Longtime friend and editor of Bookworm, Alan Howard, returns to host this episode, the last of 10 shows to journey through Bookworm’s 33 years and offer a retrospective look at Michael’s accomplishments on behalf of writers and readers. For decades Michael has read almost all of a writer’s work, not just the book which has been most recently published. Howard has watched writers glow as they realize that they’ve been seriously witnessed by the ultimate Bookworm. All of the writers on today’s show have become friends of Michael’s and of Bookworm. We’ll hear from rock band Sparks (brothers Ron and Russell Mael), Art Spiegelman, Françoise Mouly, Ann Beattie, Susan Sontag, and Dennis Cooper.

Longtime friend and editor of Bookworm, Alan Howard, returns to host this episode, the last of 10 shows to journey through Bookworm’s 33 years and offer a retrospective look at Michael’s accomplishments on behalf of writers and readers. For decades Michael has read almost all of a writer’s work, not just the book which has been most recently published. Howard has watched writers glow as they realize that they’ve been seriously witnessed by the ultimate Bookworm. All of the writers on today’s show have become friends of Michael’s and of Bookworm. We’ll hear from rock band Sparks (brothers Ron and Russell Mael), Art Spiegelman, Françoise Mouly, Ann Beattie, Susan Sontag, and Dennis Cooper.

Longtime friend and editor of Bookworm, Alan Howard, returns to host this episode, the last of 10 shows to journey through Bookworm’s 33 years and offer a retrospective look at Michael’s accomplishments on behalf of writers and readers. For decades Michael has read almost all of a writer’s work, not just the book which has been most recently published. Howard has watched writers glow as they realize that they’ve been seriously witnessed by the ultimate Bookworm. All of the&nbsp;writers on today’s show have become friends of Michael’s and of Bookworm. We’ll hear from rock band Sparks (brothers Ron and Russell Mael), Art Spiegelman, Françoise Mouly, Ann Beattie, Susan Sontag, and Dennis Cooper.

Friends of Michael

Acclaimed novelist, poet, and essayist <a href="https://www.taolin.us">Tao Lin</a> (“Taipei,” “Shoplifting from American Apparel”) speaks about growing as a writer, and growing his idea of himself in a book, including his latest, “<a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/547887/leave-society-by-tao-lin/">Leave Society</a>,” about the blurred lines between life and fiction.

Acclaimed novelist, poet, and essayist Tao Lin (“Taipei,” “Shoplifting from American Apparel”) speaks about growing as a writer, and growing his idea of himself in a book, including his latest, “Leave Society,” about the blurred lines between life and fiction.

Acclaimed novelist, poet, and essayist <a href="https://www.taolin.us" rel="noopener noreferrer">Tao Lin</a> (“Taipei,” “Shoplifting from American Apparel”) speaks about growing as a writer, and growing his idea of himself in a book, including his latest, “<a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/547887/leave-society-by-tao-lin/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Leave Society</a>,” about the blurred lines between life and fiction.&nbsp;

Tao Lin’s ‘Leave Society’ shifts the author’s perspective to love and kindness

Author Zac Smith speaks about the extreme juxtaposition of the very short, dense, and clipped stories in his new book, “Everything is Totally Fine.” He says that by removing a lot of exposition, he was able to create intense emotions in a small space. His energetic and thoughtful stories of absurdity and minutiae are things that could not be said any other way, and usually don’t get said. Plus, special guest Tao Lin explains why “Everything is Totally Fine” inspired him to reopen his <a href="http://muumuuhouse.com/about.html">Muumuu House</a> imprint after it was closed for more than ten years.

Author Zac Smith speaks about the extreme juxtaposition of the very short, dense, and clipped stories in his new book, “Everything is Totally Fine.” He says that by removing a lot of exposition, he was able to create intense emotions in a small space. His energetic and thoughtful stories of absurdity and minutiae are things that could not be said any other way, and usually don’t get said. Plus, special guest Tao Lin explains why “Everything is Totally Fine” inspired him to reopen his Muumuu House imprint after it was closed for more than ten years.

Author Zac Smith speaks about the extreme juxtaposition of the very short, dense, and clipped stories in his new book, “Everything is Totally Fine.” He says that by removing a lot of exposition, he was able to create intense emotions in a small space. His energetic and thoughtful stories of absurdity and minutiae are things that could not be said any other way, and usually don’t get said. Plus, special guest Tao Lin explains why “Everything is Totally Fine” inspired him to reopen his <a href="http://muumuuhouse.com/about.html" rel="noopener noreferrer">Muumuu House</a> imprint after it was closed for more than ten years.

