Three Percent Podcast

Caitlin Luce Baker from University Bookstore in Seattle  joined Chad and Brian to talk about the "Little Miss Footnote" section of Dubravka Ugresic's  Fox.  They touch on Dorothy Leuthold, Vladimir Nabokov, and much more, including a very subtle weaving of references that you'll definitely want to tune in to learn about. You can watch the video recording of this episode on YouTube, and while you’r...

This episode, Chad and Brian are joined by the newest Open Letter employee--Anthony Blake! He joins in on a really fun episode about Russian avant-garde literature, connections between the fourth part of  Fox  and the very earliest sections of the book, footnotes, invented novels, how to smuggle like a fox, and more. This episode was not sponsored by Moon Palace Books , but they do receive a nice...

Back from their respective vacations, Chad and Tom talk about PBS's " Great American Read ," the NEA's " Big Read ," building a sustainable publishing model that puts readers first, the attempt to address the direct-to-consumer discount problem, books that they've recently read, and ones Tom refuses to stock. Tom also discloses his favorite publisher, and Chad has a revelation about all the books...

Pete Mitchell—who wrote this great review of  Fox  for  Asymptote— joined Chad and Brian this week to talk about the heartbreaking (and semi-profane) ending to "The Devil's Garden," the third part of Dubrakva Ugresic's latest novel. From the idea of a small ping singling one's eventual crack-up to peeing on the side of the road as you burn it all down, this episode has it all. You can watch the vi...

In this week's  Two Month Review , Brian drops some excellent knowledge about why this chapter is called "The Devil's Garden," opening a window into Ugresic's genius, guest George Carroll talks about his time in Kolkata, and Chad says a bunch of mildly entertaining things about camping and landmines. The most stunning moment comes when all three reveal their complete ignorance of one particular ma...

After a two week hiatus due to technical difficulties trying to record from Dublin, the Two Month Review is back! Chad and Brian are joined by translator Ellen Elias-Bursać to talk about her favorite section of the novel--"A Balancing Art." They discuss the various viewpoints presented in this chapter--especially that of the outspoken, unforgiving young artist compared to the more "fox-like" older...

Tom Flynn from Volumes is back, surprising Brian, who mostly prepared for the podcast by Googling Croatian Fun Facts. World Cup banter and good natured ribbing aside, Chad, Brian, and Tom dig in to the first half or "A Balancing Art," talking about immigration vs. tourism, literary conferences and celebrity, one of the best penis jokes ever, and much more. They look at some of the parallels betwee...

This week's podcast is pretty fast and loose, with Fortnite disruptions, embarrassing pronunciations, lots of ribbing, and a deep dive into the various games going on in Part I of Dubravka Ugresic's  Fox , "A Story about How Stories Come to Be Written." Starting from Pilnyak's story of the same name, this section revolves around the idea of how real life events are transformed into stories, why ce...

This week, Chad and Tom talk about the "newly reimagined" BookExpo, the New York Rights Fair, the Albertine Prize (congrats to Emma Ramadan, Anne Garreta, and Deep Vellum!), the BTBA (congrats to Will Vanderhyden and Rodrigo Fresán!), likely shortlisted titles for next year's award, and more. Totally lacking in sports talk this week, which is weird, given the start of the US-less World Cup . . . M...

The new season is here! For the next two months, Chad and Brian will be talking about Dubravka Ugresic's  Fox   with a wide range of guests. To kick things off this week, Chad talks about Ugresic's writing career and his history of publishing her, and Brian comes up with a great challenge for our listeners and a running gag about this season's theme music. You can watch the video recording of this...

Chad and Tom reunite after a few weeks of travel and hot takes to talk about the Best Translated Book Award shortlists, the Nobel Prize controversy , why we should (or shouldn't? or who cares?) save Barnes & Noble , and the awesomeness that is Jean-Patrick Manchette.  This week's music is "Every 1's a Winner" by Ty Segall, because, well, everyone's a winner.  As always, feel free to send any and a...

This week, Chad and Brian are joined by Stiliana Milkova from Oberlin College to talk about the final sections of The Physics of Sorrow : "An Elementary Physics of Sorrow," "Endings," and "Epilogue." They talk about the structure of the novel as a whole, about Chad's favorite page in the book, about aging and nostalgia, and, in a true throwback moment, Twin Peaks .  You can watch the video  record...

