Book Book Book Book
Commentary Commentary RSS Reviews Podcasts_Audio Podcasts RSS Blog Links Archives Indexes
07-31-09: Three Books with Alan Cheuse

Thomas Pynchon, Inherent Vice

Joyce Carol Oates, Little Bird of Heaven

David Eagleman, Sum

Special Guest Star:

Invisible Cities, Italo Calvino

Back from anything remotely resembling slumming, this week, Alan Cheuse and I took up the latest novels from two literary superstars; Joyce Carol Oates, 'Little Bird of Heaven,' and Thomas Pynchon's 'Inherent Vice.' Then, just to mix it up a bit, we talked about David Eagleman's 'Sum: 40 Visions of the Afterlife' and Italo Calvino's 'Invisible Cities.'

We're working our way towards the fall, when the big books by the big literary authors are released, and we've already got a fine start, with Joyce Carol Oates, 'Little Bird of Heaven,' and Thomas Pynchon's 'Inherent Vice.' The former finds Oates moving away from Faulkner and edging in on Dostoyevsky's 'Crime and Punishment'. But this story unfolds in Oates' setting of Eden County, New York, in the town of Sparta, surely an evocative name. Our suburbs are nothing if not Spartan, and the lives of those who live there unfold in this novel with intense sexual passion and bloody violence. As for 'Crime and Punishment,' set in the suburbs, it is ever wise to recall Howard Devoto's immortal line "I could have been Raskolnikov/But Mother Nature ripped me off!" Music features in the language and the plot of 'Inherent Vice,' a novel that is quite uncharacteristic for Pynchon, who nails the late-sixties noir genre with ease, aplomb and lots of drugs — at least in the novel. And finally, we talked about 'Sum: 40 Visions of the Afterlife' by David Eagleman and Italo Calvino's 'Invisible Cities.' We covered the world in a mere twenty-something minutes as you can hear link to the MP3 audio file.



07-30-09: A 2009 Interview with Tony Broadbent — Book Passage Mystery Conference

"You cannot deny history — it's just that in the West, history ended last week"
        —Tony Broadbent

I have a vivid memory of when 'The Smoke' by Tony Broadbent first came out, as Terry D'Auray, our mystery reviewer, really enjoyed the novel. In fact, it sounded so good to me that had she not read it for the site, I would have. Here we are, boo! years later, and I find myself at the Book Passage Mystery Conference, in the humor and children's fiction section of Book Passage sitting down for a chat with Mr. Broadbent. He deserves the appellation. They told me to look for the gentleman in the sports jacket, and there he was, quite dapper.

You all can get out the guns and come shoot me now. You'll hear my first 33 or so minutes talking with Broadbent about his first two Jethro novels, 'The Smoke' (Felony & Mayhem ; October 15, 2006 ; $14.95) and 'Spectres in the Smoke' (Felony & Mayhem ; October 15, 2005 ; $14.95). But after I thought I'd finished the interview, well, we just kept on talking for like, another 45 minutes. Now to be fair, some of the stuff he told us about he followed up by saying, "Of course, if you told anybody I said that, I'd have to kill you," and yes, he is a gentleman and all that but still ... Better safe than sorry. Broadbent is a fascinating writer with a great sense of history and character. You'll love hearing what he has to say and I think it will make you run out and buy the books, which is what we did at the conference.

Now let's get to the conference component of the article, to wit, that Broadbent himself is a graduate of the conference. He attended twice, after/during which he managed to write and sell 'The Smoke.' That's a pretty damn impressive resume for a mystery conference. As for how he wrote this wonderful novel? You can hear him talk about it, and other subjects that will not require my demise, by following this link to the MP3 audio file.



07-29-09: SF in SF, July 25, 2009 — Madeleine Robins Reads Sarah Tolerance : Hard-Boiled Alternate Regency Mystery

I have to admit that when Madeline Robins described her books as "hard-boiled Regency mysteries," I just could not wrap my brain around what that might entail. Jane Austen with a pistol?

Jane Austen's down-and-out niece, maybe, though Robins explained that she wanted to explore the parts of Regency life that did not involve lush parties, silk gowns and fluffy pillows. What Robins read turned out to be a compelling and gritty slice of ugly life from the bottom of the barrel, reminding me of Elizabeth Redfern's 'The Music of the Spheres', but to my mind, with a nicer level of detail and more compellingly flawed characters. What I heard was certainly enough to send me to the local independent to see if I can scare up any of the frighteningly-covered mass-market paperbacks. You can get headed that way as well, and probably should go before rather than after hearing this reading from Madeline Robins.



07-28-09: SF in SF, July 25, 2009 — Kage Baker Reads from 'The Hotel in the Sand' : A Bedtime Story That Keeps You Awake

It's been less than twelve hours since I returned from the SF in SF gig of Saturday, July 25, 2009. Two great writers, two great readings; and we'll start with the first thing the audience heard, Kage Baker reading from 'The Hotel Under the Sand.'

Kage Baker is a writer who you can expect to deliver the unexpected; whether it's a new story set in the world of The Company, a new fantasy, or in this case, a gift to a niece that grew into a fine children's story. I'll let Baker herself perform all the introduction duties, along with Rina Weisman. Settle back in your car and get ready for a delightful tale of shipwrecked children and ghostly bellboys. Your room at 'The Hotel Under the Sand' awaits you as the linked MP3 audio file.



