Literary Disco

Revisiting George Saunders

04 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

On today's episode, we revisit a recent conversation with one favorite authors on the podcast, George Saunders, whose new story collection Liberation ...

Episode 204: Horror

23 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Today, on Literary Disco, we continue our genre-based season. Each episode of this season, we're diving deep into a particular literary genre, explori...

Episode 203: Crime

20 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Today, we continue our genre-based season where we dive deep into a literary genre exploring what defines it, what makes it work and not work, intervi...

Episode 202: Fantasy

27 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Today we launch a new format of the Disco as we begin our "Genre Season." Each episode of this season, we're going to dive deep into a particular lite...

Sea Tea (Literary Disco Live!)

15 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

This is a recording of a live episode from Sea Tea Improv in Hartford, Connecticut, back in March. Julia and Rider are joined by special guests curato...

Episode 201: Where the Hell Have We Been?

07 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Hey, guys! It's been a while. While Julia may have grown a beard, Rider still hasn't cut his hair, and Tod is still up to his old bullshit, we've been...

Episode 200: Reflections on the Disco

12 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

It's episode 200. We're going to talk about what's changed over the years, and maybe do a bookshelf revisit. Who knows?! We're getting old. Learn more...

Episode 199: Back to School

01 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This week, Julia, Rider, and Tod head back to school with special guest Bree Rolfe, a teacher from Austin, Texas, where she helps high school students...

Episode 198: Horse Girls

24 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This week, Julia, Rider, and Tod tackle the incredibly popular, enduring, and surprisingly diverse world of the horse girl. We have read a classic of ...

Episode 197: East of Eden

03 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Literary Disco, Julia, Rider, and Tod take on John Steinbeck's classic epic novel East of Eden, which centers on the Salinas Valley...

Episode 196: Pool Reads

13 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Literary Disco, while Rider's off camping, Tod and Julia talk about their philosophy of pool reads—and why they'll read books at ...

Episode 195: Arena

29 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

On this week's episode, Julia, Rider, and Tod read some poetry -- and discuss Lauren Shapiro's poetry collection, Arena, which was published in 2020 t...

Episode 194: Alta Magazine

28 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Today, Julia, Rider, and Tod discuss three articles from Alta Magazine, the publication based in California that focuses on news, history, literature,...

Episode 193: Being Mortal

07 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

On today's episode, Julia, Rider, and Tod talk about all the things human beings never want to talk about: death, pain, sickness, and more, when we di...

Episode 192: The Removed

20 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

On today's episode, Julia, Rider, and Tod discuss Brandon Hobson's new novel, The Removed, that follows a Cherokee family in Oklahoma in the aftermath...

Episode 191: Spring Games 2021

30 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This week, Julia, Tod, and Rider celebrate Literary Disco’s ninth birthday by breaking out some book games. In Judging a Book by Its Cover, Rider re...

Episode 190: Crime Favorites

16 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This week, Julia, Tod, and Rider talk about their favorite crime reads—and why we're so hooked on the genre, anyway. Learn more about your ad choice...

Episode 189: The Low Desert

03 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This week, Julia, Tod, and Rider go behind the scenes of Tod’s new book, The Low Desert, out now from Counterpoint. Learn more about your ad choice...

Episode 188: Cruel Summer

16 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

On today's special episode, we are live from LumaCon 2021 — a comic convention brought to you by a cohort of public libraries in Sonoma County, Cali...

Episode 187: The Neighbors

02 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Today, for the first time in a while, Julia, Rider, and Tod tackle a single short story. We solicited our listeners via social media for recommendatio...

Episode 186: George Saunders

12 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

On today's episode, we welcome one of our favorite authors on the podcast, George Saunders, to discuss his latest book, A Swim in a Pond in the Rain, ...

Episode 185: The Best of the Worst Year

04 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This week, Julia, Rider, and Tod take on the year 2020 and all its glory and misery. Each of them picks the best thing they read in 2020 for the podca...

