Episode 271 – Christopher Brown
Episode 255 – Henry Wessells
Episode 174 – Ann Patty
Virtual Memories Show #174:
Ann Patty
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“I’m an enthusiast. I think that’s why I was a good editor. I fall in love with things and I get very enthusiastic and I boost them. Now I’m a Latin enthusiast.”
Why did former publisher and book editor Ann Patty start studying Latin at age 58? Find out in our conversation about her book, Living with a Dead Language: My Romance with Latin
“This is going to sound grandiose, but I’m going to say it: I identified with Aeneas because I had to find a new homeland just like he did. My homeland was the publishing world and I was exiled.”
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We also talk about where mainstream book publishing has gone wrong, what it was like to be the oldest student in the room by 40 years, how her experience as a publisher and editor helped and hurt her as a first-time author, how Abigail Thomas tricked her into writing a book, the benefits of inflection, her new career goal of Girl Latin Reporter, and more! Give it a listen! And become a patron of this podcast via Patreon or Paypal to get access to bonus conversation with Ann and a big ol’ list of all the books we talked about.
“Editors have been disempowered in favor of groupthink, and there’s nothing more horrible than groupthink. Any book I was ever successful with would not have been bought if it had been subject to groupthink. I include Life of Pi.”
Enjoy the conversation! Then check out the archives for more great episodes! You might like:
Follow The Virtual Memories Show on iTunes, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, and RSS!
About our Guest
Ann Patty worked in New York trade publishing for more than 30 years. She was the founder and publisher of The Poseidon Press and an executive editor at Crown Publishers and Harcourt. Her first discovery as an editor was V. C. Andrews’ Flowers in the Attic
Credits: This episode’s music is Nothing’s Gonna Bring Me Down by David Baerwald, used with permission of the artist. The conversation was recorded at Ann’s home on a pair of Blue enCORE 200 Microphones
Episode 127 – The Meandering Reflections of a Literary Sybarite
Virtual Memories Show #127:
Michael Dirda – The Meandering Reflections of a Literary Sybarite
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“I enjoy going back to Lorain, Ohio because I’m reminded that the world of Washington and the East Coast literary establishment is a very narrow, special one that’s parochial in its own way. The rest of the world has other concerns: family, job and life in general. Whereas we get all up in arms about very minor things.”
Pulitzer Prize-winning book reviewer Michael Dirda rejoins the show to talk about his new collection, Browsings: A Year of Reading, Collecting, and Living with Books
“The books that you don’t grasp immediately, the ones that leave you off-kilter . . . those are often the books that really last, and matter.”
Our first three-time guest also talks about the democratization of book reviewing, the problems of storing books in his basement, what he wants an author to think upon reading his book review of a book, his affinity for Clive James’ work, whether his reviews have a coded autobiographical element to them, how the limitations of the book review form shaped his style, why he disagrees with John Clute’s philosophy on spoilers, and more!
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We talk about a lot of books in this episode. Here’s a list of ’em (Note: if I ever go to a Patreon crowdfunding model for the show, this is the first thing that goes subscriber-only):
- Little Big Man
– Thomas Berger
- Suspects
– Thomas Berger
- The Creators: A History of Heroes of the Imagination
– Daniel Boorstin
- The Discoverers
– Daniel Boorstin
- Heart of Darkness
– Joseph Conrad
- The Unquiet Grave: A Word Cycle by Palinurus
– Cyril Connolly
- The Moving Toyshop
– Edmund Crispin
- Browsings: A Year of Reading, Collecting, and Living with Books
- Readings: Essays and Literary Entertainments
– Michael Dirda
- On Conan Doyle: Or, The Whole Art of Storytelling
– Michael Dirda
- The Robe
– Lloyd C. Douglas
- The New Lifetime Reading Plan: The Classical Guide to World Literature, Revised and Expanded
– Clifton Fadiman
- Party of One
– Clifton Fadiman
- Enter Conversing
– Clifton Fadiman
- The Recognitions
– William Gaddis
- Muse: A novel
– Jonathan Galassi
- The Green Carnation
– Robert Hichens
- The Odyssey
– Homer
- Appleby’s End
– Michael Innes
- Cultural Amnesia: Necessary Memories from History and the Arts
– Clive James
- Kim
– Rudyard Kipling
- Zorba the Greek
– Nikos Kazantzakis
- Dazzle
– Judith Krantz
- V R Lang: Poems & Plays with a Memoir
– Alison Lurie
- Extraordinary Popular Delusions and The Madness of Crowds
– Charles Mackay
- Bright Lights, Big City
– Jay McInerney
- The Scarlet Pimpernel
– Baroness Orczy
- Atlas Shrugged
– Ayn Rand
- Burning the Days: Recollection
– James Salter
- Memorable Days: The Selected Letters of James Salter and Robert Phelps
- Anathem
– Neal Stephenson
- Walden
– Thoreau
- Stoner
– John Williams
- On Writing Well
– William Zinsser
Enjoy the conversation! Then check out the archives for more great episodes! You might like:
- Michael Dirda, part 1 and part 2
- Clive James
- John Crowley, Scott Edelman
- Frank Wilson
- Jessa Crispin
Follow The Virtual Memories Show on iTunes, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, and RSS!
About our Guest
Michael Dirda is a weekly book columnist for The Washington Post, and he received the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for criticism. He is the author of the memoir, An Open Book: Chapters fom a Reader’s Life
Credits: This episode’s music is Ah, Putrefaction by Jaristo, from Hans Zimmer’s film music for Sherlock Holmes. The conversation was recorded at the Boston Marriott Burlington on a pair of Blue enCORE 200 microphones
