A weekly podcast about books, writing, reading, and raccoons. Hosted by Mike Ingram and Tom McAllister, editors at Barrelhouse Magazine and authors of fiction and creative nonfiction. Winner of a 2015 Philadelphia Geek Award for Best Streaming Media Project. You don't need to read the books to enjoy the show!
Episodes (110)
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Ep 218-Winter of Wayback, 1957
Ep 218-Winter of Wayback, 1957
Published: 5 Mar 2018 Duration: 57:51In 1957, Pulitzer Prize-winning author James Gould Cozzens published the novel By Love Possessed, which took the literary world by storm. Glowing reviews poured in: from Harper's, The New York Times, The New Yorker, and Time Magazine. It wa... Read more →In 1957, Pulitzer Prize-winning author James Gould Cozzens published the novel By Love Possessed, which took the literary world by storm. Glowing reviews poured in: from Harper's, The New York Times, The New Yorker, and Time Magazine. It wa... Read more →
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Ep 217: Winter of Wayback, 1956!
Ep 217: Winter of Wayback, 1956!
Published: 26 Feb 2018 Duration: 01:21:07This week we're continuing our exploration of the 1950s in both literature and popular culture. And you can't talk about the 50s without talking about science fiction. We checked out three stories by Isaac Asimov--including one, "The Last Q... Read more →This week we're continuing our exploration of the 1950s in both literature and popular culture. And you can't talk about the 50s without talking about science fiction. We checked out three stories by Isaac Asimov--including one, "The Last Q... Read more →
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Ep 216: Winter of Wayback, 1955
Ep 216: Winter of Wayback, 1955
Published: 19 Feb 2018 Duration: 01:10:27We're midway through this year's Winter of Wayback: 1950s Edition. For those of you just joining us, we're walking through the decade one year at a time, reading stories and novels as we go, while also learning about other cultural goings-o... Read more →We're midway through this year's Winter of Wayback: 1950s Edition. For those of you just joining us, we're walking through the decade one year at a time, reading stories and novels as we go, while also learning about other cultural goings-o... Read more →
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Ep 215: Winter of Wayback, 1954
Ep 215: Winter of Wayback, 1954
Published: 12 Feb 2018 Duration: 58:44This week on the Winter of Wayback we're visiting 1954, which happens to be the year in which John Updike published his first story, "Friends from Philadelphia," in the New Yorker. He wrote the story just after graduating college and giving... Read more →This week on the Winter of Wayback we're visiting 1954, which happens to be the year in which John Updike published his first story, "Friends from Philadelphia," in the New Yorker. He wrote the story just after graduating college and giving... Read more →
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Ep 214: Winter of Wayback, 1953
Ep 214: Winter of Wayback, 1953
Published: 5 Feb 2018 Duration: 01:15:03It's the third week in our Winter of Wayback season, and we're diving headfirst into 1953. Our reading this week is a story by Margaret St. Claire, a sci fi and fantasy writer who was quite active in the 1950s, and managed to carve out a sp... Read more →It's the third week in our Winter of Wayback season, and we're diving headfirst into 1953. Our reading this week is a story by Margaret St. Claire, a sci fi and fantasy writer who was quite active in the 1950s, and managed to carve out a sp... Read more →
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Ep 213: Winter of Wayback, 1952
Ep 213: Winter of Wayback, 1952
Published: 29 Jan 2018 Duration: 01:07:38We're traveling back to 1952, a year in which panty raids were taking America's college campuses by storm, and when Las Vegas was learning to love the bomb--and use it as a marketing tool to draw tourists to the desert. Plus we talk about a... Read more →We're traveling back to 1952, a year in which panty raids were taking America's college campuses by storm, and when Las Vegas was learning to love the bomb--and use it as a marketing tool to draw tourists to the desert. Plus we talk about a... Read more →
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Ep 212: Winter of Wayback, 1951
Ep 212: Winter of Wayback, 1951
