Two Month Review

This week, Patrick Smith joined Chad and Brian to talk about time capsules and their potential danger, nostalgia and the urge to collect, aliens, Chernobyl, and more. It was a very fun part of the book to discuss, and the three of them made the most of it, really digging into how The Physics of Sorrow is constructed, while also entertaining listeners who might not have read the book. (Bonus: March Madness tips from Brian and former TMR guest Tom Roberge.)

If you want to see this conversation (instead of listening to the podcast), you can view it all here on YouTube. And be sure to come by next Monday, March 19th at 9pm to hangout with Brian, Chad, and special guest Tom Flynn from Volumes Bookcafe. In addition to talking about Part V (pgs 151-178), they'll be happy to answer any and all questions in the chat.

As always, The Physics of Sorrow (and all the previous Two Month Review titles) is available for 20% off through our website. Just use the code 2MONTH at checkout.

Feel free to comment on this episode--or on the book in general--either on this post, or at the official GoodReads Group.

Follow Open Letter, Chad Post, and Brian Wood, for more thoughts and information about upcoming guests. And you can follow Patrick Smith for more book info, updates on The Scofield, and random bad takes about the New England Patriots.

And you can find all the Two Month Review posts by clicking here. And be sure to leave us a review on iTunes!

The music for this season of Two Month Review is "Stars and Babies" by Splendor and Misery, featuring Georgi's translator, Angela Rodel!

To up the Bay Area sports content, we invited Nick Buzanski of Book Culture to come on and talk about one of his favorite sections of Georgi Gospodinov's The Physics of Sorrow. They talk about community and storytelling, seeing movies in person, Gospodinov's humor and beautiful writing, Gaustine's wild ideas, sexy books subterraneously shared, and crappy 90s music.

If you want to see this conversation (instead of listening to the podcast), you can view it all here on YouTube. And be sure to come by next Monday, March 12th at 9pm to hangout with Brian, Chad, and special guest Patrick Smith. In addition to talking about Part IV (pgs 119-150), they'll be happy to answer any and all questions in the chat.

As always, The Physics of Sorrow (and all the previous Two Month Review titles) is available for 20% off through our website. Just use the code 2MONTH at checkout.

Feel free to comment on this episode--or on the book in general--either on this post, or at the official GoodReads Group.

Follow Open Letter, Chad Post, and Brian Wood, for more thoughts and information about upcoming guests. And you can follow Caitlin Baker for great book recommendations and more!

And you can find all the Two Month Review posts by clicking here. And be sure to leave us a review on iTunes!

The music for this season of Two Month Review is "Stars and Babies" by Splendor and Misery, featuring Georgi's translator, Angela Rodel!

Caitlin Baker of the University Book Store in Seattle joined Chad and Brian to talk about this very short section of Georgi Gospodinov's The Physics of Sorrow. Mostly they talk about the constant conflicts between kids and their parent in myths. And eating children. But it's not as gruesome as all that! Mostly they have a good time hanging out and talking about the Minotaur and how he's been portrayed both in myths and pop culture.

If you want to see this conversation (instead of listening to the podcast), you can view it all here on YouTube. And be sure to come by next Monday, March 5th at 9pm to hangout with Brian, Chad, and special guest Nick Buzanski. In addition to talking about Part III (pgs 73-118), they'll be happy to answer any and all questions in the chat.

As always, The Physics of Sorrow (and all the previous Two Month Review titles) is available for 20% off through our website. Just use the code 2MONTH at checkout.

Feel free to comment on this episode--or on the book in general--either on this post, or at the official GoodReads Group.

Follow Open Letter, Chad Post, and Brian Wood, for more thoughts and information about upcoming guests. And you can follow Caitlin Baker for great book recommendations and more!

And you can find all the Two Month Review posts by clicking here. And be sure to leave us a review on iTunes!

The music for this season of Two Month Review is "Stars and Babies" by Splendor and Misery, featuring Georgi's translator, Angela Rodel!

