Lit with Charles

Last week, I released the first half and this week’s release is the second part of the wonderful interview with DT Max, who wrote an excellent biography of David Foster Wallace in 2012 called “Every Love Story is a Ghost Story”. If you haven’t listened to the first part, I suggest you start with that to make sure you understand the context. 

List of books mentioned:

Favourite book that I’d never heard of: Harold Brodkey’s: “First Love and Other Sorrows”.

Favourite book of last 12 months: “The Netanyahus”, by Joshua Cohen

Disappointing book of the last 12 months: Janet Malcolm “Still Pictures: On Photography and Memory”

A book that he would take to a desert island: “Infinite Jest” by David Foster Wallace, and “Sentimental Education” by Gustave Flaubert

A book that changed his mind: “The First World War” by John Keegan

Find DT Max:

Book: ⁠https://amzn.eu/d/d3RQP5t⁠

Twitter: ⁠https://twitter.com/dtmax?lang=en⁠

Website: ⁠https://dtmaxdotcom.wordpress.com/⁠

Follow me ⁠⁠@litwithcharles⁠⁠ for more book reviews and recommendations!

One of my favourite authors of all time is the American novelist (and essayist) David Foster Wallace. That name can evoke a variety of things to different people and in this episode, I’ll try and unpack these different facets with the writer DT Max who wrote an excellent biography of David Foster Wallace in 2012 called “Every Love Story is a Ghost Story”.

DT Max’s book is amazing as it tells the story of this great artist, his evolution & inspirations, while also recalling some of the more problematic aspects of his life including accounts of domestic abuse with some of his former partners. This was such a fascinating conversation that I've decided to split it into two parts - enjoy!

Find DT Max:

Book: https://amzn.eu/d/d3RQP5t

Twitter: https://twitter.com/dtmax?lang=en

Website: https://dtmaxdotcom.wordpress.com/

Follow me ⁠@litwithcharles⁠ for more book reviews and recommendations!

Libraries are historically the greatest transmitters of knowledge and culture for any civilization. From the appearance of the very first collection of manuscripts to the building of the greatest temples of books, libraries have risen – and invariably fallen – through the ages and throughout time, they’ve played many different roles and fulfilled a variety of functions, and continue to evolve as we speak. 

What is the history of libraries, what is their role and how has that been changing? This is what my two guests today have written about. Professor Andrew Pettegree is a historian at Saint Andrews University where he specializes in the history of the book and media transformations, and Dr. Arthur der Weduwen is a Postdoctoral Fellow also at Saint Andrews University in Scotland. They co-wrote in 2021 an engaging and deeply researched book called “The Library: A Fragile History” where they investigate this institution throughout different eras and countries to reveal that libraries didn’t always look like the ones we think about today, and also that they’re a lot more fragile than we think.

Here is a quick recap of the books mentioned throughout the episode:

What is their favourite book that I’ve never heard of?

What is the best book that they’ve read in the last 12 months?

What book disappointed them in the last 12 months?

Arthur: “To Have and Have Not”, by Ernest Hemingway (1937)

What book would they take to a desert island?

Andrew: War and Peace, by Leo Tolstoy (1867)

Arthur: Scoop, by Evelyn Waugh (1938)

What book changed their mind?

Andrew: “Thurn und Taxis” by Wolfgang Behringer (1990)

Arthur: “Double Fold” by Nicholson Baker (2001)

Find Andrew:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/apettegree?lang=en

Follow me ⁠@litwithcharles⁠ for more book reviews and recommendations!

The mission of getting children to read more is – in my mind – probably one of the noblest ones out there.

That is exactly what my guest today does. Jessica Ewing is the founder & CEO of Literati, which she founded in 2016, after working at the White House and Google. Literati is based in Austin, Texas and it is a curated book subscription service which sends monthly book boxes to their members, depending on their age (from newborn to 12) & reading level. They also have Literati Book Fairs where schools can set up a curated physical library, easy to set up, for children to browse and be exposed to books. I was really excited to talk to Jessica to find out more about this business of how to get kids to read more. 

