Books of Some Substance

By David Southard and Nathan Sharp

What's Books of Some Substance about?

The unofficial podcast of literary misfits everywhere who want to engage with books of "substance" (i.e. serious, respected, heavy, philosophical, classic), or at least considered such.

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Books of Some Substance episodes:

05.16.2024
105 - Malina by Ingeborg Bachmann
Welcome to our episode on the novel Malina by Ingeborg Bachmann. David and Nathan wind their conversation through the disorienting pages of this incredible novel. We explore its unique form and style, ponder its structure, and discuss how these creative...
02.07.2024
104 - Waiting for the Barbarians by J.M. Coetzee
Nathan and David continue their exploration of control with Waiting for Barbarians, a 1980 novel by South African writer J.M. Coetzee. Empire! Torture! Manipulation! Control! Quite the book, and quite the episode.
01.03.2024
103 - Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon (2/2)
Our second episode on Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon, and again David is joined by Seth from W.A.S.T.E. Mailing List. Seth is here to nimbly unravel some of the meaning of this insane and insanely good novel, and he does...
12.06.2023
102 - Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon (1/2)
In our first of two episodes on Thomas Pynchon's 1973 masterpiece Gravity's Rainbow, David is joined, once again, by Seth from W.A.S.T.E. Mailing List to talk about one of his favorite ways to approach the novel. Seth brings an invaluable...
11.01.2023
101: The Hour of the Star by Clarice Lispector
Welcome all and sundry to the first episode of Season 2: Control. Join us, David and Nathan, as we start this new season dancing to the beautifully strange rhythms of Clarice Lispector's The Hour of the Star. In between quoting...
10.25.2023
Season 2 Books Announcement
With the 100th episode behind us, and with Nick off exploring the world of dance music, David and Nathan have decided to try some new things. We're going into video (as you can see). We're going seasonal. And we will...
10.13.2023
100 - End of an Era
On this, our 100th episode, we answered some of your questions from our B.O.S.S. voicemail. Sadly we could not get to them all, but we talked about memory, books worth reading a 1,000 times, and childhood books. Sadly, we also...
09.14.2023
Special Announcement
Our 100th episode is coming up. And we want you to call in and leave us a message, ask us a question, read a quote, file a complaint, suggest a book, or leave a cool noise (like a ghost or...
09.12.2023
99 - László Krasznahorkai's Baron Wenckheim's Homecoming (Guest: Derek Maine)
On this episode, David is joined by reader and writer Derek Maine to discuss Baron Wenckheim's Homecoming by everyone's favorite pessimistic, long-winded, Hungraian doom master László Krasznahorkai. By everyone, we mean ours. He's a favorite here at BOSS. And we...
07.21.2023
98 - Jon Fosse's Melancholy I-II
David, Eric, and Nick read Jon Fosse’s Melancholy I-II, a mid-90s Norwegian novel in two parts that explores the connections between art, death, and the divine. Also discussed in this episode: what exactly is “the divine.” For fans of cyclic...
06.05.2023
97 - Franza Kafka's Diaries (Guest: Ross Benjamin)
David is joined by Ross Benjamin, translator of Franz Kafka’s Diaries in its most authentic form to date. Listen in as they discuss Benjamin’s start in the field of translation, his love for Kafka’s craftsmanship and humor, and why a...
05.12.2023
96 - Marcel Proust's Time Regained (In Search of Lost Time #6)
We have (finally) found the lost time! It was inside us all along! Listen in as Nathan, David, and Nick complete their tour through Marcel Proust’s In Search of Lost Time, concluding with a discussion on the final volume, Time...
04.04.2023
95 - Henri Lefebvre's The Missing Pieces (Guest: Tom Comitta)
In this episode Nick is joined by Tom Comitta, aficionado of citational fiction and author of The Nature Book, newly released and available now from Coffee House Press. Tom selected Henri Lefebvre’s The Missing Pieces as the work of...
02.28.2023
94 - Anton Chekhov's Difficult People (Guest: Bob Blaisdell)
In this episode Nick is joined by Bob Blaisdell, Professor of English at the City University of New York’s Kingsborough College and author of a new work on Anton Chekhov titled Chekhov Becomes Chekhov: The Emergence of a Literary Genius....
01.29.2023
93 - Marcel Proust's The Captive & The Fugitive (In Search of Lost Time #5)
David, Nathan, and Nick continue on their expedition for misplaced minutes, this time tackling Marcel Proust’s fifth installment, The Captive & The Fugitive. Topics this time around include: the endless cycle of the narrator’s obsession and apathy toward Albertine; the...
12.30.2022
92 - Han Kang's The Vegetarian
David, Eric, and Nick dive into The Vegetarian, a 2007 novel by Han Kang that, after its English translation, won the 2016 Man Booker International Prize. This compact work will appeal to anyone interested in tightly architected narrative structures, complex...
11.14.2022
91 - Marcel Proust's Sodom and Gomorrah (In Search of Lost Time #4)
Nathan, David, and Nick tackle Sodom and Gomorrah, the fourth volume of Marcel Proust’s In Search of Lost Time. They discuss how groundbreaking it was at the time to so openly write about homosexuality, the noticeable increase in the narrator’s...
10.09.2022
90 - Thomas Pynchon's The Crying of Lot 49 (Guest: Seth of WASTE Mailing List)
Seth — aficionado of difficult fiction and driving force behind WASTE Mailing List — joins the podcast this episode to chat with David about the endless gifts to be found within the endless layers of Thomas Pynchon’s The Crying of...
09.17.2022
89 - Marcel Proust's The Guermantes Way (In Search of Lost Time #3)
David, Nathan, and Nick continue their journey through Marcel Proust’s In Search of Lost Time, this time discussing the third volume, The Guermantes Way. While this one might very well be “a middle book” — and by proximity, this episode...
08.21.2022
88 - Alexander Theroux's Fables (Guest: George Salis)
Writer, interviewer, and heavy reader George Salis returns to the podcast, this time to discuss Alexander Theroux’s Fables with David. The two tackle a list of maximalist topics: deep cuts of vocabulary (real and invented), the forever ongoing inclusions of...
08.07.2022
87 - Shirley Jackson's We Have Always Lived in the Castle
David, Eric, and Nick seek out some mid-summer spookiness in Shirley Jackson’s acclaimed We Have Always Lived in the Castle and instead find a compact work that is much more complicated than the horror themes, accessible sentences, and vaguely young...
07.04.2022
86 - Marcel Proust's Within a Budding Grove (In Search of Lost Time #2)
David, Nick, and Nathan reconvene to continue their Proust pilgrimage, this time tackling the second volume, Within a Budding Grove. There is discussion around the narrator’s age — whether it be twelve or twenty-two, Proust certainly has a knack for...
06.07.2022
85 - Franz Kafka's Short Stories (The Judgment, A Country Doctor, In the Penal Colony)
David, Eric, and Nick spend a beautiful Saturday doing what they love: wading into the tides of the irrational, crushing systems in which we have existed, currently exist, and will continue to exist. In other words: Discussing Franz Kafka! ...
05.01.2022
84 - Marcel Proust's Swann's Way (In Search of Lost Time #1)
No more searching is necessary. It’s time. It’s time to read In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust, that is. And we here at Books of Some Substance will be doing just that, starting off with this episode on...
03.09.2022
83 - Bohumil Hrabal's Closely Watched Trains
David, Nick, and Nathan dive into Bohumil Hrabal’s short novel Closely Watched Trains in this latest episode of the podcast. One part coming of age tale, one part (somewhat) epic tale of resistance, and one part celebration of life’s beautiful...
02.08.2022
82 - Jorge Luis Borges' The Garden of Forking Paths
It is a homecoming of sorts. Sixteen years after David made Nathan read Jorge Luis Borges, the two return to discuss the great Argentinian writer in an episode that has as many labyrinths (well, not quite) and is as infinite...
01.20.2022
81 - Renata Adler's Speedboat
Renata Adler’s Speedboat starts and stops, accelerates and leaps, soars and crashes just like some sort of . . . well, you get it. Join David, Nathan, and Nick as they discuss this compact novel filled with vignettes of 1970s...
12.28.2021
80 - W.G. Sebald's The Emigrants
Just because you bought a copy of W.G. Sebald’s The Emigrants in the fiction section doesn’t make it fiction. Or does it? Join Nathan, David, and Nick for a conversation about fiction vs. non-fiction vs. creative non-fiction vs. journalism vs....
11.15.2021
79 - George Saunders' Tenth of December (Guest: Taylor Vick of Boy Scouts)
Bay Area musician Taylor Vick of Boy Scouts joins the podcast this episode to share her love for George Saunders’ The Tenth of December. Listen in as Taylor and Nick talk about the book’s use of absurdist mechanisms to move...
10.10.2021
78 - W.G. Sebald's The Rings of Saturn
In this episode, friend of the podcast and book club Eric Heiman joins David and Nathan to talk about W.G. Sebald's Rings of Saturn. The three get into the melancholic depiction of entropy eating away so much of human life,...
08.31.2021
77 - Anthony Powell's A Dance to the Music of Time (Guest: Aatif Rashid)
Aatif Rashid, author of the novel Portrait of Sebastian Khan, joins the podcast to profess his love for Anthony Powell’s A Dance to the Music of Time. The one with, like, a million volumes? The one that’s jam-packed with the...
08.21.2021
76 - Hermann Hesse's Siddartha
Ah yes, Hermann Hesse’s Siddhartha. You probably read it in high school or college as a young seeker of truth, but have you read it later in life? Do the messages change after you too have gone out into the...
07.21.2021
75 - Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace: Volume 4
Down with Napoleon! Long live Mother Russia! Ole Kutuzov and the gang aren’t the only winners here. Anyone who has read through the entirety of War and Peace — David, Nathan, and Nick now counting themselves as part of the...
06.29.2021
74 - Santiago Gamboa's Necropolis (Guest: Mark Haber)
Novelist Mark Haber joins the podcast to talk about one of his underdogs: Santiago Gamboa and his excellent novel Necropolis. Necropolis is a novel full of narratives, soaked in storytelling, and driven by a cast of colorful characters seeking some...
