

The Foxed Page
Kimberly Ford
If you love to read, The Foxed Page is for you. With these deep dives into the best books, you’ll gain a richer understanding of the title at hand, all while learning to read everything better.Choose from long-form lectures, quick recommendations, talks on old favorites and plenty of episodes from the archives.Listen to The Foxed Page--with Kimberly Ford, best-selling author, former adjunct professor and Ph.D.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Aug 13, 2025 • 1h 12min
PEDRO PARAMO by Juan Rulfo >> Rulfo suggested you read his MASTERPIECE three times if you want to get it. Allow Kimberly to provide a short cut!
This 1955 novella--it's slim, tricky and SO GOOD--is the bedrock of Mexican literature. Its complexities and virtuoso innovations make it particularly exciting to look at in depth. Kimberly breaks down key elements, explains the revolutionary aspects and helps you understand what the hell is going on. She likes to think she added something new to the conversation: arguing that Pedro Pàramo is NOT in fact magic realism. Listen in to see how you feel about her daring thesis, and end up feeling just a little smarter!

Aug 6, 2025 • 50min
10:04 by Ben Lerner >> Can you even begin to recall the warmth, the complexity, the genius of this novel from 2014?? Listen in for a deep dive into all the ways that Lerner is SO GOOD.
Lerner says, "Art has to offer more than stylized despair." 10:04 offers so much more! (With, also, some excellent stylized despair.) Kimberly low-key compares the work to Slaughterhouse Five, before diving in to a close look postmodernism, narrative stance and why HUMOR adds so much to this incredible piece of auto-fiction. If you love Lerner, or WANT to love Lerner--listen in!

Jul 30, 2025 • 40min
THE MOBIUS BOOK by Catherine Lacey >> Whether you were wowed by this inventive fiction-memoir or a little disappointed, allow Kimberly to help you dig deeper into this original text.
NO SPOILERS! Kimberly picked up this hybrid memoir-novel because she was intrigued by Lacey's inventiveness. Listen in to see which parts of the text met her high expectations and which might have fallen a bit short. And if you haven't thought through the difference between a mobius strip and the infinity symbol, Kimberly promises to add a little insight to your Mobius Book experience..

Jul 23, 2025 • 1h 1min
SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE by Kurt Vonnegut >> Everyone, honestly, should (re)read this book. It's dark, hilarious, impactful, moving, urgent, inventive and more. Allow Kimberly to show you why the it's so important and so good.
There are SO MANY REASONS why so many people love this book. Allow Kimberly to help you see how Vonnegut's deceptively simple prose does so much heavy lifting. She dives deep into the book's structure, its sci-fi elements and its humor. She really wants to share her take on why this groundbreaking, post-modern classic is so much more than its postmodern peers. Listen in now for an immersion into one of Time's best 100 novels of the past 100 years.

Jul 13, 2025 • 1h 12min
THE TRANSIT OF VENUS by Shirley Hazzard >> People. This is one of Kimberly's very most favorite books. Her most recent trip through it felt like a GIFT. Indulge yourself now!
Hazzard's 1980 novel is one of the most gorgeous, most intricate, most rewarding, most RICH novels that Kimberly has ever read. Listen in to hear her explain how its nimble narrator, its figurative language and its singular, masterful structure--among many other elements--make it SO worth your while.

Jul 11, 2025 • 40min
THE ANTIDOTE by Karen Russell >> Did this ambitious novel leave you with any questions? Allow Kimberly to maybe supply some answers! (Or—ha!—maybe more questions!)
Magic realism is an excellent way to articulate the inarticulable, to assert dissent, and to question order. Historical fiction is an amazing vehicle for examination of the past! Join Kimberly for a discussion of Russell’s novel in the context of Gabriel García Márquez, Isabel Allende, and even Mary Karr. You’ll come away with a better understanding of The Antidote, while gaining a broader sense of how TRUTH sometimes functions well in fiction and sometimes falls short.

Jun 30, 2025 • 35min
TEAR THIS HEART OUT (ARRANCAME LA VIDA) by Angeles Mastretta >> Looking for a summer read that doesn't feel like a trifle?? This dive into the history, glamour and drama of Mexico in the 1930s is your answer!
Mastretta's ultra-engaging, sex-forward, historical, feminist family romance from 1985 might be a touchstone of feminist literature, but it's also SO FUN TO READ. Kimberly dives in to the feminist underpinnings, the way our protagonist can rationalize living with a criminal (anyone interested in how Carmela Soprano did it, you should read this book!) and the literary merits of this engaging work. This is a summer read you'll remember forever!

Jun 24, 2025 • 1h 2min
ORBITAL by Samantha Harvey >> For whatever reason, Kimberly was reluctant to pick up this book. She is SO glad she did.
Orbital is the kind of novel that could inspire hours and hours of conversation. Kimberly can't imagine a single person who feels like they apprehended the thing with just one read. If you're curious about how she pulled it off, how she uses language to describe the undescribable, or plenty of other aspects--indulge yourself in a more fulsome experience of this gorgeous Booker Prize winner now!

Jun 20, 2025 • 1h 8min
I CAPTURE THE CASTLE by Dodie Smith >> Want to know why The Atlantic put this at the top of their summer reading list? Listen in!
NO SPOILERS! Kimberly could not agree more with The Atlantic. This novel is the most crowd-pleasery of any book she ever recommends. It is SO GOOD. Rich and complex, but also light, it's gorgeous and transporting--everything you want in a summer read! Listen in now to be sure you fully appreciate all that makes it so appealing.

Jun 4, 2025 • 1h 3min
TO THE LIGHTHOUSE by Virginia Woolf (part 2) >> No novel keeps giving like this one. Join me for a delicious hour digging in to this literature-changing masterpiece.
People. This is when things get fun. Kimberly breaks down a bunch of aspects of the work: figurative language, the unique structure, patriarchy v. matriarchy, the very nature of creativity and the essence of what it is to be human (!!).
Want to get more out of this insanely great book? Treat yourself now.


