Shows
Book FightHoliday Spectacular: SKRUJ!It's that time of year again: our annual holiday episode, where we invite several members of the Barrelhouse editorial team to read and discuss a very sexy holiday-themed novel. This year's book is SKRUJ: Holidate with an Alien, by bestselling author Honey Phillips. The book is a retelling, of a sort, of the Dickens Christmas classic, but starring a grumpy alien man with a weird (and gigantic) penis, and his human lover. Our guests this year include: Chris Gonzalez, Becky Barnard, Dave Housley, Erin Fitzgerald, and first-timer Christina Beasley. Plus our regular hosts, Mike Ingram and Tom...2024-12-231h 21Book FightNadira Goffe on Blacktop WastelandWe welcome Nadira Goffe (culture writer for Slate) to talk about a Black, Southern noir from S.A. Cosby. We learn about Nadira's love of the Fast and the Furious franchise, her fear of actual driving, and her mixed feelings about an over-the-top metaphor. Plus: Mike gets pedantic about dialogue tags, and Tom realizes there's a limit to how many car-chase sequences he's willing to read in a novel. Vroom vroom! Note: this is the eighth (and final) episode in our noir-themed season, but there's no reason you need to listen to the episodes in order. 2024-12-091h 12Book FightEp 404: Matthew VollmerWe're joined by Matthew Vollmer, author of several books (most recently, This House is Not Your Home, 2022) and also our former grad-school classmate. We talk about our experiences at Iowa, and how our writing and teaching have evolved in the years since. Also Clarice Lispector's book The Hour of the Star, which Vollmer loves and Tom finds a little confusing. You can find more about Matthew--and links to his work--at his website, http://matthewvollmer.com/ If you like the show, and would like more of it, we're releasing two bonus episodes...2022-08-091h 11Book FightEp 393: Mike MeginnisOur guest this week is Mike Meginnis (Drowning Practice, Fat Man and Little Boy). He joins us to discuss a playful genre-bending novel by Megan Milks, Margaret and the Mystery of the Missing Body. We also talk about Mike's relationship to genre, the similarities between genre and gender categories, and why he rarely cries. You can find Milks' novel here: https://www.feministpress.org/books-a-m/margaret-and-the-mystery-of-the-missing-body And find out more about Mike and his work here: https://www.mikemeginnis.com/ If you like the show, and would like more of it, we're releasing...2022-03-011h 16Book FightEp 382: Dan McQuadeThis week, we're joined by Dan McQuade (Defector Media) to discuss humor columnist Dave Barry's debut novel, Big Trouble. Both Dan and Mike were big fans of Dave Barry's humor writing as teens, while Tom apparently skipped right over his newspaper column each week on his way to The Family Circus and Heathcliff. We talk about how difficult it can be to maintain a consistent tone in a "wacky" novel, as well as the ill-fated movie version of the book, which had the bad fortune of having a September 2001 release date as well as a climactic scene featuring a...2021-09-201h 34Book FightEp 369: 1968 Best & Worst, Snubs and FlubsThis week we're wrapping up our Winter of Wayback season by reviewing what we've learned. Which stories and essays did we love? Which pieces did we hate? What did we learn about 1968, and how did it compare to our previous presuppositions? Also, as a special bonus, Tom reviews a famous 1968 movie he'd never seen before, and Mike eats a Big Mac. If you like the show, and would like to have more of it in your life, you can subscribe to our Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/BookFight 2021-03-291h 16Book FightEp 358: Winter of Wayback, 1968, Tom WolfeWelcome to our Winter of Wayback season! This year we're diving into 1968, a year that, like our current moment, has often been described as an inflection point in American politics. What we'd like to know: What was the world of literature like that year? Please join us, over the next several weeks, as we try to find out. This week: Tom Wolfe on surfers, slackers, and the culture of parentally-funded hippies.2021-01-111h 11Book FightEp 345: Short and SweetThis week we're discussing a series of very short essays by J. Robert Lennon, and talking about how we teach students to write very short pieces that aren't simply tossed-off and incomplete. Plus: Tom gets angry about a rich book influencer who thinks her pandemic problems are unique and interesting. And Mike runs into his first anti-masker in the wild. You can read J. Robert Lennon's essay here: https://www.theliteraryreview.org/essay/ten-short-essays/ If you like the podcast, and would like more Book Fight in your life, for $5/month you can get three bonus...2020-09-281h 08Book FightEp344: Who's the Boss?This week we're continuing our ongoing discussion of creative nonfiction by diving into an essay by Hanif Abdurraqib about attending a Bruce Springsteen concert in Jersey and thinking about who gets to romanticize "hard work" in America. Plus: Tom has opinions about Susan Orlean rebranding herself as a fun drunk, and Mike brings you another installment of "The Worst Person in This Month's Architectural Digest." You can buy Hanif's book here: https://twodollarradio.com/products/they-cant-kill-us If you like our podcast, and would like to get all our bonus episodes, you can subscribe to our...2020-09-211h 02Book FightEp 342: Writing About Pop CultureThis week we're discussing an Alice Bolin essay from The Toast, "A Meditation on Britney's 'Baby One More Time,'" which uses the pop star's music as a jumping-off point for an exploration of loneliness, isolation, and the ways in which we hold ourselves apart from others. We talk about ways that writers can use their pop culture obsessions to get into some pretty interesting personal territory, and how we can get students, in particular, to wade out into those deeper waters, rather than simply writing essays about music they like. Also: Tom is mad about a...2020-09-071h 02Book FightEp 339: White Glove ServiceThis week we're talking about an essay by Britni de la Cretaz about her complicated relationship with both the Miami Marlins and her hometown. That leads to a discussion of what makes sports-related writing interesting to non-sports fans, and how to unlearn some of the writing lessons taught to you in school. We also take another dive into #bookstagram, to try to figure out whether book influencers have actually read any books. Plus: Tom waits for a team of men to deliver his fancy new desk. Here's a link to the essay in Catapult: https://catapult.co...2020-08-171h 00Book FightEp 338: Welcome Back, Angry TomThis week we're reading a short story from Nick White's debut collection that was recommended by author Alissa Nutting. White's story prompts a discussion of the book business, specifically the rarity of short story collections published by big presses and how both the hype machine for young authors and the pushback against the hype machine for young authors can grow quickly tiresome. Also this week: We begin what will surely be a multi-week exploration of book influencers (book-fluencers?) on Instagram. Here's a link to the story, and Alissa Nutting's recommendation of it, via Electric Lit...2020-08-101h 15Book FightEp 334: When Irish Eyes Are SmilingWe're in the midst of a global pandemic and a long-overdue upswell of support for defunding our ridiculously over-militarized police, all of which made Tom want to read a story about his dear old Ireland: Edward J. Delaney's "The Drowning." Actually the story is fine--good, even!