Episodes

  • Episode #44: The Women of Brewster Place, by Gloria Naylor

    Episode #44: The Women of Brewster Place, by Gloria Naylor
    Apr 10 2026
    Welcome to One Bright Book! Join our hosts Rebecca, Frances, and Dorian as they discuss THE WOMEN OF BREWSTER PLACE by Gloria Naylor and chat about their current reading. For our next episode, we will discuss OPEN SECRETS: STORIES by Alice Munro, weighing the value of her work against what we have recently learned of her personal life. We would love to have you read along with us, and join us for our conversation coming to you in May. Want to support the show? Visit us at Bookshop.org or click on the links below and buy some books! Books mentioned: The Women of Brewster Place by Gloria NaylorLinden Hills by Gloria NaylorThe Men of Brewster Place by Gloria NaylorThe Color Purple by Alice WalkerInstead of a Letter by Diana AthillTranscendence for Beginners: Life Writing and Philosophy by Clare CarlisleThere's Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension by Hanif AbdurraqibThe Wax Child by Olga Ravn, translated from the Dutch by Martin AitkenThe Remembered Soldier by Anjet Daanje, translated from the Dutch by David McKayThe Duke by Matteo Melchiorre, translated from the Italian by Antonella LettieriThe Witch by Marie Ndiaye, translated from the French by Jordan StumpBury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V. E. SchwabMother Mary Comes to Me by Arundhati RoyThe Palm House by Gwendoline RileyAn Awfully Big Adventure by Beryl BainbridgeNonesuch by Francis SpuffordSakina's Kiss by Vivek Shanbhag, translated from the Kannada by Srinath PerurOpen Secrets: Stories by Alice MunroA Marsh Island by Sarah Orne Jewett, with an afterword from the One Bright Book crew. Buy our book! Support the show by buying a copy of Sarah Orne Jewett's A Marsh Island, with an afterword by us. 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.
    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 19 mins
  • Episode #43: Orlando, by Virginia Woolf

    Episode #43: Orlando, by Virginia Woolf
    Mar 13 2026
    Welcome to One Bright Book! Join our hosts Frances, Dorian, and Rebecca as they discuss ORLANDO by Virginia Woolf and chat about their current reading. For our next episode, we will discuss THE WOMEN OF BREWSTER PLACE by Gloria Naylor, a choice Rebecca has made based upon some love Hanif Abdurraqib shared for the novel in a recent podcast. We would love to have you read along with us, and join us for our conversation coming to you in April. Want to support the show? Visit us at Bookshop.org or click on the links below and buy some books! Books mentioned: Orlando by Virginia WoolfThe Waves by Virginia WoolfTo the Lighthouse by Virginia WoolfA Room of One's Own by Virginia WoolfJacob's Room by Virginia WoolfThree Guineas by Virginia WoolfHarriet Hume by Rebecca WestThe Phantom Tollbooth by Norton JusterWax Child by Olga Ravn, translated from the Danish by Martin AikenThe Witch by Marie Ndiaye, translated from the French by Jordan StumpThe Remembered Soldier by Anjet Daanje, translated from the Dutch by David McKayWomen Without Men by Shahrnush Parsipur, translated from the Persian by Faridoun FarrokhTaiwan Travelogue by Shuang-zi Yang, translated from the Mandarin Chinese by Lin LingSmall Comfort by Ia Genberg, translated from the Swedish by Kira JosefssonThere Is No Antimemetics Division by qntmVampires of El Norte by Isabel CanasTrouble Maker: The Fierce, Unruly Life of Jessica Mitford by Carla KaplanShattered: A Memoir by Hanif KureishiThe Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence SternBaldwin: A Love Story by Nicholas BoggsThe Women of Brewster Place by Gloria Naylor Read Rohan Maitzen on Orlando at her blog Novel Readings. 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.
    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 13 mins
  • Episode #42: The Way We Live Now, by Anthony Trollope

    Episode #42: The Way We Live Now, by Anthony Trollope
    Feb 3 2026

    Welcome to One Bright Book! Join our hosts Dorian, Rebecca, and Frances as they discuss THE WAY WE LIVE NOW by Anthony Trollope and chat about their current reading.

