Library Talks

A passionate attachment to a great work of literature can shape our lives and help us to read our own histories. 

For Rebecca Mead, that book was George Eliot's Middlemarch, which she first read as a young woman in an English coastal town, and reread regularly throughout her life. In My Life In Middlemarch, the New Yorker writer revisits her own past and Eliot's work in a new way, by leading us into the life that the book made for her, as well as the many lives the novel has led since it was written. Employing a structure that mirrors that of the novel, My Life in Middlemarch blends biography, reporting, and memoir, taking the themes of Eliot's masterpiece--the complexity of love, the meaning of marriage, the foundations of morality, and the drama of aspiration and failure--and bringing them into our world. Mead comes to LIVE from the NYPL to explore the enduring power of Middlemarch, and how the books we read help us read our own lives. 

Direct download: 4._Mead.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:02pm EST

James McBride opens LIVE from the NYPL's Spring 2014 season with an exploration of his latest work The Good Lord Bird - winner of the 2013 National Book Award for fiction - through words and music. The evening will feature conversation with the author and musician, as well as performances by McBride and his quintet, whose mix of spirituals and jazz renditions of classic gospel songs are inspired by the abolitionist John Brown, a key figure in this novel. With Keith Robinson on guitar, Trevor Exter on bass, Show Tyme Brooks on drums, Adam Faulk on piano, McBride on saxophone and the whole band on vocals.

Direct download: 3._McBride.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 4:41pm EST

Three generations of philanthropists sit down to discuss business, charity, farming, and their 40 Chances in life, moderated by Tom Brokaw.

If you had the resources to accomplish something great in the world, what would you do? That's the question legendary investor Warren Buffett posed to his son in 2006, when he announced he was leaving the bulk of his fortune to philanthropy. Howard G. Buffett set out to help the most vulnerable people on earth—nearly a billion individuals who lack basic food security. And Howard has given himself a deadline: 40 years to put more than $3 billion to work on this challenge. 40 Chances: Finding Hope in a Hungry World captures Howard's journey to make a difference in the world, and the lessons learned along the way. Warren joins his son and grandson, Howard W. Buffett, to celebrate the accomplishments so far, and embrace the new challenges ahead.

Direct download: 2._Buffets.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 5:01pm EST

Undisputed Truth: Mike Tyson LIVE From the NYPL

Mike Tyson has defied expectations and conventional wisdom during his three decades in the public eye. Tyson, the one-time heavyweight champion of the world and a legend both in and out of the ring, joins LIVE for a conversation about his tumultuous life in the same straightforward and sincere tone seen in his new memoir, Undisputed Truth.

One of the most thrilling and ferocious boxers of all time, Tyson's brilliance in the ring was often compromised by reckless behavior. Years of hard partying, violent fights, and criminal proceedings took their toll: by 2003, he hit rock bottom, a convicted felon and completely broke. Yet Tyson managed to regained his success, his dignity, and the love of his family. With his new-found happiness and stability as a father and husband, his story is an American original.

Direct download: 1.Tyson_2.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:52pm EST

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