Podcasts about our country friends

Author and seasoned travel writer Gary Shteyngart had never been on a ship larger than the Staten Island Ferry before he embarked on the inaugural voyage of the “Icon of the Seas,” the world's largest cruise ship. Proudly sporting a “Daddy's Little Meatball” t-shirt that he hoped would be a conversation starter and aiming to make new friends, Shteyngart instead experienced loneliness and despair. He chronicles his experience in the Atlantic Magazine piece “Crying Myself to Sleep on the Biggest Cruise Ship Ever.” Shteyngart joins us to talk about this journey, his life as a travel writer and the vacations that can make you feel part of — or alienated from — the rest of the world. Guest: Gary Shteyngart, writer. His latest piece for the Atlantic is titled "Crying Myself to Sleep on the Biggest Cruise Ship Ever"; author, "Our Country Friends, "Little Failure: A Memoir," and "Super Sad True Love Story."

Librarians Sarah and Meagan talk about the delightful novel Tom Lake by Ann Patchett. In it, a former actress recounts her summer with a famous actor, as she and her adult daughters pick cherries during the pandemic shutdown. Also mentioned: Our Town by Thornton Wilder; Bel Canto, The Dutch House, Truth and Beauty, and State of Wonder by Ann Patchett; Autobiography of a Face by Lucy Grealy; The Sentence by Louise Erdrich; and Our Country Friends by Gary Shteyngart. To see Ann Patchett Dec. 6 at the Oriental Theatre in Milwaukee, but your ticket at https://mkefilm.org/events/an-evening-with-ann-patchett. Check out books and movies at countycat.mcfls.org, wplc.overdrive.com and hoopladigital.com. For more about WAPL, visit westallislibrary.org. Music: Tim Moor via Pixabay

Here are two classic conversations from This Is TASTE featuring two literary titans. George Saunders is the author of many works, including the Booker Prize–winning Lincoln in the Bardo. Here we talk about pizza and Italian delis on the South Side of Chicago, as well as lunch in the Texas oil fields. We discuss success in the kitchen and how intuition crashes together with luck, and we speculate on the shape of food in the year 2300.Also on the show is Gary Shteyngart, a New York Times best-selling novelist and food writer who has written memorable books including The Russian Debutante's Handbook, Super Sad True Love Story, and his most recent work, the rollicking pandemic satire Our Country Friends. In this episode, we talk about some of Gary's world travels, both as a hired gun and for fun, as well as what he's eating and drinking in his Upstate New York home. We also remember New York City restaurants from the 1990s and early 2000s, including fond memories of the long-lost Meatpacking District bistro Florent, which plays a role in Gary's most recent novel.More from George Saunders & Gary Shteyngart: Story Club with George Saunders [Substack]Eat, Memory: The Absolutely No-Anything Diet [New York Times Magazine]I Watched Russian Television for Five Days Straight [The Atlantic]

These two novels explore the gulf between expectation and reality, ambition and opportunity, and what happens when life veers off from your carefully planned path. Kashana Cauley and Matthew Salesses each give us indelible casts of characters to follow as they face career upheaval, challenges to their identities and find new love in unexpected ways. Listen to this Double Shot episode with both authors in conversation separately with Poured Over's host, Miwa Messer.     Matthew Salesses combines professional basketball, K-dramas, and young love in his novel The Sense of Wonder. Salesses joins us to talk about the effect of Jeremy Lin, the structure of a novel vs. a K-drama, his teaching career and what he's reading now.     In Kashana Cauley's The Survivalists, a young Black lawyer meets a man who thoroughly changes her life through love, coffee and doomsday prepping. Cauley talks with us about how she developed her characters, social class and real estate in New York City, the authors who influenced her and more.     Featured Books (Episode):  The Sense of Wonder by Matthew Salesses  The Survivalists by Kashana Cauley  Craft in the Real World by Matthew Salesses The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston  No-No Boy by John Okada  American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang  Our Country Friends by Gary Shteyngart     Featured Books (TBR Topoff):  Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu   The Sellout by Paul Beatty    Poured Over is produced and hosted by Miwa Messer and mixed by Harry Liang. Follow us here for new episodes Tuesdays and Thursdays with occasional Saturdays.  

Gary Shteyngart joins Deborah Treisman to read and discuss “Omakase,” by Weike Wang, which was published in *The New Yorker* in 2018. Shteyngart is the author of five novels including, most recently, “Lake Success” and “Our Country Friends.” 

Gary Shteyngart joins us to talk about his new novel “Our Country Friends” – now out in paperback. The book features eight friends, one country house, and six months in isolation – it's a a novel about love, friendship, family, and betrayal. This interview was recorded at a live event at Northshire Bookstore.

Gary Shteyngart discusses his recent novel Our Country Friends at Portland Book Festival; opening with an essay reading from Katherine D. Morgan.

What do books about social justice and pandemics, plus banned books and historical works, have in common? As Cheryl McKeon of the Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza explains, these are all choices of one book club or another. Clubs read everything from "big fat books" (800+ pages) to collections of short stories. Books mentioned: "White Fragility"; "Just Mercy"; "1619 Project"; "Caste"; "The Racial Healing Handbook"; "The Tale of Genji"; "A Confederacy of Dunces"; "Wish You Were Here"; "Our Country Friends"; "The Boys: A Novel"; and "Fever." Produced by Brea Barthel for Hudson Mohawk Magazine.

