LA Review of Books

The Real WORD Podcast is produced by Reading Opens Minds. I’m Lauren, and in this episode, we’re talking about the book: Pleasantville by Attica Locke. Kirkus Reviews says of Pleasantville: “Race, politics and petty grievances muddy the quest for justice when a young election volunteer is kidnapped and murdered...A thriller wrapped in an involving story of community and family dynamics. Locke serves up a panorama of nuanced characters and writes with intelligence and depth.” We chose this book because it is set in an election year in the 90’s both for local and national seats and Attica is a local author and a writer/producer for the hit TV drama Empire. She was kind enough to come and sit with me at the sound studio at Emerson College in LA for a chat...

Melissa Febos joins Medaya and Kate to discuss Abandon Me, her new beautifully lyrical eight-chapter essay. In one of the most intimate dialogues to date on the LARB Radio Hour, Melissa talks not only about the life changing love affair, and her search for her birth father, that are the core of the book's narrative; but also draws us into how the world looks through the eyes of one of America's leading literary stylists. Also on this week's podcast, Naima Keith of the California African American Museum returns to recommend Issa Rae's The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl.

Host Janice Rhoshalle Littlejohn talks with Naima Keith, the award-winning deputy director of the California African American Museum in Los Angeles about art, history, politics, and how they intersect. Naima also talks in detail about the new Spring Season at CAAM, which features five shows including exhibits of the work of New York based artist Derrick Adams, Los Angeles' own Kenyatta A C Hinkle, and a look back at the 1992 LA Uprising. Also, podcast superstar Karina Longworth returns to recommend Marcy Dermansky's novel The Red Car.

In this episode, we’ll be discussing Everything I Never Told You, by Celeste Ng. Ng’s debut novel was published in 2014, and it follows the lives of a Chinese-American family after their teenage daughter, Lydia, goes missing. The book touches on issues of immigration, assimilation, marriage and love. Our young readers talk about Ng’s novel as well as fear, isolation and the pressures young people face, including the expectation parents have for their children, who should do better and be better than they were. The Real WORD Podcast, is produced by Reading Opens Minds and edited by Saul Black. Special thanks for this episode goes to Stacy Reader, Lesley Peters and Mercedes Vasquez for facilitating the book club and to Ernesto Orellano for recording this meeting. Next week we’ll be talking about Pleasantville by Attica Locke. Until then, happy reading!

Yale Law Professor and constitutional scholar Akhil Reed Amar joins LARB Legal Editor Dan Franzen for a discussion of his book, The Constitution Today; and how the new Trump Administration may represent a threat to the US constitutional system. From possible impeachment proceedings to travel bans already knocked down by District Courts to Administration challenges to the Free Press, it's clear the Trump Administration requires newfound vigilance for defenders of the Constitution. Also, Akhil explains one of his best known policy proposals: The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (already adopted by ten states) that could transform American Presidential Elections so that the winner of the national popular vote becomes President.

Award-winning novelist Valeria Luiselli joins Kate and Medaya to talk about her new book, Tell Me How it Ends: An Essay in Forty Questions, about the flood of children refugees coming to the United States on a harrowing journey through Mexico from Central America. Luiselli reminds us that Trump may exacerbate the problem, but its been a tragic reality for years. Also, Sarah Manguso returns to recommend Amy Fusselman's underappreciated "8: All True: Unbelievable."

In this episode we’re talking about the book: The Tattooed Soldier by Hector Tobar. The Tattooed Soldier was first published in 1998 by Delphinium Books and was hailed by LA Weekly in 2014 as “The Best LA Novel Ever”. The story of The Tattooed Soldier begins with Antonio, a refugee from Guatemala's dictatorship during the 1990’s who stumbles upon his wife's killer in MacArthur Park, recognizing the soldier by his unforgettable tattoo. He plots his act of personal justice as Los Angeles explodes into what we now know as the LA Riots. I had the great pleasure of speaking a bit with the author Hector Tobar, about his early days of journalism and covering the LA Riots. I also ask him about nurturing more budding Latino writers. We ask our group if they connected to the book more deeply because it’s set here in LA, and we talk about empathy for the two main characters in the book who, by the end of the book, both have committed murder. The Real WORD Podcast produced by Reading Opens Minds and edited by Saul Black. Special thanks for this episode goes to Stacy Reader and Mercedes Vasquez for facilitating the book club. Next episode we’ll be talking about the book, Everything I Never Told You, by Celeste Ng Until then, Happy Reading!

Essayist Sarah Manguso joins Kate and Medaya to read from and talk about her new book 300 Arguments, which is a searing set of aphorisms (though Sarah shies away from that word) that prove the power of concision. Also, Vanessa Davis, author of Spaniel Rage, returns to recommend Lynda Barry's One Hundred Demons.

This week's podcast is the audio from the Film Now panel held in late 2016 & moderated by LARB's Anna Shechtman. The panelists were LA Times film critic Justin Chang, USC Professor and film scholar J D Connor, Cathy Schulman, the head of the organization Women In Film, and Gil Robertson, President of the African American Film Critics Association - and the event featured a wide-ranging consideration of the state of Cinema in the middle of the second decade of the 21st century, with particular focus on questions of diversity and distribution as well as the best films of 2016.

Real WORD Podcast – Episode 4: The Ocean at the End of the Lane In this episode, we’re talking about the book: The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman The Ocean at the End of the Lane was published in 2013 by HarperCollins. Gaiman himself has said he wasn’t sure as he was writing it whether it would be an adult novel - his first in a while - or a novel for young adult readers. Reviewers have come down on both sides with The Guardian reviewer noting that, “When I thought about it, I realised that I am an adult reading self, and also a child reader, and that it was my childhood self who settled into this story.” When I began to read the book, it reminded me of the film, Pan’s Labyrinth by Mexican filmmaker, Guillermo del Toro, where the real world of a child is intermingled with a magical one in order to make some sense of the darkness around them. First, we talk about the absence of the narrator’s name, then we look at the quote the author chose to put on the first page of the book and what it seems to mean. (If you’re a parent you may want to pay special attention to this section!) We talk about how in the book memory becomes fabric and what would make a sacrifice worthwhile. The Real WORD Podcast is produced by Reading Opens Minds and edited by Saul Black. For more information about Reading Opens Minds goto: readingopensminds.org - there you can subscribe to our newsletter and see what else we’re up to! Special thanks for this episode goes to Stacy Reader and Mercedes Vasquez for co-facilitating the book club. Next episode we’ll be talking about the book, The Tattooed Soldier by Hector Tobar. Until then, Happy Reading!