So Many Damn Books

Christopher and his wife Sarah are social distancing/self-isolating, so they record an episode (sans Drew) about Jenny Offill's oddly prophetic Weather. They discuss the grim, fascinating distance of Offill's voice, and can't stop drawing parallels from her muted disaster/emergency to our own. Plus, they get a little bit into how books are the foundation of their relationship. Stay safe and sane, all. We love you.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.

Longtime friend Jordan Kisner drops into the Damn Library for everyone to celebrate the release of her debut essay collection Thin Places! We discuss the term "thin places" and many of its permutations, not wanting to write about your mom, being able (or not) to recognize your own mind, the joy of an egg white cocktail, and whether or not it's okay for Harriet the Spy to've broken into all those houses. We also talk about whether or not we would've (...or did, Drew) broken into our neighbor's houses.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 talk about the Tournament of Books this year, explain why they like it and also why lots of things have changed since they started following it, make some predictions, and also talk about beer drinking and weird superstitions. Need it be said? 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.

Emily Nemens, author of The Cactus League, editor of The Paris Review, stops by The Damn Library, and everyone gets to talk about all things baseball, including Emily's story of a harrowingly long game. Christopher makes a bonkers cocktail and gives a slight history lesson with his recipe. Plus, Emily goes into some of the best things involved with writing about/watching baseball, as well as cutting out 25,000 words in a single edit. Then (CW: suicide) we get into Anelise Chen's So Many Olympic Exertions, and we all talk about things that felt good to quit.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 decide to catch up with things that have been adapted from books and made into movies. Alternate universe Weber adaptations are supposed upon. The future of adaptation form and delivery is discussed. They also rage against the machine by telling you which books to pre-order from the machine, and suggest some possible adaptations at the end.contribute! https://patreon.com/smdbfor drink recipes, book lists, and more, visit: somanydamnbooks.commusic: Disaster Magic(https://soundcloud.com/disaster-magic) This episode is sponsored by the Inner Monkey podcast. Start listening at https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/inner-monkey/id1440076093. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What better way to start the year than looking back at the stuff that we liked from last year? This episode, we talk about our top 8 books of the year. Like the top 8 for Myspace, only Tom isn't involved! It's a lot of nonfiction, which is crazy! Listen in, and also get in touch to tell us what your top books of the year were. We love to hear it!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.

All of this audio is from Christopher and Drew recording the SMDB holiday album! They even included some actual tunes: three seasonal classics with a bookish twist plus one original Christmas tune. They did end up discussing books amongst the singing, finding time to talk about some of their favorite books of the decade, and the merits and drawbacks of such lists, as well as give each other presents. Merry Merry and Happy Holidays to one and all.contribute! https://patreon.com/smdbfor drink recipes, book lists, and more, visit: somanydamnbooks.comMusic by: Christopher and Drew, the Moose Masquerade Choir, Dani Lencioni, Ethan Helm, and Andrew Sheron at Conveyor Studios -- along with Millstones for his Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy (Electrohouse Remix) and O Tannenbaum recorded by Dan Lerch. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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.