Claire Messud on Writing Family

The Book Maven: A Literary Revue

In this episode of The Book Maven: A Literary Revue, Bethanne Patrick sits down with Claire Messud to discuss her book, This Strange Eventful History, and the challenges that arise when writing about your kin, good and bad.

So many readers love Jane Austen as an author unreservedly, and the same goes for Emma as a novel. But in today’s “Canon or Can It?” Bethanne deliberates on whether or not the book belongs in the canon.

Can Bethanne beat the clock? She gives us 6 Recs for our To Be Read lists. Titles include The Love Songs of W. E. B. Du Bois by Honoré Fanonne Jeffers, Long Island Compromise by Taffy Brodesser-Akner, Beloved by Toni Morrison, Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward, The Roundhouse by Louise Erdrich, and Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders.

Find Bethanne on X, Substack, Instagram, and Threads.

The Book Maven: A Literary Revue is hosted by Bethanne Patrick, produced by Christina McBride, and engineered by Jordan Aaron, with help from Lauren Stack.

Titles mentioned: This Strange Eventful History by Claire Messud, Coming to My Senses by Alyssa Harad, Bad Marie by Marcy Dermansky, The Red Car by Marcy Dermansky, Yellowface by R.F. Kuang, The Lost Dumpling by Kirstin Hepburn, Be You, Mandu! by Kirstin Hepburn, Star Trek: Strangers from the Sky by Margaret Wander Bonanno, Emma by Jane Austen, The Love Songs of W. E. B. Du Bois by Honoré Fanonne Jeffers, Long Island Compromise by Taffy Brodesser-Akner, Beloved by Toni Morrison, Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward, The Roundhouse by Louise Erdrich, Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders, and Amy Heckerling’s 1995 film Clueless.