Latest Threepercent Podcast Episodes
2MR: FOX by Ugresic ("A Balancing Art")
Three Percent Podcast - June 28, 2018 17:00 - 54 minutes ★★★★★ - 83 ratingsTom Flynn from Volumes is back, surprising Brian, who mostly prepared for the podcast by Googling Croatian Fun Facts. World Cup banter and good natured ribbing aside, Chad, Brian, and Tom dig in to the first half or "A Balancing Art," talking about immigration vs. tourism, literary conferences a...
2MR: Fox ("A Story about How Stories Come To Be Written")
Three Percent Podcast - June 21, 2018 17:00 - 1 hour ★★★★★ - 83 ratingsThis week's podcast is pretty fast and loose, with Fortnite disruptions, embarrassing pronunciations, lots of ribbing, and a deep dive into the various games going on in Part I of Dubravka Ugresic's Fox, "A Story about How Stories Come to Be Written." Starting from Pilnyak's story of the same na...
Three Percent #141: Reimagining the Podcast (AKA Everything Stays the Same)
Three Percent Podcast - June 19, 2018 14:00 - 43 minutes ★★★★★ - 83 ratingsThis week, Chad and Tom talk about the "newly reimagined" BookExpo, the New York Rights Fair, the Albertine Prize (congrats to Emma Ramadan, Anne Garreta, and Deep Vellum!), the BTBA (congrats to Will Vanderhyden and Rodrigo Fresán!), likely shortlisted titles for next year's award, and more. To...
2MR: Fox (An Introduction to Dubravka Ugresic)
Three Percent Podcast - June 14, 2018 17:00 - 38 minutes ★★★★★ - 83 ratingsThe new season is here! For the next two months, Chad and Brian will be talking about Dubravka Ugresic's Fox with a wide range of guests. To kick things off this week, Chad talks about Ugresic's writing career and his history of publishing her, and Brian comes up with a great challenge for our l...
Three Percent #140: Save All the Nobels
Three Percent Podcast - May 16, 2018 21:30 - 1 hour ★★★★★ - 83 ratingsChad and Tom reunite after a few weeks of travel and hot takes to talk about the Best Translated Book Award shortlists, the Nobel Prize controversy, why we should (or shouldn't? or who cares?) save Barnes & Noble, and the awesomeness that is Jean-Patrick Manchette. This week's music is "Eve...
2MR: The Physics of Sorrow (Part VIII: "An Elementary Physics of Sorrow")
Three Percent Podcast - April 12, 2018 14:00 - 1 hour ★★★★★ - 83 ratingsThis week, Chad and Brian are joined by Stiliana Milkova from Oberlin College to talk about the final sections of The Physics of Sorrow: "An Elementary Physics of Sorrow," "Endings," and "Epilogue." They talk about the structure of the novel as a whole, about Chad's favorite page in the book, ab...
Three Percent #139: The Local Scene
Three Percent Podcast - April 11, 2018 17:00 - 1 hour ★★★★★ - 83 ratingsChad and Tom reconvene to talk about self-published titles that stay local, the Best Translated Book Award longlists, the elitism of the industry, and how you should vote for Emma Ramadan's translation of Not One Day for this year's Albertine Prize. This week's music is a snippet from the 13+...
2MR: The Physics of Sorrow (Part VII: "Global Autumn")
Three Percent Podcast - April 05, 2018 14:00 - 58 minutes ★★★★★ - 83 ratingsThis week, Rachel Cordasco from Speculative Fiction in Translation and the Wisconsin Historical Society Press joined Chad and Brian for a fun conversation about part VII of Georgi Gospodinov's The Physics of Sorrow. They talked about how this book invokes a variety of memories, hotel rooms, East...
2MR: The Physics of Sorrow (Part VI: "The Story Buyer")
Three Percent Podcast - March 29, 2018 14:00 - 1 hour ★★★★★ - 83 ratingsThis week, translator Angela Rodel joins Chad and Brian to talk about The Physics of Sorrow by Georgi Gospodinov, the recent surge in Bulgarian literature in translation, point of view issues in writing, Bulgarian folk music, what makes a translation work, and much more. Then Chad and Brian bant...
2MR: The Physics of Sorrow (Part V: "The Green House")
Three Percent Podcast - March 22, 2018 17:00 - 54 minutes ★★★★★ - 83 ratingsIn addition to ripping on Chad and the poor showing by the Michigan State Spartans in the NCAA Tournament, Brian Wood and Tom Flynn (from Volumes Bookcafe) discuss the morality of animals, how this section of The Physics of Sorrow focuses more on the "animal" side of the minotaur, the mixture of...
