The Foxed Page

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A (Literary) Ben Lerner scavenger hunt?? Jun 30, 2026

Show notes

When I came across a new short story by Ben Lerner, an audio version of the story read by Lerner, an interview with Lerner about the short story AND a nonfiction piece by Lerner related to the story, I felt like I'd entered a very Lernerian world.

Tune in for a quick ten minutes that will convince you to hunt down out "The Readers." Not only is this the very best prose, but the pieces also combine to provide a fat PRIZE at the end of that hunt. NO READING NECESSARY!

(my very brief thoughts on) STRANGERS by Belle Burden Jun 26, 2026

Show notes

It might not be the flashiest part of Strangers, but it's worth taking a quick look at why Burden's prose functions so well.

Also! My sense of specific thing that makes this far more than a cautionary tale about women and personal finances.

AND! My own personal crusade about how we should describe this woman while recommending this book to everyone we know.

VILLA COCO by Andrew Sean Greer >> Greer calls this a "charm" novel, and charming it is! But if you love it a little less that you loved LESS, listen in! Jun 22, 2026

Show notes

Andrew Sean Greer is one of those writers who wrote a book that is so uncommonly GOOD that everything after it pales in comparison. Less--with its propulsive plot, its sneaky narrator and its incredible twist--continues to be an enormous favorite of mine. VILLA COCO might stand in the shadow of that earlier work, but so much is working well here. Especially if you're someone who starts it and feels it lag, this lecture is for you. It picks up! And if you have the real strangths of the novel in mind, it'll be all the more CHARMING.

NO SPOILERS! A GOOD PRE-READING lecture!

WHO WILL RUN THE FROG HOSPITAL by Lorrie Moore >> I was weirdly nervous about doing this book justice. I like to think I did! Jun 15, 2026

Show notes

Moore is SO GOOD that the last half of the lecture is just me doing my favorite party trick! I think of two numbers, then go to the first number's corresponding page and the second number's line. Then I sit back and just revel (explaining all the while) in the author's sheer genius.

Truly, every single line in this slim cult classic could inspire its own lecture. Listen in now to how Moore pulls off this hilarious, inventive, dark and ultra-intelligent first novel.

84 CHARING CROSS ROAD >> Want to feel inspired? Want to look at this charming 1970 classic in a whole new way?? Listen in! Jun 10, 2026

Show notes

Famously, the enduring appeal of 84, Charing Cross Road rests on its correspondence between an American TV-writing woman and a British bookseller. But what if the slim volume's real power comes mostly just from the independent, iconoclastic, sassy and powerful Helene? Or from Helene and all the other female voices in this delightful favorite? Treat yourself today!

(If you haven't read it, you might take the hour to do so before listening. No spoilers, really, but we get pretty in depth.)

LAZAR by Nelio Biedermann >> I finished this one and had some THOUGHTS. Jun 03, 2026

Show notes

Much has been made of Nelio Biedermann's wunderkind status. And there are plenty of reasons people are calling his debut novel "virtuousic" and "astonishing." It was SO fun to look at why much of this novel really worked, and why much of it . . . didn't.

BLUETS by Maggie Nelson >> I haven't pored over a text this intently in a looong time. May 26, 2026

Show notes

Famously, the 240 "propositions" BLUETS produce a genre-bending, poetic, heady, broody, completely INGENIOUS work. Whether you've read it a dozen times or picked it up or, tried it and thought, what is happening here, listen in to more fully appreciate SO MUCH about its structure, its fascinating narrative stance, its HUMOR and the radical thing Nelson is doing by foregrounding all those old, white, male philosophers. This was such a gratifying lecture to record. Seventy-six minutes from now, you could--thanks to Nelson--feel inspired, humbled and a little smarter.

YESTERYEAR by Caro Claire Burke >> Wondering about the ending? Or what really happened in during the assault scene?? Tune in! May 19, 2026

Show notes

This controversial page turner is SO engaging. Find out why I think that's the case (from a literary perspective) while also allowing me to provide some forensic-style info as to the book's original shape (IT WAS MAYBE SEMI-UTOPIC!), what is actually going on in the assault scene (it's complicated) and what we might make of the ending. This lecture was SO fun (and weirdly short). Listen in now!

THE BLUE FLOWER by Penelope Fitzgerald >> I'm not sure even Novalis himself (the 18th-century poet/philosopher protagonist of this novel) could fully appreciate THIS LEVEL OF LITERARY GENIUS. May 12, 2026

Show notes

The Blue Flower is considered Fitzgerald's masterpiece, and for good reason. It's challenging--an entirely different approach to historical fiction, with subtle, nuanced, gorgeous prose. She makes late-1700s Saxony feel immediate and accessible and you FEEL so much for these people. Listen in to fully appreciate how she produces a book that readers go back to again and again, gaining so much more every single time.

WASHINGTON SQUARE by Henry James >> Comedy of Errors? Realist novel? Feminist treatise? May 05, 2026

Show notes

Tune in to hear why James's 1880 New York novel might be all of the above--plus funny! The close look at the innovative, wry narrative stance is reason enough to spend an hour thinking about this slim book. Not to mention the excellent characterization, the use of satire and the send up of the Gothic meddlesome spinster aunt! Treat yourself now!

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