Three Percent Podcast

LIVE PODCAST! Well, sort of. Tom was in Rochester, so he and Chad recorded a spontaneous podcast while being in the same room as one another. (And with eight-month-old Aleks, who makes an appearance.) They talk about bookstores Tom visited on this trip, the National Book Awards, and J Franz's now infamous "rules for writers." (Poor, besieged J Franz! And poor, besieged LitHub! We feel bad for both of you.) They also recommend (and don't recommend) a few books, including Revenge of the Translator by Bruce Matthieussent, and translated from the French by Emma Ramadan. This week's music is "Run the Numbers" by Everything Everything. 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 and Chad on Twitter and Instagram (OL, Chad) for book and bas

This week's special guest is Portuguese author and translator João Reis who knows a lot about Pessoa and the writings of his various heteronyms. He also talks about his forthcoming novel, The Translator's Bride, and his work as a translator. There's some of the usual banter as well, including a solid rundown of everyone's favorite lines and some of Pessoa's sayings that have become Portuguese colloquialisms. Get your BINGO card here! And if you get a "bingo" while listening, send a picture of your playing card to Chad Post. Each week, the first person who does so will receive a special one-time code to get 30% off of any and everything on the Open Letter website. As always, you can find the video for this episode on our YouTube channel, where we livestream the episodes. Next week's podcast will cover sections 222-273 (pages 238-287 in the U.S. edition). Stay tuned for more details about the exact time. Feel free to comment on this episode—or on the book in general—either on this post, or at the official Goo

Sticking more or less to their biweekly schedule, Chad and Tom reconvene to talk about a couple recent articles, the challenges of being a literary nonprofit, interesting books they're reading, humblebrags about the Words Without Borders and PEN galas, and more. Surprising lack of sports talk this week, although there is a good vibe of resignation and slight depression that is a hallmark of a solid Three Percent episode. Articles and media referenced in this episode: The National Book Awards Haul Translators Out of Obscurity AWP on the Brink Tentacle by Rita Indiana The Nocilla Trilogy by Augustín Fernández Mallo Donate to Open Letter! This week's music is "Be This Way" by Arms and Sleepers 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

This week's podcast goes off the rails pretty quickly, and includes a hungover dismissal of this version of The Book of Disquiet, the phrase "reclaim some of the douchery" is spoken, there is a lot of laughter, a discussion about the tensions between trying to read this as poetry vs. the expectations that come from trying to read it as fiction, and much more.  Get your BINGO card here! And if you get a "bingo" while listening, send a picture of your playing card to Chad Post. Each week, the first person who does so will receive a special one-time code to get 30% off of any and everything on the Open Letter website. As always, you can find the video for this episode on our YouTube channel, where we livestream the episodes. Next week's podcast will cover sections 222-273 (pages 238-287 in the U.S. edition). Stay tuned for more details about the exact time. 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 

This week Chad and Brian come to some conclusions about the Vicente Guedes part of The Book of Disquiet and get very excited about the more "mature, sophisticated" writings of Bernardo Soares. They both love this new voice and dig into what separates the heteronyms and their philosophies on life. And without a guest, Chad and Brian go on some entertaining digressions and keep trying to crack each other up. Informational, smart, and funny—the Two Month Review combination. Get your BINGO card here! And if you get a "bingo" while listening, send a picture of your playing card to Chad Post. Each week, the first person who does so will receive a special one-time code to get 30% off of any and everything on the Open Letter website. As always, you can find the video for this episode on our YouTube channel, where we livestream the episodes. Due to Chad's travel schedule, the timing of the next livestream is still up in the air, but will be announced on Twitter as soon as it's all confirmed. That episode—which will b

This week's episode is mostly inspired by an email from a listener about evaluating translations, and although Tom and Chad don't provide the hardest and fastest rules, they do have an interesting conversation about how they read and judge translated books. They also follow up on a few different threads from earlier episodes (like the neverending disappointment of The Great American Read), complain about these grants to giant publishers, and make some book recommendations. Other articles and media referenced in this episode: Jenny Hval's Paradise Rot (with the unnerving blood photo) Shelley Jackson's Riddance (with the cool cover graphic) Chad's post on Geography of Rebels by Maria Gabriela Llansol (and a dissenting view from Ben Moser) Chad's post on two Deep Vellum books from Oulipian writers In honor of Paradise Rot, this week's music is "That Battle Is Over" from Jenny Hval's Apocalypse, girl album. As always, feel free to send any and all comments or questions to: threepercentpodcast@gmail.com. Also,

