Well, friends, here it is. After 13 years, the Book Fight podcast is finally riding off into the sunset. Join us for one final episode, as we look back at what we've learned, read some listener tributes, and take our last trip to Appelation Station. Thanks, as always, for listening. It's been a great ride! I don't think either of us imagined, when we recorded our very first episode back in April 2012, that the show would reach so many people, allow us to chat with so many great authors, and make...
Aug 04, 2025•1 hr 53 min
We're joined by Elisa Gabbert ( Any Person is the Only Self , Normal Distance ) to discuss E.M. Forster's 1924 novel A Passage to India, and also to speculate wildly about why this was the last novel Forster ever wrote. You can find selections of Gabbert's work (and links to buy her books) on her website: http://www.elisagabbert.com/ And if you like our podcast, and want more of it in your life, you can get access to a huge trove of bonus episodes on our Patreon, for only $5 a month: https://www...
Jul 21, 2025•1 hr 12 min
We're joined by Sam Ashworth ( The Death and Life of August Sweeney ) to talk about the ultimate ending: death. Our book this week is Julian Barnes' 2008 memoir about death and dying, Nothing to Be Frightened Of . We discuss ruminative books, and whether all narratives need to have an arc. Plus: the triumphant return of Judge a Book By Its Cover. Thanks, as always, for listening! If you like the show, and would like some more Book Fight in your life, you can join our Patreon for just $5 a month:...
Jul 07, 2025•1 hr 34 min
No guest this week, as we wanted to do an episode with just the two of us, here at the mid-point of our final season. For our reading, we dive into A Clockwork Orange, which Mike had somehow never read. Meanwhile, not only had Tom read it, he wrote a paper about its ending, back in his undergrad days, which by some miracle (or anal-retentiveness?) he still has a copy of. Also this week: one final installment of Fan Fiction Corner. How has AI affected the fanfic community? Should politics be part...
Jun 23, 2025•1 hr 15 min
We're joined one last time by fan favorite Katherine Hill ( A Short Move ) to talk about Nora Ephron's 1983 novel Heartburn , a thinly veiled account of the author's divorce from Carl Bernstein. Specifically: Why does it seem like everyone is reading this book right now? And is it somehow the godmother of the recent spate of Millenial divorce books? Also discussed: humor as a coping mechanism, voice-driven novels, recipes in fiction, and why are people on Goodreads mad at Nora Ephron? If you're ...
Jun 09, 2025•1 hr 24 min
A season of endings, but also beginnings: our first Barbara Pym! The celebrated British novelist had a bit of a career slump; after publishing six novels between 1950 and 1961, she couldn't find a home for her seventh, and didn't publish anything for more than a decade. Then, in 1977, Quartet in Autumn appeared, and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. A true comeback victory. We chose this book because it deals with a different kind of ending: retirement. Four aging office workers are on their...
May 26, 2025•1 hr 16 min
The problem with writing very short stories is that it forces you to write more endings, which are the hardest part! At least that's our opinion. But we bring on writer and Barrelhouse fiction editor Christopher Gonzalez (I'm Not Hungry But I Could Eat, 2021) to school us in how to stick the landing on flash fiction. Chris chose four very different flash pieces for us to read, all of which are available for free online: -Andy Lopez, " How Filipino of Us " (from Split Lip) -Deesha Philyaw, " Love...
May 12, 2025•1 hr 25 min
We kick off the final season of Book Fight with a guest-free episode--like the old days! Our reading this week is Geoff Dyer's 2022 book The Last Days of Roger Federer, and Other Endings . Which seemed thematically appropriate as we come to our own ending (of the podcast; we're not dying or anything).
Apr 28, 2025•1 hr 12 min
It's that time of year again: our annual holiday episode, where we invite several members of the Barrelhouse editorial team to read and discuss a very sexy holiday-themed novel. This year's book is SKRUJ: Holidate with an Alien , by bestselling author Honey Phillips. The book is a retelling, of a sort, of the Dickens Christmas classic, but starring a grumpy alien man with a weird (and gigantic) penis, and his human lover. Our guests this year include: Chris Gonzalez, Becky Barnard, Dave Housley,...
