S3 Ep. 24: Summer Books Extravaganza: Margot Livesey and Jaswinder Bolinda on Beach Reading When the Beach is Closed

In this week’s episode of Fiction/Non/Fiction, co-hosts Whitney Terrell and V.V. Ganeshananthan are joined by novelist Margot Livesey and poet and essayist Jaswinder Bolina. Livesey discusses an excerpt from her fantastic new novel, The Boy in the Field, and challenges the traditional idea that that beach reads shouldn’t, or can’t, be “political.” Then Bolina discusses how the most popular books in this historic summer of protest and pandemic – including his own brilliant new collection of essays, Of Color – have engaged with themes of race and anti-racism.  To hear the full episode, subscribe to the Fiction/Non/Fiction podcast through iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app (include the forward slashes when searching). You can also listen by streaming from the player below. And check out video excerpts from our interviews at LitHub’s Virtual Book Channel and Fiction/Non/Fiction’s YouTube Channel.  This episode was produced by Dylan Miettinen and Andrea Tudhope. Selected readings: Margot Livesey The Boy in the Field Mercury: A Novel The Flight of Gemma Hardy The House on Fortune Street Banishing Verona Eva Moves the Furniture The Missing World Criminals Homework Jaswinder Bolina Of Color The 44th of July Phantom Camera  Others: Middlemarch by George Eliot Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen Normal People by Sally Rooney The Mothers by Brit Bennett Milkman by Anna Burns The Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid Ken Follett James A. Michener 1984 by George Orwell Toni Morrison Margot Livesey on moral weakness for the Fiction/Non/Fiction podcast The Firm by John Grisham Tom Clancy Sue Monk Kidd Agatha Christie Rex Stout Ngaio Marsh Ralph Ellison Billy Collins How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning by Cathy Park Hong Ta-Nehisi Coates Citizen by Claudia Rankin Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude by Ross Gay The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett A Burning by Megha Majumdar The Professor’s House by Willa Cather Real Life by Brandon Taylor Feel Free by Zadie Smith The Great Believers Rebecca Makkai This Is One Way to Dance by Sejal Shah The Dark Tower by Stephen King Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices