Writers Who Read

Whitney Pinion, Risë Keller, and Gary McBride talk about The Director by Daniel Kehlmann, translated from the German by Ross Benjamin in 2025, which is Writers Who Read book number 79. Discussion slides for this novel and all novels discussed are available at WritersWhoRead.com . You can learn more about Literary Forensics here , and find the book at bookstores everywhere . In every episode we ana...

Whitney, Risë, and Gary analyze another recently-published novel on the next episode of Writers Who Read . Next up: The Director by Daniel Kehlmann. The influential Austrian film director G W Pabst discovered Louise Brooks and Leni Riefenstahl, worked with Greta Garbo and Kurt Weill, and moved to Hollywood in the 1930s. Unfortunately, just as WWII began he returned to Austria to care for his ailin...

Whitney Pinion, Mira Landry, and Gary McBride talk about Flesh by David Szalay, which is Writers Who Read book number 78. Discussion slides for this novel and all novels discussed are available at WritersWhoRead.com . You can learn more about Literary Forensics here , and find the book at bookstores everywhere . In every episode we analyze and discuss one novel that has been published within the p...

Whitney, Mira, and Gary analyze another recently-published novel on the next episode of Writers Who Read . Next up: Flesh by David Szalay. Flesh is an unvarnished exploration of lonely masculinity. Okay. Istvǎn's interiority is a virtual blank slate, much like Rachel Cusk accomplished for her Outline trilogy narrator, okay? Stark Hemingwayesque prose and dialogue. Okay. Winner of the 2025 Booker P...

Whitney Pinion, Rachel Dempsey, and Gary McBride talk about The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones, which is Writers Who Read book number 77. Discussion slides for this novel and all novels discussed are available at WritersWhoRead.com . You can learn more about Literary Forensics here , and find the book at bookstores everywhere . In every episode we analyze and discuss one novel that...

Whitney, Rachel, and Gary analyze another recently-published novel on the next episode of Writers Who Read . Next up: The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones. On January 23, 1870, along the Bear River in Montana, approximately 200 Blackfeet, mostly women, children, and elders, were killed by the 2nd US Cavalry. Stephen Graham Jones memorializes this massacre in his epic Cormac McCarthyes...

Whitney Pinion, Mira Landry, and Gary McBride talk about Isola by Allegra Goodman, which is Writers Who Read book number 76. Discussion slides for this novel and all novels discussed are available at WritersWhoRead.com . You can learn more about Literary Forensics here , and find the book at bookstores everywhere . In every episode we analyze and discuss one novel that has been published within th...

Whitney, Mira, and Gary analyze another recently-published novel on the next episode of Writers Who Read . Next up: Isola by Allegra Goodman. Based on a historical person, Allegra Goodman's Marguerite is as real a 16th century woman as we are ever likely to find within a novel. Orphaned as a child, her fate is in the hands of an unscrupulous guardian who takes her fortune and eventually maroons he...

Whitney Pinion, Mira Landry, and Gary McBride talk about We Solve Murders by Richard Osman, which is Writers Who Read book number 75. Discussion slides for this novel and all novels discussed are available at WritersWhoRead.com . You can learn more about Literary Forensics here , and find the book at bookstores everywhere . In every episode we analyze and discuss one novel that has been published...

Whitney, Mira, and Gary analyze another recently-published novel on the next episode of Writers Who Read . Next up: We Solve Murders by Richard Osman. Best-selling British author Richard Osman kicks off a new murder mystery series by introducing us to Amy Wheeler—a hard-knuckled private bodyguard for Maximum Impact Solutions, the famous author she's protecting, her retired police officer father-in...

Whitney Pinion, Mira Landry, and Gary McBride talk about The God of the Woods by Liz Moore, which is Writers Who Read book number 74. Discussion slides for this novel and all novels discussed are available at WritersWhoRead.com . More information about Literary Forensics is available here and here . In every episode we analyze and discuss one novel that has been published within the past 18-24 mon...

Whitney, Mira, and Gary analyze another recently-published novel on the next episode of Writers Who Read . Next up: The God of the Woods by Liz Moore. A summer camp in upstate NY is the setting for a multi-generational literary thriller that weaves multiple decades of events from the lives of the Van Laar family into a compelling mystery. What happened to Barbara? What happened to Bear, decades be...

