Guess who zooms in this time? It's George Saunders himself, certified MacArthur Genius, launching his new book about writing and Russian short story masters, A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life. Christopher and Drew ask him about what teaching taught him about writing, how he keeps the world fresh, and what he'd like to do if he weren't a writer, along with what a master Tolstoy was. Na Zdorovie! contribute! https://patreon.com/s...
Jan 12, 2021•1 hr 7 min
Christopher and Drew hash out their agreed upon top 5 of the year, and then throw out two additional titles each. Lists are weird. contribute! https://patreon.com/smdb for drink recipes, book lists, and more, visit: somanydamnbooks.com music: Disaster Magic ( https://soundcloud.com/disaster-magic ) This episode is sponsored by Amazon Publishing, publishers of the new Faraway Collection ; and Betterhelp. Get 10% off your first month by visiting BetterHelp.com/somanydamnbooks. Hosted on Acast. See...
Jan 05, 2021•33 min
Christopher and Drew hang out and talk what they got up to for the holiday, open their annual presents to one another, and talk about why Goodreads is probably fine, amongst other bookish subjects. visit somanydamnbooks.com for book lists and recipes! support us on patreon! patreon.com/smdb This episode is sponsored by Amazon Publishing, publishers of the new Faraway Collection Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Dec 29, 2020•29 min
Instead of doing a big holiday episode and taking a break, the guys decide to celebrate by putting out some little tidbits to keep everyone company through these darkest, shortest days! First up: Stocking Stuffers from the Public Domain! Drew reads A.A. Milne's request for a standardization of Christmas gifts and Christopher dives into a mini history of Christmas tree innovations. It's a hoot and a half. This episode is sponsored by Amazon Publishing, publishers of the new Faraway Collection ; a...
Dec 22, 2020•25 min
Emily Temple drops into the Damn Library via webcam, and we all chat about calendars, and the dreams of being a writer as well as the dream of online book recommendation, and knowing you'll rewrite your first draft. Of course we also discuss her novel The Lightness, and how summer camps are kind of proto-cults, and how you end up putting everything into your debut, because of course there will be more. Plus, she brought us the anti-beach read Kōbō Abe's The Woman in the Dunes , and we can still ...
Dec 15, 2020•1 hr 4 min
It’s the big 1-5-0 and since it also happens to be the holiday season, we opened the phone-lines to some of our Patreon supporters to help recommend some books for their wishlists or to pick up for their loved ones! Imagine Christopher and Drew in a big ol’ telethon studio, with phones ringing off the hook and the number flashing across the bottom of the screen… except they’re in their respective homes, doing this on Zoom. Feat. appearances by Patrons Moti, Jacob, Bonnie, Erin, Chris, Lee, Charl...
Nov 24, 2020•1 hr 29 min
One Story managing editor, creative writing teacher, and writer of her own work: Lena Valencia wears many hats. She zooms on in to the Damn Library and Drew and Christopher pick her brain on writing scary things, what makes a good One Story submission, and how she tries to listen to the advice she gives her students. And we talk about her recent publications in Catapult's Tiny Nightmares and Epiphany lit mag. Plus, we discuss Megan Cummins' If the Body Allows It , and the underground world of th...
Nov 11, 2020•1 hr 5 min
Christopher and Drew discuss House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski at 20 years, Drew returning to the house and Christopher there for the first time. Plus, the pleasures of ergodic fiction, 3-D fiction, discussions of the Internet and how it fails us, and horror films and horror novels. It's spooky season, and the episode is bigger on the inside. contribute! https://patreon.com/smdb for drink recipes, book lists, and more, visit: somanydamnbooks.com music: Disaster Magic ( https://soundcloud.co...
Oct 27, 2020•55 min
Rumaan Alam zooms around into the online void paradox that is the Damn Library to talk about his new novel, Leave the World Behind . Grocery shopping, writing a glue trap, personal detail, hypertext, and careful language choices, all populate a very far-ranging conversation that veers from teeth to AirBnB foibles. Plus, Rumaan brought Want by Lynn Steger Strong along, and we talk about why it's like a ripe fruit, and that opens up even further avenues, like literary friendships and books as drea...
Oct 13, 2020•1 hr 16 min
Christopher and Drew prognosticate and pontificate about the Super Rooster. Drew might have a scoop. Christopher just won't read Wolf Hall. Listen, and then let us know your predictions! 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....
