So Many Damn Books

For the first time ever, a graphic memoirist stops by the Damn Library in the form of Amy Kurzweil, author of the graphic memoir Flying Couch ! She also draws New Yorker cartoons! Listen as we chat about form and tone, board games and heartbreak, and more. We also get into Riad Sattouf's  Arab of the Future, and why the graphic memoir is such a great medium! We hope it DRAWS you in! music: Disaste...

Christopher and Drew hang out and explain themselves. They also talk their jobs, and formative reading experiences, and other subjects. music: Disaster Magic - Pier 6 ( https://soundcloud.com/disaster-magic ) contribute! patreon.com/smdb for drink recipes, book lists, and more, visit: somanydamnbooks.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jonathan Ames, writer of novels like  Wake Up, Sir  and I Pass Like Night , as well as series creator of  Bored to Death  and  Blunt Talk , sits down in the Damn Library to talk his new pulp novella,  You Were Never Really Here,  as well as how he wrote funny to please his mom, actors he has loved working with, and why pulp interested him. We also get to chatting about Leonard Gardner's  Fat City...

Christopher and Drew talk about PEN's 2018 World Voices Festival - check out their website of events!  https://worldvoices.pen.org/schedule/ music: Disaster Magic - Desert Snake and Coconut Crab ( https://soundcloud.com/disaster-magic ) contribute! patreon.com/smdb for drink recipes, book lists, and more, visit: somanydamnbooks.com   This minisode was sponsored by PEN America - www.pen.org Hosted...

Ruth Curry joins the guys in the Damn Library fresh off her #TOB18 judge-ship to chat about all sorts of things, like balancing her reading life and her work life, what she reads for at Emily Books, and why she has a Tiny Letter. We also get to chattin' about Sigrid Nunez's The Friend , which is a book about academia and dogs, so of course everyone has a lot to say. music: Disaster Magic - Boston...

Oh my gosh! It's over! Listen to me and Drew talk about what we thought about the Tournament this year, and also, a couple books we really wish had been in the tournament! Bok bok to you! Become a sustaining member of the Tournament! https://themorningnews.org/page/membership Visit www.somanydamnbooks.com for drink recipes, book lists, and more! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more info...

Oh my gosh it's still the tournament and we are feeling the madness! Listen to us talk about what's gone on so far, and also, some of the past tournament injustices! Become a sustaining member of the Tournament! https://themorningnews.org/page/membership Visit www.somanydamnbooks.com for drink recipes, book lists, and more! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Christopher and Drew wrestle up Gabe Habash to drink, chat, and be merry. Christopher serves everyone a very strange cocktail based on Habash's  Stephen Florida , then dive right into the very strange headspace of Mr. Florida. They discuss plot points vs. follow points, Moby Dick, and more, before falling for the dual plots of Iris Murdoch's  The Nice and The Good. More Murdoch and much more in ge...

Christopher and Drew prognosticate! The first round is still underway, but we still wanted to talk about what's gone on so far, and what might happen for the end of the round. Become a sustaining member of the Tournament! https://themorningnews.org/page/membership Visit www.somanydamnbooks.com for drink recipes, book lists, and more!   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

John Darnielle, lead singer of the Mountain Goats and writer of Universal Harvester and Wolf in White Van , sits down in the Damn Library for a far-ranging conversation covering everything from addiction to translated fiction. They talk about being frightened and why John writes, along with a myriad of other things. John also brings Mathias Énard's one-sentence novel Zone (translated by Charlotte...

Even though the Tournament won't officially start until after this episode has been posted, we're champing at the bit to get some prognostications going. So, for all you other ToB diehards - this one's for you. 9 minutes of tournament talk with Christopher and Drew. Get into it (and check back next week for some recapping and further predictions)! #tob18   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy fo...

Rachel Lyon sits down in the Damn Library as the first guest of 2018. She presents her incredible new novel Self-Portait with Boy , and the guys ask questions about it, like about camera research, and changing DUMBO, and other New York-type things. Then they all discuss Eileen Myles' Afterglow and discuss how much of this "dog memoir" worked, and how much was just Eileen Myles-ing around. music: D...

Katherine Faw drops into the Damn Library to talk about things like drugstore sushi, writing about women with ambition, and nail art. Then they all chat about Fleur Jaeggy's Sweet Days of Discipline and how it subverts the expectations of the normal boarding school novel. Tequila is consumed. music: Disaster Magic ( https://soundcloud.com/disaster-magic ) contribute! pateron.com/smdb look for book...

