Artist Katherine McKenna’s memoir, The Paleontologist's Daughter, discusses her father’s work as a paleontologist, including at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, and of her own field work out West with her father when she was very young. Katherine’s artistic journey started with what she was exposed to at a very young age, and what she learned at the side of her father. Her memoir is as much a beautiful tribute to her father as it is a recounting of her early years. She writes that she will always be grateful for what her Dad instilled in her – “the curiosity, the adventure, the need to grow, to be the idiosyncratic person who gravitates toward the unorthodox”. 

Katherine discusses with me the exploratory, adventure and sometimes death defying trips her Dad took her family on and how those tripos set the stage for he to become the artist  she is today.

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It felt almost historic to be at the New York Public Library to hear Robert Caro talk about his writing career and particularly his relationship with his editor of 50 years Robert Gottlieb. Much of Caro’s work on his Robert Moses biography, “The Power Broker” took place right here at the library about 50 years ago. The relationship between Caro and Gottlieb is the subject of a documentary, “Turn Every Page: The Adventures of Robert Caro and Robert Gottlieb”, directed and produced by Gottlieb's filmmaker daughter Lizzie Gottlieb.

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I’ve recently recommended these ten books to some of my dear younger cousins. I’ve mentioned most of these in my podcasts. “Tell Me What You’re Reading”, wherever you listen to podcasts.

Hamnet, by Maggie O’Farrell

A Gentleman in Moscow, by Amor Towles

The Cold Millions, by Jess Walter

This Time Tomorrow, by Emma Straub

The Latecomer, by Jean Hanff Korelitz

The Plot, by Jean Hanff Korelitz

Trust, by Hernan Diaz

Apeirogon, by Colum McCann

Let the Great World Spin, by Colum McCann

Horse, by Geraldine Brooks

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My podcast guests are Alison Gaylin , a bestselling mystery writer who has been nominated for the Edgar Award four times, and has won the award in the category of Best Paperback Original for If I Die Tonight, and New York Times bestseller and Wendy Corsi Staub, the award-winning author of more than ninety novels, best known for her psychological suspense novels. We discussed The Collective (by Allison) and The Other Family (by Wendy), both compelling, chilling page turners. We also discussed psychological suspense thrillers generally in which the perpetrator is coming from inside the house, or from inside the mind.

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Todd Spire is a licensed fly fishing guide and instructor, and is the owner of Esopus Creel, a company devoted to fly fishing in the Catskill Mountains. Todd has written that, to him, “fishing is church, the one thing that makes time stop, and reminds me about what’s important.” I share those sentiments.

Todd and I discussed on my podcast a book by Leonard Wright called Neversink - One Angler's Intense Exploration of a Trout River. Todd also discussed the perils of trying to control nature, the relationship of the presence of birds and the blooming of flowers to insect hatches, Esopus Creek turbidity, the impact of warm temperatures on our trout fishing, and particularly whether we will be fishing earlier or later in the season as a result of warming temperatures. All consistent with Todd’s drive to learn from observation and experience. a la naturalist John Burroughs, rather than solely from what others have written and from Google.

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Jen Maxfield is an Emmy® Award winning correspondent for NBC 4 New York. She covers breaking news and general assignment stories in New Jersey, and is a fill-in anchor on all of NBC 4 New York’s newscasts. Jen has covered many of the Tri-State area’s most memorable and powerful stories throughout her long career.

More After the Break describes her initial reporting and follow up many years later for the 2003 Staten Island ferry crash, Katrina and Sandy in 2005 and 2012, a 2011 horrendous hit and run casualty, and several other accidents, tragedies and moving stories. The stories themselves are compelling, but mostly I loved Jen’s honesty, and her humility and introspection; the way she expressed the vital role of local news reporters in the community; her bouts of what she referred to as “news guilt”; and her expression of the "moral ambiguity" of her job, while recognizing her professional obligations.

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Hank Neimark and David Aston Reese, the Producing Artistic Director of the Bird-On-A-Cliff Theatre Company in Woodstock, both extraordinarily knowledgeable and enthusiastic Shakespearians, discussed A Midsummer Night’s Dream’s often misguided or misdirected lovers, the Kings and Queens, marriages, and dreams, the irrepressible Bottom and Puck, and the other “mechanicals” and fairies, the play within the play, and the tension between what some think of as one of Shakespeare’s most sexual plays, and also as the one most suitable for children. An unlikely but highly effective combination.

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My guest for this episode is Mark Weeks, a friend and former colleague at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe. Mark has practiced law at Orrick in New York and Tokyo for more than 30 years and after many years as a Partner and head of Orrick’s Tokyo office, Mark is now a Senior Counsel at the firm. Mark is also a world class, award winning, international saltwater fly fisherman.

It is said that first novels are at least partly autobiographical, and much of Mark’s debut novel, Bottled Lightning, neatly overlaps with his life and career: a top global technology lawyer and avid motorcyclist, born in Alaska and practicing law in Japan. The objective of our discussion was to discuss Mark’s novel, and we did. However, we talked at least as much about Melville’s Moby Dick, which I had mentioned in my introduction, and about Mark’s writing journey. All great. Thanks Mark!

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My guest for this episode is Trinh Q. Truong. Trinh came to the U.S. from Vietnam with her mother about 20 years ago. During what we in the U.S. refer to as the Vietnam War, Trinh’s grandfather worked for the governments of the Republic of Vietnam and the United States doing intelligence work, mainly mapping the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Most of the rest of her family was engaged during the war years in democratic activism in the country. After Saigon fell in 1975, Trinh’s grandparents and eight of their children—with the exception of Trinh’s mother, who was one year old—were sent to reeducation labor camps for nine years to atone for their wartime allegiances. Trinh herself is a longtime refugee activist in the U.S. and a recent graduate of Oxford in England with a masters degree in refugee and forced migration studies. Trinh and I discussed The Sympathizer , a beautifully written, dark and tragic novel set during and after the war in Vietnam. The book is ultimately an indictment of the French, the Americans and the Vietnamese themselves.