The books that Jessica mentioned were the following:

Favourite book I’ve never heard of: “The One Hundred Nights of Hero”, by Isabel Greenberg. (2016)

The book Jessica would take to a desert island: “Desert Solitaire”, by Edward Abbey (1968)

The book that changed Jessica’s mind: “Moonwalking with Einstein”, by Joshua Foer (2011)

Her literary hero: Joseph Campbell, the author of “The Power of Myth”

Find Jessica:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jessicarewing/?hl=en

Literati website: https://literati.com/

Follow me @litwithcharles for more book reviews and recommendations!

Issues of race & race relations – in real life and in literature – are a difficult subject to broach. Depending on perspective, it can evoke trauma, pain, shame, embarrassment. But is race even the right angle with which to discuss some of these burning questions? 

My guest today belongs to a new generation of thinkers on the subject and has been an active contributor in the public debate. Thomas Chatterton Williams is an American author and cultural critic and visiting professor at Bard University. He’s written extensively - and some might say provocatively - on the subject of race, in numerous articles for the magazine The Atlantic, as well as a 2019 book “Self-Portrait in Black & White” in which he relates his own relationship with the subject of race

I found this book and this interview really enlightening, and I hope you do too.

Here are the books Thomas mentioned during the interview: 

Great books about the subject of race:

Find Thomas:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chattertonwilliams/

Website: https://www.thomaschattertonwilliams.com/

Follow me @litwithcharles for more book reviews and recommendations!

Today’s episode is about quizzes, especially those that have a literary dimension to them. Today’s guest is Gary Wigglesworth who by day works as Sales and Marketing manager for British Library Publishing. But by night, once a month, he hosts London’s only monthly book quiz for literature lovers, on the first floor of the Betsy Trotwood pub, a charming Victorian establishment in Farringdon. You would not believe the lengths that Gary goes to in order to provide an extensive, detailed, and elaborate quiz that draws on literary knowledge, lateral thinking and above all, teamwork. His first book 'The Book Lover's Quiz Book' was published in 2020 - his second book will be published in October 2023.

Find Gary:

Website: https://www.gpwigglesworth.co.uk/

Twitter: @gpwigglesworth

Buy his book: https://www.hachette.co.uk/titles/gary-wigglesworth/the-book-lovers-quiz-book/9781472145291/

Follow me @litwithcharles for more book reviews and recommendations!

The book “Savor: A Chef’s Hunger for More” is the story of Fatima Ali, a young Pakistani-American chef working in the US who was featured on the TV show Top Chef and who was set to become an influential voice in the world of gastronomy when she was diagnosed with terminal bone cancer. 

My guest today is Fatima Ali’s collaborator Tarajia Morrell who is a New York-based food writer, who’s written numerous food-related pieces for publications like the WSJ Magazine and Departures who was brought in to help Fatima express her story.

The book follows her life from her childhood in Lahore, Pakistan which was the beginning of her love affair with food, to working in leading restaurants in the United States. It's a really powerful book that packs an emotional punch, because it’s about dreams and ambition, love of food & family and how all of that is ultimately so fragile in the face of illness & death. 

Buy the book: https://amzn.eu/d/gH3F7NY

Find Tarajia:

Website: https://www.tarajiamorrell.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tarajiamorrell/?hl=en

Follow me @litwithcharles for more book reviews and recommendations!

My guest today is Bill Sherman, who is the director of the Warburg Institute since 2017, following a distinguished career in academia and museums, most recently at the Victoria and Albert Museum, where he was director of Research and Collections and head of the V&A Research Institute. In today's episode, we explore how one man's true passion for books and deep sense of curiosity led to the creation of one of the world's most unique and influential libraries. In the late 1870s in Hamburg, Germany, a young boy named Aby Warburg was the heir of a wealthy and influential family of German-Jewish bankers who had built their bank over generations. But Aby Warburg didn't have a head for numbers in business, but rather for books. When he was barely a teen, he made a deal with his little brother Max that he would forfeit to him his right to manage the family bank if Max agreed to provide him with as many books as he wanted for the rest of his life. This deal and his extensive studies in art history and his research into indigenous tribes built the foundation for what would become the Warburg Library for Cultural Knowledge in Hamburg.