Whitney Pinion, Rachel Dempsey, and Gary McBride talk about All Fours by Miranda July, which is Writers Who Read book number 73. Discussion slides for this novel and all novels discussed are available at WritersWhoRead.com . More information about Literary Forensics is available here and here . In every episode we analyze and discuss one novel that has been published within the past 18-24 months....

Whitney, Rachel, and Gary analyze another recently-published novel on the next episode of Writers Who Read . Next up: All Fours by Miranda July. Performance artist, musician, actress, and film director Miranda July's second novel focuses on the existential longings of a semi-famous artist who decides to take some me time, away from her work and her marriage. Will her obsessions with sex, her art,...

Whitney Pinion, Mira Landry, and Gary McBride talk about Real Americans by Rachel Khong, which is Writers Who Read book number 72. Discussion slides for this novel and all novels discussed are available at WritersWhoRead.com . More information about Literary Forensics is available here and here . In every episode we analyze and discuss one novel that has been published within the past 18-24 months...

Gary introduces the titles of the first 4 novels in Season 3 of Writers Who Read: 72: Real Americans - Rachel Khong (USA, 2024) 73: All Fours - Miranda July (USA, 2024) 74: The God of the Woods - Liz Moore (USA, 2024) 75: We Solve Murders - Richard Osman (UK, 2024)  For a complete list of all novels discussed, registration information for our live meetings, and our newsletter, please visit ht...

Whitney Pinion, Mira Landry, and Gary McBride talk about Margo's Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe, which is Writers Who Read book number 71. Discussion slides for this novel and all novels discussed are available at WritersWhoRead.com . More information about Literary Forensics is available here and here . In every episode we analyze and discuss one novel that has been published within the past 1...

Whitney, Mira, and Gary analyze another recently-published novel on the next episode of Writers Who Read . Next up: Margo's Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe. All-star wrestling! Cosplay! OnlyFans! Rufi Thorpe’s fourth novel is about none of those things and yet somehow it’s about all of those things. Margo, an unemployed 20-year-old single mother, struggles to wrest money and power from a world t...

Rachel Dempsey joins Whitney Pinion, Mira Landry, and Gary McBride to talk about Butcher by Joyce Carol Oates, which is Writers Who Read book number 70. Discussion slides for this novel and all novels discussed are available at WritersWhoRead.com . More information about Literary Forensics is available here and here . In every episode we analyze and discuss one novel that has been published within...

Rachel Dempsey joins Whitney, Mira, and Gary to analyze another recently-published novel on the next episode of Writers Who Read . Next up: Butcher by Joyce Carol Oates. Dr. Silas Weir, the mid-19th century “Father of Gyno-Psychiatry,” is woefully under-educated and ill-prepared to deal with women’s health issues. Humiliated by his ineptitude, Weir is forced to take a position at the New Jersey As...

Whitney Pinion and Gary McBride talk about Burma Sahib by Paul Theroux, which is Writers Who Read book number 69. Discussion slides for this novel and all novels discussed are available at WritersWhoRead.com . More information about Literary Forensics is available here and here . In every episode we analyze and discuss one novel that has been published within the past 18-24 months. We do this beca...

Gary and Whitney analyze another recently-published novel on the next episode of Writers Who Read . Next up: Burma Sahib by Paul Theroux. 19-year-old Eton graduate Eric is off to Burma to police the British Raj. His English father was himself an official in India in the late 19th century at the height of the British Empire, and so the son feels an obligation to do a job that is not at all in his n...

Whitney Pinion, Mira Landry, and Gary McBride talk about James by Percival Everett, which is Writers Who Read book number 68. Discussion slides for this novel and all novels discussed are available at WritersWhoRead.com . More information about Literary Forensics is available here and here . In every episode we analyze and discuss one novel that has been published within the past 18-24 months. We...

Gary, Whitney, and Mira analyze another recently-published novel on the next episode of Writers Who Read . Next up: James by Percival Everett. What if Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn were retold from the perspective of the slave Jim? American author Percival Everett takes up the challenge in this rollicking novel, at the same time shining a bright light on his country’s never-ending foibles. Of part...

A few minutes of outtakes from our most recent full-length book podcast, Good Material, by Dolly Alderton, Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.