What draws us beyond a writer’s books and into their life? Why do some authors inspire us to seek out letters, journals, interviews, and biographies while others remain known to us only through their work? In this episode, Trevor and Paul are joined by Dr. James Bailey, author of Like a Cat Loves a Bird, a new book exploring the life and work of Muriel Spark. Rather than focusing on biography as a genre, the conversation wanders through a variety of questions about writers and readers: what prompts our curiosity about authors, what we hope to discover when we learn more about their lives, whether biographical knowledge enriches or complicates our reading, and which writers have inspired us to look beyond the page.

Along the way, James discusses his fascination with Muriel Spark, the origins of Like a Cat Loves a Bird, and what it means to spend time in the company of a writer’s work and life.

2026 Novella Book Club

We have announced the four novellas we will be reading for The Mookse and Gripes Novella Book Club in 2026!

• January: Daisy Miller, by Henry James

• April: An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter, by César Aira

• July: The Hour of the Star, by Clarice Lispector

• September: Prelude, by Katherine Mansfield

Discussions will be hosted at The Mookse and the Gripes Discord (see below!).

We’ve got some fantastic author-focused episodes lined up for the foreseeable future, and we want to give you plenty of time to dive in if you’d like to read along with us. These episodes come around every ten episodes, and with our bi-weekly release schedule, you’ll have a few months to get ready for each. Here’s what we have in store:

• Episode 135: William Faulkner

• Episode 145: Elizabeth Taylor

• Episode 155: Naguib Mahfouz

• Episode 165: Annie Ernaux

• Episode 175: Henry James

There’s no rush—take your time, and grab a book (or two, or three) so you’re prepared for these as they come!

Join the Mookse and the Gripes on Discord

Want to share your thoughts on these upcoming authors or anything else we’re discussing? Join us over on Discord! It’s the perfect place to dive deeper into the conversation—whether you’re reading along with our author-focused episodes or just want to chat about the books that are on your mind.

We’re also just about to read the second novella book club book of 2026: An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter, by César Aira, translated by Chris Andrews. It’s a fantastic book, and we’d love to have you join the discussion. It’s a great space to engage with fellow listeners, share your insights, and discover new perspectives on the books you’re reading.

Join here!

Shownotes

• Like a Cat Loves a Bird: The Nine Lives of Muriel Spark, by James Bailey

• James:

  • Moby-Dick: or, The Whale, by Herman Melville

  • Every Day Is Mother’s Day, by Hilary Mantel

  • Vacant Possession, by Hilary Mantel

• Paul: A Marsh Island, by Sarah Orne Jewett

• Trevor: The Ambassadors, by Henry James

The Mookse and the Gripes Podcast is a bookish conversation hosted by Paul and Trevor. Every other week, we explore a bookish topic and celebrate our love of reading. We’re glad you’re here, and we hope you’ll continue to join us on this literary journey!

Subscribe now

A huge thank you to those who help make this podcast possible! If you’d like to support us, you can do so via Substack or Patreon. Subscribers receive access to periodic bonus episodes and early access to all new episodes. Plus, each supporter gets their own dedicated feed, allowing them to download episodes a few days before they’re released to the public. We’d love for you to check it out!

For the second installment in our series on the three pieces of a book, we turn from beginnings to that more difficult territory: the middle. What happens in the middle of a book? Is it simply the space connecting a strong opening to a satisfying ending? In this episode we explore the experience of living inside a book: development, repetition, immersion, wandering, pressure, rhythm. This feels like the space where the book does its work. We discuss the middles of sprawling novels as well short stories, asking what middles do and why thinking about this has helped us become less reactive and more attentive readers.

2026 Novella Book Club

We have announced the four novellas we will be reading for The Mookse and Gripes Novella Book Club in 2026!

• January: Daisy Miller, by Henry James

• April: An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter, by César Aira

• July: The Hour of the Star, by Clarice Lispector

• September: Prelude, by Katherine Mansfield

Discussions will be hosted at The Mookse and the Gripes Discord (see below!).

We’ve got some fantastic author-focused episodes lined up for the foreseeable future, and we want to give you plenty of time to dive in if you’d like to read along with us. These episodes come around every ten episodes, and with our bi-weekly release schedule, you’ll have a few months to get ready for each. Here’s what we have in store:

• Episode 135: William Faulkner

• Episode 145: Elizabeth Taylor

• Episode 155: Naguib Mahfouz

• Episode 165: Annie Ernaux

• Episode 175: Henry James

There’s no rush—take your time, and grab a book (or two, or three) so you’re prepared for these as they come!

Join the Mookse and the Gripes on Discord

Want to share your thoughts on these upcoming authors or anything else we’re discussing? Join us over on Discord! It’s the perfect place to dive deeper into the conversation—whether you’re reading along with our author-focused episodes or just want to chat about the books that are on your mind.

We’re also just about to read the second novella book club book of 2026: An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter, by César Aira, translated by Chris Andrews. It’s a fantastic book, and we’d love to have you join the discussion. It’s a great space to engage with fellow listeners, share your insights, and discover new perspectives on the books you’re reading.

Join here!

Shownotes

• In Trees: An Exploration, by Robert Moor

• On Trails: An Exploration, by Robert Moore

• If This Be Magic: The Unlikely Art of Shakespeare in Translation, by Daniel Hahn

• A General Theory of Oblivion, by José Eduardo Agualusa, translated by Daniel Hahn

• Catching Fire: A Translation Diary, by Daniel Hahn

• The Unconsoled, by Kazuo Ishiguro

• 2666, by Roberto Bolaño, translated by Natasha Wimmer

• In Search of Lost Time, by Marcel Proust

• Middlemarch, by George Eliot

• Lonesome Dove, by Larry McMurtry

• First Love, by Ivan Turgenev

• Giovanni’s Room, by James Baldwin

• The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, by Muriel Spark

• Daisy Miller, by Henry James

• An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter, by César Aira, translated by Chris Andrews

• Train Dreams, by Denis Johnson

• Effingers, by Gabriele Tergit, translated by Sophie Duvernoy

• To the Lighthouse, by Virginia Woolf

• “A Good Man Is Hard to Find,” by Flannery O’Connor

• Reinhardt’s Garden, by Mark Haber

• Lesser Ruins, by Mark Haber

• Ada, by Mark Haber

• Ducks, Newburyport, by Lucy Ellmann

• Moby-Dick: or, The Whale, by Herman Melville

• If on a winter’s night a traveler, by Italo Calvino, translated by William Weaver

• Pale Fire, by Vladimir Nabokov

• Cloud Atlas, by David Mitchell

• House of Leaves, by Mark Z. Danielewski

• Audition, by Katie Kitamura

• Transcription, by Ben Lerner

• 2666, by Roberto Bolaño, translated by Natasha Wimmer

• Like a Cat Loves a Bird: The Nine Lives of Muriel Spark, by James Bailey

• Absalom, Absalom!, by William Faulkner

• The Sound and the Fury, by William Faulkner

• Light in August, by William Faulkner

• As I Lay Dying, by William Faulkner

• The Hour of the Star, by Clarice Lispector

The Mookse and the Gripes Podcast is a bookish conversation hosted by Paul and Trevor. Every other week, we explore a bookish topic and celebrate our love of reading. We’re glad you’re here, and we hope you’ll continue to join us on this literary journey!

Subscribe now

A huge thank you to those who help make this podcast possible! If you’d like to support us, you can do so via Substack or Patreon. Subscribers receive access to periodic bonus episodes and early access to all new episodes. Plus, each supporter gets their own dedicated feed, allowing them to download episodes a few days before they’re released to the public. We’d love for you to check it out!

In this episode, we take a look at the books we have on our nightstands and what they say about us! From the current reads, the aspirational tomes, the comfort books, the neglected books that somehow never leave the stack, and the ever-growing piles of good intentions, what makes a book a “nightstand book” instead of a shelf book? What do our bedside stacks reveal about our habits, ambitions, moods. And how often do our actual reading lives diverge from the readers we imagine ourselves to be?

Along the way, we talk about reading rituals, unfinished books, literary guilt, late-night attention spans, and the strange intimacy of the books we keep closest at hand.

2026 Novella Book Club

We have announced the four novellas we will be reading for The Mookse and Gripes Novella Book Club in 2026!

• January: Daisy Miller, by Henry James

• April: An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter, by César Aira

• July: The Hour of the Star, by Clarice Lispector

• September: Prelude, by Katherine Mansfield

Discussions will be hosted at The Mookse and the Gripes Discord (see below!).

We’ve got some fantastic author-focused episodes lined up for the foreseeable future, and we want to give you plenty of time to dive in if you’d like to read along with us. These episodes come around every ten episodes, and with our bi-weekly release schedule, you’ll have a few months to get ready for each. Here’s what we have in store:

• Episode 135: William Faulkner

• Episode 145: Elizabeth Taylor

• Episode 155: Naguib Mahfouz

• Episode 165: Annie Ernaux

• Episode 175: Henry James

There’s no rush—take your time, and grab a book (or two, or three) so you’re prepared for these as they come!

Join the Mookse and the Gripes on Discord

Want to share your thoughts on these upcoming authors or anything else we’re discussing? Join us over on Discord! It’s the perfect place to dive deeper into the conversation—whether you’re reading along with our author-focused episodes or just want to chat about the books that are on your mind.

We’re also just about to read the second novella book club book of 2026: An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter, by César Aira, translated by Chris Andrews. It’s a fantastic book, and we’d love to have you join the discussion. It’s a great space to engage with fellow listeners, share your insights, and discover new perspectives on the books you’re reading.

Join here!

Shownotes

• Reading Lolita in Tehran, by Azar Nafisi

• Read Dangerously: The Subversive Power of Literature in Troubled Times, by Azar Nafisi

• Talking Classics: The Shock of the Old, by Mary Beard

• The Lord of the Flies, by William Golding

• The Other Bennet Sister, by Janice Hadlow

• The Bachelors, by Muriel Spark

• Like a Cat Loves a Bird: The Nine Lives of Muriel Spark, by James Bailey

• Red Comet: The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath, by Heather Clark

• The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, by Muriel Spark

Once we get to the general discussion I stopped copying the books we mentioned, but let me know if you have questions and I can find you anything!

The Mookse and the Gripes Podcast is a bookish conversation hosted by Paul and Trevor. Every other week, we explore a bookish topic and celebrate our love of reading. We’re glad you’re here, and we hope you’ll continue to join us on this literary journey!

Subscribe now

A huge thank you to those who help make this podcast possible! If you’d like to support us, you can do so via Substack or Patreon. Subscribers receive access to periodic bonus episodes and early access to all new episodes. Plus, each supporter gets their own dedicated feed, allowing them to download episodes a few days before they’re released to the public. We’d love for you to check it out!

This week, we’re joined by Nick During and Abigail Dunn from New York Review Books for a wide-ranging conversation about the world of NYRB. From Classics to Kids, Comics to Poets, we explore what gives these books their distinct spirit and why so many readers find themselves returning to those familiar spines again and again.

Along the way, we talk about recent releases, a few titles currently on our nightstands, and some of the surprises that come with bringing books back into print. It’s a conversation about discovery, rediscovery, and the quiet pleasure of finding the right book at the right time. Plus, they shed some light on some surprises on the horizon!

2026 Novella Book Club

We have announced the four novellas we will be reading for The Mookse and Gripes Novella Book Club in 2026!

• January: Daisy Miller, by Henry James

• April: An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter, by César Aira

• July: The Hour of the Star, by Clarice Lispector

• September: Prelude, by Katherine Mansfield

Discussions will be hosted at The Mookse and the Gripes Discord (see below!).

We’ve got some fantastic author-focused episodes lined up for the foreseeable future, and we want to give you plenty of time to dive in if you’d like to read along with us. These episodes come around every ten episodes, and with our bi-weekly release schedule, you’ll have a few months to get ready for each. Here’s what we have in store:

• Episode 135: William Faulkner

• Episode 145: Elizabeth Taylor

• Episode 155: Naguib Mahfouz

• Episode 165: Annie Ernaux

• Episode 175: Henry James

There’s no rush—take your time, and grab a book (or two, or three) so you’re prepared for these as they come!

Join the Mookse and the Gripes on Discord

Want to share your thoughts on these upcoming authors or anything else we’re discussing? Join us over on Discord! It’s the perfect place to dive deeper into the conversation—whether you’re reading along with our author-focused episodes or just want to chat about the books that are on your mind.

We’re also just about to read the second novella book club book of 2026: An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter, by César Aira, translated by Chris Andrews. It’s a fantastic book, and we’d love to have you join the discussion. It’s a great space to engage with fellow listeners, share your insights, and discover new perspectives on the books you’re reading.

Join here!

Shownotes

• East of Dreams, by Nastassja Martin

• In the Eye of the Wild, by Nastassja Martin

• The Death of a Greek Lover, by David Plante

• Difficult Women: A Memoir of Three, by David Plante

• Too L.A.: Letters Never Sent (But Some Were), by Eve Babitz

• Jesus Christs, by A.J. Langguth

• Effingers, by Gabriele Tergit, translated by Sophie Duvernoy

• Käsebier Takes Berlin, by Gabriele Tergit, translated by Sophie Duvernoy

• Things in Nature Merely Grow, by Yiyun Li

• Crazy Genie, by Inès Cagnati, translated by Liesl Schillinger

• Light While There Is Light: An American History, by Keith Waldrop

• “The Old Forest,” by Peter Taylor

• The Netanyahus, by Joshua Cohen

• Onward and Upward in the Garden, by Katharine S. White

• Divorcing, by Susan Taubes

• Lament for Julia, by Susan Taubes

• Free Day, by Inès Cagnati, translated by Liesl Schillinger

• Family Lexicon, by Natalia Ginzburg, translated by Jenny McPhee

• Valentino & Sagittarius, by Natalia Ginzburg, translated by Avril Bardoni

• Lies and Sorcery, by Elsa Morante, translated by Jenny McPhee

• Pittsburgh, by Frank Santoro

• Proper Doctoring: A Book for Patients and Their Doctors, by David Mendel

• Shakespeare’s Montaigne: The Florio Translation

• Proensa: An Anthology of Troubadour Poetry, selected and translated by Paul Blackburn

• The Interior Landscape: Classical Tamil Love Poems, translated by A.K. Ramanujan

• After Lorca, by Jack Spicer

• A Woman of Thirty, by Honoré de Balzac, translated by Jeanine Herman

• Turtle Diary, by Russell Hoban

• The Marzipan Pig, by Russell Hoban

• Château Rouge, by Amit Chaudhuri

• First Love, by Gwendolyn Riley

• My Phantoms, by Gwendolyn Riley

• The Palm House, by Gwendolyn Riley

• Memories of the Future, by Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky, translated by Joanne Turnbull

• Smoke, by Ivan Turgenev, translated by Donald Rayfield

• Diary Without Vowels, by Aleksander Wat, translated by Alissa Valles

• The Lord, by Soraya Antonius

• Where the Djinn Consult, by Soraya Antonius

• Levitations, by Easton Smith

• Bristol, by Jean Echenoz, translated by Mark Polizzotti

• Command Performance, by Jean Echenoz, translated by Mark Polizzotti

• Bina: A Novel in Warnings, by Anakana Schofield

• Library of Brothel, by Anakana Schofield

• I Liked Rex, by Diane Williams

• The Kingdom of Agamemnon, by Vladimir Sharov, translated by Oliver Ready

• Borges, by Adolfo Bioy Casares, translated by Valerie Miles

• Morel’s Invention, by Adolfo Bioy Casares, translated by Margaret Jull Costa

• Zama, by Antonio Di Benedetto, translated by Esther Allen

• The Silentiary, by Antonio Di Benedetto, translated by Esther Allen

• The Suicides, by Antonio Di Benedetto, translated by Esther Allen

• Bomarzo, by Manuel Mujica Lainez, translated by Gregory Rabassa

• Life and Fate, by Vasily Grossman, translated by Robert Chandler

• Blood Dark, by Louis Guilloux, translated by Laura Marris

• An African in Greenland, by Tete-Michel Kpomassie, translated by James Kirkup

• A High Wind in Jamaica, by Richard Hughes

• Max Havelaar: Or, the Coffee Auctions of The Dutch Trading Company, by Multatuli, translated by Ina Rilke and David McKay

• The Enchanted April, by Elizabeth von Arnim

• Woman Running in the Mountains, by Yūko Tsushima, translated by Geraldine Harcourt

• The Culling Time, by Yūko Tsushima, translated by Dennis Washburn

• Loved and Missed, by Susie Boyt

• The Sweet Dove Died, by Barbara Pym

• Memoirs from Beyond the Grave, by François-Réne de Chateaubriand, translated by Alex Andriesse

• The Story of a Life, by Konstantin Paustovsky, translated by Douglas Smith

The Mookse and the Gripes Podcast is a bookish conversation hosted by Paul and Trevor. Every other week, we explore a bookish topic and celebrate our love of reading. We’re glad you’re here, and we hope you’ll continue to join us on this literary journey!

Subscribe now

A huge thank you to those who help make this podcast possible! If you’d like to support us, you can do so via Substack or Patreon. Subscribers receive access to periodic bonus episodes and early access to all new episodes. Plus, each supporter gets their own dedicated feed, allowing them to download episodes a few days before they’re released to the public. We’d love for you to check it out!

In this episode, we begin a three-part series on the movements of a novel, starting with the opening. Not just the first line or even the first chapter, but that early stretch where a book begins to take shape, sets the tone, introduces its concerns, and makes its promises to the reader.

What do we look for in an opening movement? What helps us trust a book? And how do great openings draw us in? We talk about some of our favorite examples and consider how novels teach us how to read them from the very start.

2026 Novella Book Club

We have announced the four novellas we will be reading for The Mookse and Gripes Novella Book Club in 2026!

• January: Daisy Miller, by Henry James

• April: An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter, by César Aira

• July: The Hour of the Star, by Clarice Lispector

• September: Prelude, by Katherine Mansfield

Discussions will be hosted at The Mookse and the Gripes Discord (see below!).

We’ve got some fantastic author-focused episodes lined up for the foreseeable future, and we want to give you plenty of time to dive in if you’d like to read along with us. These episodes come around every ten episodes, and with our bi-weekly release schedule, you’ll have a few months to get ready for each. Here’s what we have in store:

• Episode 135: William Faulkner

• Episode 145: Elizabeth Taylor

• Episode 155: Naguib Mahfouz

• Episode 165: Annie Ernaux

• Episode 175: Henry James

There’s no rush—take your time, and grab a book (or two, or three) so you’re prepared for these as they come!

Join the Mookse and the Gripes on Discord

Want to share your thoughts on these upcoming authors or anything else we’re discussing? Join us over on Discord! It’s the perfect place to dive deeper into the conversation—whether you’re reading along with our author-focused episodes or just want to chat about the books that are on your mind.

We’re also just about to read the second novella book club book of 2026: An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter, by César Aira, translated by Chris Andrews. It’s a fantastic book, and we’d love to have you join the discussion. It’s a great space to engage with fellow listeners, share your insights, and discover new perspectives on the books you’re reading.

Join here!

Shownotes

What are we reading?

• Paul: My Friends, by Hisham Matar

• Trevor: The Witch, by Marie NDiaye, translated by Jordan Stump

Other books mentioned:

• A Month in Sienna, by Hisham Matar

• Rosie Carp, by Marie NDiaye, translated by Tamsin Black

• All My Friends, by Marie NDiaye, translated by Jordan Stump

• Self-Portrait in Green, by Marie NDiaye, translated by Jordan Stump

• My Heart Hemmed In, by Marie NDiaye, translated by Jordan Stump

• Ladivine, by Marie NDiaye, translated by Jordan Stump

• The Cheffe: A Cook’s Novel, by Marie NDiaye, translated by Jordan Stump

• Vengeance Is Mine, by Marie NDiaye, translated by Jordan Stump

• Three Strong Women, by Marie NDiaye, translated by John Fletcher

• Finnegans Wake, by James Joyce

• Paradise Lost, by John Milton

• The Divine Comedy, by Dante

• If on a winter’s night a traveler . . ., by Italo Calvino, translated by William Weaver

• David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens

• Austerlitz, by W.G. Sebald, translated by Anthea Bell

• Piranesi, by Susanna Clarke

• Villette, by Charlotte Bronte

• The Portrait of a Lady, by Henry James

• Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens

• The Outsider, by Stephen King

• Pedro Páramo, by Juan Rulfo

• Don Quixote, by Miguel Cervantes

• The Unconsoled, by Kazuo Ishiguro

• The Magic Mountain, by Thomas Mann

• The Comforters, by Muriel Spark

• Memento Mori, by Muriel Spark

• The Ballad of Peckham Rye, by Muriel Spark

• An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter, by César Aira, translated by Chris Andrews

• The Literary Conference, by César Aira, translated by Chris Andrews

• The Namesake, by Jhumpa Lahiri

• The Sound and the Fury, by William Faulkner

• Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration, by Ed Catmull

The Mookse and the Gripes Podcast is a bookish conversation hosted by Paul and Trevor. Every other week, we explore a bookish topic and celebrate our love of reading. We’re glad you’re here, and we hope you’ll continue to join us on this literary journey!

Subscribe now

A huge thank you to those who help make this podcast possible! If you’d like to support us, you can do so via Substack or Patreon. Subscribers receive access to periodic bonus episodes and early access to all new episodes. Plus, each supporter gets their own dedicated feed, allowing them to download episodes a few days before they’re released to the public. We’d love for you to check it out!

This week, we’re joined by Luis Panini to talk about reading projects. What are they? Why do we take them on? What happens when we do? From reading an author’s work in careful chronological order to following looser themes and curiosities, we explore the ways readers give shape to their reading lives. Along the way, we consider the appeal of structure, the pull of serendipity, and the tension between encountering a book on its own terms and seeing it as part of a larger pattern.

As always, we’re less interested in prescribing a “right” way to read than in exploring the possibilities. Whether you’re a devoted project reader or someone who prefers to follow whatever book calls out next, we hope this conversation offers something to enjoy.

Find Luis on Instagram here.

2026 Novella Book Club

We have announced the four novellas we will be reading for The Mookse and Gripes Novella Book Club in 2026!

• January: Daisy Miller, by Henry James

• April: An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter, by César Aira

• July: The Hour of the Star, by Clarice Lispector

• September: Prelude, by Katherine Mansfield

Discussions will be hosted at The Mookse and the Gripes Discord (see below!).

We’ve got some fantastic author-focused episodes lined up for the foreseeable future, and we want to give you plenty of time to dive in if you’d like to read along with us. These episodes come around every ten episodes, and with our bi-weekly release schedule, you’ll have a few months to get ready for each. Here’s what we have in store:

• Episode 135: William Faulkner

• Episode 145: Elizabeth Taylor

• Episode 155: Naguib Mahfouz

• Episode 165: Annie Ernaux

• Episode 175: Henry James

There’s no rush—take your time, and grab a book (or two, or three) so you’re prepared for these as they come!

Join the Mookse and the Gripes on Discord

Want to share your thoughts on these upcoming authors or anything else we’re discussing? Join us over on Discord! It’s the perfect place to dive deeper into the conversation—whether you’re reading along with our author-focused episodes or just want to chat about the books that are on your mind.

We’re also just about to read the second novella book club book of 2026: An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter, by César Aira, translated by Chris Andrews. It’s a fantastic book, and we’d love to have you join the discussion. It’s a great space to engage with fellow listeners, share your insights, and discover new perspectives on the books you’re reading.

Join here!

The Mookse and the Gripes Podcast is a bookish conversation hosted by Paul and Trevor. Every other week, we explore a bookish topic and celebrate our love of reading. We’re glad you’re here, and we hope you’ll continue to join us on this literary journey!

A huge thank you to those who help make this podcast possible! If you’d like to support us, you can do so via Substack or Patreon. Subscribers receive access to periodic bonus episodes and early access to all new episodes. Plus, each supporter gets their own dedicated feed, allowing them to download episodes a few days before they’re released to the public. We’d love for you to check it out!

What books would you want if you were stranded on a desert island?

In this episode, Trevor and Paul each choose three books to take with them into literary isolation: one book they could reread forever, one that would help them maintain their humanity, and one that would give them something to wrestle with for the rest of their lives. Along the way they talk about what kinds of stories might sustain us when the world gets very quiet. Whether you’re imagining your own desert island library or just looking for a few great books to add to your list, join us for a conversation about the books we’d never want to be without.

2026 Novella Book Club

We have announced the four novellas we will be reading for The Mookse and Gripes Novella Book Club in 2026!

• January: Daisy Miller, by Henry James

• April: An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter, by César Aira

• July: The Hour of the Star, by Clarice Lispector

• September: Prelude, by Katherine Mansfield

Discussions will be hosted at The Mookse and the Gripes Discord (see below!).

We’ve got some fantastic author-focused episodes lined up for the foreseeable future, and we want to give you plenty of time to dive in if you’d like to read along with us. These episodes come around every ten episodes, and with our bi-weekly release schedule, you’ll have a few months to get ready for each. Here’s what we have in store:

• Episode 135: William Faulkner

• Episode 145: Elizabeth Taylor

• Episode 155: Naguib Mahfouz

• Episode 165: Annie Ernaux

• Episode 175: Henry James

There’s no rush—take your time, and grab a book (or two, or three) so you’re prepared for these as they come!

Shownotes

What are you reading?

• Paul: Woman Running in the Mountains, by Yuko Tsushima, translated by Geraldine Harcourt

• Trevor: Memento Mori, by Muriel Spark

Works mentinoed

• Territory of Light, by Yuko Tsushima, translated by Geraldine Harcourt

• The Comforters, by Muriel Spark

• Robinson, by Muriel Spark

• The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, by Muriel Spark

• The Driver’s Seat, by Muriel Spark

• Like a Cat Loves a Bird: The Nine Lives of Muriel Spark, by James Bailey

• Robinson Crusoe, by Daniel Defoe

• Moby-Dick: or, The Whale, by Herman Melville

• Lonesome Dove, by Larry McMurtry

• David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens

• To the Lighthouse, by Virginia Woolf

• The Poems of Emily Dickinson

• Middlemarch, by George Eliot

• Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov

• Pale Fire, by Vladimir Nabokov

• Paradise Lost, by John Milton

Join the Mookse and the Gripes on Discord

Want to share your thoughts on these upcoming authors or anything else we’re discussing? Join us over on Discord! It’s the perfect place to dive deeper into the conversation—whether you’re reading along with our author-focused episodes or just want to chat about the books that are on your mind.

We’re also just about to read the second novella book club book of 2026: An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter, by César Aira, translated by Chris Andrews. It’s a fantastic book, and we’d love to have you join the discussion. It’s a great space to engage with fellow listeners, share your insights, and discover new perspectives on the books you’re reading.

Join here!

The Mookse and the Gripes Podcast is a bookish conversation hosted by Paul and Trevor. Every other week, we explore a bookish topic and celebrate our love of reading. We’re glad you’re here, and we hope you’ll continue to join us on this literary journey!

Subscribe now

A huge thank you to those who help make this podcast possible! If you’d like to support us, you can do so via Substack or Patreon. Subscribers receive access to periodic bonus episodes and early access to all new episodes. Plus, each supporter gets their own dedicated feed, allowing them to download episodes a few days before they’re released to the public. We’d love for you to check it out!

We tend to think of books as belonging somewhere: novel, memoir, biography, fantasy, history. Genre gives us orientation and sets expectations. In this episode Trevor and Paul are joined by Rebeccas Hussey of One Bright Book to talk about books that blur boundaries and resist easy classification. Are these books resisting genre? Or are they resisting certainty itself?

Please make sure to check out One Bright Book Podcast as well!

2026 Novella Book Club

We have announced the four novellas we will be reading for The Mookse and Gripes Novella Book Club in 2026!

• January: Daisy Miller, by Henry James

• April: An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter, by César Aira

• July: The Hour of the Star, by Clarice Lispector

• September: Prelude, by Katherine Mansfield

Discussions will be hosted at The Mookse and the Gripes Discord (see below!).

We’ve got some fantastic author-focused episodes lined up for the foreseeable future, and we want to give you plenty of time to dive in if you’d like to read along with us. These episodes come around every ten episodes, and with our bi-weekly release schedule, you’ll have a few months to get ready for each. Here’s what we have in store:

• Episode 135: William Faulkner

• Episode 145: Elizabeth Taylor

• Episode 155: Naguib Mahfouz

• Episode 165: Annie Ernaux

• Episode 175: Henry James

There’s no rush—take your time, and grab a book (or two, or three) so you’re prepared for these as they come!

Shownotes

What are you reading?

• Rebecca: Baldwin: A Love Story, by Nicholas Boggs; Gertrude Stein: An Afterlife, by Francesca Wade

• Paul: A Time to Keep Silence, by Patrick Leigh Fermor

• Trevor: Mule Boy, by Andrew Krivak

Works mentinoed

• Red Comet: The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath, by Heather Clark

• The Making of Americans, by Gertrude Stein

• The Bear, by Andrew Krivak

• The Sojourn, by Andrew Krivak

• The Art of the Personal Essay, by Phillip Lopate

• The Gutenberg Elegies: The Fate of Reading in an Electronic Age, by Sven Bikerts

• Out of Sheer Rage: Wrestling with D. H. Lawrence, by Geoff Dyer

• But Beautiful: A Book About Jazz, by Geoff Dyer

• Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, by Herman Melville

• There’s Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension, by Hanif Abdurraqib

• Cross-Stitch, by Jazmina Barrera, translated by Christina MacSweeney

• On Lighthouses, by Jazmina Barrera, translated by Christina MacSweeney

• Linea Nigra: Essays on Pregnancy and Earthquakes, by Jazmina Barrera, translated by Christina MacSweeney

• The Long Form, by Kate Briggs

• Drifts, by Kate Zambreno

• Orlando, by Virginia Woolf

• Alphabetical Diaries, by Sheila Heti

• Flights, by Olga Tokaczuk, translated by Jennifer Croft

• Dept. of Speculation, by Jenny Offill

• Erik Satie Three Piece Suite, by Ian Penman

• To Write As If Already Dead, by Kate Zambreno

• Suite for Barbara Loden, by Nathalie Léger, translated by Natasha Lehrer and Cécile Menon

• Traces of Enayat, by Iman Mersal, translated by Robin Moger

• Animal Joy: A Book of Laughter and Resuscitation, by Nuar Alsadir

• Camera Lucida: Reflections on Photography, by Roland Barthes, translated by Richard Howard

• Fifty Sounds, by Polly Barton

• Melvill, Rodrigo Fresán, translated by Will Vanderhyden

• Rings of Saturn, by W.G. Sebald, translated by Michael Hulse

• Schattenfroh, by Michael Lenz, translated by Max Lawton

Join the Mookse and the Gripes on Discord

Want to share your thoughts on these upcoming authors or anything else we’re discussing? Join us over on Discord! It’s the perfect place to dive deeper into the conversation—whether you’re reading along with our author-focused episodes or just want to chat about the books that are on your mind.

We’re also just about to read the second novella book club book of 2026: An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter, by César Aira, translated by Chris Andrews. It’s a fantastic book, and we’d love to have you join the discussion. It’s a great space to engage with fellow listeners, share your insights, and discover new perspectives on the books you’re reading.

Join here!

The Mookse and the Gripes Podcast is a bookish conversation hosted by Paul and Trevor. Every other week, we explore a bookish topic and celebrate our love of reading. We’re glad you’re here, and we hope you’ll continue to join us on this literary journey!

Subscribe now

A huge thank you to those who help make this podcast possible! If you’d like to support us, you can do so via Substack or Patreon. Subscribers receive access to periodic bonus episodes and early access to all new episodes. Plus, each supporter gets their own dedicated feed, allowing them to download episodes a few days before they’re released to the public. We’d love for you to check it out!

Is that a good book? It sounds like a simple question. But what does “good” actually mean? In this episode, Trevor and Paul explore the many ways a book can be good. They also reflect on how star ratings and quick takes, as much as we love them, can compress our responses, and why slowing down and considering why a book is “good”might deepen our relationship with the books we love.

2026 Novella Book Club

We have announced the four novellas we will be reading for The Mookse and Gripes Novella Book Club in 2026!

• January: Daisy Miller, by Henry James

• April: An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter, by César Aira

• July: The Hour of the Star, by Clarice Lispector

• September: Prelude, by Katherine Mansfield

Discussions will be hosted at The Mookse and the Gripes Discord (see below!).

We’ve got some fantastic author-focused episodes lined up for the foreseeable future, and we want to give you plenty of time to dive in if you’d like to read along with us. These episodes come around every ten episodes, and with our bi-weekly release schedule, you’ll have a few months to get ready for each. Here’s what we have in store:

• Episode 135: William Faulkner

• Episode 145: Elizabeth Taylor

• Episode 155: Naguib Mahfouz

• Episode 165: Annie Ernaux

• Episode 175: Henry James

There’s no rush—take your time, and grab a book (or two, or three) so you’re prepared for these as they come!

Shownotes

What are you reading?

• Paul: The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion, by Beth Brower

• Trevor: The Disappearing Act, by Maria Stepanova, translated by Sasha Dugdale

Works mentinoed

• King Lear, by William Shakespeare

• The Unconsoled, by Kazuo Ishiguro

• Robinson, by Muriel Spark

• Moby Dick: or, The Whale, by Herman Melville

• Cold Sassy Tree, by Olive Ann Burns

• Your Absence Is Darkness, by Jón Kalman Stefánsson, translated by Philip Roughton

• The Backslider, by Levi S. Peterson

• Gone Girl, by Gillian Flynn

• Ulysses, by James Joyce

• The Murderbot Diaries, by Martha Wells

• Beloved, by Toni Morrison

• Lincoln in the the Bardo, by George Saunders

• Vigil, by George Saunders

Join the Mookse and the Gripes on Discord

Want to share your thoughts on these upcoming authors or anything else we’re discussing? Join us over on Discord! It’s the perfect place to dive deeper into the conversation—whether you’re reading along with our author-focused episodes or just want to chat about the books that are on your mind.

We’re also just about to read the second novella book club book of 2026: An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter, by César Aira, translated by Chris Andrews. It’s a fantastic book, and we’d love to have you join the discussion. It’s a great space to engage with fellow listeners, share your insights, and discover new perspectives on the books you’re reading.

Join here!

The Mookse and the Gripes Podcast is a bookish conversation hosted by Paul and Trevor. Every other week, we explore a bookish topic and celebrate our love of reading. We’re glad you’re here, and we hope you’ll continue to join us on this literary journey!

Subscribe now

A huge thank you to those who help make this podcast possible! If you’d like to support us, you can do so via Substack or Patreon. Subscribers receive access to periodic bonus episodes and early access to all new episodes. Plus, each supporter gets their own dedicated feed, allowing them to download episodes a few days before they’re released to the public. We’d love for you to check it out!

In this author-focused episode, we dive into the strange, funny, violent, and unsettling world of Flannery O’Connor. We talk about what surprised us most in her stories and novels, why her work still provokes such strong reactions, and what it’s like to read her closely today. As always, this is a conversation driven by curiosity, not expertise, and please accept our invitation to read along with us!

