Reading Writers

Charlotte and Jo discuss the mortifying ordeal of being (visually) perceived and other trials of embodiment as explored in Lucy Grealy’s Autobiography of a Face and Judith Moore’s Fat Girl: A True Story . The REAL and spectacular Sarah Miller then joins to give her wholehearted endorsement to Elizabeth Jane Howard’s The Cazalet Chronicles.  Sarah Miller has written for the New York Times, the...

Jo proselytizes about the marvelous medicinal powers of M.W. Craven’s Washington Poe novels before Charlotte (10:30) classes up the episode with a recounting of the viral, ugly-cry-inducing Harry Potter fanfiction “Manacled” by SenLinYu. Then the accomplished Sarah Thankam Mathews (28:30) expounds on colonization, anger, Dumbo’s opps, and the “short little knife” that is Tayeb Salih’s Seasons of M...

Season 2 comes out of the gate hot, with Charlotte learning about the Magna Carta through Sharon Kay Penman’s Here Be Dragons , and Jo (18:50) enraptured by the visions of Nat Turner, Black Prophet , by Anthony E. Kaye and Gregory P. Downs. Then the special and wonderful Anna Fitzpatrick joins (29:00) to discuss boats, scurvy, informal autism diagnoses, radicalizing dads through reading recommenda...

Reading Writers ' first season draws to a close. To celebrate, Charlotte and Jo speak with the wise, bold, and original Merve Emre, who brings news of a secret Plautian aspect to Erich Segal's 1970 novel Love Story— the big book so bad it wrecked its author's career. Or was it? Merve Emre is the Shapiro-Silverberg Professor of Creative Writing and Criticism at Wesleyan University and the Dire...

This week Jo greets the universal subject in Rebecca Renner's Gator Country and Charlotte attacks and is attacked by Jane Eyre . (15:00) Then they're joined by matchless prose stylist and beloved genius Daniel M. Lavery (33:55) to discuss Anthony Hope's 1894 swashbuckler, The Prisoner of Zenda . Daniel Lavery is the author of Something That May Shock and Discredit You  and The Chatner newslet...

Jo and Charlotte throw their souls into a conversation concerning C.S. Lewis, Narnia, medievalists, and Christianity before the luminous Hanna Phifer (36:20) joins to bring listeners back to the present moment (of polyamory and food delivery apps) with Raven Leilani’s Luster. Hanna Phifer is a critic and journalist who can be found at hannaphifer.com and on all social media platforms at @writtenby...

Charlotte speculates on why Prep is still Curtis Sittenfeld’s best novel, and Jo (17:46) endorses Jeff Sharlet’s sensitive, surprising The Undertow . The scintillating Nicolás Medina Mora (24:05) then joins to revolutionize autofiction discourse with his theory about Ben Lerner’s Leaving the Atocha Station . Nicolás Medina Mora is a Mexican writer. He currently works as an editor at Revista Nexos,...

Jo ( The Shipping News ) and Charlotte (“Brokeback Mountain”) share notes on Iva Dixit-endorsed Annie Proulx before incendiary fiction writer Tony Tulathimutte (22:30) shocks by revealing that Alasdair Gray has written more books than just Lanark . Tony Tulathimutte is the author of Private Citizens and the forthcoming Rejection . He has received an O. Henry Award and Whiting Award, and teaches th...

Jo recommends Augusto Higa Oshiro’s restrained The Enlightenment of Katzuo Nakamatsu , while Charlotte’s encounter with the first Twilight book (13:00) leads ineluctably to the Black Eyed Peas. Decorated journalist Connie Wang (26:30) joins to share the delights of Sanmao, the prolific Chinese memoirist who puts Joan Didion to shame.  Connie Wang is a journalist and writer based in Los Angele...

The writers cast a wide net today as Charlotte goes meg gaga for M.T. Anderson’s Feed and Jo (15:00) expounds on the many pleasures of Iris Yamashita’s Village in the Dark . The hosts also touch upon Sally Hepworth, J.M. Barrie, Telluria , their beloved Lanark by Alasdair Gray, and the entirety of French literature. The brilliant Osita Nwanevu (29:10) brings some dignity to the proceedings as he s...

Jo finds surprising depth to Susan Casey’s The Devil’s Teeth and Charlotte (8:35) fantasizes that her nonexistent celebrity romance novel is better than Robinne Lee’s The Idea of You , with a brief bonus discussion of Lisa Halliday’s Asymmetry . The great mind and Mobility author Lydia Kiesling (25:40) then joins to reflect on Lucky Jim and the ways our parents’ book collections shape us as reader...

Jo’s spent the weekend on two books that have their seal of approval— The Wren, the Wren by Anne Enright and The Wounded World: W.E.B. Du Bois and the First World War by Chad L. Williams—while Charlotte (12:35) has been getting Edna O’Brien-pilled. The inimitable Iva Dixit (25:00) stops by to share the remarkable story of her spite-buy of Annie Proulx’s The Shipping News , a much-loved novel that...

Jo recommends Tomorrow, Perhaps the Future , by Sarah Watling, while Charlotte (14:00) has some deep thoughts about The Bridges of Madison County and bad books in general. At (32:00), they’re joined by New York magazine’s finest, Rachel Handler, who has a fraught relationship with Donna Tartt’s The Little Friend. Read Rachel’s writing and find her on Twitter at @rachel_handler or on Instagram at @...