--but it leads to a discussion of when we want fiction that helps us to think about the current moment and when we want fiction that takes us out of the current moment. Also: we follow up on last week's discussion of what personal essays are for.2020-07-061h 04Book FightEp 329: Elon Musk Shoots a Rocket to MarsThis week we're discussing a short story by Kelly Ramsey, "First Citizen of Mars," in which the narrator is the first person flown to Mars by Elon Musk. Actually the story is about all sorts of things, and the Elon Musk bit is really just a jumping-off point. We talk about how fiction can use real people--or well-known fictional characters--in interesting ways. We also take a visit to Yahoo Answers to help a few people out with their writing and publishing-related questions, and Tom takes a deep dive into that "what if the Beatles never existed" movie that probably...2020-06-0159 minBook FightEp 325: Zadie Smith on Writing Outside Your ExperienceThis week we're discussing a Zadie Smith essay, "2020-05-041h 05Book FightEp 319: The Infamous Bengal MingThis week we're discussing a story about a murderous tiger by Rajesh Parameswaran, which was first published in Granta and then appeared in his 2013 book I Am An Executioner. The story raises a number of questions, like: Do tigers have the mental ability to make choices? And: Do we want to follow an animal around for 21 pages? Answers, it turns out, are mixed. Also this week, the triumphant return of Fan Fiction Corner! Featuring some very sexy Mr. Clean fanfic (or very weird, depending on your personal proclivities). And Tom's got some raccoon news. All the old...2020-03-231h 04Book FightEp 297: Magical Realist StoriesThis week, we're continuing our quest for the best stories to use in a creative writing course, with pieces that incorporate magical elements: "The Healer" by Aimee Bender versus a trio of very short stories by Etgar Keret. We talk about what the term "magical realism" actually means, and how we introduce it in the classroom. We also discuss ways to open up a fiction class to a diversity of styles and genres while still assuring that students are challenging themselves and trying new things. Plus: Are magicians creeps? And Tom revisits the work of Jim Harrison...2019-10-071h 02Book FightEp 294: Virginia Woolf, To the LighthouseIt's the last week of our Summer School season, and we're ending on a book (and author) Tom had never read. Topics include: Diner en Blanc, the titular lighthouse (and whether they'll ever reach it), mental health, donut holes, pumpkin spice, and why the kids these days love the TV show Friends. If you like the show and would like more Book Fight in your life, consider subscribing to our Patreon. For $5/month, you'll get access to regular bonus episodes, including monthly episodes of Book Fight After Dark, where we read some of the world's weirdest romance...2019-09-161h 02Book FightEp 293: Ford Madox Ford, The Good SoldierFor years, Mike would see references to Ford Madox Ford in articles about famous modernist writers and think: "I should really check that guy out one of these days." Well, listeners, that day is today. Mike drags Tom along for an exploration of The Good Soldier, Ford's most famous book, a short novel about two couples whose lives intersect at a German spa for people with heart ailments. "This is the saddest story I have ever heard," the book begins, before plunging readers into a sometimes disorienting tale of infidelity and (maybe?) murder. We talk about the...2019-09-0953 minBook FightEp 292: Jim Harrison, "The Summer He Didn't Die"This week is a Tom pick: a novella by Jim Harrison featuring his beloved character Brown Dog. In "The Summer He Didn't Die," Brown Dog has some tooth problems, and also some sex. Just regular old Brown Dog stuff. Harrison is considered a master of the novella form, and a chronicler of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Is this his best work? Reviews are mixed. Also this week: Mike continues his summer-long quest for a good donut, with a return trip to Philly favorite Federal Donuts. If you like the show and would like more Book Fight...2019-09-0255 minBook FightEp 291: Roland Barthes, A Lover's DiscourseWelcome to Week Two of a series we didn't intend to undertake: Tom and Mike Read Books They're Not Quite Smart Enough to Understand. Actually, we did a slightly better job with this one than we did with last week's reading, Jenny Boully's The Body. Though we can already hear the sound of 1,000 grad students rolling their eyes in response to our discussion of Barthes. But hey, we're giving it our best. We can't help it if there are rocks where our brains are supposed to be. This week's book was a Mike pick, because he's been...2019-08-261h 02Book FightEp 288: Thom Jones, "The Pugilist at Rest"Thom Jones graduated from the Iowa Writers Workshop in the late 70s, but didn't truly find his voice--and critical success--until "The Pugilist at Rest," which was published in The New Yorker in 1991. After that story, Jones published pieces in other big-name magazines and pretty quickly had a story collection out in the world. Journalists really latched onto the late-bloomer story, as well as the fact that Jones was working as a janitor when "The Pugilist at Rest" was published. We talk about the story, and also about the mythology around Jones, who died in 2016. Also this week: M...2019-08-0557 minBook FightEp 286: Annie Dillard, "Total Eclipse"This week we're discussing Annie Dillard's famous essay, "Total Eclipse," about the time she saw a total eclipse. Neither of us had read it before, and neither of us is quite sure whether we like it. We get Geoff Dyer's opinion, and Robert Atwan's, and a couple dissenting opinions from Goodreads, as we try to decide what to make of it. If you've never read the piece, you can do so here, via The Atlantic. Also this week: Mike tries Indonesian food, and continues his quest for the perfect donut. And Tom has opinions about the best...2019-07-2250 minBook FightEp 284: James Baldwin, "Notes of a Native Son"We're continuing our Summer School season of the podcast, in which we're reading things we feel like we should have gotten to by now. This week is a Tom pick, a particularly famous essay by James Baldwin about the death of his father, bitterness, and race in America. Tom had read other Baldwin works before, but never this piece. We talk about the ways this essay still feels relevant to American life, and the strength of Baldwin's prose and his intellect. We also check out some middling Goodreads reviews of Baldwin's work, to see what the people...2019-07-0852 min