Published: 22 Jan 2018 Duration: 01:09:02It's the second week of our annual Winter of Wayback, and we're diving into 1951! We've got a story from Harris Downey, who isn't a household name these days but was quite the rising literary star in the early 50s. We also talk about severa... Read more →It's the second week of our annual Winter of Wayback, and we're diving into 1951! We've got a story from Harris Downey, who isn't a household name these days but was quite the rising literary star in the early 50s. We also talk about severa... Read more →
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Ep 211: Winter of Wayback, 1950
Ep 211: Winter of Wayback, 1950
Published: 15 Jan 2018 Duration: 01:06:57This week we're kicking off another Winter of Wayback season, but this year with a new wrinkle: instead of visiting randomly selected years each week, we've chosen a decade--the 1950s--and will spend the winter working through it one year a... Read more →This week we're kicking off another Winter of Wayback season, but this year with a new wrinkle: instead of visiting randomly selected years each week, we've chosen a decade--the 1950s--and will spend the winter working through it one year a... Read more →
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Ep 210: Victor LaValle, The Ballad of Black Tom
Ep 210: Victor LaValle, The Ballad of Black Tom
Published: 8 Jan 2018 Duration: 01:15:29This week we welcome special guest Dave K., whose novel—The Bong-Ripping Brides of Count Dragado—you can order from Mason Jar Press. We talked to him about genre, black metal, H.P. Lovecraft, the Human Friendipede, and steampunk. We also ta... Read more →This week we welcome special guest Dave K., whose novel—The Bong-Ripping Brides of Count Dragado—you can order from Mason Jar Press. We talked to him about genre, black metal, H.P. Lovecraft, the Human Friendipede, and steampunk. We also ta... Read more →
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Ep 208: Charles Lamb, "New Year's Eve"
Ep 208: Charles Lamb, "New Year's Eve"
Published: 1 Jan 2018 Duration: 55:35Happy New Year's, Book Fight family! This week we're ringing in 2018 with a Charles Lamb essay, though as usual we spend most of the episode talking about other stuff: that "Cat Person" story in The New Yorker that was all the rage for a wh... Read more →Happy New Year's, Book Fight family! This week we're ringing in 2018 with a Charles Lamb essay, though as usual we spend most of the episode talking about other stuff: that "Cat Person" story in The New Yorker that was all the rage for a wh... Read more →
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Ep 208-2018 Christmas Spectacular
Ep 208-2018 Christmas Spectacular
Published: 18 Dec 2017 Duration: 01:15:29It's that time of year again, Book Fight family: time to throw a couple logs on the fire, pour yourself some eggnog, and listen to us make our way through another terrible Christmas-themed book. This time it's from the Thomas Kinkade collec... Read more →It's that time of year again, Book Fight family: time to throw a couple logs on the fire, pour yourself some eggnog, and listen to us make our way through another terrible Christmas-themed book. This time it's from the Thomas Kinkade collec... Read more →
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Ep 207: John Cheever, "Christmas is a Sad Season for the Poor"
Ep 207: John Cheever, "Christmas is a Sad Season for the Poor"
Published: 11 Dec 2017 Duration: 01:00:58Hey, here's another holiday-themed episode. We discuss a John Cheever story, "Christmas is a Sad Season for the Poor." You can read it online, via The New Yorker, if you're into that kind of thing. Or just listen to us yammer for an hour. ... Read more →Hey, here's another holiday-themed episode. We discuss a John Cheever story, "Christmas is a Sad Season for the Poor." You can read it online, via The New Yorker, if you're into that kind of thing. Or just listen to us yammer for an hour. ... Read more →
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Ep 206: Peter Straub, Ghost Story
Ep 206: Peter Straub, Ghost Story
Published: 4 Dec 2017 Duration: 55:13You may be asking yourself how this week's pick is a "holiday book," exactly. Fair question! But one which Mike explains, more or less, in the episode. It's also one of our only forays, thus far, into the horror genre, and we talk a little ... Read more →You may be asking yourself how this week's pick is a "holiday book," exactly. Fair question! But one which Mike explains, more or less, in the episode. It's also one of our only forays, thus far, into the horror genre, and we talk a little ... Read more →
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Ep 205: Mary H K Choi, "Korean Thanksgiving"
Ep 205: Mary H K Choi, "Korean Thanksgiving"
