Guillermo del Toro on Writing and Directing the Oscar-Nominated ‘Frankenstein’
20 February - 35 minsFor decades, the director Guillermo del Toro has built a career blending the grotesque and the beautiful in films like “Pan’s Labyrinth,” “The Shape of Water” and “Pinocchio.” Now he’s earned his latest Academy Award nomination for his adaptation of “Frankenstein,” Mary Shelley’s classic novel. On this week’s episode, he talks with the host Gilbert Cruz about discovering the book as a lonely child, how it shaped his worldview and why this screenplay is the one he’s proudest of.
“I always felt the creature is me,” del Toro said of the first time he read the book. “I felt so alone at age 11, and so full of love to give and so full of rage to dispose of. It was a very complicated emotional sco...
Series Episodes
Julia Quinn on Her 'Bridgerton' Books and the Smash Netflix Series
Julia Quinn published "The Duke and I," the first book in the 'Bridgerton' series, in 2000. Seven books and a quarter century later, its adaptation remains one of the biggest series ever to air on Netflix. Quinn spoke to host Gilbert Cruz about the show, her books and how the romance genre has changed over several decades.
42 mins
13 February Finished
How Nintendo Became the World's Most Fun Video Game Company
Keza MacDonald, the video games editor at The Guardian and author of the new book “Super Nintendo: The Game-Changing Company That Unlocked the Power of Play,” speaks with host Gilbert Cruz about the iconic Japanese company.
42 mins
6 February Finished
Book Club: Let's Talk About 'The Hounding' by Xenobe Purvis
Xenobe Purvis’s slim but powerful debut novel, “The Hounding,” is about five young sisters in 1700s England who are suspected of being able to transform into a pack of wild dogs. It is a gothic parable about male ego, cultural misogyny and the dangers of gossip run amok. On this week’s episode, host MJ Franklin discusses “The Hounding” with fellow Book Review editors Joumana Khatib, Emily Eakin and Gregory Cowles.
49 mins
30 January Finished
Chuck Klosterman Has So Much to Say About Football
The journalist, novelist and cultural critic Chuck Klosterman is best known for writing about rock music and pop culture. But Klosterman got his start in college as a sports journalist, and with his new book, “Football,” he has finally devoted an entire collection to the sport that has fundamentally shaped him alongside American society at large.
45 mins
23 January Finished
The Books We're Excited About in Early 2026
A new year means new books are on the way! So many new books. On this week’s episode, host Gilbert Cruz talks with fellow Book Review editors Joumana Khatib and MJ Franklin about the upcoming fiction and nonfiction titles they’re most anticipating between now and April.
45 mins
16 January Finished