Book FightEp 270: Chuck Klosterman, Sex Drugs & Cocoa PuffsOur special 90s season has come to an end, but we're capping it off by reading a book that has been described as "the ultimate 90s project" despite actually being published in the early 2000s. Chuck Klosterman made his reputation by taking silly pop culture seriously, a mission not too far removed from a certain literary magazine your humble hosts have some involvement with. One of us (Mike) read this book of essays when it came out. The other of us (Tom) was familiar with Klosterman's sports-adjacent work, but less familiar with his other writing. We talk...2019-03-251h 00
Book FightEp 266: Winter of Wayback, 1997 (Daniel Clowes, Ghost World)This week we're revisiting Ghost World, the 1997 graphic novel by Daniel Clowes. The book pulled together material from the serialized comic Clowes wrote over several years and published in his 20th Century Eightball series of anthologies. Later it was made into a movie starring Thora Birch, Scarlett Johansen, and Steve Buscemi. Also this week: what people were saying in 1997 about a little company called Amazon dot com, which went public that May, making its founder a multi-millionaire. Plus the odd online short story project the company curated, with help from John Updike. Plus, Tom fondly remembers Final...2019-02-251h 06
Book FightEp 265: Winter of Wayback, 1996 (David Shields, Remote)We're on to 1996, friends! For this episode we read a David Shields book, Remote, which is kind of a memoir, kind of a collection of creative nonfiction experiments, and kind of difficult to categorize. Mike bought it years ago, in college, before he knew anything about David Shields, and back then he found it a little confusing. Now, with more context for Shields' work, will it make more sense? Tom, meanwhile, has read four Shields books over the years, but has never quite decided if he likes them or not. Will this be the one to get him off...2019-02-1854 min
Book FightEp 264: Winter of Wayback, 1995 (Douglas Coupland, Microserfs)We're halfway through the 90s, and this week we're reading a book that feels very much like a time capsule of the era: Douglas Coupland's Microserfs, his follow-up to Generation X, the novel that introduced that term into the world. In Microserfs we follow a group of twenty-something coders as they quit their jobs at Microsoft to work for a start-up company in Silicon Valley. The book explores the world of early start-up culture just a couple years before dot-com culture fully takes over the San Francisco Bay Area. In lieu of publishing news this week, Mike...2019-02-111h 04
Book FightEp 263: Winter of Wayback, 1994 (Rick Moody, "The Grid")Boy, the '90s are just flying by! We're already up to 1994, a year marked by tragedy (Kurt Cobain, Nicole Brown Simpson) and triumph (Mike's high school graduation). Our reading this week is a short story by Rick Moody, "The Grid." We talk about the story's unconventional structure, its musical voice, and its Gen X-era references. Mike also admits to having read this story aloud to multiple girlfriends (he was young! it was a different time!) In publishing news this week, we take a deep dive into the story of a first novel, Fishboy, to see how...2019-02-041h 10
Book FightEp 262: Winter of Wayback, 1993 (John Edgar Wideman)This week we time-travel back to 1993 to see what was going on in literature, technology, and pop culture. For our reading, we're diving into the John Edgar Wideman short story, "Newborn Thrown in Trash and Dies," part of his prize-winning collection All Stories Are True. The story was inspired by a 1991 news report about a baby who had been discarded down the trash chute of an apartment building. In publishing news this week, Mike looks at the state of "electronic books" on CD-ROM, which in 1993 were beginning to be sold in some book stores, and Tom has...2019-01-281h 01
Book FightEp 261: Winter of Wayback, 1992 (Larry Brown and Oxford American)This week we're time-traveling back to 1992, and the first issue of The Oxford American, which in its early years was frequently referred to as "The New Yorker of the South." We read an essay by Larry Brown called "Fire Notes," which would later be published as part of Brown's memoir, On Fire. Brown was a firefighter and a self-taught writer who began banging out fiction on a typewriter during downtime in the firehouse. The essay we read is about his work for the fire department, and how he got his start as a writer. We couldn't really t...2019-01-211h 11
Book FightEp 260-Winter of Wayback, 1991 (Nelson Algren winners)This week, as we continue our adventure through the 90s, we're discussing both the winner and runner-up stories from 1991's Nelson Algren Prize, sponsored by the Chicago Tribune. Tom Barbash won for his story, "Howling at the Moon," and Patricia Stevens came in second for her story, "Leaving Fort Ord." Barbash would go on to publish a few books, while Stevens seems to have mostly left fiction behind. Also this week, we revisit a piece by Jacob Weisberg that called out a couple big-name editors for not doing their jobs--which caused some serious blowback in the publishing...2019-01-141h 02
Book FightEp 259: Winter of Wayback, 1990 ("The Things They Carried")Welcome to another Winter of Wayback season, Book Fight friends! After last year's run through the 1950s, this year we're skipping ahead to take on the 90s. Over the next ten weeks, we're going to dig into some of the best, most interesting, and weirdest writing published over the course of the decade, while looking at ways publishing changed over those years--the rise and fall of print magazines; the dawning of the internet age; and a generation of supposed "slackers" who embraced the DIY ethic of the previous decade's punk scene to carve out their own alternative cultural niche...2019-01-071h 08Book FightEp 251: Henry Miller, The Air-Conditioned Nightmare (w/ Evan Madden)We're taking a little break from our Fall of Finales season this week to chat with special guest Evan Madden, drummer with many hardcore and metal bands over the years, most recently Drones for Queens. It's always fun when we can get a non-writer onto the show to talk about their relationship to books and reading. Evan's book pick for the episode was Henry Miller's The Air-Conditioned Nightmare, about a road trip the author took across America in 1940, after living for years in France (though the book wasn't published until 1945, by New Directions, after it was rejected by Doubleday...2018-10-2958 min
Book FightEp 240: Special Guest Daniel DiFrancoThis week we welcome another special guest to the podcast: writer, guitarist, high-school music teacher, and debut novelist Daniel DiFranco, whose book, Panic Years, comes out this Wednesday. As is the Book Fight custom, we let Dan pick the book we read for this week's episode, which was Michael Poore's Reincarnation Blues. The novel had a bit of a Tom Robbins vibe, which, given how things went when your hosts read an actual Tom Robbins novel, had us all a little nervous. In the second half of the show, we talk to Dan about teaching music to...2018-08-131h 03Book FightEp 235: Summer of Spouses, Michael DorrisWe're continuing our Summer of Spouses, in which we read work by the less-famous halves of literary couples. This week it's a couple stories by Michael Dorris, who was married to the writer Louise Erdrich. He had some pretty big successes of his own, including a nonfiction book called The Broken Cord, which is credited with raising awareness around fetal alcohol syndrome. He and Erdrich were, for a time, also quite the literary power couple, working together on some projects and editing each others' work. Then Dorris's life took a very dark turn. In the second half...2018-07-0957 minBook FightEp 233: Summer of Spouses!This week we're starting our new summer season, in which we'll read work by the less-famous halves of writer couples. To kick it off, we discuss an essay called "Envy" by Kathryn Chetkovich, in which she writes about the crippling jealousy she felt after her boyfriend, Jonathan Franzen, published a little book called The Corrections. The essay caused a bit of a lit-world stir when it came out in 2003 from Granta. We also talk about the upcoming season, and why we're interested in exploring these spousal relationships. Plus, Tom reads tweets to Mike against his will. 2018-06-251h 08
Book FightCrossover Special: Book Fight vs The Drunken OdysseyTom, along with Barrelhouse Poetry Editor Dan Brady, joined the hosts of The Drunken Odyssey for a special crossover episode, recorded at this year's AWP conference in Tampa. Enjoy! For more of The Drunken Odyssey, check out their website.2018-03-1240 minBook FightEp 210: Victor LaValle, The Ballad of Black TomThis week we welcome special guest Dave K., whose novel—The Bong-Ripping Brides of Count Dragado—you can order from Mason Jar Press. We talked to him about genre, black metal, H.P. Lovecraft, the Human Friendipede, and steampunk. We also talked about Victor LaValle's The Ballad of Black Tom, which was Dave's pick for the episode.2018-01-081h 15Book FightEp 203: Tom Williams, Don't Start Me Talkin'This week we're discussing our final novel of the Fall of Frauds, a book about two "authentic" bluesmen who turn out to be not quite what they seem. The music is real enough, but they've adopted the kinds of personas they assume their (mostly white) audiences want: uneducated, boozy, physically ailing black men from the deep south who speak in homespun slang, when they deign to speak at all. Don't Start Me Talkin' is Tom Willams' second book, published in 2014 by Curbside Splendor. Also: It's November, which means it's NaNoWriMo, which means it's time for us to...2017-11-131h 02Book FightEp 201: Fall of Frauds, Jorge Luis BorgesThis week we're back with another fraud-themed story, this one from an upstart indie author named Jorge Luis Borges. Probably you haven't heard about him. He's pretty obscure. Anyway, early in his career he wrote an entire collection of stories based on real-life criminals. The story we read, "Tom Castro, the Implausible Imposter," was also published (in English) in Harper's. This week we also talk about various Halloween-themed hoaxes, including razors in candy, and a BBC television production about a haunted house that apparently caused PTSD symptoms in a number of viewers, and was even partly responsible...2017-10-3059 minBook FightEp 199: Patricia Highsmith, The Talented Mr. RipleyThis week we continue our Fall of Frauds season by discussing one of the most famous fraud-themed novels out there, Patricia Highsmith's The Talented Mr. Ripley. If you haven't read the book, don't worry, we're not spoiling any late-in-the-book plot points. Also this week, we talk about how to fake your own death. Or, more accurately, how NOT to fake your own death, since the only examples one can find, of course, are of people who were eventually found out. Still: useful tips! Don't ever say we're not providing our listeners with a valuable service. P...2017-10-161h 00
Book FightEp 189-Summer of Selfies, Tom Chiarella ("My Education")This week we're continuing our Summer of Selfies theme by discussing confessional essays, including one by Tom Chiarella, a long-time writer and editor for Esquire. In an essay called "My Education," he detailed the sexual abuse he experienced at the hand of a Catholic-school teacher, while also wrestling with his own ambivalence about the benefits of writing such an essay. Americans, Chiarella says, feel the need to talk about their traumas, but is that always necessary, or even desirable?2017-08-0757 minBook FightEp 182-Carolyn Nowak, Diana's Electric Tongue (with Claire Folkman and Kelly Phillips)This week we welcome back fan favorites Kelly Phillips and Claire Folkman, the duo behind Dirty Diamonds, an all-girl comic anthology. They're currently working on their 8th book, Sex. They picked our book this week, a comic by Carolyn Nowak (Girl Town, Radishes) about a woman who orders a robot companion and then tells him her secrets. We talk about Diana's Electric Tongue, comic inspiration, running a small-press publishing company, working with your friends, Weird Al, the line between sex-themed writing and smut, and why Tom has never taken Mike for a panzarotti. For more, chec...2017-06-191h 09Book FightBook Fight Classic: Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (first released April 2013)Hey, listeners! Due to a death in Tom's family, there's no new episode this week. But we're reposting this one from the archives (first released in