In this interview, Leigh and I discuss Nobody gets Out Alive, her focus in these short stories on the real Alaska, the isolation and loneliness experienced when living some place so remote, baring her soul in this collection, her personal connection to the title, and much more. Leigh's recommended reads are: Our Country Friends by Gary Shteyngart Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead In the Gloaming: Stories by Alice Elliott Dark Support the podcast by becoming a Page Turner on Patreon.  Other ways to support the podcast can be found here.     Check out my Summer 2022 Reading List. Nobody Gets Out Alive can be purchased at my Bookshop storefront.     Bookclubs is the premier organizational tool for new and existing book clubs and also provides great resources for individual readers to discover new reads or find a book club to join. Check them out!    Connect with me on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Three months into Russia's war on Ukraine, social, economic, and political leaders from across the globe retreated to Davos in the Swiss alps to discuss how to set about creating a brighter future for the world. Recording from the heart of the World Economic Forum, Mark Leonard is joined this week by Yara Bayoumy, world and national security editor at the New York Times opinion section, to dissect the impulses that weaved in and out of this weekend's discussions. What were this forum's biggest themes? Which discussions on the Ukraine crisis were the most convincing? And what balance was there between the West and the rest? This podcast was recorded on 26 May 2022 Bookshelf: - "Our Country Friends" by Gary Shteyngart Picture (c) World Economic Forum / Benedikt von Loebell

Photographer and friend Brian McConville is back on the podcast to talk about books and  captivity. Amy and Brian discuss Our Country Friends by Gary Shteyngart. Set in the rolling hills of upstate New York, this satirical novel focuses on a group of friends who gather in a country house to wait out the pandemic. Bel Canto by Ann Patchett is also discussed. This beloved, modern classic novel tells the story of a band of gun-wielding terrorists and a group of international guests who forge unexpected bonds. Amy helps Brian come up with a new book to break out of his reading rut.Books and resources discussed:Our Country Friends by Gary ShteyngartBel Canto by Ann PatchettVivian Maier Developed: The Untold Story of the Photographer Nanny by Ann MarksThe Rules of Civility by Amor TowlesA Gentleman in Moscow by Amor TowlesThe Lincoln Highway by Amor TowlesThe Storyteller: Tales of the Life and Music by Dave GrohlListen to a previous episode with Brian: Season 1, Episode 2, Night MovesFollow Red Fern Book Review:Website: https://www.redfernbookreview.comInstagram: @redfernbookreviewFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/redfernbookreview/Newsletter: https://www.redfernbookreview.com/newsletterBook Subscription Box: The Red Fern Book Review Spring Book BoxFollow Brian:brianmcconville.photography.com@mcconguy

Twitter Edits You 2022-04-06. Twitter reverts change that left blank spaces in place of deleted embedded tweets. How does Kevin Marks code his website? Elon Musk Sued Over Delay in Disclosing Twitter (TWTR) Stake. Elon Musk cancels town hall with Twitter employees after declining Twitter board seat. In major reversal, Elon Musk won't join Twitter board. Ukrainian power grid 'lucky' to withstand Russian cyber-attack. TikTok's Russia strategy: Censorship, loopholes and propaganda. Internet 'algospeak' is changing our language in real time, from 'nip nops' to 'le dollar bean'. The mystery of ⍼, a Unicode character of unknown purpose. How to Protect Children From Big Tech Companies. Gilbert Gottfried Was the Voice of Clippy. Big Tech Is Pouring $925 Million Into Carbon Removal. Intel sets 2040 net zero goal for carbon emissions. Amazon's IMDb TV changes its name to Freevee. CNN+ struggles to lure viewers in its early days, drawing fewer than 10,000 daily users. Mark Zuckerberg Security Costs $26.8 Million for Meta. Google quietly launches its awaited 'Switch to Android' app on iOS. Google Fi drops prices for its unlimited plans and adds more data. Google now lets you search for things you can't describe — by starting with a picture. Google joins Samsung in working with iFixit on a self-repair program. Latest Android 12 QPR3 Beta includes fix for Dirty Pipe exploit on Pixel 6. DALL·E 2 can create original, realistic images and art from a text description. New York's NFT vending machine. Newmark puts $50 million into "cyber civil defense". Roomba sucks up dogs tail. 10 Audiobooks Narrators You Need To Follow on TikTok. How to Be Perfect: The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question by Michael Schur. Allow Me to Retort: A Black Guy's Guide to the Constitution by Elie Mystal. The Sandman: Book of Dreams by Stefano Massini. The Lehman Trilogy. Our Country Friends by Gary Shteyngart. The Sentence by Louise Erdrich. Picks: Stacey - Echo by Thomas Olde Heuvelt Jeff - Shein $100b valuation Kevin - ElectricityMap.org: Carbon intensity energy map Kevin - indieblog.page: Random indieweb page Kevin - Web3 is going just great Hosts: Leo Laporte, Jeff Jarvis, and Stacey Higginbotham Guest: Kevin Marks Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-google. Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: nureva.com eightsleep.com/twig itpro.tv/twit promo code TWIT30

