One Bright Book

Latest Episodes:

Episode #29: Fragments of a Paradise, by Jean Giono Nov 05, 2024

Show notes

Welcome to One Bright Book! Join our hosts Frances, Rebecca, and Dorian as they discuss FRAGMENTS OF A PARADISE by Jean Giono, translated from the French by Paul Eprile, and chat about their current reading.

For our next episode, we will discuss OVERSTAYING by Ariane Koch, translated from the German by Damion Searls. We would love to have you read along with us, and join us for our conversation coming to you in late November.

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

Books mentioned:

Fragments of a Paradise by Jean Giono, translated from the French by Paul Eprile
Hill by Jean Giono, translated from the French by Paul Eprile
Moby Dick by Herman Melville
Middlemarch by George Eliot
The Position of Spoons by Deborah Levy
To and Fro by Leah Hager Cohen
Gifted by Suzumi Suzuki, translated from the Japanese by Allison Markin Powell
Melvill by Rodrigo Fresan, translated from the Spanish by Will Vanderhyden
The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding
Mother Archive: A Dominican Family Memoir by Erika Morillo
Salvage: Readings From the Wreck by Dionne Brand
Overstaying by Ariane Koch, translated from the German by Damion Searls

You might also be interested in:

"The Autobiography of J.G.B." by J.G. Ballard - https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2009/05/11/the-autobiography-of-j-g-b
Information on the Tom Jones read-along: https://readingkatebriggs.substack.com/
Rebecca's review of Gifted: https://wordswithoutborders.org/book-reviews/gifted-suzumi-suzuki-allison-markin-powell/

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 Twitter at @pod_bright

Frances: @nonsuchbook

Dorian: @ds228

Rebecca: @ofbooksandbikes

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.

Episode #28: The House in Paris, by Elizabeth Bowen Sep 23, 2024

Show notes

Welcome to One Bright Book! Join our hosts Dorian, Rebecca, and Frances as they discuss THE HOUSE IN PARIS by Elizabeth Bowen, and chat about their current reading.

For our next episode, we will discuss FRAGMENTS OF A PARADISE by Jean Giono, translated from the French by Paul Eprile. This English language translation of Giono's "often over-looked seafaring tale," an "allegorical critique of modern civilization," will be released by Archipelago Books on November 5. We would love to have you consider reading this one, and join us for our conversation coming to you in late October.

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

Books mentioned:

The House in Paris by Elizabeth Bowen
The Death of the Heart by Elizabeth Bowen
The Heat of the Day by Elizabeth Bowen
A World of Love by Elizabeth Bowen
Eva Trout by Elizabeth Bowen
To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
Lesser Ruins by Mark Haber
Lublin by Manya Wilkinson
The Last Ranger by Peter Heller
The Wilderness by Ayşegül Savaş
Frighten the Horses by Oliver Radclyffe
The Bookshop: A History of the American Bookstore by Evan Friss
The Woods in Winter by Stella Gibbons
Spinsters in Jeopardy by Ngaio Marsh
The Slaves of Solitude by Patrick Hamilton
Fragments of a Paradise by Jean Giono, translated from the French by Paul Eprile

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 Twitter at @pod_bright

Frances: @nonsuchbook

Dorian: @ds228

Rebecca: @ofbooksandbikes

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.

Episode #27: Summer Reading 2024 Sep 02, 2024

Show notes

Welcome to One Bright Book! Join our hosts Frances, Rebecca, and Dorian as they return from their vacations, and discuss some of their summer reading.

For our next episode, we will discuss THE HOUSE IN PARIS by Elizabeth Bowen. 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 Good Bright Wolf by Sarah Moss
Day by Michael Cunningham
Orbital by Samantha Harvey
Enlightenment by Sarah Perry
The Bright Sword by Lev Grossman
L'Assommoir by Émile Zola
Germinal by Émile Zola
Nana by Émile Zola
Like Love by Maggie Nelson
An Image of My Name Enters America by Lucy Ives
All Things Are Too Small: Essays in Praise of Excess by Becca Rothfeld
Drifts by Kate Zambreno
A Last Supper of Queer Apostles by Pedro Lemebel, translated by Gwendolyn Harper
All Fours by Miranda July
Mammoth by Eva Baltasar, translated by Julia Sanches
Passages by Ann Quin
Paul Celan and the Trans-Tibetan Angel by Yoko Tawada, translated by Susan Bernofsky
Opacities by Sofia Samatar
The Little Man From Archangel by Georges Simenon
Magical/Realism: Essays on Music, Memory, Fantasy, and Borders by Vanessa Angélica Villareal
In Ascension by Martin MacInnes
Toward Eternity by Anton Hur
Greatest Hits by Harlan Ellison
The Future by Catherine Leroux
Pink Slime by Fernanda Trías, translated by Heather Cleary
The Past by Tessa Hadley
The House in Paris by Elizabeth Bowen