April 2013) in which Tom's old college roommate joined us for a discussion of Ernest Cline's Ready Player One. We hope you enjoy it! And we'll be back with a new joint next Monday. As always, thanks for listening!2017-04-031h 15Book FightEp 165-John Connolly, The Book of Lost ThingsThis novel combines elements of familiar fairy tales and mythic narratives to create a world that feels pretty original. It's a dark world, and a pretty sad one, yet the book also has a sense of humor, and a strong sense of play. We also talk about raccoons, since that's a thing we do, and we mark the return of a long lost segment that has to do with Tom's pants.2017-02-131h 01Book FightEpisode 145: Summer of Second Chances, Matthew Quick ("Do Not Hate Them Very Much")In the first half of this week's show we discuss this 2007 Matthew Quick story, originally published in Agni. Long-time listeners will recall that Tom has occasionally taken issue with Mr. Quick's work, as well as his life and just his all-around "thing." So reading one of his early publications, from a reputable lit journal, seemed like a great opportunity for Tom to open up his heart and give "Q" a second chance. In the second half of the show we eat a bunch of Pop Tarts and try to figure out which flavor is best. Look, we n...2016-09-1951 minBook FightEp 143-Summer of Second Chances, Sheila Heti ("My Life Is a Joke")Back in Episode 15, we talked about Sheila Heti's novel How Should a Person Be, which neither of us loved. This week we're giving Heti a second chance, reading a recent story of hers from The New Yorker. We talk about whether we were too quick to judge her book based on its marketing materials, and what it is we want from fiction. If certain types of novels feel stale, for instance, is the problem with the form itself, or just books that aren't doing enough within that form? Also: Mike shares some lessons learned from spending his s...2016-09-0554 minBook FightEp 142-John McManus, Bitter MilkTom picked this novel, the author's first (though he'd already published two story collections, the first of which made him the youngest-ever winner of a Whiting Award). Reading the book made Mike question why he's making this podcast in the first place. So: good times! In the second half of the show, Mike puts Tom on the metaphorical couch to help him figure out why he keeps feeling pulled away from the book project he's supposed to be working on. It's a real angsty week in Book Fight World, listeners. Enjoy!2016-08-2955 minBook FightEp 141-Summer of Second Chances, Agatha Christie ("Witness for the Prosecution")Agatha Christie is one of the world's best-selling authors of all time, yet when we read her novel And Then There Were None earlier this year, we gave it mixed reviews. So we're giving Christie a second chance, digging into one of her most celebrated short stories, "Witness For the Prosecution" (which you can read for free via that link). Tom, in particular, seemed to dislike And Then There Were None, so will this story turn him? Or will Christie fall victim to our famously harsh two-strikes-you're-out rule? In the second half of the show, we...2016-08-2257 minBook FightEp. 139-Summer of Second Chances, Penelope LivelyBack in 105, we were less than thrilled with Penelope Lively's novel Making It Up. This week we're giving her work a second chance by reading a couple short stories from her 1997 collection, The Five Thousand and One Nights. Will we fall in love? Or will Lively fall prey to the Book Fight "two strikes and you're out" rule? Also this week: Another listener-submitted story of literary second chances, plus Mike has some advice on whether to give your ex a second chance. And Tom talks about the time he got broken up with via Fleetwood Mac lyrics.2016-08-081h 00Book FightEp. 137-Summer of Second Chances, John Barth ("Lost in the Funhouse")A few years ago we read a John Barth story collection (On With the Story) that Mike enjoyed and Tom did not. So this week Mike's making Tom read one of Barth's most-loved short stories to see if he can turn him into a fan. Also: We talk about other artists we took a while to warm up to, and listener-submitted stories of second chances. For more, visit us online at bookfightpod.com. 2016-07-2557 minBook FightBonus Episode: Matthew VollmerA special mid-week treat for you, Book Fight fans. Tom was recently in Blacksburg, Virginia, for a conference at Virginia Tech, and sat down with Matthew Vollmer, author of Inscriptions for Headstones and Future Missionaries of America. They talked about publishing, teaching, and how to make time for your own work while leading a busy life.2016-05-1226 minBook FightEp 120-CS Lewis, The Lion, The Witch and The WardrobeThis week we're reading the first novel in C.S. Lewis's beloved Narnia series, which Mike loved as a child and somehow Tom missed out on entirely. Will the book hold up to the scrutiny of two skeptical, sometimes cynical adults? Will the Christian elements feel too heavy handed? Or will Mike and Tom find themselves filled with earnest, childlike wonder? Only one way to find out!
For more visit us online at bookfightpod.com. 2016-03-281h 05Book FightEp 110-Sarah Shotland, JunketteThis week we're talking about Sarah Shotland's 2014 novel Junkette, about a young woman trying to escape both heroin addiction and a seriously codependent relationship--maybe two codependent relationships, actually: one with her boyfriend and one with the city of New Orleans. We talk about what makes writing feel honest, and how good writers are like tour guides to places you've never been. In the second half of the show, Mike tries out a new, South Philly-centric segment, and Tom talks about lit journals with pedantic submission guidelines.
For more, visit us online at bookfightpod.com. 2016-01-181h 04Book FightEp 105-Penelope Lively, Making It UpPenelope Lively has written more than thirty books, and Tom picked this one, for some reason. The novel purports to explore the line between fiction and nonfiction, but it does so in a way neither of us found particularly interesting. We talk about what separates a "novel" from a purposeless series of writing exercises.
In the second half of the show, we delve into the world of Christmas-themed fan fiction, with stories about the characters from Love, Actually, Law and Order: SVU and Veronica Mars.
For more, visit us online at bookfightpod.com. 2015-12-0758 minBook FightEp 95-Elissa Washuta, "Consumption"This week's reading is an essay about college binge drinking from a recent issue of Okey-Panky. We contemplate what an un-themed season of Book Fight might look like, plus Tom talks about his recent arguments with his publisher over the title of his book.
