The Mookse and the Gripes Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

We all have those books that are waiting in the wings, begging for a chance to make their way off the shelf and into our hands. This week, we chat about why some books seem to get stuck on the sidelines, even though we always think they’ll be the next one up. We discuss some of the reasons this happens and each share five of our own benchwarmer books, doing our best to justify why we keep ignoring their pleas to “put me in coach!”

Shownotes

Books

* Horror Movie, by Paul Tremblay

* Proust Was a Neuroscientist, by Jonah Lehrer

* The Song of Achilles, by Madeline Miller

* Circe, by Madeline Miller

* To the Lighthouse, by Virginia Woolfe

* Tess of the D’Urbervilles, by Thomas Hardy

* The Human Stain, by Philip Roth

* The Passenger, by Cormac McCarthy

* Stella Maris, by Cormac McCarthy

* Pnin, by Vladimir Nabokov

* Absalolm, Absalom!, by William Faulkner

* Baudolino, by Umberto Eco

* The Gormenghast Novels, by Mervyn Peake

* Strong Motion, by Jonathan Franzen

* The Twenty-Seventh City, by Jonathan Franzen

* Night Watch, by Jayne Anne Phillips

* The Year of Reading Dangerously: How Fifty Great Books (and Two Not-So-Great Books) Saved My Life, by Andy Miller

* We, the Drowned, by Carsten Jensen

* The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois, by Honoree Fanonne Jeffers

* Lady Chatterley’s Lover, by D.H. Lawrence

* The Rainbow, by D.H. Lawrence

* Sons and Lovers, by D.H. Lawrence

* Women in Love, by D.H. Lawrence

* Homegoing, by Yaa Gyasi

* Hurricane Season, by Fernanda Melchor, translated by Sophie Hughes

* Hons and Rebels, by Jessica Mitford

* Romola, by George Eliot

* The Snow Leopard, by Peter Matthiessen

* At Play in the Fields of the Lord, by Peter Matthiessen

* The Peregrine, by J.A. Baker

* Shadow Country, by Peter Matthiessen

* Tigana, by Guy Gabriel Kay

* Up in the Old Hotel, by Joseph Mitchell

* The Last Colony, by John Scalzi

* Old Mans’ War, by John Scalzi

* The Ghost Brigade, by John Scalzi

* Zoe’s Tale, by John Scalzi

* The Adventures of China Iron, by Gabriela Cabezón Cámara, translated by Fiona Mackintosh and Iona Macintyre

* Swann’s Way, by Marcel Proust

* War and Peace, by Leo Tolstoy, translated by Anthony Briggs

* The Expendable Man, by Dorothy B. Hughes

* Felix Holt, the Radical, by George Eliot

* Phineas Redux, by Anthony Trollope

* Barchester Towers, by Anthony Trollope

* Doctor Thorne, by Anthony Trollope

* Suttree, by Cormac McCarthy

Other Links

* Jack’s Instagram Post

* Episode 31: New Directions, with Mark Haber

* Episode 6: Our Fantasy Past (and Future?)

The Mookse and the Gripes Podcast is a book chat podcast. Every other week Paul and Trevor get together to talk about some bookish topic or another. We hope you’ll continue to join us!

Many thanks to those who helped make this possible! If you’d like to donate as well, you can do so on Substack or on our Patreon page. These subscribers get periodic bonus episode and early access to all episodes! Every supporter has their own feed that he or she can use in their podcast app of choice to download our episodes a few days early. Please go check it out!

To close out Women In Translatjon month, we’re thrilled to be joined by poet and translator Robin Myers. We chat about the art of translation and the importance of providing access to and for wide a range of voices. And we each share three translated books written by women that we think you should know about. What did you read this year during #WITMonth?

