The Avid Reader Show

Nathanial Rich author of Odds Against Tomorrow

16 Oct 2013

Contributed by Lukas

New York City, the near future: Mitchell Zukor, a gifted young mathematician, is hired by a mysterious new financial consulting firm, FutureWorld.

Lauren Groff author of Arcadia

16 Oct 2013

Contributed by Lukas

In the fields and forests of western New York State in the late 1960s, several dozen idealists set out to live off the land, founding what becomes a f...

Jeff Noon author of Vurt

16 Oct 2013

Contributed by Lukas

Take a trip in a stranger’s head. Travel rain-shot streets with a gang of hip malcontents, hooked on the most powerful drug you can imagine.

Mary Roach author of Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal

16 Oct 2013

Contributed by Lukas

The irresistible, ever-curious, and always best-selling Mary Roach returns with a new adventure to the invisible realm we carry around inside.

Hugh Howey author of Wool

16 Oct 2013

Contributed by Lukas

The first Wool story was released as a standalone short in July of 2011. Due to reviewer demand, the rest of the story was released over the next six ...

Shalom Auslander author of Hope: A Tragedy

16 Oct 2013

Contributed by Lukas

The rural town of Stockton, New York, is famous for nothing: no one was born there, no one died there, nothing of any historical import at all has eve...

George Saunders - Tenth of December

16 Oct 2013

Contributed by Lukas

A new story collection, the first in six years, from one of our greatest living writers, MacArthur "genius grant" recipient and New Yorker contributor...

Ramona Ausubel author of No One Is Here Except All Of Us

30 Jun 2013

Contributed by Lukas

A beguiling, imaginative, inspiring story about the bigness of being alive as an individual, as a member of a tribe, and as a participant in history, ...

At the Mouth of the River of Bees: Stories by Kij Johnson

24 Jun 2013

Contributed by Lukas

A sparkling debut collection from one of the hottest writers in science fiction: her stories have received the Nebula Award the last two years running...

Interview with Rachel Kushner author of "The Flamethrowers"

10 May 2013

Contributed by Lukas

The Flamethrowers is an intensely engaging exploration of the mystique of the feminine, the fake, the terrorist.

Interview with Claire Vaye Watkins author of "Battleborn"

10 Apr 2013

Contributed by Lukas

In each of these ten unforgettable stories, Claire Vaye Watkins writes her way fearlessly into the mythology of the American West, utterly reimaginin...

Interview with Lawrence Krauss author of "A Universe From Nothing"

02 Mar 2013

Contributed by Lukas

“Where did the universe come from? What was there before it? What will the future bring? And finally, why is there something rather than nothing?...

Interview with B.A. Shapiro author of "The Art Forger"

15 Feb 2013

Contributed by Lukas

On March 18, 1990, thirteen works of art today worth over $500 million were stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. It remains the ...

Interview with David Finch author of "Journal of Best Practices: A Memoir of Marriage, Asperger Syndrome and One Man’s Quest to Be a Better Husband"

05 Feb 2013

Contributed by Lukas

At some point in nearly every marriage, a wife finds herself asking, What the @#!% is wrong with my husband?! In David Finch’s case, this turns out ...

Interview with A.M. Homes author of "May We Be Forgiven"

04 Dec 2012

Contributed by Lukas

Harold Silver has spent a lifetime watching his younger brother, George, a taller, smarter, and more successful high-flying TV executive, acquire a co...

Interview with Carol Anshaw author of "Carry The One"

30 Nov 2012

Contributed by Lukas

Interview with Jon Ronson author of "Lost at Sea: The Jon Ronson Mysteries"

30 Nov 2012

Contributed by Lukas

The New York Times-bestselling author of The Psychopath Test, Jon Ronson writes about the dark, uncanny sides of humanity with clarity and humor. Los...

Interview with David Abrams author of "FOBBIT"

30 Nov 2012

Contributed by Lukas

Fobbit 'fä-bit, noun. Definition: A U.S. soldier stationed at a Forward Operating Base who avoids combat by remaining at the base, esp. during Opera...