For more, visit us online at bookfightpod.com. 2015-09-2858 minBook FightSummer of Love: Charles D'Ambrosio, "Drummond and Son"This week's story is one of Tom's favorites, which he teaches often as an antidote to his usual depressing fare. Though it's debatable whether D'Ambrosio's story of a man caring for his psychologically troubled son is really a happy one? We talk about whether "reading as a writer" ruins your understanding of what non-writers might want to read. We also talk about some of history's (and pop culture's) worst dads. And we take a question from a listener about whether the way a person falls in love changes over time.
For more, as always, visit us online a...2015-08-3155 minBook FightEp 92-Marguerite Duras, The LoverDuras wrote this short, 110-page novel late in her career, in 1984, claiming it was "purely autobiographical," which created a bit of a scandal in certain corners, since the plot revolves around an affair a 15-year-old girl carries on with a 27-year-old man in what was then French Indochina.
We talk about the perhaps unconventional power dynamics of that romantic relationship, Duras's mother and brothers, who also feature heavily in the book, and short novels more generally. We also see if we can make heads or tails of some grad-school questions about this book, and Tom's got another in...2015-08-2459 minBook FightEp 91-Neil Stephenson, Snow CrashTom tries to get Mike to enjoy some science fiction, and Mike says: no, thank you. We discuss predictions of the future, annoying robots, 90s slang, and information overload. Also this week, a new edition of Fan Fiction Corner, featuring a very sexy story set in the Nintendo universe.
For more, including links to things we talked about in the show, visit us online at bookfightpod.com. 2015-08-101h 11Book FightSummer of Love: George Saunders, "The Barber's Unhappiness"This week we're discussing George Saunders, generous humor vs mean-spirited humor, computer and online dating, and top wedding songs. Also, Tom talks about a lady he dated who isn't his wife! And Mike talks about whether love is or is not for the birds.2015-07-201h 06Book FightEp 86-Maggie Nelson, BluetsThis week's discussion centers on a genre-bending book by Maggie Nelson, an unconventional memoir and a treatise on perception, pain, love and loss, and the color blue. Bluets came out in 2009 and has become a real touchstone for some writers of both creative nonfiction and poetry.
We also talk about Tom's recent trip to Italy, his hatred of Romans, and Mike's growing hatred of online user reviews.
For more, visit us online at bookfightpod.com.2015-06-011h 04Book FightSpring of Spite: Richard YatesWelcome to your first installment in the Spring of Spite! This week we're reading a Richard Yates story, "Oh Joseph, I'm So Tired," which paints a pretty rough portrait of the author's mother and her failed attempts at artistic (and social) relevance. We also talk about the science of spite, and the phenomeon of "spite houses" and "spite fences." Finally, Tom gives Mike a spite-related quiz, though several of the questions are obviously flawed and not accurate measures of actual spitefulness, which is just objective fact rather than a reflection of which of us writes these weekly episode descriptions. E...2015-04-131h 09Book FightEp 82: Yuri Herrera, Signs Preceding the End of the WorldThis week is a Tom pick, by a writer who is Mexico's greatest novelist, if the blurb on the front cover is true. The novel--Herrera's only, so far, to be translated into English--follows a young woman named Makina as she crosses the border into the United States in search of her brother. We talk about the book's attempt to thread the needle between realism and fabulism, as well as one of its translator's more difficult decisions.
In the second half of the show, we've got a long-awaited update on Cousin Joey, as well as a new segment...2015-04-061h 07Book FightEp 80-Nathan Rabin, You Don't Know Me But You Don't Like MeWe're joined this week by Dave Housley (author of the new story collection If I Knew The Way, I Would Take You Home) to discuss Nathan Rabin's 2013 book investigating the cult followings of both Phish and Insane Clown Posse. The book tracks Rabin's experiences at several Phish shows and the annual Gathering of the Juggalos, as well as his near-breakdown during what sounds like a pretty rough year.
We also talk about Dave's obsession with aliens, and his Twitter friendship with several members of the alien network MUFON. Plus: a new segment called "Things Mike Found in To...2015-03-091h 30Book FightWinter of Wayback: 1982Astute listeners might note that we're supposed to have a book episode this week. Unfortunately, we lost that episode in a technical snafu. Fortunately, we already had the next Winter of Wayback episode ready to go! This week we're reading a story from 1982, the year of Tom's birth. The story, "Dancing Ducks and Talking Anus," appeared in the 1982 Best American Short Stories anthology, selected by John Gardner, but its author, James Ferry, was basically never heard from again. Until a fan of his tracked down his brother, and then shared the story with us.
We're also talking abou...2015-01-191h 04Book FightEp 72-Ravi Mangla, UnderstudiesThis week's book is a Tom pick, and was also the runner-up in last year's listener poll, narrowly losing out to The Silver Linings Playbook. Also: it's November, so we're once again talking about National Novel Writing Month, delving into the NaNoWriMo forums to see what this year's participants are struggling with.2014-11-101h 16Book FightFall of Failure: Eula Biss and Failed Amusement ParksThis week's essay is a Tom pick, an essay by Eula Biss called "Time and Distance Overcome," which is about, among other things, early telephone technology, resistance to telephone poles, and the widespread lynching of black men in early 20th century America.
We're also talking about failed amusement parks this week: parks that were proposed but never built, and some that probably shouldn't have been built, including a wild-animal safari in New Jersey and Dickens World in the UK.
For more, visit us online at bookfightpod.com. 2014-11-031h 02Book FightLive in Manayunk!Our first-ever live episode, recorded at The Spiral Bookcase in Manayunk, just outside Center City Philadelphia and a few blocks from Tom's ancestral home. We're joined by Ann Tetreault (owner of the bookstore in question), Joey Sweeney (writer, musician, founder of Philebrity.com), Katherine Hill (fan favorite, author of The Violet Hour) and Lee Klein (author of Thanks and Sorry and Good Luck, and The Shimmering Go-Between).
