George Saunders: ‘Writing Books Make Me Nervous’
This Week on So Many Damn Books
George Saunders drops in to celebrate the new year and brings with him four Russians and the meaning of a writing life via his new book A Swim in a Pond in the Rain. The guys can barely contain their excitement and conversation ranges from writing to reading to music to, well, Russians.
Plus, if you go to the SMDB website, you can hear two original tunes by George that he cut for audiobooks of The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil and In Persuasion Nation! He showed us his guitar, it was very freakin’ cool.
What’d you buy?
Drew: How to Change Your Mind by Michael Pollan // The Blade Between by Sam J. Miller
Christopher: The Blizzard Party by Jack Livings // Girlhood by Melissa Febos
George: 7 1/2 Lessons About the Brain and How Emotions Are Made, both by Lisa Feldman Barrett
Recommendations:
Drew: Letters from An American: a newsletter by Heather Cox Richardson // Hurricane Season by Fernando Melchor, translated by Sophie Hughes
George: Hope Against Hope and Hope Abandoned by Nadezhda Mandelstam // I Will Bear Witness by Victor Klemperer // “Partita for Eight Voices” by Caroline Shaw, performed by Roomful of Teeth
Christopher: Via Negativa by Daniel Hornsby
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This week’s themed cocktail:
So Many Damn Books
A blessing, a curse, a podcast. est. 2014. Christopher (@cdhermelin) invites folks to the Damn Library to talk about reading, literature, publishing, and trying to make it through their never-dwindling stack of things to read. All with a themed drink in hand. Recorded at the Damn Library in Brooklyn, NY.
