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What if the most transformative thing you can do for your writing craft and author business is to face what you fear? How can you can find gold in your Shadow in the year ahead? In this episode, I share chapters from Writing the Shadow: Turn Your Inner Darkness Into Words. In the intro, curated book boxes from Bridgerton's Julia Quinn; Google's agentic shopping, and powering Apple's Siri; ChatGPT Ads; and Claude CoWork. Balancing Certainty and Uncertainty [MoonShots with Tony Robbins]; and three trends for authors with me and Orna Ross [Self-Publishing with ALLi Podcast]; plus, Bones of the Deep, Business for Authors, and Indie Author Lab. This show is supported by my Patrons. Join my Community at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn  Joanna Penn writes non-fiction for authors and is an award-winning, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of thrillers, dark fantasy, and memoir as J.F. Penn. She's also an award-winning podcaster, creative entrepreneur, and international professional speaker. What is the Shadow? The ‘creative wound' and the Shadow in writing The Shadow in traditional publishing The Shadow in self-publishing or being an indie author The Shadow in work The Shadow in money You can find Writing the Shadow in all formats on all stores, as well as special edition, workbook and bundles at www.TheCreativePenn.com/shadowbook Writing the Shadow: Turn Your Inner Darkness Into Words The following chapters are excerpted from Writing the Shadow: Turn Your Inner Darkness Into Words by Joanna Penn. Introduction. What is the Shadow? “How can I be substantial if I do not cast a shadow? I must have a dark side also if I am to be whole.” —C.G. Jung, Modern Man in Search of a Soul We all have a Shadow side and it is the work of a lifetime to recognise what lies within and spin that base material into gold. Think of it as a seedling in a little pot that you're given when you're young. It's a bit misshapen and weird, not something you would display in your living room, so you place it in a dark corner of the basement. You don't look at it for years. You almost forget about it. Then one day you notice tendrils of something wild poking up through the floorboards. They're ugly and don't fit with your Scandi-minimalist interior design. You chop the tendrils away and pour weedkiller on what's left, trying to hide the fact that they were ever there. But the creeping stems keep coming. At some point, you know you have to go down there and face the wild thing your seedling has become. When you eventually pluck up enough courage to go down into the basement, you discover that the plant has wound its roots deep into the foundations of your home. Its vines weave in and out of the cracks in the walls, and it has beautiful flowers and strange fruit. It holds your world together. Perhaps you don't need to destroy the wild tendrils. Perhaps you can let them wind up into the light and allow their rich beauty to weave through your home. It will change the look you have so carefully cultivated, but maybe that's just what the place needs. The Shadow in psychology Carl Gustav Jung was a Swiss psychologist and the founder of analytical psychology. He described the Shadow as an unconscious aspect of the human personality, those parts of us that don't match up to what is expected of us by family and society, or to our own ideals. The Shadow is not necessarily evil or illegal or immoral, although of course it can be. It's also not necessarily caused by trauma, abuse, or any other severely damaging event, although again, it can be. It depends on the individual. What is in your Shadow is based on your life and your experiences, as well as your culture and society, so it will be different for everyone. Psychologist Connie Zweig, in The Inner Work of Age, explains, “The Shadow is that part of us that lies beneath or behind the light of awareness. It contains our rejected, unacceptable traits and feelings. It contains our hidden gifts and talents that have remained unexpressed or unlived. As Jung put it, the essence of the Shadow is pure gold.” To further illustrate the concept, Robert Bly, in A Little Book on the Human Shadow,uses the following metaphor: “When we are young, we carry behind us an invisible bag, into which we stuff any feelings, thoughts, or behaviours that bring disapproval or loss of love—anger, tears, neediness, laziness. By the time we go to school, our bags are already a mile long. In high school, our peer groups pressure us to stuff the bags with even more—individuality, sexuality, spontaneity, different opinions. We spend our life until we're twenty deciding which parts of ourselves to put into the bag and we spend the rest of our lives trying to get them out again.” As authors, we can use what's in the ‘bag' to enrich our writing — but only if we can access it. My intention with this book is to help you venture into your Shadow and bring some of what's hidden into the light and into your words. I'll reveal aspects of my Shadow in these pages but ultimately, this book is about you. Your Shadow is unique. There may be elements we share, but much will be different. Each chapter has questions for you to consider that may help you explore at least the edges of your Shadow, but it's not easy. As Jung said, “One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious. The latter procedure, however, is disagreeable and therefore not popular.” But take heart, Creative. You don't need courage when things are easy. You need it when you know what you face will be difficult, but you do it anyway. We are authors. We know how to do hard things. We turn ideas into books. We manifest thoughts into ink on paper. We change lives with our writing. First, our own, then other people's. It's worth the effort to delve into Shadow, so I hope you will join me on the journey. The creative wound and the Shadow in writing “Whatever pain you can't get rid of, make it your creative offering.” —Susan Cain, Bittersweet  The more we long for something, the more extreme our desire, the more likely it is to have a Shadow side. For those of us who love books, the author life may well be a long-held dream and thus, it is filled with Shadow. Books have long been objects of desire, power, and authority. They hold a mythic status in our lives. We escaped into stories as children; we studied books at school and college; we read them now for escape and entertainment, education and inspiration. We collect beautiful books to put on our shelves. We go to them for solace and answers to the deepest questions of life. Writers are similarly held in high esteem. They shape culture, win literary prizes, give important speeches, and are quoted in the mainstream media. Their books are on the shelves in libraries and bookstores. Writers are revered, held up as rare, talented creatures made separate from us by their brilliance and insight. For bibliophile children, books were everything and to write one was a cherished dream. To become an author? Well, that would mean we might be someone special, someone worthy. Perhaps when you were young, you thought the dream of being a writer was possible — then you told someone about it. That's probably when you heard the first criticism of such a ridiculous idea, the first laughter, the first dismissal. So you abandoned the dream, pushed the idea of being a writer into the Shadow, and got on with your life. Or if it wasn't then, it came later, when you actually put pen to paper and someone — a parent, teacher, partner, or friend, perhaps even a literary agent or publisher, someone whose opinion you valued — told you it was worthless. Here are some things you might have heard: Writing is a hobby. Get a real job. You're not good enough. You don't have any writing talent. You don't have enough education. You don't know what you're doing. Your writing is derivative / unoriginal / boring / useless / doesn't make sense. The genre you write in is dead / worthless / unacceptable / morally wrong / frivolous / useless.  Who do you think you are? No one would want to read what you write. You can't even use proper grammar, so how could you write a whole book? You're wasting your time. You'll never make it as a writer. You shouldn't write those things (or even think about those things). Why don't you write something nice? Insert other derogatory comment here! Mark Pierce describes the effect of this experience in his book The Creative Wound, which “occurs when an event, or someone's actions or words, pierce you, causing a kind of rift in your soul. A comment—even offhand and unintentional—is enough to cause one.” He goes on to say that such words can inflict “damage to the core of who we are as creators. It is an attack on our artistic identity, resulting in us believing that whatever we make is somehow tainted or invalid, because shame has convinced us there is something intrinsically tainted or invalid about ourselves.” As adults, we might brush off such wounds, belittling them as unimportant in the grand scheme of things. We might even find ourselves saying the same words to other people. After all, it's easier to criticise than to create. But if you picture your younger self, bright eyed as you lose yourself in your favourite book, perhaps you might catch a glimpse of what you longed for before your dreams were dashed on the rocks of other people's reality. As Mark Pierce goes on to say, “A Creative Wound has the power to delay our pursuits—sometimes for years—and it can even derail our lives completely… Anything that makes us feel ashamed of ourselves or our work can render us incapable of the self-expression we yearn for.” This is certainly what happened to me, and it took decades to unwind. Your creative wounds will differ to mine but perhaps my experience will help you explore your own. To be clear, your Shadow may not reside in elements of horror as mine do, but hopefully you can use my example to consider where your creative wounds might lie. “You shouldn't write things like that.” It happened at secondary school around 1986 or 1987, so I would have been around eleven or twelve years old. English was one of my favourite subjects and the room we had our lessons in looked out onto a vibrant garden. I loved going to that class because it was all about books, and they were always my favourite things. One day, we were asked to write a story. I can't remember the specifics of what the teacher asked us to write, but I fictionalised a recurring nightmare. I stood in a dark room. On one side, my mum and my brother, Rod, were tied up next to a cauldron of boiling oil, ready to be thrown in. On the other side, my dad and my little sister, Lucy, were threatened with decapitation by men with machetes. I had to choose who would die. I always woke up, my heart pounding, before I had to choose. Looking back now, it clearly represented an internal conflict about having to pick sides between the two halves of my family. Not an unexpected issue from a child of divorce. Perhaps these days, I might have been sent to the school counsellor, but it was the eighties and I don't think we even had such a thing. Even so, the meaning of the story isn't the point. It was the reaction to it that left scars. “You shouldn't write things like that,” my teacher said, and I still remember her look of disappointment, even disgust. Certainly judgment. She said my writing was too dark. It wasn't a proper story. It wasn't appropriate for the class. As if horrible things never happened in stories — or in life. As if literature could not include dark tales. As if the only acceptable writing was the kind she approved of. We were taught The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie that year, which says a lot about the type of writing considered appropriate. Or perhaps the issue stemmed from the school motto, “So hateth she derknesse,” from Chaucer's The Legend of Good Women: “For fear of night, so she hates the darkness.” I had won a scholarship to a private girls' school, and their mission was to turn us all into proper young ladies. Horror was never on the curriculum. Perhaps if my teacher had encouraged me to write my darkness back then, my nightmares would have dissolved on the page. Perhaps if we had studied Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, or H.P. Lovecraft stories, or Bram Stoker's Dracula, I could have embraced the darker side of literature earlier in my life. My need to push darker thoughts into my Shadow was compounded by my (wonderful) mum's best intentions. We were brought up on the principles of The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale and she tried to shield me and my brother from anything harmful or horrible. We weren't allowed to watch TV much, and even the British school drama Grange Hill was deemed inappropriate. So much of what I've achieved is because my mum instilled in me a “can do” attitude that anything is possible. I'm so grateful to her for that. (I love you, Mum!) But all that happy positivity, my desire to please her, to be a good girl, to make my teachers proud, and to be acceptable to society, meant that I pushed my darker thoughts into Shadow. They were inappropriate. They were taboo. They must be repressed, kept secret, and I must be outwardly happy and positive at all times. You cannot hold back the darkness “The night is dark and full of terrors.” —George R.R. Martin, A Storm of Swords It turned out that horror was on the curriculum, much of it in the form of educational films we watched during lessons. In English Literature, we watched Romeo drink poison and Juliet stab herself in Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet. In Religious Studies, we watched Jesus beaten, tortured, and crucified in The Greatest Story Ever Told, and learned of the variety of gruesome ways that Christian saints were martyred. In Classical Civilisation, we watched gladiators slaughter each other in Spartacus. In Sex Education at the peak of the AIDS crisis in the mid-'80s, we were told of the many ways we could get infected and die. In History, we studied the Holocaust with images of skeletal bodies thrown into mass graves, medical experiments on humans, and grainy videos of marching soldiers giving the Nazi salute. One of my first overseas school field trips was to the World War I battlegrounds of Flanders Fields in Belgium, where we studied the inhuman conditions of the trenches, walked through mass graves, and read war poetry by candlelight. As John McCrae wrote: We are the Dead. Short days agoWe lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,Loved and were loved, and now we lie, In Flanders fields. Did the teachers not realise how deeply a sensitive teenager might feel the darkness of that place? Or have I always been unusual in that places of blood echo deep inside me? And the horrors kept coming. We lived in Bristol, England back then and I learned at school how the city had been part of the slave trade, its wealth built on the backs of people stolen from their homes, sold, and worked to death in the colonies. I had been at school for a year in Malawi, Africa and imagined the Black people I knew drowning, being beaten, and dying on those ships. In my teenage years, the news was filled with ethnic cleansing, mass rape, and massacres during the Balkan wars, and images of bodies hacked apart during the Rwandan genocide. Evil committed by humans against other humans was not a historical aberration. I'm lucky and I certainly acknowledge my privilege. Nothing terrible or horrifying has happened to me — but bad things certainly happen to others. I wasn't bullied or abused. I wasn't raped or beaten or tortured. But you don't have to go through things to be afraid of them, and for your imagination to conjure the possibility of them. My mum doesn't read my fiction now as it gives her nightmares (Sorry, Mum!). I know she worries that somehow she's responsible for my darkness, but I've had a safe and (mostly) happy life, for which I'm truly grateful. But the world is not an entirely safe and happy place, and for a sensitive child with a vivid imagination, the world is dark and scary. It can be brutal and violent, and bad things happen, even to good people. No parent can shield their child from the reality of the world. They can only help them do their best to live in it, develop resilience, and find ways to deal with whatever comes. Story has always been a way that humans have used to learn how to live and deal with difficult times. The best authors, the ones that readers adore and can't get enough of, write their darkness into story to channel their experience, and help others who fear the same. In an interview on writing the Shadow on The Creative Penn Podcast, Michaelbrent Collings shared how he incorporated a personally devastating experience into his writing:  “My wife and I lost a child years back, and that became the root of one of my most terrifying books, Apparition. It's not terrifying because it's the greatest book of all time, but just the concept that there's this thing out there… like a demon, and it consumes the blood and fear of the children, and then it withdraws and consumes the madness of the parents… I wrote that in large measure as a way of working through what I was experiencing.” I've learned much from Michaelbrent. I've read many of his (excellent) books and he's been on my podcast multiple times talking about his depression and mental health issues, as well as difficulties in his author career. Writing darkness is not in Michaelbrent's Shadow and only he can say what lies there for him. But from his example, and from that of other authors, I too learned how to write my Shadow into my books. Twenty-three years after that English lesson, in November 2009, I did NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month, and wrote five thousand words of what eventually became Stone of Fire, my first novel. In the initial chapter, I burned a nun alive on the ghats of Varanasi on the banks of the Ganges River. I had watched the bodies burn by night on pyres from a boat bobbing in the current a few years before, and the image was still crystal clear in my mind. The only way to deal with how it made me feel about death was to write about it — and since then, I've never stopped writing. Returning to the nightmare from my school days, I've never had to choose between the two halves of my family, but the threat of losing them remains a theme in my fiction. In my ARKANE thriller series, Morgan Sierra will do anything to save her sister and her niece. Their safety drives her to continue to fight against evil. Our deepest fears emerge in our writing, and that's the safest place for them. I wish I'd been taught how to turn my nightmares into words back at school, but at least now I've learned to write my Shadow onto the page. I wish the same for you. The Shadow in traditional publishing If becoming an author is your dream, then publishing a book is deeply entwined with that. But as Mark Pierce says in The Creative Wound, “We feel pain the most where it matters the most… Desire highlights whatever we consider to be truly significant.” There is a lot of desire around publishing for those of us who love books! It can give you: Validation that your writing is good enough Status and credibility Acceptance by an industry held in esteem  The potential of financial reward and critical acclaim Support from a team of professionals who know how to make fantastic books A sense of belonging to an elite community Pride in achieving a long-held goal, resulting in a confidence boost and self-esteem Although not guaranteed, traditional publishing can give you all these things and more, but as with everything, there is a potential Shadow side. Denying it risks the potential of being disillusioned, disappointed, and even damaged. But remember, forewarned is forearmed, as the saying goes. Preparation can help you avoid potential issues and help you feel less alone if you encounter them. The myth of success… and the reality of experience There is a pervasive myth of success in the traditional publishing industry, perpetuated by media reporting on brand name and breakout authors, those few outliers whose experience is almost impossible to replicate. Because of such examples, many new traditionally published authors think that their first book will hit the top of the bestseller charts or win an award, as well as make them a million dollars — or at least a big chunk of cash. They will be able to leave their job, write in a beautiful house overlooking the ocean, and swan around the world attending conferences, while writing more bestselling books. It will be a charmed life. But that is not the reality. Perhaps it never was. Even so, the life of a traditionally published author represents a mythic career with the truth hidden behind a veil of obscurity. In April 2023, The Bookseller in the UK reported that “more than half of authors (54%) responding to a survey on their experiences of publishing their debut book have said the process negatively affected their mental health. Though views were mixed, just 22%… described a positive experience overall… Among the majority who said they had a negative experience of debut publication, anxiety, stress, depression and ‘lowered' self-esteem were cited, with lack of support, guidance or clear and professional communication from their publisher among the factors that contributed.” Many authors who have negative experiences around publishing will push them into the Shadow with denial or self-blame, preferring to keep the dream alive. They won't talk about things in public as this may negatively affect their careers, but private discussions are often held in the corners of writing conferences or social media groups online. Some of the issues are as follows: Repeated rejection by agents and publishers may lead to the author thinking they are not good enough as a writer, which can lead to feeling unworthy as a person. If an author gets a deal, the amount of advance and the name and status of the publisher compared to others create a hierarchy that impacts self-esteem. A deal for a book may be much lower than an author might have been expecting, with low or no advance, and the resulting experience with the publisher beneath expectations. The launch process may be disappointing, and the book may appear without fanfare, with few sales and no bestseller chart position. In The Bookseller report, one author described her launch day as “a total wasteland… You have expectations about what publication day will be like, but in reality, nothing really happens.” The book may receive negative reviews by critics or readers or more publicly on social media, which can make an author feel attacked. The book might not sell as well as expected, and the author may feel like it's their fault. Commercial success can sometimes feel tied to self-worth and an author can't help but compare their sales to others, with resulting embarrassment or shame. The communication from the publisher may be less than expected. One author in The Bookseller report said, “I was shocked by the lack of clarity and shared information and the cynicism that underlies the superficial charm of this industry.” There is often more of a focus on debut authors in publishing houses, so those who have been writing and publishing in the midlist for years can feel ignored and undervalued. In The Bookseller report, 48 percent of authors reported “their publisher supported them for less than a year,” with one saying, “I got no support and felt like a commodity, like the team had moved on completely to the next book.” If an author is not successful enough, the next deal may be lower than the last, less effort is made with marketing, and they may be let go. In The Bookseller report, “six authors—debut and otherwise—cited being dropped by their publisher, some with no explanation.” Even if everything goes well and an author is considered successful by others, they may experience imposter syndrome, feeling like a fraud when speaking at conferences or doing book signings. And the list goes on … All these things can lead to feelings of shame, inadequacy, and embarrassment; loss of status in the eyes of peers; and a sense of failure if a publishing career is not successful enough. The author feels like it's their fault, like they weren't good enough — although, of course, the reality is that the conditions were not right at the time. A failure of a book is not a failure of the person, but it can certainly feel like it! When you acknowledge the Shadow, it loses its power Despite all the potential negatives of traditional publishing, if you know what could happen, you can mitigate them. You can prepare yourself for various scenarios and protect yourself from potential fall-out. It's clear from The Bookseller report that too many authors have unrealistic expectations of the industry. But publishers are businesses, not charities. It's not their job to make you feel good as an author. It's their job to sell books and pay you. The best thing they can do is to continue to be a viable business so they can keep putting books on the shelves and keep paying authors, staff, and company shareholders. When you license your creative work to a publisher, you're giving up control of your intellectual property in exchange for money and status. Bring your fears and issues out of the Shadow, acknowledge them, and deal with them early, so they do not get pushed down and re-emerge later in blame and bitterness. Educate yourself on the business of publishing. Be clear on what you want to achieve with any deal. Empower yourself as an author, take responsibility for your career, and you will have a much better experience. The Shadow in self-publishing or being an indie author Self-publishing, or being an independent (indie) author, can be a fantastic, pro-active choice for getting your book into the world. Holding your first book in your hand and saying “I made this” is pretty exciting, and even after more than forty books, I still get excited about seeing ideas in my head turn into a physical product in the world. Self-publishing can give an author: Creative control over what to write, editorial and cover design choices, when and how often to publish, and how to market Empowerment over your author career and the ability to make choices that impact success without asking for permission Ownership and control of intellectual property assets, resulting in increased opportunity around licensing and new markets Independence and the potential for recurring income for the long term Autonomy and flexibility around timelines, publishing options, and the ability to easily pivot into new genres and business models Validation based on positive reader reviews and money earned Personal growth and learning through the acquisition of new skills, resulting in a boost in confidence and self-esteem A sense of belonging to an active and vibrant community of indie authors around the world Being an indie author can give you all this and more, but once again, there is a Shadow side and preparation can help you navigate potential issues. The myth of success… and the reality of experience As with traditional publishing, the indie author world has perpetuated a myth of success in the example of the breakout indie author like E.L. James with Fifty Shades of Grey, Hugh Howey with Wool, or Andy Weir with The Martian. The emphasis on financial success is also fuelled online by authors who share screenshots showing six-figure months or seven-figure years, without sharing marketing costs and other outgoings, or the amount of time spent on the business. Yes, these can inspire some, but it can also make others feel inadequate and potentially lead to bad choices about how to publish and market based on comparison. The indie author world is full of just as much ego and a desire for status and money as traditional publishing. This is not a surprise! Most authors, regardless of publishing choices, are a mix of massive ego and chronic self-doubt. We are human, so the same issues will re-occur. A different publishing method doesn't cure all ills. Some of the issues are as follows: You learn everything you need to know about writing and editing, only to find that you need to learn a whole new set of skills in order to self-publish and market your book. This can take a lot of time and effort you did not expect, and things change all the time so you have to keep learning. Being in control of every aspect of the publishing process, from writing to cover design to marketing, can be overwhelming, leading to indecision, perfectionism, stress, and even burnout as you try to do all the things. You try to find people to help, but building your team is a challenge, and working with others has its own difficulties. People say negative things about self-publishing that may arouse feelings of embarrassment or shame. These might be little niggles, but they needle you, nonetheless. You wonder whether you made the right choice. You struggle with self-doubt and if you go to an event with traditional published authors, you compare yourself to them and feel like an imposter. Are you good enough to be an author if a traditional publisher hasn't chosen you? Is it just vanity to self-publish? Are your books unworthy? Even though you worked with a professional editor, you still get one-star reviews and you hate criticism from readers. You wonder whether you're wasting your time. You might be ripped off by an author services company who promise the world, only to leave you with a pile of printed books in your garage and no way to sell them. When you finally publish your book, it languishes at the bottom of the charts while other authors hit the top of the list over and over, raking in the cash while you are left out of pocket. You don't admit to over-spending on marketing as it makes you ashamed. You resist book marketing and make critical comments about writers who embrace it. You believe that quality rises to the top and if a book is good enough, people will buy it anyway. This can lead to disappointment and disillusionment when you launch your book and it doesn't sell many copies because nobody knows about it. You try to do what everyone advises, but you still can't make decent money as an author. You're jealous of other authors' success and put it down to them ‘selling out' or writing things you can't or ‘using AI' or ‘using a ghostwriter' or having a specific business model you consider impossible to replicate. And the list goes on… When you acknowledge the Shadow, it loses its power Being in control of your books and your author career is a double-edged sword. Traditionally published authors can criticise their publishers or agents or the marketing team or the bookstores or the media, but indie authors have to take responsibility for it all. Sure, we can blame ‘the algorithms' or social media platforms, or criticise other authors for having more experience or more money to invest in marketing, or attribute their success to writing in a more popular genre — but we also know there are always people who do well regardless of the challenges. Once more, we're back to acknowledging and integrating the Shadow side of our choices. We are flawed humans. There will always be good times and bad, and difficulties to offset the high points. This too shall pass, as the old saying goes. I know that being an indie author has plenty of Shadow. I've been doing this since 2008 and despite the hard times, I'm still here. I'm still writing. I'm still publishing. This life is not for everyone, but it's my choice. You must make yours. The Shadow in work You work hard. You make a living. Nothing wrong with that attitude, right? It's what we're taught from an early age and, like so much of life, it's not a problem until it goes to extremes. Not achieving what you want to? Work harder. Can't get ahead? Work harder. Not making a good enough living? Work harder. People who don't work hard are lazy. They don't deserve handouts or benefits. People who don't work hard aren't useful, so they are not valued members of our culture and community. But what about the old or the sick, the mentally ill, or those with disabilities? What about children? What about the unemployed? The under-employed? What about those who are — or will be — displaced by technology, those called “the useless class” by historian Yuval Noah Harari in his book Homo Deus? What if we become one of these in the future? Who am I if I cannot work? The Shadow side of my attitude to work became clear when I caught COVID in the summer of 2021. I was the sickest I'd ever been. I spent two weeks in bed unable to even think properly, and six weeks after that, I was barely able to work more than an hour a day before lying in the dark and waiting for my energy to return. I was limited in what I could do for another six months after that. At times, I wondered if I would ever get better. Jonathan kept urging me to be patient and rest. But I don't know how to rest. I know how to work and how to sleep. I can do ‘active rest,' which usually involves walking a long way or traveling somewhere interesting, but those require a stronger mind and body than I had during those months. It struck me that even if I recovered from the virus, I had glimpsed my future self. One day, I will be weak in body and mind. If I'm lucky, that will be many years away and hopefully for a short time before I die — but it will happen. I am an animal. I will die. My body and mind will pass on and I will be no more. Before then I will be weak. Before then, I will be useless. Before then, I will be a burden. I will not be able to work… But who am I if I cannot work? What is the point of me? I can't answer these questions right now, because although I recognise them as part of my Shadow, I've not progressed far enough to have dealt with them entirely. My months of COVID gave me some much-needed empathy for those who cannot work, even if they want to. We need to reframe what work is as a society, and value humans for different things, especially as technology changes what work even means. That starts with each of us. “Illness, affliction of body and soul, can be life-altering. It has the potential to reveal the most fundamental conflict of the human condition: the tension between our infinite, glorious dreams and desires and our limited, vulnerable, decaying physicality.” —Connie Zweig, The Inner Work of Age: Shifting from Role to Soul The Shadow in money In the Greek myth, King Midas was a wealthy ruler who loved gold above all else. His palace was adorned with golden sculptures and furniture, and he took immense pleasure in his riches. Yet, despite his vast wealth, he yearned for more. After doing a favour for Dionysus, the god of wine and revelry, Midas was granted a single wish. Intoxicated by greed, he wished that everything he touched would turn to gold — and it was so. At first, it was a lot of fun. Midas turned everything else in his palace to gold, even the trees and stones of his estate. After a morning of turning things to gold, he fancied a spot of lunch. But when he tried to eat, the food and drink turned to gold in his mouth. He became thirsty and hungry — and increasingly desperate. As he sat in despair on his golden throne, his beloved young daughter ran to comfort him. For a moment, he forgot his wish — and as she wrapped her arms around him and kissed his cheek, she turned into a golden statue, frozen in precious metal. King Midas cried out to the gods to forgive him, to reverse the wish. He renounced his greed and gave away all his wealth, and his daughter was returned to life. The moral of the story: Wealth and greed are bad. In Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol, Ebenezer Scrooge is described as a “squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner.” He's wealthy but does not share, considering Christmas spending to be frivolous and giving to charity to be worthless. He's saved by a confrontation with his lonely future and becomes a generous man and benefactor of the poor. Wealth is good if you share it with others. The gospel of Matthew, chapter 25: 14-30, tells the parable of the bags of gold, in which a rich man goes on a journey and entrusts his servants with varying amounts of gold. On his return, the servants who multiplied the gold through their efforts and investments are rewarded, while the one who merely returned the gold with no interest is punished: “For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.” Making money is good, making more money is even better. If you can't make any money, you don't deserve to have any. Within the same gospel, in Matthew 19:24, Jesus encounters a wealthy man and tells him to sell all his possessions and give the money to the poor, which the man is unable to do. Jesus says, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” Wealth is bad. Give it all away and you'll go to heaven. With all these contradictory messages, no wonder we're so conflicted about money! How do you think and feel about money? While money is mostly tied to our work, it's far more than just a transactional object for most people. It's loaded with complex symbolism and judgment handed down by family, religion, and culture. You are likely to find elements of Shadow by examining your attitudes around money. Consider which of the following statements resonate with you or write your own. Money stresses me out. I don't want to talk about it or think about it. Some people hoard money, so there is inequality. Rich people are bad and we should take away their wealth and give it to the poor.  I can never make enough money to pay the bills, or to give my family what I want to provide. Money doesn't grow on trees.  It's wasteful to spend money as you might need it later, so I'm frugal and don't spend money unless absolutely necessary. It is better and more ethical to be poor than to be rich. I want more money. I read books and watch TV shows about rich people because I want to live like that. Sometimes I spend too much on things for a glimpse of what that might be like.  I buy lottery tickets and dream of winning all that money.  I'm jealous of people who have money. I want more of it and I resent those who have it. I'm no good with money. I don't like to look at my bank statement or credit card statement. I live off my overdraft and I'm in debt. I will never earn enough to get out of debt and start saving, so I don't think too much about it. I don't know enough about money. Talking about it makes me feel stupid, so I just ignore it. People like me aren't educated about money.  I need to make more money. If I can make lots of money, then people will look up to me. If I make lots of money, I will be secure, nothing can touch me, I will be safe.  I never want to be poor. I would be ashamed to be poor. I will never go on benefits. My net worth is my self worth. Money is good. We have the best standard of living in history because of the increase in wealth over time. Even the richest kings of the past didn't have what many middle-class people have today in terms of access to food, water, technology, healthcare, education, and more. The richest people give the most money to the poor through taxation and charity, as well as through building companies that employ people and invent new things. The very richest give away much of their fortunes. They provide far more benefit to the world than the poor.  I love money. Money loves me. Money comes easily and quickly to me. I attract money in multiple streams of income. It flows to me in so many ways. I spend money. I invest money. I give money. I'm happy and grateful for all that I receive. The Shadow around money for authors in particular Many writers and other creatives have issues around money and wealth. How often have you heard the following, and which do you agree with? You can't make money with your writing. You'll be a poor author in a garret, a starving artist.  You can't write ‘good quality' books and make money. If you make money writing, you're a hack, you're selling out. You are less worthy than someone who writes only for the Muse. Your books are commercial, not artistic. If you spend money on marketing, then your books are clearly not good enough to sell on their own. My agent / publisher / accountant / partner deals with the money side. I like to focus on the creative side of things. My money story Note: This is not financial or investment advice. Please talk to a professional about your situation. I've had money issues over the years — haven't we all! But I have been through a (long) process to bring money out of my Shadow and into the light. There will always be more to discover, but hopefully my money story will help you, or at least give you an opportunity to reflect. Like most people, I didn't grow up with a lot of money. My parents started out as teachers, but later my mum — who I lived with, along with my brother — became a change management consultant, moving to the USA and earning a lot more. I'm grateful that she moved into business because her example changed the way I saw money and provided some valuable lessons. (1) You can change your circumstances by learning more and then applying that to leverage opportunity into a new job or career Mum taught English at a school in Bristol when we moved back from Malawi, Africa, in the mid '80s but I remember how stressful it was for her, and how little money she made. She wanted a better future for us all, so she took a year out to do a master's degree in management. In the same way, when I wanted to change careers and leave consulting to become an author, I spent time and money learning about the writing craft and the business of publishing. I still invest a considerable chunk on continuous learning, as this industry changes all the time. (2) You might have to downsize in order to leap forward The year my mum did her degree, we lived in the attic of another family's house; we ate a lot of one-pot casserole and our treat was having a Yorkie bar on the walk back from the museum. We wore hand-me-down clothes, and I remember one day at school when another girl said I was wearing her dress. I denied it, of course, but there in back of the dress was her name tag. I still remember her name and I can still feel that flush of shame and embarrassment. I was determined to never feel like that again. But what I didn't realize at the time was that I was also learning the power of downsizing. Mum got her degree and then a new job in management in Bristol. She bought a house, and we settled for a few years. I had lots of different jobs as a teenager. My favourite was working in the delicatessen because we got a free lunch made from delicious produce. After I finished A-levels, I went to the University of Oxford, and my mum and brother moved to the USA for further opportunities. I've downsized multiple times over the years, taking a step back in order to take a step forward. The biggest was in 2010 when I decided to leave consulting. Jonathan and I sold our three-bedroom house and investments in Brisbane, Australia, and rented a one-bedroom flat in London, so we could be debt-free and live on less while I built up a new career. It was a decade before we bought another house. (3) Comparison can be deadly: there will always be people with more money than you Oxford was an education in many ways and relevant to this chapter is how much I didn't know about things people with money took for granted. I learned about formal hall and wine pairings, and how to make a perfect gin and tonic. I ate smoked salmon for the first time. I learned how to fit in with people who had a lot more money than I did, and I definitely wanted to have money of my own to play with. (4) Income is not wealth You can earn lots but have nothing to show for it after years of working. I learned this in my first few years of IT consulting after university. I earned a great salary and then went contracting, earning even more money at a daily rate. I had a wonderful time. I traveled, ate and drank and generally made merry, but I always had to go back to the day job when the money ran out. I couldn't work out how I could ever stop this cycle. Then I read Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki, a book I still recommend, especially if you're from a family that values academic over financial education. I learned how to escape the rat race by building and/or accumulating assets that pay even when you're not working. It was a revelation! The ‘poor dad' in the book is a university professor. He knows so much about so many things, but he ends up poor as he did not educate himself about money. The ‘rich dad' has little formal education, but he knows about money and wealth because he learned about it, as we can do at any stage in our lives. (5) Not all investments suit every person, so find the right one for you Once I discovered the world of investing, I read all the books and did courses and in-person events. I joined communities and I up-skilled big time. Of course, I made mistakes and learned lots along the way. I tried property investing and renovated a couple of houses for rental (with more practical partners and skilled contractors). But while I could see that property investing might work for some people, I did not care enough about the details to make it work for me, and it was certainly not passive income. I tried other things. My first husband was a boat skipper and scuba diving instructor, so we started a charter. With the variable costs of fuel, the vagaries of New Zealand weather — and our divorce — it didn't last long! From all these experiments, I learned I wanted to run a business, but it needed to be online and not based on a physical location, physical premises, or other people. That was 2006, around the time that blogging started taking off and it became possible to make a living online. I could see the potential and a year later, the iPhone and the Amazon Kindle launched, which became the basis of my business as an author. (6) Boring, automatic saving and investing works best Between 2007 and 2011, I contracted in Australia, where they have compulsory superannuation contributions, meaning you have to save and invest a percentage of your salary or self-employed income. I'd never done that before, because I didn't understand it. I'd ploughed all my excess income into property or the business instead. But in Australia I didn't notice the money going out because it was automatic. I chose a particular fund and it auto-invested every month. The pot grew pretty fast since I didn't touch it, and years later, it's still growing. I discovered the power of compound interest and time in the market, both of which are super boring. This type of investing is not a get rich quick scheme. It's a slow process of automatically putting money into boring investments and doing that month in, month out, year in, year out, automatically for decades while you get on with your life. I still do this. I earn money as an author entrepreneur and I put a percentage of that into boring investments automatically every month. I also have a small amount which is for fun and higher risk investments, but mostly I'm a conservative, risk-averse investor planning ahead for the future. This is not financial advice, so I'm not giving any specifics. I have a list of recommended money books at www.TheCreativePenn.com/moneybooks if you want to learn more. Learning from the Shadow When I look back, my Shadow side around money eventually drove me to learn more and resulted in a better outcome (so far!). I was ashamed of being poor when I had to wear hand-me-down clothes at school. That drove a fear of not having any money, which partially explains my workaholism. I was embarrassed at Oxford because I didn't know how to behave in certain settings, and I wanted to be like the rich people I saw there. I spent too much money in my early years as a consultant because I wanted to experience a “rich” life and didn't understand saving and investing would lead to better things in the future. I invested too much in the wrong things because I didn't know myself well enough and I was trying to get rich quick so I could leave my job and ‘be happy.' But eventually, I discovered that I could grow my net worth with boring, long-term investments while doing a job I loved as an author entrepreneur. My only regret is that I didn't discover this earlier and put a percentage of my income into investments as soon as I started work. It took several decades to get started, but at least I did (eventually) start. My money story isn't over yet, and I keep learning new things, but hopefully my experience will help you reflect on your own and avoid the issue if it's still in Shadow. These chapters are excerpted from Writing the Shadow: Turn Your Inner Darkness Into Words by Joanna Penn  The post Writing The Shadow: The Creative Wound, Publishing, And Money, With Joanna Penn first appeared on The Creative Penn.

On Christmas Day, we bring our year-end tradition to a close by counting down our top five books of 2025. From beloved classics to unexpected discoveries, these final picks reflect a reading year shaped by curiosity, challenge, and joy. Settle in with us for a reflective conversation about the books that defined 2025 . . . and the anticipation of new reading adventures waiting in 2026!2026 Novella Book ClubWe have announced the four novellas we will be reading for The Mookse and Gripes Novella Book Club in 2026!* January: Daisy Miller, by Henry James* April: An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter, by César Aira* July: The Hour of the Star, by Clarice Lispector* September: Prelude, by Katherine MansfieldDiscussions will be hosted at The Mookse and the Gripes Discord (see below!).We've got some fantastic author-focused episodes lined up for the foreseeable future, and we want to give you plenty of time to dive in if you'd like to read along with us. These episodes come around every ten episodes, and with our bi-weekly release schedule, you'll have a few months to get ready for each. Here's what we have in store:* Episode 125: Flannery O'Connor* Episode 135: William Faulkner* Episode 145: Elizabeth Taylor* Episode 155: Naguib MahfouzThere's no rush—take your time, and grab a book (or two, or three) so you're prepared for these as they come!Shownotes* The Secret of Secrets, by Dan Brown* The Melancholy of Resistance, by László Krasznahorkai, translated by George Szirtes* Swann's Way, by Marcel Proust, translated by C K Scott Moncrieff, Terence Kilmartin, and D.J. Enright* Dr Chizhevsky's Chandelier: The Decline of the USSR and other Heresies of the Twentieth Century, by Dan Elkind* The Narrow Road to the Deep North, by Richard Flanagan* Palinuro of Mexico, by Fernando del Paso, translated by Elisabeth Plaister* The Tunnel, by William Gass* A Fine Balance, by Rohinton Mistry* The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest, by Aubrey Hartman* Free Day, by Inès Cagnati, translated by Liesl Schillinger* Crazy Genie, by Inès Cagnati, translated by Liesl Schillinger* The Motion of the Body Through Space, by Lionel Shriver* Ultramarine, by Mariette Navarro, translated by Eve Hill-Agnus* North Sun, by Ethan Rutherford* We Are Green and Trembling, by Gabriela Cabezón Cámara, translated by Robin Myers * The Adventures of China Iron, by Gabriela Cabezón Cámara, translated by Fiona Mackintosh and Iona Macintyre* Slum Virgin, by Gabriela Cabezón Cámara, translated by Frances Riddle* Skylark, by Dezső Kosztolányi, translated by Richard Aczel* Memoirs from Beyond the Grave, by François-Réne de Chateaubriand, translated by Alex Andriesse* Effingers, by Gabriele Tergit, translated by Sophie Duvernoy* Bomarzo, by Manuel Mujica Lainez, translated from the Spanish by Gregory Rabassa* Lies and Sorcery, by Elsa Morante, translated by Jenny McPhee* Mrs. Dalloway, by Virginia Woolf* The Sweet Dove Died, by Barbara Pym* The Bear, by Andrew Krivak* Bear, by Marian Engel* Small Reckonings, by Karin Melberg Schwier* The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion, by Beth Brower* The City and Its Uncertain Walls, by Haruki Murakami, translated by Philip Gabriel* The End of the World and Hard-Boiled Wonderland, by Haruki Murakami, translated by Jay Rubin* A Strange and Sublime Address, by Amit Chaudhuri* A New World, by Amit Chaudhuri* The Immortals, by Amit Chaudhuri* Incompleteness, by Amit Chaudhuri* Sojourn, by Amit Chaudhuri* Friend of My Youth, by Amit Chaudhuri* Afternoon Raag, by Amit Chaudhuri* The Pursuit of Love, by Nancy Mitford* Anima: A Wild Pastoral, by Kapka Kassabova* Border: A Journey to the Edge of Europe, by Kapka Kassabova* Käsebier Takes Berlin, by Gabriele Tergit, translated by Sophie Duvernoy* The Story of a Life, by Konstantin Paustovsky, translated by Douglas Smith* Life and Fate, by Vasily Grossman, translated by Robert Chandler* Stalingrad, by Vasily Grossman, translated by Robert Chandler and Elizabeth Chandler* The Anatomy of Melancholy, by Robert Burton* Sea, Poison, by Caren Beilin* The Decameron, by Giovanni Boccaccio* The Stronghold, by Dino Buzzati, translated by Lawrence Venuti* A Love Affair, by Dino Buzzati, translated by Joseph Green* The Singularity, by Dino Buzzati, translated by Anne Milano Appel* The Bewitched Bourgeoisie: Fifty Stories, by Dino Buzzati, translated by Lawrence Venuti* Waiting for the Barbarians, by J.M. Coetzee* The Portrait of a Lady, by Henry James* Daisy Miller, by Henry James* The Ambassadors, by Henry James* The Turn of the Screw, by Henry James* Washington Square, by Henry James* The Coxon Fund, by Henry JamesOther* Shawn's Review of Small ReckoningsJoin the Mookse and the Gripes on DiscordWant to share your thoughts on these upcoming authors or anything else we're discussing? Join us over on Discord! It's the perfect place to dive deeper into the conversation—whether you're reading along with our author-focused episodes or just want to chat about the books that are on your mind.We're also just now in our third novella book club, where we're reading The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, by Muriel Spark. It's a fantastic book, and we'd love to have you join the discussion. It's a great space to engage with fellow listeners, share your insights, and discover new perspectives on the books you're reading.The Mookse and the Gripes Podcast is a bookish conversation hosted by Paul and Trevor. Every other week, we explore a bookish topic and celebrate our love of reading. We're glad you're here, and we hope you'll continue to join us on this literary journey!A huge thank you to those who help make this podcast possible! If you'd like to support us, you can do so via Substack or Patreon. Subscribers receive access to periodic bonus episodes and early access to all new episodes. Plus, each supporter gets their own dedicated feed, allowing them to download episodes a few days before they're released to the public. We'd love for you to check it out! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mookse.substack.com/subscribe

