So Many Damn Books
A blessing, a curse, a podcast, since 2014.
Christopher (@cdhermelin) invites folks to the Damn Library to talk about reading, literature, publishing, and trying to make it through the never-dwindling stack of things to read. All with a themed drink in hand. Recorded at the Damn Library in Brooklyn, NY.
For show info, book lists, and drink recipes, follow @somanydamnbooks and visit somanydamnbooks.com
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96: R.O. Kwon (THE INCENDIARIES) & Rachel Khong...
R.O. Kwon buzzes in with her buzzy book, The Incendiaries, and the guys get to talk to her about stuff like campus novels, North Korea, how likely they would be to join a cult, and also Rachel Khong's Goodbye Vitamin, and how to write lightly about...
42 min
127
95: Megan Abbott (GIVE ME YOUR HAND) & Lisa Hal...
Megan Abbott returns to the Damn Library for her new book Give Me Your Hand, and Christopher cooks up a color changing cocktail to celebrate. The guys get into Megan's dual jobs as novelist and tv writer, her thriller philosophy, and how writing...
44 min
128
94: John Hodgman (VACATIONLAND)
John Hodgman joins the gentlemen in the Damn Library to talk about all sorts of things, from a Borges scholar posing for a picture to reading rehab after being a professional literary agent. A blueberry-based beverage is enjoyed. We talk his new...
62 min
129
93: Top 5 of 2018 (so far) + Summer Reading
Christopher and Drew hang in the Damn Library and talk about the books they've liked so far this year, the books they are going to read next, and some of the books they are excited about that are soon to be in the world. The book titles come fast and...
18 min
130
92: Hannah Pittard (VISIBLE EMPIRE) & Ralph Ell...
Hannah Pittard drops back into the Damn Library after writing and editing and publishing an entire new novel called Visible Empire! While drinking a cocktail featuring guava and egg white, she and the guys get way into 1962, how you need to make sure...
58 min
131
91: Stephanie Danler (SWEETBITTER on Starz) & L...
Stephanie Danler drops by the Damn Library for a second go around, this time to talk the Sweetbitter television adaptation she created, now on Starz. We discuss the Disneyland of production, why writers' rooms are great, and how she doesn't really...
53 min
132
90: Amy Kurzweil (FLYING COUCH) & Riad Sattouf'...
For the first time ever, a graphic memoirist stops by the Damn Library in the form of Amy Kurzweil, author of the graphic memoir Flying Couch! She also draws New Yorker cartoons! Listen as we chat about form and tone, board games and heartbreak, and...
57 min
133
89: Christopher + Drew (Just Interview Each Other)
Christopher and Drew hang out and explain themselves. They also talk their jobs, and formative reading experiences, and other subjects. music: Disaster Magic - Pier 6 (https://soundcloud.com/disaster-magic) contribute! patreon.com/smdb for drink...
32 min
134
88: Jonathan Ames (YOU WERE NEVER REALLY HERE) ...
Jonathan Ames, writer of novels like Wake Up, Sir and I Pass Like Night, as well as series creator of Bored to Death and Blunt Talk, sits down in the Damn Library to talk his new pulp novella, You Were Never Really...
50 min
135
Minisode: 2018 PEN World Voices Festival!
Christopher and Drew talk about PEN's 2018 World Voices Festival - check out their website of events! https://worldvoices.pen.org/schedule/ music: Disaster Magic - Desert Snake and Coconut Crab (https://soundcloud.com/disaster-magic) contribute!...
11 min
136
87: Ruth Curry (Emily Books) & Sigrid Nunez's T...
Ruth Curry joins the guys in the Damn Library fresh off her #TOB18 judge-ship to chat about all sorts of things, like balancing her reading life and her work life, what she reads for at Emily Books, and why she has a Tiny Letter. We also get to...
43 min
137
The 2018 Tournament of Books - Minisode #4
Oh my gosh! It's over! Listen to me and Drew talk about what we thought about the Tournament this year, and also, a couple books we really wish had been in the tournament! Bok bok to you! Become a sustaining member of the Tournament!...