Interview with Craig Brown author of "Hello, Goodbye, Hello"

04 Nov 2012

Contributed by Lukas

Can you imagine more unlikely meetings than these: Marilyn Monroe and Frank Lloyd Wright; Sergei Rachmaninoff and Harpo Marx; T. S. Eliot and Groucho ...

Interview with author Sadie Stein: "The Paris Review: Object Lessons"

23 Oct 2012

Contributed by Lukas

What does it take to write a great short story? In Object Lessons, twenty-one contemporary masters of the genre answer that question, sharing favorite...

Interview with Justin Torres author of "We The Animals"

13 Oct 2012

Contributed by Lukas

In this groundbreaking debut, Justin Torres plunges us into the chaotic heart of one family, the intense bonds of three brothers, and the mythic effec...

Broadcast with Don Lee, author of "The Collective"

24 Sep 2012

Contributed by Lukas

In 1988, Eric Cho, an aspiring writer, arrives at Macalester College. On his first day he meets a beautiful fledgling painter, Jessica Tsai, and anoth...

Interview with Peter Heller author of "The Dog Stars"

18 Sep 2012

Contributed by Lukas

Hig survived the flu that killed everyone he knows. His wife is gone, his friends are dead, he lives in the hangar of a small abandoned airport with h...

Interview with Sam Kean, author of "The Violinist Thumb"

18 Sep 2012

Contributed by Lukas

Scientists can now read, for the first time, the lost tales buried in the human genome. The Violinist’s Thumb highlights the best of them…

Interview with Charles Yu , author of "Sorry Please Thank You"

18 Sep 2012

Contributed by Lukas

The author of the widely praised debut novel How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe returns with a hilarious, heartbreaking, and utterly o...

Interview with Christopher McDougall author of "Born to Run"

20 Aug 2012

Contributed by Lukas

Full of incredible characters, amazing athletic achievements, cutting-edge science, and, most of all, pure inspiration, Born to Run is an epic adventu...

Interview with Karen Thompson Walker, author of "The Age of Miracles"

13 Aug 2012

Contributed by Lukas

On a seemingly ordinary Saturday in a California suburb, Julia and her family awake to discover, along with the rest of the world, that the rotation o...

Interview with Chris Cleave, author of "Gold"

06 Aug 2012

Contributed by Lukas

What would you sacrifice for the people you love?“Cleave goes for the gold and brings it home in his thrillingly written and emotionally rewarding n...

Interview with April Bernard author of "Miss Fuller"

30 Jul 2012

Contributed by Lukas

What does one sensitive but ordinary woman makes of a publicly disgraced woman like Fuller, and how do women make use of what they learn from other wo...

Interview with April Bernard author of "Miss Fuller"

30 Jul 2012

Contributed by Lukas

She was the most famous woman in America. And nobody knew who she was.It is 1850. Margaret Fuller--feminist, journalist, orator, and "the most famous ...

Interview with Jess Walter author of "Beautiful Ruins"

28 Jul 2012

Contributed by Lukas

The acclaimed, award-winning author of the national bestseller The Financial Lives of the Poets returns with his funniest, most romantic, and most pur...

Interview with Gillian Flynn author of "Gone Girl"

21 Jul 2012

Contributed by Lukas

On a warm summer morning in North Carthage, Missouri, it is Nick and Amy’s fifth wedding anniversary. Presents are being wrapped and reservations ar...

Interview with Alice LaPlante author of "Turn of Mind"

12 Jul 2012

Contributed by Lukas

Is the perfect murder the one you can’t forget or the one you can’t remember? Dr. Jennifer White, a brilliant former surgeon in the early grips o...

Interview with Stephen Greenblatt author of "The Swerve"

12 Jul 2012

Contributed by Lukas

One of the world’s most celebrated scholars, Stephen Greenblatt has crafted both an innovative work of history and a thrilling story of discovery, i...

Interview with Susan Cain author of "Quiet"

12 Jul 2012

Contributed by Lukas

Passionately argued, impressively researched, and filled with indelible stories of real people, Quiet shows how dramatically we undervalue introverts,...

Interview with Tom Standage author of "An Edible History of Humanity"

12 Jul 2012

Contributed by Lukas

More than simply sustenance, food historically has been a kind of technology, changing the course of human progress by helping to build empires, promo...

