Wednesday, January 8 - Tom Nissley's Reader's Book of Days

Tonight at 8 PM on Bibliocracy, KPFK 90.7 FM:  TOM NISSLEY.  My guest tonight has produced a huge gift for readers, and an irresistible way in for non-readers: an almanac and homage and fun encyclopedic invitation to history, books, politics, digression --- and more wonderful digression --- storytelling and literacy, all of it a tribute to his own happy pursuit of, yes, all of the above.  Introduced to America as “a writer from Seattle, Washington” on Jeopardy!, super-winner on that show Tom Nissley holds an English Ph D, is a former editor and blogger at Amazon and, indeed, has written for the Paris Review Daily, The Millions and The Stranger.  His amazing book, A Reader’s Book of Days, should have been your holiday present to all the readers in your life, but it’s not too late to secure a copy, for them, and for yourself.  A Reader’s Book of Days is a year-long daily review of authors’ births and deaths, publications, with almanac-style fictional and nonfictional details, incidents, anecdotes, jokes and revelations.  This book esteems not just writers and the reading and writing life, but argues for a whole readerly way of appreciating past, present and future, one day at a time.  Thanks for listening, on the radio or online live, or as a free download from the station’s audio archives.  Thanks to engineer Stan Misraje, and to you for supporting listener-sponsored anti-corporate community radio for smart people who read, and listen.  Find me on Facebook.