14 min
138
The 2018 Tournament of Books - Minisode #3
Oh my gosh it's still the tournament and we are feeling the madness! Listen to us talk about what's gone on so far, and also, some of the past tournament injustices! Become a sustaining member of the Tournament!...
18 min
139
86: Gabe Habash (STEPHEN FLORIDA) & Iris Murdoc...
Christopher and Drew wrestle up Gabe Habash to drink, chat, and be merry. Christopher serves everyone a very strange cocktail based on Habash's Stephen Florida, then dive right into the very strange headspace of Mr. Florida. They discuss plot...
51 min
140
The 2018 Tournament of Books - Minisode #2
Christopher and Drew prognosticate! The first round is still underway, but we still wanted to talk about what's gone on so far, and what might happen for the end of the round. Become a sustaining member of the Tournament!...
16 min
141
85: John Darnielle (UNIVERSAL HARVESTER, THE MO...
John Darnielle, lead singer of the Mountain Goats and writer of Universal Harvester and Wolf in White Van, sits down in the Damn Library for a far-ranging conversation covering everything from addiction to translated fiction. They talk about being...
53 min
142
The 2018 Tournament of Books - Minisode #1
Even though the Tournament won't officially start until after this episode has been posted, we're champing at the bit to get some prognostications going. So, for all you other ToB diehards - this one's for you. 9 minutes of tournament talk with...
8 min
143
84: Rachel Lyon (SELF-PORTRAIT WITH BOY) & Eile...
Rachel Lyon sits down in the Damn Library as the first guest of 2018. She presents her incredible new novel Self-Portait with Boy, and the guys ask questions about it, like about camera research, and changing DUMBO, and other New York-type things....
57 min
144
83: Katherine Faw (ULTRALUMINOUS) & Fleur Jaegg...
Katherine Faw drops into the Damn Library to talk about things like drugstore sushi, writing about women with ambition, and nail art. Then they all chat about Fleur Jaeggy's Sweet Days of Discipline and how it subverts the expectations of the normal...
51 min
145
82: Top 6 of 2017
Christopher and Drew chat about their Top 6 books of 2017 - the 4 books they both agree on, and then 2 that only one of the guys puts on the top of the pile. They also pontificate on the book that'll win the 2018 Tournament of Books, and list some...
29 min
146
81: Holiday Bookclub (Tom Hanks' UNCOMMON TYPE)
Uli Beutter Cohen (Subway Book Review), Bianca Bosker (Cork Dork), and Nozlee Samadzadeh (TMN's Tournament of Books) join Drew and Christopher in the Damn Library for a holiday-tinged book club discussion of Tom Hanks' Uncommon Type. Hanks' status as...
56 min
147
80: E. Lockhart (GENUINE FRAUD) & John Green's ...
E. Lockhart settles into the Damn Library for a long chat about Genuine Fraud, her new novel, as well as touching on her other works, like Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, and We Were Liars. Then John Green's new book, Turtles All the Way...
58 min
148
79: Movie Adaptations & MURDER ON THE ORIENT EX...
So Many Damn Books heads to the movies and sees Kenneth Branagh's (mustache's) Murder on the Orient Express, based on the Agatha Christie novel. What you want in an adaptation is discussed, as well as dream adaptations, and adaptations the guys are...
30 min
149
78: Carolyn Murnick (THE HOT ONE) & Claire Dede...
Carolyn Murnick joins the guys in the Damn Library to discuss her memoir, The Hot One: a memoir of friendship, sex, and murder. Along with discussing that subtitle and the cover, the trio discuss Pop Culture's helpfulness in navigating murder and...
49 min
150
76: Edgar Cantero (MEDDLING KIDS) & Enid Blyton...
New to Brooklyn (having moved here from Spain), Edgar Cantero drops by the Damn Library with some Meddling Kids and discusses with Drew and Christopher his detective phase, coming up with his style, and why it's easier to write car chases in...
46 min