In this episode, the Book Spider hosts discuss The Dwarf, an eighty-year-old Swedish novel that may be perfect.

In which Hans's initial enchantment with Martin MacInnes's In Ascension dissipates on a re-read. This novel attempts to mesh literary techniques with sci-fi themes, exploring environmental catastrophe, time travel, and multiple perspectives on family trauma, but does the ambition of its hybridization doom its effectiveness? 

In which we politely drag Harvey's lovely new novel through the mud despite repeated efforts to say nicer things about it. It really is quite lovely to spend time with! We just wished...there was more to it. 

In this episode, the Spiders think about the stories in Camus' excellent collection, Exile and the Kingdom.

In which the spiders approach Bruce Wagner's The Marvel Universe: Origin Stories, a book whose own origin as a victim of cancel culture overshadows its alternately daring and disappointing story choices.

The house is grief. There it is. 

In this episode, the Spiders tackle a philosophical question? When we talk about art, are we just sharing opinions? Or can any of what we say be true? Can a work be "objectively" good or bad? To facilitate this topic, the Spiders discuss the film LFO, a Swedish horror comedy.

In which the Spiders take on Paul Auster's The Book of Illusions, weaving it into a web of textual filmism with prior picks Flicker and Zeroville, while debating and ultimately settling the question of its internal reality.

In which we discuss the magical cinematic language of David Lynch, focusing on three of his most challenging movies, and lovingly (I hope) dig at him for his largely blah memoir. 

In which we discuss the seductive pointlessness of Jungian psycho-mysticism, whether consciousness emerges mechanistically or mysteriously, and our real fears about technology.