Chatting Lit

In this episode I speak to the Australian author Thommy Waite @thommywaiteworld) about his book Any Day You Can Die. We discuss his writing process, his influences, Bookstagram, cancel culture and more!

Shout-out for this episode goes out to fellow lit podcast Beyond The Zero @beyondthezeropod)

Books mentioned in the episode:
Stone Male: Requiem for the Living Picture by Joe Carducci
Everyman by Philip Roth
The Humbling by Philip Roth
Salt Lick by Lulu Allison
Wise Blood by Flannery O’ Connor
Stoner by John Williams
Butcher’s Crossing by John Williams
Goalkeepers are Different by Bryan Glanville
The War of Art by Steven Pressfield
The Beach by Alex Garland
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
The Secret History by Donna Tartt
American Psycho by Brett Easton Ellis
American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
Grimmish by Michael Winkler
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
The End of Alice by A.M. Homes
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

Music by Tom Caruana: https://tomcaruana-teasea.bandcamp.com/
Chatting Lit logo and artwork by Emma Morris (@emmamorrisdesign)

For this episode I've assembled a crack team of book nerds to discuss 'the classics.: Megan (@feminist.fiction), Noah (@everyone_who_reads_), Seth (@wastemailinglist) and Matty (@theobliterature). We debate what constitutes a classic, which ones we love and loathe, and if we need to expand our notion of the term.

Books mentioned in this episode:
America and the Cult of the Cactus Boots: A Diagnostic by Phillip Freedenberg, illustrated by Jeff Walton
Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson
Western Stories by Joe Carducci
Wyoming Stories by Joe Carducci
Stone Male: Requiem for the Living Picture by Joe Carducci
Everyman by Philip Roth
The Awakening by Kate Chopin
Pedro Páramo by Juan Rulfo
The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
The Diary of Samuel Pepys by Samuel Pepys
The Wasteland by T.S. Eliot
The Chrysalids by John Wyndham
Animal Farm by George Orwell
Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Measure for Measure by William Shakespeare
Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
Hamlet by William Shakespeare
Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare
The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
Frankenstein; or The Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley
Beowulf
Story of the Eye by Georges Bataille
The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
Tess of the d’Ubervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented by Thomas Hardy
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha by Miguel Cervantes
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Othello by William Shakespeare
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Dracula by Bram Stoker
Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
Dune by Frank Herbert
The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien
The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli
The Art of War by Sun Tzu
Candide, ou l’Optimisme by Voltaire
Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy
The Recognitions by William Gaddis
Moby-Dick; or, The Whale by Herman Melville
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
Epitaph of a Small Winner by Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
East of Eden by John Steinbeck
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
Poetics by Aristotle
The Republic by Plato
Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee
The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
Heart of a Dog by Mikhail Bulgakov
In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust
Ulysses by James Joyce
The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann
The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois
2666 by Roberto Bolaño
Mason & Dixon by Thomas Pynchon
Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
Gravity’s Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon
Too Loud a Solitude by Bohumil Hrabal
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
Beloved by Toni Morrison
The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
Equal Rites by Terry Pratchett
Any Day You Can Die by Thommy Waite

Music by Tom Caruana: https://tomcaruana-teasea.bandcamp.com/
Chatting Lit logo and artwork by Emma Morris (@emmamorrisdesign)

For anyone who's ever wondered what happens when you put two teachers who are also book lovers together, this one's for you! I'm joined by Archie Thorn, author of Home Time Blues, a fantastic book set in a high school in Scotland, which looks at many themes; the failure of education to inspire children; the impact a job you don't like can have on personal relationships; unsympathetic management cultures and more. We discuss these topics, what literature is on the Scottish curriculum, the debate as to whether or not Scots is a language or form of dialect and more!