2MR: The Physics of Sorrow (pgs. 119-150)
Three Percent Podcast - March 15, 2018 19:00 - 55 minutes ★★★★★ - 83 ratingsThis week, Patrick Smith joined Chad and Brian to talk about time capsules and their potential danger, nostalgia and the urge to collect, aliens, Chernobyl, and more. It was a very fun part of the book to discuss, and the three of them made the most of it, really digging into how The Physics of ...
2MR: The Physics of Sorrow (pgs. 73-118)
Three Percent Podcast - March 08, 2018 15:00 - 1 hour ★★★★★ - 83 ratingsTo up the Bay Area sports content, we invited Nick Buzanski of Book Culture to come on and talk about one of his favorite sections of Georgi Gospodinov's The Physics of Sorrow. They talk about community and storytelling, seeing movies in person, Gospodinov's humor and beautiful writing, Gaustine...
TMR: Physics of Sorrow (pgs. 59-72)
Three Percent Podcast - March 01, 2018 15:00 - 54 minutes ★★★★★ - 83 ratingsCaitlin Baker of the University Book Store in Seattle joined Chad and Brian to talk about this very short section of Georgi Gospodinov's The Physics of Sorrow. Mostly they talk about the constant conflicts between kids and their parent in myths. And eating children. But it's not as gruesome as a...
2MR: The Physics of Sorrow (pgs. 1-58)
Three Percent Podcast - February 22, 2018 15:00 - 54 minutes ★★★★★ - 83 ratingsChad and Brian are joined by Tom Roberge of Riffraff (and the Three Percent Podcast to discuss the first section of Georgi Gospodinov's The Physics of Sorrow. They talk about the book's general conceit, the minotaur myth, Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, Eastern European history, fascism ...
2MR: The Physics of Sorrow (Introduction)
Three Percent Podcast - February 15, 2018 15:00 - 29 minutes ★★★★★ - 83 ratingsThe new season of the Two Month Review kicks off now with a general overview Georgi Gospodinov's The Physics of Sorrow, one of the most beloved books Open Letter has ever published. Brian's on the lam, or in witness protection, or something, so Open Letter senior editor Kaija Straumanis stepped...
#138: This Is the Most This Podcast Ever
Three Percent Podcast - February 13, 2018 15:00 - 1 hour ★★★★★ - 83 ratingsAlex Shepard from The New Republic joins Chad and Tom to discuss the state of book journalism, the new National Book Award for Translation, Chad's annoying whining about BookMarks, Winter Institute, and more. It's a fun episode that goes deep into some contemporary book publishing issues--and th...
#137: The Fire & the Fury Over No Amazon in Rochester
Three Percent Podcast - February 07, 2018 19:32 - 51 minutes ★★★★★ - 83 ratingsAfter a few weeks away from podcast, Chad and Tom reunite to talk about sales of Fire and Fury and its lasting impact, Milo's edits, the TA First Translation Prize Shortlist, Rochester's failure to land the new Amazon HQ, Wormwood, and more. For those keeping track as you listen, here's th...
2MR: Death in Spring (pgs. 119-150)
Three Percent Podcast - December 28, 2017 14:30 - 51 minutes ★★★★★ - 83 ratingsHere it is, the infamous live recording at McNally Jackson! There was a great turnout to hear Brian, María Christina, and I work our way through our thoughts about Death in Spring, Rodoreda's overall stature, the banning of the color yellow, and much more. We had a great time doing this, and tha...
2MR: Death in Spring (pgs. 69-118)
Three Percent Podcast - December 21, 2017 14:30 - 56 minutes ★★★★★ - 83 ratingsMara Faye Lethem joins us this week to talk about Catalonia's scatological obsession, the challenges of the current political situation, Max Besora's wild novel, and Rodoreda's triumphant return to the best-seller list. Then they get into a more autobiographical reading of this section of Death ...
#136: The Riffraff Is Upon Us
Three Percent Podcast - December 19, 2017 19:22 - 1 hour ★★★★★ - 83 ratingsBack at last! Chad and Tom reunite after a month in which Tom finished building an entire bookstore and bar, which is now open! In addition to talking about Riffraff's first week of business, they talk about the NCIBA statement against publishers selling direct to consumers and institutions, abo...
