Two Month Review

Chad doubles down on his love of Kathy Acker while Kaija continues to be unamused, and Brian sits somewhere in the middle. Nevertheless, this leads to a great discussion about revolution, if it felt rebellious reading Acker back in the 90s, forms of oppression (government, the uber-wealthy, language), and how the only escape seems to be by motorcycle or pirate ship.

This week’s music is “Rebel Girl” from Bikini Kill.

Next week we’ll be talking about the final part of Empire of the Senseless—and announcing the next three seasons of TMR . . .

All previous seasons of TMR are available on our YouTube channel (this episode can be found here) and on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, etc. Please rate and review! It helps more than you know.

Follow Open Letter, Two Month Review, Chad Post, Kaija Straumanis, and Brian Wood for random thoughts and information about upcoming guests.

And you can subscribe to the Mining the Dalkey Archive podcast here: Apple, Spotify.

This episode is the one to listen to if you find Empire of the Senseless/Kathy Acker distasteful, unpleasant to read, a slog, hard going, etc. That summarizes Kaija’s experience, whereas Chad argues for the value in books that refuse to get in line, and Brian talks about why Acker is so divisive. If you’re not reading along, this episode is a great summary of why Acker is lauded, while also copping to the extreme nature of her prose. Also: Can one subvert language using language—even of the nonsensical variety?

This week’s music is “Total Trash” from Sonic Youth.

Next week we’ll be talking about pages 141–174 of the print version of Empire of the Senseless (up to 215 for epub readers). And you can find the whole reading schedule here.

All previous seasons of TMR are available on our YouTube channel and on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, etc. Please rate and review! It helps more than you know.

Follow Open Letter, Two Month Review, Chad Post, Kaija Straumanis, and Brian Wood for random thoughts and information about upcoming guests.

The second part of this season of the Two Month Review kicks off with a bang as Chad, Brian, and Kaija shift to talking about Kathy Acker and her Empire of the Senseless. It’s Kaija’s first exposure to Acker, so a lot of time is spent explaining where Acker came from, her aesthetic approach, the political moment of the mid-80s (and how that connects to now), elements of her life that frequently get remixed into her works, and various forms of plagiarism.

This week’s music is “Empire of the Senseless” from the Mekons.

Next week we’ll be talking about pages 63–140 of Empire of the Senseless. And you can find the whole reading schedule here.

All previous seasons of TMR are available on our YouTube channel and on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, etc. Please rate and review! It helps more than you know.

Follow Open Letter, Two Month Review, Chad Post, Kaija Straumanis, and Brian Wood for random thoughts and information about upcoming guests.

First off: Congrats to Rodrigo Fresán & Will Vanderhyden for winning this year’s Republic of Consciousness Prize for Melvill!!! If you didn’t listen to our season on this novel, I suggest going back to it—and ordering a copy of the book from Open Letter.

This week, Chad, Brian, and Kaija go over the last part of James by Percival Everett and all love the ending and the philosophical challenges it presents. The whole book gets slightly reframed, and the appreciation of Everett’s craft deepens.

This week’s music is “Reset” and “How it Breaks” from Rich Aucoin’s America.

Next week we move on to Kathy Acker’s Empire of the Senseless, a much more challenging book on a sentence by sentence, scene to scene level, but one that also explores the ideas of freedom and identity. We’re going over pages 1–62; you can find the whole reading schedule here.

All previous seasons of TMR are available on our YouTube channel and on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, etc. Please rate and review! It helps more than you know.

Follow Open Letter, Two Month Review, Chad Post, Kaija Straumanis, and Brian Wood for random thoughts and information about upcoming guests.

In the penultimate episode on Percival Everett's James, Chad, Kaija, and Brian discuss how unnerving Part II is to read (especially in relation to Brock), the choices that James is left with, the extended metaphor running throughout this part, the bits of humor in this book that's primarily filled with horrors, and much much more.

This week's music is "Foot on Necks" by Sault.