2026 Novella Book Club

We have announced the four novellas we will be reading for The Mookse and Gripes Novella Book Club in 2026!

• January: Daisy Miller, by Henry James

• April: An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter, by César Aira

• July: The Hour of the Star, by Clarice Lispector

• September: Prelude, by Katherine Mansfield

Discussions will be hosted at The Mookse and the Gripes Discord (see below!).

We’ve got some fantastic author-focused episodes lined up for the foreseeable future, and we want to give you plenty of time to dive in if you’d like to read along with us. These episodes come around every ten episodes, and with our bi-weekly release schedule, you’ll have a few months to get ready for each. Here’s what we have in store:

• Episode 135: William Faulkner

• Episode 145: Elizabeth Taylor

• Episode 155: Naguib Mahfouz

• Episode 165: Annie Ernaux

• Episode 175: Henry James

There’s no rush—take your time, and grab a book (or two, or three) so you’re prepared for these as they come!

Shownotes

What are you reading?

• Paul: Time Shelter, by Georgi Gospodinov, translated by Angela Rodel; My Heresies, by Alina Stefanescu

• Trevor: Bomarzo, by Manuel Mujica Lainez, translated from the Spanish by Gregory Rabassa; Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time, by Dava Sobel

Flannery O’Connor’s Books

• Wise Blood (1952)

• A Good Man Is Hard to Find (1955)

• The Violent Bear It Away (1960)

• Everything that Rises Must Converge (1965)

• Mystery and Manners: Occasional Prose (1969)

• The Complete Stories (1971)

• The Habit of Being: Letters of Flannery O’Connor (1979)

Join the Mookse and the Gripes on Discord

Want to share your thoughts on these upcoming authors or anything else we’re discussing? Join us over on Discord! It’s the perfect place to dive deeper into the conversation—whether you’re reading along with our author-focused episodes or just want to chat about the books that are on your mind.

We’re also just now in the first novella book club of 2026, where we’re reading Daisy Miller, by Henry James. It’s a fantastic book, and we’d love to have you join the discussion. It’s a great space to engage with fellow listeners, share your insights, and discover new perspectives on the books you’re reading.

Join here!

The Mookse and the Gripes Podcast is a bookish conversation hosted by Paul and Trevor. Every other week, we explore a bookish topic and celebrate our love of reading. We’re glad you’re here, and we hope you’ll continue to join us on this literary journey!

Subscribe now

A huge thank you to those who help make this podcast possible! If you’d like to support us, you can do so via Substack or Patreon. Subscribers receive access to periodic bonus episodes and early access to all new episodes. Plus, each supporter gets their own dedicated feed, allowing them to download episodes a few days before they’re released to the public. We’d love for you to check it out!

We’ve all said it: “I wish I could read that again for the first time.” But what do we really mean when we say it? In this episode, Trevor and Paul explore the magic of first encounters with books. Is it about surprise? Youth? Timing? Being unprepared in the best possible way? Or is it about discovering not just a book, but a new way of reading, thinking, or feeling?

Along the way, we talk about books that opened doors, books we read at exactly the right (or wrong) moment, what rereading gives us. A conversation about memory, generosity, regret, delight, and why reading remains endlessly alive.

2026 Novella Book Club

We have announced the four novellas we will be reading for The Mookse and Gripes Novella Book Club in 2026!

• January: Daisy Miller, by Henry James

• April: An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter, by César Aira

• July: The Hour of the Star, by Clarice Lispector

• September: Prelude, by Katherine Mansfield

Discussions will be hosted at The Mookse and the Gripes Discord (see below!).

We’ve got some fantastic author-focused episodes lined up for the foreseeable future, and we want to give you plenty of time to dive in if you’d like to read along with us. These episodes come around every ten episodes, and with our bi-weekly release schedule, you’ll have a few months to get ready for each. Here’s what we have in store:

• Episode 125: Flannery O’Connor

• Episode 135: William Faulkner

• Episode 145: Elizabeth Taylor

• Episode 155: Naguib Mahfouz

There’s no rush—take your time, and grab a book (or two, or three) so you’re prepared for these as they come!

Shownotes

What are you reading?

• Paul: House of Day, House of Night, by Olga Tokarczuk, translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones

• Trevor: The Comforters, by Muriel Spark

Paul’s Picks

• It, by Stephen King

• On the Road, by Jack Kerouac

• Tree of Smoke, by Denis Johnson

Trevor’s Picks

• To the Lighthouse, by Virginia Woolf

• Austerlitz, by W.G. Sebald, translated by Anthea Bell

• No Tomorrow, by Vivant Denon, translated by Lydia Davis

Other Books & Works Mentioned

• Flights, by Olga Tokarczuk, translated by Jennifer Croft

• Pilgrimage, by Dorothy Richardson

• Bomarzo, by Manuel Mujica Lainez, translated by Gregory Rabassa

• Lolly Willowes, by Sylvia Townsend Warner

• And Then There Were None, by Agatha Christie

• Atonement, by Ian McEwan

• The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas

• House of Leaves, by Mark Z. Danielewski

• Jesus’ Son, by Denis Johnson

• Train Dreams, by Denis Johnson

• The Portrait of a Lady, by Henry James

• The Ambassadors, by Henry James

• Infinite Jest, by David Foster Wallace

Join the Mookse and the Gripes on Discord

Want to share your thoughts on these upcoming authors or anything else we’re discussing? Join us over on Discord! It’s the perfect place to dive deeper into the conversation—whether you’re reading along with our author-focused episodes or just want to chat about the books that are on your mind.

We’re also just now in the first novella book club of 2026, where we’re reading Daisy Miller, by Henry James. It’s a fantastic book, and we’d love to have you join the discussion. It’s a great space to engage with fellow listeners, share your insights, and discover new perspectives on the books you’re reading.

Join here!

The Mookse and the Gripes Podcast is a bookish conversation hosted by Paul and Trevor. Every other week, we explore a bookish topic and celebrate our love of reading. We’re glad you’re here, and we hope you’ll continue to join us on this literary journey!

A huge thank you to those who help make this podcast possible! If you’d like to support us, you can do so via Substack or Patreon. Subscribers receive access to periodic bonus episodes and early access to all new episodes. Plus, each supporter gets their own dedicated feed, allowing them to download episodes a few days before they’re released to the public. We’d love for you to check it out!

In this episode, we look ahead to 2026, not with resolutions or reading quotas, but with curiosity about what we’re drawn to next. We talk about a handful of upcoming releases we’re excited for, and then share some longer, looser reading plans for the year ahead, including big novels, rereads, and ongoing projects we’re hoping to live with slowly.

Along the way, we acknowledge the heaviness many people are feeling right now and talk about why reading, conversation, and community continue to matter. Whether you’re planning your own reading year or just looking for company, we’re glad you’re here.

2026 Novella Book Club

We have announced the four novellas we will be reading for The Mookse and Gripes Novella Book Club in 2026!

• January: Daisy Miller, by Henry James

• April: An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter, by César Aira

• July: The Hour of the Star, by Clarice Lispector

• September: Prelude, by Katherine Mansfield

Discussions will be hosted at The Mookse and the Gripes Discord (see below!).

We’ve got some fantastic author-focused episodes lined up for the foreseeable future, and we want to give you plenty of time to dive in if you’d like to read along with us. These episodes come around every ten episodes, and with our bi-weekly release schedule, you’ll have a few months to get ready for each. Here’s what we have in store:

• Episode 125: Flannery O’Connor

• Episode 135: William Faulkner

• Episode 145: Elizabeth Taylor

• Episode 155: Naguib Mahfouz

There’s no rush—take your time, and grab a book (or two, or three) so you’re prepared for these as they come!

Shownotes

Upcoming Releases Mentioned

• Vigil, by George Saunders

• Now I Surrender, by Álvaro Enrigue, translated by Natasha Wimmer

• The Glorians: Visitations from the Holy Ordinary, by Terry Tempest Williams

• Vilhelm’s Room, by Tove Ditlevsen, translated by Jennifer Russell & Sophia Hersi Smith

• The Beginnings, by Antonio Moresco, translated by Max Lawton

• Theodorus, by Mircea Cărtărescu

• Five, by César Aira, translated by Chris Andrews

• Ada, by Mark Haber

Reading Projects & Plans Discussed

• The NYRB Classics Big Books project

  • Currently reading: Bomarzo, by Manuel Mujica Láinez, translated by Gregory Rabassa

  • On deck: Effingers, by Gabriele Tergit, translated by Sophie Duvernoy

• Reading Pilgrimage (Dorothy Richardson’s Pilgrimage)

  • Monthly conversations and resources; videos posted online as a long-term archive by Brad Bigelow

  • The website

• Shakespeare! Up next: King Lear

• Trevor’s 2026 “in the mix” authors/projects:

  • Henry James (next up The Ambassadors)

  • Charles Dickens (Everyman editions; weighing Bleak House vs. other Christmas gifts)

  • Émile Zola (returning to the Rougon-Macquart project)

  • Virginia Woolf journals + moving toward Mrs Dalloway

  • NYRB Women readalong with Kim McNeil (starting with Lolly Willowes)

  • Library book club (next up: Loved and Missed, by Susie Boyt)

• Paul’s year-long/slow-burn plans:

  • Pilgrimage alongside the community project

  • Continuing Flannery O’Connor and Cormac McCarthy

  • Deeper into Mircea Cărtărescu, William H. Gass, and Clarice Lispector

  • Potential Big Classics like The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas and Vanity Fair, by William Makepeace Thackeray

  • Bookstore book club focus on translated fiction/small presses

    • Taiwan Travelogue, by Yang Shuangzi, translated by Lin King

    • Time Shelter, by Georgi Gospodinov, translated by Angela Rodel

    • Woman Running in the Mountains, by Yūko Tsushima, translated by Geraldine Harcourt

Books Also Mentioned

• In Search of Lost Time, by Marcel Proust

• The Magic Mountain, by Thomas Mann

• The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year, by Margaret Renkl

• The Land in Winter, by Andrew Miller

Join the Mookse and the Gripes on Discord

Want to share your thoughts on these upcoming authors or anything else we’re discussing? Join us over on Discord! It’s the perfect place to dive deeper into the conversation—whether you’re reading along with our author-focused episodes or just want to chat about the books that are on your mind.

