Good afternoon everyone and welcome to another edition of the Avid Reader.

Today we are happy to have with us Deborah Harkness. Deborah a former Philadelphia native, graduate from Mount Holyoke, Northwestern and UC, Davis with her doctorate. She is renowned for her work as an historian of science and medicine. She has obviously studied alchemy, magic and the occult.

She’s published two works of non-fiction, but it is the All Souls Trilogy that probably brings you to this show, and perhaps, if I can convince her, a visit to our bookstore.

A Discovery of Witches, Shadow of Night and The Book of life make up the trilogy and now she has embarked on another journey, primarily that of Marcus in her new book, Time’s Convert.

Oh and by the way, the trilogy will soon be a mini series that is scheduled for release, unless the date has been pushed back, this month.

Time’s Convert seems to be the first book (we’ll ask) of a second trilogy one which explores characters that may have seem to have been peripheral to All Souls, but now take center stage and develop into protagonists with stories trait and agendas we haven’t seen before (at least in sharp detail).

We learn a great deal more about time, maturity and love, along with a precis of about child rearing.

With that in mind, if you care to take note aof anything I say, I tend to remable,

Welcome Deborah and thanks so much for joining us today.

I like to start with covers and epigraphs and here are two perfect ways to begin. The cover is amazing. (book by its cover). The cover conveys love, time, place and a kind of longing and an arc of antiquity, much like your own studies.

And then the epigraph by Thomas Paine. His name and character are mentioned 82 times in this book. And the epigraph standing alone describes our times to a T. Was that meant to be?

What is it about Common Sense, as a woman of common sense and an historaian that brings this man to a book about Vampires, Daemons and witches?

ON to the book, cause that’s what we’re here for,

I know that you started this book about Matthew. What made you pivot.

What about the Father and Son dynamic.

ANd the course, to me the most fascinating aspect of the book is time. What are your feelings about time. Is it a construct of man so as to avoid all things happening at once, or is it this skein (as your portray) that weaves us into space AND time?

Is memory akin to time in any way?

The medieval and the modern

My bookstores logo and mascot is the Griffin. You can see it on our website.w

What do they do for a living?

Talk a little bit about your discoveries with regard to “raising the virtuous child”.

Shakespearan order from chaos. How do we, in these times, given the epigraph create order of what seems like chaos.

You know I have interviewed a lot of authors and when I ask them about our current situation they all agree, almost to a T. I have concluded that is because authors are bright.

Talk about how you equated, to some degree, the recent royal wedding and the motifs of the book.

TV show. Humbling.

Are the stories in your head ready to put down on paper. You know what’s going on with these people don’t you?

The epigraph “…but life is a trick, life is a kitten in a sack.” —-Anne Sexton

Before that she says, “that she tried to reach into her page and breathe it back”.

Why can’t one do that? Was Mae trying to accomplish that? Was she successful?

Why/how do you put a kitten in a sack in the first place?

Why doesn’t Dennis get to tell his story?

And are we dealing with reliable narrators.

You know some things happened a long time ago. It’s a bit like Barnes’ Sense of An Ending.

Is what we remember what really happened?

And with Mae is what she did to herself necessary, mandatory to release her from the bind (a true bind) that she finds herself in?

Are the sisters really that much different?

Is Dennis a bad man? Is Marianne a bad woman?

Tell us what your Grandmother said about the title and what your thoughts were. I mean it’s not a quote, it's something you came up with. So as these girls delve down deeper and deeper into what the relationships with father and mother have done to them, what is the water, what is the fish and why do they get uglier?

I asked why deep sea fish are ugly: The deep sea is cold and dark. The pressure is immense, and meals are hard to come by. (You have to adapt)


May as well talk about the cover. The Ladies Home Journal 1889.

Some reviews look at the book as a mix between fantasy and realism.

Like Truman Capote’s, Answered Prayers or Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises.

I mean through the side stories by friends it is clear that he massaged their life stories to make his books more interesting.

Marianne’s father’s letter to Dennis is the most telling document in the book in many ways.

And what was it that Dennis saw in Marianne as (barely a teenager) they began their correspondence and relationship.

Were they in love with one another?

Are you going to write a screenplay for the book because it seems very cinematic.

Who do you identify most closely with.

The two sisters seem to love one another and long for each other’s touch but they disappoint each other over and over.

