Three Percent Podcast

Former TMR guest Patrick Smith returns to discuss his reread of the first two volumes of the trilogy, how Fresán's writing inspires him, hanging on to flights of prose, all of the wind in this book, what it means to fall, dogs, and much much more. It's a comprehensive, deep look into what it takes to be a good reader, Ricardo Piglia's "The Last Reader" and the paradoxes at the center of this novel...

Chad and Kaija break down the final bit of the first part of the third volume in Fresán's trilogy (phew), revisit the "is this difficult to read?" discussion, and talk about the articles about Fresán in the new issue of Latin American Literature Today .  And at the very, very end, Chad makes a startling admission. This week's music is " Life Worth Missing " by Car Seat Headrest. Next week we'll be...

Separated by 10 hours—like podcasting jet lag?—Chad and Brian work through some observations and rants (specifically about a shitty  NY Times  list of the best American books between 1981 and 2006, which consists almost entirely of Philip Roth and John Updike and only two books by women), about this section of The Remembered Part. Chad argues for being willing to be confused while reading and they...

From Nobel Prize favorites to Proust to competitive cliques on the mountain, this week's episodes is almost as sprawling as the ex-writer's airplane thoughts. Bit more plot dropped into this section of Fresán/Vanderhyden's book, but there's also a lot about IKEA, his death and rebirth, his insincerity, and his loathsome success. This week's music is " Adore Adore Adore " by Sprints. Next week we'l...

Kaija Straumanis pinch hits this week for a discussion about  Lost , airplanes, the past and nostalgia, writers vs. narrators, autofiction, how hard it is to sustain a rant, ghosts, pop culture references, where we are in Fresán's trilogy, and much more.  The Remembered Part  keeps gathering steam, and you'll want to catch up after listening to this so that you can be there for the explosive concl...

Maybe not the most informative of recaps, but Brian and Chad discuss what the love about Fresán's writing, things they recall from the first two volumes of the trilogy, ideas about what to maybe expect ( Dracula  + Proust), peppered with the usual amount of jokes and antics. This week's music is " Pontius Pilate's Home Movies " by The New Pornographers. Next week we'll be covering pages 1-82 ( ful...

In this episode, Chad talks with Olga Castro (Univ. of Warwick), and translators Jacob Rogers (Galician), Mara Faye Lethem (Catalan), Robin Munby (Asturian), and Aritz Branton (Basque) about literatures from the official (and unofficial) languages of Spain, ways in which the regional governments support translation from these languages, the burden of pitching, challenges and joys, books you should...

The final episode of this season focuses on  The Unmapped Country: Stories and Fragments , focusing on the titular story/unfinished novel, along with a few other shorter pieces. The gang looks back at all of Ann Quin's books, speculate on what her career might have been had she lived another couple decades, whether of not she should be taught in a creative writing class, and more. This week's musi...

Chad, Brian, and Kaija finish up their discussion of  Tripticks , which basically devolves into reading out the funniest lines they can find from the this trippy-dippy, wild-ass ending. Some analysis is made of the deconstruction of male narratives, the Beats, the Dashiell Hammett of it all, and more, but come prepared for some fun and laughs. This week's music is " How Does the Story Go? " by Spr...

NIGHTRIPPER!!!!!!!!! This week's music is " Dirty Boots " by Sonic Youth. You can watch next week's discussion of Tripticks live on YouTube. (Reading schedule can be found here .) And you can find all previous seasons of TMR on our YouTube channel . And you can support us at Patreon and get bonus content before anyone else, along with other rewards, the opportunity to easily communicate with the h...

Kaija Straumanis filled in for a domestically distressed Brian, and Chad went all psych0-philosophical on this week's episode, talking about schizoid personality splits, R. D. Laing, reading the various parts of Passages  simultaneously, postulating wild hot takes, and saying "fuck off" to a wide swath of bad actors. (Looking at you, Kanye.) This week's music is " Outlook for the Future " by Inven...

Kaija Straumanis joins Chad and Brian this week to talk about orchids, hot takes ( did  S. sleep with L.?? how exactly did she die?), creepy British dudes, symmetry in  Three , Ann Quin's statement on threesomes, the ambiguity of the text, and much more. This week's music is " What Went Down " by Foals. You can watch next week's discussion of Passage live on YouTube at 4pm ET on Thursday, December...

