We sat down at the Bryant Corner Café after a few weeks away, so we took a survey of what folks have just completed. We also remember the great and generous writer, Ivan Doig.
Books from this episode:
The Belly of Paris, Emile Zola
Days of Rage, Bryan Burrough
The Buried Giant, Kazuo Ishiguro
The Imperfectionists, Tom Rachman
The Circle, Dave Eggers
So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed, by Jon Ronson
Winter Brothers, Ivan Doig
All The Light We Cannot See, Anthony Doerr
Nancy Pearl, Steve Scher, Katy Sewall and the big table of readers at the Bryant Corner Cafe talk about the status of the memoir these days.
We all lead lives that generate stories. Do these stories only have credibility when they are shared with others? Do we need to try to get them published to feel good about our efforts? Some critics are wondering whether this self-congratulatory age is producing too many memoirs.
When author Ryan Boudinot published a critical article about fledgling writers, he struck a note so sour that he undermined support for efforts to get Seattle designated as a UNESCO City of Literature.
Among his quotes of note from the article:
“For the most part, MFA students who choose to write memoirs are narcissists using the genre as therapy. They want someone to feel sorry for them, and they believe that the supposed candor of their reflective essay excuses its technical faults. Just because you were abused as a child does not make your inability to stick with the same verb tense for more than two sentences any more bearable. In fact, having to slog through 500 pages of your error-riddled student memoir makes me wish you had suffered more.”
The folk at The New Yorker Out Loud Podcast are also thinking about memoirs. In particular they were wondering about the state of the memoir in the era of instant reportage thru social media.
Around the table at the Bryant Corner Café, we talk about some of our favorite memoirs, biographies, autobiographies, all the while musing on the state of the memoir in the modern times.
Nancy Pearls tells Steve Scher, Katy Sewall and our table full of readers at the Bryant Corner Cafe her thoughts on book awards.
We get some behind the scenes glimpses of the awards process, and find out, among other things, that the publishers self nominate for some awards.
How do you use awards to help you find the next book to read? Nancy recommends reading the whole list of nominees and not just the winners, because there you will find books for many tastes.
Nancy Pearl, Steve Scher and Katy Sewall nibble at the Bryant Corner Cafe while talking about two books that offer different approaches to the same overarching theme- how empire builders move across the landscape into history.
The first is an historical account of the American Vietnam War. Christian Appy, “American Reckoning: The Vietnam War and Our National Identity” connects our current foreign policy actions to the attitudes that were revealed during our long war against Vietnam.
"The Strangler Vine" is a classically styled mystery set in the British Raj. Though lighter and more of a swashbuckler, the actions of the British colonialists are on full display.
We also touched on a couple of American crime writers, Ross Macdonald and Ross Thomas. Both worth a look and worth a whole show. That is coming soon.
We won't be at the Bryant Corner Cafe for a few weeks. We will be back with the live taping April 21st, 3:15. Love to see you there with books to share while we explore what books to add to our growing stack.
Steve Scher's pilgrimage to the American South triggers a conversation with Nancy Pearl and all the folks around the table about southern writers. But pretty soon we are trying to define the essence of a region and describe the cover of "Mandingo."
If you are looking a place to start thinking about southern writers, here are a few websites to check out.
Flavorwire's list "of the best ever!"
Nancy Pearl talks about the benefits of book clubs with Steve Scher, Katy Sewall and the rest of folks around the table at The Bryant Corner Cafe. Nancy says there are some rules to follow that can make the book selections and the book chats much more meaningful.
We will be back recording at the Cafe Tuesday, March 24th at 3:15. Please join us.
You can check in on Nancy's book picks and all the places where she is sharing her love of reading at Nancy Pearl.com
Katy Sewall hosts a very smart and funny podcast about living abroad, the bittersweetlife.
Steve Scher produces a few other podcasts and provides commentary at NWCN.
Nancy Pearl, Steve Scher, Katy Sewall and our great readers are at the table at the The Bryant Corner Cafe again. We are talking about the books to read for March, Women's History Month.
We also get into a discussion of just whether or not these months set aside to particular groups are a positive or not.
