Two Month Review

This week author and translator Idra Novey joins Chad and Lytton to talk about one of the most challenging sections of the book so far. Not only is there a proliferation of children whose voices constantly interrupt Tómas's thoughts, but there are a few more unsettling bits that raise questions about what we should believe about Tómas's narrative and morality. (Questions that will be further addressed next week.) They also talk about the brilliant ways in which Lytton balances all these various registers, and the poetry that shines through Tómas's curmudgeonly rants.

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

Tómas Jónsson, Bestseller is available at better bookstores everywhere, and you can also order it directly from Open Letter, where you can get 20% off by entering 2MONTH in the discount field at checkout.

Follow Open Letter, Chad Post, and Lytton Smith for more thoughts and information about upcoming guests. Also, you can support Idra Novey by following her on twitter and buying her novel, Ways to Disappear, which is available now.

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

The music for this season of Two Month Review is "Long Year" by The Anchoress.

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

This week, Jacob Rogers--translator from the Galician and bookseller at Malaprop's in Asheville, North Carolina--joins Chad and Lytton to talk about Tómas Jónsson's next two "composition books." Included in these sections are a long bit about the "board" and the general hierarchy of Tómas's dining hall, the ways in which he's both an insider and someone on the fringes, and the role of the U.S. military base in Iceland's overall development. These sections are crucial in fleshing out both Tómas's character and that of Iceland as a whole, while adding a lot of interesting--and funny--details about his everyday life.

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

Tómas Jónsson, Bestseller is available at better bookstores everywhere, and you can also order it directly from Open Letter, where you can get 20% off by entering 2MONTH in the discount field at checkout.

Follow Open Letter, Chad Post, and Lytton Smith for more thoughts and information about upcoming guests. You can also follow Malaprop's on Twitter, and Jacob on Instagram.

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

The music for this season of Two Month Review is "Long Year" by The Anchoress.

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

In this episode--covering Tómas Jónsson's fourth composition book--a number of the themes of the overall novel are put on display: Tómas's relationship to his body, the way he tries to create a narrative for himself, possible injustices he's suffered during his life, the way his lodgers are like an army, and more. And there's no one better to help parse these elements than author and critic Scott Esposito. He joins Chad and Lytton for an episode that may be a bit long, but is stuffed full of insight about this Icelandic masterpiece.

Also discussed in this episode is Scott's interview with Lytton for Conversational Reading.

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

Tómas Jónsson, Bestseller is available at better bookstores everywhere, and you can also order it directly from Open Letter, where you can get 20% off by entering 2MONTH in the discount field at checkout.

Follow Open Letter, Chad Post, and Lytton Smith for more thoughts and information about upcoming guests.

You can follow Scott Esposito on Twitter and Instagram, or at Conversational Reading. And you can get his latest book, The Doubles, from Civil Coping Mechanisms.

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

The music for this season of Two Month Review is "Long Year" by The Anchoress.

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

This week, Ph.D. candidate Anastasia Nikolis joins Chad and Lytton to talk about the real meat of Tómas Jónsson, Bestseller--chamber pot usage! They also discuss the way our grumpy narrator's mind works, the way he finds beauty in ambiguity, how Lytton translated a very specific word game, and a couple cues to help keep track of "when" particular sections are taking place. A lively and learned episode--just like the novel itself.

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

Tómas Jónsson, Bestseller is available at better bookstores everywhere, and you can also order it directly from Open Letter, where you can get 20% off by entering 2MONTH in the discount field at checkout.

Follow Open Letter, Chad Post, Lytton Smith, and for more thoughts and information about upcoming guests. And listen to Anastasia's poetry podcast, Black Box Poetry, to hear more of her thoughts about writing and literature.

You can find all Two Month Review posts by clicking here.

The music for this season of Two Month Review is "Long Year" by The Anchoress.

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

And with this episode, we launch the second season of the Two Month Review! Over a ten-week period, we will be breaking down Tómas Jónsson, Bestseller by Guðbergur Bergsson, helping explain and explore what makes this book (often referred to as "Iceland's Ulysses") so influential and interesting. This season, translator, poet, and professor Lytton Smith will join Chad Post to talk about the book, along with a variety of guests, including a number of booksellers, critics, and readers. The full reading schedule can be found here, but in this particular episode, Lytton and Chad provide some background information about the book, Bergsson's career, and Icelandic literature as a whole. They're joined this week by Brian Wood, who, as usual, is entertaining and funny while also asking really important questions that help provide a context for approaching this novel.

