The Mookse and the Gripes Podcast Episode 91: Digressions with Mark Haber
This week, we’re joined by our good friend Mark Haber to discuss his wonderful books, including the brand new Lesser Ruins. Fittingly, this episode features numerous digressions into literary influences and loves, coffee, music, art, travel, and much more!
Shownotes
Books
* The Cemetery of Untold Stories, by Julia Alvarez
* The Rainbow, by D.H. Lawrence
* Fog at Noon, by Tomás González, translated by Andrea Rosenberg
* Difficult Light, by Tomás González, translated by Andrea Rosenberg
* Living Things, by Munir Hachemi, translated by Julia Sanches
* Vacated Landscape, by Jean Lahougue, translated by K.E. Gormley
* The God of Endings, by Jacqueline Holland
* Melvill, by Rodrigo Fresán, translated by Will Vanderhyden
* Attila, by Aliocha Coll, translated by Katie Whittemore
* Attila, by Serena, by Javier Serena, translated by Katie Whittemore
* Deathbed Conversions, by Mark Haber
* Reinhardt’s Garden, by Mark Haber
* Saint Sebastian’s Abyss, by Mark Haber
* Lesser Ruins, by Mark Haber
* An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter, by César Aira, translated by Chris Andrews
* The Netanyahus, by Joshua Cohen
* Ada, by Mark Haber (forthcoming 2026)
* 2666, by Roberto Bolaño, translated by Natasha Wimmer
* Ten, by Juan Emar, translated by Megan McDowell
* Out of Sheer Rage: Wrestling with D.H. Lawrence, by Geoff Dyer
* Compass, by Mathias Énard, translated by Charlotte Mandell
Other
* Episode 31: New Directions, with Mark Haber
* LitHub: “Mark Haber on the Beauty of Digression”
* Southwest Review: “How to Read Kafka,” by Mark Haber
The Mookse and the Gripes Podcast is a book chat podcast. Every other week Paul and Trevor get together to talk about some bookish topic or another. We hope you’ll continue to join us!
Many thanks to those who helped make this possible! If you’d like to donate as well, you can do so on Substack or on our Patreon page. These subscribers get periodic bonus episode and early access to all episodes! Every supporter has their own feed that he or she can use in their podcast app of choice to download our episodes a few days early. Please go check it out!
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mookse.substack.com/subscribe