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Tess Gunty is an award-winning novelist based in Los Angeles, whose fascinating (and acclaimed) debut novel, The Rabbit Hutch, was recently published by Knopf (North America) and Oneworld (UK & Commonwealth) and is a finalist for the National Book Award. For this week’s episode she chatted with David about her creative approach, the books that inspire her most, and much, much more. Here’s to long TBR lists! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit closereads.substack.com/subscribe

Sports writer, Tyler Dunne has written “the definitive guide to the real men of the gridiron: NFL tight ends”. It’s called The Blood and Guts: How Tight Ends Save Football and it’s available wherever books are sold. This week, Ty joins Bibliography to chat about the state of the NFL, his favorite sports books, and more. You can grab a copy of the book here. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit closereads.substack.com/subscribe

Scott Avett is perhaps best known for his work in the acclaimed and much-loved band, The Avett Brothers, but he’s also a very accomplished visual artist who has two exhibitions running concurrently this fall. Scott Avett: Purpose at Random, is showing at the SOCO Gallery in Charlotte, NC until November 2. You can learn more about this show here. Meanwhile, Scott Avett: After the Fact is at the Greenville Museum of Art from October 7 until January 21, 2023. Click here for tickets to this show. Recently, Scott joined the show to discuss some of his favorite books, his ongoing journey as an artist, the question of truth in art, his affection for the mystics, the role of books in his home, and much, much more. Thanks for checking out our show—and happy reading! The Exhibitions Scott Avett: Purpose at Random, is showing at the SOCO Gallery in Charlotte, NC until November 2. You can learn more about this show here. Scott Avett: After the Fact is at the Greenville Museum of Art from October 7 until January 21, 2023. Click here for tickets to this show. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit closereads.substack.com/subscribe

Sam Sacks writes the Fiction Chronicle for the Wall Street Journal Book Review, one of the best sections in the world of book criticism. He is eloquent in his defense of good books, tactful in his criticism of bad ones, and always interesting in his taste. In this episode, he joins David to chat about several stand-out novels that have been published so far in 2022. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit closereads.substack.com/subscribe

Edoardo Ballerini has been in your head—or at least there’s a good chance he has if you listen to audio books. Having narrated more than 350 books (including classics by Dante, Dostoevsky, Eliot, Camus, and others and books by a plethora of popular modern writers like Amor Towles, Jess Walter, Isabel Allende), Ballerini is one of the superstars of the audio book world. So on this episode of Bibliography we talked about how he jumped into that line of work, how he prepares to narrate a book, and how the experience has impacted his reading life. Of course, Ballerini is also successful television and movie actor, the son of a poet, and a parent of multiple children, so we chatted about the books that have been staples of his life over the years in each of these roles. We hope this conversation helps you find a great book to add to your TBR list. Happy listening! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit closereads.substack.com/subscribe

You know that classic question, if you could have a dinner party with anyone dead or alive, who would it be? Well, Alissa Wilkinson’s new book, Salty: Lessons on Eating, Drinking, and Living from Revolutionary Women, is her fascinating and perhaps a tad unconventional answer to that question. She has gathered a hypothetical table of women who challenged norms and defied conventional wisdom: Ella Baker, Alice B. Toklas, Hannah Arendt, Octavia Butler, Agnes Varda, Elizabeth David, Edna Lewis, Maya Angelou, and Laurie Colwin. And she explores the ways food managed to root these women into their various callings. As the book jacket describes, “Salty is Alissa Wilkinson's invitation to you. Join these sharp, empowered, and often subversive women and discover how to live with courage, agency, grace, smarts, snark, saltiness, and sometimes feasting--even in uncertain times.” Salty is out this week from Broadleaf Books so it seemed like a good time to chat about some of the best food writing out there. So, in addition to sharing some of her favorite books, Alissa also shared her Mount Rushmore list of the best very books of food writing. Alissa Wilkinson is a senior culture reporter and critic at Vox.com, where she writes about film, TV, and culture, often where they intersect with media, religion, and rhetoric. She is also an associate professor of English and humanities at The King's College in New York City, where since 2009 she has taught courses on criticism, cinema studies, literature, and cultural theory. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit closereads.substack.com/subscribe

