Category Archives: Tana French

You Cannot Open A Book Without Learning Something*

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The last Saturday in April is Independent Bookstore Day. In a world of tweets and algorithms and pageless digital downloads, bookstores are not a dying anachronism. They are living, breathing organisms that continue to grow and expand. In fact, there are more of them this year than there were last year. Take a look at the photo above, it shows just a small selection of wonderful books we have talked about at Life Elsewhere. If you overlooked any of them. we encourage you to pop into your local independent bookstore and search them out. While you are there, help us a little and mention you heard about the book on Life Elsewhere.
*Confucius wrote our headline.

We are very pleased to announce that Life Elsewhere can now be heard on Cornucopia Radio

Life Elsewhere airs:
Sundays 12 noon ET at The Source WMNF HD3  
Mondays 5.00pm PT & Wednesdays 2.00pm PT at NWCZ Radio
Thursdays 6.00pm ET at Internet Radio Network
Fridays at 9.00pm GMT on Cornucopia Radio

Life Elsewhere Music airs:
Wednesdays at 3.00pm Pacific Time on NWCZ Radio
Fridays at 10.00am Eastern Time on I R N
You can hear all the volumes over at Mixcloud

The Authors, The Books, The Interviews

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Glyn Johns
Lynsey Addario
Fraser McAlpine
Peter James
Stephen Witt
Rebecca Scherm
John Byrne Cooke
Jowita Bydlowska
Tim Dowling
Jeffrey Kluger
Tana French
Tracy Slater
Antoine Wilson
Paul Greenberg
Mark Haskell Smith
Nicholson Baker
Erin Arvedlund
Shira Tarrant
Patrick O’Neil
Masha Gessen

                 

           

          

           

           

           

Books are an integral part of Life Elsewhere. All kinds of books: the imaginative, off-kilter novel; the gripping detective drama; the investigative documentary; the revealing autobiography; the anecdotal memoir; the unapologetic satire…every type of book is welcome. There’s just one stipulation, Life Elsewhere host, Norman B has to read the book first before he talks about it on air. Which explains why his insightful, conversational interviews are praised by authors and listeners alike.

Above are just some of the books and authors featured in the past year on Life Elsewhere. See if you can match the author’s photograph with their book?

Life Elsewhere airs:
Sundays 12 noon ET at The Source WMNF HD3  
Mondays 7.00pm ET at WROM Radio
Mondays 5.00pm PT at NWCZ Radio

Tana French On The Secret Place & Richard Citroen On Lola Dutronic

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Tana French
Richard Citroen – Lola Dutronic
Stephanie B. – Lola Dutronic

Detective Stephen Moran has been waiting for his chance to get a foot in the door of Dublin’s Murder Squad. He sees an opportunity when a sixteen year old girl from an elite private school brings him a curious photo. Moran has to team up with an unlikely partner, the abrasive Antoinette Conway a Detective who is proud of her rough working-class background. So begins The Secret Place, the intriguing new novel, just released in paperback, from Tana French, Norman B talks with the author from her home in Dublin, Ireland.

Lost In Translation is the splendid new album from electronic duo, Lola Dutronic, filled with clever homages to icons of a bygone era, including Serge Gainsbourg, Françoise Hardy, Brigitte Bardot and John Barry. Yet, these are hardly pastiches, but inspired interpretations. To achieve their signature sound, Lola Dutronic have adopted a unique multi-step method of making music, British-born producer, composer and multi-instrumentalist, Richard Citroen composes and compiles the instrumentation at his Toronto studio, then sends the MP3 tracks to vocalist Stephanie B, who works her magic from her home in Dusseldorf. Norman B will talk with Richard Citroen, about his new album, collaborations, the importance of retro and explicit lyrics.

Kelly De Martino is an actress, a fashion designer and a musician who has produced two excellent albums. Her plaintive Bumblebees from her 2005 LP Radar, is this week’s Hit That Never Was.

Life Elsewhere airs:
Sundays at 12 noon ET at The Source WMNF HD3  
Mondays at 7.00pm ET at WROM Radio
Mondays at 5.00pm PT at NWCZ Radio

Tana French, Andy Zax & Gathered Ghosts Podcast Available Now!

