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The release of "Patriot,," Alexei Navalny's collected prison diaries; do book festivals still have value? And we are joined by Mark Haber, whose latest novel, Lesser Ruins, is a wonderfully funny and heartfelt story about a middle-aged college professor who spends a lot of time thinking about yet never writing, what is supposed to be his life's work.Thank you for listening! If you like what you hear, give us a follow at: X: Across the Pond, Galley Beggar Press, Interabang Books, Lori Feathers, Sam JordisonInstagram: Across the Pond, Galley Beggar Press, Interabang Books, Lori Feathers, Sam JordisonFacebook: Across the Pond, Galley Beggar Press, Interabang BooksTheme music by Carlos Guajardo-Molina
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!ShownotesBooks* 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 MandellOther* Episode 31: New Directions, with Mark Haber* Wakefield Press* LitHub: “Mark Haber on the Beauty of Digression”* Southwest Review: “How to Read Kafka,” by Mark HaberThe 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
Today's episode features Mark Haber talking about his brand new novel, Lesser Ruins, his influence, the Bernhard thing, going from bookselling to publishing, and much more. It's a fun conversation that goes deep into the book, but also explains the publishing landscape to some degree—in part because this conversation was recorded as part of Chad's "Intro to Literary Publishing" class. Couple other notes about this episode: In addition to Lesser Ruins, Mark talks about Melvill by Rodrigo Fresán, and True Failure by Alex Higley. And for anyone who'd like to listen to "Marcel's Mix" while reading Lesser Ruins, you can find it here. The music on this episode is "Momma, It's a Long Journey" by Felipe Gordon. (Also found on Marcel's Mix.) If you don't already subscribe to the Three Percent Podcast you can find us on iTunes, Spotify, and other places. And follow Open Letter and Chad W. Post on Twitter/X for more info about upcoming episodes and guests.
How do you fill the yawning chasm that arises after you finish a great book or a long group read? Is it a time of excitement and possibility, or a daunting and overwhelming trial? Fresh off of finishing several doorstops ourselves, we discuss how we approach what we want to read next.Summer Book ClubThe Mookse and the Gripes Summer Book Club 2024 is coming up fast! This year we are only choosing from William Trevor novels. After losing for the last two years, he will not lose again! But what will the book be? As in the past, we will be holding a vote over on Twitter / X! Watch my account on May 21!The Books:* The Children of Dynmouth (1976)* Fools of Fortune (1983)* Felicia's Journey (1994)* The Story of Lucy Gault (2002)Dates:* Voting starts May 21 and runs through the early hours of May 25 for us in the mountain time zone.* We will announce the winner in the next episode!* The episode discussing the winner will be Episode 86, coming out on August 8.ShownotesBooks* The Peregrine, by J.L. Carr* Flights, by Olga Tokarczuk, translated by Jennifer Croft* A Little Life, by Hanya Yanagihara* Lonesome Dove, by Larry McMurtry* Butcher's Crossing, by John Williams* Miss MacIntosh, My Darling, by Marguerite Young* Ulysses, by James Joyce* The Ambassadors, by Henry James* Tone, by Sofia Samatar and Kate Zambreno* The Rings of Saturn, by W.G. Sebald, translated by Michael Hulse* Austerlitz, by W.G. Sebald* The Anatomy of Melancholy, by Robert Burton* Urne Burial, by Robert Burton* Reinhardt's Garden, by Mark Haber* The Mill on the Floss, by George Eliot* Silas Marner, by George Eliot* The Eustace Diamonds, by Anthony Trollope* O Pioneers!, by Willa Cather* War and Peace, by Leo Tolstoy, translated by Anthony Briggs* Black Lamb and Grey Falcon: A Journey Through Yugoslavia, by Rebecca West* Grand Hotel, by Vicki Baum, translated by Basil Creighton with revisions by Margot Bettauer Dembo* The Brothers Karamazov, by Fyodor Dostoevsky, translated by Michael R. Katz* It Lasts Forever and Then It's Over, by Anne De Marcken* The Peasants, by Władysław Reymont, translated by Anna Zaranko* Parade's End, by Ford Madox Ford* Collected Fictions, Jorge Luis Borges, translated by Andrew Hurley* The Hour of the Star, by Clarice Lispector, translated by Benjamin Moser* The Complete Stories, by Clarice Lispector, translated by Katrina Dodson* Too Much of Life, by Clarice