Shownotes

Books

* The Brush, by Eliana Hernández-Pachón, translated by Robin Myers

* The Forgery, by Ave Barrera, translated by Robin Myers and Ellen Jones

* Restoration, by Ave Barrera, translated by Robin Myers and Ellen Jones

* Metamorphoses, by Emanuele Coccia, translated by Robin Mackay

* Texas: The Great Theft, by Carmen Boullosa, translated by Samantha Schnee

* Invisible Cities, by Italo Calvino, translated by William Weaver

* Minor Detail, by Adania Shibli, translated by Elizabeth Jaquette

* Lojman, by Ebru Owen, translated by Aron Aji and Selin Gökçesu

* Umami, by Laia Jufresa, translated by Sophie Hughes

* A Change of Time, by Ida Jensen, translated by Martin Aitken

* Ladivine, by Marie Ndiaye, translated by Jordan Stump

* Nostalgia Doesn’t Flow Away Like Riverwater, by Irma Pineda, translated by Wendy Call

* Paul Celan and the Trans-Tibetan Angel, by Yoko Tawada, translated by Susan Bernofsky

* Ti Amo, by Hanne Ørstavik, translated by Martin Aitken

* We Are Green and Trembling, by Gabriela Cabezón Cámara, translated by Robin Myers

* A Strange Adventure, by Eva Forest, translated by Robin Myers

* Sister Deborah, by Scholastique Mukasonga, translated by Mark Polizzotti

* Canoes, by Maylis de Kerangal, translated by Jessica Moore

* Stay with Me, by Hanne Ørstavik, translated by Martin Aitken

Other Links

* Poem Per Diem, Robin Myer’s Substack

* Women in Translation Webpage

The Mookse and the Gripes Podcast is a book chat podcast. Every other week Paul and Trevor get together to talk about some bookish topic or another. We hope you’ll continue to join us!

Many thanks to those who helped make this possible! If you’d like to donate as well, you can do so on Substack or on our Patreon page. These subscribers get periodic bonus episode and early access to all episodes! Every supporter has their own feed that he or she can use in their podcast app of choice to download our episodes a few days early. Please go check it out!

So many great books have been published only to go out of print, for whatever reason. But they still have things to say to contemporary readers. Thankfully, there are several publishers whose work focuses on bringing these books back to us grateful readers. In this episode, we are are joined by Jacqui, who blogs at JacquiWine’s Journal, to discuss some of our favorite publishers who help us all rediscover gems. What are some of your favorite publishers and the gems they helped you rediscover?

Shownotes

Books

* And Then There Were None, by Agatha Christie

* In the Distance, by Hernan Diaz

* Nothing to See Here, by Kevin Wilson

* Anne of Green Gables, by Lucy Maude Montgomery

* The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood

* Things We Lost in the Fire, by Mariana Enriquez, translated by Megan McDowell

* Our Share of Night, by Mariana Enriquez, translated by Megan McDowell

* Black Lamb and Grey Falcon: A Journey Through Yugoslavia, by Rebecca West

* Lesser Ruins, by Mark Haber

* A Strange and Sublime Address, by Amit Chaudhuri

* Friend of My Youth, by Amit Chaudhuri

* Sojourn, by Amit Chaudhuri

* Calcutta, by Amit Chaudhuri

* The Immortals, by Amit Chaudhuri

* A New World, by Amit Chaudhuri

* Odysseus Abroad, by Amit Chaudhuri

* Stoner, by John Williams

* The Bloater, by Rosemary Tonks

* Miss MacIntosh, My Darling, by Marguerite Young

* Mrs. Caliban, by Rachel Ingalls

* The Mountain Lion, by Jean Stafford

* Hackenfeller’s Ape, by Brigid Brophy

* Summer in Baden-Baden, by Leonid Tsypkin, translated by Roger Keys and Angela Keys

* Neighbors and Other Stories, by Diane Oliver

* January, by Sara Gallardo, translated by Frances Riddle and Maureen Shaughnessy

* The Feast, by Margaret Kennedy

* Troy Chimneys, by Margaret Kennedy

* Rhine Journey, by Ann Schlee

* The Stepdaughter, by Caroline Blackwood

* I Am Alien to Live: Selected Stories, by Djuna Barnes

* Constant Reader, by Dorothy Parker

* The Glass Pearls, by Emeric Pressburger

* Eline Vere, by Louis Couperus, translated by Ina Rilke

* The Girls, by John Bowen

Links

* JacquiWine’s Journal

* Episode 37: Hotel Novels

* 1001 Novels: A Library of America

* Episode 74: Canadian Literature

* Bonus Episode: April 2024

* Episode 73: Hidden Gems

* Faber Editions

* Archipelago Books

* McNally Editions

The Mookse and the Gripes Podcast is a book chat podcast. Every other week Paul and Trevor get together to talk about some bookish topic or another. We hope you’ll continue to join us!

Many thanks to those who helped make this possible! If you’d like to donate as well, you can do so on Substack or on our Patreon page. These subscribers get periodic bonus episode and early access to all episodes! Every supporter has their own feed that he or she can use in their podcast app of choice to download our episodes a few days early. Please go check it out!

The idea of the Great American Novel is controversial, passé, hubristic, and . . . always fascinating to talk about. This week, inspired by a recent list of potential candidates for the Great American Novel published in The Atlantic, we dive in and talk about the concept, the history, the list, and our votes for other contenders. What book(s) would get your vote?

Shownotes

Books

* The MANIAC, by Benjamin Labatut

* Lesser Ruins, by Mark Haber

* Border: A Journey to the Edge of Europe, by Kapka Kassabova

* Elixir: In the Valley at the End of Time, by Kapka Kassabova

* To the River: A Balkan Journey of War and Peace, by Kapka Kassabova

* Anima: A Wild Pastoral, by Kapka Kassabova

* Dante: The Inferno, translated by Robert Hollander and Jean Hollander

* Phineas Finn, by Anthony Trollope

* The Eustace Diamonds, by Anthony Trollope

* Phineas Reduce, by Anthony Trollope

* Mortal Leap, by MacDonald Harris

* Moby-Dick, by Herman Melville

* Uncle Tom’s Cabin, by Harriet Beecher Stowe

* James, by Percival Everett

* The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain

* Augustus, by John Williams

* Butcher’s Crossing, by John Williams

* Absalom, Absalom!, by William Faulkner

* Passing, by Nella Larsen

* The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald

* So We Read On: How The Great Gatsby Came to Be and Why It Endures, by Maureen Corrigan