In this first installment of our annual year-end wrap-up, we dive into the opening half of our top ten reads of 2025, counting down numbers ten through six and revisiting the books that surprised us, challenged us, and stayed with us throughout the year. Along the way, we're joined by several friends who drop in to share the titles that meant the most to them in 2025, adding their voices to the conversation and widening the circle of celebration.It's a relaxed, book-loving episode filled with reflection, enthusiasm, and a few unexpected discoveries. Tune in and settle into the first part of our favorite tradition.2026 Novella Book ClubWe have announced the four novellas we will be reading for The Mookse and Gripes Novella Book Club in 2026!* January: Daisy Miller, by Henry James* April: An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter, by César Aira* July: The Hour of the Star, by Clarice Lispector* September: Prelude, by Katherine MansfieldDiscussions will be hosted at The Mookse and the Gripes Discord (see below!).We've got some fantastic author-focused episodes lined up for the foreseeable future, and we want to give you plenty of time to dive in if you'd like to read along with us. These episodes come around every ten episodes, and with our bi-weekly release schedule, you'll have a few months to get ready for each. Here's what we have in store:* Episode 125: Flannery O'Connor* Episode 135: William Faulkner* Episode 145: Elizabeth Taylor* Episode 155: Naguib MahfouzThere's no rush—take your time, and grab a book (or two, or three) so you're prepared for these as they come!Shownotes* Miss MacIntosh, My Darling, by Marguerite Young* Schattenfroh, by Michael Lentz, translated by Max Lawton* Middlemarch, by George Eliot* The Remains of the Day, by Kazuo Ishiguro* The Ghost Writer, by Philip Roth* 84, Charing Cross Road, by Helene Hanff* Lies and Sorcery, by Elsa Morante, translated by Jenny McPhee* The Summer Book, by Tove Jansson, translated by Thomas Teal* Giovanni's Room, by James Baldwin* The Unconsoled, by Kazuo Ishiguro* Mr. Fox, by Barbara Comyns* Happiness Is Such, by Natalia Ginzburg, translated by Minna Zallman Proctor* Daniel Deronda, by George Eliot* Phineas Redux, by Anthony Trollope* The Sea, the Sea, by Iris Murdoch* The Bell, by Iris Murdoch* How to Cook a Wolf, by M.F.K. Fisher* Seeing Further, by Esther Kinsky, translated by Caroline Schmidt* River, by Esther Kinsky, translated by Iain Galbraith* Grove, by Esther Kinsky, translated by Caroline Schmidt* Cold Sassy Tree, by Olive Anne Burns* Pale Fire, by Vladimir Nabokov* Pnin, by Vladimir Nabokov* Ada, or Ardor, by Vladimir Nabokov* Dracula, by Bram Stoker* Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley* A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens* Life with a Star, by Jiri Weil, translated by Rita Klimova and Rosalyn Schloss* Is a River Alive?, by Robert Macfarlane* Angel, by Elizabeth Taylor* Great Granny Webster, by Caroline Blackwood* Pilgrimage, by Dorothy Richardson* Vengeance Is Mine, by Friedrich Torberg, translated by Stephanie Gorrell Ortega* Amongst Women, by John McGahern* The Dark, by John McGahern* The Barracks, by John McGahern* How to Survive a Bear Attack, by Claire Cameron* The Hustler, by Walter Tevis* The Man Who Fell to Earth, by Walter Tevis* Mockingbird, by Walter Tevis* The Steps of the Sun, by Walter Tevis* The Queen's Gambit, by Walter Tevis* The Color of Money, by Walter Tevis* Rhine Journey, by Ann Schlee* Daisy Miller, by Henry JamesJoin the Mookse and the Gripes on DiscordWant to share your thoughts on these upcoming authors or anything else we're discussing? Join us over on Discord! It's the perfect place to dive deeper into the conversation—whether you're reading along with our author-focused episodes or just want to chat about the books that are on your mind.We're also just now in our third novella book club, where we're reading The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, by Muriel Spark. It's a fantastic book, and we'd love to have you join the discussion. It's a great space to engage with fellow listeners, share your insights, and discover new perspectives on the books you're reading.The Mookse and the Gripes Podcast is a bookish conversation hosted by Paul and Trevor. Every other week, we explore a bookish topic and celebrate our love of reading. We're glad you're here, and we hope you'll continue to join us on this literary journey!A huge thank you to those who help make this podcast possible! If you'd like to support us, you can do so via Substack or Patreon. Subscribers receive access to periodic bonus episodes and early access to all new episodes. Plus, each supporter gets their own dedicated feed, allowing them to download episodes a few days before they're released to the public. We'd love for you to check it out! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mookse.substack.com/subscribe

