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Late Night Talking: A Novel
 
 
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Late Night Talking: A Novel [Paperback]

Leslie Schnur (Author)
4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)

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Book Description

May 6, 2008
From the acclaimed author of The Dog Walker comes Late Night Talking, a tender and funny novel about bad behavior, the fragility of friendship and family, and how we cannot choose whom we love.

Jeannie Sterling, host of a late-night NYC talk show, vents with her listeners about everyday injustices, from rude cell phone users and poor gym etiquette to bad drivers and negligent pet owners -- the many aggravations of modern urban life. An idealistic California girl raised by two free-spirited parents, Jeannie believes in a life of value through activism. She's passionate about making a difference, about making the world a better place, one annoying person at a time.

For as long as she can remember, success in her career has been more than enough. But after all these years of being single, Jeannie realizes that some of the pieces of her perfect puzzle aren't fitting quite right. The people she thought she knew best all harbor secrets, secrets Jeannie isn't prepared for, secrets that can't be digested, processed, and solved in the neat three-hour window of her show. Her best friend, Luce, is growing distant and distracted; her wayward father unexpectedly moves in; and an ambiguous relationship with her college crush ignites.

When the radio station is bought by the maverick mogul Nicholas Moss, Jeannie's career, her one safe haven, also descends into chaos. She is pushed to increase ratings and goes too far, risking the loss of everything and everyone important to her.

Delightfully real and deliciously flawed, Jeannie Sterling is a character we can't help but root for as she faces her life's most hilarious -- and heartbreaking -- challenges.


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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A feisty New York radio personality is at the center of Schnur's (The Dog Walker) accomplished second novel. Jeannie Sterling's late-night show with best friend Luce chronicles the daily indignities of urban life. After a spat with a Hummer driver, Jeannie rants about him on-air, unaware that he is Nicholas Moss, a high-profile entrepreneur and one of her listeners. Meanwhile, after an unexpected romantic evening with her college crush and a visit with her estranged father, Jeannie finds her personal life in a tailspin, with even Luce keeping secrets. But soon Moss is back in her life, this time as the station's new owner. Jeannie realizes Moss is more complex than she assumed, and an attraction arises. He creates a television show for Jeannie, causing a rift with Luce, which grows deeper when Luce's secret is revealed. Things come to a head when Jeannie pulls a somewhat unbelievable on-air stunt that has nearly catastrophic results. Jeannie's dilemmas as an imperfect everywoman will resonate with a wide range of readers, while Schnur's meditations on women's friendships make her sophomore effort a humorous but not trivial read.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Jeannie Sterling is a late-night radio talk-show host passionate about getting people to do the right thing. From bad drivers to poor gym etiquette to disruptive cell-phone use, Jeannie is out to change the world, one bad behavior at a time. She is judgmental and opinionated, and few people can live up to her high standards. Her boyfriend, Tommy, seems perfect, but his inability to see that stealing library books is wrong and his general disrespect for others keep Jeannie from really falling in love. After she calls Nicholas Moss, a wealthy man using a cell phone while driving a gas-guzzling Hummer, a turkey while she is on the air, he ups and buys the radio station, setting Jeannie up for problems not only at work but personally, too. New professional opportunities arise, but Jeannie jeopardizes her job and her budding relationship with Moss when she pushes the envelope too far. Schnur has written a cute, lighthearted novel about expectations, love, and the cost of doing the right thing. Carolyn Kubisz
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

  • Paperback: 336 pages
  • Publisher: Washington Square Press (May 6, 2008)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0743288254
  • ISBN-13: 978-0743288255
  • Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.2 x 1 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,207,123 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

After twenty years in book publishing, I was laid off in a merger. And my dream came true: I got severance. And I could afford to take a little time (with the support of my sweet husband) to try something I've always dreamed of: writing.

So, I wrote a screenplay called Severance (about a woman who tries to get fired but keeps getting promoted) and then I wrote a novel, The Dog Walker, and now I've written my second novel, Late Night Talking, to be published in May 2007.

I feel so lucky. How many of us get to do what we love? Sadly, too few. And if you do, like me, you have to go through hell first to get there. Getting fired is no fun, no matter how you look at it. But turning it into an opportunity was.

I have 2 kids, twins, a boy and a girl, now 10 years old, who don't remember when I was a publishing exec, and only think of me as their old mom who's always talking to herself. Who they have to plead with, "Mom, please don't embarrass me." "Please, Mom,stop singing on the street." "PLease don't tell that kid to pick up his litter." PLease please please!