Interview with Ernest Cline author of " Ready Player One"

12 Jul 2012

Contributed by Lukas

Like most of humanity, Wade Watts escapes his grim surroundings by spending his waking hours jacked into the OASIS, a sprawling virtual utopia that le...

Interview with Jennifer Egan author of "A Visit from the Goon Squad"

19 May 2012

Contributed by Lukas

Jennifer Egan’s spellbinding interlocking narratives circle the lives of Bennie Salazar, an aging former punk rocker and record executive, and Sasha...

Interview with Lionel Shriver author of "The New Republic"

14 May 2012

Contributed by Lukas

A droll, playful novel, "The New Republic" addresses weighty issues like terrorism with the deft, tongue-in-cheek touch that is vintage Shriver. It al...

Interview with Joshua Foer author of "Moonwalking With Einstein"

10 May 2012

Contributed by Lukas

Foer’s unlikely journey from chronically forgetful science journalist to U.S. Memory Champion frames a revelatory exploration of the vast, hidden im...

Interview with Dana Spiotta author of "Stone Arabia"

16 Apr 2012

Contributed by Lukas

"Stone Arabia", Dana Spiotta’s moving and intrepid third novel, is about family, obsession, memory, and the urge to create — in isolation, at the ...

Interview with Stewart O'Nan author of "The Odds" and "Emily, Alone"

26 Mar 2012

Contributed by Lukas

Unlike anyone else, O’Nan delivers a new book every year that speaks directly to the anxieties of our fearful times

Interview with Audrey Schulman author of "3 Weeks in December"

26 Mar 2012

Contributed by Lukas

"Remarkably fresh, complex and memorable... Max’s adventure would be enough to fill any book." - New York Times Sunday Book Review

Interview with Liz Moore author of "Heft"

26 Mar 2012

Contributed by Lukas

Former academic Arthur Opp weighs 550 pounds and hasn’t left his rambling Brooklyn home in a decade. Twenty miles away, in Yonkers, seventeen-year-o...

Interview with Adam Wilson author of "Flatscreen"

26 Mar 2012

Contributed by Lukas

"Flatscreen" tells the story of Eli Schwartz as he endures the loss of his home, the indifference of his parents, the success of his older brother, an...

Interview with Margot Livesey author of "The Flight of Gemma Hardy"

21 Mar 2012

Contributed by Lukas

A captivating tale, set in Scotland in the early 1960s, that is both an homage to and a modern variation on the enduring classic Jane Eyre.

Interview with Eleanor Brown author of "The Weird Sisters"

16 Mar 2012

Contributed by Lukas

A major new talent tackles the complicated terrain of sisters. A winsome novel that explores sibling rivalry, the power of books, and the places we de...

Ben Marcus - The Flame Alphabet

06 Mar 2012

Contributed by Lukas

Sam interviews Ben Marcus author of "The Flame Alphabet". Listen as Sam and Ben discuss Ben's new novel about how far we will go, and the sorrows we ...

Adam Johnson - The Orphan Master's Son

29 Feb 2012

Contributed by Lukas

Join Sam and Adam as they discuss Adam's book "The Orphan Master's Son".An epic novel and a thrilling literary discovery, The Orphan Master’s Son fo...

Interview with Alex Gilvarry author of "From the Memoirs of a Non-Enemy Combatant"

27 Feb 2012

Contributed by Lukas

Listen to Sam's and Alex discuss Alex's new book "From the Memoirs of a Non-Enemy Combatant: A Novel". Fashionistas and g-men clash in a masterful d...

Ryan Boudinot author of Blueprints of the Afterlife

11 Feb 2012

Contributed by Lukas

Sam talks with the "wickedly talented" (Boston Globe) and "darkly funny" (New York Times Book Review) Ryan Boudinot, on his new book Blueprints of the...

Jill McDevitt - Fighting The Crusade Against Sex

02 Feb 2012

Contributed by Lukas

Take an attractive young blonde, a sex shop, a political candidate, and add a Catholic Church for good measure, and you have the recipe for a riveting...

Alexis Smith author of Glaciers

01 Feb 2012

Contributed by Lukas

Isabel is a single, twentysomething thrift-store shopper and collector of remnants, things cast off or left behind by others. Glaciers follows Isabel ...

