Michael & Ethan in a Room with Scotch
by Michael & Ethan in a Room with Scotch
With their expertise in a grand total of 3 advanced degrees in English literature, as well as a lifetime of reading, Michael & Ethan get together every other week to drink Scotch and talk about books, but not about Scotch. You don’t need to listen in order, but just search for a book (story, play, poem, etc.) that interests you and follow along!
Episodes
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Children's October Poems 2026
We are pleased to present a series of autumnal short stories and poems for your listening pleasure! Michael’s kids each read a handful of poems with an autumnal and October theme. Wyatt (7) reads “Autumn,” by Alexander Posey, and “An October Garden,” by Christina Rossetti. Samuel (7 1/2) reads…
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Autumn 2026 - "The Ghosts," by Lord Dunsany, read by Michael Lilienthal
“But you have all read ghost stories before….” We are pleased to present a series of autumnal short stories and poems for your listening pleasure! Michael reads Lord Dunsany’s story, “The Ghosts.” Find a copy of some Dunsany stories here. Read for free here! MUSIC & SFX: Sound Effect by <a...
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Bonus Episode Release: "The Coronation of Mr. Thomas Shap," by Lord Dunsany
More bonus episodes are available to paid subscribers! Upgrade your subscription to get full access. Subscribe now It’s another bonus episode! Ethan & Michael are joined by friend and previous guest on the podcast Jacob Kempfert to discuss the short story “The Coronation of Mr. Thomas Shap,” by...
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Eric, by Terry Pratchett, and Bowmore 12yo - Part 2
Michael, Ethan, and special guest Karen continue to discuss Eric, by Terry Pratchett, while drinking Bowmore 12yo Islay Single Malt.. In this episode: Ethan is always the villain This podcast is made up of 100% “recovering” teachers’ pets Pratchett builds layers into a silly pun K is TWO letters...
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Eric, by Terry Pratchett, and Bowmore 12yo - Part 1
Michael, Ethan, and special guest Karen discuss Eric, by Terry Pratchett, while drinking Bowmore 12yo Islay Single Malt.. In this episode: Michael opens with a reference to a pre-show joke the editor doesn’t remember, AND doesn’t have Michael’s audio for, so Michael is extra bad this time Karen…
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JLA #10, by Gardner Fox, and Captain America #107, by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, and Craigellachie 13
Michael, Ethan, and special guest Josh discuss Justice Leage of America #10, by Gardner Fox, and Captain America #107, by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, while drinking Craigellachie 13yo Speyside Single Malt.. In this episode: Bet you didn’t know we had a full-time Silver Age Comic Books Expert! Bet…
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The Seven Strings of the Lyre, by George Sand, and Craigellachie 13yo - Part 2
Michael and Ethan discuss The Seven Strings of the Lyre, by George Sand (also known as A Woman’s Version of the Faust Legend), while drinking Craigellachie 13yo Speyside Single Malt.. In this episode: Strong start claiming to do a chiasmus but APPARENTLY, ACTUALLY doing an Antimetabole. A lot of...
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The Seven Strings of the Lyre, by George Sand, and Craigellachie 13yo - Part 1
Michael and Ethan discuss The Seven Strings of the Lyre, by George Sand (also known as A Woman’s Version of the Faust Legend), while drinking Craigellachie 13yo Speyside Single Malt.. In this episode: The title of this play is annoying, not George Sand’s fault A lot about fan fiction GK…
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"The Little Mermaid," by Hans Christian Andersen, and Craigellachie 13yo
With special guests Kelsie, Hannah, and Jessica from the Reading Revisited podcast, Michael and Ethan discuss “The Little Mermaid” by Hans Christian Andersen, while drinking Craigellachie 13yo Speyside Single Malt.. In this episode: First and most important: NO SNITCHING There’s no rule that says...
