Shows / Two Month Review
Two Month Review
Each “season” of Two Month Review highlights a different new and amazing work of world literature, reading it slowly over the course of eight to nine episodes. Featuring a rotating set of literary guests—from authors to booksellers, critics, and translators—the individual episodes recap a short section of the book and use that as a springboard for a fun (and often irreverent) discussion about literature in a general sense, pop culture, reading approaches, and much more. Talking about great…
Episodes
Two Month ReviewTMR 25.7: "This Fortune Stuff Is Bullshit" [Empire of the Senseless]
This episode is the one to listen to if you find Empire of the Senseless/Kathy Acker distasteful, unpleasant to read, a slog, hard going, etc. That summarizes…
Two Month ReviewTMR 25.6: "It Was a Dark Night for Pirates" [Empire of the Senseless]
The second part of this season of the Two Month Review kicks off with a bang as Chad, Brian, and Kaija shift to talking about Kathy Acker and her Empire of the…
Two Month ReviewTMR 25.5: "I Was Befriending My Anger" [James]
First off: Congrats to Rodrigo Fresán & Will Vanderhyden for winning this year’s Republic of Consciousness Prize for Melvill!!! If you didn’t listen to our…
Two Month ReviewTMR 25.4: "Obvious Confidence Scheme" [James]
In the penultimate episode on Percival Everett's James, Chad, Kaija, and Brian discuss how unnerving Part II is to read (especially in relation to Brock), the…
Two Month ReviewTMR 25.3: "If You're Not Making Mistakes, You're Not Learning" [James]
The most anxiety-filled section of James is under discussion this week, as we find out the horrific fate of Little George, and James is both beaten and then…
Two Month ReviewTMR 25.2: "With My Pencil, I Wrote Myself into Being" [JAMES]
In this episode, Chad, Brian, and Kaija talk about the role of James as a writer, how long James will parallel Adventures of Huck Finn, the geography of the…
Two Month ReviewTMR 25.1: "Papa, why do we have to learn this?" [JAMES]
The 25th season of the Two Month Review will dive into two books related to the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, starting with Percival Everett’s highly…
Two Month ReviewTMR 24.10: "What Comes Next Is What Remains" [Melvill]
Special guest Rodrigo Fresán joins Brian, Chad, and Kaija to celebrate being on the Republic of Consciousness longlist, talk about his novels, his career, the…
Two Month ReviewTMR 24.9: "I Hate Thinking about Thinking about Myself Like This" [Melvill]
In the penultimate episode of this season, there’s a lot of talk about Melville’s relationship with Nathaniel Hawthorne as we get more of Melville’s life as he…
Two Month ReviewTMR 24.8: "Fampiro" [Melvill]
On the final episode of 2024, Chad, Brian, and Kaija talk about Nico C. and being unmoored from time, last words, footnotes and ellipses, some highlights from…
Two Month ReviewTMR 24.7: "The White Delirium" [Melvill]
Lori Feathers (Across the Pond podcast, Involutions of the Seashell, Interabang Books, and Republic of Consciousness Prize USA) joins Chad and Kaija to talk…
Two Month ReviewTMR 24.6: "Liquidate It At Cost" [Melvill]
With Melville's Fidèle receding into the dark distance, we turn our attention to Rodrigo Fresán's Melvill, a bombastic book about Alan Melvill and Herman and…
Two Month ReviewTMR 24.5: "Very Charming." [Confidence-Man]
Chad, Brian, and Kaija venture into the darkness and turn off the light on Melville's The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade, one of the oddest, most slippery…
Two Month ReviewTMR 24.4: "How Unreal All This Is!" [Confidence-Man]
Opening with a couple of rants, this week's podcast is spicy and also tries to make sense of a few of the more perplexing parts of the book. There's a…
Two Month ReviewTMR 24.3: "You Are a Punster" [Confidence-Man]
[Note: If you subscribe on Apple Podcasts, please resubscribe to this feed. The other one will be going away in the near future.] "Grifters Gonna Grift"…
Two Month ReviewTMR 24.2: "Trust Me, Nature Is Health" [Confidence-Man]
[Note: If you subscribe on Apple Podcasts, please resubscribe to this feed. The other one will be going away in the near future.] Chad and Kaija go it alone…
Two Month ReviewWelcome! And New TMR Episode
Hello! I meant to write a proper post welcoming you to the Three Percent substack earlier this week, but have been too anxious and distressed to do it right …
Two Month ReviewTMR 24.1: "May I Ask if You Have Confidence?" [Confidence-Man]
Not the happiest day in which to record a podcast, but Chad, Brian, and Kaija speak their fears and then dive into Melville's Confidence-Man, talking about…
Two Month ReviewTMR Supplement #2: "Joytime Killbox" by Brian Wood
