Claim OwnershipThe Infinite Library
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© John Hagele
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A podcast about books, mortality, and what to do with your limited time with both. Hosted by John & Ben.
71 Episodes
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It's the first episode of the Spring 2026 Season, and John and Ben are blasting off to the moon of Annares to discuss "The Dispossessed" by Ursula K. Le Guin. We discuss this classic of science fiction with a little help from "To Read 'The Dispossessed'" by Samuel Delany. Topics of conversation include John & Ben's relationship with Le Guin's work, her anthropological lens, and portrayals of gender & sexuality in science fiction. As always, we hope you enjoy the conversation!We'll be back in two weeks with a paired episode focusing on Samuel Delany's "Trouble on Triton"!
John and Ben cruise down the California highway to the end of this season of The Infinite Library as they read Joan Didion's "Play It As It Lays". Topics of conversation include the portrayal of California in literature, mimesis, and Didion's place as a literary "cool girl".As always, we hope that you enjoy the conversation!
Another year comes to a close and, as is tradition, John and Ben get together to tell you about their favorite books they read in 2025.
Happy (almost) New Year! We're closing out our Thomas Pynchon mini-revue with his latest novel, "Shadow Ticket". Along for the ride is friend of the pod, author TJ Martinson! Topics of discussion include Pynchon's relationship to pop culture, the use of alternate history in literature, and whether Pynchon offers us as readers an 'out' to our present circumstances.As always, we hope you enjoy the conversation!Check out TJ's books here!
This week, we jump forward over 50 years into Thomas Pychon's career (and over all his most read books) to discuss 2013's "Bleeding Edge"! Along for the ride through Y2K is friend of the pod, Dan.Topics of discussion include reading the 2010s through the 2000s, the role of technology and espionage in Pynchon's works, and 9/11.As always, we hope you enjoy the conversations.
This week, we start our mini-revue of the works of Thomas Pynchon with his first novel: "V." We discuss our individual relationships with Pynchon's writing, his place in the larger world of contemporary literature, and what we liked and disliked about this strange first novel of his. As always, we hope that you enjoy the conversation!
This week, we conclude our discussion of John Pistelli's "Major Arcana". We hope you enjoy another two-parter!
We accidentally did another two parter, but we had a lot of thoughts about "Major Arcana" by John Pistelli.As always, we hope that you enjoy our conversation!
The conclusion to our discussion on "The Return of the King", featuring Nate from Gamers with Glasses.As always, we hope that you enjoy the conversation.
This week on The Infinite Library, we answer Gondor's call for aid and discuss "The Return of the King" with Nate Schmidt of Gamers with Glasses. We've been there and we're nearly ready to go back again, so please join us to discuss the conclusion of The Lord of the Rings!As always, we hope that you enjoy the conversation.
Our continued conversation with Claire on "The Two Towers". As always, we hope that you enjoy the conversation.
This week, Ben's pal Claire joins us to discuss "The Two Towers". As always, we hope that you enjoy the conversation!
We discuss the latter part of "The Fellowship of the Ring" by JRR Tolkien.As always, we hope that you enjoy the conversation.
We begin our Fall season with a discussion of the first book of The Lord of the Rings. Topics of discussion include Tolkien's background and how it may have impacted his writing, "Concerning Hobbits", and what a cool guy Tom Bombadil is.As always, we hope that you enjoy the show!
The week, Book Boys say goodbye to the Summer of Bad Vibes by discussing Don DeLillo's opus "Libra". We discuss paranoid reading, Lee Harvey Oswald as American everyman, Hysterial Realism. At the end, we even take a brief detour to Tinsel Town and chat a bit about Oliver Stone's "JFK".As always, we hope that you enjoy our conversation!Works Cited"Paranoid and Reparative Reading" by Eve Sedgewick"Varieties of Religious Experience" by William James
This week, 3-time returning champ Molly Tanzer is back in the stacks to discuss Mikhail Bulgakov's classic: "The Master and Margarita"! And this time she brought a friend: Melissa (AKA MK Sauer) joined us a second guest and expert on Russian lit as we gave the book the full Infinite Library treatment!As always, we hope that you enjoy our conversation!
Our vacation to the oases of horror in a desert of boredom reaches its conclusion. This week, John and Ben talk about the final section of Roberto Bolaño's "2666": The Part About Archimboldi. Topics of discussion include the kunstleroman genre, Dracula, and how Bolaño subverts genre expectations to invoke his deeper themes.
This week, the Book Boys discuss Tanith Lee's first novel: "Birthgrave".
CONTENT WARNING:This episode includes detailed discussion of violence & sexual assault. We return to "2666" to discuss "The Part About the Crimes". Topics of conversation include the legendary reputation of this portion of Bolano's novel, depictions of violence against women in literature, and conspiracy as a theme in Bolano's oeuvre. As always, we hope you enjoy!
This week we've got friend of the show Dan back in the stacks to discuss Mo Yan's opus: "Life And Death Are Wearing Me Out". Topics of conversation include Chinese-English translation, reincarnation in fiction, and authorial self-inserts. As always, we hope you enjoy the conversation!
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