Monday, November 09, 2015

NYPL Podcast: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Zadie Smith

I love the series of podcast available from the New York Public Library. Last week I listened to this dialogue between Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Zadie Smith. Chimamanda in particular blew me away with her humour, her groundedness, her intelligence.

"When I was 25 I didn’t think in those terms. I didn’t think in that language of ‘I want to find my purpose’. I would advise very strongly that you not think in those terms. It just clouds your head, and you start thinking ‘I have to find my purpose’. I think you should just live. Life is short, do your thing, you just never know, follow what you love… follow what can give you a job so you can eat. There’s something about our culture, everywhere in the world, that makes people think about ‘find your purpose’ and it’s just – why?"

[Listen to the full podcast here]

Monday, November 02, 2015

The Guardian interviews Carrie Brownstein

Interview with Carrie Brownstein from The Guardian. This interview tries to get a little more behind the person, but it seems the real Carrie Brownstein is elusive and revealing at the same time - but isn't this exactly why fans want to read the memoirs?

New York Times reviews Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl

New York Times reviews Carrie Brownstein's Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl. I'm still waiting for the title to reach our side of the ocean.

In an interview with Bust magazine last year, she talked about some of her younger fans: “They just see me as this person they know from television, and then they listen to Sleater-Kinney, and they think: ‘What is this scary music? You seem so happy on the show. What’s wrong? Why are you so upset?’ ”

Sunday, November 01, 2015

Patti Smith Interview with Harper's Bazaar

JJB: I have too many books.

PS: I gave away 20 boxes, but it didn't make a dent. It's terrible. I'll have a whole library to write one song. Sometimes there's a jewel, a bit in one book and a bit in another .… It's like an unfolding screen of the four seasons. You say, "If I get rid of that, then there's no more autumn." I remember when my mother was my age. She'd collected a lot of stuff she bought in thrift stores, at flea markets. Then one day I came to visit her, and the house looked very empty. I said, "Mommy, where are your dolls? Where are the plates?" She'd packed them away. I said, "Are you all right? You're not sick …" She said, "No, I'm keeping the things I like the best. You get to a certain time in your life where you don't want to be fettered by all of your things. You want to have some lightness." Now I understand. This year I put everything into my little house in Rockaway, and now I want to keep my life as unfettered as possible. So maybe I'll just pretend to get rare books from my catalogue, and not really get them.

Harper's Bazaar interview with Patti Smith. [ full interview ]

Gaiman, on Terry Pratchett

Neil Gaiman sharing his memories of Terry Pratchett and writing, with Michael Chabon. It's funny, and touching, and makes me want to re-read Good Omens.