Zac Smith’s ‘Everything is Totally Fine,’ the book that reopened Tao Lin’s Muumuu House

My Loose Thread  (Canongate Books)In his most vulnerable and emotionally accessible novel, Dennis Cooper explores the mind of a boy who is like one of the Columbine killers.  He talks about the world the boy imagines-and our compassion enlarges as the boy-s consciousness shuts down.

My Loose Thread (Canongate Books)In his most vulnerable and emotionally accessible novel, Dennis Cooper explores the mind of a boy who is like one of the Columbine killers. He talks about the world the boy imagines-and our compassion enlarges as the boy-s consciousness shuts down.

Dennis Cooper

Rick Moody explores his dark ancestry, which includes the Puritan minister who inspired a famous Hawthorne story...

Rick Moody explores his dark ancestry, which includes the Puritan minister who inspired a famous Hawthorne story...

Rick Moody: The Black Veil

Francine Prose's The Lives of the Muses is a series of "brief lives" of women who inspired famous men: Alice of Alice in Wonderland, Yoko Ono, Mrs. Salvador Dali, the pre-Raphaelites...

Francine Prose's The Lives of the Muses is a series of "brief lives" of women who inspired famous men: Alice of Alice in Wonderland, Yoko Ono, Mrs. Salvador Dali, the pre-Raphaelites...

Francine Prose: The Lives of Muses

McSweeney-s Books Dave Eggers (A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius) has invested in his beliefs and started up a press.  He publishes the popular -lit-mag- McSweeney-s and a whole line of books by authors he admires.  We explore and evaluate this unusual inventory.

McSweeney-s Books Dave Eggers (A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius) has invested in his beliefs and started up a press. He publishes the popular -lit-mag- McSweeney-s and a whole line of books by authors he admires. We explore and evaluate this unusual inventory.

Dave Eggers

Wherever Oliver Sacks goes, the nature of consciousness is his subject...

Wherever Oliver Sacks goes, the nature of consciousness is his subject...

Oliver Sacks: Oaxaca Journal

Night Picnic: Poems (Harcourt)
 Pulitzer Prize-winner Charles Simic examines his work under
the lens of political terror and the subsequent experience of
immigration...

Night Picnic: Poems (Harcourt) Pulitzer Prize-winner Charles Simic examines his work under the lens of political terror and the subsequent experience of immigration...

Night Picnic: Poems (Harcourt)
 Pulitzer Prize-winner Charles Simic examines his work under
the lens of political terror and the subsequent experience of
immigration...
&nbsp;

Charles Simic

The Lovely Bones (Little Brown)
In Alice Sebold's eerie and fascinating first novel, a murdered girl reveals a double mystery: the nature of heaven (from where she narrates her story) and the nature of earth (where her family remembers her and her murderer remains uncaught).

The Lovely Bones (Little Brown) In Alice Sebold's eerie and fascinating first novel, a murdered girl reveals a double mystery: the nature of heaven (from where she narrates her story) and the nature of earth (where her family remembers her and her murderer remains uncaught).

Alice Sebold

Spies (Metropolitan Books)  An elderly man reviews his childhood, discovering more than he could have possibly known as a child.  Michael Frayn shows us that while children may play at being spies, adults are actual spies who explore the past and unearth secrets that alter their own identities.

Spies (Metropolitan Books) An elderly man reviews his childhood, discovering more than he could have possibly known as a child. Michael Frayn shows us that while children may play at being spies, adults are actual spies who explore the past and unearth secrets that alter their own identities.

Michael Frayn

Oscar Hijuelos gives us a sentimental rumba-and a return to his first inspiration: Cuban music.

Oscar Hijuelos gives us a sentimental rumba-and a return to his first inspiration: Cuban music.

Oscar Hijuelos: A Simple Habana Melody

Jonathan Safran Foer's literary debut commanded lavish praise and immediate popularity.

Jonathan Safran Foer's literary debut commanded lavish praise and immediate popularity.

Jonathan Safran Foer's literary debut commanded lavish praise and immediate popularity.&nbsp;

Share Bookworm

Sign up to save your podcasts

Bookworm

Bookworm episodes

About Bookworm

More shows like Bookworm

The New Yorker: Fiction

The New Yorker: Poetry

Between The Covers : Conversations with Writers in Fiction, Nonfiction & Poetry

The LRB Podcast

Left, Right & Center

Free Thinking

Nocturne

The Treatment

The Business

Good Food

Today's Top Tune

Backlisted

The New Yorker: The Writer's Voice - New Fiction from The New Yorker

London Review Bookshop Podcast

The History of Literature

Bookclub

The TLS Podcast

Entitled Opinions (about Life and Literature)

Press Play with Madeleine Brand

The Paris Review

Lost Notes: Groupies

Bodies

City Arts & Lectures

Close Readings