Episode 92
May 5, 2026
The Year of Magical ThinkingRed X
Hosted by Michael Collins and Suzanne Conklin Akbari
In the plastic bag I had been given at the hospital there were a pair of corduroy pants, a wool shirt, a belt, and I think nothing else. [...] I remember putting his cell phone in the charger on his desk. I remember putting his silver clip in the box in the bedroom in which we kept passports and birth certificates and proof of jury service. [...] I remember combining the cash that had been in his pocket with the cash in my own bag, taking special care to interleaf twenties with twenties, tens with tens, fives and ones with fives and ones. I remember thinking as I did this that he would see that I was handling things.
We’ve got a special guest host while Chris is on sabbatical: Michael!
Joan Didion’s Year of Magical Thinking is a non-fiction examination of how the author’s psyche responds to the sudden loss of her husband and the serious illness of her daughter. David Demchuk’s Red X is a folkloric queer horror about the serial disappearances of gay men over a span of centuries in Toronto. Suzanne and Michael discuss two books that reflect on grief and loss in two very different ways.
![[Episode artwork]](/images/podcast/spouter/episode/s/spouter-season-2.png)
Show Notes.
Joan Didion: The Year of Magical Thinking.
David Demchuk: Red X. (A new US edition comes out in June.)
Chris and Suzanne’s episode on Middlemarch and our bonus episode with Michael.
Our episode on Gertrude Stein, who was certain that commas are unnecessary.
Chris mentioned reading Red X back in September.
On the serial murders in Toronto.
Alexander Wood, (formerly) at Church and Alexander Streets.
For more on bears, our episode on Marian Engel’s Bear.
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