Three Percent Podcast
Episodes
2MR: Selected Stories (pgs. 208-255)
30 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
After yelling at Skype a bunch, Chad, Brian, and special guest Tom Flynn of Volumes Bookcafe discuss the merits of some of Rodoreda's final stories, e...
2MR: Selected Stories (pgs. 144-207)
23 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
After doing a bit of a deeper dive into the situation in Catalonia--and discussing the LIVE recording that will take place on December 12th at the new...
2MR: Selected Stories (pgs. 103-143)
16 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Things are a bit rough for Chad the morning after the Open Letter gala, but he powers through and talks about this new phase of Rodoreda's stories. He...
2MR: Selected Stories (pgs. 51-102)
09 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
This week, Mark Haber of Brazos Bookstore and the Best Translated Book Award committee joins Chad and Brian to talk about the next seven stories in Me...
#135: Polish Reportage and a Lot of Sci-Fi Talk
08 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
After discussing the incredibly long Dublin Literary Prize longlist, Chad and Tom discuss Polish Reportage, Stanislaw Lem's book covers, ordering book...
2MR: Selected Stories (pgs. 1-50)
02 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
This week, Chad and Brian dive into the first six stories in Mercè Rodoreda's Selected Stories and call up Quim Monzó, arguably the most important ...
2MR: Reunited! (Intro to Mercè Rodoreda)
26 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Brian Wood is BACK. Complete with a poem he wrote in his time away from the Two Month Review . . . In the introduction to season three, Chad and Brian...
#134: The Books We Read and Why We Read Them
17 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
After an impassioned pitch for why you should support Open Letter's annual campaign, Chad and Tom talk about ALTA, about how best to promote internati...
2MR: 17, composition book (Tómas Jónsson, Bestseller, Pages 361-411)
12 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Here it is--the infamous LIVE recording of the Two Month Review! Chad and Lytton travelled all the way to Brooklyn to record this episode as part of t...
2MR: fourteen, fifteenth book, 16. notebook (Tómas Jónsson, Bestseller, Pages 306-360)
05 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Icelandic novelist and poet Kári Tulinius joins Chad and Lytton this week to talk about three of the darkest sections of Tómas Jónsson, Bestseller ...
#133: From Catalonia to South Korea
04 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
After a bit of a hiatus, Chad and Tom are back to talk about Riffraff's new location, break down Catalonian politics and the recent editorial gatherin...
2MR: this is the eleventh book, my 12th composition book, book 13 (Tómas Jónsson, Bestseller, Pages 282-305)
28 Sep 2017
Contributed by Lukas
CORRECTION: Throughout this podcast, we joke about having recorded the final episode of the season live at Spoonbill & Sugartown last weekend. This i...
2MR: tenth composition book (Tómas Jónsson, Bestseller, Pages 238-281)
21 Sep 2017
Contributed by Lukas
This week Patrick Smith (Best Translated Book Award judge, The Scofield) joins Chad and Lytton to talk about this incredibly powerful section of the b...
2MR: IX. class A, tenth composition book (Tómas Jónsson, Bestseller, Pages 200-238)
14 Sep 2017
Contributed by Lukas
This week Norwegian translator and ALTA Fellowship recipient David Smith joins Chad and Lytton to talk about the next forty pages of Tómas Jónsson, ...
2MR: tómas's seventh composition book, 8. (Tómas Jónsson, Bestseller, Pages 140-199)
07 Sep 2017
Contributed by Lukas
This week author and translator Idra Novey joins Chad and Lytton to talk about one of the most challenging sections of the book so far. Not only is th...
2MR: fifth composition book, VI. (Tómas Jónsson, Bestseller, Pages 69-139)
31 Aug 2017
Contributed by Lukas
This week, Jacob Rogers--translator from the Galician and bookseller at Malaprop's in Asheville, North Carolina--joins Chad and Lytton to talk about T...
2MR: IV composition book (Tómas Jónsson, Bestseller, Pages 32-68)
24 Aug 2017
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode--covering Tómas Jónsson's fourth composition book--a number of the themes of the overall novel are put on display: Tómas's relation...
2MR: Biography through Third Composition Book (Tómas Jónsson, Bestseller, Pages 1-31)
17 Aug 2017
Contributed by Lukas
This week, Ph.D. candidate Anastasia Nikolis joins Chad and Lytton to talk about the real meat of Tómas Jónsson, Bestseller--chamber pot usage! They...
