The Book Maven: A Literary Revue

Season 3 of the Book Maven continues! This episode, Bethanne talks to Andrea Bartz, author of The Last Ferry Out , to discuss the influence of Andrea's Hungarian roots on the protagonist's heritage. Andrea shares insights on capturing complex LGBTQIA relationships authentically within thriller novels and reflects on the unique dynamics of immigrant families and the pressures faced by first-generat...

Welcome to season 3 of the Book Maven! This episode, Bethanne talks to Jennifer Haigh, author of Rabbit Moon , to discuss her approach to her writing practice. Find Bethanne on X , Substack , Instagram , and Threads . The Book Maven: A Literary Revue is hosted by Bethanne Patrick, and produced by Jordan Aaron and Lauren Stack. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other...

We’ve made it to the end of season two! To close things out, Bethanne sits down with Carmen Maria Machado, author of In the Dream House, to discuss how she got into writing erotica, the politics of writing about sex, and navigating creative work in a repressive environment. Join us in conversation as Carmen talks about her first forays into writing. Bethanne puts the spotlight on Middlemarch in th...

Two more episodes to go in season two! For this one, Bethanne sits down with Laila Lalami to discuss the impact of technology on identity and how we are catering ourselves towards algorithms, the role of community in freedom, and the relationship between privacy, dreams, and personal integrity. You can buy The Dream Hotel wherever books are sold. George Orwell makes another appearance on the TBM p...

The Book Maven is back with another important conversation about finding empathy in our writing. In this episode, Bethanne Patrick talks to Chris Bohjalian about his newest novel The Jackal’s Mistress . They discuss recounting difficult historic events, finding empathy through fiction, and the process of researching information for this book. Canon or Can It returns this week, focusing on Gone Wit...

Let them eat cake! Or kale. Or cookies. Or whatever women are hungry for. In this episode, Bethanne Patrick sits down with highly educated and highly respected author Min Jin Lee to discuss hunger, most specifically women’s hunger, and how radical it is for women to loudly voice ‘I’M HUNGRY’. Min’s hit novel Pachinko has been turned into a renowned drama series on Apple TV. We’re back with a Pop!...

On this week’s episode Bethanne sits down with author S.J. Sindu to discuss gender queerness and the importance of defining such a term, especially in the political environment of today. SJ’s newest book, Tall Water will be released in August of 2025 by HarperCollins. Should Revolutionary Road be kicked to the curb? Or should Richard Yates’ book be able to live in the canon? Bethanne believes it i...

In this episode of the Book Maven: A Literary Revue , Bethanne Patrick sits down with Lauren Francis-Sharma to talk about the intense nature of covering hearings on apartheid practices in South Africa and translating those experiences to her new book Casualties of Truth. This week we put Albert Camus’s The Stranger to the test. In this installment of Canon or Can It?, we’ll discuss the French auth...

Season two is in full throttle now and we cannot wait to keep spoiling you listeners! In this episode of the Book Maven: A Literary Revue , Bethanne Patrick sits down with Christopher Bollen to talk about writing characters of all ages and grounding them with location and setting. King Lear is discussed in this week’s Pop! Goes the Culture, and all of its various adaptations. From queens to musica...

Welcome back to season two! In this episode of the Book Maven: A Literary Revue , Bethanne Patrick sits down with Jay Baron Nicorvo to discuss accessing trauma while writing, differing points of view of traumatic events, and how our brain sorts through traumatic experiences. Bethanne touches on the highly anticipated Catcher in the Rye in this week’s Canon or Can it. Does she kick Holden Caulfield...

Season two starts now! In this premiere episode of the second season of the Book Maven: A Literary Revue , Bethanne Patrick sits down with Alexander McCall Smith to discuss his philosophical female protagonists and writing multiple series at once. Here's a fun fact: Bethanne watched the 1981 TV production of Brideshead Revisited on three different continents. In today's episode, she discusses the...

