Fan's Notes: Recent Episodes
Fan's Notes
We’re Adam Price and Jesse Paddock, and this is our podcast Fan’s Notes. Basically, it’s us yakking about two of our favorite things: books and basketball. Each episode will feature us discussing one of our favorite books, and then segue into some aspect of basketball (usually NBA-related but not exclusively.) We’re hopeful that the two will resonate in some thematic or aesthetic ways, but if not the conversation should still be lively.
The day has come. After a very long hiatus, we are back, with a brand new episode in tow. Isaac Butler joins us (at the 35 minute mark) to discuss Murdoch's style, her debt to Shakespeare, and the confounding-but-brilliant way she handled structure and perspective in her novels. An hour later, we switch over to the NBA, with a look at whether any of the early-season trends will have staying power this year.
We are deeply grateful to Isaac for coming on the pod—buy his book, people!—to help us kick off this new era of the pod. We're not sure exactly when we'll return with episode 102, or what we'll be reading when we do, but stay tuned!
It is time, on this the 100th and final Fans Notes, to talk about THE GOAT, by which we mean of course THE WHALE. That's right, folks; we decided to enter the belly of the leviathan alongside Ahab, Melville, Queequeg and his husband Ishmael, and all the other presences--mortal, demonic or spermacetaceous-- that may be stowed away on board the Pequod. It's a wild ride.
Then, at the 1:25 mark, we called upon our old friends Charles Chace and Lynwood Robinson one last time for an exhaustive and divagating preview of the various playoff series that will lead us, inexorably, to the 2021 NBA Finals. It should come as no surprise that, after only a single weekend of playoff basketball, our predictions have already begun to be proven dumb and wrong. Some things never change!
Lastly, we'd like to sincerely thank everyone who enjoyed (or at least listened to) the podcast over the past five years. We especially appreciate all those people who suggested books for us to discuss or who appeared on the pod to talk about them with us, or who supported our Patreon. We could not have done this without you, and we look forward to talking books and basketball with you all again someday down the line. As ever: See'ya!
In our penultimate episode (for now, at least!), we celebrate the work of this master of American comic voice who died early last year. Here's an hour of us giggling and gasping and quoting at length from the five novels he published in his life, and I think it's fair to say that listeners will find the experience to be either joyful or tedious, and perhaps each in turn.
As mentioned above, our next episode--number 100--will be our last. The podcast is going on hiatus. To send you off right, we'll be delivering a final mega-pod on that literary leviathan itself: MOBY-DICK. You won't want to miss it!
In this (formerly) subscribers-only episode, we discuss LP Hartley's great... maybe not great, but pretty darn good 1953 novel, The Go-Between.
We're delighted to welcome Elisa Gabbert back to the pod, and grateful that she was willing to come on and talk with us about this odd, hilarious and unforgettable book. Around the one hour mark, we discuss the current state of the NBA MVP race. Join us next time, when we take a look at L.P. Hartley's THE GO-BETWEEN.
On this hateful, hate-fueled pod, we discuss novels and authors that occupy a special place in our personal circles of book hell. And after that, a discussion of James Harden to the now very hateable Brooklyn Nets!
We regret to inform you that, in the course of our discussion of TRAIN DREAMS, we got waylaid in a STONER-shaped ditch. We spend a good deal of time fruitlessly comparing the two books, while trying to pin down what exactly Johnson is up to in this novella. At the 40 minute mark, we praise the Hawks and Suns for choosing a direction for their respective franchises and sailing toward it, regardless of draft whiffs and failed playoffs run they may have left in their wake.
Next time, we hope to have Elisa Gabbert back on to discuss Jane Bowles' TWO SERIOUS LADIES with us. And while you're at it, why not join our Patreon, where you'll get instant access to additional episodes.
We discuss John Le Carre's CALL FOR THE DEAD, the first of the Smiley books. Why is George Smiley such an indelible character, and what was it about the Cold War and East Germany that played to Le Carre's strengths? Then a brief discussion of the Giannis supermax, James Harden, and coolness as a cultural value.
Our mileage varies on STONER, which is either movingly muted or grayly inert, depending on which of us you ask. We interrogate the book's tone for clues as to whether it valorizes or deplores its main character's incurable passivity. At the 50 minute mark, we debrief on the distressed asset trade the Rockets and Wizards made, swapping Russell Westbrook and John Wall, and whether it actually changes the landscape of the NBA at all.
Next up, a return to the work of Denis Johnson, with a look at his 2011 novella TRAIN DREAMS. Join us!
On this (possibly not) long-awaited pod, we sift back through five years of NBA Draft episodes. What did we get right, what did we get not so right, and how might we adjust our draft philosophy in the future? And, most importantly, who picked Zhou Qi as a top-five prospect? Join us on a special trip down Hot Take lane!
It's feast and famine on today's pod, beginning with the peculiar delicacy that is James Hamilton-Paterson's acridly farcical 2004 novel COOKING WITH FERNET BRANCA. Whether it adds up to anything more than a collection of delectable jokes is not clear, but it sure tastes good on the way down.
Alas, at the 28 minute mark, we turn our attention to the upcoming NBA Draft, as bereft of top-end talent as any since 2013. It's also our most divergent list ever, with disagreements at the top and precious little overlap among our choices. (That said: set aside some time to get know Serbian phenom Aleksej Pokuševski, who landed smack in the 7th slot on both our draft boards.) And if you find yourself wanting more of our bad draft opinions, look no further than our Patreon. On the upcoming installment, we'll be holding ourselves accountable, at long last, for all our whiffs from the first four years of Fan's Notes draft prognostications.
Next time, on the pod proper, we'll take on John Williams' STONER, which has been sitting in our to-read pile for far too long. Join us!
On this episode, we discuss the books and authors that have shaped us as writers and readers. Never before, probably, have Roald Dahl, Gore Vidal, Joan Didion, and Elmore Leonard (and many others) been featured in the same conversation!
