Episode 89: Benchwarmer Books

We love talking about essays so much, we decided to do it again! This week, we pick up where we left off a few episodes ago, chatting about more of our favorite essayists and collections. We also share a few from our essay TBR piles. What are some of your favorites?ShownotesBooks* Greenglass House, by Kate Milford* Ghosts of Greenglass House, by Kate Milford* The Westing Game, by Ellen Raskin* The Unforgivable, by Cristina Campo* You Like It Darker, by Stephen King* Every Arc Bends Its Radian, by Sergio De La Pava* A Naked Singularity, by Sergio De La Pava* Ghosts, by Edith Wharton* Europe in Sepia, Dubravka Ugresic, translated by David Williams* Karaoke Culture, by Dubravka Ugresic, translated by David Williams* Muzzle for Witches, by Dubravka Ugresic, translated by Ellen Elias-Bursać* Thank You for Not Reading, by Dubravka Ugresic, translated from the Croatian by Celia Hawkesworth, with contribution from Damion Searls* Fox, by Dubravka Ugresic, translated by Ellen Elias-Bursać and David Williams* An Elemental Thing, by Eliot Weinberger* A Chance Meeting: American Encounters, by Rachel Cohen* Sightlines, by Kathleen Jamie* The Possessed: Adventures with Russian Books and the People Who Read Them, by Elif Batuman* The Book of Delights, by Ross Gay* The Book of (More) Delights, by Ross Gay* Pulphead, by John Jeremiah Sullivan* Consider the Lobster, by David Foster Wallace* A Solemn Pleasure: To Imagine, Witness, and Write, by Melissa Pritchard* The Common Reader, by Virginia Woolf* War and Peace, by Leo Tolstoy* The Brothers Karamazov, by Fyodor Dostoevsky* Felix Holt: The Radical, by George Eliot* Middlemarch, by George Eliot* The God of Endings, by Jacqueline Holland* Melvill, by Rodrigo Fresán, translated by Will Vanderhyden* Miss MacIntosh, My Darling, by Marguerite Young* Angel in the Forest, by Marguerite Young* The Peregrine, by J.A. BakerOther Links* Episode 39: Scary Books That Kept Us Up at Night* Electric Lit: Our Favorite Essays and Stories About Horror Films* Three Percent Podcast: Lori Feathers on Marguerite Young* ObliteratureteesThe Mookse and the Gripes Podcast is a book chat podcast. Every other week Paul and Trevor get together to talk about some bookish topic or another. We hope you’ll continue to join us!Many thanks to those who helped make this possible! If you’d like to donate as well, you can do so on Substack or on our Patreon page. These subscribers get periodic bonus episode and early access to all episodes! Every supporter has their own feed that he or she can use in their podcast app of choice to download our episodes a few days early. Please go check it out! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mookse.substack.com/subscribe

This week, we’re joined by our good friend Mark Haber to discuss his wonderful books, including the brand new Lesser Ruins. Fittingly, this episode features numerous digressions into literary influences and loves, coffee, music, art, travel, and much more!ShownotesBooks* The Cemetery of Untold Stories, by Julia Alvarez* The Rainbow, by D.H. Lawrence* Fog at Noon, by Tomás González, translated by Andrea Rosenberg* Difficult Light, by Tomás González, translated by Andrea Rosenberg* Living Things, by Munir Hachemi, translated by Julia Sanches* Vacated Landscape, by Jean Lahougue, translated by K.E. Gormley* The God of Endings, by Jacqueline Holland* Melvill, by Rodrigo Fresán, translated by Will Vanderhyden* Attila, by Aliocha Coll, translated by Katie Whittemore* Attila, by Serena, by Javier Serena, translated by Katie Whittemore* Deathbed Conversions, by Mark Haber* Reinhardt’s Garden, by Mark Haber* Saint Sebastian’s Abyss, by Mark Haber* Lesser Ruins, by Mark Haber* An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter, by César Aira, translated by Chris Andrews* The Netanyahus, by Joshua Cohen* Ada, by Mark Haber (forthcoming 2026)* 2666, by Roberto Bolaño, translated by Natasha Wimmer* Ten, by Juan Emar, translated by Megan McDowell* Out of Sheer Rage: Wrestling with D.H. Lawrence, by Geoff Dyer* Compass, by Mathias Énard, translated by Charlotte MandellOther* Episode 31: New Directions, with Mark Haber* Wakefield Press* LitHub: “Mark Haber on the Beauty of Digression”* Southwest Review: “How to Read Kafka,” by Mark HaberThe Mookse and the Gripes Podcast is a book chat podcast. Every other week Paul and Trevor get together to talk about some bookish topic or another. We hope you’ll continue to join us!Many thanks to those who helped make this possible! If you’d like to donate as well, you can do so on Substack or on our Patreon page. These subscribers get periodic bonus episode and early access to all episodes! Every supporter has their own feed that he or she can use in their podcast app of choice to download our episodes a few days early. Please go check it out! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mookse.substack.com/subscribe

This week’s episode is all about essays! From nature writing, to reviews and criticism, to personal reflections and familiar essays, this form offers something for everyone. In this episode, we share our thoughts and experiences, including our go-to varieties and favorite examples. What are yours?ShownotesBooks* The Woman in Black, by Susan Hill* Suttree, by Cormac McCarthy* We Solve Murders, by Richard Osman* The Thursday Murder Club, by Richard Osman* Herscht 07769, by László Krasznahorkai, translated by Ottilie Mulzet* The Emporium: A Health Resort Horror Story, by Olga Tokarczuk, translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones* Any Person Is the Only Self, by Elisa Gabbert* The Unreality of Memory, by Elisa Gabbert* Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader, by Anne Fadiman* At Large and At Small: Familiar Essays, by Anne Fadiman* Rereadings: Seventeen Writers Revisit Books They Love, edited by Anne Fadiman* Unfinished Business: Notes of a Chronic Re-Reader, by Viviane Gornick* Slouching Towards Bethlehem, by Joan Didion* The Empathy Exams, by Leslie Jamison* Make It Scream, Make It Burn, by Leslie Jamison* The Hall of Uselessness, by Simon Leys* Miss MacIntosh, My Darling, by Marguerite Young* The Death of Napoleon, by Simon Leys* The Hour of Land: A Personal Topography of America’s National Parks, by Terry Tempest Williams* When Women Were Birds: Fifty-four Variations on Voice, by Terry Tempest Williams* Erosion, by Terry Tempest Williams* Finding Beauty in a Broken World, by Terry Tempest Williams* The Wild Places, by Robert Macfarlane* Leap, by Terry Tempest Williams* Red: Passion and Patience in the Desert, by Terry Tempest Williams* The Collected Essays of Elizabeth Hardwick* The Uncollected Essays of Elizabeth Hardwick* Seduction and Betrayal, by Elizabeth Hardwick* The Fun Stuff, by James Wood* Widening the Skirts of Light, by Rohan Maitzen* Feel Free, by Zadi Smith* On Beauty, by Zadie Smith* On Beauty and Being Just, by Elaine ScarryThe Mookse and the Gripes Podcast is a book chat podcast. Every other week Paul and Trevor get together to talk about some bookish topic or another. We hope you’ll continue to join us!Many thanks to those who helped make this possible! If you’d like to donate as well, you can do so on Substack or on our Patreon page. These subscribers get periodic bonus episode and early access to all episodes! Every supporter has their own feed that he or she can use in their podcast app of choice to download our episodes a few days early. Please go check it out! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mookse.substack.com/subscribe

We all have those books that are waiting in the wings, begging for a chance to make their way off the shelf and into our hands. This week, we chat about why some books seem to get stuck on the sidelines, even though we always think they’ll be the next one up. We discuss some of the reasons this happens and each share five of our own benchwarmer books, doing our best to justify why we keep ignoring their pleas to “put me in coach!”ShownotesBooks* Horror Movie, by Paul Tremblay* Proust Was a Neuroscientist, by Jonah Lehrer* The Song of Achilles, by Madeline Miller* Circe, by Madeline Miller* To the Lighthouse, by Virginia Woolfe* Tess of the D’Urbervilles, by Thomas Hardy* The Human Stain, by Philip Roth* The Passenger, by Cormac McCarthy* Stella Maris, by Cormac McCarthy* Pnin, by Vladimir Nabokov* Absalolm, Absalom!, by William Faulkner* Baudolino, by Umberto Eco* The Gormenghast Novels, by Mervyn Peake* Strong Motion, by Jonathan Franzen* The Twenty-Seventh City, by