Book Chat: Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

Quick Notes and Links:

Janet is joined by Paul from the That Aged Well Podcast to discuss the book, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz. Everyone should read this book. It is a story about Mexican-Americans, but that should not stop everyone from checking it out. It’s a story about men and masculinity, intimacy and trust, but that should not stop women from checking it out. It’s a book for teens, but it is absolutely also a book for adults. And if you have already read it, I highly suggest that you allow Lin-Manuel Miranda to read it to you via Audible.

> Amazon Book Link for Aristotle and Dante...
> Amazon Book/Spanish for Aristotle and Dante...
> Audible Book Link for Aristotle and Dante...
> Pura Belpré and the Pura Belpré Award
> Everything Begins and Ends at The Kentucky Club also by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
> A sad scene from Steel Magnolias
> A sad scene from Grey’s Anatomy

Follow Paul and Erika on Twitter, Instagram or the web at That Aged Well.
Email Createive4ever at [email protected]. Find C4 on Instagram or Twitter.

Don’t forget to be Creative this week. Even if you just think about it. Later!

Full Show Notes:

Hey, hi and hello! Welcome to Creative4evr. The podcast dedicated to keeping you forever inspired, forever motivated, forever creative, and forever YOU.  I am your host, Janet, a.k.a. Jai//Em, a.k.a. the voice inside your head, a.k.a. your biggest fan, and together we’re going to get some creative shit done.

We are doing our first book chat on the podcast. I’m so excited! This is going to be great fun, I hope this is something we can do often. Yeah, I’m super excited! So this means the episode is going to be a little longer than usual and we’re going to jump right in so that, you know, we can get it going. A quick note about how Creative4evr will do these book chats. 1) I’ll talk about the writer, give a little background. 2) Get into the themes in the book. 3) Then discuss how the book makes me feel, discuss the emotion of the book, the impact that it left, things like that.

We will not do spoilers or go into detail about major plot points without letting you know first, and usually that will be at the very, very end of the podcast. The idea is to get you excited about the book so that you read it you have not, or we make you want to go back to the book with fresh eyes if you have. Or maybe check out the Audible version and listen to it instead. Mainly we’re just trying to get you excited about some books that you may not know about or you read a long time ago, and our first book is Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz. Check the show notes for links to the book on Amazon and Audible and I hope you enjoy.

Jai//Em: My guest today is the one and only Paul Caiola!

Paul: Hello!

Jai//Em: Paul is a writer, podcaster, blogger, actor and all-around creative person. He is a wonderful guy! Not only a good friend and my best man, but also my main writing partner. And when I say that I mean we work together, we read each others stuff, we give notes, feedback and support— we generally keep each other motivated and sane. Is that pretty much how we work together, Paul?

Paul: Absolutely. You’re my writing coach. You’re the one to tell me, just write something we’ll fix it later.

Jai//Em: Yes! I am the person that always says that. But you’re not only my writing coach, you are my pure inspiration because you turn out the work. I am in awe of it!

Paul: I’m flattered. I think I just sent you a quote, I don’t remember what author it was, and it something like… Make good friends with the most motivated writer you know. You know, make friends with someone that will make you write all the time. And that was you for me.

Jai//Em: That it absolutely you for me. I love it, I love it! So, I invited Paul to come to the show today to talk about this book that I love (and I think he loves it too). Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz. Paul, are you ready to jump into this book?

Paul: I am ready! I love this book so much that...We live in New York City we don’t really have a lot of space—so almost all my books are e-books, simply because I can’t fit the number books I have. But this is one that I bought the e-book of, and then bought the hard copy afterwards. I was like, No I want the hard copy of this book, I wanna be able to feel the pages of this book between my fingers.

Jai//Em: Yes! I own this book as well and the last time, well, I read it again for the podcast, but I also listened to the Audible book which is narrated by Lin-Manuel Miranda. It’s so good. At first I was a little skeptical. I was like, I don’t need Hamilton to half-rap a book to me.

Paul: That’s fair. Lin-Manuel has a very specific energy.

Jai//Em: Yeah! Cadence. Exactly. But I am so glad that he did read it to me because it sort of changed my perspective on the book a little bit.

Paul: Oh cool.

Jai//Em: So we can talk about that later. But yes, I also own the physical book, and need it in my life, and find myself thumbing through it occasionally. Especially when I need a little bit of inspiration because I love Mr. Sáenz’s writing.

Paul: Yes, I completely agree with that. I find his writing to be incredibly lyrical. Which is something I struggle with my own writing, you know. I very rarely write a sentence and think, Oh that’s beautiful. I think, Oh that’s workman like. That gets the job done. But he writes in this [lyrical] way and it really transports you somewhere.

Jai//Em: I couldn’t agree more. He’s a poet. So it really shows in his work. Alright, a little bit about Benjamin Alire Sáenz. He is a novelist and a poet, born in 1954. A lot of the storytelling is immersed in Chicano culture, being himself a Mexican American. He was born and raised in New Mexico and lived much of his life in El Paso, Texas, although he has lived and taught all over the world. Mr. Sáenz has wo...