Helen Phillips jumps right into the surreal and strange place that is the Damn Library. She's well used to it, since she's the person who wrote The Need , which we all talk about, and its depiction of motherhood, and the weird, and many other vague details that we dance around since we really don't want to spoil anything. We also talk about Samanta Schweblin's Fever Dream , which has no baseline of normalcy, and maybe the original title in Spanish makes more sense for it. Get into it. contribute...
Nov 19, 2019•54 min
Christopher and Drew hang out and talk books. You know, like they usually do. They invite you to their 5th Birthday Party for the podcast (!!!) which is at King Tai Bar, in Brooklyn, on November 13th, at 7pm, and you're invited. They also talk some Harry Potter, some Stephen King, a honeymoon vacation reading disaster, and dreams in books. Plus, other things. Thanks for listening! Here's to 5 more! contribute! https://patreon.com/smdb for drink recipes, book lists, and more, visit: somanydamnboo...
Nov 05, 2019•32 min
Jami Attenberg is in the midst of starting of her book tour when she drops into The Damn Library to discuss her new novel, All This Could Be Yours . We talk about New Orleans, and time, and being a writer online, and how it feels to be on her seventh book, and running a writing prompt in the summer, amongst other things. She brings us Sarah M. Broom's The Yellow House and we talk about New Orleans in Broom's context and the project of recent history. It's all happening! Plus an invitation at the...
Oct 22, 2019•54 min
Lisa Brennan-Jobs drops into the Damn Library to discuss Small Fry , her coming-of-age memoir about growing up the daughter of Christian Brennan and Steve Jobs. We get into the slipperiness of memory, the selfishness of memoir, and the loneliness of childhood, as well as whether her book is actually "California Gothic." She brings us Marilynne Robinson's Housekeeping and of course the unconventional childhoods described within makes us connect it back to her book. Plus, so much more. contribute!...
Oct 08, 2019•54 min
Courtney Maum drops into the Damn Library to imbibe a tequila and mezcal cocktail and talk about her new novel Costalegre . She gets into her past as a tequila promoter, we talk about how Peggy and Pegeen Guggenheim ended up fictionalized in her novel, and we discuss the travails of the social media side to writing. We also dive into The Age of Disenchantments by Aaron Schulman, discovering the Paneros and the unexpected mirror they hold to modern life. contribute! https://patreon.com/smdb for d...
Sep 24, 2019•1 hr
Christopher and Drew enjoy a fall-tinged cocktail and get wistful about going back to school. Christopher's mom's new library prompts a discussion of all types of books you read for school, from the chores to the books from the canon that meant something to the books we ought to call our anti-canon. Chime in! Please tweet, instagram, email us, and tell us your own personal additions to the canon. contribute! https://patreon.com/smdb for drink recipes, book lists, and more, visit: somanydamnbooks...
Sep 10, 2019•30 min
Random House Copy Chief Benjamin Dreyer stops into the Damn Library to talk to Christopher and Drew about his new utterly correct style guide, Dreyer's English , as well as working as a copy chief, the reading life of someone dedicated to books as he is, and which editorial meetings leave him floating. Also, we discuss what his next book will be! Then we get into Shirley Jackson and The Haunting of Hill House and if anyone got scared while reading it, plus, what it's like to edit an author who i...
Aug 27, 2019•59 min
The night before Toni Morrison passed away, Mira Jacob came by the Damn Library to discuss her new graphic memoir Good Talk and Morrison's Sula . Fueled by tequila and champagne, we get into how playing with paper dolls felt like freedom when compared to writing an essay, and how her son feels about being not-famous, and trying to heal her family through her work. Plus: why Mira reads Sula all the damn time and how Morrison sets your head on fire. contribute! https://patreon.com/smdb for drink r...
Aug 13, 2019•58 min
Christopher and Drew get into one of Christopher's dear favorite novels, Larry McMurtry's Lonesome Dove , and why Drew just couldn't finish. They also touch on what type of books you want to read in front of an air conditioner, the satisfying design of the NYRB and Spurl Editions, and Drew explains his method for getting rid of 100 books from his shelves. contribute! https://patreon.com/smdb for drink recipes, book lists, and more, visit: somanydamnbooks.com music: Disaster Magic ( https://sound...
Jul 30, 2019•43 min
Christopher and Drew are in the Damn Library just on their lonesome to talk the city's One Book, One New York choice, Patti Smith's Just Kids. They get right into how it describes a lost New York, and how you might be too old for it at one point, and just old enough for it at another. They also discuss their Top 6 books of the year so far! contribute! https://patreon.com/smdb for drink recipes, book lists, and more, visit: somanydamnbooks.com music: Hotel Hiouchi Twitter/Insta/Facebook: @HotelHi...
