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

Jerome Rothenberg, editor  A Book of the Book: Some Works and Projections About the Book and Writing  (Granary)  Who knows what books will look like ten years from now!  While e-books and new technologies loom, poet, anthologist and ethnopoeticist Jerome Rothenberg offers alternative ways to think about books: as sacred objects, storage machines, objects d'art.

Jerome Rothenberg, editor A Book of the Book: Some Works and Projections About the Book and Writing (Granary) Who knows what books will look like ten years from now! While e-books and new technologies loom, poet, anthologist and ethnopoeticist Jerome Rothenberg offers alternative ways to think about books: as sacred objects, storage machines, objects d'art.

Jerome Rothenberg

Richard Powers' intensity and sincerity blaze through as he discusses science, personal sacrifice and the common mis-assumption that cerebral writers are without passion.

Richard Powers' intensity and sincerity blaze through as he discusses science, personal sacrifice and the common mis-assumption that cerebral writers are without passion.

Richard Powers: Plowing the Dark

Ursula LeGuin  The Telling  (Harcourt Brace)  Ursula Le Guin believes that science fiction writers create new worlds in order to understand this one.  We discuss the death of literacy and the use of religious fanaticism to limit civil rights in her world of the future.  Read about this Book

Ursula LeGuin The Telling (Harcourt Brace) Ursula Le Guin believes that science fiction writers create new worlds in order to understand this one. We discuss the death of literacy and the use of religious fanaticism to limit civil rights in her world of the future. Read about this Book

Ursula LeGuin

Off Keck Road (Knopf)
Mona Simpson's delicately textured and beautifully detailed novella about small-town life in Wisconsin provides the occasion for this conversation about women, romance and the decision not to marry.

Off Keck Road (Knopf) Mona Simpson's delicately textured and beautifully detailed novella about small-town life in Wisconsin provides the occasion for this conversation about women, romance and the decision not to marry.

Mona Simpson

Bodies in Motion and at Rest (Norton)
As a result of his two professions (poet and funeral director), Thomas Lynch has an unusual attitude toward tradition, decorum and memory...

Bodies in Motion and at Rest (Norton) As a result of his two professions (poet and funeral director), Thomas Lynch has an unusual attitude toward tradition, decorum and memory...

Thomas Lynch

Eduardo Galeano's denunciation of our multinational globalized future is characteristically brilliant, whimsical-devastating.

Eduardo Galeano's denunciation of our multinational globalized future is characteristically brilliant, whimsical-devastating.

Eduardo Galeano's denunciation of our multinational globalized future is characteristically brilliant, whimsical-devastating.&nbsp;

Eduardo Galeano: Upside Down

The comic book, Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth (Pantheon), is Bookworm's nominee for the past year's most interesting novel!

The comic book, Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth (Pantheon), is Bookworm's nominee for the past year's most interesting novel!

Chris Ware: Jimmy Corrigan

The Golden Age (Doubleday)
With the completion of his American Empire series, author Gore Vidal reflects upon our national destiny...

The Golden Age (Doubleday) With the completion of his American Empire series, author Gore Vidal reflects upon our national destiny...

The Golden Age (Doubleday)
With the completion of his American Empire series, author Gore Vidal reflects upon our national destiny...

Gore Vidal

The Royal Family (Viking)
William Vollmann's growing sense of mystical Christianity is bringing him closer to Dostoevsky...

The Royal Family (Viking) William Vollmann's growing sense of mystical Christianity is bringing him closer to Dostoevsky...

William T. Vollmann

In Joy Williams' The Quick and the Dead, bleak and wicked comedy hides the book's religious mission, demonstrating how God and Devil can be mistaken for one another...

In Joy Williams' The Quick and the Dead, bleak and wicked comedy hides the book's religious mission, demonstrating how God and Devil can be mistaken for one another...

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