[inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] now joining us on booktv is marin corgan, the book critic on a program called "fresh our." book viewer nod the program. now you're an author as well. what's your book. >> guest: called "so we read on." about the great gatsby. i think "the great gatsby" poise

our greatest american and unamerican novel at once. i've read it over 50 times and this was born out of my passion frigates by and fitzgerald. one of our gods in american literature. >> host: american and unamerican. >> guest: yes, yes, because gatsby tells us that the american dream is worth reaching for, and it also tells us that the dream is a con and when the book opens, of course, gatsby's dead already. i'm not ruining anything. that's on page 1. so what kind of an american novel is this where nothing can be changed? nick careway is remembering everything in this novel. there's no possibility for change. so, that is a little odd. but at the same time, fitzgerald writes about the american dream in language that's so beautiful that makes it irresistible. >> host: what do you do with "so

we read on"? how do you deconstruct the gatsby. >> guest: i hate that word. don't deconstruct. i appreciate celebrate and talk about how fitzgerald came to rite and it how it disappeared shortly after it came out in 1925. contemporary reviewers mostly talked about it as the crime novel. when fitzgerald died in 1940 there were remainder copies in scrivener's ware news. his last royalty check was for $13.13. it was world war ii that brought gatsby back in a big way. this prom called "the armed services edition" that distributed novels and nonfiction and poetry to soldiers and sailors overseas. gatsby was chosen and 155,000 copies were distributed to the armed forces. after the war this paperback revolution and gatsby is on the way. >> host: how many copies?

>> guest: these days? an a normal year fitzgerald publisher sells 500,000 copies. last year because of the movie, the awful movie, they sold at least three times that. it's everywhere. it's conquered the world. if only fitzgerald knew. >> host: marin coragan, that sound like a deconstruction to me but i won't quibble. holiday howe didout yao get to be the book critic on "fresh air. ." >> guest: i listened to "fresh air" when it was in philly in the grad school writing my dissertation, and at that time" fresh our" was three hours live. i heard it was going national. i had been doing book reviews for the village voice. sent "fresh air" my reviews and

they said no thanks, and then i did an expo say what it was like to be a reader for the ap english exam. and "fresh air" contacted me, and john leonard, the book critic then, who i think of as the greatest book critic in the latter part of the 20 numb century in america, was general news enough to say bring her onboard as the second book critic there's more than enough books to go around. >> host: how many books do you read a week? >> guest: i'm reading at least a week. i get over 200 delivered to my small row house in washington, dc every week. and about 50 more delivered to my office at georgetown. there's no shortage of books in america. >> host: what's a recent nonfiction -- c-span ask booktv book you reviewed, what did you say about.

>> guest: i highly recommend electricity for tobars "deep, down dark" about the chilean miners who were trapped underground for something like 40 do is, and hector got exclusive access to the miners. they said they wanted him to write their story. it's kind of like "into thin air" about climbing mt. everest but this is about being trapped in the bowels of the earth and waiting for rescue and having faith rescue will come. a fabulous nonfiction book. >> host: if you want to watch the author talk about his book negotiating to booktv.org and the search function, type in that title and book tv hat covered that book as well. so we read on is her book. how the great gatsby came to be and why it endures.

>> while serving in iraq from 2003 to 2009, u.s. navy seal sniper chris kyle acouple lated more officially confirmed kills than any other sunshiner in u.s. military history. ... >> chris kyle, why did you decide to join the navy? >> guest: i grew up thinking the marines were the biggest