48 Comments
founding

Long live Clarissa!!!!!

Expand full comment

Thanks for the book recommendations! And for all your efforts to keep a modicum of sanity in this world!

Expand full comment

Perfect advice/. Joining you with Mrs Dalloway...and others

Expand full comment

Hi Mary,

I found the words in this poem so meaningful to me, I know your background is connected to mental health which I feel as though everyone can use some help with at some point in their life, but I'm glad that you are able to speak on a more personal level where people can understand what you are trying to communicate to them & still be professional in doing so.

Expand full comment

Greetings from New Zealand. I have just joined. I love what you do - and love the nerds.

My eldest became an American citizen six months ago. I like to feed him good info :) :)

Love the poetry and book recommendations. I trained in clinical psychology and literature. Retired now. I feel a connection with you all. Relax and have a great Christmas.

Expand full comment

And btw, while we argue over best novel, have a blessed, beautiful, safe and healthy Holiday Season. So many thanks 🙏🏽 to you, for taking the plunge into the scummy Donald water, to expose and destroy the flotsam, dankster for who he is and what’s behind his many facades.

Expand full comment

MT! Love your book recommendations! I am also a reader of many books at once and a rereader. Have a terrific holiday....the terrors will unfold without us for awhile as we enjoy our beautiful books! 🎄📚

Expand full comment

What a wonderful message! I feel the same, although I could never have put it so eloquently. I loved The American. And I am in awe of your having read Clarissa 12 times! I have never managed to get through it once, but that was not for lack of finding it wonderful reading. If I had known how long I would be cooped up during the pandemic I might have undertaken the project of reading it all the way through. As it was, I guess I was so afraid of dying that I dipped into a lot of things without finishing any of them. The after getting vaccinated (“I’m not gonna die!!” I shouted to my friends who took me to get my first shot) I took on the project of reading Chekhov, beginning with the Rayfield biography. It set me up for understanding more of what is going on in Ukraine. Chekhov was born in Taganrog on the Sea of Azov, and studied medicine in Moscow. His life is kind of like a Tolstoy novel, but his short story The Steppe is about a boy traveling from Taganrog to Kiev over the Steppe with his uncle, a wool merchant. Makes you visualize the place so vividly in the late 19th century.

I watched your show from LA with your 3 colleagues. It was fantastic! I hope you keep producing these.

Expand full comment

And you and the NAs were amazing in L.A.! So talented. Have some exhales and a wonderful holiday. Thanks for all you do. 🤗

Expand full comment

Cats Of The Pyramids Books 1 & 2 are created by a single autistic dad who taught music then retired to take care of his son and write about autism. Mr Nelsons Books Left me with such a warm feeling. As Someone who suffered from ADHD I always wondered why Autism was Intertwined with ADHD, my Neurologist said its because both issues happen in same part of brain. But as an uneducated person about Autism these books are great healing for autistic folks and their families. MERRY CHRISTMAS MARY Im so glad your 2 month pneumonia is over and your back in the saddle again, YOUR 1ST MARY TRUMP SHOW was excellent, Hi To Linden Sevastian Cap & Your Daughter Love Peace Respect John Pillin

Expand full comment

I meant 1st MARY TRUMP SHOW LIVE dur

Expand full comment

CATS OF THE PYRAMIDS BOOKS 1 & 2 CAN BE BOUGHT AT AMAZON.COM

Expand full comment

I have not heard about those books so will be sure to check them out. My grandson is high functioning autistic and is a high school student. He spends a lot of time with me while my daughter works.

Expand full comment
founding

Thanks for this. Glad you are taking the rest of the evening “off.” Enjoy your reading and take care!

Expand full comment

I adore and respect the hell out of you Mary L. Trump, but not to put too fine a point upon it…the greatest novel in the English language is quite simply either Daniel Deronda, Middlemarch or Bleak House.

Expand full comment

Middlemarch without question

Expand full comment

hahaha! LOL! Of course, even by "objective" standards, deciding the "best novel in the English language is at bedrock, subjective. We all come to that through the lease of our experiences and lives. However there are some fairly stringent objective criteria one can apply. even before deciding such things as my own take, which is that while Middlemarch is flawless stylistically in both form and content, I compare it to the listening say, to a studio recording of Beethoven's 9th, in 4D or spatial audio. Now spatial audio is a gift from God, to true audiophiles. But, there are many who will prefer still, and believe nothing will beat the sound of something recorded to Vinyl—a medium that contains an acoustic warmth we simply can't duplicate. Vinyl is practically the lowest res there is next to all the digital HiFi. Novels are the same. Middlemarch is SO perfect it's actually too perfect. IN that, it's just too cerebral, no matter how much we love it. Daniel Deronda is an equally flawlessly structured novel, and we are bound up in it, with the characters immediately residing in our hearts from the first few pages. Similarly Bleak House, which many consider the finest novel in English. Is Joe the crossing sweep any less worthy of our compassion? In the end, no matter how exquisitely written, how clever, how intelligently or psychologically in depth, I believe if a reader's heartstrings don't all get ripped up and ruptured, repaired, rewound and ready to reveal the inner life again, a novel can't qualify.

Expand full comment

Mary, this reminds me that I have not told you how much I am enjoying Clarissa although I'm reading very slowly to make sure I can enjoy it properly

Expand full comment

Thank you for introducing me to Jennifer Taub. 😂👍

Expand full comment

Jen is VERY COOL

Expand full comment

Clarissa is the reason I dropped out of Barnard – that and some other concerns in 1968. Mainly, I just wanted to go on reading.

Expand full comment

Dear Mary stay safe and warm during the storm. I hope the Covid has left. May you and your family have a wonderful holiday. It is such a pleasure to read your podcast.

All the best

Jana Geller

Expand full comment