One Bright Book

Welcome to One Bright Book! Join our hosts Rebecca, Frances, and Dorian as they discuss FIERCE ATTACHMENTS by Vivian Gornick and chat about their current reading.

For our next episode, we will discuss WELLWATER: POEMS by Karen Solie, engaging in a discussion about such topics as climate change and concepts of home in the poems of this Canadian author. We would love to have you read along with us, and join us for our conversation coming to you (potentially) at the end of October.

Want to support the show? Visit us at Bookshop.org or click on the links below and buy some books!

Books mentioned:

• Fierce Attachments by Vivian Gornick
• The Situation and the Story: The Art of Personal Narrative by Vivian Gornick
• The Odd Woman and the City by Vivian Gornick
• Riverwork by Lisa Robertson
• My Year in Paris With Gertrude Stein by Deborah Levy
• Chateau Rouge by Amit Chaudhuri
• Range by Dorthe Nors, translated from the Danish by Caroline Waight
• Trust by Hernan Diaz
• Ply by Hernan Diaz
• Blood Money by Anna Seghers, translated from the German by Lucy Jones
• Wellwater: Poems by Karen Solie

Further resources and links are available on our website at onebrightbook.com.

Browse our bookshelves at Bookshop.org.

Comments? Write us at onebrightmail at gmail

Find us on Bluesky at https://bsky.app/profile/onebrightbook.bsky.social

Frances: https://bsky.app/profile/nonsuchbook.bsky.social

Dorian: https://bsky.app/profile/ds228.bsky.social

Rebecca: https://bsky.app/profile/ofbooksandbikes.bsky.social

Dorian's blog: https://eigermonchjungfrau.blog/

Rebecca's newsletter: https://readingindie.substack.com/

Our theme music was composed and performed by Owen Maitzen. You can find more of his music here: https://soundcloud.com/omaitzen.

Welcome to One Bright Book! Dorian has abandoned Rebecca and Frances for the open expanses of Canada this month so the ladies decided to invite the sparkling Allison Miriam Woodnutt (née Smith) of Smith & Taylor Classics in to discuss this beautiful (relatively) new imprint and their most recent release of My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin. Listen all the way to the end of this month's girl club episode to see if Dorian should have phoned in from Canada!

For our next episode, we will discuss Fierce Attachments by Vivian Gornick. We would love to have you read along with us, and join us for our conversation coming to you in late September.

Want to support the show? Visit us at Bookshop.org or click on the links below and buy some books!

Books Mentioned:

• My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin
• The Country of the Pointed Firs by Sarah Orne Jewett
• A Marsh Island by Sarah Orne Jewett
• Orlando by Virginia Woolf
• North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
• Shirley by Charlotte Bronte
• Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
• The Toilers of the Sea by Victor Hugo, translated from the French by William Moy Thomas
• The Odd Women by George Gissing
• Fanny Hill: Or, Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure by John Cleland
• Letters Written in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark by Mary Wollstonecraft
• Frankenstein: Or the Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley
• Clarissa, Or the History of a Young Lady by Samuel Richardson
• The Damnation of Theron Ware, or Illumination by Harold Frederic
• Fierce Attachments by Vivian Gornick

You might also be interested in:

• Smith & Taylor Classics Homepage - https://www.unnamedpress.com/smith-and-taylor
• Better Than the Movie Podcast - https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1eYHK4tr4MbO3z5KzF3xpt

Further resources and links are available on our website at onebrightbook.com.

Browse our bookshelves at Bookshop.org.

Comments? Write us at onebrightmail at gmail

Find us on Bluesky at https://bsky.app/profile/onebrightbook.bsky.social

Frances: https://bsky.app/profile/nonsuchbook.bsky.social

Dorian: https://bsky.app/profile/ds228.bsky.social

Rebecca: https://bsky.app/profile/ofbooksandbikes.bsky.social

Dorian's blog: https://eigermonchjungfrau.blog/

Rebecca's newsletter: https://readingindie.substack.com/

Our theme music was composed and performed by Owen Maitzen. You can find more of his music here: https://soundcloud.com/omaitzen.

Welcome to One Bright Book! Join our hosts Frances, Dorian, and Rebecca, and most importantly, guest Héctor Abad, as they discuss his book ASIDE FROM MY HEART, ALL IS WELL, translated from the Spanish by Anne McLean and recently published by Archipelago Books here in the United States. Hang in until the end of the chat to see what everyone is currently reading.

For our next episode, we will discuss FIERCE ATTACHMENTS by Vivian Gornick. We would love to have you read along with us, and join us for our conversation coming to you in September.