Twitter Edits You 2022-04-06. Twitter reverts change that left blank spaces in place of deleted embedded tweets. How does Kevin Marks code his website? Elon Musk Sued Over Delay in Disclosing Twitter (TWTR) Stake. Elon Musk cancels town hall with Twitter employees after declining Twitter board seat. In major reversal, Elon Musk won't join Twitter board. Ukrainian power grid 'lucky' to withstand Russian cyber-attack. TikTok's Russia strategy: Censorship, loopholes and propaganda. Internet 'algospeak' is changing our language in real time, from 'nip nops' to 'le dollar bean'. The mystery of ⍼, a Unicode character of unknown purpose. How to Protect Children From Big Tech Companies. Gilbert Gottfried Was the Voice of Clippy. Big Tech Is Pouring $925 Million Into Carbon Removal. Intel sets 2040 net zero goal for carbon emissions. Amazon's IMDb TV changes its name to Freevee. CNN+ struggles to lure viewers in its early days, drawing fewer than 10,000 daily users. Mark Zuckerberg Security Costs $26.8 Million for Meta. Google quietly launches its awaited 'Switch to Android' app on iOS. Google Fi drops prices for its unlimited plans and adds more data. Google now lets you search for things you can't describe — by starting with a picture. Google joins Samsung in working with iFixit on a self-repair program. Latest Android 12 QPR3 Beta includes fix for Dirty Pipe exploit on Pixel 6. DALL·E 2 can create original, realistic images and art from a text description. New York's NFT vending machine. Newmark puts $50 million into "cyber civil defense". Roomba sucks up dogs tail. 10 Audiobooks Narrators You Need To Follow on TikTok. How to Be Perfect: The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question by Michael Schur. Allow Me to Retort: A Black Guy's Guide to the Constitution by Elie Mystal. The Sandman: Book of Dreams by Stefano Massini. The Lehman Trilogy. Our Country Friends by Gary Shteyngart. The Sentence by Louise Erdrich. Picks: Stacey - Echo by Thomas Olde Heuvelt Jeff - Shein $100b valuation Kevin - ElectricityMap.org: Carbon intensity energy map Kevin - indieblog.page: Random indieweb page Kevin - Web3 is going just great Hosts: Leo Laporte, Jeff Jarvis, and Stacey Higginbotham Guest: Kevin Marks Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-google. Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: nureva.com eightsleep.com/twig itpro.tv/twit promo code TWIT30

Twitter Edits You 2022-04-06. Twitter reverts change that left blank spaces in place of deleted embedded tweets. How does Kevin Marks code his website? Elon Musk Sued Over Delay in Disclosing Twitter (TWTR) Stake. Elon Musk cancels town hall with Twitter employees after declining Twitter board seat. In major reversal, Elon Musk won't join Twitter board. Ukrainian power grid 'lucky' to withstand Russian cyber-attack. TikTok's Russia strategy: Censorship, loopholes and propaganda. Internet 'algospeak' is changing our language in real time, from 'nip nops' to 'le dollar bean'. The mystery of ⍼, a Unicode character of unknown purpose. How to Protect Children From Big Tech Companies. Gilbert Gottfried Was the Voice of Clippy. Big Tech Is Pouring $925 Million Into Carbon Removal. Intel sets 2040 net zero goal for carbon emissions. Amazon's IMDb TV changes its name to Freevee. CNN+ struggles to lure viewers in its early days, drawing fewer than 10,000 daily users. Mark Zuckerberg Security Costs $26.8 Million for Meta. Google quietly launches its awaited 'Switch to Android' app on iOS. Google Fi drops prices for its unlimited plans and adds more data. Google now lets you search for things you can't describe — by starting with a picture. Google joins Samsung in working with iFixit on a self-repair program. Latest Android 12 QPR3 Beta includes fix for Dirty Pipe exploit on Pixel 6. DALL·E 2 can create original, realistic images and art from a text description. New York's NFT vending machine. Newmark puts $50 million into "cyber civil defense". Roomba sucks up dogs tail. 10 Audiobooks Narrators You Need To Follow on TikTok. How to Be Perfect: The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question by Michael Schur. Allow Me to Retort: A Black Guy's Guide to the Constitution by Elie Mystal. The Sandman: Book of Dreams by Stefano Massini. The Lehman Trilogy. Our Country Friends by Gary Shteyngart. The Sentence by Louise Erdrich. Picks: Stacey - Echo by Thomas Olde Heuvelt Jeff - Shein $100b valuation Kevin - ElectricityMap.org: Carbon intensity energy map Kevin - indieblog.page: Random indieweb page Kevin - Web3 is going just great Hosts: Leo Laporte, Jeff Jarvis, and Stacey Higginbotham Guest: Kevin Marks Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-google. Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: nureva.com eightsleep.com/twig itpro.tv/twit promo code TWIT30

Twitter Edits You 2022-04-06. Twitter reverts change that left blank spaces in place of deleted embedded tweets. How does Kevin Marks code his website? Elon Musk Sued Over Delay in Disclosing Twitter (TWTR) Stake. Elon Musk cancels town hall with Twitter employees after declining Twitter board seat. In major reversal, Elon Musk won't join Twitter board. Ukrainian power grid 'lucky' to withstand Russian cyber-attack. TikTok's Russia strategy: Censorship, loopholes and propaganda. Internet 'algospeak' is changing our language in real time, from 'nip nops' to 'le dollar bean'. The mystery of ⍼, a Unicode character of unknown purpose. How to Protect Children From Big Tech Companies. Gilbert Gottfried Was the Voice of Clippy. Big Tech Is Pouring $925 Million Into Carbon Removal. Intel sets 2040 net zero goal for carbon emissions. Amazon's IMDb TV changes its name to Freevee. CNN+ struggles to lure viewers in its early days, drawing fewer than 10,000 daily users. Mark Zuckerberg Security Costs $26.8 Million for Meta. Google quietly launches its awaited 'Switch to Android' app on iOS. Google Fi drops prices for its unlimited plans and adds more data. Google now lets you search for things you can't describe — by starting with a picture. Google joins Samsung in working with iFixit on a self-repair program. Latest Android 12 QPR3 Beta includes fix for Dirty Pipe exploit on Pixel 6. DALL·E 2 can create original, realistic images and art from a text description. New York's NFT vending machine. Newmark puts $50 million into "cyber civil defense". Roomba sucks up dogs tail. 10 Audiobooks Narrators You Need To Follow on TikTok. How to Be Perfect: The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question by Michael Schur. Allow Me to Retort: A Black Guy's Guide to the Constitution by Elie Mystal. The Sandman: Book of Dreams by Stefano Massini. The Lehman Trilogy. Our Country Friends by Gary Shteyngart. The Sentence by Louise Erdrich. Picks: Stacey - Echo by Thomas Olde Heuvelt Jeff - Shein $100b valuation Kevin - ElectricityMap.org: Carbon intensity energy map Kevin - indieblog.page: Random indieweb page Kevin - Web3 is going just great Hosts: Leo Laporte, Jeff Jarvis, and Stacey Higginbotham Guest: Kevin Marks Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-google. Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: nureva.com eightsleep.com/twig itpro.tv/twit promo code TWIT30

