Best Xi Draconis Books Podcasts (2024)

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S4 Ep57: Omensetter's Luck and the Demise of Hard Fiction 1:17:55

3h ago1:17:55

1:17:55

In which the Spiders tackle Omensetter's Luck, a set of prose poem loosely organized by the subjectivity of a mad preacher, which somehow briefly acquired a reputation as one of the most significant novels of the mid 20th century, and is now mostly lost to history.By Xi Draconis Books

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S4 Ep56: Somewhat disappointed by, but still finding enchantment in, Mikhail Bulgakov's almost-100-year-old novel: The Master and Margarita 52:26

8d ago52:26

52:26

We revisit one of the earlier podcast subjects and come away a little bit underwhelmed. That said, this is still a magical and strange piece to be nearly a hundred years old, and there are incredible parts.By Xi Draconis Books

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S4 Ep55: Sayaka Murata's Earthlings Is One-Dimensional 53:51

2M ago53:51

53:51

In this episode, the Spider hosts discuss the shortcomings of Sayaka Murata's Earthlings.By Xi Draconis Books

1
S4 Ep54: Pacing and Tragedy in Mary Shelley's The Last Man 1:01:46

2M ago1:01:46

1:01:46

The Spiders encounter Mary Shelley's The Last Man, in which grief is transfigured into a radically inventive and astonishingly bleak post-apocalyptic sci-fi novel whose impact and legacy are undone by a complete lack of editing.By Xi Draconis Books

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S4 Ep53: Gelatinous Eggs and Dead Anti-Worlds: The Mystery of Stanisław Lem's His Master's Voice 1:03:05

2M ago1:03:05

1:03:05

In this episode, the Spiders discuss the heady and intriguing His Master's Voice, a first-contact novel that turns the trope upside down, to good effect.By Xi Draconis Books

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S4 Ep52: Despicability and Empathy in Patrick Barney's Gusano 1:13:51

3M ago1:13:51

1:13:51

In this episode, the hosts of Book Spider, along with special guest Eddie Kim, discuss the recently released horror novel Gusano, written by founding spider himself, Patrick Barney.By Xi Draconis Books

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S4 Ep51: Accepting the mushiness of Jeff Vandermeer's Acceptance 54:27

4M ago54:27

54:27

In which the Spiders consider Acceptance, the third book in Jeff Vandermeer's Southern Reach trilogy, and a step down from the focused mood and mystery of the first two installments -- though not without its virtues.By Xi Draconis Books

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S4 Ep50: Transparent Satire and Opaque Plotting in Jeff Vandermeer's Authority 48:20

4M ago48:20

48:20

A discussion of Jeff Vandermeer's Authority, the second book in the Southern Reach Trilogy. The spiders find that it strikes an uncommonly good balance between that which is understood readily and that which can't be understood at all.By Xi Draconis Books

1
S4 Ep50: Inverted Emotional Polarities in the two Annihilations 50:33

5M ago50:33

50:33

A discussion of Jeff Vandermeer's novel Annihilation, in which the Spiders can't help comparing it to Alex Garner's film adaptation, in particular the ways in which one character's arc turns her outward while the other's turns her inward.By Xi Draconis Books

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S4 Ep49: Part 3 of DeLillo's Underworld 1:10:48

5M ago1:10:48

1:10:48

In which we finish the Underworld Triptych.By Xi Draconis Books

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S4 Ep48: DeLillo's Underworld, part 2 and Patrick Barney's new novel, Gusano 1:16:37

6M ago1:16:37

1:16:37

In this episode, we navigate the challenging and beautiful middle sections of DeLillo's Underworld. Before that, though, we listen to an excerpt from cohost Patrick Barney's new novel, Gusano.By Xi Draconis Books

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S4 Ep47: Enjoying the Longest DeLillo - Underworld - Part 1 57:10

6M ago57:10

57:10

The first in a three-parter in which we tackle DeLillo's meganovel, Underworld. In this episode we discuss just about the first third of the novel. And: We crack ourselves up imagining a Werner Herzog baseball documentary.By Xi Draconis Books

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S4 Ep46: The Opacity of Violence: Elias Khoury's Gate of the Sun 55:40

7M ago55:40

55:40

In this episode, the Spiders try to analyze Elias Khoury's Gate of the Sun, a harrowing novel of the decades-long occupation of Palestine by Israel. However, the challenge is overwhelming, as it appears that violence may not be interpretable.By Xi Draconis Books

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S4 Ep45: The boundary between golden myth and secret history in Don DeLillo's Pafko at the Wall 50:11

8M ago50:11

50:11

The spiders consider the novella Pafko at the Wall, the first fifty pages of Don DeLillo's Underworld. Does its careful examination of its period kitsch reveal a deeper thematic weight? I mean, probably.By Xi Draconis Books

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S4 Ep43: Mysteries of connection and communication in Katie Kitamura's Intimacies 1:00:35

8M ago1:00:35

1:00:35

By Xi Draconis Books

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S4 Ep44: The Joy and Frustration in Not Going Too Deep Into the Details of Nabokov's Pale Fire 47:40

9M ago47:40

47:40

In which we struggle to talk about a text that is famous for generating endless discussion about how to talk about it.By Xi Draconis Books

1
S4 Ep42: Sandra Newman's Julia, and George Orwell's 1984 1:06:46

9M ago1:06:46

1:06:46

In this episode, the spiders discuss Julia, by Sandra Newman, which is a retelling of 1984, by George Orwell. Julia tells the classic dystopian tale from the perspective of the original's main female character, and in so doing, retcons the original in both positive and negative ways.By Xi Draconis Books

1
S4 Ep41: Power, abuse, and doubled families in Otessa Moshfegh's Eileen 57:02

10M ago57:02

57:02

The Spiders pick over Otessa Moshfegh's novel Eileen, a novel whose protagonist's gaze might have its own spidery quality.By Xi Draconis Books

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S4 Ep39: The Garden of Seven Twilights and the Postmodern Mega-Novel 1:04:10

10M ago1:04:10

1:04:10

In which the Spider tries to unravel the tangled web of Miquel de Palol's The Garden of Seven Twilights, the Catalan language's addition to the canon of postmodern meganovelistic bricks like Infinite Jest and Gravity's Rainbow.By Xi Draconis Books

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S4 Ep40: The Complexity of Stasis in Lexi Freiman's The Book of Ayn 57:16

11M ago57:16

57:16

In this episode we discuss Lexi Freiman's new book, The Book of Ayn. We talk about objectivism, the relationship between humor and ideology, the difficulties of interrogating meaning through the perspectives of unreliable narrators, and the perpetual rightness of Patrick Barney.By Xi Draconis Books

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S4 Ep38: David Nikki Crouse's I'm Here: Alaska Stories 53:29

11M ago53:29

53:29

In this episode, the spiders are joined by a special guest, the author of several notable short story collections, David Nikki Crouse. We ask David craft questions about their most recent story collection, I'm Here: Alaska Stories. David gives insightful answers on a variety of topics, including class, identity, and the myth of Alaska.…

1
S4 Ep37: Ben Okri's The Famished Road and the worst tendencies of magical realism 49:53

12M ago49:53

49:53

In which the Spiders grudgingly admit to not connecting with Ben Okri's legendary The Famished Road, inspiration for the best early Radiohead song, and a novel which works much better in bits and fragments than it does as a unified whole.By Xi Draconis Books

1
S4 Ep36: The Future of Literacy and Vernor Vinge's Novel, Rainbows End 1:01:35

1y ago1:01:35

1:01:35

Note: Some audio issues with our mics in this episode. Apologies for the diminished quality. In this episode, the boys discuss the future of literacy - in large part to avoid discussing Vinge's disappointing novel. We touch upon what the emergence of generative AI might mean for writing and reading, and we talk about the craft of writing about the …

1
S4 Ep35: Literary Olives and the Distortions of the Moment in Richard Powers's Galatea 2.2 47:07

1y ago47:07

47:07

The Spiders are unsure how to approach Richard Powers's Galatea 2.2, a novel which they find eerily predictive of the methods used to build contemporary AI programs like ChatGPT. Does the contemporary relevance of its scientific principles cause us to overrate its thematic depth, or to look in the wrong places for meaning? And can Chris and Hans fo…

1
S4 Ep34: Is it ethically okay to enjoy the work of monstrous artists? 1:09:02

1y ago1:09:02

1:09:02

A discussion of Mary Beth Willard's "Why it's OK to enjoy the work of immoral artists," a philosophical text which advances the titular thesis, with a specific focus on Hans and Patrick's relationship to the classic early work of industrial-metal singer and alleged abusive partner Marilyn Manson.By Xi Draconis Books

1
S4 Ep33: Truth, Morals, and Intention in Literature: Aristotle's Poetics and More 1:11:26

1y ago1:11:26

1:11:26

In this episode, the Book Spider hosts discuss three important questions in literature: Can literature contain or reveal truth? What is the relationship between literature and morality? And how seriously should we take an author's intentions when discussing her work? The hosts employ a range of background texts to address these questions, including…

1
S4 Ep32: Cultural Insensitivity and Beautiful Language in Graham Greene's The Power and the Glory 1:16:46

1+ y ago1:16:46

1:16:46

In this episode, we discuss the tiny, ugly ways an otherwise beautifully written novel can age, as well as Patrick's inclination to invoke WWOD (What Would Orwell Do?).By Xi Draconis Books

1
S4 Ep30: Interpolations and Internal States in Checkout 19 1:05:02

1+ y ago1:05:02

1:05:02

The Spiders puzzle admiringly over Claire-Louise Bennett's Checkout 19, which uses interpolated stories and a fractured narrative to explore the barriers facing artistically inclined women in a sexist society. Special focus is given to the story of Tarquin Superbus, which so charmed us that we've perhaps had a difficult time exploring other aspects…

1
S4 Ep31: The Art of Making Meaninglessness Comforting in Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy 1:01:05

1+ y ago1:01:05

1:01:05

In this episode, we discuss the lasting phenomenon that is the Hitchhikers' media series. Just why is it so popular? It's not extraordinarily profound. It's certainly not upbeat, either. But: it caught the world at the right time and: it was written to be very easily digestible by a lot of different folks.…

1
S4 Ep29: Moral Ambiguity and Magical Fetishism in Thomas Hardy's The Mayor of Casterbridge 57:27

1+ y ago57:27

57:27

In this episode, the Book Spider hosts tackle The Mayor of Casterbridge, by Thomas Hardy. Casterbridge is a complex novel about the rise and fall of Michael Henchard. After dramatically selling his wife and baby daughter to a stranger for five pounds, Henchard vows to abstain from alcohol for twenty years. Eighteen years after this event, the novel…

1
S4 Ep28: Female Perspectives and the Weight of Submission in The Unbearable Lightness of Being 1:09:39

1+ y ago1:09:39

1:09:39

Does submission to fate bring weight or lightness? Can Milan Kundera find the clit? Special guest Sarah Ashcraft joins us to discuss The Unbearable Lightness of being, a novel whose deceptive readability hides its thematic obscurity.By Xi Draconis Books

1
S4 Ep27: What the hell is happening in our heads in Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse 52:17

1+ y ago52:17

52:17

In this episode, we discuss the close attention Woolf gives to her characters and how mercurial and impermanent we are under her atomic analysis. We also discuss why, it seems, To the Lighthouse is a 1 of 1, rarely emulated (at least successfully) despite the fact that Woolf is in the canon. In fact, brilliant as she is - or maybe because of her br…

1
S4 Ep26: Empathy and Indeterminacy in Russell Banks' Lost Memory of Skin 1:02:00

1+ y ago1:02:00

1:02:00

In this episode, the Book Spider hosts discuss Lost Memory of Skin, a novel that seeks to empathize with probably the most reviled subgroup in the entire world: pedophiles. The novel follows the exploits of a young sex criminal known only as the kid, whose life of hardship culminates in an attempt to meet a teenage girl for sex. In the aftermath, t…

1
S4 Ep25: On Quantum Theory and Social Justice in Namwali Serpell's The Furrows 1:11:40

1+ y ago1:11:40

1:11:40

The spiders attempt to fit together the refracting, self-contradictory plot and reconcile the competing thematic strands of Namwali Serpell's enigmatic The Furrows, which might or might not be a compelling meditation on grief and loss.By Xi Draconis Books

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S4 Ep24: Humor, Madness, and Existential Dread in Cormac McCarthy's newest duology: The Passenger and Stella Maris 1:13:01

1+ y ago1:13:01

1:13:01

In this episode we discuss McCarthy's newest two novels, published a couple months apart but obviously intended to be read together. And we talk about why, though they are excellent, these are such awful books for young writers to read and try to emulate. Don't even try it, kids. Leave this particular magic to McCarthy.…

1
S4 Ep23: Erotic Grotesqueries in The Flowers of Evil by Charles Baudelaire 59:46

2y ago59:46

59:46

In this episode, we discuss a collection of poems by Charles Baudelaire, The Flowers of Evil. This collection revels in despair and decay, in erotic death. Come along with us into the depths of pain and sexual horror.By Xi Draconis Books

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S4 Ep22: Uncanny Perspectives on Art and Love in Robert Aickman's Painted Devils 1:06:30

2y ago1:06:30

1:06:30

The spider tackles Painted Devils, a collection of strange stories (perhaps not horror but darkly surreal in a horror-adjacent way) by the author Robert Aickman. Dense and enigmatic, these stories use the uncanny to explore various themes, particularly the life of the artist. Recorded just in time for Halloween but then posted in the middle of Janu…