Jonathan Franzen* Night Watch, by Jayne Anne Phillips* The Year of Reading Dangerously: How Fifty Great Books (and Two Not-So-Great Books) Saved My Life, by Andy Miller* We, the Drowned, by Carsten Jensen* The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois, by Honoree Fanonne Jeffers* Lady Chatterley’s Lover, by D.H. Lawrence* The Rainbow, by D.H. Lawrence* Sons and Lovers, by D.H. Lawrence* Women in Love, by D.H. Lawrence* Homegoing, by Yaa Gyasi* Hurricane Season, by Fernanda Melchor, translated by Sophie Hughes* Hons and Rebels, by Jessica Mitford* Romola, by George Eliot* The Snow Leopard, by Peter Matthiessen* At Play in the Fields of the Lord, by Peter Matthiessen* The Peregrine, by J.A. Baker* Shadow Country, by Peter Matthiessen* Tigana, by Guy Gabriel Kay* Up in the Old Hotel, by Joseph Mitchell* The Last Colony, by John Scalzi* Old Mans’ War, by John Scalzi* The Ghost Brigade, by John Scalzi* Zoe’s Tale, by John Scalzi* The Adventures of China Iron, by Gabriela Cabezón Cámara, translated by Fiona Mackintosh and Iona Macintyre* Swann’s Way, by Marcel Proust* War and Peace, by Leo Tolstoy, translated by Anthony Briggs* The Expendable Man, by Dorothy B. Hughes* Felix Holt, the Radical, by George Eliot* Phineas Redux, by Anthony Trollope* Barchester Towers, by Anthony Trollope* Doctor Thorne, by Anthony Trollope* Suttree, by Cormac McCarthyOther Links* Jack’s Instagram Post* Episode 31: New Directions, with Mark Haber* Episode 6: Our Fantasy Past (and Future?)The Mookse and the Gripes Podcast is a book chat podcast. Every other week Paul and Trevor get together to talk about some bookish topic or another. We hope you’ll continue to join us!Many thanks to those who helped make this possible! If you’d like to donate as well, you can do so on Substack or on our Patreon page. These subscribers get periodic bonus episode and early access to all episodes! Every supporter has their own feed that he or she can use in their podcast app of choice to download our episodes a few days early. Please go check it out! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mookse.substack.com/subscribe

To close out Women In Translatjon month, we’re thrilled to be joined by poet and translator Robin Myers. We chat about the art of translation and the importance of providing access to and for wide a range of voices. And we each share three translated books written by women that we think you should know about. What did you read this year during #WITMonth?ShownotesBooks* The Brush, by Eliana Hernández-Pachón, translated by Robin Myers* The Forgery, by Ave Barrera, translated by Robin Myers and Ellen Jones* Restoration, by Ave Barrera, translated by Robin Myers and Ellen Jones* Metamorphoses, by Emanuele Coccia, translated by Robin Mackay* Texas: The Great Theft, by Carmen Boullosa, translated by Samantha Schnee* Invisible Cities, by Italo Calvino, translated by William Weaver* Minor Detail, by Adania Shibli, translated by Elizabeth Jaquette* Lojman, by Ebru Owen, translated by Aron Aji and Selin Gökçesu* Umami, by Laia Jufresa, translated by Sophie Hughes* A Change of Time, by Ida Jensen, translated by Martin Aitken* Ladivine, by Marie Ndiaye, translated by Jordan Stump* Nostalgia Doesn’t Flow Away Like Riverwater, by Irma Pineda, translated by Wendy Call* Paul Celan and the Trans-Tibetan Angel, by Yoko Tawada, translated by Susan Bernofsky* Ti Amo, by Hanne Ørstavik, translated by Martin Aitken* We Are Green and Trembling, by Gabriela Cabezón Cámara, translated by Robin Myers* A Strange Adventure, by Eva Forest, translated by Robin Myers* Sister Deborah, by Scholastique Mukasonga, translated by Mark Polizzotti* Canoes, by Maylis de Kerangal, translated by Jessica Moore* Stay with Me, by Hanne Ørstavik, translated by Martin AitkenOther Links* Poem Per Diem, Robin Myer’s Substack* Women in Translation WebpageThe Mookse and the Gripes Podcast is a book chat podcast. Every other week Paul and Trevor get together to talk about some bookish topic or another. We hope you’ll continue to join us!Many thanks to those who helped make this possible! If you’d like to donate as well, you can do so on Substack or on our Patreon page. These subscribers get periodic bonus episode and early access to all episodes! Every supporter has their own feed that he or she can use in their podcast app of choice to download our episodes a few days early. Please go check it out! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mookse.substack.com/subscribe