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Faust (film) by F. W. Murnau, and Tamdhu 12yo
Michael and Ethan discuss the 1926 silent film Faust by F. W. Murnau, while drinking Tamdhu 12yo Single Malt. In this episode: Quintessential film bro stuff Everything is political with a small p, but some things are political with a capital P (especially in cinema of the Weimar Republic) Faust…
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Jack Faust, by Michael Swanwick, and Tamdhu 12yo, Part 2
Michael and Ethan discuss Jack Faust, by Michael Swanwick, while drinking Tamdhu 12yo Single Malt.. In this episode: Caliban and the Witch, by Sylvia Federici Jack Faust is Goethe’s Faust and Marlowe’s Faust and a little bit Gounod’s Faust (which is also Goethe’s Faust) Faust goes from a disciple...
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Jack Faust, by Michael Swanwick, and Tamdhu 12yo, Part 1
Michael and Ethan discuss Jack Faust, by Michael Swanwick, while drinking Tamdhu 12yo Single Malt.. In this episode: The End of History and the Last Man (wiki page) A theory of threads and tatters Spoilers for Office Space and Fight Club, I guess Then We Came to the End… of history? Jack Faust…
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Johannes Cabal and the Blustery Day, by Jonathan L Howard, and Tamdhu 12yo
Michael and Ethan discuss the short story “Johannes Cabal and the Blustery Day,” by Jonathan Howard, while drinking Tamdhu 12yo Single Malt.. In this episode: Shout-out to Jamie from the Chanhassen Total Wine Very interesting Bluetooth headphone talk A short story is somewhere between a tweet and…
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Things That Are Also Faust
What makes a Faust story? Michael, Ethan, and special guests Josiah & Jacob discuss this ontological question and all things Faust in this special episode. In this episode: Michael begins confrontationally. Is this episode Faust? Is this podcast Faust? Ethan is NOT in Law School. Is capitalism...
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Opera de Lille's Gounod's Faust and Toki Suntory
Michael, Ethan, and special guest Josiah discuss Gounod’s opera Faust while drinking Suntory Toki Japanese whisky. In this episode: We watched Opera de Lille’s production of Gounod’s Faust This is a two-intermission opera Josiah’s favorite aria How sincere is Faust? (not a Romeo and Juliet...
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The Memory of Whiteness, by Kim Stanley Robinson, and Toki Suntory, Part 2
Michael, Ethan, and special guest Josiah discuss The Memory of Whiteness, by Kim Stanley Robinson while drinking Suntory Toki Japanese whisky. In this episode: The orchestra! Lots of tree stuff, also snake stuff and lizard stuff Curation vs collage vs other art stuff We GOTTA talk about the...
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The Memory of Whiteness, by Kim Stanley Robinson, and Toki Suntory, Part 1
Michael, Ethan, and special guest Josiah discuss The Memory of Whiteness, by Kim Stanley Robinson while drinking Suntory Toki Japanese whisky. In this episode: Accusations of cuckoo-bird-ery Is this book Faust? Is this book Alastor? Is Alastor Faust? Having a stroke, falling into a singularity:...
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The Devil and Daniel Webster, by Stephen Vincent Benet, and Suntory Toki
Michael, Ethan, and special guest Jacob discuss the short story “The Devil and Tom Walker,” by Washington Irving, while drinking Suntory Toki Japanese whisky. In this episode: Is Michael the devil? What gives Benet the right? Pedestrian deals with the devil Faust scoreboard so far: 2 damned, 2...
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The Devil and Tom Walker, by Washington Irving, and Suntory Toki
Michael, Ethan, and special guest Jacob discuss the short story “The Devil and Tom Walker,” by Washington Irving, while drinking Suntory Toki Japanese (gasp!) whisky. In this episode: A not-too-presumptuous new rule The Devil belongs in America American mythology creating arbitrary exclusions and...
