The Avid Reader Show

Good afternoon everyone and welcome to another edition of The Avid Reader. Today our guest is Pitchaya (pitch eye a) Sudbanthad (soot banth odd) author of Bangkok Wakes To Rain, published this month by Riverhead. Bangkok Wakes To Rain is Pitchaya’s first novel. He has received Fellowships in fiction from the New York Foundation for the Arts and the McDowell Colony and is the fiction editor for The Conundrum Engine Literary Review. He spends time in both Bangkok and Brooklyn. _______________________________________ Bangkok Wakes To Rain is a difficult novel to explain. It has no epigraph but if it did, it would be “It is only so”. Those words describe not only the book’s thematic course but they also give us a good idea of what our hustling and bustling, our hither and yon amount to in our everyday waking lives. “It is only so”. Back to the book itself, it weaves, it dances, it describes a city in its past, present and future incarnations. While our chief narrator is Jee, from time to time the protagonist becomes a flock of birds, or an aging jazz musician who is tied to Krunthemp, the name of the city we call Bangkok. The prose is much as in The Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell, something I thought of early on and then was satisfied to read it compared to that book in many of the reviews. It’s the collapse of time, illusory or not that draws us in, awaiting the next course, the next tense, the next world.

Good afternoon everyone and welcome to another edition of The Avid Reader. Today our guest is Stephanie Land, author of Maid, published just this month by Hachette. Stephanie HAS been a maid, a single parent, a free lance writer, and no offense a part of America’s underclass. And now she has written her memoir of her struggles and her overcoming of those struggles. Stephanie’s work has appeared in the NYT, The New York Review of Books, the WP, The Guardian, Salon, The Nation and many other periodicals. Maid is her first book. Maid deals with hard work, poverty, guilt, anguish and a larger picture about America today and an underclass, if you will, that flies under the radar of most Americans. It also explores the emotional turmoil, in additional to the monetary one. This adds to the difficulty one suffers when they are the lowest rung on the system. Maid explores self reliance, shame and the ability, if one has the strength and the fortitude to raise themselves by ones own bootstraps. And this all occurs with the added burden of having to raise a child as a single Mom, which is hard enough for any Mom whatever their socio-economic stance. Stephanie tells us, through her own life stories about these questions, and in many ways the answers that can be found.

Good afternoon everyone and welcome to another edition of The Avid Reader. Today our gust is Madhuri Vijay, author of The Far Field published by Grove Atlantic on January 15th. The Far Field is a book of travel, almost in a picaresque manner, the journey of a woman who is an admixture of the good and bad qualities, we all posses but one with who we can emphasize and whose mistakes are mistakes we have all made, sometimes with unfortunate or even tragic consequences. Shalini, our protagonist is privileged and restless, much like the Buddha, who sets out on a journey from her home in cosmopolitan Bangalore to the mountains of Kashmir, a dangerous Kashmir. She is searching for Bashir Ahmed, a man from her past, who perhaps she loves and perhaps is just a connection between her and her mother, whose tragedy may be the catalyst for this journey. Throughout the book, Shalini makes lots of choices, some of them with pleasant and kind intention. In fact she always seems to mean well. But some of those choices lead to violent and tragic conclusions. Some of the people she meets are enemies and some are friends. It may very well be her naiveté which causes her to make the decisions that she does, but it may be something we as the reader have to figure out ourselves, and as I have said many times before, these are the best of books.

Good afternoon everyone and welcome to another edition of The Avid Reader. Today our gust is Madhuri Vijay, author of The Far Field published by Grove Atlantic on January 15th. The Far Field is a book of travel, almost in a picaresque manner, the journey of a woman who is an admixture of the good and bad qualities, we all posses but one with who we can emphasize and whose mistakes are mistakes we have all made, sometimes with unfortunate or even tragic consequences. Shalini, our protagonist is privileged and restless, much like the Buddha, who sets out on a journey from her home in cosmopolitan Bangalore to the mountains of Kashmir, a dangerous Kashmir. She is searching for Bashir Ahmed, a man from her past, who perhaps she loves and perhaps is just a connection between her and her mother, whose tragedy may be the catalyst for this journey. Throughout the book, Shalini makes lots of choices, some of them with pleasant and kind intention. In fact she always seems to mean well. But some of those choices lead to violent and tragic conclusions. Some of the people she meets are enemies and some are friends. It may very well be her naiveté which causes her to make the decisions that she does, but it may be something we as the reader have to figure out ourselves, and as I have said many times before, these are the best of books.