Chad and Brian are joined by Tom Roberge of Riffraff (and the Three Percent Podcast) to discuss the first section of Georgi Gospodinov's The Physics of Sorrow. They talk about the book's general conceit, the minotaur myth, Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, Eastern European history, fascism and communism, and much more. It's a really fun episode--and one that you can actually watch on YouTube.

Caitlin Baker of University Bookstore in Seattle will guest star on the next episode, which covers Part II (59-72). This episode will be broadcast live on YouTube on Sunday, February 25th. We'll be discussion Part II (pgs 59-72), and you can watch us, ask questions, make general comments, talk about the lighting in Brian's closet, etc. Or you can wait for the normal podcast release next Thursday, March 1st.

As always, The Physics of Sorrow (and all the previous Two Month Review titles) is available for 20% off through our website. Just use the code 2MONTH at checkout.

Feel free to comment on this episode--or on the book in general--either on this post, or at the official GoodReads Group.

Follow Open Letter, Chad Post, and Brian Wood, for more thoughts and information about upcoming guests. And also follow Tom Roberge for more book and bookselling related content. (And other fun stuff.)

And you can find all the Two Month Review posts by clicking here. And be sure to leave us a review on iTunes!

The music for this season of Two Month Review is "Stars and Babies" by Splendor and Misery, featuring Georgi's translator, Angela Rodel!

The new season of the Two Month Review kicks off now with a general overview Georgi Gospodinov's The Physics of Sorrow, one of the most beloved books Open Letter has ever published. Brian's on the lam, or in witness protection, or something, so Open Letter senior editor Kaija Straumanis stepped in to talk about one of the first books she ever worked on for the press.

You can participate in the next episode--covering the Epigraphy, Prologue, and Part I (1-58)--which will be recorded on YouTube LIVE on Monday, February 19th at 9pm EST. All you you have to do is click here and you can comment or ask Chad, Brian, and Tom Roberge about anything you want.

The podcast recording of that episode will be released in normal fashion on Thursday, February 22nd. So you don't have to watch it live, but if you want to come hang out with us and participate in the making of these episodes, we'd love to see you there!

As always, The Physics of Sorrow (and all the previous Two Month Review titles) is available for 20% off through our website. Just use the code 2MONTH at checkout.

Feel free to comment on this episode--or on the book in general--either on this post, or at the official GoodReads Group.

Follow Open Letter, Chad Post, and Brian Wood, for more thoughts and information about upcoming guests. And also follow Tom Roberge for more book and bookselling related content. (And other fun stuff.)

And you can find all the Two Month Review posts by clicking here. And be sure to leave us a review on iTunes!

The music for this season of Two Month Review is "Stars and Babies" by Splendor and Misery, featuring Georgi's translator, Angela Rodel!

Here it is, the infamous live recording at McNally Jackson! There was a great turnout to hear Brian, María Christina, and I work our way through our thoughts about Death in Spring, Rodoreda's overall stature, the banning of the color yellow, and much more. We had a great time doing this, and thanks again to McNally Jackson for making it all possible.

We might have a special bonus episode in the new year, but stay tuned for details on Two Month Review season four, when we go deep on The Physics of Sorrow by Georgi Gospodinov. Buy a copy now! (Use the code 2MONTH at checkout for 20% off!)

And, in case you still don't have them, both Death in Spring and Selected Stories are also available through the Open Letter website. And like with Physics above, if you use 2MONTH at checkout, you'll get 20% off.

Feel free to comment on this episode--or on the book in general--either on this post, or at the official GoodReads Group.

Follow Open Letter, Chad Post, and Brian Wood for more thoughts and information about upcoming guests. And you can follow María Christina Hall there as well.

And you can find all Two Month Review posts by clicking here.

The music for this season of Two Month Review is "Montseny" by Els Surfing Sirles.

And please rate us on Apple Podcasts (or wherever you get your podcasts) and/or leave a review! 