Sep 29, 2020•48 min
A zoom session with Raven Leilani gets us into all sorts of things, from candles to disco to painting to amorality, and how you have to come to the page as though you don't think anyone will read it. Also nail polish. And so much more. Plus, Raven brought us New People by Danzy Senna, which was tense and surprising and similarly casual about breaking and entering. Let's go. contribute! https://patreon.com/smdb for drink recipes, book lists, and more, visit: somanydamnbooks.com music: Disaster Ma...
Sep 15, 2020•58 min
Megha Majumdar zooms from her library into the virtual Damn Library so that we can all talk about her bestseller, A Burning . We talk about what makes an Amaro, juggling three character's POVs, the life of an editor/writer, and the context of things online, as well as parallels of hope. Plus, we discuss the urgent message of Bad News: Last Journalists in a Dictatorship by Anjan Sundaram, and why any of us write. Zoom, there it is. contribute! https://patreon.com/smdb for drink recipes, book list...
Sep 01, 2020•47 min
Christopher and Drew talk about why people might not want to read classics and books from "Best of the Year" lists, and hope folks can learn to trust their reading instincts. Plus, some talk of blueberries, education, difficult sci-fi, and a tiny ode to Aimee Bender. Zoomin' on up. contribute! https://patreon.com/smdb for drink recipes, book lists, and more, visit: somanydamnbooks.com music: Hotel Hiouchi ( https://soundcloud.com/hotelhiouchi ) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more inf...
Aug 18, 2020•41 min
Lindsay Ellis zooms on in to the Damn Library with her recently-NYT-best-selling Axiom's End! We talk ~around~ the plot of her novel, the joys of writing about 2007, who would be allowed to adapt it as a musical, and more. Plus, we talk about the second book in Orson Scott Card's Ender Saga, what to do with authors who turn out to be bad people, and how sometimes you have to write a first book before you can get to the second. contribute! https://patreon.com/smdb for drink recipes, book lists, a...
Aug 04, 2020•56 min
The Zoomin' Damn Library welcomes the good friends and co-hosts of Call Your Girlfriend, Aminatou Sow & Ann Friedman, who are both now newly minted authors of Big Friendship: How We Keep Each Other Close . So of course we talk friendship, and how the scientific studies weren't quite there like they thought it would be, and how you write a book together, and about being honest about the hard stuff. Plus, we get to talk about how great Octavia Butler is, and how prescient Parable of the Sower ...
Jul 21, 2020•57 min
The Damn Zoom Library hosts Quan Barry, author of the malevolently delightful 80s high school sports movie of a novel, WE RIDE UPON STICKS. She talks about how her witchcraft is home-brewed, how she juggled eleven characters' voices, and how being a poet helped her focus the timing of the book. Plus, she brings Kei Miller's AUGUSTOWN about which everyone gushes! Also the inside scoop on being an awards judge! Oh oh, it's magic! contribute! https://patreon.com/smdb for drink recipes, book lists, ...
Jul 08, 2020•57 min
Drew and Christopher chat with Hilary Leichter in three different Damn Libraries for another first of its kind digital episode - our first Zoom guest! We discuss Hilary's novel TEMPORARY which leads to talk about things like gig work, her love of pirates, and how the book started as a short story. Plus, pandemic stuff and how the police need to be defunded, as well as some love for the modern fairy tale constructions of Sabrina Orah Mark's WILD MILK. contribute! https://patreon.com/smdb for drin...
Jun 23, 2020•53 min
Drew won the annual Tournament of Books bet and chose Ali Smith for this year's "backlist" episode, so the guys read THE ACCIDENTAL in a nod to this fall's SuperRooster Tournament of ToB Champions. It's still pandemic times, too. (NB: This episode was recorded in late May, just before police brutality protests went national. SMDB proudly stands with the protestors and we believe black lives matter.) contribute! https://patreon.com/smdb for drink recipes, book lists, and more, visit: somanydamnbo...
Jun 09, 2020•40 min
Drew and Christopher actually talk at one another in this one. The very first episode of So Many Damn Books where Christopher and Drew aren't actually in a Damn Library together. The resulting episode is probably the closest to what it's actually like to hang out with them when the microphones are off. How books are providing comfort, project reading, Stephen King, audiobooks, and culling shelves all get touched on, along with lots of other bookish subjects. Stay safe, we love you. contribute! h...