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My 2021 War and Peace Journey. One chapter a day over the course of the year, with @anderlouis, @brianedenton and The Hemingway List podcast community, and also over 85 days at the pace set by @apublicspace, Yiyun Li, and the great #TolstoyTogether community. “Tolstoy Twice!”I learned the benefits of slow reading (and of re-reading), which provided the ability to focus on the details; the joy of reading together with a global community of online commenters; and, mostly, the brilliance of Tolstoy, including his ability to capture in writing the universal and timeless human condition, both in times of war and in times of peace. I discussed the first half of the book on my podcast discussion in August with @brianedenton (Tell Me What You’re Reading) Looking forward to starting my 2022 War and Peace journey, one chapter a day, on January 1. #tolstoytogether #apublicspace #thehemingwaylist #bookwormsinthewild

(Click on photo above for additional commentary and for my 2021 Twitter journey through War and Peace.)

My guest for this episode is an old friend and one of the leading financial institutions lawyers in the country over the last several decades, Tom Vartanian. Tom discusses his recent book, “200 Years of American Financial Panics - Crashes, Recessions, Depressions, and the Technology That Will Change It All”.

Tom is the former head of the financial institutions practice at two major law firms; the former General Counsel of the Federal Home Loan Bank Board and at the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation; and the former executive director and professor of law at George Mason University's Scalia Law School Program on Financial Regulation & Technology.

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My guest for this episode is Brian E. Denton. Brian has been reading Tolstoy’s great novel War and Peace every year for the last ten years, one chapter a day, which results in a year long read of the 361 chapters. Brian has also produced an e-book titled “War and Peace and A Year of War and Peace”, which includes the full text of the novel as well as Brian’s reflective essays, his insightful commentary on each chapter. War and Peace was brought to my attention at the beginning of the pandemic when I learned of Princeton Professor Yiyun Li’s online “Tolstoy Together” book club, which contemplated reading 15-16 pages a day in order to complete the novel in 85 days. I didn’t jump on Professor Li’s bandwagon but I’m glad I learned of Brian and his work.
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My friend Jim Finnegan discusses Shuggie Bain, by Douglas Stuart; a tough book but a great read. An unfortunate tale of growing up gay in working class poor Glascow with an alcoholic mother; anger, sadness, lack of hope, despair and dependence.

At one point Shuggie’s older brother reflects on his sadness and his anger, and says, “sadness was better than the anger he felt … . Sadness made for a better houseguest; at least it was quiet, reliable, consistent.” And then another character reflects on the hopelessness of them all, saying, “If ye hope, ye also mope.”

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In July 2018, I sat down with our dear friend Evelyn Lerman, in her cabin on the grounds of her beloved Camp Caribou in Winslow Maine, to discuss the loving biography she wrote about her mother. As you can hear in our podcast discussion, I use the excuse of talking to Evelyn about her book to talk with Evelyn about her own life as well.

Evelyn’s mother was a remarkable woman, as was Ev, who passed away on March 17, 2021, at the age of 95. Our entire family is so blessed to have been a part of Ev and Al’s life. Evelyn was a role model and a friend for us all, but most especially for Carol, whose loving relationship with Evelyn was very special. The Altarescus all feel the pain, Carol most deeply among us, but it was Carol who so wisely referred to this loss as a part of the circle of life. We love the entire Lerman family and know that there are so many wonderful memories to sustain them all.

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Charlotte Cross of Oxford, England is working on a tale of the “Brides of Dracula”, following in the footsteps of other novels that have given voice to “marginalized characters”, characters (usually women) who haven't been given the chance to speak in the originals. These others include The Silence of the Girls, by Pat Barker and Wide Sargasso Sea, by Jean Rhys. Charlotte discusses those books, and others, as well as her writing process. Charlotte also discusses the books she has recently read: The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, by Anne Bronte, Hemingway's A Moveable Feast, and Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott.

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Tell Me What You’re Reading - Season Three Wrap Up

Season Three of our “Tell Me What You’re Reading” podcast has just wrapped up. Thanks to all my Season Three guests and to all who listened in to one or more of our podcasts. Lots of fun discussions. More to come. Listen to all “Tell Me What You’re Reading” episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever else you get your podcasts Where to Listen

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Ep. #21 Tracy Sidesinger - What My Mother and I Don't Talk About: Fifteen Writers Break the Silence,

Ep. #22 Subway Book Review - Uli Beutter Cohen

Ep. #23 Uli Beutter Cohen: Books that deal with identity and how to find your place in the world

Ep. #24 Iowa Caucuses - 2020 Book Club discussion with Kendra Dodson Breitsprecher

Ep. #25 Camilla Calhoun - The White Moth

Ep. #26 Allen Guy Wilcox - A Gentleman in Moscow

Ep. #27 Rob Chesnut - Intentional Integrity - How Smart Companies Can Lead an Ethical Revolution— and Why That’s Good for All of Us

Ep. #28 Andrew Rice: Ladies and Gentlemen, The Bronx is burning 1977, Baseball, Politics, and the Battle for the Soul of a City, by Jonathan Mahler

Ep. #29 Andrew Wilcox - Richard Ravitz and Paul Volcker memoirs, Lewis’ The Fifth Risk, JFK, Nixon, and Lepore’s masterpiece, These Truths

Ep. #30 Michael Koryta: The Chill