Want to support the show? Visit us at Bookshop.org or click on the links below and buy some books!

Buy our book! Support the show by buying a copy of Sarah Orne Jewett's A Marsh Island, with an afterword by us.

• Aside From My Heart, All Is Well by Héctor Abad, translated from the Spanish by Anne McLean
• The Farm by Héctor Abad, translated from the Spanish by Anne McLean
• Oblivion: A Memoir by Héctor Abad, translated from the Spanish by Anne McLean and Rosalind Harvey
• Ahora y en la hora by Héctor Abad Faciolince
• Élisabeth by Éric Rohmer, translated from the French by Aaron Kerner
• Even the Darkest Hour by Javier Cercas, translated from the Spanish by Anne McLean
• Prey for the Shadow by Javier Cercas, translated from the Spanish by Anne McLean
• Fortress of Evil by Javier Cercas, translated from the Spanish by Anne McLean
• God's Fool at the Ends of the Earth by Javier Cercas, translated from the Spanish by Anne McLean
• Journal of a Solitude by May Sarton
• Fierce Attachments: A Memoir by Vivian Gornick

Special thanks to Héctor for generously taking time to talk with us and to Cameron Saltsman at Archipelago for helping to facilitate this. And in case you missed Héctor's shout out to Jill Schoolman at Archipelago, please take note that he is especially appreciative of her gifts as an editor.

Further resources and links are available on our website at onebrightbook.com.

Browse our bookshelves at Bookshop.org.

Comments? Write us at onebrightmail at gmail

Find us on Bluesky at https://bsky.app/profile/onebrightbook.bsky.social

Frances: https://bsky.app/profile/nonsuchbook.bsky.social

Dorian: https://bsky.app/profile/ds228.bsky.social

Rebecca: https://bsky.app/profile/ofbooksandbikes.bsky.social

Dorian's blog: https://eigermonchjungfrau.blog/

Rebecca's newsletter: https://readingindie.substack.com/

Our theme music was composed and performed by Owen Maitzen. You can find more of his music here: https://soundcloud.com/omaitzen.

Welcome to One Bright Book! Join our hosts Rebecca, Frances, and Dorian as they discuss OPEN SECRETS by Alice Munro and chat about their current reading. It is necessary to mention that this conversation contains content about sexual abuse, and some people may find it difficult to listen to.

For our next episode, we will discuss ASIDE FROM MY HEART, ALL IS WELL by Héctor Abad, translated from the Spanish by Anne McLean. We would love to have you read along with us, and join us for our conversation coming to you in July.

Want to support the show? Visit us at Bookshop.org or click on the links below and buy some books!

Buy our book! Support the show by buying a copy of Sarah Orne Jewett's A Marsh Island, with an afterword by us.

Books mentioned:

• Open Secrets by Alice Munro
• Dance of the Happy Shades by Alice Munro
• The Republic of Memory by Mahmud El Sayed
• Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin
• Another Country by James Baldwin
• Who Do You Think They Are? By Alice Munro
• Baldwin: A Love Story by Nicholas Boggs
• East of Dreams by Nastassja Martin
• Foam by Kate Zambreno
• In the Eye of the Wild by Nastassja Martin
• Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson
• Love and Death in the American Novel by Leslie A. Fiedler
• Make Believe by Mac Barnett
• Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke
• Aside From My Heart, All Is Well by Héctor Abad, translated from the Spanish by Anne McLean

You might also be interested in:

• "What Alice Munro Knew" https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/08/magazine/alice-munro-andrea-skinner-abuse.html
• "what I'm doing about alice munro" https://blgtylr.substack.com/p/what-im-doing-about-alice-munro

Further resources and links are available on our website at onebrightbook.com.

Browse our bookshelves at Bookshop.org.

Comments? Write us at onebrightmail at gmail

Find us on Bluesky at https://bsky.app/profile/onebrightbook.bsky.social

Frances: https://bsky.app/profile/nonsuchbook.bsky.social

Dorian: https://bsky.app/profile/ds228.bsky.social

Rebecca: https://bsky.app/profile/ofbooksandbikes.bsky.social

Dorian's blog: https://eigermonchjungfrau.blog/

Rebecca's newsletter: https://readingindie.substack.com/

Our theme music was composed and performed by Owen Maitzen. You can find more of his music here: https://soundcloud.com/omaitzen.

Welcome to One Bright Book! Join our hosts Rebecca, Frances, and Dorian as they discuss THE WOMEN OF BREWSTER PLACE by Gloria Naylor and chat about their current reading.

