Transcript
A (0:07)
Well, welcome, bibliophiles. It's the bookcase with Kate and Charlie again. We're now solidly into the new year, and we're glad you're sticking with us. We really appreciate your being here. Anyway, I'm the Charlie Gibson part of Kate and Charlie.
B (0:20)
I am the Kate part of the Kate and Charlie. And I live in the Midwest. And the way that you can tell I live in the Midwest is I am indoors, sitting in my own bedroom, wearing fingerless gloves and a scarf. And so I think we finally got into that very important Les Miserables at the end of the day stage of winter in the Midwest. And I'm embracing it, and I'm looking forward to it not being January anymore. Welcome.
A (0:45)
Kate said her street is a solid sheet of ice, and I'm in Seattle, and guess what? It's raining.
B (0:52)
Excellent. Excellent.
A (0:53)
So we have. We both have weather that lives up to our.
B (0:56)
I passed my neighbor the other day and he goes, you know, I bet if I bent over, I could see my face in the street. And we tried it, and we could.
A (1:04)
We have this week a memoir. And I mention it because over the next few weeks, we're going to have three memoirs. I love memoirs. I think they're really interesting if the person captivates my interest, and that's incumbent for a memoir writer to do, they have to make you fascinated by their lives. This week we have Janice Page, who has written a book called the Ear of the Water Horse. I will explain why that title is there. In a couple of weeks, we're gonna talk to Susan Orlean, who wrote a book called Joyride, which is wonderful. And then the third one is an unknown author. Her name is Joan London. She's written the story of her life. It's the first book we've accepted being on the podcast without having read it. Now, why would we do that?
B (1:51)
First of all, what a lovely name. Was she named after the city? No, just kidding. I'm just kidding. I make that joke because Joan is almost like a member of our. You know, she's been at our dinner table and we've been at hers. And so she's written a book, and we can't wait to talk to her about it. But this week, Janice Page, it's funny because this is not a memoir you picked up because it's a true crime story. This is not a memoir you picked up because she's sharing her innate trauma of blah. It's not one of those memoirs that's gonna grab headlines because it's got a Big story, I think, is what I'm trying to say, or what we would consider a big story. And yet I don't even remember how we got this book. Dad started reading it. Anytime dad is reading a book and he laughs out loud more than once within a half an hour, I know I'm reading it. And he did. He laughed a lot at this book. And I said to him, what are you reading? And he said, it's called the Year of the Water Horse by Janice Page, who is a big deal in the newspaper business. But I'm not quite sure why I'm reading it. And I don't mean that to, to, to, to denigrate Janice Page or the amazing life experience that she's had. But many of us, I think, would look at her story and go, well, that's a sort of ordinary story. And yet she makes it extraordinary. She takes her life and blows it up and makes it vivid and beautiful and funny. I loved this book. It was a great book. And it made me sort of fall in love with Janice Page, made me fall in love with her husband and her whole extended family.