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 Twitter at @pod_bright

Frances: @nonsuchbook

Dorian: @ds228

Rebecca: @ofbooksandbikes

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.

Bonus Episode #3: In Conversation with David Naimon Jul 11, 2024

Show notes

This third bonus episode of the podcast is a conversation that Rebecca and Frances recently had with writer and podcaster, David Naimon, while Dorian recharges his depleted battery in the wilds of Canada. We are devoted listeners to David's fine work on Between the Covers, and as you listen in here, we feel confident that you will appreciate the intelligence, the generosity, and the empathy that makes his work irresistible to us.

You might also be interested in:

David's Crafting With Ursula series: https://tinhouse.com/th_podcast_cat/crafting-with-ursula/

These five recent episodes of Between the Covers that are favorites of Frances and Rebecca:

Naomi Klein - Part 1 https://tinhouse.com/podcast/naomi-klein-doppelganger/ and Part 2 https://tinhouse.com/podcast/naomi-klein-doppelganger-part-two/
Kate Zambreno and Sofia Samatar - https://tinhouse.com/podcast/kate-zambreno-sofia-samatar-tone/
Anne de Marcken - https://tinhouse.com/podcast/anne-de-marcken-it-lasts-forever-and-then-its-over/
Mathias Énard - https://tinhouse.com/podcast/mathias-enard-the-annual-banquet-of-the-gravediggers-guild/
Kate Briggs - https://tinhouse.com/podcast/kate-briggs-the-long-form/

We mention this new podcast Hey, It's Me, hosted by Rachel Zucker and Mike Sakasegawa: https://www.heyitsmepodcast.com/about

We mention the newsletter Involutions of the Seashell, an epistolary exchange between Lori Feathers and Anthony Garrett on Marguerite Young's novel MISS MACINTOSH, MY DARLING. https://missmacintosh.substack.com/

And finally, we think you also might enjoy reading David's book, Ursula K Le Guin: Conversations on Writing. https://www.ursulakleguin.com/conversations-on-writing

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 Twitter at @pod_bright

Frances: @nonsuchbook

Dorian: @ds228

Rebecca: @ofbooksandbikes

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.

Episode #26: The Wedding, by Dorothy West Jul 01, 2024

Show notes

Welcome to One Bright Book! Join our hosts Rebecca, Frances and Dorian as they discuss THE WEDDING by Dorothy West and chat about their current reading.

Summer is upon us, so we are setting ourselves free just a little bit. July and August will feature some bonus content as well as a wrap-up conversation about our summer reading. Look out for details about these conversations on our social media accounts. Our next regularly scheduled episode will be in September when we will discuss A HOUSE IN PARIS by Elizabeth Bowen. We would love to have you read along with us, and join us for our conversation coming to you as the first signs of fall arrive.

We are holding a contest! We've each picked six books we're excited to read this summer. You can check out all the books at our store. But who chose what? Which books have caught Rebecca's eye? What's Dorian checking out? Which titles are calling to Frances?

Match titles with reader, and send your responses via DM to the One Bright Book twitter account or email at onebrightmail@gmail.com.

Entries due at noon on July 4th, central time. Open world-wide.

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

Books Mentioned:

The Wedding by Dorothy West
The Living Is Easy by Dorothy West
Colored People: A Memoir by Henry Louis Gates Jr.
Any Person Is the Only Self: Essays by Elisa Gabbert
Emergency by Daisy Hildyard
The Second Body by Daisy Hildyard
Reading the Room: A Bookseller's Tale by Paul Yamazaki
The Art of Libromancy: On Selling Books and Reading Books in the Twenty-First Century by Josh Cook
All Fours by Miranda July
Kala by Colin Walsh
The House in Paris by Elizabeth Bowen

You might also be interested in:

Notes From a Small Press, Anne Trubek - https://notesfromasmallpress.substack.com/
"Shades of Difference" by Susan Kenney (NYT review in year of publication) - https://www.nytimes.com/1995/02/12/books/shades-of-difference.html

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 Twitter at @pod_bright

Frances: @nonsuchbook

Dorian: @ds228

Rebecca: @ofbooksandbikes

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.

Episode #25: La Bête Humaine, by Emile Zola May 27, 2024

Show notes

Welcome to One Bright Book! Join our hosts Rebecca, Frances and Dorian as they discuss LA BÊTE HUMAINE by Émile Zola and chat about their current reading.

For our next episode, we will discuss THE WEDDING by Dorothy West. We would love to have you read along with us, and join us for our conversation coming to you in late June.

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

Books mentioned:

La Bête Humaine by Émile Zola, translated with introduction and notes by Roger Pearson
L'Assommoir by Émile Zola, translated by Brian Nelson and edited by Robert Lethbridge
Germinal by Émile Zola, translated by Peter Collier and With an Introduction by Robert Lethbridge
The Masterpiece by Émile Zola, translated by Thomas Walton and translation revised and introduced by Roger Pearson
Nana by Émile Zola, translated by Helen Constantine and Edited by Brian Nelson
Pot Luck by Émile Zola, Translated with an Introduction and Notes by Brian Nelson
Doctor Pascal by Émile Zola, translated by Julie Rose, edited by Brian Nelson
The Octopus by Frank Norris
Rural Hours: The Country Lives of Virginia Wool, Sylvia Townsend Warner, and Rosamond Lehmann by Harriet Baker
Henry, Henry by Allen Bratton
The Morning Star by Karl Ove Knausgaard
The Wolves of Eternity by Karl Ove Knausgaard
It Lasts Forever and Then It's Over by Anne de Marcken
The Wedding by Dorothy West

You might also be interested in:

"Is It Even Good? Brandon Taylor Reads Zola" - https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v46/n07/brandon-taylor/is-it-even-good
Further pursuing your knowledge of literary zombie novels

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 Twitter at @pod_bright

Frances: @nonsuchbook

Dorian: @ds228

Rebecca: @ofbooksandbikes

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.

Episode #24: During the Reign of the Queen of Persia, by Joan Chase Apr 23, 2024

Show notes

Welcome to One Bright Book! Join our hosts Rebecca, Frances and Dorian as they discuss DURING THE REIGN OF THE QUEEN OF PERSIA by Joan Chase and chat about their current reading.

For our next episode, we will discuss LA BÊTE HUMAINE by Émile Zola. We would love to have you read along with us, and join us for our conversation coming to you in late May.

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

Books mentioned:

During the Reign of the Queen of Persia by Joan Chase
The Evening Wolves by Joan Chase
Bonneville Blue by Joan Chase
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
My Antonia by Willa Cather
The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
Alphabetical Diaries by Sheila Heti
Cold Crematorium: Reporting from the Land of Auschwitz by József Debreczeni
Miss MacIntosh, My Darling by Marguerite Young
The Wedding by Dorothy West
Regarding the Pain of Others by Susan Sontag
La Bête Humaine by Émile Zola

You might also be interested in:

"Is It Even Good? Brandon Taylor Reads Zola" - https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v46/n07/brandon-taylor/is-it-even-good
"The Longest, Least-Remembered Great American Novel" by Ryan Ruby - https://www.newyorker.com/books/under-review/the-longest-least-remembered-great-american-novel

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 Twitter at @pod_bright

Frances: @nonsuchbook

Dorian: @ds228

Rebecca: @ofbooksandbikes

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.

Episode #23: The Wild Iris, by Louise Glück Mar 25, 2024

Show notes

Welcome to One Bright Book! Join our hosts Rebecca, Frances and Dorian as they discuss THE WILD IRIS by Louise Glück, and chat about their current reading.

For our next episode, we will discuss DURING THE REIGN OF THE QUEEN OF PERSIA by Joan Chase. We would love to have you read along with us, and join us for our conversation coming to you in late April.