We’re also just now in the first novella book club of 2026, where we’re reading Daisy Miller, by Henry James. It’s a fantastic book, and we’d love to have you join the discussion. It’s a great space to engage with fellow listeners, share your insights, and discover new perspectives on the books you’re reading.

Join here!

The Mookse and the Gripes Podcast is a bookish conversation hosted by Paul and Trevor. Every other week, we explore a bookish topic and celebrate our love of reading. We’re glad you’re here, and we hope you’ll continue to join us on this literary journey!

Subscribe now

A huge thank you to those who help make this podcast possible! If you’d like to support us, you can do so via Substack or Patreon. Subscribers receive access to periodic bonus episodes and early access to all new episodes. Plus, each supporter gets their own dedicated feed, allowing them to download episodes a few days before they’re released to the public. We’d love for you to check it out!

On Christmas Day, we bring our year-end tradition to a close by counting down our top five books of 2025. From beloved classics to unexpected discoveries, these final picks reflect a reading year shaped by curiosity, challenge, and joy. Settle in with us for a reflective conversation about the books that defined 2025 . . . and the anticipation of new reading adventures waiting in 2026!

2026 Novella Book Club

We have announced the four novellas we will be reading for The Mookse and Gripes Novella Book Club in 2026!

• January: Daisy Miller, by Henry James

• April: An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter, by César Aira

• July: The Hour of the Star, by Clarice Lispector

• September: Prelude, by Katherine Mansfield

Discussions will be hosted at The Mookse and the Gripes Discord (see below!).

We’ve got some fantastic author-focused episodes lined up for the foreseeable future, and we want to give you plenty of time to dive in if you’d like to read along with us. These episodes come around every ten episodes, and with our bi-weekly release schedule, you’ll have a few months to get ready for each. Here’s what we have in store:

• Episode 125: Flannery O’Connor

• Episode 135: William Faulkner

• Episode 145: Elizabeth Taylor

• Episode 155: Naguib Mahfouz

There’s no rush—take your time, and grab a book (or two, or three) so you’re prepared for these as they come!

Shownotes

• The Secret of Secrets, by Dan Brown

• The Melancholy of Resistance, by László Krasznahorkai, translated by George Szirtes

• Swann’s Way, by Marcel Proust, translated by C K Scott Moncrieff, Terence Kilmartin, and D.J. Enright

• Dr Chizhevsky’s Chandelier: The Decline of the USSR and other Heresies of the Twentieth Century, by Dan Elkind

• The Narrow Road to the Deep North, by Richard Flanagan

• Palinuro of Mexico, by Fernando del Paso, translated by Elisabeth Plaister

• The Tunnel, by William Gass

• A Fine Balance, by Rohinton Mistry

• The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest, by Aubrey Hartman

• Free Day, by Inès Cagnati, translated by Liesl Schillinger

• Crazy Genie, by Inès Cagnati, translated by Liesl Schillinger

• The Motion of the Body Through Space, by Lionel Shriver

• Ultramarine, by Mariette Navarro, translated by Eve Hill-Agnus

• North Sun, by Ethan Rutherford

• We Are Green and Trembling, by Gabriela Cabezón Cámara, translated by Robin Myers

• The Adventures of China Iron, by Gabriela Cabezón Cámara, translated by Fiona Mackintosh and Iona Macintyre

• Slum Virgin, by Gabriela Cabezón Cámara, translated by Frances Riddle

• Skylark, by Dezső Kosztolányi, translated by Richard Aczel

• Memoirs from Beyond the Grave, by François-Réne de Chateaubriand, translated by Alex Andriesse

• Effingers, by Gabriele Tergit, translated by Sophie Duvernoy

• Bomarzo, by Manuel Mujica Lainez, translated from the Spanish by Gregory Rabassa

• Lies and Sorcery, by Elsa Morante, translated by Jenny McPhee

• Mrs. Dalloway, by Virginia Woolf

• The Sweet Dove Died, by Barbara Pym

• The Bear, by Andrew Krivak

• Bear, by Marian Engel

• Small Reckonings, by Karin Melberg Schwier

• The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion, by Beth Brower

• The City and Its Uncertain Walls, by Haruki Murakami, translated by Philip Gabriel

• The End of the World and Hard-Boiled Wonderland, by Haruki Murakami, translated by Jay Rubin

• A Strange and Sublime Address, by Amit Chaudhuri

• A New World, by Amit Chaudhuri

• The Immortals, by Amit Chaudhuri

• Incompleteness, by Amit Chaudhuri

• Sojourn, by Amit Chaudhuri

• Friend of My Youth, by Amit Chaudhuri

• Afternoon Raag, by Amit Chaudhuri

• The Pursuit of Love, by Nancy Mitford

• Anima: A Wild Pastoral, by Kapka Kassabova

• Border: A Journey to the Edge of Europe, by Kapka Kassabova

• Käsebier Takes Berlin, by Gabriele Tergit, translated by Sophie Duvernoy

• The Story of a Life, by Konstantin Paustovsky, translated by Douglas Smith

• Life and Fate, by Vasily Grossman, translated by Robert Chandler

• Stalingrad, by Vasily Grossman, translated by Robert Chandler and Elizabeth Chandler

• The Anatomy of Melancholy, by Robert Burton

• Sea, Poison, by Caren Beilin

• The Decameron, by Giovanni Boccaccio

• The Stronghold, by Dino Buzzati, translated by Lawrence Venuti

• A Love Affair, by Dino Buzzati, translated by Joseph Green

• The Singularity, by Dino Buzzati, translated by Anne Milano Appel

• The Bewitched Bourgeoisie: Fifty Stories, by Dino Buzzati, translated by Lawrence Venuti

• Waiting for the Barbarians, by J.M. Coetzee

• The Portrait of a Lady, by Henry James

• Daisy Miller, by Henry James

• The Ambassadors, by Henry James

• The Turn of the Screw, by Henry James

• Washington Square, by Henry James

• The Coxon Fund, by Henry James

Other

• Shawn’s Review of Small Reckonings

Join the Mookse and the Gripes on Discord

Want to share your thoughts on these upcoming authors or anything else we’re discussing? Join us over on Discord! It’s the perfect place to dive deeper into the conversation—whether you’re reading along with our author-focused episodes or just want to chat about the books that are on your mind.

We’re also just now in our third novella book club, where we’re reading The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, by Muriel Spark. It’s a fantastic book, and we’d love to have you join the discussion. It’s a great space to engage with fellow listeners, share your insights, and discover new perspectives on the books you’re reading.

Join here!

The Mookse and the Gripes Podcast is a bookish conversation hosted by Paul and Trevor. Every other week, we explore a bookish topic and celebrate our love of reading. We’re glad you’re here, and we hope you’ll continue to join us on this literary journey!

Subscribe now

A huge thank you to those who help make this podcast possible! If you’d like to support us, you can do so via Substack or Patreon. Subscribers receive access to periodic bonus episodes and early access to all new episodes. Plus, each supporter gets their own dedicated feed, allowing them to download episodes a few days before they’re released to the public. We’d love for you to check it out!

In this first installment of our annual year-end wrap-up, we dive into the opening half of our top ten reads of 2025, counting down numbers ten through six and revisiting the books that surprised us, challenged us, and stayed with us throughout the year. Along the way, we’re joined by several friends who drop in to share the titles that meant the most to them in 2025, adding their voices to the conversation and widening the circle of celebration.

It’s a relaxed, book-loving episode filled with reflection, enthusiasm, and a few unexpected discoveries. Tune in and settle into the first part of our favorite tradition.

2026 Novella Book Club

We have announced the four novellas we will be reading for The Mookse and Gripes Novella Book Club in 2026!

