Ep #12 Kevin Smokler's Kind of People

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This time on the podcast the Tators find out what DTF stands for and how it relates to women's book choices when they travel (spoiler: not at all), geek out about Out of Print's Great Gatsby Game and share their bookmarks. Also there's a mini CWAtC on the Go as the Tators recount their recent visit to the Steinbeck House and National Steinbeck Museum.Then CWAtC has its first author interview with Kevin Smokler, author of Practical Classics:  50 Reasons to Reread 50 Books You Haven't Touched Since High School. To wrap it up the Tators discuss their assigned reading in school and the possible rereads that have occurred and are possible to come.


Where's My Bookmark and other books we mention:

Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex by Mary Roach
The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
Friday Night Bites by Chloe Neill


Websites we mention:
How to Tell If a Lady Will Hump You, Based on the Book She's Reading
Out of Print Clothing's Great Gatsby Game

Literary Loot

Heather's Literary Loot for April

It doesn't look like much, but I promise you -- this bunch makes me feel like I've won the lottery. I really enjoy attending book events where the author gives a talk, participates in a question and answer period, and then holds a signing. Signed books are the Holy Grail for me.

On Wednesday the 17th, I took a trip down to the Commonwealth Club of California to hear Mary Roach discuss her new book, Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal. Roach is smart and witty and wildly entertaining. She also discussed her writing process as well as her other books. To hear audio from the event, click here. While I hadn't yet purchased Gulp, I did happen to bring my copy of Stiff -- the book that introduced me to her funny and informative writing style that has made her famous. She spoke with me briefly and signed my book (pictured bottom, far right).

A week later, on Wednesday the 24th, I headed over to the World Affairs Council of Northern California to hear Shannon O'Neil share her thoughts on Mexico--U.S. relations and talk about her new book, Two Nations Indivisible: Mexico, The United States, and the Road Ahead. The topic of Latin America -- U.S. relations is close to my heart as I graduated with my degree in Latin American and Latino Studies and Politics. I was curious to hear O'Neil's perspectives on the hotbed issues such as politics, immigration, drugs, and violence that dominate the discussions surrounding Mexico and the United States. She kindly signed my book after the event (pictured bottom, center).

Over the weekend, I popped into two local shops: Bookshop West Portal and Two Cats Comic Book Store. At Two Cats, I picked up Gene Luen Yang's American Born Chinese. It looked interesting and I liked the style. Two Cats has a nice amount of non-superhero comics and that keeps me coming back. Down the street, I headed into Bookshop West Portal in search of Kevin Smokler's Practical Classics: 50 Reasons to Reread 50 Books You Haven't Touched Since High School. There's been a lot of buzz around this place because Smokler will be joining some of the Tators for an upcoming podcast. I found the last copy of his book hidden in the back of the store in the reference section (pictured, bottom far left). It also seemed to sport his signature, but the sales lady wasn't able to verify. That led to the following Twitter encounter: 

Author Smokler verified his signature in my book via Twitter!

I definitely got more than I bargained for when I picked up Practical Classics -- but in a very good way! 

Not pictured: a digital copy of Tina Fey's Bossypants -- purchased for $0.99 on Amazon (promotion has ended).

Kevin Smokler

Hey CWAtCers. We have got wonderful news and it actually fits the title of the blog (I know we confuse you with that one). If you've been with us from the start, you know we started as a book group on Goodreads that specializes in classic books, both traditional and contemporary. On the blog, we decided we wanted to cover a lot more of the literary world. It's still a big part of our goal, but there are so many books out there that it's hard to leave them out. 

This is one of those times we delve into our roots. We've gotten our first author booked for the podcast. Kevin Smokler, author of Practical Classics: 50 Reasons to Reread 50 Books You Haven't Touched Since High School  will be joining us for the mid-May episode. I have some questions of my own, but here's your chance to get a few in as well! Add your questions here and I'll try to get them in during the interview.

I'm really excited about this and hope you guys are as well. More info about Kevin and his book can be found here. 

P.S. while we were in SF on April 4th, we ran across this at Books, Inc on Van Ness. 

Friday @ the Forums: March 22nd

Here is what's going on in our forums on Goodreads.

Literary Blogs - Do you have a book blog that you want to share? We'll share your link here on the blog as well.

Practical Classics Questions - Kevin Smokler will be by in May to talk about his book. Post your questions on the thread for him.

Classic Books Mentioned in other Classic Books - Recently we ran across Middlemarch in The Age of Innocence. Do you know of any?

March is Women's History Month - Which female authors are you reading this month?

George Eliot
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