Jami Attenberg is the guest. Her new novel, The Middlesteins, is now available from Grand Central Publishing. Jonathan Franzen raves "The Middlesteins had me from its very first pages, but it wasn't until its final pages that I fully appreciated the range of Attenberg's sympathy and the artistry of her storytelling." Kate Christensen says "The Middlesteins is a truly original American novel, at once topical and universally timeless. Jami Attenberg has created a Midwestern Jewish family who are quintessentially familiar but fiercely, mordantly idiosyncratic. This novel will make you laugh, cry, cringe in recognition, and crave lamb-cumin noodles. This is a stunningly wonderful book." And Kirkus, in a starred review, calls it "Deeply satisfying. . . . A sharp-tongued, sweet-natured masterpiece of Jewish family life." Monologue topics: social anxiety, silent judging, dinners, paranoia, Indiana, tag, shopping malls, faux pas. This podcast now has its own app, available (free!) for the iPhone, iPod, or iPad, and is also availalble (free!) for Android devices. To learn more about the app and how to get access to premium content, please click right here. Also: You can subscribe to the show over at iTunes, or at Stitcher. It's free. Like the podcast? Please take a moment to rate and review it on iTunes. Thank you! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.