 We are pleased to present our latest “3 Questions”. This time we feature Nicholas A. Christakis, a physician and sociologist who explores the ancient origins and modern implications of human nature. He serves as director of the Human Nature Lab at Yale University, where he is the Sterling Professor of Social and Natural Science. He is also the Co-Director of the Yale Institute for Network Science.  Mr. Christakis will read from his latest book Blueprint: The Evolutionary Origins of A Good Society at 7 pm on Wednesday, June 12th at the Norwich Bookstore. In Blueprint, Mr. Christakis discusses how natural selection has given us beneficial social features including our capacity for love, friendship, cooperation, and learning. He maintains this fact is often overlooked in the tendency of scientists to focus on the dark side of our biological heritage: aggression, cruelty, and prejudice. The book reminds us that with all our inventions (e.g., tools, cities, nations) we simultaneously hold innate inclinations to better society. Mr. Christakis has also written Death Foretold and co-authored Connected. This event is free and open to the public, but reservations are recommended as space is limited. Please call 802-649-1114 or email info@norwichbookstore.com to save your seat. If you can't make the event, the Norwich Bookstore staff can ask Mr. Christakis to personalize Blueprint for you if you contact them in advance. And now our "3 questions".
1.What three books have helped shape you into the writer you are today, and why? For my work, and for pleasure, I read a lot of nonfiction, so I will have to neglect mentioning the fiction I adore, like the Illiad or Pride and Prejudice. I like big sweeping books, like Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs, and Steel, or Steven Pinker’s Better Angels of Our Nature, and engaging focused books, like Dan Gilbert’s Stumbling on Happiness.  2.What author (living or dead) would you most like to have a cup of coffee with and why? Charles Darwin. Really, the man was astonishing along every scientific and writerly dimension. I don’t think anything more needs to be said.
3.What books are currently on your bedside table? I keep a copy of The Last Days of Socrates on my bedside table because I re-read it every couple of years. My wife’s wonderful, NYT bestselling book about early childhood, The Importance of Being Little is (quite understandably) on my bedside table. And I have an advance copy of Patricia Churchland’s new book, Conscience: The Origins of Moral Intuition that I am working my way through. NOTE: As part of our mission to promote authors, the joy of reading, and to better understand the craft of writing, The Book Jam has paired with the The Norwich Bookstore in Norwich, Vermont to present an ongoing series entitled “3 Questions”. In it, we pose three questions to authors with upcoming visits to the Norwich Bookstore. Their responses are posted on The Book Jam during the days leading up to their engagement. Our hope is that this exchange will offer insight into their work and will encourage readers to attend these special author events and read their books.
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 We are very excited to present this week’s “3 Questions” with the poet Peter Money. Mr. Money earned his BA from Oberlin, a MLS from San Jose State University, and a MFA from Brooklyn College. He has published a number of books of poetry, including American Drone as well as the novella Che. He is the Director of Harbor Mountain Press, a not-for-profit publisher of poetry from near and far. Mr. Money lives in Vermont with his family. We are proud and honored to call him a friend.  An event celebrating Mr. Money's latest novel, Oh When the Saints, begins at 6 pm on Thursday, May 2nd and will be held at Salt Hill Pub in Lebanon. Oh When the Saints, is a coming of age story exploring the friends and memories you make when a student abroad. Rumor has it live Irish music will accompany his reading of passages from his novel during this event. The Norwich Bookstore will be there with copies of his collection for you to purchase and for him to sign for you. You can find Salt Hill Pub at 2 West Park, in Lebanon, New Hampshire.
