Canonical
Activity Overview
Episode publication activity over the past year
Episodes
Contemporary Chinese Sci-Fi Discussion: The Fat Years by Chan Koonchung
12 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Should societies aim to be open or stable? Is it possible for a society to have total free speech? This week we discuss the ideas of the Chinese pol...
Review: The Fat Years by Chan Koonchung
05 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This week, we review The Fat Years, the book that Chinese publishers dare not publish. Described as a science fiction political thriller, did this n...
Contemporary Chinese Sci-Fi Discussion: Vagabonds by Hao Jingfang
26 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
What is the subtext of Vagabonds? Is there any subtext? Join us this week as we try to figure out the deeper meanings of this book. This is the se...
Review: Vagabonds by Hao Jingfang
19 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This week we review Vagabonds by Hao Jingfang, a novel we found to be less than stellar. Were we conned by the positive reviews or did we miss somet...
Contemporary Chinese Sci-Fi Discussion: The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin
12 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A long episode this week as we explore how The Three-Body Problem fits into our contemporary political, literary and philosophical landscape. Who ar...
Review: The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin
05 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Author Mike Wang joins us this week as we review Liu Cixin's The Three-Body Problem, the first Chinese novel to win a Hugo for best novel. We discus...
Transhumanist Sci-Fi Series Review
27 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This week we wrap up our series on Transhumanist Sci-Fi by analyzing Vinge's A Fire Upon the Deep, Vonnegut's Galapagos, and Bacigalupi's The Windup ...
Transhumanist Sci-Fi Discussion: The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi
20 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This week, we talk about this book in the context of one of the first posthumanist novels: Shelley's Frankenstein. We also debate whether or not The...
Review: The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi
13 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This week, we reviewed The Windup Girl, a biopunk novel set in Thailand a few centuries from now. While there's no denying that this book was an enj...
Transhumanist Sci-Fi Discussion: A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge
07 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Is A Fire upon the Deep actually a posthumanist text? Would we advocate for a genocide of the Skroderiders? Is a philosophical novel more convincing...
Review: A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge
31 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
We say goodbye to 2020 with a review of A Fire Upon the Deep, a classic Sci-Fi novel that is less well known to the literary community at large. We ...
Transhumanist Sci-Fi Discussion: Galapagos by Kurt Vonnegut
23 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
There's so much to talk about this week as we delve into Galapagos, one of our favorite books of the year. Some of the topics include: the inventive...
Review: Galapagos by Kurt Vonnegut
16 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
This week, we kicked off our Transhumanist Sci-Fi series with one of Kurt Vonnegut's lesser known books: Galapagos... and we loved it! What was it a...
Postmodern Novels of the South Review
09 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
This week, author and publisher Jon Sealy joins us briefly to talk about what we mean when we say Southern literature. We also discuss why American ...
Postmodern Novels of the South Discussion: The Moviegoer by Walker Percy
03 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Author and publisher Jon Sealy joins us this week as we dive deep into a discussion of The Moviegoer. We talk about the influence of Kierkegaard on ...
Review: The Moviegoer by Walker Percy
25 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
This week we read one of the most iconic Southern writers of the Postmodern era: Walker Percy. His debut novel The Moviegoer became an instant class...
Postmodern Novels of the South Discussion: Swamplandia! by Karen Russell
18 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Karen Russell's Swamplandia! takes a surprising turn from magic to realism. We talk about how Russell does this and whether or not it works for us. ...
Review: Swamplandia! by Karen Russell
11 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
This week, we review Karen Russell's Swamplandia!, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2012 which ultimately awarded no winner. We debated whether ...
Postmodern Novels of the South Discussion: A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
05 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
A Confederacy of Dunces is an enjoyable read without much thematic complexity-- is that reason enough for it to be read? Would we be better off read...
Review: A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
28 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
This week, we review another book that was overlooked in its time. A decade after its author John Kennedy Toole committed suicide, A Confederacy of ...
Campus Novels Series Review
21 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
How do campus novels subvert traditional power structures? Why do so many writers keep writing campus novels anyway? And is it problematic that so...
