Show notes
Strange. Surreal. Smart.The uncanny world Camilla Grudova imagines across the various stories that make up The Doll’s Alphabet is one in which you’re never quite sure what’s around the corner.Thankfully, we have Claire Carroll, another brilliant short story writer—and all-round excellent egg—to hold our hand and help us begin to unpick the intricacies of this beguiling collection.Or not.Maybe we don’t need to figure everything out, and maybe we don’t need to completely understand what it all means.Who knows? But we’ll have some fun thinking about it, and some quite wonderful book chat.Indeed, welcome to The Library of Lazy Thinking Podcast, with me, your host, Glenn Fisher.As you may well know by now, in each episode, I'm joined by a guest from the world of books and culture to talk about a specific book they'd like to put in the library.There's no plan and no agenda, just two people lazily thinking about literature.If you enjoy the show and would like to help us (and get your hands on a coveted Library of Lazy Thinking bookmark, sticker, and pin badge), you can become a supporter of the library by upgrading your subscription.But either way, please do like and share the show—it all helps.In this episode, my very special guest is the author of The Unreliable Nature Writer, Claire Carroll. We discuss her pick for the library, the 2017 short story collection The Doll’s Alphabet by Camila Grudova.About ClaireClaire Carroll lives in Somerset, UK, and writes experimental fiction about the intersection of nature, technology, and desire. She is also a PhD researcher at Bath Spa and Exeter Universities, where she explores how experimental writing – particularly short stories and prose-poetry – can reimagine how humans relate to the natural and non-human world. Claire’s short stories and poetry have been published by journals including Gutter Magazine, perverse, Lunate Journal, The Oxonian Review, and Short Fiction Journal. In 2021, her short story My Brain is Boiling with Ideas was shortlisted for The White Review’s Short Story Prize, and her short story Cephalopod was the recipient of the Essex University & Short Fiction Journal Wild Writing Prize. Both pieces are taken from The Unreliable Nature Writer, Claire’s collection of linked short stories that examines the interconnection of climate anxiety, surviving late capitalism and dealing with personal loss.About CamilaCamilla Grudova lives in Edinburgh. She holds a degree in Art History and German from McGill University, Montreal. Her fiction has appeared in The White Review and Granta. Her critically acclaimed debut collection, The Doll's Alphabet, was published in 2017. Her first novel, Children of Paradise, was longlisted for the Women's Prize. Her most recent book is a second collection, The Coiled Serpent. In 2023 she was named one of Granta's Best of Young British Novelists, a once-in-a-decade accolade.Links to obscure (and not so obscure) things mentioned in this episode* Order The Doll's Alphabet by Camila Grudova and Claire’s The Unreliable Nature Writer from my local independent bookshop in Sheffield here.* Nick Lizard’s review I mention is available on the Guardian website here.* Find Claire on Instagram here.* Find Glenn on Instagram here.* Find The Library of Lazy Thinking on Instagram here.About the LibraryThe Library of Lazy Thinking is a place to hang out and learn more about books. If you’d like to support the library and get access to everything here, you can become a paid member (and get an exclusive The Library of Lazy Thinking bookmark, sticker, and pin badge). All support goes back into the library, helping to organize live events, exclusive merchandise, and more podcasts.About GlennGlenn Fisher is a writer—wait, Glenn Fisher is me. I’m the one writing this. Let’s drop the third-person act. My writing has been published in Lunate, The Paris Bitter Hearts Pit, 3am Magazine, Dogmatika, and Litro Magazine. I write about books and interview other writers and artists here in The Library of Lazy Thinking. I live in Sheffield and work as a freelance copywriter. I have had a best-selling non-fiction book published on the subject called The Art of the Click. It was published by Harriman House and shortlisted for Business Book of the Year. It has been translated into Simplified Chinese and Korean. I also have a dog called Pablo. He is harder to translate. Indeed, most of my life revolves around trying to understand his often unreasonable demands. Meanwhile, I am currently working on my first novel about a man who accidentally kidnaps a pig. Get full access to The Library of Lazy Thinking at lazythinking.substack.com/subscribe