Jun 25, 2019•35 min
Mona Awad drops by the Damn Library to discuss her new novel Bunny with Christopher and Drew. They get into fairy tales, and making magic real, and the horror potential of the MFA workshop. Plus, Mona brings an old favorite of hers, Rebecca Godfrey's The Torn Skirt, which feels like a fever, and Mona talks about how some books feel like home. Plus other stuff! It's a good one, bunny! contribute! https://patreon.com/smdb for drink recipes, book lists, and more, visit: somanydamnbooks.com music: D...
Jun 11, 2019•41 min
Alternative comics legend Seth drops into the Damn Library on his tour for his career-defining Clyde Fans . He and the guys get into the medium of comics itself, and the things it's good at expressing in the realm of human emotion, as well as why you don't really draft a comic page like you think. The joy of designing a book is touched upon, and channeling Charles Schulz. Plus, Seth brings Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse to discuss, and everyone gets into how it illuminates the small things t...
May 28, 2019•59 min
Erin Somers stays up with the Damn Library to talk her new novel, Stay Up With Hugo Best . Everyone gets into phantasmagoric Late Night universe making, and then into how there's meaning in melancholy, and sometimes it's better to buckle down even when things aren't going right. And then they talk Dorothy Baker's Cassandra at the Wedding , and the melodrama, and the pianos, and the slapstick without slapstick comedy of it all. The best day of their lives! contribute! https://patreon.com/smdb for...
May 14, 2019•45 min
Myla Goldberg drops by the Damn Library and immediately gives Christopher and Drew two new business ventures. And that's before they even start talking about her new book, Feast Your Eyes , and its museum catalog form, where she got the photographs, how geniuses shouldn't be assholes, and the photographer as subject for fiction. Plus, she brought Jesse Ball's novel Census , and it leads to a discussion of what it's like to go door to door, along with lots else besides. Get into it. contribute! h...
May 03, 2019•51 min
Lauren Wilkinson shows up in the Damn Library to talk about her novel American Spy, and everyone gets into the ways in which this is like a spy novel, and it isn't, and the portrayal of real life people, and how to grapple with your fears by putting them in a book. Plus, we get into the melodramatic, surprisingly-still-timely Passing , Nella Larsen's novel about being undercover in a different way, first published in 1929. We get into its ambiguous ending (it came out in 1929, so spoilers, deal ...
Apr 16, 2019•54 min
Leanne Shapton drops by the Damn Library for a spook-filled episode to discuss her new collection, Guestbook: Ghost Stories . Christmas wrapping paper, first stage appearances, tennis, and being haunted all get some airtime along with lots of other segues and divergences (including the first recorded dip into the Damn Library), plus everyone gets rapturous about Miriam Toews' weighty and excellent new novel, Women Talking . contribute! https://patreon.com/smdb for drink recipes, book lists, and ...
Apr 02, 2019•58 min
The tournament! It's over! And now we go over just what happened, and how it feels, and what books we hope are maybe in the tournament next year, as well as talk about that looming Mega Rooster... Ca-caw! contribute! https://patreon.com/smdb for drink recipes, book lists, and more, visit: somanydamnbooks.com music: Disaster Magic ( https://soundcloud.com/disaster-magic ) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Mar 31, 2019•16 min
Another week of the Tournament of Books, another grouping of recaps, plus predictions about the week ahead! contribute! https://patreon.com/smdb for drink recipes, book lists, and more, visit: somanydamnbooks.com music: Disaster Magic ( https://soundcloud.com/disaster-magic ) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Mar 25, 2019•9 min
Halle Butler joins Christopher and Drew in the Damn Library to discuss her new novel, The New Me, and how she thought of domestic thrillers while she wrote it, and tried to create comedy out of millennial burnout and not having the clearest picture of yourself. Plus, she brings in Samuel Beckett's Molloy , and there's a robust discussion of voice and sucking stones, amongst other subjects. Also, what's that song she's talking about? contribute! https://patreon.com/smdb for drink recipes, book li...