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

Tómas Jónsson, Bestseller is available at better bookstores everywhere, and you can also order it directly from Open Letter, where you can get 20% off by entering 2MONTH in the discount field at checkout.

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

You can find all Two Month Review posts by clicking here.

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

The music for this season of Two Month Review is "Long Year" by The Anchoress.

As a special bonus episode, both Rodrigo Fresán and Will Vanderhyden joined Chad and Brian to talk about The Invented Part as a whole, the first season of the Two Month Review, what's next in the trilogy, technology's revenge on Rodrigo, David Lynch, and, how to write jacket copy. 

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

The Invented Part is avaialble at better bookstores everywhere, and you can also order it directly from Open Letter, where you can get 20% off by entering 2MONTH in the discount field at checkout.

The next season will focus on Tómas Jónsson, Bestseller by Guðbergur Bergsson. Get your copy now from Open Letter (use 2MONTH at checkout!) or from your favorite book retailer. More info on that reading schedule will be available next week.

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

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

Please rate us on iTunes (or wherever) and/or leave a review!

The music for the first season of Two Month Review is "Big Sky" by The Kinks. 

We did it! After two months, eleven episodes, and a half dozen different guests, Brian and Chand finished their discussion of Rodrigo Fresán's The Invented Part! Joining them this week to wrap things up is Valerie Miles, translator, publisher, co-founder of Granta en Español, and editor of A Thousand Forests in One Acorn. She's also friends with Rodrigo and offers amazing insight into this wild, stuffed chapter in which we return to the beginning ("How to end. Or better: How to end?") while The Writer flies through the skies, revisiting all the rants he made at a recent conference, and the spectacular attack from his archnemesis IKEA. There's a lot more to this section though--especially how it relates to the structure of the overall book.

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

The Invented Part is avaialble at better bookstores everywhere, and you can also order it directly from Open Letter, where you can get 20% off by entering 2MONTH in the discount field at checkout.

The next season will focus on Tómas Jónsson, Bestseller by Guðbergur Bergsson. Get your copy now from Open Letter (use 2MONTH at checkout!) or from your favorite book retailer. More info on that reading schedule will be available next week.

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

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

Please rate us on iTunes and/or leave a review!

The music for the first season of Two Month Review is "Big Sky" by The Kinks. 

It's another 2MR review with just Chad and Brian! Similar to the previous guest-less episode, this one goes a bit off the rails . . . Although this time around it gets a lot darker, as they talk about Chekov, Girl, Night, Swimming Pool, Etc., a scream descending from the skies, John Cheever's writing prompt, and much much more.

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

The Invented Part is avaialble at better bookstores everywhere, and you can also order it directly from Open Letter, where you can get 20% off by entering 2MONTH in the discount field at checkout.

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

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

The music for the first season of Two Month Review is "Big Sky" by The Kinks. 

On this week's Two Month Review, Tom Roberge from Riffraff and the Three Percent Podcast joins Chad and Brian talk about 2001: A Space Odyssey, Pink Floyd, potential errors and non-errors, cultural touchstones that serve to define friendships, the overall structure of this chapter of The Invented Part, and Tom's experience coming on the podcast having read only these forty pages of the novel. And, as per usual, Chad sneaks in a few Twin Peaks references.

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

The Invented Part is avaialble at better bookstores everywhere, and you can also order it directly from Open Letter, where you can get 20% off by entering 2MONTH in the discount field at checkout.

Follow Open Letter, Chad Post, Brian Wood, and "The" Tom Roberge on Twitter for more thoughts and information about upcoming guests.

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

The music for the first season of Two Month Review is "Big Sky" by The Kinks. 

On this week's Two Month Review, Chad and Brian talk about F. Scott Fitzgerald and Tender Is the Night, puzzles, how to properly introduce the show, the Modern Library list of top 100 novels of the twentieth century, Booth Tarkington, and much more more.

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

The Invented Part is avaialble at better bookstores everywhere, and you can also order it directly from Open Letter, where you can get 20% off by entering 2MONTH in the discount field at checkout.

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

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

The music for the first season of Two Month Review is "Big Sky" by The Kinks.