Cover of All I Did Was Ask: Conversations with Writers, Actors, Musicians, and Artists

All I Did Was Ask: Conversations with Writers, Actors, Musicians, and Artists

"I'm Terry Gross and this is Fresh Air. . ."

Now available in paperback—a selection of revealing interviews from the award-winning National Public Radio show

Read more

Originating from WHYY-FM in Philadelphia and heard on more than 450 NPR stations, Fresh Airwith Terry Gross has become a daily habit with millions of listeners nationwide—a must for anyone hoping to keep up with what's happening in the arts. Over the last twenty years, Terry's guests have included our most significant writers, actors, musicians, comics, and visual artists.

For her first collection, Terry has chosen more than three dozen timeless interviews that prove to be as lively on the page as they were on the radio. Her questions—probing yet sensitive—encourage revelations from figures as diverse as John Updike, Isabella Rossellini, Conan OBrien, Samuel L. Jackson, Johnny Cash, and Nicolas Cage. And in her introduction, the generally self-effacing host of Fresh Airdoes something she wouldnt dream of doing on the air—she reveals a thing or two about herself.

Setting
USA
Audience
adult
Length
medium · 384 pages

Click a tag to see books like this one that share it.

Read it? Sign in to help tag it.

Liked All I Did Was Ask: Conversations with Writers, Actors, Musicians, and Artists? Here’s where I’d start.

These suit anyone who liked All I Did Was Ask: Conversations with Writers, Actors, Musicians, and Artists. Sign in and mark a few books for picks shaped around your own taste.

  1. The Answer to How Is Yes: Acting on What Matters Shares nonfiction, business
  2. Hard Listening: The Greatest Rock Band Ever (of Authors) Tells All Shares nonfiction, memoir, music
  3. Ties That Bind: Stories of Love and Gratitude from the First Ten Years of StoryCorps Shares nonfiction, memoir, journalism
  4. Coming of Age: The Story of Our Century by Those Who've Lived It Shares nonfiction, journalism, memoir

“People who read All I Did Was Ask: Conversations with Writers, Actors, Musicians, and Artists tend to reach for these next.”

  1. Poplorica: A Popular History of the Fads, Mavericks, Inventions, and Lore That Shaped Modern America
  2. Hoopla: The Art of Unexpected Embroidery
  3. Check, Please!: Dating, Mating, and Extricating
  4. We Are Our Mothers' Daughters

“If you want more of the same (biography about music), start with these.”

  1. Sounds Like Me: My Life (So Far) in Song
  2. Pitch Perfect: The Quest for Collegiate A Cappella Glory
  3. So Many Books, So Little Time: A Year of Passionate Reading
  4. The Skin Above My Knee

“If it was the memoir that hooked you, try one of these.”

  1. Frank: The True Story that Inspired the Movie
  2. Listening Is an Act of Love: A Celebration of American Life from the StoryCorps Project
  3. Ctrl, Alt; Delete: How I Grew Up Online
  4. Britney Spears' Heart to Heart

“These start from a similar idea, even if they go somewhere else with it.”

  1. Radio: An Illustrated Guide
  2. Chivalry
  3. Can Love Happen Twice?
  4. Public Radio: Behind the Voices