S4 Ep. 22: Why Be A Critic? Laura Miller on Reading, Listening to, and Writing About Books

fiction/non/fiction

Acclaimed Slate books and culture columnist Laura Miller joins co-hosts Whitney Terrell and V.V. Ganeshananthan to discuss the ins and outs of being a critic. Miller discusses a recent piece about diversity and representation in audiobook narration. She also talks about reading for pleasure versus work, and why, when she’s not reviewing, she often finds herself listening to authors.

To hear the full episode, subscribe 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. Check out video excerpts from our interviews at LitHub’s Virtual Book Channel and Fiction/Non/Fiction’s YouTube Channel, and don't miss our brand-new website: https://www.fnfpodcast.net/

This podcast is produced by Andrea Tudhope.

Selected readings:

Laura Miller

• The Magician’s Book: A Skeptic’s Adventures in Narnia
• “The People Who Voice Audiobooks with Diverse Characters are Squirming Right Now,” Slate
• “Enough With Literature as Self-Improvement!” Salon.com
• “The Dark History Behind the Year’s Bestselling Debut Novel,” Slate
• 
  

Others:

• “The Good Lieutenant by Whitney Terrell review – the Bush wars' best novel” by Charles Finch, The Guardian
• “Greetings From Polysyllabia” by Nandini Lal, Washington Post
• Wonderworks by Angus Fletcher
• Minders of Make-Believe: Idealists, Entrepreneurs, and the Shaping of AmericanChildren's Literature by Leonard Marcus
• “Toil and Trouble” by Caleb Crain, New York Times Book Review
• “The Hideous Unknown of H.P. Lovecraft” by Charles Baxter, The New York Review
• “Reply to Charles Baxter’s ‘The Hideous Unknown of H. P. Lovecraft’” by S.T. Joshi
• “What Muriel Park Saw” by Parul Sehgal, The New Yorker
• “Philip Roth’s Revenge Fantasy,” by Laura Marsh, New Republic
• Judith Shulevitz, New York Times
• Zadie Smith
• Dwight Garner, New York Times
• Daniel Mendelsohn, New York Review of Books

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