December 28, 2006
The Keep/Jennifer Egan
Look at Me/Jennifer Egan
The Invisible Circus/Jennifer Egan
The Keep is a fascinating multi-level gothic novel and is highly recommended.
Interviewer: Richard Wolinsky
December 21, 2006
Moneyball/Michael Lewis
The Blind Side/Michael Lewis
Moneyball changed the face of baseball when it was published in 2003. The Blind Side looks at the role of the left tackle in football, and of a young man, Michael Oher, who suddenly became the hottest prospect in the sport. Both books are great reads, though The Blind Side could have focused a bit more on the inner workings of football.
Interviewer: Richard Wolinsky
December 16, 2006
The Saturday Morning Talkies
Whose Freedom?/George Lakoff
City of Falling Angels/John Berendt
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil/John Berendt
Previously unaired interview segments with George Lakoff and John Berendt; and a discussion about election fraud with Gerard Gleason of the San Francisco Elections Commission.
Guest host: Richard Wolinsky
December 14, 2006
A Photographer's Life, 1990-2005/Annie Leibovitz
Spectacular coffee table book featuring commercial photos, family shots, and photographic reportage by America's foremost photographer.
Interviewer: Richard Wolinsky
December 7, 2006
Point to Point Navigation/Gore Vidal
Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace/Gore Vidal
Vidal's latest memoir contains a mix of wistful nostalgia, political insight and juicy anecdotes to form an enjoyable whole.
Interviewer: Richard Wolinsky
November 30, 2006
On Beauty/Zadie Smith
White Teeth/Zadie Smith
The Autograph Man/Zadie Smith
The latest novel by the acclaimed young writer Zadie Smith, On Beauty, deals with race and class at a New England college. A funny and thought-provoking novel.
Interviewer: Richard Wolinsky
November 23, 2006
The Player/Michael Tolkin
The Return of the Player/Michael Tolkin
Sadly, this program aired shortly after the death of the great director, Robert Altman, whose film of Tolkin's novel The Player is considered one of this best films. Tolkin's sequel, which picks up a few years after the film and original novel ends, is harsh and very funny much of the way through, marred by a weak ending, though very much worth the time.
Interviewer: Richard Wolinsky
November 16, 2006
The Greatest Story Ever Sold/Frank Rich
Ghost Light/Frank Rich
Greatest Story is a detailed tracing of the lies and spin put forward by the Bush Administration following 9/11, and a comparison with what really went on. It's a precise and fascinating study of how the press and people were duped by the men behind the curtain. Ghost Light is Rich's memoir of growing up a theatre fan in Washington DC and is an absolute delight. Rich currently writes Sunday op-ed pieces for the NY Times and is the paper's former theatre critic.
October 5, 2006
John Dean, Part Two
September 28, 2006
Conservatives Without Conscience/John W. Dean
An fascinating and scary examination of authoritarians in the Republican Party, and the authoritarian impulse.
Interviewer: Richard Wolinsky.
September 21, 2006
Nightlife/Thomas Perry
Perry is a fascinating mystery writer who frequently writes from a woman's point of view. His latest is an excellent example of his work.
Interviewer: Richard Wolinsky.
September 14, 2006
Whose Freedom?/George Lakoff
Moral Politics/George Lakoff
Lakoff uses his findings as a cognitive scientist to develop a new framework for progressives to present their views. .
Interviewer: Richard Wolinsky. More from this interview will be heard on October 12, 2006.
September 7, 2006
Alentejo Blue/Monica Ali
Brick Lane/Monica Ali
"Brick Lane' will appeal to those who enjoyed "The Kite Runner." "Alentejo Blue" is a well-written group of interconnected stories set in Portugal.
Interviewer: Richard Wolinsky.
August 31, 2006
His Lovely Wife/Elizabeth Dewberry
A wife of a famous physicist comes to grips with her life as she communes with the ghost of Princess Di in this moving and angry literary novel.
Interviewer: Richard Wolinsky
August 24, 2006
Dark Voyage/Alan Furst
The Foreign Correspondent/Alan Furst
Intelligent and atmospheric spy novels set before and during World War II, with latter day resonances. Furst has the uncanny ability to take you into his world in a way few novelists can.
Interviewer: Richard Wolinsky
August 17, 2006
Conversations with John Schlesinger/Ian Buruma
The Missionary and the Libertine/Ian Buruma
Occidentalism/Ian Buruma
"Conversations with John Schlesinger" is a fascinating look at the work of the noted film director. Buruma's other books are essays about the relationship of eastern adn western culture. Buruma's a marvelous writer.
Interviewer: Richard Wolinsky
August 10, 2006
The Last Spymaster/Gayle Lynds
Fast-paced spy thriller in the Robert Ludlum vein, and a fine summer beach read made crisper by some of the factual underpinnings.
Interviewer: Richard Wolinsky
August 3, 2006
Book Review Program
The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril/Paul Malmont. A great cover can't disguise the fact that this novel about 1930s pulp authors involved in a pulp adventure is dull and uninteresting.. RW & RL
Terrorist/John Updike. A great novelist comes acropper in this tale of a home-grown terrorist in Jersey. RW & RL
Conservatives Without Conscience/John W. Dean. One-time Nixon lawyer Dean explains how the Republican Party has been usurped by authoritarians and protofascists. An important book for our times. RW
The One Percent Doctrine/Ron Suskind. An insider's look at events leading up to the Iraq War. Another important book. RW
The Anthony Boucher Chronicles/Francis W. Nevins, ed. Essays and reviews by the late mystery and science fiction editor and writer, and an extraordinary collection. Available only through the publisher's website. RL
Killing Rain/Barry Eisler. A first-rate thriller and a terrific summer read, now in mass market paper. RW.
Hosted by Richard Wolinsky and Richard A. Lupoff
July 27, 2006
Pre-empted
July 20, 2006
Terrorist/John Updike
The American master has middling success with this novel about a home-grown terrorist living in New Jersey.
Interviewer: Richard Wolinsky
July 13, 2006
Apex Hides the Hurt/Colson Whitehead
A brief allegory about the process of naming, advertising, and racism. Despite good reviews, the book really doesn't work.
Interviewer: Richard Wolinsky
July 6, 2006
A Writer's Life/Gay Talese
The noted author and journalist dissects the writing process by focusing on four different tales: the history of a restaurant space, the life of a Chinese athlete, Selma 25 years after the March, and the life of the Bobbits. Often fascinating, it all never quite jells.
Interviewer: Richard Wolinsky
June 29, 2006
Another Day in the Frontal Lobe/Katrina Firlik
A young neurosurgeon tells the story of her career and her work as an intern in this fascinating look at brain surgery and how the brain works.
Interviewer: Richard Wolinsky
June 22, 2006
My Lives: An Autobiography/Edmund White
Having chronicled his life in a thinly disguised set of novels, White now tackles events in a more open manner, perhaps too open: If any memoir screams "too much information," this is it. His writing is as sharp as ever, and his chapters on his life in Paris, his friendship with Foucault, and his work on the biography of Jean Genet are riveting.
Interviewer: Richard Wolinsky
June 15, 2006
Alternatives to Sex/Stephen McCauley
A comic novel about the relationship between sex and real estate by the author of The Object of My Affection.
Interviewer: Richard Wolinsky
June 8, 2006
A Pound of Paper/John Baxter
We'll Always Have Paris/John Baxter
Baxter's first memoir is a fine guide to the world of book collecting. His second combines his own life in Paris with tales of the City of Light from the '20s and '30s. Baxter is a prolific and professional author.
Interviewer: Richard Wolinsky
June 1, 2006
Conversations with the Great Moviemakers of Hollywood's Golden Age at the American Film Institute/George Stevens Jr.
An extraordinary compendium of brief interviews conducted in the late '60s and early '70s with many of Hollywood's greatest directors.
Interviewer: Richard Wolinsky
May 25, 2006
pre-empted for fund drive.
