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It isn’t easy to talk about Frankenstein without lapsing into cliches about green skin, neck bolts, and visible sutures. For 21st-century Americans, Herman Munster lies closer to our conception of Frankenstein than the actual description of what Dr. Victor Frankenstein created in Mary Shelley’s ‘Frankenstein, or, The Modern Prometheus.’

Shelley was just 19 when her novel was published, in 1818 — she was a pregnant unwed mother who was basically on the lam with her lover, the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. Susan Tyler Hitchcock, who holds a Ph.D. in English from the University of Virginia, has long been fascinated by the Shelleys, but didn’t become a full-on Frankenstein fanatic until the time she wore a full-face Frankenstein mask in to class on Halloween, hoping to ignite some laughs. Instead, she ignited the liveliest discussion of the semester — and realized she was on to something. Why does Frankenstein fascinate us? Why do we keep watching the Creature (as Shelley called him in her novel)?

In this week’s interview, Hitchcock reveals some of the answers to these questions — and appears with a special guest, too. Her lively responses will, I hope, encourage you to pick up her equally lively book. For more about it, check out this Washington Post review.

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No tricks this week, just a treat for Halloween: we’re giving away free copies of our Book of the Week to the first ten Author Author! readers who write in and tell us their favorite Frankenstein-related anecdote. Maybe you dressed up as Frankenstein for Halloween? Tell us about your costume. Maybe you had a dream that Frankenstein lived in your closet? Maybe Frankenstein really DOES live in your closet… Whatever your angle, share it with us, and we’ll send you a brand new copy of ‘Frankenstein: A Cultural History’ by Susan Tyler Hitchcock.

The easiest way to win is to leave a comment on this post with your anecdote. Don’t worry, your email address will not be published publicly. If your tale is too harrowing for public consumption, then you can drop me an email at thereadingwriter at gmail dot com. If you are a winner, I will email you requesting your mailing address so we can send the book.

Speaking of the book, ‘Frankenstein: A Cultural History’ is a fantastic journey through the nearly two centuries that “the monster” has been with us. Hitchcock told me that it cost a lot to get all of the images — but it was well worth it. Combined with her smart but not stuffy analysis of how Mary Shelley’s creation morphed into an iconic monster, these engravings, photos, and images remind readers why we’re fascinated with technology.

Frankenstein, it seems, is the ultimate (monster) mash-up. Check back on Wednesday and Susan Tyler Hitchcock will tell us all about it in this week’s interview.

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“I think it’s the language of Catholicism that stays with me,” says Richard Russo in this second part of my interview with him about his new novel ‘Bridge of Sighs.’ Like many of his characters, Russo was raised as a Roman Catholic, and the powerful words of that religion’s dogma — grace, for example — run throughout this book.

However, the most powerful theme of ‘Bridge of Sighs’ might be belief in general. As Russo explains here, his narrator Lucy Lynch’s strongest belief is not in God or religion, but in his father “Big Lou’s” unshakeable optimism and faith that in America anyone can cross the great divide that separates social classes.

I hope you’ll enjoy being in Russo’s company for a few more minutes… and I hope that if you’ve read or are reading ‘Bridge of Sighs’ that you’ll share your thoughts here.

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It’s a long way from Thomaston, New York to Venice, Italy — unless you go by way of the book jacket for ‘Bridge of Sighs,’ Richard Russo’s lyrical new novel. As he discusses in this interview, the connected images of a woodland footbridge and the famous bridge of the title make connections in a reader’s head, too.

Of course, you might find the jacket image terribly depressing: these folks certainly did, and they argue that because there is joy in the book as well as sadness, that this cover design might miss the mark. However, it’s interesting to me that Russo himself loves the book jacket, because he’s far from a depressing person. The first sound you’ll hear from him on this tape is a huge laugh, as I ask him how he wound up writing about Venice, that most romantic and storied of places, after setting his previous books in crumbling, forlorn Northeastern cities.

Most people I know love Russo’s writing, even if they’ve only read one of his books — but I believe one of the things that comes through best in this interview is the fact that Russo is a man who has found that blessed balance most of us would like to have in our lives, or at some point in our lives. He believes in hard work but he also believes in the power of the intellect. I dare you to finish watching and not wish that he were your brother, uncle, professor, best friend…

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Where do you start with an author like Richard Russo? He won the Pulitzer Prize in 2002 for ‘Empire Falls,’ a book many authors would gladly sacrifice their entire bibliographies to have written. His 1993 ‘Nobody’s Fool’ was made into a critically acclaimed movie, directed by Robert Benton and starring Paul Newman.

Honestly, it’s rare that I am at a loss about what to write, but I am such a fan of Russo’s work that I looked forward to the arrival of ‘Bridge of Sighs’ the way another woman might look forward to a new pair of Manolos. Reviewers agree that this new novel set in the real town of Thomaston, NY is Russo’s most ambitious and most multifaceted work to date. I just call it a transporting and transforming experience. While you’re reading Russo, you’re in safe hands.

