Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Richard Russo is known for books like “Empire Falls,” “Nobody’s Fool,” and “Straight Man,” having long chronicled working-class America with wit, empathy, and a sharp eye for character. His latest, “Life & Art,” is a thoughtful and very funny collection of essays that explore the deeply personal side of a writer’s life.
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27:22
The Book Show | Chris Bohjalian - The Jackal's Mistress
Set during the final stretch of the Civil War, author Chris Bohjalian’s “The Jackal’s Mistress” tells the story of Libby, a woman stuck in the South with a missing husband and a whole lot of moral questions. When she finds a nearly dead Union officer in the woods, she decides to save him. With war raging around them, Libby has to choose between loyalty and compassion.
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27:15
The Book Show | Helen Phillips - Hum [encore]
Helen Phillips is one of the most interesting and original writers working today. In her latest novel, “Hum,” she turns her eye to marriage, motherhood, and selfhood in a world compromised by global warming and artificial intelligence.
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27:08
The Book Show | Miranda July - All Fours [encore]
“All Fours,” a new novel by Miranda July, tells the story of a semi-famous artist who announces her plan to drive cross-country on a one woman quest for a new kind of freedom. The book is part absurd entertainment and part tender reinvention of the sexual, romantic, and domestic life of a forty-five-year-old female artist.
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27:24
The Book Show | Russell Shorto - Taking Manhattan
In 2004, Historian Russell Shorto published “The Island at the Center of the World,” a book about Manhattan and the role of the Dutch in making New York (and America) what it is today. His new book, “Taking Manhattan: The Extraordinary Events That Created New York and Shaped America,” continues the story.
Each week on The Book Show, host Joe Donahue interviews authors about their books, their lives and their craft. It is a celebration of both reading and writers.
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