One Bright Book – Details, episodes & analysis

Welcome to One Bright Book! Join our hosts Rebecca, Frances, and Dorian as they discuss THE WOMEN OF BREWSTER PLACE by Gloria Naylor and chat about their current reading.

For our next episode, we will discuss OPEN SECRETS: STORIES by Alice Munro, weighing the value of her work against what we have recently learned of her personal life. We would love to have you read along with us, and join us for our conversation coming to you in May.

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

Books mentioned:

• The Women of Brewster Place by Gloria Naylor
• Linden Hills by Gloria Naylor
• The Men of Brewster Place by Gloria Naylor
• The Color Purple by Alice Walker
• Instead of a Letter by Diana Athill
• Transcendence for Beginners: Life Writing and Philosophy by Clare Carlisle
• There's Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension by Hanif Abdurraqib
• The Wax Child by Olga Ravn, translated from the Dutch by Martin Aitken
• The Remembered Soldier by Anjet Daanje, translated from the Dutch by David McKay
• The Duke by Matteo Melchiorre, translated from the Italian by Antonella Lettieri
• The Witch by Marie Ndiaye, translated from the French by Jordan Stump
• Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V. E. Schwab
• Mother Mary Comes to Me by Arundhati Roy
• The Palm House by Gwendoline Riley
• An Awfully Big Adventure by Beryl Bainbridge
• Nonesuch by Francis Spufford
• Sakina's Kiss by Vivek Shanbhag, translated from the Kannada by Srinath Perur
• Open Secrets: Stories by Alice Munro
• A Marsh Island by Sarah Orne Jewett, with an afterword from the One Bright Book crew.

Buy our book! Support the show by buying a copy of Sarah Orne Jewett's A Marsh Island, with an afterword by us.

Further resources and links are available on our website at onebrightbook.com.

Browse our bookshelves at Bookshop.org.

Comments? Write us at onebrightmail at gmail

Find us on Bluesky at https://bsky.app/profile/onebrightbook.bsky.social

Frances: https://bsky.app/profile/nonsuchbook.bsky.social

Dorian: https://bsky.app/profile/ds228.bsky.social

Rebecca: https://bsky.app/profile/ofbooksandbikes.bsky.social

Dorian's blog: https://eigermonchjungfrau.blog/

Rebecca's newsletter: https://readingindie.substack.com/

Our theme music was composed and performed by Owen Maitzen. You can find more of his music here: https://soundcloud.com/omaitzen.

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, Frances, and Rebecca as they discuss O PIONEERS! by Willa Cather, and chat about their current reading.

For our next episode, we will discuss The Country of the Pointed Firs by Sarah Orne Jewett. We would love to have you read along with us, and join us for our conversation coming to you in early June.

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

Books mentioned:

• O Pioneers! by Willa Cather
• My Antonia by Willa Cather
• The Song of the Lark by Willa Cather
• A Lost Lady by Willa Cather
• Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman
• Ayesha at Last by Uzma Jalaluddin
• Hana Khan Carries On by Uzma Jalaluddin
• Much Ado About Nada by Uzma Jalaluddin
• Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood
• The Selected Letters of Willa Cather
• Chasing Bright Medusas by Benjamin Taylor
• Willa Cather: Double Lives by Hermione Lee
• The Country of the Pointed Firs by Sarah Orne Jewett

You might also be interested in "The Peace When It Settled: Charlotte Wood, Stone Yard Devotional" by Rohan Maitzen.

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, Dorian, and Frances as they discuss THE TREES by Percival Everett, and chat about their current reading.

For our next episode, we will discuss O PIONEERS! by Willa Cather. We would love to have you read along with us, and join us for our conversation coming to you in late April.

Books mentioned:

• The Trees by Percival Everett
• James by Percival Everett
• Erasure by Percival Everett
• God's Country by Percival Everett
• Sonnets for a Missing Key by Percival Everett
• The Sellout by Paul Beatty
• Scaffolding by Lauren Elkin
• On the Calculation of Volume, Volume 1 by Solvej Balle, translated from the Dutch by Barbara J. Haveland
• Solenoid by Mircea Cărtărescu, translated from the Romanian by Sean Cotter
• Hunchback by Saou Ichikawa, translated from the Japanese by Polly Barton
• Under the Eye of the Big Bird by Hiromi Kawakami, translated from the Japanese by Asa Yoneda
• Eurotrash by Christian Kracht, translated from the German by Daniel Bowles
• On a Woman's Madness by Astrid Roemer, translated from the Dutch by Lucy Scott
• Herman Melville: A Biography, Volume 1, 1819-1851 by Hershel Parker
• Partners in Crime by Agatha Christie
• The Parisian by Isabella Hammad
• O Pioneers! By Willa Cather

You might also be interested in:

• I'm Getting Out of Her by Leo Robson - https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v44/n21/leo-robson/i-m-getting-out-of-here
• TomorrowTalks with Percival Everett: The Trees - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irzJhamPVJw

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 Frances, Dorian, and Rebecca as they discuss WE DO NOT PART by Han Kang, translated from the Korean by e. yaewon and Paige Aniyah Morris, and chat about their current reading.