Lispector, translated by Margaret Jull Costa and Robin Patterson* The Murderer, by Roy Heath* The Oppermans, by Lion Feuchtwanger, translated by James Cleugh with revisions by Joshua Cohen* Green Equinox, by Elizabeth Mavor* Twice Lost, by Phyllis Paul* Betrayed by Rita Hayworth, by Manuel Puig, translated by Susan Jill Levine* Elena Knows, by Claudio Piñeiro, translated by Frances Riddle* A Little Luck, by Claudio Piñeiro, translated by Frances Riddle* Lies and Sorcery, by Elsa Morante, translated by Jenny McPhee* A Dance to the Music of Time, by Anthony Powell* Anniversaries, by Uwe Johnson, translated by Damion Searls* The Extinction of Irene Rey, by Jennifer Croft* The House on the Strand, by Daphne Du MaurierLinks* Miss MacIntosh, My Darling Substack* Jonathan Golding and Mark Haber on Instagram LiveThe 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
We're joined today by Mark Haber of Coffee House Press (formerly of Brazos Bookstore in Houston). Mark is the author of two novels, Reinhardt's Garden and Saint Sebastian's Abyss, and the forthcoming novel Lesser Ruins, as well as a forthcoming novella, Ada. We chat about his work as well as Austerlitz by W.G. Sebald, translated by Anthea Bell. A quick note that there was some construction noise we didn't detect during the recording but did get picked up by our mics. We've eliminated it to the best of our ability, but if you hear a bit of an odd thrumming in the background or our voices crackle, it's not your ears.This is a fantastic and wide-ranging conversation, really digging into a lot of what makes Sebald's work unique (and how it does or does not influence Mark's own work). We discuss memory, liminality, style, surveillance and organization, the lack of literary feuds on TikTok, and more.Titles/authors mentioned:W.G. Sebald (all of it, but especially):Vertigo, A Place in the Country, and Campo SantoSergio Chejfec: The Dark and My Two WorldsJavier MaríasFranz KafkaD.H. Lawrence: Lady Chatterley's Lover, The Rainbow, and Sons & LoversAnthony Trollope (like, all of him)Juan Jose Saer: Scars and The Sixty-Five Years of WashingtonKazuo Ishiguro: The UnconsoledFollow Mark on Instagram (@markhaber) and follow Coffee House on Instagram (@coffeehousepress) and Twitter (@Coffee_House_). And be sure to pre-order Lesser Ruins from your preferred indie bookseller!Click here to subscribe to our Substack and find us on the socials: @lostinredonda just about everywhere.Music: “The Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys” by TrafficLogo design: Flynn Kidz Designs
This week we discuss the idea of being a completist in our reading. We discuss the authors whose works we've finished completely, as well as those we're working on (or hoping to…). Do you savor your favorite authors' works slowly or gobble them all down? Have you read the entire catalog of any authors?We also have a special giveaway, so please join us!Giveaway!This week we have four books to give away! And we want to choose four winners! Do any of these books call to you? Please enter to win one of them!* Rock Crystal, by Adalbert Stifter, translated by Elizabeth Mayer and Marianne Moore* Divorcing, by Susan Taubes* Notes of a Crocodile, by Qiu Miaojin, translated by Bonnie Huie* The End, by Attila Bartis, translated by Judith SollosyTo enter, send us an entry by email or DM or however you wish, but please include two things! First, list the books you are interested in winning in preferential order because we don't want someone to win a book they already have.Second, tell us if you're a completionist or aspiring completionist with any authors. We will be drawing when we record the morning of March 30, so have entries to us by then!ShownotesBooks mentioned prior to the Completion Discussion* Rock Crystal, by About the Podcast* Divorcing, by Susan Taubes* Notes of a Crocodile, by Qiu Miaojin, translated by Bonnie Huie* Last Words from Montmartre, by Qiu Miaojin, translated by Ari Larissa Heinrich* The End, by Attila Bartis, translated by Judith Sollosy* 40, by Alan Hancock* The Savage Detectives, by Roberto Bolaño, translated by * Black Lamb and Grey Falcon: A Journey Through Yugoslavia, by Rebecca West* Adam Bede, by George Eliot* Phineas Finn, by Anthony Trollope* Lesser Ruins, by Mark Haber* Reinhardt's Garden, by Mark Haber* Saint Sebastian's Abyss, by Mark Haber* 2666, by Roberto Bolaño, translated by Natasha WimmerThe 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