That is not to say that those hands are always gentle. Russo has such a magnificent writer’s heart that he is able to show hard truths without lapsing into cliche. Several critics have noted that with this book as in his others, the one thing he doesn’t often do is describe sex. However, he does write often and beautifully about sexuality — and his characters are so tenderly realized that you don’t need graphic sex scenes in order to understand them.

Meeting Russo was terrific — he is as warm, funny, smart, and interesting as anything he’s written, and that is not always the case with authors. He was so smart and interesting that we’ve decided to offer this week’s Author Author! interview in two parts — more of Richard Russo to enjoy.

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If you watched my interview with Wolf earlier this week, you’ll know that ‘The End of America’ is not an easy or charming book, and it’s not meant to be. I thought today I’d give you a variety of links to see how bloggers, critics, journalists, and reviewers have responded. This is by no means the best sample, the most representative, or the most diverse — it’s just what I found, and found intriguing. If you’ve got another link to or your own perspective to share, please hit Discuss below and let us do so! While you needn’t reveal your true name of identity to post, if you’re really shy, you can always email me: thereadingwriter at gmail dot com.

“Responding to Naomi Wolf’s Missive” by Carolyn Baker

Wolf talks at the University of Washington (YouTube video via Dandelion Salad blog)

Naomi Wolf’s Amazon blog

A Down Under persective that’s down on Naomi Wolf

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Naomi Wolf is formidable — smart, passionate, and prepared. She’s also a big believer in getting her message out through new media, so she was excited about our interview and willing to give me as much time as necessary to get questions answered. I hope you’ll take some time and listen to what she has to say about her new book, ‘The End of America: Letter of Warning to A Young Patriot,’ because she’s taken a lot of time in researching what she sees as new limits on our freedom that have very old roots in twentieth-century Fascism.

As I said on Monday — fightin’ words, to many people. I think Wolf herself would agree. She wants to make people sit up and take notice of the ten steps she believes lead to a police state. (She details them in this article for The Guardian, a story that we discuss in the interview.)

Whether or not you agree with Naomi Wolf on anything, her carefully argued points will get you thinking about how precious our American freedoms are, and why we all believe that those freedoms should not disappear.

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Naomi Wolf’s first book, ‘The Beauty Myth,’ was an explosive polemic about the exploitation of women by the fashion and beauty industries. What you need to know about Wolf is that she herself is strikingly beautiful, and perfectly comfortable with some of the trappings of traditional female adornment: long, flowing hair; well-applied makeup; pretty and sometimes alluring garments.

In other words, Wolf has never had any problem with criticizing from within. Notice I am not using the word “hypocrisy” – first of all, I haven’t read enough of Wolf’s work to make such a strong statement. Second, from what I have read, I don’t feel hypocrisy: I feel strength, passion, and sometimes genuine confusion, but rarely hypocrisy. I believe Naomi Wolf is smart, stubborn, and sometimes angry – yet she still wants to live in this world and this society.

That’s relevant, because in ‘The End of America,’ Wolf writes “fightin’ words” about the state of our country. She’ll rile her detractors – some of her assertions are inflammatory – but she’ll also convince readers that she really, truly loves the foundations of our democratic government. Love her or hate her, Naomi Wolf makes her mark.

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Remember that old children’s game, where one player would say “I’m going on a safari, and I’m going to pack… ” The next player would add one item, the next one another item, and so on, and so forth.

Nice way to connect things (a variation of the game involved using the last letter of the previous item to start your item), but a lot to remember. I’m not so good at remembering large numbers of items (haven’t been since oh, about age 11), so anything that helps me store stuff is very welcome in my overfull existence.

That’s why we’re debuting my Shelfari shelf here on Author Author! — not because Shelfari is the only, the best, or the deal-making bibliophilic app on the Internet, but because it’s the first one I could remember to try! There are others — Good Reads, Library Thing, and Visual Bookshelf all have their devotees. I may add another one or three in the future, but for now, the sing-song mnemonics worked. Shelfari it is.

I don’t have many volumes on there right now, but I’ll be adding more. I’d love to hear what you think of my shelf, but even better — do you have one? What’s on it?

See my Shelfari bookshelf »
Create your own Shelfari bookshelf »

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It isn’t often that someone manages to do something new that is also something meaningful, which is why Frank Warren’s PostSecret site has become so popular — and why the project that launched the site has now resulted in a fourth book, A Lifetime of Secrets, that was released yesterday from HarperCollins.

Today’s interview with Warren reveals his humor (as he shows a postcard on which a woman worries about her purse collection) and compassion (as he tells the story of the postcard he received that still haunts him). The author also discusses his commitment to suicide prevention, and why that grows out of personal history. I hope you’ll enjoy the video and agree that meeting Frank Warren is a delight and a privilege.

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