latest certainly doesn't deviate. What could easily have been a slightly silly, fantastical romp becomes, instead, in Handler's capable hands, a macabre, darkly human portrayal of family dynamics and growing up in a world running low on adventure . . . peppered with black humor." And Jess Walter says "We Are Pirates will dazzle, disturb, and delight you. It might even do things to you that don't start with the letter D, like remind you what it's like to be young, or convince you that Daniel Handler can do anything." Monologue topics: the dentist, cough, mail, work, fear, money, children.

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Episode 350 — Will Chancellor Mar 18, 2015

Show notes

Will Chancellor is the guest. His debut novel, A Brave Man Seven Storeys Tall, is now available from Harper. The Daily Beast says “To compare a debut novel to Infinite Jest is likely either too flippant or too generous, but consider the bona fides...Will Chancellor’s wonderful debut novel...more than merely promising, is one of the best of the year.” And Kirkus, in a starred review, calls it “Bracingly rich...the author maintains an almost thrillerlike pace while taking well-aimed shots at academic and art-market fads and helping two lost souls through essential transformations.” Monologue topics: hellishness, annoying/hectic day, ATT customer service, ultrasounds.

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Episode 349 — Adam Robinson Mar 11, 2015

Show notes

Adam Robinson is the guest. He is the founding editor of Publishing Genius Press. Monologue topics: LA, yoga, celebrity sneezes, God bless you.

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Episode 348 — Timothy Willis Sanders Mar 04, 2015

Show notes

Timothy Willis Sanders is the guest. His debut novel, Matt Meets Vik, is available now from Civil Coping Mechanisms. Blake Butler says "I have no idea how Timothy Willis Sanders is able to accumulate so many small reflections into such a mesmerizing mass. Matt Meets Vik makes maybe the most stripped-down paragraphs I've ever seen somehow hold a hundred thousand colors, emotions, tones, like if there were a website that made you forget all other websites ever existed, or that you're even still online. Hilarious, moving, insane, real." And Megan Boyle says "As I was reading Matt Meets Vik (and long after I'd finished), I couldn't get the voice of 'Matt' out of my head, like it gave my inner monologue extra-charming-sounding subwoofers. Everything I did felt funnier and more important. There are only a few books that get in my head the way Matt Meets Vik has. This is one of my favorite books. I didn't want it to end. I can see myself reading this many times." Monologue topics: my daughter threw a fit, mail, Neem Karoli Baba

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Episode 347 — Stewart O'Nan Feb 25, 2015

Show notes

Stewart O'Nan is the guest. His new novel, West of Sunset, is available now from Viking. It is the official Februrary pick of The Nervous Breakdown Book Club. Maureen Corrigan, writing for The Washington Post, says “[The] grim yet undeniably fascinating last act of Fitzgerald’s life is the subject of Stewart O’Nan’s gorgeous new novel. . .West of Sunset is a pretty fine Hollywood novel, too, but it’s an even finer novel about a great writer’s determination to keep trying to do his best work.” And George Saunders says “O'Nan is an incredibly versatile and charming writer. This novel, which imagines F. Scott Fitzgerald's troubled time in Hollywood (with cameos by Dorothy Parker, Bogie, and Hemingway), takes up (like much of O'Nan's work) that essential conundrum of grace struggling with paucity. One brilliant American writer meditating on another--what's not to love?” Monologue topics: paranoia, pregnancy, fear, hovering, mail.

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