In this Thanksgiving episode, we start by reflecting on the bookish communities that make the solitary act of reading feel richer and more connected. Then we turn to the season ahead, chatting through the books we hope to finish before the calendar turns and the cozy, festive reads we're saving for the holidays. It's a gentle, grateful episode to accompany your weekend as we start to look at the end of another year, and it's one more chance to settle in, share a few books, and enjoy the company of fellow readers.2026 Novella Book ClubWe have announced the four novellas we will be reading for The Mookse and Gripes Novella Book Club in 2026!* January: Daisy Miller, by Henry James* April: An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter, by César Aira* July: The Hour of the Star, by Clarice Lispector* September: Prelude, by Katherine MansfieldDiscussions will be hosted at The Mookse and the Gripes Discord (see below!).We've got some fantastic author-focused episodes lined up for the foreseeable future, and we want to give you plenty of time to dive in if you'd like to read along with us. These episodes come around every ten episodes, and with our bi-weekly release schedule, you'll have a few months to get ready for each. Here's what we have in store:* Episode 125: Flannery O'Connor* Episode 135: William Faulkner* Episode 145: Elizabeth Taylor* Episode 155: Naguib MahfouzThere's no rush—take your time, and grab a book (or two, or three) so you're prepared for these as they come!Join the Mookse and the Gripes on DiscordWant to share your thoughts on these upcoming authors or anything else we're discussing? Join us over on Discord! It's the perfect place to dive deeper into the conversation—whether you're reading along with our author-focused episodes or just want to chat about the books that are on your mind.We're also just now in our third novella book club, where we're reading The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, by Muriel Spark. It's a fantastic book, and we'd love to have you join the discussion. It's a great space to engage with fellow listeners, share your insights, and discover new perspectives on the books you're reading.The Mookse and the Gripes Podcast is a bookish conversation hosted by Paul and Trevor. Every other week, we explore a bookish topic and celebrate our love of reading. We're glad you're here, and we hope you'll continue to join us on this literary journey!A huge thank you to those who help make this podcast possible! If you'd like to support us, you can do so via Substack or Patreon. Subscribers receive access to periodic bonus episodes and early access to all new episodes. Plus, each supporter gets their own dedicated feed, allowing them to download episodes a few days before they're released to the public. We'd love for you to check it out! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mookse.substack.com/subscribe

It can be a real challenge to find new, useful ideas for gifts. We suggest many of our own recommendations, plus we include dozens of ideas from listeners. Resources & links related to this episode: Request bookplates now to get them in time for the holidays! Sign up for The Happiness Project Revisited and get 40% off enrollment Florist Wire Electric Foot Warmer Whiskey of the Month Flaviar Uncommon Goods Pop-Up Escape Room Clear Case for eReader Briogeo Sleek Stick SK-II Facial Masks Surratt Makeup Brushes La Mer Lip Balm Snuffle Mat Flirt Pole with Lure Trigger Point Cane Back and neck massager Heating pad for neck TOMOO 9 wheel muscle roller Tom Cruise Cake Doan's Bakery John Kelly Chocolates Boston Big-Buckle Shearling Birkenstock Portable light-Newmowa Lumify Eye Drops Sea Scooter EcoNour tray for car Gift-Giving Toolkit Elizabeth is reading: Fried Green Tomatoes by Fannie Flagg (Amazon, Bookshop) Gretchen is reading: The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark (Amazon, Bookshop) Get in touch: podcast@gretchenrubin.com Visit Gretchen's website to learn more about Gretchen's best-selling books, products from The Happiness Project Collection, and the Happier app. Find the transcript for this episode on the episode details page in the Apple Podcasts app. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week, Trevor and Paul are joined by Dorian Stuber of One Bright Book to talk about the difficult, liberating art of culling books. What does it mean to let go of the stories we've carried with us? Is it an act of loss, renewal, or self-knowledge? Together, they explore the philosophy, guilt, and quiet joy that come from pruning one's shelves.2026 Novella Book ClubWe are excited to announce the four novellas we will be reading for The Mookse and Gripes Novella Book Club in 2026!* January: Daisy Miller, by Henry James* April: An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter, by César Aira* July: The Hour of the Star, by Clarice Lispector* September: Prelude, by Katherine MansfieldDiscussions will be hosted at The Mookse and the Gripes Discord (see below!).We've got some fantastic author-focused episodes lined up for the foreseeable future, and we want to give you plenty of time to dive in if you'd like to read along with us. These episodes come around every ten episodes, and with our bi-weekly release schedule, you'll have a few months to get ready for each. Here's what we have in store:* Episode 125: Flannery O'Connor* Episode 135: William Faulkner* Episode 145: Elizabeth Taylor* Episode 155: Naguib MahfouzThere's no rush—take your time, and grab a book (or two, or three) so you're prepared for these as they come!Join the Mookse and the Gripes on DiscordWant to share your thoughts on these upcoming authors or anything else we're discussing? Join us over on Discord! It's the perfect place to dive deeper into the conversation—whether you're reading along with our author-focused episodes or just want to chat about the books that are on your mind.We're also just now in our third novella book club, where we're reading The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, by Muriel Spark. It's a fantastic book, and we'd love to have you join the discussion. It's a great space to engage with fellow listeners, share your insights, and discover new perspectives on the books you're reading.The Mookse and the Gripes Podcast is a bookish conversation hosted by Paul and Trevor. Every other week, we explore a bookish topic and celebrate our love of reading. We're glad you're here, and we hope you'll continue to join us on this literary journey!A huge thank you to those who help make this podcast possible! If you'd like to support us, you can do so via Substack or Patreon. Subscribers receive access to periodic bonus episodes and early access to all new episodes. Plus, each supporter gets their own dedicated feed, allowing them to download episodes a few days before they're released to the public. We'd love for you to check it out! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mookse.substack.com/subscribe

In this special on-the-go episode, Trevor and Paul take the podcast out for a walk. As they wander, Trevor reflects on how he's lost 40 pounds over the past few months and discovered ways to bring books into every part of his daily rhythm. From audiobooks on long walks to reading as recovery, the conversation explores what it means to make reading not just a mental habit, but a full-body experience. This shorter episode captures the joy of movement, conversation, and the steady companionship of books.We've got some fantastic author-focused episodes lined up for the foreseeable future, and we want to give you plenty of time to dive in if you'd like to read along with us. These episodes come around every ten episodes, and with our bi-weekly release schedule, you'll have a few months to get ready for each. Here's what we have in store:* Episode 125: Flannery O'Connor* Episode 135: William Faulkner* Episode 145: Elizabeth Taylor* Episode 155: Naguib MahfouzThere's no rush—take your time, and grab a book (or two, or three) so you're prepared for these as they come!Join the Mookse and the Gripes on DiscordWant to share your thoughts on these upcoming authors or anything else we're discussing? Join us over on Discord! It's the perfect place to dive deeper into the conversation—whether you're reading along with our author-focused episodes or just want to chat about the books that are on your mind.We're also just now in our third novella book club, where we're reading The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, by Muriel Spark. It's a fantastic book, and we'd love to have you join the discussion. It's a great space to engage with fellow listeners, share your insights, and discover new perspectives on the books you're reading.The Mookse and the Gripes Podcast is a bookish conversation hosted by Paul and Trevor. Every other week, we explore a bookish topic and celebrate our love of reading. We're glad you're here, and we hope you'll continue to join us on this literary journey!A huge thank you to those who help make this podcast possible! If you'd like to support us, you can do so via Substack or Patreon. Subscribers receive access to periodic bonus episodes and early access to all new episodes. Plus, each supporter gets their own dedicated feed, allowing them to download episodes a few days before they're released to the public. We'd love for you to check it out! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mookse.substack.com/subscribe

We've all been there: the books are piled high, but nothing calls out. In this episode, Trevor and Paul talk about reading slumps—what they look like, what brings them on, and how to find the spark again. From work stress to life interruptions to simple reader fatigue, we explore how to rediscover the joy of the page and the role of community in keeping reading alive.We've got some fantastic author-focused episodes lined up for the foreseeable future, and we want to give you plenty of time to dive in if you'd like to read along with us. These episodes come around every ten episodes, and with our bi-weekly release schedule, you'll have a few months to get ready for each. Here's what we have in store:* Episode 125: Flannery O'Connor* Episode 135: William Faulkner* Episode 145: Elizabeth Taylor* Episode 155: Naguib MahfouzThere's no rush—take your time, and grab a book (or two, or three) so you're prepared for these as they come!Join the Mookse and the Gripes on DiscordWant to share your thoughts on these upcoming authors or anything else we're discussing? Join us over on Discord! It's the perfect place to dive deeper into the conversation—whether you're reading along with our author-focused episodes or just want to chat about the books that are on your mind.We're also just now in our third novella book club, where we're reading The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, by Muriel Spark. It's a fantastic book, and we'd love to have you join the discussion. It's a great space to engage with fellow listeners, share your insights, and discover new perspectives on the books you're reading.ShownotesWhat are we reading?* Paul:* The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, by Muriel Spark* Trevor:* Vaim, by Jon Fosse, translated by Domion SearlsThe Mookse and the Gripes Podcast is a bookish conversation hosted by Paul and Trevor. Every other week, we explore a bookish topic and celebrate our love of reading. We're glad you're here, and we hope you'll continue to join us on this literary journey!A huge thank you to those who help make this podcast possible! If you'd like to support us, you can do so via Substack or Patreon. Subscribers receive access to periodic bonus episodes and early access to all new episodes. Plus, each supporter gets their own dedicated feed, allowing them to download episodes a few days before they're released to the public. We'd love for you to check it out! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mookse.substack.com/subscribe

Some books are long, some are short, but certain works feel abundant—overflowing with rhythm, atmosphere, and depth that can't be exhausted in a single reading. In this episode we are joined by Lori Feathers, and we set as our foundation Henry James's The Portrait of a Lady to explore what makes a work abundant. We move through other examples, asking what defines abundances, how it differs from size or ambition, and why these books matter.We've got some fantastic author-focused episodes lined up for the foreseeable future, and we want to give you plenty of time to dive in if you'd like to read along with us. These episodes come around every ten episodes, and with our bi-weekly release schedule, you'll have a few months to get ready for each. Here's what we have in store:* Episode 125: Flannery O'Connor* Episode 135: William Faulkner* Episode 145: Elizabeth Taylor* Episode 155: Naguib MahfouzThere's no rush—take your time, and grab a book (or two, or three) so you're prepared for these as they come!Join the Mookse and the Gripes on DiscordWant to share your thoughts on these upcoming authors or anything else we're discussing? Join us over on Discord! It's the perfect place to dive deeper into the conversation—whether you're reading along with our author-focused episodes or just want to chat about the books that are on your mind.We're also just now in our third novella book club, where we're reading The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, by Muriel Spark. It's a fantastic book, and we'd love to have you join the discussion. It's a great space to engage with fellow listeners, share your insights, and discover new perspectives on the books you're reading.ShownotesWhat are we reading?* Lori: * The Ambassadors, by Henry James* Miss MacIntosh, My Darling, by Marguerite Young* The Logos, by Mark De Silva* Paul: * My Heart Is a Chainsaw, by Stephen Graham Jones* Seeing Further, by Esther Kinsky, translated by Caroline Schmidt* Not Even the Dead, by Juan Gómez Bárcena, translated by Katie Whittemore* Trevor: * Good and Evil, and Other Stories, by Samanta Schweblin, translated by Megan McDowell* The Secret of Secrets, by Dan BrownOther* The Republic of Consciousness Prize* Across the Pond Podcast* The Big Book Project* Involutions of the SeashellThe Mookse and the Gripes Podcast is a bookish conversation hosted by Paul and Trevor. Every other week, we explore a bookish topic and celebrate our love of reading. We're glad you're here, and we hope you'll continue to join us on this literary journey!A huge thank you to those who help make this podcast possible! If you'd like to support us, you can do so via Substack or Patreon. Subscribers receive access to periodic bonus episodes and early access to all new episodes. Plus, each supporter gets their own dedicated feed, allowing them to download episodes a few days before they're released to the public. We'd love for you to check it out! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mookse.substack.com/subscribe

It's been said that Muriel Spark's career was not so much a life as a plot, and she did indeed repeatedly reinvent herself, closing one chapter of her life and opening another, regardless of how many friends and business associates she abandoned along the way. This month the Slightly Foxed team were joined by Muriel Spark's biographer Martin Stannard, and Spark enthusiast Emily Rhodes of Emily's Walking Book Club, to discuss the work of this highly original and somewhat forgotten writer and learn how Muriel first invited Martin to write her biography and then did her best to prevent it seeing the light of day. Born in 1918, Muriel grew up in a working class family in Edinburgh – the setting for her most famous novel The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, which was based on a charismatic teacher at her own school. At the age of 19 she closed that chapter of her life by marrying an older maths teacher, Sydney Oswald Spark, known (appropriately) thereafter as SOS, and going with him to Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) where their son Robin was born. Unfortunately it soon became obvious that Sydney had severe psychiatric problems and in 1943 Muriel left husband and son and returned to London where she began her career as a novelist. Several times shortlisted for the Booker Prize, and much admired by Evelyn Waugh and Graham Greene, Muriel produced 22 novels, most of them drawing on events in her own life. Everyone at the Slightly Foxed table had their favourites, including The Girls of Slender Means, A Far Cry from Kensington, Loitering with Intent, and Memento Mori, a clear eyed and also very funny look at old age. Everyone agreed on the brilliance of her writing with its dark humour, preoccupation with the supernatural and with the presence of evil in unlikely places. Her life was equally fascinating, moving from poverty to great wealth and success, and from the shabbier parts of London to intellectual life in New York centred on The New Yorker magazine, to which she became a contributor. In 1954 she was received into the Roman Catholic church and for some time she lived in Rome, relishing the glitter of Italian high society, finally settling in Tuscany with her friend Penelope Jardine, where she died in 2005. Summer reading recommendations included Caledonian Road by Andrew O'Hagan, Death at the Sign of the Rook by Kate Atkinson, Homework by Geoff Dyer and Of Thorn and Briar by Paul Lamb. Martin also praised Electric Spark, the new – and very different – biography of Muriel Spark by Frances Wilson. For episode show notes, please see the Slightly Foxed website. Opening music: Preludio from Violin Partita No. 3 in E Major by Bach Hosted by Rosie Goldsmith Produced by Philippa Goodrich