American Dervish by Ayad Akhtar

26 Jan 2012

Contributed by Lukas

What a pleasure to encounter a first novel as self-assured and effortlessly told as Ayad Akhtar’s “American Dervish.” Mr. Akhtar, a first-genera...

Julia Scheeres, author of A Thousand Lives: The Untold Story of Hope, Deception, and Survival at Jonestown

09 Nov 2011

Contributed by Lukas

Diana Abu Jaber, author of Birds Of Paradise

03 Nov 2011

Contributed by Lukas

Anne Enright, author of The Forgotten Waltz

03 Nov 2011

Contributed by Lukas

Mitchell Zuckoff, author of Lost In Shangri La

25 Oct 2011

Contributed by Lukas

James Reeves, author of The Road To Somewhere

14 Oct 2011

Contributed by Lukas

Lisa Genova, author of Left Neglected

14 Oct 2011

Contributed by Lukas

Ransom Riggs, author of Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children

14 Oct 2011

Contributed by Lukas

Michael Byers, author of Percival's Planet

14 Oct 2011

Contributed by Lukas

Nina Burleigh, author of The Fatal Gift Of Beauty

15 Sep 2011

Contributed by Lukas

Jerry Blavat, author of You Only Rock Once

30 Aug 2011

Contributed by Lukas

Lev Grossman, author of The Magician King

25 Aug 2011

Contributed by Lukas

Lev Grossman, author of The Magician King

Amor Towles, author of "Rules Of Civility"

16 Aug 2011

Contributed by Lukas

Stefan Merrill Block author of The Storm At The Door

15 Aug 2011

Contributed by Lukas

Lily King author of Father of the Rain

28 Jul 2011

Contributed by Lukas

Sam talks to Lily King, author of Father of the Rain, a New York Times editor's choice book.

Michael Sims author of E.B. White, The Story of Charlotte's Web

20 Jul 2011

Contributed by Lukas

Michael Sims, whose new biography of E.B. White, The Story of Charlotte's Web, has been featured on NPR and in USA Today.Also, join us at Wellington S...

Kate Christensen author of The Astral

20 Jul 2011

Contributed by Lukas

Sam talks to Kate Christensen, author of The Astral (2011) and The Great Man, which won the 2008 PEN/Faulkner award.

David J. Linden author of The Compass of Pleasure..

01 Jul 2011

Contributed by Lukas

On this edition of the Avid Reader, Sam talks with David J. Linden, professor of neuroscience at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He's...

Craig Johnson author of Hell is Empty

22 Jun 2011

Contributed by Lukas

Listen in to the Avid Reader interview with Craig Johnson, author of Hell is Empty and six other Walt Longmire mysteries (coming soon to A&E!).

Erik Larson author of The Devil in the White City..

17 Jun 2011

Contributed by Lukas

In 2003, Erik Larson published "The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic and Madness at the Fair that Changed America" to an incredible response fro...

Geraldine Brooks author of Caleb's Crossing

13 Jun 2011

Contributed by Lukas

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Geraldine Brooks joins Sam on this edition of the Avid Reader. Her newest novel, CALEB'S CROSSING, tells the story of th...

Jean Thompson author of The Year We Left Home

24 May 2011

Contributed by Lukas

Sam talks to Jean Thompson, whose newest novel, The Year We Left Home, follows an Iowa family over three decades.

Alice Ozma author of The Reading Promise

18 May 2011

Contributed by Lukas

When Alice Ozma was in fourth grade, she and her father made a pact: he would read aloud to her every night for 100 nights. 100 nights quickly turned ...

Adam Haslett author of Union Atlantic

12 May 2011

Contributed by Lukas

In his novel Union Atlantic Adam Haslett describes a global economic crisis similar to our own. He and Sam discuss writing and economics in novels on ...

Peter Mountford author of A Young Man's Guide to Late Capitalism

27 Apr 2011

Contributed by Lukas

Sam talks to Peter Mountford, author of A Young Man's Guide to Late Capitalism.

Arthur Phillips author of The Tragedy of Arthur

27 Apr 2011

Contributed by Lukas

Arthur Phillips, author of Prague and The Tragedy of Arthur, joins Sam on the Avid Reader Show.