* The Making of Americans, by Gertrude Stein

* An American Tragedy, by Theodore Dreiser

* Light in August, by William Faulkner

* The Sound and the Fury, by William Faulkner

* Nightwood, by Djuna Barnes

* I Am Alien to Life: Selected Stories, by Djuna Barnes

* Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston

* The Big Sleep, by Raymond Chandler

* Ask the Dust, by John Fante

* Wait Until Spring, Bandini, by John Fante

* U.S.A., by John Dos Passos

* The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck

* In a Lonely Place, by Dorothy B. Hughes

* All the King’s Men, by Robert Penn Warren

* The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, by Carson McCullers

* The Street, by Ann Petry

* The Mountain Lion, by Jean Stafford

* A Time to Be Born, by Dawn Powell

* The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger

* Fahrenheit 451, by Raymond Bradbury

* Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison

* Charlotte’s Web, by E.B. White

* The Adventures of Augie March, by Saul Bellow

* Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov

* The Bookshop, by Penelope Fitzgerald

* Giovanni’s Room, by James Baldwin

* The Haunting of Hill House, by Shirley Jackson

* No-No Boy, by John Okada

* Peyton Place, by Grace Metalious

* Pale Fire, by Vladimir Nabokov

* Another Country, by James Baldwin

* Catch-22, by Joseph Heller

* One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, by Ken Kesey

* A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeleine L’Engle

* The Zebra-Striped Hearse, by Ross MacDonald

* The Group, by Mary McCarthy

* The Bell Jar, by Sylvia Plath

* The Crying of Lot 49, by Thomas Pynchon

* A Sport and a Pastime, by James Salter

* Couples, by John Updike

* Portnoy’s Complaint, by Philip Roth

* Sabbath’s Theater, by Philip Roth

* American Pastoral, by Philip Roth

* The Human Stain, by Philip Roth

* The Great American Novel, by Philip Roth

* Divorcing, by Susan Taubes

* Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut

* Play It As It Lays, by Joan Didion

* Sula, by Toni Morrison

* Song of Solomon, by Toni Morrison

* Beloved, by Toni Morrison

* Are You There God, It’s Me, Margaret, by Judy Blume

* Desperate Characters, by Paula Fox

* Log of the S.S. Mrs Unguentine, by Stanley Crawford

* The Revolt of the Cockroach People, by Oscar Zeta Acosta

* Oreo, by Fran Ross

* The Dispossessed, by Ursula K. Le Guin

* Winter in the Blood, by James Welch

* Corregidora, by Gayl Jones

* Speedboat, by Renata Adler

* Dancer from the Dance, by Andrew Hollerman

* The Stand, by Stephen King

* Ceremony, by Leslie Marmon Silko

* Housekeeping, by Marilynne Robinson

* Machine Dreams, by Jayne Anne Phillips

* Lark & Termite, by Jayne Anne Phillips

* Shelter, by Jayne Anne Phillips

* Little, Big: Or, the Fairies’ Parliament, by John Crowley

* Blood Meridian, by Cormac McCarthy

* Dawn, by Octavia Butler

* Geek Love, by Kathryn Dunn

* Watchmen, by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons

* American Psycho, by Brett Easton Ellis

* House of Leaves, by Mark C. Danielewski

* The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, by Michael Chabon

* The Last Samurai, by Helen DeWitt

* The Quick and the Dead, by Joy Williams

* Erasure, by Percival Everett

* The Corrections, by Jonathan Franzen

* The Russian Debutante’s Handbook, by Gary Shteyngart

* The Namesake, by Jhumpa Lahiri

* The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, by Junot Díaz

* Nevada, by Imogen Binnie

* Open City, by Teju Cole

* The Fifth Season, by N.K. Jemisin

* Lincoln in the Bardo, by George Saunders

* Sabrina, by Nick Drnaso

* Lost Children Archive, by Valeria Luiselli

* Nothing to See Here, by Kevin Wilson

* The Old Drift, by Namwali Serpell

* No One Is Talking About This, by Patricia Lockwood

* The Love Song of W.E.B. Du Bois, by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers

* Biography of X, by Catherine Lacey

* Miss MacIntosh, My Darling, by Marguerite Young

* The Age of Innocence, by Edith Wharton

* The House of Mirth, by Edith Wharton

* Americanah, by Chimamanda Ngozie Adiche

* Lonesome Dove, by Larry McMurtry

* The Savage Detectives, by Roberto Bolaño, translated by Natasha Wimmer

Links

* The Great American Novel from The Atlantic

* John William DeForest’s original article about The Great American Novel

* A.O. Scott “Tracking the ever-elusive Great American Novel

* Episode 37: Hotel Novels

The Mookse and the Gripes Podcast is a book chat podcast. Every other week Paul and Trevor get together to talk about some bookish topic or another. We hope you’ll continue to join us!

Many thanks to those who helped make this possible! If you’d like to donate as well, you can do so on Substack or on our Patreon page. These subscribers get periodic bonus episode and early access to all episodes! Every supporter has their own feed that he or she can use in their podcast app of choice to download our episodes a few days early. Please go check it out!

How do we love poetry? Let us count the ways. This week, we’re joined by Anthony Garrett to kick off National Poetry Month with a wonderful conversation about our favorite poems and poets, how and when we read poetry, and a discussion about how to approach this sometimes intimidating part of the literary landscape. Does poetry play a part in your reading life?

We also announce the winners of our latest giveaway, so please join us!