• January: Daisy Miller, by Henry James

• April: An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter, by César Aira

• July: The Hour of the Star, by Clarice Lispector

• September: Prelude, by Katherine Mansfield

Discussions will be hosted at The Mookse and the Gripes Discord (see below!).

We’ve got some fantastic author-focused episodes lined up for the foreseeable future, and we want to give you plenty of time to dive in if you’d like to read along with us. These episodes come around every ten episodes, and with our bi-weekly release schedule, you’ll have a few months to get ready for each. Here’s what we have in store:

• Episode 125: Flannery O’Connor

• Episode 135: William Faulkner

• Episode 145: Elizabeth Taylor

• Episode 155: Naguib Mahfouz

There’s no rush—take your time, and grab a book (or two, or three) so you’re prepared for these as they come!

Shownotes

• Miss MacIntosh, My Darling, by Marguerite Young

• Schattenfroh, by Michael Lentz, translated by Max Lawton

• Middlemarch, by George Eliot

• The Remains of the Day, by Kazuo Ishiguro

• The Ghost Writer, by Philip Roth

• 84, Charing Cross Road, by Helene Hanff

• Lies and Sorcery, by Elsa Morante, translated by Jenny McPhee

• The Summer Book, by Tove Jansson, translated by Thomas Teal

• Giovanni’s Room, by James Baldwin

• The Unconsoled, by Kazuo Ishiguro

• Mr. Fox, by Barbara Comyns

• Happiness Is Such, by Natalia Ginzburg, translated by Minna Zallman Proctor

• Daniel Deronda, by George Eliot

• Phineas Redux, by Anthony Trollope

• The Sea, the Sea, by Iris Murdoch

• The Bell, by Iris Murdoch

• How to Cook a Wolf, by M.F.K. Fisher

• Seeing Further, by Esther Kinsky, translated by Caroline Schmidt

• River, by Esther Kinsky, translated by Iain Galbraith

• Grove, by Esther Kinsky, translated by Caroline Schmidt

• Cold Sassy Tree, by Olive Anne Burns

• Pale Fire, by Vladimir Nabokov

• Pnin, by Vladimir Nabokov

• Ada, or Ardor, by Vladimir Nabokov

• Dracula, by Bram Stoker

• Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley

• A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens

• Life with a Star, by Jiri Weil, translated by Rita Klimova and Rosalyn Schloss

• Is a River Alive?, by Robert Macfarlane

• Angel, by Elizabeth Taylor

• Great Granny Webster, by Caroline Blackwood

• Pilgrimage, by Dorothy Richardson

• Vengeance Is Mine, by Friedrich Torberg, translated by Stephanie Gorrell Ortega

• Amongst Women, by John McGahern

• The Dark, by John McGahern

• The Barracks, by John McGahern

• How to Survive a Bear Attack, by Claire Cameron

• The Hustler, by Walter Tevis

• The Man Who Fell to Earth, by Walter Tevis

• Mockingbird, by Walter Tevis

• The Steps of the Sun, by Walter Tevis

• The Queen’s Gambit, by Walter Tevis

• The Color of Money, by Walter Tevis

• Rhine Journey, by Ann Schlee

• Daisy Miller, by Henry James

Join the Mookse and the Gripes on Discord

Want to share your thoughts on these upcoming authors or anything else we’re discussing? Join us over on Discord! It’s the perfect place to dive deeper into the conversation—whether you’re reading along with our author-focused episodes or just want to chat about the books that are on your mind.

We’re also just now in our third novella book club, where we’re reading The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, by Muriel Spark. It’s a fantastic book, and we’d love to have you join the discussion. It’s a great space to engage with fellow listeners, share your insights, and discover new perspectives on the books you’re reading.

Join here!

The Mookse and the Gripes Podcast is a bookish conversation hosted by Paul and Trevor. Every other week, we explore a bookish topic and celebrate our love of reading. We’re glad you’re here, and we hope you’ll continue to join us on this literary journey!

Subscribe now

A huge thank you to those who help make this podcast possible! If you’d like to support us, you can do so via Substack or Patreon. Subscribers receive access to periodic bonus episodes and early access to all new episodes. Plus, each supporter gets their own dedicated feed, allowing them to download episodes a few days before they’re released to the public. We’d love for you to check it out!

In this Thanksgiving episode, we start by reflecting on the bookish communities that make the solitary act of reading feel richer and more connected. Then we turn to the season ahead, chatting through the books we hope to finish before the calendar turns and the cozy, festive reads we’re saving for the holidays. It’s a gentle, grateful episode to accompany your weekend as we start to look at the end of another year, and it’s one more chance to settle in, share a few books, and enjoy the company of fellow readers.

2026 Novella Book Club

We have announced the four novellas we will be reading for The Mookse and Gripes Novella Book Club in 2026!

• January: Daisy Miller, by Henry James

• April: An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter, by César Aira

• July: The Hour of the Star, by Clarice Lispector

• September: Prelude, by Katherine Mansfield

Discussions will be hosted at The Mookse and the Gripes Discord (see below!).

We’ve got some fantastic author-focused episodes lined up for the foreseeable future, and we want to give you plenty of time to dive in if you’d like to read along with us. These episodes come around every ten episodes, and with our bi-weekly release schedule, you’ll have a few months to get ready for each. Here’s what we have in store:

• Episode 125: Flannery O’Connor

• Episode 135: William Faulkner

• Episode 145: Elizabeth Taylor

• Episode 155: Naguib Mahfouz

There’s no rush—take your time, and grab a book (or two, or three) so you’re prepared for these as they come!

Join the Mookse and the Gripes on Discord

Want to share your thoughts on these upcoming authors or anything else we’re discussing? Join us over on Discord! It’s the perfect place to dive deeper into the conversation—whether you’re reading along with our author-focused episodes or just want to chat about the books that are on your mind.

We’re also just now in our third novella book club, where we’re reading The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, by Muriel Spark. It’s a fantastic book, and we’d love to have you join the discussion. It’s a great space to engage with fellow listeners, share your insights, and discover new perspectives on the books you’re reading.

Join here!

The Mookse and the Gripes Podcast is a bookish conversation hosted by Paul and Trevor. Every other week, we explore a bookish topic and celebrate our love of reading. We’re glad you’re here, and we hope you’ll continue to join us on this literary journey!

Subscribe now

A huge thank you to those who help make this podcast possible! If you’d like to support us, you can do so via Substack or Patreon. Subscribers receive access to periodic bonus episodes and early access to all new episodes. Plus, each supporter gets their own dedicated feed, allowing them to download episodes a few days before they’re released to the public. We’d love for you to check it out!

2026 Novella Book Club

We are excited to announce the four novellas we will be reading for The Mookse and Gripes Novella Book Club in 2026!

• January: Daisy Miller, by Henry James

• April: An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter, by César Aira

• July: The Hour of the Star, by Clarice Lispector

• September: Prelude, by Katherine Mansfield

Discussions will be hosted at The Mookse and the Gripes Discord (see below!).

We’ve got some fantastic author-focused episodes lined up for the foreseeable future, and we want to give you plenty of time to dive in if you’d like to read along with us. These episodes come around every ten episodes, and with our bi-weekly release schedule, you’ll have a few months to get ready for each. Here’s what we have in store:

• Episode 125: Flannery O’Connor

• Episode 135: William Faulkner

• Episode 145: Elizabeth Taylor

• Episode 155: Naguib Mahfouz

There’s no rush—take your time, and grab a book (or two, or three) so you’re prepared for these as they come!

Join the Mookse and the Gripes on Discord

Want to share your thoughts on these upcoming authors or anything else we’re discussing? Join us over on Discord! It’s the perfect place to dive deeper into the conversation—whether you’re reading along with our author-focused episodes or just want to chat about the books that are on your mind.

We’re also just now in our third novella book club, where we’re reading The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, by Muriel Spark. It’s a fantastic book, and we’d love to have you join the discussion. It’s a great space to engage with fellow listeners, share your insights, and discover new perspectives on the books you’re reading.

Join here!

The Mookse and the Gripes Podcast is a bookish conversation hosted by Paul and Trevor. Every other week, we explore a bookish topic and celebrate our love of reading. We’re glad you’re here, and we hope you’ll continue to join us on this literary journey!

Subscribe now

A huge thank you to those who help make this podcast possible! If you’d like to support us, you can do so via Substack or Patreon. Subscribers receive access to periodic bonus episodes and early access to all new episodes. Plus, each supporter gets their own dedicated feed, allowing them to download episodes a few days before they’re released to the public. We’d love for you to check it out!

In this special on-the-go episode, Trevor and Paul take the podcast out for a walk. As they wander, Trevor reflects on how he’s lost 40 pounds over the past few months and discovered ways to bring books into every part of his daily rhythm. From audiobooks on long walks to reading as recovery, the conversation explores what it means to make reading not just a mental habit, but a full-body experience. This shorter episode captures the joy of movement, conversation, and the steady companionship of books.

