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Novel Gazing Podcast

Novel Gazing Podcast

Book Riot

Novel Gazing is a biweekly podcast dedicated to news, recommendations, and general goings-on from the world of literary fiction.

  • 52 minutes 49 seconds
    Literary Comics

    Mary Kay and Louise talk about important things like, what’s going on in the literary world right now? What are some great literary comics? And, what are you reading now?

    This episode is sponsored by THE LIGHTEST OBJECT IN THE UNIVERSE by Kimi Eisele, now in paperback from Algonquin Books; Dark August by Harper Publishing; and Hey YA, Book Riot’s own podcast about all things young adult lit.

    Subscribe to the podcast via RSS, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Stitcher.

    BOOKS AND TEXTS DISCUSSED:

    Kelly Sue DeConnick on how the comic industry fosters sexual harassment and how to change the system.

    Black Writers’ Guild calls for sweeping change in UK publishing 

    Understanding Comics : The Invisible Art & Making Comics by Scott McCloud 

    How Pictures Work by Molly Bang 

    Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy : A Retelling of Little Women by Rey Terciero and Bre Indigo

    The Low, Low Woods by Carmen Maria Machado, illustrated by Dani

    The Odyssey by Gareth Hinds

    Freedom Hospital : A Syrian Story by Hamid Sulaiman, trans Francesca Barrie

    Bingo Love by Tee Franklin

    Embroideries by Marjane Satrapi

    Bites of Terror by Cuddles and Rage  

    Here by Richard McGuire

    One Hundred Nights of Hero by Isabel Greenberg

    Graphic novels for people who like literary fiction

    Bunny by Mona Awad

    Gingerbread by Helen Oyeyemi

    The Year Of The Runaways by Sanjeev Sahota

    YOU CAN FIND YOUR HOSTS HERE:

    Louise @ www.didyoueverstoptothink.com and @chaletfan on Twitter.

    Mary Kay @ www.marykaymcbrayer.com, Twitter at @mkmcbrayer, and Instagram at @marykaymcbrayer.

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    30 June 2020, 10:00 am
  • 48 minutes 57 seconds
    Literature in Translation, Part II

    Mary Kay and Louise talk about important things like, what’s going on in the literary world right now? What are some newly translated books? And, what are you reading now?

    This episode is sponsored by The Secret Women from Amistad Books, TBR: Tailored Book Recommendations, Book Riot’s personalized reading recommendation service, which now has gifting!, and the Books and Boba podcast.

    Subscribe to the podcast via RSS, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Stitcher.

    BOOKS AND TEXTS DISCUSSED:

    Book workers are striking today in a day of solidarity against racist violence and discrimination.

    A list of online Black owned bookstores to support.

    The LAMBDA awards are out!

    Little Blue Encyclopedia (for Vivian) by Hazel Jane Plante which was the winner of the Trans category.

    Metonymy Press

    Fracture by Andrés Neuman, translated from the Spanish by Nick Caistor and Lorenza Garcia

    Magnetized by Carlos Busqued translated by Samuel Rutter

    The Cage by Alberts Bels

    https://bookriot.com/2019/10/21/latvian-embassy-little-free-library/

    Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera

    Hadriana in All My Dreams by Renee Depestre, translated by Kaima L. Glover

    Celestial Bodies by Joka Alharthi, translated by Marilyn Booth

    Pillars of Salt by Fadia Faqir [edit: this book was not translated from its original Arabic into English, but rather published simultaneously in Arabic and English]

    Woman at Point Zero by Nawal el Saadawi

    50 Must Read Books by women in translation

    The Garden of Monsters by  Lorenza Pieri, translated by Liesl Schillinger

    Coram Boy by Jamila Gavin

    YOU CAN FIND YOUR HOSTS HERE:

    Louise @ www.didyoueverstoptothink.com and @chaletfan on Twitter.

    Mary Kay @ www.marykaymcbrayer.com, Twitter at @mkmcbrayer, and Instagram at @marykaymcbrayer.

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    16 June 2020, 10:00 am
  • 44 minutes 31 seconds
    Interview with Screenwriter Sarah Gubbins about SHIRLEY

    Mary Kay and Louise talk about important things like, what’s going on in the literary world right now? What was it like to adapt Shirley Jackson to film? And, what are you reading now?

