Books of Some Substance (David Southard and Nathan Sharp)

You know the feeling. Or, perhaps, the lack thereof. It can happen to even the strongest human, the greatest writer, the toughest leopard capable of climbing the highest heights. But is it stagnation? Boredom? Regret? Or just your average case of gangrene? Only time (or one's continued sense of consciousness before the ultimate blackout) will tell.

Bust out your hiking boots and climb to Ngaje Nga, you life-wasting fools! It's the conclusion of Hemingway Short Story Month! 

Join Nick and Stephanie as they dissect one of Harry Hemingway's most prophetic short stories: "The Snows of Kilimanjaro." BYOB. 

As always you can find us here:

On Instagram & Twitter: @booksosubstance

On the ole interwebs: www.booksofsomesubstance.com 

Drama! Comedy! Opacity! Turpitude! All are up for grabs in Vladimir Nabokov’s holiday classic, Invitation to a Beheading. Listen in as Nathan, David, and Nick try to figure out just what exactly is going on in Nabokov’s oft-overlooked gem that may or may not be about: personal exile, political exile, gnosticism, or the inability to get a good night’s sleep. Just don’t call it Kafka-esque (even though it’s definitely Kafka-esque).

Ah yes, Sabbath’s Theater. Perhaps you remember that one uncle of yours reading it at family Thanksgiving ’96. Or maybe you noticed a dash of judgment in the eye of your local librarian upon recently checking out a quality hardcover edition.  (Don’t worry, everyone’s just pumped that you still go to the library.) Maybe you, a literary-minded baseball fan, picked it up after reading The Great American Novel and encountered a different kind of curve ball.

Is Philip Roth’s filthiest tome anything more than just that? Is it not safe for work or is it not safe for 2018? If one tallies the profanities in the book, can the felt bias against women be numerically and categorically proven? Or is this grotesque tale a warning against the inherent emptiness and damaging consequences of letting the male id run free—and thus a surprisingly topical lesson—despite the high frequency of bodily fluids discussed therein?

Join David, Eric, and Stephanie as they navigate these uncomfortable territories with grace, with depth of thought, and with more than a few audible shudders.

Follows us on Instagram & Twitter: @booksosubstance

Check out our homepage: www.booksofsomesubstance.com 

Our 100th episode is coming up. And we want you to call in and leave us a message, ask us a question, read a quote, file a complaint, suggest a book, or leave a cool noise (like a ghost or a fart or a ghost fart or something like that...).

This episode will also, sadly, be Nick's final episode. Our founding father and the first heavy reader is hanging up the mic for other things. So call and say something nice to the man. 

Call:
331-BOSS-BOT
or
331-267-7268

That day they discoursed in a cool and oft solitudinous basement. Eric and Nick and Dean Rader of the University of San Francisco examined Blood Meridian or the Evening Redness in the West and inquired what Cormac McCarthy had in mind. Sulphurous and detached and surgically endeavored as that mind may be. They passed through the beauty and bleakness of the prose and the ruinous afterimage of the bloodstained vacancies of emotions firestoked and withheld. They glanced upon the ragged edges of representations of history and race and staccato swells of animalistic fervor.

The judge!

His judgeness!

Gunpowder manufactured in a swatch of Miltonlike fury. Bloodslaked heart strings pulled by feats of erudition and eloquence. Interpretations laggard and dusty slithered out of flattened enormity. Agecurled pictures of America at its genesis and at its present left naked and creaking to wrench a somnolent populace from dreams into harsh plumes of introspection and reckoning.

In this episode, friend of the podcast and book club Eric Heiman joins David and Nathan to talk about W.G. Sebald's Rings of Saturn. The three get into the melancholic depiction of entropy eating away so much of human life, the sense of historical vertigo, and the (un)fictionality of the novel. Join the three as they discuss the style, form, and substance of Sebald's enigmatic work.

David is joined by Ross Benjamin, translator of Franz Kafka’s Diaries in its most authentic form to date. Listen in as they discuss Benjamin’s start in the field of translation, his love for Kafka’s craftsmanship and humor, and why a new edition of Kafka’s diaries needed to be released.

Benjamin’s translation is available now via Schocken Books and is a must for any Kafka fan (read: the hosts of this podcast).

Memory as time travel. Enigmatic lovers. The comfort of objects. A ghostly romantic comedy. Each, one of Yasunari Kawabata’s Palm of the Hand stories under discussion. Each description merely a scratch at the surface of meaning and depth found in these subtle, quiet works.

On this shortened episode, as B.O.S.S. prepares for Kawabata’s The Sound of the Mountain, David, Nathan, and Nick look at four of the reductionist vignettes: “A Sunny Place,” “Sleeping Habit,” “The Silver Fifty-Sen Pieces,” and “Immortality.”  

Between poetry and prose lies a different form. Between the past and the future is the now. Within the now is all time, all meaning. Or, something like that…

As always, read the stories and give us a listen.

Join the B.O.S.S. Book Club for cool shit and get in on the conversation: www.booksofsomesubstance.com

On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BooksOfSomeSubstance/

Follow us on Twitter: @BooksOSubstance

We have (finally) found the lost time! It was inside us all along! Listen in as Nathan, David, and Nick complete their tour through Marcel Proust’s In Search of Lost Time, concluding with a discussion on the final volume, Time Regained. Topics include: memory, the purpose of art, and . . . BDSM?

In the event that you anticipate going through withdrawals after completing your own In Search of Lost Time journey, might we recommend some Proust gear? Head on over to the B.O.S.S. store to check out some new designs that will help you tell the world that you’ve read Proust and you’re ready to launch into an extremely in-depth discussion about him at any moment.

Is there anything beneath the iceberg of Ernest Hemingway's status than the Hemingway Lifestyle Brand™, with its hyper-masculinity, pared-down prose, and a shirtless, boozy, gun-toting Papa? 

On this episode of the podcast, join Nick, Eric, and Stephanie as they find the answer to that question by analyzing the second best piece of war-time art after Top Gun: Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms

As always you can find us here:

On Instagram & Twitter: @booksosubstance

On the ole interwebs: www.booksofsomesubstance.com 

If by chance—and what else really controls it all other than chance?—you are into examining the futility of it all, or, of course, the scorn of it all, then the latest B.O.S.S. podcast on László Krasznahorkai’s The Last Wolf in which David, Stephanie, and Nick examine the tale of how a washed up German author tells the tale of traveling to the barren plains of Spain to encounter a warden telling a tale of how the area’s final wolf perished—yes, perished—all told to the Hungarian barman who doesn’t totally mind, even though this Stammgast isn’t Hungarian or even a good looking chick, is for you (the podcast episode, that is, but also the book, naturally).

David, Eric, and Nick spend a beautiful Saturday doing what they love: wading into the tides of the irrational, crushing systems in which we have existed, currently exist, and will continue to exist. In other words: Discussing Franz Kafka!

Three of Kafka’s short works provide more than enough to chew on, whether it is The Judgment and its quick turn from mundane to surreal, A Country Doctor and its full-blown phantasmagoria, or In the Penal Colony and its melding of mental and bodily anguish. Kafka’s brand of malaise hits just as hard now as it presumably did one hundred years ago — and as it presumably will one hundred years from now.

So grab yourself a spot out in the sun, mix up a nice Mai Tai, and listen in as we discuss humanity’s unavoidable contract with the daily absurd.

Obsessions! Cacophony! Typography! Listen in as we dissect William H. Gass’ post-modern cult classic, Willie Masters’ Lonesome Wife, a bizarre kaleidoscope of killer sentences, 1960s design, and, of course, gratuitous nudity. David argues that the book’s overtly sexual content actually maps to Gass’ love of language. Nathan provides a breakdown of the typefaces and visual strategies at play. And Nick takes a break from musing on the intellectual properties of eroticism to give a shout out to his mom for (theoretically) making it all the way through this episode. Also featuring a guest appearance by Nathan’s cat, which we’re pretty sure Gass would have wholeheartedly supported.