If you want to donate some books the Seattle Literacy Council is looking for you. They hold a fundraiser soon and need your support.
Join us at the cafe next tuesday afternoon at 3:15. Hope to see you.
Steve Scher and Nancy Pearl take up Katy Sewall's question, what books shaped you in high school? Our friends around the table have their own favorites. What are the books that shaped you?
Who recommends books to you? We survey the different ways we try to sort through all our choices.
Do you get your ideas for your next book from newspapers, librarians, friends? Maybe you follow your book club lists, or listen to the radio. How do you decide what to read next? If you have other unique ways for finding the books you want to read, please write us at thatstackofbooks@gmail.com.
Happy reading.
We gather again at The Bryant Corner Cafe to talk about books. Two new fiction works garnered glowing reviews from Nancy Pearl, the novel "Vanessa and Her Sister" by Priya Parmar and "Single Carefree, Mellow," short stories by Katherine Heiny. Then we take up the perils and pleasure's of re-reading books.
Find us on Facebook. We twitter @thatstack. Write us with your comments and suggestions for future topics at thatstackofbooks@gmail.com
Happy reading.
What books sit on your shelf, waiting for you to finally pull them off and read them? For Nancy Pearl, it's Anthony Trollope. For Steve Scher, it's a number of natural history books. What's on your shelf?
Let's follow up with Nancy's suggestion and listen to her interview with the writer Stewart O'Nan.
You can find many interviews Nancy has conducted at the Seattle Channel, Book Lust.
Nancy Pearl , Steve Scher and friends talk about Harper Lee's 2nd novel, "Go Set A Watchman." Also, author John Vaillant, known for his award winning non-fiction, talks with Steve Scher about his first published novel, "The Jaguar's Children. "
Nancy Pearl tells Steve Scher she has become intrigued by a few new memoirs. Sometimes she finds the writing in memoirs swinging a little too close to wince-worthiness. But of course, the genre is also capable of producing truly memorable stories.
Nancy enjoyed a new work by Roger Cohen of the New York Times, "The Girl From Human Street: Ghosts Of Memory In A Jewish Family." It never descends into pathos.
Also, Kate Moses, “Cakewalk: A Memoir.” She says it’s a lovely book where each chapter ends with a recipe.
Just a few of the other books we discuss.
Daniel Mendelsohn “The Lost: A Search For 6 among Six Million
Blaine Harden’s “Escape from Camp 14”
Will Schwalbe “The End of Your Life Bookclub.”
Haven Kimmel “ A Girl Named Zippy: Growing Up Small in Moreland Indiana”
Wes Moore, "The Other Wes Moore”
Ann Hood, “The Obituary Writer”
Roger Lipsey, “Hammarskjöld: A Life”
John Marzluff, “Subirdia “
Charles Emmerson, "1913: In Search of the World Before the Great War”
Our sponsor this week is another podcast Steve is producing. If you like in-depth conversations with scholars visiting the university of Washington check out “At Length with Steve Scher.” You can find it on itunes or at The House of Podcasts.
The podcast is supported by University of Washington Alumni Association and you can hear them all here.
It's a new year, time for throwing caution to the wind, time to carouse with wild abandon. Well, at least it's a good time to check out some new novels by first time novelists.
Among the books we discussed, S.M. Hulse's "Black River" and Emma Hooper's, "Etta and Otto and Russell and James."
Say, send us a picture. Perhaps a picture of that little free library near your home. Or, how about this. We are going to do a show soon on those books on your bookshelf that you've never read, but saved because you are going to get to them soon, real , real soon. Send us a picture of you holding that book.
Or, of course, we would love a picture of that stack of books that sits by your bed or your reading chair.
Love to see it. Post it on Facebook, That Stack of Books with Nancy Pearl and Steve Scher or Twitter @thatstack, or send it along to thatstackofbooks@gmail.com and we will post it for you.
Happy reading.
We are off again this week, so some choice cuts from a previous show.
We are back again recording at The Bryant Corner Cafe, NE 65th and 32nd Ave Ne in Northeast Seattle at 10 am Tuesday the 20th. Drop on by.