Next week we’ll cover part III of James and discuss the book as a whole. You can find the complete reading schedule for this season here.

All previous seasons of TMR are available on our YouTube channel and on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, etc. Please rate and review! It helps more than you know.

Follow Open Letter, Two Month Review, Chad Post, Kaija Straumanis, and Brian Wood for random thoughts and information about upcoming guests.

The most anxiety-filled section of James is under discussion this week, as we find out the horrific fate of Little George, and James is both beaten and then sold to a minstrel show. There are also questions raised about Huck that are quite intriguing, and a lot of masks, metaphors, and irony.

This week's music is "Ends Meet" by Panda Bear, mostly because his new album is called Sinister Grift, which is the most TMR album title imaginable.

Next week we’ll cover pages 124-185 (through the end of Part I) of James. You can find the complete reading schedule here.

All previous seasons of TMR are available on our YouTube channel and on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, etc. Please rate and review! It helps more than you know.

Follow Open Letter, Two Month Review, Chad Post, Kaija Straumanis, and Brian Wood for random thoughts and information about upcoming guests.

In this episode, Chad, Brian, and Kaija talk about the role of James as a writer, how long James will parallel Adventures of Huck Finn, the geography of the U.S., and the malicious intent of people in power, con men, father figures, Huck and James’s relationship, and much more.

This week's music is "Can’t Get Enough of It" by Sprints.

Next week we’ll cover pages 124-185 (through the end of Part I) of James. You can find the complete reading schedule here.

All previous seasons of TMR are available on our YouTube channel and on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, etc. Please rate and review! It helps more than you know.

Follow Open Letter, Two Month Review, Chad Post, Kaija Straumanis, and Brian Wood for random thoughts and information about upcoming guests.

The 25th season of the Two Month Review will dive into two books related to the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, starting with Percival Everett’s highly praised, award-winning, James. This week Chad, Brian, and Kaija talk about Huck Finn, the language games in the opening chapters of the novel, discuss masks, grifters, how the two books intersect, and much more.

This week's music is "Request Denied" by El-P.

Next week we’ll cover pages 60-123 of James. You can find the complete reading schedule here.

All previous seasons of TMR are available on our YouTube channel and on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, etc. Please rate and review! It helps more than you know.

Follow Open Letter, Two Month Review, Chad Post, Kaija Straumanis, and Brian Wood for random thoughts and information about upcoming guests.

Special guest Rodrigo Fresán joins Brian, Chad, and Kaija to celebrate being on the Republic of Consciousness longlist, talk about his novels, his career, the ideas he circles back to time and again, the idea of a writer creating their reader, what’s next for him, and much more.

Also: The books for Season 25 are announced at the very end.

The "Grifters Gonna Grift" t-shirt is still available and still sexy.

This week's music is "Colorado River" by Shovels & Rope.

Stay tuned for the schedule and details about Season 25, coming in February 2025.

You can find all previous seasons of TMR on our YouTube channel and on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, etc. Please rate and review! It helps more than you know.

Follow Open Letter, Two Month Review, Chad Post, Kaija Straumanis, and Brian Wood for random thoughts and information about upcoming guests.

In the penultimate episode of this season, there’s a lot of talk about Melville’s relationship with Nathaniel Hawthorne as we get more of Melville’s life as he bounces through time, writes Moby-Dick and the creation of “its own kind of reader: an inexhaustible reader. A reader that didn’t yet exist . . .”

The "Grifters Gonna Grift" t-shirt is still available and still sexy.

Next episode will be next week at the regularly scheduled time and will cover the end of Rodrigo Fresán's Melvill. You can find the full reading schedule here.

This week's music is "Vertigo" by FM Belfast.

You can find all previous seasons of TMR on our YouTube channel and on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, etc. Please rate and review! It helps more than you know.

Follow Open Letter, Two Month Review, Chad Post, Kaija Straumanis, and Brian Wood for random thoughts and information about upcoming guests.