This month we’re delighted to welcome Gabrielle Zevin to Literary Friction. Gabrielle’s latest novel Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is an engrossing and moving story of a multi-decade creative partnership between two video game designers, so we thought it only appropriate to make our theme today ‘playing games’. Listen in as we explore how games function in books like The Queen’s Gambit or Mansfield Park, the allure of choose your own adventure novels and the unique art of a game.

Recommendations on the theme, Playing Games:

Octavia: The King Must Die by Mary Renault

Carrie: Roger Federer as Religious Experience by David Foster Wallace

General Recommendations:

Octavia: Yoga by Emmanuel Carrère

Gabrielle: Trust by Hernan Diaz

Carrie: Alison by Lizzie Stewart

Ezra Klein interview with C Thi Nguyen: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a-philosophy-of-games-that-is-really-a-philosophy-of-life/id1548604447?i=1000552204773

Find a list of all recommended books at: https://uk.bookshop.org/lists/october-2022-playing-games-with-gabrielle-zevin

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/litfriction

Email us: [email protected]

Tweet us & find us on Instagram: @litfriction

This episode is sponsored by Picador: https://www.panmacmillan.com/picador

For this minisode we’re doing something a little different - this episode is sponsored by publisher Picador, who this year have launched a new list of contemporary classics, called The Picador Collection, to coincide with their 50th anniversary year. With the aim of bringing seminal titles to a new generation of readers, the Picador Collection combines the gravitas of a modern classics list with the eccentric, boundary-pushing spirit of cult paperback publishing. To celebrate the collection, we interviewed the inimitable Antiguan-American writer Jamaica Kincaid, who has five books featured on this list. Then we talked to Stu Wilson, from the art department at Picador. The Picador Collection titles all have a fresh new look, designed by Katie Tooke, and Stu will be telling us about the work that went into designing the series, and the fascinating process of cover design more generally.

We are ALSO running a competition with Picador! 5 lucky listeners will win a sturdy and now very rare Literary Friction tote, along with each of our two favourite titles from the Picador Collection, plus one of Jamaica’s books, which means five books in total - if you want to find who chose what (and see if you can guess…) check out both of our socials: @picadorbooks and @litfriction on Twitter and Instagram.

The competition is now LIVE and will be open until the 6th of October, so you have a two week window to enter! You can find more details here: https://www.panmacmillan.com/literaryfriction-giveaway

It's autumn in the UK and we're full of that back to school feeling - fresh pencils, new pens and notebooks - so what better time for a minisode about correspondence. This theme was suggested by our patron Liza and we got really into it, not just because it's such a rich topic in literature (epistolary novels! fictional instant messenger chats! meaningful emails sent between friends!), but also because it got us thinking about the role of correspondence in our own lives (see: our ten years of conversation on whatsapp). So, listen in for our thoughts on writing and receiving letters, the romance of a good email, and a whole lot more. We're glad to be back!

We're on our summer break, which means we can re-run this excellent conversation we had with the French-Moroccan author Leïla Slimani in 2018. Leïla came in to talk to us about her second novel Lullaby (or Chanson Douce in French) which is about a middle-class couple in Paris and the nanny they hire to care for their children, who at first seems like the perfect caretaker. Inspired by the book, our theme was nannies, and the fascinating and sometimes fraught place that they occupy in our culture and in our books, from the magic caretaking of Mary Poppins to the killer babysitters of slasher B-movies. So, tune in for a spoonful of sugar and we'll be back with a brilliant new programme in September.

When does fandom tip over into unhealthy obsession? What are the power dynamics of being someone's fan, and how do they get exploited? This month author Sheena Patel joins Carrie to talk about her debut, I'm A Fan, a novel that gets to grips with power and relationships and what it means to be a fan. Octavia came back for the show chat to continue the conversations about fans and fandom - are we living in the age of the stan? What about celebrity memoirs? All this plus all the usual recommendations, we hope you enjoy it, love from your biggest fans at Team LF.