In this latest installment of the Books of Some Substance podcast San Francisco State University English Professor Sarita Cannon returns to talk about the violent grace (or graceful violence?) of Flannery O’Connor’s short story A Good Man Is Hard to Find.  Listen in as Nick and Sarita talk about the curious relationship between Catholicism and the grotesque, how O’Connor can keep a live audience laughing right up until a story plunges into mass murder, and the intriguing, dark-prophet nature of The Misfit.  Somewhat surprisingly, zero Glenn Danzig references were made.

The mountain grumbles, Shingo mumbles. But it is hard to hear him over the sound of the dishes.

On this full length episode we discuss Yasunari Kawabata’s The Sound of the Mountain and try to come to terms with the dying patriarch’s aimless drift towards the end. Is it apathetic existentialism? Good old-fashion failure? The culture of post-war Japan? Personal defeatism? Idiocy? Anger? Or an odd replication of nature’s non-action?

As always, read the novel and give us a listen.

Join the B.O.S.S. Book Club for cool artwork and to get in on the conversation: www.booksofsomesubstance.com

On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BooksOfSomeSubstance/

On Twitter: @BooksOSubstance

Yasunari Kawabata (1899-1972) is a Japanese novelist who won the Nobel Prize in 1968. His most famous novels are Snow Country, Thousand Cranes, and The Sound of the Mountain. His work is often poetic, lyrical, and melancholic.

It is as cold in the new world as it is in the old. 

And on this episode Nathan tries to work with Nick and David as they come to terms with just how cold James Baldwin's novel Giovanni's Room has left them. 

Can a character you neither love nor hate be compelling? Can an ending that resembles a bad music video from the 90's ruin a book? Can Nathan properly imitate the old-timey voice of a shocked news-bulletin? Can too high of expectations sour a reading? Is there any escaping our slow degradation till death?

Find yourself a copy of the book, read it, and join us! 

FIND US ON:  INSTAGRAM    FACEBOOK    TWITTER  

To receive bad-ass artwork and hand-typed invitation letters (or if you want to see what else we have read (or check out Nick's novella)), go to our website: http://www.booksofsomesubstance.com/  

With the 100th episode behind us, and with Nick off exploring the world of dance music, David and Nathan have decided to try some new things. We're going into video (as you can see). We're going seasonal. And we will have a new website, logo, slogan, and much more coming soon. Each new episode will come out on the first Wednesday of every month.

 Season 2 - CONTROL

Nov. 1 - THE HOUR OF THE STAR by Clarice Lispector

Dec. 6 - GRAVITY'S RAINBOW by Thomas Pynchon (part 1: an approach to the novel with Seth from W.A.S.T.E. Mailing List)

Jan. 3 - GRAVITY'S RAINBOW by Thomas Pynchon (part 2: understanding elements of the novel with Seth from W.A.S.T.E. Mailing List)

Feb. 7 - WAITING FOR THE BARBARIANS by J.M. Coetzee

Mar. 6 - MALINA by Ingeborg Bachmann

Apr. 3 - THE SHELTERING SKY by Paul Bowles

May 1 - TROPIC OF CANCER by Henry Miller

Howdy bright boys and girls! 

Roll over in bed, face the wall, and forget the wrong people you double-crossed in Chicago with a new episode of the Books of Some Substance podcast. 

This month we are reading four of Papa Hemingway's short stories. First up: The Killers, an elevated piece of noir with all the Hemingway trimmings. 

Follows us on Instagram & Twitter: @booksosubstance

Check out our homepage: www.booksofsomesubstance.com 

On this episode, David is joined by reader and writer Derek Maine to discuss Baron Wenckheim's Homecoming by everyone's favorite pessimistic, long-winded, Hungraian doom master László Krasznahorkai. By everyone, we mean ours. He's a favorite here at BOSS. 

And we are happy to be joined by Derek Maine, author of CHARACTERS, published by Expat Press in 2022. 

Join the two of them as they talk fear, form, apocalyptic shizz, and the faintest glimmers of hope. 

Check out Derek's book: CHARACTERS  and find him on TWITTER 

Musician Ned Russin of Title Fight and Glitterer joins the podcast to share his love for Ben Lerner’s Leaving the Atocha Station and to also chat about his own latest creations: Glitterer’s new record Life Is Not a Lesson and his first published novel Horizontal Rust. It’s an all-encompassing conversation on experience, reality, and authenticity — all topics that get more elusive the more one tries to pin them down.  In other words: the best kind of topics.

Life Is Not a Lesson is available now from ANTI- Records and Horizontal Rust is available now from Shining Life Press.

David, Nick, and Nathan reconvene to continue their Proust pilgrimage, this time tackling the second volume, Within a Budding Grove. There is discussion around the narrator’s age — whether it be twelve or twenty-two, Proust certainly has a knack for combining the idealism and naiveté of youth with the insight and wisdom of adulthood. There is discussion around the book’s repetition of similar events and themes and how it is used to advance the book’s common aesthetic. And there is discussion around that (infamous?) wrestling scene between Gilberte and the narrator and just exactly what was transpiring amidst the perspiring.

At the very least, this one is chock-full of wonderful Proust quotes, the beauty of which (we hope) carries the episode on its own.

Welcome to our episode on the novel Malina by Ingeborg Bachmann. David and Nathan wind their conversation through the disorienting pages of this incredible novel.

We explore its unique form and style, ponder its structure, and discuss how these creative decisions add to the overarching sense of strangeness and mystery that permeates the narrative. In this episode, we contemplate and ponder:

• Is Malina even real? Or perhaps he’s pure animus overtaking the unknown woman’s self?
• What is it that makes Ivan so desirable? 
• What is happening with the phone conversations?
• Does Bachmann’s views on art and logical positivism affect the interpretation of the novel?
• What’s the deal with airplane peanuts?

Join us for this where we try to unravel parts of this mesmerizing novel.

*

Books of Some Substance:

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/BooksOSubstance
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/booksosubstance/
• Our brand-new website: https://www.booksofsomesubstance.com/

*

Ingeborg Bachmann (1926–1973) was an Austrian poet and novelist, acclaimed for her profound exploration of existential themes and innovative literary style. Born in Klagenfurt, Austria, Bachmann experienced the tumultuous events of World War II firsthand, which profoundly influenced her writing. She studied philosophy, psychology, and German literature at the universities of Innsbruck, Graz, and Vienna. Bachmann's early poetry collections, such as "Die gestundete Zeit" (The Deferred Time), established her as a leading voice in post-war German literature. However, it was her groundbreaking novel "Malina" that solidified her reputation as a literary icon. Bachmann's works often grapple with themes of identity, trauma, and the search for meaning in a fractured world. Despite her tragically premature death in 1973, her legacy endures, with her writings continuing to inspire readers and writers alike with their depth, complexity, and enduring relevance.

Writer, interviewer, and heavy reader George Salis returns to the podcast, this time to discuss Alexander Theroux’s Fables with David. The two tackle a list of maximalist topics: deep cuts of vocabulary (real and invented), the forever ongoing inclusions of edits and additions that make a work expand even after being published, and, well, lists themselves. Salis also provides insight into the world of Theroux via his past interviews with the writer and involvement in the publishing process of Fables.

Grab a copy, give this latest episode a listen, and check out Salis' work at The Collidescope. May your sentences be long, your word choices intricate, and your fables dark.

On this episode, the third in our Hemingway Short Story Month, David and Nick are joined by Stephanie to discuss the oft-anthologized "Hills Like White Elephants," an anis-soaked, dialogue-heavy, purgatorial little number in which two characters talk around the possibility of an abortion and a doomed relationship. 

Find the story, and give us a listen. 

Follows us on Instagram & Twitter: @booksosubstance

Check out our homepage: www.booksofsomesubstance.com 

David, Eric, and Nick dive into The Vegetarian, a 2007 novel by Han Kang that, after its English translation, won the 2016 Man Booker International Prize. This compact work will appeal to anyone interested in tightly architected narrative structures, complex questions of individual agency, and visceral scenes situated right next to moments of quiet contemplation.