2MR: Introduction to Tómas Jónsson, Bestseller
10 Aug 2017
Contributed by Lukas
And with this episode, we launch the second season of the Two Month Review! Over a ten-week period, we will be breaking down Tómas Jónsson, Bestsell...
#132: Women in Translation Month, Genres, Co-opting a Style, and Garbage Plates
09 Aug 2017
Contributed by Lukas
On this episode of the Three Percent Podcast, Chad and Tom talk about Peter Straub's 2010 article about genre, the existence (or not) of translation a...
2MR: The Author Himself!
03 Aug 2017
Contributed by Lukas
As a special bonus episode, both Rodrigo Fresán and Will Vanderhyden joined Chad and Brian to talk about The Invented Part as a whole, the first seas...
2MR: "The Imaginary Person" (The Invented Part, Pages 441-552)
27 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
We did it! After two months, eleven episodes, and a half dozen different guests, Brian and Chand finished their discussion of Rodrigo Fresán's The In...
2MR: "Meanwhile, Once Again, Beside the Museum Stairway, Under a Big Sky" (The Invented Part, Pages 405-440)
20 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
It's another 2MR review with just Chad and Brian! Similar to the previous guest-less episode, this one goes a bit off the rails . . . Although this t...
2MR: "Life After People, or Notes For a Brief History of Progressive Rock and Science Fiction" (The Invented Part, Pages 361-404)
13 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
On this week's Two Month Review, Tom Roberge from Riffraff and the Three Percent Podcast joins Chad and Brian talk about 2001: A Space Odyssey, Pink F...
#131: Stories from the First Half of 2017
12 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Now that half of 2017 is over, Chad and Tom take a minute to reflect back on major stories, trends, and books from the first six months of the year. T...
2MR: "Many Fêtes, or Study for a Group Portrait with Broken Decalogues" (The Invented Part, Pages 301-360)
06 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
On this week's Two Month Review, Chad and Brian talk about F. Scott Fitzgerald and Tender Is the Night, puzzles, how to properly introduce the show, t...
2MR: "A Few Things You Happen to Think About When All You Want Is to Think About Nothing" (The Invented Part, Pages 231-300)
29 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
This week, Jonathan Lethem (Motherless Brooklyn, Chronic City) joins Chad and Brian to talk about The Writer's trip to a hospital, where he assumes so...
2MR: "The Place Where the Sea Ends So the Forest Can Begin: Part 3" (The Invented Part, Pages 208-230)
22 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
This week, Speculative Fiction in Translation founder and Best Translated Book Award judge Rachel Cordasco joins Chad and Brian to talk about the natu...
2MR: "The Place Where the Sea Ends So the Forest Can Begin: Part 2" (The Invented Part, Pages 99-207)
15 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
This week's episode is all about Penelope and her experiences with the Karmas. (And a Big Green Cow.) A lot of the Odyssey, Wuthering Heights, and Wil...
#130: French Fun and BookExpo
14 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Delayed for a couple weeks due to travel and work schedules, Chad and Tom are back to talk about the inaugural Albertine Prize (won by Antoine Volodin...
2MR: "The Place Where the Sea Ends So the Forest Can Begin: Part 1" (The Invented Part, Pages 46-98)
08 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
This week, author and journalist Mark Binelli joins Chad and Brian to discuss the first part of the second section of Rodrigo Fresán's The Invented P...
2MR: "The Real Character" (The Invented Part, Pages 1-45)
01 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
This week, Jeremy Garber from Powells Books joins Chad and Brian to discuss the first section of Rodrigo Fresán's The Invented Part. This section, en...
2MR: Introducing Rodrigo Fresán's "The Invented Part"
16 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Translator Will Vanderhyden joins Chad and Brian to provide an overview of Rodrigo Fresán's work--especially The Invented Part. They discuss some of ...
#129: Two Missteps from Disaster
04 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
In this week's episode, following an unintentional s***storm started on social media, Chad and Tom talk about the obligations of publishers and freela...
2MR: Introduction!
02 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Punctuated by toddler Isak's comments about Barney, Chad Post, Brian Wood, and Lytton Smith discuss the main motivations behind the upcoming "Two Mont...
#128: Remembering, Rereading, Rewatching
29 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
In this week's episode, Chad and Tom talk about their first ever episode, the new Granta list of Best Young American Novelists, and books they're look...
#127: The 2017 Best Translated Book Award Finalists
18 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Riffraff co-owner and BTBA poetry judge Emma Ramadan joins Chad and Tom to talk about the fifteen finalists for this year's Best Translated Book Award...
#126: The Potential Perils of Freelancing
11 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
On this week's podcast, Tom and Chad discuss the potential troubles of getting paid as a freelance translator, the Missing Richard Simmons podcast, an...