1
S4 Ep21: Authenticity in Drew Hayden Taylor's AlterNatives 50:44

2y ago50:44

50:44

In which we discuss, among other things: The proper level of shame one should feel for liking the television show Friends. Whether we would antagonize the rich hosts of a dinner party thrown by tech bros - should we somehow find ourselves invited. The big and messy and fascinating ideas - and bargain basement humor - of Drew Hayden Taylor's play ab…

1
S4 Ep20: Being Mixed and Being American: Jean Toomer's Cane 1:07:07

2y ago1:07:07

1:07:07

In this episode, the hosts of Book Spider discuss Jean Toomer's Cane, a collection of poems and stories that evoke rural Georgia of the early 1900s. The critic Henry Louis Gates Jr. calls attention to Cane's use of black, white, and especially mixed-race characters to represent the American experience, an astounding literary innovation never used b…

1
S4 Ep19: On Irresolution and Indeterminacy in Dana Spiotta's Wayward 52:34

2y ago52:34

52:34

The podcast's second go-round with author Dana Spiotta sees us dig into her most recent novel Wayward, which makes a bold effort to argue for nuance and subtlety in the sociopolitical chaos following the 2016 election (for everyone except finance bros, who remain one-dimensional shitheads).By Xi Draconis Books

1
S4 Ep18: Heinrich Böll's Billiards at Half Past Nine 51:14

2y ago51:14

51:14

This week, we discuss Böll's compelling but messy multigenerational, German POV reflection on the World Wars, evil, and their impact on the lives of common people.By Xi Draconis Books

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S4 Ep17: Psychological Dread in Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca 59:33

2y ago59:33

59:33

This episode, the Book Spider gang discusses an early suspense / psychological thriller novel, Rebecca, which deals with the melancholia a nameless narrator experiences when she marries a rich man and moves to his huge estate on a whim, only to find that the memories of her husband's first wife haunt the very ground upon which she walks.…

1
S4 Ep16: Benjamin Labatut's When We Cease to Understand the World 57:56

2y ago57:56

57:56

This week we're dissecting a book which mixes fiction and nonfiction in ways which are enigmatic, compelling, and -- to some readers -- morally suspicious. Benjamin Labatut's When We Cease to Understand the World follows the fictionalized biographies of several scientists and mathematicians as they discover the principles which become quantum mecha…

1
S4 Ep15: Joshua Ferris's Then We Came to the End 1:07:47

2y ago1:07:47

1:07:47

This week, we discuss Ferris's famous "we" novel about late 2000s office space culture, and get briefly melancholic about what work friends felt like in the pre-pandemic world.By Xi Draconis Books

1
S4 Ep14: Michael Flynn's Eifelheim 58:00

2+ y ago58:00

58:00

This episode, which discusses the modern-day sci-fi classic Eifelheim, features a rarity: all three podcasters agreeing on the quality of the text. Enjoy!By Xi Draconis Books

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S4 Ep13: Joseph McElroy's Lookout Cartridge 1:08:52

2+ y ago1:08:52

1:08:52

In this episode the three Spiders do their damnedest to wrap their heads around Lookout Cartridge, which is generally agreed to be the best novel by Joseph McElroy, an enigmatic postmodernist who is often considered an underrated peer of DeLillo, Pynchon, Gass, Gaddis, and the rest of the '60s and '70s greats.…

1
S4 Ep12: Italo Calvino's If on a winter's night a traveler 46:57

2+ y ago46:57

46:57

This week, we discuss Calvino's willful commitment to celebrate the act of reading by refusing to give readers what they want - over and over and over again.By Xi Draconis Books

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S4 Ep11: Human and Nonhuman Minds in Paul Auster's Timbuktu and Olaf Stapledon's Sirius 1:00:48

2+ y ago1:00:48

1:00:48

In this episode, we compare two novels with dog protagonists and discuss form, technique, and how a writer can represent nonhuman minds.By Xi Draconis Books

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S4 Ep10: Tanya Tagaq's Split Tooth 1:03:05

2+ y ago1:03:05

1:03:05

The Book Spider crew puzzles over Tanya Tagaq's Split Tooth, a novelish work whose mixture of bleak slice-of-life vignettes with a more fantastic, spiritual register seems like it might be magical realism (but definitely probably isn't). Are we ill-equipped to understand this work, or are we bringing the wrong tools for the job? Check out the episo…

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S4 Ep9: Martin Dressler: The Tale of an American Dreamer by Steven Millhauser 1:03:30

2+ y ago1:03:30

1:03:30

In this episode, we discuss the dreamy, expansive, magical, and somehow also frustrating Martin Dressler, as well as some right and wrong ways to criticize capitalist systems.By Xi Draconis Books

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