Lionel Shriver author of So Much for That

14 Apr 2011

Contributed by Lukas

On this edition of the Avid Reader, Sam talks Lionel Shriver, whose newest novel So Much for That is now available in paperback. In 2005, Shriver was ...

Jonathan Evison author of West of Here

06 Apr 2011

Contributed by Lukas

Jonathan Evison joins Sam to talk about West of Here, his epic novel of the Pacific Northwest.

David Halperin author of Journal of a UFO Investigator

05 Apr 2011

Contributed by Lukas

David Halperin talks about his coming-of-age novel Journal of a UFO Investigator. It's a story of aliens, alienation and imagination set in the 1960s....

Bradford Morrow author of Diviner's Tale

22 Mar 2011

Contributed by Lukas

Sam talks to Bradford Morrow, author of the Diviner's Tale and editor of Conjunctions literary magazine.

Justin Kramon author of Finny

22 Mar 2011

Contributed by Lukas

Justin Kramon talks to Sam about his debut novel Finny, a coming-of-age tale set at a Maryland boarding school and featuring a "Dickensian coterie" of...

Téa Obreht author of The Tiger's Wife

09 Mar 2011

Contributed by Lukas

An interview with Téa Obreht, whose debut novel "The Tiger's Wife" has been receiving rave reviews. She's also the youngest member of the New Yorker'...

Karen Russell author of Swamplandia!

22 Feb 2011

Contributed by Lukas

Karen Russell talks to Sam about her first novel, Swamplandia!, a family tale set at a shabby tourist attraction in the Everglades.

Kim Edwards author of The Memory Keeper's Daughter

21 Feb 2011

Contributed by Lukas

The author of The Memory Keeper's Daughter joins Sam on this edition of the Avid Reader to talk about her new book, The Lake of Dreams.

Michael Sims author of Adam's Naval

08 Feb 2011

Contributed by Lukas

Sam Hankin is joined by Michael Sims, the author of "Adam's Naval," "Natural And Cultural History Of The Human Form," and "Apollo's Fire: A Day On Ear...

Tracy Kidder author of Strength in What Remains

02 Feb 2011

Contributed by Lukas

The Avid Reader talks to Tracy Kidder, prolific author of literary non-fiction, about his books Strength in What Remains and Mountains Beyond Mountain...

Charles Yu author of How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe

02 Feb 2011

Contributed by Lukas

Charles Yu, author of How To Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe, talks to Sam about time travel and more.

Thrity Umrigar author of The Space Between Us

20 Jan 2011

Contributed by Lukas

Sam interviews Thrity Umrigar, bestselling author of THE SPACE BETWEEN US and THE WEIGHT OF HEAVEN.

Chris Cleave author of Little Bee

20 Jan 2011

Contributed by Lukas

Sam talks with Chris Cleave, author of LITTLE BEE and INCENDIARY.

The Bicycle Diaries: A Chapter from the Audio Book

17 Jan 2011

Contributed by Lukas

We listen to a chapter from David Byrne's travel memoir the Bicycle Diaries.

Susan Weidener, author of Again in a Heartbeat

04 Jan 2011

Contributed by Lukas

Sam talks to Susan Weidener about memoirs, writing groups, and her book Again in a Heartbeat.

Helen Simonson author of Major Pettigrew's Last Stand

24 Dec 2010

Contributed by Lukas

Helen Simonson, author of Major Pettigrew's Last Stand, talks to Sam about her novel. It's also our book club pick for January!

Paul Harding author of Tinkers

07 Dec 2010

Contributed by Lukas

Paul Harding, 2010 Pulitzer Prize winner for Tinkers, chats with Sam about writing, belief, and the father-son relationship at the heart of his novel....

Jen Bryant author of River of Words

07 Dec 2010

Contributed by Lukas

Sam talks with Jen Bryant, Caldecott Award Honoree for River of Words and author of young adult novel The Fortune of Carmen Navarro.

Tatiana de Rosnay author of Sarah's Key

02 Dec 2010

Contributed by Lukas

The best-selling author and book club favorite talks to the Avid Reader about her novels Sarah's Key and A Secret Kept.