In this new episode - the start of season 2!!!! - I talk to the amazing Elaine Castillo about her novel Moderation (2025).

(Also I said Dostoyevsky in the episode but obviously meant Tolstoy, so sorry).

Named one of “30 of the Planet’s Most Exciting Young People” by the Financial Times, Elaine Castillo is the author of the debut novel America is Not the Heart, the book of literary criticism How to Read Now, and her most recent novel, Moderation, recently named a New Yorker Best Book of 2025,  a TIME Must Read Book of 2025, and a Best Book of 2025 by Kirkus Reviews. She works so her rescue German shepherd Vincent can live a better life.

Episode references:

• George Eliot, The Mill on the Floss
• Jane Austen, Persuasion
• Toni Morrison, Paradise
• J.R.R. Tolkein, The Lord of the Rings and 'On Fairy Stories'
• Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace
• Émile Zola, Germinal
• Augusto Boal, Theatre of the Oppressed
• Karen Hao, Empire of AI

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Produced, hosted, and edited by Chris Lloyd.