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The 10 Most Recent Dispatches
- The Bat Segundo Show: Stephen Fry
- The Bat Segundo Show: Deborah Scroggins
- Komen for the Cowards: Betraying Breast Cancer
- The Bat Segundo Show: Susan Cain
- Forgotten Writers: Dorothy Uhnak
- Dwight Garner’s Revisionist Ignorance: Ayaan Hirsi Ali
- Forgotten Writers: The Novels of John P. Marquand
- The Situation in American Waffles
- The Bat Segundo Show: Elliot Perlman
- The Death of the Heart (Modern Library #84)
Modern Library Reading Challenge
On January 10, 2011, Managing Editor Edward Champion pledged to read the top 100 fiction books from #100 to #1. Read about his progress as he makes his way through the Modern Library canon!
84. The Death of the Heart (January 6, 2012)
85. Lord Jim (November 30, 2011)
86. Ragtime (October 30, 2011)
Books To Jump Up and Down Over
The Call by Yannick Murphy: The always interesting author of Here They Come and Signed, Mata Hari returns with a novel that whips up a worldview from a rather quirky set of limitations: namely, the call logs that a veterinarian maintains as his son is unexpectedly put into a coma and an unforgiving economy denies him work. What emerges is a surprisingly optimistic, often funny, and very moving account on how one family uses acceptance and forgiveness as a way to atone for hard knocks. (Bat Segundo interview with Murphy)
Birds of Paradise by Diana Abu-Jaber: Forget Franzen and Eugenides. If you're looking for a social novel that counts, Diana Abu-Jaber is the author you're looking for. Building from the free-form exploration of consciousness and identity in Crescent and the gripping procedural structure of Origin, Abu-Jaber's latest novel is her finest, equally fluent with gutterpunk culture and smarmy real estate men. It has been suggested by The Washington Post's Ron Charles that you will likely gain some pounds while reading this novel. This is certainly true. Abu-Jaber's description of food is so precise that it often made me want to do more cooking. But I very much admired the way in which Abu-Jaber presents all her characters as unwitting victims of rough capitalism, which permits them some dignity even as they perform terrible acts.
The Last of the Live Nude Girls by Sheila McClear: This memoir isn't so much about the decline of the Times Square peepshow, as it is about one young woman's efforts to pull herself up by by her bootstraps when presented with few economic options. Filled with self-introspective candor and a quiet dignity, McClear's story is one that might befall any of us in these volatile times. While McClear does get back on her feet, her book leads one contemplating the terrible fates of other young women now moving to New York and falling into deadlier vocations. (Bat Segundo interview with McClear)
Mitchell, David Archive
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The Bat Segundo Show: David Mitchell III
Posted on August 12, 2010 | 1 CommentIn this 45 minute radio interview, David Mitchell returns to Bat Segundo to discuss The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, aphorisms, words, morality, language, games, and historical truth. -
David Mitchell — New Novel Alert
Posted on April 3, 2009 | 4 CommentsRandom House has confirmed that the next David Mitchell novel will be released in June 2010. This is, as I understand, a very big and ambitious novel. More so than... -
BREAKING NEWS: Cloud Atlas Film Adaptation in the Works
Posted on January 30, 2009 | 3 CommentsIn what may be one of the oddest cinematic adaptations of all time, First Showing’s Alex Billington reports that Run Lola Run/The International director Tom Tykwer is hard at work... -
Mitchell Alert
Posted on October 9, 2006 | No CommentsDavid Mitchell writes about Kobe Abe’s The Woman in the Dunes. (via ReadySteadyBlog) -
The Bat Segundo Show #55: David Mitchell II, Part Two
Posted on August 17, 2006 | No Comments[NOTE: This is part two of a two-part podcast.] Author: David Mitchell Condition of Mr. Segundo: Miffed by a grand literary theft. Subjects Discussed: The Simpsons, the ambiguity of Norman... -
The Bat Segundo Show #54: David Mitchell II, Part One
Posted on August 16, 2006 | 2 Comments[NOTE: This is part one of a two-part podcast.] Author: David Mitchell Condition of Mr. Segundo: Responding to the crazed accusations of a major film director. Subjects Discussed: The similarities... -
Birnbaum vs. Mitchell
Posted on May 11, 2006 | No CommentsRobert Birnbaum talks with David Mitchell and it looks like he may have discovered Amoeba when he came through San Francisco: “There is a wonderful music store in San Francisco,... -