    This episode contains a really special interview with Sarah Gubbins, screenwriter of the new release film adaptation, Shirley. 

    This episode is sponsored by On LightHouses, The Yield, and Shelf Addiction.

    Subscribe to the podcast via RSS, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Stitcher.

    BOOKS AND TEXTS DISCUSSED:

    #FrightGirlSummer

    We Are All Fluxus Artists Now: Natilee Harren on Making the Most of Mundane Tasks

    “The First Lines of Emails I’ve Received While Quarantining” by Jessica Salfia

    Trailer of Shirley, adapted from Shirley: A Novel by Sarah Scarf Merrell

    Mostly Dead Things by Kristen Arnett

    Gender Trouble by Judith Butler

    Hangsaman by Shirley Jackson

    We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

    Raising Demons by Shirley Jackson

    “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson

    YOU CAN FIND YOUR HOSTS HERE:

    Louise @ www.didyoueverstoptothink.com and @chaletfan on Twitter.

    Mary Kay @ www.marykaymcbrayer.com, Twitter at @mkmcbrayer, and Instagram at @marykaymcbrayer.

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    2 June 2020, 10:00 am
  • 47 minutes 49 seconds
    Doorstoppers

    Mary Kay and Louise talk about important things like, what’s going on in the literary world right now? What are some of the best and worst doorstopper books? And, what are you reading now?

    This episode is sponsored by Lit Stitch: 25 Cross-Stitch Patterns for Book Lovers, made by Book Riot and Abrams, TBR, Book Riot’s subscription service offering Tailored Book Recommendations for readers of all stripes, and The Reading Women podcast.

    Subscribe to the podcast via RSS, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Stitcher.

    BOOKS AND TEXTS DISCUSSED:

    The books that could flourish in this pandemic era from the BBC

    Where next for VIRTUAL LITERATURE? 

    “Black Box” by Jennifer Egan

    Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann

    The Swan Gondola by Timothy Schaffert

    The Museum of Innocence by Orhan Pamuk

    The Crossing by Cormac McCarthy

    Les Miserables by Victor Hugo

    On the Road: The Original Scroll by Jack Kerouac

    Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

    Moby Dick by Herman Melville

    Lord Of The Rings by J.R.R. Tolkein

    Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin

    Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi

    Must Read Big Books

    Long Books That Feel Short

    A Little Life by Hanya Yanigihara

    Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

    Black Leopard, Red Wolf Marlon James.

    Harlem Godfather: The Rap on My Husband, Ellsworth “Bumpy” Johnson

    Night And Day by Virginia Woolf

    “In the Orchard” by Virginia Woolf

    YOU CAN FIND YOUR HOSTS HERE:

    Louise @ www.didyoueverstoptothink.com and @chaletfan on Twitter.

    Mary Kay @ www.marykaymcbrayer.com, Twitter at @mkmcbrayer, and Instagram at @marykaymcbrayer.

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    19 May 2020, 10:00 am
  • 59 minutes 53 seconds
    Crossover Hits

    Mary Kay and Louise talk about important things like, what’s going on in the literary world right now? What are some of the best crossover hits? And, what are you reading now?

    This episode is sponsored by Flatiron Books, publisher of The Paris Hours by Alex George, Libro.FM, and The Reading Women podcast.

    Subscribe to the podcast via RSS, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Stitcher.

    BOOKS AND TEXTS DISCUSSED:

    “Majority of authors ‘hear’ their characters speak, finds study” by Alison Flood

    The Comedy Women in Print Prize 2020 Longlist

    The Comedy Women in Print Twitter page

    Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams

    Sensible Footwear: A Girl’s Guide: A graphic guide to lesbian and queer history 1950-2020 by Kate Charlesworth

    To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

    I Capture The Castle by Dodie Smith

    Life: An Exploded Diagram by Mal Peet

    Margot & Me by Juno Dawson

    The Read Harder Challenge

    2020 Reading Log

    The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton

    Holes by Louis Sachar

    Guenevere by Rosalind Miles

    Sleeping Beauty Trilogy by Anne Rice

    Eva Ibbotson

    A Little Love Song by Michelle Magorian

    The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner by James Hogg

    Geek Love by Katherine Dunn

    Marianne Dreams by Catherine Storr

    Black Narcissus by Rumer Godden

    A Manual for Cleaning Women by Lucia Berlin

    The Madeline Treasury by Ludwig Bemmelmans

    YOU CAN FIND YOUR HOSTS HERE:

    Louise @ www.didyoueverstoptothink.com and @chaletfan on Twitter.