Mara Faye Lethem joins us this week to talk about Catalonia's scatological obsession, the challenges of the current political situation, Max Besora's wild novel, and Rodoreda's triumphant return to the best-seller list. Then they get into a more autobiographical reading of this section of Death in Spring, a section that's all about death and chaos.

Both Selected Stories and Death in Spring are available through the Open Letter website, and if you use 2MONTH at checkout, you'll get 20% off.

Feel free to comment on this episode--or on the book in general--either on this post, or at the official GoodReads Group.

Follow Open Letter, Chad Post, and Brian Wood for more thoughts and information about upcoming guests. And be sure to read all of Mara's translations, including The Boys by Toni Sala and Wonderful World by Javier Calvo. 

And you can find all Two Month Review posts by clicking here.

The music for this season of Two Month Review is "Montseny" by Els Surfing Sirles.

And please rate us on Apple Podcasts (or wherever you get your podcasts) and/or leave a review!

This week, fresh off a publication in the Boston Review, Jess Fenn (JR Fenn) joins Chad, Brian, and Best Translated Book Award judge Patrick Smith (P.T. Smith) to talk about the second part of Death in Spring. They trace a few motifs, talk about dystopias and literary world-building, and much more. Another very informative and captivating episode about one of the greatest novels of the past hundred years.

Both Selected Stories and Death in Spring are available through the Open Letter website ,and if you use 2MONTH at checkout, you'll get 20% off.

Feel free to comment on this episode--or on the book in general--either on this post, or at the official GoodReads Group.

Follow Open Letter, Chad Post, and Brian Wood for more thoughts and information about upcoming guests. Be sure and buy the Boston Review to read Jess's story, and follow Patrick on Twitter for various book thoughts and terrible sports takes.

And you can find all Two Month Review posts by clicking here.

The music for this season of Two Month Review is "Montseny" by Els Surfing Sirles.

And please rate us on Apple Podcasts (or wherever you get your podcasts) and/or leave a review!

Welcome to one of the strangest villages in all of fiction! Now that Chad and Brian have gone through the stories, they turn their attention to Rodoreda's Death in Spring, which was published posthumously in 1986. They're joined by Catalan researcher and translator Meg Berkobien and Anastasia Nikolis, who you might remember from the season on Tómas Jónsson, Bestseller. This episode is loaded with information about Rodoreda and this novel, followed by accolade after accolade about one of the greatest novels of the twentieth century.

Both Selected Stories and Death in Spring are available through the Open Letter website ,and if you use 2MONTH at checkout, you'll get 20% off.

Feel free to comment on this episode--or on the book in general--either on this post, or at the official GoodReads Group.

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

And you can find all Two Month Review posts by clicking here.

The music for this season of Two Month Review is "Montseny" by Els Surfing Sirles.

And please rate us on Apple Podcasts (or wherever you get your podcasts) and/or leave a review!

After yelling at Skype a bunch, Chad, Brian, and special guest Tom Flynn of Volumes Bookcafe discuss the merits of some of Rodoreda's final stories, especially "The Thousand Franc Bill," "Paralysis," and "The Salamander." Then they manage to slightly diss groups upon groups of people--in a rather entertaining way. And they discuss the state of the short story collection and how stories are perceived by publishing execs and bookstores. They also preview next week's book, Death in Spring.

Both Selected Stories and Death in Spring are available through the Open Letter website ,and if you use 2MONTH at checkout, you'll get 20% off.

Feel free to comment on this episode--or on the book in general--either on this post, or at the official GoodReads Group.

Follow Open Letter, Chad Post, and Brian Wood for more thoughts and information about upcoming guests. Follow Volumes Books to keep up to date on all their events, staff picks, and general comments.

And you can find all Two Month Review posts by clicking here.

The music for this season of Two Month Review is "Montseny" by Els Surfing Sirles.

And please rate us on Apple Podcasts (or wherever you get your podcasts) and/or leave a review!