The Avid Reader Show

Good afternoon everyone and welcome to another edition of The Avid Reader. Today our guest is Casey Legler, author of her new memoir Godspeed, published this July by Atria Books an imprint of Simon and Schuster. Casey is an artist, restaurateur, model and former Olympic swimmer. She is also a fascinating human being whose first book is startling, surprising and much more than what we think of as a...

Good afternoon everyone and welcome to another edition of the Avid Reader. Today we are happy to have with us Deborah Harkness. Deborah a former Philadelphia native, graduate from Mount Holyoke, Northwestern and UC, Davis with her doctorate. She is renowned for her work as an historian of science and medicine. She has obviously studied alchemy, magic and the occult. She’s published two works of no...

The epigraph “…but life is a trick, life is a kitten in a sack.” —-Anne Sexton Before that she says, “that she tried to reach into her page and breathe it back”. Why can’t one do that? Was Mae trying to accomplish that? Was she successful? Why/how do you put a kitten in a sack in the first place? Why doesn’t Dennis get to tell his story? And are we dealing with reliable narrators. You know some th...

The epigraph “…but life is a trick, life is a kitten in a sack.” —-Anne Sexton Before that she says, “that she tried to reach into her page and breathe it back”. Why can’t one do that? Was Mae trying to accomplish that? Was she successful? Why/how do you put a kitten in a sack in the first place? Why doesn’t Dennis get to tell his story? And are we dealing with reliable narrators. You know some th...

Good afternoon everyone and welcome to another edition of The Avid Reader. Our guest today is Reyna Grande, author of A Dream Called Home published by Atria, an imprint of Simon and Schuster, just this month. Reyna is an award winning novelist and memoirist. She has received an American Book Award and the Latino Book Award. Her novels, Across a Hundred Mountains and Dancing With Butterflies, not o...

Good afternoon everyone and welcome to another edition of The Avid Reader. Our guest today is Miriam Pawel author of The Browns of California: The Family Dynasty that Transformed a State and Shaped a Nation, published by Bloomsbury this month. Miriam is the author of the award winning The Crusades of Cesar Chavez. Here, she has tackled the Brown family father and son, studying them from their root...

Good afternoon everyone and welcome to another edition of The Avid Reader. Our guest today is Miriam Pawel author of The Browns of California: The Family Dynasty that Transformed a State and Shaped a Nation, published by Bloomsbury this month. Miriam is the author of the award winning The Crusades of Cesar Chavez. Here, she has tackled the Brown family father and son, studying them from their root...

Good afternoon everyone and welcome to another edition of The Avid Reader. Our guest today is Reyna Grande, author of A Dream Called Home published by Atria, an imprint of Simon and Schuster, just this month. Reyna is an award winning novelist and memoirist. She has received an American Book Award and the Latino Book Award. Her novels, Across a Hundred Mountains and Dancing With Butterflies, not o...

So did I get the “titles” right? So this may take awhile. I’ll start at the beginning. I love the cover. Did you get to vet some, did you pick it or did you have any say in it. Moving on to the epigraphs. Peter Sloterdijk. I love the sentiment, but he was a very controversial figure, in his time, especially with regard to his view on Eugenics. And then the next which is more obscure in meaning. (B...

So did I get the “titles” right? So this may take awhile. I’ll start at the beginning. I love the cover. Did you get to vet some, did you pick it or did you have any say in it. Moving on to the epigraphs. Peter Sloterdijk. I love the sentiment, but he was a very controversial figure, in his time, especially with regard to his view on Eugenics. And then the next which is more obscure in meaning. (B...

Good afternoon everyone and welcome to another edition of The Avid Reader. Today our guest is Ben Marcus, author of Notes From The Fog, his collection of short stories published August 27th by Knopf. When last we heard from Ben we were talking about his novel The Flame Alphabet, a book that in some ways, in my opinion, shares many of the characteristics as do some of these stories. As you may reca...

Good afternoon everyone and welcome to another edition of The Avid Reader. Today our guest is Ben Marcus, author of Notes From The Fog, his collection of short stories published August 27th by Knopf. When last we heard from Ben we were talking about his novel The Flame Alphabet, a book that in some ways, in my opinion, shares many of the characteristics as do some of these stories. As you may reca...

Dr. Scott is the Emeritus Professor of Geology in the Department of Earth Science at Royal Holloway University in London. He has been a professor at Yale, a Fellow at Berkeley. He holds numerous degrees from the University of London. He is the author or editor of 10 academic books. His research on coal and the geological history of fire has been recognized the word over. The History Of Fire relies...

Dr. Scott is the Emeritus Professor of Geology in the Department of Earth Science at Royal Holloway University in London. He has been a professor at Yale, a Fellow at Berkeley. He holds numerous degrees from the University of London. He is the author or editor of 10 academic books. His research on coal and the geological history of fire has been recognized the word over. The History Of Fire relies...

Good afternoon everyone and welcome to another edition of The Avid Reader. Today our guest is Beth Macy author of Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, And The Drug Company That Addicted America. published this month by Little, Brown and Company. Beth is a journalist who writes about outsiders and underdogs. Her writing has won more than a dozen national journalism awards, including a Nieman Fellowship for...

Good afternoon everyone and welcome to another edition of The Avid Reader. Today our guest is Beth Macy author of Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, And The Drug Company That Addicted America. published this month by Little, Brown and Company. Beth is a journalist who writes about outsiders and underdogs. Her writing has won more than a dozen national journalism awards, including a Nieman Fellowship for...

Good afternoon everyone and welcome to another edition of The Avid Reader. Today our guest is Rebecca Makkai, author of The Great Believers, published in June by Viking. Rebecca’s books have been translated into many languages and her short fiction has been anthologized in The Best American Short Stories in 2011, 2010, 2009, and 2008. Which is actually quite a big deal. He first novel was The Borr...

Good afternoon everyone and welcome to another edition of The Avid Reader. Today our guest is Meghan MacLean Weir, author of The Book of Essie published just last month by Knopf. Meghan’s memoir Between Expectations: Lessons From A Pediatric Residency chronicles her years in training at Boston Medical Center and Boston Children’s Hospital. She still works as a physician and continues to write as w...

Good afternoon everyone and welcome to another edition of The Avid Reader. Today our guest is Meghan MacLean Weir, author of The Book of Essie published just last month by Knopf. Meghan’s memoir Between Expectations: Lessons From A Pediatric Residency chronicles her years in training at Boston Medical Center and Boston Children’s Hospital. She still works as a physician and continues to write as w...

Good afternoon everyone and welcome to another edition of The Avid Reader. Today our guest is Zachary Wood, author of Uncensored: My Life And Uncomfortable Conversations At The Intersection of Black And White, released just least month by Dutton. Zachary’s primary goal in this book, in addition to telling us his life story in memoir form, is to encourage uncomfortable conversations. He graduated f...

Good afternoon everyone and welcome to another edition of The Avid Reader. Today our guest is Zachary Wood, author of Uncensored: My Life And Uncomfortable Conversations At The Intersection of Black And White, released just least month by Dutton. Zachary’s primary goal in this book, in addition to telling us his life story in memoir form, is to encourage uncomfortable conversations. He graduated f...

Good afternoon everyone and welcome to another edition of The Avid Reader. Today our guest is Ceridwen Dovey, (KER EH DWIN DOUGH VEE) author of In The Garden Of The Fugitives, published, in America, in May by FSG. Ceridwen’s previous work includes her debut novel Blood Kin which has been published in fifteen countries and was selected for the National Book Foundation’s 5 under 35 honors list. She...

Good afternoon everyone and welcome to another edition of The Avid Reader. Today our guest is Ceridwen Dovey, (KER EH DWIN DOUGH VEE) author of In The Garden Of The Fugitives, published, in America, in May by FSG. Ceridwen’s previous work includes her debut novel Blood Kin which has been published in fifteen countries and was selected for the National Book Foundation’s 5 under 35 honors list. She...

Good afternoon everyone and welcome to another edition go The Avid Reader. Today our guest is Abdi Nor Iftin, author of Call Me American: A Memoir published just last week by Alfred Knopf. This book is the story of a miracle, a series of miracles, set against a backdrop of pain, suffering and horror. Abdi fell in love with America as a child. He learned English from Arnold Shwarzeneger and Michael...

Good afternoon everyone and welcome to another edition go The Avid Reader. Today our guest is Abdi Nor Iftin, author of Call Me American: A Memoir published just last week by Alfred Knopf. This book is the story of a miracle, a series of miracles, set against a backdrop of pain, suffering and horror. Abdi fell in love with America as a child. He learned English from Arnold Shwarzeneger and Michael...