FictionMatters

About FictionMatters

Book recommendations from avid readers and your favorite writers. fictionmatters.substack.com (https://fictionmatters.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast)

Publisher

Sara Hildreth

Category

arts · education

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

28 Nov 2023

Latest episode

21 Sept 2026

Latest episodes

25 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   21 Sept 2026

   Books That Matter: Julie Buntin on THE STONE DIARIES by Carol Shields

   This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit fictionmatters.substack.com (https://fictionmatters.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_7) Welcome to Books That Matter. In this series, I ask writers to share a book that matters to them. I read it and we deep dive into the world of the text, exploring story, craft, and the way a great book can become part of someone. You’ll hear your favorite authors on their favorite authors and come away with expertly curated reading lists. Today, Julie Buntin, author of Famous Men and Marlena, joins me to talk about Carol Shields’s Pulitzer-winning novel The Stone Diaries. This is one of the best books I’ve read all year and getting the chance to talk about the book’s emotional and intellectual prowess with Julie was an absolute joy. The Stone Diaries is a birth to death novel told with technical assurance and stylistic originality—its innovative without ever making the reader feel like their witnessing a trick or gimmick. It’s moving in the truest sense of the word, helping readers to see the world in an slightly altered state upon finishing. Julie’s insights into the book, both personal and analytical, helped me appreciate it all the more and understand better how she herself is able to bring such depth and complexity to her work. I also got the chance to ask Julie about her wonderful new novel Famous Men. This is book that takes a story you think you know and continues adding layers until you realize you’re reading something infinitely more complex than you could have imagined. It was such a treat to get to hear all of the pieces that Julie pulled together in crafting this work and what made the writing process so different from her first book, Marlena. You can purchase Famous Men (https://bookshop.org/a/1173/9780593229958), Marlena (https://bookshop.org/a/1173/9781250160157), and Carol Shields’s The Stone Diaries (https://bookshop.org/a/1173/9780143105503) on Bookshop.org or wherever you get your books! Julie Buntin’s new novel, Famous Men (https://bookshop.org/a/1173/9780593229958), is out now from Random House. Her debut, Marlena (https://bookshop.org/a/1173/9781250160157), was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle’s John Leonard Prize and longlisted for the Center for Fiction’s First Novel Prize. It was a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Pick, an Indie Next pick, a Nevada Statewide Read, a Michigan Notable Book, and named a best book of the year by over a dozen outlets, including The Washington Post, NPR, and Kirkus Reviews. Buntin’s writing has appeared in The Atlantic, Harper’s, and The New York Times, among other publications, and has been translated into nine languages. She's the recipient of fellowships from the MacDowell Colony and the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, and was the winner - for Famous Men - of the Ellen Levine Fund for Writers Award from the New York Community Trust. Her collaborative nonfiction project, Notes to New Mothers (https://bookshop.org/a/1173/9781324117056), co-edited with Rebecca Dinerstein Knight (https://www.rebeccadinersteinknight.com/about) and published by W.W. Norton, is an independent press bestseller. Previously, Buntin was an editor and director of writing programs at Catapult. She has taught creative writing at NYU, Columbia University, the Yale Writers’ Workshop, and elsewhere. Now, she writes and teaches in Ann Arbor, where she is an associate professor at the University of Michigan. Connect with Julie: Website (https://www.juliebuntin.com/) | Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/juliebuntin/?hl=en) | Famous Men (https://bookshop.org/a/1173/9780593229958)on Bookshop (https://bookshop.org/a/1173/9780316594523) * Roald Dahl Collection (https://bookshop.org/a/1173/9780142414972) * The Chronicles of Narnia (https://bookshop.org/a/1173/9780064405379) by C.S. Lewis * Redwall (https://bookshop.org/a/1173/9780142302378) by Brian Jacques * Stephen King * Annie Ernaud * Tove Ditlevsen * Elena Ferrante * Ninth House (https://bookshop.org/a/1173/9781250751362) by Leigh Bardugo * I’m Glad My Mom Died (https://bookshop.org/a/1173/9781982185831) by Jeannette McCurdy * Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling * Percy Jackson (https://bookshop.org/a/1173/9781368098045) by Rick Riordan * Great Expectations (https://bookshop.org/a/1173/9780141439563) by Charles Dickens * Such a Fun Age (https://bookshop.org/a/1173/9780525541912) by Kylie Reid * The Stone Diaries (https://bookshop.org/a/1173/9780143105503) by Carol Shields * To the Lighthouse (https://bookshop.org/a/1173/9780199536610) by Virginia Woolf * Marlena (https://bookshop.org/a/1173/9781250160157) by Julie Buntin * Tara Nichols on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/tarajoy90/) * Famous Men (https://libro.fm/audiobooks/9798217343430-famous-men) on Audio (https://libro.fm/audiobooks/9798217343430-famous-men) * Zuckerman Unbound (https://bookshop.org/a/1173/9780679748991) by Phillip Roth * Brandon Taylor (https://substack.com/profile/13679-brandon-taylor)’s sweater weather (https://blgtylr.substack.com/) * “That Crafty Feeling (https://www.thebeliever.net/that-crafty-feeling/)” by Zadie Smith *This post contains affiliate links.

2. 

   27 Jul 2026

   Books That Matter: Laura McGrath on THE WIFE by Meg Wolitzer

   Welcome to Books That Matter. In this series, I’ll speak with writers I admire to learn about their lives as readers and deep dive into a book that matters to them. Laura B. McGrath (https://substack.com/profile/934682-laura-b-mcgrath) is Assistant Professor of English at Temple University, National Endowment for the Humanities Fellow, and author of Middlemen: Literary Agents and the Making of American Fiction (https://bookshop.org/a/1173/9780691256160). Her writing has appeared in The Atlantic, The Nation, The Los Angeles Review of Books, and Public Books. She also writes the popular publishing substack, TextCrunch (https://laurabmcgrath.substack.com/). In today’s episode, Laura joins me to talk about Meg Wolitzer’s The Wife (https://bookshop.org/a/1173/9780743456661). I absolutely loved reading this book and it is a novel that absolutely must be discussed so I was thrilled to get the chance to deep dive into it with Laura. We talked about what makes a good publishing novel and how this particular book illuminates gender disparities in the literary world, while saying something much broader about what it means to be a woman and a wife. Of course we also we dive into Laura’s book Middlemen, which is all about the unique role literary agents play in the contemporary American publishing landscape. This book is the very definition of a rich text. I found Laura’s discoveries fascinating and I think any reader of contemporary fiction will as well. While we do talk about the end of The Wife, we save that for the last few minutes of our conversation and give ample warning before we we into spoilers! You can find Middlemen (https://bookshop.org/a/1173/9780691256160) on Bookshop.org (https://bookshop.org/a/1173/9780691256160) or wherever you get your books! This is a peek behind the curtain of a very opaque industry and if you love books, I think you’ll find it extremely interesting. Connect with Laura: Website (https://laurabmcgrath.com/) | Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/laurabmcgrath/?hl=en) | Substack (https://laurabmcgrath.substack.com/) | Middlemen (https://bookshop.org/a/1173/9780691256160)on Bookshop (https://bookshop.org/a/1173/9780316594523) This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit fictionmatters.substack.com/subscribe (https://fictionmatters.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2)

3. 

   20 Jul 2026

   Books That Matter: Sarah Wang on THE TOPEKA SCHOOL by Ben Lerner

   Welcome to the FictionMatters Podcast. I’m your host Sara Hildreth and this is Books That Matter. In this series, I’ll speak with writers I admire to learn about their lives as readers and deep dive into a book that matters to them. Sarah Wang is the author of New Skin (https://bookshop.org/a/1173/9780316594523) (Little Brown, 2026), which was named a best book by NPR, Apple Books, and was featured in Marie Claire, Harper’s Bazaar, People, and Bloomberg. She has written for The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and the London Review of Books. Wang is a MacDowell Fellow, a Center for Fiction Emerging Writer Fellow, a PEN America Writing for Justice Fellow, a Sewanee Writer’s Conference Tennessee Williams Scholar, a Tin House Scholar, and the winner of a Barbara Deming Award. She teaches creative writing at Barnard College. In today’s episode, Sarah joins me to talk about Ben Lerner’s The Topeka School (https://bookshop.org/a/1173/9780374721183). I loved this book, and processing my reading with Sarah made it all the richer. We delved into the mind-bending world of psychoanalytic theory and speculated on what the book is saying about language, masculinity, and trauma. Then we dive into Sarah’s debut novel New Skin. This book is the very definition of a rich text. I was thrilled to get to ask Sarah all of my questions, but also appreciated the questions she asked me about my experience reading her book. While we do get into some specifics about The Topeka School, we don’t include any spoilers for New Skin and you can listen to the episode without yet having read either book. You can find New Skin in your favorite bookshop now! This is a highly original debut that I hope more readers will pick up! Connect with Sarah: Website (http://wangsarah.com/) | Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/daikonoclast/?hl=en) | New Skin (https://bookshop.org/a/1173/9780316594523)on Bookshop (https://bookshop.org/a/1173/9780316594523) | New Skin (https://libro.fm/audiobooks/9781668657218-new-skin) on Libro.fm (https://libro.fm/audiobooks/9781668657218-new-skin) This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit fictionmatters.substack.com/subscribe (https://fictionmatters.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2)

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Apple Podcasts (US)

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