This week we're reading a 1934 cult classic (subtitled "An Experiment in Biography") that sees its author on the hunt for information about one Baron Corvo, also known as Frederick Rolfe, writer of several novels and maker of many enemies. Symons, after reading, and loving, Corvo's Hadrian the Seventh, set out to learn as much as she could about the mysterious author. And his efforts were rewarded, with a pretty crazy story of genius, spitefulness and lots and lots of burned bridges. We're still...
Feb 09, 2015•1 hr 1 min
This week we're talking about Kay Boyle's story "Defeat," an O'Henry winner from 1941. We also talk about a number of interesting things that happened in 1941, including: alien sightings, the time-traveling hipster, the first televised Mummers parade, the "state" of Jefferson's attempt to secede from Oregon, and the longest-ever coma. For more, including links to what we talked about on the show, visit us online at bookfightpod.com . Also: We're still running our annual fundraiser. You can donat...
Feb 02, 2015•1 hr 17 min
We're back with another book episode, this one about the 1982 National Book Award winner for best debut novel. We talk about "quiet" novels, prickly female protagonists, portrayals of parental anxiety, and the relativity of literary celebrity. We've also got blurbs for a couple more donors to our annual fund drive, which you can contribute to here , if you're so inclined. You can read more, and get links to all the stuff we talked about this week, at our website ....
Jan 26, 2015•1 hr 11 min
Astute listeners might note that we're supposed to have a book episode this week. Unfortunately, we lost that episode in a technical snafu. Fortunately, we already had the next Winter of Wayback episode ready to go! This week we're reading a story from 1982, the year of Tom's birth. The story, "Dancing Ducks and Talking Anus," appeared in the 1982 Best American Short Stories anthology, selected by John Gardner, but its author, James Ferry, was basically never heard from again. Until a fan of his...
Jan 19, 2015•1 hr 4 min
We're kicking off our next seasonal series, the Winter of Wayback, in which we'll read a prize story or essay from a given year and talk about that year's pop culture--movies, music, books, weird news, whatever might help provide some context for the story (or just entertain our listeners, and ourselves). This week we're traveling back to 1977, the year of Mike's birth, to read a story by Ella Leffland called "Last Courtesies" (winner of the 1977 O'Henry Award). For more, visit us online at book...
Jan 12, 2015•58 min
We're joined by guest Annie Liontas ( Let Me Explain You ) to discussJames Baldwin's 1974 novel, which is narrated by a young woman whose fiancee has been wrongfully accused of rape. We also talk about Annie's new book, her love for Asbury Park, and why teens named Chad may or may not like James Baldwin's work. For more, visit us online at bookfightpod.com ....
Jan 05, 2015•1 hr 20 min
This is the last week for our Fall of Failure. We're reading a short, unconventional essay by Brian Oliu called " As Is ," in which the author attempts to sell his torso via ebay. We're also talking about the psychology of failure. Why do we feel the need to attach a narrative to our personal and collective failures, and what can we learn from the particular narrative we choose? For more, visit us online at bookfightpod.com ....
Dec 29, 2014•1 hr
Pour yourself some eggnog, light a fire, and curl up with a couple Christmas books of questionable quality. As we have the last two years, we're taking a break from our usual reading list to check out some mass-market Christmas tales. This year's selections: Janet Evanovich's Visions of Sugar Plums , and Jennifer Bernard's It's A Wonderful Fireman ....
Dec 22, 2014•1 hr 33 min
This week's story is Stefan Zweig's "The Royal Game," which he sent off to his publisher along with the manuscript of his memoir and also his suicide note. We also talk about a variety of failed comebacks, including the rather remarkable story of America's late-19th-century King of Gum. For more, check us out online at bookfightpod.com .
Dec 15, 2014•1 hr 18 min
In keeping with our fall theme, this week we're reading a memoir about failure: personal, professional, artistic ... basically all the failures. Greg Baxter moved to Dublin after failing to sell his first novel, got divorced, and wrote a memoir while essentially attempting to destroy his own life. In addition to the book discussion, we've got a new installment of Raccoon News, and we once again delve into the NaNoWriMo forums. For more, visit us at bookfightpod.com ....
Dec 08, 2014•1 hr 4 min
Our short story this week is called "Here I Am," about a man who goes on living after his head is separated from his body. We also talk about artistic failures: in particular, the story of Poe's vengeful nemesis, and why those treacly lists of "famous failures" bug us so much. For more, visit our website at bookfightpod.com .
Dec 01, 2014•1 hr 4 min
We're joined this week by Gina Myers (poet, reviewer, recent transplant to Philadelphia) to discuss Mark Binelli's examination of Detroit. Binelli grew up in and around the city, and returned to live in its Eastern Market neighborhood, meet some locals, and investigate what was going right, and wrong, in the city that's become America's favorite allegory.
Nov 24, 2014•1 hr 13 min
This week we're reading Kevin Sampsell's essay " I'm Jumping Off The Bridge " and talking about failed utopias: shakers, fruit-lovers, dangerous cults, and more. For more, visit us at bookfightpod.com .
Nov 17, 2014•1 hr 7 min
This week's book is a Tom pick, and was also the runner-up in last year's listener poll, narrowly losing out to The Silver Linings Playbook. Also: it's November, so we're once again talking about National Novel Writing Month, delving into the NaNoWriMo forums to see what this year's participants are struggling with.
