Three Percent Podcast

Mara Faye Lethem joins us this week to talk about Catalonia's scatological obsession, the challenges of the current political situation, Max Besora's wild novel, and Rodoreda's triumphant return to the best-seller list. Then they get into a more autobiographical reading of this section of Death in Spring, a section that's all about death and chaos.   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 be sure to read all of Mara's translations, including The Boys by Toni Sala and Wonderful World by Javier Calvo.    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 P

Back at last! Chad and Tom reunite after a month in which Tom finished building an entire bookstore and bar, which is now open! In addition to talking about Riffraff's first week of business, they talk about the NCIBA statement against publishers selling direct to consumers and institutions, about Tyrant Books tweeting about never again working with agents, about "Cat Person," and about the release of the Translation Database on Publishers Weekly.   This week's music is "Young Lady, You're Scaring Me" by Ron Gallo.   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!   If you don't already subscribe to the Three Percent Podcast you can find us on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and other places. Or you can always subscribe by adding our feed directly into your favorite podcast catcher:

This week, fresh off a publication in the Boston Review, Jess Fenn (JR Fenn) joins Chad, Brian, and Best Translated Book Award judge Patrick Smith (P.T. Smith) to talk about the second part of Death in Spring. They trace a few motifs, talk about dystopias and literary world-building, and much more. Another very informative and captivating episode about one of the greatest novels of the past hundred years.   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. Be sure and buy the Boston Review to read Jess's story, and follow Patrick on Twitter for various book thoughts and terrible sports takes.   And you can find all Two Month Review posts by clicking here.   The music for this season of Two Mo

Welcome to one of the strangest villages in all of fiction! Now that Chad and Brian have gone through the stories, they turn their attention to Rodoreda's Death in Spring, which was published posthumously in 1986. They're joined by Catalan researcher and translator Meg Berkobien and Anastasia Nikolis, who you might remember from the season on Tómas Jónsson, Bestseller. This episode is loaded with information about Rodoreda and this novel, followed by accolade after accolade about one of the greatest novels of the twentieth century.   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 you can find all Two Month Review posts by clicking here.   The music for this season of Two Month Revie

After yelling at Skype a bunch, Chad, Brian, and special guest Tom Flynn of Volumes Bookcafe discuss the merits of some of Rodoreda's final stories, especially "The Thousand Franc Bill," "Paralysis," and "The Salamander." Then they manage to slightly diss groups upon groups of people--in a rather entertaining way. And they discuss the state of the short story collection and how stories are perceived by publishing execs and bookstores. They also preview next week's book, Death in Spring.   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. Follow Volumes Books to keep up to date on all their events, staff picks, and general comments.   And you can find all Two Month Review posts by clicking he

After doing a bit of a deeper dive into the situation in Catalonia--and discussing the LIVE recording that will take place on December 12th at the new McNally Jackson--Chad and Brian are joined by George Carroll to talk about this batch of Rodoreda's stories. Although a couple of the stories discussed in this episode (especially "Before I Die") fit in with her more domestic stories, there is a distinct shift in tone and subject as she starts writing more about World War II ("On a Dark Night," "Orléans, Three Kilometers"), which points toward her later works, especially Death in Spring.   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 stay tuned to Lit in Translation for more writing an

Things are a bit rough for Chad the morning after the Open Letter gala, but he powers through and talks about this new phase of Rodoreda's stories. He and Brian break down some of the more challenging of her stories, including "Noctural" and "The Bath," and talk about what does and doesn't work in creating an authentic voice, and how to behave on airplanes.   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 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!

