So Many Damn Books

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/smdbfor drink recipes, book lists, and more, visit: somanydamnbooks.commusic: Hotel Hiouchihttps://hotelhiouchi.bandcamp.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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! 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.

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/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.

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 end for NYC-local listeners. Stay tuned!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.

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! 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.

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/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.

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/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.

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 isn't there to correct you. One for the books!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 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/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.

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/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.

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/smdbfor drink recipes, book lists, and more, visit: somanydamnbooks.commusic: Hotel HiouchiTwitter/Insta/Facebook: @HotelHiouchiSoundcloud: Hotel Hiouchi  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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/smdbfor drink recipes, book lists, and more, visit: somanydamnbooks.commusic: Disaster MagicSoundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/disaster-magic Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 to create something entirely itself. contribute! https://patreon.com/smdbfor drink recipes, book lists, and more, visit: somanydamnbooks.commusic: Disaster MagicSoundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/disaster-magic Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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/smdbfor drink recipes, book lists, and more, visit: somanydamnbooks.commusic: Disaster MagicSoundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/disaster-magic Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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! https://patreon.com/smdbfor drink recipes, book lists, and more, visit: somanydamnbooks.commusic: Disaster MagicSoundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/disaster-magic Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 with it), and speculate. Intrigue! contribute! https://patreon.com/smdbfor drink recipes, book lists, and more, visit: somanydamnbooks.commusic: Hotel HiouchiTwitter/Insta/Facebook: @HotelHiouchiSoundcloud: Hotel Hiouchi Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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/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 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/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.

Another week of the Tournament of Books, another grouping of recaps, plus predictions about the week ahead!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.

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/smdbfor drink recipes, book lists, and more, visit: somanydamnbooks.commusic: Hotel HiouchiTwitter/Insta/Facebook: @HotelHiouchiSoundcloud: Hotel Hiouchi Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.