Dec 23, 2024•1 hr 22 min
We wrap up our noir season with one final episode, this one discussing the 1963 Peter Sellers movie The Pink Panther, and the series more generally, which spoofed many of the tropes of the noir/detective genres. We also look back at the season--what we learned from diving into the noir genre, and our favorite books. If you like this episode, we've been doing an entire series on noir films over on our Patreon, which you can access for just $5/month. We'll also keep posting episodes over there in ...
Dec 16, 2024•1 hr 6 min
We welcome Nadira Goffe (culture writer for Slate) to talk about a Black, Southern noir from S.A. Cosby. We learn about Nadira's love of the Fast and the Furious franchise, her fear of actual driving, and her mixed feelings about an over-the-top metaphor. Plus: Mike gets pedantic about dialogue tags, and Tom realizes there's a limit to how many car-chase sequences he's willing to read in a novel. Vroom vroom! Note: this is the eighth (and final) episode in our noir-themed season, but there's no ...
Dec 09, 2024•1 hr 13 min
We welcome back best-selling crime novelist Tod Goldberg to talk about one of his favorite books, by one of his favorite authors. Daniel Woodrell's 2006 novel was the basis for the 2012 film of the same name, which netted Jennifer Lawrence an Oscar nomination at the age of 20. The movie is a pretty faithful adaptation of the novel, though the book's musical language and rich detail make it worth a read even for those who've seen the film. We talk about the book's fresh take on a familiar story s...
Dec 02, 2024•1 hr 22 min
We're joined by novelist and high-school music teacher Daniel DiFranco (Panic Years, Devil on My Trail) to discuss the Margaret Millar novel Do Evil in Return, a staple of the noir genre. We talk about the line between serious and campy, how to move plot forward in a novel, and the difficulty of endings. For more about our guest, including where to find his books, check out his website: http://www.danieldifranco.com/ If you like our podcast, and would like more of it in your life, $5 gets you a ...
Nov 25, 2024•1 hr 10 min
We welcome Joanna Pearson (author, most recently, of Bright and Tender Dark), who makes the case that we should put Mary Gaitskill's short stories in the "noir" category--or at least mark them as noir-adjacent. We discuss two specific Gaitskill stories, "The Other Place" and "The Girl on the Plane," as well as the particular darkness of the Gaitskill universe. We also talk with Joanna about readers' expectations for genre books, and what it's been like to have her own novel placed in various gen...
Nov 18, 2024•1 hr 14 min
We're joined by Steph Cha (author of Your House Will Pay) to talk about a famous California hardboiled novel none of us had ever read. What will it took us about tramps, insurance fraud, and the relative difficulty of staging a fake car-related murder? And what's the deal with that postman, with his infernal ringing? Steph, who has written several acclaimed crime novels herself, helps us to understand the genre we're exploring this season, and its evolution over time. To learn more about our gue...
Nov 11, 2024•57 min
We're joined by comedian and writer Charlie Demers to discuss a novel that the famous crime writer Donald Westlake finished in the early '80s but which wasn't published until after his death. At the time, he apparently worried that the plot--about a famous comedian kidnapped by a Weather Underground-style group of revolutionaries--was too similar to the Martin Scoresese movie The King of Comedy. We talk about the book's take on politics and comedy, which may have some echoes in our current cultu...
Nov 04, 2024•1 hr 18 min
The 1947 Dorothy Hughes novel In a Lonely Place is considered a hallmark of the noir genre, and also something of a feminist reimagining of those genre's tropes. We're joined by Isaac Butler (author of The Method: How the 20th Century Learned to Act) to talk about some of the book's narrative tricks, including an unreliable third-person narrator, and how it subverts the genre's "femme fatale" trope, among others. Plus: What made Dorothy Hughes think that 'Brub' was a good name for a character? I...
