Episode 025: Great House

Thanks for joining us for this episode of the Time to Read podcast. We are talking about Great House by Nicole Krauss.

A reclusive American novelist, a young Chilean poet who disappears, in the suburbs of London, a man caring for his dying wife discovers a lock of hair revealing a secret. In Jerusalem, an antiques dealer slowly reassembles his father’s study, plundered by the Nazis in 1944. Connecting these is an odd desk of many drawers. As the narrators of Great House make their confessions, the desk takes on more meaning, and comes to stand for all that has been stolen from them, and all that binds them to what has disappeared. This is a story haunted by questions: How do we respond to disappearance, destruction, and change? How are we affected by the physical environment we create (or that is created for us)? And how can the associations we have with objects, combined with our stories, become symbols of past trauma or joy?

In this episode we discussed:

This is Alan’s last episode (so it goes);

How to eat pancakes;

Michael Connelly and Harry Bosch.

Another book you might like:

Trevor: The 5 Love Languages by Gary Chapman;

Erica: Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer;

Kirsten: The Great Women Artists (podcast and on Instagram);

Alan: Atonement by Ian McEwan.

Nerd words for word nerds:

Kirsten: Nostalgia;

Trevor: Glensheen;

Erica: Abecedarian;

Alan: Departure.

** Thanks to everyone who got in touch with their thoughts!

Time to Read is a production of the Winnipeg Public Library. Our panel today included Alan Chorney, Erica Ball, Dennis Penner, Kirsten Wurmann, and Trevor Lockhart.

You can be a part of our show too. Visit us at wpl-podcast.winnipeg.ca. Email us at wpl-podcast@winnipeg.ca with suggestions, comments, and questions. Or join our Facebook group, and follow Winnipeg Public Library on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

Next month we’re reading The Break by Katherena Vermette. We’re looking forward to hearing what you think.