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Screen Shot 2014-09-08 at 10.47.46 AM“I’m very aware that when you take a chance on one of my books, it’s not just your money that you’re putting on the line; it’s your time, which is probably even more precious. I want to thank you, so much, for taking that chance; for your wonderful support, which never stops taking my breath away. Here’s to all of you. I’ll do my absolute best not to waste your time.” The humble words of author Tana French on her website. The Dublin-based writer captured our attention easily with her latest novel, “The Secret Place and we certainly do not feel our time was wasted. Tana is an exuberant writer and her enthusiasm comes across in Norman B’s interview with her. She has been dubbed “the First Lady of Irish Crime,” drawing comparisons to Patricia Cornwell and even Agatha Christi. The actress-turned-author is an astute observer of Irish life and has a delicious gift for realistic dialogue. In the Life Elsewhere interview Tana explains the plot of her new novel, class differences in Dublin and gives us a glimpse into the music she enjoys.

Grammy nominated producer, writer and musicologist, Andy Zax discusses the Return OfScreen Shot 2014-09-06 at 1.35.21 PM Vinyl with Norman B. The conversation was prompted by Norman’s son James recent request for a “cassette”, after a visit to hip, Urban Outfitters. The hip clothing emporium sells cheap, but apparently efficient, turntables along with 12” vinyl platters of trending indie artists. Although James has grown up with a dad who has a warehouse crammed full with stacks of plastic discs and two treasured Techniques 1200’s, he was unaware of the correct names of such things. Almost-teenager James doesn’t care or see the connection to the old gear his dad has stashed behind alarm-rigged doors and the cool hot gear that Urban Outfitters has on display. James and his posse had decided upon “cassette” as the name for the bits of plastic they now coveted. Along with all the other gadgets and gizmos marketed so deliberately to the tweenie demographic, are turntables and record platters the next must haves? Is this the return of vinyl? We explore the possibility and learn about the difference in quality of sound of vinyl and digital recording.

Two Apples In A Cherry Tree by Gathered Ghosts was selected for this weeks Hit That Never Was by a jewelry designer who regularly listens to Life Elsewhere. You too, can get your Hit That Never Was played on Life Elsewhere by sending a few details about yourself and your request to: hitthatneverwas (at) lifeelsewhere (dot) co

Life Elsewhere airs every Monday at 9.00am ET (1400 GMT)

WMNF 88.5fm

Podcast

The Return Of Vinyl & The Secret Place

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The Return of Vinyl?

After a visit to Urban Outfitters, Norman B’s son James, asked if he could have a “cassette”. Perplexed because he hadn’t seen any sign of “cassettes” on display, Norman asked his son, to describe what a “cassette” was. “It’s those big round plastic things you put on a “cassette” player”, James announced with an exasperated sigh, because his dear old dad obviously didn’t quite grasp modern technology. “You mean a record player and a vinyl record? Norman asked.  “Yeah! Whatever!” replied James. It turns out that the hip clothing and nic-nac emporium sells cheap, but apparently efficient, turntables along with 12” vinyl platters of trending indie artists. James, although growing up with a dad who has a warehouse crammed full with mountains of plastic discs and two treasured Techniques 1200’s, was unaware of the correct names of such things. AparScreen Shot 2014-09-06 at 1.35.21 PMt from that, as a budding teenager James doesn’t care or see the relevance to the old gear his dad has stashed behind alarm-rigged doors and the cool hot shit that UB has on display. From somewhere, he and his posse had decided upon “cassette” as the name for the bits of plastic they now coveted. Although James and his tweenie pals could care less about the correct name, are they being lured into another must-have, along with all the other gadgets and gizmos marketed so deliberately to their age group? Is this the return of vinyl? We explore the possibility with Andy Zax, Grammy nominated producer, writer and musicologist.

Detective Stephen Moran has been waiting for his chance to get a foot in the door of Dublin’s Murder Squad. He sees an opportunity when a sixteen year old girl from an elite private school brings him a curious photo. Moran has to team up with an unlikely partner, the abrasive Antoinette Conway a Detective who is proud of her rough working-class background. So begins The Secret Place, the intriguing new novel from Tana French, Norman B talks with the author from her home in Dublin, Ireland.


This week’s Hit That Never Was, selected by a jewelry designer, is Two Apples In A Cherry Tree by Gathered Ghosts. If you would like to get your Hit That Never Was played on Life Elsewhere, send your selection to hitthatneverwas (at) lifeelsewhere (dot) co

Life Elsewhere airs every Monday at 9.00am ET (1400 GMT)

WMNF 88.5fm

Podcast