WGBH Radio; The Callie Crossley Show

I'm Cally Crossley This is the Cali Crossley Show. Thirty six years ago a mindless eating machine a devil at sea with a deadly bite dominated the silver screen. We're talking about jobs that movie not only instilled an enduring fear of killer sharks. It's beyond the summer blockbuster never before had a movie done so well. And what was typically a dead season for film studios following the widest distribution of its time. Jaws became the first film to top 100 million at the box office. This hour we look at how John chain summer cinema and explore the summer blockbuster is a good thing or a predatory force that leads smaller films in its wake. But first it is the sanctuary that is summer reading from Eat Pray Love to Love In The Time of Cholera. We'll talk through what makes for a supreme summary. Up next page turners and blockbusters from the beach house to the movie house. First the news. From NPR News in Washington I'm Lakshmi saying the Greek government is

poised for a confidence vote today that if it wins will allow the country to push through a package of spending cuts and taxes. Proponents say the austerity measures are necessary to receiving international assistance. European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso agree it is crucial that the new Greek government receive the confidence of the parliament tonight so that it can build a consensus the country needs for far reaching economic reforms. But the proposed measures have been sparking months of protests some violent across the country. Former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman is now the eighth Republican to enter the presidential race today he formally announced his candidacy at New Jersey's Liberty State Park where Ronald Reagan announced his candidacy in one thousand eighty unspent quit his job as President Obama's ambassador to China a few months ago. He says he respects the president but is critical of his handling of the economy. Political leaders in a volatile oil producing state in Sudan are reportedly ready to join African Union mediated peace

talks. NPR's Ofeibea Quist Arkan says clashes there in recent weeks have forced thousands of civilians to flee their homes. The one who lives on the border between Sudan which is poised to deploy independence in less than three weeks geographically located. The mill is Mohun Saddam's last remaining oil producing state but it is still home to communities that supported the snow during Saddam's long civil war. Planting broken out in the Nuba Mountains of Kordofan as Southern Sudan propels the feed from the north. Residents who've abandoned their homes say they feel an increasingly hostile environment and know who's who down. Once the snow becomes the world's newest nation Dalton NPR News. British police have arrested a teenager suspected of involvement in hacking attacks on the websites of intelligence agencies and businesses. Larry Miller reports the young man is thought to be a key member of a group that claimed responsibility for hacking into the CIA's Web site

and the U.S. Senate computer system. A 19 year old man was arrested in a raid at his house in Wickford Essex 50 miles from London described by Scotland Yard as a pre-planned intelligence led operation. He suspected of being the mastermind behind an international hacking group known as low security a Yard spokesman says a search of his house led to a significant amount of material and forensic investigations continue. In addition to the CIA website the group is also believed to have hacked into the websites of the U.S. Senate. Sony and the U.K. Serious Organized Crime Agency. For NPR News I'm Larry Miller in London. Dow is up more than 100 points to twelve thousand one hundred eighty two. This is NPR. The Federal Reserve will meet for the next two days. The central bank is widely expected to keep interest rates at record lows. Astronaut Mark Kelly is apparently retiring from the Navy and now cept the news was posted on Kelly's Facebook page today. Kelly commanded

shuttle Endeavour's final space mission which ended June 1st. He took part of the historic mission as his wife Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords continued her recovery at a hospital for serious injuries sustained in the Tucson mass shootings in January. Giffords is still going through rehabilitation but now as an out patient. Despite high fuel prices a slow growing economy and uncertainty in the Middle East the aviation industry is showing its resilience at the Paris Air Show. Eleanor Beardsley reports there are more exhibitors than ever and. Orders are up. It's only the second day of the air show but already Boeing and Airbus have announced up to 28 billion dollars in orders for new planes. Airbus has at least 96 orders for its A320 NEO a newer fuel efficient version of the popular work or single while Jet rival Boeing has countered with 71 commitments for its jets including a Norwegian order for 15 Boeing 737 800 planes worth one point two billion dollars.

Airlines are particularly interested in energy efficient models this year and displays include biofuel and hybrid engines and a solar plane. More than 20 100 exhibitors from 45 countries are taking part in the massive trade show which showcases commercial and defense air and space craft. For NPR News I'm Eleanor Beardsley at the Paris Air Show. The Dow's up 103 points to 12000 183 and the Nasdaq is up nearly 50 a 26 79. This is NPR. Support for NPR comes from the John D and Catherine team across the foundation committed to building a more just verdant and peaceful world. More information at Mac found dot org. Good afternoon I'm Kalee Crossley This is the Cali Crossley Show to mark the first day of summer. We're talking about the sanctuary that is summer reading. Don't miss the book everyone's talking about. Why does a dog get old. Stephen King. You know stars discover vision. I can say I do. Nora

Roberts bright quartet. I used all my nine lives long ago. But here I am. I'm still playing. I'm still rocking and still rolling. And I survived to tell this tale. I hope you enjoy it. So those are just a few of the books that I know will be tucked away in people's beach bags or other kinds of totes. And we'll be talking about what we'll be carrying around. Joining me to talk about everything from low down trash to a literary treasure are arts and culture contributors Eugen Koh and Alicia and Stead Alicia ANSTEAD is editor in chief of the performing arts magazine Inside arts and online editor of The Harvard arts beat Eugen Koh is a professor of English at Wellesley College. Welcome back you to. Thank you for having me on this beautiful summer day. It's perfect for this conversation. It's yours. OK which is good reading day I know now I wish. OK so we're going to start this way I want for each of you your philosophy about summer reading is it time to read classics time to read trash trying to read

anything I mean or has it and has it changed over the years. Well I guess I'm the wrong person to be here because I don't really make a clear distinction between summer reading and reading that you do during the rest of the year. Which means on the one hand that I read trashy novels throughout the year but on the other hand and more importantly that my idea of what a good read is doesn't change with the seasons. In fact if anything I demand more from my reading in the summer when I have more time to read and what I demand more. This is absorption which is somewhat different from Escape which is what you normally associate with summer reading. And we want to hear from all of you about whether or not you agree with huge Inco so to get in on the Summer Reading conversation read 8 7 7 3 0 1 89 70 8 7 7 3 0 1 89 70 what's on your reading list this summer. And what's the one book you think we should all be reading this summer. Tell us about it at 8 7 7 3 0 1 89 70 8 7 7 3 0 1 89

70 and you can always send us a tweet or write to our Facebook page. So Alicia and said What do you think. Well you know I think for me Cali summer is a time when I can lighten up a little bit if you can believe that and that doesn't mean that I read lighter work but it means I cut myself a little bit more of a break and build reading into my schedule a little bit more. I'm not a beach person. I'm not going to the beach having a full staycation this year and one of the reasons I planned that into my summer schedule is precisely because I want to give myself the gift of reading this summer. No question about it. All right 8 7 7 3 I want to A.D. 970 are you giving yourself a break as Alicia is and reading a little bit lighter maybe for putting more reading into your schedule. For me I have to say I read so much during the year for work and good books for work so I'm lucky in that way because I have other kinds of good books so I have a range of stuff in the summertime. I like serious trash and talk about some of that I'm in it

and then I like you know something that's going to just be a little bit more thought provoking because I think you have time and I'm particularly interested in those books that are really long. So the 600 700 page books that I during the year I'll read them but it's a little more difficult. I'll put that in my bag. I think I'm the only person I know that once took a 700 page book to a. But anyway I digress. I'm sure it sounds like we have a similar reading habits though I would say that the one thing that distinguishes summer reading from the rest of the year is that I do have more time to take up recommendations that other people have given me over. OK so give me some general I've given you. OK well in fact many of them the ones that I will mention as they were given to me by others last summer. OK and I could begin with two by e in the Q in Atonement and on Chesil Beach On Chesil Beach is not a beach book this is not a book to read on that despite the

title and what I mean by that is in many ways its the antithesis of the summer reading book. Summer reading a lot of summer reading reading I should say has a particular relationship to desire which is that it in the fulfillment of desire that leads to a new state new state of being new forms of self actualisation etc.. But there is a category of novel. That explores what happens to people when the Czar is deferred or unrealized On Chesil Beach as well as atonement by in the queue one or both novels that are very very moving in evoking the path those that comes from living with the relentless and intractable desire throughout your life. That doesn't get fulfilled. OK so Alicia what about you. Well I what I want to say about just I want to respond to you Jane first that that On Chesil Beach which I would recommend also there's another version of that which is the audio book and sometimes audio books are such a powerful way into a book

and that one in particular is very well done so if you're traveling to the beach and you'd like to be listening to a book that's a really good one and it's short enough that you can really take it in on one trip. For me Cali it's not so much books that people recommend although I have one. Standard person who recommends books to me all the time and that's my daughter because she's curious about the world and has high standards about honest prose I really trust her recommendations. But the other way that I find out about what I want to read is the influences out in the world. For instance I just saw Woody Allen's film Midnight in Paris. I am now obsessed with Paris in the 1920s and 30s. So I'm going back to read the autobiography of Alice B Toklas written by Gertrude Stein. I've never read it. I think Gertrude Stein is one of the most important cultural figures of the 20th century. And I feel sure that that book will lead me to David McCullough's new book The Greatest journey Americans in Paris which is about the influence of Paris

on 19th century American travelers thinkers artists scientists politicians and how Paris as David McCullough has said has shaped our country more than almost any other country. All right I want to take a caller. Jesse you're on the road. You're on the Cali Crossley Show Terry. Go ahead. Well actually I am on the road entering Boston. OK. And my recommendation was reading on the road. Ah. OK I just got a two thumbs up from me. Well I just graduated from Stanford University and I just finished reading to probably scare myself and that was not a library you know. OK but it's good for the summer because you can take your time right. Exactly you know all right. Any trash you're reading this this summer Jessie you know just the Rolling Stone and the child the trash. OK well thanks very much for the call. We're right.

We're at 8 7 7 3 0 0 1 eighty nine seventy eight 7 7 3 0 1 eighty nine seventy. Did he say he was just on the road from college and he graduated I just graduated he's coming driving back and I guess the book that I always put first on summer reading lists for my students is the Brothers Karamazov. OK so there you go. So he I think you set him up and made him call him that one of the huge and students. Now for me. For me I'd totally indulge. When I look at the serious work in the summer often a lot of work that examines some cultural issues for me. One of the ones that is getting a lot of buzz right now is Malcolm X A Life of Reinvention by Manning Marable one of the reasons tragically that it's getting buzz is that he died today. He's Before this book was published and he spent 20 years really refuting what we think we know about Malcolm X and piecing together all of this new

information and historical documents to create this wonderfully written book which will have you as you turn the pages. I'm into it now saying I don't know that I did know that so it's a great book to read this summer and it will be one that I know people will be talking about a while. It's another one of those 600 page books so perfect for the summer. Kelly and also kind of a companion piece to his original autobiography which he got to shape. So I think it will will be interesting to read both of those books side by side. It will be very interesting because Manning Marable's overall take is why it's called A Life of Reinvention is that he shaped that book fictionally from. The price of a lot of stuff he told his author was really not true. It's like two books that I think of as companion pieces which you might want to read alongside the Malcolm X book. Our Frederick Douglass's life the narrative the life of Frederick Douglass the autobiography

with. And this may sound a little bit odd. Keith Richards life in part because of Keith Richards The Rolling Stones guitarist guitarist talks a lot about the indebtedness of the stones and early British rockers to blues and American black musicians now but you think of the blues merely as a musical genre an important musical genre that if you read. The life of Frederick Douglass. He talks a lot about music and he talks in particular about a precursor to the blues slave songs. And he suggests Well if you listen closely these are songs that are at once a Prayers for deliverance as well as expressions of that the most tragic and bitter anguish. And yet he points out that if you go north you know he's astonished to find that for many even liberated northerners Northern whites slave songs represent or are signal contentment and

happiness. I have a little quotation in fact from that book if you'd like me to read it. Well if it's about us three seconds you're OK. It says I have often been utterly astonished since I came to the north to find persons who could speak of the singing among slaves as evidence of their contentment and happiness. It is impossible to conceive of a greater mistake. Slaves sing most and they are most unhappy. The songs of the slave represent the sorrows of his heart and he is relieved by them only as an aching heart is relieved by its tears. So I thought I thought that narrative alone with a Keith Richards account of his upbringing with the blues is uninteresting apparent in and of course I'm recommending Malcolm X A Life of Reinvention with Manning Marable. All of these heavy duty books some of them are large as I've noted and I think a lot of people might be reading them on e-books Let's talk about that on the other side of the break we're talking about summer reading with our arts and culture contributors. Alicia ANSTEAD and eugenic

Oh you can jump in on the conversation at 8 7 7 3 0 1 8 9 7 8 8 7 7 3 0 1 89 70. What's on your list this summer. What's the one book that epitomizes the perfect summer read. Do you like pulp. Post modern poetry. 8 7 7 3 0 1 89 70 8 7 7 3 0 1 89 70. We'll be back after this break. Stay with us. Support for WGBH comes from you and from the Museum of Science and their newest IMAX film Tornado Alley now showing in the new Gar omni theater the Museum of Science is proud to support the Nova Radio minute weekday mornings here on eighty nine point seven WGBH and from Elsa Dorfman Cambridge portrait photographer. Still clicking with the jumbo format Polaroid 20 by 24 analog camera and original Polaroid film online at Elsa Dorfman dot com. That's Elsa Dorfman dot

com. And from history detectives on WGBH to. The experts uncover facts myths and mysteries and discover new surprising insights into our national history. Explore with history detectives tonight at 8:00 on WGBH to. The next. Processing the dead. Jess Goodell talks about her work in the Marine Corps first Mortuary Affairs Unit in Iraq. She had to gather the remains of fallen soldiers inventory what was in their pockets and identify the bodies. Her new memoir is called Shade It Black Death and After in Iraq. Joining us. This afternoon at two on eighty nine point seven. I learned from PR. Is the world to everybody who pitched in during eighty nine point seven June community campaign. Thank you. Your support is making an immediate and lasting impact providing the best local WGBH for the party and welcome once again to a Celtic soldiered national This is FRESH AIR. This is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED and world

news and entertainment to your entire community. If you didn't have a chance to get involved you can do your part now securely online at WGBH dot org. We're running out of oxygen. I only have so many people that I can treat the world and it's not an easy decision for anyone to make. Coming up at 3 o'clock on eighty nine point seven. WGBH Boston NPR station for news and culture. Good afternoon I'm Kelly Crossley This is the Calla Crossley Show. If you're just joining us we're talking about summer reading from George Eliot to Keith Richards. Our arts and culture contributors Alicia ANSTEAD and Eugen Koh are sharing their books for the season. You can share yours at 8 7 7 3 0 1 89 70. Get in on the conversation at 8 7 7 3 0 1 89 70 and you can send us a tweet or write to our Facebook page. William on the road you're on the callee Crossley Show Go ahead please.

I'm calling. To recommend to New England authors a couple Shelley and Steve Miller in May they like Tennessee and science fiction face off and I'll just mention a couple of titles. Balance of Trade is a good place to meet a look. It's available you need book and it's a coming of age story about a young man facing up place in an alien culture. There is a little costume which is a straight out romance about people from completely different levels quite literally and they've got a lot of books out there. I you know I grew with you William I think science is great and I love supporting local authors So thank you for those recommendations. OK. Maureen from Delhi Go ahead please. I'll be right back to you Alicia. OK sure thing.

Hi how are you. Fine I wish I was home writing all these posts but I'm actually still offering for doing my shopping I love summer reading and as a participant to say have doing a staycation and this week is my staycation and it's the best time to stay home and read a good book and I'll read anything I've read. I love romance is I love a good track for track of the seven is the best thing isn't it. I'm waiting for your recommendation. OK I LOVE why I work and I work for the BPO as alive I says that and I think the young adult novels are great I'm creating one called beauty queens by Leopard grey which is hysterically funny it's about the beauty beauty contestants who get stranded on a desert island. But if you have a call that sounds like you know then that big fan of

romance novels Roxanne Thanks Clay I'm weeding no end and make having great great books and you know sometimes the best time could be really really really good track people look you got it. Maureen I appreciate what you have offered and keep listening because I'm going to you know I know trash I'll be going up in just a second OK. And we're putting the entire list on the website so everybody can can read those before I weigh in on the trashy stuff. Alicia you wanted to say something. Well I'm going to pick up two trains of thought here and your earlier caller mentioned local authors I happened to be speaking to you today from Maine Public Broadcasting in Bangor Maine where my local author is Stephen King. Excellent. His newest book full dark no stars is a quartet of stories and his last court of stories different seasons which was about 1982 contained Rita Hayworth in The Shawshank Redemption which is my all time favorite Stephen King novella and the body

which became the movie Stand By Me. But I also want to mention since Maureen was talking about why a literature and this is my number one book or series for the summer is the hunger games. I was captivated by Suzanne Suzanne Collins's trilogy when I listen to it as an audio book and now I've been given the gift of all three books in print form. And I look forward to really turning these books over I think they're extraordinary fiction for young people. And one of my young friends who is nearly 13 as she describes herself Phoebe told me that one of the reasons she really enjoyed the hunger games was because it's a first person narrative and she could imagine herself in that role. And is that as the way it is the best way she said she walked around in a trance reading these books and Phoebe and I agree with it we couldn't agree more on that I was completely captivated. She took me to another world. That is Suzanne Collins and I look forward to to the series of films that are coming out in

2013. I am interested in I mean I think a lot of people have turned to the hunger games I'm not particularly interested in that because of the Harry Potter series which I miss intensely because I just I truly enjoy that so you know for people who are looking for something following Harry Potter I know that The Hunger Games has captured a lot of attention. Well could I mention you know let me get up let me get a caller in here. Shawn say from New Hampshire Go ahead please. Johnson bodies to do what little historical reflection and read the books of Francis Parkman. OK because New England good genuine scholars. All right well thank you very much for that. Read a book and you don't need a dictionary. You know the wrong book. OK all right I'll remember that thank you very much John C.. Thank you Sydney for Providence Go ahead please. Hi I am calling to recommend David Brock is this social animal and

it was really I thought really clear I just kind of covered a lot of psychological and sociological think that I mean it brought kind of a broader theme but it was really well. And like you know. Yes I've heard something I've heard quite a bit about that book so thanks for bringing that to the attention of all of us once again. We're at 8 7 7 3 0 1 8 9 7 8 7 7 3 0 1 89 70 and so now I'm going to reveal and then by contrast you didn't pose trash will not seem as trashy. I would read an eyelash. OK so first up Star Jones Yeah you remember her as a co-host of The View. Her book Satan's Sisters your trash. It's great. If you're wondering about the backstage at the local talk show with co-host who fight among themselves this is a thinly veiled account of her

time there and I have to say she handles dialogue pretty well. It's kind of funny so I'm enjoying it. And then. Step up two or three steps because it's so well written and character driven are the series of in-depth series by JD Robb. Some people may know JD ROBB As Nora Roberts the romance novelist but she writes an entirely different set of characters the detective Eve Dallas and her mysterious lover Roark. And she's written thirty one of them. I'm just finished fantasy and death and I'm about to go to the next one. And the last one is treachery and death and I can assure you start with the first naked in death you will be captivated. All right. You didn't trash you. OK I'm going to bring you down a few steps and re-entered the gutter. We unfortunately left a little while ago but I am reading on the recommendation of a friend who after suggesting some very respectable books said well if you want something

smutty you might try the troubleshooter series by Suzanne Brockman. And so I picked up Flashpoint which is the first novel of the series and the opening scene takes place in a strip joint with topless waitresses and the very buff agent is working with a woman who to show her bona foetus and her capacity to work on the cover rips off first and becomes a waitress. OK yeah you've entered another room. Shakespeare scholar and English professor Yeah. And as long as we're on the Rolling Stones theme you can also check out painted black by Janet Finch which is a lurid very sensationalized and somewhat vulgar account of a young woman who mourns the suicide of her art. Our art student loves her. OK all right. Alex from Providence Go ahead please you're on the callee Crossley Show. Oh look I well I'm actually calling from the beach today.

But do you have a book. I do and it is it is the Bonfire Of The Vanities but I would like to recommend Gabriel Garcia Marquez 100 Years of Solitude. OK so you fall in the category of people who read the classics in the summertime. Yes I feel like it's a good book for summer. OK. And are you enjoying reading Bonfire Of The Vanities. I've just gotten into it. But no. And are you reading on the book are you. Is it any reader. It's a book I don't like you read it. OK all right Alicia you got a question for Alex from Providence who's on the beach. Alex I was the last time that I read a book on the beach. It was Lemon do says the leopard. So I would actually like to recommend that for you because it sounds like given what you're reading and what you're recommending you might really enjoy this one which is set in Sicily. All right. Well you know I don't read much on the beach because I find it too distracting in fact the last time I tried to

read on the beach it was a disaster. Oh I was trying to read Proust they were re read print and I've got you know sunblock on my hands there's sand there are scantily clad people running about how can you concentrate. After rereading the same sentence about seven or eight times I gave up and I started texting. OK I think you're just up there on the beat. Thank. You're for that Alex. Thank you very much for your call. We're at 8 7 7 3 0 1 8 9 7 8 7 7 3 0 1 8 9 7. Do any of our recommendations strike a chord with you. Call in with what you are captivated by. And as you just heard Alex called us from the beach lucky guy where he is reading his favorite right now. Let me make some other recommendations I am re reading this summer. The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson she is a local author and teacher she said be you first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for her book The Warmth of Other Suns has won many many

awards including the national best national nonfiction award National Book Critics Award and I'm re reading it because again it's a large book it's four 500 pages and my book club is going to discuss it in September and that's another thing I think a lot of book clubs are off for the summer and they pick a book that is going to be either thoughtful or long and spend some time really revisiting it. For those who don't know I've interviewed Isabel for this program so you can go back and listen to that interview. But the book is stunning. It is history that reads like a novel and it's the story of the great migration where thousands and thousands of African-Americans. That guy that left the South and went north and as I said she's the first black woman to win the Pulitzer Prize. So anyway it's it's a fabulous book and I highly recommend it as something for people to pay attention to.

KELLEY Can I say something about the book club in the summer time. Yeah I happen to not really enjoy book clubs because I'm such a territorial reader and if you'd rather talk about the recipe of the food that was brought to the book club rather than the book itself I get so annoyed. But I'd like to just step back to my young friend Phoebe again. She and I have decided to form a two person book club this summer just the two of us and the first book that we're reading is the devil and his boy which is by Anthony Horowitz whom some of your readers will recognize as the author of the popular Alex Rider series but this one and you can take note is set in Elizabeth in England and there's a surprise appearance by you know who. Christopher you know you know Mr. Shakespeare himself. All right Jeffrey from Salem Go ahead please you're on the calendar. Joe I hear you I had a great discussion. Oh thank you. First of all I'd like to recommend Marcus Saks the book. You know yes I hear so much about that wonderful story about a girl

living in Germany during World War Two and a heavy book but nonetheless a really brilliant read. Secondly I was on the beach last summer and I started delving into Alan first espionage novels your incredible trite Dark Star. It's really a trip. OK. And and thirdly if you're going to Westerns I can't like Cormac McCarthy. Go away without a word of a claim for Blood Meridian which is the the heaviest Western I ever read but brilliant. A page turner one that I couldn't put down. Oh excellent thank you for all those suggestions. Ask a quick question. Jeffrey are you reading the book are you reading the readers are you borrowing from the library because it's another question I have. No I want a real book in my hands. Thanks I thought about it but I regularly go to the library. I still have a collection of books. Of course that are my own. Better left over from your from my school. But but no no here it is for me I want the real thing in my hand. Alright cool.

Alicia I think may want to ask you a question go ahead please. Well Jeffrey I wanted to tell you that one of the reasons that I liked this book series that I mentioned earlier the hunger games is because of Cormac McCarthy's The Road. They're both post-apocalyptic stories one set for young people if you can believe that and then Cormac McCarthy's which was devastating to me. I listened to it in an audiobook form driving from Manhattan to Maine and it was a white knuckle drive for me. If you haven't read it it's not Blood Meridian it's not all the pretty horses but it's an incredible book that will change I'm going to be starting over a road and found it very compelling I couldn't put it. Down It's really I have a vision and of course the film did an interesting comparison to with McCarthy's book in some ways the film version with I think of Martin and was really an interesting portrayal too. All right thank you very much. Right have a good day. Thank you. I have to mention that a couple of us a huge and you and me have mentioned books with food in them and because people are eating and enjoying it in the summertime. Mine is called High on

