Otherppl with Brad Listi: Books & Culture

Latest Episodes:

Episode 316 — Sarah McCarry Sep 28, 2014

Show notes

Sarah McCarry is the guest. She is the author of several books, and her next novel, About a Girl, is due out from St. Martin's Griffin in the summer of 2015. Bennett Madison says "Sarah McCarry's strange and gorgeous punk fairytales make magic accessible and imbue the everyday with the weight of myth." And Erica Lorraine Scheidt says "Sarah McCarry is the patron saint of girls on the edge." Monologue topics: Derek Jeter, envy, confusion, Clay Shirky, Amazon, Big 5 publishers, not knowing what I think about anything, mail.

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Episode 315 — Courtney Moreno Sep 24, 2014

Show notes

Courtney Moreno is the guest. Her debut novel, In Case of Emergency, is available now from McSweeney's. Kirkus Reviews says "In this emotionally moving, well-written, engaging novel, Moreno strikes a profound balance between the clinical logic of trauma and the personal irrationality of a young woman dealing with her demons." And The Huffington Post says "Reminiscent of Leslie Jamison's essay on medical acting in her collection The Empathy Exams, Courtney Moreno's book uses the coping mechanisms she learned while working as an EMT to color her narrator's painful past. Moreno confronts both physical and psychological trauma, expertly blurring the lines between the two." Monologue topics: bad news, not voting, bad attitude, mail, leotarded.

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Episode 314 — Laila Lalami Sep 21, 2014

Show notes

Laila Lalami is the guest. Her new novel, The Moor's Account, is available now from Pantheon. Salman Rushdie says "Laila Lalami has fashioned an absorbing story of one of the first encounters between Spanish conquistadores and Native Americans, a frightening, brutal, and much-falsified history that here, in her brilliantly imagined fiction, is rewritten to give us something that feels very like the truth." And Kirkus, in a starred review, calls it "Assured, lyrical . . . Certainly the most extensive telling of the tale from ‘the Moor’s’ point of view . . . Adding a new spin to a familiar story, Lalami offers an utterly believable, entertainingly told alternative to the historical record. A delight." Monologue topics: mail, Jim Morrison, my friend pain.

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Episode 313 — Eric Obenauf Sep 17, 2014

Show notes

Eric Obenauf is the guest. He is the co-founder and editorial director of Two Dollar Radio, an independent press based in Columbus, Ohio. Full Stop says "[Two Dollar Radio books] are ambitious, far-reaching, and even visionary." And the Virginia Quarterly Review says "Two Dollar Radio, a relatively new indie making a big splash, made an even bigger splash when it announced the launch of Two Dollar Radio Moving Pictures, a 'micro-budget film division.' These aren’t book trailers; they aren’t done just to promote their titles, or even their brand. These are creative, exciting works of art in their own right; each one gives you the sense that the people behind it are incredibly creative people who love books, but who also love movies, and love making things, making things happen, trying something new. It sounds so simple, but it really was a paradigm shift for Two Dollar Radio to even think this was a possibility." Monologue topics: mail, reactions to Episode 312, how to download episodes of this show online.

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Episode 312 — Wendy C. Ortiz Sep 14, 2014

Show notes

Wendy C. Ortiz is the guest. Her memoir, Excavation, is now available from Future Tense Books. It is the official September selection of the TNB Book Club. (Photo: Francine Orr/ LA Times) Lidia Yuknavitch says The time has finally arrived when women are telling the truth--the hard truths, the messy, glorious, loud, tender, screeching corporeal truths--about their lives as they live them and not lived as we are asked to live them. Wendy C. Ortiz's writing will rearrange your DNA. Permanently, beautifully... And Emily Rapp says Excavation by Wendy C. Ortiz will change your life. Readers will find everything here: a gripping and necessary story, luminous writing and an utterly compelling heroine who is both generous and fierce. You will emerge changed, dazzled, energized, disbelieving and yet a believer. Most of all, read this book because, like all great literature, and especially the best memoirs, it will make you feel more alive. Monologue topics: mail, the word "retarded," podcast criticism, narcissism, too much me.