May 18, 2006
pre-empted for fund drive
May 11, 2005
The Weather Makers/Tim Flannery
A concise examination into global warming: how it happens, what causes it, and what we can do about it.
Interviewer: Richard Wolinsky.
May 4, 2006
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan/Lisa See
Now out in trade paperback.
Interviewer: Richard Wolinsky
Rebroadcast from 2005.
April 27, 2006
The Line of Beauty/Alan Hollinghurst
A brilliant evocation of Thatcher's England from the perspective of a young man who ingratiates himself with an upper class family. Winner of the Mann Booker Prize.
Interviewer: Richard Wolinsky.
April 20, 2006
Angels in America/Tony Kushner
Homebody/Kabul/Tony Kushner
Munich screenplay/Tony Kushner
The Early Plays of Arthur Miller/Tony Kushner, ed.
Tony Kushner is arguably America's greatest living playwright at the moment. There's no question Angels in America is the finest American play of the past quarter century. An extraordinary talent.
Interviewer: Richard Wolinsky
April 13, 2006
Book Review Program
Reviewers: Richard Wolinsky/Richard A. Lupoff
April 6, 2006
Eat The Document/Dana Spiotta
A novel examining the life of two '60s radical fugitives over the course of decades, and their impact on those around them.
Interviewer: Richard Wolinsky.
March 30, 2006
The Good Life/Jay McInerney
A sequel to "Brightness Falls," McInerney's new and compelling novel takes a close look at how 9/11 changed the lives of New Yorkers.
Interviewer: Richard Wolinsky.
March 23, 2006
The Man Who Knew Too Much/David Leavitt
A profile of the father of the modern computer, Alan Turing. While Leavitt's speculations about Turing's personal life and motivations are fascinating, he bogs down in attempts to explain higher mathematics.
Interviewer: Richard Wolinsky.
March 16, 2006
Heir to the Glimmering World/Cynthia Ozick
A young woman stays with a deeply damaged family during the 1930s in New York. Subtle and powerful.
Interviewer: Richard Wolinsky.
March 9, 2006
Arthur and George/Julian Barnes
The noted British novelist and essayist's latest novel tells the story of a noted miscarriage of justice in Britain and how Arthur Conan Doyle rode to the rescue. Beautifully written and told.
Interviewer: Richard Wolinsky.
March 2, 2006
The Book Scandals. Richard A. Lupoff and Richard Wolinsky are joined by Patricia Holt, former book editor for the San Francisco Chronicle, for an examination of the latest scandals involving James Frey and JT Leroy. Featuring excerpts with Jay McInerney and Julian Barnes.
February 23, 2006
Assassination Vacation/Sarah Vowell
The NPR commentator takes an amusing stroll through historical sites linked with three assassinated presidents.
Interviewer: Richard Wolinsky.
February 16, 2006
Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith/Anne Lamott
Essays on faith and politics by the Marin-based writer.
Interviewer: Richard Wolinsky.
February 9, 2006
pre-empted for fund-drive. Mark Crispin Miller program rebroadcast on Feb. 10, 2006.
February 2, 2006
Fooled Again/Mark Crispin Miller
Part Two.
Interviewer: Richard Wolinsky
January 26, 2006
Fooled Again: How The Right Stole the 2004 Election and How They'll Do It Again (If We Don't Stop Them)/Mark Crispin Miller
Perhaps the most important political book of 2005, Miller argues that at the very least, an indepedent prosecutor should be appointed to examine America's voting system. A must read for anyone interested in the future of American democracy. Part One
Interviewer: Richard Wolinsky.
January 19, 2006
Are My Blinkers Showing?/Michael York
Part Two: covers York's career from Cabaret onward.
Interviewer: Richard Wolinsky.
January 12, 2006
pre-empted
January 5, 2006
Are My Blinkers Showing? Adventures in Filmmaking in the New Russia/Michael York
The noted actor with a readable memoir about filming a potboiler in the streets and studios of modern Moscow.
Part One.
Interviewer: Richard Wolinsky.
