Lauren Wilkinson shows up in the Damn Library to talk about her novel American Spy, and everyone gets into the ways in which this is like a spy novel, and it isn't, and the portrayal of real life people, and how to grapple with your fears by putting them in a book. Plus, we get into the melodramatic, surprisingly-still-timely Passing, Nella Larsen's novel about being undercover in a different way, first published in 1929. We get into its ambiguous ending (it came out in 1929, so spoilers, deal with it), and speculate. Intrigue!

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Leanne Shapton drops by the Damn Library for a spook-filled episode to discuss her new collection, Guestbook: Ghost Stories. Christmas wrapping paper, first stage appearances, tennis, and being haunted all get some airtime along with lots of other segues and divergences (including the first recorded dip into the Damn Library), plus everyone gets rapturous about Miriam Toews' weighty and excellent new novel, Women Talking.

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music: Disaster Magic

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The tournament! It's over! And now we go over just what happened, and how it feels, and what books we hope are maybe in the tournament next year, as well as talk about that looming Mega Rooster...

Ca-caw!

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music: Disaster Magic

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Another week of the Tournament of Books, another grouping of recaps, plus predictions about the week ahead!

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for drink recipes, book lists, and more, visit: somanydamnbooks.com

music: Disaster Magic

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Halle Butler joins Christopher and Drew in the Damn Library to discuss her new novel, The New Me, and how she thought of domestic thrillers while she wrote it, and tried to create comedy out of millennial burnout and not having the clearest picture of yourself. Plus, she brings in Samuel Beckett's Molloy, and there's a robust discussion of voice and sucking stones, amongst other subjects. Also, what's that song she's talking about?

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music: Hotel Hiouchi

Twitter/Insta/Facebook: @HotelHiouchi

Soundcloud: Hotel Hiouchi

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Tournament of Books 2019 continues apace! We talk about the zigs and the zags of the opening round, and where we think that the zigs and zags will come next week.

Zigs and zags!

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music: Disaster Magic

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It's tournament of books time again, so here's a recap of what went down this week, along with the expected wild speculation.

A caw-caw to all of you.

contribute! https://patreon.com/smdb

for drink recipes, book lists, and more, visit: somanydamnbooks.com

music: Disaster Magic

(https://soundcloud.com/disaster-magic)

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After reading Ian Parker's "A Suspense Novelist’s Trail of Deceptions" piece from the New Yorker, Christopher and Drew get into unreliable narrators and what they hold (or are purported to hold). Drew talks about his love of midlist thrillers, and Christopher supposes that every narrator is an unreliable narrator. There's a fair amount of love for Robin Sloan and his love of silly URLs, too. Plus, ya know. More.

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for drink recipes, book lists, and more, visit: somanydamnbooks.com

music: Hotel Hiouchi

Twitter/Insta/Facebook: @HotelHiouchiSoundcloud: Hotel Hiouchi

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Charlie Jane Anders teleports into the Damn Library for a very sci-fi episode around her new novel, The City in the Middle of the Night. Anders talks tidally locked planets, the gargantuan effort it took to write her new novel, being accurate vs. writing a good story, and things to buy when you're about to go on book tour. Plus, she brought an Ursula K. Le Guin novel, Five Ways to Forgiveness, and everyone gets to talking about the seductive world of writing sci-fi, and how Le Guin is a master. Also, there's more than that!

contribute! https://patreon.com/smdb

for drink recipes, book lists, and more, visit: somanydamnbooks.com

music: Hotel Hiouchi

Twitter/Insta/Facebook: @HotelHiouchi

Soundcloud: Hotel Hiouchi

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Karen Thompson Walker drops in to dream a little dream with Christopher and Drew in the dreamy Damn Library to discuss her new novel, The Dreamers. They discuss outbreak fiction, writing about college, and what-if scenarios, as well as Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go, which prompts a discussion of writing about sci-fi premises through non sci-fi means. And so much more!

contribute! https://patreon.com/smdb

for drink recipes, book lists, and more, visit: somanydamnbooks.com

music: Hotel Hiouchi

Twitter/Insta/Facebook: @HotelHiouchiSoundcloud: Hotel Hiouchi

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