A Sodden Mushroom of a Man: Iva Dixit on Annie Proulx's The Shipping News

02/21/24 • 63 min

Jo’s spent the weekend on two books that have their seal of approval—The Wren, the Wren by Anne Enright and The Wounded World: W.E.B. Du Bois and the First World War by Chad L. Williams—while Charlotte (12:35) has been getting Edna O’Brien-pilled. The inimitable Iva Dixit (25:00) stops by to share the remarkable story of her spite-buy of Annie Proulx’s The Shipping News, a much-loved novel that has “rewired her brain.”

Read Iva’s work on Sean Paul, Oppenheimer, and Retin-A.

Read the Andrea Dworkin essay mentioned in this episode here.

Send questions, requests, recommendations, and your own thoughts about any of the books discussed today to readingwriterspod at gmail dot com.

Charlotte is on Instagram and Twitter as @Charoshane. Her memoir, An Honest Woman (August 13, 2024) can be pre-ordered now. She has a newsletter called Meant For You, with additional writing at charoshane.com

Jo co-edits The Stopgap and their writing lives at jolivingstone.com.

Learn more about our producer Alex at https://www.alexsugiura.com/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Read Iva’s work on Sean Paul, Oppenheimer, and Retin-A.

Read the Andrea Dworkin essay mentioned in this episode here.

Send questions, requests, recommendations, and your own thoughts about any of the books discussed today to readingwriterspod at gmail dot com.

Jo co-edits The Stopgap and their writing lives at jolivingstone.com.

Learn more about our producer Alex at https://www.alexsugiura.com/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Previous Episode

But Did She Invent the Nose? Rachel Handler on Donna Tartt’s The Little Friend

Jo recommends Tomorrow, Perhaps the Future, by Sarah Watling, while Charlotte (14:00) has some deep thoughts about The Bridges of Madison County and bad books in general. At (32:00), they’re joined by New York magazine’s finest, Rachel Handler, who has a fraught relationship with Donna Tartt’s The Little Friend.

Read Rachel’s writing and find her on Twitter at @rachel_handler or on Instagram at @rachlyha.

Send questions, requests, recommendations, and your own thoughts about any of the books discussed today to readingwriterspod at gmail dot com.

Charlotte is on Instagram and Twitter as @Charoshane. Her memoir, An Honest Woman (August 13, 2024) can be pre-ordered now. She has a newsletter called Meant For You, with additional writing at charoshane.com

Jo co-edits The Stopgap and their writing lives at jolivingstone.com.

Learn more about our producer Alex at https://www.alexsugiura.com/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Next Episode

So Bridget-Coded: Lydia Kiesling on Kingsley Amis’s Lucky Jim

Jo finds surprising depth to Susan Casey’s The Devil’s Teeth and Charlotte (8:35) fantasizes that her nonexistent celebrity romance novel is better than Robinne Lee’s The Idea of You, with a brief bonus discussion of Lisa Halliday’s Asymmetry. The great mind and Mobility author Lydia Kiesling (25:40) then joins to reflect on Lucky Jim and the ways our parents’ book collections shape us as readers.

Read Jo's review of Asymmetry from 2018 here.

Lydia Kiesling is a novelist and culture writer. Her first novel, The Golden State, was a 2018 National Book Foundation “5 under 35” honoree and a finalist for the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award. Her second novel, Mobility, a national bestseller, was named a best book of 2023 by Vulture, Time, and NPR, among others. It is a finalist for the Oregon Book Award. Her essays and nonfiction have been published in outlets including The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker online, and The Cut.

Send questions, requests, recommendations, and your own thoughts about any of the books discussed today to readingwriterspod at gmail dot com.

Jo co-edits The Stopgap and their writing lives at jolivingstone.com.

Learn more about our producer Alex at https://www.alexsugiura.com/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.