Episode 184: A Christmas Story

23 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

On today's special holiday episode, Rider, Tod, and Julia discuss the work of storyteller and humorist Jean Shepherd, whose book In God We Trust: All ...

Episode 183: Shel Silverstein

18 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Today, in a special parents only episode, Rider and Julia discuss the works of poet, songwriter, cartoonist, and all-around Renaissance man of childre...

Episode 182: Zero Zone

11 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

A massive art installation in the New Mexico desert. A Manson-like cult leader whose followers barricade themselves inside. An artist plagued by guilt...

Episode 181: Soap Operas

17 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Today we embrace the melodrama, the secret, the amnesia, the surprise relative, the multiple personality disorder, the rape, the recasting, the coming...

Episode 180: Comfort Lit

02 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Today, as the election looms in America and tensions run high, Julia, Rider, and Tod talk about what they're reading that is bringing them peace, what...

Episode 179: Watership Down

29 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

You might remember the 1979 cartoon film adaptation? Or maybe the 1999 Canadian TV series? Or the 2018 British miniseries--or maybe the play or role-p...

Episode 178: The Tradition

15 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

This week, Julia, Rider, and Tod read and discuss Jericho Brown's Pulitzer Prize-winning collection, The Tradition. Learn more about your ad choices. ...

Episode 177: Hojoki

01 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

This week, Julia, Rider, and Tod read and discuss the essay "Hojoki: or, An Account of My Hut," written in the 13th century by the Japanese poet and e...

Episode 176: The End of Middlemarch

11 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Today, Julia, Rider, and Tod discuss book six, seven, and eight of George Eliot's Middlemarch, bringing an end to our long and oft-delayed quarantine ...

Episode 175: Weather

31 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Today, with another short break from Middlemarch, Julia, Rider, and Tod talk about Jenny Offill's latest novel Weather. They also discuss the beauty o...

Episode 174: Middlemarch, Book 5

14 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The return of Literary Disco! Today, we continue our march through Middlemarch as we read the George Eliot classic and book five, The Dead Hand. Learn...

Episode 173: Bookshelf Revisit, Summer 2020

15 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

This week, Julia, Rider, and Tod do an old-fashion bookshelf revisit where each of them take a volume for their shelves and bring it up for discussion...

Episode 172: Middlemarch, Book 4

27 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

This week is part four of our #Quarantine read of George Eliot's long and intimidating classic novel from the nineteenth century, Middlemarch. Learn m...

Choose Your Own Houdini

22 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Today, in another departure from our Middlemarch read, we will read one of the new Choose Your Own Adventure books, which unlike the beloved books fro...

Episode 171: Middlemarch, Book 3

12 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

This week is part three of our #Quarantine read of George Eliot's long and intimidating classic novel from the nineteenth century, Middlemarch. Learn ...

Quick Poems for Quarantine

06 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

On today's episode, as a quick respite from our reading of Middlemarch, Julia, Rider, and Tod each present a poem to discuss. Julia presents "The Mowe...

Episode 169: Middlemarch, Book Two

27 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

This week is part two of our #Quarantine read of George Eliot's long and intimidating classic novel from the nineteenth century, Middlemarch. Learn mo...

Episode 168: Murder Most Foul

21 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Bob Dylan released something new during the pandemic: Murder Most Foul, a seventeen-minute long song that begins with John F. Kennedy's assassination....

Episode 167: Middlemarch, Book One

14 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Ever wondered what 900 pages of turgid prose sounds like when dropped on a desk? This week is part one of our #Quarantine read of George Eliot's long ...

Episode 166: The Baby-Sitters Club

06 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

On this special episode, Julia, Rider, and Tod explore the novel that started it all, Kristy's Great Idea by Ann M. Martin, answering the question: Wh...