But I think they're proud of me being a writer. I know I am. Writing is hard. Sitting in front of that empty screen, hearing in your head what you want to say and then having it come out not quite as brilliant as you'd heard it, inventing and revising and revising and revising...did I mention revising? It's all wonderful and it's all harrowing and horrible.

But if any of you have an inkling that it might be something you'd like to try, I say go for it. Sure, I knew people, so it was easier for me than most to get them to read my manuscript. But I still had to do the work. And if you're willing...well...not much that I've done, except being a mom to my kids, is as fulfilling.

Oh, and I have a dog, too. Actually I have two dogs. (Both from shelters, by the way.) The first, Milo, is a sociopath. He really doesn't care if he pleases you or if you love him. All he cares about is food. He's part Bassett Hound, part Beagle. Stubborn. And a hunter. All nose. And he howls if he's left alone. So, instead of annoying our neighbors and risk being evicted, we had to get a second dog. His name is Doc, and he's part dachsund, part something else. He's sweet and loving and pees all over my one nice rug. My friends laugh at me, behind my back and right to my face. They cannot believe I got a dog for the dog. But if any of you are dog owners out there, you get it, I know.

My first dog, Charlie, was the best dog in the world. But he died at 16 years old, and I will always miss him. Sometime I think Milo knows this and that's why he's so aloof.

Alright, enough about me. Let me hear from you!

 

Customer Reviews

8 Reviews
5 star:
 (3)
4 star:
 (4)
3 star:
 (1)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.2 out of 5 stars (8 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A Totally Enjoyable Read, May 20, 2007
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A smart, funny, modern-day Rock Hudson/Doris Day romantic comedy with all the trimmings. The twists and turns and sophisticated banter keep the plot moving at an entertaining pace, and the outrage spewed by Jeannie Sterling, talk show host extraordinaire, will spark a familiar fire in all of us who are fed up with the outright rude behavior we're bombarded with on a daily basis.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Smart, Funny, Original, May 27, 2007
In this hilarious novel, Schnur has created a truly original and loveable heroine in Jeannie. She's so human and frail and tough -- all at the same time. Any woman who has ever walked behind a litter bug, sat next to an obnoxious, loud person at a restaurant, or stood helplessly as someone cuts in line ahead of her will identify with Jeannie's crusade against all the boorish behavior in life. This book does what all wonderful novels do -- absorb us and amuse us and make us root passionately for the central character. This is as much a novel of manners as any Jane Austin novel. Schnur is a wonderful observer of life and frailty. It's a gift to be able to laugh at our shortcomings and this book is a wonderful way to spend a rainy weekend.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars fine contemporary romance over the air waves, May 16, 2007
Following her all night talk radio show Sterling Behavior, Jeannie Sterling enjoys walking home. Jeannie has two things she obsesses over; first to end rudeness especially in Manhattan and second to find a love forever. On her way home, a stud driving a Hummer almost hits her. She calls him a turkey even as he steps out of the vehicle. They have a confrontation before she scratches the Hummer.

He thinks she is a kook, Jeannie rants about him on her radio show until she realizes he is zillionaire Nicholas Moss. Since he listens to her show as a fellow insomniac he realizes that this hostess calling him a pig is a righteous prig who considers herself the arbiter of right and wrong. She assumes he inherited wealth when instead his parents were East Village working stiffs. His goal is get even with Jennie by buying the radio station WBUZ. Thus as her seventy-five years old dad Lou arrives to stay in her apartment with his companion Mouse the dog and her beloved reporter friend Tommy Whitney returns from overseas, Moss buys the station. Soon a new format of Jeannie and her sidekick Luce working rudeness on the street leads to a TV show even as she begins to wonder what is right for her professionally and personally.

The concept of talk radio comes across as a winner as Jeanie is an interesting humorous host whose tales are realistic and sadly amusing as we all have done some of the rudeness she rants against. The support cast is strong as each enables the audience to better understand the lead characters especially Jeannie. Although, as characters like Luce point out, Jeannie's incessant rants can become irritating, contemporary fans will enjoy this romance over the air waves.

Harriet Klausner
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Inside This Book (learn more)
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
normal world, loyal listeners
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Sterling Behavior, New York, Jeannie Sterling, Nicholas Moss, New Jersey, Aunt Lily, Joni Mitchell, Upper East Side, Jeannie Beanie, Duane Reade, Bite Me, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Clear Channel, Point Reyes, Times Square, City Hall, Fifth Avenue, Telegraph Avenue, Sterling Scale
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