The Mookse and the Gripes Podcast Trevor Berrett

How do you fill the yawning chasm that arises after you finish a great book or a long group read? Is it a time of excitement and possibility, or a daunting and overwhelming trial? Fresh off of finishing several doorstops ourselves, we discuss how we approach what we want to read next.
Summer Book Club
The Mookse and the Gripes Summer Book Club 2024 is coming up fast! This year we are only choosing from William Trevor novels. After losing for the last two years, he will not lose again! But what will the book be? As in the past, we will be holding a vote over on Twitter / X! Watch my account on May 21!
The Books:
* The Children of Dynmouth (1976)
* Fools of Fortune (1983)
* Felicia’s Journey (1994)
* The Story of Lucy Gault (2002)
Dates:
* Voting starts May 21 and runs through the early hours of May 25 for us in the mountain time zone.
* We will announce the winner in the next episode!
* The episode discussing the winner will be Episode 86, coming out on August 8.
Shownotes
Books
* The Peregrine, by J.L. Carr
* Flights, by Olga Tokarczuk, translated by Jennifer Croft
* A Little Life, by Hanya Yanagihara
* Lonesome Dove, by Larry McMurtry
* Butcher’s Crossing, by John Williams
* Miss MacIntosh, My Darling, by Marguerite Young
* Ulysses, by James Joyce
* The Ambassadors, by Henry James
* Tone, by Sofia Samatar and Kate Zambreno
* The Rings of Saturn, by W.G. Sebald, translated by Michael Hulse
* Austerlitz, by W.G. Sebald
* The Anatomy of Melancholy, by Robert Burton
* Urne Burial, by Robert Burton
* Reinhardt’s Garden, by Mark Haber
* The Mill on the Floss, by George Eliot
* Silas Marner, by George Eliot
* The Eustace Diamonds, by Anthony Trollope
* O Pioneers!, by Willa Cather
* War and Peace, by Leo Tolstoy, translated by Anthony Briggs
* Black Lamb and Grey Falcon: A Journey Through Yugoslavia, by Rebecca West
* Grand Hotel, by Vicki Baum, translated by Basil Creighton with revisions by Margot Bettauer Dembo
* The Brothers Karamazov, by Fyodor Dostoevsky, translated by Michael R. Katz
* It Lasts Forever and Then It’s Over, by Anne De Marcken
* The Peasants, by Władysław Reymont, translated by Anna Zaranko
* Parade’s End, by Ford Madox Ford
* Collected Fictions, Jorge Luis Borges, translated by Andrew Hurley
* The Hour of the Star, by Clarice Lispector, translated by Benjamin Moser
* The Complete Stories, by Clarice Lispector, translated by Katrina Dodson
* Too Much of Life, by Clarice Lispector, translated by Margaret Jull Costa and Robin Patterson
* The Murderer, by Roy Heath
* The Oppermans, by Lion Feuchtwanger, translated by James Cleugh with revisions by Joshua Cohen
* Green Equinox, by Elizabeth Mavor
* Twice Lost, by Phyllis Paul
* Betrayed by Rita Hayworth, by Manuel Puig, translated by Susan Jill Levine
* Elena Knows, by Claudio Piñeiro, translated by Frances Riddle
* A Little Luck, by Claudio Piñeiro, translated by Frances Riddle
* Lies and Sorcery, by Elsa Morante, translated by Jenny McPhee
* A Dance to the Music of Time, by Anthony Powell
* Anniversaries, by Uwe Johnson, translated by Damion Searls
* The Extinction of Irene Rey, by Jennifer Croft
* The House on the Strand, by Daphne Du Maurier
Links
* Miss MacIntosh, My Darling Substack
* Jonathan Golding and Mark Haber on Instagram Live
The Mookse and the Gripes Podcast is a book chat podcast. Every other week Paul and Trevor get together to talk about some bookish topic or another. We hope you’ll continue to join us!
Many thanks to those who helped make this possible! If you’d like to donate as well, you can do so on Substack or on our Patreon page. These subscribers get periodic bonus episode and early access to all episodes! Every supporter has their own feed that he or she can use in their podcast app of choice to download our episodes a few days early. Please go check it out!