Twitter Edits You 2022-04-06. Twitter reverts change that left blank spaces in place of deleted embedded tweets. How does Kevin Marks code his website? Elon Musk Sued Over Delay in Disclosing Twitter (TWTR) Stake. Elon Musk cancels town hall with Twitter employees after declining Twitter board seat. In major reversal, Elon Musk won't join Twitter board. Ukrainian power grid 'lucky' to withstand Russian cyber-attack. TikTok's Russia strategy: Censorship, loopholes and propaganda. Internet 'algospeak' is changing our language in real time, from 'nip nops' to 'le dollar bean'. The mystery of ⍼, a Unicode character of unknown purpose. How to Protect Children From Big Tech Companies. Gilbert Gottfried Was the Voice of Clippy. Big Tech Is Pouring $925 Million Into Carbon Removal. Intel sets 2040 net zero goal for carbon emissions. Amazon's IMDb TV changes its name to Freevee. CNN+ struggles to lure viewers in its early days, drawing fewer than 10,000 daily users. Mark Zuckerberg Security Costs $26.8 Million for Meta. Google quietly launches its awaited 'Switch to Android' app on iOS. Google Fi drops prices for its unlimited plans and adds more data. Google now lets you search for things you can't describe — by starting with a picture. Google joins Samsung in working with iFixit on a self-repair program. Latest Android 12 QPR3 Beta includes fix for Dirty Pipe exploit on Pixel 6. DALL·E 2 can create original, realistic images and art from a text description. New York's NFT vending machine. Newmark puts $50 million into "cyber civil defense". Roomba sucks up dogs tail. 10 Audiobooks Narrators You Need To Follow on TikTok. How to Be Perfect: The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question by Michael Schur. Allow Me to Retort: A Black Guy's Guide to the Constitution by Elie Mystal. The Sandman: Book of Dreams by Stefano Massini. The Lehman Trilogy. Our Country Friends by Gary Shteyngart. The Sentence by Louise Erdrich. Picks: Stacey - Echo by Thomas Olde Heuvelt Jeff - Shein $100b valuation Kevin - ElectricityMap.org: Carbon intensity energy map Kevin - indieblog.page: Random indieweb page Kevin - Web3 is going just great Hosts: Leo Laporte, Jeff Jarvis, and Stacey Higginbotham Guest: Kevin Marks Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-google. Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: nureva.com eightsleep.com/twig itpro.tv/twit promo code TWIT30

Happy April! The Readheads are back and they are recapping, discussing and roasting this month's book, Our Country Friends. They are talking about their favorite and least favorite characters, storylines, and moments throughout the novel. Plus they take listener questions and share the other books they read over the last 2 months and whether or not they'd recommend them. The next book is Margo's choice and she chose All Rhodes Lead Here by Mariana Zapata. Follow @thereadheads on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thereadheads/ Join our Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/thereadheads/ Submit a question or comment to us at thereadheadsbookclub@gmail.com Shop Readheads Merch: https://shopmorningtoast.com/collections/the-readheads The overall Readheads Rating for Our Country Friends is 2.175.

Gary Shteyngart discusses his recent novel Our Country Friends at Portland Book Festival; opening with an essay reading from Katherine D. Morgan.

Our Country Friends is a funny book set in upstate New York during the pandemic by US writer Gary Shteyngart and Xochitl Gonzalez looks at the city through a Puerto Rican lens in Olga Dies Dreaming.

Our Country Friends is a funny book set in upstate New York during the pandemic by US writer Gary Shteyngart and Xochitl Gonzalez looks at the city through a Puerto Rican lens in Olga Dies Dreaming.

We air our conversation with author Gary Shteyngart from our January Get Lit with All Of It virtual book club event. We spent the month reading his novel Our Country Friends, which tells the story of a group of friends in lockdown together in the Hudson Valley... quarantined with a famous actor. The novel was named one of the best of 2021 by The New York Times, The Washington Post, Time, and Kirkus, among many more.

Welcome back Readheads to our most heated episode of The Readheads Book Club yet! This month we are recapping and discussing Ghosts of Gotham by Craig Schaefer, our first real foray into the science fiction genre. We've got lots of dissenting opinions and hot takes about this book so whether or not you enjoyed it, there's something for everyone! Plus as always, the girls are sharing the other books they read this month and whether or not they'd recommend them. The next book is Dana's choice and she chose Our Country Friends by Gary Shteyngart. Reminder: The next episode will drop on April 7th. Follow @thereadheads on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thereadheads/ Join our Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/thereadheads/ Submit a question or comment to us at thereadheadsbookclub@gmail.com Shop Readheads Merch: https://shopmorningtoast.com/collections/the-readheads The overall Readheads Rating for Ghosts of Gotham is 2.75 stars.

Today on the show, we're catching up with Gary Shteyngart, a New York Times best-selling novelist and food writer who has written memorable books including The Russian Debutante's Handbook, Super Sad True Love Story, and his most recent work, the rollicking pandemic satire Our Country Friends. In this episode, we talk about some of Shteyngart's world travels, both as a hired gun and for fun, as well as what he's eating and drinking in his Upstate New York home. We also remember New York City restaurants from the 1990s and early 2000s, including fond memories of the long-lost Meatpacking District bistro Florent, which plays a role in his most recent novel.Check out Gary Shteyngart's recent book Our Country Friends.

