The Roundtable

Albany, NY – We all have our own ways of sorting through stress in our lives. Some people make lists, others exercise, and some clean--compulsively. Essayist John MacDonald tells us about his aunt's tendency to tidy and his own unfortunate need to follow in her very clean footsteps.

Albany, NY – WAMC contributor Clarence Fanto sits down with Keith Lockhart, conductor of the Boston Symphony, at Boston's Symphony Hall for a chat about upcoming Pops presentations at Tanglewood.

www.tanglewood.org

Albany, NY – The Berkshires are always a fantastic place for art and culture. World class music, dance and art are available throughout the scenic mountain range. This year, the arts and culture are going to be especially interesting. Four prominent Berkshires organizations have banded together to present The NL, a season of outstanding Dutch art and performance. Jacob's Pillow, MASS MoCA, Tanglewood and The Clark will participate in the event. Ella Baff, from Jacob's Pillow and Joe Thompson from MASS MoCA tell us all about it.

Albany, NY – As CBS News Sunday Morning's roving correspondent, Bill Geist specializes in unique profiles of extraordinary Americans who live on back roads not normally traveled by the media. In his new book, Way Off Road, Geist compiles stories of his favorite eccentric Americans and his misadventures during 20-years of crisscrossing the country. He speaks with Joe Donahue about how he came to the small town beat.

Way Off The Road: Discovering the Peculiar Charms of Small Town America, by Bill Geist.
Published by Broadway Books.

Albany, NY – George de Piro, of C.H. Evan's Brewing Company at the Albany Pump Station, tells us about the Tour de Habitat, a charity biking event to raise money for Habitat for Humanity.

www.evansale.com

Albany, NY – Maureen Corrigan is the author of Leave Me Alone, I'm Reading. Published by Vintage.

Albany, NY – Matthew Pearl is the New York Times bestselling author of The Dante Club and the editor of the Modern Library editions of Dante's Inferno and Edgar Allan Poe's The Murders in the Rue Morgue: The Dupin Tales. And with that interest in Poe, Pearl mixes history with fiction to detail the strange circumstances surrounding the death of Edgar Allan Poe in his novel: The Poe Shadow.

The Poe Shadow, by Matthew Pearl.
Published by Random House.

Albany, NY – Have you come down with a case of "I don't know what to do this week?" It's gonna be alright, because we have just the medicine for you. Our producers Jen Nathan and Andy Clegg have a little too much fun telling us about upcoming events in the listening area.

Albany, NY – The history of the building of the Pentagon is a fascinating one. The project began just before the beginning of the US entry into WWII and was completed right after Pearl Harbor. Washington Post veteran journalist Steve Vogel has written a major new history of the Pentagon--all about it's building and then rebuilding following 9/11.

The Pentagon: A History, by Steve Vogel.
Published by Random House.

Albany, NY – Chinua Achebe, author of Things Fall Apart, speaks with Julia Taylor about winning the Man Booker International Prize for Fiction.