Shows / The Mookse and the Gripes Podcast
The Mookse and the Gripes Podcast
In each episode Trevor Berrett and Paul Wilson have a pleasant conversation about books and reading. Visit our blog at http://mookseandgripes.com/reviews. Follow us on Twitter @mookse and @bibliopaul. Email mookseandgripes@gmail.com.
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Episodes
The Mookse and the Gripes PodcastEpisode 142: Books Are Life
We spend a lot of our lives reading, and we often talk about how books enrich our lives. But what does it mean to say that books are life itself? This week…
The Mookse and the Gripes PodcastEpisode 141: A City Built of Books: Our Literary Londons
Long before we ever set foot in London, we had already wandered its streets through books. From Shakespeare’s playhouses and Dickens’s foggy alleys to Virginia…
The Mookse and the Gripes PodcastEpisode 140: A Change of Scenery: Where Have We Been?
It’s been a busy few weeks for both of us! With Paul off exploring England and Trevor moving house, we’ve still managed to do some reading. One thing we…
The Mookse and the Gripes PodcastEpisode 139: Finding the Ending: The Closing Movement of Books
We’ve talked about the promises made as a book opens as well as the strange territory of its middle. In this episode we turn our attention t o the closing…
The Mookse and the Gripes PodcastEpisode 138: No Reading Life Is Behind Schedule
In this episode (another walk with Trevor and Paul) we explore a simple guiding principle for the reading life: no reading life is behind schedule. We discuss…
The Mookse and the Gripes PodcastEpisode 137: Another Summer Walk
Once again our summers have taken on a life of their own, and we’ve been busy. But we weren't about to skip a bookish conversation! So we took a walk around…
The Mookse and the Gripes PodcastEpisode 136: So Many Books, So Little Time: Our Most Anticipated Books of the Last Half of 2026
Every season we tell ourselves we’ll be more selective. Every season publishers respond by announcing another avalanche of books we want to read! In this…
The Mookse and the Gripes PodcastEpisode 135: William Faulkner
Every ten episodes, Trevor and Paul pause their usual reading discussions to spend time with a single author. This time: William Faulkner. After recent…
The Mookse and the Gripes PodcastEpisode 134: Authors' Lives
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…
The Mookse and the Gripes PodcastEpisode 133: Life Between the Beginning and the End: On the Middle of Books
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 Mookse and the Gripes PodcastEpisode 132: Our Nightstands, Ourselves
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…
The Mookse and the Gripes PodcastEpisode 131: Trust the Spine: On the Pleasure and Riches of NYRB Books
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…
The Mookse and the Gripes PodcastEpisode 130: Opening Movements: Entering the World of a Book
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…
The Mookse and the Gripes PodcastEpisode 129: Reading with a Plan: The Joys and Complications of Reading Projects
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…
The Mookse and the Gripes PodcastEpisode 128: If the Ship Goes Down, Grab These: Three Books for Our Desert Island
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…
The Mookse and the Gripes PodcastEpisode 127: No One Knows Where to Shelf This: On Unclassifiable Books
We tend to think of books as belonging somewhere: novel, memoir, biography, fantasy, history. Genre gives us orientation and sets expectations. In this episode…
The Mookse and the Gripes PodcastEpisode 126: Is That a Good Book?
