Licensed Poetics

Derek’s best friend and ex-landlord Jeremy recommended The Wall of Storms by Ken Liu, the translator of The Three Body Problem, so of course LP had to read it. What did they think? Who, if anyone, would they recommend it to? Finally, they also react to some truly unhinged Goodreads reviews. PS, please, Ken, I want to be your friend.

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Chapters

00:00 Intro

09:18 Five word summary

26:03 About the author

35:21 The XYZ question

01:10:34 Recommend?

01:16:56 Spoilers!

01:26:59 Goodreads reviews

01:45:02 Outro

Sound expert Ivy Xu joins BFL for a book club episode on The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. Previously, Ivy collaborated with LP on ‘A Literary Podcast Origin Story’ for All The Best podcast by FBi Radio, and she brings her experience in video game audio to her book club insights. BFL has read this book before, does she still love it on the second read? Disclaimer: this episode was recorded in December 2024 - sorry for the clickbait :D

Find Ivy here

Support LP here

Chapters

00:00 Music

01:07 Ivy intro

04:18 Blurb

06:31 Neil Gaiman’s other work

11:30 Five-word summary

15:16 Spoiler Free

26:24 Who would you recommend this book to?

29:06 Spoilers from now!

31:33 Author’s goal

46:19 Jack Ma lmao

51:35 Criticism

01:15:01 Outro

Discussing wanker aesthetics and toxic soft boys, LP opens the first episode of 2025 by firmly positioning the itself as the book podcast for writers. BFL followed up on end-of-year promises to read Nick Hornby and Murakami, whereas Derek shares his love for music references in literature. Then, both are very outraged by reviews attacking their favourite books on Goodreads.

Support LP on Buy Me a Coffee! Link

00:00 Music

01:58 Remote Recording Setup

04:36 Table of Contents

05:34 Barnes and Noble and other DC bookshops

09:43 Librarie Avant-Garde in Nanjing, China

12:25 RU: Sputnik Sweetheart

21:27 RU: Set My Heart on Fire by Izumi Suzuki

29:03 RU: High Fidelity by Nick Hornby

42:56 RU: I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Hartman

47:19 Funny One Star Reviews on Goodreads

49:30 Whiny Wanker in High Fidelity

56:16 Ready Player One and Two

01:05:36 Piranesi

01:11:35 Area X Series by Jeff VanderMeer

01:17:21 Interlude Eslite Bookshop in Hong Kong

01:20:19 Die Orwell Die

01:25:41 The Vegetarian

01:34:29 Conclusion

01:36:32 Blooper

Use the Chapters to navigate this episode! It's the end of 2024, Derek and BFL look back on their year of books and art. Derek drops some opinions about Colleen Hoover and Murakami that will offend most people in the world. BFL talks about a hormone-induced nervous breakdown and (surprisingly) passes a Turing test.

Thank you for your support this year! link

Works mentioned

Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata

My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh

Passing by Nella Larsen

All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque

American Psycho and Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis

The Color Purple by Alice Walker

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

The Southern Reach Trilogy (Area X) by Jeff VanderMeer

The Lieutenant of Inishmore by Martin McDonagh

Galveston and other short stories by Nick Pizzolatto

Sense and Sensibility, screenplay and diaries by Emma Thompson

The End of Eddy by Édouard Louis

The Eyes Are the Best Part by Monika Kim

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

Community (TV series) created by Dan Harmon

The Hobbit by Peter Jackson

Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Simple Passion by Annie Ernaux

The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward

The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu

Prophet Song by Paul Lynch

Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

National Treasure starring Nicholas Cage

The City & the City by China Miéville

Sputnik Sweetheart by Haruki Murakami

Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote

The Vegetarian by Han Kang

Frieren: Beyond Journey's End by Kanehito Yamada

The Unwomanly Face of War by Svetlana Alexievich

Dance, Dance, Dance by Haruki Murakami

High Fidelity by Nick Hornby

The Nice Guys directed by Shane Black

I, Robot starring Will Smith

In Bruges directed by Martin McDonagh

00:00 Intro

01:51 Blooper reel of radio play

08:05 How many books?

10:20 Surprise favourite books

14:45 Disappointing books

22:26 Books you wish you have written

30:03 Books that most inspired you

35:28 Books that broke you

38:49 Trends you hate

41:00 Stories that comforted you

44:23 Beginner-friendly books

49:53 Favourite author

53:58 Least favourite author

57:00 DNFs

01:01:22 Fave LP episode

01:03:17 Least favourite books

01:08:19 Favourite books!

