Paperback Friends

In this episode, I had the absolute pleasure of interviewing Andreas Hedberg from the National Library of Sweden. Andreas is a researcher at the National Library.

We managed to cover quite a lot in this episode. How much of a book comes from the writer, and how much from the interpretation? Why are some books worth researching, and what tools can we use to better understand novels? We also get to know Andreas a bit better.

I had a blast doing this, and would love to welcome Andreas back at some point as I think we have a lot more to talk about!

Books and authors mentioned

• George Eliot – Middlemarch
• Virginia Woolf – To the Lighthouse
• Viktor Rydberg – “The Tomten”
• Viktor Rydberg – Singoalla
• J.R.R. Tolkien – The Silmarillion
• Mary Shelley – Frankenstein
• Homer – The Odyssey

Authors and researchers mentioned

• Astrid Lindgren
• Algirdas Julien Greimas – narratology
• Gérard Genette – narratology
• Wayne C. Booth – narrative theory
• Viktor Shklovsky

For more goings-on at the Kungliga biblioteket (National Library of Sweden), you can visit their website here: https://www.kb.se/eng.html

Type: Interview | Book: N/A | Writer: N/A

Why did George Orwell write?

In this episode of Paperback Friends, I take a look at Orwell's essay Why I Write, where he explores the four motivations he believed drive writers: ego, aesthetic enthusiasm, historical impulse, and of course the aspect that made his own writing so famous.

But this episode is about more than Orwell's reasons for writing. We also talk about how his early ambitions shaped Burmese Days, why reading this essay felt like Orwell had reached across time to respond to one of my own reviews, and why this old kook continues to mean so much to me.

Type: General | Book: Why I Write | Writer: George Orwell

In this episode, we take a look at Fredrik Backman’s A Man Called Ove, a hugely popular Swedish novel about grief, loneliness, friendship, and finding a reason to keep going.

The emotional beats are not bad, and the novel manages a tender moment or two, but Backman comes to represent a type of writing that is fundamentally disagreeable to me. He favors the plot over the narrative, and that lights a fire in me.

This is one of the worst novels we have ever read on this podcast, not because my opinion is right, but because this is how this novel made me feel. Regardless how you feel about it, it’s all good we are just adding to the greater conversation about this book!

Type: Review | Book: A Man Called Ove | Writer: Fredrik Backman

In this episode of Paperback Friends, we dive into one of the most beloved science-fiction novels ever written: Dune by Frank Herbert. I have to tread lightly on this one, to avoid the drum sand and the fans…

While Dune has inspired generations of readers, I found myself struggling to connect with some of its biggest ideas. Why did the political intrigue and character work captivate me, while the themes of prophecy, destiny, and messianic power left me feeling disconnected?

Sometimes the question isn't whether a book is great, or not, it’s what it can offer us as individuals.

Type: Review | Book: Dune | Writer: Frank Herbert

Martha Wells continues to prove why The Murderbot Diaries has become one of modern science fiction's most beloved series. In Rogue Protocol, Murderbot infiltrates an abandoned research station to uncover the truth behind GrayCris's illegal operations,but beneath the action lies a surprising story about identity, freedom, and friendship.

In this episode, we explore why Wells's writing is so consistently engaging, why Miki becomes the emotional center of the novella, and why this series continues to impress me... even as one recurring element is beginning to hold it back.

This is a fantastic series, and Wells does not disappoint, but the bar is being raised.

Type: Review | Book: Rogue Protocol | Writer: Martha Wells

Can ambition be moral?

In this episode, I review Moral Ambition by Rutger Bregman—a book arguing that too many of us spend our lives chasing status instead of solving meaningful problems.

We talk about how Bregman builds his case through history and biography, why his arguments are surprisingly compelling, and whether he succeeds in answering the biggest question of all:

What do you actually do after hearing the call to make a difference?

Type: Review | Book: Moral Ambition | Writer: Rutger Bregman

What if the wilderness doesn't destroy you—but reveals who you really are?

This week on Paperback Friends, we return to John Williams to review Butcher's Crossing, the novel that came before Stoner and helped establish Williams as one of the great overlooked American writers.

We follow Will Andrews as he abandons his comfortable life for a buffalo hunt deep in the American West, only to discover that the greatest struggle isn't against nature, but against himself.

A quiet novel about the wilderness, freedom, and that everything has a price – man and buffalo.

Type: Review | Book: Butcher's Crossing | Writer: John Williams

Charles Dickens really is a master of craft, and padding a novel.

The Old Curiosity Shop is also one of the most exhausting books I've read for the podcast.

In this episode, I take a baseball bat to Dickens' fourth novel while examining why it feels so painfully slow, melodramatic, and padded – there is a very specific reason for it! It's still Dickens though, so it can't be that bad can it? Ask Oscar Wilde...

Type: Review | Book: The Old Curiosity Shop | Writer: Charles Dickens

We’re diving into Ursula K. Le Guin for the first time on Paperback Friends with The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas. It may be one of the shortest stories we’ve covered, but there’s an awful lot packed into those few thousand words.

Le Guin’s writing is secondary to the question she builds the story around. Omelas is a perfect utopia, but its happiness depends entirely on the suffering of one child. What makes the story so clever is how quietly Le Guin turns that premise back on the reader, forcing us to consider our own complicity in the comfortable societies we live in.

Type: Review | Book: The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas | Writer: Ursula K. Le Guin

We’re back with Martha Wells and The Murderbot Diaries! I really enjoyed All Systems Red, and Artificial Condition continues to show me why I like this series so much.

Wells's writing is remarkable restraint, building a surprisingly complex world without drowning the story in unnecessary detail. The corporate politics, world-building, action, and Murderbot itself all work beautifully together.

This is another excellent entry in a series that has quickly become one of my easiest recommendations. It may not quite reach five stars for me, but I absolutely want more Murderbot.

Type: Review | Book: Artificial Condition | Writer: Martha Wells