We're joined by Kevin Kearney (author of the forthcoming novel How to Keep Time, and a staff writer for PopMatters) to discuss John McPhee's 1968 book The Pine Barrens, which taught America about the relatively small pocket of New Jersey that seemed to exist outside of time. We also talk to Kevin about his own book, and the process of finding a publisher for it, which can sometimes feel overwhelming or intimidating, especially for books that might not be a fit for one of the big commercial publi...
Sep 19, 2022•56 min
We're joined by Adalena Kavanagh (work in Electric Lit, The Believer, lots of other places) to discuss three stories from Best American Short Stories 1985, an anthology that for some reason was lying around her house when she was a kid, prompting her to read some Serious Literary Fiction at a young age. Adalena wanted to revisit the stories to see if they would hold up, or even conform to her memories of them. You can find out more about Adalena, and follow her work, on Twitter: https://twitter....
Sep 06, 2022•1 hr 6 min
We're joined by poet Celeste Doaks, whose most recent book, American Herstory, focuses on the experience of former first lady Michelle Obama's years in the White House, including the art and decor choices she made while living there. So it's fitting that Celeste had us read an essay by art historian Richard Powell about the official Obama portraits, which in many ways broke with established tradition for presidential portraiture. We talk about the relationship between writing and visual art, how...
Aug 22, 2022•1 hr 9 min
We're joined by Matthew Vollmer, author of several books (most recently, This House is Not Your Home, 2022) and also our former grad-school classmate. We talk about our experiences at Iowa, and how our writing and teaching have evolved in the years since. Also Clarice Lispector's book The Hour of the Star, which Vollmer loves and Tom finds a little confusing. You can find more about Matthew--and links to his work--at his website, http://matthewvollmer.com/ If you like the show, and would like mo...
Aug 09, 2022•1 hr 12 min
We're joined by Catherine Nichols, writer and host of the Lit Century podcast, to discuss Katie Kitamura's novel Intimacies, which Barack Obama loved and at least one of us kinda hated. Plus: what makes an ideal audiobook, why Shakespeare would be useful in a fight, and the subtle joys of a semicolon. You can find Catherine on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/clnichols6 . And check out the Lit Century podcast here: https://lithub.com/author/litcentury/ If you like the show, and would like more ...
Jul 25, 2022•1 hr 20 min
We're joined by long-time book reviewer Michael Schaub (NPR, Kirkus, Bookslut, elsewhere) to discuss a book that changed the way he thought about books: Ander Monson's debut, Other Electricities . We talk about what separates experiments in form that feel organic to a story versus those that feel superfluous or inscrutable. Also: the ethics of book reviewing, horse ownership, and is everything actually bigger in Texas? You can find Michael on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/michaelschaub . And...
Jul 11, 2022•1 hr 4 min
We're joined by Kristin Keane, author of An Encyclopedia of Bending Time , to discuss A Ghost in the Throat , a genre-crossing memoir by Irish writer Doireann Ní Ghríofa. We talk about strategies for incorporating research into creative nonfiction, what counts as "text" beyond traditional words on a page, and some of the challenges Kristin faced when she decided to structure her own memoir as an encyclopedia. Plus: Quantum Leap, foot massagers, and none of us understands what the metaverse is. Y...
Jun 20, 2022•1 hr 21 min
It's our 400th episode! Which, to be honest, we didn't realize when we were recording this, because we're bad at math. But that doesn't make it any less exciting! And we inadvertently planned a pretty special one to mark the milestone: we're joined by Becky Barnard and Dave Housley, Barrelhouse editors and authors of the new YA novel The Greys , to discuss one of the craziest movie novelizations of all time: E.T., The Extraterrestrial , by William Kotzwinkle. It's the adorable little alien chara...
Jun 06, 2022•1 hr 17 min
Two guests this week, as we're joined by the co-hosts of the literary nonfiction podcast I'll Find Myself When I'm Dead . Though Elena and Justin are also quite accomplished nonfiction authors in their own right. Justin St. Germain is the author of the memoir Son of a Gun , and more recently a book-length essay about Truman Capote's In Cold Blood . Elena Passarello is the author of the essay collections Let Me Clear My Throat and Animals Strike Curious Poses . The book they chose for us to read ...