The library was moved from Hamburg to London in 1934 after the Nazis came to power in Germany. In London, it became the renowned Warburg Institute, which is located today in Woburn Square in London and is part of the University of London. It's a library with over 360,000 volumes, the largest collection in the world focused on the afterlife of antiquity and the transmission of culture, with a special emphasis on medieval and renaissance studies.

Visit the Warburg Insititute: https://warburg.sas.ac.uk/

Find out more about Bill Sherman: https://warburg.sas.ac.uk/people/bill-sherman

Follow me @litwithcharles for more book reviews and recommendations!

In today’s episode, we discuss the nation of Haiti, a small country in the Caribbean with a history that is equal parts heroic and tragic. It was the first country in the world to be established by a successful slave revolt, following a 12-year war of independence from France in 1804. But it has in recent years been in the news more for its political instability & economic struggles, not to mention a cataclysmic earthquake in 2010 which killed anywhere between 100,000 to 300,000 people.

My guest today is the Haitian author Dimitry Leger who wrote a novel based in the country called “God Loves Haiti” which was published in 2015 and revolves around a cast of characters on the island who are caught in the 2010 earthquake. The book examines the aftermath of this tragedy on the local population, with questions around fate & divine intervention arising from the rubble. There’s an absurdist, tragicomic but fundamentally human tale here which reflects the complex history & culture of Haiti.

In this interview, we talk about the country of Haiti, as seen through his book, what it means to be Haitian and what great literature Dimitry recommends.

Here’s a quick recap of the books that Dimitry mentioned:

Pico Ayer: The Half Known Life, by the British travel writer Pico Iyer

Soleil a Coudre by Jean d’Amerique

Edwige Danticat – Haitian American author

Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway

Find Dimitry:

Buy his book: https://amzn.eu/d/dKV3By0

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dimitryleger/?hl=en

Twitter: https://twitter.com/dimitryleger?lang=en

Follow me @litwithcharles for more book reviews and recommendations!

Sports writing is a genre that I find particularly thrilling because sports is the ultimate form of non-violent competition, and there’s always something at stake. But as many people will tell you, it’s not all about winning, it’s about taking part. My guest today has written a book which might even argue that it’s not about taking part, but that it’s all about the preparation and the extreme lengths some people go to, in order to gain an edge. 

Ed Hawkins is a sports writer who’s published numerous books including “The Lost Boys” a non-fiction exposé, for which he posed undercover to identify a human trafficking network bridging African & European football, and “Bookie Gambler Fixer Spy” which looks at the devastating effect of large betting syndicates in the sport of cricket. He’s also co-written the book “Why We Kneel, How We Rise” with the Jamaican cricket legend Michael Holding that looks at racism across various sports. 

But the book that caught my eye had a more unusual title “The Men on Magic Carpets”. It’s an examination of some fairly outlandish developments in sports training, starting in the 1960s and is inspired by hippyish philosophies around the paranormal abilities of elite athletes and how these could be enhanced and mastered. 

In this interview, we talk about the evolution of sports training, about the characters who devised some of these crazy methods and about the sports writing genre in general. 

In this interview, Ed mentioned the following books:

Jon Ronson – The Men who Stare at Goats which looks at the US Army’s attempts to channel the paranormal.

Will Storr – The Science of Story-Telling – by the British journalist 

George Orwell – Down and Out in Paris & London, 1984

Norman Mailer - The Fight -> about the Muhammad Ali – George Foreman fight

Dave Meghaessy - Out of their League

Find Ed Hawkins:

Twitter: @cricketbetting

Books: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Journalist-Ed-Hawkins/e/B00EZZY6X8/ref=aufs_dp_ftatl_dsk

Follow me @litwithcharles for more book reviews and recommendations!