After discussing the incredibly long Dublin Literary Prize longlist, Chad and Tom discuss Polish Reportage, Stanislaw Lem's book covers, ordering books for Riffraff, and a serial killer.   This week's music is "Turning" by Beaches.   One other note: The next season of the Two Month Review kicked off on Thursday, October 26th with an episode introducing Mercè Rodoreda and the two books of hers that will be featured this season: Selected Stories and Death in Spring. Both are avaialble for 20% off by using the code 2MONTH at checkout. The full schedule of episodes is available here.   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!   If you don't already subscribe to the Three Percent Podcast you can find us on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and other places. Or you can always subscri

This week, Chad and Brian dive into the first six stories in Mercè Rodoreda's Selected Stories and call up Quim Monzó, arguably the most important contemporary Catalan author, to talk about the precision and emotionality in her work. They also talk about Catalan literature as a whole, A Thousand Morons, Catalan independence, and much more. An incredibly fun and funny episode, this one really lays the groundwork for approaching Rodoreda's stories.   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 Quim Monzó to learn more about his writings and the case for Catalan independence.   And you can find all Two Month Review posts by clicking here.   The music for this season of Two Month

Brian Wood is BACK. Complete with a poem he wrote in his time away from the Two Month Review . . . In the introduction to season three, Chad and Brian talk about Catalan literature (briefly), Mercè Rodoreda's career and comps, possible approaches to discussing Rodoreda's stories, and more. As noted elsewhere, this season will start with Mercè Rodoreda's Selected Stories followed by one of her novels, Death in Spring.   Both of these books 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 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!  

After an impassioned pitch for why you should support Open Letter's annual campaign, Chad and Tom talk about ALTA, about how best to promote international literature to common readers, about the moral argument for reading translations, about Tim Parks and Han Kang's Human Acts, and about how baseball is broken and breaking Chad's will to live. Enjoy!   One other note: The next season of the Two Month Review will kick off on Thursday, October 26th with an episode introducing Mercè Rodoreda and the two books of hers that will be featured this season: Selected Stories and Death in Spring. Both are avaialble for 20% off by using the code 2MONTH at checkout. The full schedule of episodes is available here.   This week's music is "Two Thousand and Seventeen" (the same number of minutes in game five of the the Cubs-Nationals series) by Four Tet.   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 m

Here it is--the infamous LIVE recording of the Two Month Review! Chad and Lytton travelled all the way to Brooklyn to record this episode as part of the "Taste of Iceland Festivities." As a result, they recap the book as a whole and reflect on the speech from Iceland's First Lady that prefaced the recording (and which you don't get to hear) before diving into the particulars of the final section of Tómas Jónsson, Bestseller. They also take questions from the audience about WWII and Kafka, and spend some time pondering the final line of the book: "i call the northern lights night rainbows." And Chad works in multiple references to Twin Peaks: The Return.   As previously noted, the next season of the Two Month Review will feature two books by Mercè Rodoreda: Selected Stories and Death in Spring. Click here to get the full schedule, and use the 2MONTH code at our website to get 20% off. (That discount code also works for Tómas Jónsson, Bestseller and The Invented Part. And if you'd rather support your local book

Icelandic novelist and poet Kári Tulinius joins Chad and Lytton this week to talk about three of the darkest sections of Tómas Jónsson, Bestseller and the history of this novel's reception in Iceland. They also talk about the recent scandal that brought down the Icelandic government--and how it ties into Tómas Jónsson--about why the book was out of print in Iceland for a couple of decades after its initial release, the way this book is scarily prescient, and much more.   Feel free to comment on this episode--or on the book in general--either on this post, or at the official GoodReads Group.   Tómas Jónsson, Bestseller is available at better bookstores everywhere, and you can also order it directly from Open Letter, where you can get 20% off by entering 2MONTH in the discount field at checkout.   Follow Open Letter, Chad Post, and Lytton Smith for more thoughts and information about upcoming guests.   You can read an excerpt from Kári's latest novel (translated by Larissa Kyzer) at Words and Worlds and can fin

After a bit of a hiatus, Chad and Tom are back to talk about Riffraff's new location, break down Catalonian politics and the recent editorial gathering the Ramon Llull Institute put on in Barcelona, and somewhat pick apart this article about Deborah Smith's translation of The Vegetarian.   This week's music is "Day I Die" by The National.   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!   If you don't already subscribe to the Three Percent Podcast you can find us on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and other places. Or you can always subscribe by adding our feed directly into your favorite podcast app: http://threepercent.libsyn.com/rss