Oct 28, 2024•1 hr 16 min
We're back! This episode kicks off a new season of the podcast, and this one's all about noir. In our first installment, guest Sarah Weinman (author of Scoundrel, and The Real Lolita) joins us to discuss a Patricia Highsmith novel, The Blunderer, about a rather hapless man who, despite not actually killing his wife, manages to convince nearly everyone that he has. If you like the show, and want more of it in your life, consider subscribing to our Patreon, where during this season we'll be watchi...
Oct 21, 2024•1 hr
In the final episode of our "marriage plot" season, we welcome fan favorite Dave Housley (author, most recently, of The Other Ones, and founding editor of Barrelhouse Magazine) to talk about a book that updated the 19th-century marriage plot novel for the 1990s: Helen Fielding's Bridget Jones's Diary. Dave had seen the movie version of the novel multiple times. But none of us had ever read the novel, which began as a jokey column in a London newspaper. We talk about the book's quirky voice, whic...
Jun 24, 2024•1 hr 13 min
We couldn't do a season on "the marriage plot" in literature without reading the Jeffrey Eugenides novel that's literally titled The Marriage Plot. Guest Lucas Mann (author, most recently, of the essay collected Attachments, and co-owner of Riffraff Bookstore and Bar in Providence, Rhode Island) joins us to discuss Eugenides' novel, which contains a "marriage plot" while also being a kind of meta-commentary on marriage plots. Plus: Is the book's clinically depressed, bandana-wearing character me...
Jun 17, 2024•1 hr 17 min
Poet and novelist Beth Ann Fennelly (Heating & Cooling, The Tilted World) joins us to talk about an unconventional love story, Harrison Scott Key's How to Stay Married: The Most Insane Love Story Ever Told. We talk about learning life lessons from memoirs, how to write about difficult relationships--especially when you're still in them--and Beth Ann's experience of writing a novel collaboratively with her husband. Plus: Mike's pre-marriage angst about wedding rental companies, and why it cos...
Jun 10, 2024•1 hr 13 min
We continue our "marriage plot" season with guest Curtis Sittenfeld (Prep, American Wife, Romantic Comedy) who talks us through one of her favorite Alice Munro stories, why she admires it, and how it's influenced her own work. Plus: Are trains romantic? Is some writing trying too hard to be sexy? And what's the ideal bathroom situation for a marriage? For more about Curtis, and her books, visit her website: https://curtissittenfeld.com/ If you like the podcast, and would like more of it in your ...
Jun 03, 2024•1 hr 23 min
Our "marriage plot" season continues, but with a twist: on this episode, novelist Peter Ho Davies introduces us to "the parent plot," which he argues is a contemporary successor to all those 19th-century novels about choosing a mate. For many, becoming a parent is not only one of life's biggest choices, but also a cultural marker of adult responsibility and growing up. As an example, we dive into Ben Lerner's 2014 novel, 10:04 , about a writer trying to finish his next book and also decide wheth...
May 27, 2024•1 hr 22 min
Our season on "the marriage plot" continues, with author Tyrese Coleman (How to Sit) joining us to talk about the first book in the Outlander series, which is one of the most popular historical fantasy romance novels ever written. She tries to help us understand why people find it sexy, rather than tedious. We also talk about the book's relationship to various genre tropes, and Ty tells us about the time she got banned from a Facebook fan group for suggesting some of the novel's characters were ...
May 20, 2024•1 hr 19 min
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, s...
May 13, 2024•1 hr 17 min
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!...
May 06, 2024•1 hr 15 min
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 wri...
Jan 29, 2024•59 min
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, i...
Jan 16, 2024•1 hr 13 min
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 litt...
Dec 11, 2023•1 hr 16 min
We're joined by Hannah Grieco (writer, editor, recent MFA finisher) to discuss the 2021 novel Nightbitch , by Rachel Yoder, and its depiction of an overworked mother gone feral. You can order a copy of Already Gone , the anthology Hannah edited featuring 40 stories of people running away. And if you enjoy the podcast, please consider supporting us by joining our Patreon , where $5 gets you two bonus episodes each month....
Nov 27, 2023•1 hr 24 min
