Show notes
“A sex memoir.”“The gayest book ever written.”“Filthy.”Reading the blurbs about Edmund White’s most recent memoir, The Loves of My Life, you might think the book is going to be one thing…In reality, it’s quite another.A fascinating, tender, and ultimately universal account of life, love, and, well, yes… to top it all, there’s enough sex in there to make Hugh Hefner blush.To spare my own blushes, I’m thankful to be joined to discuss the book by a brilliant Irish writer and novelist, the quite excellent, Megan Nolan.She joined me from across the pond—where she’s currently living in New York—to explain why she loves the book and White’s writing generally, and it all makes for another great episode of the show.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, as I say, my very special guest is the author of Acts of Desperation and Ordinary Human Failings, Megan Nolan. We discuss her pick for the library, the 2025 memoir The Loves of My Life by Edmund White.About MeganMegan Nolan was born in 1990 in Waterford, Ireland, and is currently based in New York. Her essays and reviews have been published by the New York Times, White Review, Guardian and Frieze amongst others. For her debut novel, Acts of Desperation, Nolan was the recipient of a Betty Trask Award, shortlisted for the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award, and longlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize. Ordinary Human Failings was longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction, and shortlisted for the Nero Book Award for Fiction, the Gordon Burn Prize, and the RSL Encore Award.About EdmundEdmund White is a gay American novelist, memoirist, playwright, biographer and essayist. He is the recipient of Lambda Literary's Visionary Award, the National Book Foundation's Lifetime Achievement Award, and the PEN/Saul Bellow Award for Achievement in American Fiction. France made him Chevalier (and later Officier) de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 1993. White is known as a groundbreaking writer of gay literature and a major influence on gay American literature and has been called "the first major queer novelist to champion a new generation of writers."Links to obscure (and not so obscure) things mentioned in this episode* Order The Loves of My Life by Edmund White and Megan’s novels Acts of Desperation and Ordinary Human Failings from my local independent bookshop in Sheffield here.* Ian Williams from Don Caballero (and now Battles) in a scene from High Fidelity.* Find Megan 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