This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mookse.substack.com/subscribe

So many great books have been published only to go out of print, for whatever reason. But they still have things to say to contemporary readers. Thankfully, there are several publishers whose work focuses on bringing these books back to us grateful readers. In this episode, we are are joined by Jacqui, who blogs at JacquiWine’s Journal, to discuss some of our favorite publishers who help us all rediscover gems. What are some of your favorite publishers and the gems they helped you rediscover?
Shownotes
Books
* And Then There Were None, by Agatha Christie
* In the Distance, by Hernan Diaz
* Nothing to See Here, by Kevin Wilson
* Anne of Green Gables, by Lucy Maude Montgomery
* The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood
* Things We Lost in the Fire, by Mariana Enriquez, translated by Megan McDowell
* Our Share of Night, by Mariana Enriquez, translated by Megan McDowell
* Black Lamb and Grey Falcon: A Journey Through Yugoslavia, by Rebecca West
* Lesser Ruins, by Mark Haber
* A Strange and Sublime Address, by Amit Chaudhuri
* Friend of My Youth, by Amit Chaudhuri
* Sojourn, by Amit Chaudhuri
* Calcutta, by Amit Chaudhuri
* The Immortals, by Amit Chaudhuri
* A New World, by Amit Chaudhuri
* Odysseus Abroad, by Amit Chaudhuri
* Stoner, by John Williams
* The Bloater, by Rosemary Tonks
* Miss MacIntosh, My Darling, by Marguerite Young
* Mrs. Caliban, by Rachel Ingalls
* The Mountain Lion, by Jean Stafford
* Hackenfeller’s Ape, by Brigid Brophy
* Summer in Baden-Baden, by Leonid Tsypkin, translated by Roger Keys and Angela Keys
* Neighbors and Other Stories, by Diane Oliver
* January, by Sara Gallardo, translated by Frances Riddle and Maureen Shaughnessy
* The Feast, by Margaret Kennedy
* Troy Chimneys, by Margaret Kennedy
* Rhine Journey, by Ann Schlee
* The Stepdaughter, by Caroline Blackwood
* I Am Alien to Live: Selected Stories, by Djuna Barnes
* Constant Reader, by Dorothy Parker
* The Glass Pearls, by Emeric Pressburger
* Eline Vere, by Louis Couperus, translated by Ina Rilke
* The Girls, by John Bowen
Links
* JacquiWine’s Journal
* Episode 37: Hotel Novels
* 1001 Novels: A Library of America
* Episode 74: Canadian Literature
* Bonus Episode: April 2024
* Episode 73: Hidden Gems
* Faber Editions
* Archipelago Books
* McNally Editions
The Mookse and the Gripes Podcast is a book chat podcast. Every other week Paul and Trevor get together to talk about some bookish topic or another. We hope you’ll continue to join us!
Many thanks to those who helped make this possible! If you’d like to donate as well, you can do so on Substack or on our Patreon page. These subscribers get periodic bonus episode and early access to all episodes! Every supporter has their own feed that he or she can use in their podcast app of choice to download our episodes a few days early. Please go check it out!


This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mookse.substack.com/subscribe