Welcome to the Great Fresan Relisten of 2023! Over the next four weeks, we'll be reissuing an episode a day from the The Invented Part and The Dreamed Part seasons of TMR so that you can catch-up, refresh your memory, have a few laughs, etc., before the May 10th launch of Season 19 on The Remembered Part. Here are the show notes from the original airing: Chad, Brian, and special guest Mark Haber tried their damnedest to bring some levity to our current crisis on this week's episode. They laughed a lot while discussing Chad's surprisingly dull dream city, the way The Dreamed Part just drops you right into the flow, dream logic, how Fresan is the exception that proves the rule, and Chad's quarantine situation. If you'd prefer to watch the conversation, you can find it on YouTube along with all our past episodes. You can watch March 25th episode (covering pages 57-111) here. And you can discuss this book at the reactivated Goodreads Two Month Review Discussion Group. You can purchase each of the books in the trilogy separately (Invented, Dreamed, Remembered, OR, if you don't have them and are ready for the reading event of 2023, then get The Part Trilogy for $40—approximately 30% off. You can find all previous seasons of TMR on our YouTube channel aaand you can support us at Patreon and get bonus content before anyone else, along with other rewards, the opportunity to easily communicate with the hosts, etc. And please rate us—wherever you get your podcasts! Follow Open Letter, Two Month Review, Chad Post, and Brian Wood for random thoughts and information about upcoming guests.
Author and Literary Hub Managing Editor Emily Temple and Lit Hub Associate Editor Katie Yee join hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to talk about Lit Hub's 38 favorite books of the year as chosen by the staff. The list spans genres from historical to memoir to post-digital post-capitalist manifesto to lesbian Sasquatch novel. Each editor reads a selection from a favorite, Temple from St. Sebastian's Abyss by Mark Haber and Yee from The Swimmers by Julie Otsuka. To hear the full episode, subscribe through iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app (include the forward slashes when searching). You can also listen by streaming from the player below. Check out video versions of our interviews on the Fiction/Non/Fiction Instagram account, the Fiction/Non/Fiction YouTube Channel, and our show website: https://www.fnfpodcast.net/ This podcast is produced by Anne Kniggendorf. Selected Readings: Emily Temple The Lightness Katie Yee Others: Our 38 Favorite Books of 2022, Literary Hub Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 5 Episode 26: “This is Such Bullshit.” Shelly Oria and Kristen Arnett on the Reproductive Rights Crisis Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 1 Episode 4: Edmund White and Emily Temple on Literary Feuds, Social Media, and Our Appetite for Drama The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farrell Getting Lost by Annie Ernaux Patricia Wants to Cuddle by Samantha Allen How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu St. Sebastian's Abyss by Mark Haber My Three Dads by Jessa Crispin Fight Like Hell by Kim Kelly The Bond King by Mary Childs Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe No One is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh If I Survive You by Jonathan Escoffery Trust by Hernan Diaz Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin An Immense World by Ed Yong The Sky is Yours by Chandler Klang Smith Elderflora by Jared Farmer https://moonpalacebooks.com/browse/filter/t/kelly%20link/k/keyword Kelly Link Donald Barthelme Mrs. Bridge by Evan S. Connell The Swimmers by Julie Otsuka Earthlings by Sayaka Murata Tender is the Flesh by Augustina Bazterrica The Ultimate Best Books of 2022 List ‹ Literary Hub Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Growing old is the subject of a lot of great literature. In this episode, Trevor and Paul discuss some of their favorite books (and one short story) about growing old. They also annouce who won the signed copies of Mark Haber's novels! For complete shownotes, please sign up for The Mookse and the Gripes Podcast Newsletter. If you'd like to support the show, visit The Mookse and the Gripes Patreon. Visit our blog at http://mookseandgripes.com/reviews. Follow us on Twitter @mookse and @bibliopaul. Email mookseandgripes@gmail.com.
