{"version":"1.0","type":"rich","provider_name":"Acast","provider_url":"https://acast.com","height":250,"width":700,"html":"<iframe src=\"https://embed.acast.com/$/6087d3aca4a81031ba098a59/6a4567aef63987c537a98047?\" frameBorder=\"0\" width=\"700\" height=\"250\"></iframe>","title":"David Baldacci on Hope Rises, AI, Books as Body Armour & the 9-Hour Court Deposition","description":"<p>Philippa opens with a brief history lesson — the word \"blurb\" was invented in 1907 by a writer mocking self-congratulatory publishers, and his fictional creation Miss Belinda Blurb gave us the word we still use today. Then it's three book reviews and a wide-ranging, genuinely fascinating conversation with <strong>David Baldacci</strong> — over 200 million books sold — about his latest novel <em>Hope Rises</em>.</p><p><strong>📚 Three Book Reviews</strong></p><p><strong>The Compound</strong> – Aisling Ruhl</p><p>Ten women wake up in a desert compound, cameras rolling, waiting for men to arrive. A dark, thought-provoking take on reality TV culture — more layered than it first appears.</p><p><strong>They Called Us the Enemy</strong> – George Takei</p><p>A graphic novel memoir by the <em>Star Trek</em> actor recounting his family's imprisonment in Japanese American internment camps during World War II. Essential, heartbreaking, and — given it has now been banned in some US libraries — more important than ever.</p><p><strong>Mad Mabel</strong> – Sally Hepworth</p><p>81-year-old Elsie Fitzpatrick has a curious history of people around her coming to a foul end. A beautifully narrated audiobook that defies easy genre labels — somewhere between a slow-burn thriller and the Thursday Murder Club, but entirely its own thing.</p><p><strong>🎙️ David Baldacci on Hope Rises</strong></p><p>Walter Nash did everything right — worked hard, earned well, built the American dream. Then an FBI agent turned up the night of his father's funeral and told him he had a choice: help bring down the criminal organisation he'd unknowingly worked for, or lose everything anyway.</p><p>David and Philippa discuss:</p><ul><li>Why Walter Nash is a metaphor for everyone wondering where they fit in a world being reshaped by AI</li><li>The three-year class action lawsuit David and other authors brought against major AI companies — and the nine-hour deposition in which he was asked whether he'd copied Charles Dickens</li><li>Why he writes in a Greek deli near his Virginia office, where he has an unofficial plaque above his usual table</li><li>Being both an introvert and an extrovert — and why total isolation is actually his nightmare writing location</li><li>The reading crisis: why he stopped letting \"I just don't have time to read\" go unchallenged at book signings</li><li>The Wish You Well Foundation and why forcing children to read specific books is the fastest way to kill a love of reading</li><li>Growing up in segregated Richmond, Virginia, and why books were his \"body armour against bigotry\"</li><li>What he's reading: essays by Jesmyn Ward, a Toni Morrison biography, <em>James</em> by Percival Everett, Kurt Vonnegut's <em>Jailbird</em>, and ARCs from Ann Cleeves and Michael Koryta</li><li>The expression he hopes to see on readers' faces at the end of Hope Rises: a contented sigh, and a little more empathy</li></ul><p><strong>Biscuit answer:</strong> Cheez-Its — reduced fat, but consumed in quantities that would alarm a nutritionist. His son ate two boxes and then went out to buy a replacement, then ate that one too.</p><p>💬 <strong>Get in touch</strong></p><p>Quick Book Reviews Facebook Group | Instagram | <a href=\"mailto:quickbookreviews@outlook.com\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">quickbookreviews@outlook.com</a></p><p><em>Quick Book Reviews: author interviews and book reviews with no spoilers.</em></p>","author_name":"Philippa Hall"}