The epigraph “…but life is a trick, life is a kitten in a sack.” —-Anne Sexton

Before that she says, “that she tried to reach into her page and breathe it back”.

Why can’t one do that? Was Mae trying to accomplish that? Was she successful?

Why/how do you put a kitten in a sack in the first place?

Why doesn’t Dennis get to tell his story?

And are we dealing with reliable narrators.

You know some things happened a long time ago. It’s a bit like Barnes’ Sense of An Ending.

Is what we remember what really happened?

And with Mae is what she did to herself necessary, mandatory to release her from the bind (a true bind) that she finds herself in?

Are the sisters really that much different?

Is Dennis a bad man? Is Marianne a bad woman?

Tell us what your Grandmother said about the title and what your thoughts were. I mean it’s not a quote, it's something you came up with. So as these girls delve down deeper and deeper into what the relationships with father and mother have done to them, what is the water, what is the fish and why do they get uglier?

I asked why deep sea fish are ugly: The deep sea is cold and dark. The pressure is immense, and meals are hard to come by. (You have to adapt)


May as well talk about the cover. The Ladies Home Journal 1889.

Some reviews look at the book as a mix between fantasy and realism.

Like Truman Capote’s, Answered Prayers or Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises.

I mean through the side stories by friends it is clear that he massaged their life stories to make his books more interesting.

Marianne’s father’s letter to Dennis is the most telling document in the book in many ways.

And what was it that Dennis saw in Marianne as (barely a teenager) they began their correspondence and relationship.

Were they in love with one another?

Are you going to write a screenplay for the book because it seems very cinematic.

Who do you identify most closely with.

The two sisters seem to love one another and long for each other’s touch but they disappoint each other over and over.

Good afternoon everyone and welcome to another edition of The Avid Reader. Our guest today is Reyna Grande, author of A Dream Called Home published by Atria, an imprint of Simon and Schuster, just this month.

Reyna is an award winning novelist and memoirist. She has received an American Book Award and the Latino Book Award.

Her novels, Across a Hundred Mountains and Dancing With Butterflies, not only have been published to critical acclaim but more importantly are read in schools across the country. The Distance Between Us, her first memoir deals with Reyna’s arduous journey to the states and the pursuit of a better life.

A Dream Called Home, continues Reyna’s journey through college, family, trips to what was home, having a child, marrying and becoming the author that she now is and in writing this story gives a voice to those that would follow in her footsteps.

Good afternoon everyone and welcome to another edition of The Avid Reader. Our guest today is Miriam Pawel author of The Browns of California: The Family Dynasty that Transformed a State and Shaped a Nation, published by Bloomsbury this month.

Miriam is the author of the award winning The Crusades of Cesar Chavez.

Here, she has tackled the Brown family father and son, studying them from their roots in California and their effect over generations on the state, the sixth largest economy in the world and most populous state in the country. Governing it is more like being a President.

However, here on the East coast, just as with Cesar Chavez, we know who Jerry is and can tell you a few facts about him, and perhaps, for those of us old enough, we remember Pat Brown, but that is about it.

Now with this book we learn the nature and extent of their involvement with the state and its transition and evolution to the most progressive and fair-minded state in the country.

Good afternoon everyone and welcome to another edition of The Avid Reader. Our guest today is Miriam Pawel author of The Browns of California: The Family Dynasty that Transformed a State and Shaped a Nation, published by Bloomsbury this month.

Miriam is the author of the award winning The Crusades of Cesar Chavez.

Here, she has tackled the Brown family father and son, studying them from their roots in California and their effect over generations on the state, the sixth largest economy in the world and most populous state in the country. Governing it is more like being a President.

However, here on the East coast, just as with Cesar Chavez, we know who Jerry is and can tell you a few facts about him, and perhaps, for those of us old enough, we remember Pat Brown, but that is about it.

Now with this book we learn the nature and extent of their involvement with the state and its transition and evolution to the most progressive and fair-minded state in the country.

Good afternoon everyone and welcome to another edition of The Avid Reader. Our guest today is Reyna Grande, author of A Dream Called Home published by Atria, an imprint of Simon and Schuster, just this month.

Reyna is an award winning novelist and memoirist. She has received an American Book Award and the Latino Book Award.

Her novels, Across a Hundred Mountains and Dancing With Butterflies, not only have been published to critical acclaim but more importantly are read in schools across the country. The Distance Between Us, her first memoir deals with Reyna’s arduous journey to the states and the pursuit of a better life.