The idea of the Great American Novel is controversial, passé, hubristic, and . . . always fascinating to talk about. This week, inspired by a recent list of potential candidates for the Great American Novel published in The Atlantic, we dive in and talk about the concept, the history, the list, and our votes for other contenders. What book(s) would get your vote?
Shownotes
Books
* The MANIAC, by Benjamin Labatut
* Lesser Ruins, by Mark Haber
* Border: A Journey to the Edge of Europe, by Kapka Kassabova
* Elixir: In the Valley at the End of Time, by Kapka Kassabova
* To the River: A Balkan Journey of War and Peace, by Kapka Kassabova
* Anima: A Wild Pastoral, by Kapka Kassabova
* Dante: The Inferno, translated by Robert Hollander and Jean Hollander
* Phineas Finn, by Anthony Trollope
* The Eustace Diamonds, by Anthony Trollope
* Phineas Reduce, by Anthony Trollope
* Mortal Leap, by MacDonald Harris
* Moby-Dick, by Herman Melville
* Uncle Tom’s Cabin, by Harriet Beecher Stowe
* James, by Percival Everett
* The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain
* Augustus, by John Williams
* Butcher’s Crossing, by John Williams
* Absalom, Absalom!, by William Faulkner
* Passing, by Nella Larsen
* The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
* So We Read On: How The Great Gatsby Came to Be and Why It Endures, by Maureen Corrigan
* The Making of Americans, by Gertrude Stein
* An American Tragedy, by Theodore Dreiser
* Light in August, by William Faulkner
* The Sound and the Fury, by William Faulkner
* Nightwood, by Djuna Barnes
* I Am Alien to Life: Selected Stories, by Djuna Barnes
* Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston
* The Big Sleep, by Raymond Chandler
* Ask the Dust, by John Fante
* Wait Until Spring, Bandini, by John Fante
* U.S.A., by John Dos Passos
* The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck
* In a Lonely Place, by Dorothy B. Hughes
* All the King’s Men, by Robert Penn Warren
* The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, by Carson McCullers
* The Street, by Ann Petry
* The Mountain Lion, by Jean Stafford
* A Time to Be Born, by Dawn Powell
* The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger
* Fahrenheit 451, by Raymond Bradbury
* Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison
* Charlotte’s Web, by E.B. White
* The Adventures of Augie March, by Saul Bellow
* Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov
* The Bookshop, by Penelope Fitzgerald
* Giovanni’s Room, by James Baldwin
* The Haunting of Hill House, by Shirley Jackson
* No-No Boy, by John Okada
* Peyton Place, by Grace Metalious
* Pale Fire, by Vladimir Nabokov
* Another Country, by James Baldwin
* Catch-22, by Joseph Heller
* One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, by Ken Kesey
* A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeleine L’Engle
* The Zebra-Striped Hearse, by Ross MacDonald
* The Group, by Mary McCarthy
* The Bell Jar, by Sylvia Plath
* The Crying of Lot 49, by Thomas Pynchon
* A Sport and a Pastime, by James Salter
* Couples, by John Updike
* Portnoy’s Complaint, by Philip Roth
* Sabbath’s Theater, by Philip Roth
* American Pastoral, by Philip Roth
* The Human Stain, by Philip Roth
* The Great American Novel, by Philip Roth
* Divorcing, by Susan Taubes
* Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut
* Play It As It Lays, by Joan Didion
* Sula, by Toni Morrison
* Song of Solomon, by Toni Morrison
* Beloved, by Toni Morrison
* Are You There God, It’s Me, Margaret, by Judy Blume
* Desperate Characters, by Paula Fox
* Log of the S.S. Mrs Unguentine, by Stanley Crawford
* The Revolt of the Cockroach People, by Oscar Zeta Acosta
* Oreo, by Fran Ross
* The Dispossessed, by Ursula K. Le Guin
* Winter in the Blood, by James Welch
* Corregidora, by Gayl Jones
* Speedboat, by Renata Adler
* Dancer from the Dance, by Andrew Hollerman
* The Stand, by Stephen King
* Ceremony, by Leslie Marmon Silko
* Housekeeping, by Marilynne Robinson
* Machine Dreams, by Jayne Anne Phillips
* Lark & Termite, by Jayne Anne Phillips
* Shelter, by Jayne Anne Phillips
* Little, Big: Or, the Fairies’ Parliament, by John Crowley
* Blood Meridian, by