1.What three books have helped shape you into the writer you are today, and why? Justine by Lawrence Durrell (for prose that can be like poetry--organic and animal--and for Durrell's keen attention to sense of place, specific setting, elaboration of individual character). HOWL and Other Poems by Allen Ginsberg (for the example of outrage and tenderness, both made indelible in the ongoing balance of perception; by varying the line and angle of attention in a single volume; by insisting that individual candor is part of a collective universal human experience and that the most local interactions can be no less musical, logical and original: the naming of particulars, towards a lifetime of compassionate understanding). H Is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald (for making prose a place where grief can settle, stir, and live again--yet in a narrative that is composed of understandably, profoundly, alternating attentions: providing for me one of the most visceral ways text has ever delivered the dynamic of being human. Through layers of goings-on in the author's daily life, like a Mrs Dalloway, the narrative is unpacked in sometimes untidy ways that reveal mortality, frustrations, joy, as if in real time--even though the tenses and subjects change. Sometimes curiously analytical [although not for a scientist], sometimes as personal as correspondence urged by persistent journaling, it is as much a book about uncertainty).  2.What author (living or dead) would you most like to have a cup of coffee with and why? Virginia Woolf. I'd want to know why she didn't take the stones out. I'd want to praise her for every nuance, her particular phrasing, her joy in doing so. I see that joy, with the intensity; I know that writing is a physical-emotional-psychological-ontological approach--to living. I'd want to experience our conversation--as light as stones thrown into water that would move them again, and as heavy as the feeling of weight in the hand, like the writer waiting, or as anyone's actual heart must be.  3.What books are currently on your bedside table? So, firstly, the table is the floor (since the table is covered with papers) and the books that are in a stack and not in a sprawl are the following: My journal and: Heinrich Boll's Irish Journal Jeanette Winterson's Art Objects Maggie Nelson's Something Bright, Then Holes Peter Orner's Am I Alone Here Aimee Bender's Willful Creatures Ronald Johnson's The Book of the Green Man Michael D. Higgins' (the President of Ireland) New and Selected Poems Stanley Kunitz's Passing Through (inherited recently from my father's pile) Wendy Guerra's Revolution Sunday Hugh Kenner's A Homemade World Nuala O'Connor's Joyride To Jupiter William Carlos Williams' Selected Poems (always here!) Pablo Neruda's Memoirs John Cowper Powys' The Meaning of Culture NOTE: As part of our mission to promote authors, the joy of reading, and to better understand the craft of writing, The Book Jam has paired with the The Norwich Bookstore in Norwich, Vermont to present an ongoing series entitled “3 Questions”. In it, we pose three questions to authors with upcoming visits to the bookstore. Their responses are posted on The Book Jam during the days leading up to their engagement. Our hope is that this exchange will offer insight into their work and will encourage readers to attend these special author events and read their books.
We are very excited to present this week’s “3 Questions” with author and Dartmouth lecturer Saul Lelchuk. Mr. Lelchuk grew up in the Upper Valley, earned a Masters degree from Dartmouth College and a Bachelors degree from Amherst College. He currently lives in Berkeley, California.  Mr. Lelchuk will appear at 7 pm on Wednesday, April 10 at the Norwich Bookstore to discuss his debut novel Save Me From Dangerous Men. A debut novel that Kirkus, in a starred review, called “A timely and totally badass debut." In another starred review, Publishers Weekly said, “This intelligent, action-packed thriller will resonate with readers as it touches on such themes as domestic violence, the widening gap between rich and poor, and the intrusive potential of advanced technologies like artificial intelligence...But the book’s real appeal stems from its powerful, distinctive protagonist." We would like to note that many reviews compare his protagonist, Nikki Griffin, to Lisbeth Salander and Jack Reacher. We are pretty certain this ensures there will be a second book; but, you can ask him in person if you are lucky enough to attend this event.  This event is free and open to the public, but reservations are recommended as space is limited. Please call 802-649-1114 or email info@norwichbookstore.com to save a seat. If you can't make the event, the Norwich Bookstore staff can ask Mr. Lelchuk to personalize Save Me From Dangerous Men for you if you contact them in advance. And now, our "3 Questions":  1.What three books have helped shape you into the writer you are today, and why? I’ll never forget the first time I read White Fang, by Jack London. Not just the pure adventure of it, the delightfully exotic setting of the Yukon Territory and Klondike Gold Rush, how it opened a door to a fascinating historical time and place that I had never encountered. It was also one of the first times I realized how powerful a book, a story, could really be: I didn’t want to do anything until I had finished it. I didn’t do anything, in fact, until I had. There’s a reason why London was the single most popular American writer of his time, after all, and this book showed me, plain and simple, how the written word can be transportive in a way that really is unmatched.  I discovered Graham Greene in sixth grade, reading in the British Council Library (my family was living in Jerusalem that year), and he’s been one of my favorite authors ever since. I don’t think that first book I read, Brighton Rock, is necessarily his best – I think personally the Heart of the Matter or End of the Affair would take that honor – but nonetheless I’ll always have a special fondness for Brighton Rock. It taught me so much: how to tell a story, how to play hope and despair and different emotions against each other to achieve narrative and tension, how to utterly master a single setting (in this case, bringing such wonderful menace to a seaside holiday town), and how, in great fiction, a character’s anguished inner turmoil can be every bit as captivating as anything external.  The Maltese Falcon is still probably my favorite detective novel of all time, although Trouble is My Business is right up there. But I think that Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon, which I’ve read about a half-dozen times starting as a boy, opened my eyes to the kind of grand operatic delight that a detective novel could be. The language and narrative skill, the characters and the way he moves them around within San Francisco’s streets, the final, agonizing decision that forces poor Sam Spade to pit his humanness – his empathy, his heart, his desire, everything he wants – against the fundamental of who he is, his nature, as a detective – it’s just a wonderful book. Now, as a writer living in the San Francisco Bay Area and writing in that genre, I still constantly ask myself how Hammett did what he did. If you’ve noticed, these three books all stem from my youth, and that’s no coincidence – I think in some ways, no matter what I’ve gone on to read, it’s very hard for anything to be as vivid and formative as books read early in life.  2.What author (living or dead) would you most like to have a cup of coffee with and why? I was named after Saul Bellow, and although my family knew him well when I was a boy, I never had a real conversation with him as an adult, and then he died while I was in college, although by that point I hadn’t seen him for a number of years. Bellow was someone so brilliant – to read one of his novels is to learn, page by page, about an astounding number of things – not just of people, of character and emotion, but pages filled with this kind of dazzling minutia of absorbed knowledge, everything from men’s style and fashion, to philosophy, to music, to linguistics, to botany… I would very much love the chance to have gotten to talk with him one on one, as an adult.  3.What books are currently on your bedside table? Yikes.. my bedside table has seemed to evolve into a horizontal bookshelf! At the moment I’m reading a trilogy of Ross Macdonald novels (The Zebra-Striped Hearse has been my favorite so far), Yuval Noah Harari’s Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow (read the first one, loved it, and immediately picked this one up), The Only Story by Julian Barnes, a book of Carson McCullers short stories, The Ballad of the Sad Café, and another collection, The Refugees, by Viet Thanh Nguyen, With Shuddering Fall by Joyce Carol Oates, and halfway through A Gentleman in Moscow, which I absolutely love. I also just picked up Laurence Sterne’s The Life and Opinions of Tristam Shandy, Gentleman, because somehow I’ve never read this, and a great biography of Allan Pinkerton by James MacKay. NOTE: As part of our mission to promote authors, the joy of reading, and to better understand the craft of writing, The Book Jam has paired with the The Norwich Bookstore in Norwich, Vermont to present an ongoing series entitled “3 Questions”. In it, we pose three questions to authors with upcoming visits to the bookstore. Their responses are posted on The Book Jam during the days leading up to their engagement. Our hope is that this exchange will offer insight into their work and will encourage readers to attend these special author events and read their books.
 Professor Bernard was born and grew up in Nashville, Tennessee, and is now a Vermont resident. She received her PhD in American studies from Yale University. She has been the recipient of grants from the Ford Foundation, the NEH, and a W. E. B. Du Bois Resident Fellowship at Harvard University. Her essays have been published in numerous journals and anthologies; currently she is the Julian Lindsay Green and Gold Professor of English at the University of Vermont, where she has been a faculty member since 2001.  Ms. Bernard will appear at 7 pm on Wednesday, March 27 to discuss her latest book Black is the Body. This collection of twelve essays explores how race is the story of her life. As Maureen Corrigan of Fresh Air stated in her review, “Of the 12 essays here, there’s not one that even comes close to being forgettable. Bernard’s language is fresh, poetically compact, and often witty … Bernard proves herself to be a revelatory storyteller of race in America who can hold her own with some of those great writers she teaches.” 1.What three books have helped shape you into the writer you are today, and why? The three books that have shaped me as a writer have to be: Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, Annie John by Jamaica Kincaid, and Sarah Phillips by Andrea Lee. I read all three of them when I was young, and their defiant black girl protagonists who were determined to live lives different from the ones their parents’ planned for them were crucial to my self-development as a writer and a person. All of them are daring stories right down to the level of the sentence. The language in Their Eyes Were Watching God ranges from the thundering resonance of the Old Testament to the earthy vernacular of the Deep South. The piercing rhythms of Jamaica Kincaid’s sentences startle and penetrate me now as much as they did when I first read the book. The protagonist in Sarah Phillips was the first black female character I ever met in whom I saw myself. I’ll probably spend my whole life trying to match the elegance of Andrea Lee’s prose.  2.What author (living or dead) would you love to have a cup of coffee with? I don’t know if I would be able to keep my hands from trembling long enough to hold a cup of coffee steady, but I would love to be in the presence of Walt Whitman. Like his poetry, Whitman was full of passionate energy, so I’m not sure how patient he would be the domestic ritual of a 21st century coffee klatch. I think I would suggest that we take our coffees with us on a walk through some tiny, quiet town in Vermont in the fall, or a street fair in Brooklyn in the summer, or anywhere, anytime. And I would definitely want to meet Whitman only in the present—I’m confident his attitudes about race would have matured with the times. 3.What books are currently on your bedside table? I am deep into Becoming by Michelle Obama. Next up is Lost and Wanted by Nell Freudenberger (I was lucky to get an advance copy), a book that reminds me of the power and necessity of intimate friendship between women.
 We are very excited to present this week’s “3 Questions” with the writer and artist James Sturm. Mr. Sturm is the co-founder of The Center for Cartoon Studies, where he currently teaches. He is also the author of many critically acclaimed graphic novels (and, we are happy to call him a friend). Mr. Sturm will appear at 4 pm on Thursday, February 14th at The Center for Cartoon Studies in White River Junction, Vermont to discuss his latest novel Off Season. The book illustrates one couple’s separation during the 2016 Presidential election season. It follows the face-off between US Senator Bernie Sanders and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the match up of Secretary Clinton and Donald Trump, and the aftermath of the eventual election of President Trump. Originally serialized on Slate, this expanded edition turns Mr. Sturm’s vignettes into a timeless tale of one family and their off season.  This event is free and open to the public. A talk by Mr. Sturm at the Center for Cartoon Studies begins at the 4:00, and will be followed by a reception. Books will be available for purchase and signing. Please call 802-649-1114 or email info@norwichbookstore.com for additional information. Please note this event is on a Thursday, not the usual Wednesday night for events at the Norwich Bookstore.  1.What three books have helped shape you into the writer you are today? McDoodle Street by Mark Alan Stamaty. I came across a book of this self proclaimed “famous comic strip novel” in the early 1980s. Besides being hilarious, I was charmed by its improvisational nature and it opened up new ways for me to approach comics making. I’m thrilled to see this book being reissued this year.  Fritz The Cat by R. Crumb. Full of vivid details, Crumb’s artwork and writing was both slap dash and masterful and, deceptively, made cartooning look like the most obvious course to take.  Maus by Art Spiegelman. I reread this almost every year and continue to learn from it. 2.What author (living or dead) would you most like to have a cup of coffee with and why? Maybe someone who was known as a grand raconteur like Dorothy Parker? Or someone who witnessed history with such clear eyes like Joseph Roth? Or better yet, how about H.L. Mencken? I bet it would be fun to speak with him about this historical moment. It seems like every quote of his I come across is spot on: “On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.”  3.What books are currently on your bedside table?
