Talking Volumes, 2001-2002

Fury

By Salman Rushdie

Internationally celebrated author Salman Rushdie leads the fall/winter lineup of Talking Volumes selections with his newest novel, Fury. The darkly satirical tale, by the Booker Prize-winning author of "Midnight's Children" and "The Satanic Verses," centers on a middle-aged professor who finds himself in buy-crazy, starstruck New York during the summer of 2000. (08/19/2001)

Midmorning interview: August 20, 2001, 10 a.m.

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The World Below

By Sue Miller

Sue Miller, author of "The Good Mother" and "Family Pictures," is one of the nation's most popular novelists among women readers. In "The World Below," Miller explores a woman's search for love and meaning after the children are grown and gone—a search that begins by going back to her grandmother's house, and thinking back even further. (10/08/2001)

Midmorning interview: October 9, 2001, 10 a.m.

Live appearance: October 25, 2001, 7 p.m.

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Hoop Roots

By John Edgar Wideman

John Edgar Wideman, the critically praised novelist and essayist and former Rhodes Scholar, explores the personal and sociological meaning of pickup basketball among black boys in urban America in his memoir Hoop Roots. The deeply moving reflection begins, "We went to the playgrounds in search of our missing fathers." (11/13/2001)

Midmorning interview: November 14, 2001, 10 a.m.

Live appearance: November 29, 2001, 7 p.m.

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The Night Abraham Called to the Stars

By Robert Bly

Robert Bly transmutes the Islamic ghazal form of poetry into a stunning series of poems. In "The Night Abraham Called to the Stars," Bly shows Western readers the thrilling leaps of the ghazal form: Each stanza is an independent poem, so the writer is able to shift dramatically. In these poems, the reader will find many references to our own cultural past, figures who belong to our intellectual history. (12/03/2001)

Midmorning interview: December 4, 2001, 10 a.m.

Live appearance: December 11, 2001, 7 p.m.

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Peace Like a River

By Leif Enger

Publishers Weekly named "Peace Like a River," the first novel by Brainerd author Leif Enger, one of the two hottest new novels at the American Book Expo. With a first printing of 100,000, it is already a Book of the Month Club and Reader's Digest selection, poised to become this year's dazzling breakout, like "Cold Mountain" or "Ordinary People." Its harrowing and magical story, set in outstate Minnesota in 1962, focuses on a family's search for a 15-year-old who escapes after being charged with manslaughter for shooting two teenage marauders. (12/18/2001)

Midmorning interview: December 19, 2001, 10 a.m.

Live appearance: January 10, 2002, 7 p.m.

On the road with Leif Enger
Feature by Leif Enger

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Fire

By Sebastian Junger

Sebastian Junger, whose "The Perfect Storm" remains a best seller three years after its release, had just published "Fire," a story collection that chronicles his adventures as a smoke jumper, a war correspondent, and a journalist tracking international corruption, terrorism, and genocide. (12/18/2001)

Junger was unable to participate in this season of Talking Volumes, because he was called away to work in Afghanistan during the war against the Taliban. Below, find an interview and a reading from MPR's All Things Considered.

All Things Considered interview: January 24, 2002

Reading: January 24, 2002

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Disobedience

By Jane Hamilton

A two-time Oprah Book Club author ("The Book of Ruth" and "A Map of the World"), Wisconsin's Jane Hamilton is known for literary, gripping stories that pose troubling questions about our societal values. In "Disobedience," she describes what happens when a young man hacks into the secret email correspondence between his mother and her extramarital lover. (01/16/2002)

Midday: May 29, 2001, 10 a.m.

Midmorning interview: January 17, 2002, 7 p.m.

Live appearance: February 6, 2002

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The Tiger Rising

By Kate DiCamillo

"The Tiger Rising" is darker than Kate DiCamillo's debut, "Because of Winn-Dixie." But there is light and redemption for Rob Horton, struggling with the loss of a parent, who ultimately discovers the healing power of friendship. (02/10/2002)

Midmorning interview: February 11, 2002, 10 a.m.

Live appearance: March 3, 2002, 2 p.m.

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Desirable Daughters

By Bharati Mukherjee

At the heart of this remarkable new novel by the award-winning author of "The Middleman and Other Stories" and "Jasmine" are issues of culture, identity, and familial loyalty. "Desirable Daughters" follows the diverging paths taken by three Calcutta-born sisters as they come of age in a changing world. (03/18/2002)

Midmorning interview: March 19, 2002, 10 a.m.

Live appearance: April 15, 2002, 7 p.m.

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The Black Veil

By Rick Moody

In his early 20s, a lifetime of excess left Rick Moody suddenly stranded in a depression so profound that he feared for his life. His stay in a psychiatric hospital was just the first step out of mental illness. In this book, Moody tells the story of his collapse and recovery in an inspired journey through what it means to be young and confused, older and confused, guilty, lost, and healed. (05/08/2002)

Midmorning interview: May 9, 2002, 10 a.m.

Live appearance: May 22, 2002, 7 p.m.