How do we love poetry? Let us count the ways. This week, we’re joined by Anthony Garrett to kick off National Poetry Month with a wonderful conversation about our favorite poems and poets, how and when we read poetry, and a discussion about how to approach this sometimes intimidating part of the literary landscape. Does poetry play a part in your reading life?
We also announce the winners of our latest giveaway, so please join us!
Shownotes
Books
* Averno, by Louise Glück
* The Obscene Bird of Night, by José Donoso, translated by Megan McDowell, Hardie St. Martin, and Leonard Mades
* A Naked Singularity, by Sergio De La Pava
* Border: A Journey to the Edge of Europe, by Kapka Kassabova
* To the Lake: A Balkan Journey of War and Peace, by Kapka Kassabova
* Black Lamb and Grey Falcon, by Rebecca West
* War and Peace, by Leo Tolstoy, translated by Anthony Briggs
* The Fisherman, by John Langan
* Moby-Dick, by Herman Melville
* Song of Solomon, by Toni Morrison
* The Savage Detectives, by Roberto Bolaño, translated by Natasha Wimmer
* Rock Crystal, by Adalbert Stifter, translated by Elizabeth Mayer and Marianne Moore
* The End, by Attila Bartis, translated by Judith Sollosy
* Divorcing, by Susan Taubes
* Notes of a Crocodile, by Qin Miaogin, translated by Bonnie Huie
* “The Waste Land,” by T.S. Eliot
* “Today,” by Billy Collins
* Poems 1962 - 2012, by Louise Glück
* Different Hours, by Stephen Dunn
* Picnic, Lightning, by Billy Collins
* Half-light: Collected Poems 1965 - 2016, by Frank Bidart
* Gabriel: A Poem, by Edward Hirsch
* The Living Fire: New and Selected Poems, by Edward Hirsch
* “When Death Comes,” by Mary Oliver
* “As One Listens to the Rain,” by Octavio Paz
* “The Raven,” by Edgar Allan Poe
* “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” by T.S. Eliot
* Duino Elegies, by Rainer Maria Rilke
* Winter Morning Walks: 100 Postcards to Jim Harrison, by Ted Kooser
* Braided Creek: A Conversation in Poetry, by Ted Kooser and Jim Harrison
* “Bullet Points,” by Jericho Brown
* Red Comet: The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath, by Heather Clark
* “Tulips,” by Sylvia Plath
* Postcolonial Love Poem, by Natalie Diaz
* When My Brother Was an Aztec, by Natalie Diaz
* The Wild Iris, by Louise Glück
* Winter Recipes from the Collective, by Louise Glück
*
Links
* Anthony’s Socials
* X
* Instagram
* Atmospheric Quarterly
* Episode 1: Bucket List Books, in which Trevor kicks War and Peace off his bucket list
* Leaf by Leaf: Chris Via on War and Peace
* Episode 15: Emily Dickinson
* One Bright Book: Episode 23: The Wild Iris, by Louise Glück
* Backlisted: Episode 208: All My Pretty Ones, by Anne Sexton
* The New Yorker Poetry Podcast
* Poetry Unbound Podcast
* The Slow Down Podcast
* The Great American Novel from The Atlantic
* Lonesome Reader on The Great American Novel
The Mookse and the Gripes Podcast is a book chat podcast. Every other week Paul and Trevor get together to talk about some bookish topic or another. We hope you’ll continue to join us!
Many thanks to those who helped make this possible! If you’d like to donate as well, you can do so on Substack or on our Patreon page. These subscribers get periodic bonus episode and early access to all episodes! Every supporter has their own feed that he or she can use in their podcast app of choice to download our episodes a few days early. Please go check it out!


This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mookse.substack.com/subscribe

