The Infinite Library

Groovy Baby! We close out our Spring 2025 Season by discussing Samuel R. Delany's "Nova". We discuss Delany's place in the history of sci-fi, archetypes, and the role of time in writing. As always, we hope you enjoy our conversation.

What a long, strange trip it's been...this week, the Book Boys finish up their read-through of the works of Michael Chabon with "Moonglow". Does the Baron of Berkley/Prince of Pittsburgh manage to redeem himself after the missteps of "Telegraph Avenue"? Tune in this week to find out!

John and Ben dive deep into Scam-erican literature this week with the help of friend of the pod and resident Melville expert: Chris Thomas. We discuss Melville's final novel: "The Confidence Man: His Masquerade". Topics of discussion include the trustworthiness of barbers, America's enduring interest in flim-flam artists of all sorts, and the long shadow of Don Quixote.

As always, we hope that you enjoy the conversation.

This week, the Book Boys lib out and read Michael Chabon's Obama era glaze job: "Telegraph Avenue". Our unbroken streak of bangers comes to an end as we discuss the first book that we straight up just did not like. Still, we hope you enjoy our conversation as always!

This week, the Book Boys read "The Rise of the Novel" by Ian Watt. Topics of discussion include literature and the market, the nature of the 'reading public', and the lineage of the novel in English letters.

As always, we hope you enjoy the conversation!

This week, we're wandering through medieval Khazaria with good ol' Mikey C as we read "Gentlemen of the Road". Topics of conversation include Swords & Sorcery vs Historical Fiction, depictions of Jewish identity in Chabon's oeuvre, and serializiation of fiction.

As always, we hope you enjoy our conversation!

You can follow the show on Bluesky at @infinitelibrarypod.bsky.social

Did you know that YOU can teach YOURSELF ANCIENT GREEK? In this week's episode of The Infinite Library, John and Ben are discussing "The Last Samurai" by Helen DeWitt. Topics of conversation include autodidacticism, sleazy British men, and the value of the humanities in troubling times.

This week on The Infinite Library: John and Ben check-in and see how they're feeling about this whole Michael Chabon read-through project, then they continue along the primrose path and discuss "The Yiddish Policeman's Union". Topics of discussion include noir fiction, Filipino-style Chinese donuts, and Messiah.

Happy New Years, Book Heads! In this bonus epsiode, John and Ben sit down to ring in 2025 by talking about their favorite books of 2024. We hope you enjoy!

For our first episode of the New Year, John and Ben are discussing Ryan Ruby's poem about the history of poetry: "Context Collapse". Topics of discussion include jongleurs, Ezra Pound, and romanticism.

As always, we hope you enjoy the conversation!