Shownotes

Books

* Averno, by Louise Glück

* The Obscene Bird of Night, by José Donoso, translated by Megan McDowell, Hardie St. Martin, and Leonard Mades

* A Naked Singularity, by Sergio De La Pava

* Border: A Journey to the Edge of Europe, by Kapka Kassabova

* To the Lake: A Balkan Journey of War and Peace, by Kapka Kassabova

* Black Lamb and Grey Falcon, by Rebecca West

* War and Peace, by Leo Tolstoy, translated by Anthony Briggs

* The Fisherman, by John Langan

* Moby-Dick, by Herman Melville

* Song of Solomon, by Toni Morrison

* The Savage Detectives, by Roberto Bolaño, translated by Natasha Wimmer

* Rock Crystal, by Adalbert Stifter, translated by Elizabeth Mayer and Marianne Moore

* The End, by Attila Bartis, translated by Judith Sollosy

* Divorcing, by Susan Taubes

* Notes of a Crocodile, by Qin Miaogin, translated by Bonnie Huie

* “The Waste Land,” by T.S. Eliot

* “Today,” by Billy Collins

* Poems 1962 - 2012, by Louise Glück

* Different Hours, by Stephen Dunn

* Picnic, Lightning, by Billy Collins

* Half-light: Collected Poems 1965 - 2016, by Frank Bidart

* Gabriel: A Poem, by Edward Hirsch

* The Living Fire: New and Selected Poems, by Edward Hirsch

* “When Death Comes,” by Mary Oliver

* “As One Listens to the Rain,” by Octavio Paz

* “The Raven,” by Edgar Allan Poe

* “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” by T.S. Eliot

* Duino Elegies, by Rainer Maria Rilke

* Winter Morning Walks: 100 Postcards to Jim Harrison, by Ted Kooser

* Braided Creek: A Conversation in Poetry, by Ted Kooser and Jim Harrison

* “Bullet Points,” by Jericho Brown

* Red Comet: The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath, by Heather Clark

* “Tulips,” by Sylvia Plath

* Postcolonial Love Poem, by Natalie Diaz

* When My Brother Was an Aztec, by Natalie Diaz

* The Wild Iris, by Louise Glück

* Winter Recipes from the Collective, by Louise Glück

*

Links

* Anthony’s Socials

* X

* Instagram

* Atmospheric Quarterly

* Episode 1: Bucket List Books, in which Trevor kicks War and Peace off his bucket list

* Leaf by Leaf: Chris Via on War and Peace

* Episode 15: Emily Dickinson

* One Bright Book: Episode 23: The Wild Iris, by Louise Glück

* Backlisted: Episode 208: All My Pretty Ones, by Anne Sexton

* The New Yorker Poetry Podcast

* Poetry Unbound Podcast

* The Slow Down Podcast

* The Great American Novel from The Atlantic

* Lonesome Reader on The Great American Novel

The Mookse and the Gripes Podcast is a book chat podcast. Every other week Paul and Trevor get together to talk about some bookish topic or another. We hope you’ll continue to join us!

Many thanks to those who helped make this possible! If you’d like to donate as well, you can do so on Substack or on our Patreon page. These subscribers get periodic bonus episode and early access to all episodes! Every supporter has their own feed that he or she can use in their podcast app of choice to download our episodes a few days early. Please go check it out!

This week we discuss the idea of being a completist in our reading. We discuss the authors whose works we’ve finished completely, as well as those we’re working on (or hoping to…). Do you savor your favorite authors’ works slowly or gobble them all down? Have you read the entire catalog of any authors?

We also have a special giveaway, so please join us!

Giveaway!

This week we have four books to give away! And we want to choose four winners! Do any of these books call to you? Please enter to win one of them!

* Rock Crystal, by Adalbert Stifter, translated by Elizabeth Mayer and Marianne Moore

* Divorcing, by Susan Taubes

* Notes of a Crocodile, by Qiu Miaojin, translated by Bonnie Huie

* The End, by Attila Bartis, translated by Judith Sollosy

To enter, send us an entry by email or DM or however you wish, but please include two things!

First, list the books you are interested in winning in preferential order because we don’t want someone to win a book they already have.

Second, tell us if you’re a completionist or aspiring completionist with any authors.

We will be drawing when we record the morning of March 30, so have entries to us by then!