Mar 19, 2019•49 min
Tournament of Books 2019 continues apace! We talk about the zigs and the zags of the opening round, and where we think that the zigs and zags will come next week. Zigs and zags! contribute! https://patreon.com/smdb for drink recipes, book lists, and more, visit: somanydamnbooks.com music: Disaster Magic ( https://soundcloud.com/disaster-magic ) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Mar 17, 2019•14 min
It's tournament of books time again, so here's a recap of what went down this week, along with the expected wild speculation. A caw-caw to all of you. contribute! https://patreon.com/smdb for drink recipes, book lists, and more, visit: somanydamnbooks.com music: Disaster Magic ( https://soundcloud.com/disaster-magic ) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Mar 10, 2019•11 min
After reading Ian Parker's " A Suspense Novelist’s Trail of Deceptions " piece from the New Yorker , Christopher and Drew get into unreliable narrators and what they hold (or are purported to hold). Drew talks about his love of midlist thrillers, and Christopher supposes that every narrator is an unreliable narrator. There's a fair amount of love for Robin Sloan and his love of silly URLs, too. Plus, ya know. More. contribute! https://patreon.com/smdb for drink recipes, book lists, and more, vis...
Mar 05, 2019•30 min
Charlie Jane Anders teleports into the Damn Library for a very sci-fi episode around her new novel, The City in the Middle of the Night . Anders talks tidally locked planets, the gargantuan effort it took to write her new novel, being accurate vs. writing a good story, and things to buy when you're about to go on book tour. Plus, she brought an Ursula K. Le Guin novel, Five Ways to Forgiveness , and everyone gets to talking about the seductive world of writing sci-fi, and how Le Guin is a master...
Feb 19, 2019•53 min
Karen Thompson Walker drops in to dream a little dream with Christopher and Drew in the dreamy Damn Library to discuss her new novel, The Dreamers . They discuss outbreak fiction, writing about college, and what-if scenarios, as well as Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go, which prompts a discussion of writing about sci-fi premises through non sci-fi means. And so much more! contribute! https://patreon.com/smdb for drink recipes, book lists, and more, visit: somanydamnbooks.com music: Hotel Hiouchi...
Feb 05, 2019•38 min
Christopher and Drew decide on their shared 4 favorite reads of the year, and add in one personal pick. But they don't stop there! They mention a couple 2018 reads that are next up on their lists, a favorite read in 2018 but not published in 2018, and ya know, more of those silly types of list categories. It's good to be back. contribute! https://patreon.com/smdb for drink recipes, book lists, and more, visit: somanydamnbooks.com music: Hotel Hiouchi Twitter/Insta/Facebook: @HotelHiouchiSoundclo...
Jan 22, 2019•21 min
Christopher and Drew give gifts, and then talk about the gifts that So Many Damn Books is giving to non-profits, and finish up with some good gift books to get other people in these last few shopping days. Merry merry! contribute to the patreon: patreon.com/smdb music: Dan Lerch - O Tannenbaum Chris Hayes - Deck the Halls https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMz1ukOyyo8 Millstones - Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy (Electrohouse Remix) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Dec 19, 2018•20 min
Jonathan Lethem drops into the Damn Library and the guys are damn excited to have him. They talk about Lethem's new one, The Feral Detective, of course, but they also talk about his work as a whole, and how his books are in conversation with each other, along with a tangent into timeliness and how lucky he feels. Then they get into Sei Shōnagon's Pillow Book , a classic unclassifiable Japanese work, began in the year 990. Translation conversation, and what a "pillow book" is, ensues. One for the...
Dec 11, 2018•57 min
It's a celebration of stories in translation (both linguistically and narratively), indie bookstores, and bourbon on the latest SMDB when Preti Taneja joins the guys in the Damn Library. Her debut novel, We That Are Young , provokes conversation about India and King Lear while her book-club-pick Frankenstein in Baghdad gets the room talking about translation. Plus, Drew mentions spooky reading! Again! contribute! https://patreon.com/smdb for drink recipes, book lists, and more, visit: somanydamn...
Nov 27, 2018•45 min
All the way from Iceland, Sjón joins the guys in a Damn Library annex, aka the FSG offices. The conversation ranges from ghosts to unicorns, from golems to Frankensteins, from self-representation to translation, as they discuss the maximalist, fabulist fable Codex:1962. They also talk Christian Kracht's The Dead , the light and the dark, and the wisdom/folly of using historical figures, amongst other subjects. contribute! https://patreon.com/smdb for drink recipes, book lists, and more, visit: s...
Nov 13, 2018•53 min
For their 100th episode extravaganza, Drew and Christopher put together a list of their 100 most beloved/most meaningful/most important books, contributing 50 each. Listen as they go through (some of) them. They also try a couple new segment ideas! Stay tuned through the whole thing for a very exciting announcement... tote: http://www.somanydamnbooks.com/totes/smdb-tote contribute! https://patreon.com/smdb for drink recipes, book lists, and more, visit: somanydamnbooks.com music: Disaster Magic ...
Oct 30, 2018•53 min