06.09.2021
73 - Ben Lerner's Leaving the Atocha Station (Guest: Ned Russin of Title Fight and Glitterer)
Musician Ned Russin of Title Fight and Glitterer joins the podcast to share his love for Ben Lerner’s Leaving the Atocha Station and to also chat about his own latest creations: Glitterer’s new record Life Is Not a Lesson and...
05.21.2021
72 - Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace: Volume 3
Third time’s the charm! David, Nathan, and Nick march on through Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace, having now conquered Volume 3. Listen in as they talk through Tolstoy’s increasingly direct commentary on the nature of history, Pierre’s Christ-like and/or quixotic...
04.29.2021
71 - Hafiz's The Gift (Guest: Valerie June)
In celebration of National Poetry Month, singer-songwriter and poet Valerie June calls into the podcast and chats with Nick about her love of The Gift: Poems by Hafiz (Renderings by Daniel Ladinsky), the relationship between lyrics and poetry in her...
04.12.2021
70 - Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace: Volume 2
David, Nathan, and Nick continue their journey through Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace, this time tackling Volume Two. Characterized by a little less war and a lot more peace, this volume offers plenty of saucy romance, costume-fueled shenanigans, and overly...
03.24.2021
69 - Cormac McCarthy's Suttree (Guest: Jesse Cash of ERRA)
Nick chats with Jesse Cash, guitarist and vocalist of the progressive metal band ERRA, about Cormac McCarthy on this latest episode of the Books of Some Substance podcast. The book at hand is Suttree, a tale of a troubled man...
03.12.2021
68 - Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace: Volume 1
David, Eric, and Nick discuss Volume 1 of Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace in the first of four episodes on the heaviest of heavy books. Topics include: War and Peace as the ur-text for all war novels to come, the...
02.28.2021
67 - Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses (Guest: George Salis)
George Salis, author of Sea Above, Sun Below joins David to discuss The Satanic Verses, the controversial, exuberant, magical, and magnificent novel by Sir Salman Rushdie. They discuss the poetry, the allusions, and the history of this "Everything" novel in...
02.11.2021
66 - Amy Hempel's Collected Stories (Guest: Alfred Brown IV)
Meet Alfred Brown IV, educator and vocalist of the LA hardcore punk band Dangers. He’s into Amy Hempel. Like, really into Amy Hempel. Listen in for a deep conversation covering everything from the unintended emptiness of slogan-heavy lyrics to Hempel’s...
01.23.2021
65 - Kōbō Abe's The Box Man
Dear World, Kōbō Abe sees your absurdity and raises you one box! A box to live in, specifically. And a box to meld with the psyche of the inhabitant. If it’s not clear, we’re talking about Abe’s 1973 novel The...
01.05.2021
64 - Clarice Lispector's The Chandelier
Clarice Lispector’s 1946 novel The Chandelier is the topic of fervent discussion for David, Nathan, and Nick in this latest episode. Not for the faint of heart (but perhaps for those near to wild ones), this modernist work probes a...
12.17.2020
63 - Thomas Bernhard's Old Masters (Guest: João Reis)
On this episode of the podcast, David is joined by author and translator João Reis, author of The Translator's Bride, to talk about lovable literary scamp, the warm and cuddly and optimistic Austrian writer Thomas Bernhard's Old Masters: A Comedy....
12.03.2020
62 - Jean Cocteau's The Holy Terrors (Guest: Alexis Marshall of Daughters)
In this episode of the Books of Some Substance podcast, Nick chats with Alexis Marshall, vocalist of the noise rock band Daughters, about Jean Cocteau’s 1929 novel Les Enfants Terribles (or as it is known in its English translation: The...
11.17.2020
61 - Mark Z. Danielewski's House of Leaves Examined
Twenty years ago, Mark Z. Danielewski unleashed the labyrinthine horror novel House of Leaves, a work of fiction that would make both Daedalus and Derrida proud, a sprawling, convoluted, multi-narrative that pushes the bounds of reading and interpretation. But is...
11.02.2020
60 - M. John Harrison's Viriconium (Guest: Brett Campbell of Pallbearer
In this episode of the Books of Some Substance Podcast, Nick chats with Brett Campbell of the Arkansas doom metal band Pallbearer about M. John Harrison’s Viriconium. They talk through how the themes of Viriconium made it into the band’s...
10.20.2020
59 - J.G. Ballard's High-Rise (Guest: Alex Edkins of METZ)
In this episode of the Books of Some Substance podcast, Nick chats with Alex Edkins of the Toronto punk band METZ on the day that their latest record, Atlas Vending, came out. Alex highlighted J.G. Ballard’s High-Rise as a favorite,...
10.07.2020
58 - Hubert Selby Jr.'s The Room (Guest: Michael Berdan of Uniform)
In this episode of the Books of Some Substance podcast, Nick chats with Michael Berdan from the New York City noise-rock-slash-industrial-metal band Uniform about Hubert Selby Jr.’s The Room. We talk about the importance of tone and aesthetic in both...

