Three Percent Podcast

Latest Episodes:

2MR: FOX by Ugresic ("The Devil's Garden") with George Carroll! Aug 02, 2018

Show notes

In this week's Two Month Review, Brian drops some excellent knowledge about why this chapter is called "The Devil's Garden," opening a window into Ugresic's genius, guest George Carroll talks about his time in Kolkata, and Chad says a bunch of mildly entertaining things about camping and landmines. The most stunning moment comes when all three reveal their complete ignorance of one particular major work of international literature . . . Overall, a great episode!

You can watch the video recording of this episode on YouTube, and while you’re there, subscribe to the Two Month Review channel and stayed tuned for the next broadcast, in which we'll be talking about the last half of Part III of "The Devil's Garden," pages 144-183.

As always, Fox (and all the previous Two Month Review titles) is available for 20% off through our website. Just use the code 2MONTH at checkout.

Feel free to comment on this episode—or on the book in general—either on this post, or at the official GoodReads Group.

Follow Open Letter, Chad Post, and Brian Wood, for more thoughts and information about upcoming guests. And follow George Carroll for info on soccer, international literature, and retirement.

And you can find all the Two Month Review posts by clicking here. And be sure to leave us a review on iTunes. It really helps people to discover the podcast.

This week's episode opens with "Fall Down" by the Throwing Muses, and ends with part of the theme song from Casualties of War starring Michael J. Fox.

2MR: FOX by Ugresic ("A Balancing Art") with Ellen Elias-Bursać! Jul 19, 2018

Show notes

After a two week hiatus due to technical difficulties trying to record from Dublin, the Two Month Review is back! Chad and Brian are joined by translator Ellen Elias-Bursać to talk about her favorite section of the novel--"A Balancing Art." They discuss the various viewpoints presented in this chapter--especially that of the outspoken, unforgiving young artist compared to the more "fox-like" older widow--and all the subtleties found in Ugresic's prose.

Listen to the end to get information about Ellen's new book, Translating Evidence and Interpreting Testimony at a War Crimes Tribunal: Working in a Tug-of-War. Which is far more interesting than the title might suggest. It's about her time working in the Hague and the role translation played on a daily basis.

You can watch the video recording of this episode on YouTube, and while you’re there, subscribe to the Two Month Review channel and stayed tuned for the next broadcast, in which we'll be talking about the first section of Part III of Fox, "The Devil's Garden," pages 110-144.

As always, Fox (and all the previous Two Month Review titles) is available for 20% off through our website. Just use the code 2MONTH at checkout.

Feel free to comment on this episode—or on the book in general—either on this post, or at the official GoodReads Group.

Follow Open Letter, Chad Post, and Brian Wood, for more thoughts and information about upcoming guests.

And you can find all the Two Month Review posts by clicking here. And be sure to leave us a review on iTunes. It really helps people to discover the podcast.

There are two bits of music on this episode, "Yr Throat" by Jeff Rosenstock opens up the podcast, and the outro music is the theme music to Doc Hollywood, another great Michael J. Fox movie.

2MR: FOX by Ugresic ("A Balancing Art") Jun 28, 2018

Show notes

Tom Flynn from Volumes is back, surprising Brian, who mostly prepared for the podcast by Googling Croatian Fun Facts. World Cup banter and good natured ribbing aside, Chad, Brian, and Tom dig in to the first half or "A Balancing Art," talking about immigration vs. tourism, literary conferences and celebrity, one of the best penis jokes ever, and much more. They look at some of the parallels between the first two parts and marvel at Ugresic's genius in putting this novel together. Finally, they talk a bit about "Levin," the Russian author who runs throughout this book . . .

You can watch the video recording of this episode on YouTube, and while you’re there, subscribe to the Two Month Review channel and stop by next Monday, July 2nd at 9pm Eastern to discuss the second half of Part II of Fox, "A Balancing Art," pages 76-109.

As always, Fox (and all the previous Two Month Review titles) is available for 20% off through our website. Just use the code 2MONTH at checkout.

Feel free to comment on this episode—or on the book in general—either on this post, or at the official GoodReads Group.

Follow Open Letter, Chad Post, and Brian Wood, for more thoughts and information about upcoming guests. You can also find Tom Flynn and Volumes Bookcafe on Twitter. If you're in the Chicagoland area, please visit Volumes on Milwaukee and tell them that the Two Month Review sent you. (Or order a book from them online.)

And you can find all the Two Month Review posts by clicking here. And be sure to leave us a review on iTunes. It really helps people to discover the podcast.

There are two bits of music on this episode--the first was chosen by Rafa Montes, an Open Letter summer intern who is producing these podcasts, and the outro music is the theme music to Back to the Future, another great Michael J. Fox movie.

2MR: Fox ("A Story about How Stories Come To Be Written") Jun 21, 2018

Show notes

This week's podcast is pretty fast and loose, with Fortnite disruptions, embarrassing pronunciations, lots of ribbing, and a deep dive into the various games going on in Part I of Dubravka Ugresic's Fox, "A Story about How Stories Come to Be Written." Starting from Pilnyak's story of the same name, this section revolves around the idea of how real life events are transformed into stories, why certain stories "feel" believable, and the way certain stories are lauded and others dismissed. It's a great starting point for the book, and all the silliness aside, Tom, Chad, and Brian do pull a lot of interesting ideas out of this section.

You can watch the video recording of this episode on YouTube, and while you’re there, subscribe to the Two Month Review channel and stop by next Monday, June 25th at 9pm Eastern to discuss the first half of Part II of Fox, "A Balancing Art," pages 46-75.

As always, Fox (and all the previous Two Month Review titles) is available for 20% off through our website. Just use the code 2MONTH at checkout.

Feel free to comment on this episode—or on the book in general—either on this post, or at the official GoodReads Group.

And you can find all the Two Month Review posts by clicking here. And be sure to leave us a review on iTunes. It really helps people to discover the podcast.

There are two bits of music on this episode--the first is "What Does the Fox Say?," which was Tom's "brilliant" suggestion. The outro music is more Michael J. Fox gold, this time from The Secret of My Success.

Three Percent #141: Reimagining the Podcast (AKA Everything Stays the Same) Jun 19, 2018

Show notes

This week, Chad and Tom talk about the "newly reimagined" BookExpo, the New York Rights Fair, the Albertine Prize (congrats to Emma Ramadan, Anne Garreta, and Deep Vellum!), the BTBA (congrats to Will Vanderhyden and Rodrigo Fresán!), likely shortlisted titles for next year's award, and more. Totally lacking in sports talk this week, which is weird, given the start of the US-less World Cup . . .

Music this time is "If There's One Thing You Should Know" by The Go! Team.

As always, feel free to send any and all comments or questions to: threepercentpodcast@gmail.com. Also, if there are articles you’d like us to read and analyze (or just make fun of), send those along as well.

And if you like the podcast, tell a friend and rate us or leave a review on iTunes!

If you don’t already subscribe to the Three Percent Podcast you can find us on iTunes, Stitcher, and other places. Or you can always subscribe by adding our feed directly into your favorite podcast app: http://threepercent.libsyn.com/rss

2MR: Fox (An Introduction to Dubravka Ugresic) Jun 14, 2018

Show notes

The new season is here! For the next two months, Chad and Brian will be talking about Dubravka Ugresic's Fox with a wide range of guests. To kick things off this week, Chad talks about Ugresic's writing career and his history of publishing her, and Brian comes up with a great challenge for our listeners and a running gag about this season's theme music.

You can watch the video recording of this episode on YouTube, and while you’re there, subscribe to the Two Month Review channel and stop by next Monday, June 18th at 9pm Eastern to discuss Part I of Fox, pages 1-45. (If you want to read "A Story About How Stories Come to Be Written" by Pilnyak, just email me.)

As always, Fox (and all the previous Two Month Review titles) is available for 20% off through our website. Just use the code 2MONTH at checkout.

Feel free to comment on this episode—or on the book in general—either on this post, or at the official GoodReads Group.

Follow Open Letter, Chad Post, and Brian Wood, for more thoughts and information about upcoming guests.

And you can find all the Two Month Review posts by clicking here. And be sure to leave us a review on iTunes. It really helps people to discover the podcast.

There are two bits of music on this episode--the first is "I Wanna Be" by Don't, which was recommended by long-time listener (and guest!) Caitlin Luce Baker, and the second is inspired by Brian's comment about Michael J. Fox.

Three Percent #140: Save All the Nobels May 16, 2018

Show notes

Chad and Tom reunite after a few weeks of travel and hot takes to talk about the Best Translated Book Award shortlists, the Nobel Prize controversy, why we should (or shouldn't? or who cares?) save Barnes & Noble, and the awesomeness that is Jean-Patrick Manchette.

This week's music is "Every 1's a Winner" by Ty Segall, because, well, everyone's a winner.

And if you like the podcast, tell a friend and rate us or leave a review on iTunes!

2MR: The Physics of Sorrow (Part VIII: "An Elementary Physics of Sorrow") Apr 12, 2018

Show notes

This week, Chad and Brian are joined by Stiliana Milkova from Oberlin College to talk about the final sections of The Physics of Sorrow: "An Elementary Physics of Sorrow," "Endings," and "Epilogue." They talk about the structure of the novel as a whole, about Chad's favorite page in the book, about aging and nostalgia, and, in a true throwback moment, Twin Peaks.

You can watch the video recording of this episode on YouTube, and while you're there, subscribe to Chad's channel and stop by next Monday, April 16th at 9pm eastern for a very special episode that will feature Santiago Morrice AND Georgi Gospodinov himself! If you watch that episode live you'll have the opportunity to ask Georgi all the questions you want!

As always, The Physics of Sorrow (and all the previous Two Month Review titles) is available for 20% off through our website. Just use the code 2MONTH at checkout.

While you're there, pick up a copy of Fox by Dubravka Ugresic. This will be the next Two Month Review book, and we'll release the schedule in the near future.

Feel free to comment on this episode--or on the book in general--either on this post, or at the official GoodReads Group.

Follow Open Letter, Chad Post, and Brian Wood, for more thoughts and information about upcoming guests.

And you can find all the Two Month Review posts by clicking here. And be sure to leave us a review on iTunes!

The music for this season of Two Month Review is "Stars and Babies" by Splendor and Misery, featuring Georgi's translator, Angela Rodel!

Three Percent #139: The Local Scene Apr 11, 2018

Show notes

Chad and Tom reconvene to talk about self-published titles that stay local, the Best Translated Book Award longlists, the elitism of the industry, and how you should vote for Emma Ramadan's translation of Not One Day for this year's Albertine Prize.

This week's music is a snippet from the 13+ minute long Beach Life-in-Death by Car Seat Headrest. Great song, great album.

As always, feel free to send any and all comments or questions to: threepercentpodcast@gmail.com. Also, if there are articles you'd like us to read and analyze (or just make fun of), send those along as well.

And if you like the podcast, tell a friend and rate us or leave a review on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts!

2MR: The Physics of Sorrow (Part VII: "Global Autumn") Apr 05, 2018

Show notes

This week, Rachel Cordasco from Speculative Fiction in Translation and the Wisconsin Historical Society Press joined Chad and Brian for a fun conversation about part VII of Georgi Gospodinov's The Physics of Sorrow. They talked about how this book invokes a variety of memories, hotel rooms, Eastern European self-deprecating humor, the saddest place on earth, and much more. It's a wide-ranging conversation that truly captures the spirit of the Two Month Review. Whether you've read the book or not, you'll come away from this informed and entertained. (And probably wishing you had read the book.)

You can watch the video recording of this episode on YouTube, and while you're there, subscribe to Chad's channel and stop by next Monday, April 9th at 9pm eastern to talk with Chad, Brian, and special guest Stiliana Milkova. They'll be discussing "An Elementary Physics of Sorrow" and the "Conclusion," and probably touching on Milkova's literary interests, which include Russian Symbolist erotic poetry and Elena Ferrante.

As always, The Physics of Sorrow (and all the previous Two Month Review titles) is available for 20% off through our website. Just use the code 2MONTH at checkout.

Feel free to comment on this episode--or on the book in general--either on this post, or at the official GoodReads Group.

Follow Open Letter, Chad Post, and Brian Wood, for more thoughts and information about upcoming guests. And be sure to follow Rachel Cordasco as well for more book information--especially about speculative fiction.

And you can find all the Two Month Review posts by clicking here. And be sure to leave us a review on iTunes!

The music for this season of Two Month Review is "Stars and Babies" by Splendor and Misery, featuring Georgi's translator, Angela Rodel!

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