May 23, 2022•1 hr 11 min
We're joined by Michelle Hart, author of the novel We Do What We Do in the Dark and a former editor for Oprah Daily. For our reading this week, Michelle chose a short story by Leopoldine Core, "Hog for Sorrow," about a young sex worker with complicated feelings towards one of her clients and toward one of her coworkers.
May 09, 2022•1 hr 23 min
Our guest this week is longtime Barrelhouse poetry editor Dan Brady, whose most recent book, Subtexts , uses some interesting constraints to create erasures and layerings of language. His pick for us was another book of poems created through an innovative process: White Bull , by Elizabeth Hughey. The poems in Hughey's book are all assembled from the words of Bull Connor, Birmingham, Alabama's famous segregationist public safety commissioner. If you like the podcast, and would like more of it in...
Apr 25, 2022•1 hr 17 min
Our guest this week is Laura McGrath , an assistant professor of English at Temple University, where she teaches literary criticism and contemporary literature--including a class about best sellers. It's in that context that she chose our book, Valley of the Dolls, the 1966 camp classic by Jacqueline Susann. We talk about the book as both a novel and a cultural phenomenon, and what McGrath's students make of it all these years later. If you like the show, and would like more of it in your life, ...
Apr 11, 2022•1 hr 9 min
Our guest this week is Inga Saffron, Pulitzer Prize-winning architecture critic for the Philadelphia Inquirer. We talk about Jane Jacobs' groundbreaking work in urban studies, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, and how it's weathered the test of time since its publication in the 1960s. We also talk about the past and future of journalism, Inga's work as a foreign correspondent in Russia, and lots of other stuff. You can find Inga's newest book here . And if you like the show, and want ...
Mar 28, 2022•1 hr
Our guest this week is Danielle Evans ( The Office of Historical Corrections ), who chose the 1929 Harlem Renaissance novel Plum Bun , in part because she's lately found herself interested in narratives about passing. We talk about how Jessie Redmon Fauset's novel compares to other passing novels, how Danielle's students respond to the book, and the complicated politics of writing about race and gender in the late '20s....
Mar 14, 2022•1 hr 12 min
Our guest this week is Mike Meginnis (Drowning Practice, Fat Man and Little Boy). He joins us to discuss a playful genre-bending novel by Megan Milks, Margaret and the Mystery of the Missing Body. We also talk about Mike's relationship to genre, the similarities between genre and gender categories, and why he rarely cries. You can find Milks' novel here: https://www.feministpress.org/books-a-m/margaret-and-the-mystery-of-the-missing-body And find out more about Mike and his work here: https://ww...
Mar 01, 2022•1 hr 17 min
This week we're joined by Dave Housley to talk office novels! Dave's most recent book, The Other Ones , is about an office that wins the lottery--or, more specifically, it's about the people in that office who chose not to play. We also discuss Christian Tebordo's most recent novel, The Apology , which is also set in an office and involves some Clorox-related warfare. If you like the show, and would like to have more of it in your life, you can subscribe to our Patreon for $5 a month and get acc...
Feb 14, 2022•1 hr 25 min
This week we're joined by Isaac Butler (author, most recently, of The Method: How the Twentieth Century Learned to Act ) to discuss a play by Annie Baker, The Aliens. Butler has worked as a theater director, as well as an author and podcaster and cultural critic, so we thought he'd be a perfect guest to help us wrap our heads around the world of contemporary theater. We talk about adapting plays for the screen, the Robert Altman version of Tony Kushner's Angels in America that almost existed, an...
Jan 31, 2022•1 hr 11 min
This week we're joined by returning guest Asali Solomon (author of The Days of Afrekete ) to discuss Kiese Laymon's award-winning memoir, Heavy . We talk about what people expect from memoir, and why readers are sometimes put off by complicated stories without easy resolutions.
Jan 17, 2022•1 hr 17 min
We welcome Tyrese Coleman ( How to Sit ) to discuss the 1999 Sister Souljah novel The Coldest Winter Ever. We talk about the genre of street lit, and why some Black authors celebrate it while others bristle at being included in it. We also revisit Percival Everett's satirical novel Erasure, and wonder whether this Sister Souljah book inspired it. If you enjoy the show, and would like more Book Fight in your live, you can join our Patreon for only $5 a month. Join soon and you can catch our next ...
