Nov 15

BOTNS Podcast #155: You’ve Got to Pick a Dickens or Two!

By Michael Kindness Podcasts Add comments

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 23:08 — 13.3MB)

We look at one of the first “Best Books of 2011″ lists, talk about all things Dickens and tell you about two of our current favorite books: Headhunters by Jo Nesbo and Marzi by Marzena Sowa.

Let the Lists Begin

Publisher’s Weekly is one of the first media outlets to name their Best Books of 2011 and it’s an interesting list filled with big names (Jeffrey Eugenides, Tina Fey and Ann Patchett) and some smaller ones (Ali Smith and Maureen McHugh). Ann is thrilled that Donald Ray Pollock’s The Devil All the Time made the list. In case you missed it, she raved about that book back in episode 138. There are plenty more “Best of” lists to come. Start thinking of which books are on your list; in December, we’ll be asking for your favorite book of the year.

You’ve Got to Pick a Dickens or Two! (4:15)

2012 marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Dickens and it will be celebrated in many ways: BBC Films will be releasing a new film version of Great Expectations; the UK newspaper The Guardian, in association with Vintage Classics, is running a photo competition to find a contemporary image to put on the jacket of Oliver Twist: and, apparently, 2012 is the year I finally read Dickens, as Ann chose this episode’s topic partly as a way of guilting me into committing. And I did: Great Expectations in 2012.

Jo Nesbo, Headhunters     Marzi, Marzena Sowa

Two Books We Can’t Wait for You to Read (12:08)

Jo Nesbo’s Headhunters, recently came out in a US edition, in advance of the release of the foreign film based on it. What if a corporate headhunter got to know his clients so well that he was able to steal precious works of art from their homes?
Marzena Sowa’s Marzi, is a beautifully told graphic memoir of growing up in Poland just as Communism was falling. It’s a wonderful blend of the everyday elements of childhood and the nation-changing events occurring around her.

  • ejcrowe42

    Ooh, I love DIckens, actually.  Took a class on him in college.  Hated Great Expectations, though–but if you read it, be sure to pick up Jasper Fforde’s book that features Miss Havisham as a fun companion piece. 

  • JStewart

    I actually have a copy of The Leopard, the Jo Nesbo book that was mentioned that hasn’t been released in the U.S. yet.  I got it from the swap feature on Goodreads…the person that offered it found it in an airport lost and found, apparently from an international flight.  I really need to get it read before the U.S. release date.  Thanksgiving long weekend seems a good time….the book is huge.

  • Becky

    Last year in the New Yorker magazine, Jill Lepore wrote an article called “Dickens in Eden” about The Dickens Project at UC Santa Cruz that sounded like something a real Dickens fan should attend. It’s a one week “dickens camp” that brings together scholars, students, and members of the public for a week of lectures/films/round tables all about Dickens. The only requirement is that you have to read the book that they feature each year. For 2012 it’s Bleak House. Check it out and at dickens.ucsc.edu and you can see part of the New Yorker article there. I’m thinking about going I grew up in Santa Cruz but not sure if I’m a hard core enough Dickensian.

  • Ann in St. Louis

    I love Dickens!  I have read many of his novels and short stories.  I haven’t read one in a while, and finally decided to read “Nicholas Nickleby”.  I think my favorite so far is “David Copperfield”, but I also enjoyed “Great Expectations”, “The Pickwick Papers”, “Martin Chuzzlewit”, and “The Olde Curiosity Shop”.  I enjoyed hearing the podcast so soon after beginning one of his books. It’s very long, so probably will still be reading it when 2012 arrives!

preload preload preload