TLDS July Culture Klatch
Welcome back to Culture Club, the weekly feature where David and I discuss our preoccupations—what we’ve been thinking about, reading, watching or playing—for premium subscribers.
Talia Lavin: So what have you been reading and watching lately?
David Swanson: You know, it’s been so long since we’ve successfully had one of these chats without a major national crisis interrupting that I hardly know where to begin. I’ve been watching a lot of sports—mostly baseball and soccer recently, and now the Olympics has me pinned to my couch. I’ve actually gone back to a few things I first read in high school and college.
TL: I love a good reread! What's called you to revisit?
DS: Some of books I’m currently re-reading (or listening to for the first time) are A Distant Mirror by Barbara Tuchman, Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry, Battle Cry of Freedom by James McPherson, and The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William Shirer. As for what inspired me, well, for the last two, it was probably something to do with Trump and the Supreme Court and the general peril America finds itself in. The Civil War and Hitler’s consolidation of power seem tragically timely at the moment. I know you were looking for some good mysteries and thrillers to read. Did you find anything worth recommending?
TL: First of all, I stan Barbara Tuchman. A brilliant Jewish girl with a brilliant mind and an excellent way of communicating. One of the best popular historians of all time. And I've only heard good things about Lonesome Dove, though I've never read it. I've been reading much grimier stickier things! Val McDermid's Tony Hill and Carol Jordan series, which was overall enjoyable, if a little too into increasingly macabre genius serial killers and melodrama. I just read The Collective, by Alison Gaylin, a chilling story of female revenge. Now I'm reading the spiky, creepy Generation Loss by Elizabeth Hand. I took a detour to revisit Raymond Chandler in between. My goal is to write a murder novel, and I'm going about it ass-backwards, basically. Trying to go balls to the wall reading the genre before I actually set words on screen. I'm aware of the perils of too much research, but I guess I've got some stage fright when it comes to fiction... it doesn't come easily to a former fact-checker.
DS: You can always ground it in fact. Either by using a real crime as a model, or just straight-up writing historical fiction. But there’s no need to justify reading. I think you’d like Lonesome Dove, which seems to be having a moment. It’s definitely got grimy, sticky bits, and murder, and female revenge. But it’s got everything else in it, too. A Moby Dick gal should love it, even if it’s not formally as adventurous. I recently revisited the 1992 miniseries with Robert Duval, Tommy Lee Jones, and Angelica Huston, which is worth a watch—and probably worth remaking. Enough time has elapsed, and Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson are just about old enough to play the leads. I think if the New York Times were to do a package on the best 100 books in the last fifty years, rather than just the last twenty-five, Lonesome Dove would make a strong showing. Did you read the Times list?
TL: I didn't. My book wasn't on it, so clearly they've got bad taste. (Just kidding... or am I?) I'm feeling very dubious of the Times lately, in any case. I also had the privilege to see the installation art of Amalia Mesa-Bains at the Museo del Barrio, which was dreamy and beautiful and strong. She scratches out the backs of mirrors and gives us images of women, saints, ourselves. Lavender carpets the floor, roses, pomegranates. It's a female world of strength, delicacy and power. Watching anything good on TV recently?
DS: As I said, it’s been a lot of sports. What else? I binged The Bear, which I thoroughly enjoyed and have almost completely forgotten. Some series would benefit from being released week to week, instead of dumping the whole season at once. House of the Dragons is the show I most look forward. It may not reach the dragon-like heights of Games of Thrones, but it scratches that itch, and somehow feels more true to history than most of the period pieces based on actual events.
TL: The only two facts I know about these Olympics are that Flava Flav is funding the US women's water polo team because he saw an Instagram post that the players had to work like three or four jobs to sustain their careers and stepped in as a "girl dad." Which I love. Also: the Mongolian Olympic team's outfits are stellar. Just gorgeous. I couldn't get into House of the Dragon. Too many blondes and dragons. I love fantasy, but I can't get too excited about big lizards. I don't get the dragon thing. I was recording my audiobook of Wild Faith this week so I rewatched "In a World...", Lake Bell's delightful movie about sexism in the world of movie trailer voice acting. Lots of time in a booth facing my own words! Repenting my five-clause sentences!
DS: A good audiobook narration can be almost as important as the writing. There are certain audiobooks I bought based purely on the narrator. To be honest, I’m generally skeptical of an author doing their own narration, because it doesn’t always work out. But having listened to your first book, I know you’re an ace.
TL: I like the sound of my own voice! Which is a weird thing to admit. It's a solid voice.
DS: It’s a dynamite voice! World class. This reminds me of a profile that the wonderful Molly Fitzpatrick wrote for the Village Voice. The subject, Grover Gardner, is my favorite narrator. He’s done books by a bunch of New Yorker writers, including Alex Ross, John McPhee, and my favorite, Joseph Mitchell, as well Alexander Hamilton, by Ron Chernow, so he’s sort of the voice of old New York that I hear in my head. On fact, he narrates Decline and Fall of the Third Reich, which offers a layer of comfort to an otherwise bleak read. Or listen, as it were.
TL: He does the Ross MacDonald Archer series! I've listened to hundreds of hours of him. I just realized I own 713 audiobooks. That's so many audiobooks. I like full-cast narrations. They're fun!
DS: Unfortunately, nonfiction books seldom have full-cast narrations. But reading for a living sounds like a dream job, even though I know it must be a workout. How did your voice hold up?
TL: I sound like a female Tom Waits. But it was fun! Not that I want to dive into the cutthroat world of voice acting.
DS: Well, I can’t wait to hear the results. Is there a book you’d most like to narrate, if you could pick anyone to bring to life?
TL: Gosh. I love doing accents and acting. I think it would be really fun to do a novel, get all polyphonic. Maybe something by Naomi Novik or Robin McKinley. Or just something where I could trot out my weirdly comprehensive knowledge of British regional accents. Geordie! Midlands! Welsh! East End! What about you?
DS: I wouldn’t even want to narrate my own book, honestly. At least not for anyone else’s ears—I hate the sound of my voice. Or maybe it’s that I hear the voice of a person I feel reflexively predisposed to dislike. I should probably talk to my therapist about that.
TL: For the record I think you have a nice voice. I always find it reassuring.
DS: That’s sweet of you, but I think that’s because, frequently, I’m literally reassuring you.
TL: And it works!
DS: I don’t want to jinx us, but it doesn’t seem like there have been any paradigm-shifting news breaks since we started…
TL: Let's cut it off here before someone important dies!
David - since you mention audiobooks and that Talia is a "Moby Dick gal" - I have to highly recommend the recent audiobook version done by Jonathan Epstein - it is magnificent (Howard even listened to it TWICE!).<br /> Willy