Episode 165: Coyote and the Shadow People

30 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Today, we discuss a classic of Native American storytelling, a story told by generations of the Nez Perce tribe entitled "Coyote and the Shadow People...

Episode 164: Gil Thorp

19 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In another short episode for the Pandemic, the Literary Disco trio are tackling another form of writing they've never covered before: the comic strip....

Episode 163: The Faux Pas

18 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In today's short episode, the Literary Disco trio will tackle a form of writing we have never done before: the YouTube comedy sketch! Today we're watc...

Episode 162: Your House Will Pay

06 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

On today's episode, Julia, Rider, and Tod discuss Steph Cha's 2019 novel Your House Will Pay, a book set in Los Angeles that follows two families on o...

Episode 161: Literary Disco Is Not Listening

11 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

When was the last time you listened to someone, or someone really listened to you? This week, Julia, Rider, and Tod discuss a new nonfiction book from...

Episode 160: The Overstory

28 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

On this today’s episode, we discuss The Overstory by Richard Powers, a Pulitzer Prize-winning from 2018 that centers trees in a variety of context a...

Episode 159: The Odyssey of Literary Disco

14 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In our first episode of 2020, Julia, Rider, and Tod discuss Madeline Miller’s novel Circe, which retells some of the most infamous Greek myths from ...

Episode 158: Best Books of the Decade

11 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

This week, Julia, Rider, and Tod look back at the last ten years -- seven of which they've been recording this podcast -- from the books they've read ...

Episode 157: Pale Fire

26 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode, the Literary Disco trio discuss Vladimir Nabokov’s 1962 novel, less popular than Lolita but it is nonetheless complicated, maintain...

Episode 156: It's Time to Play Some Games!

07 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

This week marks the return of Literary Disco’s classic games! First, Rider presents Judge a Book By Its Cover, where he reads the first lines of a b...

Episode 155: Literary Disco and the Apple, Tree

24 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

This week, Julia, Rider, and Tod read and discuss a number of essays from a new collection, Apple, Tree: Writers On Their Parents, Edited by Lise Fund...

Episode 154: Literary Disco Visits the Waverly Gallery

26 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

This week, Julia, Rider, and Tod discuss Kenneth Lonergan’s play, The Waverly Gallery, which was first produced in 1999, was a finalist for the 2001...

Episode 153: Her Body and Other Parties

06 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

This week, Julia, Rider, and Tod read the strange, sometimes funny, but mostly disturbing and always feminist debut of short stories by the author Car...

Episode 152: Age of Books

22 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

In June, the Washington Post published an article titled “Books for the Ages,” a list of book recommendations based on how old you are, going from...

Episode 151: Jurassic Park

06 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

This week, Julia, Rider, and Tod go all the way back in time, to the prehistoric days of November 1990 when a man named Michael Crichton published a l...

Episode 150: Anthony McCann and Style

23 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

On today’s episode, we welcome author Anthony McCann, whose new book is called Shadowlands: Fear and Freedom at the Oregon Standoff. It’s an in-de...

Episode 149: The Great Gatsby

09 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

This week, Literary Disco goes back to high school, or college, to discuss the infamous book that at some point you had to read, were told you should ...

Episode 148: Outside Articles

25 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

It’s been a while since Literary Disco discussed magazine journalism. This week, Julia and Rider take into dive into three different articles that h...

Episode 147: Summer Reading 2019

11 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

This week, Rider and Tod take turns talking about their summer reading: what they’re reading, what they’re planning to read, and what they think y...

Episode 146: The Man They Wanted Me To Be

28 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

This week on Literary Disco, Julia, Rider, and Tod discuss The Man They Wanted Me To Be, the new book out from Jared Yates Sexton about masculinity in...

Episode 145: Live Oak, with Moss

14 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

This week, Julia, Rider, and Tod welcome their old friend Hugh Ryan to the Disco. He is the author When Brooklyn Was Queer, a look at the borough’s ...

