So Many Damn Books

Jenny Offill, author of Weather (now out in paperback) joins the Damn Library through the internet tubes. Christopher makes a second drink for the book (after he and his wife Sarah discussed it during one of the early pandemic eps), there's talk of How Things Have Changed and the writing process, and Jenny sends us to warmer climes with her book club pick: Jean Rhys' Wide Sargasso Sea!contribute! https://patreon.com/smdbfor drink recipes, book lists, and more, visit: somanydamnbooks.commusic: Disaster Magic(https://soundcloud.com/disaster-magic)  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The guys get caffeinated, distantly, with Mateo Askaripour to talk about his fantastic debut novel, Black Buck. They chat about telling your own story even if someone else is telling a similar one, about weaving life into art, and about how fiction is more fun than non-fiction. Plus, an out-of-print classic for Book Club that deserves to be brought back: Sam Greenlee's The Spook Who Sat by the Door. contribute! https://patreon.com/smdbfor drink recipes, book lists, and more, visit: somanydamnbooks.commusic: Disaster Magic(https://soundcloud.com/disaster-magic) This episode is brought to you by Betterhelp. Get 10% off your first month at betterhelp.com/SMDB. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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/smdbfor drink recipes, book lists, and more, visit: somanydamnbooks.commusic: Disaster Magic(https://soundcloud.com/disaster-magic) This episode is brought to you by Betterhelp. Get 10% off your first month at betterhelp.com/SMDB. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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/smdbfor drink recipes, book lists, and more, visit: somanydamnbooks.commusic: 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 acast.com/privacy for more information.

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/smdbThis episode is sponsored by Amazon Publishing, publishers of the new Faraway Collection Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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; and Betterhelp. Get 10% off your first month by visiting BetterHelp.com/somanydamnbooks. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 taste the sand.contribute! https://patreon.com/smdbfor drink recipes, book lists, and more, visit: somanydamnbooks.commusic: Disaster Magic(https://soundcloud.com/disaster-magic) This episode is sponsored by Amazon Publishing, publishers of the new Faraway Collection. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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, Charlie, Veronika and Michael! Our thanks to them for joining and to all of our listeners.We are glad we made 150 of these, and we are excited to make more!contribute! https://patreon.com/smdbfor drink recipes, book lists, and more, visit: somanydamnbooks.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 the university/small press ecosystem. Hooray for short stories!contribute! https://patreon.com/smdbfor drink recipes, book lists, and more, visit: somanydamnbooks.commusic: Disaster Magic(https://soundcloud.com/disaster-magic)  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A 20-year return to a labyrinthine metafictional novel and its weird typographic tricks. Conversation about ergodic and 3-D fiction and how layout shapes reading. Nostalgia for early internet fandom and lost online guides. Comparisons to other impossible-space narratives and a dive into horror films and spooky-season reading picks.