Good afternoon everyone and welcome to another edition of The Avid Reader. Today our guest is Sarah Selecky, author of Radiant Shimmering Light, her latest work, published by Bloomsbury late last year. Sarah’s previous work included This Cake Is For The Party. She has been teaching people how to write receptively since 2001 in a small workshop that developed into a writing school that now boasts an international celebration. She has since opened The Story Incentive, a creative writing and mentorship program that runs each fall. As she has often said “writing creatively demands a special kind of attention; it needs to be laced with kindness and benevolent boundaries. Sarah tries to bring inspiration, peace and creative satisfaction to writers… She even sends letters of support and instruction to her students once a month. She loves Fabriano paper and dark chocolate, which I mention only because I love both as well. So, to Radiant Shimmering Light. Lilian Quick is a 40 year old woman who lives in Toronto, barely making ends meet on a sporadic check by check basis. She is doing her best to achieve personal enlightenment, while at the same time following a recipe for self-promotion and commercial success. A tricky row to hoe. Somewhat mystically, Lillian has always seen auras around animals, and this sense is heightened as the book goes on, and she uses that talent in her profession of drawing pet portraits which include the glowing hues that surround her subjects. What’s so fascinating about this book is that it has been called a satire, but it is difficult for me to envision it as one, since what it satirizes is not that much different from what we see in our world on a day to day basis. That doesn’t take away from the fact that this book is really hilarious and as Lillian bumbles through her life, she finds herself in situations that may not be so much different from our own, and since laughter is such an ineffable quality, that laughter arises in part from what we see of us in her. So just as Lillian is about to perhaps “make it” she comes across an old friend Florence (from her childhood) who now goes by the name of Eleven and runs what might be called either a Ponzi or pyramid scheme. Eleven is beautiful, charismatic and either a self aware self promoter (or not). Some women are easy targets and that may be so because they have been denied the empowerment that they so richly deserve. Lillian’s voyage, partly with Eleven/Florence and partly and courageously on her own, make this book both a powerful and comic exploration for both Lillian and us.

Good afternoon everyone and welcome to another edition of The Avid Reader. Today our guest is Sarah Selecky, author of Radiant Shimmering Light, her latest work, published by Bloomsbury late last year. Sarah’s previous work included This Cake Is For The Party. She has been teaching people how to write receptively since 2001 in a small workshop that developed into a writing school that now boasts an international celebration. She has since opened The Story Incentive, a creative writing and mentorship program that runs each fall. As she has often said “writing creatively demands a special kind of attention; it needs to be laced with kindness and benevolent boundaries. Sarah tries to bring inspiration, peace and creative satisfaction to writers… She even sends letters of support and instruction to her students once a month. She loves Fabriano paper and dark chocolate, which I mention only because I love both as well. So, to Radiant Shimmering Light. Lilian Quick is a 40 year old woman who lives in Toronto, barely making ends meet on a sporadic check by check basis. She is doing her best to achieve personal enlightenment, while at the same time following a recipe for self-promotion and commercial success. A tricky row to hoe. Somewhat mystically, Lillian has always seen auras around animals, and this sense is heightened as the book goes on, and she uses that talent in her profession of drawing pet portraits which include the glowing hues that surround her subjects. What’s so fascinating about this book is that it has been called a satire, but it is difficult for me to envision it as one, since what it satirizes is not that much different from what we see in our world on a day to day basis. That doesn’t take away from the fact that this book is really hilarious and as Lillian bumbles through her life, she finds herself in situations that may not be so much different from our own, and since laughter is such an ineffable quality, that laughter arises in part from what we see of us in her. So just as Lillian is about to perhaps “make it” she comes across an old friend Florence (from her childhood) who now goes by the name of Eleven and runs what might be called either a Ponzi or pyramid scheme. Eleven is beautiful, charismatic and either a self aware self promoter (or not). Some women are easy targets and that may be so because they have been denied the empowerment that they so richly deserve. Lillian’s voyage, partly with Eleven/Florence and partly and courageously on her own, make this book both a powerful and comic exploration for both Lillian and us.

