Selected Shorts

In this bonus feature, host Meg Wolitzer talks with actor Denis O’Hare about his craft, and his approaches to readings of the two very different stories on this program.

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Host Meg Wolitzer presents the Explain Like I'm 5 podcast, a show that takes the questions you always wanted to ask and talks about them in a way that is easy to understand. Some times we want simple answers to complex questions! We here at Selected Shorts have become big fans and hope you enjoy it too!

This story is one from our archives, by Paul La Farge. Pay attention because the author delivers lots of little hints about what is happening behind the scenes—to the protagonist, and the peripheral characters, too. But it isn't clear until the very last moments of the story exactly what kind of a story we've been listening to. La Farge is the author of novels including Luminous Airplanes and The Night Ocean. He unfortunately died in 2023 when he was still in his early 50s; and while we never had the chance to host him on the show, he had a lot of friends in the literary world. Reading the story is actor and musician Josh Radnor. Radnor is best known for the series How I Met Your Mother, but he's always busy; recent credits include Fleishman Is in Trouble and Hunters. Aparna Nancherla hosts this episode.

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Host Meg Wolitzer presents two stories by the extraordinary Japanese writer Haruki Murakami that demonstrate the breadth of his emotional imagination over a career of 35 years.  In an early story, “The Window,” a professional letter-writer recalls an intimate encounter with a woman, and a hamburger steak.  The reader is Mike Doyle.  In the later story, “Kahu,” read by Jennifer Ikeda, a woman goes on a blind date, only to be blindsided. Both stories were recorded at the Japan Society in New York City, as part of an ongoing collaboration with Selected Shorts.

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This week on SELECTED SHORTS, guest host DeRay Mckesson presents four works that consider the Black experience in America from bold perspectives.  Former Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm recalled her historic victory in her essay “Unbought and Unbossed.”  An excerpt is read by Crystal Dickinson.  James Baldwin’s powerful letter to his nephew, “My Dungeon Shook,” is read by Christopher Jackson.  Poet Sonia Sanchez recalls a life-altering encounter with Malcolm X in “Homegirls on St. Nicholas Avenue,” read by Marsha Stephanie Blake, and Percival Everett turns the tables on Southern racists in “The Appropriation of Cultures,” read by Wren T. Brown.

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This week on SELECTED SHORTS, host Meg Wolitzer presents three stories about problems without solutions.  In Elif Batuman’s “The Board,” read by Cindy Cheung, the protagonist has found the perfect apartment, but he has to satisfy a Kafka-esque co-op committee.  Jesse Eisenberg imagines an irritating sibling with problems of global proportions in ““My Little Sister Texts Me with Her Problems,” read by real-life sisters Lacey Lamar and Amber Ruffin.  And a patient is drawn to her therapist—but is this a bad thing? in Esther Freud’s “Transference,” read by Claire Danes. 

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Host Meg Wolitzer presents two stories that demonstrate the ways in which characters—like all of us—can play many different roles in one another's lives, and in the world around us. Cherline Bazile’s “Tender,” which guest editor Min Jin Lee included in Best American Short Stories 2023, reflects the contradictory nature of friendship.  It’s read by Anna Uzele.  And our second story, Grace Paley’s “The Contest,” reflects the contradictory nature of courtship, as the bewildered narrator is alternatively flattered and bullied by a girl with way more on the ball than he has.He tells us so himself, in the voice of actor Justin Bartha.

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Host Meg Wolitzer presents two stories about therapy—the benefits and perils of sharing your troubles with a stranger.  In “Therapy,” by J. Robert Lennon, the patient follows a recursive loop of doubt about the whole process. The reader is Troy Iwata.  In “Fable,” by Charles Yu, the issues that arise in therapy sessions morph into a revealing personal fairy tale.  The reader is BD Wong.  With comments by comedian Gary Gulman, who hosted the live show where these stories were presented.

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Host Meg Wolitzerpresents three stories about characters who try an end run around trouble, sometimes doing more harm than good.  In Joe Meno’s “Animal Hospital” a well-meaning father is surprised by his kids response to “let’s play doctor.”  The reader is Becky Anne Baker, and an interview with Meno is featured in the show.  In “The Silk Handkerchief,” by Sait Faik Abasiyanik, a thief and a night watchman have a moment of rapport.  It’s read by Amir Arison.  And Margaret Atwood’s recurring couple Tig and Nell try to stave off the inevitable by taking a  “First Aid” class. The reader is Maggie Siff.

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Host Meg Wolitzer presents two stories about sudden interventions that change lives.  In Stephen King’s “The Fifth Step” a beguiling stranger asks for help.  The reader is David Morse.  In “Blessed Deliverance,” by Jamel Brinkley, a neighborhood oddball may be its salvation.The reader is Teagle F. Bougere.

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