Eric and Kate are joined by Tochi Onyebuchi to discuss his debut adult science fiction novel Goliath. Told through a series of vignettes, Goliath meditates on a world destroyed by environmental and viral catastrophe, in which the privileged largely white population has decamped for a space colony. The group left on earth, predominantly people of color, try to eke out an existence amid the ruins. Delving into such topics as colonization, gentrification, and the racial conflict that courses through American history and which, in the novel, firmly shapes its future and the future of the world in the 2050s, Goliath is a haunting and incisive look at a world that could very much be our own. Also, Gary Shteyngart, author of Our Country Friends, returns to recommend his favorite book of 2021, Luster by Raven Leilani.

Eric and Kate are joined by Tochi Onyebuchi to discuss his debut adult science fiction novel Goliath. Told through a series of vignettes, Goliath meditates on a world destroyed by environmental and viral catastrophe, in which the privileged largely white population has decamped for a space colony.  The group left on earth, predominantly people of color, try to eke out an existence amid the ruins.  Delving into such topics as colonization, gentrification, and the racial conflict that courses through American history and which, in the novel, firmly shapes its future and the future of the world in the 2050s, Goliath is a haunting and incisive look at a world that could very much be our own. Also, Gary Shteyngart, author of Our Country Friends, returns to recommend his favorite book of 2021, Luster by Raven Leilani.

He likes Russian bear hats and martinis and he collects watches. Gary Shteyngart came to this country from Russia when he was 7 and grew up in Queens, New York. Gary says he was bullied in the schoolyard because he spoke with a thick accent and dressed funny. He also writes funny books. Gary's latest novel is called Our Country Friends. It's about a group of people who live together during the pandemic. We talk about his 1967 Rolex GMT, a circumcision that went wrong and what the world looks like from the eyes of Gary Shteyngart. “Now What?” is produced with help from Steve Zimmer, Annika Hoeim and Alex Wolfe. Audio production is by Nick Ciavatta.

This week, the panel begins by pondering Maggie Gyllenhaal's directorial debut, The Lost Daughter. Then, the panel gushes about the fresh workplace comedy Abbott Elementary. Finally, the panel discusses everyone's latest obsession: the word game Wordle. In Slate Plus, the panel enters spoiler territory as they continue to puzzle out The Lost Daughter. Email us at culturefest@slate.com. Endorsements Dana: An LA related endorsement: The Academy Museum (run by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) which is mostly okay, but has a stellar show called The Path to Cinema: Highlights from the Richard Balzer Collection. Julia: Potentially the first worthy piece of pandemic art: the Gary Shteyngart novel Our Country Friends, set in an upstate NY country home as friends gather to wait out the pandemic. Steve: Israeli-born, Paris-based singer Keren Ann's cover of “Hallelujah.” Also: a no longer on-the-fence, solid endorsement for HBO's Succession. Pre-order Dana's book and buy a ticket to Dana and Isaac's book event at The Strand (hosted by our very own Stephen Metcalf)! Podcast production by Cameron Drews. Production assistance by Nadira Goffe. Outro music is "Self Made Woman" by Katharine Appleton Slate Plus members get ad-free podcasts, a bonus segment in each episode of the Culture Gabfest, full access to Slate's journalism on Slate.com, and more. Sign up now at slate.com/cultureplus. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, the panel begins by pondering Maggie Gyllenhaal's directorial debut, The Lost Daughter. Then, the panel gushes about the fresh workplace comedy Abbott Elementary. Finally, the panel discusses everyone's latest obsession: the word game Wordle. In Slate Plus, the panel enters spoiler territory as they continue to puzzle out The Lost Daughter. Email us at culturefest@slate.com. Endorsements Dana: An LA related endorsement: The Academy Museum (run by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) which is mostly okay, but has a stellar show called The Path to Cinema: Highlights from the Richard Balzer Collection. Julia: Potentially the first worthy piece of pandemic art: the Gary Shteyngart novel Our Country Friends, set in an upstate NY country home as friends gather to wait out the pandemic. Steve: Israeli-born, Paris-based singer Keren Ann's cover of “Hallelujah.” Also: a no longer on-the-fence, solid endorsement for HBO's Succession. Pre-order Dana's book and buy a ticket to Dana and Isaac's book event at The Strand (hosted by our very own Stephen Metcalf)! Podcast production by Cameron Drews. Production assistance by Nadira Goffe. Outro music is "Self Made Woman" by Katharine Appleton Slate Plus members get ad-free podcasts, a bonus segment in each episode of the Culture Gabfest, full access to Slate's journalism on Slate.com, and more. Sign up now at slate.com/cultureplus. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, the panel begins by pondering Maggie Gyllenhaal's directorial debut, The Lost Daughter. Then, the panel gushes about the fresh workplace comedy Abbott Elementary. Finally, the panel discusses everyone's latest obsession: the word game Wordle. In Slate Plus, the panel enters spoiler territory as they continue to puzzle out The Lost Daughter. Email us at culturefest@slate.com. Endorsements Dana: An LA related endorsement: The Academy Museum (run by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) which is mostly okay, but has a stellar show called The Path to Cinema: Highlights from the Richard Balzer Collection. Julia: Potentially the first worthy piece of pandemic art: the Gary Shteyngart novel Our Country Friends, set in an upstate NY country home as friends gather to wait out the pandemic. Steve: Israeli-born, Paris-based singer Keren Ann's cover of “Hallelujah.” Also: a no longer on-the-fence, solid endorsement for HBO's Succession. Pre-order Dana's book and buy a ticket to Dana and Isaac's book event at The Strand (hosted by our very own Stephen Metcalf)! Podcast production by Cameron Drews. Production assistance by Nadira Goffe. Outro music is "Self Made Woman" by Katharine Appleton Slate Plus members get ad-free podcasts, a bonus segment in each episode of the Culture Gabfest, full access to Slate's journalism on Slate.com, and more. Sign up now at slate.com/cultureplus. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Boris Dralyuk, LARB's Editor-in-Chief, joins Medaya Ocher for a very special ex-Soviet edition of the LARB Book Club and Radio Hour. The guest of honor is the doyen of Russian-American letters, Gary Shteyngart. The author of the novels The Russian Debutante's Handbook, Absurdistan, Super Sad True Love Story, and Lake Success, as well as of the memoir Little Failure, Shteyngart's sharp sense of humor, memorable characters, and up-to-the-minute responsiveness to developments in the culture have won him comparisons to Philip Roth and Saul Bellow, as well as a number of prizes and a wide, dedicated readership. His latest novel, Our Country Friends, is a poignant, affectionate tale of pandemic life set at a “House on the Hill” in the Hudson Valley. More than one critic has called it Chekhovian, and Chekhov does make a well-timed appearance, but this eventful novel is no pastiche. During the talk, Shetyngart touches on the lessons of Soviet and Russian life, the pernicious effects of social media, the importance of community, and the ways in which fiction can and should address the unfolding crises of modern life. Also, James Hannaham, author of Pilot Impostor, returns to recommend Megan Mylan's 2021 documentary about Syrian refugees, Simple as Water.

