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All Episodes

The Mookse and the Gripes Podcast — 132 episodes

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Title
1

Episode 132: Our Nightstands, Ourselves

2

Episode 131: Trust the Spine: On the Pleasure and Riches of NYRB Books

3

Episode 130: Opening Movements: Entering the World of a Book

4

Episode 129: Reading with a Plan: The Joys and Complications of Reading Projects

5

Episode 128: If the Ship Goes Down, Grab These: Three Books for Our Desert Island

6

Episode 127: No One Knows Where to Shelf This: On Unclassifiable Books

7

Episode 126: Is That a Good Book?

8

Episode 125: Flannery O'Connor

9

Episode 124: Books We Wish We Could Read for the First Time Again

10

Episode 123: Our 2026 No-Pressure Reading Plans

11

Episode 122: Our Favorite Books We Read in 2025, Part II

12

Episode 121: Our Favorite Books We Read in 2025, Part I

13

Episode 120: Gratitude and Holiday Reading

14

Episode 119: The Art (and Agony) of Book Culling

15

Episode 118: Whole Body Reading: Reading, Walking and Well-Being

16

Episode 117: Losing the Plot: On Reading Slumps and How We Find Our Way Back

17

Episode 116: A World Brimming Over: Abundant Literature and The Portrait of a Lady

18

Episode 115: Kazuo Ishiguro

19

Episode 114: Through a Glass, Darkly: Entering Schattenfroh and Other Books that Refuse to Yield at Once

20

Episode 113: Starter Libraries: A Shelf Full of Promises

21

Episode 112: In Her Words: Women in Translation 2025

22

Episode 111: Two Friends Walk into a Bookstore: A Day Out with Trevor and Paul

23

Episode 110: The End: Last Lines That Stick the Landing

24

Episode 109: The Lighter Side of the Stacks: Funny Books

25

Episode 108: From Our Shelves with Pride: LGBTQIA+ Reads We Love

26

107: Goals or Guilt? A Check-in on Our Reading Ambitions

27

106: Bookshelf Roulette: Surprises from the Shelf

28

Episode 105: Wrists Be Damned: or, How We Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Big Books

29

Episode 104: Hanne Ørstavik

30

Episode 103: Charco Press

31

Episode 102: Diving into the Past with Historical Fiction

32

Episode 101: Big News, Short Books

33

Episode 100: Questions, Answers, Books

34

Episode 99: Books We Think About All the Time

35

Episode 98: City Books

36

Episode 97: 2025 Reading Horizons

37

Episode 96: Our Favorite Books We Read in 2024, Part II

38

Episode 95: Our Favorite Books We Read in 2024, Part I

39

Episode 94: Javier Marías

40

Episode 93: Books We Wanted to Reread Immediately

41

Episode 92: Essays, Part II

42

Episode 91: Digressions with Mark Haber

43

Episode 90: Essays, Part I

44

Episode 89: Benchwarmer Books

45

Episode 88: Women in Translation

46

Episode 87: The Story of Lucy Gault

47

Episode 86: Our Favorite Ten Books of the 21st Century So Far

48

Episode 85: Roberto Bolaño

49

Episode 84: Our Most Anticipated Releases from the Last Half of 2024

50

Episode 83: Shelf Control

51

Episode 82: Bucket List Books, Part II

52

Episode 81: Audiobooks

53

Episode 80: Facing the Void

54

Episode 79: Rediscovered Gems

55

Episode 78: The Great American Novel

56

Episode 77: Poetry

57

Episode 76: Author Completionism

58

Episode 75: Barbara Comyns

59

Episode 74: Canadian Literature

60

Episode 73: Hidden Gems

61

Episode 72: Characters on Holiday

62

Episode 71: 2024 Reading Horizon

63

Episode 70: Our Favorite Books We Read in 2023, Part II

64

Episode 69: Our Favorite Books We Read in 2023, Part I

65

Episode 68: The Dalkey Archive

66

Episode 67: On a Bookish Holiday

67

Episode 66: Reading Habits

68

Episode 65: Jon Fosse, with Damion Searls

69

Episode 64: Victorian Literature

70

Episode 63: Our Favorite Passages

71

Episode 62: Spinster Lit

72

Episode 61: The Most Intimidating Books on Our TBR

73

Episode 60: Favorite Books We Have Forgotten

74

Episode 59: The Dry Heart

75

Episode 58: Books You Can Get Immersed In

76

Episode 57: Our Most Anticipated Releases from the Last Half of 2023

77

Episode 56: Barbara Pym

78

Episode 55: Summer Reading Horizons

79

Episode 54: The Power of a Great Title

80

Episode 53: Affinities

81

Episode 52: Stories About Idylls

82

Episode 51: Sharing a Love of Reading with Future Generations

83

Episode 50: Open Letter Books

84

Episode 49: Rereading

85

Episode 48: Marking Up Your Books

86

Episode 47: Finding Love Between the Covers

87

Episode 46: Scholastique Mukasonga

88

Episode 45: 2023 Reading Dreams

89

Episode 44: Our Favorite Books We Read in 2022, Part II

90

Episode 43: Our Favorite Books We Read in 2022, Part I

91

Episode 42: Settling In for a Long Winter's Read

92

Episode 41: The Magic of Libraries, with Nancy Pearl

93

Episode 40: Book Prizes, with Lori Feathers

94

Episode 39: Scary Books That Kept Us Up at Night

95

Episode 38: Fictional Places We Wish Were Real

96

Episode 37: Hotel Novels

97

Episode 36: Epic Books

98

Episode 35: César Aira

99

Episode 34: A Lost Lady

100

Episode 33: Books About Growing Old

101

Episode 32: Authors We Can't Quite Quit Yet

102

Episode 31: New Directions, with Mark Haber

103

Episode 30: Three Books with Brian Berrett

104

Episode 29: Summer Reading and Assigned Reading II

105

Episode 28: Our Dustiest Books

106

Episode 27: Short Books, Fiction

107

Episode 26: Books About Books, Fiction

108

Episode 25: Jane Austen

109

Episode 24: Literary Years, 1922

110

Episode 23: Archipelago Books

111

Episode 22: Assigned Reading I

112

Episode 21: Comfort Reads

113

Episode 20: Why Do We Read Fiction?

114

Episode 19: Our Top Bookish Questions for 2022

115

Episode 18: 2022 Reading Intentions

116

Episode 17: Favorite Books We Read in 2021, Part II

117

Episode 16: Favorite Books We Read in 2021, Part I

118

Episode 15: Emily Dickinson

119

Episode 14: Holiday Reading Plans

120

Episode 13: Bookstores

121

Episode 12: Hangsaman, by Shirley Jackson

122

Episode 11: NYRB Classics, Part I

123

Episode 10: Books About Books, Nonfiction

124

Episode 9: Great Openings

125

Episode 8: Three Favorite Books with Frances Evangelista

126

Episode 7: Fall Books

127

Episode 6: Our Fantasy Past (and Future?)

128

Episode 5: Cormac McCarthy

129

Episode 4: Nature Writing

130

Episode 3: Quadraturin by Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky

131

Episode 2: The Short Story

132

Episode 1: Bucket List Books