Chad and Bria dive into  Three , discussing the humor of the dialogue, the poetic-cinematic techniques Quin employs, monogamy and marriage, whether or not L was a collaborationist or worse, the importance of the number three, the play-like elements of the books, anti-mimetic writing, and much more. It's a fun episode complete with dog barks, laughs, unanswered questions, and a decent amount of ins...

Dead dummies, drowned tramps, resolving the Oedipal complex, the forever incompleteness of the number "3," sex, the sea, slapstick comedy, irony, competing desires of domesticity versus the desire to escape, the beautiful ending and the reverse coda, and much more is discussed on this episode covering the whole of Ann Quin's Berg.  Now Chad and Brian move on to Quin's second novel,  Three , which...

Chad and Brian dive into the first half of Berg  this episode, mispronouncing words, talking about the literary scene Quin came out of, whether or not Berg/Greb is an incel, the humor found in the book, and more. (Inevitably there's a dig at Ohio  somewhere in this recording.) This week's music is " When a Woman Is Around " byUnloved. You can watch next week's discussion of Berg live on YouTube at...

The eighteenth season of the Two Month Review is all about Ann Quin's books—all four novels and her collected stories and fragments—and starts off with an overview of who she was, the context of experimental British writing in the 1960s, how/why Quin has been underappreciated, some info on supplementary critical materials, and much more. This week's music is " HaHaHome " by twen. You can watch nex...

Katie and Chad tackle this section alone, discussing the revolutionary background of the main characters, going off into Bernadine Dohrn, the SDS, the Weather Underground, and direct action. They also talk about the timeline—as far as they understand it—the challenges of translating legal terms, Danny's multiple read throughs of the text, and much more. This week's music is "Simulation Swarm" by B...

In addition to talking about the Trump/Tesla/Lockwood conspiracy theory, our hosts this week discuss "bone avalanches," how translators are paid, the global literary network available for "experimental" books translated into English, "runts," Lativa's obsession with MILF graffiti, "catching fire," and driving a convertible off a cliff. This week's music is "Bicameral" by The Range. If you like wha...

Chad and Brian go it alone and discuss "navel gazing" novels, books that entertain vs. ones about the prose, where Eltit's novel resides on that spectrum, Tommy Pham slapping Joc Peterson, shit in the bed, and much more. This week's music is "It Was Us" by Arms and Sleepers. If you like what you hear, review, rate, and support us on Patreon! You can watch next week's episode (June 1st) live on You...

Technical difficulties are kept to a minimum on this week's episode, as Chad, Brian, and Katie talk about the advancement of plot, the French New Novel, the title and its translation, the body, trauma, touching eyeballs, and more. This week's music is "Monday" by The Regrettes. If you like what you hear, review, rate, and support us on Patreon! You can watch next week's episode (June 1st) live on...

In lieu of a live episode, this week's TMR features interviews with Mónica Ramón Ríos and Carlos Labbé about their relationship with Diamela Eltit and her role in Chilean letters. That's followed by a conversation with Tony Malone (of Tony's Reading List ) about the two books under discussion this season and the Shadow Man Booker International jury that he's been helping run for a number of years....

Technical difficulties abound as Chad struggles to find reliable Wifi in Latvia. (While being recruited by the Russian mafia?)  Katie and Brian take the lead this episode, discussing the next few chapters of  Never Did the Fire , gendered adjectives and information, Marxist groups and analysis, and much more. Also: Stay tuned at the end for a special interview with Sam McDowell of Charco Press! Th...

TMR is back, breaking down Daniel Hahn's translation diary,  Catching Fire , alongside his translation of  Never Did the Fire  by Diamela Eltit.  In this episode, they contextualize Eltit and this particular book, talk about intentional ambiguity, Franco and Pinochet, action vs. analysis, bad and hard to eat rice, and more.  Also, Katie sings.  And there's a long interview with Daniel Hahn! This w...

After a two-year hiatus, Chad and Tom are back! In this episode—maybe the final one of this particular scope and format—they talk about what's gone on over the past couple years, how much printing sucks right now, distribution issues, Fum d'Estampa,  ELADATL: A History of the East Los Angeles Dirigible Air Transport Lines   by Sesshu Foster and Arturo Ernesto Romo,  Everything and Less   by Mark M...

We've reached the end of  2666 and Chad, Katie, and Brian convene to talk about how amazing the ending is, publishers protecting authors, love and family, the book being a "love letter to literature," the circular nature of the book, and James Joyce. This week's music is "Swoonn" by The Chemical Brothers. If you'd prefer to watch the conversation, you can find it on YouTube along with all our past...