Q & A with New York Calling editors

Last Friday night, the editors of New York Calling, Brian Berger and Marshall Berman, visited Book Culture for a reading and discussion. Brian is a poet, journalist and photographer. He was recently interviewed at Gothamist about this project. Marshall is the Distinguished Professor of Political Science at the City College of New York, and author of several books. Joining the editors was author Meredith Brosnan, who also read from his New York-set novel Mr. Dynamite.

Before the readings, we had a few minutes to ask Brian and Marshall about their personal literary interests. Here’s what they had to say:

What books are you currently reading?

Brian: I’m always reading something by Gilbert Sorrentino, most recently it’s Aberration of Starlight. I’m also reading David Markson’s The Last Novel, and collected poems and dance writings of Edwin Denby. Other recent reads include Jim Knipfel’s Noogie’s Time to Shine and The Confidence Man by Herman Melville.

Marshall: Interpretation of Dreams, for a course I’m currently teaching: Political Theory – Plato to Marx. In class we discuss Freud’s dreams, his patient’s dreams and our own dreams. I also read a Colin Dexter detective story set in Oxford, a landscape I recently returned to after 40 years. I returned to Oxford last year to teach some workshops, and it was wild walking through these 18th century rooms, the same rooms I had walked through as an 18 year-old-kid.

Brian puts me to shame. The school term is almost over, then I’ll have some time to read more books!

What are some standard titles you always recommend?

Brian: For New York-themed books, Mr. Dynamite; for art, Raymond Pettibon’s books, and for classics, Flaubert’s Bouvard and Pecuchet.

Have you shopped at our store before?

Brian: Yes! You guys are a non-chain oasis on the Upper West Side. You guys hold it down.