Women painters - Fiction; Friendship - Fiction; Girls - Fiction; Toronto (Ont.) - Fiction
Margaret Atwood discusses her book, “Cat’s Eye.” Atwood describes the protagonist, Elaine, and her childhood friends and her relationship with her brother. She goes on to discuss the domination of children’s lives by women during the...
Families - Fiction; Husbands - Fiction; Married women - Fiction
Tessa Dahl discusses her book, “Working for Love.” Dahl describes the protagonist, Molly, and her relationships with her father and husband, and her family tragedies. She also shares her own family’s tragedies and the similarities between...
Rita Dove discusses her book, “Through the Ivory Gate.” She describes the protagonist, Virginia King, and her exploration of her creativity. Dove goes on to discuss the plot and reads an excerpt about a doll. She also talks about the...
Motion picture actors and actresses - Fiction; Motion picture industry - Fiction; Criminals - Fiction; Hollywood (Los Angeles, Calif.) - Fiction
John Gregory Dunne discusses his book, “Playland.” He talks about the power of studios in 1948 and describes the protagonist, Blue Tyler, a child star, and her life about 45 years later. Dunne goes on to describe the plot and characters and...
Alan Dershowitz discusses his book, “The Advocate’s Devil.” Dershowitz describes the characters such as Abe Ringle, the protagonist. He says that his mentors and clients helped him construct the characters and the book brings up issues such...
City and town life - Fiction; New Orleans (La.) - Fiction
Will Holt discusses his adaptation of Nelson Algren’s book, “A Walk on the Wild Side.” Holt plays songs from his musical adaptation of Algren’s book and talks about his meeting with him. Holt goes on to describe the protagonist, Dove, and...
Women murderers - Fiction; Mothers and daughters - Fiction; Foster children - Fiction; Young women - Fiction
Janet Fitch discusses her book, “White Oleander.” She explains that the book follows the protagonist, Astrid, who is the only child of a single mother. Ingrid, Astrid’s mother is an eccentric poet who murders a man for rejecting her. The...
Myla Goldberg discusses her book, “Bee Season.” Goldberg describes the protagonist, Eliza, and her spelling bee competition win. She also describes Eliza’s family and her father’s observant Judaism. Goldberg says character development is...
Charles Johnson discusses his book, “Middle Passage.” He says the “middle passage” is the journey from the African west coast to the United States. Johnson describes the protagonist, Rutherford Calhoun, a former slave, his brother,...
Norman Mailer discusses his book, “Tough Guys Don’t Dance.” Mailer details the plot, which is set in Provincetown, Massachusetts and follows the protagonist Tim Madden. Madden is an alcoholic writer who is attracted to wealthy blondes. When...
Boris Akunin discusses his book, “Winter Queen.” He begins by sharing that this novel is the first from the Erast Fandorin series of historical detective novels that will eventually consist of 16 books. Akunin explains that the book’s...
Daniel Price discusses his book, “Slick.” He begins by sharing the plot of the novel that follows the protagonist, Scott, who is a media operative. In the beginning of the book Scott is hired by a hotel chain to promote the opening of a new...
Los Angeles (Calif.) - Fiction; Missing persons - Fiction; African American men - Fiction; Private investigators - California - Los Angeles - Fiction; Rawlins, Easy (Fictitious character) - Fiction
Walter Mosley discusses his book, “Cinnamon Kiss.” He explains that in the novel the protagonist, Easy Rawlins, finds himself in desperate need of money, in order to pay for medical treatment for his daughter. In an attempt to acquire the funds...
Egypt - History - To 332 B.C. - Fiction; Ramses III, King of Egypt - Fiction
Brad Geagley discusses his book, “Year of the Hyenas.” He begins by discussing how the book is a murder mystery set in ancient Egypt when the kingdom was at the height of its glory and power. Geagley explains that as a backdrop for his...
London (England) - Fiction; Dobbs, Maisie (Fictitious character) - Fiction; World War, 1914-1918 - Veterans - Fiction; Women private investigators - England - London - Fiction
Jacqueline Winspear discusses her book, “Maisie Dobbs.” She begins by discussing the book’s plot. She explains that the protagonist, Maisie Dobbs began her working life at the age of thirteen as a servant in a mansion, only to be discovered...
New York (N.Y.) - Fiction; Retirees - Fiction; Legislators - Fiction; Missing persons - Fiction; Ex-police officers - Fiction; Private investigators - New York (State) - New York - Fiction; Prager, Moe (Fictitious character) - Fiction
Reed Farrel Coleman discusses his book, “The James Deans.” He begins by explaining that this is the third novel in his Moe Prager Detective series and is set in the early 1980s. His protagonist Moe Prager is New York private investigator. In...
Chinese American families - Fiction; Americans - China - Hong Kong - Fiction; Mothers - Death - Fiction; Missing persons - Fiction; Young men - Fiction; Orange County (Calif.) - Fiction; Hong Kong (China) - Fiction
Chieh Chieng discusses his book, “A Long Stay in a Distant Land.” He begins by sharing that the book explores the life of the protagonist Louis Lum who is a recent college graduate and working at a hot rod magazine. Louis’ family seems to be...
Juris Jurjevics discusses his book, “The Trudeau Vector.” He begins by explaining that traditionally the Arctic is a very neutral and utopian place. However, in his book the mystery begins when several Arctic scientists are found dead and...
Life change events - Fiction; Loss (Psychology) - Fiction; Sisters - Death - Fiction; Middle-aged men - Fiction; Overweight men - Fiction; Travelers - Fiction; Cycling - Fiction
Ron McLarty discusses his book, “The Memory of Running.” He begins by explaining that he always knew he wanted to be a writer and that he wrote a lot while he was in the army. This book is the third of ten he has written, but the only one that...
Jewish men - Fiction; Birthfathers - Fiction; Mountaineers - Fiction; Entertainers - Fiction; Rogues and vagabonds - Fiction
Lee Siegel discusses his book, “Love and Other Games of Chance.” He begins by describing the character of Lee Siegel, and how it is not actually him in the book, but more his nemesis who has similar characteristics to himself. He then discusses...