May 19, 2020•42 min
Drew and his wife Dani are sheltering in place, so it's their turn to record an episode (without Christopher) about their happy history exchanging gifts on St. Jordi Day, and their relationship in books. Drew shares the story of how Lauren Groff bless/cursed them at a book signing, they discuss how their senses of humor aren't always aligned on the page, and they get into their lives as members of an in-person book club too. Nice. Stay safe and stay home and stay sane, all. We love you. contribu...
May 05, 2020•35 min
Christopher and Drew read a little something from the public domain, by Christopher Morley and Mark Twain, respectively, then recommend a couple of things. 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....
Apr 21, 2020•15 min
Nozlee Samadzadeh hosted Christopher and Drew for her "Zoom After Hours" discussion of The Morning News' 2020 Tournament of Books, and it was such a nice time that we are putting it out for all of you to listen to. They discuss that final, get into the tournament's history, Andrew Womack shows up for some surprising Super Rooster Tournament Revelations, and other commentariat join in the fray. It's a good time. Take care, everyone! for drink recipes, book lists, and more, visit: somanydamnbooks....
Apr 07, 2020•56 min
Christopher and his wife Sarah are social distancing/self-isolating, so they record an episode (sans Drew) about Jenny Offill's oddly prophetic Weather . They discuss the grim, fascinating distance of Offill's voice, and can't stop drawing parallels from her muted disaster/emergency to our own. Plus, they get a little bit into how books are the foundation of their relationship. Stay safe and sane, all. We love you. contribute! https://patreon.com/smdb for drink recipes, book lists, and more, vis...
Mar 24, 2020•30 min
Longtime friend Jordan Kisner drops into the Damn Library for everyone to celebrate the release of her debut essay collection Thin Places ! We discuss the term "thin places" and many of its permutations, not wanting to write about your mom, being able (or not) to recognize your own mind, the joy of an egg white cocktail, and whether or not it's okay for Harriet the Spy to've broken into all those houses. We also talk about whether or not we would've (...or did, Drew ) broken into our neighbor's ...
Mar 10, 2020•1 hr 11 min
Christopher and Drew talk about the Tournament of Books this year, explain why they like it and also why lots of things have changed since they started following it, make some predictions, and also talk about beer drinking and weird superstitions. Need it be said? 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 informatio...
Feb 25, 2020•33 min
Emily Nemens, author of The Cactus League , editor of The Paris Review , stops by The Damn Library, and everyone gets to talk about all things baseball, including Emily's story of a harrowingly long game. Christopher makes a bonkers cocktail and gives a slight history lesson with his recipe. Plus, Emily goes into some of the best things involved with writing about/watching baseball, as well as cutting out 25,000 words in a single edit. Then (CW: suicide) we get into Anelise Chen's So Many Olympi...
Feb 11, 2020•54 min
Christopher and Drew decide to catch up with things that have been adapted from books and made into movies. Alternate universe Weber adaptations are supposed upon. The future of adaptation form and delivery is discussed. They also rage against the machine by telling you which books to pre-order from the machine, and suggest some possible adaptations at the end. contribute! https://patreon.com/smdb for drink recipes, book lists, and more, visit: somanydamnbooks.com music: Disaster Magic ( https:/...
Jan 28, 2020•33 min
What better way to start the year than looking back at the stuff that we liked from last year? This episode, we talk about our top 8 books of the year. Like the top 8 for Myspace, only Tom isn't involved! It's a lot of nonfiction, which is crazy! Listen in, and also get in touch to tell us what your top books of the year were. We love to hear it! contribute! https://patreon.com/smdb for drink recipes, book lists, and more, visit: somanydamnbooks.com music: Hotel Hiouchi https://hotelhiouchi.band...
Jan 14, 2020•32 min
All of this audio is from Christopher and Drew recording the SMDB holiday album! They even included some actual tunes: three seasonal classics with a bookish twist plus one original Christmas tune. They did end up discussing books amongst the singing, finding time to talk about some of their favorite books of the decade, and the merits and drawbacks of such lists, as well as give each other presents. Merry Merry and Happy Holidays to one and all. contribute! https://patreon.com/smdb for drink re...
Dec 18, 2019•34 min
Kate Racculia stops into the Damn Library and she brings lots of laughter. We all talk about how her new novel is her Indiana Jones novel, and how it's a Westing Game novel too, and maybe a couple other novels. The details of Boston and creating her own Holmes character are also up for discussion. Plus, all three talk about details of Ling Ma's Severance with reverence. And more! contribute! https://patreon.com/smdb for drink recipes, book lists, and more, visit: somanydamnbooks.com music: Hotel...
Dec 03, 2019•51 min
