Endings: The Last Days of Roger Federer

We're joined by Elisa Gabbert (Any Person is the Only Self, Normal Distance) to discuss E.M. Forster's 1924 novel A Passage to India, and also to speculate wildly about why this was the last novel Forster ever wrote. You can find selections of Gabbert's work (and links to buy her books) on her website: http://www.elisagabbert.com/ And if you like our podcast, and want more of it in your life, you can get access to a huge trove of bonus episodes on our Patreon, for only $5 a month: https://www.patreon.com/c/BookFight Thanks for listening!

We're joined by Sam Ashworth (The Death and Life of August Sweeney) to talk about the ultimate ending: death. Our book this week is Julian Barnes' 2008 memoir about death and dying, Nothing to Be Frightened Of. We discuss ruminative books, and whether all narratives need to have an arc. Plus: the triumphant return of Judge a Book By Its Cover. Thanks, as always, for listening! If you like the show, and would like some more Book Fight in your life, you can join our Patreon for just $5 a month: https://www.patreon.com/c/BookFight To keep up with Sam, or to learn more about his work: https://www.samuelashworth.com/  

No guest this week, as we wanted to do an episode with just the two of us, here at the mid-point of our final season. For our reading, we dive into A Clockwork Orange, which Mike had somehow never read. Meanwhile, not only had Tom read it, he wrote a paper about its ending, back in his undergrad days, which by some miracle (or anal-retentiveness?) he still has a copy of.  Also this week: one final installment of Fan Fiction Corner. How has AI affected the fanfic community? Should politics be part of fanfiction? And can a time-traveling Toby Maguire prevent the Kennedy assassination? Thanks, as always, for listening. We've got a few more guest episodes this season, then a final episode that'll just be the two of us. We're also continuing to post bonus content on our Patreon, if you need more Book Fight in your life. Just $5 a month gets you access to loads of bonus content from the last several years: https://www.patreon.com/c/BookFight  

We're joined one last time by fan favorite Katherine Hill (A Short Move) to talk about Nora Ephron's 1983 novel Heartburn, a thinly veiled account of the author's divorce from Carl Bernstein. Specifically: Why does it seem like everyone is reading this book right now? And is it somehow the godmother of the recent spate of Millenial divorce books? Also discussed: humor as a coping mechanism, voice-driven novels, recipes in fiction, and why are people on Goodreads mad at Nora Ephron? If you're enjoying the show, and would like more of it, check out our Patreon, where we post bonus episodes every two weeks (and where you'll have access to a veritable treasure trove of previous episodes, for a measley $5 a month): https://www.patreon.com/c/BookFight  

A season of endings, but also beginnings: our first Barbara Pym! The celebrated British novelist had a bit of a career slump; after publishing six novels between 1950 and 1961, she couldn't find a home for her seventh, and didn't publish anything for more than a decade. Then, in 1977, Quartet in Autumn appeared, and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. A true comeback victory. We chose this book because it deals with a different kind of ending: retirement. Four aging office workers are on their way out, and each is sad in their own way. The book's kind of a bummer, but also funny? Like a certain podcast you all know and love. We're joined by frequest guest Dave Housley, author of several sad/funny novels, including one about an office.  If you're a fan of the show, and want more of it in your life, we're still posting new episodes every two weeks to our Patreon. Five bucks a month also gets you access to a pretty deep back catalog, including our Hunt for the Worst Book of All Time: https://www.patreon.com/c/BookFight  

The problem with writing very short stories is that it forces you to write more endings, which are the hardest part! At least that's our opinion. But we bring on writer and Barrelhouse fiction editor Christopher Gonzalez (I'm Not Hungry But I Could Eat, 2021) to school us in how to stick the landing on flash fiction.  Chris chose four very different flash pieces for us to read, all of which are available for free online: -Andy Lopez, "How Filipino of Us" (from Split Lip) -Deesha Philyaw, "Love 1992: A Catechism)" (from Fractured Lit) -Amy Stuber, "Only a Little Bit Less Than I Hate Myself" (from Longleaf Review) -Julian Martinez, "Cartoons" (from HAD) Also in this episode: We review what's going on in shorts (short pants, that is), which includes some conflicting reports in terms of inseam lengths. And do shorts get longer as the government becomes more authoritarian? It's a theory, apparently.   

We kick off the final season of Book Fight with a guest-free episode--like the old days! Our reading this week is Geoff Dyer's 2022 book The Last Days of Roger Federer, and Other Endings. Which seemed thematically appropriate as we come to our own ending (of the podcast; we're not dying or anything).  

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 McAllister. Note: This will be the last episode of the podcast on the regular feed for a spell, while we work on our next season. But we'll continue to post new episodes for our Patreon subscribers: for $5/month, you can get those episodes, plus access to our entire back catalog. https://www.patreon.com/c/bookfight Thanks for listening, and happy holidays!

We wrap up our noir season with one final episode, this one discussing the 1963 Peter Sellers movie The Pink Panther, and the series more generally, which spoofed many of the tropes of the noir/detective genres. We also look back at the season--what we learned from diving into the noir genre, and our favorite books. If you like this episode, we've been doing an entire series on noir films over on our Patreon, which you can access for just $5/month. We'll also keep posting episodes over there in the new year, leading up to our next season of regular episodes: https://www.patreon.com/c/BookFight Thanks for listening!

We 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. If you're enjoying the podcast, and want to help support it (while getting yourself some sweet, sweet bonus content) please consider subscribing to our Patreon. For $5 a month you get two monthly episodes, which could also help tide you over until our next season: https://www.patreon.com/c/BookFight As always, thanks for listening!