LA Review of Books

In an encore presentation, Kate and Medaya talk with award-winning screenwriter and novelist Charles Yu about his book, Interior Chinatown; an experimental, yet eminently enjoyable, novel-in-the-form-of-a-screenplay, which won the 2020 National Book Award for fiction. Charles discusses how he came to write such a formally challenging book, in which the central character's world is defined by, and limited to, the horizons available to Asian and Asian-American characters in popular film and television. Also, J Hoberman, author of Make My Day: Movie Culture in the Age of Reagan, returns to recommend Victor Serge's recently discovered Notebooks from 1936-47, in which the great communist writer lived in exile, from Paris to Mexico.

Author Karla Cornejo Villavicencio joins co-hosts Kate Wolf and Medaya Ocher to talk about The Undocumented Americans, which is both a memoir and a series of essays about immigrant laborers from across the country.  Karla shares her own experiences as an immigrant child, the trauma it has caused her; and relates how widespread, and under-acknowledged, such trauma is among immigrants. In a free-flowing conversation, Karla reflects on what motivated her to write the book in the age of Trump, her love of the immigrant communities in Queens where she grew up (as did Medaya), how literary academia continues to fetishize mental illness, and much else. Also, Alex Ross, author of Wagnerism, returns to recommend Rick Perlstein's Reaganland.

Big Freedia is a 21st Century musical trailblazer from the Dirty South, who emerged from the Bounce music scene in New Orleans and has helped popularize the genre across the country and the world.  Big Freedia joins co-hosts Eric Newman and Medaya Ocher to discuss her new memoir God Save the Queen Diva; and talk about how she, and dance club culture in general, has responded to the global pandemic. In this, the final show of 2020, Kate, Eric, and Medaya also talk about the tunes that helped them survive this most benighted of years. Also, Kiese Laymon, author of How to Kill Yourself and Others in America, returns to recommend I Don't Like the Blues by B. Brian Foster.

Kate, Medaya, and Eric look back at a year that many of us can't wait to put behind us. Against the background of the pandemic and the politics, the hosts review the books, movies, TV shows, podcasts, and quirky new hobbies that helped them get through this year in their annual best of round-up.

Eric, Kate, and Medaya talk with Kiese about the struggle to buy his work back from the original publisher in order to revise and republish them, an experience that highlights the imbalance of power in the industry and the commodification of a writer’s work. The gang also chats about how the intervening years, including the Trump presidency now coming to a close, shaped his revisions.  Also, Sarah Shun-Lien Bynum, author of Likes, returns to recommend Theory, a novel by Dionne Brand.

Medaya and Eric are joined by Alex Ross, the New Yorker's longtime music critic and author of Wagnerism: Art and Politics in the Shadows of Music. Wagner's wide reaching influence across centuries, thinkers and artists reaches far beyond the realm of music. As they explore the complexity of his impact, the conversation wrestles with the stain of anti-Semitism, in Wagner’s thought and the Nazis embrace of his work, on his legacy.  Also Tom Zoellner, author of The National Road: Dispatches From a Changing America, returns to recommend John Gunther's 1947 classic Inside USA.

This week co-hosts Kate and Medaya are joined by author Sarah Shun-Lien Bynum, whose latest book is the collection of short stories Likes. Sarah discusses the magic of childhood, the difficulties of family life in the current political climate, and ways to see the quotidian in new and unexpected ways. Also, Richard Seymour, author of The Twittering Machine, returns to recommend Benjamin Taylor's Here We Are, My Friendship with Philip Roth.

Co-hosts Kate and Eric speak with filmmaker Alexander Nanau about his stunning new documentary Collective about corruption in the Romanian Hospital system, government, and the broader society.  Alexander discusses the terrifying story at the heart of the film, the state of politics in his home country, and how he produced the film.  If a tale like Collective might have seemed from a far off land, or a bygone Eastern Bloc era; the Trumpian mismanagement of the ongoing pandemic - with shortages of PPE's and the unnecessary deaths of thousands of essential workers - delivers the film's unbearable tragedy right to our doorstep. Also, Bryan Washington, author of Memorial, returns to recommend Rachel Khong's novel Goodbye Vitamin

We’re joined by Tom Zoellner, award-winning author and the LA Review of Books Politics Editor. Tom and the co-hosts talk about the election, the tenor of the online political debate, and the future of patriotism. We also discuss Tom’s new book, The National Road: Dispatches from a Changing America, a collection of essays from Tom’s travels throughout the country. Also, former LARB intern Jenna Beales returns to recommend Starting Point 1979-1996, a collection of essays by Hayao Miyazaki, the legendary animator and co-founder of Studio Ghibli.

This week's show opens with Kate, Eric, and Medaya sharing their thoughts on the morning after Election Day. At the time, Joe Biden seemed to have a pathway to victory; but the trauma of the previous evening when, for a few hours, Trump seemed destined to repeat his improbable feat from four years earlier. The conversation revolves around a shared sense of incredulity that Trump's outrageous, nightmarish Presidency could be embraced by half the country; which leads to the observation that Bryan Washington's Memorial is a perfect book for this moment. Indeed, when Washington joins the show to discuss his new novel, Memorial, the conversation focuses upon the necessity of building bridges between people who can seem so far apart. Certainly, a poignant theme for our time.