Litbits

In which Adam Smyth and a train-delayed—but eventually present—James Kidd are joined by poet Liane Strauss to discuss mistakes, slips, wanderings, and things not quite going to plan. A dash of Shakespeare; a shot of Keats; a half-pint tumbler of Wallace Stevens; and a generous lacing of Phil “Errare” Larkin.

Like knights errant, but in Harris tweed.

Duration: 55.24

In which James Kidd, manfully solo, and solely manful, wheezes, sighs, huffs, puffs and chuffs his way up a mountain in upstate New York towards Olana, home of Hudson Valley School painter Frederick Church. Between the wheezes, Kidd ponders snow, getting cold feet (literally), Christina Rossetti, Bing Crosby and why snow falls in blankets. In between groans, he also meditates on the eerie sensation of trudging through a landscape doing a fine impersonation of a life-sized painting. Art and life, life and art, with real sound effects.

Dig that heavy breathing (Kidd not Church).

Duration: 10.24.

Live from the Southampton Arms. Beards! And literature! Together at last! Barbed comments for your French punsters. What is the difference between ‘Old’ Beard and ‘New’ Beard? Can beards talk? Are beards like texts. And what happens to Lit Bits podcasters when you add a pint of ale, bake for 25 minutes and leave to stand on a chilly night.

A promenading 8 minutes on the most hairy of texts. Think Lytton Strachey. Think God. Think hipsters in North London pubs. Clean-shaven comments by Adam ‘Moustache’ Smyth and James ‘Goatee’ Kid(d).

Duration: 7.53.

In which James Kidd and Adam Smyth, taking time out from composing their libretti, wander lonely as two clouds and ruin the hushed atmos of the London Library stacks. Finding themselves live and on air, they peruse the S.Agriculture shelfmark. Musings follow—on manure, Michael Gove, Fred Kitchen, and the need for books we’ll never read. Join in and join those dots. Gove and manure? Surely some mistake.

Stamp on withdrawal. Fines for late returns.

Duration: 9.50

In which Adam Smyth and James Kidd indulge in a little bit, or a Lit Bitlette, of waiting. For buses. Trains. Love. Godot. Guffman. That sort of thing. Live from Oxford Train Station, our intrepid pair feel the glamour of Ginsters pies, coffee heated by a nuclear reactor.

But what does this have to do with literature (we hear you cry)? Quite a lot, we find, as James Kidd and Adam Smyth loiter in endless expecting of the 4.23 to Paddington. 7 minutes on deferred pleasures, Beckett, narrative, hot chocolate, and Brazil.

Lit Bits in - wait for it - legendary form.

Duration: 7.24

In which James Kidd, flying solo so to speak, blows Lit Bits’ savings in a shopping mall in Poughkeepsie, upstate New York. Among his musings are questions like: why is Deal No Deal such a big, er, deal? Why are there no clocks in malls? Why are there so many guns in malls? What is a buttock massager? And if a tree falls in a shopping mall, has it had a narrow escape?

Odiferous.

Duration: 5.37

In which Adam Smyth and James Kidd muse of the links between grape and pen, grain and page. Women, wine, snuff and nonsense all imbibed (hic and ibid). Live from a curry house in north London, our podsters bravely practice what they preach. Do not adjust your set. The pod is not playing at half-speed in homage to John Peel. It is simply that Smyth and Kidd cannot take their ale.

Drink up.

Duration: 24.01

In which Adam Smyth and James Kidd—live from London—empty a a full post bag that is filled with a single question. What is Lit Bits?

The curt answer is: A Literary Podcast spiced with added guests like Giles Milton, Hallie Rubenhold, Alex von Tunzelmann, the Doctors Joe Brooker and Dinah Roe, not to mention the Right Reverend James Mottram.

The meandering response takes in a Mr Romney of Massachusetts, a Mr Paul Daniels of the Magic Circle, and plunges us into the nightmarish swamp Adam Smyth’s dream imaginings. Be ye afraid. Be very afraid.

A five-minute shot glass of literary speculation. Who wouldn’t take a sip?

Duration: 4.59

It’s chocks away as James Kidd and Adam Smyth are joined, for five high-altitude minutes, by Alex von Tunzelmann and Hallie Rubenhold, to talk planes and books. Just what do you read during a flight? Why is airplane food so terrible? Why does every movie seem to star Seth Rogan? And who exactly is Seth Rogan. Reading, writing and all manner of zipless unmentionables.

Fasten your seatbelts. Put out that cigarette. Don’t sit near Gerard Depardieu.

Duration: 5.15

Walking! That’s right. Walking!

In which Adam Smyth and James Kidd tumble out of the French House pub in Soho, stretch their legs, and more besides. With the heaven’s opening, and the pubs closing, our intrepid pair retire ‘neath the shady bow of an umbrella and wander Soho in search of links between literature and perambulation. Fellow strollers include Paul Auster, Ben Jonson, and Philip Sidney.

Wander and wonder under discussion.

Duration: 16.05