Lit with Charles – Details, episodes & analysis

Welcome to this very special episode of the Lit With Charles podcast, where instead of interviewing an interesting guest, I’m actually responding to 10 listeners’ burning questions! Today, you’ll get to hear about my earliest memory of falling in love with reading, and how Stephen King's thrilling tales resonated in  my pre-teen years. I’ll be spilling the beans on why Roberto Bolaño's 'The Savage Detectives' didn't click for me, and chatting about my scepticism around 'must-read' lists – like those ones that crop up from Barack Obama and the New York Times.

Also on the menu: the recent Nobel Prize announcement, and the shock disclosure of which one single classic novel fails to impress me – it’s a cultural favourite, and I think it might be a controversial pick. I even manage to touch on my Instagram book review origins (a collection of COVID-19 quarantine updates that went viral) and the shape of this book-loving ecosystem that we’ve built as a community. It's a roller-coaster of reflections, confessions, and some good old fashioned literary nostalgia. Let's jump in!

Lit with Charles loves reviews. If you enjoyed this episode, I’d be so grateful if you could leave a review of your own, and follow me on Instagram at @litwithcharles. Let’s get more people listening – and reading!

Today I sat down with Vanessa Beaumont, a former literary agent and novelist about her debut novel The Other Side of Paradise which follows Jean Buckman, a young American newspaper heiress, who arrives in London in the glittering 1920s, and evolves throughout the story, through personal tragedy and loss. Over the course of the story, we watch her grapple with the pressures of mid-Century society on a woman, what it means to do one’s duty, and the pull of desire in the face of it all. It’s kind of a Downtown Abbey meets Francis Scott Fitzgerald, with a modern feminist perspective

As always, Vanessa picked the four books which have had the biggest impact on her as both a reader and a writer, and we also discussed her career trajectory. Before publishing The Other Side of Paradise, Vanessa spent 8 years as a Commissioning Editor at Short Books, and co-founded and ran a literary agency, so it was fascinating to get some insights from that. It was such a great conversation, and as always, such a pleasure talking with Vanessa.

Lit with Charles loves reviews. If you enjoyed this episode, I’d be so grateful if you could leave a review of your own, and follow me on Instagram at @litwithcharles. Let’s get more people listening – and reading!

Vanessa Beaumont’s four books were:

Little Women, Louisa May Alcott (1868)

The Age of Innocence, Edith Wharton (1920)

Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh (1945)

Tender is the Night, F Scott Fitzgerald (1934)

The 1930s Hollywood star Anna May Wong was a trailblazer in the Golden Age of Hollywood. While navigating the treacherous waters of racial prejudice, she carved a path to international fame, becoming the first Chinese-American bona fide Hollywood movie star.

This week, I had the pleasure of speaking with author Katie Gee Salisbury, who’s written a biography of Anna May Wong called Not Your China Doll, published earlier this year to huge acclaim.

In today’s episode, Katie and I discuss, as always, the four books which have most shaped her as a writer, as well as talking about the sparkling life of Anna May Wong, and Katie’s experience writing the biography.

The Caribbean is a region with an incredible history of vibrant cultures blending into each other, which is reflected in so many elements from the food, the local traditions, the music and of course, the literature. Today’s guest hails from the nation of Trinidad and Tobago, and the region has clearly left an indelible mark on her writing, infusing it with the rhythms, flavors, and complexities that define the Caribbean experience.

Based on the new format of the show, Costa Prize winning author Ingrid Persaud will share four books that have left an indelible mark on her life and work. From literary classics to contemporary gems, these books have shaped her perspective, influencing the stories she tells and the voices she amplifies.

In this episode, we also discuss her latest novel, "The Lost Love Songs of Boysie Singh." Inspired by the true story of the titular Trinidadian gangster from the 1930s to the 1950s, this novel looks at the complex web of relationships surrounding him and the four women who shaped his life. Set against the backdrop of a rapidly changing society, this novel offers a poignant exploration of love, loss, and redemption, inviting readers to journey through the heartaches and triumphs of its unforgettable characters.

The four books that Ingrid Persaud selected were: 

A House for Mr Biswas, VS Naipaul (1961)

Reading Turgenev, William Trevor (1991)

As I Lay Dying, William Faulkner (1930)

Song of Solomon, Toni Morrison (1977)

If you’d like to get in touch, you can contact me on my Instagram account @litwithcharles and you can also check out my weekly Substack newsletter: https://litwithcharles.substack.com/

Welcome to a special episode that marks a whole year of Lit with Charles. As we wrap up a full year of podcasting, it's time to reflect on the journey we've embarked on together. From the very beginning, the goal was clear – to create a space for the curious souls eager to explore the world of literature, authors, and the intricate process of writing.