For our next episode, we will discuss The Trees by Percival Everett. We would love to have you read along with us, and join us for our conversation coming to you in early April.

Books mentioned:

• We Do Not Part by Han Kang, translated from the Korean by e. yaewon and Paige Aniyah Morris
• The Vegetarian by Han Kang, translated from the Korean by Deborah Smith
• Human Acts by Han Kang, translated from the Korean by Deborah Smith
• The White Book by Han Kang, translated from the Korean by Deborah Smith
• Greek Lessons by Han Kang, translated from the Korean by Deborah Smith and e. yaewon 
• The Doctor's Wife by Brian Moore
• The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne by Brian Moore
• The Cost of Free Land: Jews, Lakota, and an American Inheritance by Rebecca Clarren
• Melvill by Rodrigo Fresán, translated from the Spanish by Will Vanderhyden
• Like a Sky Inside by by Jakuta Alikavazovic, translated from the French by Daniel Levin Becker
• Context Collapse: A Poem Containing a History of Poetry by Ryan Ruby
• The Trees by Percival Everett
• James by Percival Everett
• Erasure by Percival Everett

You might also be interested in:

• Han Kang: Nobel Lecture - https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/2024/han/lecture/
• The Republic of Consciousness Prize, United States and Canada - https://www.republicofconsciousnessprize-usa.com/
• 2024 NBCC Awards Longlists - https://www.bookcritics.org/2025/01/19/2024-nbcc-awards-longlists/
• 2024 NBCC Award Finalists - https://www.bookcritics.org/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, Frances, and Rebecca as they discuss MOBILITY by Lydia Kiesling, and chat about their current reading.

For our next episode, we will discuss WE DO NOT PART by Han Kang, translated from the Korean by E. Yaewon and Paige Aniyah Morris. We would love to have you read along with us, and join us for our conversation coming to you in late February.

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

Books mentioned:

• Mobility by Lydia Kiesling
• The Octopus: A Story of California by Frank Norris
• A Passage to India by E. M. Forster
• The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann, translated from the German by John E. Woods
• Challenger by Adam Higginbotham
• The Achilles Trap by Stephen Coll
• When the Clock Broke by John Ganz
• Animal Joy by Nuar Alsadir
• Middlemarch by George Eliot
• Family Romance: John Singer Sargent and the Wertheimers by Jean Strouse
• Twilight Sleep by Edith Wharton
• The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
• A Son at the Front by Edith Wharton
• We Do Not Part by Han Kang, translated from the Korean by E. Yaewon and Paige Aniyah Morris
• The Vegetarian by Han Kang, translated from the Korean by Deborah Smith

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 their most anticipated books of 2025 with Rohan Maitzen, English Professor at Dalhousie University, critic, and writer of the Novel Readings blog.

For our next episode, we will discuss Mobility by Lydia Keisling. 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:

• Widening the Skirts of Light: Essays on George Eliot by Rohan Maitzen
• Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
• Gliff by Ali Smith
• The Stone Door by Leonora Carrington
• Opus Siniestrus by Leonora Carrington
• Lili Is Crying by Helene Bessette
• Written on the Dark by Guy Gavriel Kay
• Radio Treason The Trials of Lord Haw-Haw, the British Voice of Nazi Germany by Rebecca West
• The Deserters by Mathias Énard, translated from the French by Charlotte Mandell
• Zone by Mathias Énard, translated from the French by Charlotte Mandell
• The Annual Banquet of the Gravediggers' Guild by Mathias Énard, translated from the French by Frank Wynne
• Exophony: Voyages Outside the Moher Tongue by Yoko Tawada, translated from the Japanese by Lisa Hofmann-Kuroda
• Scattered All Over the Earth by Yoko Tawada, translated from the Japanese by Margaret Mitsutani
• Paul Celan and the Trans-Tibetan Angel by Yoko Tawada, translated from the Japanese by Susan Bernofsky
• Makeshift by Sarah Campion
• The Passenger by Ulrich Alexander Boschwitz, translated from the German by Philip Boehm
• The Empusium by Olga Tokarczuk, translated from the Polish by Antonia Lloyd-Jones
• Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes
• Bibliophobia by Sarah Chihaya
• Wildcat Dome by Yuko Tsushima, translated from the Japanese by Lisa Hofmann-Kuroda
• Love in Exile by Shon Faye
• The Female Eunuch by Germaine Greer
• So We Died: A Memoir of Life and Death in the Ghetto of Šiauliai, Lithuania by Levi Shalit, translated by Veronica Belling, Ellen Cassedy and Andrew Cassel
• The Country of the Pointed Firs by Sarah Orne Jewett
• Sun City by Tove Jansson, translated from the Swedish by Thomas Teal
• Melville Biography: An Inside Narrative by Hershel Parker
• Herman Melville: A Biography (Volume 1, 1819-1851) by Hershel Parker
• Herman Melville: A Biography (Volume 2, 1851-1891) by Hershel Parker
• Melvill by Rodrigo Fresan, translated from the Spanish by Will Vanderhyden
• Middlemarch by George Eliot
• Mobility by Lydia Keisling

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 Twitter at @pod_bright

Frances: @nonsuchbook

Dorian: @ds228

Rebecca: @ofbooksandbikes

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, Dorian, and Frances as they discuss OVERSTAYING by Ariane Koch, translated from the German by Damion Searls, and chat about their current reading.

For our next episode, we will welcome Rohan Maitzen to the podcast to join us in discussion about the books we are most looking forward to in the new year. We would love to have you join us for our conversation coming to you in late December.

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

Books Mentioned:

• Overstaying by Ariane Koch, translated from the German by Damion Searls
• Write Like a Man: Jewish Masculinity and the New York Intellectuals by Ronnie A. Grinberg
• Feeding Ghosts: A Graphic Memoir by Tessa Hulls
• The Philosophy of Translation by Damion Searls
• Our Evenings by Alan Hollinghurst
• One Shot Harry by Gary Phillips
• Ash Dark As Night by Gary Phillips
• Moon of the Turning Leaves by Waubgeshig Rice

You might also be interested in:

• "The Cares of a Family Man" by Franz Kafka - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cares_of_a_Family_Man
• Struwwelpeter -  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Struwwelpeter
• The Sandman by E. T. A. Hoffmann - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sandman_(short_story)

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 Twitter at @pod_bright

Frances: @nonsuchbook

Dorian: @ds228

Rebecca: @ofbooksandbikes

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 Frances, Rebecca, and Dorian as they discuss FRAGMENTS OF A PARADISE by Jean Giono, translated from the French by Paul Eprile, and chat about their current reading.

For our next episode, we will discuss OVERSTAYING by Ariane Koch, translated from the German by Damion Searls. We would love to have you read along with us, and join us for our conversation coming to you in late November.

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

Books mentioned:

• Fragments of a Paradise by Jean Giono, translated from the French by Paul Eprile
• Hill by Jean Giono, translated from the French by Paul Eprile
• Moby Dick by Herman Melville
• Middlemarch by George Eliot
• The Position of Spoons by Deborah Levy
• To and Fro by Leah Hager Cohen
• Gifted by Suzumi Suzuki, translated from the Japanese by Allison Markin Powell
• Melvill by Rodrigo Fresan, translated from the Spanish by Will Vanderhyden
• The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding
• Mother Archive: A Dominican Family Memoir by Erika Morillo
• Salvage: Readings From the Wreck by Dionne Brand
• Overstaying by Ariane Koch, translated from the German by Damion Searls

You might also be interested in:

• "The Autobiography of J.G.B." by J.G. Ballard - https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2009/05/11/the-autobiography-of-j-g-b
• Information on the Tom Jones read-along: https://readingkatebriggs.substack.com/
• Rebecca's review of Gifted: https://wordswithoutborders.org/book-reviews/gifted-suzumi-suzuki-allison-markin-powell/

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 Twitter at @pod_bright

Frances: @nonsuchbook

Dorian: @ds228

Rebecca: @ofbooksandbikes

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 HOUSE IN PARIS by Elizabeth Bowen, and chat about their current reading.

For our next episode, we will discuss FRAGMENTS OF A PARADISE by Jean Giono, translated from the French by Paul Eprile. This English language translation of Giono's "often over-looked seafaring tale," an "allegorical critique of modern civilization," will be released by Archipelago Books on November 5. We would love to have you consider reading this one, and join us for our conversation coming to you in late October.

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

Books mentioned:

• The House in Paris by Elizabeth Bowen
• The Death of the Heart by Elizabeth Bowen
• The Heat of the Day by Elizabeth Bowen
• A World of Love by Elizabeth Bowen
• Eva Trout by Elizabeth Bowen
• To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
• Lesser Ruins by Mark Haber
• Lublin by Manya Wilkinson
• The Last Ranger by Peter Heller
• The Wilderness by Ayşegül Savaş
• Frighten the Horses by Oliver Radclyffe
• The Bookshop: A History of the American Bookstore by Evan Friss
• The Woods in Winter by Stella Gibbons
• Spinsters in Jeopardy by Ngaio Marsh
• The Slaves of Solitude by Patrick Hamilton
• Fragments of a Paradise by Jean Giono, translated from the French by Paul Eprile

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 Twitter at @pod_bright

Frances: @nonsuchbook

Dorian: @ds228

Rebecca: @ofbooksandbikes

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.