Book Talk

Host Cyd Oppenheimer talks with author Jennine Capó Crucet about her novel Make Your Home Among Strangers ("It's not a writer's job to solve a problem, but to define a problem clearly"); guest readers Sam Purdy and Shifra Sharlin join Oppenheimer to examine how their own backgrounds shape their reactions to these characters and their choices.

Host Cyd Oppenheimer talks with author Julia Rochester about her novel The House at the Edge of the World, and about escape, re-invention, and the power of storytelling; guest readers Tui Sutherland and Sophfronia Scott join Oppenheimer to discuss fable and myth, and water as metaphor.

Host Cyd Oppenheimer talks with author Adam Haslett about his novel Imagine Me Gone ("It feels like the book I was meant to write") ; guest readers Kate Kincaid and Alice Baumgartner join Oppenheimer to discuss haunting, ghosts, and "the dark repetition."

In one of the most fascinating interview ever on Book Talk, host Cyd Oppenheimer talks with author David Gilbert about his novel & Sons, discussing what it means when you decide to kill off a character by having him get hit by a bus; guest readers Annie Thoms and Jessica Sager join Oppenheimer to talk about shoes, closets, and the ways this post-modern novel plays with our understanding of stories, truth, and our own histories.

Host Cyd Oppenheimer talks with author Mo Daviau about her novel Every Anxious Wave (she even sings!); guest readers Alfie Guy and Brian Slattery join Oppenheimer to consider the ways the stories we tell bout our pasts shape our presents and our futures.

Host Cyd Oppenheimer talks with author Catherine Lowell about her novel The Madwoman Upstairs, asking her whether you need to read the whole Bronte oeuvre to appreciate this book (short answer, no, but why not do it anyway?); guest readers Tui Sutherland and Sophfronia Scott join Oppenheimer to discuss mothers, madness, and the Wizard of Oz.

Host Cyd Oppenheimer talks with author Sari Wilson about her novel Girl Through Glass, and the way it mimics the form of a Romantic ballet; guest readers Alice Baumgartner and Kate Kincaid discuss beauty, power, and desire, and reflect upon blackouts.

Host Cyd Oppenheimer talks with author Kristopher Jansma about his novel Why We Came to the City ("It's about what happens to the city when the characters aren't in it, after they've left it, when it's become a part of them"); guest readers Annie Thoms and Jessica Sager join Oppenheimer to discuss pilgrimages and odysseys, 9/11, and the poet Yehuda ha-Levi.

Host Cyd Oppenheimer talks with author Kate Racculia about her novel Bellweather Rhapsody, discussing the way smartphones have rendered the mystery obsolete; guest readers Alfie Guy and Tui Sutherland join Oppenheimer to talk about ghosts and guilt, disguise and destruction, and music, magic, and mirrors.

Host Cyd Oppenheimer talks with author Brian Morton about his novel Florence Gordon ("If you give up the effort to try to imagine what the world looks like from other people's points of view, you're not only giving up the effort to write fiction, you're giving up the effort to be a citizen of the world"); guest readers Sam Purdy and Shifra Sharlin join Oppenheimer to discuss whether ambition and decency can co-exist, and what constitutes courage.