Trevor Berrett

Trevor Berrett is the editor of The Mookse and the Gripes

Episode 6: Nancy Mitford’s The Sun King

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The-Sun-KingThis month, we are joined by Tara Olmsted of booksexyreview.com to discuss Nancy Mitford’s biography of Louix XIV, The Sun King.

Louis XIV fell in love with Versailles and Louise de La Vallière at the same time. Versailles was the love of his life.

So begins Nancy Mitford’s 1966 biography of Louis XIV, her third of four biographies she completed during her lifetime. The Sun King is filled with her wry observations and rare wit. Mitford herself loved Versailles, dying there in her home in 1973.

NYRB Classics published their edition of The Sun King in May of 2012, and it is the book we’ll be talking about in Episode 6 of The Mookse and the Gripes Podcast.

In Episode 7 we will be discussing Vivant Denon’s No Tomorrow.

Show Notes (57:06)

  • Intro
  • Brief look at Nancy Mitford and the Mitford siblings
  • General thoughts
  • Mitford’s fiction

Some Links

Episode Credits

  • Co-Host Trevor Berrett
  • Co-Host Brian Berrett
  • Guest Tara Olmsted of booksexyreview.com
  • Introduction Music — “Where We Fall We’ll Lie” by Jeff Zentner, from his album The Dying Days of Summer (used with permission)
  • Outro Music — “If This Is to Be Goodbye” by Jeff Zentner, from his album The Dying Days of Summer (used with permission)

Ruth Prawer Jhabvala: “The Judge’s Will”

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Click here to read the story in its entirety on The New Yorker webpage. Ruth Prawer Jhabvala “The Judge’s Will” was originally published in the March 25, 2013 issue of The New Yorker. Betsy In “The Judge’s Will,” Ruth Prawer Jhabvala unfolds a neat, entertaining story that fools the reader. Many thanks to Jhabvala for giving us yet another deft, … Read more

Karen Russell: “The Seagull Army Descends on Strong Beach, 1979”

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“The Seagull Army Descends on Strong Beach, 1979” is the third story in Karen Russell’s second short story collection, Vampires in the Lemon Grove. For an overview with links to review of the others stories in this collection, please click here. This story was originally published in Tin House (as “The Seagull Army Descends on Strong Beach”; I have … Read more

The Story Prize Winner

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Today the winner of The Story Prize, a prize established in 2004 to honor short story collections, was announced. Battleborn, by Claire Vaye Watkins The other two finalists were: Stay Awake, by Dan Chaon This Is How You Lose Her, by Junot Díaz

The Folio Prize Announced

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I was not a fan of the 2011 Booker Prize and its judges’ quest for “readability,” which they defined as something that “zipped along.” It seemed everyday there was a new article criticizing the prize and the judges, and it all completely overshadowed the books. One of the responses was the inception of a new … Read more

Callan Wink: “One More Last Stand”

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Callan Wink’s “One More Last Stand” was first published in Granta 122: Betrayal. Callan Wink first came to my attention when he published his first story in, of all the lucky places, The New Yorker. “Dog Run Moon” proved to be an exciting glimpse at what Wink had to offer. Then around a year later, another … Read more

The Women’s Prize for Fiction Longlist

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The twenty titles on the longlist of the Women’s Prize for Fiction (formerly the Orange Prize) were announced: A Trick I Learned from a Dead Man, by Kitty Aldridge Life After Life, by Kate Atkinson The Marlowe Papers, by Ros Barber The People of Forever Are Not Afraid, by Shani Boianjiu Gone Girl, by Gillian … Read more