Two Month Review

Chad doubles down on his love of Kathy Acker while Kaija continues to be unamused, and Brian sits somewhere in the middle. Nevertheless, this leads to a great discussion about revolution, if it felt rebellious reading Acker back in the 90s, forms of oppression (government, the uber-wealthy, language), and how the only escape seems to be by motorcycle or pirate ship. This week’s music is “ Rebel Gi...

This episode is the one to listen to if you find Empire of the Senseless /Kathy Acker distasteful, unpleasant to read, a slog, hard going, etc. That summarizes Kaija’s experience, whereas Chad argues for the value in books that refuse to get in line, and Brian talks about why Acker is so divisive. If you’re not reading along, this episode is a great summary of why Acker is lauded, while also coppi...

The second part of this season of the Two Month Review kicks off with a bang as Chad, Brian, and Kaija shift to talking about Kathy Acker and her Empire of the Senseless . It’s Kaija’s first exposure to Acker, so a lot of time is spent explaining where Acker came from, her aesthetic approach, the political moment of the mid-80s (and how that connects to now), elements of her life that frequently g...

First off: Congrats to Rodrigo Fresán & Will Vanderhyden for winning this year’s Republic of Consciousness Prize for Melvill !!! If you didn’t listen to our season on this novel, I suggest going back to it—and ordering a copy of the book from Open Letter . This week, Chad, Brian, and Kaija go over the last part of James by Percival Everett and all love the ending and the philosophical challenges i...

In the penultimate episode on Percival Everett's James , Chad, Kaija, and Brian discuss how unnerving Part II is to read (especially in relation to Brock), the choices that James is left with, the extended metaphor running throughout this part, the bits of humor in this book that's primarily filled with horrors, and much much more. This week's music is " Foot on Necks " by Sault. Next week we’ll c...

The most anxiety-filled section of James is under discussion this week, as we find out the horrific fate of Little George, and James is both beaten and then sold to a minstrel show. There are also questions raised about Huck that are quite intriguing, and a lot of masks, metaphors, and irony. This week's music is "Ends Meet" by Panda Bear, mostly because his new album is called Sinister Grift , wh...

In this episode, Chad, Brian, and Kaija talk about the role of James as a writer, how long James will parallel Adventures of Huck Finn , the geography of the U.S., and the malicious intent of people in power, con men, father figures, Huck and James’s relationship, and much more. This week's music is " Can’t Get Enough of It " by Sprints. Next week we’ll cover pages 124-185 (through the end of Part...

The 25th season of the Two Month Review will dive into two books related to the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn , starting with Percival Everett’s highly praised, award-winning, James. This week Chad, Brian, and Kaija talk about Huck Finn, the language games in the opening chapters of the novel, discuss masks, grifters, how the two books intersect, and much more. This week's music is " Request Deni...

Special guest Rodrigo Fresán joins Brian, Chad, and Kaija to celebrate being on the Republic of Consciousness longlist , talk about his novels, his career, the ideas he circles back to time and again, the idea of a writer creating their reader, what’s next for him, and much more. Also: The books for Season 25 are announced at the very end. The " Grifters Gonna Grift " t-shirt is still available an...

In the penultimate episode of this season, there’s a lot of talk about Melville’s relationship with Nathaniel Hawthorne as we get more of Melville’s life as he bounces through time, writes Moby-Dick and the creation of “its own kind of reader: an inexhaustible reader. A reader that didn’t yet exist . . .” The " Grifters Gonna Grift " t-shirt is still available and still sexy. Next episode will be...

On the final episode of 2024, Chad, Brian, and Kaija talk about Nico C. and being unmoored from time, last words, footnotes and ellipses, some highlights from the past year, ice, and more. The " Grifters Gonna Grift " t-shirt is still available and still sexy. Next episode will be next week at the regularly scheduled time and will cover pages 189-245 of Rodrigo Fresán's Melvill . You can find the...

Lori Feathers ( Across the Pond podcast, Involutions of the Seashell , Interabang Books , and Republic of Consciousness Prize USA ) joins Chad and Kaija to talk about prizes— Melvill is longlisted for the NBCC Greg Barrios Prize for Translated Literature!—the narrative structure of Melvill , Nico C., and vampires. A lot of fun is had along the way. The " Grifters Gonna Grift " t-shirt is still ava...