For our next episode, we will discuss OPEN SECRETS: STORIES by Alice Munro, weighing the value of her work against what we have recently learned of her personal life. We would love to have you read along with us, and join us for our conversation coming to you in May.

Want to support the show? Visit us at Bookshop.org or click on the links below and buy some books!

Books mentioned:

• The Women of Brewster Place by Gloria Naylor
• Linden Hills by Gloria Naylor
• The Men of Brewster Place by Gloria Naylor
• The Color Purple by Alice Walker
• Instead of a Letter by Diana Athill
• Transcendence for Beginners: Life Writing and Philosophy by Clare Carlisle
• There's Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension by Hanif Abdurraqib
• The Wax Child by Olga Ravn, translated from the Dutch by Martin Aitken
• The Remembered Soldier by Anjet Daanje, translated from the Dutch by David McKay
• The Duke by Matteo Melchiorre, translated from the Italian by Antonella Lettieri
• The Witch by Marie Ndiaye, translated from the French by Jordan Stump
• Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V. E. Schwab
• Mother Mary Comes to Me by Arundhati Roy
• The Palm House by Gwendoline Riley
• An Awfully Big Adventure by Beryl Bainbridge
• Nonesuch by Francis Spufford
• Sakina's Kiss by Vivek Shanbhag, translated from the Kannada by Srinath Perur
• Open Secrets: Stories by Alice Munro
• A Marsh Island by Sarah Orne Jewett, with an afterword from the One Bright Book crew.

Buy our book! Support the show by buying a copy of Sarah Orne Jewett's A Marsh Island, with an afterword by us.

Further resources and links are available on our website at onebrightbook.com.

Browse our bookshelves at Bookshop.org.

Comments? Write us at onebrightmail at gmail

Find us on Bluesky at https://bsky.app/profile/onebrightbook.bsky.social

Frances: https://bsky.app/profile/nonsuchbook.bsky.social

Dorian: https://bsky.app/profile/ds228.bsky.social

Rebecca: https://bsky.app/profile/ofbooksandbikes.bsky.social

Dorian's blog: https://eigermonchjungfrau.blog/

Rebecca's newsletter: https://readingindie.substack.com/

Our theme music was composed and performed by Owen Maitzen. You can find more of his music here: https://soundcloud.com/omaitzen.

Welcome to One Bright Book! Join our hosts Frances, Dorian, and Rebecca as they discuss ORLANDO by Virginia Woolf and chat about their current reading.

For our next episode, we will discuss THE WOMEN OF BREWSTER PLACE by Gloria Naylor, a choice Rebecca has made based upon some love Hanif Abdurraqib shared for the novel in a recent podcast. We would love to have you read along with us, and join us for our conversation coming to you in April.

Want to support the show? Visit us at Bookshop.org or click on the links below and buy some books!

Books mentioned:

• Orlando by Virginia Woolf
• The Waves by Virginia Woolf
• To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
• A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf
• Jacob's Room by Virginia Woolf
• Three Guineas by Virginia Woolf
• Harriet Hume by Rebecca West
• The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
• Wax Child by Olga Ravn, translated from the Danish by Martin Aiken
• The Witch by Marie Ndiaye, translated from the French by Jordan Stump
• The Remembered Soldier by Anjet Daanje, translated from the Dutch by David McKay
• Women Without Men by Shahrnush Parsipur, translated from the Persian by Faridoun Farrokh
• Taiwan Travelogue by Shuang-zi Yang, translated from the Mandarin Chinese by Lin Ling
• Small Comfort by Ia Genberg, translated from the Swedish by Kira Josefsson
• There Is No Antimemetics Division by qntm
• Vampires of El Norte by Isabel Canas
• Trouble Maker: The Fierce, Unruly Life of Jessica Mitford by Carla Kaplan
• Shattered: A Memoir by Hanif Kureishi
• The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Stern
• Baldwin: A Love Story by Nicholas Boggs
• The Women of Brewster Place by Gloria Naylor

Read Rohan Maitzen on Orlando at her blog Novel Readings.

Further resources and links are available on our website at onebrightbook.com.

Browse our bookshelves at Bookshop.org.

Comments? Write us at onebrightmail at gmail

Find us on Bluesky at https://bsky.app/profile/onebrightbook.bsky.social

Frances: https://bsky.app/profile/nonsuchbook.bsky.social

Dorian: https://bsky.app/profile/ds228.bsky.social

Rebecca: https://bsky.app/profile/ofbooksandbikes.bsky.social

Dorian's blog: https://eigermonchjungfrau.blog/

Rebecca's newsletter: https://readingindie.substack.com/

Our theme music was composed and performed by Owen Maitzen. You can find more of his music here: https://soundcloud.com/omaitzen.

