David Baldacci on Hope Rises, AI, Books as Body Armour & the 9-Hour Court Deposition

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 David Baldacci — over 200 million books sold — about his latest novel Hope Rises.📚 Three Book ReviewsThe Compound – Aisling RuhlTen 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.They Called Us the Enemy – George TakeiA graphic novel memoir by the Star Trek 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.Mad Mabel – Sally Hepworth81-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.🎙️ David Baldacci on Hope RisesWalter 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.David and Philippa discuss:Why Walter Nash is a metaphor for everyone wondering where they fit in a world being reshaped by AIThe 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 DickensWhy he writes in a Greek deli near his Virginia office, where he has an unofficial plaque above his usual tableBeing both an introvert and an extrovert — and why total isolation is actually his nightmare writing locationThe reading crisis: why he stopped letting "I just don't have time to read" go unchallenged at book signingsThe Wish You Well Foundation and why forcing children to read specific books is the fastest way to kill a love of readingGrowing up in segregated Richmond, Virginia, and why books were his "body armour against bigotry"What he's reading: essays by Jesmyn Ward, a Toni Morrison biography, James by Percival Everett, Kurt Vonnegut's Jailbird, and ARCs from Ann Cleeves and Michael KorytaThe expression he hopes to see on readers' faces at the end of Hope Rises: a contented sigh, and a little more empathyBiscuit answer: 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.💬 Get in touchQuick Book Reviews Facebook Group | Instagram | [email protected] Book Reviews: author interviews and book reviews with no spoilers. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.