You know those authors and books that you can't seem to connect with … but also aren't quite ready to give up on? In this episode, Paul and Trevor try to figure out why some books and authors are easy to ditch while others keep calling to us. They each share a few examples from their own shelves and offer some ideas on why they can't quit them. They also unveil the three (!) winners of the New Directions giveaways. And that's not the end of the giveaways. Listen to get a chance to win signed copies of Mark Haber's novels! Please sign up for The Mookse and the Gripes Podcast Newsletter. If you'd like to support the show, visit The Mookse and the Gripes Patreon. Visit our blog at http://mookseandgripes.com/reviews. Follow us on Twitter @mookse and @bibliopaul. Email mookseandgripes@gmail.com.
This week, we're joined by author and bookseller extraordinaire Mark Haber to chat about one of our favorite publishers: New Directions. Although Paul and Trevor can't compete with Mark's ND tattoo, we can match his enthusiasm as we each share three of our favorite titles. Plus, there are not one, not two, but three bookish giveaways, so makes sure you listen in for details! Please sign up for The Mookse and the Gripes Podcast Newsletter. If you'd like to support the show, visit The Mookse and the Gripes Patreon. Visit our blog at http://mookseandgripes.com/reviews. Follow us on Twitter @mookse and @bibliopaul. Email mookseandgripes@gmail.com.
Lilliam Rivera, "The Undercurrent": https://airlightmagazine.org/airlight/fall2020/the-undercurrent/Mark Haber: "Tegucigalpa": https://airlightmagazine.org/airlight/issue-3/tegucigalpa/
Novelist Mark Haber joins the podcast to talk about one of his underdogs: Santiago Gamboa and his excellent novel Necropolis. Necropolis is a novel full of narratives, soaked in storytelling, and driven by a cast of colorful characters seeking some kind of redemption. Mark and David dive into the novel's plots and craft, and Mark touches upon his own conversations with Gamboa and Gamboa's other works of fiction available in English. Mark Haber's novel Reinhardt's Garden was published by Coffee House Press in 2019 and is "an exhilarating fever dream about the search for the secret of melancholy" according to Publisher's Weekly, and we here at BOSS think it's a damn fine novel indeed. Highly recommended.
On Friday's Houston Matters: Elena Marks, president of the Episcopal Health Foundation, speaks with News 88.7 reporter Sara Ernst about a new survey showing some racial disparities among Houstonians impacting personal health. Also this hour: The new METRORapid Silver Line is now in service. Is METRO forgoing future light rail projects in favor of a bus rapid transit system? And book clubs aren't able to meet in person during the pandemic but that doesn't stop... Read More
Ten men have already died while searching the jungles of Uruguay for a reclusive writer, Emiliano Gomez Carrasquilla, who Jacov Reinhardt believes knows the key to understanding melancholy. Carried in circles through the jungle on a stretcher, the narrator recalls how Reinhardt fueled himself with copious amounts of cocaine, built himself an outrageous castle with fake walls and trap doors, and cared nothing for the safety of those those around him, including Ulrich the dog killer, Sonja the one-legged former prostitute, and the unnamed narrator himself. The only thing that really mattered to Reinhardt, according to his amanuensis, was his search for the essence of melancholy. Mark Haber is the author of Reinhardt's Garden (Coffee House Press, 2019). He was born in Washington DC and grew up in Florida. His first collection of stories, Deathbed Conversions, was translated into Spanish in a bilingual edition as Melville’s Beard. His debut novel, Reinhardt’s Garden was longlisted for the 2020 PEN/Hemingway Award for a Debut Novel and was listed as one of the Texas Observer’s Best Texas Books of the Decade. He lives in Houston, Texas, loves reading and Vietnamese soup, and is operations manager and a bookseller at Brazos Bookstore in Houston. If you enjoyed today’s podcast and would like to discuss it further with me and other New Books network listeners, please join us on Shuffle. Shuffle is an ad-free, invite-only network focused on the creativity community. As NBN listeners, you can get special access to conversations with a dynamic community of writers and literary enthusiasts. Sign