In this episode, we discuss Jan Morris's delightful imaginary travelogue HAV, as well as the fact that with the election looming, we may not quite be in the mood for delightful imaginary travelogues. After that, we recap an NBA Playoffs that, unlike most things in 2020, was not soul-destroyingly awful. Next up James Hamilton-Paterson's COOKING WITH FERNET BRANCA
In this formerly subscribers-only episode, we discuss AJ Finn/Dan Mallory's execrable/nefariously brilliant 2018 thriller THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW, which has since been turned into a splashy and terrible Netflix movie. What do we look for in commercial thrillers? And how does this very bad book succeed where better-written versions fail?
It's time to discuss Ernest Hemingway. How did he become online enemy number one? Is he underrated at this point? And have we actually read any of his books? Plus: a preview of the Lakers-Heat NBA Finals!
We're delighted to welcome Elisa Gabbert onto the pod to talk about her brilliant essay collection The Unreality of Memory, which was published in August. (Buy it! It is certain to be one of the best books you read this year.) Elisa also joined us for a discussion of Heinrich von Kleist's the supremely odd and wonderful nineteenth century novella Michael Kohlhaas. A hearty thank you goes out to Sebastian Castillo for requesting it.
At the hour mark, we turn our attention to the NBA playoffs, with a look back at the first two rounds and a look ahead at what could be in store for the conference finals and finals.
Lastly, we have decided to dip our toes into the placid waters of Patreon. If you wish to hear more book and basketball blather from us with even less preparation, do consider signing up. Subscribers will receive an additional episode each month. (Sorry, early adopters, but we haven't recorded our first one yet!) Pester Adam on Twitter for more details.
Next time, on the pod proper, we'll read and discuss Jan Morris' Hav. Grab a copy and join us!
We're extremely grateful to Sandra Newman for taking the time to talk about her 2019 novel THE HEAVENS with us. It's a moving and wondrous book, and one that we highly recommend people read.
After our conversation with Sandra, at about the fifty minute mark, we turn our attention to the NBA restart. We marvel at the remarkable success of the bubble to date and the high quality of play, and we preview most of the playoff matchups. (Sorry, fans of Miami and Indiana, we somehow forgot about that series.)
Next time, we'll get into Heinrich von Kleist's early nineteenth century oddity MICHAEL KOHLHAAS with the brilliant Elisa Gabbert, whose stunning collection of essays THE MEMORY OF UNREALITY is out now! Literally stop whatever it is you're doing at this moment and buy it and read it!
We spent so much time arguing (productively!) about whether or not the ending of this book is any good that we almost didn't leave ourselves time to discuss the rest of the book, which we agree is exceptionally good! For our next episode, we'll be reading Sandra Newman's most recent novel, THE HEAVENS.
In this episode we discuss Sally Rooney's debut novel, with frequent tootling interruptions from a nearby Carolina wren. Next up: THE TOPEKA SCHOOL by Ben Lerner, whose first novel, LEAVING THE ATOCHA STATION, we discussed way back in episode 23. And please consider donating to organizations at work to end police brutality and white supremacy in its myriad forms. A list can be found here: https://nymag.com/strategist/article/where-to-donate-for-black-lives-matter.html
Maybe quarantine wasn't the best time to hunker down inside a 600-page book called Freedom that tracks the hill-of-beans problems of three unhappy midlifers across the Bush era. Nevertheless, we persisted. The result is a mandatorily spaced pod recorded en plein air on Adam's front porch, with shimmering wind and truck noise as accompaniment. Enjoy! Next up: Sally Rooney's much-discussed debut Conversations with Friends.
In what may be the last pod we record face-to-face for a while, we dig into Joseph O'Neill's wonderful 2008 novel about marriage, cricket, and 9/11. Its portrait of a man flailing about for a proper response to a world in crisis chimed eerily with the vibe in America at the moment, as we enter the first full week of social distancing to combat coronavirus. At least Hans, the book's narrator, can fall back on the comforts and rhythms of cricket, a luxury not afforded to us in this time of across-the-board cancellations of sports, including the NBA. (We move from discussing the book to discussing the suspension of the NBA season at the 54 minute mark.) Next up, the final station in our journey across the century: Jonathan Franzen's FREEDOM. Til then, stay safe and healthy, everyone.
No basketball talk today, the better to make room for a friendly sparring contest over Donna Tartt's 1992 debut novel. It's a book dear to Adam's heart across multiple readings; it's also one that Jesse, reading it for the first time, thoroughly disliked. Our discussion is repetitive and seemingly endless (very much like the book in question jkjk.) In honor of the large volume of scotch the characters drink in this book, here's a drinking game: take a shot every time we use the words "bucolic" or "fiefdom." Next time: the 2000s, and Joseph O'Neill's Netherland.
We'd like to thank our listeners Matthew Ballou and Jason Ahuja, who suggested this week's book. The Stories of Breece D'J Pancake was first published in 1983, a few years after Pancake committed suicide at the age of 26. We discuss the way Pancake writes about his home state of West Virginia, and our sadness that he didn't live to extend the promise of these early stories. 37 minutes in, we recap the biggest deals of the NBA trade deadline. From there we're moved to lament the lonesome fate of the center in today's NBA. From Houston going all small-ball all the time, to Philly gaslighting Joel Embiid, to rebounding savant Andre Drummond being traded for a bag of popcorn, there's never been a worse time to be seven feet tall. Next up, the 1990s and Donna Tartt's The Secret History.
Today we discuss Sula, Toni Morrison's 1973 follow-up to her debut novel The Bluest Eye, before pivoting at the 50 minute mark to talk about some of the things we've found most surprising about this NBA season, including the shockingly fun Oklahoma City Thunder, the frisky Memphis Grizzlies, and the better-than-expected Los Angeles Lakers. Join us next time as we read -- by request! -- The Stories of Breece D'J Pancake, our selection from the 1980s.
We'd like to extend a big thanks to listener Jeff Schroeck, who suggested we pick up Coover's 1968 fantasy-baseball fantasia as our selection from the 1960s. It was weird and smart and provoked a wide array of thoughts about postmodernism (both as a literary movement and as an operating condition of the second half of the twentieth century and beyond), which we tried to explore and examine in this episode. (Book suggestions are always welcome, by the way. If you too would like to hear us fundamentally misunderstand and make unsupportable claims about a book you dearly admire, please don't hesitate to email us or tweet at Adam with your titles!) At the one hour mark, we go over some trades that might shore up the rosters of the best teams in the league, to mark the start of the race to the trade deadline. Apologies to audiophiles out there: due to a badly placed microphone, Jesse sounds a bit distant and room tone-y. We fixed it for the NBA chat. Next up: the 1970s, and Toni Morrison's Sula.
