Book Club: Emily St. John Mandel On ‘The Glass Hotel’

Nerdette

WBEZ

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4.7 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 10 April 2020

⏱️ 24 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Imagine you’ve written a new book, your first in six years. And your last book? It was a novel about the aftermath of a deadly pandemic. That’s Emily St. John Mandel, author of the award-winning 2014 novel Station Eleven. Her new book — released on March 24 and titled The Glass Hotel — is decidedly different; she called it “a ghost story with a Ponzi scheme and container shipping.”

We talk with Mandel about what it’s like to release a highly-anticipated novel during massive stay-at-home orders, what research for Station Eleven taught her to expect during a pandemic and why you shouldn’t read books you don’t like.

And be sure not to miss this episode of the Nerdette Book Club all about breaking down The Glass Hotel!

Transcript

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0:00.0	This fall, W bez invites you to our upcoming live events.
0:05.0	Join us in person for smart discussions, heartfelt storytelling, and more.
0:09.0	Check out the full calendar now at W be easy.org slash events.
0:15.8	You gonna go on for a nap.
0:18.7	Big hug.
0:19.8	Mom, but what if it just doesn't work? What if it just doesn't work?
0:22.5	What if it just doesn't work?
0:23.5	You just gotta try with Naps.
0:24.8	And if it doesn't work, it doesn't work.
0:26.2	She's gotta be a pretty great distraction right about now, huh?
0:31.6	She is, yeah, although getting work done while homeschooling a four-year-old is a, it's some kind of special challenge.
0:37.0	I mean the thing about Naps is it's always worth trying, am I right?
0:42.0	From W.B.E. Z. Chicago, I'm Greta Johnson, and this is another episode of The
0:47.4	Nurdette Book Club.
0:48.5	It's just like a normal book club, except sometimes the author and her four-year-old daughter shows up too.
0:55.2	So if you've never heard of Nurdett Book Club before, here's the deal.
0:58.0	We pick a book each month and we talk about it with a rotating panel.
1:01.9	Our March book was Emily St. John Mandel's fifth book. It's called The Glass
1:05.1	Hotel. And last week we heard from you listeners about what you thought about the book, but today we're going to talk to
1:11.5	Emily herself. We're going to talk to Emily herself.
1:13.4	We're going to talk to her about her life as a writer.
1:15.6	But first, I just wanted you to hear
	...

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