Your Favorite Book with Jean Thompson

Welcome to another installment of a collaboration between the Chicago Review of Books and the Your Favorite Book podcast. Malavika Praseed, frequent CHIRB contributor and podcast host, seeks to talk to readers and writers about the books that light a fire inside them. What’s your favorite book and why?

Our guest is Jean Thompson, author of many novels, former National Book Award finalist, and most recently the author of The Poet’s House. This book explores the sordid lives and falsehoods of poets in California through the eyes of a young admirer, a woman entrenched in blue-collar life but fascinated by poetry. The book takes on the blurred lines of mentorship, the elitism of poetry, and the differences between loving writing and writers themselves.

Jean chose a book first and foremost for its prose style, so unique and unlike a great deal of contemporary writing. James Agee’s A Death in the Family, his posthumous Pulitzer Prize winning masterpiece, takes the simple and magnifies it to Biblical proportions. The death of a family patriarch shatters the suburban ideals within, and we witness the internal and external carnage in one way or another.

This is our season finale, but Your Favorite Book will be back in mid-August with more interviews.

See Also

12 Must-Read Books of August

FINALE (for now): My Favorite Books of 2022 – Your Favorite Book

Well, we're here, and it's bittersweet. Plain and simple, these are my favorite books that I happened to read in 2022, spoiler free of course, and ranked in order. Something for everyone, with plenty of honorable mentions to boot. I will miss each and every one of you, and I hope to be back in some capacity in the future. Till then, you can stay in touch with me via instagram and twitter @yfbpodcast

1. FINALE (for now): My Favorite Books of 2022 26:22
2. On Book Podcasting (Again!) with Julie Strauss (Best Book Ever Crossover) 38:26
3. The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson with Keenan Norris (Author of Chi Boy) 48:17
4. I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy with Deeba Zargarpur (Author of House of Yesterday) 39:27
5. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (with Ethan Chatagnier, author of Singer Distance) 40:42

Listen to this episode of Your Favorite Book at the link above, and stay tuned for more episodes with other writers in the weeks to come. If you enjoy this episode, check out other episodes of Your Favorite Book on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or other major podcast platforms. Reviews on Apple Podcasts and other platforms are also very much appreciated.