I'm with RACKET 'till the wheels fall off. What works for RACKET works for me.
An American sorrow is that We the People then were reading Green as teenagers. We the People now don't know who Greene is/was. 20% of us are illiterate and 60% of us read at a 6th Grade level. Collect great literature. Access is disappearing.
People need to buy hard copies of great books. Digital versions are too easy to "correct," which, oddly, seems to come entirely from the Left. It breaks my heart that we of the nominal Right may not be fascists after all.
I'm not sure when this happened, but know that years ago, the Edward Stratemeyer syndicate, which gave the world The Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, Tom Swift, and other books which provided good reasons for small children to learn that recreational reading is a lovely thing ( when I was seven, knowing that Bayport didn't exist but damn it! it must! I pored over a map of the New Jersey coast with a magnifying glass in the hope that I might find it ), began to "update" The Hardy Boys, at least, and probably their other series. This involved, as you might expect, expurgations and rewriting which the Woke would find acceptable. For a while I was in a Facebook group composed entirely of aging and furious Boomer men who were constantly trading tips about which thrift shops might still have original copies. The Hardy Boys! Is nothing sacred? Has Aunt Gertrude been outed as a gay woman? Is Laura, wife to Fenton and mother of Frank and Joe, largely a phantom because of opioid addiction? Probably Chet is no longer fatter than chubby but good natured about it, and is instead obese, sullen, and laden with a cyberporn addiction which would make any of the friends he still has turn down his offer to share a pizza with them.
It's funny if sad, I guess, but we can't be sure the monsters won't be back in power eventually. We have to build book and music libraries and we need to find a way to link with others who are doing the same. We may have to use carrier pigeons, and I am not joking.
What a fascinating perspective! I had no idea that this sort of manipulation of our old favorites might be possible. But, if they are wiping the internet of past histories, they may want to wipe or severely change those books that instill values that underpin our culture. Thanks for your thoughts--I guess. :(
Bobby, what I’m cheerful about is that knowledge is power, & I receive a lot of knowledge from Racket’s smart commenters! Thank you for the intelligent discussion.
No. Their agenda has been well thought out and is being meticulously carried through. The only thing we have on our side is God. And that is nothing to scoff at. We just need to tighten that relationship and take action where it is indicated.
What if we made a habit of asking people what they're reading and saying a few words about whatever each of us is reading? Would it put pressure on people to read books (even if their leader brags they he doesn't)? Would 20 or so years of that make America great at last? MAGAL maybe?
Besides being a good writer, IMHO Graham Greene was also a good Soviet mole in MI6. A good loyal employee for Kim Philly and a good friend of another traitor, John Cairncross. They are still analyzing his correspondence.
I last talked to Greene about our sordid business in France a few years before his death. Always in doubt of everything because he lived in the wilderness of mirrors, he was a master at describing the setting. He told me Fidel had given him a painting that he hung in his living room and that he admired it every day he was home. He was a living example that you can get away with treachery and keep hoodwinking future generations with works like "The Quiet American".
Excellent! I'm not sure that any of the novels can be discussed in just one session, especially with such a large group. I'm totally onboard with a more or less dedicated discussion of books once a week with some flexibility on how each two hours is managed.
Settle on the first six novels - shorter to longer, provide the reading list this week and allow us to get started. Obtaining copies of twentieth century novels may cost, but lots of the best works from the nineteenth century are available online via Google books - Poe, Twain, and others in translation. Let's not be too terrified of the odd poem, too!
One discussion of politics a week is plenty for me, just saying. Finally, many thanks to both Matt and Walter - let sanity, such as we know it, prevail!
Haha, I'm open to that. A friend is currently giving me holy hell for reading Dante's Inferno -- in graphic novel format. (Life's short and I'm a slow reader...)
No film, however great, can possibly be comparable to reading an author's own words. Those chosen, and, equally vital, those left out.
I think the film of Sense and Sensibility, for example, has done a finer job with her story than Jane Austen herself did - but, even so, watching the film is not reading the novel. Can't be, by the differing natures of the media.
It is true that the media influences the message. Actually, IMHO, the movie is better. Unless you’ve been in the middle of an airport as a squadron takes off, it’s hard to sense the dust and chaos contrast while Yossarian calmly complains. The insanity of the contrast is wonderful. Talking business calmly while others die on the runway. The impact of a guy cut in half and the long bordello lines is also hard to describe, but thats just me.
Can you put your Monday episodes on Apple Podcasts after they air? Your pre-recorded Friday episodes are on there. Would make things easier for those of us who can’t catch the live show.
Is there a single online list of all the short stories that have already been discussed so that I can (more easily) catch up with ATW’s discussions of them?
Eliza I so love that you asked about that. I’ve been archiving so many ATW short story discussions because I want to read a story before I listen to anyone else talk about it! (I used to think I was pretty well read until I subscribed to these guys …)
I really do like this idea. It might be hard, but if you guys could just announce books a few weeks ahead that would be great. You guys make good selections and I would love to pre-read books.
While we have your attention, is there a compendium (list) of the short stories that you and Walter have spoken about? I’d love to have that for future reference. Thanks!
https://youtu.be/AtW4b6DVtuc Harrison Bergeron Vonnegut audio - I may go back and listen to their discussion after listening to this story
https://youtu.be/3MeIfT1P_eg Mars is Heaven Audio - so this YouTube channel is amazing! Subscribed for free after finding it and have listened to several of their storybooks, they have some great ones including some others on the list & Most Dangerous Game & 1984
damn — i’m going to miss short stories, which i think are unfairly maligned as an art form.
also (sad to say), i don’t have time to read novels anymore—but that’s what Audible is for i suppose. The Quiet American is indeed available to listen (which I’ll do).
We’re also going to be picking a lot of novels that have movie versions (Michael Caine and Brendan Fraser did an excellent version of The Quiet American). I’m also going to be doing written intros.
I'll miss the short stories too. With the pace of change and the state of "future shock" that leaves us in, I find it to be the perfect format for our times.
I'm glad you're expanding to novels. I love your literature discussions -- it's one unique thing about your podcast that sets it apart, and really adds value. As a film buff, I'd like to hear your takes on the film/miniseries versions of these books, if you could squeeze those in, tell us what went right or wrong in the adaptations (since most of us are likely more familiar with the movies anyway). You say that talking with Walter keeps you sane, and I second that from a listener's perspective -- both of you keep me grounded.
I know of nothing that compares to ATW, and I've been missing it sorely these past two weeks. Watching/listening to Matt and Walter are two highpoints in my week. It's a bit scary how they've become my digital "friends" when I feel a need for connection to sentient beings, something most of my in-the-flesh friends no longer are.
I think a lot of us share the aloneness, as odd as that sounds. I can discuss books with only a couple of guys I know - I should be grateful, and am - and music with not really anyone. The latter is particularly depressing. I'm in a constant state of shock at the rubbish people think is music. My tastes are in jazz ( not soft jazz or "fusion," but jazz ), Baroque/classical, and The Great American Songbook songs.
But jazz and classical music, whether in person or on recording, account for about 3% of the money the American people spend on entertainment each year.
100%. I just read that one a couple of months ago — which I somehow skipped in my post-collegiate Vonnegut reading frenzy — and it's scarily accurate. Maybe the dystopian book that most illustrates our time.
Is it possible to announce the books in advance so that we can read them ahead of your discussion? Thanks, if possible.
I just downloaded The Quiet American. It is relatively short, so one should be able to read it by Monday afternoon.
(Borrowing your reply Susan. Thanks!!)
I'm with RACKET 'till the wheels fall off. What works for RACKET works for me.
An American sorrow is that We the People then were reading Green as teenagers. We the People now don't know who Greene is/was. 20% of us are illiterate and 60% of us read at a 6th Grade level. Collect great literature. Access is disappearing.
People need to buy hard copies of great books. Digital versions are too easy to "correct," which, oddly, seems to come entirely from the Left. It breaks my heart that we of the nominal Right may not be fascists after all.
I'm not sure when this happened, but know that years ago, the Edward Stratemeyer syndicate, which gave the world The Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, Tom Swift, and other books which provided good reasons for small children to learn that recreational reading is a lovely thing ( when I was seven, knowing that Bayport didn't exist but damn it! it must! I pored over a map of the New Jersey coast with a magnifying glass in the hope that I might find it ), began to "update" The Hardy Boys, at least, and probably their other series. This involved, as you might expect, expurgations and rewriting which the Woke would find acceptable. For a while I was in a Facebook group composed entirely of aging and furious Boomer men who were constantly trading tips about which thrift shops might still have original copies. The Hardy Boys! Is nothing sacred? Has Aunt Gertrude been outed as a gay woman? Is Laura, wife to Fenton and mother of Frank and Joe, largely a phantom because of opioid addiction? Probably Chet is no longer fatter than chubby but good natured about it, and is instead obese, sullen, and laden with a cyberporn addiction which would make any of the friends he still has turn down his offer to share a pizza with them.
It's funny if sad, I guess, but we can't be sure the monsters won't be back in power eventually. We have to build book and music libraries and we need to find a way to link with others who are doing the same. We may have to use carrier pigeons, and I am not joking.
What a fascinating perspective! I had no idea that this sort of manipulation of our old favorites might be possible. But, if they are wiping the internet of past histories, they may want to wipe or severely change those books that instill values that underpin our culture. Thanks for your thoughts--I guess. :(
It's not something to be cheerful about, is it?
Bobby, what I’m cheerful about is that knowledge is power, & I receive a lot of knowledge from Racket’s smart commenters! Thank you for the intelligent discussion.
No. Their agenda has been well thought out and is being meticulously carried through. The only thing we have on our side is God. And that is nothing to scoff at. We just need to tighten that relationship and take action where it is indicated.
What if we made a habit of asking people what they're reading and saying a few words about whatever each of us is reading? Would it put pressure on people to read books (even if their leader brags they he doesn't)? Would 20 or so years of that make America great at last? MAGAL maybe?
Such a great book one of my favorites by Greene
Looking forward to it.
Besides being a good writer, IMHO Graham Greene was also a good Soviet mole in MI6. A good loyal employee for Kim Philly and a good friend of another traitor, John Cairncross. They are still analyzing his correspondence.
That is absolutely fascinating.
I last talked to Greene about our sordid business in France a few years before his death. Always in doubt of everything because he lived in the wilderness of mirrors, he was a master at describing the setting. He told me Fidel had given him a painting that he hung in his living room and that he admired it every day he was home. He was a living example that you can get away with treachery and keep hoodwinking future generations with works like "The Quiet American".
Even IF he was a traitor/spy, why is said author "hoodwinking" his readers if the book is a good story, well-told?
Excellent! I'm not sure that any of the novels can be discussed in just one session, especially with such a large group. I'm totally onboard with a more or less dedicated discussion of books once a week with some flexibility on how each two hours is managed.
Settle on the first six novels - shorter to longer, provide the reading list this week and allow us to get started. Obtaining copies of twentieth century novels may cost, but lots of the best works from the nineteenth century are available online via Google books - Poe, Twain, and others in translation. Let's not be too terrified of the odd poem, too!
One discussion of politics a week is plenty for me, just saying. Finally, many thanks to both Matt and Walter - let sanity, such as we know it, prevail!
I'm going to need at least a month's notice for "Catch-22." Its length has always discouraged me from reading it...
Watch the movie instead
Haha, I'm open to that. A friend is currently giving me holy hell for reading Dante's Inferno -- in graphic novel format. (Life's short and I'm a slow reader...)
I love the movie (many don't but come on, the cast alone makes it mandatory viewing) but the book should be read too.
The Slaughterhouse Five movie is really great too. Can't beat the 70s for film.
Catch-22 is free on Kanopy, the site that is accessed with a local library card, as well as many other classics.
Yeah for Kanopy!
No film, however great, can possibly be comparable to reading an author's own words. Those chosen, and, equally vital, those left out.
I think the film of Sense and Sensibility, for example, has done a finer job with her story than Jane Austen herself did - but, even so, watching the film is not reading the novel. Can't be, by the differing natures of the media.
It is true that the media influences the message. Actually, IMHO, the movie is better. Unless you’ve been in the middle of an airport as a squadron takes off, it’s hard to sense the dust and chaos contrast while Yossarian calmly complains. The insanity of the contrast is wonderful. Talking business calmly while others die on the runway. The impact of a guy cut in half and the long bordello lines is also hard to describe, but thats just me.
Is that your complete thought?
No, just fat fingers in cold Moscow
Sounds great! I’ll be there Monday and Friday!
Looks he just did, Catch-22, etc.
Yes please. I've been hoping for the same.
Can you put your Monday episodes on Apple Podcasts after they air? Your pre-recorded Friday episodes are on there. Would make things easier for those of us who can’t catch the live show.
I agree with this suggestion.
This would be very helpful.
Is there a single online list of all the short stories that have already been discussed so that I can (more easily) catch up with ATW’s discussions of them?
Eliza I so love that you asked about that. I’ve been archiving so many ATW short story discussions because I want to read a story before I listen to anyone else talk about it! (I used to think I was pretty well read until I subscribed to these guys …)
Oops like The Quiet American is next up!
I really do like this idea. It might be hard, but if you guys could just announce books a few weeks ahead that would be great. You guys make good selections and I would love to pre-read books.
Oh, pooh. There goes my modest reading/discussion enjoyment. Racket, don't you think I'd read more if I could?
Thanks for the ask. :)
When you come to a fork in the road take it.
Love ALL of THIS!!!! 💪🏼❤️🍻
and.... its "90% mental" ~.
Forks are racist. : )
Will reflect on that in a personal struggle session. But they do come in both white and black plastic, so it might be a non-starter.
The future aint what it used to be.
Yogi
Always save your fork: there’s pie.
The q1
ATW is the only thing I can watch these days. Thank you Matt & Walter (and anyone else behind the scenes) for all that you do!
Matt, could you please add the Monday show after it finished to the same podcast feed as the Friday show?
Yes, I think we can do that…
While we have your attention, is there a compendium (list) of the short stories that you and Walter have spoken about? I’d love to have that for future reference. Thanks!
The Library of Babel Jorge Lui
Catch 22
The Machine Stops
The Ones Who Walk Away from the Omelas Ur
Nightfall Isaac Asimov
Harrison Bergeron Kurt Vonnegut
Mars is Heaven Ray Bradbury
The Man that corrupted Hadleyburg Mark Twai
The Rocking Horse Winner DH Lawerence
The Metamorphosis
Minority Report PKD
Bartleby, the Scrivener by Herman Melville
Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes story, “The Red-Headed League.”
“Flowers For Algernon”
Kurt Vonnegut story, “2BR02B.”
Condensed Milk Varlam Shamalov
“There Will Come Soft Rains,” by Ray Bradbury
Lottery of Babylon Jorge Louis Borges
“Coming Attraction” by Fritz Leiber
Alexander Pushkin’s “The Shot”
“The Tell-Tale Heart,” Edgar Allen Poe
Donald Barthelme’s amazing “The School”
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge Ambrose B
‘How Much Land Does a Man Need?’ L Tolstoy
Ernest Hemingway’s “The Killers.”
How I Contemplated The World From The Detroit House Of Correction And Began My Life Over Again By Joyce Carol Oates
Saki's Tobermory
Dennis Johnson’s “Emergency,”
James Joyce’s Araby
FUBAR K Vonnegut
The Lady with the Dog Chekhov
The Most Dangerous Game
Microcosmic God Theodore Sturgeon
The Kugelmass Episode Woody Allen
The Lottery Shirley Jackson
Isaac Bashevis Singer’s The Destruction of Kreshev
How a Muzhik Fed Two Officials by M. Y Saltykov
Sunny’s Blues James Baldwin
It’s a Good Life Jerome Bixby
“Rip Van Winkle” by Washington Irving
Voinovich’s A Circle of Friends
The Swimmer John Cheever
The Nose Gogol
The 9 billion Names of God Arthur C Clarke
Jackals and Arabs Kafka
To Build a Fire Jack London
The Magic Shop HG Wells
A&P Jon Updike
The Storyteller Saki
Christmas not just once a year Heinrich B
Night Meeting Ray Bradbury
Guests of the Nation Frank O’c
“The Grand Inquisitor” from Fyodor Dostoevsky’s The Brother’s Karamazov
The Necklace Guy de Maupassant
The Door EB White
The Bet Anton Chekhov
Incident in Anzania Evelyn Waugh
Senility Sherwood Anderson
“The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allan Poe
The Overcoat Gogol
The Egg Sherwood Anderson
Eves Diary Mark Twain
In Dreams begin Responsibilities Delmore-Sch
Sredni Vashtar Saki
Goodbye my Brother John Cheever
“The Blood of the Martyrs” by Stephen Vincent Benét
How to tell a True War Story Tim OBrien
My 1st Goose Isaac Babel
After the Ball Tolstoy
“The Catbird Seat” by James Thurber
The Hanging Stranger PKD
Mark Twain’s “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County”
Ambrose Bierce’s A Horseman in the Sky
Harlan Ellison’s I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream
Edgar Allan Poe’s The Mask of the Red Death
Slavomir Mrozik’s “The Elephant”
😊
Thanks so much!
https://youtu.be/SoiUUXCDuhU here’s a link to the audio version of Library of Babel (:
https://youtu.be/P64jqU2Kj4A
Link to the audio The Machine Stops - this story is super good!
https://youtu.be/Li1V_Z8VXns Nightfall audio
https://youtu.be/AtW4b6DVtuc Harrison Bergeron Vonnegut audio - I may go back and listen to their discussion after listening to this story
https://youtu.be/3MeIfT1P_eg Mars is Heaven Audio - so this YouTube channel is amazing! Subscribed for free after finding it and have listened to several of their storybooks, they have some great ones including some others on the list & Most Dangerous Game & 1984
Agreed. I think they should publish their own anthology of short stories. I'd buy it.
They're listed under each episode... someone with time on their hands should compile them up.
Great idea!
Yes, this would be incredibly helpful. I like the audio form while I'm cooking/cleaning/walking.