This week, we are joined from Down Under by veteran book blogger Kim Forrester to discuss our 2024 summer read, William Trevor’s The Story Of Lucy Gault. We discuss this heartbreaking, beautiful book, chat about William Trevor’s other works and make some recommendations (and plans) about where to go next. We hope you enjoy the conversation as much as we did—and we’d love to hear your thoughts on the book, the author, and what you plan to read next!ShownotesBooks* Go Tell It on the Mountain, by James Baldwin* Giovanni’s Room, by James Baldwin* The Story of Lucy Gault, by William Trevor* My Friends, by Hisham Matar* Stone Yard Devotional, by Charlotte Wood* The Warden, by Anthony Trollope* Barchester Towers, by Anthony Trollope* Time of the Flies, by Claudia Piñeiro, translated by Frances Riddle* Elena Knows, by Claudia Piñeiro, translated by Frances Riddle* A Little Luck, by Claudia Piñeiro, translated by Frances Riddle* “The Piano Tuner’s Wives,” by William Trevor* Love in Summer, by William Trevor* Reinhardt’s Garden, by Mark Haber* The Silence in the Garden, by William Trevor* Fools of Fortune, by William Trevor* Felicia’s Journey, by William Trevor* Two Lives, by William Trevor* Last Stories, by William Trevor* “The Dressmaker’s Child,” by William Trevor* The Book of Evidence, by John Banville* The Sea, by John Banville* A Death in Summer, by Benjamin Black* Death in Summer, by William TrevorOther Links* Kim’s Blog: Reading Matters* A Year with William Trevor* 746 Books BlogThe Mookse and the Gripes Podcast is a book chat podcast. Every other week Paul and Trevor get together to talk about some bookish topic or another. We hope you’ll continue to join us!Many thanks to those who helped make this possible! If you’d like to donate as well, you can do so on Substack or on our Patreon page. These subscribers get periodic bonus episode and early access to all episodes! Every supporter has their own feed that he or she can use in their podcast app of choice to download our episodes a few days early. Please go check it out! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mookse.substack.com/subscribe

This week we have fun with all of the top books of the 21st century hype by sharing our own top 10 lists. We each killed a few darlings and made some very tough decisions. How did we do?What books would make your list?Summer Book ClubThe book for the Mookse and the Gripes Summer Book Club 2024 is William Trevor’s The Story of Lucy Gault. You can start reading it whenever you want to! We have lined up a guest to join us to discuss the book for the next episode!ShownotesBooks* The Story of Lucy Gault, by William Trevor* The Land Breakers, by John Ehle* Testing the Current, by William McPherson* Miss MacIntosh, My Darling, by Marguerite Young* Schattenfroh, by Michael Lenz, translated by Max Lawton* Lesser Ruins, by Mark Haber* Horror Movie, by Paul Tremblay* Universal Harvester, by John Darnielle* A Head Full of Ghosts, by Paul Tremblay* Cabin at the End of the Woods, by Paul Tremblay* The Indian Lake Trilogy, by Stephen Graham Jones* The Empathy Exams, by Leslie Jamison* In a Strange Room, by Damon Galgut* The Promise, by Damon Galgut* Open City, by Teju Cole* When We Cease to Understand the World, by Benjamin Labatut, translated by Adrian Nathan West* The MANIAC, by Benjamin Labatut* The Employees, by Olga Ravn, translated by Martin Aitken* Flights, by Olga Tokarczuk, translated by Jennifer Croft* Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead, by Olga Tokarczuk, translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones Croft* The Books of Jacob, by Olga Tokarczuk, translated by Jennifer Croft* LaRose, by Louise Erdrich* Red Comet: The Short Life and Blazing Life of Sylvia Plath, by Heather Clark* Gilead, by Marilynne Robinson* Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, by Susanna Clarke* Piranesi, by Susanna Clarke* Underland: A Deep Time Journey, by Robert Macfarlane* The Wild Places, by Robert Macfarlane* Reinhardt’s Garden, by Mark Haber* Ducks, Newbury