The Library of Lazy Thinking Podcast

He does warn you. But still. Despite the opening line telling you things aren’t going to end well, something about the way The Easter Parade tangles you up in the lives of the two Grimes sisters means that by the end you’re both surprised and entirely accepting of their bleak fate. And despite the bleakness, it’s pretty damn brilliant. It’s an opinion shared by my excellent guest for this episode...

Is it instinctive? The first time, as a young writer or reader, when you discover short stories published in The New Yorker , and you know you’ve finally stumbled across the good shit. When you realise all the greats have contributed at some point. Salinger and Saunders. Rushdie and Roth. Ernaux and Ishiguro. Not to mention Truman Capote, John Updike, and Zadie Smith. Maybe you always knew. Maybe...

There’s a common misconception, especially in the South, that all Northern Men are bitter and grumpy, and that we generally sit around drinking too much tea. This is not true. But to prevent any members of the London elite from having their worlds shattered, in this episode, my guest and I subvert the very concept of autofiction and use various meta tactics to make you THINK we are bitter and grum...

There is a scene in Beverly Hills Cop where Axel Foley (played by Eddie Murphy) is following a lead with an art dealer. Before he can speak to the woman he’s come to see, he must converse with the assistant dealer, a strong-accented chap called Serge. During the exchange, one of Serge’s own assistants appears with a shirt open one button too many, revealing an overly hairy ‘80s chest. Serge admoni...

Before we storm into this excellent new episode, a reminder that tickets for Lazy Thinking Live Vol 2 are now available. I’ll start revealing the lineup tomorrow (Friday), but I’d encourage you to grab a ticket now as they’re strictly limited and are already flying out the door. When people see who’s performing and everything I’ve got planned, I expect they’ll disappear pretty quickly. More detail...

“Why are they taking pictures?” asks Sasha. “It’s supposed to be the blue door from the film Notting Hill,” I explain. “Though I’m not sure it’s the real one.” We’re just stepping out the door next to the blue one after an hour hidden away in a tiny podcast studio, where, much like in one of the scenes in the film, a stylish American woman is quizzed by a bumbling British fool. I am a bumbling Bri...

What would your utopia look like? A socialist state where everyone shares the same communal underwear, and you stay in the education system until retirement age? A fascistic wonderland where you’re forced to chant the leader’s name for ten minutes, five times a day, but you do get to enjoy unlimited Aperol Spritz? Or would yours be built entirely around how, as a society, we treat Ant and Dec? It’...

I once saw Carey Mulligan in the bar at the Royal Court Theatre in Sloane Square. In my memory, it was just the two of us. Or at least, it was quiet. I seem to remember the bar was downstairs. Or it was dark. I didn’t dare speak to her or say hello. But she looked like a nice person. Reflecting on the encounter now, decades later, I don’t know why I was in the bar of the Royal Court Theatre at all...

You could spend an entire podcast unpicking the bizarre circumstances that found a working-class kid from Grimsby on a business class flight to Las Vegas, reading a book about an American ex-marine growing up in poverty-stricken Bacon County, Georgia. But this is not that podcast. Still, 30,000 feet above the Atlantic is where I found myself recently reading Harry Crews’s fascinating memoir A Chil...

Shōbōgenzō , he said. Bless you, I replied, and passed him a tissue. No, you idiot. That’s the book. I want to talk about Shōbōgenzō, The Treasury of the True Dharma Eye . It’s the time of year, I said. Here, have another tissue. At this point, Litt smacked me over the head with a huge volume of Buddhist teaching, and at the same time, I heard the faint sound of a cymbal crash and the music from B...

What if, instead of trying to date Andie MacDowell, Bill Murray had spent Groundhog Day questioning existence in Danish? Granted, it’s not a what-if you’ve probably thought about before. Yet in many ways, the first volume of Solvej Balle’s On the Calculation of Volume goes some way towards imagining it. Of course, I jest. But only a little. The basic premise of the novel is the same as Bill’s dile...

Ah, Ben Lerner. Who doesn’t love Ben Lerner? Seriously. Get in touch. That said, despite being a big fan of his work, I also find him maddening at times. Partly because I wish I could write as cleverly as he does. Partly because I hope never to write as cleverly as he does. As they say, it’s complicated. What isn’t at all maddening is talking about Ben Lerner with fellow fans, and so I was over th...

You’ve got to love Werner Herzog. Confronted with the news that his friend was dying, his reaction was to walk 500-plus miles across Europe (during Winter) to see her. He declared the world would “not permit her to die” before he had completed the journey. It’s a bold move, and one he documented in a fascinating sliver of a book called Of Walking in Ice. In researching ahead of her own ambitious t...

Toni Morrison wrote that you can’t understand the history of America unless you understand the history of African American women. Reading The Waterbearers by Sasha Bonét, I see why. The Toni Morrison quote acts as an epigraph for what I found to be a thoughtful, elegant, and profound memoir. It’s also an honest account of motherhood and the challenges that come with it (as well as the joys). Given...

After he’d written Smallcreep’s Day , Peter Currell Brown never wrote another book. He disappeared from the world of literature completely and started making strange ceramic pots in the woods. I mean, we’ve all done it, right? Okay. Maybe not. And I guess to some extent, that’s what makes the book up for discussion in this latest episode of the show so interesting. Indeed, this strange and singula...

Do you know who designed the Twin Towers? Probably not. Chances are, you don’t know who designed most of the buildings you instantly recognize. Why is that? Well, this is one of many fascinating ideas I explore with my guest in the latest episode of the show, as we discuss a relatively little-known book called Sandfuture , by the American artist Justin Beal. Oh, and what a guest I have for you tod...

Elusive poem Need help to figure you out Spend time with Helen Though technically daring each other to write a Japanese Death Haiku during our chat, I’m hoping both Helen and I have got a little longer before we need to sum up our creative lives in seventeen syllables. And besides, more pressing is my desire to learn about poetry and develop a greater understanding and appreciation for it. Instead...

Are you ready to get stupidly excited about maths? No? Granted—it’s not a state most of us ever find ourselves in. But trust me, it’s time to get your brainbox psyched for some equational madness. Why? Because once you’ve wandered in the mind-expanding labyrinth that is Benjamin Labatut’s When We Cease to Understand the World , you’ll be ripping down posters of Paul Mescal and pinning up hot, secr...

“A sex memoir.” “The gayest book ever written.” “Filthy.” Reading the blurbs about Edmund White’s most recent memoir, The Loves of My Life, you might think the book is going to be one thing… In reality, it’s quite another. A fascinating, tender, and ultimately universal account of life, love, and, well, yes… to top it all, there’s enough sex in there to make Hugh Hefner blush. To spare my own blus...

Strange. Surreal. Smart. The uncanny world Camilla Grudova imagines across the various stories that make up The Doll’s Alphabet is one in which you’re never quite sure what’s around the corner. Thankfully, we have Claire Carroll, another brilliant short story writer—and all-round excellent egg—to hold our hand and help us begin to unpick the intricacies of this beguiling collection. Or not. Maybe...

Find a quiet pub that hasn’t been renovated for at least twenty years, preferably longer. Order a preposterous drink, one that involves Cinzano, and a pint of ale to wash it down. Ask for a bag of crisps (or a more elaborate bar snack given a cigarette inside won’t be possible) and, once you’ve paid the tab (with cash rummaged from the lint-filled pocket of your crumpled, ill-fitting suit), take a...

Weird. A bit creepy. Not quite sure what’s going on. …but enough about me. Let’s talk about What Happens at Night by Peter Cameron, which is weird, a bit creepy and, though it’s a fascinating and enjoyable read, you’re never quite sure what’s going on. Thankfully, we have a fine guide to hold our hand through the twists and turns in the narrative as I’m joined by the brilliant—and Booker-nominated...

Just who do you think you are? Stop actin' like some kind of star Just who do you think you are? Take it like a man, baby, if that's what you are 'Cause I'm movin' on up, you're movin' on out Movin' on up, nothin' can stop me Movin' on up, you're movin' on out Time to break free, nothin' can stop me, yeah When Heather Small of the early 90s rhythm outfit M People sang those words, I wonder if she...

Give over, Gatsby. Zip it, Zuckerman. Away with you, Angstrom. There’s a new hero in the Great American Novel… And she goes by the name Alice Blackwell. But wait… there’s another twist. Turns out Alice isn’t an Alice at all. She’s a Laura. Laura Bush. And wait, her husband ain’t no Charlie… it’s George damn Dubya. What the hell is going on? Why am I imagining Blair’s old buddy having sex? Has some...

Get ready to feel a new passion for life. Get ready to notice things you’ve never noticed before… Speak to people you’d usually pass in the street… …and generally seek out a deeper connection to the world around you. How come? Because in this latest episode, not only are we talking all things Kerouac… but we’re doing so with the frankly inspiring David Keenan. This is the “magic God stuff” as Jack...