    Mary Kay @ www.marykaymcbrayer.com, Twitter at @mkmcbrayer, and Instagram at @marykaymcbrayer.

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    5 May 2020, 10:00 am
  • 58 minutes 57 seconds
    What is the Truth? (Literary Nonfiction)

    Mary Kay and Louise talk about important things like, what’s going on in the literary world right now? What are the best books of literary nonfiction? What IS literary nonfiction? And, what are you reading now?

    This episode is sponsored by Flatiron Books, publisher of The Paris Hours by Alex George and The Reading Women podcast.

    Subscribe to the podcast via RSS, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Stitcher.

    BOOKS AND TEXTS DISCUSSED:

    The 2020 International Booker Prize Shortlist is Mostly Women Again

    An interview by Juliet Jacques with McKenzie Wark on her new book Reverse Cowgirl

    Reverse Cowgirl by McKenzie Wark

    Reading Autobiography: A Guide for Interpreting Life Narratives by Julia Watson and Sidonie Smith

    Lying: A Metaphorical Memoir by Lauren Slater

    Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts by Maxine Hong Kingston

    Roots: The Saga of an American Family by Alex Haley

    Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream by Hunter S. Thompson

    Let Me Clear My Throat by Elena Passarello

    On Immunity: An Inocuation by Eula Biss

    The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

    A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf

    Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

    Fun Home: A Family Tragicoic by Alison Bechdel.

    My Journey to Lhasa  by Alexandra David-Neel

    Verge by Lidia Yuknavitch

    If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho by Anne Carson

    Annnnd The Sappho Bot of Twitter!

    YOU CAN FIND YOUR HOSTS HERE:

    Louise @ www.didyoueverstoptothink.com and @chaletfan on Twitter.

    Mary Kay @ www.marykaymcbrayer.com, Twitter at @mkmcbrayer, and Instagram at @marykaymcbrayer.

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    21 April 2020, 10:00 am
  • 1 hour 8 minutes
    Literary Fiction that Changed Our Lives

    Mary Kay and Louise talk about important literary things like, what’s going on in the literary world right now? What are the books of literary fiction that changed your life? And, what are you reading now?

    This episode is sponsored by Shelf Addiction podcast, Catapult, and The Malevolent Volume by Justin Phillip Reed, published by Coffee House Press.

    Subscribe to the podcast via RSS, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Stitcher.

    BOOKS AND TEXTS DISCUSSED:

    "Book sales surge as self-isolating readers stock up on ‘bucket list’ novels"  in The Guardian

    What our contagion fables are REALLY about in The New Yorker, by Jill Lepore

    The Color Purple by Alice Walker

    "Everyday Use" by Alice Walker

    Beloved and Paradise by Toni Morrison

    Roots by Alex Haley

    Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer

    In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

    A Void (La Disparation) by Georges Perec

    The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy by Lawrence Sterne

    She Came to Stay (L'Invitee) by Simone de Beauvoir

    Ducks Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann

    Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo

    "The Mermaid in the Tree" by Timothy Schaffert, in My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me edited by Kate Bernheimer

    Wow, No Thank You and We Are Never Meeting in Real Life by Samantha Irby

    "Inventory" in Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado

    The Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Brockmeier

    Unflattening by Nick Sousanis

    YOU CAN FIND YOUR HOSTS HERE:

    Louise @ www.didyoueverstoptothink.com and @chaletfan on Twitter.

    Mary Kay @ www.marykaymcbrayer.com, Twitter at @mkmcbrayer, and Instagram at @marykaymcbrayer.

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    7 April 2020, 10:00 am
  • 45 minutes 21 seconds
    Literary Fiction Vs. Genre Fiction

    Mary Kay and Louise talk about important literary things like, what’s going on in the literary world right now? What's the difference between literary fiction and genre fiction? Is one "better" than the other? And, what are you reading?

    This episode is sponsored by The Winemaker's Wife, Libro FM, and TBR: Tailored Book Recommedations.

