logo
episode-header-image
Mar 2022
8m 37s

'Checkout 19' explores the magic of esca...

NPR
About this episode
The nameless narrator in author Claire-Louise Bennett's new novel, Checkout 19, absolutely loves books. Their mere presence puts her at ease. But her lifelong love of reading is, in part, because she feels let down by the people around her. Bennett told NPR's Scott Simon that loving to read is amazing, but there's a danger in always living other's experiences before having some of your own.

See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.

NPR Privacy Policy
Up next
Oct 30
New memoirs by Evan Gershkovich and Mahmoud Khalil chronicle political imprisonment
Today’s episode features memoirs by two men whose incarceration became international headlines. Evan Gershkovich is an American journalist who spent 16 months in a Russian prison. Two years after his release, his new memoir This Cursed Beautiful Land details the time he spent lis ... Show More
15m 41s
Oct 29
Biography 'American Pope' follows Leo XIV's life from Chicago to Vatican City
In American Pope: Leo XIV’s Road from the South Side of Chicago to Vatican City, NPR host Scott Detrow and religion editor Daniel Burke chronicle Pope Leo XIV’s path to leading the Catholic Church as the first American to take the position in its 2,000 year history. Reported acro ... Show More
9m 32s
Oct 28
In 'Friends and Family,' a police encounter strains a friendship between two moms
Natalie Baszile’s new book, Friends and Family, follows the friendship of two mothers: Babs, a Black woman, and Nora, a white woman with an adopted Black son. When the police are called on their kids while they’re home alone, the two women are left to grapple with their tightly-h ... Show More
8m 48s
Recommended Episodes
Oct 2021
Claire-Louise Bennett and Sheila Heti: Checkout 19
Claire-Louise Bennett’s debut, Pond (Fitzcarraldo), has been a firm bookshop favourite since its release, for its unique, irreverent voice and attention to the parts of experience which go overlooked or unspoken. Checkout 19 (Jonathan Cape), the follow-up, is one of our most eage ... Show More
55m 48s
Jun 2021
Ep 285: Books that leave you speechless
Even though reading is a solitary activity, you’re never truly alone as a reader. You’re never the only reader who prefers dog-eared pages to bookmarks or the only reader who reads the last page first. Today’s guest used to feel self-conscious about her affection for stories that ... Show More
51m 48s
Mar 2023
Claire-Louise Bennett Reads Maeve Brennan
Claire-Louise Bennett joins Deborah Treisman to read and discuss “Family Walls,” by Maeve Brennan, which was published in The New Yorker in 1973. Bennett has published two books of fiction, “Pond” and “Checkout 19.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adcho ... Show More
1h 16m
Jul 2019
Ep 191: When a great book wrecks your reading life
Have you ever finished a GREAT book, then realized it left behind a hole no other book will ever be able to fill? Today’s guest is Andy Serrato, a reader who fell into the arms of a mega-popular series with a welcoming fandom and enough pages to smother yourself in… and ever sinc ... Show More
33m 4s
Aug 2023
Ep 391: Habits of a happy reader
For many guests, picking three favorite reads is a struggle, but today's guest Annie McCloskey has a unique way of tracking her all-time favorites. Between her beloved book clubs and her well-stocked home library, Annie is quite happy with her reading life. She's been a long-time ... Show More
55m 38s
Aug 2019
Ep 195: Wanted: book enthusiast at large
Today’s guest Mary Laura Philpott is an essayist, bookseller, and a big fan of memoirs of people living “everyday lives”. She certainly has experience with an interesting “everyday life” as a Book Enthusiast at Large—yes, that is her job title—for Parnassus Books in Nashville. An ... Show More
53m 16s
Dec 2020
Ep 263: It's okay to quit reading
Today’s guest also loves giving recommendations—to her boss, to her mom, and to strangers standing in the book aisle at Target. For Jenica Salazar, nothing is more satisfying than recommending the right book to the right reader. But today, she’s here for a little bit of literary ... Show More
46m 23s
Jan 2023
Ep 365: Pitch perfect endings and laugh-out-loud rom coms
Today's guest has a superpower we've never heard before: she can smell a book and know whether it was published in the U.S. or the U.K.! London-based Claire Handscombe (she/her) spent a decade in Washington DC as a bookseller, a chapter she remembers fondly. These days, she's as ... Show More
1h 3m
Sep 2020
Ep 251: I love books and books love me back
Today’s guest is a self-proclaimed “book glutton” who reads in between everyday moments at home, at work, and even while she’s walking. Grettel Castro is a biostatistician living in Miami, Florida. She emigrated to the United States from Cuba at the age of 14, but her voracious a ... Show More
48m 37s