A Dream Called Home, continues Reyna’s journey through college, family, trips to what was home, having a child, marrying and becoming the author that she now is and in writing this story gives a voice to those that would follow in her footsteps.

So did I get the “titles” right?

So this may take awhile. I’ll start at the beginning. I love the cover. Did you get to vet some, did you pick it or did you have any say in it.

Moving on to the epigraphs. Peter Sloterdijk. I love the sentiment, but he was a very controversial figure, in his time, especially with regard to his view on Eugenics.

And then the next which is more obscure in meaning. (Bernard Tschumi) How do concrete (no pun) structures tame our fears? He is controversial as well, especially his New Acropolis. Plus he used sexual intercourse as a characterizing analogy for architecture.

Ok. Enough with epigraphs.

You know, off the point, but after reading your interview with Kathleen Berry, I read Fateless, by Imre Kertész. And he feels that Schindler’s list is Kitsch which reminds me of Sloterdijk.

And his protagonist reminds me of Mr. Field.

And what is this idea that people are pleased with their own compassion especially when it is noted by its recipient?

So back to Mr. Field. It seems as if existentialism has been thrown out the window in modern literature. Have you bought it back?

I mean as in Sartre’s Nausea, where just the proximity of a tree and its roots cause physical pain to the protagonist, Mr. Field seems overwhelmed by the material world around him.

Sometimes he is scared.

Sometimes indolent.

Sometimes he goes out into the world and wanders, not knowing where he is or what he is doing.

How did you approach his obsessions both with Ms. Kallenbach and his little dog?

And when he crouches beneath the window listening to her conversations with her putative husband, what is he really thinking?

What about Mim?

Her notebook which is a litany of cliches about the sea.

A question you have been asked often-where did she go? Did he love her?

Do you think that there are a lot of people, mostly hidden from us, I imagine, that are like Mr. Field?

Chapters- the seasons.

And the sub-headings. Which telegraph in a clearly poetic fashion what happens within.

Peanut butter, peanut butter, peanut butter. Being John Malkovitch.

What is it about Chopin and also in his playing? George Sand, imagining her carriage turned over. “And his chest sank down with sympathy with his situation”.
I remember watching a 60 Minutes interview with Vladimir Horowitz by Mike Wallace and he talked about how he still remembered from his childhood the metronome ticking and still felt it as he played “now”.

I remember how Touw was describing a light well and Touw said it was not a hole but a light well. And it reminded me of how much Field wanted to be filled to have the void in the center of his being. Which reminded me of the protagonist in Fateless once again who also felt, eventually that he was just a hole that needed to be filled. Don’t we all have that feeling at times? I know I do. Or is it psychologically, something that is engrained in us by nature or nurture at the very beginning.

The painting above the two fat women. The fact that they are standing on sirloin steaks, third face “wonky and dislocated” What is going on in his head?

The waiter when he talks about his tender the squid is and Mr. Field describes the boats sailing in and out reminded me a little (I don’t know why) of The Old Man And The Sea. And is the waiter really talking to him like that.

Isn’t Mr. Field the most unreliable of narrators.

Another book it remind me of was Remembrance Of Things Past. So many little things, like the madeleines.

All the atoms in his body heated up but he is excited but not excited. He feels but doesn’t feel.

Authors love agapanthus.

Hannah gives the book its title—why? And it is in the solicitous sense.

“The sky was so welled up with color-orange, yellow, blue, green-that it made me want to vomit.”
How does all this compare to writing poetry.

Perhaps to head all of this, How is Mr. Field going to end up? Is he going to be OK?

Thanks so much. Talk a little bit about the bookshop.

So did I get the “titles” right?

So this may take awhile. I’ll start at the beginning. I love the cover. Did you get to vet some, did you pick it or did you have any say in it.

Moving on to the epigraphs. Peter Sloterdijk. I love the sentiment, but he was a very controversial figure, in his time, especially with regard to his view on Eugenics.

And then the next which is more obscure in meaning. (Bernard Tschumi) How do concrete (no pun) structures tame our fears? He is controversial as well, especially his New Acropolis. Plus he used sexual intercourse as a characterizing analogy for architecture.

Ok. Enough with epigraphs.