One’s ability to choose, well, anything at all is not quite so black and white, is it?

From death and dying to life and living. On this full length episode, we examine the humor, the horror, the existential, the wonder, and even the disagreeable in the lost and found (and possibly changed) madcap protagonist Eugene Henderson of Saul Bellow's Henderson the Rain King. 

With Nathan out sick, Nick and David are joined by Eric Heiman, official B.O.S.S. Book Club member and unofficial Bellow buff. 

As always, read the book and give us listen. 

Check out: http://www.booksofsomesubstance.com/

Follow us on twitter: @BooksOSubstance

George Salis, author of Sea Above, Sun Below joins David to discuss The Satanic Verses, the controversial, exuberant, magical, and magnificent novel by Sir Salman Rushdie.

They discuss the poetry, the allusions, and the history of this "Everything" novel in their own labyrinthine and interconnected way.

In this episode of the Books of Some Substance podcast, Nick is joined by Dylan Desmond of the Seattle doom metal band Bell Witch for an in-depth discussion of Leo Tolstoy’s The Death of Ivan Ilyich. Listen in as we discuss what exactly Desmond connects with in Tolstoy’s writing, how this short novel was remarkably ahead of its time in documenting the emptiness of a materialist life, and how unique of a conundrum death is to us all.

Grab some Tolstoy and/or some Bell Witch (Stygian Bough Volume I, their new collaboration record with Aerial Ruin is out now on Profound Lore Records) and get ready for the comfortable pain of the slow burn.

Nathan and David continue their exploration of control with Waiting for Barbarians, a 1980 novel by South African writer J.M. Coetzee. Empire! Torture! Manipulation! Control! Quite the book, and quite the episode.

David, Eric, and Nick discuss Volume 1 of Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace in the first of four episodes on the heaviest of heavy books.  Topics include: War and Peace as the ur-text for all war novels to come, the nature and role of translation, and how Tolstoy’s realism can be surprisingly light and humorous when dealing with dark subjects.

But the question remains: Are there more casualties on the battlefields of Schöngrabern and Austerlitz or in the soirées of Moscow and St. Petersburg? Grab a fifth of vodka, listen in, and decide for yourself.

Read along and look for episodes on War and Peace: Volumes 2 - 4 in April, May, and June 2021.

A man sits down at a cafe. Pauses. Thinks. Writes a sentence. Pauses. Thinks. Writes another sentence. Pauses. Thinks. Will that next sentence be about solving an age-old puzzle of a pirate’s submerged treasure? Or perhaps it will be about cloning Carlos Fuentes? Or maybe it will just be about an attack of giant, shimmering silk worms. Only César Aira knows, but he ain’t looking back and neither should you.

On this episode of the podcast, join David, Nick, and Frida as they embrace the constant flight forward of Aira’s The Literary Conference. If your wholly unique collection of life experiences and consumption of art have led to an overlap of experimental fiction, surrealism, and B-movies, this one’s for you.

David, Nathan, and Nick continue on their expedition for misplaced minutes, this time tackling Marcel Proust’s fifth installment, The Captive & The Fugitive. Topics this time around include: the endless cycle of the narrator’s obsession and apathy toward Albertine; the errors and inconsistencies of this posthumously published work (and whether that matters at all); the ability of different readers to find different points of connection in a lengthy work so packed with details that it begins to approximate real life.

Say what you will about My Darling Marcel™, but our narrator hero can still deliver quite the impressive take on art, time, and space. 

Only one more volume to go — stay tuned for the coming finale as we wrap up our search and seek to regain all that time sunk into this podcast series.

In celebration of National Poetry Month, singer-songwriter and poet Valerie June calls into the podcast and chats with Nick about her love of The Gift: Poems by Hafiz (Renderings by Daniel Ladinsky), the relationship between lyrics and poetry in her own work, and viewing the world through a positive lens. Additional topics include: Townes Van Zandt, time (i.e. what is it really?), and whether we humans will ever grow out of our comfort in discomfort.

Valerie has just released her new record, The Moon and Stars: Prescriptions for Dreamers, and a new collection of poetry, Maps for the Modern World. The two complement each other extremely well and just might be the medicine you need for all that ails you.

Have you heard the bad news? God is dead. But in Flannery O'Connor's Wise Blood, you can't keep a good god down—even when you murder a consumptive flim-flam man, seduce a fifteen-year-old, and blind yourself with quicklime. So put glass shards in your shoes, turn up your headphones, and drink every time we say "nihilism." 

(This episode’s summary was written by our guest, Kathleen Founds.  Before she found herself dreaming up nihilism-themed drinking games on a classic literature podcast, Founds wrote the novel When Mystical Creatures Attack!, which won the 2014 University of Iowa Press John Simmons Short Fiction Award and was named a New York Times Notable Book.)

Seth — aficionado of difficult fiction and driving force behind WASTE Mailing List — joins the podcast this episode to chat with David about the endless gifts to be found within the endless layers of Thomas Pynchon’s The Crying of Lot 49. Pynchon-lite it is not! Encompassing both the absurd and the prophetic, this early work by the reclusive author covers everything from embedded allusions to the cultural tumult of the 1960s, distrust of any and all formal systems, and a prescient view of the future of communication (cough, the internet, cough). But perhaps the most meaningful conclusion to draw from Pynchon’s work is the absence of drawn conclusions. It’s messy out there, readers.

Grab a copy, give it a read, give it another read, then take a listen. And make sure to check out Seth’s work at WASTE Mailing List’s Youtube and Instagram.

In this episode of the Books of Some Substance podcast, Nick chats with Alex Edkins of the Toronto punk band METZ on the day that their latest record, Atlas Vending, came out. Alex highlighted J.G. Ballard’s High-Rise as a favorite, so we talk through the psychological, inner-space prophecies of the book and relate it back to our current technology-saturated landscape.  Spoiler alert: we are all animals and the internet isn’t exactly helping.

METZ’s latest full-length, Atlas Vending, is available now via Sub Pop Records. Listening to it might just provide enough cathartic release to prevent you and your fellow trendsetting urban condo-owners from sliding back into a lawless, primitive existence and reveling in constant acts of hedonism and violence. No promises, though — results may vary.

What do you call it when a cynical intellectual, a loyal party member, and a Moravian folklorist walk into a bar?

A joke!

Or rather, The Joke. Milan Kundera’s 1968 debut novel, that is. Join Nathan, David, and Nick for a lengthy — and tricky — discussion on the individual vs. the collective, the tendency of history to turn into myth, and tips for the best way to unassumingly hide a bunch of laxatives. Is this Kundera jam only a political novel, or does it use a political setting as a way to chase a deeper, more broadly applicable truth? Listen in to find out (but check your Trotskyite humor at the door, obviously).

你好 (Ni hao) Comrades! Join us,  kan-pu Nathan, Nick, and David, for another full length episode of Deep Cultural Propaganda from American Imperialists (aka The Books of Some Substance Podcast).

Dystopian literature and discussions of authoritarianism abound, and few things were more dystopian than living under the slow-crushing boot of authoritarian Maoist China. On this episode, witness the true confessions of Nick's Obscure Relations with straight-edge militant punk bands, Nathan's deviant modes of Thought Mobilization, and David's Disgorging of Bitter Fluid.  

We highly recommend you find yourself a copy of Eileen Chang's Naked Earth, give it a read, and listen along.

If you are interested in joining up and receiving bad-ass artwork and hand-typed invitation letters (or if you want to see what else we have read or check out Nick's novella), go to our website: http://www.booksofsomesubstance.com/ 

FIND US ON:  INSTAGRAM    FACEBOOK    TWITTER  

[Update (8/12/19): After recording and releasing this podcast, it has come to our attention that Sarvis has been barred from teaching in Florida public schools following allegations he engaged in inappropriate communications with students on social media.  We in no way condone this alleged behavior.  This episode will remain available and those that choose to listen may do so at their discretion.]

