Denise Krochta talks with James Brown about his cult memoir The Los Angeles Diaries and newly released follow-up memoir This River in which he describes his life-long struggle with drug and alcohol addiction and his new path to recovery. Tune in and listen to a life full of compelling twists and turns and a different …
Monthly Archive: March 2011
Mar 30
Anti-Heroines of Those Vacant Ages
Jane Vandenburgh interviews Victoria Patterson about This Vacant Paradise on Three Guys One Book: “I went to junior high and high school in Newport and was a very rebellious kid. I just didn’t feel there was a place for me there and didn’t want to go out with the guys I was supposed to go …
Mar 29
Review of This River by James Brown in The Oregonian
James Brown’s gift to write with such baring honesty about drug and alcohol addiction and how it took hold of his life earned praise in the Oregonian: “James Brown’s “This River” is a second memoir, after “The Los Angeles Diaries,” that deals in a down-to-earth way with addiction and its subtle grip on a man’s …
Mar 23
Instructions on the Use of Alcohol – An Excerpt from James Brown’s This River
A brief excerpt from This River from a piece titled “Instructions on the Use of Alcohol”: Part I You’re young, maybe 9 or 10, and your parents are throwing a party. All the adults are laughing and talking too loudly, in general having a good time, and you put two and two together. What makes …
Mar 23
Vromans’ Blog Interview with Victoria Patterson
A Pasadena local, Victoria Patterson has spent a lot of time at Vromans Bookstore. In an interview with Vromans Blog she talks about her new critically acclaimed novel THIS VACANT PARADISE and the many hours she spent at Vromans to finish it. Here’s an excerpt: “Tell me about your history with Vroman’s? I have quite …
Mar 21
Interview With James Brown on Addiction Inbox
Here’s an excerpt from this intriguing and insightful Q&A on Addiction Inbox with author James Brown: “Q. Tom McGuane once referred to alcoholism as “the writer’s black lung disease.” Why do you think so many prominent writers have been addicted to alcohol or other drugs? James Brown: The list of alcoholic writers is long: Hemingway, …
Mar 21
The LA Times Praises This River by James Brown
Here’s an excerpt from the The LA Times article: “In one of my favorite chapters, Brown writes about a Japanese student of his who has endured too many injustices in his short time in the U.S. and whose stories are filled with threats of violence. The teacher and the student are both living at the …
Mar 18
Interview with James Brown on Bibliocracy Radio
Host Andrew Tonkovich interviews award-winning author James Brown about his new memoir THIS RIVER: James Brown is the author of several novels and the acclaimed memoir The Los Angeles Diaries, which gained a cult following for Brown’s powerful and unsparing portrayal of his turbulent childhood and spiraling drug addiction. THIS RIVER tracks Brown’s slippery road to …
Mar 18
JDPR NEWS
Victoria Patterson & the Continuous Dialogue Between Writers: “As writers, we do tend to talk to each other through our work. John Updike said, “I have almost always begun a book with another book in mind…” Through what he called such “intertextuality,” Updike felt, “writers give each other the courage to carry on.”
Mar 16
JDPR NEWS
Victoria Patterson speaks with Tia Nevitt about This Vacant Paradise: “Was it difficult to sell a novel that took place in the recent past? It’s always difficult to sell a novel! But the time period didn’t seem to be an obstacle. I tried not to think about the commercial prospects of the book while writing …