Published: 27 Nov 2017 Duration: 01:02:40This week we're talking about this essay from Aeon, about spending your Thanksgiving in a cemetery with your family members (both living and dead). We talk about our expectations for essays, and whether the amorphousness of the term itself... Read more →This week we're talking about this essay from Aeon, about spending your Thanksgiving in a cemetery with your family members (both living and dead). We talk about our expectations for essays, and whether the amorphousness of the term itself... Read more →
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Ep 204: Ann Beattie, The Women of This World
Ep 204: Ann Beattie, The Women of This World
Published: 20 Nov 2017 Duration: 01:05:07We've decided to dive into some holiday-related stories, essays and books to close out the year. First up is "The Women of This World," a short story by Ann Beattie that was first published in The New Yorker in November 2000. Mike read a lo... Read more →We've decided to dive into some holiday-related stories, essays and books to close out the year. First up is "The Women of This World," a short story by Ann Beattie that was first published in The New Yorker in November 2000. Mike read a lo... Read more →
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Ep 203: Tom Williams, Don't Start Me Talkin'
Ep 203: Tom Williams, Don't Start Me Talkin'
Published: 13 Nov 2017 Duration: 01:02:24This week we're discussing our final novel of the Fall of Frauds, a book about two "authentic" bluesmen who turn out to be not quite what they seem. The music is real enough, but they've adopted the kinds of personas they assume their (most... Read more →This week we're discussing our final novel of the Fall of Frauds, a book about two "authentic" bluesmen who turn out to be not quite what they seem. The music is real enough, but they've adopted the kinds of personas they assume their (most... Read more →
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Ep 202: Live from the Temple Library!
Ep 202: Live from the Temple Library!
Published: 6 Nov 2017 Duration: 58:17This week's episode was recorded live at Temple University's Paley Library. We were joined by local writers Jason Rakulek and p.e. garcia for a discussion of literary community, balancing the work of writing with the need to make a living, ... Read more →This week's episode was recorded live at Temple University's Paley Library. We were joined by local writers Jason Rakulek and p.e. garcia for a discussion of literary community, balancing the work of writing with the need to make a living, ... Read more →
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Ep 201: Fall of Frauds, Jorge Luis Borges
Ep 201: Fall of Frauds, Jorge Luis Borges
Published: 30 Oct 2017 Duration: 59:57This week we're back with another fraud-themed story, this one from an upstart indie author named Jorge Luis Borges. Probably you haven't heard about him. He's pretty obscure. Anyway, early in his career he wrote an entire collection of sto... Read more →This week we're back with another fraud-themed story, this one from an upstart indie author named Jorge Luis Borges. Probably you haven't heard about him. He's pretty obscure. Anyway, early in his career he wrote an entire collection of sto... Read more →
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Ep 200: Martin Suter, The Last Weynfeldt
Ep 200: Martin Suter, The Last Weynfeldt
Published: 23 Oct 2017 Duration: 58:11This week we're back with another fraud-themed novel, this one from best-selling Swiss author Martin Suter. His fourteenth novel, The Last Weynfeldt, is about art forgery, femme fatales, and what it's like to be wildly rich (spoiler alert: ... Read more →This week we're back with another fraud-themed novel, this one from best-selling Swiss author Martin Suter. His fourteenth novel, The Last Weynfeldt, is about art forgery, femme fatales, and what it's like to be wildly rich (spoiler alert: ... Read more →
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Ep 199: Patricia Highsmith, The Talented Mr. Ripley
Ep 199: Patricia Highsmith, The Talented Mr. Ripley
Published: 16 Oct 2017 Duration: 01:00:38This week we continue our Fall of Frauds season by discussing one of the most famous fraud-themed novels out there, Patricia Highsmith's The Talented Mr. Ripley. If you haven't read the book, don't worry, we're not spoiling any late-in-the-... Read more →This week we continue our Fall of Frauds season by discussing one of the most famous fraud-themed novels out there, Patricia Highsmith's The Talented Mr. Ripley. If you haven't read the book, don't worry, we're not spoiling any late-in-the-... Read more →
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