Waiting for the Swan Man
Posted on May 9, 2006 | No CommentsOne thing that you’ll find on litblogs that you won’t find in your local newspaper are lengthy reports, laced with detail (perhaps too much detail!), of author readings. And for... -
Mitchell Likes to Talk
Posted on May 8, 2006 | No CommentsIt looks like Rick Kleffel also got involved with a lengthy two-part conversation with David Mitchell when he came through town. (And I will concur with Kleffel that I too... -
Contrarian for Contrarian’s Sake
Posted on April 20, 2006 | No CommentsPaul Constant, writing in The Stranger, serves up a contrarian review of Black Swan Green: “Black Swan Green could prove to be Mitchell’s most acclaimed novel yet, although it’s clearly... -
All Mitchell, All the Time
Posted on April 3, 2006 | 1 CommentThe last time David Mitchell came out with a novel, we were mentioning something about almost every breath. Well, let it be known that we’re going to be doing the... -
New Odds on Mitchell
Posted on April 3, 2006 | No CommentsBlack Swan Green passes the Laura Miller Test, which means that the going odds for the Review That Will Take a Hatchet to Mitchell’s New Direction have dramatically shifted. Here’s... -
Black Swan Green Discussion #4
Posted on March 24, 2006 | No Comments[EDITOR'S NOTE: Megan and I conclude our Black Swan Green discussion. Previous discussion: Installments #1, #2 and #3.] We’re in the middle of a blizzard here in the Northeast and... -
Roundup
Posted on March 23, 2006 | 3 CommentsThis may very well be a first. Dan Wickett has launched an Emerging Writers Network Short Fiction Contest, in which he’ll be reading all of the short stories and passing... -
Black Swan Green Discussion #3
Posted on March 22, 2006 | No Comments[EDITOR'S NOTE: The discussion with Megan continues. Previous installments: #1 and #2.] Megan: Good morning! And thanks very much for the response. It suddenly occurs to me that it’s a... -
Gray Lady Turns Yellow?
Posted on March 21, 2006 | 3 CommentsI’m not sure if I buy the logic in this New York Times article about paperback originals: Ms. von Mehren, the publisher, said that following the article in the Book... -
Black Swan Green Discussion #2
Posted on March 21, 2006 | No Comments[EDITOR'S NOTE: This continues the discussion between Megan Sullivan and me. The first installment can be found here. I have tagged potential spoilers in white, but you should be able... -
Black Swan Green Discussion #1
Posted on March 17, 2006 | No Comments[EDITOR'S NOTE: A few weeks ago, the absolutely delightful Megan Sullivan and I emailed each other about David Mitchell's forthcoming novel, Black Swan Green. What follows is the first of... -
Roundup/Update
Posted on February 22, 2006 | 1 CommentPodbop: Enter your city and listen to MP3 snippets of bands touring in your town this week. (via Irregardless) C. Max Magee, having now shifted to a more RSS-friendly home,... -
Black Swan Green Update
Posted on January 26, 2006 | No CommentsFor those who are awaiting the Black Swan Green volley between Megan and me, I assure you that it’s coming very soon! Megan and I are on the case. So... -
75 Books, Book #4
Posted on January 17, 2006 | 1 CommentYou may be shocked to hear this, but I didn’t do a lot of reading over the three-day weekend. Book #4 was David Mitchell’s Black Swan Green. I’ll withhold my... -
The Chair Update
Posted on December 26, 2005 | 1 CommentWe are pleased to report that the chair that was wounded during the course of engineering The Bat Segundo Show #16 has been replaced. (We had sentimental attachments for that... -
Black Swan Green
Posted on December 20, 2005 | 6 CommentsAt the risk of coming across as feverish Harry Knowles types, we have in our hands the galley of David Mitchell’s next novel, Black Swan Green. We cannot confess how... -
David Mitchell — Red Alert
Posted on August 18, 2005 | 3 CommentsThere are now galleys of it — it being David Mitchell’s new novel. Since we’re repeatedly on record her as being major David Mitchell fans, since a character devised by... -
Mitchell on the Shore
Posted on January 11, 2005 | 2 CommentsI don’t know how I missed it, but Mitchell takes on Murakami’s latest. Which makes perfect sense, given how much of a fanboy Mitchell in turn is of Murakami! But... -
On the Rebound
Posted on February 26, 2004 | 1 CommentPerhaps consulting the will of Dr. Evil, Susanna Clarke has netted a millionaire’s deal for Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, an 800-page novel dealing with the last two magicians in...