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So Many Damn Books
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© 2023
Description
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
224 Episodes
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Sarah joins Christopher in the Damn Library she co-owns to drink martinis and talk about good ideas for holiday gifting, from books to subscriptions to games to cocktail accoutrements and more.
contribute! https://patreon.com/smdb
for the full gift list, every drink recipe, book lists, and more, visit: somanydamnbooks.com
music: Disaster Magic
(https://soundcloud.com/disaster-magic)
Drew Broussard, Hudson valley author, Golden Notebook bookseller, host of Voyage Into Genre, and former host of this show, jumps into his old chair in the Damn Library and it’s like he never left.
contribute! https://patreon.com/smdb
for drink recipes, book lists, and more, visit: somanydamnbooks.com
music: Disaster Magic
(https://soundcloud.com/disaster-magic)
Amy Kurzweil stops into the Damn Library, physically, to talk about the physical object of her new graphic memoir, Artificial: A Love Story, which largely concerns AI. We discuss capturing the details of her screens, the open question of the future, and what we keep from the past to get there. Plus, we delve into the many joys of Jason Lutes’ Berlin, a modern masterpiece.
contribute! https://patreon.com/smdb
for drink recipes, book lists, and more, visit: somanydamnbooks.com
music: Disaster Magic
(https://soundcloud.com/disaster-magic)
Edan Lepucki visits the virtual Damn Library by the power of the internet to discuss her intergenerational time travel novel, Time’s Mouth. We get into all the fun stuff, like time travel mechanics, Reichian therapy, making fortresses, Santa Cruz, and how she’s seeing her career at this point. Plus, we talk about The Possibilities by Yael Goldstein-Love, a book that Edan helped name.
contribute! https://patreon.com/smdb
for drink recipes, book lists, and more, visit: somanydamnbooks.com
music: Disaster Magic
(https://soundcloud.com/disaster-magic)
Jennifer Baker steps into the physical reality of the Damn Library and thankfully brings along her infectious laugh and passion for books. We chat all about the long road of writing her new novel Forgive Me Not, her hopes for how it’s received, and how curiosity drives her fiction while anger can drive her nonfiction. Plus, she brought along Akwaeke Emezi’s incredible Pet. A perfect visit!
contribute! https://patreon.com/smdb
for drink recipes, book lists, and more, visit: somanydamnbooks.com
music: Disaster Magic
(https://soundcloud.com/disaster-magic)
Mona Awad visits the Damn Library via the casual magic of web video for a third go round, this time for her bedeveling, garnet-bedazzled Rouge. She talks about putting her characters through the ringer, horror stories showing you a path, Tom Cruise, beauty cults, and more. Plus, both Mona and Christopher extoll the many virtues of Susanna Clarke’s Piranesi, and how it came at exactly the right time.
contribute! https://patreon.com/smdb
for drink recipes, book lists, and more, visit: somanydamnbooks.com
music: Disaster Magic
(https://soundcloud.com/disaster-magic)
1Stacey Mei Yan Fong drops into the Damn Library for a slice of pie and a pie-inspired cocktail and lots of impassioned talk of pie and baking and her new cookbook 50 Pies 50 States. Plus, behind the scenes of morning shows! And Stacey introduces Christopher to the joys of John Waters through his memoir Carsick. Have a slice!
contribute! https://patreon.com/smdb
for drink recipes, book lists, and more, visit: somanydamnbooks.com
music: Disaster Magic
(https://soundcloud.com/disaster-magic)
Henry Hoke makes a visit to the physical space of the Damn Library to talk his novel Open Throat, and allowing P-22 to become “me-22,” as well as the rest of his work, plus the novella Potted Meat by Steven Dunn, and the power of short weird books in general.
contribute! https://patreon.com/smdb
for drink recipes, book lists, and more, visit: somanydamnbooks.com
music: Disaster Magic
(https://soundcloud.com/disaster-magic)
I’m just hanging out in the Damn Library talking about some books I just got in the mail, and the books I’m taking on vacation. Is this a good idea? Only time will tell.
contribute! https://patreon.com/smdb
for drink recipes, book lists, and more, visit: somanydamnbooks.com
music: Disaster Magic
(https://soundcloud.com/disaster-magic)
Into the Damn Library Christine Grillo zooms, and what do we talk about? Her inventive, touching, hopefully not too prescient Hestia Strikes a Match, plus all that went into it, like parents and politics and fireplace decor. Plus, she brings along the archly funny and itself harrowing Good Behaviour by Molly Keane. Books, you better believe it!
contribute! https://patreon.com/smdb
for drink recipes, book lists, and more, visit: somanydamnbooks.com
music: Disaster Magic
(https://soundcloud.com/disaster-magic)
Kate Slotover, co-host of the podcast The Book Club Review, zooms into the Damn Library and chats book podcast reading, how many books she will get to before she dies, the driving philosophy of what she wants her show’s conversations to be like, why we should articulate what we don’t like about books, the magic of Dick Francis, the perennial fun of will-they-won’t-they, and so much more, including deep dives into the novellas they traded, Kate's Kick the Latch by Kathryn Scanlan and Christopher's Parnassus On Wheels by Christopher Morley. A book lover’s feast! Bon appetit!
