151: Emily Temple (THE LIGHTNESS) and Kōbō Abe's THE WOMAN IN THE DUNES

In This Episode:

Emily Temple floats into the Zoom Damn Library and we all chat about calendars and dreams — of being a writer as well as the dream of online book recommendation — and knowing you'll rewrite your first draft. Of course we also discuss her novel The Lightness, and how summer camps are kind of proto-cults, and how you end up putting everything into your debut, because of course there will be more. Plus, she brought us the anti-beach read Kōbō Abe's The Woman in the Dunes, and we can still taste the sand.

The Ep. 151 Bookshelf

THIS EPISODE'S BOOKS:

The Lightness by Emily Temple
The Woman in the Dunes by Kōbō Abe, translated by E. Dale Saunders

WHAT'D YOU BUY?:

Drew — Oh Reader // The Memory Theater by Karin Tidbeck
Christopher — The Christmasaurus by Tom Fletcher // Four Lost Cities by Annalee Newitz
Emily — When the Women Come Out to Dance by Elmore Leonard // the Stendig Calendar

ALSO MENTIONED:

Amatka by Karin Tidbeck
Jagannath by Karin Tidbeck
Justified (2010-2015) — created by Graham Yost
Yuma by Elmore Leonard
The Secret History by Donna Tartt
Wild Wild Country (2018) — directed by Maclain & Chapman Way
Skippy Dies by Paul Murray
Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011) — written & directed by Sean Durkin
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
Chicken Run (1999) — created by Nick Park and Peter Lord
The Stranger by Albert Camus
The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus
Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003) — created by Joss Whedon
Bluets by Maggie Nelson
Pond by Claire-Louise Bennett
Hope Never Dies by Andrew Shaffer

RECOMMENDATIONS:

Drew — Eat a Peach by David Chang

Emily — Burnt Sugar by Avni Doshi // Luster by Raven Leilani // Look at Me by Anita Brookner

Christopher — “Chill Christmas Beats” playlist on Spotify // Secret Santa by Andrew Shaffer

The Damn Bar