Shownotes

Books mentioned prior to the Completion Discussion

* Rock Crystal, by About the Podcast

* Divorcing, by Susan Taubes

* Notes of a Crocodile, by Qiu Miaojin, translated by Bonnie Huie

* Last Words from Montmartre, by Qiu Miaojin, translated by Ari Larissa Heinrich

* The End, by Attila Bartis, translated by Judith Sollosy

* 40, by Alan Hancock

* The Savage Detectives, by Roberto Bolaño, translated by

* Black Lamb and Grey Falcon: A Journey Through Yugoslavia, by Rebecca West

* Adam Bede, by George Eliot

* Phineas Finn, by Anthony Trollope

* Lesser Ruins, by Mark Haber

* Reinhardt’s Garden, by Mark Haber

* Saint Sebastian’s Abyss, by Mark Haber

* 2666, by Roberto Bolaño, translated by Natasha Wimmer

The Mookse and the Gripes Podcast is a book chat podcast. Every other week Paul and Trevor get together to talk about some bookish topic or another. We hope you’ll continue to join us!

Many thanks to those who helped make this possible! If you’d like to donate as well, you can do so on Substack or on our Patreon page. These subscribers get periodic bonus episode and early access to all episodes! Every supporter has their own feed that he or she can use in their podcast app of choice to download our episodes a few days early. Please go check it out!

Although the books of Barbara Comyns have experienced a bit of a renaissance in recent years, she remains woefully under appreciated and read by far too few. This week, we’re joined by Comyns aficionado Nora to discuss this beguiling and fascinating author and to do our best to spread the word about her strange and wonderful books.

Shownotes

Books

* My Death, by Lisa Tuttle

* The Savage Detectives, by Roberto Bolaño, translated by Natasha Wimmer

* Splinters: Another Kind of Love Stores, by Leslie Jamison

* Not Even the Dead, by Juan Goméz Bárcena, translated by Katie Whittemore

* Paradise Reclaimed, by Halldór Laxness, translated by Magnus Magnusson

* The House of Dolls, by Barbara Comyns

* Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont, by Elizabeth Taylor

* Sisters by a River, by Barbara Comyns

* O Caledonia, by Elspeth Barker

* I Capture the Castle, by Dodie Smith

* The Vet’s Daughter, by Barbara Comyns

* Our Spoons Came from Woolworths, by Barbara Comyns

* Barbara Comyns: A Savage Innocence, by Avril Horner

* Who Was Changed and Who Was Dead, by Barbara Comyns

* Out of the Red, Into the Blue, by Barbara Comyns

* The Skin Chairs, by Barbara Comyns

* Birds in Tiny Cages, by Barbara Comyns

* A Touch of Mistletoe, by Barbara Comyns

* The Juniper Tree, by Barbara Comyns

* Mr. Fox, by Barbara Comyns

Other

* Nora’s Instagram

* Nora’s Barbara Comyn’s Instagram Post

* Terry Tempest Williams: “Read Your Way Through Utah” in The New York Times

About the Podcast

The Mookse and the Gripes Podcast is a book chat podcast. Every other week Paul and Trevor get together to talk about some bookish topic or another.

Please join us! You can subscribe at Apple podcasts or go to the feed to import to your favorite podcatcher.

Many thanks to those who helped make this possible! If you’d like to donate as well, you can do so on Substack or on our Patreon page. These subscribers get periodic bonus episode and early access to all episodes! Every supporter has their own feed that he or she can use in their podcast app of choice to download our episodes a few days early. Please go check it out!

This week, we're joined by Jerry Faust for a fun conversation about Canadian literature. Incredibly diverse and far too often overlooked, Canada’s literary output is a goldmine of wonderful books and authors. What are your favorites?

Republic of Consciousness Prize, United States and Canada

As you’ve heard on the podcast, Paul is a judge of this year’s prize. The longlist has been announced, and the shortlist is on the way!

Would you like to join Paul at a Zoom party celebrating the longlist, with publishers, authors and translators? You can! It happens on Tuesday, February 27, at 6 p.m. CT. Click here to find the information to sign up!

Shownotes

* Small Joys, by Elvin James Mensah

* The Boys in the Trees, by Mary Swan

* The Birds, by Tarjei Vesaas, translated by Michael Barnes and Torbjøn Støverud

* The Ice Palace, by Tarjei Vesaas, translated by Elizabeth Rokkan

* The Hills Reply, by Tarjei Vesaas, translated by Elizabeth Rokkan

* The Savage Detectives, by Roberto Bolaño, translated by Natasha Wimmer

* Thunderclap: A Memoir of Art and Life and Sudden Death, by Laura Cumming

* The Vanishing Velàzquez: A 19th Century Bookseller’s Obsession with a Lost Masterpiece, by Laura Cumming

* Magpie Murders, by Anthony Horowitz

* Moonflower Murders, by Anthony Horowitz

* The Word Is Murder, by Anthony Horowitz

* Possession, by A.S. Byatt

* The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood

* Bear, by Marian Engel

* The Englishman’s Boy, by Guy Vanderhaeghe

* Man Descending, by Guy Vanderhaeghe

* Daddy Lenin and Other Stories, by Guy Vanderhaeghe

* The Golden Mean, by Annabel Lyon

* The Sweet Girl, by Annabel Lyon

* Consent, by Annabel Lyon

* A Fine Balance, by Rohinton Mistry

* The English Patient, by Michael Ondaatje

* Pastoral, by André Alexis

* Fifteen Dogs, by André Alexis

* Ring, by André Alexis

* As for Me and My House, by Sinclair Ross

* The Winter Vault, by Anne Michaels

* Fugitive Pieces, by Anne Michaels

* Held, by Anne Michaels

* Basic Black with Pearls, by Helen Weinzweig

* South of the Border, West of the Sun, by Haruki Murakami, translated by Philip Gabriel

* The Stone Angel, by Margaret Laurence

* Island, by Alistair MacLeod

* No Great Mischief, by Alistair MacLeod

* The Way the Crow Flies, by Anne Marie MacDonald

* The Geography of Pluto, by Christopher DiRaddo

* The Family Way, by Christopher DiRaddo

* Autumn Rounds, by Jacques Poulin, translated by Sheila Fischman

* Natasha and Other Stories, by David Bezmozgis

* The Free World, by David Bezmozgis

* Immigrant City, by David Bezmozgis

* Transit, by Anna Seghers, translated by Margot Bettauer Dembo

About the Podcast

The Mookse and the Gripes Podcast is a book chat podcast. Every other week Paul and Trevor get together to talk about some bookish topic or another.

Please join us! You can subscribe at Apple podcasts or go to the feed to import to your favorite podcatcher.

Many thanks to those who helped make this possible! If you’d like to donate as well, you can do so on Substack or on our Patreon page. These subscribers get periodic bonus episode and early access to all episodes! Every supporter has their own feed that he or she can use in their podcast app of choice to download our episodes a few days early. Please go check it out!

This week, we're joined by Shawn the Book Maniac for a fun discovery about one of his specialties: finding books that are hidden gems. We share some tips for finding great books that are off the beaten path, discuss why it's important and fun, and share three books each that you may never have heard of before—quite a challenge! Hopefully we will add at least one to your bookstore scavenger hunt list!

What are your favorite books that fly under the radar?

Shownotes

* The Savage Detectives, by Roberto Bolaño, translated by Natasha Wimmer

* Mean Spirit, by Linda Hogan

* Killers of the Flower Moon, by David Grann

* Blanket Toss Under Midnight Sun: Portraits of Everyday Life in Eight Indigenous Communities, by PaulSeesequasis

* Day, by Michael Cunningham

* The Hours, by Michael Cunningham

* Miss MacIntosh, My Darling, by Marguerite Young

* The Book of Forgotten Authors, by Christopher Fowler

* The Sea Change of Angela Lewes, by Cynthia Propper Seton

* The Last Light Breaking: Living Among Alaska's Inupiat Eskimos, by Nick Jans

* A Life on Paper, by Georges-Olivier Chateaureynard, translated by Edward Gauvin