We tarry cheerfully in the obscure and creepy corridors of Shirley Jackson's late novels, sites of psychic ambiguity and authorial (and architectural!) precision. Then, at the 46 minute mark, we assess the credibility of various trends of the young NBA season, as well as use the phrase "round into form" countless times. Next up, the postmodern 60s, and Robert Coover's orthographically complex (at least in title) novel The Universal Baseball Association, Inc., J. Henry Waugh, Prop. Join us!
Here at long last is the second half of our recent podstravaganza, featuring Charles Chace and all of our misguided pre-season predictions. Feast your ears on all the things we were wrong about! Thanks to Charles for coming in (and bringing his fancy microphone and shock mount to boot.) We hope to have him back in later on in the season when we can further revel in our collective wrongness. Next up on the book side: the 1950s, and Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House.
Recorded as part of a three-hour podstravaganza earlier this week, here's our discussion of Malcolm Lowry's daunting, forbidding, and rewarding 1947 novel. The rest of the podcast, in which we preview the newborn NBA season with our friend Charles Chace, is still being edited and will be released soon. Going forward on the books side, we have finally made it past the shoals of Modernism! Next up is the 1950s, and Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House.
For our 1930s episode, situated as it is between Mrs. Dalloway in the 1920s and Under the Volcano in the 40s, we decided to linger in the shadow of Modernism awhile longer. But rather than read an emblematic novel from the decade, we wanted instead to think about Modernism's impact on poetry. Where did it come from, in what ways did it break with traditional poetic forms, and to what extent can its effects still be felt on poetry today? We were lucky to be joined by the poet and academic Emma Catherine Perry, who previously came on the podcast to discuss Claudia Rankine's Citizen, and who graciously acted as our guide through this dense thicket. Some of the poems that come up in the course of this conversation include: Tender Buttons by Gertrude Stein The Cantos of Ezra Pound The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot The Book of the Dead by Muriel Rukeyser Paterson by William Carlos Williams On Being Numerous by George Poppen It was a fascinating and illuminating experience, and we are immensely grateful to Emma for the opportunity to talk about these poems in depth. Next up: the return in a few weeks of the NBA regular season and Malcolm Lowry's Under the Volcano.
On today's show, we mostly take turns reading passages that moved us from Virginia Woolf's tremendous novel about London in the wake of the great war, since there's nothing we could say that the book doesn't convey more artfully. At the 33 minute mark, we are joined by David Shields, author of Reality Hunger: A Manifesto, to talk about his newest project, MARSHAWN LYNCH: A HISTORY, a documentary film that explores the significance of Marshawn Lynch's refusal to talk to the media. The film, assembled from hundreds of video clips, argues for Lynch's silence as a protest against a racist society and sports-media complex that nevertheless profits off black bodies. For more information about the film, or to find out when it might screen in your area, go to https://www.lynch-a-history.com/. We are grateful to David for coming on the podcast.
We staked out opposite corners of the ring for this one: Adam holding firm to the notion that the narrator is the world's most gullible dolt; Jesse convinced that the narrator is a psycho killer whose reality grows more unstable with every just-remembered detail. Who won? The truth is neither of us. In the end we were rope-a-doped into inarticulacy by Ford's bottomless backstory and untraceable character motivations. One tender mercy to cherish: we dispensed with basketball talk this week, since neither of us cares a whit about USA Basketball. Next time we jump ahead to the 1920s, with Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway.
We've made it to the nineteen aughts, the terminus of our journey into the past, and we've chosen a book that beautifully captures that first decade of the twentieth century. Wharton's 1905 novel stands as an all-time great, drawing on tendencies of the nineteenth century novel but gesturing toward the future of the novel as well. Given that we're in an absolute dead spot on the NBA calendar, we basically just shoot the shit for ten minutes or so, starting around the hour mark. The highlight of this chat is each of us trying to name three athletes in another sport (baseball for Adam and football for Jesse). Enjoy? Next time, we'll be discussing Ford Madox Ford's The Good Soldier. Also, buy Adam's book!: https://www.amazon.com/Hotel-Neversink-Adam-OFallon-Price/dp/1947793349
There's a real pioneer spirit to this edition of the podcast, which was recorded en plein air in a remote mountain location along the border between Tennessee and North Carolina. Nat sounds -- including, at one point, the crackle of rifle shots -- lend background authenticity to our discussion first of Cather's novel, and then, at the 43 minute mark, of the many westward-empire-coursing moves that re-charted the NBA landscape in the early weeks of free agency. Next up: the first decade of the 1900s, and Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth.
We evaluate the flat and round prospects in the 2019 NBA Draft, after a discussion of Aspects of the Novel, E.M. Forster's a droll and delightful collection of lectures he gave at Trinity College in Cambridge in 1927. (NB: our draft big boards starts at the 45 minute mark.) Next up, the nineteen-teens and that staple of high school reading lists, Willa Cather's My Antonia.
For our 1930s book, we read the 1934 debut novel of John O'Hara. We discuss how successful O'Hara is in toggling back and forth between his book's two chief interests: that of the demise of a wealthy car dealer on the one hand and, on the other, his nearly topological rendering of the fictional town of Gibbsville, where the action is set. At the 47:30 mark, we check in on the NBA Finals, with forthright mea culpas for our faulty past predictions, a forthright admission that we have no idea where the series is headed, and a forthright appreciation of the instantly-legendary "Board Man Gets Paid" oral history of Kahwi Leonard's days at San Diego State (https://theathletic.com/1007038/2019/06/03/the-board-man-gets-paid-an-oral-history-of-kawhi-leonards-college-days/). By the next time we record, there will be a champion ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Next up: the 1920s, and--mirabile dictu--a non-fiction book! We'll be digging into E.M. Forster's Aspects of the Novel (https://epdf.pub/aspects-of-the-novel.html). Download a copy. Also, we will be unveiling our Draft Big Boards!
