Whats Old is New Episode 13: Interview with Nina Sankovitch, author of Tolstoy and the Purple Chair
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Nina Sankovitch read a book a day for an entire year; her memoir, Tolstoy and the Purple Chair is a record of that year. Nina also operates the site readallday.org.
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0:20 Introducing Nina and Tolstoy and the Purple Chair
3:55 Reading the classics on a schedule:
5:10 “These are classics for a reason”
6:25 Nina’s definition of a classic (and she lets brand new books in, if they qualify)
9:05 We like when authors give us excuses to get rid of the books we hate from our cannon.
10:35 Nina’s favorite classics from her year
13:35 How Nina managed a book a day
17:45 The reading schedule without reading a book a day
19:45 What do you get from reading a book in a day?
22:30 Writing about personal loss
27:25 Wrap-up
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Books and authors mentioned in this episode:
- The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
- The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder
- The Forged Coupon by Leo Tolstoy
- C.J. Sansom’s Matthew Shardlake’s Tudor Mysteries
- Captain Courageous by Rudyard Kipling
- Twice Told Stories by Nathaniel Hawthorn