01:14:42 Books that made us cry

01:18:42 What to read before end of year

01:19:54 Conclusion

01:23:21 Bloopers

This week BFL and Derek read a classic American novel by Truman Capote. It’s a very writerly novel, so of course the hosts both loved it. BFL also dishes out some strong opinions about a famous romance novel, meanwhile Derek’s epic musical fail can be forgiven because he’s just moved countries.

Support LP on Buy Me a Coffee! Link here

Chapters

00:00 Music

01:12 Why Derek picked this book

06:30 Let him ride me anywhere

08:32 book club no spoiler

24:37 book club spoiler

BFL and Derek face off in an epic game of Quotes Off: how well do they actually know their favourite books? Also included in this episode is some snippets of conversation with Angela Wu, a talented comic artist based in Singapore. If you are looking for recommendations to get into comic books and graphic novels, look no further!

Follow Angela on Instagram @li_vermin_il

Support LP on Buy Me a Coffee! Link here

Chapters

00:00 Music

00:40 Derek’s turn Hiruka Murakami

23:53 BFL’s turn Daphne du Maurier

43:40 Angela

BFL claims to love The Catcher in the Rye. Derek claims to love Community by Dan Harmon. But can they identify lines from the book/show? Or have they been pretending to be fans this entire time? Also, Marlene returns for another bookclub about a woman falling down a hole. The Hole by Hiroko Oyamada is the best book for unemployed people!

Collab with All The Best by FBi Radio ‘A Literary Podcast Origin Story’

Support LP on Buy Me a Coffee!

Read Marlene’s Substack here

Chapters

00:00 Music

00:23 Housekeeping

01:10 Episode structure

01:58 Quotes Off rules and expectations

05:22 Derek’s turn Community by Dan Harmon

26:04 BFL’s turn Catcher in the Rye

42:25 Bookclub on The Hole with Marlene

BFL read his poem during lockdown and has wanted to meet him ever since - it’s the incredible Chinese Australian poet Eric Jiang! In this very spicy episode, Derek talks about ‘tickling the yellow’ and his 4am emergency book buying advice; BFL categorises some of her favourites books into Incest, Racism, and Misogyny; and Eric shares his very hot take on poetry readings. Stick around for the blooper at the end!

Find Eric @squeric_ and https://ercjng.tumblr.com/

Support Licensed Poetics on Buy Me a Coffee!

Chapters

00:00 Music

01:08 Eric bio

02:53 4am book advice

10:21 BFL story time

15:37 Eileen Myers

23:05 Problematic faves

47:47 six inches (sorry)

55:49 Murakami

59:18 Blooper

This week, BFL chats with Angela Wu, a comic artist based in Singapore! We hit you with Hamilton horror stories, opinions on Lord Andy (Andrew Lloyd Webber), Phantom of the Opera, and Ursula K Le Guin! Angela is contesting Derek’s title as LP’s resident TV person with her riveting review of the Australian show Wolf Like Me. BFL announces her latest on-screen crush.

Find Angela on Instagram @li_vermin_il

Support Licensed Poetics! Link

Works mentioned

Hamilton by Lin-Manuel Miranda

Hamilton animatics by szin on YouTube

Phantom of the opera by Andrew Lloyd Webber

Earthsea by Ursula K Le Guin

The Great Reclamation by Rachel Heng

Beef starring Ali Wong and Steven Yeun

Wolf Like Me starring Isla Fisher and Josh Gad

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

Chapters

00:00 Music

00:52 Angela bio

02:02 Hamilton Storytime

13:08 Phantom of the opera

18:16 Ursula K Le Guin

23:50 Beef

31:03 Miss Peregrine’s Home

36:46 Wolf Like Me

40:57 The Great Reclamation

In this Singapore edition of Licensed Poetics book club, BFL and Marlene discuss Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata, the perfect book for misfits, newbie readers and experienced readers! In the new section LP story time, BFL shares a bookish wedding she went to! Marlene has found the literary scene in SG already?

Read Marlene’s Substack: Link

Support LP on Buy Me a Coffee! Link

Theophilus Kwek (Singaporean poet)

Chapters

00:00 Music

02:54 Marlene bio

04:12 BFL story time

13:18 Marlene story time

21:29 Convenience Store Woman NO spoiler

39:12 Spoiler section

59:59 Outro