165: Meredith Westgate (THE SHIMMERING STATE) and Tim Krabbé's THE VANISHING

In This Episode:

Meredith Westgate sets the Damn Library Hyperspace glittering, talking with us about The Shimmering State. The trio of us get into the fabric of memory, the joy of the unreliable narrator, how the book is a litmus test for if you like Los Angeles, and also a bit about adapting her own work for the screen. Plus, she brings us Tim Krabbé'sThe Vanishing (also known as The Golden Egg) and everybody gets to be unsettled.

The Ep. 165 Bookshelf

THIS EPISODE'S BOOKS:

The Shimmering State by Meredith Westgate
The Vanishing by Tim Krabbé, trans. by either Claire Nicolas White (US) or Sam Garrett (UK)

WHAT'D YOU BUY?:

Drew — The NYRB Classics Summer Sale: In a Lonely Place by Dorothy L. Sayers + The Hearing Trumpet by Leonora Carrington + The Glory of the Empire by Jean d’Ormesson + Inverted World by Christopher Priest
Christopher — Summer Fun by Jean Thornton // When Two Feathers Fell From the Sky by Margaret Verble
Meredith — Detransition Baby by Torrey Peters // Everyone Knows Your Mother is a Witch by Rivka Galchen

ALSO MENTIONED:

The Prestige by Christopher Priest
Haussmann, or the Distinction by Paul la Farge
The Magicians by Lev Grossman
The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M. Cain
The Wasp Factory by Iain M. Banks
Wolf in White Van by John Darnielle
A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki

RECOMMENDATIONS:

Drew — Listen to Me by Hannah Pittard // A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers
Christopher — The Great Mistake by Jonathan Lee // The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki
Meredith — Writers & Lovers by Lily King

The Damn Bar