One Bright Book

Latest Episodes:

Episode #47: Fierce Attachments, by Vivian Gornick Oct 01, 2026

Show notes

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.

Bonus Episode #5: Chatting with Allison Miriam Woodnutt (née Smith) from Smith & Taylor Classics Aug 17, 2026

Show notes

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 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.

Episode #41: In Conversation with Sam Sacks About Our Most Anticipated Books of 2026 Dec 11, 2025

Show notes

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.

Episode #40: I Who Have Never Known Men, by Jacqueline Harpman Nov 18, 2025

Show notes

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.

Bonus Episode #4: Dorian Stuber and Rohan Maitzen Discuss Vanity Fair Oct 28, 2025

Show notes

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: