Published February 16, 2021 at 4:57 PM CST Listen • 48:41
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Before it was a Netflix hit, “The Queen’s Gambit” was a 1983 novel written by University of Iowa Writer’s Workshop graduate Walter Tevis.
The book begins with eight-year-old Beth Harmon’s arrival at an orphanage in Kentucky following the death of her mother. The orphanage is a cold, uncaring place where she and the other children are fed tranquilizers to keep them docile. Beth s only saving grace is her discovery of chess through an unlikely teacher, the gruff janitor Mr. Schaibel who holds court in the dank, dark basement. The rest of the book follows Beth as her extraordinary chess skills grow. She is adopted, becomes the Kentucky chess champion and moves on to competing on the world stage. All the while she struggles with addiction and isolation.
Published January 19, 2021 at 3:52 PM CST Listen • 48:37
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Kurt Vonnegut s Mother Night is the January pick for the 2021 season of the Talk of Iowa Book Club.
First published in 1961, then republished several years later from Iowa City, Kurt Vonnegut’s “Mother Night” explores issues of morality, humanity and individual responsibility in the aftermath of World War II. While the book explores an era of misinformation and mass tragedy decades in the past, the themes feel eerily relevant to the state of affairs in 2021.
It’s a new season of the Talk of Iowa Book Club. Host Charity Nebbe is joined by Vonnegut scholars Jerome Klinkowitz and Suzanne McConnell as well as first-time Vonnegut reader Caleb Rainey for a discussion of this timeless modern classic.
We re pleased to announce the official launch of the
Talk of Iowa Book Club podcast. Season 1 in its entirety has dropped into podcast feeds, and season 2 episodes will begin populating at the end of every month in 2021, beginning in January.
The Talk of Iowa Book Club podcast is a product of the monthly on-air book club show on IPR’s
Talk of Iowa, heard on IPR News and News/Studio One signals weekdays at 10 a.m. with host Charity Nebbe. While the goal of the on-air show is to get listeners to read along each month and tune in live for the discussion, the podcast allows readers to read and enjoy these discussions on-demand at their own pace.