What happens when a writer turns silence, fear, grief—and love?—into novels that are barely a couple hundred pages but echo for days? Whether it's love withheld, misplaced, or mourned, Ørstavik's novels speak to each other through unspoken longing and the disorienting nature of grief—with a quiet, cumulative power that's hard to shake. In this episode, we explore the devastating brilliance of Hanne Ørstavik, the Norwegian author whose emotionally precise novels—Love, The Pastor, Ti Amo, and Stay with Me (neither of us has read The Blue Room, but we have it on order)—have deeply moved and unsettled us.We dig into what makes Ørstavik's emotional landscapes so haunting, and why these books, though spare on the surface, feel endlessly deep. From unspoken longing to the disorienting nature of grief, these novels speak to each other in unexpected and beautiful ways.We'd love to hear your thoughts: Have you read any of Ørstavik's work? Which novel struck you most—or which are you most curious to read?Join the Mookse and the Gripes on DiscordAn easy place to respond to our question above is over on Discord!We're creating a welcoming space for thoughtful, engaging discussions about great novellas—and other books things. Whether you want to share insights, ask questions, or simply follow along, we'd love to have you.ShownotesBooks* Love, by Hanne Ørstavik, translated by Martin Aitken* The Pastor, by Hanne Ørstavik, translated by Martin Aitken* Ti Amo, by Hanne Ørstavik, translated by Martin Aitken* Stay with Me, by Hanne Ørstavik, translated by Martin Aitken* The Ice-Shirt, by William T. Vollmann* The Bear, by Andrew Krivak* The Sojourn, by Andrew Krivak* The Road, by Cormac McCarthy* The Blue Room, by Hanne Ørstavik, translated by Deborah Dawkin* Lesser Ruins, by Mark Haber* First Love, by Ivan Turgenev* Giovanni's Room, by James Baldwin* The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, by Muriel Spark* Within a Budding Grove, by Marcel ProustOther* Reading in Translation: Narrating and Translating Love and Grief in “TI AMO”: Norwegian Author Hanne Ørstavik and English Translator Martin Aitken in Conversation with Nataliya DelevaThe Mookse and the Gripes Podcast is a bookish conversation hosted by Paul and Trevor. Every other week, we explore a bookish topic and celebrate our love of reading. We're glad you're here, and we hope you'll continue to join us on this literary journey!A huge thank you to those who help make this podcast possible! If you'd like to support us, you can do so via Substack or Patreon. Subscribers receive access to periodic bonus episodes and early access to all new episodes. Plus, each supporter gets their own dedicated feed, allowing them to download episodes a few days before they're released to the public. We'd love for you to check it out! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mookse.substack.com/subscribe

UNITING DUMBLEDORE'S ARMY!! Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Full Reaction Watch Along:https://www.patreon.com/thereelrejects THANKS TO HUEL! Visit https://huel.com/rejects to get 15% off your order Come See The Reel Rejects at WONDERCON! https://www.comic-con.org/wc/badges/ Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix Reaction, Recap, Commentary, Analysis, & Spoiler Review!! Join Greg Alba and Tara Erickson as they journey into the magical world of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007). Directed by David Yates, the fifth installment follows Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe, Swiss Army Man, Now You See Me 2) as he returns to Hogwarts for his tumultuous fifth year, where darkness looms both inside and outside the castle walls. As the Ministry of Magic denies Voldemort's return (Ralph Fiennes, Schindler's List, The Grand Budapest Hotel), Harry finds himself isolated and burdened by secrets. Determined to take control of his destiny, he rallies his fellow students to form Dumbledore's Army—a courageous group led by the brilliant Hermione Granger (Emma Watson, Beauty and the Beast, The Perks of Being a Wallflower) and the loyal Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint, Knock at the Cabin, Snatch). Meanwhile, the ruthless Dolores Umbridge (Imelda Staunton, Shakespeare in Love, Chicken Run) imposes strict and dangerous rules at Hogwarts, igniting further conflict. Other classic characters & performances include Alan Rickman as Severus Snape (Die Hard, Love Actually), Maggie Smith as Minerva McGonagall (Downton Abbey, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie), Gary Oldman as Sirius Black (The Dark Knight Trilogy, Dracula), & MORE! And if you're looking to keep the magic alight, the full chronology of the films is thus: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001), Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002), Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004), Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005), Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007), Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009), Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 (2010), Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 (2011), Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016), Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (2018), Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore (2022). Follow Tara Erickson: Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@TaraErickson Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/taraerickson/ Twitter:  https://twitter.com/thetaraerickson Intense Suspense by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... Support The Channel By Getting Some REEL REJECTS Apparel! https://www.rejectnationshop.com/ Follow Us On Socials:  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reelrejects/  Tik-Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@reelrejects?lang=en Twitter: https://x.com/reelrejects Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheReelRejects/ Music Used In Ad:  Hat the Jazz by Twin Musicom is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Happy Alley by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... POWERED BY @GFUEL Visit https://gfuel.ly/3wD5Ygo and use code REJECTNATION for 20% off select tubs!! Head Editor: https://www.instagram.com/praperhq/?hl=en Co-Editor: Greg Alba Co-Editor: John Humphrey Music In Video: Airport Lounge - Disco Ultralounge by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Ask Us A QUESTION On CAMEO: https://www.cameo.com/thereelrejects Follow TheReelRejects On FACEBOOK, TWITTER, & INSTAGRAM:  FB:  https://www.facebook.com/TheReelRejects/ INSTAGRAM:  https://www.instagram.com/reelrejects/ TWITTER:  https://twitter.com/thereelrejects Follow GREG ON INSTAGRAM & TWITTER: INSTAGRAM:  https://www.instagram.com/thegregalba/ TWITTER:  https://twitter.com/thegregalba Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

VOLDEMORT RETURNS! The officially licensed DC game DC Dark Legion is now open for pre-registration! Register now to get a free Mythical hero and tons of other resources during the official launch. https://bit.ly/ReelReject-DCDL Harry Potter 4 Full Reaction Watch Along: https://www.patreon.com/thereelrejects Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Reaction, Recap, Commentary, Analysis, & Spoiler Review! Greg Alba and Tara Erickson dive into the magical chaos of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, the film that takes the Wizarding World to new heights with the Triwizard Tournament, the Yule Ball, and the terrifying return of Lord Voldemort. This reaction covers all the film's most iconic moments, including Harry vs. the Hungarian Horntail, the underwater challenge in the Black Lake, the maze's deadly traps, Cedric Diggory's tragic death, and Voldemort's resurrection, which remains one of the most chilling scenes in the entire franchise. The film introduces Barty Crouch Jr. (David Tennant) in a major twist, as well as Mad-Eye Moody (Brendan Gleeson), whose lessons on the Unforgivable Curses left a lasting impact on Harry and fans alike. The emotional weight of Cedric's fate, Dumbledore's "Did you put your name in the Goblet of Fire?" moment, and the shocking final duel make this one of the darkest and most defining entries in the series. Main Cast & Characters: Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter (Swiss Army Man, Weird: The Al Yankovic Story), Rupert Grint as Ron Weasley (Servant, Snatch), Emma Watson as Hermione Granger (Beauty and the Beast, The Perks of Being a Wallflower), Robert Pattinson as Cedric Diggory (The Batman, Twilight), Ralph Fiennes as Lord Voldemort (Schindler's List, The Grand Budapest Hotel), Brendan Gleeson as Mad-Eye Moody (In Bruges, The Banshees of Inisherin), David Tennant as Barty Crouch Jr. (Doctor Who, Good Omens), Michael Gambon as Albus Dumbledore (The King's Speech, Layer Cake), Alan Rickman as Severus Snape (Die Hard, Love Actually), Maggie Smith as Minerva McGonagall (Downton Abbey, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie), Gary Oldman as Sirius Black (The Dark Knight Trilogy, Dracula). The Harry Potter franchise is one of the most beloved in cinematic history. Follow Tara Erickson: Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@TaraErickson Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/taraerickson/ Twitter:  https://twitter.com/thetaraerickson Intense Suspense by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... Support The Channel By Getting Some REEL REJECTS Apparel! https://www.rejectnationshop.com/ Follow Us On Socials:  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reelrejects/  Tik-Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@reelrejects?lang=en Twitter: https://x.com/reelrejects Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheReelRejects/ Music Used In Ad:  Hat the Jazz by Twin Musicom is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Happy Alley by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... POWERED BY @GFUEL Visit https://gfuel.ly/3wD5Ygo and use code REJECTNATION for 20% off select tubs!! Head Editor: https://www.instagram.com/praperhq/?hl=en Co-Editor: Greg Alba Co-Editor: John Humphrey Music In Video: Airport Lounge - Disco Ultralounge by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Ask Us A QUESTION On CAMEO: https://www.cameo.com/thereelrejects Follow TheReelRejects On FACEBOOK, TWITTER, & INSTAGRAM:  FB:  https://www.facebook.com/TheReelRejects/ INSTAGRAM:  https://www.instagram.com/reelrejects/ TWITTER:  https://twitter.com/thereelrejects Follow GREG ON INSTAGRAM & TWITTER: INSTAGRAM:  https://www.instagram.com/thegregalba/ TWITTER:  https://twitter.com/thegregalba Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome back to the 221st episode of The Cup which is our a weekly (give or take, TBD, these are unprecedented times) performing arts talk show presented by Cup of Hemlock Theatre. With the theatres on a come back we offer a mix of both reviews of live shows we've seen and continued reviews of prophet productions! For our 221st episode we bring you a a new instalment of our subseries 'Screened Plays'. This time we are celebrating the life and career of the late Dame Maggie Smith as we discuss the Oscar winning film The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969), directed by Ronald Neame, and based on the play by Jay Presson Allen (itself adapted from Muriel Spark's novel of the same name). Together the panellist discuss alternative casting choices, this film's representation of women and female sexuality, and the timely nature of this film's depiction and commentary on the relationships between teachers and their students.Follow our panelists: Mackenzie Horner (Before the Downbeat: A Musical Podcast) – Instagram/Facebook: BeforetheDownbeatApple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3aYbBeNSpotify: https://spoti.fi/3sAbjAuSarah Hime – Instagram: @hime.sarah TikTok: @sarah.himeAlicia Plummer – Insta: @ItIsAliciaPlummer Tiktok: @hialiciabyealiciaHilary Wirachowsky – Insta: @hilarylynneFollow Cup of Hemlock Theatre on Instagram/Facebook/Twitter: @cohtheatre If you'd like us to review your upcoming show in Toronto, please send press invites/inquiries to coh.theatre.MM@gmail.com

Introducing the Mookse and Gripes Novella Reading Group! Through this year, we're reading three novellas about love, longing, and leadership gone slightly off the rails. In this episode, we kick things off with some bookish banter before unveiling our new novella reading group on Discord. We have a short intermission for a special new game with a giveaway and then share the three novellas we'll be reading in 2025, diving into why we chose these books.Join us as we celebrate the art of the novella. We hope you'll read along!Join the Mookse and the Gripes on DiscordWe're creating a welcoming space for thoughtful, engaging discussions about great novellas, starting with First Love by Ivan Turgenev in April. Whether you want to share insights, ask questions, or simply follow along, we'd love to have you. The discussion will unfold gradually, so you can read at your own pace and jump in whenever you're ready. It's a great way to connect with fellow readers, explore new works together, and deepen your appreciation for the novella form.For the first book, the schedule will be as follows:* April 6: Start of the book through Section 9* April 9: Section 10 through Section 16* April 13: Section 17 through the endShownotesBooks* Lesser Ruins, by Mark Haber* Melvill, by Rodrigo Fresán, translated by Will Vanderhyden* Like a Sky Inside, by Jakuta Alikavazovic, translated by Daniel Levin Becker* The Case of Cem, by Vera Mutafchieva, translated by Angela Rodel* Your Absence Is Darkness, by Jón Kalman Stefánsson, translated by Philip Roughton* Small Rain, by Garth Greenwell* Command Performance, by Jean Echenoz, translated * Mrs. Dalloway, by Virginia Woolf* To the Lighthouse, by Virginia Woolf* The Waves, by Virginia Woolf* The Voyage Out, by Virginia Woolf* Mrs Dalloway: Biography of a Novel, by Mark Hussey* Trafik, by Rikki Ducornet* We're Safe When We're Alone, by Nghiem Tran* Cecilia, by K-Ming Chang* Small Things Like These, by Claire Keegan* Chess Story, by Stefan Zweig, translated by Joel Rotenberg* The Guest Cat, by Takashi Hiraide, translated by Eric Selland* The Stepdaughter, by Caroline Blackwood* Great Granny Webster, by Caroline Blackwood* So Long, See You Tomorrow, by William Maxwell* Fever Dream, by Samanta Schweblin, translated by Megan McDowell* Train Dreams, by Denis Johnson* The Body, by Stephen King* The Long Walk, by Stephen King* First Love, by Ivan Turgenev, translated by Isaiah Berlin* Giovanni's Room, by James Baldwin* The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, by Muriel Spark* The Turn of the Screw, by Henry JamesOther* Episode 27: Short Books, Fiction* “Ten haunting, atmospheric novellas I highly recommend”: JacquiWine's JournalThe Mookse and the Gripes Podcast is a bookish conversation hosted by Paul and Trevor. Every other week, we explore a bookish topic and celebrate our love of reading. We're glad you're here, and we hope you'll continue to join us on this literary journey!A huge thank you to those who help make this podcast possible! If you'd like to support us, you can do so via Substack or Patreon. Subscribers receive access to periodic bonus episodes and early access to all new episodes. Plus, each supporter gets their own dedicated feed, allowing them to download episodes a few days before they're released to the public. We'd love for you to check it out! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mookse.substack.com/subscribe

