One Bright Book

Welcome to One Bright Book! Join our hosts Frances, Dorian, and Rebecca as they discuss ORLANDO by Virginia Woolf and chat about their current reading.

For our next episode, we will discuss THE WOMEN OF BREWSTER PLACE by Gloria Naylor, a choice Rebecca has made based upon some love Hanif Abdurraqib shared for the novel in a recent podcast. We would love to have you read along with us, and join us for our conversation coming to you in April.

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

Orlando by Virginia Woolf
The Waves by Virginia Woolf
To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf
Jacob's Room by Virginia Woolf
Three Guineas by Virginia Woolf
Harriet Hume by Rebecca West
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
Wax Child by Olga Ravn, translated from the Danish by Martin Aiken
The Witch by Marie Ndiaye, translated from the French by Jordan Stump
The Remembered Soldier by Anjet Daanje, translated from the Dutch by David McKay
Women Without Men by Shahrnush Parsipur, translated from the Persian by Faridoun Farrokh
Taiwan Travelogue by Shuang-zi Yang, translated from the Mandarin Chinese by Lin Ling
Small Comfort by Ia Genberg, translated from the Swedish by Kira Josefsson
There Is No Antimemetics Division by qntm
Vampires of El Norte by Isabel Canas
Trouble Maker: The Fierce, Unruly Life of Jessica Mitford by Carla Kaplan
Shattered: A Memoir by Hanif Kureishi
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Stern
Baldwin: A Love Story by Nicholas Boggs
The Women of Brewster Place by Gloria Naylor
Read Rohan Maitzen on Orlando at her blog Novel Readings.
Further resources and links are available on our website at onebrightbook.com.
Browse our bookshelves at Bookshop.org.
Comments? Write us at onebrightmail at gmail
Find us on Bluesky at https://bsky.app/profile/onebrightbook.bsky.social
Frances: https://bsky.app/profile/nonsuchbook.bsky.social
Dorian: https://bsky.app/profile/ds228.bsky.social
Rebecca: https://bsky.app/profile/ofbooksandbikes.bsky.social
Dorian's blog: https://eigermonchjungfrau.blog/
Rebecca's newsletter: https://readingindie.substack.com/
Our theme music was composed and performed by Owen Maitzen. You can find more of his music here: https://soundcloud.com/omaitzen.

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

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

Want to support the show? Visit us at Bookshop.org or click on the links below and buy some books!
Books mentioned:
The Way We Live Now by Anthony Trollope
Domestic Manners of the Americans by Fanny Trollope
The Chronicles of Barsetshire by Anthony Trollope
The Palliser Novels by Anthony Trollope
An Autobiography by Anthony Trollope
Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
The Transylvanian Trilogy by Mikos Banffy
Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett
A Perfect Turmoil: Walter E. Fernald and the Struggle to Care for America's Disabled by Alex Green
Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect Playlist by Liz Pelly
Baldwin: A Love Story by Nicholas Boggs
Head of a Traveler by Nicholas Blake
Orlando by Virginia Woolf

You may also be interested in:

The National Book Critics Circle Awards
Further resources and links are available on our website at onebrightbook.com.
Browse our bookshelves at Bookshop.org.
Comments? Write us at onebrightmail at gmail
Find us on Bluesky at https://bsky.app/profile/onebrightbook.bsky.social
Frances: https://bsky.app/profile/nonsuchbook.bsky.social
Dorian: https://bsky.app/profile/ds228.bsky.social
Rebecca: https://bsky.app/profile/ofbooksandbikes.bsky.social
Dorian's blog: https://eigermonchjungfrau.blog/
Rebecca's newsletter: https://readingindie.substack.com/
Our theme music was composed and performed by Owen Maitzen. You can find more of his music here: https://soundcloud.com/omaitzen.

Welcome to One Bright Book! Join our hosts Dorian, Rebecca, and Frances as they discuss their most anticipated books of 2026 with Sam Sacks, prominent book critic for The Wall Street Journal, writing the weekly "Fiction Chronicle," and a founding editor of Open Letters Monthly.

For our next episode, we will discuss The Way We Live Now by Anthony Trollope. We would love to have you read along with us, and join us for our conversation coming to you in late January.