UK listeners can buy the book here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Archie-Thorn/e/B09GVDTNKF?pldnSite=1
US listeners can buy it here: https://www.amazon.com/Home-Time-Blues-Archie-Thorn-ebook/dp/B09GFZ19WS

Books mentioned in this episode:
America and the Cult of the Cactus Boots: A Diagnostic by Phillip Freedenberg, illustrated by Jeff Walton

The Manifold Destiny of Eddie Vegas by Rick Harsch

Western Stories by Joe Carducci

Stone Male: Requiem for the Living Picture by Joe Carducci

Any Day You Can Die by Thommy Waite

The Storyteller: Tales of Life and Music by Dave Grohl

The Body Keeps the Score: Mind, Brain and Body in the Transformation of Trauma by Bessel van der Kolk

Minor Characters by Joyce Johnson

Kestrel for a Nave by Barry Hines

A Sense of Freedom by Jimmy Boyle

Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh

The Young Team by Graeme Armstrong

Boys Don’t Try? Rethinking Masculinity in Schools by Matt Pinkett and Mark Roberts

Animal Farm by George Orwell

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Sunset Song by Lewis Grassic Gibbon

Shout-out this month goes to my first ever guest, the recently married Kirstin Innes! (@kirstin.innes)

Music by Tom Caruana: https://tomcaruana-teasea.bandcamp.com/

Chatting Lit logo and artwork by Emma Morris (@emmamorrisdesign)

This episode is one I've been trying to get set-up for a while, and it finally happened! I'm joined for this edition of Chatting Lit by Phillip Freedenberg and Jeff Walton, who are the author and illustrator of America and the Cult of the Cactus Boots: A Diagnostic, a fantastic maximalist novel set in a dystopian America in the which the written word has been banned. We discuss the unique genesis of the book, the ability of literature to unite us, and how playing math rock is useful training for writing a novel with a complex structure!

If you're interested in buying the book, it can be purchased here:  https://coronasamizdat.com/index.php?id_product=34&rewrite=america-and-the-cult-of-the-cactus-boots-a-diagnostic-by-phillip-freedenberg-illustrated-by-jeff-walton&controller=product

Shout-outs for this episode:
Noah Clemons (@everyone_who_reads)
Rick Harsh of Corona /Samizdat Press (@coronasamizdatbook) and https://coronasamizdat.com/index.php

Books mentioned in this episode:
The Melancholy of Resistance by Lászláó Krasznhorkai, translated by George SzirtesGrey Bees by Andrey Kurkov, translated by Boris Dralyuk
Death and the Penguin by Andrey Kurkov, translated by George Bird
Penguin Lost by Andrey Kurkov, translated by George Bird
Houses by Borislav Pekić, translated by Bernard Johnson
Elena Knows by Claudia Piñeiro, translated by Frances Riddle
The Passenger by Cormac McCarthy
Stella Maris by Cormac McCarthy
America and the Cult of the Cactus Boots: A Diagnostic by Phillip Freedenberg, illustrated by Jeff Walton
The Manifold Destiny of Eddie Vegas by Rick Harsch
Last Orgy of the Divine Hermit by Mark Leyner
Where The Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein
A Wrinkle In Time by Madeleine L'Engle
The Voynich Manuscript
The Philosophy of Creativity by David Miller

Music by Tom Caruana: https://tomcaruana-teasea.bandcamp.com/
Chatting Lit logo and artwork by Emma Morris (@emmamorrisdesign)

I'm joined in this episode by Gemma who's a bookseller at Mr B's Emporium of Reading Delights (https://mrbsemporium.com/) , an independent bookshop in Bath here in the UK. We discuss the reading spas which Mr B's is famous for, how to balance selling 'commercial' books with more literary ones, how working as a bookseller has changed Gemma's own reading habits and more! 

Books mentioned in this episode:
 
Still Life by Sarah Winman
To Paradise by Hanya Yanagihara
Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson
Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth
Doggerland by Ben Smith
We Are Completely Besides Ourselves by Karen Fowler Joy
Islands of Abandonment: Nature Rebounding in the Post-Human Landscape by Cal Flyn
Naturalia: Reclaimed by Nature by Jonathan Jimenez
The Mermaid of Black Conch by Monique Roffey
The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward
The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
Pandora's Jar: Women in the Greek Myth by Natalie Haynes
The Children of Jocasta by Natalie Haynes
Circe by Madeline Miller
Ariadne by Jennifer Saint
Pandora by Susan Stokes-Chapman
The Storytellers by Mark Rubinstein
Mythos by Stephen Fry
The Power by Naomi Alderman
America and the Cult of the Cactus Boots: A Diagnostic by Phillip Freedenberg, illustrated by Jeff Walton