In this edition of The Substance of Influence, David and Nick speak with Caleb Michael Sarvis, managing editor of Bridge Eight Press and author of the short story collection Dead Aquarium or (i don’t have the stamina for that kind of faith) available from Mastodon Publishing.  They discuss the lasting impact of Denis Johnson’s Jesus’ Son, the perks of interpreting the past as fiction, and, of course, all those damn nutria down in Florida.

Check out Caleb’s work here and follow him on Twitter.

Our second episode on Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon, and again David is joined by Seth from W.A.S.T.E. Mailing List. Seth is here to nimbly unravel some of the meaning of this insane and insanely good novel, and he does an excellent job. But no matter what they tend to get lost along the way, as any analysis of the book will be "not a disentanglement from, but a progressive knotting into."

Join them as they knot into the brennschluss point, the inciting incident of what's happening with Slothrop's c*ck, fragmentation of self at at the force of control, the Raketen-Stadt as antagonist, and if there is any sense of hope by the end of the book.

*

Books of Some Substance is on Twitter, Instagram, and our brand-new website. 

*

Seth is a non-authoritative devotee of anything and everything related to Thomas Pynchon and all varieties of difficult and demanding literature. You can find him on Instagram, Youtube, Twitter, and Substack.

*

Gravity's Rainbow is a groundbreaking novel by acclaimed author Thomas Pynchon. It stands as a masterpiece of postmodern literature, captivating readers with its intricate plot, rich symbolism, and thought-provoking themes. This iconic work delves into the complexities of World War II, war profiteering, corporate scheming, human nature, reflexes, mind control, State control, scientific advancements of the time, and science fiction. The novel offers a unique blend of historical fiction, science fiction, and satire. With its enigmatic characters and labyrinthine narrative, Gravity's Rainbow has become a literary classic, drawing scholars and enthusiasts seeking a challenging and intellectually stimulating reading experience. A world of paranoia, conspiracy, and intricate storytelling, Gravity's Rainbow remains an enduring and influential work in the canon of modern literature. 

A Chinese home built upon the structure of an Iron Maiden riff. Reincarnation unbound by Time. The ultimate truth of Hermann Hesse as the Tony Robbins of European symbolism. 

The trio is back on this full length episode. Join us as we work through Hermann Hesse's often frustrating but certainly substantial masterwork The Glass Bead Game.

As always, give the novel a read and listen along. 

Join the B.O.S.S. Book Club for cool artwork and to get in on the conversation: www.booksofsomesubstance.com

On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BooksOfSomeSubstance/

On Twitter: @BooksOSubstance

 Check out B.O.S.S. Underground Press and our first release: PWR VOL written by our very own Nick Scandy, illustrated by Aaron Zonka, and scored by mini and the Bear. 

Pragmatic non-hierarchical structures! Breaking the space time continuum! The sociopolitical and philosophical dualities that exist between two planets — but also inside us all! Join David, Eric, and Nick as they dissect Ursula K. Le Guin’s often revered classic The Dispossessed. They wonder if the book is the left-wing equivalent of The Fountainhead, if the neon color scheme of the mass market paperback version was an agent of pre-bias, and if they are missing some key aspect of the book that makes this such a beloved tome to many a sci-fi reader. And perhaps most predictably, Nick finds another excuse to talk about the Warped Tour (metaphorically speaking, of course).

In this episode, we talk through the (beautiful?) mess of madness that is Mikhail Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita. Listen as Nick argues against the false binaried balance of Good and Evil, as David floats in the abeyance of cold medicine, and as Nathan grows into the role of curmudgeon and questions the punk-rockitude of Nick and David. 

The premier episode of the B.O.S.S. (Books of Some Substance) Podcast! Join Nick, David, and Nathan--three bearded white dudes--as they talk about Zora Neale Hurston's black, feminist novel Their Eyes Were Watching God and try to figure it all out. 

In this episode, David and Nathan look back over season two, tracing the connections, marking the distinctions, and reframing their understanding/awareness of how control works in each and every book discussed this season.

Revisiting: The Hour of the Star by Clarice Lispector, Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon, Waiting for the Barbarians by J.M. Coetzee, Malina by Ingeborg Bachmann, The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles, and Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller.

Enjoy. And please don't forget to give us a nice rating on Apple Podcasts, or leave a note on the YouTube channel. We appreciate you all. Happy Reading!

Find Us:

X / Twitter: https://x.com/booksosubstance

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/booksosubstance/

Web: https://www.booksofsomesubstance.com/

In this episode of the Books of Some Substance Podcast, Nick chats with Brett Campbell of the Arkansas doom metal band Pallbearer about M. John Harrison’s Viriconium. They talk through how the themes of Viriconium made it into the band’s music, how Harrison’s use of shifting time and memory and place subvert expectations of genre fiction, and how it is an endless challenge as a human to try not to continually categorize and simplify complex things. And perhaps most entertainingly, the two embark upon a hero’s journey of attempting to summarize just what exactly happens in these dizzying stories. Listen in and you too can see this quest to the end!

Pallbearer’s latest full-length, Forgotten Days, is available now via Nuclear Blast. Grab a copy of the record, a copy of Viriconium, and get ready to transcend any and all genres.

David, Eric, and Nick seek out some mid-summer spookiness in Shirley Jackson’s acclaimed We Have Always Lived in the Castle and instead find a compact work that is much more complicated than the horror themes, accessible sentences, and vaguely young adult-ish book cover (thanks Penguin Classics) lead one to believe. Cheers to Jackson for walking the line between genre and literary fiction and forcing the reader to sit with a story that has all the trappings of a murder mystery, but none of the virtuous resolutions. Perhaps we are all lacking the ability to communicate across societal lines, forever content in our ever-shrinking castles after all.

Renata Adler’s Speedboat starts and stops, accelerates and leaps, soars and crashes just like some sort of . . . well, you get it. Join David, Nathan, and Nick as they discuss this compact novel filled with vignettes of 1970s life and all of the sardonic observations that come along with it. But do the vignettes combine to create something more impactful? Is the book funny?  And how does one define humor in literature anyway?

Listen in for our own starts and stops as we talk our way through this intriguing little book and try to define the indefinable.

In our first of two episodes on Thomas Pynchon's 1973 masterpiece Gravity's Rainbow, David is joined, once again, by Seth from W.A.S.T.E. Mailing List to talk about one of his favorite ways to approach the novel. 

Seth brings an invaluable depth of knowledge and research to this episode, examining the novel as being primarily about America in the "long 60s," albeit taking place in Europe in the 1940s. They also discuss Pynchon's work at Boeing being a catalyst for his fascination with the V-2, his writing on race relations in "A Journey into the Mind of Watts," and general advice for reading the book for the first, second, or even third time.  

*

Books of Some Substance is on Twitter, Instagram, and our brand-new website. 

*

Seth is a non-authoritative devotee of anything and everything related to Thomas Pynchon and all varieties of difficult and demanding literature. You can find him on Instagram, Youtube, Twitter, and Substack.

*

Gravity's Rainbow is a groundbreaking novel by acclaimed author Thomas Pynchon. It stands as a masterpiece of postmodern literature, captivating readers with its intricate plot, rich symbolism, and thought-provoking themes. This iconic work delves into the complexities of World War II, war profiteering, corporate scheming, human nature, reflexes, mind control, State control, scientific advancements of the time, and science fiction. The novel offers a unique blend of historical fiction, science fiction, and satire. With its enigmatic characters and labyrinthine narrative, Gravity's Rainbow has become a literary classic, drawing scholars and enthusiasts seeking a challenging and intellectually stimulating reading experience. A world of paranoia, conspiracy, and intricate storytelling, Gravity's Rainbow remains an enduring and influential work in the canon of modern literature. 

For Books of Some Substance’s 25th episode, Nick is joined by San Francisco State American Literature Professor Sarita Cannon to discuss Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon.