We’ve got some fantastic author-focused episodes lined up for the foreseeable future, and we want to give you plenty of time to dive in if you’d like to read along with us. These episodes come around every ten episodes, and with our bi-weekly release schedule, you’ll have a few months to get ready for each. Here’s what we have in store:

• Episode 125: Flannery O’Connor

• Episode 135: William Faulkner

• Episode 145: Elizabeth Taylor

• Episode 155: Naguib Mahfouz

There’s no rush—take your time, and grab a book (or two, or three) so you’re prepared for these as they come!

Join the Mookse and the Gripes on Discord

Want to share your thoughts on these upcoming authors or anything else we’re discussing? Join us over on Discord! It’s the perfect place to dive deeper into the conversation—whether you’re reading along with our author-focused episodes or just want to chat about the books that are on your mind.

We’re also just now in our third novella book club, where we’re reading The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, by Muriel Spark. It’s a fantastic book, and we’d love to have you join the discussion. It’s a great space to engage with fellow listeners, share your insights, and discover new perspectives on the books you’re reading.

Join here!

The Mookse and the Gripes Podcast is a bookish conversation hosted by Paul and Trevor. Every other week, we explore a bookish topic and celebrate our love of reading. We’re glad you’re here, and we hope you’ll continue to join us on this literary journey!

Subscribe now

A huge thank you to those who help make this podcast possible! If you’d like to support us, you can do so via Substack or Patreon. Subscribers receive access to periodic bonus episodes and early access to all new episodes. Plus, each supporter gets their own dedicated feed, allowing them to download episodes a few days before they’re released to the public. We’d love for you to check it out!

We’ve all been there: the books are piled high, but nothing calls out. In this episode, Trevor and Paul talk about reading slumps—what they look like, what brings them on, and how to find the spark again. From work stress to life interruptions to simple reader fatigue, we explore how to rediscover the joy of the page and the role of community in keeping reading alive.

We’ve got some fantastic author-focused episodes lined up for the foreseeable future, and we want to give you plenty of time to dive in if you’d like to read along with us. These episodes come around every ten episodes, and with our bi-weekly release schedule, you’ll have a few months to get ready for each. Here’s what we have in store:

• Episode 125: Flannery O’Connor

• Episode 135: William Faulkner

• Episode 145: Elizabeth Taylor

• Episode 155: Naguib Mahfouz

There’s no rush—take your time, and grab a book (or two, or three) so you’re prepared for these as they come!

Join the Mookse and the Gripes on Discord

Want to share your thoughts on these upcoming authors or anything else we’re discussing? Join us over on Discord! It’s the perfect place to dive deeper into the conversation—whether you’re reading along with our author-focused episodes or just want to chat about the books that are on your mind.

We’re also just now in our third novella book club, where we’re reading The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, by Muriel Spark. It’s a fantastic book, and we’d love to have you join the discussion. It’s a great space to engage with fellow listeners, share your insights, and discover new perspectives on the books you’re reading.

Join here!

Shownotes

What are we reading?

• Paul:

  • The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, by Muriel Spark

• Trevor:

  • Vaim, by Jon Fosse, translated by Domion Searls

The Mookse and the Gripes Podcast is a bookish conversation hosted by Paul and Trevor. Every other week, we explore a bookish topic and celebrate our love of reading. We’re glad you’re here, and we hope you’ll continue to join us on this literary journey!

Subscribe now

A huge thank you to those who help make this podcast possible! If you’d like to support us, you can do so via Substack or Patreon. Subscribers receive access to periodic bonus episodes and early access to all new episodes. Plus, each supporter gets their own dedicated feed, allowing them to download episodes a few days before they’re released to the public. We’d love for you to check it out!

Some books are long, some are short, but certain works feel abundant—overflowing with rhythm, atmosphere, and depth that can’t be exhausted in a single reading. In this episode we are joined by Lori Feathers, and we set as our foundation Henry James’s The Portrait of a Lady to explore what makes a work abundant. We move through other examples, asking what defines abundances, how it differs from size or ambition, and why these books matter.

We’ve got some fantastic author-focused episodes lined up for the foreseeable future, and we want to give you plenty of time to dive in if you’d like to read along with us. These episodes come around every ten episodes, and with our bi-weekly release schedule, you’ll have a few months to get ready for each. Here’s what we have in store:

• Episode 125: Flannery O’Connor

• Episode 135: William Faulkner

• Episode 145: Elizabeth Taylor

• Episode 155: Naguib Mahfouz

There’s no rush—take your time, and grab a book (or two, or three) so you’re prepared for these as they come!

Join the Mookse and the Gripes on Discord

Want to share your thoughts on these upcoming authors or anything else we’re discussing? Join us over on Discord! It’s the perfect place to dive deeper into the conversation—whether you’re reading along with our author-focused episodes or just want to chat about the books that are on your mind.

We’re also just now in our third novella book club, where we’re reading The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, by Muriel Spark. It’s a fantastic book, and we’d love to have you join the discussion. It’s a great space to engage with fellow listeners, share your insights, and discover new perspectives on the books you’re reading.

Join here!

Shownotes

What are we reading?

• Lori:

  • The Ambassadors, by Henry James

  • Miss MacIntosh, My Darling, by Marguerite Young

  • The Logos, by Mark De Silva

• Paul:

  • My Heart Is a Chainsaw, by Stephen Graham Jones

  • Seeing Further, by Esther Kinsky, translated by Caroline Schmidt

  • Not Even the Dead, by Juan Gómez Bárcena, translated by Katie Whittemore

• Trevor:

  • Good and Evil, and Other Stories, by Samanta Schweblin, translated by Megan McDowell

  • The Secret of Secrets, by Dan Brown

Other

• The Republic of Consciousness Prize

• Across the Pond Podcast

• The Big Book Project

• Involutions of the Seashell

The Mookse and the Gripes Podcast is a bookish conversation hosted by Paul and Trevor. Every other week, we explore a bookish topic and celebrate our love of reading. We’re glad you’re here, and we hope you’ll continue to join us on this literary journey!

Subscribe now

A huge thank you to those who help make this podcast possible! If you’d like to support us, you can do so via Substack or Patreon. Subscribers receive access to periodic bonus episodes and early access to all new episodes. Plus, each supporter gets their own dedicated feed, allowing them to download episodes a few days before they’re released to the public. We’d love for you to check it out!

In this episode, Trevor and Paul turn their attention to Nobel Prize–winner Kazuo Ishiguro, whose eight novels over the past forty years have earned both admiration and debate. Together, we trace Ishiguro’s remarkable range: the restrained heartbreak of Remains of the Day, the dream-logic labyrinth of The Unconsoled, the quiet devastation of Never Let Me Go, the ambitious allegory of The Buried Giant, and the AI exploration of Klara and the Sun. Along the way, we weigh Ishiguro’s signature themes of memory, regret, art, and the stories we tell ourselves—and ask what makes him one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary literature, even when his experiments don’t always succeed.

Whether you’re a longtime devotee or just curious where to begin, we hope you’ll join us for a conversation about masterpieces and misfires.

We’ve got some fantastic author-focused episodes lined up for the foreseeable future, and we want to give you plenty of time to dive in if you’d like to read along with us. These episodes come around every ten episodes, and with our bi-weekly release schedule, you'll have a few months to get ready for each. Here’s what we have in store:

• Episode 125: Flannery O’Connor

• Episode 135: William Faulkner

• Episode 145: Elizabeth Taylor

• Episode 155: Naguib Mahfouz

There’s no rush—take your time, and grab a book (or two, or three) so you’re prepared for these as they come!

Join the Mookse and the Gripes on Discord

Want to share your thoughts on these upcoming authors or anything else we’re discussing? Join us over on Discord! It’s the perfect place to dive deeper into the conversation—whether you’re reading along with our author-focused episodes or just want to chat about the books that are on your mind.

We’re also just now in our second novella book club, where we're reading Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin. It’s a fantastic book, and we’d love to have you join the discussion. It’s a great space to engage with fellow listeners, share your insights, and discover new perspectives on the books you’re reading.

Join here!

Shownotes

What are we reading?

• Paul: A Fine Balance, by Rohinton Mistry

• Trevor: The Ice Palace, by Tarjei Vesaas, translated by Elizabeth Rokkan

Books by Kazuo Ishiguro

• A Pale View of Hills

• An Artist of the Floating World

• The Remains of the Day

• The Unconsoled

• When We Were Orphans

• Never Let Me Go

• The Buried Giant

• Klara and the Sun

The Mookse and the Gripes Podcast is a bookish conversation hosted by Paul and Trevor. Every other week, we explore a bookish topic and celebrate our love of reading. We’re glad you’re here, and we hope you’ll continue to join us on this literary journey!

Subscribe now

A huge thank you to those who help make this podcast possible! If you'd like to support us, you can do so via Substack or Patreon. Subscribers receive access to periodic bonus episodes and early access to all new episodes. Plus, each supporter gets their own dedicated feed, allowing them to download episodes a few days before they’re released to the public. We’d love for you to check it out!