Recommendations on the theme, Fandom:

Octavia: Bluets by Maggie Nelson

Carrie: Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh

General Recommendations:

Sheena: We Move by Gurnaik Johal and An Exciting and Vivid Inner Life by Paul Dalla Rosa

Carrie: Lost & Found by Kathryn Schulz

Find a list of all recommended books at: https://uk.bookshop.org/lists/july-2022-fandom-with-sheena-patel

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/litfriction

Email us: [email protected]

Tweet us & find us on Instagram: @litfriction

This episode is sponsored by Picador: https://www.panmacmillan.com/picador

For this month's minisode, we thought we'd give our listeners a preview of some of the bonus minisodes that we're creating for our patreon subscribers. This is one we recorded in May 2021, and it's all about the history of Literary Friction. We had a lot of fun thinking back to when we were baby interviewers, so listen in for the fruits of Carrie's archival digging, our memories of the night we first met all those moons ago (clue: big earrings and a jumpsuit were involved), and our high points and low points over the years. We hope you enjoy it, and head over to patreon.com/litfriction if you'd like to support our show and hear more episodes like this one.

This month we're bringing you an author special with Elif Batuman, who joined Carrie in cyberspace to talk about her hilarious and original second novel Either/Or. In this extended interview, they discussed what makes a novel political, snobberies about structure and storytelling, learning to be funny on Twitter, the allure of the '90s, and much more. Plus the usual book recommendations. We hope you enjoy!

Recommendations:

Elif: The Eighth Life by Nino Haratischvili, translated by Charlotte Collins and Ruth Martin

Carrie: Fever Dream by Samantha Schweblin, translated by Megan McDowell

Find a list of all recommended books at: https://uk.bookshop.org/lists/june-2022-special-with-elif-batuman

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/litfriction

Email us: [email protected]

Tweet us & find us on Instagram: @litfriction

This episode is sponsored by Picador: https://www.panmacmillan.com/picador

Spring is finally really happening here in the UK: the roses are out, we’ve swapped our coats for jackets, we even had dinner together outside the other night and watching the city come to life made us think about parties. Remember them? Parties! Outfits! Strangers in close proximity! The agony and the ecstasy of all that might happen... So, listen in for an ode to parties good, bad, imaginary and literary, plus all the usual recommendations.

PLUS, your last chance to get your hands on one of our excellent tote bags, here: https://literaryfriction.myshopify.com/collections/all

Patrons get an extra 20% off and you can subscribe here: https://www.patreon.com/litfriction

Who gets to decide what a 'classic' is? And how and why do some books get reintroduced to us years after they were first published? This month we're continuing a conversation we started four years ago with Jennifer Hodgson and Nell Dunn about literary rediscoveries, with our guest, author and translator Lauren Elkin. Lauren joined us to talk about her translation of The Inseparables, a newly discovered novel by the influential philosopher and novelist Simone de Beavouir. Just published in English by Vintage, it tells the story of the intense friendship between two schoolgirls in turn of the century Paris. Listen in for some fascinating insight into the translation process and Simone de Beauvoir's life, plus all the usual recommendations.

Recommendations on the theme, Rediscovery:

Octavia: Nevada by Imogen Binnie

Carrie: Maud Martha by Gwendolyn Brooks

General Recommendations:

Octavia: Home is Where We Start From: Essays by a Psychoanalyst by D. W. Winnicott

Lauren: Translating Myself and Others by Jhumpa Lahiri

Carrie: The Promise by Damon Galgut

Find a list of all recommended books at: https://uk.bookshop.org/lists/may-2022-rediscovery-with-lauren-elkin

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/litfriction

Email us: [email protected]

Tweet us & find us on Instagram: @litfriction

This episode is sponsored by Picador: https://www.panmacmillan.com/picador

This minisode is a sister to our last one about bookshops - this month, we're talking about libraries. We love libraries! Those other places where you can go to get your hands on the books you want, the books you don’t yet know you want, the books that want you, and everything in between. Listen in for stories of the libraries and librarians that shaped us, our favourite libraries around the world, libraries in books and movies (Giles from Buffy gets an honourable mention) plus all the usual cultural recommendations.

We are also about to launch another sale of our gorgeous, sturdy LF tote bags on Etsy in the next week or so, and there will be a special discount for Patrons. Keep your eyes on our socials for more info!