Episode 144: The Call of the Wild

07 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

This week, Julia, Rider, and Tod get wild as they discuss Jack London’s classic portrait of the unforgiving and brutal life of being a dog in the Kl...

Episode 143: Sense and Sensibility

16 Apr 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Today we head back to a classic of English literature as Julia, Rider, and Tod read and discuss one of Jane Austen’s enduring novels of manners and ...

Episode 142: Heart Berries

02 Apr 2019

Contributed by Lukas

This week, Julia, Rider, and Tod discuss Terese Marie Mailhot‘s short and powerful memoir, Heart Berries. In the sledgehammer of a book, Mailhot add...

Episode 141: The Girl from the Black Lagoon

21 Mar 2019

Contributed by Lukas

This week, the Literary Disco trio sit down with Mallory O’Meara to discuss her new book, The Lady from the Black Lagoon: Hollywood Monsters and the...

Episode 140: The Last Samurai

05 Mar 2019

Contributed by Lukas

This week, Julia, Rider, and Tod discuss Helen Dewitt’s novel The Last Samurai, which, they are compelled to point out, has nothing to do with the h...

Episode 139: Children of the Disco

19 Feb 2019

Contributed by Lukas

On this week's episode, Julia, Rider, and Tod discuss what each of them are reading to Literary Disco’s second generation, from Frog and Toad to The...

Episode 138: Let the Games Begin

05 Feb 2019

Contributed by Lukas

No better way to start the new month than with some of Literary Disco’s classic book games. First, Rider presents “Judge a Book By Its Cover,” w...

Episode 137: There, There

22 Jan 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The debut novel from Tommy Orange has been on almost every Best Of 2018 list, but does the Literary Disco trio agree? In this week's episode, Julia, R...

Episode 136: Tarzan of the Apes

16 Jan 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Welcome to a new year, with your favorite literary podcast. We start 2019 with the classic tale of Tarzan.    We all know the story: after the death...

Episode 135: On Sabrina, Men in Underpants, and Bruce Springsteen

27 Dec 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Nick Drnaso's Sabrina is the first graphic novel to be nominated for the Man Booker Prize. It's also a beautiful and heartbreaking rendering of the cu...

Episode 134: The Books We Loved in 2018

11 Dec 2018

Contributed by Lukas

The last book club you’ll ever need. This week, Julia, Rider, and Tod discuss the best books they read in 2018, including Tara Westover’s Educated...

Episode 133: Hark! The Herald Angels Scream

26 Nov 2018

Contributed by Lukas

It’s the holidays! A time to deck the halls, grab some eggnog, and curl up with the SCARIEST book you can find… That’s right. Christmas horror. ...

Episode 132: Vulture's 100 Best Books of the 21st Century

05 Nov 2018

Contributed by Lukas

A couple months ago, Vulture published this crazy, crazy list. It’s an admittedly premature attempt to create a literary canon for the last 18 year...

Episode 131: Fall Revisit

23 Oct 2018

Contributed by Lukas

It’s getting cooler, the leaves are changing, time to curl up with a good book. It’s our Bookshelf Revisit for Fall 2018, an eclectic conversation...

Episode 130: Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas

25 Sep 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Hunter S. Thompson became a legend the moment he published this novel of a drug-fueled trip into the desert. Packed with mind-altering chemicals, extr...

Episode 129: Lord of the Flies

13 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

You read it in high school. You remember the conch, Piggy, and a boar head on a stick… But do you remember the Beast? That a child disappears the fi...

Episode 128: Gregory Pardlo’s Digest

23 Jul 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Today we dive deep into a single poetry collection: Digest, by Gregory Pardlo. Digest won the 2015 Pulitzer, and with good reason. This is one of the ...

Episode 127: Killers of the Flower Moon

26 Jun 2018

Contributed by Lukas

In the 1920s, a disproportionate amount of people within the Osage nation were dying. The US government had forcibly relocated the Osage to a section ...