Shout-outs as to the various indie bookshops, put forward by the following listeners:
Pegasus Book Exchange in Seattle, Washington (@pegasusbookexhange), nominated by Ryan (@defryereads)
Little Shop of Heroes in Dunfermline, Fife (@littleshopofheroes), nominated by Gemma (@gemmawithabook)
Scarthin Books in Cromford, Derbyshire (@scarthinbooks) and Rhyme & Reason in Sheffield, South Yorkshire (https://rhymeandreasonbooks.wordpress.com/, nominated by Marika (@mybookcorner)
Arcadia Books in Spring Green, Wisconsin (@arcadiabooks), nominated by Steve (@fullbeardlit51_15)
Gibson's Bookstore in Concord, New Hampshire (@gibsonsbookstorenh), nominated by Andrew Merritt (@metafictionameathead)
Burley Fisher Books in London (@burleyfisher) nominated by Zoe (@jenniferqueenie)

Music by Tom Caruana: https://tomcaruana-teasea.bandcamp.com/
Chatting Lit logo and artwork by Emma Morris (@emmamorrisdesign)

This episode sees me combine two of my loves: books and nature! I'm joined by George Steedman Jones,  host of the Coffee with Conservationists podcast (@coffee_with_conservationists) (which I totally get the name of wrong in the episode, sorry George!), who is studying for a BA in Marine and Natural History Photography at Falmouth University.

We discuss the popularity of nature writing in the UK, if eco-dystopias are good or bad for engaging people with climate change, and if as readers we need to be more environmentally aware of the impact our hobby can have on nature.

Books mentioned in the episode:
Home Time Blues by Archie Thorn
The Stone Raft by José Saramago
Gathering Moss by Robin Wall Kimmerer
Grounded by Ruth Allen
The Peregrine by J.A. Baker
Dark Skies by Tiffany Francis-Baker
The Natural History of Selborne by Gilbert White
Extraordinary Insects by Anne Sverdrup Thygeson
The Inside Out of Flies by Erica McAlister
Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake
The Home Place: Memoirs of a Coloured Man’s Love Affair with Nature by J. Drew Lanham
Fresh Banana Leaves by Jessica Hernandez
Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
Silent Spring by Rachel Carson
Spirals in Time by Helen Scales
The Uninhabitable Earth by David Wallace-Wells
The Living Mountain: A Celebration of the Cairngorm Mountains of Scotland by Nan Shepherd
The Salt Path by Raynor Winn
Bird Therapy by Joe Harkness
The Butterfly Isles by Patrick Barkham
Raptor by James Macdonald Lockheart
The Urban Birder by David Lindo
The Missing Lynx by Ross Barnes
Doggerland by Ben Smith
The New Wilderness by Diane Cook
Havergey by John Burnside
H is for Hawk by Helen McDonald

Shout-out this episode goes to Nature is Metal (@natureismetal)

Music by Tom Caruana: https://tomcaruana-teasea.bandcamp.com/
Chatting Lit logo design and artwork by Emma Morris (@emmamorrisdesign)

In this episode I finally speak to someone on the frontline of getting books into people's hands- Matt from QueerLit (https://www.queerlit.co.uk/), Manchester's LGBTQ+ bookshop! We discuss the failure of major book retailers to engage with LGBTQ+ audiences, why diversity in books is important and Matt gives some tips for any budding bookshop owners!

The shoutout for this episode is a delayed one from last time, and goes out to @isabelsreads

Books discussed in this episode:

The Postmortal by Drew Magary
Cain by José Saramago
Home Time Blues by Archie Thorn
The Transgender Issue by Shon Faye
The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
The Outrage by William Hussey
Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao
Jack Cafery series by Mo Hayder
The Sparsholt Affair by Alan Hollinghurst
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
In Every House, On Every Street by Jess Hitchman
Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart
In The Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
Heartstopper series by Alice Osman
Noah Can’t Even by Simon James Green
Noah Can’t Ever by Simon James Green
You’re The One That I Want by Simon James Green
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
Gideon The Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
Call Me By Your Name by André Aciman

Chatting Lit logo design/artwork by Emma Morris (@emmamorrisdegisn)
Music by Tom Caruana https://tomcaruana-teasea.bandcamp.com/music

In this episode I speak to Sam from Charco Press, the UK award-winning publisher, who specialise in Latin American literature. We discuss how Charco started, how the literary world needs to move from the Latin American Boom, and Sam gives some great advice for anyone thinking of starting up their own publishing house!

No shout-outs for this episode as I stupidly forgot to record them!