Here's the other half of this conversation: Christopher on Kate's podcast! https://www.thebookclubreview.co.uk/portfolio/items/so-many-damn-books-episode-143/
contribute! https://patreon.com/smdb
for drink recipes, book lists, and more, visit: somanydamnbooks.com
music: Disaster Magic
(https://soundcloud.com/disaster-magic)
Rebecca Makkai drops into the Damn Library a few months after her newest smash hit novel I Have Some Questions For You hit the shelves, chatting about critiquing/celebrating the podcast world, how podcasters are the new detectives, writing a campus novel when you live on campus, and so much more, including just how it feels to be where she's at in her career at this point. Plus, we delve into her 84 Books Project and Madonna in a Fur Coat by Sabahattin Ali.
contribute! https://patreon.com/smdb
for drink recipes, book lists, and more, visit: somanydamnbooks.com
music: Disaster Magic
(https://soundcloud.com/disaster-magic)
Brendan Slocumb has a seat in the hyperspace universe of the Zoom Damn Library to talk his new historical musical thriller Symphony of Secrets, and of course some Violin Conspiracy, getting into creating a world of historical music, how his violin discipline helps him as a writer, and more. Plus, he gets to talk up his debut panel friend Eli Cranor’s Ozark Dogs, and how the literary world has welcomed him.
contribute! https://patreon.com/smdb
for drink recipes, book lists, and more, visit: somanydamnbooks.com
music: Disaster Magic
(https://soundcloud.com/disaster-magic)
Ling Ling Huang stops by the universe of the Zoom Damn Library the day after her book, Natural Beauty, graces shelves. She talks about writing the book in her Notes app, living the classical music life, how she surprised her parents with her book deal, getting shots in her butt for her beauty industry employer, and so much more. Plus, she brought along the Korean bestseller I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki, so of course we have to talk about therapy, and how this book surprises you with its ending.
contribute! https://patreon.com/smdb
for drink recipes, book lists, and more, visit: somanydamnbooks.com
music: Disaster Magic
(https://soundcloud.com/disaster-magic)
The one and only Kelly Link zooms into the Damn Library hypserspace to talk her spectacular new collection, White Cat, Black Dog. She gets into how the new collection got its footing in fairy tales, how she loves ghost stories but has never seen a ghost (and that’s okay), and discuss the magic of David Macaulay’s Motel of the Mysteries. She brought along Megan Giddings’ incredible The Women Could Fly, and we discuss how real its magic feels, and how books get tied to the place you read them.
contribute! https://patreon.com/smdb
for drink recipes, book lists, and more, visit: somanydamnbooks.com
music: Disaster Magic
(https://soundcloud.com/disaster-magic)
Idra Novey actually drops by the Damn Library IN PERSON to discuss her stunning new book, Take What You Need, creating an artist’s practice, torching things, and short novels. Also, she brought along César Aira’s On Contemporary Art to accompany the art on display in the text of her book.
contribute! https://patreon.com/smdb
for drink recipes, book lists, and more, visit: somanydamnbooks.com
music: Disaster Magic
(https://soundcloud.com/disaster-magic)
Former co-host, writer, and podcast journeyman Drew Broussard sits down to talk about, what else? Books. The Tournament of Books, inventing rather than referencing art within fiction, the problem with thriller titles these days… it’s all out on the table.
contribute! https://patreon.com/smdb
for drink recipes, book lists, and more, visit: somanydamnbooks.com
music: Disaster Magic
(https://soundcloud.com/disaster-magic)
Nita Prose drops into the Damn Library to illuminate her runaway hit novel, winner of a Goodreads Choice Award, The Maid, and all the ways she used her past as an editor and her knowledge of the tropes of mystery writing reused to create it. Plus, she brings along Nina de Gramont’s The Christie Affair, because who can ever get enough Agatha Christie?
contribute! https://patreon.com/smdb
for drink recipes, book lists, and more, visit: somanydamnbooks.com
music: Disaster Magic
(https://soundcloud.com/disaster-magic)
Antiquarian Bookseller and TikTok star Tom Ayling zooms on in to the Damn Library discuss the world of antiquarian books, and the world of book-centered TikTok, two worlds that are far more complementary than you’d imagine.
contribute! https://patreon.com/smdb
for drink recipes, book lists, and more, visit: somanydamnbooks.com
music: Disaster Magic
(https://soundcloud.com/disaster-magic)
Sarah joins me in the Damn Library she co-owns to chat about favorite reads of 2022, both books published this year and books experienced this year. Plus, the HarperCollins union is on strike! If you’d like to help out, check out this page here to donate to the strike fund, and check out more information at this link roundup.
contribute! https://patreon.com/smdb
for drink recipes, book lists, and more, visit: somanydamnbooks.com
music: Disaster Magic
(https://soundcloud.com/disaster-magic)
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I loved this book so much so it was great hearing from the author about his process, inspiration and everything else.