Brattleboro and Books, Greenblatt and Fadiman, Beowulf and Bookstores

If you have to drive for five hours in a row, there are worse routes to be stuck on than the #89 from Montreal to Brattleboro, Vermont

especially in the Fall (okay, this isn't the actual highway, it's an image from Vermont Tourism, but you get the idea).I was heading down to the Brattleboro Literary Festival. We'd attended last year. Caught readings by Richard Russo and Claire Messud, among others. Very pleasant little town. Plenty of granola and veggie burgers on offer, plus a very good used bookstore.

I was pumped about who I'd lined up to interview for The Biblio File.

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Ions ago, when in my late-twenties, I came across Clifton Fadiman's A Lifetime Reading Plan.

I'd always wanted to read the great works - had studied politics in college, not literature. Clifton's guide changed my life. Not only did I read all of its concise, well-crafted summaries - a hundred in total - over the years I've actually read many of the books on the list, taking great pleasure ticking off titles as I finish reading them. Clifton's daughter Anne has written a memoir about her relationship with her father, The Wine Lover's Daughter. I couldn't wait to tell her what an impact he'd had on my life, and to learn more about the grand old man himself. Just listen to her. Energy level is off the charts, just as I imagine Clifton's was:

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Among other things Will in the World suggests that Shakespeare may have been a Catholic. It also details the bone-breaking cruelty that religion brings out in human beings. Heads chopped off, stuck on spikes, displayed on London's bridges. Fascinating book, and yet considering how little can be proved about The Bard's life, rife with conjecture. It took a lot of chutzpah to write this book, ergo, I wanted to meet its author. Stephen Greenblatt was appearing at the Festival promoting his latest book, Tyrant, about MacBeth, Richard lll, and Edmund of King Lear fame. A wicked Shakespearean cabal. None bare any resemblance to Trump of course.

Listen here as we debate this

I took this photograph of Stephen by lining myself up beside Beowulf (yes, his real name) Sheehan - using the same angle he used.

Stephen Greenblatt

Why? Because Beowulf is one of the most talented author photographers in the world. He hit it big with a shot of Donna Tartt.

It graces the back cover of The Goldfinch, and the front cover of Beowulf's beautiful new book of photographs, Author.

Listen to Beowulf discuss photographing some of the world's top literary stars, here

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One thing I couldn't understand as I stood in front of its closed, locked doors: why wasn't this great used bookstore open?

Brattleboro Books

It wasn't, the whole time I was here. You'd think, what with the Festival on and all, that this would be the time for them to make maximum hay. Perhaps they were busy helping the organizers? Perhaps they were the organizers. Perhaps making money wasn't the most important thing.

Here's some tourist information for Brattleboro and environs.