The first episode of the new season of the Two Month Review—covering Alexis Wright's Praiseworthy (New Directions, And Other Stories, Giramondo)—start off with Chad crapping on golf, then rolls on into book design and books as objects, the pacing and rhythms of Wright's work, its humor, its orality, what ancillary information is beneficial, and how the introduction of the two children really snap the first section into place as a reading experience. This week's music is "Sham System (The...

We've reached the end which, in Chad and Brian's opinion, Ed Park totally lands. There's Friday the 13th talk. Reagan makes an appearance. The structure of the book is revisited. As are all the ideas of mirrors and patrimony, assassins and conspiracy theories. Note: Information about the "Opening the Channel" translation and creative flow retreat being organized by former co-host Katie Whittemore discussed on this episode is available here. This week's music is from Jodie Foster's Army. ...

The threads all come together in this week's section as the book barrels toward its conclusion. On this episode, Chad describes his visualization of the book's structure, Tim Hortons and Dunkin Donuts get crapped on, 2333 gets a new meaning, the Moonies make an appearance, as does Ronald Reagan (boo, hiss), Philip Roth, and PDK. Also, a Sleeper Awakes. Just remember, dreams are everything that's not online. Note: Information about the "Opening the Channel" translation and creative flow...

Korean food, Grocery Games, VCR tapes, screenplays, gazebos, a thumb drive, Amsterdam, and the statement, "TRANSLATION IS A LONG CON." This week's music is "I'll Be Your Mirror" by Velvet Underground. You can find all previous seasons of TMR on our YouTube channel and you can support us at Patreon and get bonus content before anyone else, along with other rewards, the opportunity to easily communicate with the hosts, etc. And please subcribe and rate us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or...

The connections proliferate and the threading together of the three sections continues. Interactive rights to 2333 are finally, properly sold; the mystery surrounding Echo grows; and The Buffalo Evening News brings the concept of "fake news" to a whole new level. That and more in this week's episode.  This week's music is "Simulation Swarm" by Big Thief. You can find all previous seasons of TMR on our YouTube channel and you can support us at Patreon and get bonus content before anyone...

Brian's back and everyone is (mostly) healthy. They talk about Korean history, double (or triple) agents, the idea of history as coincidence or plot, North and South Korea, and more.  This week's music is "Two States" by Pavement. You can find all previous seasons of TMR on our YouTube channel and you can support us at Patreon and get bonus content before anyone else, along with other rewards, the opportunity to easily communicate with the hosts, etc. And please subcribe and rate us on ...

Protect yourself: There's a chance you'll catch Chad's illness simply by listening to this episode. An episode in which he tries to recap a number of elements of the book—the 2333 game, the louse, wildwording—to Kaija Straumanis amid coughing fits and a dissolving brain. He also shares the most bizarre dream he's ever had, which is something else.  This week's music is "Gospel for a New Century" by Yves Tumor. Whose 2023 album, Praise a Lord Who Chews But Which Does Not Consume; (Or Simply,...

From their respective hotel rooms, Chad and Brian talk about science fiction, 2/3/33 (and 2/6/66??), conspiracy vs. coincidence, Ohtani and Lee, the ASS black satchel, the assassinations we don't learn much about in high school, Hegemon, more KPG connections, and the (not great) alt-newspaper of the week. This week's music is "Something Soon" by Car Seat Headrest. You can find all previous seasons of TMR on our YouTube channel and you can support us at Patreon and get bonus content before...

Season 21 of the Two Month Review kicks off with a discussion of Taylor Swift and the demise of alt-weeklies, then segues into a long discussion about the opening party scene in Same Bed Different Dreams. Chad and Brian talk about what's real and not in both the party scene and the "Dream One" section about the Korean Provisional Government, and start picking out various echos or motifs in the text—some of which won't come to fruition for several episodes .  . .  This week's music is "Debra"...

Brian and Chad break down the ending of Mulligan Stew, discuss how this is one of maybe 2-3 endings by books featured on TMR that truly works, banter about possible titles for next season, get a little strange, and analyze what works and doesn't work about the AI generated jacket copy. (Oh, metaphors.) This week's music is "Web in Front" by Archers of Loaf. ("And there's a chance that things could get weird" is basically the thesis statement for this podcat.) You can find all previous...

Brian sings! Pynchon is made fun of! Lamont totally goes off the rails but really really really wants that corset! Rich art collectors are absurd!  This week's music is Car Seat Headrest cover of "We Looked Like Giants." You can find all previous seasons of TMR on our YouTube channel and you can support us at Patreon and get bonus content before anyone else, along with other rewards, the opportunity to easily communicate with the hosts, etc. And please rate us—wherever you get your...

Chad had a night before this recording, so ignore him, but pay attention to the worst possible smut you will ever hear read aloud (the Franzen bits are worse than Lamont's) and enjoy the laughs, the literary contortions, and the next chapter of Lamont's ongoing mental breakdown.  This week's music is "U&ME" by alt-j. You can find all previous seasons of TMR on our YouTube channel and you can support us at Patreon and get bonus content before anyone else, along with other rewards, the...

Wacky Aphorisms vs. Cowboy Clichés. A title change that indicates a change in attitude. A bizarre publisher's catalog. The Red Swan. More letters! This section of Mulligan Stew is jam packed with fun riffs, more evidence of the intricate construction underlying this book, paranoia, puzzle pieces, and anger.  This week's music is "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown" by Jim Croce. You can find all previous seasons of TMR on our YouTube channel and you can support us at Patreon and get bonus content before...