Books mentioned in this episode:
Never Did the Fire by Diamela Eltit, translated by Daniel HahnCatching Fire: A Translation Diary by Daniel Hahn (Untranslated series)
Homesick by Jennifer Croft (Untranslated series)
Fate by Jorge Consiglio, translated by Carolina Orloff and Fionn Petch
The Wind That Lays Waste by Selva Almada, translated by Chris Andrews
Dead Girls by Selva Almada, translated by Annie McDermott
The President’s Room by Ricardo Romero, translated by Charlotte Coombe
The Adventures of China Iron by Gabriela Cabezón Cámara, translated by Fiona Mackintosh and Iona Macintyre
Fireflies by Luis Sagasti, translated by Fionn Petch
Resistance by Julián Fuks, translated by Daniel Hahn
Occupation by Julián Fuks, translated by Daniel Hahn
Elena Knows by Claudia Piñeiro, translated by Frances Riddle
Brickmakers by Selva Almada, translated by Annie McDermott
Havana Year Zero by Karla Suárez, translated by Christina MacSweeney
A Perfect Cemetery by Federico Falco, translated by Jennifer Croft
Trout, Belly Up by Rodrigo Fuentes, translated by Ellen Jones 

Music by Tom Caruana: https://tomcaruana-teasea.bandcamp.com/
Chatting Lit logo design and artwork by Emma Morris (@emmamorrisdesign)

For this episode I'm joined by my dear friend Holly Cruise (@hollyzonebooks & @hollyzonehistory) of the Queer Girl Film Club podcast (@queergirlfilmclub) to discuss comics and graphic novels! We discuss what we love and dislike about the artform and industry, if 'graphic novel' is just a snobby term to make comics more appealing to literary types, and our favourites!

Shout-outs for this episode go to:
Zoe (@jenniferqueenie)
Robert (@rocinante.lit)

Comics mentioned in the episode by Holly and I:

I Want to Eat Your Pancreas by Yoru Sumino and Izumi Kirihara

Dragman by Steven Appleby

Flaming Carrot by Bob Burden

Maus by Art Spiegelman

The Wicked and the Divine by Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie

Saga by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples

Fun Home by Alison Bechdel

Blankets by Craig Thompson

Alice in Sunderland by Bryan Talbot

City of Glass: The Graphic Novel by Paul Karasik and David Mazzucchelli

Palestine by Joe Sacco

Safe Area Goradze by Joe Sacco

The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore and Charlie Adlard

Giant Days by John Allison, Lissa Treiman and Max Sarin

Lumberjanes by Shannon Watters, Grace Ellis, Noelle Stevenson and Brooklyn Allen

Bitch Planet by Kelly Sue DeConnick and Valentine De Landro

Prism Stalker by Sloane Leong

Dykes to Watch Out For by Alison Bechdel

Are You My Mother? By Alison Bechdel

The Secret of Superhuman Strength by Alison Bechdel

Once and Future by Kieron Gillan and Dan Mora

Phonogram by Kieron Gillan and Jamie McKelvie

Gemma Bovery by Possy Simmonds

Uzamaki by Junji Ito

Star Wars: Darth Vader by Kieron Gillan and  Salvador Larroca

Star Wars by Jason Aaron, John Cassady, Simone Bianchi, Stuart Immonen, Mike Deodato Jr., Mike Mayhew, Leinil Francis Yu, Jorge Molina and Salador Larroca

Preacher by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon

The Boys by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson

The Punisher: MAX by Garth Ennis, Lewis Larosa, Leandro Fernández, Doug Braithwaite, Goran Parlov, Lan Medina and Howard Chaykin

Y: The Last Man by Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra

Paper Girls by Brian K. Vaughan and Cliff Chiang

Deadly Class by Rick Remender and Wes Craig

Low by Rick Remender and Greg Tocchini

Black Science by Rick Remender, Matteo Scalera and Dean White

Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons

Batman: The Killing Joke by Alan Moore and Brian Boland

Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth by Chris Ware

Beasts of Burden by Evan Dorkin and Jill Thompson

My Favourite Thing is Monsters by Emil Ferris

East of West by Jonathan Hickman, Nick Dragotta and Frank Martin

Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea by Guy Delisle

Spinning by Tillie Walden

On a Sunbeam by Tillie Walden

Kill Six Billion Demons by Tom Parkinson-Morgan (aka Abbadon)