BINGO! That's the theme of today's episode, which includes a Twin Peaks reference, awkward introduction, LitHub reference, and many other squares on the recently released Two Month Review bingo cards. It's explained in full at that post and on the podcast, but every week, the first person to email Chad with "bingo" in the subject line and a picture of their card will receive a one-time code to get 30% off any and everything Open Letter sells. In terms of The Book of Pessoa, Chad, Brian, and Anthony Blake break down the bits they liked (and didn't) from this week's reading, including the "sensationist" bits, the role of heteronyms in Pessoa's outlook, depression, the misogynist bits, and the line "to be published = the socialization of the self." It's a fun, free-wheeling episode that alternates between high analysis and low jokes in the way the best TMR episodes tend to. As always, you can find the video for this episode on our YouTube channel, where we livestream the episodes. Due to Chad's travel schedul

Jerónimo Pizzaro—editor of the "complete edition" of The Book of Disquiet published by New Directions—is the special guest on this week's Two Month Review. He discusses his history with Pessoa, how this volume came to be, the next three volumes in the New Directions project, how to approach The Book of Disquiet and its separate halves, some of the philosophical shift that take place over the course of the book, and more. For Pessoa fans and newbies, this episode is not to be missed! As always, you can find the video for this episode on our YouTube channel, where we livestream the episodes every Wednesday morning. Next week we'll be covering sections 82-130 (pages 95-141 in the U.S. edition) with special guest Anthony Blake. 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 on Pessoa and literature in general, and for information about upcoming guests. You can find all the Two

An all-banter episode that touches on an array of topics, from ranking ideas on how to save indie bookstores, to The Great American Read's (embarrassing) top 10 vote getting books (are we sure Outlanders doesn't include people riding on dragons?), the Frankfurt Book Fair, self-censorship, QAnon + Marlins Man, a book scam, "up-lit" (barf), ALTA, random typos, and a few book and TV recommendations. Complete list of articles and media referenced in this episode: Why Buying Books Will Not Save Our Beloved Bookstores The Great American Read Top 10 Vote-Getters (As of 10/11) A Panel on Self-Censorship and Morality in Publishing Today Book Fair Post Mortem Phishing Scam Seeking Manuscripts Spreads Worldwide "Up-Lit" Gives Hope to Publishers at Frankfurt Book Fair Schedule for ALTA 41 Elite Öræfi--The Wasteland The Taiga Syndrome Bonus: These pants are ugly. This week's music is "It's All Gonna Be OK" from Ron Gallo's new album, Stardust Birthday Problem. ("'You' Are the Problem" would've worked as well.) As

This is one of the most Two Month Review podcasts yet. Chad, Brian, and Tom Flynn (Volumes Books in Chicago) come together to discuss the first forty-six pages (sections 1-39) of the complete version of Fernando Pessoa's The Book of Disquiet. In addition to breaking down the philosophy and literary style representing Vicente Guedes--Pessoa's heteronym for this section of the book--they swap favorite lines, invent a new Instagram idea for Chad, link up Pessoa with emo bands, and try and tackle the difficulty of reading this book sequentially versus dipping in and out. As always, you can find the video for this episode on our YouTube channel, where we livestream the episodes every Wednesday morning. Next week we'll be covering pages 47-94 (sections 40-81) with special guest Jerónimo Pizarro, the mastermind behind this particular edition of The Book of Disquiet. 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, 

The Two Month Review is back! This season we'll be reading the New Directions publication of The Book of Disquiet by Fernando Pessoa, translated from the Portuguese by Margaret Jull Costa, one of the greatest works of literature (or poetry?) from the past century. To kick things off Declan Spring joined Brian Wood and a (happily hungover on baseball and beer) Chad W. Post to introduce Pessoa and his many heteronyms. They talk a lot about ND's Pessoa project, how they pitch uncategorizable books, how this edition differs from others, and much more. As always, you can find the video for this episode on our YouTube channel, where we livestream the episodes every Wednesday morning. Next week we'll be covering pages 1-40 (sections 1-39). 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 on Pessoa and literature in general, and for information about upcoming guests. You can find all

In response to a listener email, Tom expands on his comments from last podcast about the American Booksellers Association. Chad shares some data about genre works in translation and wonders about adding this to the Translation Database. He also has some curious info about Icelandic books in translation and then promotes one of his favorite books of 2018. As can be expected, things take a turn when they start talking about the New Academy's Prize in Literature (aka the Alternative Nobel). This week's music is "The Better Me" by The Joy Formidable. 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! 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

Dubravka Ugresic is in Rochester for Open Letter's tenth anniversary celebration, so she got together with Chad and Brian to talk about how she wrote Fox, Melania-related tourism, the two story points that launched the book, her writing process, and more! As always, Fox (and all the previous Two Month Review titles) is available for 20% off through our website. Just use the code 2MONTH at checkout. 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 for more information about Season 6: The Book of Disquiet by Fernando Pessoa. And 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. This week's intro music is "The More and Moreness" by Haiku Salut, with the theme music of Back to the Future III ending the run of Michael J. Fox movies. (Th

Were the National Book Award longlists announced last week? Do Chad and Tom have opinions? YES AND YES. That conversation leads into talking about Penguin Random House, the "perfect publishing house," and then into a frank discussion about the future of small press publishing and the challenges of having a career in nonprofit publishing or bookselling. As always, they have some book recommendations at the end as well! National Book Award announcements. Alex Shephard's PRH article. Tom's recommended book of the podcast. Chad's recommended book of the podcast. This week's music is "Double Down" by Slothrust.  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! If you don’t already subscribe to the Three Percent Podcast you can find us on iTunes, Stitcher, and other places.

