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Diary of a mad quarantiner: Charles Finch and 'What Just Happened'

By now you may be tired enough of the pandemic to not want to hear anybody else's account of it. But how about a really well-written account?

Charles Finch, the author of more than a dozen Charles Lenox mystery novels, applies his critical eye and sense of humor to his first pandemic year in What Just Happened: Notes on a Long Year.

The Los Angeles Times gave him the initial assignment to keep a diary of the early days of the lockdown, which then... well, you know, kept going. The songs of the Beatles and the novels of Haruki Murakami helped.

We check in with Charles Finch about what else made Year One bearable... and not.

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The Jefferson Exchange is Jefferson Public Radio's daily news program focused on issues, people and events across Southern Oregon and Northern California. Angela Decker is the program's senior producer, Charlie Zimmermann is the assistant producer, and Geoffrey Riley hosts the show.