EP83: New Year, Old Books, New Ideas

Live from the Book Shop: John Updike's Ghost

Sam's had himself a little skiing accident, but powers through a mild concussion to lead us thorugh a discussion of Christmas gift-giving (with a deviation into the Icelandic Christmas Book Flood) and the joys of reading books written quite a while ago. But don't worry! We're reading stuff from 2024 and 2025, too. It's a wiiiide-ranging chit-chat here in the New Year, with some deep philosophical stuff, and a focus on: - "Anti-Semite and Jew," by John-Paul Sartre (which is in print, thanks Knopf) - "Playground," by Richard Powers - "Superbloom," by Nicholas Carr (who posits Martin Luther as the world's first influencer) - "Heir," by Sabaa Tahir (which we decided is NOT YA; Sam was confusing it with "Black Sun") - "The Forever War," by Joe Haldeman (this is important stuff) - "The World She Edited," by Amy Reading (Katharine White was, indeed, EB White's wife)