Backlisted16 Tammi 2024

Stone Angel by Margaret Laurence

For this first episode of 2024 we are joined by the chair of Virago Press, Lennie Goodings to discuss a novel by her fellow Canadian, Margaret Laurence. First published in 1964, The Stone Angel is a landmark in modern Canadian fiction. The narrator is the unforgettable Hagar Shipley, a spiky, sharp-tongued, proud and profane ninety-year-old who is trying to resist her family’s attempts to transfer her into a nursing home. This battle is interwoven with memories of her long and difficult life, much of it spent in the Manitoban prairie town of Manawaka, a place closely based on Laurence’s own home town of Neepawa and which would provide the setting for three more novels and a collection of stories. We discuss the book’s place in the Canadian pantheon and speculate on why it hasn’t become and established classic outside Canada (it is no longer in print with Virago). We also discover some unexpected coincidences among Margaret Laurence’s neighbours during the years she lived in England in the late sixties and early seventies. This is a book that deserves to find many more new readers. * To purchase any of the books mentioned in this episode please visit our bookshop at uk.bookshop.org/shop/backlisted where all profits help to sustain this podcast and UK independent bookshops. * For information about everything mentioned in this episode visit www.backlisted.fm *If you'd like to support the show and join in with the book chat, listen without adverts, receive the show early and with extra bonus fortnightly episodes, become a Patreon at www.patreon.com/backlisted *You can sign up to our free monthly newsletter here http://bit.ly/backlistednewsletter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard - Rerun

In light of the death of Annie Dillard, we are revisiting our discussion of her Pulitzer Prize-winning classic Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. First published in 1974, when Dillard was still in her twenties...

22 Syys 1h 11min

Rerun - Elizabeth Costello by J.M. Coetzee

Recorded live in Galway in 2021, we were joined by novelist Mary Costello for a special episode recorded live at Galway International Arts Festival in Ireland. The book we're debating is Elizabeth Cos...

31 Elo 1h 6min

Rerun - The Ice Palace by Tarjei Vesaas

Returning to a show we made in 2022. The Ice Palace or Is-slottet by Tarjei Vesaas is a 20th century classic by one of Norway’s greatest modern writers. First published by Gyldendal in 1963, it went o...

17 Elo 1h 9min

Gaining Ground by Joan Barfoot - Rerun

In light of it's republication by Faber this month, we are replaying this wonderful episode where author Rose Ruane first brought Gaining Ground A.K.A. Abra (1978) by Canadian feminist writer Joan Bar...

3 Elo 1h 9min

Summer Reading 2026

Just in time for the summer holidays, the Backlisted team recommend six books we have enjoyed recently: As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning by Laurie Lee; Boulder by Eva Baltasar; Flashlight by Susa...

28 Heinä 1h 3min

Summer Reading 2023 - Rerun

Over here in the UK, we are well and truly into summer: some of us have World Cup fever, and others... have not. To celebrate the continuing balm, we are rerunning one of our classic summer reading ep...

7 Heinä 1h 4min

How to Talk About Books You Haven't Read by Pierre Bayard - Rerun

Recorded back in 2018 at Port Elliot festival, Andy and John are joined on stage by writer, actor and comedian Ben Moor, author of More Trees to Climb (Granta) and whose comedy show ‘Book Talk Book Ta...

23 Kesä 58min

Look At Me by Anita Brookner - rerun

This is a vintage Backlisted episode recorded back in 2017. John and Andy were joined by Una McCormack and Lucy Scholes to discuss Anita Brookner's third novel Look At Me (1982), a tale of intergalact...

9 Kesä 1h 8min