She is beloved worldwide for her crime writing. But what did she like to read? Resources and articles mentioned in this episode: — Jamie Bernthal on Arthur Conan Doyle — Moira Redmond on Elizabeth Daly — Martin Edwards on My Brother's Killer — Gray Robert Brown on Muriel Spark Books mentioned in this episode: — Agatha Christie An Autobiography by Agatha Christie — The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle — The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie — The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle — The Sittaford Mystery by Agatha Christie — Whose Body? by Dorothy L. Sayers — Unnatural Death by Dorothy L. Sayers — The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club by Dorothy L. Sayers — Mr Fortune, Please by H.C. Bailey — Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie — Unexpected Night by Elizabeth Daly — The Missing Moneylender by W. Stanley Sykes — The Clocks by Elizabeth Daly — The Mystery of the Yellow Room by Gaston Leroux — My Brother's Killer by D.M. Devine — The Spy Who Came in from the Cold by John Le Carré — The Pale Horse by Agatha Christie — Endless Night by Agatha Christie — Stamboul Train by Graham Greene — The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark — The Driver's Seat by Muriel Spark — A Murder is Announced by Agatha Christie — The ABC Murders by Agatha Christie — The Heat of the Day by Elizabeth Bowen — Death of the Heart by Elizabeth Bowen — The House in Paris by Elizabeth Bowen Support the podcast by joining the Shedunnit Book Club and get extra Shedunnit episodes every month plus access to the monthly reading discussions and community: shedunnitbookclub.com/join. NB: Links to Blackwell's are affiliate links, meaning that the podcast receives a small commission when you purchase a book there (the price remains the same for you). Blackwell's is a UK bookselling chain that ships internationally at no extra charge. To be the first to know about future developments with the podcast, sign up for the newsletter at shedunnitshow.com/newsletter. The podcast is on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram as @ShedunnitShow, and you can find it in all major podcast apps. Make sure you're subscribed so you don't miss the next episode. Click here to do that now in your app of choice. Find a full transcript of this episode at shedunnitshow.com/agathachristiestasteincrimefictiontranscript. Music by Audioblocks and Blue Dot Sessions. See shedunnitshow.com/musiccredits for more details. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A talented British author, a story about machinations in a girls' school… How much do Cat Among the Pigeons by Agatha Christie and The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark have in common? Mark and Gray investigate… Featuring (from 5 mins in) a recording of a talk originally given by Gray for Romancing the Gothic, with kind permission of Dr Sam Hirst. You can read our special article for the Agatha Christie website here. You can find us on Instagram (as well as X) @Christie_Time. We are on BlueSky at christietime.bsky.social. Please do rate and review us wherever you get your podcasts. Our website is ChristieTime.com. The Swinging Christies is a Christie Time project by Mark Aldridge and Gray Robert Brown. Next episode: stay tuned…! 00:00:00 - Opening titles 00:00:53 - Introductory chat 00:05:00 - Gray's Muriel Spark talk 00:38:24 - Mark and Gray debrief 00:57:21 - How to get in touch 00:58:58 - Closing titles 00:59:26 - Coda Solutions revealed! - The Plymouth Express, Witness for the Prosecution, Lord Edgware Dies, Towards Zero Sparks spoiled! - The Driver's Seat, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie TW: violence against women

The latest leg of our flight through entirety comes to a gentle landing this week, but before we all head off to collect our luggage, all seven of us take the opportunity to say goodbye to Peter Capaldi and Steven Moffat in one last retrospective. Notes and links Thank you to those of you who sent us questions: Kate Orman, Doctor What and General Witchfinders. In our discussion of Sleep No More, Brendan reaches for the name of Bethany Black's love interest in the episode, but goes slightly astray. The name he's after is Chopra, played by the astoundingly beautiful Neet Mohan. In Episode 2 of Flight Through Entirety, Richard famously compares Hartnell's performance style to Marlene Dietrich's. This week, he bookends that beautifully with a comparison of Peter Capaldi's style to Maggie Smith's, particularly her Oscar-winning performance in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. Richard alludes to this story from 2015, in which a team consisting of Peter Capaldi, Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss came third in a Doctor Who pub trivia competition at a Doctor Who convention in Sydney. Follow us Nathan is on Bluesky at @nathanbottomley.com, Brendan is at @retrobrendo.bsky.social, Todd is at @toddbeilby.bsky.social, James is at @ohjamessellwood.bsky.social and Simon is at @simonmoore.bsky.social. Richard is on X at @RichardLStone. The Flight Through Entirety theme was arranged by Cameron Lam. You can follow Flight Through Entirety on Bluesky, as well as on Mastodon, X and Facebook. Our website is at flightthroughentirety.com. Please consider rating or reviewing us on Apple Podcasts, or we'll abandon you for a few years, leaving you with only a couple of Flight Through Entirety-style Doctor Who podcasts to keep you entertained in the meantime. And more You can find links to all of the podcasts we're involved in on our podcasts page. But here's a summary of where we're up to right now. Now that Flight Through Entirety is taking a break, you should all go and subscribe to 500 Year Diary, our latest new Doctor Who podcast, in which we go back through the history of the show and examine new themes and ideas. Its first season came out early in 2024, under the title New Beginnings. Check it out. It will be back for a second season, The Second Coming, early in 2025. The Second Great and Bountiful Human Empire recently released our hot take on Ncuti Gatwa's second Christmas Special (and Steven Moffat's ninth), Joy to the World. And we'll be back again in 2025 to talk about Season 2. Last week, The Three-Handed Game released their first Christmas Special, discussing the 1966 Avengers episode Too Many Christmas Trees, in which Steed's weird Christmas nightmares start to become reality. The boys will be back in 2025 for the third episode in their triptych The Pop Explosion. Maximum Power is back at last with its long-awaited coverage of the 1981 season of Blakes 7. Last weekend we released our discussion on the season's controversial second episode — Power. And finally there's our Star Trek commentary podcast, Untitled Star Trek Project, featuring Nathan and friend-of-the-podcast Joe Ford. This week, we watched a notoriously silly early episode of Deep Space Nine, the widely reviled but never forgotten Move Along Home. Thank you very much for listening: we'll see you again in a few years. And on all of our other podcasts, of course.

pWotD Episode 2797: Olivia Hussey Welcome to Popular Wiki of the Day, spotlighting Wikipedia's most visited pages, giving you a peek into what the world is curious about today.With 577,151 views on Saturday, 28 December 2024 our article of the day is Olivia Hussey.Olivia Hussey (née Osuna; 17 April 1951 – 27 December 2024) was a British actress. Her awards included a Golden Globe Award and a David di Donatello Award. The daughter of Argentine tango singer Osvaldo Ribó, Hussey was born in Buenos Aires but spent most of her early life in her mother's native England. She aspired to become an actress at a young age and studied drama for five years at Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts in London.Hussey began acting professionally as an adolescent. She appeared in a 1966 London production of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, opposite Vanessa Redgrave; this led to her being scouted for the role of Juliet in Franco Zeffirelli's 1968 film adaptation of Romeo and Juliet. Hussey received widespread acclaim and international recognition for her performance. In 1974, she appeared as the lead character Jess Bradford in the cult slasher film Black Christmas. This and her roles in the horror productions Psycho IV: The Beginning (1990) and Stephen King's It (1990) earned her the label of scream queen.Hussey reunited with Zeffirelli in the miniseries Jesus of Nazareth (1977) as Mary and appeared as Rosalie Otterbourne in John Guillermin's Agatha Christie adaptation Death on the Nile (1978). She appeared in several international productions throughout the 1980s, including the Japanese production Virus (1980) and the Australian dystopian action film Turkey Shoot (1982). She also worked as a voice actress, providing voice roles in Star Wars video games including Star Wars: Rogue Squadron (1998), Star Wars: Force Commander (2000), and Star Wars: The Old Republic (2011).This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 02:03 UTC on Sunday, 29 December 2024.For the full current version of the article, see Olivia Hussey on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Mastodon at @wikioftheday@masto.ai.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm neural Kevin.

Welcome to another Cinema Sounds & Secrets Tribute episode! This week Janet, John, (and Pen) explore the extensive career (spanning over seven decades) of the truly remarkable British actress Maggie Smith. Born on December 28, 1934, in Ilford Essex, England, despite never having gone to the theater and being considered "too common" to be onstage, Smith grew up with a love for Shakespeare and was encouraged to act by her English teacher. In 1952, at 17 years old, her career began as Viola in Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night.” Smith received international fame for her role as Violet Crawley in Downton Abbey (2010–2015) and is known for films including Othello (1965), The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969), Travels with My Aunt (1972), California Suite (1978) A Room with a View (1985), Gosford Park (2001), the Harry Potter film series (2001–2011), Death on the Nile (1978), Hook (1991), Sister Act (1992), The Secret Garden (1993), The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2012), Quartet (2012) The Lady in the Van (2015) and more. To learn more about this episode and others, visit the Official Cinema Sounds & Secrets website. And check out our Instagram, @cinemasoundspod!

YA author James Klise joins the first episode of season two to discuss the first chapter of THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE.  https://www.storystudiochicago.org/ https://chireviewofbooks.com/ 

Send us a text Last month, the film industry lost one of the most prolific actresses in history, Dame Maggie Smith. With a stage and screen career that spanned seven decades, it was nearly impossible to pick only three films to highlight Maggie Smith's outstanding career, but we did our best. We start with Maggie Smith's Academy Award Winning performance as the enigmatic school teacher in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. We switch gears with one of the most revered comedies of the 1990s, where Smith dons a habit in Sister Act.Finally, we discuss how tremendous she is in an ensemble piece in her Academy Award-nominated performance in Robert Altman's Gosford Park. Obviously, these three films are just scratching the surface of Dame Maggie Smith's career, so please let us know your favorite performance. Support the showSign up for our Patreon for exclusive Bonus Content.Follow the podcast on Instagram @gimmethreepodcastYou can keep up with Bella on Instagram @portraitofacinephile or Letterboxd You can keep up with Nick: on Instagram @nicholasybarra, on Twitter (X) @nicholaspybarra, or on LetterboxdShout out to contributor and producer Sonja Mereu. A special thanks to Anselm Kennedy for creating Gimme Three's theme music. And another special thanks to Zoe Baumann for creating our exceptional cover art.

In this special meeting, we celebrate the life of Dame Maggie Smith (1934–2024) by discussing The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969).

Marvel Studios is truly going all-in on their only feature film this year, Deadpool & Wolverine. According to Variety, the studio plans to push for acknowledgment during awards season submitting for the Golden Globes, SAG Awards, Critics Choice, and even the Oscars. It's Hugh Jackman's performance as Wolverine that is driving this decision, as the studio plans to position the actor for the awards in the supporting actor category. Among other categories, the box office buster will likely find a spot in the Golden Globes' new category of Cinematic and Box Office Achievement. HBO released the first trailer for The Last of Us Season 2 last week. With the melancholy musical theme from Pearl Jam in the background, the trailer shows Joel and Ellie's past catching up to them five years after the events of season one. We also see a lot of new cast members including Danny Ramirez, Jeffrey Wright, and Catherine O'Hara. The Hollywood Reporter learned that DC Studios is developing a villains-centric movie centered around the characters Bane and Deathstroke. While no director has been selected yet, Captain America: Brave New World writer Matthew Orton is working on the script. On the hero side, a new animated film was greenlit and will be called Dynamic Duo - focusing on Dick Grayson and Jason Todd as the Robins in their early years. The feature film will use what's called Momo animation, a blend of CGI, stop-motion, and motion capture. Maggie Smith, the two-time Oscar and four-time Emmy winner best known for her work in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Harry Potter, and Downton Abbey has died. She was 89. Oscar nominee Tim Roth has become the latest high-profile name to join the cast of Netflix's Peaky Blinders movie and will join star Cillian Murphy as well as Rebecca Ferguson and Barry Keoghan. Variety has learned exclusively that Bill Hader and Duffy Boudreau are teaming up to develop a comedy pilot script at HBO. The official logline for the untitled project states, “A woman in a small town has a big secret revealed.” Hader and Boudreau will serve as co-writers and executive producers on the project. Previously, the two collaborated on HBO's Barry. Deadline has learned that Aaron Pierre and Stephan James have emerged as top choices to star alongside Kyle Chandler in Lanterns. The two are in conversations to play John Stewart opposite Chandler's Hal Jordan through sources caution that no offers have officially been made. The Wild Robot took the number one spot at the box office this weekend with a $35 million dollar opening. Elsewhere, Francis Ford Coppola's $120M self-financed Megalopolis tanked as expected with a studio-reported $4M 3-day in 6th place and a D+ Cinemascore. Netflix's Black Mirror has revealed the cast list for season 7 of the series which features newcomers, as well as cast returning for the USS Callister sequel episode. The list includes Awkwafina, Emma Corrin, Paul Giamatti, Rashida Jones, Cristin Milioti, Issa Rae, and Harriet Walter among many others. Lionsgate has dropped the first trailer for the upcoming John Wick spin off From the World of John Wick: Ballerina starring Ana De Armas. The film will debut on June 6, 2025. Netflix has formally greenlit East of Eden, a seven-episode limited series based on John Steinbeck's 1952 novel. Zoe Kazan is adapting the novel and will serve as co-showrunner with Jeb Stuart. The series will star Florence Pugh, Christopher Abbott, Mike Faist, and Hoon Lee. AppleTV has released the first trailer for the second season of Shrinking starring Jason Segel and Harrison Ford. The 12-episode season premieres October 16 with two episodes, followed by one episode dropping each week until December 25. Maika Monroe, who starred earlier this year in the horror film Longlegs, has been cast to lead 20th Century's new take on the 1992 classic horror film The Hand That Rocks the Cradle. Michelle Garza Cervera will direct with Micah Bloomberg penning the script..

*) Israel launches fierce new wave of airstrikes on Beirut Israel conducted its most intense bombardment on Beirut's southern suburbs, following a massive strike on Hezbollah's command centre. Reuters reported over 20 air strikes, as thousands of Lebanese fled their homes and gathered in downtown Beirut. "They want to destroy Dahiye, destroy all of us," said Sari, a displaced resident. Many sought refuge in parks and sidewalks, some trying to sleep on rolled-out mats in Martyrs Square. *) Netanyahu's attacks threaten regional stability — Hakan Fidan Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan condemned Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu's attacks on Palestine and Lebanon, saying, "With Israeli aggression unbounded, we're in uncharted waters." Speaking at a UN Security Council meeting, Fidan urged, "Stop this war and Israeli aggression." His remarks followed intense Israeli air strikes on Beirut's southern suburbs. *) Coming days will decide future path of the Middle East — Blinken US Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged diplomacy as Israel ramped up strikes in Lebanon, calling on both Israel and Hezbollah to "stop firing." He warned the region faces a "precarious moment" and stressed that choices made now will have lasting consequences. Blinken emphasised the need for a ceasefire to pave the way for broader diplomatic talks. *) In rare rebuke, Belgian leaders blast Pope for church sex abuse cover-up Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo slammed Pope Francis over the Catholic Church's handling of clerical sex abuse, demanding “concrete steps” to prioritise victims over the institution. His sharp remarks came during the pope's visit on Friday, breaking usual diplomatic protocol. The harsh tone reflects Belgium's ongoing outrage over decades of abuse and cover-ups that have eroded the Church's credibility and influence. And finally… *) Award-winning iconic British actress Maggie Smith dies at 89 Dame Maggie Smith, the Oscar-winning star of "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie," has died at 89. Her sons said she passed away Friday morning in a London hospital, leaving behind two sons and five heartbroken grandchildren.

pWotD Episode 2705: Maggie Smith Welcome to Popular Wiki of the Day, spotlighting Wikipedia's most visited pages, giving you a peek into what the world is curious about today.With 2,038,345 views on Friday, 27 September 2024 our article of the day is Maggie Smith.Dame Margaret Natalie Smith (28 December 1934 − 27 September 2024) was a British actress. Known for her wit in comedic roles, she had an extensive career on stage and screen over seven decades and was one of Britain's most recognisable and prolific actresses. She received numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards, five BAFTA Awards, four Emmy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards and a Tony Award, as well as nominations for six Laurence Olivier Awards. Smith was one of the few performers to earn the Triple Crown of Acting.Smith began her stage career as a student, performing at the Oxford Playhouse in 1952, and made her professional debut on Broadway in New Faces of '56. Over the following decades Smith established herself alongside Judi Dench as one of the most significant British theatre performers, working for the National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company. On Broadway, she received Tony Award nominations for Noël Coward's Private Lives (1975) and Tom Stoppard's Night and Day (1979), and won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for Lettice and Lovage (1990).Smith won Academy Awards for Best Actress for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969) and Best Supporting Actress for California Suite (1978). She was Oscar-nominated for Othello (1965), Travels with My Aunt (1972), A Room with a View (1985) and Gosford Park (2001). She portrayed Professor Minerva McGonagall in the Harry Potter film series (2001–2011). She also acted in Death on the Nile (1978), Hook (1991), Sister Act (1992), The Secret Garden (1993), The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2012), Quartet (2012) and The Lady in the Van (2015).Smith received newfound attention and international fame for her role as Violet Crawley in the British period drama Downton Abbey (2010–2015). The role earned her three Primetime Emmy Awards; she had previously won one for the HBO film My House in Umbria (2003). Over the course of her career she was the recipient of numerous honorary awards including the British Film Institute Fellowship in 1993, the BAFTA Fellowship in 1996 and the Society of London Theatre Special Award in 2010. Smith was made a Dame by Queen Elizabeth II in 1990.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 02:34 UTC on Saturday, 28 September 2024.For the full current version of the article, see Maggie Smith on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Mastodon at @wikioftheday@masto.ai.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm standard Joey.