#125: 2017 Best Translated Book Award Longlists
28 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
In this podcast, Tom and Chad go over all thirty-five longlisted titles on this year's Best Translated Book Award longlists. They offer up some uninfo...
#124: Amazon Gets Physical
07 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
This week, Tom and Chad talk about the Cubs and their "Zen way," the largest publishers in the U.S., this "If there were Oscars for Books!" "article,"...
#123: The Challenges of Selling Books
10 Feb 2017
Contributed by Lukas
This week's podcast opens with the sad news of Harry Mathews's passing, then goes deep on Winter Institute, and a couple really long essays Chad wrote...
#122: Music We Listened to in 2016
17 Jan 2017
Contributed by Lukas
As in years past, the entire Open Letter crew (Chad, Nate, Kaija) got together to talk about some of the music they listened to over the past year. (T...
#121: The Summer Following
20 Dec 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Caroline Casey from Coffee House Press joined Chad and Tom on this podcast to talk about 2016 movies, TV shows, and podcasts. Before they got into a l...
#120: Crime and Concept Stores
30 Nov 2016
Contributed by Lukas
It's been a few weeks since the last podcast, but Chad and Tom are back with a over-stuffed episode that starts with a recap of recent events before t...
#119: We Are Being Trolled
14 Oct 2016
Contributed by Lukas
This week's podcast starts with the biggest, most surprising news of recent memory--Bob Dylan winning the Nobel Prize in Literature. Then Chad and Tom...
#118: Our Titles Are No Better
03 Oct 2016
Contributed by Lukas
This week's podcast kicks off with a list of corrections from Episode 117 from a mix-up of Sophies to an explanation of which Basque Country soccer ...
#117: Angola Is Not Angola
12 Sep 2016
Contributed by Lukas
In this week's podcast, tom and Chad preview some forthcoming books they're excited about. Having done no solid research, Chad's contributions are que...
#116: Why Is Tom in Providence?
15 Jul 2016
Contributed by Lukas
After an extended hiatus, Chad and Tom are back to discuss a slew of things that happened over the past couple months. These include Book Marks, what'...
#115: From the BTBAs to the Soccer Pitch
05 May 2016
Contributed by Lukas
This week's podcast opens with Chad and Tom discussing the 2016 Best Translated Book Award winners and their thoughts on how to evaluate books for the...
#114: BTBA Shortlists, The Vegetarian, Diorama
26 Apr 2016
Contributed by Lukas
In this week's podcast Tom and Chad talk about the recentlyreleased Best Translated Book Award shortlists, beforemoving on to discussion of the two Re...
#113: 2016 Best Translated Book Award Longlists
01 Apr 2016
Contributed by Lukas
In this week's podcast, Chad and Tom read through allthirty-five titles on the two Best Translated Book Award longlists makingcomments about the books...
#112: An Old School Ranty Podcast
28 Mar 2016
Contributed by Lukas
This week's podcast feels like one straight out of 2011, with Chad getting angry about all sorts of things and just letting loose. The starting point ...
#111: One the Edge and Monospace
14 Mar 2016
Contributed by Lukas
This week, Tom and Chad discuss the two Reading the World Book Club books for February: On the Edge by Rafael Chirbes, translated from the Spanish by ...
#110: The Weight of Things
17 Feb 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Adrian Nathan West joined this week's podcast to talk about Marianne Fritz and his translation of The Weight of Things, the first novel in the recentl...
#109: Making Reading Private
22 Jan 2016
Contributed by Lukas
In a sort of role-reversal, Tom does most of the ranting in this podcast, partially inspired by this article entitled "Damn, You're Not Reading Any Bo...
#108: Lists and Lists and Lists and Lists
25 Dec 2015
Contributed by Lukas
This week Chad and Tom talk about a Guardian article about how indie presses are doing the work discovering new authors for the big commercial houses...
#107: The Lost Episode
05 Dec 2015
Contributed by Lukas
A couple weeks ago, Chad and Tom recorded a podcast about a slew of recent events, including ALTA 38, the Albertine Festival, the "New Literature from...
#106: Some Women in Translation Stats
14 Nov 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Chad's done a bit more number crunching since this was recorded (see the posts on his Twitter account, which is @chadwpost), but this is a good introd...
#105: Alexievich, Amazon, and Rights
31 Oct 2015
Contributed by Lukas
This week's podcast features a discussion of Nobel Prize-winner Svetlana Alexievich (who Chad helped publish at Dalkey Archive), Amazon's recent annou...