Good afternoon everyone and welcome to another edition of The Avid Reader. Today our guest is Karen Thompson Walker. She is the author of The Age of Miracles, which we had a discussion about a couple of years ago. (at my age everything is a couple of years ago). Her new nook is The Dreamers, and the title describes perfectly what goes on in the book, which was just published last week by Random house. An epidemic, which starts very slowly, but accelerates at an alarming rate, begins with a girl who falls asleep. Even breathing, rosy cheeks, seemingly healthy. The problem and the crux of this book which has a very dreamy (no pun) quality is one which I would not qualify as SF though some have. This problem is that the girl doesn’t wake up and soon, other girls in the same dormitory at the same college also begin to fall into this Sleeping Beauty state. Soon the problem becomes widespread and there is no explanation. Because of this increasingly emotionally charged situation, all hell breaks lose. Fear, suspicion, paranoia erupt, much as you might expect. The Dreamers dream, and their dreams are heightened to a state that is way beyond what we perceive to be a normal sleeping “consciousness” if you will... What happens as the book progresses is enlightening, confusing and as is her wont, Karen leaves us in a state of Wonder, not unlike that in her first book. I like books that do that.

Good afternoon everyone and welcome to another edition of The Avid Reader. Today our guest is Karen Thompson Walker. She is the author of The Age of Miracles, which we had a discussion about a couple of years ago. (at my age everything is a couple of years ago). Her new nook is The Dreamers, and the title describes perfectly what goes on in the book, which was just published last week by Random house. An epidemic, which starts very slowly, but accelerates at an alarming rate, begins with a girl who falls asleep. Even breathing, rosy cheeks, seemingly healthy. The problem and the crux of this book which has a very dreamy (no pun) quality is one which I would not qualify as SF though some have. This problem is that the girl doesn’t wake up and soon, other girls in the same dormitory at the same college also begin to fall into this Sleeping Beauty state. Soon the problem becomes widespread and there is no explanation. Because of this increasingly emotionally charged situation, all hell breaks lose. Fear, suspicion, paranoia erupt, much as you might expect. The Dreamers dream, and their dreams are heightened to a state that is way beyond what we perceive to be a normal sleeping “consciousness” if you will... What happens as the book progresses is enlightening, confusing and as is her wont, Karen leaves us in a state of Wonder, not unlike that in her first book. I like books that do that.

Good afternoon everyone and welcome to another edition of The Avid Reader. Today our guests are Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen authors of An Anonymous Girl, published January 8th by St. Martin’s Press. Greer Hendricks ,before she wrote novels, was an editor at Simon and Schuster. and her writing has appeared in the NYT, Allure and Publishers Weekly. Sarah Pekkanen has worked for Gannett covering Capital Hill, has written for The Baltimore Sun and has written several novels. The first collaboration between these two was The Wife Between Us an international bestseller, soon to be a major motion picture by Amblin Entertainment. And An Anonymous Girl has already been optioned as well, this time for a TV series I believe. All in all two very busy women and a great novelistic couple. An Anonymous Girl tells the story of Jessica Farris, a makeup artist who gets herself into big trouble by lying her way into a supposed academic study conducted by Dr. Lydia Shields a complicated villain with a past that leads her to acts that are complicated scenarios with more than a twist of deceit and perversion (if you will). Jessica is a big girl though and the crux of the book is her efforts, notwithstanding Dr. Shield’s and her husbands machinations, to save herself, her family and her integrity (if possible). With that welcome to both of you and thanks so much for joining us today.

Good afternoon everyone and welcome to another edition of The Avid Reader. Today our guest is Ryder Carroll, author of The Bullet Journal Method:Track The Past, Order The Present, Design The Future, published in October by Portfolio. Ryder is a digital product designer and author, who focuses on helping others in learning what the bullet journal (what we will be talking about today) is truly about. If you have lived in a cave for the past couple of years, let me tell you what bullet journaling is about. It is about making you more productive, it is about ordering your life, achieving your goals, and it has created an analogue system for the digital age. It also involves something called Washi tape, which we will discuss. In short, instead of spending a good part of your day looking at a screen of varying size, you are able with pen and paper, or colored pencils and journals, or pastels, tape and beautiful artwork, to design and order your life, past present and future.

Good afternoon everyone and welcome to another edition of The Avid Reader. Today our guest is Ryder Carroll, author of The Bullet Journal Method:Track The Past, Order The Present, Design The Future, published in October by Portfolio. Ryder is a digital product designer and author, who focuses on helping others in learning what the bullet journal (what we will be talking about today) is truly about. If you have lived in a cave for the past couple of years, let me tell you what bullet journaling is about. It is about making you more productive, it is about ordering your life, achieving your goals, and it has created an analogue system for the digital age. It also involves something called Washi tape, which we will discuss. In short, instead of spending a good part of your day looking at a screen of varying size, you are able with pen and paper, or colored pencils and journals, or pastels, tape and beautiful artwork, to design and order your life, past present and future.