up by going to www.shuffle.do/NBN/join G.P. Gottlieb is the author of the Whipped and Sipped Mystery Series and a prolific baker of healthful breads and pastries. Please contact her through her website (GPGottlieb.com) if you wish to recommend an author (of a beautifully-written new novel) to interview, to listen to her previous podcast interviews, to read her mystery book reviews, or to check out some of her awesome recipes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Ten men have already died while searching the jungles of Uruguay for a reclusive writer, Emiliano Gomez Carrasquilla, who Jacov Reinhardt believes knows the key to understanding melancholy. Carried in circles through the jungle on a stretcher, the narrator recalls how Reinhardt fueled himself with copious amounts of cocaine, built himself an outrageous castle with fake walls and trap doors, and cared nothing for the safety of those those around him, including Ulrich the dog killer, Sonja the one-legged former prostitute, and the unnamed narrator himself. The only thing that really mattered to Reinhardt, according to his amanuensis, was his search for the essence of melancholy. Mark Haber is the author of Reinhardt's Garden (Coffee House Press, 2019). He was born in Washington DC and grew up in Florida. His first collection of stories, Deathbed Conversions, was translated into Spanish in a bilingual edition as Melville’s Beard. His debut novel, Reinhardt’s Garden was longlisted for the 2020 PEN/Hemingway Award for a Debut Novel and was listed as one of the Texas Observer’s Best Texas Books of the Decade. He lives in Houston, Texas, loves reading and Vietnamese soup, and is operations manager and a bookseller at Brazos Bookstore in Houston. If you enjoyed today’s podcast and would like to discuss it further with me and other New Books network listeners, please join us on Shuffle. Shuffle is an ad-free, invite-only network focused on the creativity community. As NBN listeners, you can get special access to conversations with a dynamic community of writers and literary enthusiasts. Sign up by going to www.shuffle.do/NBN/join G.P. Gottlieb is the author of the Whipped and Sipped Mystery Series and a prolific baker of healthful breads and pastries. Please contact her through her website (GPGottlieb.com) if you wish to recommend an author (of a beautifully-written new novel) to interview, to listen to her previous podcast interviews, to read her mystery book reviews, or to check out some of her awesome recipes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Between The Covers : Conversations with Writers in Fiction, Nonfiction & Poetry
“Reinhardt’s Garden is one of those perfect books that looks small and exotic and melancholic from the outside but, once in, is immense and exultant in the best possible way. Think Amulet by Roberto Bolaño, think Nightwood by Djuna Barnes, think Train Dreams by Denis Johnson, think Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys, think Zama by Antonio Di Benedetto, think The Loser by Thomas Bernhard. Think.” —Rodrigo […] The post Mark Haber : Reinhardt’s Garden appeared first on Tin House.
Chad, Brian, and special guest Mark Haber tried their damnedest to bring some levity to our current crisis on this week's episode. They laughed a lot while discussing Chad's surprisingly dull dream city, the way The Dreamed Part just drops you right into the flow, dream logic, how Fresan is the exception that proves the rule, and Chad's quarantine situation. If you'd prefer to watch the conversation, you can find it on YouTube along with all our past episodes. You can watch March 25th episode (covering pages 57-111) here. And you can discuss this book at the reactivated Goodreads Two Month Review Discussion Group. Follow Open Letter, Chad Post, and Brian Wood for random thoughts and information about upcoming guests. Also, support Brazos Bookshop! Be sure to order Brian's book, Joytime Killbox, which is now officially available at better bookstores everywhere thanks to BOA Editions. And you can get 20% off The Dreamed Part by using the code 2MONTH at checkout. You can also support this podcast and all of Open Letter's activities by making a tax-deductible donation through the University of Rochester. You can find all the Two Month Review posts by clicking here. And be sure to leave us a review on iTunes. It really helps people to discover the podcast.