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

The Disappearing Act by Maria Stepanova, translated from the Russian by Sasha Dugdale
In Memory of Memory by Maria Stepanova, translated from the Russian by Sasha Dugdale
Opus Siniestra by Leonora Carrington
On the Calculation of Volume, Book IV by Solvej Balle, translated from the Danish by Sophia Hersi Smith and Jennifer Russell
Incompleteness: New and Selected Essays, 1999-2023 by Amit Chaudhuri
In Other Rooms, Other Wonders by Daniyal Mueenuddin
This Is Where the Serpent Lives by Daniyal Mueenuddin
Now I Surrender by Alvaro Enrique, translated from the Spanish by Natasha Wimmer
You Dreamed of Empires by Alvaro Enrique, translated from the Spanish by Natasha Wimmer
The Palm House by Gwendoline Riley
My Phantoms by Gwendoline Riley
First Love by Gwendoline Riley
Ambivalence by Brian Dillon
Transcendence for Beginners by Clare Carlisle
Animal Joy by Nuar Alsadir
Here Where We Live Is Our Country by Molly Crabapple
Down Time by Andrew Martin
Early Work by Andrew Martin
Cool for America by Andrew Martin
On Morrison by Namwali Serpell
The Witch by Marie Ndiaye, translated from the French by Jordan Stump
That Time of Year by Marie Ndiaye, translated from the French by Jordan Stump
Twenty Minutes of Silence by Helene Bessette, translated from the French by Kate Briggs
Lilli Is Crying by Helene Bessette, translated from the French by Kate Briggs
The Queen of Swords by Jazmina Barrera, translated from the Spanish by Christina MacSweeney
The Week of Colors by Elena Garro, translated from the Spanish by Megan McDowell
Nonesuch by Francis Spufford
Cahokia Jazz by Francis Spufford
The Child That Books Built: A Life in Reading by Francis Spufford
The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley
A Marsh Island by Sarah Orne Jewett
The Way We Live Now by Anthony Trollope
Further resources and links are available on our website at onebrightbook.com.
Browse our bookshelves at Bookshop.org.
Comments? Write us at onebrightmail at gmail
Find us on Bluesky at https://bsky.app/profile/onebrightbook.bsky.social
Frances: https://bsky.app/profile/nonsuchbook.bsky.social
Dorian: https://bsky.app/profile/ds228.bsky.social
Rebecca: https://bsky.app/profile/ofbooksandbikes.bsky.social
Dorian's blog: https://eigermonchjungfrau.blog/
Rebecca's newsletter: https://readingindie.substack.com/
Our theme music was composed and performed by Owen Maitzen. You can find more of his music here: https://soundcloud.com/omaitzen.

Welcome to One Bright Book! Join our hosts Rebecca, Frances, and Dorian as they discuss I WHO HAVE NEVER KNOWN MEN by Jacqueline Harpman, translated from the French by Ros Schwartz, and chat about their current reading.

For our next episode, we will be joined by book critic Sam Sacks for our fourth (!!!) annual most anticipated books episode. We will each come to the table with three books that we are excited to see published in 2026. Will we duplicate each other's choices? Will each of have enough choices in reserve to pivot if necessary? Will someone cheat and present more than three selections? These are questions that we love to pretend to care about each year. We hope you join us for what has become a highlight of our podcasting year!

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

I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman, translated from the French by Ros Schwartz
Orlanda by Jacqueline Harpman, translated from the French by Ros Schwartz
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
The Wall by Marlen Haushofer, translated from the German by Shaun Whiteside
Bear by Marian Engel
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
Parable of the Sower by Octavia E Butler
Shadow Ticket by Thomas Pynchon
Long Distance by Aysegül Savas
Ugliness by Moshtari Hilal, translated from the German by Elizabeth Lauffer
Electric Spark: The Enigma of Dame Muriel by Frances Wilson
Like a Cat Loves a Bird: The Nine Lives of Muriel Spark by James Bailey
A Dark Corner by Celia Dale
Sheep's Clothing by Celia Dale
The Face of Trespass by Ruth Rendell
Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
You might also be interested in: The Yale Review.
Further resources and links are available on our website at onebrightbook.com.
Browse our bookshelves at Bookshop.org.
Comments? Write us at onebrightmail at gmail
Find us on Bluesky at https://bsky.app/profile/onebrightbook.bsky.social
Frances: https://bsky.app/profile/nonsuchbook.bsky.social
Dorian: https://bsky.app/profile/ds228.bsky.social
Rebecca: https://bsky.app/profile/ofbooksandbikes.bsky.social
Dorian's blog: https://eigermonchjungfrau.blog/
Rebecca's newsletter: https://readingindie.substack.com/
Our theme music was composed and performed by Owen Maitzen. You can find more of his music here: https://soundcloud.com/omaitzen.

Welcome to One Bright Book! Rebecca and Frances move out of the picture for this bonus episode where Dorian gets a chance to finally discuss VANITY FAIR by William Makepeace Thackeray with his one time professor and always friend, Rohan Maitzen. A rare and special opportunity to revisit the book from the syllabus that he blew off reading. "You can never entirely escape your sins!" Ready for some time well-spent in the 19th century?
Want to support the show? Visit us at Bookshop.org or click on the links below and buy some books!
Books Mentioned:
Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
Middlemarch by George Eliot
North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
The Warden by Anthony Trollope
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
The Heart of Midlothian by Sir Walter Scott
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte
Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens
Lady Audley's Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon
The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins
Villette by Charlotte Bronte
Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
You can find Rohan's blog Novel Readings here: https://rohanmaitzen.com/novelreadings/
Special thanks to Fred the Cat for the special background symphony.
Further resources and links are available on our website at onebrightbook.com.
Browse our bookshelves at Bookshop.org.
Comments? Write us at onebrightmail at gmail
Find us on Bluesky at https://bsky.app/profile/onebrightbook.bsky.social
Frances: https://bsky.app/profile/nonsuchbook.bsky.social
Dorian: https://bsky.app/profile/ds228.bsky.social
Rebecca: https://bsky.app/profile/ofbooksandbikes.bsky.social
Dorian's blog: https://eigermonchjungfrau.blog/
Rebecca's newsletter: https://readingindie.substack.com/
Our theme music was composed and performed by Owen Maitzen. You can find more of his music here: https://soundcloud.com/omaitzen.