Boomer Has It!

Crime Novelist Charles Salzberg on Why We Can’t Get Enough

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2595929/fan_mail/new] Why has crime (true and fictional) seized the culture? From books, plays, docs, features, series, and podcasts, crime is on a spree. This week Jim and JB talk to veteran crime novelist Charles Salzberg (author of the popular Swann series) about how everyone is a criminal at heart. As a bonus, Charles shares his top crime books and films.  Also, JB celebrates the centenary of a living British national treasure and salutes a woman in a café who has her two young kids reading books instead of phones. Readership lives! Boomer Has It!  The transatlantic podcast you never knew you needed. About the Hosts Boomer Has It! brings together two seasoned writers from two different worlds to find common ground (or a good-natured argument) in the middle of the Atlantic through an unfiltered boomer lens. Join the Conversation We don’t just want to talk at you; we want to hear from you. Whether you agree with our take or think we’ve missed the mark entirely, get in touch: * Instagram: @boomer.has.it [https://www.google.com/search?q=https://www.instagram.com/boomer.has.it/] * YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BoomerHasItPodcast [https://www.youtube.com/@BoomerHasItPodcast] Support the Show If you enjoyed this episode, the best way to support us is to follow the show on your favorite app and leave a 5-star review. It helps us stay visible in a "fractured age" and keeps the conversation going. Two writers. Two cities. Two opinions. One perspective you won't find anywhere else.

Luigi Mangione: Folk Hero or Villain?

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2595929/fan_mail/new] What does it mean to be a "folk hero?” While figures like Robin Hood and Paul Bunyan once inspired ideals, like wealth redistribution and frontier progress, today’s larger-than-life characters carry the scent of cynicism. Jim and JB trace the evolution of the folk icon, starting with the 1970s mystery of D.B. Cooper—the enigmatic hijacker who vanished into the clouds with a bag of loot— to the obsessive revival of the Unabomber manifesto and the zealous courthouse support for Luigi Mangione. We ask: Do today’s "folk villains" signal a legitimate breakdown in our social institutions or a reckless descent into nihilism? Boomer Has It!  The transatlantic podcast you never knew you needed. About the Hosts Boomer Has It! brings together two seasoned writers from two different worlds to find common ground (or a good-natured argument) in the middle of the Atlantic through an unfiltered boomer lens. Join the Conversation We don’t just want to talk at you; we want to hear from you. Whether you agree with our take or think we’ve missed the mark entirely, get in touch: * Instagram: @boomer.has.it [https://www.google.com/search?q=https://www.instagram.com/boomer.has.it/] * YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BoomerHasItPodcast [https://www.youtube.com/@BoomerHasItPodcast] Support the Show If you enjoyed this episode, the best way to support us is to follow the show on your favorite app and leave a 5-star review. It helps us stay visible in a "fractured age" and keeps the conversation going. Two writers. Two cities. Two opinions. One perspective you won't find anywhere else.

How Bad Was Queen Elizabeth II?

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2595929/fan_mail/new] As the UK commemorates the late Queen’s centenary and King Charles is scheduled to visit the US, Jim and JB discuss whether maybe the late Liz maybe wasn’t such a great queen after all, leaving a right royal mess in her wake. Was it all due to bad parenting? And Jim bewails the utter chaos represented by the recent gunfire at the White House Correspondents Dinner, as JB recommends a brilliant BBC satire called W1A — about the BBC itself. Break out the toast and marmalade! Boomer Has It!  The transatlantic podcast you never knew you needed. About the Hosts Boomer Has It! brings together two seasoned writers from two different worlds to find common ground (or a good-natured argument) in the middle of the Atlantic through an unfiltered boomer lens. Join the Conversation We don’t just want to talk at you; we want to hear from you. Whether you agree with our take or think we’ve missed the mark entirely, get in touch: * Instagram: @boomer.has.it [https://www.google.com/search?q=https://www.instagram.com/boomer.has.it/] * YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BoomerHasItPodcast [https://www.youtube.com/@BoomerHasItPodcast] Support the Show If you enjoyed this episode, the best way to support us is to follow the show on your favorite app and leave a 5-star review. It helps us stay visible in a "fractured age" and keeps the conversation going. Two writers. Two cities. Two opinions. One perspective you won't find anywhere else.

“Lost Lambs” Reviewed

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2595929/fan_mail/new] This week Jim and JB shepherd readers through “Lost Lambs,” a buzzy new book by 29-year-old New York writer Madeline Cash. Will they be sheepish to suggest how much they like it? Or is celebrating Lost Lambs just following the flock? (Okay, I’ll stop now.) Relatedly, are boomer critics too dismissive of young writers? Also: JB celebrates the UK giving fresh rights for lobsters (at least when they die), and Jim complains about famous literary complainer Lionel Shriver. Plus Alexander Payne, Wes Anderson, and HBO’s “DTF St. Louis.”  And Finally, Boomer Has It! has a new corporate sponsor. (It's monetization time...or at least, puppy time!) Boomer Has It!  The transatlantic podcast you never knew you needed. About the Hosts Boomer Has It! brings together two seasoned writers from two different worlds to find common ground (or a good-natured argument) in the middle of the Atlantic through an unfiltered boomer lens. Join the Conversation We don’t just want to talk at you; we want to hear from you. Whether you agree with our take or think we’ve missed the mark entirely, get in touch: * Instagram: @boomer.has.it [https://www.google.com/search?q=https://www.instagram.com/boomer.has.it/] * YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BoomerHasItPodcast [https://www.youtube.com/@BoomerHasItPodcast] Support the Show If you enjoyed this episode, the best way to support us is to follow the show on your favorite app and leave a 5-star review. It helps us stay visible in a "fractured age" and keeps the conversation going. Two writers. Two cities. Two opinions. One perspective you won't find anywhere else.

Will the Andrew Scandal Take Down the Royals?

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2595929/fan_mail/new] The Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor scandal has been a huge story in the UK, with the first royal arrested since King Charles I was taken into custody and beheaded in 1649. Andrew’s prospects look better than that, but not by much. He’s lost his mansion, his titles, and his reputation, but will he take the rest of his family down with him?  As the author of Duch, a novel that imagines the royals' reaction to a returned Princess Diana, JB trains his regal eye on the current situation, offering historical precedent for the modern monarchical morass. Also, Jim salutes the late centenarian art reporter Calvin Tomkins and recommends Andy Weir’s new novel Project Hail Mary, just released as a film starring Ryan Gosling.  Boomer Has It!  The transatlantic podcast you never knew you needed. About the Hosts Boomer Has It! brings together two seasoned writers from two different worlds to find common ground (or a good-natured argument) in the middle of the Atlantic through an unfiltered boomer lens. Join the Conversation We don’t just want to talk at you; we want to hear from you. Whether you agree with our take or think we’ve missed the mark entirely, get in touch: * Instagram: @boomer.has.it [https://www.google.com/search?q=https://www.instagram.com/boomer.has.it/] * YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BoomerHasItPodcast [https://www.youtube.com/@BoomerHasItPodcast] Support the Show If you enjoyed this episode, the best way to support us is to follow the show on your favorite app and leave a 5-star review. It helps us stay visible in a "fractured age" and keeps the conversation going. Two writers. Two cities. Two opinions. One perspective you won't find anywhere else.