In today's episode, we take a trip down memory lane, revisiting some of the most captivating questions and answers that have lingered in my mind. This special highlight reel is divided into two parts, each focusing on a distinct facet of the literary landscape.

In the first half, we delve into "The Author's Process," unraveling the mysteries behind how authors conceive their ideas and bring them to life on the page. What sparks the creative flame? How do they navigate the intricate pathways of their minds to craft compelling narratives?

The second part of our annual highlight shifts its spotlight to "The Life of a Book". Books, beyond their narratives, are extraordinary objects with unique journeys – from creation to consumption. We explore the intricate processes involved in printing, storing, managing, and selling these literary treasures.

Before we embark on this retrospective journey, heartfelt thanks are in order. To the 51 incredible guests who graced this podcast with their wisdom and insights – thank you for sharing your stories and making each conversation enlightening.

So, without further ado, let's relive some of the best answers that unveil the authors' fascinating processes, guiding us through the intricate world of storytelling that we all cherish.

Lit with Charles loves reviews. If you enjoyed this episode, I’d be so grateful if you could leave a review of your own, and follow me on Instagram at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@litwithcharles⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Let’s get more people listening – and reading!

The Chinese Cultural Revolution was launched by Chairman Mao in 1966 and lasted a whole decade until his death. It aimed to purify China of perceived bourgeois elements and reinforce hardline communist ideology. The era left a huge impact on China's socio-political landscape, but despite its seismic impact, it’s not that well understood by many Westerners.

Today, I’m speaking with Tania Branigan. Tania spent 7 years as the Guardian’s China correspondent, and is also the author of a recent non-fiction book called Red Memory, which explores stories that have emerged about the Cultural Revolution and its lingering impact on contemporary China. I read and reviewed it earlier this year, and I was absolutely blown away. 

In this episode, Tania and I go deep into her book, Red Memory, the process she went through in writing and researching the text. For those of you who don’t know all that much about the Cultural Revolution, don’t panic – Tania does an incredible job of covering the basics while also getting into the intricacies of the relevant political history. I thoroughly recommend the book for anyone looking to improve their knowledge of China, especially how this contemporary society is still haunted by many ghosts of the Cultural Revolution.

Tania mentioned Sparks, by Ian Johnson (2023), a work of non-fiction which follows “counter-historians” documenting contemporary China.

Her favourite book that I’d never heard of was The Memory Police, Yōko Ogawa (1994), a dystopian tale in which a totalitarian regime controls collective memory. Also by that author was The Housekeeper and The Professor, by Yōko Ogawa (2003), which follows an ageing mathematician whose memory is limited to 80 minutes.

The best book she has read in the last twelve months was Waiting to be Arrested at Night, by Tahir Hamut Izgil (2023), which is a Uyghur poet’s memoir of China’s genocide of the majority-Muslim population in Xinjiang Province in Northwestern China. This also reminded her of another favourite with similar undertones, The Appointment, by the Romanian author Herta Müller (1997), which follows the life of a young woman living under a communist regime.

The book she would take to a desert island is the collected short stories of Anton Chekhov. On that note, she also mentioned the fantastic book A Swim in The Pond in the Rain by George Saunders (2021), in which the author, a master short story writer, examines four classic Russian short stories, including one by Chekhov.

Finally, a book that changed her mind was Heidi Larson’s Stuck (2020), which explores vaccine rumours, and how best to deal with people who have different opinions on that subject.

There’s little more universally enticing than a story about someone setting off on a great voyage: an intrepid adventurer protagonist. This week, the book I’m discussing is just that – a journey into unknown frontiers, both geographically and linguistically.

Today I’m speaking with author and journalist Lauren Collins. Lauren, a staff writer with the New Yorker since 2008, published her incredible debut novel, When In French: Love in a Second Language, to huge acclaim in 2016. In this episode, Lauren and I get into the idea of language – the experience of being a person who lives between two languages, the evolution and porosity of language, L’Academie Francaise (the three-headed dog that guards French grammar), and some technical aspects of a few high-impact linguistic theories.

In our interview today, Lauren told me about the book Je ne suis pas Parisienne, by Alice Pfeiffer (2019) – a series of essays written by a journalist, repudiating the ‘Parisian woman’ cliché.