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…
The Mookse and the Gripes PodcastEpisode 125: Flannery O'Connor
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…
The Mookse and the Gripes PodcastEpisode 124: Books We Wish We Could Read for the First Time Again
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…
The Mookse and the Gripes PodcastEpisode 123: Our 2026 No-Pressure Reading Plans
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…
The Mookse and the Gripes PodcastEpisode 122: Our Favorite Books We Read in 2025, Part II
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…
The Mookse and the Gripes PodcastEpisode 121: Our Favorite Books We Read in 2025, Part I
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…
The Mookse and the Gripes PodcastEpisode 120: Gratitude and Holiday Reading
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…
The Mookse and the Gripes PodcastEpisode 119: The Art (and Agony) of Book Culling
This week, Trevor and Paul are joined by Dorian Stuber of One Bright Book to talk about the difficult, liberating art of culling books. What does it mean to…
The Mookse and the Gripes PodcastEpisode 118: Whole Body Reading: Reading, Walking and Well-Being
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…
The Mookse and the Gripes PodcastEpisode 117: Losing the Plot: On Reading Slumps and How We Find Our Way Back
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…
The Mookse and the Gripes PodcastEpisode 116: A World Brimming Over: Abundant Literature and The Portrait of a Lady
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…
The Mookse and the Gripes PodcastEpisode 115: Kazuo Ishiguro
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…
The Mookse and the Gripes PodcastEpisode 114: Through a Glass, Darkly: Entering Schattenfroh and Other Books that Refuse to Yield at Once
This week we are joined by translator Max Lawton to celebrate the release of Michael Lenz’s Schattenfroh from Deep Vellum. But rather than focus only on this…
The Mookse and the Gripes PodcastEpisode 113: Starter Libraries: A Shelf Full of Promises
What does it take to build the perfect first shelf? This week we tackle the joyful—and surprisingly stressful—task of creating a starter library. We’re joined…
The Mookse and the Gripes PodcastEpisode 112: In Her Words: Women in Translation 2025
We’re back for another round of Women in Translation Month! Each August, readers around the world celebrate books written by women and translated into English…
The Mookse and the Gripes PodcastEpisode 111: Two Friends Walk into a Bookstore: A Day Out with Trevor and Paul
This week’s episode comes with poor sound quality and excellent vibes. For the first time ever, Paul and Trevor met in person! Join us as we take the show on…
The Mookse and the Gripes PodcastEpisode 110: The End: Last Lines That Stick the Landing
How do you wrap up a great book? in this episode, Paul and Trevor dive into the final sentences that left them stunned, satisfied, or haunted. From quiet…
The Mookse and the Gripes PodcastEpisode 109: The Lighter Side of the Stacks: Funny Books
In this episode, Paul and Trevor are joined by Kate from The Book Club Review Podcast for a lively discussion about funny books. From dry wit to outright…
The Mookse and the Gripes PodcastEpisode 108: From Our Shelves with Pride: LGBTQIA+ Reads We Love
Happy Pride Month! In this episode Trevor and Paul share some of our favorite works of LGBTQIA+ literature (and films)—works that have moved us, challenged us…
The Mookse and the Gripes Podcast107: Goals or Guilt? A Check-in on Our Reading Ambitions
In this episode, Paul and Trevor check in on our 2025 reading goals—where we’ve succeeded, where we’ve faltered, and most importantly how our goals are…
The Mookse and the Gripes Podcast106: Bookshelf Roulette: Surprises from the Shelf
In this episode we’re shaking things up with Bookshelf Roulette! No pre-planned selections—just pure randomness. Using a random number generator, we each pick…
The Mookse and the Gripes PodcastEpisode 105: Wrists Be Damned: or, How We Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Big Books
In this episode, Trevor and Paul are joined by Chris Via of Leaf by Leaf to celebrate the experience of reading big books. From the books that once intimidated…
The Mookse and the Gripes PodcastEpisode 104: Hanne Ørstavik
What happens when a writer turns silence, fear, grief—and love?—into novels that are barely a couple hundred pages but echo for days? Whether it’s love…
The Mookse and the Gripes PodcastEpisode 103: Charco Press
It’s time for another publisher-centric episode, and it’s another stunner—we’re heading to Latin America (via Scotland!) to talk about the brilliant Charco…