Listen in for insight into 1970s politics, writing books like songs, the importance of myths and ancestry, and Morrison’s knack for asking all of the right questions while not giving any of the answers.  And, oh yeah, that whole flying thing.

We don't want other worlds, but do we want mirrors? Do we need them?

From the retro-futuristic, wildly open, existentially uncertainty Andrei Tarkovsky version from 1972 to the beige and blue sleekness of Steven Soderbergh's redemptive and romantic 2002 version, David and Eric discuss the two strong adaptations of Stanisław Lem's Solaris. 

Watch the films; give us a listen. 

Follows us on Instagram & Twitter: @booksosubstance

Check out our homepage: www.booksofsomesubstance.com 

Just because you bought a copy of W.G. Sebald’s The Emigrants in the fiction section doesn’t make it fiction. Or does it? Join Nathan, David, and Nick for a conversation about fiction vs. non-fiction vs. creative non-fiction vs. journalism vs. memoir vs. Nick’s favorite genre of “who cares as long as you like it." Topics discussed also include: the way reading about memory triggers one’s own memory, the Nabokovian butterfly man, and a Sebaldian account of recommending Sebald to others.

The Books of Some Substance crew wish you the happiest of holidays. May you spend them reading and thinking about a man who walks around thinking about the things he’s read.

Got yourself a case of originality-sickness? You know, the kind that wishes for the new, the always new, that fashionable illusion that speaks only of death when pretending to be nothing but birth? 

Well, kiddo, you are not alone. But you are not loved. Fuentes sees you clinging to originality and he laughs. He sees the anxiety you have about your influences and shakes his head. Give it up, he says, embrace what has come before. Bathe in the aura of influence. 

Join David, Eric, and Nick as we discuss Carlos Fuentes' creative essay "On Reading and Writing Myself" in which he breaks down the influences, allusions, and experiences that helped create his short novel Aura. 

We talk authorial intent, the death of the author, the Eternal Return; we try to pronounce names correctly and struggle with words only read; we discuss creativity and expectation and change in perception. 

So, then. Here is a link to the essay under discussion: 

https://www.worldliteraturetoday.org/sites/default/files/static/docs/archive-issues/wlt57.4-carlosfuentes.pdf

And here is where you can find us: 

http://www.booksofsomesubstance.com/ 

And here:

INSTAGRAM   FACEBOOK    TWITTER  

 ☮

In this episode of the Books of Some Substance podcast, Nick chats with Michael Berdan from the New York City noise-rock-slash-industrial-metal band Uniform about Hubert Selby Jr.’s The Room.  We talk about the importance of tone and aesthetic in both vocal delivery and fiction’s prose, about Berdan’s deeply personal connection to Selby Jr.’s writing, and, perhaps most importantly, about how art can be coarse while still delivering a message of hope and compassion.

Uniform’s latest full-length, Shame, is available now through Sacred Bones Records and is, truthfully, the absolute perfect musical accompaniment to Hubert Selby Jr.’s writings.  Grating, boundary-pushing perspectives of humanity abound. We might all be isolated, but we're not all alone.

With Nick out for a little R&R, David and Nathan are joined by B.O.S.S. Boocklub mainstay Eric Heiman for our inaugural supplemental episode. 

On this episode, in preparation for further episodes on James Baldwin's literary work, we read one of his most famous essays "Notes of a Native Son" and discuss the recent documentary I Am Not Your Negro. We discuss Baldwin's struggle to shake off his father's bitterness in the face of racial oppression, his love for humanity, and his pristine analytical prose of the personal. 

Find a copy, watch the documentary, and give us a listen. 

If you are interested in joining up and receiving bad-ass artwork and hand-typed invitation letters (or if you want to see what else we have read or check out Nick's novella), go to our website: http://www.booksofsomesubstance.com/ 

FIND US ON:  INSTAGRAM    FACEBOOK    TWITTER  

Dear World, Kōbō Abe sees your absurdity and raises you one box! A box to live in, specifically. And a box to meld with the psyche of the inhabitant. If it’s not clear, we’re talking about Abe’s 1973 novel The Box Man, a how-to guide on how to construct your own box in which to dwell and/or a challenging narrative (or, perhaps, narratives?) on the nature of voyeurism and anonymity in modern society.

Don’t worry, it’s not quite clear to Nathan, David, and Nick either. Listen in for another rousing discussion in which the irrational becomes rational, the meaningful becomes meaningless, and the absurd becomes commonplace. Just don't expect to leave knowing who the narrator(s) is (are).

In this episode Nick is joined by Bob Blaisdell, Professor of English at the City University of New York’s Kingsborough College and author of a new work on Anton Chekhov titled Chekhov Becomes Chekhov: The Emergence of a Literary Genius. Listen in as they talk in depth about the story Difficult People, as well as Blaisdell’s approach to digging into Chekhov’s most prolific years of 1886 and 1887.

Chekhov Becomes Chekhov: The Emergence of a Literary Genius is available now from Pegasus Books, and we highly recommend grabbing a copy. It’s a wonderful read.

Meet Alfred Brown IV, educator and vocalist of the LA hardcore punk band Dangers. He’s into Amy Hempel. Like, really into Amy Hempel. Listen in for a deep conversation covering everything from the unintended emptiness of slogan-heavy lyrics to Hempel’s short story rhythm to questioning the need to categorize any type of writing — fiction, non-fiction, memoir, et al. — as anything other than just prose.

Make sure you check out Alfred Brown IV as well as his work in Dangers and Cultural Materials. Oh, and grab a copy of that Hempel collection and signal to the world that you are most definitely on the correct wavelength.

On this episode of the podcast, David is joined by author and translator João Reis, author of The Translator's Bride, to talk about lovable literary scamp, the warm and cuddly and optimistic Austrian writer Thomas Bernhard's Old Masters: A Comedy.

They discuss the common aspects of Bernhard's style in general—a monologic riff rife with musical patterns of recursive invective as dark as it is humorous—and Old Masters in particular, which aims its hatred at, among other things: museum guides and their “art twaddle,” Russian tourists, public bathrooms, reading too much of a book, nature, newspapers, Austrian culture, the ubiquity of music, the idea of a happy childhood, crowds, teachers, housekeepers, politicians, Heidegger, Beethoven, all the old masters, and the failure of art to be nothing better than a survival skill "to cope with this world and its revolting aspects."

What’s the deal with how choppy this Nabokov book is? Is the character of Pnin actually the target of a faculty conspiracy? Or is the real conspiracy the fact that David is secretly employed as a salesman for the word-a-day industry? Join Nick, Nathan, and David for another rousing discussion on Vladimir Nabokov, this time on the (sometimes) beloved Pnin. And don’t worry, even if they may be a bit critical, many a failed attempt at reading Nabokov passages out loud proves who the real master is. Dude’s got some killer words in his employ, amirite?

David, Eric, and Nick read Jon Fosse’s Melancholy I-II, a mid-90s Norwegian novel in two parts that explores the connections between art, death, and the divine. Also discussed in this episode: what exactly is “the divine.”

For fans of cyclic long sentences and also cyclic short sentences, Melancholy I-II is perhaps a slightly lesser known Fosse work to English-speaking audiences, but it makes a very convincing argument for reading as much Fosse as possible. We know we certainly will.

What’s that you say? Didn’t read Steinbeck in high school? Well then welcome to the safe space of Cannery Row, where one is not judged by achievements or accolades, but by the innate goodness found deep within.

Ahhhh, just kidding, this one’s more about having a rollickin’ good time gettin’ into fights with fishermen, getting thrown into (and buying your way out of) jail, and sharing a snort here and there of the best kind of liquor known to man: free.

Join Nick, Nathan, and David as they discuss the joys of this classic romp — as well as its overwhelming sadness and loneliness — and try to figure out just where or when in American history this might have occurred. At the very least, you’ll leave with some of the warmth to be found in the things that make us human and/or some weird ass gastronomical ideas.

Season Three: Family

The Books of Some Substance Podcast's third season is underway! David and Nathan are here to announce the season's theme of family and introduce the lineup of books they'll be reading and discussing.