2MR: Death in Spring (pgs. 28-68)
Three Percent Podcast - December 14, 2017 15:00 - 48 minutes ★★★★★ - 83 ratingsThis week, fresh off a publication in the Boston Review, Jess Fenn (JR Fenn) joins Chad, Brian, and Best Translated Book Award judge Patrick Smith (P.T. Smith) to talk about the second part of Death in Spring. They trace a few motifs, talk about dystopias and literary world-building, and much mo...
2MR: Death in Spring (pgs. 1-27)
Three Percent Podcast - December 07, 2017 14:30 - 49 minutes ★★★★★ - 83 ratingsWelcome to one of the strangest villages in all of fiction! Now that Chad and Brian have gone through the stories, they turn their attention to Rodoreda's Death in Spring, which was published posthumously in 1986. They're joined by Catalan researcher and translator Meg Berkobien and Anastasia Ni...
2MR: Selected Stories (pgs. 208-255)
Three Percent Podcast - November 30, 2017 14:30 - 52 minutes ★★★★★ - 83 ratingsAfter yelling at Skype a bunch, Chad, Brian, and special guest Tom Flynn of Volumes Bookcafe discuss the merits of some of Rodoreda's final stories, especially "The Thousand Franc Bill," "Paralysis," and "The Salamander." Then they manage to slightly diss groups upon groups of people--in a rathe...
2MR: Selected Stories (pgs. 144-207)
Three Percent Podcast - November 23, 2017 14:30 - 45 minutes ★★★★★ - 83 ratingsAfter doing a bit of a deeper dive into the situation in Catalonia--and discussing the LIVE recording that will take place on December 12th at the new McNally Jackson--Chad and Brian are joined by George Carroll to talk about this batch of Rodoreda's stories. Although a couple of the stories dis...
2MR: Selected Stories (pgs. 103-143)
Three Percent Podcast - November 16, 2017 14:30 - 35 minutes ★★★★★ - 83 ratingsThings are a bit rough for Chad the morning after the Open Letter gala, but he powers through and talks about this new phase of Rodoreda's stories. He and Brian break down some of the more challenging of her stories, including "Noctural" and "The Bath," and talk about what does and doesn't work ...
2MR: Selected Stories (pgs. 51-102)
Three Percent Podcast - November 09, 2017 14:30 - 41 minutes ★★★★★ - 83 ratingsThis week, Mark Haber of Brazos Bookstore and the Best Translated Book Award committee joins Chad and Brian to talk about the next seven stories in Mercè Rodoreda's collection. Although they touch on a number of them, a lot of time is spent focusing on "Carnival" and the literary antecedents to ...
#135: Polish Reportage and a Lot of Sci-Fi Talk
Three Percent Podcast - November 08, 2017 21:35 - 1 hour ★★★★★ - 83 ratingsAfter discussing the incredibly long Dublin Literary Prize longlist, Chad and Tom discuss Polish Reportage, Stanislaw Lem's book covers, ordering books for Riffraff, and a serial killer. This week's music is "Turning" by Beaches. One other note: The next season of the Two Month Revie...
2MR: Selected Stories (pgs. 1-50)
Three Percent Podcast - November 02, 2017 13:30 - 49 minutes ★★★★★ - 83 ratingsThis week, Chad and Brian dive into the first six stories in Mercè Rodoreda's Selected Stories and call up Quim Monzó, arguably the most important contemporary Catalan author, to talk about the precision and emotionality in her work. They also talk about Catalan literature as a whole, A Thousand...
2MR: Reunited! (Intro to Mercè Rodoreda)
Three Percent Podcast - October 26, 2017 13:30 - 20 minutes ★★★★★ - 83 ratingsBrian Wood is BACK. Complete with a poem he wrote in his time away from the Two Month Review . . . In the introduction to season three, Chad and Brian talk about Catalan literature (briefly), Mercè Rodoreda's career and comps, possible approaches to discussing Rodoreda's stories, and more. As no...
#134: The Books We Read and Why We Read Them
Three Percent Podcast - October 17, 2017 18:14 - 59 minutes ★★★★★ - 83 ratingsAfter an impassioned pitch for why you should support Open Letter's annual campaign, Chad and Tom talk about ALTA, about how best to promote international literature to common readers, about the moral argument for reading translations, about Tim Parks and Han Kang's Human Acts, and about how bas...
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