Here's an odd book. Green's style is all his own, delightful and perverse, marked by clipped adverbs and a disdain for interiority. It's a talky book; like much of Green's work, the action takes place mainly in dialogue. Set among the English servants at a castle in Ireland during World War II, Loving is funny and confounding and a bit horny. It seems at times like it shouldn't work, which makes it all the more satisfying when it does. At the 54 minute mark, we pivot to the NBA playoffs, to remember the Blazers and Sixers, ponder the still-in-progress Eastern Conference Finals, and savor the fun quotient of the Durant-less Warriors. Up next: The 1930s, with John O'Hara's Appointment in Samarra.
We begin in the 1950s, with Evan S. Connell's Mrs. Bridge, a sneakily moving novel comprised of short, comic vignettes in the life of a Kansas City housewife. At the 47 minute mark, we turn to the second round of the NBA Playoffs. We check in on Warriors-Rockets, Raptors-Sixers, Bucks-Celtics and Nuggets-Blazers, before finishing with an exaltation of Damian Lillard, the flat-out coolest player in the league. Next up: the 1940s, with Henry Green's Loving.
In the first pod recorded in Jesse's distinctly unsoundproofed new office, we tackle Muriel Spark's wonderful 1961 novella The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. At the 42 minute mark, Lynwood Robinson joins us to predict the various playoff series. Apologies to Charles Chace, who we wanted to call in for his takes on the 3-6 matchups; we realized too late that the recorder was paused. Timecodes for particular series: 00:49-00:52 Warriors vs Clippers 00:52-00:54 Bucks vs Pistons 00:54-01:00 Nuggets vs Spurs 01:00-01:08 Raptors vs Magic (01:03-1:07 Sidebar discussion of All NBA 3rd Team forwards) 01:08-01:12 Trailblazers vs Thunder 01:12-01:16 76ers vs Nets 01:16-01:23 Rockets vs Jazz 01:23-01:28 Celtics vs Pacers 01:28-end Conference Finals and Finals predictions Next up: The 1950s, and Evan S. Connell's Mrs. Bridge
This book is great! Highly recommended. And for the first 20 minutes or so we remain focused on a discussion of what it does so expertly. After that we pursue like cats after a laser pointer a long digression of what autofiction means and whether it's a genre distinction that holds value. It may be of interest; it may be utterly tedious. Our apologies if you were hoping for a more fulsome analysis of Adler's book. To repeat, it's great and should be read! At the 53 minute mark, we again bemoan the overlong NBA regular season, which is mercifully nearing its end, and look ahead to potential playoff matchups.
This book has it all: busted shoelaces, advances in drinking straw design, a subtle and supple close reading of the intimacies and formalities of the late 20th Century American workplace. It's delightful and poignant and only 132 pages long! We chew it over, and at the 53 minute mark -- you'll know by the chime of music that plays! -- we move to a short discussion of Zion's exploding sneaker and the senseless logic of the NBA gap year rule, which may finally and mercifully be coming to an end.
Today we marvel at The Last Samurai, the maddening, brilliant debut novel byHelen DeWitt, before turning (at the 53 minute mark) to discuss the various machinations and maneuverings of the NBA trade deadline. Next up: Renata Adler's Speedboat.
We ponder the depths of the satire and self-awareness in Andrew Martin's 2018 debut novel Early Work. Fifty minutes in, pivoting off a scene in the book in which its characters watch James Harden in the 2015 Western Conference Finals, we discuss Harden's astonishing level of play over the last month, and whether that means he'll be usurping the MVP crown from Giannis come season's end.
On this episode we discuss Gabe Habash's 2017 novel Stephen Florida, which leads us to wonder what we mean when we say a book is "voicey." Around the 59 minute mark, we revisit some of our preseason NBA predictions to see what we got right and what we got wrong. Don't miss Dončić Corner (1hr 6 mins), wherein Jesse describes what it was like to see Luka Dončić up close and personal in Charlotte earlier this week. Next up is Andrew Martin's Early Work -- join us!
In this episode we chat about the novel Eileen, before pivoting, at the 36 minute mark, to an appreciation of Luka Dončić, the Slovenian phenom currently taking over the NBA and making the Dallas Mavericks appointment television. Next up, we'll be reading and discussing Gabe Habash's novel Stephen Florida.
On today's show, we discuss Schweblin's seriously creepy novel Fever Dream, which was longlisted for the 2017 Man Booker prize. We highly recommend it, although you may need to sleep with the lights on afterwards. 47 minutes in, we chat about the Jimmy Butler trade and the Draymond-Durant dust-up, and how to determine the cost-benefit of star players with a history of making life difficult for others in the locker room as they approach their third contract.
Picking up where we left off in Episode 21, with a look at Rachel Cusk's Kudos, which closes out her landmark "Outline" trilogy. At the hour mark, we move to a brief discussion of how the early season returns indicate the NBA as a whole has entered the pace-and-space era, possibly for good. Next up we'll be reading Samanta Schweblin's 2017 novel Fever Dream; grab a copy and join us!
Just in time for the start of the new NBA year (give or take a few games), we invited our old friend Lynwood Robinson as well as a new guest, Charles Chace, to talk about what to expect from the season. Which teams are overrated, underrated, who's poised to break out, and who'll regress. It's long and book-free, so if you're not up for a rangy basketball chat, join us soon for a discussion of Rachel Cusk's Kudos.
We discussed The Company She Keeps, the 1942 novel-in-stories by a young Mary McCarthy, the twentieth century intellectual who would go on to mass acclaim with 1963's The Group. The Group is great — McCarthy in general is great! — but we're here to stump for her under-read debut as a wonderful work in itself, modern and resonant and ahead of its time in so many ways. Check it out! Next up we'll be reading the Best American Short Stories 2017 anthology, for a snapshot of the, well, American short story as of last year.
It's the Age of Anxiety on today's pod, as we delve into the collected stories of Richard Yates, and then fret over Trae Young's inauspicious debut at NBA Summer League. (We transition to basketball, 46 minutes in, with talk of LeBron's move to the Lakers.) Next up is Mary McCarthy, whose famous short story "The Man in the Brooks Brothers Suit" is the centerpiece of her 1942 novel-as-linked-story-collection The Company She Keeps. Track down a copy and join us in two weeks!
Philip Roth died last month at age 85. To help us make sense of his place in American writing, we invited our friend Ben Felton, who last joined us to talk Colson Whitehead's The Underground Railroad, to come back on to discuss The Ghost Writer, as well as Roth's work more generally. 00:00-00:35 The Ghost Writer 00:35-00:57 Roth and the question of misogyny 00:57-01:07 Roth as a Jewish writer 01:07-01:20 Roth's legacy as a writer We'll be back in a few weeks to talk about The Collected Stories of Richard Yates, another 20th Century titan, as well as the start of NBA free agency.
For the first time in the history of the podcast, we agree on who is the best prospect in this center-heavy draft. But there are still disagreements to be had further down the list, as we weigh the potential for booms and busts. We'll be back next week for our discussion of Philip Roth's The Ghost Writer.
This week we differ on the merits of Roberto Bolaño's The Savage Detectives, before wondering to what extent the Golden State Warriors have ruined basketball. We'll return next week with a discussion of Philip Roth, pegged to his novel The Ghost Writer.
Another all-basketball pod, as former Tar Heel Lynwood Robinson joins us to say goodbye to the Sixers, Pelicans, Jazz, and Raptors. (He even reprises his singing of "The Great Pretender" in the Raps section!) Then we discuss the Conference Finals, with each series knotted at two games apiece at the time of recording. Next week it's back to book-chat when we tackle Roberto Bolaño's The Savage Detectives.
This week we go to infinity and beyond with literature's most beguiling librarian, Jorge Luis Borges. After a discussion of his story "The Garden of Forking Paths," we move (at the 39 minute mark) to a check-in on the 1st and 2nd rounds of the NBA playoffs. Join un in a few weeks as we tackle Roberto Bolaño's The Savage Detectives.
No booktalk this week. Instead, we are joined by Lynwood to run down the matchups and results of the NBA playoffs. Take a listen, if only to hear which team inspired Lynwood to burst out in song. If basketball's not your thing, we'll be back in a week or two to discuss Jorge Luis Borges' classic story "The Garden of Forking Paths." Join us!
We finally get around to discussing A Manual for Cleaning Women, the collection of exquisite Lucia Berlin stories that was published posthumously in 2015. In a nod to the years she spent living in South America, next up we'll be reading "The Garden of Forking Paths," by the great Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges. (A pdf of the story is available here: http://mycours.es/gamedesign2012/files/2012/08/The-Garden-of-Forking-Paths-Jorge-Luis-Borges-1941.pdf)
In part 2 of our series of linked story collections that you absolutely must read, we revisit Denis Johnson's hallucinatory masterpiece. Next up, we continue in this vein with a look at Lucia Berlin's A Manual for Cleaning Women. Join us in two weeks!
Do you own this book? Because you should. Everyone should, really. It's exquisite, and it's back in print now, and hopefully will stay that way. Seriously, these stories are wonderful. Read them, re-read them, and then join us in two weeks for more lovely linked short stories, as we discuss Jesus' Son by Denis Johnson.
We're split on George Saunders' novel Lincoln In the Bardo: is it a heavenly masterpiece or a hellaciously sloppy slog? The truth probably resides in some purgatorial middle, alongside this season's Cleveland Cavaliers, the Los Angeles Clippers' tenuous future, and Mario Hezonja's career prospects. Join us in two weeks as we read "Dog Heaven" (https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1989/01/09/dog-heaven) from Stephanie Vaughn's superlative short story collection Sweet Talk. Track the whole collection down if you can -- you'll thank us later.
While the year is still young we thought we'd celebrate youth and all its triumphs, disappointments and naiveté. To that end we read Elif Batuman's delightful novel The Idiot, and chatted about the generally impressive crop of NBA rookies that have entered the league. Tune in to find out which NBA team Adam compared to The Big Bang Theory! And join us in two weeks for a discussion of George Saunders' novel Lincoln In The Bardo.
We're back after a short hiatus to talk about Martin Amis' scandalously funny novel Money, as well as things that we think we know after one month of the NBA season. Next up, we'll be reading Elif Batuman's highly acclaimed 2017 novel The Idiot. Pick up a copy and join us in a few weeks for that discussion!
We discuss Paul Beatty's Booker Prize-winning satire The Sellout for the first 45 minutes, then Lynwood Robinson drops back by to help preview the new NBA season. For next week, track down a copy of John Updike's story "Snowing in Greenwich Village" in time for our next installment of The Short Corner.
We kept it short this week in honor of the brilliant concision of Lydia Davis's fiction. After 30 minutes on Davis, we spend 15 minutes listing a few of the things we're most looking forward to in the upcoming NBA season. We'll go more in-depth on the NBA next week with a return appearance from Lynwood Robinson, at which time we'll also discuss Paul Beatty's The Sellout.
Come along with us as we enter Frank Bascombe's beguiling and irreconciled Existence Period, which plays out over 450 pages in Richard Ford's Independence Day. Then, at the hour mark, we chat about the trade that sent Carmelo Anthony from the Knicks to the OKC Thunder, and how that changes the landscape of the Western Conference. Join us next week as we talk Lydia Davis and get excited for the fast-approaching start of the NBA season.
A basketball-free discussion of Don DeLillo's White Noise. We read it! If you haven't, why not just listen and pretend you already have. And then read Richard Ford's Independence Day, so you can be on point for our discussion of it in two weeks' time.
In this episode we discuss Walker Percy's wonderfully vexing novel The Moviegoer, before switching over around the 50 minute mark to talk about the then-still-pending Kyrie for Isaiah Thomas and assorted other assets trade between Cleveland and Boston. Join us in two weeks for a chat about Don DeLillo's vexing-in-its-own-way book White Noise.
This week we at long last delve into the Bard of Contempt herself, Flannery O'Connor, and her punishingly dark and comic worldview. At the 50 minute mark, we switch over to the teams that had the least inspired offseasons. Join us in two weeks for a discussion of Walker Percy's The Moviegoer.
This week, we read and discuss "Testimony of Pilot," from Airships, Barry Hannah's enduring book of short stories. We celebrate his electric, otherworldly prose and lament the needless and careless racist language that corrodes the collection. We're sticking in the south next week, when we turn to Flannery O'Connor's famous story "A Good Man is Hard to Find." Find it online (http://xroads.virginia.edu/~drbr/goodman.html) and join us!
This week we discuss several stories from Joshua Ferris' new collection The Dinner Party, beginning with one called "In The Heart of the Dead." We keep it short and sweet on the basketball side, since this was the first slow week we've had in a while. Join us next week when we focus in on the great Barry Hannah; grab a copy of Airships and dig into "Testimony of Pilot."
It's 117 degrees in Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs kicked in and Lonzo Ball just hit another three. Or something. Summer League is here, so it seemed appropriate to read Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Hunter S. Thompson's paean to drugs and swine and the desiccated remains of the sixties. Our mileage varies! For next time, we'll discuss a story called "Life in the Heart of the Dead," from Joshua Ferris' new story collection The Dinner Party. Grab a copy and join us!
A terrifying stranger appears on the doorstep of 15-year old Connie, in Joyce Carol Oates' classic short story "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been" (https://www.cusd200.org/cms/lib7/IL01001538/Centricity/Domain/361/oates_going.pdf). We discuss this harbinger of doom, who goes by the name Arnold Friend, and the harm he means to do for the first 36 minutes before turning our attention to the players who'll be popping up in different NBA landscapes after a flurry of free agency signings this week. Join us next week for a look at that hallucinatory adventure that is Las Vegas Summer League as well as a discussion of Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
For this installment of the Short Corner, we read "The Semplica-Girl Diaries," (http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/10/15/the-semplica-girl-diaries) from George Saunders' last book Tenth of December. Around the 39 minute mark, we pivot into winners and losers of the Draft and discuss the trade that sent Chris Paul to join James Harden on the Houston Rockets. Join us next week when we discuss Hunter S. Thompson's classic Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and look at the start of Summer League.
It's a megapod today, as we get into one of the greatest novels ever written, Vladimir Nabokov's shocking, exquisite, and nearly satanic Lolita. Around the hour mark, we evaluate the various prospects at the top of this year's draft class, and the ramifications of the massive trade of the first and third picks between Boston and Philly. Join us next week for a discussion of George Saunders' The Semplica-Girl Diaries (http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/10/15/the-semplica-girl-diaries).
In today's episode, we discuss Annie Proulx's story "The Half-Skinned Steer" (https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1997/11/the-half-skinned-steer/306168/), about an old man whose return to the ranch where he grew up proves unlucky. At the 41 minute mark we switch to the Finals, in which the Warriors skinned the Cavs, and wonder what, if anything, LeBron can do to beat them going forward. Next up is Vladimir Nabokov's classic novel Lolita, paired with the upcoming NBA Draft.
On this week's installment, we look at Donald Antrim's memoir The Afterlife, about the grip his alcoholic mother had on him both in life and after her death. It's gentle and sad and may mark a turning point for Antrim the writer. Around 42 minutes in, we move on to this lopsided NBA Finals, which should be put down mercifully before too long. Join us next week to read Annie Proulx's short story "The Half-skinned Steer," and in two weeks when we discuss Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita.
Lynwood Robinson makes his return to the pod to help us preview the Finals and genuflect before the awesomeness of LeBron James. Are there limits to his greatness, or can he summon enough to vanquish the Durant-ful Warriors? Before Lynwood pops by, we spend the first 37 minutes or so chatting about the awesomeness of Lorrie Moore, through the lens of her classic story "You're Ugly, Too." Next week we'll be discussing Donald Antrim's memoir The Afterlife, so join us for that!
We're happy to welcome to the pod the poet Emma Catherine Perry, who was kind enough to help us talk through Claudia Rankine's most recent wonderful, challenging work of poetry, as well as situate it within the contemporary world of poetry. We couldn't resist asking Emma, a current denizen of Oakland, what the vibe is like as the Golden State Warriors prepare for their third trip to the Finals in as many years, so stick around for that. Join us next week for a return visit from Lynwood Robinson and a discussion of Lorrie Moore's short story "You're Ugly, Too."
In this second installment of the Short Corner, our biweekly series in which we read a short story instead of a novel, we look at Donald Barthelme's "Concerning the Bodyguard," as well as Barthelme's style more generally. At the 38 minute mark, we switch over to the Draft Lottery, which took place this week, and try and figure out who teams will select based on what they need most. Join us next week for our discussion of Claudia Rankine's Citizen and in two weeks when we read Lorrie Moore's "You're Ugly, Too."
Does art have any political efficacy? What does it mean to have a "profound experience of art?" Are plots overrated in novels? Can the Spurs win without Kawhi? (Bear with us, we recorded this before Game 6.) These are just some of the questions raised in this installment of the Fan's Notes podcast. We discuss Ben Lerner's terrifically funny novel for the first 53 minutes, then switch over to check in on where some of the second round series stand. Next week we'll be reading Donald Barthelme's short story "Concerning The Bodyguard," and in two weeks we'll chat about Claudia Rankine's Citizen. Join us for those!
We're suffering the Round 2 doldrums, with a bunch of series that (at least at the time of recording) seem pretty uncompetitive. But before we get there (i.e. the 46 minute mark,) we pore over Alice Munro's story "Carried Away," which was originally published in The New Yorker. This is the first of our episodes in which we focus in on a single short story; we'll continue to do this every other week at least throughout the playoffs. Next week we're back with Ben Lerner's novel Leaving The Atocha Station, and the week after that we'll read Donald Barthelme's "Concerning the Bodyguard," which can be found online. Join us!
It's a transitional period pod today, as we find ourselves midway through the first round of the playoffs, and reading Transit, the middle book in Rachel Cusk's proposed trilogy centered around an absurdly passive protagonist. We parse the limits of recessive narrators and marvel at Cusk's intelligence and knack for turning out well-crafted sentences. Please note: we'll be podding weekly throughout the playoffs! In the off weeks between novels, we'll choose a short story to read and discuss. So track down a copy of Alice Munro's Carried Away online and join us for the discussion next week!
The playoffs are finally here! And we figured there was no better book to help us understand the psychological tedium of the NBA season than the first volume of My Struggle, Karl Ove Knausgaard's epic of Scandinavian brooding. We discuss the structural use of deep boredom on the reader, whether the book is artful or artless, and ponder why it became such a hit worldwide. At the ~40 min mark, we switch over to preview the various matchups in the first round of the playoffs, which are mostly dismal. But hey, it's the playoffs! Join us in two weeks to discuss Rachel Cusk's Transit and look ahead to the second round of the playoffs.
It's a young man's pod today, as we delve into the often unpleasant psyche of Nathaniel P, the protagonist of Adelle Waldman's debut novel The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P. We perform a full asshole autopsy on Nate to see if he's got any redeemable qualities. On the basketball side, we wax effusive on the surprisingly high level of basketball in this year's NCAA tournament and look ahead to the Final Four matchups. Join us in two weeks to talk about Karl Ove Knausgaard's My Struggle in conjunction with the start of the NBA Playoffs.
After weeks of judicious editing, we've finally managed to get our epically long and rambling gabfest with our good friend and former UNC Tarheel Basketball player Lynwood Robinson down to a publishable length. We had to leave lots of great stuff on the cutting room floor this time around, but Lynwood has generously agreed to return at a later date to pick up right where we left off. Until then, enjoy this free-flowing conversation about basketball's alien test, what it was like playing with Michael Jordan on the 1982 title-winning team, and why Chapel Hill needs a better class of seafood restaurant.
We recorded this episode on Edward St. Aubyn's cycle of Patrick Melrose novels before the news broke this week that Benedict Cumberbatch will be playing him in an upcoming Showtime series. (Spoilers aplenty herein.) We ostensibly focused on Never Mind, the first of these novellas, but found it hard not to refer to the full scope of the series in our discussion of St. Aubyn and his fictional alter ego. On the basketball side, we break down the blockbuster trade that sent DeMarcus Cousins to join Anthony Davis in New Orleans and express our frustration at Boston's refusal to make any moves to strengthen their squad at the deadline. Please note: we are still editing our lengthy basketball chat with our friend Lynwood Robinson, but look for that to come out soon, and our next book will be Adelle Waldman's The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P.
Today we go all the way upriver into the depths of madness/basketball greatness with a look into Joseph Conrad's 1899 novella about depravity moral decay in turn-of-the-century Congo. Our discussion touches on what Conrad really means by the phrase 'heart of darkness' (and why he seems afraid to say so), whether Apocalypse Now has sapped the book's power in our culture, and if it's possible to square its anti-colonialist streak with its reprehensible depictions of Africans. Then we pivot to the NBA, where we continue to be amazed night-in and night-out by the individual performances of Russell Westbrook, James Harden, Kevin Durant, and others. Who among them deserves to be MVP, if the season ended today? Or should it go to LeBron or Giannis or Chris Paul? The list goes on and on.
No basketball talk today, as we devote the full hour to one of the big books of 2016, Colson Whitehead's The Underground Railroad. We are joined by our friend Ben Felton to unpack the ways in which Whitehead re-imagines America during the time of slavery, and what this book has to say about the America we're still living in. For our next pod, we'll be returning to our normal format, with a discussion of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, as well as a look at the state of the MVP race in the NBA as we near the midpoint of the season.
There's a lot to like in this installment of the pod, as we celebrate the exciting start of the NBA season and gush over our favorite stories in Tobias Wolff's collection Our Story Begins. We recommend you read some of Wolff's stories before listening--at least do yourself a favor and track down Bullet In The Brain--since we go into the plot details of a few as we try to figure out where he fits in the firmament of short story writers. On the NBA side, we make a list of some of the players who've been really fun to watch so far this season and marvel at how great the NBA's "product" is overall at the moment. NB: we decided to postpone our discussion of The Underground Railroad, but we'll be tackling it in our next installment, along with a look at what to expect from the college basketball season as it moves into conference play.
We recorded this "emergency" pod a few weeks ago, back when the word "emergency" had a quaint, ironic connotation in American culture. It's about America's relationship with the sometimes icky, sometimes wildly entertaining sport of football. We're thankful to our friend, the writer Chris Drangle, for joining us for the discussion. A programming note: our next book will be Colson Whitehead's The Underground Railroad, winner of the 2016 National Book Award. Look for it in the next couple weeks.
To close out our offseason cities series, we're focusing on George V. Higgins' slim 1970 book The Friends of Eddie Coyle, which Elmore Leonard called the greatest crime novel ever written. Ostensibly set in Boston but with a reach that expands out to all points in Massachusetts, not to mention New Hampshire and Rhode Island, this books packs a ton into 183 pages of mostly dialogue. Don't miss Jesse's live reading of the final two pages in two baroque Boston accents! On the basketball side, we discuss the Celtics' free agency grab of Al Horford and what they still need in order to get past the Cleveland Cavaliers. (NB: Basketball talk begins around the 32 minute mark.)
It's a disappointment pod this week, as Jesse, a Saul Bellow fan, admits to being underwhelmed by Seize The Day, Bellow's short 1956 novella, and calls on Adam to make a case for its durability. On the basketball side, they discuss the bizarre offseason for the Chicago Bulls, and whether their Frankenstein roster has any chance of succeeding. (NB: the book discussion runs for the first 41 minutes. Next up is the last of our summer series linking books to NBA cities, and we'll be looking at the Boston Celtics and George V. Higgins' wonderful little crime novel The Friends of Eddie Coyle--grab a copy and join us next week!)
For our New York episode, we looked at Paula Fox's strange, slim novel from 1970, Desperate Characters, about a Brooklyn couple whose marriage may or may not be disintegrating. A marvel that fell out of print for a few decades, we highly recommend readers seek this book out. On the basketball side, we discuss the chances for a new-look Knicks team, which brought in ex-Bulls Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah this summer. Will they be good and for how long, and what does this mean for the long-term development of Kristaps Porzingis? (NB: We discuss Desperate Characters for the first 38 minutes of the podcast, then move on to the Knicks. And feel free to pick up a copy of Saul Bellow's Seize The Day and read along for our discussion next week--it clocks in at a breezy 114 pages! Also, we now have a twitter account (@fansnotespod) as well as an email address (fansnotes@gmail.com) so hit us up with any books you'd like us to read and discuss or other ideas for literature & sports discussions you'd like to see us undertake on the pod. Thanks for listening!
The novelist, short-story writer and noted sports-agnostic J. Robert Lennon drops by the pod for a conversation about whether sports and literature can ever make nice, or if they'll just keep circling each other warily and talking shit behind each other's backs. Along the way we bemoan the utter disposability of most sports writing as well as the obsequiousness of dude writers who deploy sports in their work as a signifier of working class credibility. We may not have achieved a cease-fire between the warring factions yet, but we thank John for coming on and offering his reasoned repartee. In addition to winning the coveted prize of being the first guest to appear on the Fan's Notes podcast, J. Robert Lennon's newest novel, Broken River, is being published by Graywolf Press in May, 2017. Pre-order it y'all!
"I think we are well advised to keep on nodding terms with the people we used to be, whether we find them attractive company or not. Otherwise they turn up unannounced and surprise us, come hammering on the mind's door at 4 a.m. of a bad night and demand to know who deserted them, who betrayed them, who is going to make amends." That is Joan Didion, from her essay "On Keeping a Notebook,' from her classic collection Slouching Towards Bethlehem. We chose this book because we thought it might shine some light on the plight of the Lakers--things fall apart; the centre cannot hold--but in point of fact all it did was make us think of other Didion lines. "We tell ourselves stories in order to live." "We are here on this island in the middle of the Pacific in lieu of filing for divorce." "Innocence ends when one is stripped of the delusion that one likes oneself." Chock full of some of the greatest essays ever committed to paper, Slouching Toward Bethlehem begs to be read and read again. Our apologies if our discussion of the anemic 2016-2017 Los Angeles Lakers roster pales when placed alongside it. (NB: we discuss the Didion collection until around the 38 minute mark, then dive into our low expectations for the upcoming Lakers season. Also, stay tuned for our emergency pod with the novelist J. Robert Lennon on whether or not sports and literature have anything to say to one another. The answer may surprise you!)
In the first of our city/author mashups we'll be doing this summer, we picked Elmore Leonard and Miami. Yes, we are aware that Leonard is most closely associated with Detroit, but we've selected one of his Palm Beach/Miami books, 1995's Riding The Rap, which features his flinty lawman Raylan Givens, a hippie-dippie psychic and a botched ransom plot. We discuss Leonard's genius for quick-sketch character and razor-sharp dialog, as well as whether he should be considered a "genre" or a "literary" author. Then we keep things in South Florida with a look at the Miami Heat's offseason and potential for 2016-2017. Were they right to let Dwyane Wade walk? Will Chris Bosh ever play again? Can their youthful core of Tyler Johnson, Josh Richardson, Justise Winslow and Dion Waiters make the leap this year? All that and more in this episode of the Fan's Notes podcast. (NB: we talk about Riding The Rap until the 35 minute mark, then the Miami Heat talk begins. Also, for our next episode, we'll be reading Joan Didion's seminal 1968 essay collection Slouching Towards Bethlehem, and looking at what the future holds for the Los Angeles Lakers. Look for it the week of August 15th!)
In this episode we look at the thin line between genius and fraud, as embodied by Tom Ripley in Patricia Highsmith's terrific 1955 thriller The Talented Mr. Ripley. We then pivot to the NBA's Summer League, that week of barely watchable basketball that takes place in the Nevada desert. Who looked promising, who looked like a bust, and is it possible to draw any firm conclusions from these performances at all? (NB: We discuss the Highsmith book for the first 41 minutes, then spend the rest of the pod on Summer League. Also, as a programming note: for our next episode we'll start our occasional summer program of specific teams' upcoming season previews, paired with a book set in that city. First up is Miami. We'll be discussing where they're at after the D-Wade trade and where they go from here, as well as reading Elmore Leonard's Riding The Rap. Look for it in the first week of August.)
Well, we intended for this to be a long meandering journey through the epic story of the 2015-16 NBA season, paired with the wanderings of Leopold Bloom and Stephen Dedalus around Dublin on June 16th, 1904 in James Joyce's masterpiece Ulysses. But Kevin Durant's jaw-dropping decision to leave the Oklahoma City Thunder in favor of the Golden State Warriors was too monumental to avoid, so we wound up talking about that, and its repercussions for the league. (NB: We discuss Ulysses for the first 30 minutes, then jump over to the NBA.)
There's disagreement in the pod today, as we square off over who should go #1 in the Draft. The conversation gets sullen, juvenile, and decidedly anti-phony, in keeping with the tone of this week's book: J.D. Salinger's The Catcher In The Rye. It's worth tuning in just to hear Jesse compare Holden Caulfield to Donald Trump, as well as Adam's paean to 7-foot-2 Chinese prospect Zhou Qi. (NB: We discuss the book for the first 25 minutes, and then talk Draft stuff for the rest of the hour.)
Game 7 of the Finals is upon us, and to celebrate the last night of the 2016 NBA season, we've chosen a harrowing short story by James Salter, called, appropriately enough, Last Night. We've been wrong about almost everything in this series so far, so why not laugh at our useless predictions one last time before we say goodbye to this season once and for all. (NB: we discuss the Salter story for about the first 21 minutes or so of the podcast. It's available online and you should definitely read it! After that, from ~21:00 to ~45:00, we talk about the game.)
In Episode 2, we look at J.M. Coetzee's Disgrace, as well as the first four games of the NBA Finals. To what extent does David Lurie seem chastened or changed by his fall into disgrace in the novel? For their part, the Cavs seem to have redeemed themselves after the disgraceful way they played in Games 1 & 2, but do they have a chance to win the series? And if not, what changes will they make to their roster? All this and more in Episode 2 of Fan's Notes.
In Episode 1, we tackle the book that serves as the name of the podcast, Frederick Exley’s A Fan’s Notes, as well as discuss the rematch between the Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2016 NBA Finals. Is Frederick Exley a complete jerk? Do the Cavs have a chance? Why do we love narrative in literature but hate it in sports? Tune in to find out!