Christopher and Drew chat about their Top 6 books of 2017 - the 4 books they both agree on, and then 2 that only one of the guys puts on the top of the pile. They also pontificate on the book that'll win the 2018 Tournament of Books, and list some things they are looking forward to this year. music: Disaster Magic - Room ( https://soundcloud.com/disaster-magic ) contribute over at patreon.com/smdb...

Uli Beutter Cohen (Subway Book Review), Bianca Bosker (Cork Dork), and Nozlee Samadzadeh (TMN's Tournament of Books) join Drew and Christopher in the Damn Library for a holiday-tinged book club discussion of Tom Hanks' Uncommon Type. Hanks' status as America's Dad is discussed, as well as Christopher's status as a father, amongst other subjects like, do happy people get to make art? Can happy peop...

E. Lockhart settles into the Damn Library for a long chat about Genuine Fraud , her new novel, as well as touching on her other works, like Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks , and We Were Liars . Then John Green's new book, Turtles All the Way Down is considered, along with his depiction of a mental spiral, and what he taught us this time around, amongst many other topics. 15 seconds of...

So Many Damn Books heads to the movies and sees Kenneth Branagh's (mustache's) Murder on the Orient Express , based on the Agatha Christie novel. What you want in an adaptation is discussed, as well as dream adaptations, and adaptations the guys are looking forward to seeing. But, you know, books are better. 15 seconds of a song: Beck - Broken Train contribute if you'd like: patreon.com/smdb for d...

Carolyn Murnick joins the guys in the Damn Library to discuss her memoir, The Hot One: a memoir of friendship, sex, and murder . Along with discussing that subtitle and the cover, the trio discuss Pop Culture's helpfulness in navigating murder and courtrooms, as well as whether we had that friend that went down a path we couldn't follow. Claire Dederer's Love and Trouble: a Midlife Reckoning is al...

New to Brooklyn (having moved here from Spain), Edgar Cantero drops by the Damn Library with some Meddling Kids and discusses with Drew and Christopher his detective phase, coming up with his style, and why it's easier to write car chases in English. They all discuss which Enid Blyton Famous Five book they read and why the 40's British teen sleuth adventure series never quite made a splash in the...

To celebrate the 75th episode of So Many Damn Books, Christopher and Drew bring the Damn Library to the FSG offices to talk to Robin Sloan about his novel Sourdough and Eugene Lim's Dear Cyborgs . Food vs tech, analog vs digital, specific pop culture details vs vague description, and many other divergences are all discussed. Robin Sloan makes a very important proclamation about art projects within...

When Amelia Gray stops by the Damn Library, Christopher turns a drink blue again, and they discuss her new book, Isadora.  Particularly: what it was like to write a book about a dancer during a time when she wasn't dancing. A quote about dancing is misattributed. Plus, we get into Nell Zink's fearlessness in her novel, Nicotine , about activists and squat housing. Also: Amelia Gray starts an exqui...

Without a guest, the guys make good on their TMN Tournament of Books bet- Drew chose Jonathan Lethem's  Motherless Brooklyn . They talk about what matters in a noir, Lethem tackling Tourette's, and enjoying a book about where you live, amongst other subjects. Also: Patreon listener recommendations! contribute: patreon.com/smdb drink lists, book lists, and more: somanydamnbooks.com 15 seconds of a...

When Samantha Hunt drops by the Damn Library, the guys try to put a shadow in her drink but just end up with something more blood colored. They discuss her story collection, The Dark Dark , the Normas in one's life, and ticks, as well as transcending genre. The story collection she suggested, Chavisa Woods' Things to Do When You're Goth in the Countr y, also transcends genre, and the trio can't st...

In the Damn Library, Christopher gets an egg white cocktail egg-zactly right for Rachel Khong, author of Goodbye, Vitamin and also All About Eggs . He and Drew also chat with Rachel about the inner/outer voice of the critic, using family as inspiration, and eschewing categorization. Then they all dish on how much they liked Mary Robison's Why Did I Ever. 15 seconds of a song: The Magic Numbers - D...

Rosecrans Baldwin, who indirectly provided the beginning for the SMDB podcast, stops by the Damn Library to talk about his exceptional "HBO series of a novel," The Last Kid Left . Youth is discussed, as well as getting characters right, stopping into a memory-laden Barnes and Noble, and reading T he Economist in bed. Also, Rosecrans tells a story about how reading Graham Greene helped him meet his...