We talk publishing, book-selling, offensive mascots, Philadelphia's culture of protest, Kickstarter annoyances, street fights, rejection, and rebounding from failure. Plus there's live music, audience interaction, and a cat (spoiler: you ca...2014-10-061h 16Book FightSummer of Shorts Ep 7-Barthelme and Swim TrunksThis week on Summer of Shorts we're talking about Donald Barthelme's "Me and Miss Mandible" and also swim trunks. Tom is headed out on a beach vacation, despite pretty much hating the beach, whereas Mike grew up near the beach and thinks he needs to get over his irrational fears of the ocean. Also, the story is pretty good, and you should check it out, either in the collection Come Back, Dr. Caligari, or in the collected Sixty Stories.2014-08-181h 00Book FightEp 64-Anita Konkka, A Fool's ParadiseThis week Tom continues his year-long exploration of books outside his usual reading patterns, with Finnish writer's Anita Konkka's A Fool's Paradise, published by Dalkey Archive Press. And Mike continues his exploration of fan fiction, quizzing Tom on a variety of tropes and terms, some of which might actually be useful if they were adopted by writers of non-fan fiction, too. 2014-07-071h 09Book FightSummer of Shorts: Braverman and BermudasToday we're kicking off the Summer of Shorts by talking about the Kate Braverman story "Tall Tales from the Mekong Delta" and also bermuda shorts. Is the story meant to be read literally or allegorically? What is the proper length for men's shorts? Is this one of the best American short stories of the twentieth century, as its inclusion in a Vintage anthology would suggest? Why did Tom stop wearing shorts entirely for several years?
You can read the story (for free) at the link above. You can get a pair of bermudas wherever fine shorts are s...2014-06-021h 00Book FightEp 60-Kevin Canty, Into the Great Wide OpenThis week's book, Canty's first novel, is one of Mike's favorites, while Tom is reading it for the first time. We talk about doomed teenage romance, small moments carefully observed, and what makes you want to return to a book. We also examine the free Wattpad app, and check out some Adam Levine/The Voice fan fic. 2014-05-121h 19Book FightBonus Episode: Matthew Quick, The Silver Linings PlaybookFinally, listeners, it's here. We're reading the best-selling novel by Tom's nemesis and America's sweetheart, Q. Will Mike be won over by Pat Peoples' struggle to overcome a traumatic brain injury? Will Tom punch Mike in the face?
We talk about the book's treatment of race and mental illness, whether its details about football fandom are accurate, and how it might serve as a "playbook," if you will, for how to write a commercially successful novel.2014-04-111h 35Book FightEp 57-Ben Lerner, Leaving the Atocha StationWell, it's the end of March, and finally Mike gets a pick: Ben Lerner's much-celebrated 2011 novel about a poet on a Fullbright in Spain struggling with a series of major and minor existential crises. We talk about poetry and "poetry," people having "profound experiences of art," and what makes writers' identity crises interesting or not. Mike's also got a new installment of Fan Fiction Corner, much to Tom's chagrin. This week we're checking out fan fiction about characters from the literary canon.
For more, visit us online at bookfightpod.com.
And check out Barrelhouse's various o...2014-03-311h 19Book FightAWP Special Report #2Tom reports from the floor of the AWP conference in Seattle. He talks to Tom Williams, author of Don't Start Me Talkin', about conference-goers' book buying habits, and his favorite parts of AWP. Also, Barrelhouse editor Dave Housley joins in to talk slam poetry vs. spoken word, and attending panels vs not attending panels. 2014-02-2812 minBook FightAWP Special Report: Feb 27Welcome to the first of our AWP 2014 special reports. Well, not "our," since Mike is still in Philly. Tom chats with Barrelhouse editor Joe Killiany about the best and worst parts of AWP, travel woes, Sherman Alexie, William Faulkner, and beard maintenance. 2014-02-2814 minBook FightWriters Ask: Angry PeacocksAnother super-sized Writers Ask this week, not so much because we're answering lots of questions but because we've got lots of opinions. Do you want to know what Tom thinks about the television show The View? Do you want to hear about the time in college when Mike was on a Dating Game-style game show in his dorm? Would you like some literary blind items about bad readings? If so, this is the episode for you. Also, we (nominally) answer some listener questions about, like, writing and junk.2013-12-021h 06Book FightEp 48-Arthur Conan Doyle, The Hound of the BaskervillesTom introduces Mike to the Sherlock Holmes universe, which up till now he's known only through various parodies. And Mike wants to know: Is Sherlock Holmes supposed to be a giant dick? We also workshop some new segment ideas for the show, including Q-Tips and Speaking Truth to Power. And Tom mansplains his opinion on mansplaining. 2013-11-251h 10Book FightEp 43: Emily Gould, And the Heart Says WhateverLots of people on the internet had opinions about this 2010 essay collection by former Gawker editor Emily Gould. The book is essentially a memoir of her early 20s in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Mike kinda liked it, but Tom seemed irritated that he had to read it. Talking points include: expectations for insight in nonfiction, white privilege, haters, the phrase "slice of life," underage sex, and working in shitty bars. For more, visit us online at bookfightpod.com 2013-09-1656 minBook FightWriters Ask: Retweet ThisOn this week's episode we're answering questions about personal statements for MFA applications, books about religious characters, and why it annoys Tom (but not Mike) when writers retweet people's praise and positive reviews. Talking points include: Book Fight fan fiction, Bobby Bowden, Tom the Grouch, Texas, dogs eating chocolate, and pork bullets.2013-07-2937 minBook FightWriters Ask: Flash RevisitedWe talk with author Matthew Salesses about flash fiction, in response to complaints we lodged a while back about that genre. Also we answer listener questions about books we hate, and writing advice we dole out but don't follow. Plus, Mike's still mad about losing the 6th-grade science fair, and Tom still carries a grudge against The Decameron, because of a teacher who gave him the finger. For more, visit us at bookfightpod.com.2013-07-1553 minBook FightWriters Ask: Enter Me, MuseWhat role does academic criticism play for a writer of fiction? Should you outline a novel before starting to write? And how and when should you ask for book blurbs? Bonus knowledge: Mike tells you how to invite the writerly muse into your soul, and Tom finally learns what the word "potluck" means. To ask a question, or for more episodes, visit bookfightpod.com2013-07-0139 minBook FightEp 37-Tom Robbins, Even Cowgirls Get the BluesMike revisits a book he loved as a 17-year-old, and makes Tom come along for the ride. How could that go wrong? Talking points include: hippies, the band Phish, rubber meatballs, creepy uncles, and gigantic thumbs. For more, including links to stuff discussed in the episode, visit bookfightpod.com.2013-06-241h 12Book FightWriters Ask: A Bridge Too FarShould you write while you're angry? Is historical fiction on the rise? And should someone's reading habits be a dating dealbreaker? This week we explore Tom's emotional landscape, and the musical preferences of Mike's ex-girlfriends. Also: Tom may have finally pushed Mike to the brink with his toe talk. Will this be the end of the podcast? For more, visit bookfightpod.com.2013-06-1742 min
Book FightEp 32-JM Coetzee, Waiting for the BarbariansBook Fight road trip! We recorded this episode in a car (Tom's) while driving to the annual Conversations and Connections conference in Washington, D.C. The book this week is Tom's pick, and boy is it a bummer. Though a very well-written, culturally important bummer. We still found stuff to joke about, including bears, Tom's driving skills, tunnels, sharks, and Jay Leno's quest for love and approval. We also talked about the upsides and downsides of allegory, and whether Coetzee's narrator is a creep.