    For our next episode, we will discuss ORLANDO by Virginia Woolf, the "joyful romp," the "escapade" that might have you thinking of the author in a new way. We would love to have you read along with us, and join us for our conversation coming to you around the end of February.

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

    Books mentioned:

    • The Way We Live Now by Anthony Trollope
    • Domestic Manners of the Americans by Fanny Trollope
    • The Chronicles of Barsetshire by Anthony Trollope
    • The Palliser Novels by Anthony Trollope
    • An Autobiography by Anthony Trollope
    • Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
    • War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
    • The Transylvanian Trilogy by Mikos Banffy
    • Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
    • The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett
    • A Perfect Turmoil: Walter E. Fernald and the Struggle to Care for America's Disabled by Alex Green
    • Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect Playlist by Liz Pelly
    • Baldwin: A Love Story by Nicholas Boggs
    • Head of a Traveler by Nicholas Blake
    • Orlando by Virginia Woolf

    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.
    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 20 mins
  • Episode #41: In Conversation with Sam Sacks About Our Most Anticipated Books of 2026

    Episode #41: In Conversation with Sam Sacks About Our Most Anticipated Books of 2026
    Dec 11 2025
    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 DugdaleIn Memory of Memory by Maria Stepanova, translated from the Russian by Sasha DugdaleOpus Siniestra by Leonora CarringtonOn the Calculation of Volume, Book IV by Solvej Balle, translated from the Danish by Sophia Hersi Smith and Jennifer RussellIncompleteness: New and Selected Essays, 1999-2023 by Amit ChaudhuriIn Other Rooms, Other Wonders by Daniyal MueenuddinThis Is Where the Serpent Lives by Daniyal MueenuddinNow I Surrender by Alvaro Enrique, translated from the Spanish by Natasha WimmerYou Dreamed of Empires by Alvaro Enrique, translated from the Spanish by Natasha WimmerThe Palm House by Gwendoline RileyMy Phantoms by Gwendoline RileyFirst Love by Gwendoline RileyAmbivalence by Brian DillonTranscendence for Beginners by Clare CarlisleAnimal Joy by Nuar AlsadirHere Where We Live Is Our Country by Molly CrabappleDown Time by Andrew MartinEarly Work by Andrew MartinCool for America by Andrew MartinOn Morrison by Namwali SerpellThe Witch by Marie Ndiaye, translated from the French by Jordan StumpThat Time of Year by Marie Ndiaye, translated from the French by Jordan StumpTwenty Minutes of Silence by Helene Bessette, translated from the French by Kate BriggsLilli Is Crying by Helene Bessette, translated from the French by Kate BriggsThe Queen of Swords by Jazmina Barrera, translated from the Spanish by Christina MacSweeneyThe Week of Colors by Elena Garro, translated from the Spanish by Megan McDowellNonesuch by Francis SpuffordCahokia Jazz by Francis SpuffordThe Child That Books Built: A Life in Reading by Francis SpuffordThe Ministry of Time by Kaliane BradleyA Marsh Island by Sarah Orne JewettThe 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.
    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 17 mins
  • Episode #40: I Who Have Never Known Men, by Jacqueline Harpman