Chad, Brian, and special guest Mark Haber tried their damnedest to bring some levity to our current crisis on this week's episode. They laughed a lot while discussing Chad's surprisingly dull dream city, the way The Dreamed Part just drops you right into the flow, dream logic, how Fresan is the exception that proves the rule, and Chad's quarantine situation. If you'd prefer to watch the conversation, you can find it on YouTube along with all our past episodes. You can watch March 25th episode (covering pages 57-111) here. And you can discuss this book at the reactivated Goodreads Two Month Review Discussion Group. Follow Open Letter, Chad Post, and Brian Wood for random thoughts and information about upcoming guests. Also, support Brazos Bookshop! Be sure to order Brian's book, Joytime Killbox, which is now officially available at better bookstores everywhere thanks to BOA Editions. And you can get 20% off The Dreamed Part by using the code 2MONTH at checkout. You can also support this podcast and all of Open Letter's activities by making a tax-deductible donation through the University of Rochester. You can find all the Two Month Review posts by clicking here. And be sure to leave us a review on iTunes. It really helps people to discover the podcast.
In the studio today to open SEASON 4 of the show—that’s right y’all F***ing Shakespeare is on our 4th season! To celebrate we have Houston’s own lit genius, Mark Haber. He’s our first returning guest, so we must be doing something right. He’s definitely doing all the things right. He’s here to talk Tolstoy’s dog problem, melancholy, the fun-house mirror situation that is eastern European and central American literary scenes. His rich new novel Reinhardt’s Garden is discussed, as well as how to compel the authors who blurb you to use the word ‘genius.’ (Just kidding, not that one. He’s keeping that secret.) But we do get a bit of a bonus material-round makeover this season with a Haber-inspired esoterica category of questions to round out the show.Msrk’s influences are numerous, but click links below to expand your literary taste. You will not be disappointed:Roberto Bolaño’s By Night in ChileThomas Bernhard César AiraLászló Krasznahorkai’s double-novella set, The Last Wolf and HermanNew Directions’ championing of Latin American writers in the early aughtsDostoyevsky, Tolstoy, Gogol, ChekhovClarice Lispector Things we learned:How to write humidWhat’s wrong with FloridaHow to write believable man-splaining (LOL)How to end a publishing journey in tears, the good kindHow a bad translation is like a bad cheeseburgerShout-outsWorld Editions, feminist pressBrazos Bookstore Photo credit: Nina Subin
Mark Haber came over for a visit earlier this week. He brought a copy of his first published novel, "Reinhardt's Garden" (Coffee House Press 2019). Great conversation. Mark tells us about his influences, his writing choices, and how he goes about creating a story. I loved his book, and we had plenty to talk about You can find his book at Brazos Books in Houston, Texas. Thank you so much for listening! I'd love to hear from you my listeners: What do you think? Please comment, share, and tell me what you think. You can find RADAR TALK INTIMATE on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, and featured once per month at LoneStarLiterary.com.
Chad and Tom are joined by Mark Haber from Brazos Bookstore and author of the forthcoming Reinhardt's Garden (October 1, Coffee House Press). They talk a bit about Translation Bread Loaf (two thumbs up) and about a special poster for anyone who buys the First 100 from Open Letter, before trying their best to breakdown a nonsensical metaphor that Chad heard at this weekend's The Ladder Literary Conference. They also talk about Reinhardt's Garden, Mark's influences, the voice of the main character, and Chad's "Five Tools for Authors" post. (Also: See the "Five Tools for Translators.") Then, they recommend a slew of books to check out: Hold Fast Your Crown by Yannick Haenel, trans. by Teresa Lavender Fagan Riots I Have Known by Ryan Chapman The Remainder by Alia Trabucco Zerán, trans. by Sophie Hughes The Incompletes by Sergio Chejfec, trans. by Heather Cleary The Dreamed Part by Rodrigo Fresán, trans. by Will Vanderhyden Baron Wenckheim's Homecoming by László Krasznahorkai, trans. by Ottilie Mulzet "The Revised Boy Scout Manual" by William S. Burroughs Time Is the Thing a Body Moves Through by T Fleischmann Axiomatic by Maria Tumarkin Banshee by Rachel DeWoskin Feeble Minded by Ariana Harwicz, trans. by Annie McDermott and Carolina Orloff The Man Who Saw