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

Frank McCourt 'Tis: A Memoir (Scribner) America's favorite Irishman talks about the dubious luxury of writing his second memoir while on airplanes and in waiting rooms--the hurtle from the tragic to the anecdotal.

Frank McCourt

Michael Frayn Headlong (Metropolitan) This British comic novel links an art-theft caper to both a philosophical inquiry into authenticity and an historical analysis of Breughel's painting. Frayn on the art of historo-philosophic comedy.

Michael Frayn

Fencing the Sky
 (Holt)
Western American novelist James Galvin contrasts the eternal values of the natural world of his youth with the rapacity of the "land pimps" who infest the New West.

Fencing the Sky (Holt) Western American novelist James Galvin contrasts the eternal values of the natural world of his youth with the rapacity of the "land pimps" who infest the New West.

James Galvin

Scott Turow "Personal; Injuries" (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)  This master of the legal thriller talks about the complexity of his characters-a complexity achieved by an understanding of law morality and story-telling.

Scott Turow "Personal; Injuries" (Farrar, Straus & Giroux) This master of the legal thriller talks about the complexity of his characters-a complexity achieved by an understanding of law morality and story-telling.

Scott Turow "Personal; Injuries" (Farrar, Straus &amp; Giroux)  This master of the legal thriller talks about the complexity of his characters-a complexity achieved by an understanding of law morality and story-telling.

Scott Turow

 Jamaica Kincaid's beautiful notes on gardening uncover the same imperialistic and racist assumptions she exposes in her fiction.

&nbsp;Jamaica Kincaid's beautiful notes on gardening uncover the same imperialistic and racist assumptions she exposes in her fiction.

Jamaica Kincaid: My Garden

The author of Fight Club gives an intense and raw description of his world view.

The author of Fight Club gives an intense and raw description of his world view.

Chuck Palahnuik: Fight Club

Motherless Brooklyn 
(Doubleday)
The western, the hard-boiled mystery, the sci-fi epic; these are the screens behind which Jonathan Lethem's oedipal dramas loom.

Motherless Brooklyn (Doubleday) The western, the hard-boiled mystery, the sci-fi epic; these are the screens behind which Jonathan Lethem's oedipal dramas loom.

Jonathan Lethem

Kurt Vonnegut "Bagombo; Snuff Box" (Putnam) Kurt Vonnegut began by writing conventional short stories. Here, he talks about the development of his wild style, his comic voice and his moral code.

Kurt Vonnegut

Chang-rae Lee says the Asian-American experience is written about "in a yellow light." Here, he turns off that light to penetrate a harsh reality.

Chang-rae Lee says the Asian-American experience is written about "in a yellow light." Here, he turns off that light to penetrate a harsh reality.

Chang-rae Lee: A Gesture LIfe

Michael Ondaatje, discussing his poetry, explores the mystery of language itself--the language of his birth, its ancient poetry and mythologies.

Michael Ondaatje, discussing his poetry, explores the mystery of language itself--the language of his birth, its ancient poetry and mythologies.

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