So Many Damn Books

Lauren Wilkinson shows up in the Damn Library to talk about her novel American Spy, and everyone gets into the ways in which this is like a spy novel, and it isn't, and the portrayal of real life people, and how to grapple with your fears by putting them in a book. Plus, we get into the melodramatic, surprisingly-still-timely Passing , Nella Larsen's novel about being undercover in a different way...

Leanne Shapton drops by the Damn Library for a spook-filled episode to discuss her new collection, Guestbook: Ghost Stories . Christmas wrapping paper, first stage appearances, tennis, and being haunted all get some airtime along with lots of other segues and divergences (including the first recorded dip into the Damn Library), plus everyone gets rapturous about Miriam Toews' weighty and excellent...

The tournament! It's over! And now we go over just what happened, and how it feels, and what books we hope are maybe in the tournament next year, as well as talk about that looming Mega Rooster... Ca-caw! contribute! https://patreon.com/smdb for drink recipes, book lists, and more, visit: somanydamnbooks.com music: Disaster Magic ( https://soundcloud.com/disaster-magic ) Hosted on Acast. See acast...

Another week of the Tournament of Books, another grouping of recaps, plus predictions about the week ahead! contribute! https://patreon.com/smdb for drink recipes, book lists, and more, visit: somanydamnbooks.com music: Disaster Magic ( https://soundcloud.com/disaster-magic ) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Halle Butler joins Christopher and Drew in the Damn Library to discuss her new novel, The New Me, and how she thought of domestic thrillers while she wrote it, and tried to create comedy out of millennial burnout and not having the clearest picture of yourself. Plus, she brings in Samuel Beckett's Molloy , and there's a robust discussion of voice and sucking stones, amongst other subjects. Also, w...

Tournament of Books 2019 continues apace! We talk about the zigs and the zags of the opening round, and where we think that the zigs and zags will come next week. Zigs and zags! contribute! https://patreon.com/smdb for drink recipes, book lists, and more, visit: somanydamnbooks.com music: Disaster Magic ( https://soundcloud.com/disaster-magic ) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more infor...

It's tournament of books time again, so here's a recap of what went down this week, along with the expected wild speculation. A caw-caw to all of you. contribute! https://patreon.com/smdb for drink recipes, book lists, and more, visit: somanydamnbooks.com music: Disaster Magic ( https://soundcloud.com/disaster-magic ) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After reading Ian Parker's " A Suspense Novelist’s Trail of Deceptions " piece from the New Yorker , Christopher and Drew get into unreliable narrators and what they hold (or are purported to hold). Drew talks about his love of midlist thrillers, and Christopher supposes that every narrator is an unreliable narrator. There's a fair amount of love for Robin Sloan and his love of silly URLs, too. Pl...

Charlie Jane Anders teleports into the Damn Library for a very sci-fi episode around her new novel, The City in the Middle of the Night . Anders talks tidally locked planets, the gargantuan effort it took to write her new novel, being accurate vs. writing a good story, and things to buy when you're about to go on book tour. Plus, she brought an Ursula K. Le Guin novel, Five Ways to Forgiveness , a...

Karen Thompson Walker drops in to dream a little dream with Christopher and Drew in the dreamy Damn Library to discuss her new novel, The Dreamers . They discuss outbreak fiction, writing about college, and what-if scenarios, as well as Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go, which prompts a discussion of writing about sci-fi premises through non sci-fi means. And so much more! contribute! https://patre...

Christopher and Drew decide on their shared 4 favorite reads of the year, and add in one personal pick. But they don't stop there! They mention a couple 2018 reads that are next up on their lists, a favorite read in 2018 but not published in 2018, and ya know, more of those silly types of list categories. It's good to be back. contribute! https://patreon.com/smdb for drink recipes, book lists, and...

Christopher and Drew give gifts, and then talk about the gifts that So Many Damn Books is giving to non-profits, and finish up with some good gift books to get other people in these last few shopping days. Merry merry! contribute to the patreon: patreon.com/smdb music: Dan Lerch - O Tannenbaum Chris Hayes - Deck the Halls https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMz1ukOyyo8 Millstones - Dance of the Sugar...

Jonathan Lethem drops into the Damn Library and the guys are damn excited to have him. They talk about Lethem's new one, The Feral Detective, of course, but they also talk about his work as a whole, and how his books are in conversation with each other, along with a tangent into timeliness and how lucky he feels. Then they get into Sei Shōnagon's Pillow Book , a classic unclassifiable Japanese wor...

