So Many Damn Books

Christopher chooses some favorites from the reading year that just passed, and answers some questions from the Patreon patrons.Join the Patreon and hang out in the monthly book club, listen to exclusive episodes, and get access to the SMDB virtual book stoop a couple times a year! https://patreon.com/smdbFor the drink recipe, every book and link mentioned, and more, visit: https://www.somanydamnbooks.com/episodes/episode-233music: Disaster Magic(https://soundcloud.com/disaster-magic) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Emily Habeck swims on in to chat the book Christopher can’t stop recommending to anyone and everyone, Shark Heart: A Love Story. Thrill to this episode where we get into the long and winding road from theater to novel writing, and the pleasures of re-reading Jenny Offill’s Dept. of Speculation, 10 years on. Join the Patreon and hang out in the monthly book club, listen to exclusive episodes, and get access to the SMDB virtual book stoop a couple times a year! https://patreon.com/smdbFor the drink recipe, every book and link mentioned, and more, visit: https://www.somanydamnbooks.com/episodes/episode-233music: Disaster Magic(https://soundcloud.com/disaster-magic) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you do something two years in a row, that makes it a yearly tradition right? With that in mind, here’s the very traditional Holiday Gift Guide episode. I’m joined by Sarah in our Damn Library and we talk some books and get down to the business of gift giving this season. It’s a present, open it up! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rosalind Brown makes her airwaves debut in this one, talking about her debut novel Practice, which means talking about Shakespeare, and using white space on the page, and the various intimacies of point of view. Plus, she brought along The Baudelaire Fractal by Lisa Robertson, a jubilant novel of thoughts that feels perfectly aligned with Practice. Pick up your pens and your pencils and your listening devices, it’s time to podcast!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.

Our old pal Drew drops into the Damn Library, in Brooklyn, in person, for the first time since February 2020, to celebrate 10 years of So Many Damn Books. The show gets done like it usually does, only with a lot of trips down memory lanes and nostalgia avenues.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.

Lena Valencia drops by the Damn Library, physically, and it’s a real nice time complete with a flashing drink you can’t see, because this is a podcast. Lena and I discuss her blockbuster, nearly a decade in the making, short story collection debut, Mystery Lights, and she brings along Muriel Spark’s Driver’s Seat, which is just as good as it gets. Read on!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.

Lev Grossman returns to the podcast after a nine year break. That’s a long time! Since he was here last, he wrote his Arthurian magnum opus, The Bright Sword, and he chats about it, along with a good name for a cocktail sword, God, Merlin, and how he likes to be in conversation with someone else’s work. Plus, he brings along Phillip K. Dick’s UBIK, a bizarre sci-fi classic that’s on the verge of fantasy itself.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.

Holly Gramazio drops by via the magic of Zoom to talk her magical summer blockbuster of a book, The Husbands. She gets into its origin as a computer game, a lack of supernatural solutions, and why it used to have the moon falling apart. Plus, she brings along the surreal-but-still-relatable Zito Madu’s The Minotaur at Calle Lanza, and reveals she’s just been to Venice. Read on, compadres!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.

Kate Slotover, host of The Book Club Review podcast, joins me in the Damn Library all the way from London! Drinks are had, New York is discussed, along with two different worlds of New York reportage, Helene Hanff’s Letter from New York, and Joseph Mitchell’s Up in the Old Hotel. Such a joy!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.

Melissa Mogollon zooms in to talk her debut Oye, and all the fun she had writing it. That means we talk how her friends are like her sisters, the unusual structure that always felt like it could fail, and how she might write a sequel from the sister’s perspective. Plus, she brings along Jenny Odell’s How to Do Nothing, a book that was great to revisit, and is informing her on how to connect digitally as she releases her book.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.