What's Books of Some Substance about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Books of Some Substance episodes:

105 - Malina by Ingeborg Bachmann

104 - Waiting for the Barbarians by J.M. Coetzee

103 - Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon (2/2)

102 - Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon (1/2)

101: The Hour of the Star by Clarice Lispector

Season 2 Books Announcement

100 - End of an Era

Special Announcement

99 - László Krasznahorkai's Baron Wenckheim's Homecoming (Guest: Derek Maine)

98 - Jon Fosse's Melancholy I-II

97 - Franza Kafka's Diaries (Guest: Ross Benjamin)

96 - Marcel Proust's Time Regained (In Search of Lost Time #6)

95 - Henri Lefebvre's The Missing Pieces (Guest: Tom Comitta)

94 - Anton Chekhov's Difficult People (Guest: Bob Blaisdell)

93 - Marcel Proust's The Captive & The Fugitive (In Search of Lost Time #5)

92 - Han Kang's The Vegetarian

91 - Marcel Proust's Sodom and Gomorrah (In Search of Lost Time #4)

90 - Thomas Pynchon's The Crying of Lot 49 (Guest: Seth of WASTE Mailing List)

89 - Marcel Proust's The Guermantes Way (In Search of Lost Time #3)

88 - Alexander Theroux's Fables (Guest: George Salis)

87 - Shirley Jackson's We Have Always Lived in the Castle

86 - Marcel Proust's Within a Budding Grove (In Search of Lost Time #2)

85 - Franz Kafka's Short Stories (The Judgment, A Country Doctor, In the Penal Colony)

84 - Marcel Proust's Swann's Way (In Search of Lost Time #1)

83 - Bohumil Hrabal's Closely Watched Trains

82 - Jorge Luis Borges' The Garden of Forking Paths

81 - Renata Adler's Speedboat

80 - W.G. Sebald's The Emigrants

79 - George Saunders' Tenth of December (Guest: Taylor Vick of Boy Scouts)

78 - W.G. Sebald's The Rings of Saturn

77 - Anthony Powell's A Dance to the Music of Time (Guest: Aatif Rashid)

76 - Hermann Hesse's Siddartha

75 - Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace: Volume 4

74 - Santiago Gamboa's Necropolis (Guest: Mark Haber)

73 - Ben Lerner's Leaving the Atocha Station (Guest: Ned Russin of Title Fight and Glitterer)

72 - Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace: Volume 3

71 - Hafiz's The Gift (Guest: Valerie June)

70 - Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace: Volume 2

69 - Cormac McCarthy's Suttree (Guest: Jesse Cash of ERRA)

68 - Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace: Volume 1

67 - Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses (Guest: George Salis)

66 - Amy Hempel's Collected Stories (Guest: Alfred Brown IV)

65 - Kōbō Abe's The Box Man

64 - Clarice Lispector's The Chandelier

63 - Thomas Bernhard's Old Masters (Guest: João Reis)

62 - Jean Cocteau's The Holy Terrors (Guest: Alexis Marshall of Daughters)

61 - Mark Z. Danielewski's House of Leaves Examined

60 - M. John Harrison's Viriconium (Guest: Brett Campbell of Pallbearer

59 - J.G. Ballard's High-Rise (Guest: Alex Edkins of METZ)

58 - Hubert Selby Jr.'s The Room (Guest: Michael Berdan of Uniform)

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