Book Vs. Movie: The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie(Replay ep for Dame Maggie Smith 1934-2024)The Margos celebrate September with a series of “Back to School” episodes, starting with the 1961 classic  The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark. Brodie is a popular teacher at a girls' school in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1931.Each year she picks a group of students to be an elite part of the “Brodie set”--under her tutelage learning mostly about the arts & beauty (and not science!)Brodie is single and considers herself at her “prime,” with two gentlemen vying for her affection. Mr. Lloyd is a painter, a father of six, and a bit of a letch. Mr. Lowther is a kind person but a bit wishy-washy. The competition for her attention and affection marks their relationships and is a game the girls enjoy watching.Turns out Brodie is a Fascist, which is her ultimate undoing. The complicated story about education and mentorship is an indictment of giving one person too much power over a young mind. The 1969 movie was not a massive hit at the time, but when Dame Maggie Smith won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1970, it went back into the theaters and became a classic. There are many changes between the book & the film. Which did the Margos like more? In this ep the Margos discuss:The interesting life story of Muriel SparkThe central characters and how they differ in the adaptationThe moral quandary of liking Maggie Smith and despising BrodieThe cast includes Maggie Smith (Brodie,) Robert Stephens (Teddy Lloyd,) Pamela Franklin (Sandy,) Gordon Jackson (Gordon Lowther,) Celia Johnson (Miss Mackay,) Diane Grayson (Jenny,) Jane Carr (Mary McGregor,) and Shirley Steedman (Monica.)Clips Featured:The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie  trailerMiss Brodie confronts Miss MackaySandy confront Miss BrodieMiss Brodie shows her vacation slidesMusic: “Jean” by Rod McKuenJoin our Patreon page to help support the show! https://www.patreon.com/bookversusmovieBook Vs. Movie podcast https://www.facebook.com/bookversusmovie/Twitter @bookversusmovie www.bookversusmovie.comEmail us at bookversusmoviepodcast@gmail.comMargo D. @BrooklynFitChik www.brooklynfitchick.com brooklynfitchick@gmail.comMargo P. @ShesNachoMama https://coloniabook.weebly.com/

Book Vs. Movie: The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie(Replay ep for Dame Maggie Smith 1934-2024)The Margos celebrate September with a series of “Back to School” episodes, starting with the 1961 classic  The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark. Brodie is a popular teacher at a girls' school in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1931.Each year she picks a group of students to be an elite part of the “Brodie set”--under her tutelage learning mostly about the arts & beauty (and not science!)Brodie is single and considers herself at her “prime,” with two gentlemen vying for her affection. Mr. Lloyd is a painter, a father of six, and a bit of a letch. Mr. Lowther is a kind person but a bit wishy-washy. The competition for her attention and affection marks their relationships and is a game the girls enjoy watching.Turns out Brodie is a Fascist, which is her ultimate undoing. The complicated story about education and mentorship is an indictment of giving one person too much power over a young mind. The 1969 movie was not a massive hit at the time, but when Dame Maggie Smith won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1970, it went back into the theaters and became a classic. There are many changes between the book & the film. Which did the Margos like more? In this ep the Margos discuss:The interesting life story of Muriel SparkThe central characters and how they differ in the adaptationThe moral quandary of liking Maggie Smith and despising BrodieThe cast includes Maggie Smith (Brodie,) Robert Stephens (Teddy Lloyd,) Pamela Franklin (Sandy,) Gordon Jackson (Gordon Lowther,) Celia Johnson (Miss Mackay,) Diane Grayson (Jenny,) Jane Carr (Mary McGregor,) and Shirley Steedman (Monica.)Clips Featured:The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie  trailerMiss Brodie confronts Miss MackaySandy confront Miss BrodieMiss Brodie shows her vacation slidesMusic: “Jean” by Rod McKuenJoin our Patreon page to help support the show! https://www.patreon.com/bookversusmovieBook Vs. Movie podcast https://www.facebook.com/bookversusmovie/Twitter @bookversusmovie www.bookversusmovie.comEmail us at bookversusmoviepodcast@gmail.comMargo D. @BrooklynFitChik www.brooklynfitchick.com brooklynfitchick@gmail.comMargo P. @ShesNachoMama https://coloniabook.weebly.com/

Are you in your prime? If you were, would you know it? And would you know what to do with it?! Miss Jean Brodie's in her prime, and she's going to teach all these girls about art history, being the creme de la creme, and how Mussolini made the trains run on time. Tune in for a story about how teachers can have a huge impact on your life while still remaining mysterious in their motivations.This episode is sponsored by the PBS American Masters: Creative Spark, find it on your favorite listening app.This episode is also sponsored by Squarespace. Go to squarespace.com/overdue for 10% of your first purchase of a website or domain.Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis.Follow @overduepod on Instagram and BlueskyAdvertise on OverdueSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The sixth episode of our season on the awesome movie year of 1969 features Josh's personal pick, Ronald Neame's The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. Directed by Ronald Neame from a screenplay by Jay Presson Allen (based on the Muriel Spark novel) and starring Maggie Smith, Pamela Franklin, Robert Stephens, Gordon Jackson and Jane Carr, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie was nominated for two Oscars and won one.The contemporary reviews quoted in this episode come from Vincent Canby in The New York Times (https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/01/03/11/specials/spark-brodiefilm.html), Variety, and Pauline Kael in The New Yorker.Visit https://www.awesomemovieyear.com for more info about the show.Make sure to like Awesome Movie Year on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/awesomemovieyear and follow us on Twitter @AwesomemoviepodYou can find Jason online at http://goforjason.com/, on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/JHarrisComedy/, on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/jasonharriscomedy/ and on Twitter @JHarrisComedyYou can find Josh online at http://joshbellhateseverything.com/, on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/joshbellhateseverything/ and on Twitter @signalbleedYou can find our producer David Rosen's Piecing It Together Podcast at https://www.piecingpod.com, on Twitter at @piecingpod and the Popcorn & Puzzle Pieces Facebook Group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/piecingpod.You can also follow us all on Letterboxd to keep up with what we've been watching at goforjason, signalbleed and bydavidrosen.Subscribe on Patreon to support the show and get access to exclusive content from Awesome Movie Year, plus fellow podcasts Piecing It Together and All Rice No Beans, and music by David Rosen: https://www.patreon.com/bydavidrosenAll of the music in the episode is by David Rosen. Find more of his music at https://www.bydavidrosen.comPlease like, share, rate and comment on the show and this episode, and tune in for the next 1969 installment, featuring our foreign film pick, Costa-Gavras' Z.

The fifth episode of our season on the awesome movie year of 1969 features our documentary pick, the Maysles brothers' Salesman. Directed by Albert and David Maysles with Charlotte Zwerin, Salesman is a key film in the direct cinema movement.The contemporary reviews quoted in this episode come from Vincent Canby in The New York Times (https://www.nytimes.com/1969/04/18/archives/screen-salesman-a-slice-of-america.html), Margot Hentoff in The New York Review of Books (https://www.nybooks.com/articles/1969/03/27/wild-raspberries/), and Joe Morgenstern in Newsweek. Visit https://www.awesomemovieyear.com for more info about the show.Make sure to like Awesome Movie Year on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/awesomemovieyear and follow us on Twitter @AwesomemoviepodYou can find Jason online at http://goforjason.com/, on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/JHarrisComedy/, on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/jasonharriscomedy/ and on Twitter @JHarrisComedyYou can find Josh online at http://joshbellhateseverything.com/, on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/joshbellhateseverything/ and on Twitter @signalbleedYou can find our producer David Rosen's Piecing It Together Podcast at https://www.piecingpod.com, on Twitter at @piecingpod and the Popcorn & Puzzle Pieces Facebook Group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/piecingpod.You can also follow us all on Letterboxd to keep up with what we've been watching at goforjason, signalbleed and bydavidrosen.Subscribe on Patreon to support the show and get access to exclusive content from Awesome Movie Year, plus fellow podcasts Piecing It Together and All Rice No Beans, and music by David Rosen: https://www.patreon.com/bydavidrosenAll of the music in the episode is by David Rosen. Find more of his music at https://www.bydavidrosen.comPlease like, share, rate and comment on the show and this episode, and tune in for the next 1969 installment, featuring Josh's personal pick, Ronald Neame's The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.

Rebecca and Tara provide an update on their 2024 goals! Rebecca (@canadareadsamericanstyle): Project 562: Changing the Way We See Native America by Matika Wilbur 2024 Inclusive Picture Book Read Along Challenge @readingwithredandthemagpie My Ántonia by Willa Cather The Street by Ann Petry The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark The Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay The Optimist's Daughter by Eudora Welty My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin February by Lisa Moore Tara (@onabranchreads):  The Backyard Bird Chronicles by Amy Tan Merlin bird ID app 2023 Giller Books: Away from the Dead by David Bergen Study for Obedience by Sarah Bernstein Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton The Double Life of Benson Yu by Kevin Chong We Meant Well by Erum Shazia Hasan The Island: Stories by Dionne Irving Wait Softly Brother by Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer Girlfriend on Mars by Deborah Willis Helen Humphreys: The Lost Garden The Frozen Thames Followed by the Lark Leaving Earth Currently reading: I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker

Chapter 1What is SparkIn the enlightening book "Spark" by Claudia Kalb, readers are invited on a riveting journey through the lives and innovations of thirteen remarkable individuals who have ignited change and shaped the modern world. Through detailed narratives, Kalb deftly explores the unique "sparks" that catalyzed these figures to transcend ordinary bounds and achieve groundbreaking success. From the compelling story of Albert Einstein's revolutionary ideas in physics to the artistic genius of Frida Kahlo, who transformed personal pain into vibrant, impassioned art, each chapter delves into the pivotal moments that have not only forged their legacies but also inspired countless individuals to explore their own potential. "Spark" is a tribute to human creativity and resilience, offering insights into how personal challenges, when embraced, can lead to profound innovation and transformation. This book is a compelling reminder that within each of us lies the potential to ignite our own sparks and leave an indelible mark on the world.Chapter 2 Meet the Writer of SparkClaudia Kalb, in her book "Spark: How Genius Ignites, From Child Prodigies to Late Bloomers," effectively utilizes precise language, engaging narrative style, and thoughtful structure to convey complex ideas about the development of genius across different life stages. Her writing is marked by clarity and conciseness, which helps readers grasp the psychological and environmental factors influencing prodigious talent. Kalb employs vivid storytelling to make the scientific concepts accessible and emotionally resonant. She interweaves anecdotes and case studies of well-known figures, enhancing reader engagement and lending a human touch to biographical data. This method not only enriches the narrative but also highlights the varied trajectories of genius, from early bloomers to those who find their spark later in life.Through a balanced use of pathos and logos, Kalb effectively communicates the emotional weight and intellectual significance of her subject matter, appealing to both the readers' emotions and their curiosity about the nature of creativity and innovation. Her deliberate choice of words and sentence structure serves to emphasize the transformative power of nurturing one's innate abilities, regardless of age. This careful articulation helps readers connect with the material on a deeper level, fostering a greater appreciation for the diversity of human potential.Chapter 3 Deeper Understanding of SparkMuriel Spark, a Scottish writer best known for her sharp, pithy writing style and her novel "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie," has indeed left a significant mark on literature, culture, and societal thought. Her works explored themes of identity, betrayal, and the illusions of trust, engaging deeply with issues of morality and the human condition. Literary Influence:1. Narrative style and structure: Spark's works are known for their distinctive narrative techniques, including the use of flash-forwards and non-linear storytelling. This approach has influenced many contemporary writers and contributed to discussions on narrative structure within literary studies.2. Character Development: "The Prime of Miss Jean Broody" is especially notable for its complex portrayal of the titular character, who is both charismatic and deeply flawed. This nuanced character work has influenced how characters are developed in modern literature, encouraging a move away from purely heroic or villainous archetypes towards more balanced human portraits.3. Genre Blending: Spark often infused her tales with elements of mystery, thriller, and psychological drama, melding these with more traditional literary insights, which encouraged subsequent writers to blur genre boundaries. Cultural Impact:1. Feminist Perspectives: Spark's...

Rebecca and Tara share their latest reads! Rebecca (@canadareadsamericanstyle): The People's Hospital: Hope and Peril in American Medicine by Ricardo Nuila The Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers Autokrator by Emily A. Weedon The Street by Ann Petry The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark Small Acts of Courage: A Legacy of Endurance and the Fight for Democracy by Ali Velshi Tara (@onabranchreads): The Bones of Ruin by Sarah Raughley Indian Burial Ground; Sisters of the Lost Nation by Nick Medina The Shining; Salem's Lot by Stephen King The Residence; The Damned by Andrew Pyper Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart Fungal: Foraging in the Urban Forest by Ariel Gordon  

Danny Bacher is an award-winning singer, saxophonist, songwriter and entertainer in the fullest sense of the term. He's not only a master of the demanding soprano sax, but combines his virtuosity on the instrument with a talent for comedy and narrative storytelling. He's a smooth and cool individual who makes hot jazz and pop, cut fromthe cloth of the great Louis Prima and Mel Torme. With Lived Experience, JAMES BEAMAN returns to the cabaret stage for the first time since 2002, when he, Goldie Dver and David Maiocco received the MAC Award for Revue of the Year for their show Crazy World: Songs of Leslie Bricusse. Jamie came to New York in 1993 with his solo act, Bacall: By Herself (CaB Magazine Award). After headlining the world famous La Cage Revue at The Blue Angel, he created three shows as Marlene Dietrich, Queen of the World (Bistro Award), Marlene! Alive at the Café de Paris and Black Market Marlene, which he toured to San Francisco, New Orleans, and Berlin, Germany for the Millennium. His acting career spans three decades, including Off Broadway (The Road To Qatar!, When Pigs Fly, A Wilder Christmas, Howard Crabtree's Whoop-Dee-Doo!) and regional theatres, from Goodspeed Musicals to The Kennedy Center. Jamie starred as Sir Robin in the First National Tour of Monty Python's Spamalot, playing 62 cities and 700 performances, opposite stars Richard Chamberlain, Jonathan Hadary, Gary Beach and John O'Hurley. Tessa began acting as a teenager in Ionesco's “The Bald Soprano” at the Washington Theater Club, and as Sandy in “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie” for the Chevy Chase Players before heading off to SUNY Purchase to study Political Economy and Film. 

