Books Du Jour - Season 1 (2014)

This week on "Books du Jour," our guests gather around a table at City Winery to discuss the scent of their new book and share some musing. The interesting aspect about scents is that they are always intimately tied to a location and more particularly to soils. Our three guests carry a distinctive sense of place. Mark Slouka, "Brewster," writes about Brewster, NY, a poignant novel of coming of age, based in the late 60s', about a young man seeking his place in this small country town. There is little wandering outside the borders. Lara Vapnyar complicates the issue of...

This week on "Books du Jour," our guests bring some controversy to the table. Conversations move around such topics as the 10,000-hours theory that could turn an average athlete into a world athlete, unless you have the perfect genetic makeup and can bypass the process. David Epstein, in "The Sport Gene," addresses this sort of issues in a highly entertaining book. How much of our genes define our chances to succeed in sports? David M. Howitt, in "Heed you Call," circles back to the hero's journey as defined by Joseph Campbell, to show that putting our mind into a ...

On the eve of the Supreme Court decision to lift off ceiling on corporate contributions, we will talk with Scott Turow and his new book, "Identical," which deals with the abuse of money used during a mayoral election. Stephan Talty brings a touch of frigid crispiness from upstate New York with his serial killer, "Hangman," who continues to spread havoc among the population of Buffalo. While Jean Hanff Korelitz, in "You Should Have Known" deals with the ironic twist a therapist experiences, when she becomes the victim of circumstances, which force her to swallow the ...

This week's episode of "Books Du Jour" looks at "transplant" literature. Andre Aciman, who over the years has become a specialist of squares: Abingdon Square, Strauss Park (which looks like a square) and Harvard Square, his latest novel, reflects on the voice of integration. Egyptian born, Andre shares through his novel the daily struggle he encounters to define his identity, the acceptance of other precepts and values, be they moral or ethical. Born in Sarajevo (Bosnia), Aleksandar Hemon offers a different voice, a voice of authenticity and appropriation even in the ...

The guests cannot emphasize enough the importance of turf. Turf is the stuff of the locals and inherent affinity with the material. Karin Slaughter, the Georgia native, does not drift too far from her roots with her recent novel 'Unseen". Henry Chang's Death Money, follows Jack Yu and his clairvoyant sidekick, into the mystery of the death of an unidentified Asian man and reveals a world both compelling and mysterious in New York City's Chinatown. Maria Konnikova, originally from Russia, explores the many fertile fields of Sherlock Holmes's mind, using the Sir Arthur ...

This week's episode of "Books du Jour," continues our mission to share different kinds of literature and books. The guests who have accepted to share our table are perfect examples of our mission. Kelly Cosgwell has written a memoir of blood, sweat and spit. "Eating Fire," is a heart-pumping account of old fashioned activism. In this instance, her memory of the Lesbian Avengers, a group formed in the early 90's, who called for direct action campaigns, battling cops, and mobilizing 20,000 dykes in DC while literally eating fire outside the White House. "Eating Fire" is...

This week's episode of "Books Du Jour," continues our mission to share literature from around the world. George Prochnik, "The Impossible Exile, Stefan Zweig at the End of the World," portraits the last years of Stefan Zweig's, once one of the most celebrated authors in the 30's, exile from Austria, after Hitler took power. George Prochnik looks into the Zweig's disintegration and growing disillusion with humanity as he struggles in NY and Brazil. Boris Fishman, "The Replacement Life" looks back at WWII and how it continues to shape the life of people, in this case, ...

Nicole C. Kear, "Now I see You". Shortly after arriving in college, Nicole is afflicted by a macular degenerative condition. In other words, she will go blind in a few years. This heartfelt memoir traces her journey from learning about her illness through the years of turmoil while attempting to hide her condition, to self-acceptance that only the arrival of children could facilitate. Christopher Beha, "Arts and Entertainments," follows the meandering of a failed screenwriter, for whom the prospect of an easy gain, and so in order to pay for his wife's pregnancy ...

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