Campus Novels Discussion: The Human Stain by Philip Roth
14 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
This week, we wrestle with the overbearing maximalist style of Roth's narration in The Human Stain. Does the style augment the themes of the novel o...
Review: The Human Stain by Philip Roth
07 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
This week, we reviewed The Human Stain by Philip Roth, an idiosyncratic American stylist. Though a best-seller and winner of the PEN/Faulkner when i...
Campus Novels Discussion: Stoner by John Williams
30 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Why was Stoner overlooked? Was it because the protagonist is somehow un-American? Was it because of the plain, minimalist style? Or was it beca...
Review: Stoner by John Williams
23 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
This week we review Stoner, a "forgotten" novel that was rediscovered 50 years after its publication. Now, some critics and writers are calling it t...
Campus Novels Discussion: The Secret History by Donna Tartt
16 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In this week's episode we debate our different readings of the The Secret History. Is Bunny an innocent character? Is Henry some kind of Nietzschean...
Review: The Secret History by Donna Tartt
09 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Is this a perfect novel? One of us certainly thinks so! This week we review Donna Tartt's debut cult classic The Secret History. This is the f...
Race in Contemporary America Series Review
04 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Can the act of reading bring about societal change? Can novels about race still surprise us? This week, we grapple with the complicated, messy que...
Race in Contemporary America Discussion: The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
26 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
James, Sam and Eyad discuss Brit Bennett's The Vanishing Half, its theme of passing, and how relevant this book is to contemporary conversations about...
Review: The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
19 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
An introspective inter-generational novel with people haunted by their past and past actions. A story that maps the scars that historic racism has l...
Race in Contemporary America Discussion: There There by Tommy Orange
12 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
James, Sam and Eyad discuss Tommy Orange's There There, one of the most important Native American novels to be published in recent years. We debate ...
Review: There There by Tommy Orange
05 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Beautiful sadness. This episode we review There There, Tommy Orange's bombshell award-winning debut. This episode will not contain any plot spoilers...
Race in Contemporary America Discussion: Sag Harbor by Colson Whitehead
29 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
We have a in-depth discussion on Sag Harbor, Colson Whitehead's meditation on summer and the in-betweenness of being a black teenager attending an eli...
Review: Sag Harbor by Colson Whitehead
22 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
This week we review Colson Whitehead's Sag Harbor, an earlier novel that's been overshadowed by his two more recent critically acclaimed works The Nic...
Pandemic Literature Series Review
15 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
For the conclusion of our Pandemic Literature Series, we revisit Katherine Anne Porter's Pale Horse Pale Rider, Jose Saramago's Blindness and Emily St...
Pandemic Literature: Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
08 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we review Emily St. John Mandel's award-winning bestseller Station Eleven, the third book in our Pandemic Literature series. We debat...
Pandemic Literature: Blindness by Jose Saramago
01 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
We continue our Pandemic Literature series with a review of Blindness, a dystopian novel by Nobel Prize winner Jose Saramago. We explore what it means...
Pandemic Literature: Pale Horse, Pale Rider by Katherine Anne Porter
24 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In the midst of the Coronavirus pandemic, we review Katherine Anne Porter's Pale Horse, Pale Rider, a short novel set during the 1918 Flu pandemic. W...
Postmodern Japanese Fiction Series Review
17 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
This week we finish our Postmodern Japanese Fiction series by taking another look at Haruki Murakami's Kafka on the Shore, Sayaka Murata's Convenience...
Postmodern Japanese Fiction: The Emissary by Yoko Tawada
04 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
This episode, we review Yoko Tawada's speculative fiction dystopia The Emissary, winner of the National Book Award. We discuss the novel's unconventio...
Postmodern Japanese Fiction: Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami - Part Two
04 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
This week, Sam, James and Eyad decode Kafka on the Shore and discuss it as a story of trauma. Join us on Reddit where we tackle this and other quest...
Postmodern Japanese Fiction: Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami - Part One
04 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
This week, Sam, James and Eyad discuss the first half of Kafka on the Shore and Haruki Murakami, a writer who we all loved at some point in our lives....
Postmodern Japanese Fiction: Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata
03 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In our inaugural episode, we review and discuss Convenience Store Woman, Sayaka Murata's best-selling and award-winning novel. We delve into societal ...