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The Foxed Page

Kimberly Ford

If you love to read, The Foxed Page is for you. With these deep dives into the best books, you’ll gain a richer understanding of the title at hand, all while learning to read everything better.

Choose from long-form lectures, quick recommendations, talks on old favorites and plenty of episodes from the archives.

Listen to The Foxed Page--with Kimberly Ford, best-selling author, former adjunct professor and Ph.D.

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  • 22 episodes
  • weekly
  • Avg 51 min
  • English

Episodes 22

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  • Monday · 1 hr 8 min

    HELEN of NOWHERE >> If this doesn't win the Booker I might cry.

    Goodman is sooooo smart. HELEN is inventive, heady, strange and HILARIOUS. Listen in to see what all those Booker judges might have identified when they longlisted this gem of a novella. Resources consulted and/or cited: https://thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-library/features/makenna-goodman-interview https://www.theguardian.com/books/2026/feb/06/helen-of-nowhere-by-makenna-goodman-review-a-perfect-fairytale-for-our-times https://www.guernicamag.com/makenna-goodman-motherhood-and-isolation/ https://www.sevendaysvt.com/arts-culture/books-arts-culture/inside-the-mind-of-booker-prize-nominee-makenna-goodman/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbRJv5dyq3M

  • September 8 · 1 hr 8 min

    LIFE of M by Rachel Cusk >> Jump into the fray with me!

    NEVER have I been so riveted by a controversy. When's the last time LITERATURE caused this kind of stir?? Listen in to explore: what Cusk is actually up to; where I think sympathy lies; how looking closely at the title, the cover, the opening, and THE TEXT gives us the best way to understand the whole knotty, complex, fascinating thing!

  • September 4 · 50 min

    COUNTRY PEOPLE by Daniel Mason

    If you loved this book this summer (or didn't quite think it lived up to NORTH WOODS), go back to school with me (and Miles and Kate and their kids) to study why the novel works well in so many ways--and falls a little short in others. Plus! A look at how Mason's humor is really firing on all cylinders in this one! Interview referred to in podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/poured-over/id1567969228?i=1000775778354

  • August 28 · 52 min

    THE ODYSSEY by Homer >>Could the movie be better than the book??

    The average moviegoer can't answer that because, honestly--who's plowed through the 592-page epic poem recently? With today's lecture, no one needs to, but you might end up WANTING TO. We discuss what THE ODYSSEY actually is, when it was sung, when it was written, whether it was actually Homer who did the writing and so much more. Then we dive into the difficulty of translating this behemoth, with some gorgeous (and hilarious) comparisons of lines from the years 1611, 1967, 1996 and 2018. Lastly we dive into my impressions of the movie, which I saw AT A DRIVE-IN. In a mere hour you could feel a lot smarter about one of the foundational texts of all of Western Literature. Listen in now!

  • August 21 · 58 min

    Rachel Cusk's OUTLINE >> Who ISN'T talking about the release of LIFE OF M on August 25??

    Who ISN'T talking about the release of LIFE OF M on August 25?? Prepare for Cusk's new work by reminding yourself--or finding out for the first time--why her approach to fiction is so radical. OUTLINE's narrative, structure and even basic description means plenty of grist for my mill. Whether you loved the book or were left wondering what the hell just happened--prepare for some super-rich edification. (This is a REPOST of an earlier lecture.)

  • August 3 · 52 min

    LOST LAMBS by Madeline Cash >> FInd out why the buzz around this debut novel is warranted!

    With all its inventive, kooky, paramilitary (!) elements, Lost Lambs is delightful and wholly original. Except when it seems like a DIRECT descendent of Thomas Pynchon. Listen in to fully appreciate the narrative stance, the postmodern elements (don't worry, I'll provide a definition), the structure, and the ways this frothy novel is crucially subversive. And the gnats! Dive in to hear my theory for wtf is up with all the GNATs!

  • July 29 · 55 min

    NIGHTCRAWLING by Leila Mottley >> No WONDER Mottley was the youngest to ever be longlisted for the Booker!

    I picked up THE GIRLS WHO GREW BIG in the bookstore but ended up reading NIGHTCRAWLING. Wow is Mottley a talent to be watched. Based on a true story, the novel digs deeply into police corruption, the failures of the education and employment systems, misogyny, corruption, life as a young Black woman in Oakland...to say nothing of the realities of sex work. We explore a strong, recurring motif, figurative language, ingenious plotting (and some that doesn't work quite as well). I get myself into pretzels to avoid any spoilers until the end, though this book is so good you would want to read it even if you knew exactly what was coming. Give this novel the attention it deserves now!

  • July 23 · 53 min

    THE GOLDEN NOTEBOOK by Doris Lessing >> How is this the first Lessing I've ever read??

    Whether you love this iconic, culty, groundbreaking novel or you don't get the hype; whether you believe it's a feminist treatise or a meditation on the promise and the shortfalls of communism, you'll finish this lecture feeling like you've gotten some SERIOUS LITERATURE under your belt. If you haven't read this 1962 phenomenon--or haven't for a while--this lecture is a good (re)introduction to why the unique structure and radical candor about everything from motherhood to post-War politics in Southern Rhodesia, to the difference between the clitoral and vaginal orgasm (at least in Lessing's [somewhat hilarious and highly suspect] opinion) make this worth its 600+ pages.

  • July 20 · 43 min

    "ARGOS" (yes, THE ODYSSEY dog!) by Joy Williams

    NEVER READ IT? NO PROBMLEM! NO READING REQUIRED! I READ THE (very short) STORY TO YOU! Clearly I'm caught up in the frenzy surrounding Christopher Nolan's THE ODYSSEY. I've only seen the trailer, but ARGOS (Odysseus's dog) appears not once but TWICE in about two minutes. I could NOT stop thinking about Joy Williams's incredible short story about our hero's best friend. Forty-five minutes from now, you could feel smarter, more informed about the movie, and maybe a little better ABOUT DEATH. Williams is amazing: in three mere pages, she takes us well beyond The Odyssey into the kind of land only Williams can create. Nolan seems to be doing well with the source material. Williams's ultra-brief interpretation is a masterpiece.

  • July 6 · 1 hr 13 min

    David Foster Wallace's SOMETHING TO DO WITH PAYING ATTENTION (from THE PALE KING)>> Finally, FINALLY, I've worked up the courage to lecture on one of my hugest literary heroes.

    This novella--an excerpt of THE PALE KING--was a revelation. Just as its publisher Sarah McNally says in the preface, Wallace's cult-status fame as a challenging writer can be daunting, and his oeuvre is so large, it's hard to know where to begin. This is where to begin! The lecture is probably best heard if you've read The Pale King (and/or this amazing section itself) but I like to think lovers of DFW will get lots out of this even if you haven't read him in years. It was SO GOOD to return to this work: his later, more grounded, warmer, incredibly moving work. In this case, about tax law and radical tedium. Doesn't get better than that.

  • July 3 · 1 hr 3 min

    Elin Hilderbrand's THE PERFECT COUPLE (and THE FIVE STAR WEEKEND, kind of) >> On July 9, Peacock will air a second adaptation! Listen in to why Hilderbrand's work translates so well to the small screen!

    I loved The Perfect Couple. I even loved the UNperfect parts. Part of the reason there's a second tv series is because Hilderbrand is so good at what she does. Listen in to fully appreciate this juicy, splashy series! (And if you're someone who turns up her nose at Hilderbrand, but you want a frothy beach read, listen in to hear why her work is much better than you think!)

  • June 30 · 10 min

    A (Literary) Ben Lerner scavenger hunt??

    When I came across a new short story by Ben Lerner, an audio version of the story read by Lerner, an interview with Lerner about the short story AND a nonfiction piece by Lerner related to the story, I felt like I'd entered a very Lernerian world. Tune in for a quick ten minutes that will convince you to hunt down out "The Readers." Not only is this the very best prose, but the pieces also combine to provide a fat PRIZE at the end of that hunt. NO READING NECESSARY!

  • June 26 · 15 min

    (my very brief thoughts on) STRANGERS by Belle Burden

    It might not be the flashiest part of Strangers, but it's worth taking a quick look at why Burden's prose functions so well. Also! My sense of specific thing that makes this far more than a cautionary tale about women and personal finances. AND! My own personal crusade about how we should describe this woman while recommending this book to everyone we know.

  • June 22 · 40 min

    VILLA COCO by Andrew Sean Greer >> Greer calls this a "charm" novel, and charming it is! But if you love it a little less that you loved LESS, listen in!

    Andrew Sean Greer is one of those writers who wrote a book that is so uncommonly GOOD that everything after it pales in comparison. Less--with its propulsive plot, its sneaky narrator and its incredible twist--continues to be an enormous favorite of mine. VILLA COCO might stand in the shadow of that earlier work, but so much is working well here. Especially if you're someone who starts it and feels it lag, this lecture is for you. It picks up! And if you have the real strangths of the novel in mind, it'll be all the more CHARMING. NO SPOILERS! A GOOD PRE-READING lecture!

  • June 15 · 52 min

    WHO WILL RUN THE FROG HOSPITAL by Lorrie Moore >> I was weirdly nervous about doing this book justice. I like to think I did!

    Moore is SO GOOD that the last half of the lecture is just me doing my favorite party trick! I think of two numbers, then go to the first number's corresponding page and the second number's line. Then I sit back and just revel (explaining all the while) in the author's sheer genius. Truly, every single line in this slim cult classic could inspire its own lecture. Listen in now to how Moore pulls off this hilarious, inventive, dark and ultra-intelligent first novel.

Showing 1–20 of 22 episodes