    Episode #40: I Who Have Never Known Men, by Jacqueline Harpman
    Nov 18 2025
    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 SchwartzOrlanda by Jacqueline Harpman, translated from the French by Ros SchwartzNever Let Me Go by Kazuo IshiguroFrankenstein by Mary ShelleyThe Wall by Marlen Haushofer, translated from the German by Shaun WhitesideBear by Marian EngelThe Road by Cormac McCarthyThe Handmaid's Tale by Margaret AtwoodParable of the Sower by Octavia E ButlerShadow Ticket by Thomas PynchonLong Distance by Aysegül SavasUgliness by Moshtari Hilal, translated from the German by Elizabeth LaufferElectric Spark: The Enigma of Dame Muriel by Frances Wilson Like a Cat Loves a Bird: The Nine Lives of Muriel Spark by James BaileyA Dark Corner by Celia DaleSheep's Clothing by Celia DaleThe Face of Trespass by Ruth RendellRobinson 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.
    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 15 mins
  • Bonus Episode #4: Dorian Stuber and Rohan Maitzen Discuss Vanity Fair

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

    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:

    • Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray
    • David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
    • Middlemarch by George Eliot
    • North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
    • The Warden by Anthony Trollope
    • Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
    • The Heart of Midlothian by Sir Walter Scott
    • The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte
    • Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens
    • Lady Audley's Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon
    • The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins
    • Villette by Charlotte Bronte
    • Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy

    You can find Rohan's blog Novel Readings here: https://rohanmaitzen.com/novelreadings/

    Special thanks to Fred the Cat for the special background symphony.

    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.
    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 17 mins
  • Episode #39: The Stone Door, by Leonora Carrington

    Episode #39: The Stone Door, by Leonora Carrington
    Oct 3 2025
    Welcome to One Bright Book! Join our hosts Frances, Dorian, and Rebecca as they discuss THE STONE DOOR by Leonora Carrington, and chat about their current reading. For our next episode, we will discuss I WHO HAVE NEVER KNOWN MEN by Jacqueline Harpman, translated from the French by Ros Schwartz, with an afterword by Sophie Mackintosh. We would love to have you read along with us, and join us for our conversation coming to you sometime this fall. Yes, that time frame is vague but we like to be truthful. Want to support the show? Visit us at Bookshop.org or click on the links below and buy some books! Books Mentioned: The Stone Door by Leonora Carrington The Hearing Trumpet by Leonora Carrington Surrealist Women's Writing: A Critical Exploration edited by Anna Watz A History of the Surrealist Novel edited by Anna Watz Alice's Adventures In Wonderland by Lewis Carroll The Awakening by Kate Chopin A Marsh Island by Sarah Orne Jewett Crooked Cross by Sally Carson The Dance and the Fire by Daniel Saldana Paris, translated from the Spanish by Christina Macsweeney Sea Now by Eva Meijer, translated from the Dutch by Anne Thompson Melo I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman, translated from the French by Ros Schwartz 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.
    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 10 mins
  • Episode #38: Miaow, by Benito Pérez Galdós

    Episode #38: Miaow, by Benito Pérez Galdós
    Sep 8 2025

    Welcome to One Bright Book! Join our hosts Dorian, Rebecca, and Frances as they discuss MIAOW by Benito Pérez Galdós, translated from the Spanish by Margaret Jull Costa, and chat about their current reading.

    For our next episode, we will discuss The Stone Door by Leonora Carrington. We would love to have you read along with us, and join us for our conversation coming to you sometime 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:

    • Miaow by Benito Pérez Galdós, translated from the Spanish by Margaret Jull Costa
    • The Antinomies of Realism by Frederic Jameson
    • The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens
    • The Blue Place by Nicola Griffith
    • Anima: A Wild Pastoral by Kapka Kassabova
    • Living by Henry Green
    • People Like Us by Jason Mott
    • Erik Satie: Three Piece Suite by Ian Penman
    • The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
    • The Odd Women by George Gissing
    • The Holiday by Stevie Smith
    • Schattenfroh by Michael Lentz,translated from the German by Max Lawton
    • Life A User's Manual by Georges Perec, translated from the French by David Bellos
    • The Stone Door by Leonora Carrington
    • Angela Carter and Surrealism by Anna Walz
    • A History of the Surrealist Novel edited by Anna Walz
    • Surrealist Women's Writing: A Critical Exploration by Anna Walz
    • Opus Siniestrus by Leonora Carrington

    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.
    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 20 mins