It's a celebration of stories in translation (both linguistically and narratively), indie bookstores, and bourbon on the latest SMDB when Preti Taneja joins the guys in the Damn Library. Her debut novel, We That Are Young , provokes conversation about India and King Lear while her book-club-pick Frankenstein in Baghdad gets the room talking about translation. Plus, Drew mentions spooky reading! Ag...

All the way from Iceland, Sjón joins the guys in a Damn Library annex, aka the FSG offices. The conversation ranges from ghosts to unicorns, from golems to Frankensteins, from self-representation to translation, as they discuss the maximalist, fabulist fable  Codex:1962.  They also talk Christian Kracht's  The Dead , the light and the dark, and the wisdom/folly of using historical figures, amongst...

For their 100th episode extravaganza, Drew and Christopher put together a list of their 100 most beloved/most meaningful/most important books, contributing 50 each. Listen as they go through (some of) them. They also try a couple new segment ideas! Stay tuned through the whole thing for a very exciting announcement... tote:  http://www.somanydamnbooks.com/totes/smdb-tote contribute!  https://patre...

Drew and Christopher host HarperCollins' senior art director for a chat about book cover design, the hipness of text, trends in design, and more, plus how everyone has a Murakami phase, and some surprising things about the behind the scenes of book making. Also, they discuss The Good Soldier Švejk by Jaroslav Hašek, the idiocy of war, and who should play Švejk in a movie.  contribute!  https://pat...

Christopher and Drew hang out with a whiskey+tea cocktail and just give themselves over to the book chat. First: BUY YOURSELF A TOTE! The "My Other Car is a Book" tote is now available for your purchase. Then they get into vacation reading, never reading the books you mean to read, Shakespeare novelizations, professional obligations, and how many narratives one mind can hold. It's real bookish, yo...

Christopher and Drew bring back the One Book, One New York episode for another go, this time reading the city's choice of Jennifer Egan's Manhattan Beach . They talk its pleasures, and diving costumes, and the possibilities of New York, as well as the genre of historical fiction, and their ideal choices for next year. And of course, they recommend a lot of other things to read, as is their wont. c...

R.O. Kwon buzzes in with her buzzy book, The Incendiaries , and the guys get to talk to her about stuff like campus novels, North Korea, how likely they would be to join a cult, and also Rachel Khong's Goodbye Vitamin , and how to write lightly about devastation, a re-read for D+C that inspires a chat about seeing it in a new light.  contribute! https://patreon.com/smdb for drink recipes, book lis...

Megan Abbott returns to the Damn Library for her new book  Give Me Your Hand , and Christopher cooks up a color changing cocktail to celebrate. The guys get into Megan's dual jobs as novelist and tv writer, her thriller philosophy, and how writing people who are smart rather than brawny is a challenge. They also talk Lisa Halliday's  Asymmetry , its relation to Phillip Roth, and some of their own...

John Hodgman joins the gentlemen in the Damn Library to talk about all sorts of things, from a Borges scholar posing for a picture to reading rehab after being a professional literary agent. A blueberry-based beverage is enjoyed. We talk his new book,  Vacationland , as well as his performance career, becoming a character, and lots of other things that will delight and surprise. contribute! https:...

Christopher and Drew hang in the Damn Library and talk about the books they've liked so far this year, the books they are going to read next, and some of the books they are excited about that are soon to be in the world. The book titles come fast and furious, TBR piles climbing as high as the temperatures. contribute! https://patreon.com/smdb for drink recipes, book lists, and more, visit: somanyd...

Hannah Pittard drops back into the Damn Library after writing and editing and publishing an entire new novel called Visible Empire ! While drinking a cocktail featuring guava and egg white, she and the guys get way into 1962, how you need to make sure your ex knows where you got your ideas from, and how you should always kill the dog, amongst other topics. They also all discuss Ralph Ellison's cla...

Stephanie Danler drops by the Damn Library for a second go around, this time to talk the Sweetbitter television adaptation she created, now on Starz. We discuss the Disneyland of production, why writers' rooms are great, and how she doesn't really live in Los Angeles like her house would imply. Plus we got into Lorrie Moore's Anagrams , and its satellite stories, and the forgotten voids of the 80s...