Welcome to One Bright Book! Join our hosts Dorian, Rebecca, and Frances as they discuss THE WAY WE LIVE NOW by Anthony Trollope and chat about their current reading.

For our next episode, we will discuss ORLANDO by Virginia Woolf, the "joyful romp," the "escapade" that might have you thinking of the author in a new way. We would love to have you read along with us, and join us for our conversation coming to you around the end of February.

Want to support the show? Visit us at Bookshop.org or click on the links below and buy some books!

Books mentioned:

• The Way We Live Now by Anthony Trollope
• Domestic Manners of the Americans by Fanny Trollope
• The Chronicles of Barsetshire by Anthony Trollope
• The Palliser Novels by Anthony Trollope
• An Autobiography by Anthony Trollope
• Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
• War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
• The Transylvanian Trilogy by Mikos Banffy
• Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
• The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett
• A Perfect Turmoil: Walter E. Fernald and the Struggle to Care for America's Disabled by Alex Green
• Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect Playlist by Liz Pelly
• Baldwin: A Love Story by Nicholas Boggs
• Head of a Traveler by Nicholas Blake
• Orlando by Virginia Woolf

You may also be interested in:

The National Book Critics Circle Awards

Further resources and links are available on our website at onebrightbook.com.

Browse our bookshelves at Bookshop.org.

Comments? Write us at onebrightmail at gmail

Find us on Bluesky at https://bsky.app/profile/onebrightbook.bsky.social

Frances: https://bsky.app/profile/nonsuchbook.bsky.social

Dorian: https://bsky.app/profile/ds228.bsky.social

Rebecca: https://bsky.app/profile/ofbooksandbikes.bsky.social

Dorian's blog: https://eigermonchjungfrau.blog/

Rebecca's newsletter: https://readingindie.substack.com/

Our theme music was composed and performed by Owen Maitzen. You can find more of his music here: https://soundcloud.com/omaitzen.

Welcome to One Bright Book! Join our hosts Dorian, Rebecca, and Frances as they discuss their most anticipated books of 2026 with Sam Sacks, prominent book critic for The Wall Street Journal, writing the weekly "Fiction Chronicle," and a founding editor of Open Letters Monthly.

For our next episode, we will discuss The Way We Live Now by Anthony Trollope. We would love to have you read along with us, and join us for our conversation coming to you in late January.

Want to support the show? Visit us at Bookshop.org or click on the links below and buy some books!

Books mentioned:

• The Disappearing Act by Maria Stepanova, translated from the Russian by Sasha Dugdale
• In Memory of Memory by Maria Stepanova, translated from the Russian by Sasha Dugdale
• Opus Siniestra by Leonora Carrington
• On the Calculation of Volume, Book IV by Solvej Balle, translated from the Danish by Sophia Hersi Smith and Jennifer Russell
• Incompleteness: New and Selected Essays, 1999-2023 by Amit Chaudhuri
• In Other Rooms, Other Wonders by Daniyal Mueenuddin
• This Is Where the Serpent Lives by Daniyal Mueenuddin
• Now I Surrender by Alvaro Enrique, translated from the Spanish by Natasha Wimmer
• You Dreamed of Empires by Alvaro Enrique, translated from the Spanish by Natasha Wimmer
• The Palm House by Gwendoline Riley
• My Phantoms by Gwendoline Riley
• First Love by Gwendoline Riley
• Ambivalence by Brian Dillon
• Transcendence for Beginners by Clare Carlisle
• Animal Joy by Nuar Alsadir
• Here Where We Live Is Our Country by Molly Crabapple
• Down Time by Andrew Martin
• Early Work by Andrew Martin
• Cool for America by Andrew Martin
• On Morrison by Namwali Serpell
• The Witch by Marie Ndiaye, translated from the French by Jordan Stump
• That Time of Year by Marie Ndiaye, translated from the French by Jordan Stump
• Twenty Minutes of Silence by Helene Bessette, translated from the French by Kate Briggs
• Lilli Is Crying by Helene Bessette, translated from the French by Kate Briggs
• The Queen of Swords by Jazmina Barrera, translated from the Spanish by Christina MacSweeney
• The Week of Colors by Elena Garro, translated from the Spanish by Megan McDowell
• Nonesuch by Francis Spufford
• Cahokia Jazz by Francis Spufford
• The Child That Books Built: A Life in Reading by Francis Spufford
• The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley
• A Marsh Island by Sarah Orne Jewett
• The Way We Live Now by Anthony Trollope

Further resources and links are available on our website at onebrightbook.com.

