Sept. 14, 2011

"A Visit from the Goon Squad"

By Jennifer Egan

Jennifer Egan and Kerri Miller discuss empathy.

Jennifer Egan tells Kerri Miller about the role of technology in society.

Jennifer Egan won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction for A Visit from the Goon Squad. She is also the author of The Invisible Circus, which was released as a feature film by Fine Line in 2001; Look at Me, which was nominated for the National Book Award in 2001, and the bestselling The Keep. A Visit From the Goon Squad is not just a Pulitzer winner, it's a national bestseller and won the 2011 National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction. Also a journalist, Egan writes frequently in the New York Times Magazine.

About A Visit from the Goon Squad: We begin in contemporary-ish New York with kleptomaniac Sasha and her boss, rising music producer Bennie Salazar, before flashing back, with Bennie, to the glory days of Bay Area punk rock, and eventually forward, with Sasha, to a settled life. By then, Egan has accrued tertiary characters, like Scotty Hausmann, Bennie's one-time bandmate who all but dropped out of society, and Alex, who goes on a date with Sasha and later witnesses the future of the music industry.

Egan's overarching concerns are about how rebellion ages, influence corrupts, habits turn to addictions, and lifelong friendships fluctuate and turn. The Pulitzer Prize judges called Egans's novel "an inventive investigation of growing up and growing old in the digital age, displaying a big-hearted curiosity about cultural change at warp speed."

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Oct. 5, 2011 - 7 p.m.

"Cleopatra: A Life"

By Stacy Schiff

Stacy Schiff and Kerri Miller discuss Cleopatra.

Stacy Schiff and Kerri Miller discuss imagination.

Stacy Schiff won a Pulitzer Prize for Véra (Mrs. Vladimir Nabokov). She was a Pulitzer finalist for Saint-Exupéry. Her work of history, A Great Improvisation: Franklin, France, and the Birth of America, won the George Washington Book Prize, the Ambassador Award in American Studies, and the Gilbert Chinard Prize of the Institut Français d'Amérique. All three books were New York Times Notable Books.

About Cleopatra: A Life From Booklist: "For those who think they know enough about Cleopatra or have the enigmatic Egyptian queen all figured out, think again. Schiff, demonstrating the same narrative flair that captivated readers of her Pulitzer Prize-winning Véra (Mrs. Vladimir Nabokov), provides a new interpretation of the life of one of history's most enduringly intriguing women. Rather than a devastatingly beautiful femme fatale, Cleopatra, according to Schiff, was a shrewd power broker who knew how to use her manifold gifts — wealth, power, and intelligence — to negotiate advantageous political deals and military alliances.

Though long on facts and short on myth, this stellar biography is still a page-turner; in fact, because this portrait is grounded so thoroughly in historical context, it is even more extraordinary than the more fanciful legend. Cleopatra emerges as a groundbreaking female leader, relying on her wits, determination, and political acumen rather than sex appeal to astutely wield her power in order to get the job done. Ancient Egypt never goes out of style, and Cleopatra continues to captivate successive generations."

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Nov. 2, 2011 - 7 p.m.

"Zone One"

by Colson Whitehead

Colson Whitehead talks about the apocalypse in his novel Zone One and discusses how humor and horror can work together.

Colson Whitehead describes his writing strategies, how he crafts a novel, and his opinion on authors who hear their characters talk to them .

Colson Whitehead discusses the phenomenon of zombies eating brains, and gives his thoughts on Tim Pawlenty and Twitter.

Local duo Mrozinski and Nau give triubute to Zone One with a new song containing lines from the novel.

Colson Whitehead is the author of the novels The Intuitionist, John Henry Days, Apex Hides the Hurt, and Sag Harbor. He has also written a book about his hometown, a collection of essays called The Colossus of New York. His work has appeared in the New York Times, Granta, Harper's, and the New Yorker. A recipient of a Whiting Writers Award, a MacArthur grant, and a fellowship at the Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers, Whitehead lives in New York City.

About Zone One:From Publisher's Weekly's rave review: "While the revolution will not be televised, the apocalypse and what comes after, at least according to Whitehead, will have sponsors. It will even have an anthem, the brilliantly self-referential "Stop! Can You Hear the Eagle Roar?" (theme from Reconstruction). As we follow New Yorker and perpetual B-student "Mark Spitz" over three harrowing days, Whitehead dumpster dives genre tropes, using what he wants and leaving the rest to rot, turning what could have been another zombie-pocalypse gore-fest into the kind of smart, funny, pop culture-filled tale that would make George Romero proud.

While many stories in this genre are set in a devastated nowheresville, Whitehead plants his narrative firmly in New York City, penning a love letter to a Manhattan still recognizable after the event referred to only as "Last Night." Far from the solemn affair so often imagined, the apocalypse in Whitehead's hands is filled with the kind of dark humor one imagines actual survivors adopting in order to stave off madness."

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Nov. 17, 2011 - 7 p.m.

"Damned"

By Chuck Palahniuk

Chuck Palahniuk relates the story of an adventure in Paris, and how it helps him to cope with the idea of death

Chuck Palahniuk lays out his theory of the most important character archetypes in American fiction

Chuck Palahniuk stages a non-tradtional contest with inflatable jack-o-lanterns to decide who will win free books.

Chuck Palahniuk is best known for his first published novel, Fight Club, in 1996, which picked up cult status after the release of the movie in 1999. He has a reputation for shocking his readers, has become increasingly popular since his initial success, and now has a flourishing social media following.

About Damned: "Are you there, Satan? It's me, Madison," declares the whip-tongued 11-year-old narrator of Damned. The daughter of a narcissistic film star and a billionaire, Madison is abandoned at her Swiss boarding school over Christmas, while her parents are off touting their new projects and adopting more orphans. She dies over the holiday of a marijuana overdose — and the next thing she knows, she's in Hell. Madison shares her cell with a motley crew of young sinners that is almost too good to be true -- a cheerleader, a jock, a nerd, and a punk rocker, united by fate to form the six-feet-under version of everyone's favorite detention movie.

This is the afterlife as only Chuck Palahniuk could imagine it: A twisted inferno where The English Patient plays on endless repeat, roaming demons devour sinners limb by limb, and the damned interrupt your dinner from their sweltering call center to hard-sell you Hell. He makes eternal torment, well, simply divine.

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About the Host

Kerri Miller joined Minnesota Public Radio in June 2004 as host of Minnesota Public Radio's Midmorning and Talking Volumes, the joint book club of MPR and the Star Tribune in collaboration with the Loft Literary Center. She has been a radio and television news reporter since 1981. Before joining KARE-11 in 1996 and serving as its long-time political reporter, Miller was a reporter at KSTP-TV in Minneapolis and KTUL-TV in Tulsa. She has won numerous awards, including the Society of Professional Journalists National Achievement Award, Minnesota Broadcasters Award, the Associated Press Award and a Gracie award from the Association of Women in Radio and Television

About Talking Volumes

Talking Volumes, a partnership of Minnesota Public Radio and the Star Tribune, in collaboration with The Loft Literary Center, is a winner of the prestigious Gracie Allen Award. Talking Volumes was noted for its superior quality in writing, production and programming. The program spotlights books with feature articles, live broadcasts with the author, in-person readings and discussions, and more.