Nov 10, 2014•1 hr 17 min
This week's essay is a Tom pick, an essay by Eula Biss called "Time and Distance Overcome," which is about, among other things, early telephone technology, resistance to telephone poles, and the widespread lynching of black men in early 20th century America. We're also talking about failed amusement parks this week: parks that were proposed but never built, and some that probably shouldn't have been built, including a wild-animal safari in New Jersey and Dickens World in the UK. For more, visit ...
Nov 03, 2014•1 hr 3 min
This week we're discussing a novel that hit an awful lot of Best of 2013 lists, about a man who puts his young daughter into a Mini Cooper and runs away from his wife and--in a certain sense--himself. Also: Another installment of Raccoon News, plus Sticks & Stones. For more, check out our website, bookfightpod.com ....
Oct 27, 2014•1 hr 6 min
This week we're talking about the story "Strawberry Lipstick" from Kseniya Melnik's debut collection, Snow in May , published this spring by Macmillan. We're also, in keeping with our Fall of Failure theme, talking about failed dog breeds, including the "turnspit," a dog people used to put in the oven, because humans are garbage monsters. Talking points include: long stories, post-Stalin Russia, class warfare, eugenics, and why The Melting Pot is a ripoff. Find more at our website, bookfightpod....
Oct 20, 2014•1 hr 2 min
This week we're reading Faulkner's As I Lay Dying. We talk about stream-of-consciousness narration, and whether the book should be considered a comedy. Also lots of other stuff. For more, including links to our weekly recommendations, check out our website at bookfightpod.com .
Oct 13, 2014•1 hr 2 min
Our first-ever live episode, recorded at The Spiral Bookcase in Manayunk, just outside Center City Philadelphia and a few blocks from Tom's ancestral home. We're joined by Ann Tetreault (owner of the bookstore in question), Joey Sweeney (writer, musician, founder of Philebrity.com ), Katherine Hill (fan favorite, author of The Violet Hour ) and Lee Klein (author of Thanks and Sorry and Good Luck , and The Shimmering Go-Between ). We talk publishing, book-selling, offensive mascots, Philadelphia'...
Oct 06, 2014•1 hr 16 min
This week we're talking about an excerpt from Alison Bechdel's graphic memoir Fun Home. We discuss the ethical issues raised by writing about one's family, and what makes a memoir compelling. We're also talking about the VCR format wars of the late '70s and early '80s. What can we learn from the failure of Betamax?
Sep 29, 2014•1 hr 9 min
We talk about the younger Dubus's 2011 memoir of growing up in a series of rough neighborhoods, learning to fight, and making his peace with a mostly absent father. Also: raccoon news!
Sep 22, 2014•1 hr 14 min
This week we're kicking off our new fall series, in which we read short stories and essays and also talk about various kinds of failure. In today's episode we're talking about J.D. Daniels' essay "Letter from Majorca," from the Paris Review. We also consider why failure is more interesting than success, and why Americans have such a difficult time with it.
Sep 15, 2014•56 min
This 1964 novel is one of the best-known by Japanese novelist Kenzaburo Oe, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1994. The book follows Bird, a new father deciding whether to save his newborn son, whose seemingly severe birth defect might keep him from ever living a full life.
Sep 08, 2014•1 hr 12 min
The summer is over, and so is our Summer of Shorts. In this final installment, we talk about Lorrie Moore's "People Like That Are The Only People Here" and--for those who've fallen in love with the shorts lifestyle--jobs for which you don't need to wear pants (or dresses/skirts).
Sep 01, 2014•1 hr 6 min
This week's book is a Mike pick: an essay collection about travel, displacement, love, loss and occasional psychedelic drugs. We talk about the necessary artifice of narration, and why readers so often fail to acknowledge it; how travel experience is often more about the traveler than the place itself; dark humor and bad habits. We also bring back our Sticks and Stones segment, make an important announcement, and get lost in a Groundhog Day-style feedback loop.
Aug 25, 2014•1 hr 12 min
This week on Summer of Shorts we're talking about Donald Barthelme's "Me and Miss Mandible" and also swim trunks. Tom is headed out on a beach vacation, despite pretty much hating the beach, whereas Mike grew up near the beach and thinks he needs to get over his irrational fears of the ocean. Also, the story is pretty good, and you should check it out, either in the collection Come Back, Dr. Caligari, or in the collected Sixty Stories.
Aug 18, 2014•1 hr
This week's story is "What You Pawn I Will Redeem," by Sherman Alexie. This week's shorts are boxers. Trigger warning: We're gonna talk about our underpants.
Aug 11, 2014•1 hr 4 min
We're joined this week by Matt Jakubowski--writer, critic, and interviews editor for the international journal Asymptote--to discuss the English translation of Aglaja Veteranyi's Why the Child is Cooking in the Polenta. Veteranyi was originally from Romania but lived most of her life in Switzerland, after growing up with a family of circus performers, an experience which certainly informs the novel. We also talk about Matt's ongoing project to read only women for 2014.
Aug 04, 2014•1 hr 15 min
This week we're discussing Mary Gaitskill's "The Girl on the Plane," and also gym shorts. What more could you possibly need to know?
Jul 28, 2014•1 hr 12 min
This week we read two long stories (novellas, maybe?) by some guy named J.D. Salinger. Maybe you've heard of him. Kind of a recluse? Didn't like phonies? Both stories are about Seymour Glass, and the Glass family more generally, who make appearances in a number of other Salinger stories, like A Perfect Day for Bananafish and Franny and Zooey.
Jul 21, 2014•56 min