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Doctor Faustus, by Thomas Mann, and Jura 10yo, Part 4
Michael and Ethan discuss Doctor Faustus: The Life of the German Composer Adrian Leverkuhn as Told by a Friend, by Thomas Mann, while drinking Jura 10yo single malt. In this episode: We do start off this episode very, very similarly to how we started at least Part 3, if not also Part 2… sorry...
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Doctor Faustus, by Thomas Mann, and Jura 10yo, Part 3
Michael and Ethan discuss Doctor Faustus: The Life of the German Composer Adrian Leverkuhn as Told by a Friend, by Thomas Mann, while drinking Jura 10yo single malt. In this episode: REALLY REALLY REALLY helpful: A Reader’s Guide to Thomas Mann’s Doctor Faustus, by Tobias Boes There are at least...
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Doctor Faustus, by Thomas Mann, and Jura 10yo, Part 2
Michael and Ethan discuss Doctor Faustus: The Life of the German Composer Adrian Leverkuhn as Told by a Friend, by Thomas Mann, while drinking Jura 10yo single malt. In this episode: REALLY REALLY REALLY helpful: A Reader’s Guide to Thomas Mann’s Doctor Faustus, by Tobias Boes Lots of baffling...
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Doctor Faustus, by Thomas Mann, and Jura 10yo, Part 1
Michael and Ethan discuss Doctor Faustus: The Life of the German Composer Adrian Leverkuhn as Told by a Friend, by Thomas Mann, while drinking Jura 10yo single malt. In this episode: All digressions and fallings-apart are intentionally reflective of the novel under discussion and are not us doing…
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Kids Edition
This episode is kid-friendly, and recorded by kids! Wyatt, Samuel, and Isabell share two poems and a short spooky story to bring you some Halloween fun! In this episode: “The Witches’ Song,” from Macbeth by William Shakespeare - read by Wyatt (6) “Jack-o’-Lantern Song,” from The Topaz Story Book:...
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"The Mystery of the Semi-Detached," by Edith Nesbit, read by Sarah Lilienthal
Continuing the release of spooky stories and poems from classic literature, read by the hosts and friends, this episode: The story “The Mystery of the Semi-Detached,” by Edith Nesbit. A young man in love sees the worst thing he could ever imagine - but was it what it seemed? Can he save those who...
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"The Kraken," by Alfred Lord Tennsyon, read by Michael G. Lilienthal
For the month of October, we’ll occasionally release some spooky stories and poems of classic literature, read by the hosts and friends. This episode: The poem “The Kraken,” by Alfred Lord Tennyson. Drawing on imagery of the Leviathan from Scripture and other legends and mysteries, Tennyson draws…
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Faust Parts 1 & 2, by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe, and Balvenie 12yo, Part 2
Michael and Ethan discuss Faust, by Goethe, both part 1 and 2, while drinking Balvenie Doublewood 12yo single malt. In this episode: Dynamic in a pastoral way Baffling talk of forms, mothers, material, and reality (and keys?) The Apocalypse has been happening since 1789 This is roughly what Ethan...
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Faust Parts 1 & 2, by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe, and Balvenie 12yo, Part 1
Michael and Ethan discuss Faust, by Goethe, both part 1 and 2, while drinking Balvenie Doublewood 12yo single malt. In this episode: Self-flagellation Translation Abridgement Bets vs bargains Lost in the weeds vs taking the scenic route Striving vs Gretchen This podcast (Michael) casually speaks...
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Doctor Faustus, by Christopher Marlowe, and Balvenie 12yo and Oban and Lagavulin 11, Part 2
Michael and Ethan, along with special guests Maren Boucher and Benji Inniger, discuss The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus, by Christopher Marlowe. Michael and Ethan are drinking Balvenie Doublewood 12yo single malt; Benji is drinking Oban Little Bay; Maren is drinking...