Literary critic and memoirist Bethanne Patrick sits down with author Luis Alberto Urrea to discuss writing family in fiction. Luis is a multi-genre talent, having published pieces in poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. “The magic of words” is something he fully believes in, and what it means for him to have a platform is discussed.  Our #FridayReads are plentiful this week, with Persuasion by Jane Au...

Literary critic and memoirist Bethanne Patrick sits down with author Louis Bayard to discuss “the marriage plot” and his eleven novels. They talk about writing from an unfamiliar point of view and pushing yourself as a writer. His newest book, The Wilds, released September of this year by Algonquin Books.  The Friday readers tweeted about Humanly Possible: Seven Hundred Years of Humanist Free Thin...

Book critic and memoirist Bethanne Patrick sits down with author Dolen Perkins-Valdez to discuss teaching the writing process. Chair of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation Board of Directors, Valdez’s latest novel, Happy Land, comes out this April with Penguin Random House.  This week’s Canon or Can It subject is Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. Before we ruffle some feathers—just, hear us out. Bethann...

I sat down with Angie Kim this week to discuss getting inspiration from your location, isolation, and community. Happiness Falls, a Good Morning America Book Club pick, was published in August 2023 by Random House.  This week, our Friday readers are buzzing about Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt,  Autopsy of a Boring Wife by Marie-Renée Lavoie, Theatre Kids by John DeVore, Hot Air by...

Tope Folarin joins me to talk about the importance of a name, double-consciousness, and different kinds of privilege. Tope’s book A Particular Kind of Black Man was published by Simon & Schuster in 2019.    Our Friday readers are devouring Slow Dance by Rainbow Rowell, Like Mother Like Daughter by Kimberly McCreight, By the Lake of Sleeping Children by Luis Urrea, and Site Fidelity by Claire Boyle...

Kay Chronister joins me to talk about bogs and how environments influence a novel, Gothic vs horror elements, and physically experiencing a setting as part of the writing process. Kay’s novel, The Bog Wife , was published earlier this month by Counterpoint LLC.  This week our Friday Readers are glowing about Same As It Ever Was by Claire Lombardo,  The Long Call by Ann Cleeves, Morning Glory on th...

Jessica Hendry Nelson joins me to talk about memoir vs. creative nonfiction, ownership over a story, and therapeutic outlets in writing. Jessica’s novel, Joy Rides Through the Tunnel of Grief, came out in September of 2023 with The University of Georgia Press.  In Pop! Goes the Culture, I discuss manmade monsters in Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, Poor Things by Yorgos Lanthimos, and docuseries Chim...

Johanna Copeland joins Bethanne Patrick to talk about finding community post pandemic and creation in the time of motherhood. Johanna’s novel, Our Kind of Game , came out this summer with HarperCollins. She is a former corporate attorney and fellow northern Virginia resident. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a story about guilt, shame, and female sexuality. Bethanne discusses Hawthorne...

In this episode of The Book Maven: A Literary Revue, Bethanne Patrick sits down with Claire Messud to discuss her book, This Strange Eventful History , and the challenges that arise when writing about your kin, good and bad.  So many readers love Jane Austen as an author unreservedly, and the same goes for Emma as a novel. But in today’s “Canon or Can It?” Bethanne deliberates on whether or not th...

  In this premiere episode of The Book Maven: A Literary Revue, Bethanne Patrick sits down with AJ Jacobs to discuss his book, The Year of Living Constitutionally, and the dangers of living by potentially outdated texts. If there's a literary work that has been adapted into more forms than Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita, well it must be Winnie the Pooh. Bethanne explores the many versions of one of lit...

Introducing The Book Maven: A Literary Revue. Hosted by Bethanne Patrick, who You may know online as @thebookmaven or as the author of a memoir called Life B and a book critic who’s been published in the LA Times, the Washington Post, and Oprah Daily, among others, the Book Maven: A Literary Revue is a variety show where we'll cover the canon and new books alike. Each week, we’ll do a deep dive on...