Episode 123: Cat Person

05 Jun 2018

Contributed by Lukas

(Are we time traveling? Yes, a technical glitch set this episode back a few months…) Kristen Roupenian’s short story “Cat Person” appeared in...

Episode 126: Columbine, Part 2

21 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

We didn’t mean for these episodes to be “timely,” but these days in America, that seems unavoidable. Between posting our two-parter about Dave C...

Episode 125: Columbine, Part 1

14 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Dave Cullen’s book Columbine is an exhaustive and brilliant examination of the infamous school shooting that stunned the country in 1999. It is also...

Episode 124: Bookshelf Revisit Summer 2018

30 Apr 2018

Contributed by Lukas

I know, it’s a bit confusing, but some tech issues with Episode 123 means we’re skipping it for now. Instead, we zoom to the future! It’s a Book...

Episode 122: The Idiot

19 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Elif Batuman’s novel was a critical darling of 2017. We try to figure out why. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 121: A Spell for Chameleon

07 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Our fantasy and sci-fi correspondent Will Friedle returns! And he’s picked a doozy for us to read. Piers Anthony has written dozens of hugely popul...

Episode 120: Manhattan Beach

12 Feb 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Jennifer Egan’s a favorite author here on the Disco. But does her latest novel, the New York period piece Manhattan Beach, keep up the winning strea...

Episode 119: Lincoln in the Bardo

29 Jan 2018

Contributed by Lukas

  We did it. We read the George Saunders book that blew everyone’s mind in 2017. And then we talked about it.   Learn more about your ad choices....

Episode 118: Children’s Books

09 Jan 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Too often, all we say about children’s books is “awwww.” Not today. Tod, Julia, and Rider dig deep into classics and new books for kids. Learn m...

Episode 117: Holiday Reading

25 Dec 2017

Contributed by Lukas

  Happy Holidays! In honor of the season, the Disco team does a holiday-themed Bookshelf Revisit. See you in the New Year!   Learn more about your a...

Episode 116: The Fact of a Body

11 Dec 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Time for some non-fiction! One of the most popular books of 2017, The Fact of A Body is part true crime, part memoir. After a summer spent interning ...

Episode 115: My Brilliant Friend

28 Nov 2017

Contributed by Lukas

It’s been all the rage at book clubs everywhere. We read the smash hit Italian novel from Elena Ferrante. Julia is effusive. Tod is stoked. Rider i...

Episode 114: A Fall Bookshelf Revisit

07 Nov 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Tod discovers a mysterious set of diaries. Julia reads about the tech world. Rider finds out where the sidewalk ends. It’s time for a Bookshelf Revi...

Episode 113: Poetry from Listeners Part Two, Spoken Word

02 Oct 2017

Contributed by Lukas

We continue discussing listener recommended poetry. This time, all three poems are performed live, links below. That’s right, we’re talking spoken...

Episode 112: Poetry from Listeners Part One

18 Sep 2017

Contributed by Lukas

What’s up with contemporary poetry? We asked you for some good recommendations, and the comments poured in to our Facebook page. On this episode, we...

Episode 111: Buried Child

04 Sep 2017

Contributed by Lukas

In the wake of his death, we read the Pulitzer Prize winning play Buried Child from playwright, actor, and all around cool cowboy Sam Shepard. Learn...

Episode 110: Summer Reading 2017

14 Aug 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Tod, Julia and Rider discuss what they’re reading this summer. Just in time for the…end of the season. (We recorded this a few weeks back, but had...

Episode 109: Street Gang

03 Aug 2017

Contributed by Lukas

    Can you tell me how to get How to get to Sesame Street. On this episode of the Disco, we discuss the Michael Davis book, Street Gang, a detailed...

Episode 108: Tower Dogs

07 Jul 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Like most people, you probably thought the deadliest job in America had something to do with catching fish. Well, Douglas Scott Delaney’s here to te...