The Mookse and the Gripes PodcastEpisode 102: Diving into the Past with Historical Fiction
In this episode of The Mookse and the Gripes Podcast, we’re joined by Rohan Maitzen to explore the multifaceted world of historical fiction. Rohan guides us…
The Mookse and the Gripes PodcastEpisode 101: Big News, Short Books
Introducing the Mookse and Gripes Novella Reading Group! Through this year, we’re reading three novellas about love, longing, and leadership gone slightly off…
The Mookse and the Gripes PodcastEpisode 100: Questions, Answers, Books
In this special centenary episode of The Mookse and the Gripes Podcast, we're shaking things up with an Ask Us Anything celebration! Join us as we answer…
The Mookse and the Gripes PodcastEpisode 99: Books We Think About All the Time
We’re joined by the amazing poet and essayist Elisa Gabbert to discuss some of the books that we think about all the time. We each share three books that are…
The Mookse and the Gripes PodcastEpisode 98: City Books
From glistening skyscrapers and bustling downtowns to dark alleys and creeping urban decay, cities are endlessly complicated and diverse. And so are the books…
The Mookse and the Gripes PodcastEpisode 97: 2025 Reading Horizons
To kick off the new year, we discuss some of he 2025 new releases we’re most excited about. We also share our personal 5 in ‘25—five books (new or old) that we…
The Mookse and the Gripes PodcastEpisode 96: Our Favorite Books We Read in 2024, Part II
For our final episode of 2024, we finish our annual best of the year extravaganza! Here we are joined by more friends sharing their favorite reads of the year…
The Mookse and the Gripes PodcastEpisode 95: Our Favorite Books We Read in 2024, Part I
Trevor and Paul are back with the fourth annual best of the year extravaganza! In Part I, we count down the first half of our en favorite reads of 2024—and we…
The Mookse and the Gripes PodcastEpisode 94: Javier Marías
Since his death in 2022, we have been wanting to dedicate an episode to Spanish novelist Javier Marías, a master of the distrusting, long sentence. We had a…
The Mookse and the Gripes PodcastEpisode 93: Books We Wanted to Reread Immediately
What books have you wanted to reread as soon as you finished them? Inspired by this fascinating prompt from our friend Nora, we decided to dive into this fun…
The Mookse and the Gripes PodcastEpisode 92: Essays, Part II
We love talking about essays so much, we decided to do it again! This week, we pick up where we left off a few episodes ago, chatting about more of our…
The Mookse and the Gripes PodcastEpisode 91: Digressions with Mark Haber
This week, we’re joined by our good friend Mark Haber to discuss his wonderful books, including the brand new Lesser Ruins. Fittingly, this episode features…
The Mookse and the Gripes PodcastEpisode 90: Essays, Part I
This week’s episode is all about essays! From nature writing, to reviews and criticism, to personal reflections and familiar essays, this form offers something…
The Mookse and the Gripes PodcastEpisode 89: Benchwarmer Books
We all have those books that are waiting in the wings, begging for a chance to make their way off the shelf and into our hands. This week, we chat about why…
The Mookse and the Gripes PodcastEpisode 88: Women in Translation
To close out Women In Translatjon month, we’re thrilled to be joined by poet and translator Robin Myers. We chat about the art of translation and the…
The Mookse and the Gripes PodcastEpisode 87: The Story of Lucy Gault
This week, we are joined from Down Under by veteran book blogger Kim Forrester to discuss our 2024 summer read, William Trevor’s The Story Of Lucy Gault. We…
The Mookse and the Gripes PodcastEpisode 86: Our Favorite Ten Books of the 21st Century So Far
This week we have fun with all of the top books of the 21st century hype by sharing our own top 10 lists. We each killed a few darlings and made some very…
The Mookse and the Gripes PodcastEpisode 85: Roberto Bolaño
This week we’re joined by super reader Ron Restrepo for a discussion about Roberto Bolaño, whom Rodrigo Fresan described as “one of a kind, a writer who worked…
The Mookse and the Gripes PodcastEpisode 84: Our Most Anticipated Releases from the Last Half of 2024
This week we look ahead to the second half of 2024 and each share the five forthcoming books we’re most excited about . . . along with a few honorable…
The Mookse and the Gripes PodcastEpisode 83: Shelf Control
This week’s episode is all about . . . books! To be specific, Trevor and Paul chat about their book shelves, diving into all kinds of fun topics. How many…