Port, by Lucy Ellmann* Your Face Tomorrow, by Javier Marías, translated by Margaret Jull Costa* The Road, by Cormac McCarthy* The Passenger, by Cormac McCarthy* Runaway, by Alice Munro* 2666, by Roberto Bolaño, translated by Natasha Wimmer* Train Dreams, by Denis Johnson* Tree of Smoke, by Denis Johnson* Interpreter of Maladies, by Jhumpa Lahiri* Austerlitz, by W.G. Sebald, translated by Anthea Belle* The Immigrants, by W.G. Sebald, translated by Michael Hulse* The Rings of Saturn, by W.G. Sebald, translated by Michael Hulse* Vertigo, by W.G. Sebald, translated by Michael Hulse* Blinding, by Mircea Cartarescu, translated by Sean Cotter* The Garden of Seven Twilights, by Miquel de Palol, translated by Adrian Nathan West* Antagony, by Luis Goytisolo, translated by Brendan Riley* Monument Maker, by David Keenan* Tomb of Sand, by Geetanjali Shree, translated by Daisy Rockwell* Praiseworthy, by Alexis Wright* Wizard of the Crow, by Ngugi wa Thiong’o* The Known World, Edward P. Jones* Hurricane Season, by Fernanda Melchor, translated by Sophie Hughes* The Twilight Zone, by Nona Fernandez, translated by Natasha Wimmer* Septology, by Jon Fosse, translated by Damion Searls* The Years, by Annie Ernaux, translated by Alison Strayer* In the Distance, by Hernan Diaz* Wolf Hall, by Hilary Mantel* My Struggle, by Karl Ove Knausgaard, translated by Don BartlettOther Links* The Untranslated* New York Times: 100 Best Books of the 21st CenturyThe Mookse and the Gripes Podcast is a book chat podcast. Every other week Paul and Trevor get together to talk about some bookish topic or another. We hope you’ll continue to join us!SubscribeMany thanks to those who helped make this possible! If you’d like to donate as well, you can do so on Substack or on our Patreon page. These subscribers get periodic bonus episode and early access to all episodes! Every supporter has their own feed that he or she can use in their podcast app of choice to download our episodes a few days early. Please go check it out! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mookse.substack.com/subscribe

This week we’re joined by super reader Ron Restrepo for a discussion about Roberto Bolaño, whom Rodrigo Fresan described as “one of a kind, a writer who worked without a net, who went all out, with no brakes, and in doing so created a new way to be a great Latin American writer.”Do we unlock the mysteries of Bolaño’s magic? Probably not. But we do have a great time digging into this fascinating author and his haunting books.Summer Book ClubThe book for the Mookse and the Gripes Summer Book Club 2024 is William Trevor’s The Story of Lucy Gault. You can start reading it whenever you want to! We had to make a little change to our schedule. Where were were releasing the discussion episode as Episode 86 on August 8, we are now going to be releasing it two weeks later, August 22, as Episode 87. Apologies for the change in plans, but they were necessary to make sure this worked the way we want it to!ShownotesBooks* The Savage Detectives, by Roberto Bolaño, translated by Natasha Wimmer* Chronicle of the Murdered House, by Lúcio Cardoso, translated by Margaret Jull Costa and Robin Patterson* Taming of the Divine Heron, by Sergio Pitol, translated by George Henson* The Love Parade, by Sergio Pitol, translated by George Henson* Lanark, by Alasdair Gray* Pedro Páramo, by Juan Rulfo, translated by Douglas J. Weatherford* The Art of Flight, by Sergio Pitol, translated by George Henson* The Land Breakers, by John Ehle* The Story of Lucy Gault, by William Trevor* The Obscene Bird of Night, by José Donoso, translated by Megan McDowell and Leonard Mades* Gravity’s Rainbow, by Thomas Pynchon* 2666, by Roberto Bolaño, translated by Natasha Wimmer* By Night in Chile, by Roberto Bolaño, translated by Chris Andrews* Nazi Literature in the Americas, by Roberto Bolaño, translated by Chris Andrews* The Skating Rink, by Roberto Bolaño, translated by Chris Andrews* Distant Star, by Roberto Bolaño, translated by Chris Andrews* Last Evenings on Earth, by Roberto Bolaño, translated by Chris Andrews* The Years, by Annie Ernaux, translated by Alison L. Strayer* Moby-Dick, by Herman Melville* The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain* Trieste, by Dasa Drndic, translated