After referencing Joytime Killbox on hundreds of TMR episodes, we finally break it down with the author himself! Conversation includes ideas about short…
Two Month ReviewTMR Supplement #1: "Dear Dickhead" by Virginie Despentes & Frank Wynne
On the first ever one-off episode of the Two Month Review, Chad breaks down Virginie Despentes's Dear Dickhead for Kaija and Brian, a novel about . . . well…
Two Month ReviewTMR 23.9: "My Maps Are Out of Date" [Lanark]
It all gets wrapped up with a "Catastrophe,." "Explanation," an "End," and a "Tailpiece." Chad, Brian, and Kaija discuss global capitalism, the fight for love…
Two Month ReviewTMR 23.8: "The Critic Fights Back" [Lanark]
From the Olympics to the most meta moment of the whole of Lanark, this week's podcast has you covered! Brian, Chad, and Kaija banter about divorce, plagiarisms…
Two Month ReviewTMR 23.7: "Not a Domestic Man" [Lanark]
The reviews were right: Once you hit page 410, the Unthank sections of Lanark snap into place. Chad, Brian, and Kaija discuss that, capitalism, how terrible…
Two Month ReviewTMR 23:6 "Upon This Spot King Edward Had Lunch After Stalking" [Lanark]
If you want to send Chad through the roof, simple crap on his conceptual publishing project five years in the making . . . To that end, everyone reading this…
Two Month ReviewTMR 23.5: "His Brain Rotten with Resentful Dreams" [Lanark]
Duncan Thaw feels like he's on the brink in this week's episode which includes conversations about incels, kind fathers, painting and art, perfection and…
Two Month ReviewTMR 23.4: “Homo A Se Coctum Esumque Crustum Est Hoc Fecit Separation” [Lanark]
Chad and Brian break down the loss of Duncan Thaw's mother, his entrance into art school, his reasons for creating art, religious imagery throughout the book…
Two Month ReviewTMR 23.3: "Normal Underworlds" [Lanark]
Come for the book discussion, stay for Thaw's unproven remedies for asthma! One of the most fun, and conventional, sections of the book so far, Chad, Kaija…
Two Month ReviewTMR 23.2: "Can He Help Lanark Out of Hell?" [LANARK]
As mentioned from the top, we had severe technical difficulties, so the sound quality on this is janky. (Mostly Chad's voice is quiet, which, for many, is…
Two Month ReviewTMR 23.1: "Book Three" [Lanark]
Mostly a set-up episode about Alasdair Gray and Lanark, in which Chad, Kaija, and Brian discuss the introduction (weird), the start of the novel (which opens…
Two Month ReviewTMR 22.10: "Butterfly Coma" [Praiseworthy]
Praiseworthy ends with some praise, a bit of exhaustion, questions about satire and the ending, and a dirty phrase Chad can't quit competing. Then there's the…
Two Month ReviewTMR 22.9: "One Donkey at a Time" [Praiseworthy]
Like a first time marathon runner, Chad, Brian, and Kaija are losing steam this season, but persist in talking about the book and their mixed feelings. They do…
Two Month ReviewTMR 22.8: "Madder Than White Heat" [Praiseworthy]
Little discussion of Priaseworthy in this episode. Instead there's a longer discussion about publishing, art, sales, how do these books get made?, favorite…
Two Month ReviewTMR 22.7: "@CheapIllegalPeopleSmuggler" [Praiseworthy]
Talk of Australian cartoons—and not just Bluey—morphs into a look at several specific passages in Wright's Praiseworthy, discussion what makes the book…
Two Month ReviewTMR 22.6: "Nuisance Bugger Donkeys" [Praiseworthy]
Chad and Kaija make up this week's panel as they play the "Slang Game," then discuss the elliptical meta-structure of the book and how this impacts their…
Two Month ReviewTMR 22.5: "Maximum Superhero Cop-God" [Praiseworthy]
"Who's Stronger?" is the game of the week in this episode about the Maximum Superhero Cop-God's arrival in Praiseworthy to quell the frantic search for…
Two Month ReviewTMR 22.4: "Devotion to Off-Grid Religions" [Praiseworthy]
Emmett Stinson (Murnane) joins Chad W. Post and Kaija Straumanis this week to educate us about Australian culture and literature and things we should keep in…
Two Month ReviewTMR 22.3: "Tommyhawk!" [Praiseworthy]
This episode could be titled, "Dead Bodies in Water," as Chad and Brian talk about the unfortunate situation in Rochester and the juxtaposition of Absolute…
Two Month ReviewTMR 22.2: "God Donkey" [Praiseworthy]
From discussion of Ohio and disturbing news about everyone's favorite Australian export, this episode skirts talking too deeply about Alexis Wright's…
Two Month ReviewTMR 22.1: "Kick the Haze in its Guts" [Praiseworthy]
The first episode of the new season of the Two Month Review—covering Alexis Wright's Praiseworthy (New Directions, And Other Stories, Giramondo)—start off with…
Two Month ReviewTMR 21.8: "MOON IS A MENACE" [Same Bed Different Dreams]
