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You are a human animal.

You are a very special breed.

Or you are the only animal.

Who can think, who can reason, who can read.

From KCRW and KCRW.com, I'm Michael Silverblatt, and welcome to Bookworm.

Today, I'm very pleased to have Nicholson Baker on the show.

His new novel is called The Anthologist.

It's published by Simon & Schuster.

When I received an advanced copy of this book, I read it immediately.

I found it so beautiful, so mollifying to my bad mood, often merry, sincerely and tenderly self-deprecating.

I read it to people over the phone entire chapters, and they didn't ask me to stop,

which is one of the remarkable things that people know who have people reading over the phone to them.

Nicholson Baker is, of course, the author of the mezzanine, room temperature, you and I, Vox,

the Fermata, several books of nonfiction, other novels and short stories as well.

Most recently, Checkpoint, the nonfiction book,

Human Smoke, and now the anthologist. This is narrated by a poet whose name is Paul Chowder.

Well, first, how did the name come to you? I think I wanted a mixed name.

I wanted a name that implied that this guy has a number of different things.

I thought of a corn chowder.

And we also were staying in a house that had a wall-to-wall carpeting,

and I think the pattern was called chowder.

...