“Christopher Beha is one of the most talented young writers at work today.” —Jess Walter, author of Beautiful Ruins This episode’s guest is Chris Beha, author of one of my favorite recent novels, The Index of Self Destructive Acts, which was nominated for the 2020 National book award and is one of the best books about people talking about ideas. Beha is also the author of a memoir, The Whole Five Feet, and the novels Arts & Entertainments and What Happened to Sophie Wilder. Plus, he is the editor of Harper’s Magazine, one of the most consistently interesting and thoughtful periodicals available right now. A while back he joined me to talk about the books he loves the most, including titles by Beverly Cleary, Muriel Spark, Leo Tolstoy, and others. I have been saving it for summertime because I think Index is a great book for this time of year. Thanks for tuning in. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit closereads.substack.com/subscribe

David McCloskey knows spy fiction. Having been a CIA analyst in a former life, he knows what makes a spy novel realistic and as a novelist he knows what makes the drama work. His 2021 novel, Damascus Station, is one of my favorite books of recent vintage precisely because it blends the two so beautifully. So on this episode of Bibliography, McCloskey joined the show to discuss some of his favorite books in the genre—new and old—as well as several other books that have defined his reading life over the years. Careful: You’re TBR list is about to get longer. Thanks for listening! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit closereads.substack.com/subscribe

Megan Kate Nelson is an expert in the history of the American Civil War, the U.S. West, and popular culture. In fact, she’s such an expert that in 2021 she was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in History for her book, The Three-Cornered War: The Union, the Confederacy, and Native Peoples in the Fight for the Wes. Her new book, out this Spring, is called Saving Yellowstone and is about the historical context in which Yellowstone was discovered, preserved, and established as a national park. As her website puts it, it is “a narrative of adventure and exploration, Saving Yellowstone is also a story of Indigenous resistance, the expansive reach of railroad, photographic, and publishing technologies, and the struggles of Black southerners to bring racial terrorists to justice. It reveals how the early 1870s were a turning point in the nation’s history, as white Americans ultimately abandoned the higher ideal of equality for all people, creating a much more fragile and divided United States.” Recently Megan joined Bibliography to chat about the books she loves, the challenges of writing history, and much more. So if you love books of history, national parks, and adding to your to-be-read list be sure to tap that play button. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit closereads.substack.com/subscribe

Austin Kleon is an enthusiast, a man of joy, who takes great pleasure in contemplating the creative process and who has built a loyal following by sharing his love for books, music, movies, comics, journaling, notebooks, brush-pens, and so much more. He’s a man with eclectic tastes that are both curated and wide-ranging, and so he is an ideal guest for a podcast like this. Kleon joined the show recently to discuss his life in books, his own book writing process, books he reads with his kids, and much more. Be sure to check out his Substack newsletter at austinkleon.substack.com. You’ll get a joyful dose of all that enthusiasm a few times a week. And, of course, thanks for listening! Books Mentioned in this episode: * Lynda Barry, What It Is * Anne Patchett, These Precious Days * James Kochalka, The Cute Manifesto * Lewis Hyde, The Gift * Scott McCloud, Understanding Comics * Journal of Henry D. Thoreau * Jenny Odell, How to Do Nothing * Alan Jacobs, Breaking Bread with the Dead * Peanuts comincs * Calvin and Hobbes comics * Tove Jansson, History of Moomins * Jack Kirby comics * Liana Finck, Passing for Human * Kristin Radke, Seek You * James Marshall, George and Martha books * Jon Klassen’s hat books * Ernie Bushmiller’s Nancy * Alan Taylor’s Assassin’s Cloak Close Reads HQ is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit closereads.substack.com/subscribe

William Kent Krueger is the author of the Cork O’Connor series of mystery books about a detective who is part Irish, part Ojibwa and who solves crimes on the frozen tundra of northern Minnesota. Eighteen books in, it is one of the most beloved active crime series. Book eighteen, Lightning Strike, came out last fall, and the next iteration, Fox Creek, is due out autumn 2022. As with each of his last nine books, this new title is sure to be a New York Times best seller. Of course, some of you might know Krueger for his recent standalone novels, This Tender Land and Ordinary Grace—books with a touch of mystery, a dose of Americana, and a healthy serving of Krueger’s customary high-octane prose. Krueger joined the show recently to chat about the books he loves the most: the titles he loved as a kid and that inspire him as a writer today. He’s a born conversationalist and I think his love of books, stories, and his home shine through in this chat. Be prepared to add a few titles to that ever-growing TBR list you keep. Thanks for listening (and happy reading)! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit closereads.substack.com/subscribe

One of David’s favorite books last year was Michelle Nijhuis’ Beloved Beasts: Fighting for Life in an Age of Extinction, a fascinating history of the way human knowledge about species extinction (and survival) has evolved. There was a time, she writes, that scientists (and human culture at-large) simply didn’t understand the way animals lived and died. Most people figured that even creatures that seemed to be getting scared with find a way to come back. But then in the twentieth century things changed, and this book is the story of people like Rachel Carson, Aldo Leopold, and other scientists set out to learn the truth and preserve the creature that make the planet so wonderful. It’s a great book, and in this episode of Bibliography, Nijhuis came on to chat about the books that have inspired her—as an individual, as a scholar, and as a parent—over the years. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit closereads.substack.com/subscribe

This week’s guest is Josh Ritter, novelist, musician, all around highly intelligent gentleman.  In 2006, he was named one of the "100 Greatest Living Songwriters" by Paste magazine and his music has won numerous accolades. His albums The Animal Years and So Runs the World Away are both extremely important to me.  But of course we’re here to talk books, including his own. His first novel, Brights Passage, came out in 2011, and then earlier this autumn, his second novel was published. It’s called THE GREAT GLORIOUS GODDAMM OF IT ALL, and its both a coming-of-age novel and a memory novel set during the last age of the lumberjacks. The protagonist is ninety-nine year old Weldon Applegate, and he’s looking back at his life among larger-than-life characters that populated the Pacific Northwest around the turn of the twentieth century.  Ritter is from Moscow, Idaho, and the novel captures that part of the world in vivid detail. He writes in poetic, playful prose that is consistent with what we have seen in his songs for more than two decades now.  As the book’s jacket says, it’s a novel that is “Braided with haunting saloon tunes and just the right dose of magic,” and “is a novel bursting with heart, humor and an utterly transporting adventure that is sure to sweep you away into the beauty of the tall snowy mountain timber.”  Ritter joined the show recently to discuss the books that have inspired him and the differences he sees in songwriting and fiction writing.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit closereads.substack.com/subscribe

Walter is the author of seven novels, one book of short stories and one nonfiction book. His work has been selected three times for Best American Short Stories as well as the Pushcart Prize and Best American Nonrequired Reading. He’s been published in, Harper's, Esquire, McSweeney's, Tin House, Ploughshares, the New York Times, the Washington Post and many others. He began his writing career in 1987 as a reporter for his hometown newspaper, The Spokesman-Review where he was a finalist for the 1992 Pulitzer Prize as part of a team covering the shootout and standoff at Ruby Ridge, in Northern Idaho. Eventually he wrote about this in his first book, Every Knee Shall Bow, in 1995. He has also worked as a screenwriter and has taught graduate creative writing at the University of Iowa, Pacific University, Eastern Washington and Pacific Lutheran. Walter has twice won the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Award (for The Zero and We Live in Water), the Washington State Book Award (The Cold Millions) and was a finalist for the L.A. Times Book Prize (The Zero) and the PEN/USA Award in both fiction (The Zero) and nonfiction (Every Knee Shall Bow). His novel Beautiful Ruins was a #1 New York Times bestseller and spent more than a year on the bestseller list. It was also Esquire's Book of the Year and NPR Fresh Air's Novel of the Year. The Financial Lives of the Poets was Time Magazine's#2 novel of the year and Walter's story collection, We Live in Water, was longlisted for the Story Prize and the Frank O'Connor Short Story Award. Walter's latest novel is the national bestseller, The Cold Millions, A BOOK OF HISTROICAL FICTION “Featuring an unforgettable cast of cops and tramps, suffragists and socialists, madams and murderers, The Cold Millions is a tour de force from a “writer who has planted himself firmly in the first rank of American authors” (Boston Globe). See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit closereads.substack.com/subscribe