 Mary Roach
07-27-09: A 2009 Interview with Mary Roach

"...Masters and Johnson did a quite amazing experiment trying to find out whether upsuck was legitimate; they were upsuck skeptics..."
        — Mary Roach

Mary Roach is every bit as entertaining in person as she is in print. That's pretty much all you need to know about any interview with this wonderful writer. Well, that, and that she's not just willing to dish it out — she can take it as well. It's not immediately apparent, because she simply writes and speaks so well.

Mary Roach is in many ways a sleight-of-hand artist. As you listen to her speak about her book 'Bonk,' and talk about her research, and what it has unearthed, you're likely to think that she's hilariously funny, remarkably smart and has an ability to ferret out facts that nobody ever possibly thought about presenting to the public. And all of these things are true. What's more, she's doesn't just investigate, she participates. She enters into the spirit of the spirit and substance of the research she's researching. But it's not just this that takes her work to a new level.

Mary Roach is really engaged in a very sophisticated analysis not just of science, but of the intersection of science and culture. She lives in the interstices, where the two meet, and not often comfortably. Through her books and interviews, you can get her gestalt of what happens when hard-headed science meets a society unwilling to accommodate the truth. If you are willing to hear the uncompromising truth, follow this link to the MP3 audio file.



New to the Agony Column

04-21-15: Commentary : Kazuo Ishiguro Unearths 'The Buried Giant' : The Mist of Myth and Memory

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2014 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 UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 202: Kazuo Ishiguro : The Buried Giant

04-17-15: Commentary : Erik Larson Follows a 'Dead Wake' : Countdown to Destiny

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2014 Interview with Erik Larson : " "...said to have been found in the arms of a dead German sailor..."

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 201: Erik Larson : Dead Wake

04-15-15: Commentary : Peter Bell Reflects 'A Certain Slant of Light' : Strange Stories of Modern Scholars

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2014 Interview with Peter Bell : "...I looked up some of the old books..."

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 200: Peter Bell : Strange Epiphanies and A Certain Slant of Light

03-14-15: Commentary : Marc Goodman Foresees 'Future Crimes' : Exponential Potential

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

03-01-15: Commentary : William Ury on Getting to Yes with Yourself: And Other Worthy Opponents : To the BATNA, Robin!

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2015 Interview with William Ury : ...he proceeded to shout at me for approximately 30 minutes..."

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 198: William Ury : Getting to Yes with Yourself: And Other Worthy Opponents

02-22-15: Commentary : Jennifer Senior Experiences 'All Joy and No Fun: The Paradox of Modern Parenthood' : Reading Fun for the Whole Fambly!

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2015 Interview with Jennifer Senior : "...it becomes a source of enormous tension once a baby comes along..."

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 197: Jennifer Senior : All Joy and No Fun: The Paradox of Modern Parenthood

02-09-15: Commentary : Stewart O'Nan Looks 'West of Sunset' : Twilight of the Great

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2015 Interview with Stewart O'Nan : "...we see him as a tragedian because is life is a tragedy..."

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 196: Stewart O'Nan : West of Sunset

02-04-15: Commentary : Armistead Maupin Maps 'The Days of Anna Madrigal' : Swiftly Flow the Years

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2015 Interview with Armistead Maupin : "I could see what silliness was going on while it was happening..."

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 195: Armistead Maupin : The Days of Anna Madrigal

01-31-15: Commentary : Christine Carter's Path to 'The Sweet Spot: How to Find Your Groove at Home and Work' : Neurohabits

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2015 Interview with Christine Carter, Ph.D. : "...a real tipping point..."

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 194: Christine Carter, Ph.D. : The Sweet Spot: How to Find Your Groove at Home and Work

01-23-15: Commentary : Jake Halpern Pushes 'Bad Paper: Chasing Debt from Wall Street to the Underworld' : Non-Fiction 21st Century Noir

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2015 Interview with Jake Halpern : "...he goes to Las Vegas to this debt-buyers' convention..."

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 193: Jake Halpern : Bad Paper: Chasing Debt from Wall Street to the Underworld

01-19-15: Commentary : David Shields and Caleb Powell Assert 'I Think You're Totally Wrong' : The Power to Bicker

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2015 Interview with David Shields and Caleb Powell : "I read no book reviews any more; the level of discussion is really pedestrian." David Shields "I'm just saying it's a conflict of interest!" Caleb Powell

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 192: David Shields and Caleb Powell : I Think You're Totally Wrong

01-17-15: Commentary : Charles Todd Expects 'A Fine Summer's Day' : We Interrupt This Program...

Commentary : Charles Todd Engages In 'A Test of Wills' : The Politics of Passion and Policing

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2014 Interview with Charles and Caroline Todd : "...let them be themselves and sort it out..." Caroline Todd "...it's more on a personal level..." Charles Todd

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 191: Charles Todd : A Fine Summer's Day

01-13-15: Commentary : Rosalie Parker Unearths 'The Old Knowledge' : The New Old World

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2014 Interview with Ray Russell and Rosalie Parker : "I thought I'd write something for fun.." Ray Russell "..there was a side of me of that was interested in the strangeness..." Ros Parker

01-12-15: Commentary : Richard Ford 'Let Me Be Frank with You' : The Default Years

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2014 Interview with Richard Ford : "...most of our politicians are morons..."

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 190: Richard Ford : Let Me Be Frank with You

01-06-15: Commentary : Bessel van der Kolk 'The Body Keeps the Score' : Human Trauma

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2014 Interview with Bessel van der Kolk : "...being able to see what happens in the brain really helps us to understand certain things..."

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 189: Bessel van der Kolk : The Body Keeps the Score

Commentary & Podcast Archive
Archives Indexes How to use the Agony Column Contact Us About Us