December 31, 2009
Something to Tell You/Hanif Kureishi.
Interviewer: Richard Wolinsky. Rebroadcast
December 24, 2009
The Blind Side/Michael Lewis
Interviewer: Richard Wolinsky. Rebroadcast.
December 17, 2009
Last Night in Twisted River/John Irving
Interviewer: Richard Wolinsky
December 10, 2009
Last Night in Twisted River/John Irving
Irving's latest novel is his most autobiographical, with a writer with Irving's own process as main character, and for many, a return to form.
Interviewer: Richard Wolinsky
December 3, 2009
Strength in What Remains/Tracy Kidder
The non-fiction story of a young medical student who escaped Civil War in Burundi and genocide in Rwanda and came to America. An uplifting tale as well as the story about the effects of European colonialism a half-century after it ended.
Interviewer: Richard Wolinsky
November 26, 2009
In the Company of the Courtesan/Sarah Dunant
Sacred Hearts/Sarah Dunant
The Birth of Venus/Sarah Dunant
A fictional trilogy about the role of women in Renaissance Italy, using heavily researched sources. Dunant has the singular capability of setting you in the place and time she writes about, which gives her work a special authenticity. Recommended.
Interviewer: Richard Wolinsky
November 19, 2009
Chronic City/Jonathan Lethem
A meta-fiction about Manhattan, a treat for Lethem fans. Others may find it stickier going.
Interviewer: Richard Wolinsky
November 12, 2009
Homer & Langley/E.L. Doctorow
A rich look at two eccentric brothers in New York, set against the backdrop of the first three-quarters of the Twentieth Century.
Interviewer: Richard Wolinsky
November 5, 2009
A Fiery Peace in a Cold War/Neil Sheehan.
A history of the Cold War, as seen through the lens of Gen. Bernard Schriever, who ran America's ICBM program in the 1950s. Fascinating for insights into the history of the Cold War; the Schriever materail sometimes gets too technical
Interviewer: Richard Wolinsky
October 29, 2009
Anne Frank: The Book, The Life, The Afterlife/Francine Prose
A fascinating look at The Diary of a Young Girl, from its original origins as a diary to its afterlife as play, film, and classic.
Interviewer: Richard Wolinsky
October 22, 2009
That Old Cape Magic/Richard Russo
A fast-paced novel about a writer dealing with parental issues in his marriage and his life. A very enjoyable read by the author of Empire Falls and Nobody's Fool.
Interviewer: Richard Wolinsky
October 15, 2009
The Year of the Flood/Margaret Atwood
Oryx & Crake/Margaret Atwood
Atwood's second novel set in a near-future ecological dystopia focuses on two women involved with a nature religion, and tells the same tale as Oryx & Crake, albeit from a different perspective. Perceptive and fascinating.
Interviewer: Richard Wolinsky
October 8, 2009
pre-empted for fund drive
October 1, 2009
The Anthologist/Nicholson Baker
Human Smoke/Nicholson Baker
The Anthologist is a short comic novel about poetry, and a wonderful treatise on the art form at the same time. Human Smoke is an anecdotal history of World War Ii, a cry for pacifism and a fascinating read.
Interviewer: Richard Wolinsky
September 30, 2009
First Hour: Gay Marriage
Second Hour: Web Neutrality
September 24, 2009
A Gate at the Stairs/Lorrie Moore
A young woman in a midwest college town learns about herself in the year following the events of 9/11. Gorgeous prose which seems more suited to the short story form than the novel.
Interviewer: Richard Wolinsky
September 17, 2009
The View from the Bridge/Nicholas Meyer
The director of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and other films discusses his life and work in a memoir about Hollywood. Required reading for fans of his work.
Interviewer: Richard Wolinsky
September 10, 2009
This Is Where I Leave You/Jonathan Tropper
A funny, funny book about a dysfunctional family forced to spend an entire week together following the death of their father.
Interviewer: Richard Wolinsky
September 3, 2009
Let the Great World Spin/Colum McCann
A collage of people in New York City in 1974, focusing on two Irish brothers, and on a walk between the towers of the World Trade Center. One of the year's most highly acclaimed novels.
Interviewer: Richard Wolinsky
August 27, 2009
A Plague of Secrets/John Lescroart
The author of fast-moving legal thrillers set in San Francisco returns to discuss such issues as marijuana, political influence in the judiciary and other juicy topics in his latest work.
Interviewer: Richard Wolinsky
August 21, 2009
Open Book
Ed Decker, Artistic Director of San Francisco's New Conservatory Theatre Center, interviewed by Richard Wolinsky
August 20, 2009
Carlos Ruiz Zafon, part two
August 13, 2009
The Shadow of the Wind/Carlos Ruiz Zafon
The Angel's Game/Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Zafon writes gorgeous phantasmagorical epics set in Barcelona prior to World War II dealing with events surrounding the Borgesian Cemetary of Lost Books, and has become an international sensation for his work.
Part One.
Interviewer: Richard Wolinsky
August 6, 2009
Trouble/Kate Christensen
Two women go off to Mexico City to escape their lives. Compelling tale of friendship between women, and the role of fame in peoples' lives.
Interviewer: Richard Wolinsky
July 30, 2009
Sunnyside/Glen David Gold
An epic novel about Charlie Chaplin and the birth of movies and the modern era. Well-written, but doesn't quite hang together. Better in parts than in the whole.
Interviewer: Richard Wolinsky
July 23, 2009
pre-empted
July 16, 2009
Standing Up to the Madness/Amy Goodman & David Goodman
rebroadcast from April 23, 2009
Interviewer: Richard Wolinsky
July 9, 2009
The Night of the Gun/David Carr
New York Times columnist David Carr takes his own life, the story of addiction and redemption, and examines it with the hard eye of a reporter, leaving no stone unturned.
Interviewer: Richard Wolinsky
July 2, 2009
Review Program. Books Reviewed:
The Last Dickens/Matthew Pearl. A very good novel about the mystery behind The Mystery of Edwin Drood. RL
Drood/Dan Simmons. A masterpiece about the last days of Charles Dickens. RL
Sag Harbor/Colson Whitehead. A marvelous coming of age novel set in an upper middle class Black resort. RW
Spade and Archer/Joe Gores. A well-crafted sequel to The Maltese Falcon. RL
The Angel's Game/Carlos Ruiz Zafon. A marvelous atmospheric work set in pre-War Barcelona. RW
Moriarty/John Gardner. Not very good posthumous novel about Sherlock Holmes' great rival. RL
Reviewers: Richard Wolinsky/Richard A. Lupoff
June 25, 2009
Shanghai Girls/Lisa See
A novel about two Chinese women, from their careers as teenage "beautiful girls" in pre-war Shanghai to their later lives as immigrants on Angel Island and in L.A.'s Chinatown. Very evocative and informative.
Interviewer: Richard Wolinsky
June 18, 1009
Sag Harbor/Colson Whitehead
A refreshing autobiographical novel about life one summer in Sag Harbor, the African American resort community on New York's Long Island. Really wonderful.
Interviewer: Richard Wolinsky
June 11, 2009
The Way Home/George Pelecanos
The Turnaround/George Pelecanos
The most recent novels by Pelecanos, former producer and writer for the HBO series The Wire, are page-turners that deal with serious themes of father/son relationships, crime and poverty, and life in the real Washington D.C. His work is highly recommended.
Interviewer: Richard Wolinsky
June 4, 2009
The Weight of Heaven/Thrity Umrigar
Atmospheric novel about a young American couple, grieving over the death of a child, who move to a small town in India in order to overcome their loss.
Interviewer: Richard Wolinsky
Friday, May 29, 2009
Open Book: Director Sharon Ott
Interviewer: Richard Wolinsky
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Low Boy/John Wray
Well-written short novel about a mentally disturbed teenager who rides the New York subway system, convinced that by having sex he can save the world.
Interviewer: Richard Wolinsky
Thursday, May 21, 2009
pre-empted
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Joseph P. Kennedy Presents/Cari Beauchamp
Kennedy's biography, focusing on his years as a Hollywood producer, an extraordinary look at the forerunner of today's Wall Street sharks, as well as Hollywood at the start of the talkie era. Overloaded with financial details, so be prepared.
Interviewer: Richard Wolinsky
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Love Child/Allegra Huston
The daughter of director John Huston discusses her life growing up in the shadow of a famous father, among Hollywood celebrities, and her struggle to find her own place. A rare non-exploitative Hollywood memoir.
Interviewer: Richard Wolinsky
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Pain Killers/Jerry Stahl
An often funny and outrageous novel about Nazi thug doctor Joseph Mengele, San Quentin Prison, and a detective with substance abuse issues. Not for every sensibility however.
Interviewer: Richard Wolinsky
Friday, April 24, 2009
Open Book: John Fisher, Artistic Director of Theatre Rhino in San Francisco
Interviewer: Richard Wolinsky
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Standing Up to the Madness/Amy Goodman & David Goodman
Amy Goodman, host of Democracy Now! and her brother, journalist David Goodman, use examples of "real heroes," people who bucked the system and the Bush Administration, to delineate some of the horrors of the past eight years. It's a brisk and easy read, but the paperback should have waited until after the Obama Administration came in and an update had been added. The book remains very relevant, but the lack of an update does make it seem as if it could be dated. This interview updates some of the information. (Recorded April 17, 2009)
Hosted by Richard Wolinsky
Thursday, April 16, 2009
pre-empted
Thursday, April 9, 2009
The Long Fall/Walter Mosley
Blonde Faith/Walter Mosley
Having completed the Easy Rawlins series with Blonde Faith, Mosley embarks on a new P.I. series set in modern-day New York featuring a detective who comes on the scene with a lot of back story. Well-written and well-executed, but by its very nature as genre fiction, The Long Fall fails to capture the political and social impact of the Rawlins novels.