* The Conductor and Other Tales, by Jean Ferry, translated by Edward Gauvin

* The One Who Did Not Ask, by Altar Fatima, translated by Rukhsana Ahmad

* Severina, by Rodrigo Rey Rosa, translated by Chris Andrews

* The African Shore, by Rodrigo Rey Rosa, translated by Jeffrey Gray

* Swimmer in the Secret Sea, by William Kotzwinkle

* With or Without Angels, by Douglas Bruton

* The Sight of Death, by T.J. Clark

* Volt, by Alan Heathcock

* 40, by Alan Heathcock

* The New Perspective, by K. Arnold Price

Other

* Shawn the Book Maniac YouTube

* Shawn’s Mookse Bucket List Video

* The Savage Detectives Preliminary Thread

* “How did we miss these?” from The Guardian

About the Podcast

The Mookse and the Gripes Podcast is a book chat podcast. Every other week Paul and Trevor get together to talk about some bookish topic or another.

Please join us! You can subscribe at Apple podcasts or go to the feed to import to your favorite podcatcher.

Many thanks to those who helped make this possible! If you’d like to donate as well, you can do so on Substack or on our Patreon page. These subscribers get periodic bonus episode and early access to all episodes! Every supporter has their own feed that he or she can use in their podcast app of choice to download our episodes a few days early. Please go check it out!

Books and holidays go together perfectly, and not just for those of us doing the reading. This week, we talk about our favorite stories where the characters are on vacation—a perfect recipe for exploring exotic settings, quenching vicarious wanderlust, romance, adventure, and plenty more!

We also announce the winner our latest giveaway!

Shownotes

* Germinal, by Émile Zola, translated by Peter Collier

* The Sin of Abbé Mouret, by Émile Zola, translated by Valerie Minogue

* A Love Story, by Émile Zola, translated by Helen Constantine

* January, by Sara Gallardo, translated by Frances Riddle and Maureen Shaughnessy

* The End, by Attila Bartis, translated by Judith Sollosy

* Until August, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, translated by Anne McLean

* Black Lamb and Grey Falcon, by Rebecca West

* Two Sherpas, by Sebastián Martínez Daniell, translated by Jennifer Croft

* Not a River, by Sevla Almada, translated by Annie McDermott

* War and Peace, by Leo Tolstoy, translated by Anthony Briggs

* Other Worlds: Peasants, Pilgrims, Spirits, Saints, by Teffi, edited by Robert Chandler

* The Fortune of the Rougons, by Émile Zola, translated by Brian Nelson

* Can Your Forgive Her?, by Anthony Trollope

* Adam Bede, by George Eliot

* Middlemarch, by George Eliot

* Travels with Charley, by John Steinbeck

* A Room with a View, by E.M. Forster

* Daisy Miller, by Henry James

* My Brilliant Friend, by Elena Ferrante, translated by Ann Goldstein

* The Story of a New Name, by Elena Ferrante, translated by Ann Goldstein

* “Goodbye, My Brother,” by John Cheever

* The Fortnight in September, by R.C. Sherriff

* Swimming Home, by Deborah Levy

* Do Not Become Alarmed, by Maile Meloy

* We Were Liars, by E. Lockhart

* Heartstopper, Vol. 3, by Alice Oseman

* “The Boundary,” by Jhumpa Lahiri

* The Enchanted April, by Elizabeth von Arnim

* On Chesil Beach, by Ian McEwan

* The Feast, by Margaret Kennedy

* Hotel du Lac, by Anita Brookner

* A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail, by Bill Bryson

* Notes from a Small Island, by Bill Bryson

* The Interestings, by Meg Wolitzer

* The Talented Mr. Ripley, by Patricia Highsmith

* A Sport and a Pastime, by James Salter

Other

* Émile Zola’s Les Rougon-Macquart book list

* Radhika’s Reading Retreat: Characters on Holiday

About the Podcast

The Mookse and the Gripes Podcast is a book chat podcast. Every other week Paul and Trevor get together to talk about some bookish topic or another.

Please join us! You can subscribe at Apple podcasts or go to the feed to import to your favorite podcatcher.

Many thanks to those who helped make this possible! If you’d like to donate as well, you can do so on Substack or on our Patreon page. These subscribers get periodic bonus episode and early access to all episodes! Every supporter has their own feed that he or she can use in their podcast app of choice to download our episodes a few days early. Please go check it out!