Book Fight

This week we're talking about an excerpt from Alison Bechdel's graphic memoir Fun Home. We discuss the ethical issues raised by writing about one's family, and what makes a memoir compelling. We're also talking about the VCR format wars of the late '70s and early '80s. What can we learn from the failure of Betamax?

Direct download: FailureEp2_Bechdel.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

We talk about the younger Dubus's 2011 memoir of growing up in a series of rough neighborhoods, learning to fight, and making his peace with a mostly absent father. Also: raccoon news!

Direct download: Ep69-AndreDubusIII_Townie.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

This week we're kicking off our new fall series, in which we read short stories and essays and also talk about various kinds of failure. In today's episode we're talking about J.D. Daniels' essay "Letter from Majorca," from the Paris Review. We also consider why failure is more interesting than success, and why Americans have such a difficult time with it.

Direct download: FailureEp1_Daniels.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

This 1964 novel is one of the best-known by Japanese novelist Kenzaburo Oe, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1994. The book follows Bird, a new father deciding whether to save his newborn son, whose seemingly severe birth defect might keep him from ever living a full life. 

Direct download: Ep_68_Oe_APersonalMatter.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

The summer is over, and so is our Summer of Shorts. In this final installment, we talk about Lorrie Moore's "People Like That Are The Only People Here" and--for those who've fallen in love with the shorts lifestyle--jobs for which you don't need to wear pants (or dresses/skirts). 

Direct download: ShortsEp8-Moore_Jobs.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

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