Browse our bookshelves at Bookshop.org.

Comments? Write us at onebrightmail at gmail

Find us on Bluesky at https://bsky.app/profile/onebrightbook.bsky.social

Frances: https://bsky.app/profile/nonsuchbook.bsky.social

Dorian: https://bsky.app/profile/ds228.bsky.social

Rebecca: https://bsky.app/profile/ofbooksandbikes.bsky.social

Dorian's blog: https://eigermonchjungfrau.blog/

Rebecca's newsletter: https://readingindie.substack.com/

Our theme music was composed and performed by Owen Maitzen. You can find more of his music here: https://soundcloud.com/omaitzen.

Welcome to One Bright Book! Join our hosts Rebecca, Frances, and Dorian as they discuss I WHO HAVE NEVER KNOWN MEN by Jacqueline Harpman, translated from the French by Ros Schwartz, and chat about their current reading.

For our next episode, we will be joined by book critic Sam Sacks for our fourth (!!!) annual most anticipated books episode. We will each come to the table with three books that we are excited to see published in 2026. Will we duplicate each other's choices? Will each of have enough choices in reserve to pivot if necessary? Will someone cheat and present more than three selections? These are questions that we love to pretend to care about each year. We hope you join us for what has become a highlight of our podcasting year!

Want to support the show? Visit us at Bookshop.org or click on the links below and buy some books!

Books Mentioned:

• I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman, translated from the French by Ros Schwartz
• Orlanda by Jacqueline Harpman, translated from the French by Ros Schwartz
• Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
• Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
• The Wall by Marlen Haushofer, translated from the German by Shaun Whiteside
• Bear by Marian Engel
• The Road by Cormac McCarthy
• The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
• Parable of the Sower by Octavia E Butler
• Shadow Ticket by Thomas Pynchon
• Long Distance by Aysegül Savas
• Ugliness by Moshtari Hilal, translated from the German by Elizabeth Lauffer
• Electric Spark: The Enigma of Dame Muriel by Frances Wilson
• Like a Cat Loves a Bird: The Nine Lives of Muriel Spark by James Bailey
• A Dark Corner by Celia Dale
• Sheep's Clothing by Celia Dale
• The Face of Trespass by Ruth Rendell
• Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe

You might also be interested in: The Yale Review.

Further resources and links are available on our website at onebrightbook.com.

Browse our bookshelves at Bookshop.org.

Comments? Write us at onebrightmail at gmail

Find us on Bluesky at https://bsky.app/profile/onebrightbook.bsky.social

Frances: https://bsky.app/profile/nonsuchbook.bsky.social

Dorian: https://bsky.app/profile/ds228.bsky.social

Rebecca: https://bsky.app/profile/ofbooksandbikes.bsky.social

Dorian's blog: https://eigermonchjungfrau.blog/

Rebecca's newsletter: https://readingindie.substack.com/

Our theme music was composed and performed by Owen Maitzen. You can find more of his music here: https://soundcloud.com/omaitzen.

Welcome to One Bright Book! Rebecca and Frances move out of the picture for this bonus episode where Dorian gets a chance to finally discuss VANITY FAIR by William Makepeace Thackeray with his one time professor and always friend, Rohan Maitzen. A rare and special opportunity to revisit the book from the syllabus that he blew off reading. "You can never entirely escape your sins!" Ready for some time well-spent in the 19th century?

Want to support the show? Visit us at Bookshop.org or click on the links below and buy some books!

Books Mentioned:

• Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray
• David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
• Middlemarch by George Eliot
• North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
• The Warden by Anthony Trollope
• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
• The Heart of Midlothian by Sir Walter Scott
• The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte
• Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens
• Lady Audley's Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon
• The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins
• Villette by Charlotte Bronte
• Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy

You can find Rohan's blog Novel Readings here: https://rohanmaitzen.com/novelreadings/

Special thanks to Fred the Cat for the special background symphony.

Further resources and links are available on our website at onebrightbook.com.

Browse our bookshelves at Bookshop.org.

Comments? Write us at onebrightmail at gmail

Find us on Bluesky at https://bsky.app/profile/onebrightbook.bsky.social

Frances: https://bsky.app/profile/nonsuchbook.bsky.social

Dorian: https://bsky.app/profile/ds228.bsky.social

Rebecca: https://bsky.app/profile/ofbooksandbikes.bsky.social

Dorian's blog: https://eigermonchjungfrau.blog/

Rebecca's newsletter: https://readingindie.substack.com/

Our theme music was composed and performed by Owen Maitzen. You can find more of his music here: https://soundcloud.com/omaitzen.