Last week, late-night talk show host and podcaster Seth Meyers talked to me about the Emmys, “Saturday Night Live” and other topics. Meyers, who is the author of the children’s book, “I’m Not Scared, You’re Scared,” is known to be a reader. He’s not only interviewed authors such as George Saunders, Nicola Yoon and Colson Whitehead on his show, but the program also has a related Late Show Lit podcast segment with Sarah Jenks-Daly. So as we were wrapping up our talk, Meyers made time to answer questions about his reading life, share some favorites and even write down a book rec, too.
Q. Do you have a favorite book or one that you always recommend to people?
“Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy” by John le Carré is one of my favorites; it’s a great book. And then “Sometimes a Great Notion” by Ken Kesey, I’ve just been rereading this summer. I love that book. “White Teeth” by Zadie Smith. Those are some my faves. “Lincoln in the Bardo” – anything by George Saunders. I know I’ve over-answered your question.
“Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy,” “White Teeth,” and “Sometimes a Great Notion” are books that Seth Meyers recommends. (Coutesy of Penguin, Vintage and Penguin Classics)
Q. Is there a memorable book experience you would be willing to share?
What a good question. I read the “Game of Thrones” books before the TV show, and the Red Wedding on the page was as gut-wrenching as it was onscreen, and I just think it speaks to what a great writer George R.R. Martin is, because my heart literally was pounding through my chest as I realized what was happening.
Q. Who has made the biggest impact on your reading life?
It was 100 percent my mom. My mom reads probably 100 books a year, even today, she’s a huge reader. And I will say, though, there was a great combination. My dad read a lot of spy stuff, a lot of cop stuff – Ed McBain, I don’t know if you ever knew those 87th Precinct books? My dad had those, and so it was this really nice combo of the two of them. My dad was a paperback guy, and I would carve through his stuff – like he loved Sherlock Holmes, which I then started to read.
And then my mom loved literature, and to this day, we just read a lot of the same stuff and talk about what we read. It’s the best.
Q. It sounds like it. Do you know Adrian McKinty’s books?
No, I don’t.
Q. He’s an Irish author with a series of books about Sean Duffy, a Catholic cop who lives and works in Protestant Belfast during The Troubles. They’re great and might hit the sweet spot for what you, your mom and your dad all read.
How do you spell McKinty? All right, great. Sold.
Click here to read the full interview with Seth Meyers.
Making plans? Here are some upcoming book events to consider:
Catch the Mic: Paris to L.A.
Love the Olympics and looking for some long-distance poetry events? Beyond Baroque is putting on an international Poetry Marathon with performances by more than 30 Los Angeles-based poets. The free event will be coordinated with
this summer’s Olympic host city Paris as it hands off to 2028 host Los Angeles.
2:30 – 4:30 p.m. on Sat., Sept. 7
Los Angeles Central Library, 630 West 5th St., LA
Click here for eventbrite tickets and information
Open Book with Percival Everett and David Mas Masumoto
The multitalented Everett, whose most recent novel is the best-seller “James,” will be in conversation with “Epitaph for A Peach” author, columnist and third-generation farmer Masumoto. Aimee Liu, author of “Glorious Boy,” will moderate this Pasadena Literary Alliance Open Book event that is being co-presented with Red Hen Press.
A Noise Within Theatre, 3352 E. Foothill Blvd., Pasadena
Tickets: https://pasadenaliteraryalliance.org/open-book/
Jesse Katz talks about discovering the magic of a classic LA novel
Jesse Katz is the author of “The Rent Collectors: Exploitation, Murder, and Redemption in Immigrant L.A.”(Photo credit Eric Nazarian / Courtesy of Astra Publishing House)
Jesse Katz is the author of “The Rent Collectors: Exploitation, Murder, and Redemption in Immigrant L.A.,” a work of reported nonfiction about a senseless killing in Los Angeles and its aftereffects. Katz, who’s spent nearly four decades in Los Angeles, much of it covering crime and gangs, spoke with Michael Schaub about the book, and here he responds to the Book Pages Q&A.
Q: Is there a book or books you always recommend to other readers?
I’m embarrassed to admit that I didn’t discover John Fante’s “Ask the Dust” until I’d lived in Los Angeles for almost 20 years, and I’ve been on a mission to ensure that others don’t miss out as long as I did. Its portrayal of Depression-era L.A.—a city of longing and despair, social isolation and creative struggle—still feels very present today.
