About 4 minutes in Jonah reveals the idea for this episode: he is going to list off bursts of authors he's read in the last five years of doing the podcast which they haven't featured and Will is going to riff on whatever comes to mind. Thanks for listening fellow littérateurs. This may be our last episode ... Jonah is tired of doing jobs he doesn't like so he's gonna get out of Idaho and get beat on the dirty streets of Hollywood. He is leaving behind a box of books of his short stories at...

This is a very loosely styled podcast. I know, usually we keep it so on point and tight. But often I think podcasts are more fun this way. At least we had fun. It's the conversation you'll get in the Walrus and Carpenter bookstore. Come sit for a while and geek out about language.

A eulogy Live from the Walrus and Carpenter bookstore. Ten years ago, when Jonah first fell headfirst into an obsession with Kundera (and his new English translations) Jonah was surprised to learn Kundera was still alive.  Shortly after he started writing notes for an article about the importance of Kundera's novel Immortality to 20th century literature - halfway expecting at some point to have a relationship with a literary journal which might publish it. Those notes still exist but suffice...

From the Western Thought archive a conversation about an author who hasn't been in style for decades - but is arguably one of the most interesting prose stylists to have ever lived. Jonah had a love affair with Brodkey and as such, during this conversation, is probably a bit overly denigrating due to the feelings once held so convincingly. This conversation is from the early second year of the podcast where Jonah could still talk Will into closing the store and sitting in the back where...

Just a little short story told loosely.This is a little inside baseball for anyone who wonders why creators keep stumbling into using sites like patreon. And like inside baseball, you're gonna have to care to find this interesting so feel free to change channels quickly. At a certain threshold of published episodes your server fees for posting continue to grow, steeply. From where this podcast is now to the next level would cost me triple the yearly cost. On Patreon you can post anything with...

This month we discuss perhaps the most famous novel in the world. A novel which was said to possess every aspect of human life and feeling. Despite its aging in certain, one might even say, predictable, ways. the attempt still holds solid. The realism of this grand Russian exploration of the soul is solidified with potent realism considering the randomness our universe (cultural and physical) can throw at a living being. As always, in the podcast tradition, we engage with that randomness...

You've been clamoring for it and it's finally here! More clanging of the chimes on Will's bookstore door, more conversational meandering.  More of Jonah suggesting they talk about books which Will hasn't looked at in decades but Jonah stubbornly thinks will be interesting anyway until he realizes, again, he's forced a topic which he wasn't prepared for. This topic is the physicist Richard Feynman. Apparently you can get free pdf's of this classic lighthearted romp through the intellect...

Did Joseph Campbell make out with John Steinbeck's wife? Why yes, he did. Also in discussion Edward Abbey's Desert Solitaire which Will reveals he owns a first edition of. You better watch out Will, with this public knowledge someone might try to break into the bookstore and mug you with an automatic pistol. Enjoy a chat about John's. Weirdly, we didn't even plan it this way.

It would be cool to be really interesting in one of these description areas ... But I don't think it is possible. It's like the summation for a piece of fiction. You're sort of telling what the story is about but if you get to close to saying exactly what happens you either A. Miss the larger metaphorical or allegorical content or B. You end up risking spoilers. The thing, with podcasts, is they're impossible to spoil so I suppose this could literally be a transcription for words spoken....

The second and third acts to a Scooby Doo! mystery started at the end of the Metalhead trailer. I got one comment about enjoying the imagination so I continued to think about what the rest of the story might be. It's kinda fun to write movies where you don't have to pay attention to all the dialogue. Legitimate literary conversations having to be moved over to the Patreon for our podcast. I'm still in the red over here making stuff for you guys. But what else am I gonna do, really? Apply to...

This month we become more of a history podcast. Discussing the Bolshevik revolution, money, power. What it might mean to try and be a revolutionary. Babel's phrase about the artistic strictures instituted on writers in Stalinism; "My friends, we are not allowed to write badly anymore." There's no such strictures on podcasts - as we have happily explored. Also, Babel's murder was sad, and as is our want, we think it would be a good play. Come sit in the bookstore for a while.

This is an audio introduction to a novel you can access over at the Western Thought patreon. patreon.com/westernthought. On the patreon page I will also include an unlocked version of the text if you'd like to peruse that before making a leap into patronage. 

