You Can't Always Get What You Want
The Librarian Is In
The New York Public Library
4.7 • 595 Ratings
🗓️ 5 July 2018
⏱️ 39 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Gwen is so moved by one of the three poems she brings to the studio that she can't even read it (she tried!). And Frank is transported by a novel about a marriage in Nigeria he can't NOT talk about it. Plus: the perils of social media and why Frank feels he is pretty much free of FOMO.
Frank's Book Recommendation
Stay With Me by Ayobami Adebayo
You can also listen to the author discuss this book on the NYPL podcasts here.
Gwen's Poetry Recommendations
"Airplanes" by Maggie Smith, in the Spring/Summer issue of Ninth Letter
"Ghazal: America the Beautiful" by Alicia Ostriker, and the Dear Poet video series of her reading her own work
"Wild Geese" by Mary Oliver
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I think I have a thing where I do want to be the king, where I say, here is the story. |
| 0:05.5 | Sorry. |
| 0:06.1 | I'm taking that away from you. |
| 0:07.9 | Who was raising up three very lovely girls. |
| 0:10.7 | All of them, their hair of gold like their mother. |
| 0:30.4 | Hi. Welcome to the librarian is in, the New York Public Library's podcast for books, culture, and what to read next. |
| 0:31.6 | I'm Gwen. |
| 0:32.7 | And I'm Frank. |
| 0:33.5 | And welcome. |
| 0:36.7 | We're going to talk about books, culture, and what to read next. |
| 0:39.5 | Gwen will take care of the culture part. |
| 0:43.3 | I'll take care of the poetry part. How's that? We were going to have an all-poetry extravaganza today, which I really do love. |
| 0:48.1 | Yeah. |
| 0:48.4 | I really do. But I was reading a book that I hadn't finished, and I just finished it last night, |
| 0:54.1 | and I just said, |
| 0:55.5 | I'm just going to come in and betray Gwen's trust by talking about a book rather than bringing in poems, |
| 1:00.7 | which I do love when we do that, because I love hearing you read, and I love reading poetry that I like. |
| 1:05.9 | Because I discovered poetry later in life. |
| 1:08.7 | I resisted it. |
| 1:10.3 | I'd probably talk to this in one of our other poetry |
| 1:12.2 | moments. I just felt like I could never understand it. And I would never get it. And I don't get it. |
| 1:18.2 | But I loved words. And as I relaxed in some ways, as I got older, I really started loving it. |
... |
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