Michael Shermer discusses his book, “Science Friction.” He begins by explaining that the book is a collection of essays that explore the barriers and biases that both plaque and fuel science. In these essays he faces such questions as: how does...
Loraine Despres discusses her novel, “The Scandalous Summer of Sissy LeBlanc.” She begins by explaining that her book is about a young southern belle whose family is falling apart. She talks how her main character Sissy meets a charming...
Middle-aged women - Poetry;
Self-realization in women - Poetry
Sonya Sones discusses her book, “The Hunchback of Neiman Marcus.” She begins by explaining that she wanted to write about things that have been happening in her life as she gets older. Martinson asks Sones to read a passage about a mother’s...
British - Arizona - Fiction; Fathers and daughters - Fiction; Deserts - Fiction; Arizona - Fiction
Susan Elderkin discusses her book, “Sunset Over Chocolate Mountains.” She describes the characters, Theobald, an overweight mama’s boy from England, and Jersey, an oddball that meets Theobald in Arizona. Elderkin also describes Tibor, an...
England - Fiction; Actors - Fiction; Country homes - Fiction; Social classes - Fiction; Married people - Fiction; Television programs - Fiction; Aristocracy (Social class) – Fiction; Gosford Park (Motion picture)
Julian Fellowes discusses his book, “Snobs.” He begins by explaining the plot, which follows Edith Lavery, the only child of an upper-middle class family with social aspirations, living in England during the 1990s. Luckily she is able to obtain...
Dating (Social customs) - Fiction; Love - Fiction; Novels in verse
Sonya Sones discusses her book, "What My Mother Doesn't Know." The story is about a Jewish teenage girl, Sophie, who is 14.5 years old. Sophie has two friends named Rachel and Grace and have been friends with them since the third grade. Sophie...
Cuban Americans - Fiction; Cuban American women - Fiction; Women cleaning personnel - Fiction; Cuban American families - Fiction; New York (N.Y.) - Fiction
Oscar Hijuelos discusses his book, “Empress of the Splendid Season.” He says that when he writes, he starts out with an emotion. For this book, he wanted to look at the emotionality of classes. He describes the character, Lydia, a young...
Susan Vreeland discusses her book, “Life Studies.” Vreeland shares stories from the book, which cast the profiled painters as peripheral characters. She tells the story of how Pierre-Auguste Renoir meets the little girl from his work, “A...
Chandler, Raymond, 1888-1959 - Relations with women; Authors, American - 20th century - Biography; Detective and mystery stories - Authorship
Judith Freeman discusses her novel, “The Long Embrace.” She begins by explaining that she read a lot of Raymond Chandler’s work in the 1980s and was fascinated by his life. She talks about Chandler’s move to Los Angeles and how he meets...
