Happy holidays! This week, while we take our annual break, we've got a special bonus episode for you. We recorded this one last December for the Patreon, as part of our Hunt for the Worst Book of all Time. A novel based on a terrible song that was, for some reason, eventually turned into a straight-to-cable movie starring Rob Lowe. Enjoy! If you enjoyed this episode, and would like to get more in our Hunt for the Worst Book of All Time series, you can subscribe to our Patreon, for just $5 a month, which also helps to support all the free content we produce: https://www.patreon.com/BookFight Thanks! And we'll be back next week with this year's holiday episode, featuring two special guests!

Unlocked: The Christmas Shoes

A podcast where writers talk honestly about books, writing, and the literary world. Hosted by Mike Ingram and Tom McAllister, authors and long-time editors for Barrelhouse, a nonprofit literary magazine and book publisher. New episodes every other week, with bonus episodes for Patreon subscribers.

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Our "marriage plot" season continues, with freelance writer and podcaster Catherine Nichols joining us to talk about the "least fun" Bronte sister, and her novel about what happens when you marry a drunken frat boy (or whatever the 19th-century equivalent of a frat was).  Check out Catherine's podcast, Lit Century, in which she and author Sandra Newman read through the 20th century, one year at a time: https://lithub.com/author/litcentury/ If you're enjoying our show, and would like more of it, subscribe to our Patreon for just $5 a month, which gets you two monthly bonus episodes (and access to a whole host of old episodes): https://www.patreon.com/BookFight Thanks for listening!

Catherine Nichols on The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

We kick off our new, 8-episode season on "the marriage plot" in literature with guest Adelle Waldman (The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P., Help Wanted) talking to us about one of her favorite authors, Jane Austen. You can learn more about Adelle and her books at her website: https://adellewaldman.com/ If you like the podcast, and want more of it in your life, join our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/BookFight Thanks for listening!

Adelle Waldman on Sense & Sensibility

We welcome writer and editor Michael Tager (Mason Jar Press; Pop Culture Poetry: The Definitive Collection ) to talk about Mindy Kaling's essay collection Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? Tager read Kaling's book during a period when he was reading a lot of memoirs and essay collections by comedians, including books by Tina Fey and Chelsea Handler. He talks about what made Kaling's stand out, and how his usual reading habits were interrupted by fatherhood.  You can learn more about Tager's writing and editing projects, including his forthcoming book, at his website: http://www.michaelbtager.com/ If you like our podcast, and would like more of it in your life, please consider subscribing to our Patreon, where $5 a month gets you two monthly bonus episodes, plus access to our entire back catalog: https://www.patreon.com/BookFight Thanks for listening!

Ep 440: Michael Tager

We're joined by Sal Pane--author, most recently, of the short story collection The Neorealist in Winter (winner of the 2002 Autumn House fiction prize) to discuss a pair of novellas by Italian writer Natalia Ginzburg. Plus: writing for video games, surviving winter, and cuffing season. For more about Sal, and his books, visit his website: https://salvatore-pane.com/ If you'd like more Book Fight in your life, consider subscribing to our Patreon, where $5 gets you two bonus episodes each month, including throughout our upcoming hiatus: https://www.patreon.com/BookFight Thanks for listening!

Ep 439: Sal Pane

It's a fan favorite every year: we choose a (possibly terrible) Christmas novel, and we invite some of our fellow Barrelhouse editors on to discuss it. This year the book was  A Christmas Memory, by the "king of Christmas fiction," Richard Paul Evans. And our guests include Dave Housley, Becky Barnard, Chris Gonzalez, and Joe Killiany! Is this book a heartwarming autobiographical tale about a young boy's friendship with an old African-American man in late-1960s Utah? Or is it the story of a little incel boy who will eventually grow up to found a creepy men's rights organization and compare the plight of white men to Jews in Nazi Germany?  Every year we try to take a "fun" trip to Christmas Town, and every year we somehow wind up mired in a terrible shit show. Feliz Navidad!

Unlocked: The Christmas Shoes

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