74. Writers Debate: Must You Read Novels to Write Them?

This podcast is a presentation of The Meow Library. Last week, Hachette made an unprecedented move for a Big Five publisher, cancelling the US release of Mia Ballard's Shy Girl and pulling the UK edition over allegations of heavy AI assistance in the creation of the text. The author and publisher, in the midst of what's sure to be an illuminating legal battle, are being cagey about details, but online comments indicate that large portions of the book are "unreadable," "AI slop," and "make no sense." This case raises some interesting questions: how did a Big Five publisher conduct QC on alleged "slop" and deem it worthy for release? What does this say about the quality of their other titles, and reader preferences? Why on Earth would they admit to this? And, perhaps most importantly--does having a human behind the keyboard really matter all that much? The Meow Library takes a strong position on all of the above: have a listen. This podcast is supported by sales of Meow: A Novel, an international bestseller. Shy Girl by Mia Ballard cannot be purchased anywhere.

This podcast is a presentation of The Meow Library. In a recent interview with podcaster David Senra, a16z’s Marc Andreessen claimed not only to do “zero introspection,” but dismisses introspection itself as a 20th-century contrivance. How did he come to such a radical conclusion? The Meow Library speculates it’s because of his exposure to Meow: A Novel, a novelty book containing only repetitions of the word “meow” which has gained traction among the Silicon Valley intelligentsia. In this podcast, we examine the thought process behind this book, which is surprisingly close to Andreessen’s own. This podcast is sustained by sales of the internationally bestselling Meow: A Novel.

Debate rages across Twitter as professor and novelist ⁠Aaron Gwyn⁠ insists that his college-level fiction writing students ⁠can't name a single novelist⁠, living or dead. Are we in a literacy crisis? Not necessarily: Many have rushed to his students' defense, purporting to be professional authors who "don't read for pleasure," and who see reading fiction as an ablest bourgeois pose. Do writers really need to be able to read? You know The Meow Library's answer. We invite you to meow along as you listen to this podcast, which is not about literature, and buy our books, which are not books.The finest literature on the planet is in The Meow Library, where every word is "meow." Aaron Gwyn's work is available wherever books are sold.

This podcast is a presentation of The Meow Library. In this week’s podcast, we investigate the hype parade leading up to the release of Madeline Cash’s Lost Lambs, easily the most anticipated novel of 2026. This is not so much a review of the book (there are plenty of those) as it is of Cash’s PR team, which is the real work of art here. How does an author rise from obscurity to the upper echelons of English literature—replete with comparisons to Franzen and Pynchon—in the space of one book? And are those comparisons merited? You won’t find out here: we hired Cash’s PR team to funnel you to this podcast, which is a 30-minute recording of a man meowing like a cat. You have already clicked on it. You’ve already heard the first meows. And now you will buy our book. Lost Lambs is available via Macmillan Publishers. This podcast is supported by the alarmingly growing sales of Meow: A Novel.

This podcast is a production of The Meow Library. Jennette McCurdy's new book has us at a loss for words. Some things are simply unspeakable, as this podcast makes plain. Jennette McCurdy's Half His Age is available through Penguin Random House and wherever books are sold. For less transgressive fare, we suggest The Meow Library's new translations of Wuthering Heights and Pride & Prejudice.

This podcast is a presentation of The Meow Library. We admire the nerve but sniff at the buried lede: Jennette McCurdy’s Half His Age noses around the scandalous fringe of the age-gap genre and then retreats, leaving the real abyss unexplored, revealing its speciesist bent. While the action hinges on a middle-aged creative writing teacher’s Lolitoid imbroglio with a seventeen-year-old student, the bigger victim—his Bengal mix, Zeus, only nine years old—is scarcely mentioned, relegated to the status of a mewling comic prop.With Zeus, Mr. Korgy, our lecherous malefactor, shares an intimacy that is total and wordless, a love that feeds on stark captivity, the narcotic algebra of dominion. In Half His Age, the true asymmetry—the soft tyranny of devotion across species—goes unspoken. Until now.Jennette McCurdy’s Half His Age is available through Penguin Random House and wherever books are sold. The Meow Library’s lighter feline romances are available on Amazon—and wherever books are sold.

This podcast is a presentation of The Meow Library. We've seen the trailer for Emerald Fennel's upcoming Wuthering Heights, and we're concerned. Cheap props, bizarre casting, flat lighting, Charli XCX. At what point does an adaptation--or "reimagining," in Fennel's words--start to cheapen the source material? Does the public debase the public domain? Questions to ponder as you listen to this segment of The Meow Library's new translation of Wuthering Heights.The Meow Library's Wuthering Heights (For Your Cat)--a word-for-word "meowifying" of Bronte's original text--is available now on Amazon.

This podcast is a presentation of The Meow Library. Yesterday marked the 213th anniversary of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, along with the release of a new translation that erases its most glaring prejudice: that against feline literacy. In this podcast, you'll learn how The Meow Library is reshaping Jane Austen's catalogue to optimize for cross-species accessibility, and why this is the most significant update in the book's long publication history. Pride and Prejudice (For Your Cat) is available on Amazon.

This podcast is a presentation of The Meow Library. "The saints, saviors, priests, gurus, bhagavans, seers, prophets and philosophers were all wrong, as far as I am concerned. As long as you harbor any hope or faith in these authorities, living or dead, so long this certainty cannot be transmitted to you. This certainty somehow dawns on you when you see for yourself that all of them are wrong. When you see this for yourself for the first time, you explode." - Mind is a Myth: Disquieting Conversations with the Man Called U.G. "My teaching, if that is the word you want to use, has no copyright. You are free to reproduce, distribute, interpret, misinterpret, distort, garble, do what you like, even claim authorship, without my consent or the permission of anybody." - Copyright notice prefacing many of U.G. Krishnamurti's published interviews In a classic 1986 interview, anarchic "anti-guru" U.G. Krishnamurti, upon seeing a cat, famously remarks, "there is no difference between the cat and you." What did he mean? Today's podcast digs into this insight with Krishnamurti's trademark disdain for such activities. This podcast is made possible by continued appreciation of our international bestseller, Meow: A Novel.

This podcast is a presentation of The Meow Library. 
According to a recent Popsugar article, “bookfishing”—the literary equivalent of “catfishing,” is on the rise. Bookfishing involves simple dissimulation: the perpetrator poses with a high-status book they have no intention of reading in order to lure the bookish element of the opposite sex. While a nuisance in the dating scene, bookfishing has more serious implications in markets like Washington, D.C., where many of our famously literate government officials have fallen victim to its snare. An anonymous source within the Trump administration claims that airdrops of the popular Meow Library series, which renders literary classics as hundreds of pages of the word “meow,” have begun appearing near sensitive government sites. These are speculated to be part of a far-reaching bookfishing plot perpetrated by a hostile foreign government. 
As a public service, this week’s podcast presents several excerpts from this series to ease in the identification of potential high-level bookfishers. Listen, learn, and remain vigilant. This podcast is sustained by sales of the ultimate bookfishing tool: Meow: A Novel.