Books of Some Substance

What does it mean to make meaning in an indifferent universe? In this episode, we (Nathan and David) are talking Virginia Woolf's 1927 masterpiece To the Lighthouse, a novel where almost nothing "happens" and yet everything does. All of life is here. We talk about Woolf's stream-of-consciousness mastery and her uncanny ability to move between minds; Mrs. Ramsay as the magnetic, self-negating cente...

José Donoso's The Obscene Bird of Night is one of the most difficult, disturbing, and rewarding novels in Latin American literature. In this episode, we get into the fractured identities, grotesque transformations, and decaying aristocracy at the heart of this surreal gothic masterpiece. We ask: Why does this book have such a formidable reputation? What's actually happening in those disorienting,...

Murder, faith, redemption, justice, morality, and a reckoning with one's beliefs about the world! This is The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky.  In this episode of the Books of Some Substance podcast, we (Nathan Sharp and David Southard) discuss the second half of the novel, looking at the novel's interplay of belief systems and reality, moral questions, and philosophical insights. We cover...

In this episode of The Books of Some Substance podcast, Nathan and David get into the first half of Fyodor Dostoevsky's masterpiece, The Brothers Karamazov (Books 1-6; Parts 1 and 2). From the novel's dense, philosophical style and its stark contrast to modern life, to deep dives into themes like love, free will, human suffering, redemption, and the role of faith in a crumbling society, Nathan and...

In this episode of the Books of Some Substance podcast, hosts Nathan Sharp and David Southard reunite with our old friend Eric Heiman (whose life and experiences connect closely to the novel on this episode) to discuss the intricate and poignant novel  Light Years by James Salter. We get into the unique lyrical and unadorned narrative style of the book,  the mysteries of life, the contrast between...

Exploring 'One Hundred Years of Solitude' by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Join hosts David Southard and Nathan Sharp in the Books of Some Substance podcast as they kick off Season 3 with an in-depth discussion on Gabriel Garcia Marquez's seminal Latin American novel, '100 Years of Solitude.' This episode covers the novel's ambitious narrative, magical realism, and deeply complex characters like Jose Ar...

Season Three: Family The Books of Some Substance Podcast's third season is underway! David and Nathan are here to announce the season's theme of family and introduce the lineup of books they'll be reading and discussing. The season opens with '100 Years of Solitude' by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, followed by 'Light Years' by James Salter, 'The Brothers Karamazov' by Fyodor Dostoevsky, 'The Obscene Bir...

In this episode, David and Nathan look back over season two, tracing the connections, marking the distinctions, and reframing their understanding/awareness of how control works in each and every book discussed this season. Revisiting: The Hour of the Star by Clarice Lispector, Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon, Waiting for the Barbarians by J.M. Coetzee, Malina by Ingeborg Bachmann, The Shelteri...

In this episode, David and Nathan delve into Henry Miller's controversial and groundbreaking novel "Tropic of Cancer." Published in 1934, this semi-autobiographical work was banned in the US and the UK upon its release due to its explicit content. Despite—and perhaps in part because of—its ban, "Tropic of Cancer" has endured as a provocative and essential piece of literature.  Discussed on this ep...

Come explore existential despair, the hell of isolation, and the mad dash into oblivion with Nathan and David. On this episode, your hosts have an in-depth discussion on Paul Bowles' 1949 novel The Sheltering Sky - a novel of stark prose and philosophical depth that follows Port and Kit Moresby, an American couple traveling in post-WWII North Africa. Nathan and David delve into the themes of finit...

Welcome to our episode on the novel Malina by Ingeborg Bachmann. David and Nathan wind their conversation through the disorienting pages of this incredible novel. We explore its unique form and style, ponder its structure, and discuss how these creative decisions add to the overarching sense of strangeness and mystery that permeates the narrative. In this episode, we contemplate and ponder: Is Mal...

Nathan and David continue their exploration of control with Waiting for Barbarians, a 1980 novel by South African writer J.M. Coetzee. Empire! Torture! Manipulation! Control! Quite the book, and quite the episode.

Our second episode on Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon, and again David is joined by Seth from W.A.S.T.E. Mailing List. Seth is here to nimbly unravel some of the meaning of this insane and insanely good novel, and he does an excellent job. But no matter what they tend to get lost along the way, as any analysis of the book will be "not a disentanglement from, but a progressive knotting into." J...

In our first of two episodes on Thomas Pynchon's 1973 masterpiece Gravity's Rainbow, David is joined, once again, by Seth from W.A.S.T.E. Mailing List to talk about one of his favorite ways to approach the novel.  Seth brings an invaluable depth of knowledge and research to this episode, examining the novel as being primarily about America in the "long 60s," albeit taking place in Europe in the 19...

Welcome all and sundry to the first episode of Season 2: Control.  Join us, David and Nathan, as we start this new season dancing to the beautifully strange rhythms of Clarice Lispector's The Hour of the Star . In between quoting and praising this novella, we discuss narrative techniques, metaphysical implications, symbolic deaths, co-existing interpretations, and a fall from grace.  Listen in, ta...

With the 100th episode behind us, and with Nick off exploring the world of dance music, David and Nathan have decided to try some new things. We're going into video (as you can see). We're going seasonal. And we will have a new website, logo, slogan, and much more coming soon. Each new episode will come out on the first Wednesday of every month.  Season 2 - CONTROL Nov. 1 - THE HOUR OF THE STAR by...

On this, our 100th episode, we answered some of your questions from our B.O.S.S. voicemail. Sadly we could not get to them all, but we talked about memory, books worth reading a 1,000 times, and childhood books.  Sadly, we also said farewell to our founding father, Nick, who started this whole wild ride of a podcast and book club. He'll be out there, far from the internet, but still reading good b...

Our 100th episode is coming up. And we want you to call in and leave us a message, ask us a question, read a quote, file a complaint, suggest a book, or leave a cool noise (like a ghost or a fart or a ghost fart or something like that...). This episode will also, sadly, be Nick's final episode. Our founding father and the first heavy reader is hanging up the mic for other things. So call and say s...

On this episode, David is joined by reader and writer Derek Maine to discuss Baron Wenckheim's Homecoming by everyone's favorite pessimistic, long-winded, Hungraian doom master László Krasznahorkai. By everyone, we mean ours. He's a favorite here at BOSS.  And we are happy to be joined by Derek Maine, author of CHARACTERS, published by Expat Press in 2022.  Join the two of them as they talk fear,...

David, Eric, and Nick read Jon Fosse's Melancholy I-II , a mid-90s Norwegian novel in two parts that explores the connections between art, death, and the divine. Also discussed in this episode: what exactly is "the divine." For fans of cyclic long sentences and also cyclic short sentences, Melancholy I-II is perhaps a slightly lesser known Fosse work to English-speaking audiences, but it makes a v...

David is joined by Ross Benjamin, translator of Franz Kafka's Diaries in its most authentic form to date. Listen in as they discuss Benjamin's start in the field of translation, his love for Kafka's craftsmanship and humor, and why a new edition of Kafka's diaries needed to be released. Benjamin's translation is available now via Schocken Books and is a must for any Kafka fan (read: the hosts of t...

We have (finally) found the lost time! It was inside us all along! Listen in as Nathan, David, and Nick complete their tour through Marcel Proust's In Search of Lost Time , concluding with a discussion on the final volume, Time Regained . Topics include: memory, the purpose of art, and . . . BDSM? In the event that you anticipate going through withdrawals after completing your own In Search of Los...

In this episode Nick is joined by Tom Comitta , aficionado of citational fiction and author of The Nature Book , newly released and available now from Coffee House Press. Tom selected Henri Lefebvre's The Missing Pieces as the work of focus for today's discussion, so listen in as we talk through the history of authors remixing words, Lefebvre's ability to invoke emotion with lists, and the apparen...

In this episode Nick is joined by Bob Blaisdell, Professor of English at the City University of New York's Kingsborough College and author of a new work on Anton Chekhov titled Chekhov Becomes Chekhov: The Emergence of a Literary Genius . Listen in as they talk in depth about the story Difficult People, as well as Blaisdell's approach to digging into Chekhov's most prolific years of 1886 and 1887....

David, Nathan, and Nick continue on their expedition for misplaced minutes, this time tackling Marcel Proust's fifth installment, The Captive & The Fugitive . Topics this time around include: the endless cycle of the narrator's obsession and apathy toward Albertine; the errors and inconsistencies of this posthumously published work (and whether that matters at all); the ability of different reader...