07-06-11 UPDATE:Podcast Update: Time to Read, Episode 1: Donald Ray Pollock, The Devil All the Time
I'm starting a new series of podcasts, which I'm calling Time to Read. The podcasts/radio broadcasts will be of books worth your valuable reading time. I'll try to keep the reports under four minutes, for a radio-friendly format. If you want to run them on your show or podcast, let me know.
My hope is that in under four minutes I can offer readers a concise review and an opportunity to hear the author read from or speak about the work. I'm hoping to offer a new one every week.
The first episode is a review of Donald Ray Pollock's 'The Devil All the Time,' with a reading from the book and comments from the author. Here's a link to the MP3 audio file.
07-06-11:Two Books With Alan Cheuse
"In this regard, I'm really about eleven or twelve years old..."
—Alan Cheuse
It was a cold, wintry summer day in Capitola when I drove over to talk to Alan Cheuse about a couple of books and a recent literary announcement. Unfortunately, his landlord for the summer didn't allow dogs or shoes in his house. I could live without my shoes, but I like to bring the dog to our conversations when he is in town. Alan and I will be appearing at Capitola Book Café this coming Saturday at 6:30 pm to talk about his new book, 'Song of Slaves in the Desert.' You can join us and talk about his book, books and why we read; email me if you have any questions.
Since he was in town, we had a bit less of a plan than usual; just two books to talk about, as well as a recent interview. Our literary selections were creatures of the summer: Daniel Silva's 'Portrait of a Spy' and 'Heaven's Shadow' by David S. Goyer and Michael Cassutt. Philip Roth is more a man of the long shadows of fall, and taken all together, the mixture of weather, seasons and selections seemed just about right.
We were not, as Alan suggests early on, sitting around in our pajamas, though the comfort level was certainly there. Our conversation wound around the books first. We started out talking about Daniel Silva's 'Portrait of a Spy,' which takes an unusual turn for an espionage novel. This led us to dial back and talk about the genre in general, because it is so much a creature of the moment it is written in that even the delay between the completion of a book and the publication of a book can render the book out of touch and obsolete.
We then turned to 'Heaven's Shadow.' Readers know that I loved the book; it was a rocking good time with great characters, great action and intriguing ideas. Suffice it to say that if readers are lucky, they'll get to hear Alan review it for NPR's All Things Considered.
And finally, we turned to Philip Roth, who to my mind is something of a force of human nature, and his recent pronouncement that he is no longer reading fiction. To me this is not such a big deal on two levels. In the first place, this is an easy enough decision to undo. One simply need pick up a work of fiction. But even if you don't, then the upshot of a decision to read non-fiction is simply that one is embracing the world in a different manner. Roth surely knows himself and his work well enough to know what is best for his mind.
Of course, this leads to a discussion of the oft-asserted notion that reading is declining and that fiction reading is in the steepest decline. To me, the death of fiction is greatly exaggerated, because fiction is simply story, and we humans are a narrative species. It's important to note as well where one sees and hears these assertions: on television, on the radio, and in every other media other than books. Indeed, there is a recent spate of books not about the death of reading, but instead, about how the Internet is (in the opinion of the authors) ruining the world. And again, in these books, one is well advised to consider the source. One might well worry about the novel when the science fiction landscape becomes littered with novels about the last novel. And even then the result is simply more novels.
"You need some trouble, you know, for the book to be interesting. I may go a little overboard on the trouble."
—Donald Ray Pollock
I'd hardly accuse Donald Ray Pollock of going overboard on anything, at least in his novel 'The Devil All the Time.' And from my discussion with him at KQED, conducted in May because that's when he was in town, I'd say he's not the kind of fellow for whom going overboard is a danger. But his innate sense of what is right does not preclude him from a very thorough exploration of the grotesque.
Pollock's own story is not unlike one he might tell. After all, he literally comes from the town that gave his first book its name, 'Knockemstiff.' Yes, it's a real town and real town name, and that should give readers an idea of what sort of territory we're working in. Pollock is a prime example of the American self-re-made man. Rather than recount it here, I'm going to let listeners experience it fresh. It helps to hear him tell it.
And that gets me to another aspect of this interview as an audio experience tied to a reading experience. In the review above, I write that Pollock has a deep and distinctive American prose voice. That deep and distinctive description applies to his speaking voice as well, and it is a pleasure to hear him speak. He's one of those fellows who could read you the phone book and you'd just sit there, staring vacantly.
In the interview, we talked about Pollock's journey as a reader and a writer. Knockemstiff is pretty accurately portrayed in his short story collection though he does allow that he has significantly cranked up the violence. No matter what, when you hear his recorded voice, you're going to think that he has a future as a wilderness film narrator. The only wilderness we charted in our interview was the wilderness of the human soul. You can hear our interview by following this link to the MP3 audio file.
New to the Agony Column
09-05-15: Commentary : Susan Casey Listens to 'Voices in the Ocean' : Science, Empathy and Self
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2015 Interview with Susan Casey : "...the reporting for this book was emotionally difficult at times..."
08-21-15: Agony Column Podcast News Report : Senator Claire McCaskill is 'Plenty Ladylike' : Internalizing Determination to Overcome Sexism [Incudes Time to Read EP 211: Claire McCaskill, Plenty Ladylike, plus A 2015 Interview with Senator Claire McCaskill]
Agony Column Podcast News Report : Emily Schultz Unleashes 'The Blondes' : A Cure by Color [Incudes Time to Read EP 210: Emily Schultz, The Blondes, plus A 2015 Interview with Emily Schultz]
07-05-15: Commentary : Dr. Michael Gazzaniga Tells Tales from Both Sides of the Brain : A Life in Neuroscience Reveals the Life of Science
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2015 Interview with Michael Gazzaniga : "We made the first observation and BAM there was the disconnection effect..."
04-21-15: Commentary : Kazuo Ishiguro Unearths 'The Buried Giant' : The Mist of Myth and Memory
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2015 Interview with Kazuo Ishiguro : ".... by the time I was writing this novel, the lines between what was fantasy and what was real had blurred for me..."
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2015 Interview with Marc Goodman : "...every physical object around us is being transformed, one way or another, into an information technology..."
Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 199: Marc Goodman : Future Crimes: Everything Is Connected, Everyone Is Vulnerable and What We Can Do About It
