how to win the lottery: a book club podcast

our campus season continues with the most abstract interpretation of a campus yet in giles goat-boy by john barth, which is joey's least favorite book he's ever read. we talk about the post-modern structure of the narrative, wonder what it's satirizing, and try to parse the meaning of its metaphors. we also talk about how bob totally goofed on the scheduling of this book in our season, the literal process of getting through harder literature, and what "passed" and "flunked" really mean. bob has an idea for tattoos for us to get. we find silver linings in giles goat-boy. bob spoils speed racer. we unveil our new year's resolutions.

reading list for season two

the bell jar by sylvia plath, 11/4

prep by curtis sittenfeld, 11/18

the art of fielding by chad harbach, 12/2

nickel boys by colson whitehead, 12/16

the virgins by pamela erens, 12/30

my education by susan choi, 1/13

giles goat-boy by john barth, 1/27

end zone by don delillo, 2/10

loner by teddy wayne, 2/24

the secret history by donna tartt, 3/10

sweet days of discipline by fleur jaeggy, 3/24

college novel by blake middleton, 4/7

real life by brandon taylor, 4/21

the instructions by adam levin, 5/5

the idiot by elif batuman, 5/19

the campus season (real missed opportunity for #sponcon by not calling it the education season) continues with my education by susan choi. it’s the second book this season bob hasn’t read, and we’re noticing a troubling pattern beginning to emerge. we talk about bob’s issues with cool people from the early 90s, how this book could also fit into our omnipresent “horny” module, and put an abrupt end to our newest segment. we also talk about a the continuing lack of predatorial descriptions in “taboo” relationships we’ve seen this season, choi’s decision to skip over interesting moments via time jumps, and my education‘s confounding third act.

reading list for season two

the bell jar by sylvia plath, 11/4

prep by curtis sittenfeld, 11/18

the art of fielding by chad harbach, 12/2

nickel boys by colson whitehead, 12/16

the virgins by pamela erens, 12/30

my education by susan choi, 1/13

giles goat-boy by john barth, 1/27

end zone by don delillo, 2/10

loner by teddy wayne, 2/24

the secret history by donna tartt, 3/10

sweet days of discipline by fleur jaeggy, 3/24

college novel by blake middleton, 4/7

real life by brandon taylor, 4/21

the instructions by adam levin, 5/5

the idiot by elif batuman, 5/19

the virgins by pamela erens marks new ground for the podcast: it’s the first book we’ve both read before. does that mean we’ll have more insightful thoughts to share? don’t bet on it! after talking about our new year’s resolutions, bob talks about the movie it’s complicated for a while before we regret not using this book as a backdoor pilot for our inevitable “horny” module. we wonder if there’s a sex move called “the mandalorian,” we lay out how the novel would end if it were a mystery, and we compare bruce bennett-jones to dennis reynolds. bob shares his one issue with the book (as well as the unbelievability of the in-class scene in the text) and we explore the recurring themes we’re beginning to notice this season.

reading list for season two

the bell jar by sylvia plath, 11/4

prep by curtis sittenfeld, 11/18

the art of fielding by chad harbach, 12/2

nickel boys by colson whitehead, 12/16

the virgins by pamela erens, 12/30

my education by susan choi, 1/13

giles goat-boy by john barth, 1/27

end zone by don delillo, 2/10

loner by teddy wayne, 2/24

the secret history by donna tartt, 3/10

sweet days of discipline by fleur jaeggy, 3/24

college novel by blake middleton, 4/7

real life by brandon taylor, 4/21

the instructions by adam levin, 5/5

the idiot by elif batuman, 5/19

season two continues onward as we head back in time (for a difficult read) as we talk about the nickel boys by colson whitehead. we talk about the benefits of re-reading books (especially when they contain genre-style twists unusual in a narrative like this), the overly trusting nature of the main character, and how the nickel boys contains all the elements of a traditional prison narrative. we also explore colson whitehead’s work and what it means when black americans do everything “right” (and yet it doesn’t matter) and then talk about tim heidecker for a little while.

reading list for season two

the bell jar by sylvia plath, 11/4

prep by curtis sittenfeld, 11/18

the art of fielding by chad harbach, 12/2

nickel boys by colson whitehead, 12/16

the virgins by pamela erens, 12/30

my education by susan choi, 1/13

giles goat-boy by john barth, 1/27

end zone by don delillo, 2/10

loner by teddy wayne, 2/24

the secret history by donna tartt, 3/10

sweet days of discipline by fleur jaeggy, 3/24

college novel by blake middleton, 4/7

real life by brandon taylor, 4/21

the instructions by adam levin, 5/5

the idiot by elif batuman, 5/19

we're headed out to the baseball diamond for today's episode of how to win the lottery as we talk about the art of fielding by chad harbach. after bobby shares a big announcement he should have saved for our patreon, we talk about harbach's ability to capture the beauty of baseball and write a book about predation without really writing a book about predation. we also try to figure out who the main character is in the art of fielding (a question compounded by a bold move that the book makes) and talk about the terrifying nature of an inciting incident in the narrative. then, we welcome in the honorable judge matt erdely to judge a book by its cover (and to get a world series preview for a matchup that will have concluded long before this episode is released) before bobby talks about his "unbelievably handsome man" of a teacher as we try to cast guert affenlight.

