(Video: Jennifer Miller’s “The Year of the Gadfly” book trailer) So this is odd: Brian Williams, Christiane Amanpour and former Secretary of State James Baker in a YouTube video promoting a new coming-of-age novel. Jennifer Miller (Diana Levine) Huh? Turns out that it’s a book trailer, the latest marketing tool for writers struggling for a foothold in the shrinking publishing business. Jennifer Miller, author of “Year of the Gadfly,” spent a year getting VIPs to read the opening lines of her story. She then e-mailed the finished product “to every single journalist we knew.” (What, based on the assumption that journalists can’t resist writing about other journalists? Grrr — we fell for it, didn’t we?) Andrea Mitchell reads an excerpt from “The Year of the ... Continue reading →
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Richard Ford talks about his first novel in six years, "Canada." Pulitzer Prize-winning author Richard Ford is best known for his Bascombe trilogy of novels, which center on a middle-aged man from middle America. Ford's first novel in three years is about a 15-year-old American boy who is taken to Canada taken to start a new life after his parents rob a bank and are sent to prison. Richard Ford joins Diane to discuss what Canada means to him. Continue reading →
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I completed "Train Dreams" the end of last week. I found the prose of this book to be exceptional and I remained involved through out the story. This is a bit of an accomplishment as I tend to get impatient with books when I find the style gets in the way of the story. Here the style supports the story admirably well. I would like your guests to address the central theme of isolation in the book. The story begins in 1917, the year before our involvement in World War I and takes place in the panhandle of Idaho Panhandle. It tells the story of a man who lives a mostly solitary life and seems to have implications within the context of America emerging both ... Continue reading →