Books Mentioned
Peter Mountford, “The Dismal Science: A Novel”
John Lanchester, “Capital”(F), “How To Speak Money” (NF)
Patricia Wrede, Caroline Stevermer, “Sorcery and Cecilia, Or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot”
Georgiette Heyer, “Sylvester,” “The Grand Sophy.”
Max Egremont , “Some Desperate Glory: The First World War the Poets Knew.”
Karen Karbo, “The Diamond Lane”
Ian McEwan, “Amstersdam”
Dick Wolfe, “The Intercept”
David Quammen, “The Soul of Victor Tronko”
Charles McCarry, “The Tears of Autumn,” “The Last Supper”
Laura Schroff , ”The Invisible Thread”
Nancy Horan, “Loving Frank”
T.C. Boyle, “The Women”
Lydia Netzer, “Shine Shine Shine” ( Nancy’s November Book Club offering)
Rudolpho Anaya, “Bless Me, Ultima” (the December Book Club choice)
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The new year brings back our very first episode. Nancy is off for a few weeks, attending to her own writing. Here is our very first episode, with something added. A word from our sponsor. Sarah Swanson at The Bryant Corner Cafe is the person who has made us a space here at the cafe. So, we find out a little bit about why that is, and also, we taste their homemade hollandaise sauce
Write us at thatstackofbooks@gmail.com. Looking for a book suggestion? Have a thought about a topic we should cover? Give us some feedback to the show. Drop us a line. We love to hear from you.
Here are the books we discussed on this episode.
That Stack of Books Episode 1
Some of the books, authors and genre’s discussed by Nancy, Steve, Katy and our visitor’s
Welcome To Subirdia, John M. Marzluff
Richard Norton Smith, On His Own Terms: A Life of Nelson Rockefeller
Garth Stein, The Sudden Light
Peter Temple, Truth, The Broken Shore; The Jack Irish Series
Donna Leon, Guido Brunetti Series
Andrea Camilleri, Salvo Montalbano Series
Manuel Vazquez Montalbon, Pepe Carvalho Series
Patrick Millikin, Phoenix Noir
Jon Talton, David Mapstone Mysteries Series
M.M. Kaye, The Sun In Morning, The Far Pavilions
Agatha Christie’s books
Paul Scott, The Raj Quartet
Emma Straub, The Vacationers.
Ian MacEwan, The Children Act, Atonement, Black Dogs
Adrian Mckinty, The Cold, Cold Ground
John Boyne, This House Is Haunted
Louisa May Alcott, Little Men, The Old Fashioned Girl, Jack And Jill
Nicole Krause, The History of Love
Jonathan Safron Foer, Everything Is Illuminated
Marie-Helene Bertino, 2 A.M. at The Cat’s Pajamas
Cheryl Strayed, Wild
Julia Glass, And The Dark Sacred Night, The Three Junes
Anthony Marra, A Constellation of Vital Phenomena
John Le Carre, A Most Wanted Man
Cea Person, North Of Normal
Kristin Hannah, Fly Away
Leanne Moriarty, Big, Little Lies, The Husband’s Secret
Elin Hildebrand. Various titles
Kathyrn Ma, The Year She Left Us
Fiona McFarland, The Night Guest
David Shafer, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot
How do you choose a book? Nancy offers up a few ideas and readers around the table answer in their own ways.
Read MoreWhat kind of book are you really hoping you'll encounter in 2015? Nancy Pearl kicks a few ideas around the table at The Bryant Corner Cafe a couple of days before Christmas.
Happy Holidays, readers!
Time for the lists. No, not the best of lists, though we chat about those. Too judgmental, we've concluded. Rather Nancy Pearl, Steve Scher, Katy Sewall and all the folks around the big table offer their favorite books published in 2014. What are yours?
And next week, 12/23, when we again meet at the Bryant Corner Cafe at 10 am, what kind of book are you hoping to read in 2015? Maybe Nancy has already found it for you. Join us.
Gift suggestions from Nancy Pearl and a big crowd of readers for this edition of That Stack of Books. Beside the great gift ideas, the folks at The Bryant Corner Cafe set down some homemade gingerbread men for us to taste. Drop by next time we tape the podcast, December 16th at 10 am. We would love to have your company.