"I SUCK!" Kicking off with an "erotic" "poem," this week's episode is nuts from the very start. There is a very serious explanation for the "Flawless Play Restored: The Masque of Fungo" (thanks to Tyrus Miller's piece in the Review of Contemporary Fiction), but this is surrounded by Nobel Prize talk, a breakdown of Lamont's incredibly cringey letter to Lorna Flambeaux, her terrible poetry, and many, many laughs—all with special guest Tom Flynn (Lost in Redonda).  This week's music is...

This section of Mulligan Stew is particularly wild, featuring a western populated by Irishmen speaking in bad accents (and worse accents in The Club Zap), a long rambling set of hypotheticals about why the police haven't arrived to find Ned's body (spoiler: Halpin hasn't called them), a drunken baseball game featuring famous authors and famous brands of booze, and the mathematical answer to the question "how much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?"(A: 0, 1/2, or 1...

Loveletters galore! Lists without context! Repurposing life for fiction! More puzzles! Terrible book reviews! An insufferable, pretentious elementary school essay! This episode has it all—and more! (As Lamont would say.) This week's music is "All Your Fails" by Kevin Drew. You can find all previous seasons of TMR on our YouTube channel and you can support us at Patreon and get bonus content before anyone else, along with other rewards, the opportunity to easily communicate with the hosts,...

Chad and Brian kick off the new season in near hysterics over the first little chunk of Gilbert Sorrentino's Mulligan Stew. From talking about the rejection letters—and near batshit reader's report—prefacing the book, to all the bad writing about the "flawless blue" sky, to the ever-changing dialog tags in Anthony Lamont's detective novel, to the New York Yankees, this episode is a hodgepodge of jokes and observations, and instant love for this wondrous, wooly masterpiece. This week's music...

Brian returns to help breakdown the ending to Rodrigo Fresán's "Part Triptych." Is it earned? Is it sincere?? Is this all a Jacob's Ladder scenario??? Chad and Brian debate that along with concepts of time in fiction, the Karmas, the wetness of Latvian meat, Melvill and Mulligan Stew. Fun is had as this long, amazing Fresán journey comes to a close . . .  This week's music is "Big Sky" by The Kinks—a throwback to TMR season one. Stay tuned for the Mulligan Stew schedule, which will drop...

Kaija Straumanis guest stars on this episode in which we discuss brain tumors, memory loss, the true story behind the story of The Impossible Story sending the exwriter into exile, whether of not Saint George is a saint (and dragons), paternity, and the next Fresán book to come out from Open Letter, Melvill. This week's music is "UFO" by Veps. Next week we'll be finishing the book (full schedule), and you can watch it live here, or by subscribing to our YouTube channel. You can purchase...

For the first time in the history of the Two Month Review, Chad had to go it alone. He stuck in there, didn't get too crazy, and covered the last chunk of Part II of The Remembered Part. Illness, heartbreak, mental anguish, suicide, Ella, and a mission. It's all in this episode.  This week's music is "Bloodletting (The Vampire Song)" by Concrete Blonde Next week we'll be covering pages 644-700 (full schedule), and you can watch it live here, or by subscribing to our YouTube channel. You...

Veeeeekingdor!!!!! This week's episode is pretty wild, with stories of Riga FC, stoic faces, Fresán's visit to the University of Rochester, Kurt Vonnegut, Andrei The Untranslated (follow his blog!, support his Patreon!), the purpose of book readings and the most uncomfortable ones, time and fiction, and much more! And visit Three Percent on Tuesday to find out what book we'll be reading in season twenty!! This week's music is "Malachi" by Grouplove. Next week we'll be covering pages...

Brian is back and Chad flubs the intro, so things are basically as they should be . . . They talk about fragmentation, big flawed double albums (and why they're so intriguing), how comedy works, Hey Uncle Walrus vs. Uncle Hey Walrus, memory and the losing of it, and much more.  This week's music is "1979"  and 'Tonight, Tonight" from the Smashing Pumpkins' flawed double album. (A topic in this episode!)  Next week we'll be covering pages 490-563 (full schedule), and you can watch it live...

Former TMR guest Patrick Smith returns to discuss his reread of the first two volumes of the trilogy, how Fresán's writing inspires him, hanging on to flights of prose, all of the wind in this book, what it means to fall, dogs, and much much more. It's a comprehensive, deep look into what it takes to be a good reader, Ricardo Piglia's "The Last Reader" and the paradoxes at the center of this novel. This week's music is "These Things Will Come to Be" by DJ Seinfeld, all for the outro bit of...

Chad and Kaija break down the final bit of the first part of the third volume in Fresán's trilogy (phew), revisit the "is this difficult to read?" discussion, and talk about the articles about Fresán in the new issue of Latin American Literature Today. And at the very, very end, Chad makes a startling admission. This week's music is "Life Worth Missing" by Car Seat Headrest. Next week we'll be covering pages 355-421 (full schedule), and you can watch it live here, or by subscribing to our...

Separated by 10 hours—like podcasting jet lag?—Chad and Brian work through some observations and rants (specifically about a s****y NY Times list of the best American books between 1981 and 2006, which consists almost entirely of Philip Roth and John Updike and only two books by women), about this section of The Remembered Part. Chad argues for being willing to be confused while reading and they discuss whether or not Fresán's works are confusing. There's also the usual amount of banter and...