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Doctor Faustus, by Christopher Marlowe, and Balvenie 12yo and Oban and Lagavulin 11, Part 1
Michael and Ethan, along with special guests Maren Boucher and Benji Inniger discuss The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus, by Christopher Marlowe. Michael and Ethan are drinking Balvenie Doublewood 12yo single malt; Benji is drinking Oban Little Bay; Maren is drinking...
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James, by Percival Everett and Glenfiddich 12, Part 2
Michael and Ethan discuss James, by Percival Everett, while drinking Glenfiddich 12. In this episode: Discourse on decade-old BBC show “Rev” Duels/debates (aka, Nat tease) If we didn’t already know, which we did, now we would know The Cross and the Lynching Tree, by James H. Cone James as...
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James, by Percival Everett and Glenfiddich 12, Part 1
Michael and Ethan discuss James, by Percival Everett, while drinking Glenfiddich 12. In this episode: Yanking the timeline 30 years into the future It’s really hard to make a book James’ style is either noirish, or journalistic, or both We do give away the one real spoiler in the book...
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Way Station, by Clifford Simak, and Glenlivet 12, Part 2
Michael, Ethan, and special guest Jacob discuss Way Station, by Clifford D. Simak, while drinking Glenlivet 12. In this episode: It’s nice to be at the point in civilization where we know how all the letters should sound First pages, first paragraphs, first lines: seems like a trap for Ethan Pay...
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Way Station, by Clifford Simak, and Glenlivet 12, Part 1
Michael, Ethan, and special guest Jacob discuss Way Station, by Clifford D. Simak, while drinking Glenlivet 12. In this episode: The witness is treated as hostile Finding the Hodag where the Way Station is in the Driftless region The dispelling of illusions The CIA defeated by a conversation…
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Half Pint with Pints with Jack
We made some new friends with the Pints with Jack podcast! Listen in to our interview on their Half-pint special!
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Rivermouth, by Alejandra Oliva, and Smokehead Twisted, Part 2
Michael and Ethan finish their discussion of Rivermouth, by Alejandra Oliva, while drinking Smokehead Twisted. In this episode: Language, Migration, Faith, Treachery, Faith, and the Great River: a Star Trek analogy that only Michael caused to happen English as a “grabby” language Lots of talk…
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Rivermouth, by Alejandra Oliva, and Smokehead Twisted, Part 1
Michael and Ethan discuss Rivermouth, by Alejandra Oliva, while drinking Smokehead Twisted. In this episode: Interrogating Michael, linguistically and in other ways The Michael’s Translation Soapbox Podcast: a temptation Blindly table-setting Book baggage Crowds as statistics vs crowds as groups…
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The Last Murder at the End of the World, by Stuart Turton, and Smokehead Twisted, Part 2
Michael and Ethan and special guest Nick conclude their discussion of Stuart Turton’s third novel, The Last Murder at the End of the World. In this episode: The ten commandments of detective fiction Topics in Turtonology Schrodinger’s locked room mystery If you bend any genre too far, horror…
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The Last Murder at the End of the World, by Stuart Turton, and Smokehead Twisted, Part 1
Michael and Ethan and special guest Nick begin their discussion of Stuart Turton’s third novel, The Last Murder at the End of the World. In this episode: Thanks to Jared The ten commandments of detective fiction Murder plots versus murder mysteries But like, what even is human, anyway, right? And...
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Nobber, by Oisin Fagan, and various Irish whiskeys, part 2
Michael and Ethan continue discussing Nobber, by Oisin Fagan, while drinking The Midnight Silkie (Michael) and Red Locks (Ethan) Irish whiskeys. In this episode: Michael forgets, for the second time in four episodes, to call for Karen to read the rules. Rude. Good thing Karen just came in and...