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie is upon us and it does not disappoint. Too much to say about this one and, as always, we could have gone an hour longer and still not covered it all. An absolutely fantastic novel and one that certainly lives up to the hype and praise that surrounds it.Titles/authors mentioned: The Secret History by Donna Tartt O Caledonia by Elspeth Barker Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter by Mario Vargas Llosa The Old Devils by Kingsley Amis Ottessa Moshfegh Bryan WashingtonClick here to subscribe to our Substack and find us on the socials: @lostinredonda just about everywhere.Music: “The Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys” by TrafficLogo design: Flynn Kidz Designs

In this episode of Twin Cities Theater Chat Recommends, we are joined by Jill Schafer of Cherry and Spoon,  Rob Dunkelberger of The Stages of MN, and  Mary Aalgaard of Play Off The Page to recommend a few shows currently running in the Twin Cities.Shows discussed include: The Chinese Lady at Open Eye Theatre, A Chorus Line at Lyric Arts, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Dark & Stormy (at the Gremlin), and American Players Theatre in Spring Green, WI. Rob also shares info about Transforming Families' Day of the Transgender Child, which is coming up on Saturday, September 23 and features a wealth of amazing theater tickets in their silent auction!Twin Cities Theater Chat is produced and hosted by Carol Jackson of Minnesota Theater Love and members of the Twin Cities Theater Bloggers collective. As always, you can find the Twin Cities Theater Bloggers on Facebook and on Instagram. Read our review round-ups and go see a show today!

Luverne Seifert is a Twin Cities actor and acting teacher. He recommends going to see “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie” from Dark & Stormy Productions.In this edgy production, set at Marcia Blaine School for Girls in 1930s Scotland, the lessons are less about math and reading than they are about love and sex. “It's a very provocative play,” Seifert said. “And at times I think your jaw will drop.” The cast consists of University of Minnesota students making their professional stage debut, and the production runs through Sept. 17 at the Gremlin Theater in St. Paul.Duluth filmmaker Khayman Goodsky, of the Bois Forte Band of Chippewa, loves a good book. That's why Goodsky suggests going to the “Meet the Artist” series at Two Loons Gallery in Duluth any time, but especially on Aug. 26, when Thomas and Betsy Peacock are the artists in question. The two co-own Black Bears and Blueberries Publishing, which specializes in Native written and illustrated books. “Everything they've put out has been researched and carefully developed, so, I mean you can't go wrong with reading their books,” Goodsky said.You can meet Thomas and Betsy Peacock, Saturday, Aug. 26, at Two Loons Gallery, 2025 W. Superior St., Duluth.Luis Fitch is a Mexican artist, designer and creative entrepreneur based in Minneapolis. His recommendation is “Immigrant Roads,” a solo exhibition of largescale paintings exploring the legacy of Mexican-born families who built the Santa Fe railroad in the early part of the 20th century.“What I'm excited about in this exhibition is the hope that the artist brings to restore some of the stolen dignity from Latinx workers,” Fitch said.“Immigrant Roads” is on display through Sept. 22 at the CLUES Latino Art Gallery, 797 East Seventh St., St. Paul.

Muriel Spark was a prolific poet and novelist who was nominated for the Booker Prize three times over the course of her writing career. In 1981, Spark's Loitering with Intent was shortlisted for the prize alongside that year's eventual winner Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie. The novel is a wonderfully gossipy and entertaining literary joyride which sees a would-be novelist takes inspiration from her life only to find the tables are mysteriously turned – and it's our August Book of the Month. In this episode Jo and James: Continue getting to know each other by chatting about the life event James would start his memoir with and Jo's favourite albums of all time Share a brief biography of Muriel Spark Give a slightly spoiler-y account of happens in Loitering with Intent Discuss how much of Muriel Spark's writing may be influenced or based on her own life Consider why Muriel Spark is not as widely read now as she once was Who should read Loitering with Intent Reading list: Loitering with Intent by Muriel Spark The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark The Driver's Seat by Muriel Spark The Public Image by Muriel Spark The Ballad of Peckham Rye by Muriel Spark Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie The Comfort of Strangers by Ian McEwan A full transcript of the episode is available at our website. Follow The Booker Prize Podcast so you never miss an episode. Visit http://thebookerprizes.com/podcast to find out more about us, and follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Tiktok @thebookerprizes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, Sally is reading The Girls of Slender Means, a novella by one of her favourite writers, Scottish novelist, poet and essayist Muriel Spark (1918 to 2006). During the Second World War, Spark came to London to work in British intelligence. She took up residence at the Helena Club in London, a hostel in Lancaster Gate, described as “a strict club for young ladies”.  In 1963, she published A Girl of Slender Means, based on her experiences at the Helena Club. Spark was also editor of the Poetry Review from 1947 to 1948; one of the few female editors of the time. She wrote other acclaimed novels such as The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1961).  Sally also reads a passage from Twelfth Night, a speech by Viola. Shipwrecked, posing as a servant, uncertain of her position and future, and in love, Viola is some ways a girl of slender means. The producer of the podcast is Andrew Smith: https://www.fleetingyearfilms.com The extra voice in this episode is Emma Fielding. Thanks to everyone who has supported us so far. Special thanks go to Violet Henderson, Kris Dyer, and Maeve Magnus.

It was the best of times; it was the worst of times—it was school. In this episode, Marlon and Jake discuss books where school is the setting or going to school is central to the plot. They debate which authors got school right and which got school wrong, what makes an inspiring teacher, and what the closed universe of a schoolyard or college campus can feel like. Tune in to hear Marlon and Jake reminisce over their own college experiences and what they were like as students.Subscribe to our River-herd newsletter for sneak peeks of our upcoming books, free giveaways, and exclusive content. https://sites.prh.com/riverhead-reader-newsletterTom Brown's School Days by Thomas HughesThe History of Tom Jones, A Foundling by Henry FieldingBrideshead Revisited by Evelyn WaughDecline and Fall by Evelyn WaughVile Bodies by Evelyn WaughScoop by Evelyn WaughThe Crime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel SparkA Separate Peace by John KnowlesLook back in Anger by John OsborneTess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas HardyJude the Obscure by Thomas HardyReturn of the Native by Thomas HardyAbsalom, Absalom! By William FaulknerLove Story by Erich SegalThe Miracle Worker by William GibsonStoner by John WilliamsZuleika Dobson by Max BeerbohmThe Corn is Green by Emlyn Williams 

Jean, Jean, the roses are red and all of the leaves have gone green, so Glenn Fleishman and John are discussing Muriel Spark’s The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1961). John McCoy with Glenn Fleishman.

Jean, Jean, the roses are red and all of the leaves have gone green, so Glenn Fleishman and John are discussing Muriel Spark’s The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1961). John McCoy with Glenn Fleishman.

This week on And the Runner-Up Is, Kevin welcomes back 'Keep It' cohost and 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!' writer Louis Virtel to discuss the 1969 Oscar race for Best Actress, where Maggie Smith won for her performance in "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie," beating Geneviève Bujold in "Anne of the Thousand Days," Jane Fonda in "They Shoot Horses, Don't They," Liza Minnelli in "The Sterile Cuckoo," and Jean Simmons in "The Happy Ending." We discuss all of these nominated performances and determine who we think was the runner-up to Smith.  0:00 - 12:24 - Introduction 12:25 - 32:28 - Geneviève Bujold 32:29 - 1:01:30 - Jane Fonda 1:01:31 - 1:21:06 - Liza Minnelli 1:21:07 - 1:41:44 - Jean Simmons 1:41:45 - 2:04:31 - Maggie Smith 2:04:32 - 2:40:42 - Why Maggie Smith won / Twitter questions 2:40:43 - 2:45:17 - Who was the runner-up? Buy And the Runner-Up Is merch at https://www.teepublic.com/stores/and-the-runner-up-is?ref_id=24261! Support And the Runner-Up Is on Patreon at patreon.com/andtherunnerupis! Follow Kevin Jacobsen on Twitter Follow Louis Virtel on Twitter Follow And the Runner-Up Is on Twitter and Instagram Theme/End Music: "Diamonds" by Iouri Sazonov Additional Music: "Storming Cinema Ident" by Edward Blakeley Artwork: Brian O'Meara

On this episode of Book Cheat Dave has read The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. Joining Dave to hear all about Muriel Spark's classic is Michelle Brasier and Sam Petersen.See Book Cheat live: https://dogoonpod.com/live-shows/ See Dave at the Adelaide Fringe and Melbourne Comedy Festival: https://linktr.ee/davewarneke Support Book Cheat and Do Go On on Patreon: www.patreon.com/DoGoOnPodSuggest a book for Dave to cheat: https://goo.gl/jxMdiW Listen to Confessions (of the Idiots) with Sam Petersen: https://confessionsthepodcast.com/ Listen to Nature or Nurture with Sam Petersen: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/nature-or-nurture/id1653681720 See Michelle Brasier live in London at the Soho Theatre: https://sohotheatre.com/shows/michelle-brasier-average-bear/ To get in contact, email bookcheatpod@gmail.com or follow the show via the links below:Twitter: @BookCheatPodInstagram: @BookCheatPodFacebook: @BookCheatPod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Frenemies of the State: Yiyun Li on Complicated Friendships Real and ImaginedNovelist and memoirist Yiyun Li joins Fiction/Non/Fiction hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss frenemies in writing circles, in literature, and in politics (with a tip of the hat to Joe Manchin). Li explains how intention helps her to distinguish between friendship and frenemyship, talks about finding frenemies in literature more interesting than those in politics, and offers examples ranging from The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie to Sweet Days of Discipline. She also reads from her own new novel, The Book of Goose, and reflects on discovering the intense connection between her two central characters, Agnès and Fabienne, young girls growing up together in France.To hear the full episode, subscribe through iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app (include the forward slashes when searching). You can also listen by streaming from the player below. Check out video versions of our interviews on the Fiction/Non/Fiction Instagram account, the Fiction/Non/Fiction YouTube Channel, and our show website: https://www.fnfpodcast.net/.This podcast is produced by Anne Kniggendorf.Selected Readings:Yiyun Li The Book of Goose Must I Go Dear Friend, From My Life I Write to You in Your Life Where Reasons End Others: The Best Frenemies in Fiction ‹ CrimeReads The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante Sweet Days of Discipline by Fleur Jaeggy A Separate Peace by John Knowles “Harry Styles Has Entered the SpitGate Chat” by Adrienne Westenfeld (Esquire) Milan Kundera Chelsea Clinton Talks Candidly About Crumbling of Friendship with Ivanka Trump: 'She Went to the Dark Side' "'Checked Out': Trump rebukes Ivanka over Jan. 6 testimony" by Kelly Hooper (Politico) Column: Bill Barr is telling the truth about Trump. Too bad it's too little, too late by Jackie Calmes (Los Angeles Times) F/N/F Season 4 Episode 25: Tolstoy Forever: Brigid Hughes and Yiyun Li on Retweeting a Russian Classic Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Frenemies of the State: Yiyun Li on Complicated Friendships Real and Imagined Novelist and memoirist Yiyun Li joins Fiction/Non/Fiction hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss frenemies in writing circles, in literature, and in politics (with a tip of the hat to Joe Manchin). Li explains how intention helps her to distinguish between friendship and frenemyship, talks about finding frenemies in literature more interesting than those in politics, and offers examples ranging from The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie to Sweet Days of Discipline. She also reads from her own new novel, The Book of Goose, and reflects on discovering the intense connection between her two central characters, Agnès and Fabienne, young girls growing up together in France. To hear the full episode, subscribe through iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app (include the forward slashes when searching). You can also listen by streaming from the player below. Check out video versions of our interviews on the Fiction/Non/Fiction Instagram account, the Fiction/Non/Fiction YouTube Channel, and our show website: https://www.fnfpodcast.net/. This podcast is produced by Anne Kniggendorf. Selected Readings: Yiyun Li The Book of Goose Must I Go Dear Friend, From My Life I Write to You in Your Life Where Reasons End Others: The Best Frenemies in Fiction ‹ CrimeReads The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante Sweet Days of Discipline by Fleur Jaeggy A Separate Peace by John Knowles “Harry Styles Has Entered the SpitGate Chat” by Adrienne Westenfeld (Esquire) Milan Kundera Chelsea Clinton Talks Candidly About Crumbling of Friendship with Ivanka Trump: 'She Went to the Dark Side' "'Checked Out': Trump rebukes Ivanka over Jan. 6 testimony" by Kelly Hooper (Politico) Column: Bill Barr is telling the truth about Trump. Too bad it's too little, too late by Jackie Calmes (Los Angeles Times) F/N/F Season 4 Episode 25: Tolstoy Forever: Brigid Hughes and Yiyun Li on Retweeting a Russian Classic Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

John J. Miller is joined by Christopher Scalia of the American Enterprise Institute to discuss Muriel Spark's book, 'The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.'

Novelist Margot Livesey joins Fiction/Non/Fiction hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell from London to discuss the downfall of Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the legacy of his decision to “do Brexit.” Livesey, who grew up in Scotland, explains Johnson's career of fabrications, talks about how Brexit looks now, and shares her experience of the recent heat wave in the U.K. Finally, she and the hosts analyze characters who resemble Johnson in literature–including the antagonist in Livesey's novel The Missing World.To hear the full episode, subscribe through iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app (include the forward slashes when searching). You can also listen by streaming from the player below. Check out video versions of our interviews on the Fiction/Non/Fiction Instagram account, the Fiction/Non/Fiction YouTube Channel, and our show website: https://www.fnfpodcast.net/.This podcast is produced by Anne Kniggendorf.Selected Readings:Margot Livesey The Hidden Machinery: Essays on Writing The Boy in the Field Mercury The Missing World The Flight of Gemma Hardy Others: Protesters in UK decry climate change after record heat wave - ABC News Quentin Blake Roald Dahl Matilda by Roald Dahl The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov The Guardian Martin Amis S5 Episode 6: Nadifa Mohamed on Writing the Convoluted Terrains of Immigration Howards End by E.M. Forster The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett Barbara Kingsolver Venetia Welby J.G. Ballard Have I Got News for You Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Novelist Margot Livesey joins Fiction/Non/Fiction hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell from London to discuss the downfall of Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the legacy of his decision to “do Brexit.” Livesey, who grew up in Scotland, explains Johnson's career of fabrications, talks about how Brexit looks now, and shares her experience of the recent heat wave in the U.K. Finally, she and the hosts analyze characters who resemble Johnson in literature–including the antagonist in Livesey's novel The Missing World. To hear the full episode, subscribe through iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app (include the forward slashes when searching). You can also listen by streaming from the player below. Check out video versions of our interviews on the Fiction/Non/Fiction Instagram account, the Fiction/Non/Fiction YouTube Channel, and our show website: https://www.fnfpodcast.net/. This podcast is produced by Anne Kniggendorf. Selected Readings: Margot Livesey The Hidden Machinery: Essays on Writing The Boy in the Field Mercury The Missing World The Flight of Gemma Hardy Others: Protesters in UK decry climate change after record heat wave - ABC News Quentin Blake Roald Dahl Matilda by Roald Dahl The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov The Guardian Martin Amis S5 Episode 6: Nadifa Mohamed on Writing the Convoluted Terrains of Immigration Howards End by E.M. Forster The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett Barbara Kingsolver Venetia Welby J.G. Ballard Have I Got News for You Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices