Ep. 189: Karen Thompson Walker (Author of The Strange Case of Jane O.) + Book Recommendations
Sarah's Bookshelves Live
Sarah Dickinson
4.9 • 732 Ratings
🗓️ 5 March 2025
⏱️ 53 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In Episode 189, author Karen Thompson Walker talks with Sarah about her career to date and her newest novel, The Strange Case of Jane O. Karen discusses her writing journey, including each book’s inspiration and research process. She also touches on the challenges of promoting her latest book without giving away too much and her current work in progress. Plus, Karen shares her book recommendations.
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Highlights
- Books by Karen Thompson Walker: The Age of Miracles (2012), The Dreamers (2019), and The Strange Case of Jane O. (2025)
- Karen talks about going from working as an editor to a being published author
- The genre Karen feels her books best fit in
- The real-life inspiration for The Age of Miracles
- A peek into her research process and which book required the most work
- Karen’s thoughts on writing about an epidemic (in The Dreamers) just before the real-life COVID-19 pandemic
- A brief spoiler-free overview of The Strange Case of Jane O. and the inspiration behind it
- Some of Oliver Sacks’ interesting case histories that inspired Karen
- The difficulty in trying to promote and talk about a book like The Strange Case of Jane O. without giving too much away
- How Karen sees the relationship between her three published books
- A bit about Karen’s current work in progress
Karen’s Book Recommendations [36:20]
Two OLD Books She Loves
- The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides (1993) | Amazon | Bookshop.org[37:22]
- The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka (2011) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [39:26]
- Other Books Mentioned:
- The Swimmers by Julie Otsuka (2023) [40:51]
Two NEW Books She Loves
- The Antidote by Karen Russell (March 11, 2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org[41:20]
- The Light Eaters by Zoë Schlanger (2024) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [42:39]
One Book She DIDN’T Love
- My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante (2011) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [44:39]
One NEW RELEASE She’s Excited About
- Audition by Katie Kitamura (April 8, 2025) | Amazon
| Bookshop.org [47:22]
- Other Books Mentioned:
- The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden (2024) [49:20]
- A Separation by Katie Kitamura (2017) [49:35]
- Intimacies by Katie Kitamura (2021) [49:39]
Last 5-Star Book Karen Read
- Trust by Hernan Diaz (2022) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [50:14]
Books From the Discussion
- Brain on Fire by Susannah Cahalan (2012) [22:54]
- Awakenings by Oliver Sacks (1973) [24:16]
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to Sarah's Bookshelves Live. I'm your host, Sarah Dickinson. Join me every other week as we get real, and sometimes a bit snarky about books and reading. Let's get rolling. I first talked about |
| 0:23.1 | the strange case of Jane O by Karen Thompson Walker in the Winter Preview episode, but y'all know I |
| 0:28.2 | hadn't read it yet at that point. I've now read it and I absolutely loved it. Walker writes my |
| 0:33.9 | favorite kind of speculative fiction, slightly sci-fi stories that feel literary |
| 0:37.9 | and grounded in reality other than the one sci-fi-esque wrinkle. The strange case of Jane O |
| 0:43.2 | reads a bit like a medical mystery. The vibe is unsettling, and even halfway through, I had no |
| 0:48.1 | idea where the story was going, but I was totally into it. The story delves deep into psychiatry |
| 0:53.4 | and how the human brain works, and there's a |
| 0:55.4 | curiosity here to push beyond the limits of what's currently known and accepted. So I am thrilled to |
| 1:01.1 | welcome Karen Thompson Walker to the podcast. Today we're going to talk about the strange case of |
| 1:06.0 | Janeau, how it fits into the context of her two other books, The Age of Miracles and The Dreamers, |
| 1:12.0 | and Karen's career arc as a whole. Walker's debut novel, New York Times bestseller, The Age |
| 1:17.7 | of Miracles, has been translated into 29 languages and was named one of the best books of the year |
| 1:22.0 | by people, the Oprah Magazine, and Financial Times, among others. Her second novel, The Dreamers, was a New York Times book review editor's choice |
| 1:30.3 | and was named one of the best books of the year by glamour, real simple, and good housekeeping. |
| 1:35.3 | Born and raised in San Diego, Karen is a graduate of UCLA and the Columbia MFA program. |
| 1:40.9 | She lives with her husband, the novelist Casey Walker, and their two daughters in Portland, |
| 1:45.1 | and is an associate professor of creative writing. Welcome, Karen. Hi, thank you so much for having me. |
| 1:49.6 | I'm really glad to have this chance to talk. Thank you so much for being here. And a little |
| 1:54.6 | context for you about how I came to your work. I read your books a little bit out of order. |
| 1:59.9 | I read The Dreamers when it first came out, and that was my first introduction to your work. I read your books a little bit out of order. I read the Dreamers when it first |
| 2:01.4 | came out, and that was my first introduction to your work. And then I went back and read the Age of |
... |
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