Palomar by Gilbert Hernandez

Locas by Jaime Hernadez

Safe Area Goražde by Joe Sacco

Spider-Gwen by Jason Latour and Robbi Rodriguez

Ms. Marvel by G. Willow Wilson and Adrian Alphona

Gotham Central by Ed Brubaker, Greg Rucka and Michael Lark

Chew by John Layman and Rob Guillory

Hellboy by Mike Mignola

Wonder Woman by Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang

I Kill Giants by Joe Kelly and J. M. Ken Niimura

Transmetropolitan by Warren Ellis and Darick Robertson

Hellblazer by Jamie Delano and Rick Veitch

Fables by Bill Willingham

Music by Tom Caruana: https://tomcaruana-teasea.bandcamp.com/music

Chatting Lit logo design and artwork by Emma Morris (@emmamorrisdesign)

In this episode I look back on my favourite reads of 2021, with listeners/friends contributing theirs too! This was recorded in one take, unedited, so here it is, warts and all!

Shout-outs go to my dear friend Andreas of the band Saint and the Sinners (@saintandthesinners), as well as all the book podcasts I listen to:

How's The Water? (@howsthewaterpodcast)
The Wee Scottish Book Club hosted by @scott.you.reading and @scottiesandbooks
Books of Some Substance (@booksosubstance)
Canonical (canonicalpodcast)
Beyond the Zero (@beyondthezeropod)
Concavity Show (@concavityshow)
Mid Lit Podcast (@midlitpod)
The Last Sisyphus (@thelastsisyphus)
Two Girls One Book (@twogirlsonebookpod)

Top reads of 2021 from listeners/friends:
Megan (@feminist.fiction)- Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson

Grace (@gracieaward)- In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado

Leonie (@leolovesherstories)- Open Water

Brolin (@brolincanread)- Mason & Dixon by Thomas Pynchon

Lorna (@lornaments)- Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart, Where The Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens, Vaxxers by Sarah Gilbert & Catherine Green

Deborah (@booksinbrum)- Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

Greg (@storymusing) The Eighth Life: (for Brilka) by Nino Haratischwili, No Friend But The Mountains by Behrouz Boochani, Know My Name by Chanel Miller, Assembly by Natasha Brown

Miles  (@aboard_the_inconvenience) The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

(no name) (@bookmarkcuriosities): Ashes of the Amazon by Milton Hatoum, The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy, How to be Good by Nick Hornby, Swing Time by Zadie Smith, The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

Euan (@euancurrie)- Ghosted by Jenny Ashworth, Asylum Road by Olivia Sudjic

Travis (@meyers_megafictional_musings): Wittgenstein’s Mistress by David Markson and Disobedience by Michael Drinkard

Matty Markwood (@theobliterature): The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie

Harry (@byssheplease_): East of Eden by John Steinbeck

Andy Merritt (@andysavagestrength) American Gods by Neil Gaiman, Nightwood by Djuna Barnes, Crime & Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky, Inherent Vice by Thomas Pynchon

My picks of the year:
Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon
The War of the Poor by Éric Vuillard, translated by Mark Polizzotti
Soviet Cities by Arseniy Kotov
The Peterloo Massacre by Joyce Marlow
Havana Year Zero by Karla Suárez , translated by Christina MacSweeney
Outlawed by Anna North
Red Rosa by Kate Evans
The Class Ceiling by Sam Friedman and Daniel Laurison
Seveneves by Neal Stephenson
Show Them a Good Time by Nicole Flattery
Men Who Hate Women by Laura Bates
The Employees by Olga Ravn, translated by Martin Atkin
Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino, translated by William Weaver
Resistance by Julián Fuks, translated by Daniel Hahn
Occupation by Julián Fuks, translated by Daniel Hahn
Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark
Harvestman: 23 Untitled Poems & Collected Lyrics by Steve Von Till
Animal by Lisa Taddeo
What’s in it for Me: Self-interest and Political Difference by Thomas Prosser
Trout, Belly Up by Rodrigo Fuentes, translated  by Ellen Jones
America and the Cult of the Cactus Boots: A Diagnostic by Phillip Freedenberg, illustrated by Jeff Walton
In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado
Ascend Ascend by Janaka Stucky
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
Crow: From the Life and Songs of Crow by Ted Hughes
Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line by Deepa Anappara
Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson

Music by Tom Caruana: https://tomcaruana-teasea.bandcamp.com/music
Chatting Lit logo design and artwork by Emma Morris (@emmamorrisdesign)