Burned By Books

An interview with Edan Lepucki, author of California (2014), Woman No. 17 (2017). Edan and I talk about being on the bleeding edge of the violent girl novel, being promoted by Stephen Colbert, the great California novel, and returning to one’s own “failed” novels.Books Recommended in this episode:Carolyn See, Golden Days Chris Holmes is Chair of Literatures in English and Associate Professor at Ithaca College. He writes criticism on contemporary global literatures. His book, Kazuo Ishiguro as World Literature, is under contract with Bloomsbury Publishing. He is the co-director of The New Voices Festival, a celebration of work in poetry, prose, and playwriting by up-and-coming young writers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An interview with Kevin Wilson, author of Nothing to See Here (2020). Kevin shares his recommendations for summer reading, including his votes for the best ever short novels, the line that he repeats every day, and the book that made him less afraid of what comes after death.Books Recommended in this episode: Yiyun Li, Must I Go Marcy Dermansky, Bad Marie Katie Kitamura, The Long Shot Shirley Jackson, We Have Always Lived in the Castle Chris Holmes is Chair of Literatures in English and Associate Professor at Ithaca College. He writes criticism on contemporary global literatures. His book, Kazuo Ishiguro as World Literature, is under contract with Bloomsbury Publishing. He is the co-director of The New Voices Festival, a celebration of work in poetry, prose, and playwriting by up-and-coming young writers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Interviews with Bob Proehl, author of A Hundred Thousand Worlds and The Nobody People, and Miller Susen, author, director, and Educational Director at LiveArts, Charlottesville VA.Books Recommended in this episode: Katharine Heiny, Standard Deviation Octavia Butler, The Parable of the Sower Chris Holmes is Chair of Literatures in English and Associate Professor at Ithaca College. He writes criticism on contemporary global literatures. His book, Kazuo Ishiguro as World Literature, is under contract with Bloomsbury Publishing. He is the co-director of The New Voices Festival, a celebration of work in poetry, prose, and playwriting by up-and-coming young writers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An interview with Alexandra Chang about her debut novel, Days of Distraction (2020). I introduce some distraction reads, some for when you want to wallow in the anxiety, and others for pure escapism.Books Recommended in this episode: Nothing to See Here, Kevin Wilson Days of Distraction, Alexandra Chang Alexandra recommends: The Visiting Privilege, Joy Williams; The House is a Body, Shruti Swami; Luster, Raven Leilani Distraction Reads: Escapism vs Punch-in-the-face’ism: Journal of a Plague Year, Daniel Defoe; They Came Like Swallows, William Maxwell; Severance, Ling Ma; Weather, Jenny Offill; The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Suzanne Collins; Trick Mirror, Jia Tolentino Chris Holmes is Chair of Literatures in English and Associate Professor at Ithaca College. He writes criticism on contemporary global literatures. His book, Kazuo Ishiguro as World Literature, is under contract with Bloomsbury Publishing. He is the co-director of The New Voices Festival, a celebration of work in poetry, prose, and playwriting by up-and-coming young writers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An interview with Lisa Swayze, the General Manager of Buffalo Street Book in Ithaca, New York. Buffalo Street Books is one of a handful of community-owned bookstores in the country. It survived the double plague of a Borders and a Barnes and Nobles in the same tiny city with them by reaching out to the community to buy ownership shares. We discuss her latest recommendations for reading during the pandemic, and I share my delight with the sub-genre of the “paranoid campus novel.”Books Recommended in this episode: The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel Lisa’s Best of last 5 years: Ask Again Yes - Mary Beth Keane; The Great Believers - Rebecca Makkai; History of Wolves - Emily Fridlund; The Mothers - Brit Bennett; The Nickel Boys - Colson Whitehead; The Night Watchman - Louise Erdrich; Nothing to See Here - Kevin Wilson; On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous - Ocean Vuong; Pachinko - Min Jin Lee; Red at the Bone - Jacqueline Woodson; Sing Unburied Sing - Jesmyn Ward; There There - Tommy Orange; Women Talking - Miriam Toews. What to look for: This Town Sleeps by Dennis Staples; Book of the Little Axe by Lauren Francis Sharma; Days of Distraction by Alexandra Chang; The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennet; Migrations by Charlotte McCongahy; And Lisa’s best book of the year thus far, The Death of Vivek Oji by Awkeke Emezi The Paranoid Campus Novel: The Secret History, Donna Tartt; The Magicians, Lev Grossman; Catherine House, Elisabeth Thomas; Bunny, Mona Awad; Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro Chris Holmes is Chair of Literatures in English and Associate Professor at Ithaca College. He writes criticism on contemporary global literatures. His book, Kazuo Ishiguro as World Literature, is under contract with Bloomsbury Publishing. He is the co-director of The New Voices Festival, a celebration of work in poetry, prose, and playwriting by up-and-coming young writers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An interview with Eleanor Henderson, author of Ten Thousand Saints and The Twelve-Mile Straight (Ecco, 2011, 2017).Books Recommended in this episode: Optic Nerve by Maria Gainza In the Land of Men, Adrienne Miller; The Varieties of Romantic Experience, Robert Cohen Ten Thousand Saints, The Twelve-Mile Straight, Eleanor Henderson Three quarantine reads: Hex, Rebecca Dinerstein Knight; The Ninth House, Leigh Bardugo; Station Eleven, Emily St. John Mandel Chris Holmes is Chair of Literatures in English and Associate Professor at Ithaca College. He writes criticism on contemporary global literatures. His book, Kazuo Ishiguro as World Literature, is under contract with Bloomsbury Publishing. He is the co-director of The New Voices Festival, a celebration of work in poetry, prose, and playwriting by up-and-coming young writers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices