This week @bibliopaul.bsky.social and I focus in on the work of Kazuo Ishiguro! These author focus episodes are always a lot of fun to record, and we hope you enjoy it! Please let us know your thoughts on Ishiguro’s work! mookse.substack.com/p/episode-11...

"When I was 14, my best friend convinced me he could move things with his mind. Also, that he was possessed by the devil." From "Astonishment, A Requiem," an essay by Eric Puchner at the Sewanee Review. thesewaneereview.com/articles/ast...

Over the summer, @nyrb-imprints.bsky.social released a fabulous translation of a fabulous novel by the fabulous Benito Pérez Galdós, MIAOW is the subject of out latest episode. Check it out! onebrightbook.com/2025/09/07/e...

This week @mookse.bsky.social and I are joined by translator @maxlawton.bsky.social to celebrate the release of Michael Lenz’s Schattenfroh from @deepvellum.bsky.social. But rather than focus only on this one book, we open the conversation to a wider theme: the joy of reading books that resist.

Listening now. For at least a few more minutes. Class beckons. But can’t resist. I am fascinated by Schattenfroh. Read it once, for fun as they say here. But I need to move back in and live for a while.

This week @bibliopaul.bsky.social and I are joined by translator Max Lawton to celebrate the release of Michael Lenz’s Schattenfroh from @deepvellum.bsky.social. We also open the conversation to a wider theme: the joy of reading books that resist. mookse.substack.com/p/episode-11...

August is Women in Translation Month! I loved reading the 3 titles pictured here over the last year; each is a 5 star read. Eastbound - Maylis de Kerangal- from French The Postcard- Anne Berest- From French Mina’s Matchbox- Yoko Ogawa- from Japanese @mookse.bsky.social @vmspod.bsky.social

This is such an enjoyable discussion, full of great recommendations of literary gems! Very much endorsing John’s choice of William Trevor’s short stories as an essential component of any library, maybe with Elizabeth Taylor’s Complete Short Stories, too. #BookSky 💙📚

I had the opportunity of previewing Michael Lentz’s Schattenfroh (tr. by Max Lawton) in an eArc, but I did not expect the physical book to be this massive! As part of what I hope to be a long relationship with this book, I’m excited to transfer my notes! @deepvellum.bsky.social this is amazing!

This week, @mookse.bsky.social and I tackle the fun—and stressful—task of creating starter libraries. We’re joined by @johnwilliams.bsky.social to each pick 10 books that someone can use as a starter library. We compare approaches, confess struggles, and take our best shots! Which would you pick?

The smart hosts and big readers @mookse.bsky.social and @bibliopaul.bsky.social were kind enough to have me on their podcast to discuss my subject of choice: starter libraries. What does that mean? I thought I knew until I started completing the task...

What does it take to build the perfect first shelf? This week e’re joined by @johnwilliams.bsky.social, to discuss how to choose ten books that someone can use as a starter library, offering comfort, surprise, and a little stretch along the way. mookse.substack.com/p/episode-11...

My wife has been trying to get me to read Nancy Mitford’s The Pursuit of Love for years. It finally happened, and I loved this bittersweet novel. mookseandgripes.com/reviews/2025...

l finished Daniel Deronda—and with it, my journey through all of George Eliot's novels. Since January 2024, I've been reading them chronologically. Each book has felt like stepping into a world at once brimming with intellect and alive with feeling. An appreciation: www.instagram.com/p/DNjvL8QAH5...

🕊️ NYRB Classics is bringing Barbara Pym’s The Sweet Dove Died back into print on September 16, and I couldn’t be happier. Pym finally joins the NYRB Classics list! Here’s hoping this is just the start of more Pym to come. @nyrb-imprints.bsky.social

Taubes described LAMENT FOR JULIA as “about the bafflement of an angel or merely an exalted consciousness, incarnated in a woman.” Its working title was REMEMBERING WRONG & its narrator is a “celestial spark of sorts.” (intro) #NYRBWomen25 I’m excited to return to Taubes’ writing.

Just finished Sodom and Gomorrah! Onward to The Captive and The Fugitive (Volumes 5 & 6 of In Search of Lost Time). These titles—and our narrator’s outlook on love—have me a little nervous…

Just finished Sodom and Gomorrah! Onward to The Captive and The Fugitive (Volumes 5 & 6 of In Search of Lost Time). These titles—and our narrator’s outlook on love—have me a little nervous…

A modest starter pack of @backlisted.bsky.social episodes for those unfamiliar and interested. I'll self-deal to start, with me rambling about William James: www.backlisted.fm/episodes/117...

Just got the gorgeous NYRB Classics centenary edition of Mrs. Dalloway, edited by Edward Mendelson! First-edition text with Woolf’s own revisions, and a cover that nods to the original Hogarth Press design. Centennial editions of To the Lighthouse and The Waves are on the way…in a few years.

Our new episode is up! This time @bibliopaul.bsky.social and I discuss Women in Translation month and list the books we plan to read to celebrate! mookse.substack.com/p/episode-11...

@mookse.bsky.social and I are back for a favorite time of year: Women in Translation Month! Each August, readers celebrate books written by women and translated into English, highlighting voices that too often go unheard. We each pick 5 titles we’re planning to read this month. How about you?

Yes indeed, I'm so excited to get our podcast out of hiatus and back into live production! Might have to freshen up some of the old episodes to get them back in circulation but eager to resume our conversation about this fantastic series!

It looks like @peutetre.bsky.social and I are back in business! Long the last Eclipse Viewer episode was back in 2017, but I still feel fresh and excited! www.criterion.com/current/post...

#NYRBWomen25 Here are the page guides for our next two books! TALK begins this Friday, August 1, and LAMENT FOR JULIA begins on August 15.

Needless to say, I am INCREDIBLY excited about this! Come celebrate one of the most beautifully devastating books ever with Jhumpa Lahiri – yes, that Jhumpa Lahiri – and me on Sept 4 in New York: www.eventbrite.com/e/in-farthes... @pushkinpress.com

Brigid Brophy, The Snow Ball.

For the first time ever, @mookse and I met in person! Join us as we take the show on the road—through bookstores, libraries, and an unforgettable day of literary wandering. We apologize for the audio, but hope you enjoy this day out with us. open.substack.com/pub/mookse/p...

What an amazing book this is

We have a new episode up! The audio quality might be lacking but the bookish friendship vibes shine through! For the first time @bibliopaul.bsky.social and I met in person, and we recorded an episode along the way. Come join us! mookse.substack.com/p/episode-11...

D.M. Black won the 2022 National Translation Award for Poetry for his translation of Purgatorio. Coming soon from @nyrb-imprints.bsky.social is his new translation of Paradiso. I loved his work for Purgatorio, so I’m very excited to dive into Paradiso!

Such a great episode from @mookse.bsky.social and @bibliopaul.bsky.social on favourite last lines in novels. I was reminded of books I have loved and as always picked up some great new suggestions. Everything you want from a books podcast! #BookSky 📚💙

Had a ton of fun finally meeting my buddy @mookse.bsky.social in person last week while in Utah for a work trip. As you might have guessed, we hit a few bookstores and had a blast - including spending time with one of Jane Austen’s candlesticks! You can tag along during our upcoming episode!

A little trailer for the new US edition of Dorothy Richardson's Pilgrimage, available now at asterismbooks.com/product/pilg...

It was after midnight last night when I thought I’d just read the first page of Chilco. Just a peek, I said. Just the first page. About an hour later, I finally forced myself to put it down. I’m loving it. Chilco, by Daniela Catrileo, tr Jacob Edelstein. Out from @charcopress.com.

I didn’t know it was so long, but I’ve been so excited to get and read Manuel Mujica Lainez’s Bomarzo, tr. by Gregory Rabassa and coming from @nyrb-imprints.bsky.social. Is anyone else looking to dig in?

For #NYRBWomen25 readers currently in Mavis Gallant’s stories, the latest issue of The New Yorker has Jhumpa Lahiri’s “Jubilee,” which was inspired by Gallant’s “Voices Lost in Snow.” Lahiri discusses Gallant with Deborah Treisman here: www.newyorker.com/magazine/tak....

#NYRBWomen25 !!!

This is such an exciting publication event! Thanks @neglectedbooks.com! I have ordered and can’t wait for them to arrive!

We have a new episode up! In this one @bibliopaul.bsky.social and I take a look at endings. I hope you’ll let us know some of your favorite endings to books, and why they stood out to you! mookse.substack.com/p/episode-11...

Very kind of Kate from the excellent Book Club Review thebookclubreview.substack.com to give my The Book Lover's Joke Book a shout out on the equally excellent The Mookse and the Gripes Podcast @mookse.bsky.social‬ on funny books (she performs one at about 40.30) podfollow.com/the-mookse-a...

By the way, a few years ago @bibliopaul.bsky.social and I discussed Mavis Gallant’s The Ice Wagon Going Down the Street! Do I remember what we said? No! But I’m excited for #NYRBWomen25 giving me an excuse to revisit! open.substack.com/pub/mookse/p...

#NYRBWomen25 Here are the page guides for our next two books! Mavis Gallant starts this Thursday, July 3, and Inès Cagnati starts on July 23.

Three years of NYRBWomen, three great Elizabeth Taylor books! Here are some of my thoughts on her 1957 novel Angel (oh, and happy birthday to her!): mookseandgripes.com/reviews/2025...

Here are some of my thoughts on Ivy Compton-Burnett’s 1935 novel A House and Its Head, a biting, dialogue-driven domestic drama that left me rattled—in the best (and worst) ways. We recently read this for #NYRBWomen25 mookseandgripes.com/reviews/2025...

In this episode, @mookse.bsky.social and I are joined by Kate from The Book Club Review podcast for a discussion about funny books. We explore the kinds of books that make us laugh and why comic novels deserve a place on every bookshelf. Let us know which books have made you laugh the most.

One more: this is excellent from @tonysreadinglist.bsky.social on Invisible Cities, which is in my summer TBR pile. His insights will help me (generally a plot-and-character type reader 🙃 ) appreciate it more. I know @mookse.bsky.social and @bibliopaul.bsky.social are also fans.

#NYRBWomen25 We start ANGEL by Elizabeth Taylor tomorrow! ✨ Here’s the page guide & a New Yorker piece on Taylor you might be interested in. www.newyorker.com/books/page-t...

How fun! Thanks for playing, Kim!!

Catching up on my podcast listening. (And yes, I knew about the Robert Lowell connection.😉) @mookse.bsky.social @bibliopaul.bsky.social mookse.substack.com/p/106-booksh...