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Books of Some Substance

Books of Some Substance

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Books of Some Substance is a arts podcast hosted by David Southard and Nathan Sharp. It has 116 episodes, with the latest published February 2026.

The unofficial podcast of literary misfits everywhere who want to engage with books of "substance" (i.e. serious, respected, heavy, philosophical, classic), or at least considered such.

arts ·en ·116 episodes

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Title
1

114 - The Obscene Bird of Night by José Donoso

2

113 - The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky (2 of 2)

3

112 - The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky (1 of 2)

4

111 - Light Years by James Salter

5

110 - One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

6

Season 3 Books Announcement

7

108 - Control, Revisited: Six Novels of Power, Freedom, and Surrender

8

107 - Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller

9

106 - The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles

10

105 - Malina by Ingeborg Bachmann

11

104 - Waiting for the Barbarians by J.M. Coetzee

12

103 - Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon (2/2)

13

102 - Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon (1/2)

14

101: The Hour of the Star by Clarice Lispector

15

Season 2 Books Announcement

16

100 - End of an Era

17

Special Announcement

18

99 - László Krasznahorkai's Baron Wenckheim's Homecoming (Guest: Derek Maine)

19

98 - Jon Fosse's Melancholy I-II

20

97 - Franza Kafka's Diaries (Guest: Ross Benjamin)

21

96 - Marcel Proust's Time Regained (In Search of Lost Time #6)

22

95 - Henri Lefebvre's The Missing Pieces (Guest: Tom Comitta)

23

94 - Anton Chekhov's Difficult People (Guest: Bob Blaisdell)

24

93 - Marcel Proust's The Captive & The Fugitive (In Search of Lost Time #5)

25

92 - Han Kang's The Vegetarian

26

91 - Marcel Proust's Sodom and Gomorrah (In Search of Lost Time #4)

27

90 - Thomas Pynchon's The Crying of Lot 49 (Guest: Seth of WASTE Mailing List)

28

89 - Marcel Proust's The Guermantes Way (In Search of Lost Time #3)

29

88 - Alexander Theroux's Fables (Guest: George Salis)

30

87 - Shirley Jackson's We Have Always Lived in the Castle

31

86 - Marcel Proust's Within a Budding Grove (In Search of Lost Time #2)

32

85 - Franz Kafka's Short Stories (The Judgment, A Country Doctor, In the Penal Colony)

33

84 - Marcel Proust's Swann's Way (In Search of Lost Time #1)

34

83 - Bohumil Hrabal's Closely Watched Trains

35

82 - Jorge Luis Borges' The Garden of Forking Paths

36

81 - Renata Adler's Speedboat

37

80 - W.G. Sebald's The Emigrants

38

79 - George Saunders' Tenth of December (Guest: Taylor Vick of Boy Scouts)

39

78 - W.G. Sebald's The Rings of Saturn

40

77 - Anthony Powell's A Dance to the Music of Time (Guest: Aatif Rashid)

41

76 - Hermann Hesse's Siddartha

42

75 - Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace: Volume 4

43

74 - Santiago Gamboa's Necropolis (Guest: Mark Haber)

44

73 - Ben Lerner's Leaving the Atocha Station (Guest: Ned Russin of Title Fight and Glitterer)

45

72 - Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace: Volume 3

46

71 - Hafiz's The Gift (Guest: Valerie June)

47

70 - Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace: Volume 2

48

69 - Cormac McCarthy's Suttree (Guest: Jesse Cash of ERRA)

49

68 - Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace: Volume 1

50

67 - Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses (Guest: George Salis)

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