Jan 03, 2022•1 hr 21 min
If you're a regular listener to the podcast, you know that we like to bring you something a little special around the holidays. This year, our Christmas book is about a very horny vampire, and we're joined to discuss it with two superstar Barrelhouse editors: Becky Barnard and Erin Fitzgerald.
Dec 20, 2021•1 hr 18 min
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 mont...
Dec 13, 2021•1 hr 12 min
We're joined by Christian Tebordo, author of several books and director of the MFA program at Roosevelt University in Chicago. We talk about how current students respond to ambiguity in stories, how small presses have evolved over the last several years, and why The Apology might be the most earnest book Tebordo will ever write.
Nov 29, 2021•1 hr 10 min
We're joined by Kory Stamper, professional lexicographer and author of the book Word by Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries , who chose a modern retelling of Beowulf for us to read. We consider how the epic poem translates to the contemporary American suburbs, and also why Beowulf has been so enduring in the first place. We also talk to Kory about her former job at Merriam-Webster's dictionary, the politics of language, and why we're right to roll our eyes at people who correct our grammar. Yo...
Nov 15, 2021•1 hr 21 min
We're joined by Elisa Gabbert ( The Unreality of Memory ) to discuss Benjamin Labatut's When We Cease to Understand the World, a book that is mostly nonfiction--about scientists whose discoveries pushed them in the direction of madness--with some fictional flourishes. We talk about genre distinctions, reading works in translation, and why fall is the best season. We also rope Elisa into helping us answer a couple questions from the NaNoWriMo forums about naming cars and what life is like under t...
Nov 01, 2021•1 hr 19 min
It's been a minute since we had Katherine Hill on the show, but long-time listeners may remember her multiple past appearances, including one in which we discussed Judy Blume's Forever and another in which Mike failed to finish the very long book that Katherine picked. But now she's back, and we're delving into one of her recent favorites, The Copenhagen Trilogy by Tove Ditlevson, a three-part memoir that was recently released in a single hardback edition, to much buzz on the literary internet. ...
Oct 18, 2021•1 hr 13 min
This week, we're joined by the writer Andrew Moxon (author of the novel The Revisionaries), who read Michael Ondaatje's In the Skin of a Lion as an undergrad and wanted to see if it would hold up some twenty years later. We talk about our respective relationships with historical fiction, as well as what it's like--for Andrew, at least--to gain more than 30,000 Twitter followers in a single day. You can check out Moxon's book here: https://www.amazon.com/Revisionaries-Moxon/dp/1612197981 And if y...
Oct 04, 2021•1 hr 23 min
This week, we're joined by Dan McQuade ( Defector Media ) to discuss humor columnist Dave Barry's debut novel, Big Trouble . Both Dan and Mike were big fans of Dave Barry's humor writing as teens, while Tom apparently skipped right over his newspaper column each week on his way to The Family Circus and Heathcliff. We talk about how difficult it can be to maintain a consistent tone in a "wacky" novel, as well as the ill-fated movie version of the book, which had the bad fortune of having a Septem...
Sep 20, 2021•1 hr 34 min
This week, we're joined by Ben Winters (Golden State, The Quiet Boy) to discuss a Stanley Fish book about how to write great sentences. We talk about our love-hate relationships with craft books, why our first drafts are such a mess, and the false dichotomy of "language" vs "plot" when attempting to categorize writers. We also chat with Ben about his unusual writing career, which began with being hired to write the novel Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters for Quirk Books. You can find out mo...
Sep 06, 2021•1 hr 20 min
This week, Lilly Dancyger ( Negative Space ) joins us to discuss an essay about creepy men and harassment by Melissa Febos, " Intrusions ." We talk about what makes this essay stand out in a crowded field of personal essays, and what writers of creative nonfiction can learn from it, particularly the way it operates in multiple modes that allows the author to approach her subject from a variety of angles. We also talk to Lilly about teaching creative nonfiction, why editing personal essays starte...
Aug 23, 2021•1 hr 4 min
This week, novelist Adam O'Fallon Price ( The Hotel Neversink ) joins us to discuss a strange, short novel by Muriel Spark called The Driver's Seat , in which a woman travels to the south of Italy to find someone who will murder her. We talk about the book's detached, somewhat cold point of view, its narrative leaps into the future tense, and just what to make of its odd cast of characters. We also talk to Adam about his relationship to the mystery genre, how his agent talked him out of writing ...
Aug 09, 2021•1 hr 8 min