#104: Banned Books Week
30 Sep 2015
Contributed by Lukas
This week Chad and Tom discuss Oyster shutting down, whether or not Serial Box makes any sense as a way to consume books, and this list of the top 10 ...
#103: Back from Vacation to Rip on Jacket Copy
12 Sep 2015
Contributed by Lukas
So after a month away, Chad and Tom are back, discussing the books they read over the summer and breaking down jacket copy for a number of recent book...
#102: Beach Books for the Jaded and Depressed
11 Aug 2015
Contributed by Lukas
This week's episode starts with a question from a listener about how translation trends come about, then morphs into a discussion of which books Chad ...
#101: Awards for Authors versus Awards for Books
10 Jul 2015
Contributed by Lukas
This week Tom and Chad discuss the merging of the Man Booker International Prize with the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize, the waning interest in Ma...
#100: We Appreciate You
25 Jun 2015
Contributed by Lukas
So, we actually made it to our 100th episode! To celebrate, this week Tom and Chad took questions from all our listeners, leading to discussions about...
#99: Endless Cycle of Misery
22 May 2015
Contributed by Lukas
This week's podcast is the latest in the ongoing Three Percent Book Club. Julia Berner-Tobin of Feminist Press joins Tom and Chad to talk about Virgin...
#98: The 2015 BTBA Finalists!
15 May 2015
Contributed by Lukas
For this week's podcast, we invited Best Translated Book Award Fiction Chair Monica Carter on to talk about the finalists for this year's awards. Mon...
#97: Rustling up New Books for the Peanut Gallery
01 May 2015
Contributed by Lukas
This week, Tom and Chad talk about some of the new translations that they've read (or are looking forward to reading) and are most excited about. Alon...
#96: The 2015 BTBA Fiction Longlist
09 Apr 2015
Contributed by Lukas
On the heels of this week's big announcement of the 2015 Best Translated Book Award fiction longlist and poetry longlist, Chad and Tom run through th...
#95: Is Book Advertising a Waste of Money?
03 Apr 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Inspired by all the stupid Buick ads (and disturbing Volkswagon ones) playing throughout the NCAA Tournament, we decided to dedicate this week's episo...
#94: The Mad and the Bad
12 Mar 2015
Contributed by Lukas
This week's podcast is a special "book club" one in which Tom and Chad talk about Jean-Patrick Manchette's The Mad and the Bad, a violent little book ...
#93: Always a Work in Progress
05 Mar 2015
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Chad and Tom discuss the recent Festival Neue Literatur, a NYC-based festival promoting German-language literature, and spend a lot o...
#92: Crying in the Sunshine
19 Feb 2015
Contributed by Lukas
This week's podcast features a true roundtable discussion, with Tom and Chad being joined by Caroline Casey from Coffee House Press, Mark Haber and Je...
#91: Translators, Rates, Money, and Unions
05 Feb 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Today's podcast is a special one, featuring PEN Translation Committee co-chair (and talented Czech translator) Alex Zucker to talk about what translat...
#90: That Song Should Be Named "Andre Reed Jersey"
29 Jan 2015
Contributed by Lukas
It's time for our annual music podcast in which Chad, Nate, and Kaija all share songs from their favorite albums of 2014. Although we only talk about ...
#89: Don't Laugh So Loud
22 Jan 2015
Contributed by Lukas
This week's podcast is all about Denis Johnson's The Laughing Monsters, which came out last year and is "a high-suspense tale of kaleidoscoping loyalt...
#88: A Shinier Version of Craigslist
14 Jan 2015
Contributed by Lukas
In this week's episode, Chad and Tom discuss some of the books they read in 2014 and make specific "reading resolutions" for 2015. They also talk abou...
#87: Where is Namsan Tower?
29 Dec 2014
Contributed by Lukas
On this week's podcast, Chad and Tom dish about the idea of a Translators Union, Dalkey's Korean literature series, and the Melville House edition of ...
#86: Translators Aren't Dockworkers
05 Dec 2014
Contributed by Lukas
We're back! And, actually, now that Tom has a more regular schedule at Albertine we're planning on recording a new episode every other week. More grea...
#85: Whatever
05 Nov 2014
Contributed by Lukas
This week's podcast covers four major topics: Nobel Prize winner Patrick Modiano, Michael Henry Heim and The Man Between, the upcoming ALTA Conference...
#84: The Belated Bolaño Book Club Podcast
08 Oct 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Finally, after weeks of putting this off, here is the long anticipated podcast about Roberto Bolaño's Little Lumpen Novelita. The reason it took so l...
