The Foxed Page
If you love to read, The Foxed Page is for you. With these deep dives into the best books, you’ll gain a richer understanding of the title at hand, all while learning to read everything better.Choose from long-form lectures, quick recommendations, talks on old favorites and plenty of episodes from the archives.Listen to The Foxed Page--with Kimberly Ford, best-selling author, former adjunct professor and Ph.D.
Latest episodes
Jun 4, 2025 • 1h 3min
READING CHALLENGE 1b: PART TWO of To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf >> No novel keeps giving like this novel. Kimberly spends a delicious hour digging in to this complex literature-changing masterpiece.
People. This is when things get fun. Kimberly breaks down a bunch of aspects of the work: figurative language, the unique structure, patriarchy v. matriarchy, the very nature of creativity and the essence of what it is to be human (!!).
Want to get more out of this insanely great book? Treat yourself now.
May 27, 2025 • 54min
The very first foxed page READING CHALLENGE: To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf >> Kimberly would argue that there’s no better way to usher in summer than reading this book.
May 20, 2025 • 1h 15min
Lecture 92: THE SCARLET LETTER >> Honestly, did your fifteen-year-old self really appreciate this insanely great classic? Listen in--NO READING REQUIRED--to why this book is SO GOOD.
NO READING REQUIRED!
Hawthorne's 1850 classic is the epitome of high school books that are wasted on high school students. This thing is a MASTERPIECE.
Listen in as Kimberly situates it historically, talks about the framing device, digs deep into the radical FEMINISM and of course covers symbolism (did you also write your term paper on symbolism??).
She wraps up the lecture by leaning into her ongoing rant about how PURITANISM really screwed this country--and how Hawthorne's gift to us all closes with a deeply anti-puritanical, deeply OPTIMISTIC message--the kind we all need today.
May 16, 2025 • 54min
Lecture 91: THE HUSBANDS by Holly Gramazio >> You've heard Kimberly talk about how hard it is to write humor. Gramazio shows us how it's done!
NO SPOILERS! With humor as a lens, Kimberly dives in to all the ways this bestseller functions so well. You'll learn how to think about humor more generally, while seeing all the ways that the best humor can really shape a novel. Join Kimberly for an exploration of one of the strongest elements of this smart, engaging surprisingly philosophical book!
May 1, 2025 • 53min
Lecture 90: THE AWAKENING by Kate Chopin >> Remember this absolute CORNERSTONE of feminist literature?? Turns out this classic is just as important and juicy as when it was published IN 1899!
Kimberly was honestly kind of shocked by how iconoclastic, gorgeous and important this novel feels. Whether it's a women's-studies-seminar favorite or new to you, indulge in this exploration of one woman's fascinating experience of society, domesticity, maternity and PASSION in late-1800s New Orleans.
Apr 23, 2025 • 1h 21min
Enriched read 9: the GENIUS of CORMAC McCARTHY (specifically: No Country for Old Men) >> Love McCarthy? Never read him? Tune in to see why he's just so incredibly good.
NO READING REQUIRED! As soon as Kimberly dove back in to No Country for Old Men, she knew she needed to parse what makes McCarthy SO GOOD. This exploration hits on all the ways that reading McCarthy is a master class in all elements of fiction: textured narrative voices, description of violence, sympathy for complex characters, dark humor, and others--not to mention gorgeous prose.
Apr 10, 2025 • 40min
Episode 89: ANNA KARENINA >> Intimidated??? DON'T be! Just let Kimberly tell you all the reasons these 1,000 pages are great.
NO READING REQUIRED! Whether this doorstop is an old favorite--or something you NEVER plan to read--treat yourself to Kimberly's take on why this classic of all classics is worth your next 40 minutes!
Apr 7, 2025 • 1h 10min
100th Anniversary REPOST: THE GREAT GATSBY >> We all need to get back to the GENIUS novel that was wasted on us in high school? No rereading! Let Kimberly remind you of the greatness of this meditation on the (sometimes complex) AMERICAN DREAM.
NO READING REQUIRED! Fitzgerald's genius might very well be wasted on the youth. Even if you haven't re-read this classic since you were 16, delving into for an hour is a revelation. Kimberly breaks down the innovative narrative stance, the plot-heavy structure and some master-class motif building--all while reveling in (and also subtly criticizing) this modernist MASTERPIECE.
Apr 4, 2025 • 29min
Episode 88: Sex Writing, Age-Gap Relationships and Annie Ernaux's THE YOUNG MAN >> Leave it to a NOBEL PRIZE WINNER to dish up some seriously inspiring prose!
NO READING REQUIRED! Tune in to hear Kimberly unpack the many ways that Ernaux celebrates the age gap relationship. The French master offers up philosophical explanations for why older people get with younger ones, incisive analysis of social norms and all the ways in which these liaisons can be empowering--all, of course, while treating us to her stark, arresting, unique prose. Treat yourself to this dip into one woman's world and all the ways we might rethink age difference.
Mar 26, 2025 • 45min
Episode 87: SEX WRITING, AGE-GAP RELATIONSHIPS and PLAYWORLD by Adam Ross
Tune in for Kimberly's breakdown of how PLAYWORLD really succeeds--and the ways she sees it falling short. With its marketing materials really pushing its 36-year-old-woman/14-year-old-boy sexualized relationship, the novel provides a fascinating look at sex writing and how the Mrs.-Robinson trope manifests itself in 2025. Join Kimberly for this second of four lectures--the only novel of the four written by a man--which maybe shouldn't matter?? But also really might.
