Literal Magazine has just published my interview with Timothy Heyman about the incomparable legacy of German-Mexican novelist B. Traven— and the mystery, apparently solved, of Traven’s true identity. You can also read Heyman’s essay “Traven’s Triumph” here.
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Earlier this month I published my annual top books read list, so I’ll have to add Christina Thompson’s Sea Peoples: The Puzzle of Polynesia, which I am only a couple of chapters away from finishing, to the 2021 list. What a delight it is! More delightful still to discover Thompson’s webpage with podcasts and YouTube interviews galore.
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This is the time of year for cooking, and with the pandemic, that means even more cooking. My partners in this endeavor, otherwise employed as my writing assistants, communicate by means of dagger-looks which I, by long experience, know to translate as “Gimme me the ham!” and then again, “Gimme the ham!” And then: “Gimme the ham!” Thank goodness for podcasts!
My go-to podcast for the past week has been Cal Newport’s “Deep Questions.” He’s the Joyce Carol Oates of best-sellerdom, that is, to say, how in thundernation does he manage to do so much (and be a tenured professor of computer science)? He tries to explain it in his podcast! As I stir soup and chop the potatoes (…and, as commanded, distribute tiny bites of ham…) I find his podcast strangely soothing.
More cyberflanerie:
My amiga poet, essayist and translator Patricia Dubrava has posted her top books read list here; and novelist, short story writer and essayist Leslie Pietrzyk has posted hers here.
Recommended by my writing assistants:
Pugsnuggly, PugNotes (love the Bummlies!), and the ever-wonderful Apifera Farm and shop of artist Katherine Dunn.