#83: "Johnny Appledrone"
09 Sep 2014
Contributed by Lukas
This week's podcast is mostly about a BBC article on Hieroglyph, a collaborative project between scientists and science-fiction writers that was insp...
#82: Why We Need [SOLUTION TK] More Than Ever
29 Aug 2014
Contributed by Lukas
In this podcast, Chad and Tom discuss Tom's recent article in Publishing Perspectives (which he wrote in response to Amazon's infamous letter to reade...
#81: Duck and Cover
22 Aug 2014
Contributed by Lukas
With Tom on vacation, Chad recorded a special episode of the podcast with Heather Cleary and Jason Grunebaum, both of whom have a book on the National...
#80: My Struggle's DNA Is 92% Introspective
05 Aug 2014
Contributed by Lukas
This week's podcast focuses on two main things: This article by Tim Parks about the sales of Knausgaard's books, and the sale of BookLamp to Apple fo...
#79: Barely Surpassing Lorem Ipsum
09 Jul 2014
Contributed by Lukas
On this week's podcast, Chad and Tom preview the semifinals of the World Cup of Literature (both suspect Chile will meet the US in the Championship), ...
#78: "I Believe in Guns and Weed"
20 Jun 2014
Contributed by Lukas
On this week's podcast, Chad and Tom review the opening round of the World Cup of Literature and make some predictions, talk about the Amazon-Hachett...
#77: Books to Read Between World Cup Matches
06 Jun 2014
Contributed by Lukas
In this week's podcast we talk about the forthcoming World Cup of Literature and about some of the summer books that we're both looking forward to re...
#76: All about László
03 Jun 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Inspired by Bromance Will's blog, this podcast is all about how New Directions came to publish László Krasznahorkai and how they stuck with him--a s...
#75: The Camel Jumping Podcast
15 May 2014
Contributed by Lukas
As a bonus for dedicated Three Percent listeners (both of you!), this podcast features the two Fulbright students studying in the translation program ...
#74: One Hundred Years of the NY Times Style Section
25 Apr 2014
Contributed by Lukas
OK, that's a totally lame way to try and combine the two main topics of this week's podcast: Gabriel García Marquez, and the awful amazingness of the...
#73: The David Peace Episode
15 Apr 2014
Contributed by Lukas
In this week's podcast, Tom and Chad talk about the works of British writer David Peace. Peace was part of the 2003 version of Granta's "Best of Young...
#72: We've Gone Madness—March Madness!
21 Mar 2014
Contributed by Lukas
In this bonus mini-podcast, Chad and Tom talk about the NCAA tournament, making many definitely wrong predications in over-confident tones. Of course,...
#71: The 2014 Best Translated Book Awards Fiction Longlist
18 Mar 2014
Contributed by Lukas
This week's podcast is EPIC. With a minimum of digressions, we review every single book on the 2014 Best Translated Book Award Fiction Longlist, provi...
#70: Bookworm, Amazon, and Iowa
21 Feb 2014
Contributed by Lukas
As an interlude in our 2013 round-up series, Tom and I decided to talk about his recent trip to L.A., where he met with Michael Silverblatt of the am...
#69: It's Still 2013 Somewhere
07 Feb 2014
Contributed by Lukas
This week, we finally continue our series of podcasts summing up the books, music, and movies of 2013. Because summing up 2013 only gets old when we s...
#68: A Few Good Books from 2013
13 Jan 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Rather than do our normal "favorite books of XXXX" podcast, we decided to focus on four books from last year that we really liked: Thomas Pynchon's Bl...
#67: The Tom Podcast
17 Dec 2013
Contributed by Lukas
From the choice of the opening song--"Royals" by Lorde--to the main topic of great midwestern bookstores and Wisconsin's beer culture, this podcast is...
#66: I Believe You Have My Stapler
01 Nov 2013
Contributed by Lukas
On this week's podcast, Carolyn Kellogg of the Los Angeles Times joins us to discuss Thomas Pynchon's latest novel, Bleeding Edge. All three of us are...
#65: Erudition Isn't the Same as Being Intentionally Esoteric
16 Oct 2013
Contributed by Lukas
This week's podcast is the first one Tom and I have recorded in almost a month. So after a bit of catching up, we talked about David Bellos's new tran...
#64: Thanks for Using All the Umlauts
19 Sep 2013
Contributed by Lukas
With Tom back from his relaxing vacation, we decided to catch up and talk about the books we read recently, including Sjöwall and Wahlöö's mystery ...