Good afternoon everyone and welcome to another edition of The Avid Reader. Today our guest is Adam Nemett, author of We Can Save Us All, his first novel, published just last month by The Unnamed Press. Adam is a graduate of Princeton, the setting of this book and received his MFA from California College of the Arts. An excerpt of this book appeared in The Apocalypse Reader, a great book by the way. We Can Save Us All is a kind of dystopian novel, one that combines a coming disaster, or a series of them, and a band of almost former Princeton students, self-named as superheroes, who live in a compound named the Egg. They attempt to ameliorate a coming disaster in which the world loses time in an increasingly rapid manner. This process is called chrono strict tesis There are all kinds of coming climate change disasters as well. So those in the egg, masterminded by Mathias, come up with a scheme the might stop or stop illusorily this wind down of time. Our narrator is David. A kind of nebbish who still becomes a hero. He also longs for a romance with Haley Roth, the love of his life. She is also a heroine in this book. In summary, this is a book that in a humorous, but instructing manner tries to show us the nature of men and women, especially young ones as they deal with the possible end of the world as we know it and remain calm and collected until the end.

Good afternoon everyone and welcome to another edition of The Avid Reader. Today our guest is Adam Nemett, author of We Can Save Us All, his first novel, published just last month by The Unnamed Press. Adam is a graduate of Princeton, the setting of this book and received his MFA from California College of the Arts. An excerpt of this book appeared in The Apocalypse Reader, a great book by the way. We Can Save Us All is a kind of dystopian novel, one that combines a coming disaster, or a series of them, and a band of almost former Princeton students, self-named as superheroes, who live in a compound named the Egg. They attempt to ameliorate a coming disaster in which the world loses time in an increasingly rapid manner. This process is called chrono strict tesis There are all kinds of coming climate change disasters as well. So those in the egg, masterminded by Mathias, come up with a scheme the might stop or stop illusorily this wind down of time. Our narrator is David. A kind of nebbish who still becomes a hero. He also longs for a romance with Haley Roth, the love of his life. She is also a heroine in this book. In summary, this is a book that in a humorous, but instructing manner tries to show us the nature of men and women, especially young ones as they deal with the possible end of the world as we know it and remain calm and collected until the end.

Good afternoon everyone and welcome to another edition of The Avid Reader. Today our guest is Laura Adamczyk, author of Hardly Children a collection of short stories, and her first book, published by FSG Originals in November. Laura was born, raised and lives in Illinois. Her writing has appeared in The Chicago Reader, Ninth Letter, Washington Square Review and many other periodicals and collections. She earned her MFA in friction from the University of Illinois. Hardly Children is an eerie and frankly scary collection of stories that loosely but thematically, both with children and without, weave a skein of thrill, loss, dread, Kafkaesque ,seemingly meaningless, until you think about it afterword, stories of life bereft of hope, confusing but somehow transcendent. You come away from this book, learning something about yourself, whether you like it or not and finding out that you haven’t been given the key to the story, but rather an unanswered question or a void where you expect a period or an exclamation mark. In all, I have never read anything like it and was upset when I read the last page. I even dreamed the book. Sometimes when I fell asleep with the book on my chest. But I do that a lot since I’m old. Anyway, with that, welcome Laura and thanks so much for joining us today.

Good afternoon everyone and welcome to another edition of The Avid Reader. Today our guest is Laura Adamczyk, author of Hardly Children a collection of short stories, and her first book, published by FSG Originals in November. Laura was born, raised and lives in Illinois. Her writing has appeared in The Chicago Reader, Ninth Letter, Washington Square Review and many other periodicals and collections. She earned her MFA in friction from the University of Illinois. Hardly Children is an eerie and frankly scary collection of stories that loosely but thematically, both with children and without, weave a skein of thrill, loss, dread, Kafkaesque ,seemingly meaningless, until you think about it afterword, stories of life bereft of hope, confusing but somehow transcendent. You come away from this book, learning something about yourself, whether you like it or not and finding out that you haven’t been given the key to the story, but rather an unanswered question or a void where you expect a period or an exclamation mark. In all, I have never read anything like it and was upset when I read the last page. I even dreamed the book. Sometimes when I fell asleep with the book on my chest. But I do that a lot since I’m old. Anyway, with that, welcome Laura and thanks so much for joining us today.