This week, as part of our continuing “Summer of Selfies” theme, we’re discussing Pam Houston’s latest book, a novel that draws heavily from the author’s own life, and whose narrator is even named Pam. This isn’t the first time that Houston has played with the line between fact and fiction, a line she finds to be blurry, at best.

We talk about aspects of the book we find interesting, and some that we find less interesting. Which seems to be one of the challenges of writing autobiographical work: How do you know which of your experiences are interesting only to you, and which will be interesting to an audience of strangers? It also speaks to the fact that first-person, autobiographical works tend to be pretty quirky, and may speak to some people and not to others. Which isn’t a weakness of the form, and in fact might in some ways be a strength.

In the second of the show, we talk about James Frey, who was Houston’s writing student, and when it’s ok, in a work of nonfiction, to make something up.

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This week we’re kicking off a new season of Book Fight, and also retooling the show a bit. From here on it, all of our readings–books, essays, and stories–will correspond to that season’s theme. For each season, we’ll read three books (a Mike pick, a Tom pick, and a joint pick neither of us has read before). We’ll also read a bunch of stories, essays, and even some criticism, to fully explore that season’s topic.

For summer, we’ll be doing what we’re calling the Summer of Selfies, in which all our readings will be autobiographical pieces. But we’re not just reading first-person books and stories, along with some personal essays. We’ll be exploring the various dimensions of autobiographical writing, and delving into various controversies around personal writing, whether that’s authors alienating people in their lives or sowing doubt about what’s real and what’s not.

In our first installment for the Summer of Selfies, we’ve chosen a Jia Tolentino essay from The New Yorker. It’s not a personal essay itself, but instead a think piece on the state of the personal essay. So it seemed like a good starting point for talking about first-person writing in 2017.

We talk about whether the personal essay is dead, and whether the term “personal essay” is, itself, too broad a term to really be useful. We revisit the internet writing of the early 2000’s, and speculate about how internet culture shaped the literary essay.

As always, you can stream the episode right here on our site, by clicking on the player below. Or download the mp3 file. You can also find us in the iTunes store, or wherever you get your podcasts. Be sure to subscribe (for free!) so you never miss another installment.

Stream Summer of Selfies #1:

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Thanks for listening!