S7 Ep. 12: The Best Books Machine: Lydia Kiesling on Making the Lists—or Not

Novelist and critic Lydia Kiesling joins co-hosts Whitney Terrell and V.V. Ganeshananthan to discuss the creation and the spirit of year-end book lists. She talks about list culture getting its start at the small, online literary magazine, The Millions, and its eventual spread to seemingly every media outlet. The three grapple with the significance of inclusion on these lists, whether they really sell more books, and the ethics of their construction. Kiesling reads from her new novel, Mobility.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 versions of our interviews on the Fiction/Non/Fiction Instagram account, the Fiction/Non/Fiction YouTube Channel, and our show website: https://www.fnfpodcast.net/This episode of the podcast was produced by Anne Kniggendorf.Lydia Kiesling:The Golden StateMobilityOthers:Books We Love | NPRA Year in Reading: 2023 | The Millions100 Notable Books of 2023 | New York Times​​The 10 Best Books Through Time | New York TimesA Year in Reading: 2023 | The Millions“Crime,” by Marilyn Stasio, August 19, 2001| New York Times “‘Terrorist’ – to Whom? V.V. Ganeshananthan’s novel ‘Brotherless Night’ reveals the moral nuances of violence, ever belied by black-an-white terminology” by Omar El Akkad, Jan. 1, 2023 | New York TimesMolly SternThe Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr SolzhenitsynBridget Jones’s Diary by Helen FieldingThe Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael PollanBlink by Malcolm GladwellThe Collected Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald The Stand by Stephen KingA Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtryThe Joy Luck Club by Amy TanAnna Karenina by Leo TolstoyAli & Nino by Kurban SaidThe Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel HawthorneHeart of Darkness by Joseph ConradThings Fall Apart by Chinua AchebeThe Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway1984 by George OrwellPod Save America (podcast) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.