the hog a culinary journey from Africa to America. It's by Jessica B Harris and it's a combination cookbook and cultural history. The New York Times reviewed it in January and gave high praise to Jessica all of her books she has six cookbooks that always have this sort of cultural background and they're very interesting to read and the recipes work. And you. On my list I had just a short story. But that's feast. But this that's by Tennyson or Karen Blixen. And I place that story there again only because it's not a it is a celebration of food it's about the spiritual experience that can arise when you're eating food but to like some of the other books that I've mentioned explores an intractable desire that never fully yields to satisfaction and and we've been talking about Summer Books in which again the rhythm is one of arousal and satisfaction and that there's something really engaging about that rhythm but there's also

something to be said for books that elongate that process of searching for fulfillment and never quite getting there. And in that category I would also put Edith Wharton's. Oh yes and this is yeah which was made into a terrific film by Martin Scorsese so was a great film. That's right yeah. So and then more contemporary novel called Waiting by Ha Jin in which the main character does a lot of waiting he waits and waits and waits to finalize a divorce from his wife so that he can marry his mistress. But in the process of waiting a new desire gets initiated that will lead to more waiting. All right Jen's all about the desire. Go ahead please you're on the galley crossly. Good afternoon Kelly. I'm really enjoying the discussion and I'll throw in another endorsement of The Hunger Games. I read those and really really enjoyed it but I wanted to

talk about the different times that year like I actually don't read a lot during summer I like to be outside and I agree with your host. Are your other callers to the stand doesn't really make We're going to be. Like during winter or fall semester from me when I read a lot on our inside it might be scary but yeah only after January I start reading about summer like books about sailing or books about adventuring that can be found in the sunshine but gets a little nostalgic. Also found the Harry Potter series was great to read during winter even though the books came out in summer. They're great aren't they. They're fabulous. One of the storm the best experience when. There's a real warm up I knew everything went very well I have to say I hadn't thought about that but let me ask you quickly are you reading on any book a real book or are you going to the library and I can't have the real books I go to library every now and then and I'm using your meter and I like them

but I don't like them enough to spend the extra money especially when I have an Amazon account and I can get a book or write to me takes a lot of books before you know for the cost of $150 a year. All right well that's a good point too. I will say I do all three I read on the e-book I'd like a real book and I'm a you know a big supporter of libraries but I'm also I have to say some of the best recommendations come from independent bookstores because they always recognize books that have not they're not on anybody's list. I hate those lists. Alicia and you. For all the know it all people get in a room and decide the same five books are the ones we're supposed to be reading. And I find that independent booksellers like the ones like Harvard bookstore Porter Square and in Cambridge really you know have something new to offer. I love I think it's great when you find someone whose taste in literature you respect whether or not you like every single thing he or she refers to and I'm talking about

critics here in one of my favorite and I do recommend is Megan O'Grady who is the book writer for Vogue magazine. And you know she she takes the extra time to find books that are off the beaten path and that are serious works of literature or just fun you know for sure that's a good person to follow for me anyway. Well maybe I can recommend a book here that might not be on anybody's list and that is a translation of a Korean novel it's called Please look after Mom by Sion SH I and it's the last name. And it's a counter-intuitive choice for the summer because again it's not an escapist fantasy. In fact it sends you on a guilt trip it's about mothers. And a family that neglects its long suffering mother and told in a very Korean way that rings your heart and it's a tear jerker. And it's determined to wring every last drop of tears you had in your body.

I have to say that I think some of those tear jerkers in the summertime are really prefer Arctic summer you want to release all of them. And I'm outside on the beach I don't know where you are but you know and that just feels good you know to read something like that so I find that very interesting. I want to get just a highlight of another book that I'm high on. If sons then Hare's errors by Lorene Cary and I think that's a great one and we have all of our recommendations those that we talked about today and those that we did not get to on the website so that you can check it out. And not only because of your recommendation I'm definitely reading it sounds there are some that sounds great. Thank you. OK well I got some I took some notes here from our callers as well. We've been talking some reading with our arts and culture contributors Alicia ANSTEAD and Alicia ANSTEAD is editor in chief of the performing arts magazine Inside arts and online editor of The Harvard arts eugène CO is a professor of English at Wellesley College. All of their recommendations on our website as I said. Thanks to both of you thank you. Thank

you Kelly Reed on our right. But I think it's a look at how the movie Jaws change some are for ever. Keep your dial on eighty nine point seven. WGBH. Support for WGBH comes from you and from 10 marks. Students can lose more than two months of math skills over the summer. Ten marks can help prevent the summer math slide with a personalized intuitive and interactive summer math program for grades three through high school. Info at 10 marks dot com. And from design associates architects in Cambridge and Nantucket listening to what you want and keeping an eye on the bottom line you can see what their customers are saying at design hyphen associates dot com. That's design hyphen associates dot com. Nervous about going to the doctor. You're not alone. Many Russians are too so they're increasingly relying on crystal balls of light and spells to take the place of Western medicine and

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You are listening to John Williams creepy and fabulous score for the movie Jaws. Good afternoon I'm Kalee Crossley. This is the Calla Crossley Show. The movie jobs which hit theaters 36 years ago changed summer forever. I'm not talking about instilling an enduring fear of killer sharks. I'm talking about the summer blockbuster. Joining me to talk about how Steven Spielberg for ever change the way films are seen and distributed is our film contributor.

Film critic Aaron Daley. How are you doing. How you doing there. I'm doing fine. I love that you think about this for just a quick second. How many other movies can you think of the introductory sound for anybody. A shark. A human being. I mean it's iconic It really has become part of our culture. I know. I would love to get in his head and wonder how I know how he came up with it. You know John Williams the same and just it's so associated with this bigness this hugeness and we have a sense about that is carried on these I cannot believe 36 years later it's amazing isn't it. And to think we were talking about why this film changed the Hollywood landscape and it did it completely changed how Hollywood markets films. To the public. And remember before Jaws came out summertime was considered not a very good time for Hollywood. It really changes to when the first films Meech 100 million dollars. It redefined marketing it redefined advertising and it

redefined summer so like in 2011 we a movie studio is going to count on its big films to gross 40 percent of its revenues for the year now. Now based on what happened with Jaws right that's that's where we come and we've completely looked at were and were looking at different kinds of films. You know we don't necessarily have films with a lot of content and yet think that we have. We have films I like to call them be movies with A-plus special effects because that's what they are yeah you know you get a great theme in it but you know they're kind of brain candy and that's about it. I don't even of their brain candy some of them are just bad you know I have to say I was really looking forward to one that just came out the Green Lantern. Yeah. Let's listen to a trailer from the film the Green Lantern. I know that you know and and and. And. And. So I'm going to run a selfie. OK. There's a.

Water in the tap. Here with. This. Today it's important to make sure that at this. Particular school these kids are classically. Grand. Grand. Canyon pretty much even though it was the number one film last weekend. Everybody has trashed this film. Well they're disappointed. Yeah gross 53 million dollars to me it grossed fifty three billion dollars Yeah I mean I take that as a weekly pay. But the problem is is Warner Brothers who made this film is expecting to make three films out of this franchise and they're expecting to do this for successive years because this is the last year of Harry Potter and they wanted something to replace it. So the fact that it only grossed 53 million dollars which means it will probably grow slightly over 100 million dollars. It cost two hundred million dollars to make. They're hoping that the international sales are going to meet at least break even on this one. So there's

disappointment. The problem is is that when you're talking about these blockbusters it's the same old same old. And there's nothing new here you might get some new special effects you might get some a new actor emerging like Chris Pine and Star Trek in 2009 he was great we got a new star. You are Chris Hemsworth in Thor. Star Trek was good. That was a good plot that was. Well is it a good plot as well done again is JFK react like you know let's talk about that Star Trek was what is known as a reimagining and a reboot. And the reason they're doing this is because Hollywood does not want to pay the actors. Right. You know you can't bring all these people back and they're going to expect 20 million dollars 30 million dollars. It blows the budget out of proportion they're never going to make their money. So what they do they do they simply let's reboot it lets reimagine it let's try and create a new version with new young cheap talent. Well one of the lessons that the good lessons that some took away so let's J.J. Abrams re-imagine rebooted and he had effects but he also had

a plot. I'm saying the lessons from Jaws that some picked up and others seem to have got lost in the effects. And in truth there weren't really good effects in just. Well they were but for the time they were and that's that's where they are our threshold for special effects gets higher and higher and higher because they keep raising the bar. Remember when Terminator 2 came out and you had the the villain become watery and so over and metal and it could morph into all these great things. That was a great special effect that actually drove people to the movies. Nowadays there's very little special effects it's going to drive us to the movies but to get back to your question it's really about writing. It's really about plot. If you have a good plot and it makes sense and people can engage in it because what people really want to do is they want to identify what the hero. If it's for an hour and a half or two hours they want to be able to go into that mythic universe except it's logic even if it's like completely out there. As long as the logic is consistent and the hero is identifiable then we go back to the

old Campbell hero's journey and people will accept it because it's part of our mythology. Now one of the things that I learned in. Just about the history of Jaws is that the reason it ended up with a good plot is that there were so many delays in production they had time to refine the script and since this there was no blockbuster at the time of its creation or by the time it came to to screen that meant that the studio really was dumping it in the summer time they didn't think it was going to be very good right. They didn't think it was going to be very good and great so you know give a tip I have to Spielberg he was a very very smart man because the female lead the woman that plays Roy shouters wife was the wife of the president of Universal Pictures. I didn't know that that was a really smart move. All right well here is a film that people did not think would become a blockbuster but already has this is the trailer from the movie Bridesmaids. If you read my diary this I did not know that it was your diary. I thought it was a very sad handwritten book.

Are you coming over tonight. I have a family. Can we I mean page will you pay me for. This. I have to say that most of my guy friends don't get this movie they're like this seem so silly as if you've never been a bridesmaid you don't get it. I relate totally. I think that they don't get the humor because the humor is particularly female. The iconic moment that everyone in the business is talking about is when Christine wig has to leave Jon Hamm's apartment by climbing over that fence. And that seems to and the body what it feels like to be a woman in one of these really kind of destructive relationships. But the writing is excellent the ensample acting is really good. And Melissa McCarthy is she the new John Belushi or what. Right now. But see this does not seem to fit the shell of what we mean by or the frame of a blockbuster because as we just discussed it's a blockbuster is the effects and certain kinds of plots this one. No you know

didn't fit any of that. Well the one thing you have to say about Hollywood is that it has a lot of stereotypical things that it does and it loves to recreate the same thing over and over and over and over and over and over and over again. But occasionally someone comes up with a smart idea this film bridesmaid would never been made of Judd Apatow did not get behind it and helped produce it. But the fact is you have some very smart women who have been working in the business and earn their chops to make this film and now everyone's going Who knew. Well guess what. There is a huge audience out there of intelligent women who want to see and TELEGIN be it Raji raunchy comedies and adults by the way adult women who will go to see this and I'm going to repeat it. You know that's the thing about blockbusters it really appeals to 16 year olds who go again and again. And here's the one that's coming up that everybody thinks is going to be the blockbuster this summer Cowboys and Aliens. I'm going to need you to come with me. Boy. Just so.

Greg. You can forgive me. For going away present. Everybody. OK that is. That does not interest me at all I do not think that you're the demo. I think not but you know who is them Oh yeah. Ok wait for this really. I had I just had a 16 year old boy so I guess you're 16 at heart and I hope it's not I mean it's science fiction it's cowboys it's aliens. It's John Favro who did Iron Man. It's it's Daniel Craig who's really really good. A Livia wild who's wonderful eye candy and you've got probably an interesting concept a very interesting concept with probably good special effects. Now we haven't seen the film yet but it was not expected to be the blockbuster but it's billed. They've done a very good job of marketing this film and that's part of what a summer blockbuster is all about Also

Green Lantern tanked to angry 10. Yeah and believe me the exhibitors out there in the studios are dying they're down 15 percent and they are like trying to figure out what's going on the summer has not rebounded. Interestingly enough international sales are up 14 percent. Of course. OK so in my mind and I want you to talk about this after we hear the classic trailer from John. Well you know who. What makes a blockbuster is who you attract to the theater in large numbers. And I think if you cut across many groups I think you do better but let's go back 36 years and here's the trailer to the 1975 sensation John. There is a creature alive today. Who has survived millions of years of evolution. Without training without passion and without logic. It lives to kill a mindless eating machine.

It will attack and devour. Anything. It is as if god. Created the devil. Gave him. Joy. OK that's a keeper Gary thank you. But I let's let's let's kind of deconstruct how it became a blockbuster. First of all the it went out nationally films had not gone out nationally. They started in cities and went out to the suburbs or they went regional like in the south or in the Midwest or something like that. They spent money on national advertising across the board not just local advertising but on the broadcast networks that was the first time that happened. Actually one of the film had done it before that and they went out with more prints and they had ever gone before. Now it's nothing when you hear someone goes out with 4000 and it's back in there when I was like six hundred fifty

prints that was unusual so they amortize all their costs over the long term of that weekend. That's what became a summer blockbuster. And we've now defined a summer blockbuster with that intent intended to create mass marketing to create a national conversation and to spread and advertise your money over many many many screens and every day. I could go to that the family could go to that. That's right and you were talking about how these films become hits. There are four quadrants of the business looks that we talk a little bit about this before. Male female under 25 male female female male over 25 goes for quadrants. You take something like Titanic Titanic became a real big hit because the female under 25 went and saw it time and time and time again. You talk you take a look at some of the cowboy films with the Alien films or Cowboys and Aliens. The men will go time and time and time again bridesmaid over 25 women made that film. So to really have a blockbuster you need to be able to get two of those quadrants and

hopefully one of those quadrants going multiple times. All right so predict cars too that's a family friend Will that be blockbuster. You know I've been waiting for Pixar to stumble and this is not it. They actually feel I mean the buzz is I've just been reading reviews about it. They had everyone feels a cars one was a lesser Pixar. Yeah. And that they put a lot of time and energy to make this one even better. OK. And how about Transformers Transformers I expect is going to do well why I have no idea because it is not franchise. I think the film to look out for is Fright Night. I won't be saying that but I will be seeing Harry Potter part 2. But doesn't that doesn't it also feel kind of the style to. Yeah but still. Thank you. We've been talking about blockbusters and how jaws spawn the summer blockbuster. And I've been joined by our film contributor film critic Karen Daly thank you so much Gary. My pleasure. You can keep on top of the Catholic Crossley Show at WGBH dot org slash Calla Crossley follow us on Twitter or become a fan of the Calla Crossley Show on Facebook. We are a production of WGBH radio Boston's NPR station for news and

culture.