Ryan Chapman (Conversation Sparks, Riots I Have Known) came on this week to talk about the final section of Dubravka Ugresic's Fox. They discuss "business class vs. economy class" writers, authenticity and performing in the role of a writer, Franzen, the overall genius of Ugresic's writing, and much more. It's a very thoughtful final episode, enthused about having completed the project, yet sad to be leaving this world. You can watch the video recording of this episode on YouTube, and while you’re there, subscribe to the Two Month Review channel and stayed tuned for the next broadcast, which will welcome Dubravka herself! As always, Fox (and all the previous Two Month Review titles) is available for 20% off through our website. Just use the code 2MONTH at checkout. 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, Brian Wood, and Ryan Chapman for more thoughts and information about upcoming guests. And when t

This week, Chad and Tom return to basics--more book talk than industry talk, a promise to release a new episode every other Wednesday--but start off with something that's very, very Three Percent: #Cockygate. Although the #Cockygate lawsuit is interesting in its own right, it's the breakdown of the seedy underworld of gaming Kindle Unlimited that really catches their imagination. Then they recommend a few new books (both from New Directions), and finish by talking with Emma Ramadan about her translation of Pretty Things by Virginie Despentes. Here are links to The Governesses and The Hole, and here's Emma's fairly odd picture. This week's music is "Bleed Turquoise" by Bleed Turquoise from Bleed Turquoise. 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 wherever you get your pod

Caitlin Luce Baker from University Bookstore in Seattle joined Chad and Brian to talk about the "Little Miss Footnote" section of Dubravka Ugresic's Fox. They touch on Dorothy Leuthold, Vladimir Nabokov, and much more, including a very subtle weaving of references that you'll definitely want to tune in to learn about. You can watch the video recording of this episode on YouTube, and while you’re there, subscribe to the Two Month Review channel and stayed tuned for the next broadcast--Tuesday, September 4th at 10am--which will feature Ryan Chapman (author of Conversation Sparks: Trivia Worth Talking About and several other ventures) and will cover the final section of the novel. As always, Fox (and all the previous Two Month Review titles) is available for 20% off through our website. Just use the code 2MONTH at checkout. 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, Brian Wood, and Caitlin Luce Baker for

This episode, Chad and Brian are joined by the newest Open Letter employee--Anthony Blake! He joins in on a really fun episode about Russian avant-garde literature, connections between the fourth part of Fox and the very earliest sections of the book, footnotes, invented novels, how to smuggle like a fox, and more. This episode was not sponsored by Moon Palace Books, but they do receive a nice verbal and visual shout-outs. If you're ever in Minneapolis, go visit them! You can watch the video recording of this episode on YouTube, and while you’re there, subscribe to the Two Month Review channel and stayed tuned for the next broadcast--Tuesday, August 28th--which will feature Caitlin Luce Baker and focus on baseball, Nabokov, and Dorothy Leuthold. As always, Fox (and all the previous Two Month Review titles) is available for 20% off through our website. Just use the code 2MONTH at checkout. Feel free to comment on this episode—or on the book in general—either on this post, or at the official GoodReads Group. F

Back from their respective vacations, Chad and Tom talk about PBS's "Great American Read," the NEA's "Big Read," building a sustainable publishing model that puts readers first, the attempt to address the direct-to-consumer discount problem, books that they've recently read, and ones Tom refuses to stock. Tom also discloses his favorite publisher, and Chad has a revelation about all the books he's read this year. It's a very grounded episode, with no real rants, and lots of good information.  This episode's music is "Angeline" by Rayland Baxter. 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! 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 yo

Pete Mitchell—who wrote this great review of Fox for Asymptote—joined Chad and Brian this week to talk about the heartbreaking (and semi-profane) ending to "The Devil's Garden," the third part of Dubrakva Ugresic's latest novel. From the idea of a small ping singling one's eventual crack-up to peeing on the side of the road as you burn it all down, this episode has it all. You can watch the video recording of this episode on YouTube, and while you’re there, subscribe to the Two Month Review channel and stayed tuned for the next broadcast, in which we'll be talking about the last half of Part III of "The Devil's Garden," pages 144-183. As always, Fox (and all the previous Two Month Review titles) is available for 20% off through our website. Just use the code 2MONTH at checkout. 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