CORRECTION: Throughout this podcast, we joke about having recorded the final episode of the season live at Spoonbill & Sugartown last weekend. This is a lie! The live event will take place THIS SATURDAY (September 30, 2017) as part of the Taste of Iceland events. Eliza Reid, Iceland's First Lady, will start things off at 2pm, and Lytton and I will follow her. So please ignore all our childish banter and please come out on Saturday for this live recording!   This week, Tom Flynn of Volumes Bookcafe returns to the Two Month Review to talk about three of the more difficult bits of Tómas Jónsson, Bestseller one section that's a dream, one about mediums and resurrection, and one that's a poem for going to bed and for death. Thanks to Tom's perceptive insights and Lytton's genius, they're able to puzzle out all three sections and provide some solid guidance for everyone reading along.   Feel free to comment on this episode--or on the book in general--either on this post, or at the official GoodReads Group.   Tó

This week Patrick Smith (Best Translated Book Award judge, The Scofield) joins Chad and Lytton to talk about this incredibly powerful section of the book, which raises all sorts of topical ideas about adhering to national myths and the problems of masculinity. This is also the section where Hitler shows up, and where a character literally eats himself out of house and home. And this podcast is a crucial one in helping frame the way this novel simultaneously holds up and undermines a variety of dangerous, unpleasant ideas. After listening to this, we hope you will have an even broader and more nuanced understanding--and appreciation--of this great novel.   Reminder! On September 30th, we will be recording the final episode of this season of the Two Month Review at Spoonville & Sugartown in Brooklyn as part of Taste of Iceland. The First Lady of Iceland, Eliza Reid, will kick things off at 2pm with a lecture and reading, then at 3pm, Lytton and Chad will discuss the final section of Tómas Jónsson, Bestselle

This week Norwegian translator and ALTA Fellowship recipient David Smith joins Chad and Lytton to talk about the next forty pages of Tómas Jónsson, Bestseller. The two sections covered this week are wildly different from one another, opening with a much more fragmented, poetic bit then transitioning through a hilarious, yet creepy, moment in which Tómas pees all over the laundry room into a more straightforward section--but one that still brings out all the wild contradictions in Tómas's character and this book itself. This week's episode also includes Chad reading a section that's perfect for a voiceover movie trailer. (And yes, he reads it in exactly that voice.)   Feel free to comment on this episode--or on the book in general--either on this post, or at the official GoodReads Group.   Tómas Jónsson, Bestseller is available at better bookstores everywhere, and you can also order it directly from Open Letter, where you can get 20% off by entering 2MONTH in the discount field at checkout.   Follow Open Lette

This week author and translator Idra Novey joins Chad and Lytton to talk about one of the most challenging sections of the book so far. Not only is there a proliferation of children whose voices constantly interrupt Tómas's thoughts, but there are a few more unsettling bits that raise questions about what we should believe about Tómas's narrative and morality. (Questions that will be further addressed next week.) They also talk about the brilliant ways in which Lytton balances all these various registers, and the poetry that shines through Tómas's curmudgeonly rants.   Feel free to comment on this episode--or on the book in general--either on this post, or at the official GoodReads Group.   Tómas Jónsson, Bestseller is available at better bookstores everywhere, and you can also order it directly from Open Letter, where you can get 20% off by entering 2MONTH in the discount field at checkout.   Follow Open Letter, Chad Post, and Lytton Smith for more thoughts and information about upcoming guests. Also, you ca

This week, Jacob Rogers--translator from the Galician and bookseller at Malaprop's in Asheville, North Carolina--joins Chad and Lytton to talk about Tómas Jónsson's next two "composition books." Included in these sections are a long bit about the "board" and the general hierarchy of Tómas's dining hall, the ways in which he's both an insider and someone on the fringes, and the role of the U.S. military base in Iceland's overall development. These sections are crucial in fleshing out both Tómas's character and that of Iceland as a whole, while adding a lot of interesting--and funny--details about his everyday life.   Feel free to comment on this episode--or on the book in general--either on this post, or at the official GoodReads Group.   Tómas Jónsson, Bestseller is available at better bookstores everywhere, and you can also order it directly from Open Letter, where you can get 20% off by entering 2MONTH in the discount field at checkout.   Follow Open Letter, Chad Post, and Lytton Smith for more thoughts and