Anthony Marra on MERCURY PICTURES PRESENTS
\u201cThere's just so much rich material in Hollywood during the 1940s\u2014which is where much of the book is set\u2014there is just sort of an endless rabbit hole you can go down. And of course, one of the problems with writing a book about the movie industry is that sitting around watching movies technically counts as research.\u201d We still think about Anthony Marra\u2019s incredible debut,\xa0A Constellation of Vital Phenomena, years after first reading. His newest novel,\xa0Mercury Pictures Presents, is an epic story of family secrets, love and war, loyalty and reinvention that cuts between Hollywood and Mussolini\u2019s Italy in the 1930s and 40s\u2014and it\u2019s the August B&N Book Club pick. Anthony joins us on the show to talk about mapping stories, the landscape of exile and imprisonment, the importance of humor, research and rewrites and snappy dialogue, his literary inspirations (including Zadie Smith and David Mitchell), and much more with Poured Over\u2019s host, Miwa Messer. And we end this episode with TBR Topoff book reviews from Marc and Becky.
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Featured Books (episode):
Mercury Pictures Presents\xa0by Anthony Marra
A Constellation of Vital Phenomena\xa0by Anthony Marra
The Tsar of Love and Techno\xa0by Anthony Marra
Los Angeles in the 1930s: The WPA Guide to the City of Angels\xa0by Federal Writers Project of the Works Progress Administration
Rules of Civility\xa0by Amor Towles
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Featured Books (TBR Topoff):
West of Sunset\xa0by Stewart O\u2019Nan
A Touch of Stardust\xa0by Kate Alcott
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Poured Over is produced and hosted by Miwa Messer and mixed by Harry Liang. Follow us here for new episodes Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional Saturdays).
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A full transcript of this episode is available\xa0here.