Hey, it's Empire's book at the day. I'm Andrew Limbaugh. The novelist Lydia Millett has written her first nonfiction book. It's called We Loved It All A Memory of Life. And what's funny is that the promotional copy from the publisher calls it an anti-memoir, which, as I understand it, just means a memoir that kind of resists being confined to the...

So here's the ABCs of my life.

Which in some ways, isn't that what all the best, most interesting memoirs do?

And in this conversation with NPR's Lila Faddle, Millett uses the word window twice to

explain what she's going for in her book.

You know, she uses it once at the beginning and once at the end,

which I think is an interesting insight to how she sees writing about the world around her.

That's not the whole picture, but just what she can see outside her window.

That's ahead.

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Distant wars, murky conflicts, diplomacy behind closed doors.

On our new show, Sources and Methods, NPR reporters on the ground bring you stories of real people

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Listen to sources and methods on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.

When Lydia Millett started writing her first nonfiction book, she was focused on animals,

treating it like an encyclopedia.

But as she continued, she shifted to capturing moments of understanding, exploring our connection to the natural world.

In her new book, We Loved It All, A Memory of Life, which is out today.

Millett takes us from vignettes about animals in the natural world to contemplating how to raise children

and be a genuinely good citizen during multiple existential crises.

I spoke with Lydia Millett about her writing journey.

When I read a book, I'm always most delighted when I come upon a moment that surprises me that seems like a window opening onto something I didn't see before or recognize

...