Interviewer: Richard Wolinsky
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Cutting for Stone/Abraham Verghese
An epic novel about the twin sons of a doctor and a nun, growing up next to a small hospital in Ethiopia. Fascinating.
Interviewer: Richard Wolinsky
Friday, March 27, 2009: Open Book
Richard Wolinsky interviews Carey Perloff, Artistic Director of A.C.T., American Conservatory Theatre, in San Francisco.
March 26, 2009
The Believers/Zoe Heller
What Was She Thinking? (Notes on a Scandal)/Zoe Heller
Heller's two books are both often scathingly funny character studies, her new one dealing with a leftist family in New York forced to confront the illness of its patriarch.
Interviewer: Richard Wolinsky
March 19, 2009
The Lost City of Z/David Grann
New Yorker staff writer Grann examines the history of El Dorado through the prism of the life of Percy Fawcett, an explorer who disappeared into the Amazon jungle in 1925. Fascinating reading. The extended edit of this interview includes a long discussion about the 2008 presidential election and its aftermath. Grann covered the McCain campaign for the New Yorker.
Interviewer: Richard Wolinsky
March 12, 2009
The Women/T.C. Boyle
The story of Frank Lloyd Wright and his wives and mistresses is told by a master novelist at the peak of his powers.
Interviewer: Richard Wolinsky
March 5, 2009
The Vagrants/Yiyun Li
Set in a small city in China in 1979, The Vagrants examines the lives of several people affected by Beijing's Democracy Wall in the context of China's poverty and repressive institutions at the time. Fascinating, though pacing and plotting are obviously those of a first novel.
Interviewer: Richard Wolinsky
February 26, 2009
Voluntary Madness/Norah Vincent
Self-Made Man/Norah Vincent
In acts of immersion journalism, as she calls it, Vincent first disguised herself as a man for a year for Self-Made Man, then had herself committed to three different mental institutions for Voluntary Madness. The results of her work are compelling and off-beat.
Interviewer: Richard Wolinsky
February 19, 2009
Reading Lolita In Tehran/Azar Nafisi
Things I've Been Silent About/Azar Nafisi
Azar Nafisi's two memoirs present an overview of Iran before and after the Islamic revolution, the first focusing on Nafisi's work as teacher of literature, and the second on her family life. Both are fascinating, though the second perhaps focuses too much on Nafisi's difficult relationship with her mother.
Interviewer: Richard Wolinsky
February 12, 2009
Tribute to John Updike. Rebroadcast of 2006 interview, re-edited.
Interviewer/Host: Richard Wolinsky
February 5, 2009
Angels and Ages/Adam Gopnik
Through The Children's Gate/Adam Gopnik
In Angels and Ages, New Yorker staff writer Gopnik discusses the eloquence and contributions of Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin, both born the same day in 1809. A fascinating examination of the two men, both of whom, with little in common other than their birthdate, founds ways of communication that still resonate today.
Interviewer: Richard Wolinsky
January 29, 2009
The Invention of Air/Steven Johnson
The Ghost Map/Steven Johnson
Johnson examines the confluence of science, politics and culture at specific times and places. These two books, one about scientist Joseph Priestley, the other about London's cholera epidemic in the 1850s, form bookends in Johnson's quest to come up with a "unified field theory" about how these specific times and places lead to changes in the zeitgeist. Fascinating subject matter.
Interviewer: Richard Wolinsky
January 22, 2009
Review Program. Books reviewed:
The Sun and Moon/Matthew Goodman
The Invention of Air/Steven Johnson
The Given Day/Dennis Lehane
The Sweet In-Between/Sheri Reynolds
Also, a look at the publishing industry today, and a look back at authors who passed away in 2008.
Reviewers: Richard Wolinsky & Richard A. Lupoff
January 15, 2009
The Sweet In-Between/Sheri Reynolds
A short novel about a gender-confused Southern teenager. A textbook example of how to write voice in a novel. Reynolds is a master of technique as we delve into the life of a girl who finds herself out of place everywhere.
Interviewer: Richard Wolinsky
January 8, 2009
Pre-empted
January 1, 2009
The Senator's Wife/Sue Miller
Originally aired March 20, 2008.
