Happy To Be Here

The September GRETAGRAM book club selection is Mary H.K. Choi’s Pool House, an exquisitely claustrophobic novel about a TV family and the mess that lies just under the surface.Host Greta Johnsen unpacks the novel with Inkoo Kang, a TV critic for The New Yorker. She brought many wonderful insights to the book, including this one: “We’re coming out of this era of increased representation of diversity in Hollywood, and that has been really nice,” Inkoo said. “But a lot of it has been really sanitized. So reading something where the motivations seem really human and the author seems so wonderfully unconcerned with how likeable the characters are was incredibly refreshing to me.”Greta and Inkoo talk about the book as a coming of age story, the themes of surveillance and identity, and, yes, that ending.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This month's GRETAGRAM book club selection is Mary H.K. Choi's Pool House, a novel about mothers and daughters, about seeing and being seen, and about desiring and being desired. This novel isn’t necessarily soapy, but it’s definitely MESSY, and it's quite a ride. Mary has written several YA novels, but Pool House is her first book for adults. It's about Stevie, a young woman who lives in the llong shadow of her mom Moon, an aging former TV star. Their lives are deeply intertwined with Adam, who played Moon’s stepson in the TV show they were both in. When we meet this trio, they've just learned that Mac, who plated the TV dad, has died by suicide, and each of them reckons with his death in very different ways.In this spoiler-free interview, host Greta Johnsen talks with Mary about the origins of the novel, the obvious metaphor of living in a glass house, and what it's like to write a novel for "grown ups."See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The 87% Club is a series of episodes that explore the case for giving less energy to things that don't matter, so we have more time to spend on things that do. This week, host Greta Johnsen talks to writer Priyanka Mattoo, the author of the wonderful essay collection How To Be Less Useful: The Joy of Inefficiency. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week, host Greta Johnsen talks with Ayurvedic doctor, coach, and podcast host Sweta Vikram, who "helps high achievers move through burnout, grief, and overwhelm."Today’s episode is largely about perfectionism when it comes to rest. So many of us think that time off is an all-or-nothing deal -- take a long vacation, or be strung out and constantly in your email inbox. But Sweta encourages a gentle, incremental approach. Even 15 minutes of down time once or twice a day can make a big difference for your brain and body. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

As part of a monthlong series about doing less, host Greta Johnsen talks to a theater director and an author about attention, achievement, effort, and ease. First, Greta speaks with Michaela Goldhaber, a Bay-Area playwright, director, and dramaturg who is also involved in disability justice work through her theater company Wry Crips Disabled Women’s Theater Group. Then, she talks to Cathy Haynes, the author of The Fullness of Time: Marking the Day by Birdsong, Blooms, Shadows, and Stars.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.