Boris Dralyuk, LARB's Editor-in-Chief, joins Medaya Ocher for a very special ex-Soviet edition of the LARB Book Club and Radio Hour. The guest of honor is the doyen of Russian-American letters, Gary Shteyngart. The author of the novels The Russian Debutante's Handbook, Absurdistan, Super Sad True Love Story, and Lake Success, as well as of the memoir Little Failure, Shteyngart's sharp sense of humor, memorable characters, and up-to-the-minute responsiveness to developments in the culture have won him comparisons to Philip Roth and Saul Bellow, as well as a number of prizes and a wide, dedicated readership. His latest novel, Our Country Friends, is a poignant, affectionate tale of pandemic life set at a “House on the Hill” in the Hudson Valley. More than one critic has called it Chekhovian, and Chekhov does make a well-timed appearance, but this eventful novel is no pastiche. During the talk, Shetyngart touches on the lessons of Soviet and Russian life, the pernicious effects of social media, the importance of community, and the ways in which fiction can and should address the unfolding crises of modern life. Also, James Hannaham, author of Pilot Impostor, returns to recommend Megan Mylan's 2021 documentary about Syrian refugees, Simple as Water.

Eight friends, one country house, and six months in isolation. Gary Shteyngart's latest "Our Country Friends" is a novel about love, friendship, family, and betrayal hailed as a "virtuoso performance" (USA Today) and "an homage to Chekhov with four romances and a finale that will break your heart" (The Washington Post).

Eight friends, one country house, and six months in isolation. Gary Shteyngart's latest "Our Country Friends" is a novel about love, friendship, family, and betrayal hailed as a "virtuoso performance" (USA Today) and "an homage to Chekhov with four romances and a finale that will break your heart" (The Washington Post).

Eight friends, one country house, and six months in isolation. Gary Shteyngart’s latest “Our Country Friends” is a novel about love, friendship, family, and betrayal hailed as a “virtuoso performance” (USA Today) and “an homage to Chekhov with four romances and a finale that will break your heart” (The Washington Post).

Join us for the second half of our conversation about the best books we read this year! Librarians Sarah and Desirae, along with WAPL book club members Michele and Heather, chat about food, paranormal romance and reimagining Greek myths. Part 2 of 2. Titles discussed in this episode include: Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner, Eight Ways to Tequila (An Althea Rose Mystery) by Tricia O'Malley, If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio, and Neon Gods by Katee Robert. Also mentioned: The Siren Island series and the Mystic Cove series by Tricia O'Malley; The Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich; the TV series Only Murders in the Building; The Song of Achilles and Circe by Madeline Miller; Olympus, Texas by Stacey Swann; Daughters of Sparta by Claire Heywood; Lore Olympus, Volume 1 by Rachel Smythe; Millennial Nuns by Daughters of St. Paul; Our Country Friends by Gary Shteyngart; One Day in December by Josie Silver; Middlegame and the InCryptid series by Seanan McGuire; State of Terror by Hillary Rodham Clinton and Louise Penny; and Louise Penny's Three Pines mysteries. Music: Tim Moor via Pixabay

Earlier this week, several editors at The New York Times got together (virtually) for a live taping of the podcast to discuss the Book Review's list of the year's 10 Best Books. (If you haven't seen the list yet and don't want spoilers before listening, the choices are revealed one by one on the podcast.)In addition to the 10 Best Books, the editors discuss on this episode some of their favorite works from the year that didn't make the list. Here are those additional books the editors discuss:“The Magician” by Thomas Mann“Klara and the Sun” by Kazuo Ishiguro“Razorblade Tears” by S.A. Cosby“Wayward” by Dana Spiotta“Dirty Work” by Eyal Press“Beautiful World, Where Are You” by Sally Rooney“The Life of the Mind” by Christine Smallwood“Crossroads” by Jonathan Franzen“The Prophets” by Robert Jones Jr.“Our Country Friends” by Gary Shteyngart