This would be great.... Dislike dealing with youtube
It's also on Rumble, which is slightly better and at least allows for free speech.
I'd like yo watch it on Rumble but as far as I know their format doesn't support PIP. If I'm wrong - please let me know.
I LOVE the Bailey Building and Loan!!! And, now, well, I just HAVE to follow you.
Awesome! Best news you could have given us!
Excited for your return to the airwaves. Listening to you both keeps me sane.
I’ve been twitching from my withdrawals… good to hear I will have that sweet juice of ATW in my veins again.
damn — i’m going to miss short stories, which i think are unfairly maligned as an art form.
also (sad to say), i don’t have time to read novels anymore—but that’s what Audible is for i suppose. The Quiet American is indeed available to listen (which I’ll do).
We’re also going to be picking a lot of novels that have movie versions (Michael Caine and Brendan Fraser did an excellent version of The Quiet American). I’m also going to be doing written intros.
The Quiet American movie with Michael Caine is on the Kanopy site where movies are free with a local library card.
Wildcat, the movie about Flannery O’Connor and directed by Ethan Hawke, mentioned by Matt and Walter, is also on Kanopy. I loved it.
I live on a block which because of some stupid zoning/taxing law doesn't have access to Kanopy. Disgusting.
Wow didn't realize kanopy was a thing or that I had access to it! Thanks so much. Love my Libby!
Michael Caine is a treasure, I was hoping Dirty Rotten Scoundrels was based on a book. But no.
One of my faves
Remake of "Bedtime Stories" with David Niven and Marlon Brando.
Yes
💕 thank you
I just started reading that book, but I need to finish an Ellis Peters Brother Cadfael.
Glad to hear that. Thought some reviews of classic movies would be a great addition.
GREAT MOVIE.
YES. I also delved into Dangerous Visions after they did the PKD story. Glad to have been turned onto it, there's some real great stuff in there.
yeah i said that too. Short stories are underappreciated and often a better way of understanding the zeitgeist of the time and place.
Maybe they can mix them in from time to time.
I'll miss the short stories too. With the pace of change and the state of "future shock" that leaves us in, I find it to be the perfect format for our times.
Me too. The short stories that the lads picked were always interesting and it helped me get into trying my hand at writing too.
I'm glad you're expanding to novels. I love your literature discussions -- it's one unique thing about your podcast that sets it apart, and really adds value. As a film buff, I'd like to hear your takes on the film/miniseries versions of these books, if you could squeeze those in, tell us what went right or wrong in the adaptations (since most of us are likely more familiar with the movies anyway). You say that talking with Walter keeps you sane, and I second that from a listener's perspective -- both of you keep me grounded.
I'm so excited for the novel discussions. Your short story conversations have invigorated my love of reading fiction like nothing else.
Will be anxiously awaiting your return🤗
Can't wait Matt. You and Walter do indeed keep me sane. I'm very excited about the pivot to discuss novels.
I know of nothing that compares to ATW, and I've been missing it sorely these past two weeks. Watching/listening to Matt and Walter are two highpoints in my week. It's a bit scary how they've become my digital "friends" when I feel a need for connection to sentient beings, something most of my in-the-flesh friends no longer are.
I think a lot of us share the aloneness, as odd as that sounds. I can discuss books with only a couple of guys I know - I should be grateful, and am - and music with not really anyone. The latter is particularly depressing. I'm in a constant state of shock at the rubbish people think is music. My tastes are in jazz ( not soft jazz or "fusion," but jazz ), Baroque/classical, and The Great American Songbook songs.
But jazz and classical music, whether in person or on recording, account for about 3% of the money the American people spend on entertainment each year.
Same here.
The Free Press doubled my subscription fee so I cancelled. If Matt doubles his I'm going to pay it gladly (with the money I used to give Bari Weiss)
Twice the price for half the promise.
"Ever get the feeling you've been cheated?" -- Johnny Rotten
Let's discuss Vonnegut's Player Piano, seems incredibly relevant, also A Canticle for Liebowicz -- I can picture a new mob smashing the server centers
A Canticle for Liebowicz is one of my favorite books. The monk on the bike...rediscovering electricity. And that shopping list.
I read that in a high school science fiction class (55 years ago). I would welcome the excuse to read it again.
100%. I just read that one a couple of months ago — which I somehow skipped in my post-collegiate Vonnegut reading frenzy — and it's scarily accurate. Maybe the dystopian book that most illustrates our time.
I just reread this one recently. More relevant now than ever. Hail Proteus!
Great picks!
Cool, please consider putting "A Confederacy of Dunces" on the list.
I second this!!
A third!