Bluets
Book by Maggie NelsonWikipedia
6
MENTIONS
4
EPISODES
4
PODCASTS
Search complete. 6 mentions across 4 episodes found for "Bluets".
Oct 26, 2026
Charles PignalHOST
So now that I've talked about this mammoth of a book, can you tell us, what have you been reading this week?
Olivia Kate MenziesHOST
Opposite end of the spectrum, I picked up an incredibly slim title, which is a book called Bluets by Maggie Nelson, published in 2009.
Olivia Kate MenziesHOST
Okay.
Olivia Kate MenziesHOST
The first thought I had when I read this was that I really need to be reading more novels because I looked back over the last couple of weeks And I've done a lot of memoirs and I've done a lot of auto fiction and I've done some play scripts.
Lee Horikoshi RoripaughGUEST
essay or even in speculative essay where we understand what is speculative and imagined by the speaker or the writer, and even given to the slipperiness or unreliability or complexity of memory, that the writer is in good faith providing something that they understand to be their truth in a very subjective way, in the same way that all of our memories and all of our truths are subjective to ourselves.
Grant FaulknerHOST
Well, Lee, in closing, when I was reading the book, I realized that I can quickly name off a lot of lyric memoirs or lyric books like Maggie Nelson's Bluets or Claudia Rankin's Citizen that are two of my absolute favorites.
Grant FaulknerHOST
Yes.
Grant FaulknerHOST
But maybe it's my deficiency that I don't read a lot of essays.
speaker_0HOST
Definitely.
speaker_1HOST
But more importantly, she talks about a book she returns to repeatedly, Maggie Nelson's Bluets.
speaker_0HOST
Okay.
speaker_0HOST
I want to dig into that concept of the repeated read.
speaker_0HOST
You have to figure out the plot, the characters, the style.
speaker_1HOST
Right.
speaker_1HOST
But returning to a book like Bluets, which is a beautiful, very melancholy meditation on the color blue and grief and desire, it's different.
speaker_0HOST
How so?
Naomi in BlueGUEST
I call it Bluets.
Naomi in BlueGUEST
I don't know if, if it, if that's actually how you say it.
Naomi in BlueGUEST
But, um, you know, the, this short, um, sort of beautiful book that she wrote, um, about the color blue, but it's also kind of about her own experiences of, of grief and depression and loss.
Naomi in BlueGUEST
Um, but she goes on this journey, um, explore- yeah, exploring the color and, and what it means, and also referencing, uh, looking at how it's used in music.
Naomi in BlueGUEST
Um, but also k- you know, the, like, the lapis lazuli stone and all of that.
10 MINS LATER
Naomi in BlueGUEST
And, um, I have this, this person that that song is specifically about, his, uh, a lot of people know about him.
Allison RappHOST
Mm.
Naomi in BlueGUEST
Um, and he still manages to, to get, um, booked for gigs and for shows and, um, and quite high-profile things as well, and it's this real frustration that, um, also 'cause in, in the UK we have really strong defamation laws, so-