Lit with Charles
Welcome to Lit With Charles, a podcast on all things literary! I'm Charles Pignal, and every fortnight I’m asking guests about the four books which have made the biggest impact on their lives and work. If you're like me, you love literature – but maybe aren't always sure what you should be reading. The aim of this podcast is to make literature exciting and accessible; in each episode writers, artists, and other interesting people are giving real recommendations, to help you discover new books and authors off the beaten track. Here at Lit With Charles, every book has a story to tell.
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Well, we’ve made it to the end of 2024. I love putting together this list each December because it forces me to look back on a year of reading, try to create some order out of the chaos, and figure out what it is about the stories that I came across that I did and didn’t appreciate. Some books were clear losers. But so
There’s something about the idea of a ‘genius’ that has always captivated us. Whether it’s the artist painting their masterpiece or the entrepreneur betting on the future, we’re captivated by people who seem to see the world differently – and stake everything on that vision. While Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos might be hous
The memoir is a fascinating form to explore. I’m always intrigued as to how an author can adapt their life and fit it into the confines of a page. How does one capture all its complexities, contradictions, and fleeting moments, in a narrative that feels both honest and coherent? My guest today is Susanna Crossman, a Br
So this episode is a bit unusual for a variety of reasons. First of all, it’s with a good friend of mine – novelist Arthur Larrue. As you might have guessed from his name, though, Arthur Larrue is French and this entire interview is conducted in French. So unless you speak French, or are trying to test your linguistic
Welcome to this very special episode of the Lit With Charles podcast, where instead of interviewing an interesting guest, I’m actually responding to 10 listeners’ burning questions! Today, you’ll get to hear about my earliest memory of falling in love with reading, and how Stephen King's thrilling tales resonated in m
Today I sat down with Vanessa Beaumont, a former literary agent and novelist about her debut novel The Other Side of Paradise which follows Jean Buckman, a young American newspaper heiress, who arrives in London in the glittering 1920s, and evolves throughout the story, through personal tragedy and loss. Over the cours