Best known for his David Robicheaux series of novels, James Lee Burke is a New York Times best selling author many times over, who has been awarded two Edgar Awards for best novel, as well as the Grand Master Master Award, by the Mystery Writers of America. His novels have been translated into almost every language in the world and his stories of the Deep South and American West make him on the essential American novelist of the last half century.  His newest book came out this fall and its called ANOTHER KIND OF EDEN. It’s described as a captivating tale of justice, love, brutality, and mysticism set in the turbulent 1960s. And for my money, it’s well worth a read this fall. It’s rollicking and weird in exactly the right sort of ways, while also featuring the precise prose that led to one publication calling him “America’s best novelist.”  Burke joined the show recently to discuss the books that inspire him, his favorite of his own books, the life of the writer, and much more. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit closereads.substack.com/subscribe

Kate Baer is a #1 New York Times bestselling poet and author of What Kind Of Woman, a book that Publishers Weekly describes as “ confident and fearless.” Her new collection of poems, I Hope This Finds You Well, is out this week and is inspired by critical messages and comments she has received over the past year, primarily on Instagram. Baer created the poems in the collection by deleting words from the original more-ugly messages such that what is left over is a poem. Erasure poetry is not new, per se, but in Baer’s hands it to becomes a contemporary feminist vision that both explores and comments on what it means to be a woman in the twenty-first century. It’s a deeply personal collection of poems, yet its also full of so much empathy that it can’t help but be universal.  In this episode, she chatted with David about the books inspire her the most. They discuss books that take risks, lit Twitter, comedy writing, a book about a hermit, and how we are all going to die. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit closereads.substack.com/subscribe

Wiley Cash is a NC-based writer whose new novel is called When Ghosts Come Home.  It’s the story of a NC sheriff named Winston Barnes who is forced to reckon with a complicated and strange murder investigation on the NC coast that is instigated by a mysterious plane crash. Cash’s previous award winning fiction includes A Land More Kind Than Home, The Last Ballad and This Dark Road to Mercy and he has received numerous awards including the Southern Book Prize, The Thomas Wolfe Book Prize, The Appalachian Writer’s Association Book of the Year, among many other prestigious awards. He’s been a fellow at Yaddo and the MacDowell Colony, and he teaches fiction writing and literature at the University of North Carolina-Asheville, where he serves as Alumni Author-in-Residence. He lives in North Carolina with his wife, photographer Mallory Cash, and their daughters. In this conversation, David chats with Mr. Cash about the books that mean the most to him. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit closereads.substack.com/subscribe

Alexandra Andrews is the author of Who is Maude Dixon, a delightfully twisty new mystery that has been described as heir to Patricia Highsmighth’s legacy (think Strangers on a Train or The Talented Mr. Ripley). It's the story of a young woman who works in publishing, is disillusioned with her prospects, and suddenly finds herself as the assistant for an Elene Ferrante-like novelists. Suddenly, the two of them are caught up in an international mystery complete with mistaken identities, cliffside car crashes, and foreign investigators that may or may not be bribable. It's a great time between two covers. So join David as he chats with Alexandra about the books she loves the most, the titles that inspired her to become a writer. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit closereads.substack.com/subscribe

Ron Rash is one of the Carolina's most beloved authors, known in equal measure for his novels and his short fiction. He's the author of Serena, an award-winning 2008 novel about love and timber in depression-era North Carolina, and Something Rich and Strange, a 2014 collection of stories, and most recently 2020's In the Valley, a collection of stories and novella that follow up on Serena. Rash has won several awards for his writing, has been anthologised multiple times in the Best Short Stories of the year collections, and today is the Parris Distinguished Professor in Appalachian Cultural Studies at Western Carolina University. In this conversation David and Ron chat about the books he loved as a child, the books he reads when he's writing, and much, much more. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit closereads.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode of Libromania, a podcast for the book-obsessed, David chats with historian, Christopher Hull, about his new book Our Man Down in Havana: The Story Behind Graham Green's Cold War Novel. Although he's obviously best known for his many wonderful novels (and screenplays), Greene spent most of his adult life working for Great Britain's secret service. He was an adventurer, and a bit of rogue, and in many ways his work in the world of espionage met a deep-seated psychological need. In this episode, David and Dr. Hull cover this back-story (and much more). Be sure to find Our Man Down in Havana wherever you love to buy books -- and be on the lookout for the brand new audio book, out now. Remember: subscribe, rate, review! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit closereads.substack.com/subscribe