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Episode 311 — Patrick Hoffman Sep 10, 2014

Show notes

Patrick Hoffman is the guest. His debut novel The White Van is now available from Grove/Atlantic. Publishers Weekly, in a starred review, says "A heist propels Hoffman’s outstanding first novel. Sophia, a Russian émigré, plans to rob a San Francisco branch of US Bank with some inside assistance from its manager, Rada Harkov, and the help of two people recruited (decidedly against their wills) for the job: “the Russian,” another émigré and a black-market trader who owes Sophia money; and Emily, a young woman coerced into helping with drugs and threats (“She had been made into a slave”). The robbery nets some $880,000, a powerful temptation for another major character, Elias, an officer with the SFPD Gang Task Force. An alcoholic, Elias is plagued by money worries. Beyond the engaging plot, the book focuses on people’s behavior in the face of impossible choices. Hoffman, who spent nine years working as a PI in San Francisco, writes with great authority about the city’s seamy side and the grim realities of life for its down-on-their-luck denizens." Monologue topics: Apple, technology fetishization, camping outside of stores, Ray Rice, public outrage.

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Episode 310 — Amy Lawless Sep 07, 2014

Show notes

Amy Lawless is the guest. Her latest poetry collection, My Dead, is available now from Octopus Books. Janae Green says "Lawless writes poetry that itches; you have to bury your fingernails into your skin and bleed a little to remind yourself not to scratch it." And Interview magazine says "My Dead delves into the process of mourning loved ones with Lawless' calm, characteristically non-melodramatic poise. She cites videos of elephant mourning rituals seen on the Internet as a main source of inspiration. While humor might have been used to subvert heavier topics in the past, she chooses control and intimate dissection this time around." Monologue topics: unlived lives, mediocrity, fate, bifurcation, Joan Rivers.

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Episode 309 — David Connerley Nahm Sep 03, 2014

Show notes

David Connerley Nahm is the guest. His debut novel, Ancient Oceans of Central Kentucky, is available now from Two Dollar Radio. Library Journal calls it "A powerful first novel, the kind that makes you want to stop people in the street to tell them about it." And NPR says "Ancient Oceans of Central Kentucky is far from a conventional novel...The pacing is perfect -- while this isn't a thriller, at least in any traditional sense of the word, it's deeply suspenseful...it's impossible to stop reading until you've gone through each beautiful line, a beauty that infuses the whole novel, even in its darkest moments." Monologue topics: dinosaurs, weirdness, weather, vacation, lethargy, rest, impatience.

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Episode 308 — Michael Earl Craig Aug 31, 2014

Show notes

Michael Earl Craig is the guest. His latest book, Talkativeness, is available now from Wave Books. Publishers Weekly says "Craig renders unsettling dreams and quotidian clutter with sparse language and a quiet, distant voice to conjure poems brimming with the bizarre. His knack for the disturbing materializes in images from Dick Cheney being wheeled in á la Dr. Strangelove to President Obama's inauguration, to a husband and wife witnessing 'dark turkeys' encroaching on their property, to a speaker declaring his penchant for vocational talent: 'I have just very carefully cut/ my best friend's wife's bangs.' Even the lighter elements of the book seem a bit foul, such as the quick cameo of Death from Ingmar Bergman's Seventh Seal. This is the work of a writer who lives 'in an experimental town' where the 17 on-duty cops can only say, 'That's the way the cookie crumbles.' If it's the qualities of the macabre that lure the reader in, then it's our inability to look away from the grotesque that drive us to continue reading. That inability to turn back, much like the advice Craig offers about catching horses, is what remains at the end of this read: 'you can't fake looking away, horses/ know when you are doing this./ You have to really look away./ Some horsemen never come out of this.'" Monologue topics: re-reading, Hunter S. Thompson, The Razor's Edge, my bad memory, melatonin, nightmares, fear, superstition.

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Episode 307 — Jim Ruland Aug 27, 2014

Show notes

Jim Ruland is the guest. His new novel, Forest of Fortune, is available now from Tyrus Books. It is the official August selection of The TNB Book Club. The Los Angeles Times calls it "[A] masterpiece of desperation, delusion and misdeeds.... Ruland...brilliantly taps the fundamental irony of casinos.... A satisfying read." And Jerry Stahl says "...[Forest of Fortune] captures the soul and voice of hard-luck, hard-living Americans in a way that conjures up earlier masters like Raymond Carver and Richard Ford. Jim Ruland has an uncanny ability to get inside his characters...." Monologue topics: National Geographic, Going Deep, David Rees, Otherppl Premium, dive bars, disillusionment, fetishizing filth.

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