Q: Do you remember the first book that made an impact on you?
I probably read “The Outsiders” when I was in fifth or sixth grade, maybe a little young for some of its darker aspects. We had Socs in my elementary school but not Greasers, at least not as far as I knew, so the themes of estrangement and rebellion were a little alien to me. But that was the book’s magic—S.E. Hinton had me rooting for the troublemakers.
Q: What’s something – a fact, a bit of dialogue or something else – that stayed with you from a recent reading?
While researching “The Rent Collectors,” I read Rebecca Solnit’s amazing investigation into how communities respond to sudden crises, “A Paradise Built in Hell.” Her thesis—that “disaster liberates us,” upending routines and shattering social norms, even setting the stage for solidarity and altruism—really stuck with me. She was thinking of earthquakes and storms and the like, not gang killings, but I began to see the opportunity to apply that idea to my main character: if his everyday life is already a mundane disaster, then the catastrophes he both causes and suffers might actually be the events that liberate him.
Q: Do you listen to audiobooks? If so, are there any titles or narrators you’d recommend?
I do! And I was thrilled to be invited to do my own narration for “The Rent Collectors.” I don’t care much for the stilted, stentorian-voiced approach. I really love narration that seems to mesh organically with the culture or geography of the story. The narrator for Sarah Broom’s excellent New Orleans-based memoir, “The Yellow House” [Bahni Turpin], brought so much life to the story that I actually searched her up and sent her a note of admiration.
Q: Is there a genre or type of book you read the most – and what would you like to read more of?
I am a sucker for the sort of nonfiction book that probes a particular event or place—a crime, a time period—and draws deeper social and political meaning from it. Susan Orlean’s “The Library Book” or T.J. English’s “The Savage City”: that’s my sweet spot. I definitely need to spend more time exploring the world of speculative fiction. “Chain-Gang All-Stars” by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah opened my eyes to how real the fantastical world can be.
Q: What’s something about your book that no one knows?
I’ve visited the book’s protagonist, Giovanni Macedo, dozens and dozens of times in prison. But as an author, I don’t get any special accommodations. I’m there like anyone else visiting their loved one, which means I’m barred from bringing in recording equipment or even pen and paper. I have to try to remember everything he says and then furiously scribble down his responses as soon as I return to my car. I’ve been able to back up that reporting through correspondence and phone calls, but working in that environment adds a degree of difficulty that the reader doesn’t see.
Q: If you could ask your readers something, what would it be?
“The Rent Collectors” introduces you to someone who commits an awful crime. By the end of the book, do you think he’s an awful person?
Click the link to read Jesse Katz’s complete interview with Michael Schaub.
More bestsellers, authors and books
“On the Edge: The Art of Risking Everything” by Nate Silver is among the top-selling nonfiction releases at Southern California’s independent bookstores. (Courtesy of Penguin Press)
The week’s bestsellers
The top-selling books at your local independent bookstores. READ MORE
• • •
Carribean Fragoza, Romeo Guzmán and Samine Joudat are the editors of “Writing the Golden State: The New Literary Terrain of California,” a collection of essays that explores the state through diverse perspectives. (Artwork by Fernando Mendez Corona)
State of affairs
The California-focused “Writing the Golden State” explore disability, race and class. READ MORE
• • •
Thriller novelist T.J. Newman’s third novel, “Worst Case Scenario,” arrived in bookstores on Aug. 13, 2024. (Photo by Matt York/Associated Press, book jacket courtesy of Little, Brown)
Just plane scary
T.J. Newman talked to pilots about a “Worst Case Scenario.” It’s terrifying. READ MORE
• • •
Richard Turner, left, the new owner of Diesel, A Bookstore in Santa Monica, and the previous owners, Allison Reid and John Evans, show off some of their favorite reads on Monday, Aug. 12, 2024. ..(Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)
Bookstore survival
How Southern California’s bookstores find new ways to keep going. READ MORE
Did you respond to an earlier newsletter about books you continue to hold onto? If not, there’s still time. Email epedersen@scng.com with “ERIK’S OLD BOOKS” in the subject line and I may include your comments in an upcoming newsletter.
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Thanks, as always, for reading.
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