About 100 years ago, an advertising executive had an idea. A book club, that would send members new books every month.
Photo by Jonathan Simcoe
If that sounds like a familiar idea, you’ve just heard the story of the Book Of The Month club.
Ernest Hemingway was among the first authors the club featured. Later, BOMC helped launch the careers of writers like Margaret Mitchell and Nelson DeMille.
The editor in chief of the book of the month club is a powerful executive, and from 1988 to 1994, that position was held by British-born
Brigitte Weeks.
She brought a deep experience in publishing to the position.
I met her in 1991, when we had a lively discussion about how BOMC operates .
So here now, from 1991,Brigitte Weeks
Brigitte Weeks is 79 now, and is still working with books, as head of crossings book club.
Tomorrow is Major League baseball’s opening day, the first day of the 2023 season.
On the first day of a 162 game schedule, every team is in first place. Any team can win the world series. And a batter can hit /400, and a picture can have a no-hitter.
The world is full of possibilities .
On the Opening Day roster for the St. Louis Cardinals in 1946 was a rookie catcher named Joe Garageola.
That year Joe played in his first, and only, World Series. He was a major leaguer for nine seasons, playing for the Cardinals, the Pirates, the Cubs, and the Giants.
But after his retirement from the game, Joe Garagiola found another career in which he had much greater success.
Television.
He did sports broadcasting, but also game shows, and even substitute hosting on the Tonight Show.
I met him in 1988, when he was promoting his book It’s Anybody’s Ballgame, about his post baseball career.
No, to add some context to the interview you’re about to hear. We talked just a couple of weeks into the 1988 season, but already by that time the hapless Baltimore Orioles had a 13 game losing streak, a major league record. Sadly he Os Went on to lose their first 21 games in a row, which still stands as the major league record.
Do you ever watch the Food Network? If so, you know who Ina Garten is.
But long before she became the channel’s most popular host, Garten worked in the White House, in the Office of Management and Budget.
That is, until the opportunity to buy a small rspecialty food store in New York’s Hamptons opened up. She kept the store’s name, Barefoot Contessa, and grew it very successfully.
When I met Ina Garten in 1999, she had finally been persuaded to write a cookbook, which turned out to be far, far more popular than even her publisher had hoped.
And three years after the interview you’re about to hear, garden joined the food Network, or her show was a fan favorite for nearly 20 years.
So , from the spring of 1999, Ina Garten.
Ina Garten is 75 now, and yes, still cooking, entertaining, and writing. Cookbooks.
Today, March 24th 2023, would have been comedian Louie Anderson’s 70th birthday.
I first met Louie in 1989, when he published a book of letters to his alcoholic father, a book called Dear Dad. We talked again about that book a couple of years later, and then in 1993 I interviewed him again, for his book called Goodbye Jumbo, Hello Cruel World.
Louie struggled with his weight, and his self-image, for decades. Of course, he turned his weight problem into a source of comedy that made him immensely popular.
But it was in writing both those books that Louie Anderson really started to figure out who he was, and what he really wanted.
So I’ve decided today to offer you highlights of both interviews , starting with our conversation about Dear Dad. S
The next time I talked to Louie was in 1993. His book Goodbye Jumbo, Hello Cruel World was a chronicle of his struggles with weight. So here now, from 1993, Louie Anderson.
In 1993, the term “woke” had not been invented yet. But a prominent law professor nominated for a high position in the US government Saw her nomination done in by what we would now know as “anti-woke” sentiment.
Her name was Lani Guinier. President Bill Clinton nominated her to be assistant attorney general for civil rights.
That’s, of course, when closer scrutiny of her past writings began. And, she says, that’s when the misrepresentations of her writings began.
Guinier was a strong advocate of voting rights, and a strong believer that all minority voices should be heard in a democracy.
Ultimately, her voice was drowned out by her critics’ voices, and President Clinton withdrew her nomination.
I met her the following year, when she was on a book tour. So here now, from 1994, Lani Guinier.
In recent months you could argue that Florida has become the de facto ground zero for book banning in schools.
Hundreds of titles, ranging from the extreme to the innocuous, have been deemed unsatisfactory for students in Florida public schools.
Recently, the school board in Martin county, Florida banned 20 books by best-selling author Jodi Picoult.
Her books are best sellers because she directly and maturely treats subjects such as race, gender, sexuality, even abortion rights in weaving, dramatic stories.
II’ve interviewed Jody Pico several times, including in 2004, when we talked about one of the books that has now been banned in Martin county, a book called
In recent months you could argue that Florida has become the de facto ground zero for book banning in schools.
Hundreds of titles, ranging from the extreme to the innocuous, have been deemed unsatisfactory for students in Florida public schools.
Recently, the school board in Martin county, Florida banned 20 books by best-selling author Jodi Picoult.
Her books are best sellers because she directly and maturely treats subjects such as race, gender, sexuality, even abortion rights in weaving, dramatic stories.
I’ve interviewed Jody Pico several times, including in 2004, when we talked about one of the books that has now been banned in Martin county, a book called my sister’s keeper.
It’s about a teenaged girl named Anna, who sues her parents to win a measure of bodily autonomy. You see, Anna has sent much of her life functioning as tissue donor for her chronically and seriously ill sister Kate.. Finally it becoms too much for Anna to bear any longer. The story is tole from multiple points of view.
So here now, from 2004, Jody Pico.
Jodi Pico is 58. She and her family live in New England.
Holly Near was just 8 years old when she first performed in public. And in a career that has now spanned over 50 yearse, Near has established herself as a folk music legend.
Actually, she calls herself a troubadour.
And she’s a talented actress, appearing in episodes of The Mod Squad, All in The Family, and The Partridge family, as well as on Broadway in the musical “Hair.”
Near is also a member of the LGBTQ community, at a strong supporter of gay rights for many decades.
I met her in 1990, when she published an autobiography called Fire in The Rain, Singer in The Storm.
So here now, from 1990, Holly Near.
Holly Near will be 74 in June, and still performs regularly.
Ask any serious fan of science fiction who the three most influential authors of the genre of the 20th century were. They will likely say Arthur c. Clarke, Robert Heinlein, and Isaac Asimov.
In a career that spanned more than half a century, Asimov wrote or edited over 500 books. And even though he was primarily known for his science fiction, Asimov also wrote mysteries and fantasy and non-fiction.
And besides all that, he was a professor at Boston University.0
I met him in 1988, when he published a book called Prelude to Foundation, the latest in that popular series.