This week's closing music is from Phosphorescent's 2005 album "To Willie," which you can...2013-04-1557 minBook FightWriters Ask: Hurtin' Feelings and Burnin' BridgesTo MFA or not to MFA: that is the question. Also, what's our beef with flash fiction? And how should writers use Twitter and Facebook? Plus Tom burns a bridge, and Mike tries to glean some lessons from past failures.2013-04-0848 minBook FightEp 31-Kingsley Amis, Lucky JimOne of Mike's favorite books, which means if Tom doesn't properly love it Mike might have to punch him. Also: Britishisms, the Middle Ages, academic ambivalence, Jenga, and ballet.2013-04-011h 20Book FightAWP Dispatch #4The results of our panel dare: Tom goes to a 75-minute session on therapy, while Mike explores the connections between history and poetry. 2013-03-0932 min
Book FightEp 27-Jami Attenberg, The Melting SeasonA novel that prompts a discussion of how we pick books, and why certain books stress us out. Talking points include: story structure, penis length versus penis girth, athletes versus writers, Mexican vacations, and Mike's junior tennis career. We also debut a new feature at the end of the show, tentatively titled Mike and Tom Recommend, in which we ... well, recommend stuff (and bicker about said recommendations, as it turns out).2013-02-041h 06
Book FightEp 19-Zadie Smith, NWZadie's new one is so good it leads us into a larger discussion of the relationship between truth and art. Also, we squabble over the word 'relatable,' Tom's generation vs. Mike's generation, and whether we're ready to take over for the retiring Car Talk guys.2012-10-221h 04
Book FightEp 16-Tom Grimes, MentorMike and Tom reminisce (and gossip) about their time at the Iowa Writers Workshop and their memories of Frank Conroy, the larger-than-life writer and teacher at the center of Tom Grimes' memoir.2012-09-1058 min
Book FightWriters Ask: Cousin JoeyIn the second installment of Writers Ask, Tom and Mike tell you how to recommend books to your non-literary friends, and how to deal with relatives who think they know what you should write about. Special bonus: Lightning round!2012-08-2026 minBook FightEp 13-John Barth, On With the StoryTom hates metafiction. Mike tries to get him to love it, or at least appreciate it, using John Barth's 1996 collection On With the Story, linked stories that play a number of narrative games and call attention to how stories work, and how we expect them to work. We also talk about about the false dichotomy of sad stories vs happy stories, and why Tom's students want him to cheer the hell up.2012-07-3056 min
Book FightEp 7-Hemmingway, A Farewell to ArmsWe welcome our second guest into the Book Fight basement: Jason Lewis, who last year published his first novel, The Fourteenth Colony. More importantly for our purposes, Jason has now read A Farewell to Arms six times. He's got some thoughts about it! Plenty of which Tom and Mike take issue with, especially when it comes to the book's female lead. You can check out Jason's writing--and his music--at www.sadironpress.com.2012-05-311h 06
Book FightEp 6-Lauren Groff, Delicate Edible BirdsTom and Mike dig into their first story collection of the podcast, Lauren Groff's 2009 book Delicate Edible Birds. Topics include: the potential anxiety of reading work by your contemporaries, and why story collections are such a tough sell on the reading public.2012-05-151h 10
Book FightEp 5-Mat Johnson, PymTom and Mike dig into a book the New York Times named as one of the top five novels of 2011, in which an academic with his career on the rocks travels to Antarctica to (among other things) unlock the mysteries behind Edgar Allen Poe's sole novel, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket. Discussing the book leads to a larger conversation about why we read, and what we want from fiction.2012-05-101h 39
Book FightEp 4-Judy Blume, ForeverTom and Mike welcome their first guest to the Book Fight basement to help them revisit Judy Blume's YA novel Forever. Topics include: sex ed, awkward teenage romance, and the relative merits of naming one's genitalia.2012-04-2459 min
Book FightEp 3-Joan Didion, Play It As It LaysMike and Tom try to figure out what separates this novel from the thousands of others that traffic in bleak, amoral human landscapes. Tom shares a story about his 14-year-old self he’s never told anyone, including his wife. Mike admits that, as a young person, he romanticized a certain dark worldview that seems kind of silly, even embarrassing, to his 35-year-old self. And they both agree that this novel is a pretty good argument in favor of continuing to fund Planned Parenthood.2012-04-161h 00
Book FightEp 1-Sam Lipsyte, The AskFor the first episode of Book Fight, Tom and Mike gathered in the Book Fight Basement to talk about Sam Lispyte's 2010 novel The Ask. Topics include: the limitations of ironic detachment, whether Holden Caulfield would be a tender lover, and why Tom can't be happy even at The Happiest Place on Earth.2012-04-0158 min