The season opens with '100 Years of Solitude' by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, followed by 'Light Years' by James Salter, 'The Brothers Karamazov' by Fyodor Dostoevsky, 'The Obscene Bird of Night' by Jose Donoso, 'To the Lighthouse' by Virginia Woolf, and concludes with 'Blinding' by Mircea Cărtărescu.

We invite listeners to read along, participate in discussions on their community page here on YouTube, and join live read-alongs to make the season more interactive.

00:00 Introduction to Season Three

00:13 Exploring '100 Years of Solitude'

01:00 Diving into 'Light Years'

01:41 Discussing 'The Brothers Karamazov'

02:48 Unpacking 'The Obscene Bird of Night'

05:12 Returning to Virginia Woolf with 'To the Lighthouse'

06:15 Wrapping Up with 'Blinding'

09:05 Interactive Reading and Community Engagement

10:58 Final Thoughts and Encouragement

On this episode David and Eric are joined by Frida Pulido, an active and engaging member of the Books of Some Substance bookclub, to discuss Carlos Fuentes' The Death of Artemio Cruz. 

David questions the value of reading about such a despicable protagonist for such an extended page count, Eric finds humanity in where we all begin and eventually end, Frida schools us in the variety and elasticity of the colloquial word "chingada," and we all find plenty of substance in Fuentes' writing and philosophizing on death, memory, pain, and time. 

Find yourself a copy of the book and give us a listen. 

Here is where you can find us: 

http://www.booksofsomesubstance.com/ 

And here:

INSTAGRAM   FACEBOOK    TWITTER  

 ☮

David, Nathan, and Nick continue their journey through Marcel Proust’s In Search of Lost Time, this time discussing the third volume, The Guermantes Way. While this one might very well be “a middle book” — and by proximity, this episode “a middle episode” — there is continued brilliance to be enjoyed (if one can make it through the marathon salon scenes, that is). Come for the deep dives on The Dreyfus Affair, stay for the masterful ending. And just remember: You’re halfway home.

Ah yes, Hermann Hesse’s Siddhartha. You probably read it in high school or college as a young seeker of truth, but have you read it later in life? Do the messages change after you too have gone out into the world and been both drawn to and broken by its sweet, empty promises? And most importantly, have you been pronouncing Siddhartha properly all this time? (We haven’t.)

Join Nathan and David as they take another spin through Hesse’s most known novel. But just remember — we could tell you what this novel is about, but one can only share knowledge, not wisdom.

Down with Napoleon! Long live Mother Russia!

Ole Kutuzov and the gang aren’t the only winners here. Anyone who has read through the entirety of War and Peace — David, Nathan, and Nick now counting themselves as part of the club — knows that Tolstoy’s masterpiece and its ruminations on free will, history, and tragedy of both micro and macro proportions is and absolute joy and rather hard to stop thinking about. Join us for the fourth — and final — episode in our series on War and Peace and partake in our endless interest and discussion. Whether or not you choose to move your arms while listening is entirely up to you. Or is it?

In this episode Nick is joined by Tom Comitta, aficionado of citational fiction and author of The Nature Book, newly released and available now from Coffee House Press. Tom selected Henri Lefebvre’s The Missing Pieces as the work of focus for today’s discussion, so listen in as we talk through the history of authors remixing words, Lefebvre’s ability to invoke emotion with lists, and the apparent popularity of the destruction of art in antiquity.

Post-script: The remix artist referenced at 43:20 is People Like Us.

In this edition of The Substance of Influence, Nick chats with University of California-Berkeley English Professor Catherine Flynn about her new book, James Joyce and the Matter of Paris.  Listen in for discussion on the (un)romantic Paris of yesteryear, the sources of all those cool modernist moves, and why Joyce’s fiction is, um, a bit smelly. 

In other news, members of the B.O.S.S. reading group in San Francisco are now terrified about the potentially impending selection (read: assignment) of Finnegans Wake.  Our deepest apologies in advance.

🎃 You open your podcast feed and find a new episode released from The Books of Some Substance. It's rather late in the month, but what the hell. You look at the title, "Second Sight: Carlos Fuentes' Aura," and make a loose connection to the novel's creepy, devout Señora Consuelo. Later, after you listen to the entire episode, after you listen to David, Eric, and Nick discuss genre, substance, the ephemeral border between literature as entertainment and literature as intellectual pursuit, after some praise for Fuentes in general and this book in particular, after a handful of quotes are read, after some minds are changed, and, finally, after the final point is made regarding the value of second readings, you understand the title of the episode a little better. Maybe you will read the novel again. Maybe. 🎃

You decide to follow the podcast at 

INSTAGRAM    FACEBOOK    TWITTER  

You want to receive bad-ass artwork and hand-typed invitation letters and so you go to the website:  http://www.booksofsomesubstance.com/ and sign up to receive both.

With Nathan still motorcycling through the Americas, David and Nick are joined by Johanna, a wonderful and informative member of the Books of Some Substance bookclub, to discuss Heinrich Böll's The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum, Or: How Violence Develops and Where It Can Lead.

We talk Böll's style, violence in all its forms (institutional, linguistic, literal), fake news, 70s West Germany and the red scare, Amanda (Foxy) Knox(y), and, of course, like the appearance of Tlönian objects, a Borges reference is made. 

Find a copy of the book, read it, and listen. 

Follows us on Instagram & Twitter: @booksosubstance

Check out our homepage: www.booksofsomesubstance.com 

Hola Nada!

On this episode, our second in the Hemingway Short Story Month, join David and Nick as they discuss the story "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place." 

Ernest Hemingway was born in nothing in Oak Park, nothing.  As a young man he worked as a nothing for The Nothing City Star until nothing, when he volunteered as a nothing on the nothing front.  He was severely wounded and decorated for nothing.  In nothing, he joined the nothing nothing nothing in nothing.  With the encouragement of such fellow nothings as Nothing Nothing, Nothing Nothing, and F. Scott Fitznothing, Hemingway published his first book, Three Nothings and Ten Nothings. With The Nothing Also Rises, published in nothing, Hemingway gave a voice to the "lost nothing" and was immediately recognized as the leading nothing of his nothing. 

David, Nathan, and Nick continue their journey through Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace, this time tackling Volume Two. Characterized by a little less war and a lot more peace, this volume offers plenty of saucy romance, costume-fueled shenanigans, and overly long hunting scenes. Listen in as we recap the many love triangles, discuss the nature of moral fiction, and reveal who most identifies with the character of Anatole.

If you are reading along with us: Do not give up the good fight! Episodes on Volume Three and Volume Four to come in May and June of 2021.

Time to dust off your favorite huqin record. As the gramophone spins, the huqin's wail tells a story too desolate for words-oh! why go into it? Well, on this episode we explore Chang's desolate story "Love in a Fallen City" and parse why we think she bothers going into it. Join us as we discuss war, freedom, the deception of twice-over whoredom, sandflies, and the subtleties of love and Chang's narrative. 

If you are interested in joining up and receiving bad-ass artwork and hand-typed invitation letters (or if you want to see what else we have read or check out Nick's novella), go to our website: http://www.booksofsomesubstance.com/ 

FIND US ON:  INSTAGRAM    FACEBOOK    TWITTER  

Eileen Chang (張煐) [1920-1995] may now be most known for her novella Lust, Caution after Ang Lee adapted it into a popular film, but her two novels critical of the communist society that she fled The Rice Sprout Song and Naked Earth are becoming more widely read. B.O.S.S.'s next book will be Naked Earth. 

Nick chats with Jesse Cash, guitarist and vocalist of the progressive metal band ERRA, about Cormac McCarthy on this latest episode of the Books of Some Substance podcast. The book at hand is Suttree, a tale of a troubled man who has left an affluent past to live in a dilapidated houseboat and hang out in the underbelly of society. The two discuss McCarthy’s masterful use of both complex and simple sentences, the vague origin of Cornelius Suttree’s deeply embedded pain, and also whether or not an artist needs misery in order to create.