by Ellen Elias-Bursac* The Trees, by Percival Everett* Dead Girls, by Selva Almada, translated by Annie McDermott* Not a River, by Selva Almada, translated by Annie McDermott* Die, My Love, by Ariana Harwicz, translated by Sarah Moses and Carolina Orloff* Feebleminded, by Ariana Harwicz, translated by Sarah Moses and Carolina Orloff* Tender, by Ariana Harwicz, translated by Sarah Moses and Carolina Orloff* Amulet, by Roberto Bolaño, translated by Chris Andrews* A Little Lumpen Novelita, by Roberto Bolaño, translated by Natasha Wimmer* Atwerp, by Roberto Bolaño, translated by Natasha Wimmer* Roberto Bolaño’s Fiction: An Expanding Universe, by Chris AndrewsThe Mookse and the Gripes Podcast is a book chat podcast. Every other week Paul and Trevor get together to talk about some bookish topic or another. We hope you’ll continue to join us!Many thanks to those who helped make this possible! If you’d like to donate as well, you can do so on Substack or on our Patreon page. These subscribers get periodic bonus episode and early access to all episodes! Every supporter has their own feed that he or she can use in their podcast app of choice to download our episodes a few days early. Please go check it out! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mookse.substack.com/subscribe

This week we look ahead to the second half of 2024 and each share the five forthcoming books we’re most excited about . . . along with a few honorable mentions, of course.Which upcoming books are you most looking forward to?Summer Book ClubThe book for the Mookse and the Gripes Summer Book Club 2024 is William Trevor’s The Story of Lucy Gault. You can start reading it whenever you want to! We have lined up a guest to join us to discuss the book in Episode 86, coming out on August 8. That’s really soon!ShownotesBooks* The Warden, by Anthony Trollope* Pedro Páramo, by Juan Rulfo, translated by Douglas J. Weatherford* The Heart in Winter, by Kevin Barry* Nightboat to Tangier, by Kevin Barry* Beatlebone, by Kevin Barry* The City of Bohane, by Kevin Barry* James, by Percival Everett* Clear, by Carys Davies* Canoes, by Maylis de Kerangal, translated by Jessica Moore* There Are Rivers in the Sky, by Elif Shafak* The Island of Missing Trees, by Elif Shafak* Cloud Cuckoo Land, by Anthony Doerr* The B*****d of Istanbul, by Elif Shafak* Marshland, by Otohiko Kaga, translated by Albert Novick* The Mighty Red, by Louise Erdrich* The Night Watchman, by Louise Erdrich* The Round House, by Louise Erdrich* The Sentence, by Louise Erdrich* Plague of Doves, by Louise Erdrich* LaRose, by Louise Erdrich* Shadow Tag, by Louise Erdrich* The Night Watchman, by Louise Erdrich* The Painted Drum, by Louise Erdrich* Herscht 07769, by László Krasznahorkai, translated by Ottilie Mulzet* Satantago, by László Krasznahorkai, translated by George Szirtes* The Melancholy of Resistance, by László Krasznahorkai, translated by George Szirtes* War & War, by László Krasznahorkai, translated by George Szirtes* Seiobo There Below, by László Krasznahorkai, translated by Ottilie Mulzet* The World Goes On, by László Krasznahorkai, translated byGeorge Szirtes, Ottilie Mulzet and John Batki* Baron Wenckheim’s Homecoming, by László Krasznahorkai, translated by Ottilie Mulzet* Colored Television, by Danzy Senna* New People, by Danzy Senna* Symptomatic, by Danzy Senna* Caucasia, by Danzy Senna* Miss MacIntosh, My Darling, by Marguerite Young* Seeing Further, by Esther Kinsky, translated by Caroline Schmidt* Rombo, by Esther Kinsky, translated by Caroline Schmidt* Grove, by Esther Kinsky, translated by Caroline Schmidt* River, by Esther Kinsky, translated by Iain Galbraith* Sister Deborah, by Scholastique Mukasonga, translated by Mark Polizzotti* The Empusium: A Health Resort Horror Story, by Olga Tokarczuk, translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones* The Magic Mountain, by Thomas Mann, translated by John E. Woods* The Books of Jacob, by Olga Tokarczuk, translated by Jennifer Croft* Flights, by Olga Tokarczuk, translated by Jennifer Croft* Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead, by Olga Tokarczuk, translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones* Waiting for the Fear, by Oguz Atay, translated by Ralph Hubbell* The Pornographer, by