In this week's thrilling edition of the Book and Film Globe Week in Review, editor Neal Pollack welcomes Ayun Halliday to talk about ‘Our Country Friends,‘ the new novel from Gary Shteyngart. This first real COVID-19 novel isn't about the virus at all, but is, instead, a juicy comedy of manners about fancy art-type people trying to escape New York City. Ayun highly recommends this book, an homage to Anton Chekhov that is also very much of the moment.Stephen Garrett pops by to talk about two new movies. First up, ‘House of Gucci,' a tonal mess and total disappointment from Ridley Scott. It can't decide whether to be a serious family business drama or some sort of camp classic. So it ends up being neither. But ‘Licorice Pizza,' directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, comes with Stephen's highest recommendation. This tale of young love in the early 1970s evokes the glories of the San Fernando Valley in much sweeter mode than ‘Boogie Nights‘.Then it's TV time with Paula Shaffer, who at least has gotten to see the Amazon Prime adaptation of the high-fantasy novel series ‘The Wheel of Time.' Paula read the books while she was recovering from COVID. Now she's well again and liking the show well enough. Neal is watching it too, and he thinks it's ridiculous. But that's what makes ‘Lord of the Rings' knock-off horse races.Enjoy the show!

Hard times make for great novels. On this edition of The Weekly Reader, we review two new novels of the COVID-19 era: Our Country Friends by Gary Shteyngart and Wish You Were Here by Jodi Picoult.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In his latest book “Our Country Friends,” novelist Gary Shteyngart tackles the pandemic novel. In the book, the protagonist, Sasha Senderovsky, a writer whose star is slowly flaming out, gathers his family and high school friends in a pod at his country home to ride out the early days of the pandemic. Lauded by the New York Times as the “perfect novel for these times and all times,” “Our Country Friends uses the pandemic to explore themes of family, longing, and loss all with Shteyngart's characteristic humor and wit. We'll talk to Shteyngart, who is famous for his dystopian novel “Super Sad True Love Story,” about what it was like to write in real-time about the dystopia unfolding around him.  This segment originally aired Nov. 3. 

Today's guest is the great Gary Shteyngart! He's the author of Super Sad True Love Story, Lake Success, Absurdistan, and more. His latest novel, Our Country Friends, was released earlier this month. It's a hilarious, clever novel set in the pandemic, described by Kirkus reviews as "The Great American Pandemic Novel only Shteyngart could write." Go read it immediately! It's an honor for me personally to have Gary on the podcast. I admire him as a writer and as a teacher of craft. He was kind enough to provide many invaluable lessons in this episode. I hope you enjoy. I also want to mention that on December 16, I will be hosting an in-person reading at KGB bar in New York. Message me for details. Finally, if you like the show, please support me on Patreon and/or leave a review on Apple Podcasts. Photo by Brigitte Lacombe Music by @SighPilot

Lois Reitzes speaks with author Gary Shteyngart about his new novel, “Our Country Friends”, which is being hailed as the first great literary novel of the pandemic. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Gary Shteyngart joins Marrie Stone to talk about his latest novel, Our Country Friends. Recognizing the severity of the pandemic in March 2020, Shteyngart abandoned another novel to address what was unfolding in our nation in real time. Our Country Friends has been described as Chekov meets "The Big Chill." Shteyngart talks about writing a novel contemporaneously with world events, how Russian literature informed the work, when he knows it's time to abandon a novel, avoiding stereotypes and more. He also shares his recent piece in the New Yorker about his botched circumcision, and how that event impacted the novel.  Download audio.  (Broadcast date: November 22, 2021)

Gary Shteyngart's new book is “Our Country Friends”, which he began writing during the first month of the pandemic.  It's the story of eight friends who shelter in place at the upstate New York home of a Russian-born American writer.  His previous books include “Super Sad True Love Story” and “Absurdistan”.  On November 8, 2021, Gary Shteyngart joined Andrew Sean Greer, the Pulitzer-Prize-winning author of “Less”, to talk about finding humor in dystopic times. 

Novelist Gary Shteyngart joins us to discuss his latest book, Our Country Friends, which tells the story of a group of people isolating together during the COVID-19 pandemic… one of whom is a big celebrity.

The actor and author Alan Cumming was happily surprised that his best-selling first memoir, “Not My Father's Son,” inspired many readers who had suffered their own childhood traumas. But he was disappointed, he says on this week's podcast, when people characterized him as having “triumphed” or “overcome” his adversity. “I haven't, I haven't, I absolutely haven't,” he says. And he stresses that point in his new memoir, “Baggage.”“We all have baggage, we all have trauma, we all have something,” he says. “But the worst thing to do is to pretend it hasn't happened. to deny it or to think that you're over it. And that's what I felt was in danger of happening with the way that my first book was reacted to. So in this I'm trying to say: You never get over it, it's with you all the time.” He adds: “You have to be very vigilant about your trauma. If you deny it, it will come back and bite you in the bum.”Allen C. Guelzo visits the podcast to discuss “Robert E. Lee: A Life,” his new biography of the Confederate leader.“Since it had been at least 25 years since another serious biography of Lee had been published — this was by Emory Thomas, in 1995 — it seemed to me that the time was right to begin a re-evaluation of Lee, and especially to ask questions about Lee from someone like myself coming from what was, quite frankly, a Northern perspective,” Guelzo says. “After all, all the books I've written up to this point have been about Abraham Lincoln and the Union cause in the war, and I thought it might be productive to look at Robert E. Lee through the other end of the telescope.”Also on this week's episode, Alexandra Alter has news from the publishing world; and Alexandra Jacobs and Molly Young talk about books they've recently reviewed. Pamela Paul is the host.Here are the books discussed by the Times's critics this week:“Our Country Friends” by Gary Shteyngart“Solid Ivory” by James Ivory

