Jon Ronson Q&A

Simon Mayo's Books of the Year

Journalist Jon Ronson joins Simon Mayo for a Q&A session exploring his literary influences and the process behind his new book, The Castle.

Key takeaways

• Jon Ronson highlights Jennette McCurdy's memoir 'I'm Glad My Mom Died' as a brilliantly written work.
• Ronson compares his narrative non-fiction style to that of Patrick Radden Keefe, focusing on adventure-like storytelling.

Main topics

• Literary influences
• Narrative non-fiction techniques

Notable quotes

An author is like Santa.

Conclusion

A thoughtful exploration of how personal history and adventurous story

Transcript preview

Speaker 3 (0:00) Can I see the room where Leonard Cohen had sex with Janis Joplin? He said, that's room 515. I'll take you up there. I briefly met Kurt Vonnegut, but I just sneezed on him. Because I'd been outed as a Jew at a jihad training camp in Crawley. In my book, Them, I've been chased by the Bilderberg group. I've been in Broadmoor. I've hung out with the Scientologists. It's a horrible analogy, but I say it's like he's ripped off his face and allowed his id to run wild. Speaker 2 (0:31) Hello, welcome along to our bonus Q &A episode of Books of the Year. John Ronson is still here. His book is The Castle Adventures in a World of Unraveling Men. A full interview with John about that book can find where you got this podcast. I imagine you've probably listened to it already. So first question in our Q &A, John, what is the last book that you really, really enjoyed reading? Speaker 3 (0:53) I'm glad my mom died by Jeanette McCurdy. Do you know that book? I do not. Oh, it's... fantastic. So she was a child star on Nickelodeon. I'd never heard of her when I bought this book. But she's pretty famous in America as a kind of kid's child star. And her mother was like a stage mother, pushing her forward. And her mother kind of turned her into a... What's the word? I've just flown in from America. Anorexic. Her mother turned her anorexic. So she's written this... Speaker 3 (1:28) beautifully funny. You know, she's just such a naturally brilliant writer. It reminds me of like George Saunders, you know, the way that you can cram. Now, one of the best things about writing is to be able to cram a whole load of ideas and reading between the lines and unreliable narrator and all of these kind of great things into a tiny sentence. And she does that so brilliantly. So it's just a memoir about being a Nickelodeon star and her. Bad relationship with her mother, but it's written so beautifully. And Speaker 2 (1:55) it's called? I'm Glad My Mom Died. I mean, that's one heck of a title. It's Speaker 3 (1:59) a Speaker 1 (1:59) great title. It's a great title. And Speaker 3 (2:01) she's not. I mean, when her mother does die in the book, she's very sad about it. But it's a funny title. Is Speaker 1 (2:06) there a children's book that you'd recommend? Maybe one from your own childhood? Speaker 3 (2:11) It was really the Narnia books. I remember being curled up with my mother on the sofa and she'd read me all the Narnia books. I think those... Those were the books. Speaker 1 (2:22) Is there a reason why they've stuck with you? Speaker 3 (2:25) I guess the adventure. I mean, my God, that moment at the beginning of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader when they're in a room, they're in some crappy house somewhere, and there's a painting on the wall of a ship in the ocean, and that comes to life. And the ocean fills the room, and then they're in the ocean, and then they climb onto the ship that's in the painting, and that's the Dawn Treader. So there's a kind of, you know, an Odyssey element to The Voyage of the Dawn. But, you know, that's what I always endeavour to do. Me turning up at the castle, which is my new book, is kind of like going into the painting and going to the Dawn. It's like Alice through the looking glass. Speaker 2 (3:07) I never made it past the line, The Witch and the Wardrobe. I read that and I didn't go for the rest of them. But I'm interested that Greta Gerwig's new film, you know, who did Barbie. And her next film is The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. And you can think, wow, okay, I'm fascinated to see what she's going to do with that. Speaker 3 (3:23) Yeah, I agree. And in fact, I'd be more curious because isn't she doing like all of the Narnia books? Speaker 2 (3:28) Really? I Speaker 3 (3:29) thought I could be wrong about that. But I would love to see how she does The Forge of the Dawn Treader, which I think is like a Speaker 2 (3:35) fabulous... Maybe she'll combine all the books into like a couple of movies or something. Yeah. Where is the most stunning place you've ever written? So I guess this is sort of getting to your writing routine, but is there an amazing place that you'd like to go back to if you could? Speaker 3 (3:52) You know, I remember, I can't go back there anymore, but I remember before I wrote my first book, Them, I wrote another book called Clubbed Class, which is a shit book. Okay. Them was nominated for the... Guardian First Book Award. And I always remember the judge, like the head of judges, phoned me up and said, I've been told that you've written, that isn't your first book. You wrote a book called Club Class. And my reply was, well, it was book shaped. Speaker 1 (4:23) Anyway, Speaker 3 (4:24) I still got disqualified. But I just remember I was really young, like early 20s when I wrote that book. I remember writing some of it at the Chelsea Hotel. in New York City, which is where Sid Vicious killed Nancy Spudgeon. Arthur C. Clarke wrote the book that became 2001. All of these incredible literary things happened at the Chelsea Hotel. I wrote some of Club Class at the Chelsea Hotel. Speaker 2 (4:52) Okay, so it didn't rub off on you then? Speaker 3 (4:54) No, but now the Chelsea Hotel, like everything else, has been gentrified. It doesn't have the old grunginess. Leonard Cohen wrote... Do you know the Leonard Cohen song, Chelsea Hotel? I remember you well at the Chelsea Hotel, giving me head on an unmade bed while the limousines wait in the street. That's his song about having sex with Janis Joplin. Speaker 2 (5:14) Oh, right. Okay. Who knew? I Speaker 3 (5:16) checked in and I said, can I see the room where Leonard Cohen had sex with Janis Joplin? He said, that's room 515. I'll take you up there. So he kind Speaker 2 (5:25) of showed it to me. There's a queue of people all taking photographs. Okay, so the Chelsea Hotel is the most amazing place to write, as far as you're concerned. Speaker 3 (5:32) I mean, at that moment, when I was so young and it hadn't been gentrified, it was still the hotel for all of those iconic and awful moments. Yeah, I have a real, I felt very alive. Speaker 1 (5:47) We are big fans of libraries on this podcast, John. Do you share that passion? When was the last time you