We've reached the end which, in Chad and Brian's opinion, Ed Park totally lands. There's Friday the 13th talk. Reagan makes an appearance. The structure of the…
Two Month ReviewTMR 21.7: "Taro Tsujimoto" [Same Bed Different Dreams]
The threads all come together in this week's section as the book barrels toward its conclusion. On this episode, Chad describes his visualization of the book's…
Two Month ReviewTMR 21.6: "Interview with a Mirror" [Same Bed Different Dreams]
Korean food, Grocery Games, VCR tapes, screenplays, gazebos, a thumb drive, Amsterdam, and the statement, "TRANSLATION IS A LONG CON." This week's music is…
Two Month ReviewTMR 21.5: "A-Bomb Destroys Downtown Buffalo" [Same Bed Different Dreams]
The connections proliferate and the threading together of the three sections continues. Interactive rights to 2333 are finally, properly sold; the mystery…
Two Month ReviewTMR 21.4: "The Second Bae" [Same Bed Different Dreams]
Brian's back and everyone is (mostly) healthy. They talk about Korean history, double (or triple) agents, the idea of history as coincidence or plot, North and…
Two Month ReviewTMR 21.3: "Wildwording" [Same Bed Different Dreams]
Protect yourself: There's a chance you'll catch Chad's illness simply by listening to this episode. An episode in which he tries to recap a number of elements…
Two Month ReviewTMR 21.2: "2333" [Same Bed Different Dreams]
From their respective hotel rooms, Chad and Brian talk about science fiction, 2/3/33 (and 2/6/66??), conspiracy vs. coincidence, Ohtani and Lee, the ASS black…
Two Month ReviewTMR 21.1: "What Is History?" [Same Bed Different Dreams]
Season 21 of the Two Month Review kicks off with a discussion of Taylor Swift and the demise of alt-weeklies, then segues into a long discussion about the…
Two Month ReviewTMR 20.8: "Making It Up As We Goes Along" [MULLIGAN STEW]
Brian and Chad break down the ending of Mulligan Stew, discuss how this is one of maybe 2-3 endings by books featured on TMR that truly works, banter about…
Two Month ReviewTMR 20.7: "Ambidextriprestigigit!" [MULLIGAN STEW]
Brian sings! Pynchon is made fun of! Lamont totally goes off the rails but really really really wants that corset! Rich art collectors are absurd! This week's…
Two Month ReviewTMR 20.6: "Nameless Shamelessness" [MULLIGAN STEW]
Chad had a night before this recording, so ignore him, but pay attention to the worst possible smut you will ever hear read aloud (the Franzen bits are worse…
Two Month ReviewTMR 20.5: "Bubble in My Fizziness" [MULLIGAN STEW]
Wacky Aphorisms vs. Cowboy Clichés. A title change that indicates a change in attitude. A bizarre publisher's catalog. The Red Swan. More letters! This section…
Two Month ReviewTMR 20.4: "The Sweat of Love" [MULLIGAN STEW]
"I SUCK!" Kicking off with an "erotic" "poem," this week's episode is nuts from the very start. There is a very serious explanation for the "Flawless Play…
Two Month ReviewTMR 20.3: "Drunken Condition of Both Teams" [MULLIGAN STEW]
This section of Mulligan Stew is particularly wild, featuring a western populated by Irishmen speaking in bad accents (and worse accents in The Club Zap), a…
Two Month ReviewTMR 20.2: "THE ULTIMATE IN BIZARRE BEAUTY!!" [MULLIGAN STEW]
Loveletters galore! Lists without context! Repurposing life for fiction! More puzzles! Terrible book reviews! An insufferable, pretentious elementary school…
Two Month ReviewTMR 20.1: "Then You Do Not Approve of Nabokov?" [MULLIGAN STEW]
Chad and Brian kick off the new season in near hysterics over the first little chunk of Gilbert Sorrentino's Mulligan Stew. From talking about the rejection…
Two Month ReviewTMR 19.12: "Fill Up with Karmas" [THE REMEMBERED PART]
Brian returns to help breakdown the ending to Rodrigo Fresán's "Part Triptych." Is it earned? Is it sincere?? Is this all a Jacob's Ladder scenario??? Chad and…
Two Month ReviewTMR 19.11 "Exit and No Return and Gone Forever" [THE REMEMBERED PART]
Kaija Straumanis guest stars on this episode in which we discuss brain tumors, memory loss, the true story behind the story of The Impossible Story sending the…
Two Month ReviewTMR 19.10: "The Fine Art of Leaving Something Out" [THE REMEMBERED PART]
For the first time in the history of the Two Month Review, Chad had to go it alone. He stuck in there, didn't get too crazy, and covered the last chunk of Part…
Two Month ReviewTMR 19.9: "The Dream of the Invention of the Memory, Etc." [THE REMEMBERED PART]
Veeeeekingdor!!!!! This week's episode is pretty wild, with stories of Riga FC, stoic faces, Fresán's visit to the University of Rochester, Kurt Vonnegut…
Two Month ReviewTMR 19.8: "Notes for a Theory of the Fabric of Memory" [THE REMEMBERED PART]
Brian is back and Chad flubs the intro, so things are basically as they should be . . . They talk about fragmentation, big flawed double albums (and why…