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Nobber, by Oisin Fagan, and various Irish whiskeys, part 1
Michael and Ethan begin their discussion of Nobber, by Oisin Fagan, while drinking The Midnight Silkie (Michael) and Red Locks (Ethan) Irish whiskeys. In this episode: The question and the answer is “WTF?” Bafflement loves company Nihilism (question mark?) Plague books Michael says…
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Glorious Exploits, by Ferdia Lennon, and various Irish whiskeys, part 2
Michael and Ethan continue discussing Glorious Exploits, by Ferdia Lennon, while drinking The Midnight Silkie (Michael) and Red Locks (Ethan) Irish whiskeys. In this episode: Jokes (get better the more you tell them) Spoilers for Downton Abbey series 3 (2012) If you haven’t watched every example…
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Glorious Exploits, by Ferdia Lennon, and various Irish whiskeys, part 1
Michael and Ethan begin discussing Glorious Exploits, by Ferdia Lennon, while drinking The Midnight Silkie (Michael) and Red Locks (Ethan) Irish whiskeys. In this episode: Don’t worry about why Karen reading the rules happens so suddenly This book is The Producers, the Great Escape, AND the Gift…
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Persuasion, Part 4, and Laphroaig Select (Michael and Ethan ALONE)
Michael and Ethan, finally alone, finish the discussion of their Mondo Book for the year: Persuasion, by Jane Austen. In this episode: Finally alone except for a dog and cat Persuasion Chapter 53 Persuasion is either Much Ado About Nothing or Parks and Rec or both Our highest aim on this podcast…
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Persuasion, Part 3, and Laphroaig Select, AND Sarah and Karen
Michael and Ethan, with special wife guests Karen and Sarah, discuss their (somewhat slimmer than usual) Mondo Book for the year: Persuasion, by Jane Austen. In this episode: Again making use of our intern-generated, wonderful, thoughtful, very serious discussion guide Karen definitely makes...
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Smooch/Marry/Kill... but for books?
On this “special” episode, Michael forces Ethan to play his weird game, smooch/marry/kill, but with books. If it’s a bad episode, it should be emphasized, it IS Michael’s fault. In this episode: It almost turns into the Dune/Lawrence of Arabia show ALMOST IMMEDIATELY and that’s Michael’s fault...
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Persuasion, Part 2, and Laphroaig Select, AND Stiners and Lydia
Michael and Ethan, with special guests Lydia and Christina (aka Stiners), discuss their (somewhat slimmer than usual) Mondo Book for the year: Persuasion, by Jane Austen. In this episode: Our intern wrote us this very thorough, very thoughtful, and overall excellent discussion guide A sort of...
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Persuasion, Part 1, and Laphroaig Select, AND Erin and Risha
Michael and Ethan, with special guests Erin and Risha, inaugurate their discussion of their (somewhat slimmer than usual) Mondo Book for the year: Persuasion, by Jane Austen. In this episode: What an excellent rule (sorry, Risha) An unpopular opinion that captures several important things Austen…
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Stella Maris, by Cormac McCarthy, and Bunnahabhain 12, Part 2
CONTENT WARNING: Discussion of suicide. Michael and Ethan continue their discussion of Stella Maris, by Cormac McCarthy, while drinking Bunnahabhain 12yo single malt. In this episode: Michael is mean As Likely to End the World as to Save it: Knowledge and Science in Cormac McCarthy, by Philip…
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Stella Maris, by Cormac McCarthy, and Bunnahabhain 12, Part 1
CONTENT WARNING: Discussion of suicide. Michael and Ethan begin their discussion of Stella Maris, by Cormac McCarthy, while drinking Bunnahabhain 12yo single malt. In this episode: We’re sleeping together on the couch/futon tonight Cover blurbs, or, the marketing materials are contributing to the...
About this show
With their expertise in a grand total of 3 advanced degrees in English literature, as well as a lifetime of reading, Michael & Ethan get together every other week to drink Scotch and talk about books, but not about Scotch. You don’t need to listen in order, but just search for a book (story, play, poem, etc.) that interests you and follow along!
Hosted by
Michael & Ethan in a Room with Scotch