ERRA’s new self-titled record is available now via UNFD. And you can learn a thing or two about shredding by following Jesse Cash on Instagram.

Take the litmus test: Read some JLB, then be our friend.  We’ll see you at the end (or at the beginning).

Aatif Rashid, author of the novel Portrait of Sebastian Khan, joins the podcast to profess his love for Anthony Powell’s A Dance to the Music of Time. The one with, like, a million volumes? The one that’s jam-packed with the subtleties of human interactions, relationships, and communications (or lack thereof)? The one that you saw on all of those “great books” lists, but has since slipped away from the shelves of contemporary readers?

Yes, that one indeed. Listen in as Aatif and David chat about why this movement of all movements is still a must-read.

You can find out more about Aatif Rashid here and you can find Portrait of Sebastian Khan via 7.13 Books.

Also, for anyone curious about the article Aatif refernces in the episode, here it is:  "A Text of Arrested Desire: The Anticlimax of Extended Narrative in Anthony Powell's "A Dance to the Music of Time" (1988) by Lynette Felber

https://www.jstor.org/stable/42945736

In this edition of The Substance of Influence Nick chats with Ross Farrar, vocalist of the Northern California punk band Ceremony, about the connections between the band’s latest record In the Spirit World Now and the classic Saul Bellow novel Humboldt’s Gift.  Listen in as we discuss the similarities between Bellow’s blend of rough intellectualism and the literary underpinnings of punk music, why poetry should just tell you what it is, and the psychological impact of being on a Megabus for over ten hours. Additionally, convincing arguments are presented for why you should stop being a square, yo.

In this episode, David and Nathan delve into Henry Miller's controversial and groundbreaking novel "Tropic of Cancer."

Published in 1934, this semi-autobiographical work was banned in the US and the UK upon its release due to its explicit content. Despite—and perhaps in part because of—its ban, "Tropic of Cancer" has endured as a provocative and essential piece of literature. 

Discussed on this episode, historical context (with a lot of help from George Orwell’s essay "Inside the Whale," which contextualizes the novel superbly), mysticism, narcissism, surrealism, c*cks and c*nts, general vulgarity, and authenticity. 

This episode serves as a comprehensive exploration of "Tropic of Cancer," addressing both its literary significance and the moral dilemmas it poses, making it a rich conversation for fans and critics of Henry Miller alike.

This episode serves as a comprehensive, though by no means exhaustive, exploration of "Tropic of Cancer” that we hope you enjoy.  

As always, please leave comments, reviews, and buy some books through the podcast’s website to support future episodes.

* 

Note: The photographs at the opening of the YouTube version of the episode come from Henry Miller’s personal friend Brassaï (Gyula Halász), a 20^th century Hungarian–French photographer, sculptor, filmmaker, and writer (even a book on Miller’s Paris Years).

* 

Links:

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/BooksOSubstance
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/booksosubstance/
• Our brand-new website: https://www.booksofsomesubstance.com/

Hey you there, you listener of substance! All full of the choice whether to listen to this podcast and/or the choice to do good or evil. We get you. John Steinbeck gets you too, as proven in his 1952 masterwork East of Eden. One part character epic, one part soap opera, and one part philosophical tract on the merits and challenges of individual agency, this book undeniably occupies a special place in American fiction. But are the characters maybe a little too one dimensional? Is it a little too loaded down by side story after side story? And did the B.O.S.S. team really do any research when theorizing that he wrote a rough caricature of an evil female after his divorce? (Answer: No, we didn’t. Sorry about that, investigatory podcast fans.)

Also making a guest appearance is Diana, Nathan’s vocal coach, as she lends her expert guidance on just how to nail a snappy introduction. It’s proof that, with enough 1950s gumption and elbow grease, we all just might be able to choose our own destinies. Maybe.

Go forth into the dark corners of thyself! Hail doom! 

With David out on a doctor's order to investigate an existential crises, Nathan and Nick explore Hermann Hesse, his place in contemporary readership, and his short work "Klingsor's Last Summer." On this short(ish) episode you will also hear Nick fail to hum a Steppenwolf tune, Nathan come close to admitting a dark secret, and some general discoursing on self-exploration. 

As always, give the story a read and listen along. 

Join the B.O.S.S. Book Club for cool artwork and to get in on the conversation: www.booksofsomesubstance.com

On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BooksOfSomeSubstance/

On Twitter: @BooksOSubstance

Check out B.O.S.S. Underground Press and our first release: PWR VOL written by our very own Nick Scandy, illustrated by Aaron Zonka, and scored by mini and the Bear. 

Welcome back! The B.O.S.S. Podcast returns!

As we gear up for Sinclair Lewis' Babbitt, we open up a forgotten time capsule to read about the rise of white collar work at the beginning of the 20th Century, a world looking to sell you on pep! vim! zip! and zing! but ultimately dreary. Nothing really changes. 

On this shortened episode, and more so than usual, Nick guides Nathan and David through the stories "Snappy Display" and "Way I See It."

ALSO! We are happy to announce the beginnings of B.O.S.S. Underground Press and our first release: PWR VOL written by our very own Nick Scandy, illustrated by Aaron Zonka, and scored by mini and the Bear. 

Episode Music: "chemical.static.hum" by mini and the Bear  

Join the B.O.S.S. Book Club for cool artwork and to get in on the conversation: www.booksofsomesubstance.com

On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BooksOfSomeSubstance/

On Twitter: @BooksOSubstance

Sinclair Lewis (1885-1951) was the first American to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. His most popular novels are Main Street, Babbitt, Elmer Gantry, and It Can't Happen Here. Like many writers, he drank himself to death. 

Greetings and Salutations! Welcome to another full length episode of the Books of Some Substance Podcast. On this episode: Nathan finds in Babbitt a flapper-ite hipsterish cesspool of nihilism; David allows a groan (or seven) of tedium to escape him, as he finds “substance” to have escaped from the novel itself; and Nick, having enveloped himself in far more Lewis than Zenith's house-call doctor would recommend, finds the realism, clever vernacular, and biting satire not only lasting in historical interest but entirely relevant to today’s vapid excesses. Dive in. The world is yours!

 Links:  

Our website: http://www.booksofsomesubstance.com/

Our Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BooksOfSomeSubstance/

Our Twitter: https://twitter.com/booksosubstance

 Nick’s book PWR VOL: http://www.booksofsomesubstance.com/imprint-list/pwr-vol and https://www.amazon.com/pwr-vol-Nick-Scandy/dp/0998188808/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1481669327&sr=8-1&keywords=PWR+VOL

David’s story: https://tahomaliteraryreview.com/current-issue-2/

Did you just stop at digging up her body? How crippling is your love?

They say that reading Albert Camus’ The Plague in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic is trendy. Well, it’s not so bad being trendy. Join us this month as David, Nathan, and Nick unpack Camus’ classic work and ask all of the questions on everyone’s minds: Is it logical to do good? Are pestilences real or mere abstractions? Is the philosophical novel genre fiction?

For the sake of maintaining normalcy in our now chaotic, fully virtual world, the B.O.S.S. hosts have done their best to stay true to their pre-pandemic IRL characters. Listen in as David aptly summarizes the tenets of existentialism and the world’s associated meaninglessness, Nathan yet again brings up questions about his emotional vacancy, and Nick makes sure everyone knows that he is alternative by comparing the novel to ‘90s straight edge hardcore. Together, we will fight this thing. Break! Down! The walls!

In this latest installment of the Books of Some Substance podcast David, Nick, and Eric go for a disorienting ride through the comedic darkness of László Krasznahorkai’s Satantango. This paragraph-shunning tome from the “Hungarian Master of the Apocalypse” is perfect for the reader seeking that good ole bleak, rain-soaked, mud-packed, worm-eatin’, dust-filled vibe.  Listen in for a rousing discussion in which we unlock all of the secrets: why Satantango can feel like an amalgamation of influences while being entirely its own; whether or not the point of Irimiás’ scheme remains entirely unclear; and why it is that Nick owns so many black T-shirts.

