Megha Majumdar and Moral Ambiguity

The Book Case

ABC News

Fiction, Arts, Society & Culture, Books

4.7 • 913 Ratings

🗓️ 27 November 2025

⏱️ 45 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Megha Majumdar was on the short list for the National Book Award, and we were rooting hard for her to win. She may not have won THIS year, but her talent and her world building skills had us clamoring for more, so we have no doubt you will see her name on the list again. A Guardian and a Thief is a novel that asks (and not didactically) what you would do, what morals would you compromise, to survive. What would you do to ensure your children survive? We talk to Megha and then discuss a new unique Chicagoland Independent Bookseller holiday tradition with a local organizer. Join us and Happy Thanksgiving. Find books mentioned on The Book Case: https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/shop/story/book-case-podcast-reading-list-118433302 Books mentioned in this week's episode: A Guardian and a Thief by Megha Majumdar A Burning by Megha Majumdar Martyr! By Kaveh Akbar Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens In Other Rooms, Other by Daniyal Mueenuddin This is Where the Serpent Lives by Daniyal Mueenuddin The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Sing to It: New Stories by Amy Hempel Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	While all the whos of Whoville were at McDonald's eating, the Grinch from his lair started plotting and scheming. Gherkin-flavored fries and odd socks will send them crackers. So try the Grinch's new meal and head down to Macers. Until 4th of Jan from 11 AM, price and participation may vary while stocks last grinched for adults.
0:32.2	Welcome book nerds on this wonderful Thanksgiving day. We drop on a national holiday today,
0:37.4	so I hope that you are sitting around the table, sitting around the turkey, sitting around whatever sound system on which you listen to the bookcase, and that that is what you're doing right now.
0:42.9	A happy Thanksgiving to all, and I'm Kate of the Kate and Charlie.
0:46.4	And I'm Charlie Gibson.
0:47.4	We do wish you a happy Thanksgiving as you recount your blessings on this Thanksgiving day, and it's so important that everybody do that.
0:54.8	It is a wonderful time to reflect on your blessings. We hope you'll include the podcast,
0:59.0	The Bookcase with Kate and Charlie, your list of blessings. It is certainly one of ours,
1:05.0	and we hope it's one of yours. And, you know, it's interesting, Kate, you've remarked often on it.
1:11.9	You spend days preparing.
1:15.4	As we talk, you're about to go out and buy the turkey and buy all the food, etc.
1:19.8	And you work on it for some period of time.
1:23.4	And then it's gone in 30 minutes.
1:25.7	You also use ingredients that you only use once a year.
1:28.7	Like, why the hell do I have celery salt? I don't know, but I use it at Thanksgiving.
1:33.3	Why do I have ground-old spice? I don't know, but I use it at Thanksgiving. So it's like the one year
1:37.9	that you use all the ingredients in the back of the drawer that are probably from the 1970s. But they get
1:43.4	their use and that's good.
1:45.4	And it's one of my favorite questions of people. When you think of cranberry sauce,
1:50.3	do you think of the natural thing with those lumpy cranberries? Or do you think of it as having
1:56.3	ridges? Does it come out of a can or is it freshly made? I'm of the can variety.
2:03.0	I was probably well into my adulthood before I realized that cranberry sauce did not have ridges necessarily.
	...

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