Her favorite book that I’ve probably never heard of is The Smile Revolution, by Colin Jones (2014), a cultural history of smiling.

Her four best books from the last 12 months are We Don’t Know Ourselves: A Personal History of Modern Ireland, by Fintan O’Toole (2021), Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments, by Saidiya Hartman (2019), Biography of X, by Catherine Lacey (2023), and South to America, by Imani Perry (2022).

Finally, the book she would take to a desert island is Lucy Sante’s The Other Paris: An illustrated journey through a city’s poor and Bohemian past (2015), a guided-tour through the Paris of a bygone era.

Our relationship with our parents and, more widely, with our ancestors’ stories are some of the most formative & influential connections in many people’s lives, both for good and bad. The impact of this relationship can be felt in so many different ways, not least of which in artistic expression. 

With me today is Violaine Huisman, a French author based in New York who recently became the Director of Cultural Affairs at the Alliance Française. She’s the author of a trilogy of novels about her and her family. The first is called The Book of Mother published in 2018 and translated into English last year, the second is called Rose désert (translated maybe as “Desert Pink”) published in 2019 but not yet translated, and the third is Les monuments de Paris (“The Monuments of Paris”) which will be published this year. 

In this episode, Violaine and I cover a wide array of topics – the structure and linearity of her novels, the existential question of ‘Frenchness’ and being a ‘French author in New York’, and of course we speak of Marcel Proust, as well as some of the other major influences in her writing. It was a real pleasure to speak with Violaine about this powerful, family-driven trilogy which I absolutely recommend.

In today’s interview, we discussed Les Essais, by Michel de Montaigne (1580), a wide-ranging collection of essays, originally written in ‘Middle French’, Saxifrage, by Catherine Cremnitz (1993) – Violaine’s mother’s own autobiography, and 10:04, by Ben Lerner (2014), a modern book of auto-fiction about a Manhattan-based author recently diagnosed with a life-threatening heart-condition.

The best book Violaine has read in the last 12 months was Les Misérables, by Victor Hugo (1862), which tells the story of Jean Valjean and the other ‘miserable’ characters of the early 1800s Paris underworld.

The book she would take to a desert island was the Bible.

Finally, a book that changed her mind was In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust (first published in 1913), about its narrator’s life and childhood, and his reflections on the persistence of memory.

Lit with Charles loves reviews. If you enjoyed this episode, I’d be so grateful if you could leave a review of your own, and follow me on Instagram at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@litwithcharles⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Let’s get more people listening – and reading!

Cowboys, golden dust-plains, and wide open spaces. This is the stuff of the Far West, a setting that has been visited & re-visited in literature & film, often pitting good versus evil in stark terms. And today I’m talking about one of the greatest novels of the American West: Lonesome Dove, by the Texan author Larry McMurtry, published in 1985. 

In this episode, I speak to Kate Slotover, co-founder of The Book Club Review – a book club in podcast form, which loves debate and discussion – about a work we’re both huge fans of. We’re going to really narrow in on some of our favourite moments, specifics and characters for an in depth and exciting discussion of this very special book. If you haven’t checked out her excellent podcast, the Book Club Review, then I suggest you have a listen, it’s brilliant.

Books mentioned in the episode:

• The best book Kate has read in the last 12 months was Monsters: A Fan’s Dilemma, by Claire Dederer (2023), a topical exploration of whether or not we can separate the art from the artist.
• We also discussed the recent Booker Prize winner, Prophet Song, by Paul Lynch (2023) – a dystopian book about the Republic of Ireland slipping into a Totalitarian regime. 

Lit with Charles loves reviews. If you enjoyed this episode, I’d be so grateful if you could leave a review of your own, and follow me on Instagram at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@litwithcharles⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Let’s get more people listening – and reading!

In this episode, I highlight the top 5 five books that I read last year. It’s a great way to remember what I’ve read and what I value in my reading experiences. I dive deeper than I usually would into what makes these books especially great and what they meant to me.
Sometimes I’ll enjoy something quite linear and - gasp! - commercial whilst, at other times, I’ll prefer something quite experimental & different. In today’s list, those eclectic choices shine through meaning that there’s a bit of everything for everyone. I also throw in a couple of honorary mentions of books which weren’t necessarily my favourites, but had something special that I thought were worth a mention.

Lit with Charles loves reviews. If you enjoyed this episode, I’d be so grateful if you could leave a review of your own, and follow me on Instagram at ⁠⁠⁠⁠@litwithcharles⁠⁠⁠⁠. Let’s get more people listening – and reading!