Episode · The Book Review · 2025-05-23
Books mentioned on 'Fun Home' Author Alison Bechdel on Her New Graphic Novel
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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Are you my mother?
Are You My Mother? by Alison Bechdel is an acclaimed graphic memoir that explores the complex psychological relationship between a daughter and her mother through literature, psychoanalysis, and art.
Discussed“You started in black and white and then now when you did Funhome, are you my mother? And then the secret to superhuman strength that started to change”
Where to get it
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Fun
Fun Home is a critically acclaimed graphic memoir by Alison Bechdel that explores the author's complex relationship with her closeted father, her own coming out, and the literary allusions that shaped her upbringing.
Discussed“Allison Beal, author of Funhome and the new book Spent, a comic novel.”
Where to get it
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Spent
Discussed“Allison Beal, author of Funhome and the new book Spent, a comic novel.”
Where to get it
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Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?
Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? by Jeanette Winterson is a deeply moving and searingly honest memoir in which the acclaimed author explores her traumatic adoption, her fierce intellectual awakening, and the lifelong quest to heal from emotional wounds inflicted by her fiercely religious adoptive mother.
Discussed“And I'm not going to ask those questions, but I am curious because when you did our by the book feature many moons ago, you said in reference to Janette Wintererson's memoir, Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? That you were fascinated by the dividing line between fiction and memoir.”
Where to get it
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Capital
Capital is Karl Marx's foundational theoretical and economic critique of capitalism, analyzing the mechanics of commodity production, labor exploitation, and class struggle during the industrial era.
Discussed“You in this book take your chapter titles I believe correct me if I'm wrong from Kar Marx his book das capal Ulisses is threaded throughout funhome there there are many books thread it throughout are you my mother Virginia Wolf and some other authors”
Where to get it
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Ulysses
Ulysses by James Joyce is a monumental modernist novel that chronicles a single day in the life of Leopold Bloom in Dublin, mirroring the structure of Homer's Odyssey.
Discussed“You in this book take your chapter titles I believe correct me if I'm wrong from Kar Marx his book das capal Ulisses is threaded throughout funhome there there are many books thread it throughout are you my mother Virginia Wolf and some other authors”
Where to get it
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The Secret to Superhuman Strength
The Secret to Superhuman Strength is a graphic memoir by Alison Bechdel that explores the author's lifelong obsession with fitness trends, exercise culture, and her personal journey through aging and artistic creation.
Discussed“You started in black and white and then now when you did Funhome, are you my mother? And then the secret to superhuman strength that started to change”
Where to get it
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The unstrung harp, or, Mr. Earbrass writes a novel
The unstrung harp, or, Mr.
Discussed“This book spent is an extended riff on Gory's first illustrated novel, The Unrung Harp.”
Where to get it
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The well of loneliness
Discussed“It's especially funny because Funh Home is about my own like search for queer history and queer literature and finding the well of loneliness, this super depressing book.”
Where to get it