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

Books mentioned:

The Wild Iris by Louise Glück
Poems 1962-2012 by Louise Glück
Winter Recipes from the Collective by Louise Glück
Proof and Theories: Essays on Poetry by Louise Glück
American Originality: Essays on Poetry by Louise Glück
Cold Nights of Childhood by Tezer Özlü, translated by Maureen Freely
Waiting to Be Arrested at Night: A Uyghur Poet's Memoir of China's Genocide by Tahir Hamut Izgil, translated by Joshua L. Freeman
Phantom Pain Wings by Kim Hyesoon, translated by Don Mee Choi
Kairos by Jenny Erpenbeck, translated by Michael Hofmann
Crooked Plow by Itamar Vieira Junior, translated by Johnny Lorenz
The Details by Ia Genberg, translated by Kira Josefsson
Mater 2-10 by Hwang Sok-yong, translated by Sora Kim-Russell and Youngjae Josephine Bae
Not a River by Selva Almada, translated by Annie McDermott
Cursed Bunny by Bora Chung, translated by Anton Hur
A Dictator Calls by Ismail Kadare, translated by John Hodgson
Undiscovered by Gabriela Wiener, translated by Julia Sanches
Lost On Me by Veronica Raimo, translated by Leah Janeczko
What I'd Rather Not Think About by Jente Posthuma, translated by Sarah Timmer Harvey
Lives of the Monster Dogs by Kirsten Bakis
Loved and Missed by Susie Boyt
During the Reign of the Queen of Persia by Joan Chase

You might also be interested in:

Louise Glück Nobel Lecture - https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/2020/gluck/lecture/
Remembering Louise Glück by Garth Greenwell - https://garthgreenwell.substack.com/p/remembering-louise-gluck-1943-2023

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 Twitter at @pod_bright

Frances: @nonsuchbook

Dorian: @ds228

Rebecca: @ofbooksandbikes

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.

Episode #22: Harriet Hume, by Rebecca West Feb 06, 2024

Show notes

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

For our next episode, we will discuss THE WILD IRIS by Louise Gluck. We would love to have you read along with us, and join us for our conversation coming to you in March.

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

Books mentioned:

Harriet Hume by Rebecca West
The Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West
The Judge by Rebecca West
Orlando by Virginia Woolf
The Waves by Virginia Woolf
The Palliser Novels by Anthony Trollope
The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding
Howards End by E. M. Forster
Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner
Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh
The Fountain Overflows by Rebecca West
Black Lamb and Grey Falcon by Rebecca West
Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
Lote by Shola Von Reinhold
Rebecca West: A Life by Victoria Glendinning
Sunflower by Rebecca West
The Fortune of the Rougons by Emile Zola
His Excellency Eugene Rougon by Emile Zola
The Octopus by Frank Norris
McTeague by Frank Norris
A Green Equinox by Elizabeth Mavor
The Tree of Life by Chava Rosenfarb
In the Land of the Postscript: The Complete Short Stories of Chava Rosenfarb by Chava Rosenfarb
Confessions of a Yiddish Writer and Other Essays by Chava Rosenfarb
Words in Air: The Complete Correspondence Between Elizabeth Bishop and Robert Lowell
This Little Art by Kate Briggs
The Preparation of the Novel: Lecture Courses and Seminars at the College de France by Roland Barthes
The Long Form by Kate Briggs
How to Live Together: Novelistic Simulations of Some Everyday Spaces by Roland Barthes
The Wild Iris by Louise Gluck

More links of interest are available on our website.

Browse our bookshelves at Bookshop.org.

Comments? Write us at onebrightmail at gmail

Find us on Twitter at @pod_bright

Frances: @nonsuchbook

Dorian: @ds228

Rebecca: @ofbooksandbikes

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.

Episode #21: In Conversation with John Williams About Our Most Anticipated Books of 2024 Dec 19, 2023

Show notes

Join our hosts Rebecca, Frances, and Dorian as they discuss their most anticipated books of 2024 with John Williams, books editor for the Washington Post.

For our next episode, we will discuss Harriet Hume: A London Fantasy by Rebecca West. 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!

Click here for a full list of books mentioned in this episode.

Browse our bookshelves at Bookshop.org.

Comments? Write us at onebrightmail at gmail

Find us on Twitter at @pod_bright

Frances: @nonsuchbook

Dorian: @ds228

Rebecca: @ofbooksandbikes

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.