reading list for season two

the bell jar by sylvia plath, 11/4

prep by curtis sittenfeld, 11/18

the art of fielding by chad harbach, 12/2

nickel boys by colson whitehead, 12/16

the virgins by pamela erens, 12/30

my education by susan choi, 1/13

giles goat-boy by john barth, 1/27

end zone by don delillo, 2/10

loner by teddy wayne, 2/24

the secret history by donna tartt, 3/10

sweet days of discipline by fleur jaeggy, 3/24

college novel by blake middleton, 4/7

real life by brandon taylor, 4/21

the instructions by adam levin, 5/5

the idiot by elif batuman, 5/19

we continue our campus season with prep by curtis sittenfeld, the first book on the pod that’s new to bobby. we talk about its spanning breadth (in a relatively tight package), lee as a reluctant and naive narrator, and our the novel’s lack of narrative darkness. we also talk about how unsexy prep is (and whether that’s good or bad), who high school books are actually written for, and the elements of class and race contained in the novel. also: bobby absolutely refuses to do the one job he’s been tasked with (but continues to relate everything to the o.c.) and we unveil both our wiki-based plan for world podcast domination and the secret tagline we’ve always had for the show.

reading list for season two

the bell jar by sylvia plath, 11/4

prep by curtis sittenfeld, 11/18

the art of fielding by chad harbach, 12/2

nickel boys by colson whitehead, 12/16

the virgins by pamela erens, 12/30

my education by susan choi, 1/13

giles goat-boy by john barth, 1/27

end zone by don delillo, 2/10

loner by teddy wayne, 2/24

the secret history by donna tartt, 3/10

sweet days of discipline by fleur jaeggy, 3/24

college novel by blake middleton, 4/7

real life by brandon taylor, 4/21

the instructions by adam levin, 5/5

the idiot by elif batuman, 5/19

we're kicking off the second season (campus-themed!) of how to win the lottery with sylvia plath's classic novel the bell jar. (content warning: this book and this discussion contain references to suicide and suicidal thoughts.) we talk about the relatability of the protagonist, even 60 years later, and how the story (and its characters and societal issues) are largely timeless. we also discuss parallels to the catcher in the rye (as well as possible reasons as to why that book is taught in schools and the bell jar is largely not) before bob lists the men he's sexually attracted to and sniffs out some nonsense numerology. also: we have (our first?) on-air fight.

reading list for season two

the bell jar by sylvia plath, 11/4

prep by curtis sittenfeld, 11/18

the art of fielding by chad harbach, 12/2

nickel boys by colson whitehead, 12/16

the virgins by pamela erens, 12/30

my education by susan choi, 1/13

giles goat-boy by john barth, 1/27

end zone by don delillo, 2/10

loner by teddy wayne, 2/24

the secret history by donna tartt, 3/10

sweet days of discipline by fleur jaeggy, 3/24

college novel by blake middleton, 4/7

real life by brandon taylor, 4/21

the instructions by adam levin, 5/5

the idiot by elif batuman, 5/19

we’re going back to school for season two of how to win the lottery. all of our books are campus or varsity novels. find the full reading list below, and email in your thoughts about any of these books to [email protected]. keep reading! (joey writes these so he can say this without fear of retribution or anger from bob.)

reading list for season two

the bell jar by sylvia plath, 11/4

prep by curtis sittenfeld, 11/18

the art of fielding by chad harbach, 12/2

nickel boys by colson whitehead, 12/16

the virgins by pamela erens, 12/30

my education by susan choi, 1/13

giles goat-boy by john barth, 1/27

end zone by don delillo, 2/10

loner by teddy wayne, 2/24

the secret history by donna tartt, 3/10

sweet days of discipline by fleur jaeggy, 3/24

college novel by blake middleton, 4/7

real life by brandon taylor, 4/21

the instructions by adam levin, 5/5

the idiot by elif batuman, 5/19

we close out our first season -- on processing pain, the ways we've hurt people, and how we've been hurt -- with kazuo ishiguro's never let me go, and we wonder: just how depressing has this season been, really? we talk about the book's lack of irony (and the reasoning behind it), its understated major reveals, and the two things the book is "really" about. we also talk about how never let me go is basically caddyshack and wonder whether or not ruth gets redeemed before bob reveals his death bed plan.

reading list for season one

death in her hands by ottessa moshfegh, 6/3

pizza girl by jean kyoung frazier, 6/17

you shall know our velocity by dave eggers, 7/1

memories of my father watching tv by curtis white, 7/15

a prayer for owen meany by john irving, 7/29

colorless tsukuru tazaki by haruki murakami, 8/12

any man by amber tamblyn, 8/26

ducks, newburyport by lucy ellmann, 9/9

open city by teju cole, 9/23

never let me go by kazuo ishiguro, 10/7

we’re nearing the end of the first season of the podcast, and with open city by teju cole, we’ve reached out first real widespread difference of opinion. open city was a polarizing book when bob taught it in his classes, and it leads to a discussion here around the influences of guy debord, the anti-identity of the protagonist, the discrepancy on display between high and low culture, and what a movie adaptation of this book would look like if it starred mr. bean. we then call the honorable judge matt erdely for his ruling on the cover before joey has to defend himself against the mounting pressures of being replaced on the show.

reading list for season one

death in her hands by ottessa moshfegh, 6/3

pizza girl by jean kyoung frazier, 6/17

you shall know our velocity by dave eggers, 7/1

memories of my father watching tv by curtis white, 7/15

a prayer for owen meany by john irving, 7/29

colorless tsukuru tazaki by haruki murakami, 8/12

any man by amber tamblyn, 8/26

ducks, newburyport by lucy ellmann, 9/9

open city by teju cole, 9/23

never let me go by kazuo ishiguro, 10/7