Two Month Review

Lori Feathers of Interabang Books in Dallas joined Chad and Brian for this special episode to talk about the destruction of her bookstore, what's next for Interabang, and information about how you can help. (Answer: Order Joytime Killbox and The Dreamed Part from their website.) Then they talk about Lori's interview with Lucy Ellmann, the Serpent Mound (and some conspiracy theory nonsense). There's also more talk of Joyce, of the lists of rivers in Ducks, Newburyport and in Finnegans Wake, and Chad goes on a diatribe again notorious "anti-Mom," Dr. Phil.

If you'd prefer to watch the conversation, you can find it on YouTube along with all our past episodes. Next week's episode (up to page 429) will be broadcast live here. And you can discuss this book at the reactivated Goodreads Two Month Review Discussion Group.

This week's music is "Ohio" by Cherry Glazerr.

Follow Open Letter, Chad Post, and Brian Wood for random thoughts and information about upcoming guests.

Be sure to order Brian's book, Joytime Killbox, which is now officially available from BOA Editions. And help out Interabang by ordering something (an Open Letter title?) from their online store. 

You can also support this podcast and all of Open Letter's activities by making a tax-deductible donation through the University of Rochester. (Or by attending our gala.)

You can find all the Two Month Review posts by clicking here. And be sure to leave us a review on iTunes. It really helps people to discover the podcast.

Rhett McNeil (translator of Machado de Assis, Gonçalo Tavares, Antonio Lobo Antunes, and more) joins Chad and Brian to talk about the way in which Ducks, Newburyport is less of a single-sentence and more of a never-ending list, about how it is and isn't like Ulysses, about time in the novel, about Ellmann's playfulness, about entropy vs. eternal recurrence, and giving the middle finger to Strunk & White. They also play a short round of "Did this Happen in Florida or Ohio?" 

f you'd prefer to watch the conversation, you can find it on YouTube along with all our past episodes. Next week's episode (up to page 360) will be broadcast live here. And you can discuss this book at the reactivated Goodreads Two Month Review Discussion Group.

This week's music is "Comeback Kid" by Sharon Van Etten.

Follow Open Letter, Chad Post, and Brian Wood for random thoughts and information about upcoming guests. And follow Patrick on Twitter and Instagram for hot takes and pictures of Vermont bookstores.

Be sure to preorder Brian's book, Joytime Killbox, which is now officially available from BOA Editions. And get Rhett's latest translation, Reading Is Walking by Gonçalo Tavares.

You can also support this podcast and all of Open Letter's activities by making a tax-deductible donation through the University of Rochester. (Or by attending our gala.)

You can find all the Two Month Review posts by clicking here. And be sure to leave us a review on iTunes. It really helps people to discover the podcast.

Vanessa Stauffer from Biblioasis came on this episode to talk about the Booker Prize, about the jacket copy she wrote for the Ducks galley, about types of moms, about things in the book that pay off and mysteries that remain mysteries, about the ways in which Ellmann is breaking form and the strong feminist perspective underlying this narrative, and much more. It's a fun, free-wheeling conversation sprinkled with tons of amazing quotes from the book, talk about mom.com, and much much more.

If you'd prefer to watch the conversation, you can find it on YouTube along with all our past episodes. Next week's episode (up to page 297) will be broadcast live here. And you can discuss this book at the reactivated Goodreads Two Month Review Discussion Group.

This week's music is "Can You Help Me?" by Olivia Jean.

Follow Open Letter, Chad Post, and Brian Wood for random thoughts and information about upcoming guests. And follow Patrick on Twitter and Instagram for hot takes and pictures of Vermont bookstores.

And be sure to preorder Brian's book, Joytime Killbox, which is now officially available from BOA Editions.

You can also support this podcast and all of Open Letter's activities by making a tax-deductible donation through the University of Rochester.

You can find all the Two Month Review posts by clicking here. And be sure to leave us a review on iTunes. It really helps people to discover the podcast.

Due to an unforeseen illness, Chad and Brian ended up going this one alone, and focus mostly on the way that "the fact that" functions, both in building the character and impacting the reader. Chad asks Brian some craft questions, they debate what makes a book "difficult" (and whether this is difficult or just long), more talk about mothers (go moms!), the difficulties of raising children, a hierarchy of fears, Shirley Jackson and Rochester, "Daily Carry," and much more. If for nothing else, you should listen to hear them read aloud from the novel—it's a book that's perfectly suited for being read aloud. After you hear these quotes, you will definitely want to read the whole thing.

If you'd prefer to watch the conversation, you can find it on YouTube along with all our past episodes. Next week's episode (up to page 231) will be broadcast live here. And you can discuss this book at the reactivated Goodreads Two Month Review Discussion Group.

This week's music is "Run" by pronoun.

Follow Open Letter, Chad Post, and Brian Wood for random thoughts and information about upcoming guests. And follow Patrick on Twitter and Instagram for hot takes and pictures of Vermont bookstores.

And be sure to preorder Brian's book, Joytime Killbox, which is coming out this fall from BOA Editions.

You can find all the Two Month Review posts by clicking here. And be sure to leave us a review on iTunes. It really helps people to discover the podcast.

The tenth season of the Two Month Review gets underway with special guest Dan Wells of Biblioasis talking about how they came to publish Lucy Ellmann's Ducks, Newburyport, and the risks involved in doing a 1,020-page book. They also introduce Ellmann--who has one of the greatest bios ever--and the novel itself. Conversation topics include: kidneys vs. cinnamon rolls, "torrent of consciousness" writing, catching your breath in a one-sentence novel, how much Chad loves moms, the role of memory in the text, the mountain lion sections, how funny and angry the book is all at once, and much more. If you haven't started the book, don't worry! This is a great introduction and the concept of "spoilers" doesn't really apply to a novel like this one. 

If you'd prefer to watch the conversation, you can find it on YouTube along with all our past episodes. Next week's episode (up to page 150) will be broadcast live here. And you can discuss this book at the reactivated Goodreads Two Month Review Discussion Group.

This week's music is "Lucy" by Soccer Mommy, partly because it's a solid single, partly because it's called "Lucy," and partly because of this quote from Ducks, Newburyport:

the fact that we pretend to be interested in soccer, for the kids’ sake, but it’s a real strain, sprain, the fact that all the other soccer moms and dads get so excited, while I just stand there getting cold, frozen, frozen out by the other moms as well, the fact that they always ask where Leo is, as if neither of us has anything better to do than watch little kids kick a ball around, the fact that the other moms and dads yell and cheer till they’re hoarse, the fact that it isn’t right, I don’t think, to make kids so competitive about things, the fact that we think the other parents are too involved, but they probably think we aren’t involved enough,

Follow Open Letter, Chad Post, and Brian Wood for random thoughts and information about upcoming guests. And follow Patrick on Twitter and Instagram for hot takes and pictures of Vermont bookstores.

And be sure to preorder Brian's book, Joytime Killbox, which is coming out this fall from BOA Editions.

You can find all the Two Month Review posts by clicking here. And be sure to leave us a review on iTunes. It really helps people to discover the podcast.

And just like that, season nine of the Two Month Review comes to an end. But first, we have a very nice discussion with Kjersti Skomsvold herself about Monsterhuman, trends in Norwegian writing, autofiction vs. creative nonfiction vs. memoir, authors to read, and much more. (Spoiler: She's just as interesting and charming in real life as she is in the novel.) 

If you prefer to watch the show instead of just list, all of our past episodes are available on our YouTube channel. 

This week's music is "I Think That's Everything" by Imperial Teen.

Season 10 will be the first English-language title to be included, Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann, which was just named to the Booker SHORTLIST!! This will kick off on YouTube on Monday, October 2nd, with the first podcast episode dropping a week from today. 

Follow Open Letter, Chad Post, and Brian Wood for random thoughts and information about upcoming guests. And follow Patrick on Twitter and Instagram for hot takes and pictures of Vermont bookstores.

And be sure to preorder Brian's book, Joytime Killbox, which is coming out this fall from BOA Editions.

You can find all the Two Month Review posts by clicking here. And be sure to leave us a review on iTunes. It really helps people to discover the podcast.

Translator Becky Crook comes on this week's podcast to talk about the process of working on Monsterhuman, all the things that she couldn't quite get in there, ones she's very proud of, the reasons why she thinks the book works, and much much more!

Only one episodee left! You can watch the Wednesday, September 25 episode on pgs 407-448 live on YouTube, or listen to it on Thursday the 26th. Also, all of our past episodes are available on our YouTube channel in case you want to catch up on anything.

This week's music is "Forest Lawn" by Better Oblivion Community Center.

Season 10 will be the first English-language title to be included, Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann, which was just named to the Booker SHORTLIST!!

Follow Open Letter, Chad Post, and Brian Wood for random thoughts and information about upcoming guests. And follow Patrick on Twitter and Instagram for hot takes and pictures of Vermont bookstores.

And be sure to preorder Brian's book, Joytime Killbox, which is coming out this fall from BOA Editions.

You can find all the Two Month Review posts by clicking here. And be sure to leave us a review on iTunes. It really helps people to discover the podcast.

This week, Brian is AWOL BUT Patrick Smith brings his A-game. He and Chad talk about the self-conscious humor in Monsterhuman, awkward interactions, the shape and evolution of the narrative as a whole, some info about The Faster I Walk, the Smaller I Am, and much more. A very fun episode that opened as awkwardly as ever . . . 

Only two episodes left! And because Chad's going to be in London for a week, we'll be broadcasting one more episode on YouTube this week. (The audio podcast version will release as usual on Thursday 9/19.) That said, here are links to the final two YouTube streams: Thursday, September 12 (pgs 360-406), and Wednesday, September 25 (pgs 407-448).

Also, all of our past episodes are available on our YouTube channel in case you want to catch up on anything.

This week's music is "Rayrunner" by Hallelujah the Hills. 

Season 10 will be the first English-language title to be included, Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann, which was just named to the Booker SHORTLIST!!

Follow Open Letter, Chad Post, and Brian Wood for random thoughts and information about upcoming guests. And follow Patrick on Twitter and Instagram for hot takes and pictures of Vermont bookstores. 

And be sure to preorder Brian's book, Joytime Killbox, which is coming out this fall from BOA Editions.

You can find all the Two Month Review posts by clicking here. And be sure to leave us a review on iTunes. It really helps people to discover the podcast.

Although this episode isn't as funny as last week's discussion of "lay-down Sally," it does get into some of Brian's neuroses about his forthcoming book, which is entertaining. They talk a lot about Skomsvold's humor, about the creepy ways in which various photographers and interviewers treat her as a young female artist, and the bit where John O'Brien of Dalkey Archive Press makes an appearance. Focusing on aftermath of the publication of her novel The Faster I Walk, the Smaller I Am, "East of the River" is one of the most compelling sections of Monsterhuman and can be read on it's own. Even if you haven't read it, you'll definitely enjoy this podcast. 

Only three episodes left! And because Chad's going to be in London for a week, we'll be broadcasting two episodes on YouTube next week. (The audio podcasts will release as usual on Thursday 9/12 and 9/19.) That said, here are links to the final three YouTube streams: Monday, September 9 (pgs 316-360), Thursday, September 12 (pgs 360-406), and then back to normal, with the final episode on Wednesday, September 25 (pgs 407-448).

Also, all of our past episodes are available on our YouTube channel in case you want to catch up on anything. 

Season 10 will be the first English-language title to be included, Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann, which was just named to the Booker SHORTLIST!!

Follow Open Letter, Chad Post, and Brian Wood for random thoughts and information about upcoming guests. 

And be sure to preorder Brian's book, Joytime Killbox, which is coming out this fall from BOA Editions.

You can find all the Two Month Review posts by clicking here. And be sure to leave us a review on iTunes. It really helps people to discover the podcast.

Caitlin Baker from Island Books joins Chad and Brian this week to talk about "The Herring Factory" from Kjersti Skomsvold's Monsterhuman. After a strong pitch for nominating Brian for "Best Local Author" in City Paper's annual Best of Rochester voting, they get into the book itself, talking about the meta-textual moment of Kjersti writing in the third-person and acknowledging it doesn't quite work, about the relationship with mentors, about whether or not the character is happy, about the sly humor found throughout this book, about her Harold Pinter dream, getting old, and much, much more.

This week's music is "Comeback Kid" by Sharon Van Etten.

Next episode will cover pages 226-274 and will be livestreamed on YouTube next Wednesday. (All of our past episodes are available on our YouTube channel in case you want to catch up on anything.) You can find the complete reading schedule here.

Season 10 will be the first English-language title to be included, Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann, which was just named to the Booker Longlist.

Follow Open Letter, Chad Post, and Brian Wood for random thoughts and information about upcoming guests. Also, follow Caitlin on Twitter, and buy some books from Island Books!

And be sure to preorder Brian's book, Joytime Killbox, which is coming out this fall from BOA Editions.

You can find all the Two Month Review posts by clicking here. And be sure to leave us a review on iTunes. It really helps people to discover the podcast.