In her new memoir, “Both/And: A Life in Many Worlds,” Huma Abedin writes about her Muslim faith, her years working alongside Hillary Clinton and, of course, her relationship with her estranged husband, the former Democratic Representative Anthony Weiner. On this week's podcast, Abedin says that writing the book was “the most therapeutic thing I could have possibly done,” and that writing about her marriage and its time in the tabloids gave her perspective.“Now that I am on the other side, I can say with confidence: I don't think what I went through is all that singular,” she says. “What's different is that I had to go through it on the front page of the news. So I know there is a sisterhood and brotherhood of people out there in the world that have had to endure betrayal and have had to figure out how to move on with their lives. And these are the conversations that I still am called into; the people who stop me on the street and ask me a simple question: ‘When does it stop hurting?' ‘Should I stay?' ‘When do I leave?'”Gary Shteyngart visits the podcast to discuss his new novel, “Our Country Friends,” about seven friends (and one nemesis) spending time together in one Hudson Valley property during the early months of the pandemic. The novel's drama, Shteyngart says, comes from people confronting their “deepest selves,” as Chekhov's characters did when they left Moscow for rural surroundings.“When you're stuck in the countryside, no matter where you are, life just goes so much slower than it does in the city, and you're able to really begin to think about your place in the world,” Shteyngart says. “There's definitely a feeling of time slowing down and you're able to ascertain your true relationships. If you love someone, you love them more in the country. If you hate them, you hate them more in the country. Everything is turned up to 11.”Also on this week's episode, Tina Jordan looks back at Book Review history as it celebrates its 125th anniversary; Elizabeth Harris has news from the publishing world; and Dave Kim and Sarah Lyall talk about what they're reading. Pamela Paul is the host.Here are the books discussed in this week's “What We're Reading”:“Man in the Holocene” by Max Frisch“A Wrinkle in Time” by Madeleine L'Engle“Perfect Little Children” by Sophie Hannah“The Flight Attendant” by Chris Bohjalian

In his latest book “Our Country Friends,” novelist Gary Shteyngart tackles the pandemic novel. In the book, the protagonist, Sasha Senderovsky, a writer whose star is slowly flaming out, gathers his family and high school friends in a pod at his country home to ride out the early days of the pandemic. Lauded by the New York Times as the “perfect novel for these times and all times,” “Our Country Friends uses the pandemic to explore themes of family, longing, and loss all with Shteyngart's characteristic humor and wit. We'll talk to Shteyngart, who is famous for his dystopian novel “Super Sad True Love Story,” about what it was like to write in real-time about the dystopia unfolding around him. 

“I'm here to have a dialogue with a person. And if I'm just gonna sit there and look down at my lap, well, speaking profoundly into my lap. That's not enough for me, I need to speak out--and entertain.” Gary Shteyngart's new novel, Our Country Friends, is our November B&N Book Club pick, and it's a charming (and provocative) story of friendship and the family we make. Gary joins us on the show to talk about how friendships evolve (or don't), societal scorecards and lost paradises, why he wrote a memoir in his late thirties, the writers who've influenced him, from Chekhov to Chang-rae Lee, and more. Featured books: Our Country Friends, The Russian Debutante's Handbook, Absurdistan and Little Failure by Gary Shteyngart. Produced/hosted by Miwa Messer and engineered by Harry Liang. Follow us here for new episodes Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Episode 13 (10/29/21) Looking at two new books that argue about progress: Our Country Friends, by Gary Shteyngart, and Rationality: What It Is, Why It Seems Scarce and Why It Matters, by Steven Pinker

Another episode of the Independent Thinking Show for FifthWrist Radio. Hosts: Roman (@TimesRomanAU) and Adam (@mediumwatch) chat with best-selling novelist and watch enthusiast Gary Shteyngart (@shteyngart). Join us as for a conversation about Gary's writing and his headlong dive into watches, Bauhaus, Nomos, Seiko, Rolex and Patek. Find out which Rolex model shall henceforth be dubbed “The Shteyngart” forever and why Gary is not a chronograph guy! Erudite, thoughtful and hilariously funny (just like his books), we guarantee you will enjoy our conversation with Gary. Shout-outs in this episode to friends of FWR podcast: @anordain, @Habring2, Eric Wind, @colibrica Design, Theo Diehl, William Massena, Kathleen McGivney & Ming Watches. Special mentions to Jack Forster, Allen Farmelo, and Stephen Pulvirent. Recommendations from this episode Gary - @mrzaratsu; @waitlisted; Book - “Caste” by Isabel Wilkerson  Adam:  Gary's Book “Lake Success”; Shipping service DeJapan.com Roman: Gary's New Yorker Article: “Confessions of a Watch Geek"; William Gibson's WIRED Article “My Obsession”  Follow Gary on Instagram @shteyngart and check out his books, including his latest Our Country Friends released in November 2021. New Theme Music for 2021: Circle Round by Spinning Clocks (via YouTube Free Music Channel) Follow us on Instagram: @FifthWrist To join our group chat please email us at contact@fifthwrist.com and if you have time please leave us a review. SHOW NOTES 8:20 - Gary's collecting philosophy 16:10 - An ode to Nomos, William Massena, Ming and Habring watches 23:05 - A brief detour to Ukraine, Chernobyl and Soviet design (Khrushchev meets Liberace) 25:30 - Gary's ancestral watch (Raketa) 36:10 - Revenge of the nerds 42:40 - Watches as key plot devices in Gary's novel “Lake Success” 47:45 - Obscurity vs mass recognition 53:40 - Tips for writing about watches 1:06:20 Unavoidable discussion of Gary's Talking Watches appearance on Hodinkee 1:19:00 Tips for aspiring writers everywhere 1:26:00 Recommendations Cheers from sunny Melbourne and Stay On Time!