Everything by Deborah Levy The Promise and Forgotten Journey by Silvina Ocampo, trans. by Suzanne Jill Levine, Jessica Powell, and Katie Lateef-Jan Monsterhuman by Kjersti Skomsvold, trans. by Becky Crook That Other World: Nabokov and the Puzzle of Exile by Azar Nafisi, trans. by Lotfali Khonji Nikolai Nikolaevich and Camouflage by Yuz Aleshkovsky, trans. by Duffield White Anatomy. Melancholy. by Edy Poppy The MVP Machine by Ben Lindbergh and Travis Sawchik This week's intro music is "Scream" by Stef Chura, and the outro music is "Sweet Sweet Midnight" from the same album, but featuring Will Toledo of Car Seat Headrest. As always, feel free to send any and all comments or questions to: threepercentpodcast@gmail.com. Also, if there are articles you’d like us to read and analyze (or just make fun of), send those along as well. And if you like the podcast, tell a friend and rate us or leave a review on iTunes! You can also follow Open Letter, Riffraff, and Chad and on Twitter and Instagram (OL, Riffraff, Chad) for book and baseball talk. If you don’t already subscribe to the Three Percent Podcast you can find us on iTunes, Stitcher, and other places. Or you can always subscribe by adding our feed directly into your favorite podcast app: http://threepercent.libsyn.com/rss
Novelist and Brazos bookstore manager Mark Haber gets real worked up about LCD Soundsystem and why nothing else will do for writing inspiration. And then gets real meta about the truth and Mario Belletin. Dear listeners, we’ll let you decide. Photo credit: Houston Creative Space Photo credit: Argonáutica Be on the lookout for Mark's forthcoming novel REINHARDT’S GARDEN with Coffee House Press @Coffee_House_ ! And follow Mark @infinitetexts and Brazos Bookstore @BrazosBookstoreSuggested readings from Mark:Interview with Argonáutica editor and translator, Efrén OrdóñezThe Autumn of the Patriarch by Gabriel Garcia MarquezNazi Literature in the Americas by Roberto BolañoThe Large Glass (or anything) by Mario Bellatin
This week, Mark Haber of Brazos Bookstore and the Best Translated Book Award committee joins Chad and Brian to talk about the next seven stories in Mercè Rodoreda's collection. Although they touch on a number of them, a lot of time is spent focusing on "Carnival" and the literary antecedents to Rodoreda. Both Selected Stories and Death in Spring are available through the Open Letter website ,and if you use 2MONTH at checkout, you'll get 20% off. Feel free to comment on this episode--or on the book in general--either on this post, or at the official GoodReads Group. Follow Open Letter, Chad Post, and Brian Wood for more thoughts and information about upcoming guests. And follow Mark Haber to learn more about contemporary literature and bookselling. And you can find all Two Month Review posts by clicking here. The music for this season of Two Month Review is "Montseny" by Els Surfing Sirles. And please rate us on Apple Podcasts (or wherever you get your podcasts) and/or leave a review!
This week, Mark Haber of Brazos Bookstore and the Best Translated Book Award committee joins Chad and Brian to talk about the next seven stories in Mercè Rodoreda's collection. Although they touch on a number of them, a lot of time is spent focusing on "Carnival" and the literary antecedents to Rodoreda. Both Selected Stories and Death in Spring are available through the Open Letter website ,and if you use 2MONTH at checkout, you'll get 20% off. Feel free to comment on this episode--or on the book in general--either on this post, or at the official GoodReads Group. Follow Open Letter, Chad Post, and Brian Wood for more thoughts and information about upcoming guests. And follow Mark Haber to learn more about contemporary literature and bookselling. And you can find all Two Month Review posts by clicking here. The music for this season of Two Month Review is "Montseny" by Els Surfing Sirles. And please rate us on Apple Podcasts (or wherever you get your podcasts) and/or leave a review!
This week's podcast features a true roundtable discussion, with Tom and Chad being joined by Caroline Casey from Coffee House Press, Mark Haber and Jeremy Ellis from Brazos Bookstore, Stephen Sparks from Green Apple Books, and Danish author Naja Marie Aidt (Baboon, Rock, Paper, Scissors) to discuss the American Booksellers Association Winter Institute. One of the funniest podcasts to date, they break down what Winter Institute is, why it's so important for the future of bookselling, and what various publishers get out of attending. They also make fun of all the crappy crutch phrases you find in jacket copy.