 We are very excited to present this week’s “3 Questions” with the writer George Howe Colt, bestselling author of The Big House, which was a National Book Award finalist and a New York Times Notable Book of the Year (and that we LOVED), Brothers, November of the Soul, and his latest book The Game: Harvard, Yale and America in 1968. He lives in Western Massachusetts with his wife, the writer Anne Fadiman.  Mr. Colt will appear at 7 pm on Friday, December 14 at the Norwich Bookstore to discuss The Game: Harvard, Yale and America in 1968. The book offers an analysis of the USA during 1968 as seen through the young men who lived it and were changed by it. These men include a Vietnam Vet, two anti-war activists, an NFL prospect who quit in order to devote his time to black altruism, a postal worker’s son, a wealthy WASP, and the actor Tommy Lee Jones. Mr. Colt’s latest book received a starred review from Kirkus – “A richly detailed, engaging story… First-rate reporting and writing that will appeal to gridiron fans and general readers as well.” We think it would make a great holiday gift for the nonfiction readers in your life, and the Bookstore can ask Mr. Colt to personalize it for you if attend or contact them in advance. This event is free and open to the public, but reservations are recommended as space is limited. Please call 802-649-1114 or email info@norwichbookstore.com to save a seat. Please note this event is on a FRIDAY, not the usual Wednesday night for events at the Norwich Bookstore. 1. What three books have helped shape you into the writer you are today, and why?
The Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett. Of the many books that got me hooked on reading when I was a child, this was my favorite, because it so quickly and completely transported me from the suburbs of Boston to the garrets of London. Selected Poems by T.S. Eliot. After reading The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, I wondered, “How did he know me?” The book that made me decide I wanted not only to read, but also to write. Is There No Place on Earth for Me? by Susan Sheehan. The book that showed me what nonfiction was capable of. 2.What author (living or dead) would you most like to have a cup of coffee with and why?My wife, Anne Fadiman, with whom I am lucky enough to have a cup of coffee—or two—every day. She’s always interesting, always surprising, and makes a mean cold brew. If I had to invite a guest, I’d invite Jack Kerouac, an early literary hero of mine—but only if I could invite the pre-1957 version, before On the Road and all the craziness. 3.What books are currently on your bedside table? I just tidied up my bedside table, reducing some fifty or sixty books to a more-manageable-but-still-tottering skyline of 24. At the plate, on deck, and in the hole, respectively: All on Fire, Henry Mayer’s biography of William Lloyd Garrison; In the Darkroom, Susan Faludi’s memoir of her father; and Scenes of Clerical Life by George Eliot.  Madeleine Kunin — Vermont’s former three-term governor, who also served as the deputy secretary of education and ambassador to Switzerland under President Bill Clinton, and is the author of best selling books about her life in politics — has a new book, Coming of Age. Governor Kunin will appear at 7 pm on Friday, November 16th at the Norwich Bookstore to discuss Coming of Age, her close and incisive look at what it is like to grow old. This event is free and open to the public, but reservations are recommended as space is limited. Please call 802-649-1114 or email info@norwichbookstore.com to save a seat. And now, her answers to our three questions. We note the brevity of her responses with gratitude and laughter as we reflect on how many, many words other politicians are speaking as election day looms. We are also taking this opportunity to personally thank her for how well she governed our home state, and for how gracious, passionate, and diplomatic she remains in all that she does. (By the way, please VOTE on Tuesday, November 6th, even though we can no longer cast a ballot for Governor Kunin.) 1.What three books have helped shape you into the writer you are today, and why?
It’s difficult to pin point what three writers shaped me—In my early years I loved Nancy Drew. Later [books by] Alice Munro, and Ian McEwan. 2.What author (living or dead) would you most like to have a cup of coffee with and why? Margaret Atwood 3.What books are currently on your bedside table? Exit West, Calypso, and South and West. |
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