This was fun (via LAist)
The To Do List [interview]
The super awesome Jamie Bono and his friend Keith invited me to appear on The To Do List, their not as scarily efficient as it sounds podcast about getting shit done (or not). Jamie was in the PhD program at Pitt when I was an MFA student there, and he was always the funniest guy in the room — which he’s put to the test, now, by doing stand-up. Me, I prattle cheerfully about my newspaper work of the then-moment (interviewing Simon Pegg) and wonder about people who can see beyond seven days ahead and, say, plan a vacation. Keith? He had to drop out because he had the stomach flu. Or at least, that’s what they told me.
how to accidentally start a twitter meme #replacebooktitleswithbacon
Elissa Schappell brought the bacon, I brought the books: the birth of #replacebooktitleswithbacon at Jacket Copy.
I wrote this [Donald Ray Pollock]
Want to read a good book? Try The Devil All The Time by Donald Ray Pollock.
I wrote this [Dana Spiotta]
A feature on Dana Spiotta in the LA Times; her new novel “Stone Arabia” is fantastic.
A long excerpt from my interview with her ran on Jacket Copy.
I wrote these [LA Times]
On House Hunters International. Because who doesn’t want a sprawling, falling-down farmhouse in the countryside for their few hundred grand?
On Maggie Nelson’s The Art of Cruelty. Because who doesn’t read sweeping popular criticism when not watching reality (fantasy) real estate TV?
I wrote this [Josh Ritter]
In tomorrow’s LA Times, I review Josh Ritter’s debut novel Bright’s Passage.