Clarice Lispector’s 1946 novel The Chandelier is the topic of fervent discussion for David, Nathan, and Nick in this latest episode. Not for the faint of heart (but perhaps for those near to wild ones), this modernist work probes a deep abyss of metaphysical questions including, but not limited to: What is anything? etc. etc.

Forever dividing a single moment of time into increasingly smaller slices of moments in time, Lispector asymptotically approaches the concept of defining a single instant and leaves the reader dizzy from attempts to tag along.  Life is beautiful, but do we expect a writer to curate this beauty or to hook us up to the firehose and come back a few days later? Even if there isn’t an answer, The Chandelier’s got enough poetic imagery and deep questions to make anyone feel something.  Just exactly what might not be clear.

It’s an exceptionally smart man who isn’t marked forever by the theories he reads in passing from books, and we aren't all that smart. 

On this shortened episode, we discuss the Bellow short stories "Leaving the Yellow House" and "A Silver Dish." There's rugged individualism. There's death and dying. There's the spin from that great wheel of fortune we all eventually spin and the bright, shiny electric one Nick may spin on broadcast television.

As always, read the stories and give us a listen.

Check out http://www.booksofsomesubstance.com/ 

Follow us on twitter @BooksOSubstance 

Bay Area musician Taylor Vick of Boy Scouts joins the podcast this episode to share her love for George Saunders’ The Tenth of December. Listen in as Taylor and Nick talk about the book’s use of absurdist mechanisms to move the reader, the connections between Saunders’ work and Boy Scouts, and their own attempts to explore new areas of art, despite any existing contextual baggage. Listening to this episode whilst going on a long walk is not mandatory, but nevertheless highly recommended.

Boy Scouts’ excellent new record Wayfinder is available now from ANTI- Records.

Third time’s the charm! David, Nathan, and Nick march on through Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace, having now conquered Volume 3. Listen in as they talk through Tolstoy’s increasingly direct commentary on the nature of history, Pierre’s Christ-like and/or quixotic vibes, and how it all relates to . . . cryptocurrency? If Tolstoy gets to include lengthy digressions on beehives, maybe we can make a few experimental analogies along the way, too, you know?

Stick around for the final War and Peace episode in June because, after all, time and patience are a soldier’s (and reader’s) best friend.

You may be thinking: If I had a dollar for every time I felt like I was just sitting in the waiting room of life—except that the room was an open field with a single tree in it and my best bud just wouldn’t keep his boots on—I’d be rich!  Or in a hit Samuel Beckett play.  Whether it is about morality or acceptance or the morality of acceptance, Beckett’s Waiting for Godot resonates indefinitely.  Listen in as David, Nick, and the recently returned Nathan talk it through, possibly existentially navel-gazing in the process.

In this episode of the Books of Some Substance podcast, Stanford English Professor Roanne Kantor stops by to chat with Nick about Mohammed Hanif’s A Case of Exploding Mangoes.  While providing a fertile ground to discuss what exactly Global Anglophone literature is, the 2008 novel also packs many a nod to Latin America greats García Márquez and Vargas Llosa and pairs well with that other stellar work about General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq and 1980s Pakistan, Salman Rushdie’s Shame. A Case of Exploding Mangoes is also hilarious, thus asking the question: Is realism or satire the correct way to address topics as unsettling as the violence and oppression of a dictator’s regime?  Either way, rest assured: The general dies in this one.

Borgesian tropes, 60's pop-psych, the comfort of an infinitesimal self within the endless cosmos, the eternal return of a drunk-dialed jukebox, and livable confusion: ah yes, another episode of the BOSS podcast.  

Moving on from the fiasco of reading Fiasco, David and Nick discuss Stanisław Lem's Solaris, his most popular science fiction work of failed communication.

Read the book; give us a listen. 

Follows us on Instagram & Twitter: @booksosubstance

Check out our homepage: www.booksofsomesubstance.com 

David, Nathan, and Nick discuss Mikhail Bulgakov's satiric novel Heart of a Dog and come to some conclusions on the difficulties of understanding and changing our natures, whether proletariat or bourgeoisie, man-dog or mad-scientist. 

Novelist Mark Haber joins the podcast to talk about one of his underdogs: Santiago Gamboa and his excellent novel Necropolis.

Necropolis is a novel full of narratives, soaked in storytelling, and driven by a cast of colorful characters seeking some kind of redemption.

Mark and David dive into the novel's plots and craft, and Mark touches upon his own conversations with Gamboa and Gamboa's other works of fiction available in English.

Mark Haber's novel Reinhardt's Garden was published by Coffee House Press in 2019 and is "an exhilarating fever dream about the search for the secret of melancholy" according to Publisher's Weekly, and we here at BOSS think it's a damn fine novel indeed. Highly recommended.

In this episode of the Books of Some Substance podcast, Nick is joined by Steve Von Till of the seminal metal band Neurosis for a conversation about Ted Hughes’ Crow: From the Life and Songs of the Crow. Von Till’s prolific career now includes his latest solo record, No Wilderness Deep Enough, and his first published book of poems, Harvestman: 23 Untitled Poems and Collected Lyrics, both of which provide ample material for discussing his approach to songwriting, lyrics, poetry, and their endless overlaps. Naturally, references to the film The Crow are made and Nick predictably (and repeatedly) confesses that he likes things with a dark tone.

Grab some Hughes, some Neurosis, Von Till’s new solo record and/or poetry collection, and settle in for a relaxing discussion of language, art, and the subtleties of everything in between.

Do you drink from the cup of trembling? Do you sup those dregs of hopelessness?

Welcome back B.O.S.S. listeners. We continue our journey into the work of James Baldwin by reading the story "Sonny's Blues," a narrative about addiction, artistic creation, communion, destruction, existential dread, music's universal power, poetic prose, pragmatism, siblings, suffering, the trap of home, race, redemption, and what we leave behind.

Once again, David and Nick find themselves trying to convince Nathan of the "substance" of the narrative. Does Nathan have his come-to-Jesus moment? Or, does he drink from the very cup of trembling? 

Find yourself a copy of the story, read it, and join us! 

To receive bad-ass artwork and hand-typed invitation letters (or if you want to see what else we have read (or check out Nick's novella)), go to our website: http://www.booksofsomesubstance.com/ 

FIND US ON:  INSTAGRAM    FACEBOOK    TWITTER  

In this episode of the Books of Some Substance podcast, Nick chats with Alexis Marshall, vocalist of the noise rock band Daughters, about Jean Cocteau’s 1929 novel Les Enfants Terribles (or as it is known in its English translation: The Holy Terrors). Topics of discussion include: Marshall's own approach to writing poetry and lyrics, how The Holy Terrors is a direct allegory of Cocteau’s addiction to opium, and how the atmosphere of this book is both nightmarishly dream-like and kinda like the amplified drama of a reality show.

Daughters’ latest record, You Won’t Get What You Want, is available via Ipecac Records (editor’s note: It is easily one of my favorites of the 2010s). Alexis Marshall’s new solo single Nature in Three Movements is out now. The Heartworm Reader, Vol. 1 is available today and features a few poems from Marshall (as well as a few from past guest Ross Farrar of Ceremony).

Happy reading. Happy listening. Stay surreal out there.

Good luck summarizing this one, nerds! Listen in as we examine William H. Gass’ holy casket of hellfire and judgment, Omensetter’s Luck, a wild stream of preacher prose, suicide and/or murder mystery, and small-town cat gossip. Seemingly intelligent points are made by the B.O.S.S. gang regarding the book’s odd three-part structure, its allusions to original sin, and Gass’ iterative writing process, but in this episode it’s truly just about the words. Cathartic, unhinged, godly (godless?) passages steeped in rhythmic precision and linguistic excess are the focus here, dear listener. Enjoy the wonderful release that comes with reading this gem aloud — it just might get you through our present day IRL reenactment of The Book of Revelation.