John McGahern* Command Performance, by Jean Echenoz, translated by Mark Polizzotti* The Stone Door, by Leonora Carrington* The Uncollected Stories of Mavis Gallant* Sun City, by Tove Jansson, translated by Thomas Teal* We Solve Murders, by Richard Osman* The Thursday Murder Club, by Richard Osman* The Plains, by Federico Falco, translated by Jennifer Croft* A Perfect Cemetery, by Federico Falco, translated by Jennifer Croft* Children of the Ghetto: Star of the Sea, by Elias Khoury, translated by Humphrey Davies* Fog at Noon, by Tomás González, translated by Andrea Rosenberg* The Suicides, by Antonio Di Benedetto, translated by Esther Allen* The Besieged City, by Clarice Lispector, translated by Johnny Lorenz* The Voyage Home, by Pat Barker* A Philosophy of Translation, by Damion Searls* The City and Its Uncertain Walls, by Haruki Murakami, translated by Philip Gabriel* Tell Me Everything, by Elizabeth Strout* Every Arc Bends Its Radius, by Sergio de la Pava* A Naked Singularity, by Sergio de la Pava* Question 7, by Richard Flanagan* Is Mother Dead, by Vigdis Hjorth, translated by Charlotte Barslund* If Only, by Vigdis Hjorth, translated by Charlotte Barslund* Slave Road, by John Edgar Wideman* Anima: A Wild Pastoral, by Kapka Kassabova* Border: A Journey to the Edge of Europe, by Kapka Kassabova* Elixir: In the Valley at the End of Time, by Kapka Kassabova* Our Evenings, by Alan Hollinghurst* Lazarus Man, by Richard Price* Playground, by Richard Powers* Clockers, by Richard Price* Lush Life, by Richard Price* The Overstory, by Richard Powers* Bewilderment, by Richard PowersThe Mookse and the Gripes Podcast is a book chat podcast. Every other week Paul and Trevor get together to talk about some bookish topic or another. We hope you’ll continue to join us!Many thanks to those who helped make this possible! If you’d like to donate as well, you can do so on Substack or on our Patreon page. These subscribers get periodic bonus episode and early access to all episodes! Every supporter has their own feed that he or she can use in their podcast app of choice to download our episodes a few days early. Please go check it out! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mookse.substack.com/subscribe

This week’s episode is all about . . . books! To be specific, Trevor and Paul chat about their book shelves, diving into all kinds of fun topics. How many books do they own? Where do they keep them? How are they organized? Buying and culling habits? Even better, this episode features A LOT of great listener feedback as well. It’s the perfect chance to get nosey about your fellow bibliophiles!Summer Book ClubThe book for the Mookse and the Gripes Summer Book Club 2024 is William Trevor’s The Story of Lucy Gault. You can start reading it whenever you want to! We have lined up a guest to join us to discuss the book in Episode 86, coming out on August 8.ShownotesBooks* CivilWarLand in Bad Decline, by George Saunders* Any Person Is the Only Self, by Elisa Gabbert* The Unreality of Memory, by Elisa Gabbert* The House on Mango Street, by Sandra Cisneros* Pilgrimage, by Dorothy Richardson* Treasure Island!!!, by Sara Levine* Ride a Cockhorse, by Raymond Kennedy* After Claude, by Iris Owens* The Towers of Trebizond, by Rose Macaulay* South Riding, by Winifred Holtby* O Caledonia, by Elspeth Barker* Lolly Willowes, by Sylvia Townsend Warner* Silas Marner, by George Eliot* Scenes of Clerical Life, by George Eliot* Romola, by George Eliot* Felix Holt, by George Eliot* Middlemarch, by George Eliot* Daniel Deronda, by George Eliot* Mining the Skirts of Light: Essays on George Eliot, by Rohan MaitzenThe Mookse and the Gripes Podcast is a book chat podcast. Every other week Paul and Trevor get together to talk about some bookish topic or another. We hope you’ll continue to join us!Many thanks to those who helped make this possible! If you’d like to donate as well, you can do so on Substack or on our Patreon page. These subscribers get periodic bonus episode and early access to all episodes! Every supporter has their own feed that he or she can use in their podcast app of choice to download our episodes a few days early. Please go check it out! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mookse.substack.com/subscribe