This week we discuss the idea of being a completist in our reading. We discuss the authors whose works we’ve finished completely, as well as those we’re working on (or hoping to…). Do you savor your favorite authors’ works slowly or gobble them all down? Have you read the entire catalog of any authors?
We also have a special giveaway, so please join us!
Giveaway!
This week we have four books to give away! And we want to choose four winners! Do any of these books call to you? Please enter to win one of them!
* Rock Crystal, by Adalbert Stifter, translated by Elizabeth Mayer and Marianne Moore
* Divorcing, by Susan Taubes
* Notes of a Crocodile, by Qiu Miaojin, translated by Bonnie Huie
* The End, by Attila Bartis, translated by Judith Sollosy
To enter, send us an entry by email or DM or however you wish, but please include two things!
First, list the books you are interested in winning in preferential order because we don’t want someone to win a book they already have.
Second, tell us if you’re a completionist or aspiring completionist with any authors.
We will be drawing when we record the morning of March 30, so have entries to us by then!
Shownotes
Books mentioned prior to the Completion Discussion
* Rock Crystal, by About the Podcast
* Divorcing, by Susan Taubes
* Notes of a Crocodile, by Qiu Miaojin, translated by Bonnie Huie
* Last Words from Montmartre, by Qiu Miaojin, translated by Ari Larissa Heinrich
* The End, by Attila Bartis, translated by Judith Sollosy
* 40, by Alan Hancock
* The Savage Detectives, by Roberto Bolaño, translated by
* Black Lamb and Grey Falcon: A Journey Through Yugoslavia, by Rebecca West
* Adam Bede, by George Eliot
* Phineas Finn, by Anthony Trollope
* Lesser Ruins, by Mark Haber
* Reinhardt’s Garden, by Mark Haber
* Saint Sebastian’s Abyss, by Mark Haber
* 2666, by Roberto Bolaño, translated by Natasha Wimmer
The Mookse and the Gripes Podcast is a book chat podcast. Every other week Paul and Trevor get together to talk about some bookish topic or another. We hope you’ll continue to join us!
Many thanks to those who helped make this possible! If you’d like to donate as well, you can do so on Substack or on our Patreon page. These subscribers get periodic bonus episode and early access to all episodes! Every supporter has their own feed that he or she can use in their podcast app of choice to download our episodes a few days early. Please go check it out!


This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mookse.substack.com/subscribe

Although the books of Barbara Comyns have experienced a bit of a renaissance in recent years, she remains woefully under appreciated and read by far too few. This week, we’re joined by Comyns aficionado Nora to discuss this beguiling and fascinating author and to do our best to spread the word about her strange and wonderful books.
Shownotes
Books
* My Death, by Lisa Tuttle
* The Savage Detectives, by Roberto Bolaño, translated by Natasha Wimmer
* Splinters: Another Kind of Love Stores, by Leslie Jamison
* Not Even the Dead, by Juan Goméz Bárcena, translated by Katie Whittemore
* Paradise Reclaimed, by Halldór Laxness, translated by Magnus Magnusson
* The House of Dolls, by Barbara Comyns
* Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont, by Elizabeth Taylor
* Sisters by a River, by Barbara Comyns
* O Caledonia, by Elspeth Barker
* I Capture the Castle, by Dodie Smith
* The Vet’s Daughter, by Barbara Comyns
* Our Spoons Came from Woolworths, by Barbara Comyns
* Barbara Comyns: A Savage Innocence, by Avril Horner
* Who Was Changed and Who Was Dead, by Barbara Comyns
* Out of the Red, Into the Blue, by Barbara Comyns
* The Skin Chairs, by Barbara Comyns
* Birds in Tiny Cages, by Barbara Comyns
* A Touch of Mistletoe, by Barbara Comyns
* The Juniper Tree, by Barbara Comyns
* Mr. Fox, by Barbara Comyns
Other
* Nora’s Instagram
* Nora’s Barbara Comyn’s Instagram Post
* Terry Tempest Williams: “Read Your Way Through Utah” in The New York Times
About the Podcast
The Mookse and the Gripes Podcast is a book chat podcast. Every other week Paul and Trevor get together to talk about some bookish topic or another.
Please join us! You can subscribe at Apple podcasts or go to the feed to import to your favorite podcatcher.
Many thanks to those who helped make this possible! If you’d like to donate as well, you can do so on Substack or on our Patreon page. These subscribers get periodic bonus episode and early access to all episodes! Every supporter has their own feed that he or she can use in their podcast app of choice to download our episodes a few days early. Please go check it out!


This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mookse.substack.com/subscribe