You know, off the point, but after reading your interview with Kathleen Berry, I read Fateless, by Imre Kertész. And he feels that Schindler’s list is Kitsch which reminds me of Sloterdijk.

And his protagonist reminds me of Mr. Field.

And what is this idea that people are pleased with their own compassion especially when it is noted by its recipient?

So back to Mr. Field. It seems as if existentialism has been thrown out the window in modern literature. Have you bought it back?

I mean as in Sartre’s Nausea, where just the proximity of a tree and its roots cause physical pain to the protagonist, Mr. Field seems overwhelmed by the material world around him.

Sometimes he is scared.

Sometimes indolent.

Sometimes he goes out into the world and wanders, not knowing where he is or what he is doing.

How did you approach his obsessions both with Ms. Kallenbach and his little dog?

And when he crouches beneath the window listening to her conversations with her putative husband, what is he really thinking?

What about Mim?

Her notebook which is a litany of cliches about the sea.

A question you have been asked often-where did she go? Did he love her?

Do you think that there are a lot of people, mostly hidden from us, I imagine, that are like Mr. Field?

Chapters- the seasons.

And the sub-headings. Which telegraph in a clearly poetic fashion what happens within.

Peanut butter, peanut butter, peanut butter. Being John Malkovitch.

What is it about Chopin and also in his playing? George Sand, imagining her carriage turned over. “And his chest sank down with sympathy with his situation”.
I remember watching a 60 Minutes interview with Vladimir Horowitz by Mike Wallace and he talked about how he still remembered from his childhood the metronome ticking and still felt it as he played “now”.

I remember how Touw was describing a light well and Touw said it was not a hole but a light well. And it reminded me of how much Field wanted to be filled to have the void in the center of his being. Which reminded me of the protagonist in Fateless once again who also felt, eventually that he was just a hole that needed to be filled. Don’t we all have that feeling at times? I know I do. Or is it psychologically, something that is engrained in us by nature or nurture at the very beginning.

The painting above the two fat women. The fact that they are standing on sirloin steaks, third face “wonky and dislocated” What is going on in his head?

The waiter when he talks about his tender the squid is and Mr. Field describes the boats sailing in and out reminded me a little (I don’t know why) of The Old Man And The Sea. And is the waiter really talking to him like that.

Isn’t Mr. Field the most unreliable of narrators.

Another book it remind me of was Remembrance Of Things Past. So many little things, like the madeleines.

All the atoms in his body heated up but he is excited but not excited. He feels but doesn’t feel.

Authors love agapanthus.

Hannah gives the book its title—why? And it is in the solicitous sense.

“The sky was so welled up with color-orange, yellow, blue, green-that it made me want to vomit.”
How does all this compare to writing poetry.

Perhaps to head all of this, How is Mr. Field going to end up? Is he going to be OK?

Thanks so much. Talk a little bit about the bookshop.

Good afternoon everyone and welcome to another edition of The Avid Reader. Today our guest is Ben Marcus, author of Notes From The Fog, his collection of short stories published August 27th by Knopf.

When last we heard from Ben we were talking about his novel The Flame Alphabet, a book that in some ways, in my opinion, shares many of the characteristics as do some of these stories.

As you may recall, Ben is the author of several books. As I mentioned The Flame Alphabet, The Age of Wire and String, Leaving The Sea and Notable American Women. His writing has appeared in Harpers, The New Yorker, the NYT and many other prestigious publications. He is the editor of New American Stories. He’a won three Pushcart Prizes. He’s a Guggenheim Fellow and has been a member of the Faculty of Columbia since 2000. Ok, that’s enough I guess.
Notes from the Fog is a collection of stories about lots of people, all interesting and most of them sad or lost.

A little boy who isn’t what he is supposed to be. And parents who are sad and angry that he turns into a child that they never expected .

A man whose life is completely and utterly ruined by a corporate experiment grow horribly wrong. A lot of money involved. In fact a lot of money involved in many of the stories.

A husband and wife architectural team whose marriage is not what it should be and whose designs reflect that to a certain extent. And also from where the title of this collection arises.

A mother who then becomes the mother of her sister’s orphaned boys and in the meantime establishes an unusual relationship with those boys’ parents, revolving around a series of 200 dollar payments.

A pill that will make you happy or not, but that just won’t stay down.

And many others with equally troubling, sometimes distressing premises that lead to a feeling that you’ve just read something that might change your life or then again might not.