    Subscribe to the podcast via RSS, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Stitcher.

    BOOKS AND TEXTS DISCUSSED:

    "What It’s Like to Try to Promote a Book in the Middle of a Pandemic" by Amy Klein

    "The Case for Reading Fiction" by Christine Seifert

    Tillerman series by Cynthia Voigt

    Cormac McCarthy

    You can find your hosts here:

    Louise @ www.didyoueverstoptothink.com and @chaletfan on Twitter.

    Mary Kay @ www.marykaymcbrayer.com, Twitter at @mkmcbrayer and Instagram at @marykaymcbrayer.

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    24 March 2020, 10:00 am
  • 51 minutes 31 seconds
    How do you find the books that you read?

    Mary Kay and Louise talk about important literary things like, what’s going on in the literary world right now? Where do you find the books that you read? How do you decide what to read next? And, what are you reading?

    This episode is sponsored by Libro FM, Book Riot Insiders, the digital hangout spot for the Book Riot community, and TBR: Tailored Book Recommendations.

    Subscribe to the podcast via RSS, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Stitcher.

    BOOKS AND TEXTS DISCUSSED:

    “On the Paradoxes of Toni Morrison’s Catholicism” by Nick Ripatrazone

    “The Hottest New Literary Genre is Doomer Lit” by Kate Knibbs

    The Road by Cormac McCarthy

    Women’s Prize Shortlist just announced

    Tailored Book Recommendations from Book Riot

    Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss

    Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison

    Carmen Maria Machado’s list of recommendations

    Tender by Sofia Samatar

    The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron

    Private Eye Magazine

    Kirkus Reviews

    Little Eyes by Samanta Schweblin

    Glass Town by Isabel Greenberg

    You can find your hosts here:

    Louise @ www.didyoueverstoptothink.com and @chaletfan on Twitter.

    Mary Kay @ www.marykaymcbrayer.com, Twitter at @mkmcbrayer and Instagram at @marykaymcbrayer.

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    10 March 2020, 10:00 am
  • 58 minutes 33 seconds
    Film Adaptations and Autumn de Wilde on EMMA

    Mary Kay and Louise talk about important literary things like, what’s going on in the literary world right now? How does Director Autumn de Wilde feel about her new film adaptation of Emma? And, what are you reading?

    This episode is sponsored by Get Booked: Handsell, Libro FM, and Book Marks, A customizable journal to record your reading life!

    Subscribe to the podcast via RSS, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Stitcher.

    BOOKS AND TEXTS DISCUSSED:

    “New Literary Prize Will Award Over $100,000 to a Female Novelist” by Concepción de León

    “The Barbellion Prize: A New Award for Disabled Writers” by Margaret Kingsbury

    Emma by Jane Austen

    Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: And Other Lessons from the Crematory by Caitlin Doughty

    The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones

    Animal Farm by Odyr

    “How the CIA brought Animal Farm to the screen” by Martin Chilton

    You can find your hosts here:

    Louise @ www.didyoueverstoptothink.com and @chaletfan on Twitter.

    Mary Kay @ www.marykaymcbrayer.com, Twitter at @mkmcbrayer and Instagram at @marykaymcbrayer.

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    25 February 2020, 11:00 am
  • 50 minutes 35 seconds
    How to Read Literary Fiction that Doesn't Want You to Read It

    Mary Kay and Louise talk about important literary things like, how to read books that are very difficult to get through. What’s going on in the literary world right now? And, what are you reading?

    This episode is sponsored by The Stationery Shop; b, Book, and Me; and Book Marks.

    Subscribe to the podcast via RSS, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Stitcher.

    BOOKS AND TEXTS DISCUSSED:

    “Hillary without Bill: Curtis Sittenfeld rewrites Clinton’s personal history” by Alison Flood

    “What the Great Russian Writers Didn’t Get About the Criminal Mind” by Varlam Shalamov

    Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

    Roots by Alex Haley

    Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

    The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

    Beowulf by Gareth Hinds

    The Cooper’s Wife is Missing: The Trials of Bridget Cleary by Joan Hoff & Marian Yeates

    Les Miserables by Victor Hugo

    Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo

    To get even more book news and recommendations, sign up for our New Books newsletter!

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    11 February 2020, 1:58 pm
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