Spring has sprung and we're in the mood for adventure, so we asked K.M. Szpara to join us in the Damn Library for as close to an adventure as we can get these days: chatting about adventure novels! We talk about Kellan's new novel First, Become Ashes, and BDSM, and cults -- and then everybody geeks the hell out about Jurassic Park, because it's worth a re-read (or three, or seven). Isn't comfort reading nice?

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

music: Disaster Magic

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

countdown timer by Rainbow Timers

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Herein, Christopher and Drew discuss how video games and assigned reading can help get the reading going, possible reading themed architectural additions to Drew's house, and how Spring reading is here! Plus some fun recommendations from Patreon listeners!

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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It's March again, which has a different meaning this year but it also still means that it's TOURNAMENT OF BOOKS TIME! With a ca-caw to you, and to you too, the guys do a bit of prognostication that will almost certainly prove to be wrong. But what's a sports-adjacent literary experience without a little bit of ridiculous superstition to go with it?

PS if you don't know about the ToB, check out the primer at TheMorningNews.org!

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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It happens to all of us, at one point or another, and there's no shame in admitting it: Christopher's in a reading slump. So the guys talk about it, about the latest pandemic wall, about finding joy whenever and wherever a person can. It's a reading snapshot, but sometimes that means there isn't any reading! There isn't even a regular cocktail this time, which you know means we're getting down to Business.

contribute! https://patreon.com/smdb

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

music: Disaster Magic

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

Thank you to this episode's sponsors:

• Get 25% off your first two orders on Literati Kids at literati.com/smdb.
• Mulholland Books presents Joe Ide's new thriller, Smoke

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Jenny Offill, author of Weather (now out in paperback) joins the Damn Library through the internet tubes. Christopher makes a second drink for the book (after he and his wife Sarah discussed it during one of the early pandemic eps), there's talk of How Things Have Changed and the writing process, and Jenny sends us to warmer climes with her book club pick: Jean Rhys' Wide Sargasso Sea!

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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The guys get caffeinated, distantly, with Mateo Askaripour to talk about his fantastic debut novel, Black Buck. They chat about telling your own story even if someone else is telling a similar one, about weaving life into art, and about how fiction is more fun than non-fiction. Plus, an out-of-print classic for Book Club that deserves to be brought back: Sam Greenlee's The Spook Who Sat by the Door. 

contribute! https://patreon.com/smdb

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

music: Disaster Magic

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

This episode is brought to you by Betterhelp. Get 10% off your first month at betterhelp.com/SMDB.

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Guess who zooms in this time? It's George Saunders himself, certified MacArthur Genius, launching his new book about writing and Russian short story masters, A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life. Christopher and Drew ask him about what teaching taught him about writing, how he keeps the world fresh, and what he'd like to do if he weren't a writer, along with what a master Tolstoy was. Na Zdorovie!

contribute! https://patreon.com/smdb

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

music: Disaster Magic

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

This episode is brought to you by Betterhelp. Get 10% off your first month at betterhelp.com/SMDB.

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Christopher and Drew hash out their agreed upon top 5 of the year, and then throw out two additional titles each. Lists are weird.

contribute! https://patreon.com/smdb

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

music: Disaster Magic

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

This episode is sponsored by Amazon Publishing, publishers of the new Faraway Collection; and Betterhelp. Get 10% off your first month by visiting BetterHelp.com/somanydamnbooks.

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Christopher and Drew hang out and talk what they got up to for the holiday, open their annual presents to one another, and talk about why Goodreads is probably fine, amongst other bookish subjects.

visit somanydamnbooks.com for book lists and recipes!

support us on patreon! patreon.com/smdb

This episode is sponsored by Amazon Publishing, publishers of the new Faraway Collection

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Instead of doing a big holiday episode and taking a break, the guys decide to celebrate by putting out some little tidbits to keep everyone company through these darkest, shortest days! First up: Stocking Stuffers from the Public Domain! Drew reads A.A. Milne's request for a standardization of Christmas gifts and Christopher dives into a mini history of Christmas tree innovations.

It's a hoot and a half.

This episode is sponsored by Amazon Publishing, publishers of the new Faraway Collection; and Betterhelp. Get 10% off your first month by visiting BetterHelp.com/somanydamnbooks.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.