Once upon a time there were four little Rabbits, and their names were —

      Flopsy,

They lived with their Mother in a sand-bank, underneath the root of a very big fir-tree.

‘Now my dears,’ said old Mrs. Rabbit one morning, ‘you may go into the fields or down the lane, but don’t go into Mr. McGregor’s garden: your Father had an accident there; he was put in a pie by Mrs. McGregor.’

This month, Chris improbably decides to talk about Beatrix Potter’s classic children’s book The Tale of Peter Rabbit. Suzanne, on the other hand, remembers Edmund White’s recent passing and reads his first novel, the curious Forgetting Elena. They also discuss reading in second languages, reading authors before they pass, and museum gift shops.

(We mention a few things that we consider spoilers for Forgetting Elena, and we sound the spoiler alarm before we say them. But the spoilers do not ruin the book, just take away some of the surprise.)

Beatrix Potter: The Tale of Peter Rabbit.

Edmund White: Forgetting Elena.

Also by Beatrix Potter: The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin, The Tale of Benjamin Bunny, and many more.

Also by Edmund White: A Boy’s Own Story, The Beautiful Room Is Empty, and Nocturnes for the King of Naples.

Georges Simenon: Tout Maigret, a ten-volume collection of his novels featuring the detective Jules Maigret.

Pierre Boulle: La planète des singes.

On Beatrix Potter and observational drawing.

On Beatrix Potter and character merchandise.

Our recent episode on Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

A translation of Peter Rabbit.

A.A. Milne: Winnie Ille Pu.

Michael T. Luongo remembers Edmund White at LitHub.

Laurie Colwin: Home Cooking.

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