With Melville's Fidèle receding into the dark distance, we turn our attention to Rodrigo Fresán's Melvill , a bombastic book about Alan Melvill and Herman and the passing down of stories from one generation to the next. On this special episode, translator Will Vanderhyden joins Brian, Chad, and Kaija to talk about translating Fresán, about the style and word play found in his books, about the foot...

Chad, Brian, and Kaija venture into the darkness and turn off the light on Melville's The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade , one of the oddest, most slippery books to be included in the Two Month Review. They talk about transcendentalism, self-reliance, Melville's interludes, Jean Giono's Melville , and more. And here's the " Grifters Gonna Grift " t-shirt mentioned in this episode. Next episode wil...

Opening with a couple of rants, this week's podcast is spicy and also tries to make sense of a few of the more perplexing parts of the book. There's a wonderful interlude in this section from the narrator themselves, and, apparently, nine jokes? And a magic trick involving coins. You'll have to listen to understand. And here's the " Grifters Gonna Grift " t-shirt mentioned in this episode. This we...

[Note: If you subscribe on Apple Podcasts, please resubscribe to this feed. The other one will be going away in the near future.] "Grifters Gonna Grift" merchandise coming soon! This episode exposes just how useful footnotes can be as we transition from dusk to darkness, with the confidence-men being replaced by the Cosmopolitan. Under Discussion: The WWE, how nothing ever changes, the New Adam, l...

[Note: If you subscribe on Apple Podcasts, please resubscribe to this feed. The other one will be going away in the near future.] Chad and Kaija go it alone this week, talking about some of the more uncomfortable parts of the book to read in 2024, the Goneril story and the "evil touch," how almost every beat in this novel has a counterpart, the wonderful authorial intrusion discussing the "consist...

Hello! I meant to write a proper post welcoming you to the Three Percent substack earlier this week, but have been too anxious and distressed to do it right . . . Still am, if I’m being honest, but we all need a distraction, and talking about books are mine. This Substack will be, for the time being, a duplication of the Three Percent blog , which has been active since 2007, but, honestly, feels l...

Not the happiest day in which to record a podcast, but Chad, Brian, and Kaija speak their fears and then dive into Melville's  Confidence-Man , talking about grifters, the value of footnotes, and just how modern and amazing Melville's prose is. They guess at who the "confidence man" might be, the burnt over district of western New York, Mormons, and a lot more.  This week's music is " All Bets Are...

After referencing  Joytime Killbox on hundreds of TMR episodes, we finally break it down with the author himself! Conversation includes ideas about short stories and how they function, the nature of endings, and how Brian has grown as a writer since this collection first came out, while also examining the intent behind a number of the stories, and how they work.  This week's music is " All My Frie...

On the first ever one-off episode of the Two Month Review, Chad breaks down Virginie Despentes's Dear Dickhead for Kaija and Brian, a novel about . . . well, just listen. (It'll be more fun if you don't know what's coming.) This new format really digs into the book in a way that you can't in (to quote Zoé Katana) "lamestream media," and, simply put, rocks.  This week's music is " Cannonball " by G...

It all gets wrapped up with a "Catastrophe,." "Explanation," an "End," and a "Tailpiece." Chad, Brian, and Kaija discuss global capitalism, the fight for love and the be human, AI, the Bardo, and much more on this final episode of Season 23. Listen to the end for an announcement about changes to the podcast and what to look for going forward! This week's music is " When I Was Dying " by Dan Deacon...

From the Olympics to the most meta moment of the whole of  Lanark , this week's podcast has you covered! Brian, Chad, and Kaija banter about divorce, plagiarisms versus influences, and how to read this book as a whole. There are a ton of amazing lines throughout this section of the novel, making this one of the most fun episodes of the season. This week's music is " Entropy " by El Ten Eleven. You...

The reviews were right: Once you hit page 410, the Unthank sections of  Lanark  snap into place. Chad, Brian, and Kaija discuss that, capitalism, how terrible advertisements are, jobs, J.D. Vance and his proclivities, politics, unintended consequences, and how  Deadpool & Wolverine  is the Kamala Harris of film.  This week's music is " Hollywood " by Car Seat Headrest. You can find all previous se...

If you want to send Chad through the roof, simple crap on his conceptual publishing project five years in the making . . . To that end, everyone reading this should preorder Attila   by Javier Serena and  Attila   by Aliocha Coll and prove our distributor wrong. And then, after you do that, listen to this discussion about art and audience, the frontispiece for Book 4 of  Lanark , parallax views ex...