Chad and Tom reconvene to talk about self-published titles that stay local, the Best Translated Book Award longlists, the elitism of the industry , and how you should vote for Emma Ramadan's translation of Not One Day  for this year's Albertine Prize . This week's music is a snippet from the 13+ minute long Beach Life-in-Death by Car Seat Headrest. Great song, great album. As always, feel free to...

This week, Rachel Cordasco from Speculative Fiction in Translation and the Wisconsin Historical Society Press joined Chad and Brian for a fun conversation about part VII of Georgi Gospodinov's The Physics of Sorrow . They talked about how this book invokes a variety of memories, hotel rooms, Eastern European self-deprecating humor, the saddest place on earth, and much more. It's a wide-ranging con...

This week, translator Angela Rodel joins Chad and Brian to talk about The Physics of Sorrow by Georgi Gospodinov, the recent surge in Bulgarian literature in translation, point of view issues in writing, Bulgarian folk music, what makes a translation work, and much more. Then Chad and Brian banter about "The Story Buyer," the giving away of ideas for novels, and the next title to be featured on th...

In addition to ripping on Chad and the poor showing by the Michigan State Spartans in the NCAA Tournament, Brian Wood and Tom Flynn (from Volumes Bookcafe ) discuss the morality of animals, how this section of The Physics of Sorrow  focuses more on the "animal" side of the minotaur, the mixture of lightness and sorrow in Gospodinov's writing, terrible sounding alcoholic drinks, and more. It's a gr...

This week, Patrick Smith joined Chad and Brian to talk about time capsules and their potential danger, nostalgia and the urge to collect, aliens, Chernobyl, and more. It was a very fun part of the book to discuss, and the three of them made the most of it, really digging into how The Physics of Sorrow  is constructed, while also entertaining listeners who might not have read the book. (Bonus: Marc...

To up the Bay Area sports content, we invited Nick Buzanski of Book Culture  to come on and talk about one of his favorite sections of Georgi Gospodinov's The Physics of Sorrow . They talk about community and storytelling, seeing movies in person, Gospodinov's humor and beautiful writing, Gaustine's wild ideas, sexy books subterraneously shared, and crappy 90s music. If you want to see this conver...

Caitlin Baker of the University Book Store in Seattle joined Chad and Brian to talk about this very short section of Georgi Gospodinov's The Physics of Sorrow . Mostly they talk about the constant conflicts between kids and their parent in myths. And eating children. But it's not as gruesome as all that! Mostly they have a good time hanging out and talking about the Minotaur and how he's been port...

Chad and Brian are joined by Tom Roberge of Riffraff (and the Three Percent Podcast to discuss the first section of Georgi Gospodinov's The Physics of Sorrow . They talk about the book's general conceit, the minotaur myth, Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief , Eastern European history, fascism and communism, and much more. It's a really fun episode--and one that you can actually watch  on YouTub...

The new season of the Two Month Review  kicks off now with a general overview Georgi Gospodinov's The Physics of Sorrow , one of the most beloved books Open Letter has ever published. Brian's on the lam, or in witness protection, or something, so Open Letter senior editor Kaija Straumanis stepped in to talk about one of the first books she ever worked on for the press. You can participate in the n...

Alex Shepard from The New Republic joins Chad and Tom to discuss the state of book journalism, the new National Book Award for Translation, Chad's annoying whining about BookMarks, Winter Institute, and more. It's a fun episode that goes deep into some contemporary book publishing issues--and the disparity between the haves and have nots--while remaining entertaining and a bit unhinged. This week'...

After a few weeks away from podcast, Chad and Tom reunite to talk about sales of Fire and Fury and its lasting impact, Milo's edits , the TA First Translation Prize Shortlist , Rochester's failure to land the new Amazon HQ, Wormwood , and more.   For those keeping track as you listen, here's the baffling video presentation Rochester & Buffalo sent to Amazon and here's a link to A.N. Devers's artic...

Here it is, the infamous live recording at McNally Jackson! There was a great turnout to hear Brian, María Christina, and I work our way through our thoughts about Death in Spring , Rodoreda's overall stature, the banning of the color yellow, and much more. We had a great time doing this, and thanks again to McNally Jackson for making it all possible.   We might have a special bonus episode in the...

Mara Faye Lethem joins us this week to talk about Catalonia's scatological obsession , the challenges of the current political situation, Max Besora's wild novel, and Rodoreda's triumphant return to the best-seller list. Then they get into a more autobiographical reading of this section of Death in Spring , a section that's all about death and chaos.   Both Selected Stories and Death in Spring  ar...