The initial idea for this episode was to do a centennial retrospective of the year 1922. The writers TS Eliot, EM Forster, and last but not least, Woolf. Woolf, I think for both of us, ended up being the most fascinating. Partially because a week before, in the Walrus and Carpenter (Will's bookstore) Jonah found a copy of Beginning Again. One part of five of Leonard Woolf's autobiography. A fascinating remnant of literary history which is used to create, in our opinion, literary speculation...

Not necessarily literature but a larger discussion about the nature of the universe. Whether it's open or closed. These Meditations are from a book by a anonymous author and are basic discussions for the understanding of Christian Hermeticism. Just pop your head into the bookstore and see if anything peaks your interest. We had fun.

Written as something of a playful experiment with a simple idea - a rich and famous children's book author (a JK Rowling type figure) comes to a stagnant town (like Pocatello, ID) and figures she could buy a lot of the downtown storefronts. She decides to open up a series of bookstores. Hijinks occur. An accidental death, a theft of a first edition of Melville's Moby Dick. The second two parts of this novella can be found on the Patreon. patreon.com/westernthought

Will stumbled upon a book (Homosexuals in History) with a reference to Hawthorne being potentially homosexual, and to make up for a certain lack of artistic commentary on the last cast we try and dig into the confluence of art and sex. So far, for this year, I think this may be our best podcast. Maybe because it's now chilly enough in Idaho that Will has the fireplace running at the front of his store again. Come sit near for a bit. As always, old episodes available at...

Seriously considered editing this for more focus on Nathaniel, but maybe we'll get around to that next week. In this episode Will's new squeeze, Sonai, stops by to drink a beer in front of the fireplace and chat. Isn't that one of the appeals for podcasts - containing a weird, possibly interesting moment of time? Anyway, don't be planning to use this as reference material for your next book report. Come hang out in the bookstore for a bit.

A fairly busy Tuesday at the bookstore with a few sales and auditory distractions from a new roof being applied. Still, there's a few good one-liners and a (possibly) good introduction to Stein and her cubist doodlings with words (my words). Shorter episodes these days as Will now has a standing dinner date. Perhaps we will compensate by doing them more frequently. As always, old episodes are now stored for you perusal at patreon.com/westernthought. Come sit in the bookstore for a while.

Back from a hiatus we try to discuss a novel that Will hasn't read in twenty years. But luckily, with art as our master, we finally tackle the liberal art MFAs and why they don't seem to produce the random passion which makes reading so compelling. Putting our personalities out there you'll have to be the judge if you can pan out the fluff to find the treasures (this will make more sense if you listen). Come sit in the bookstore for a while.

Another fictional supplement to the podcast. Two independent stories which have been recorded for your listening interest (written far apart with very different styles). Not recorded in a perfectly soundproofed room - like the rest of our stuff. But hey, you're getting it for free.The first story is a slight touch of exaggerated reality with an artist who makes exceptional pictures in the foam of coffee. The second is a Henry Miller inspired first person wander through a mysterious death and...

A couple technical (battery) hiccups fragment the show a little at the beginning, but not necessarily to its detriment. Beauvoir is a writer that Jonah has wanted to do for some years and it's fun to get around to that period of French letters and another female - though our depth in reviewing Beauvoir's THE SECOND SEX is quite limited. Reminder that we have a Patreon for old episodes.Western Thought is creating a podcast from a bookstore ... and novels | PatreonAnother two hours to come hang...

This felt pretty good after we'd finished. The format Jonah always had in mind for the function of the podcast. A lot of Will talking with some pointed questions and secondary material thrown in. Some other secret magic may also have been involved. Come sit in the bookstore for a while.

We are joined by a cool painter in a Canadian tuxedo named Sydney who plays the good sport. This one is rambling and reaching with a lot of laughter and Will tells me in the second half we get very un-PC. Jonah remembers a certain amount of belligerence ... but that's usually the most fun one can have with a podcast. So come sit in the bookstore and try to figure out what's the deal with William Faulkner.

This one starts a little bit slow. Jonah wanted to do an examination of what potential writer's festivals have become in this world of many other distractions. This kinda gets done? But basically commits the same sin that was meant to be avoided. Namely, dropping info that most of you wont really have that much context for. Reminder that we have a Western Thought Patreon now. Why would anyone pay for this? I mean I've never subscribed to anyone else's Patreon, why should you? I hate being a...