Spine Crackers

In this episode the Spine Crackers discuss Djuna Barnes' pioneering 1936 novel of queer modernism, identity, and history, Nightwood. Full episode available at https://www.patreon.com/spinecrackers

In this episode, the Spine Crackers are joined by friend of the show Nate, who is the proprietor of the excellent Books You Haven't Read Youtube channel (https://www.youtube.com/@BooksYouHaventRead) to discuss American author Bernard Malamud's 1952 debut novel The Natural.

In this episode, the Spine Crackers discuss American author and literary one-of-a-kind Nicholson Baker's Vox (1992), an erotic study of character, technology, human connection, and fantasy. Full episode on Patreon below:

https://www.patreon.com/spinecrackers

In this year-end episode, the Spine Crackers rank every book we read this year from worst to best, hand out various other awards such as best cover, best quote/passage, best character, answer listener questions, and more!

In this episode, the Spine Crackers discuss American author Cormac McCarthy's penultimate novel of family, loss, madness, and genius, The Passenger. Full episode on our patreon as always!

https://www.patreon.com/spinecrackers

In this episode, the Spine Crackers discuss British author Malcolm Lowry's harrowing 1947 masterpiece of love, war, disease, culture, and meaning, Under the Volcano! Full episode available to patrons as always!

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In this episode, the Spine Crackers discuss Japanese Nobel Prize winner Kenzaburō Ōe's 1967 novel of family, death, war, and history, The Silent Cry! Full episode available on Patreon

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In this episode, the Spine Crackers are joined by friend of the show, real life friend, film critic, filmmaker, youtube legend, and all around renaissance man Patrick Willems to discuss David Duchovny's novel of faith, family, and life in modern-day America Truly Like Lightning. Full episode on Patreon as always!

Pat - https://www.youtube.com/@patrickhwillems

https://www.patreon.com/spinecrackers

In this episode, the Spine Crackers discuss Austrian writer Stefan Zweig's final novella of war, class, and genius, Chess Story! Full episode on the Patreon!

https://www.patreon.com/spinecrackers

In this episode, the Spine Crackers are joined by friend of the show and booktube stalwart Ben from Book Shore to discuss iconic postwar American author William Gaddis' posthumously published final work of culture, history, technology, and art, 2002's Agapē Agape! Full episode on the Patreon! (SORRY FOR SLIGHTLY SCUFFED/CHOPPED AUDIO GABE FROZE AND HAD TO REJOIN THE ZOOM A COUPLE TIMES!)

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In this episode, the Spine Crackers discuss Norwegian author Tarjei Vesaas' 1957 novel of mental illness, family, nature, and perception The Birds. Full episode on Patreon as always.

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In this episode, the Spine Crackers discuss the first ever graphic novel read for the show, Emil Ferris' 2017 pulp noir horror tale of trauma, history, and childhood My Favorite Thing is Monsters! Full episode available on Patreon!

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In this episode, the Spine Crackers discuss William Faulkner's 1955 collection of stories of humanity's relationship with nature, history, and race Big Woods. Full discussion on Patreon as always!

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In this episode, the Spine Crackers discuss Don DeLillo's 1988 pseudo-historical novel of the Kennedy assassination, postmodernism, conspiracy, and the nature of America, Libra. 

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In this episode, the Spine Crackers discuss French romantic (?) author George Sand's (aka Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin de Francueil) 1832 novel of loveless marriage, colonialism, and social mores, Indiana. Enjoy. https://www.patreon.com/spinecrackers

In the first episode of 2023, the Spine Crackers read William T. Vollmann's semi-autobiographical 1996 novel of sex, violence, regret, and loneliness The Atlas!

In this episode, the Spine Crackers go over their 2022 year in reading, including awards for our top 5 books of the year, best cover, worst book, and many more! We hope you're having a fantastic holiday season and we'll be back to our normal schedule in the new year!

In this episode, the Spine Crackers discuss British author and 3rd Baron Ravensdale Nicholas Mosley's 1968 novel of war, love, power, and violence, Impossible Object. 

This week, the Spine Crackers were lucky enough to be joined by Julie, who runs the fantastic bookstagram account @Juliemichellereads, to discuss James Baldwin's 1956 novel of sexual and national identity, desire, morality, and death Giovanni's Room! Enjoy and make sure to follow Julie! 

In this episode, the Spine Crackers discuss Ivan Turgenev's legendary 1862 novel of family, friendship, generational difference, philosophy, and love Fathers and Sons. Enjoy!

Matt sits down for a conversation with Sydney and Eric, L.A. transplants and newly minted bookstore owners of the legendary "bibliophile Mecca of Washington County": Owl Pen Books! Please enjoy this casual discussion about the rationale behind assuming ownership of a bookstore in 2022, the history of the store, literary loves, leaps of faith, and hopes for the future running a business out of a converted chicken coop.

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In this episode, the Spine Crackers read prolific American author Percival Everett's most recent (and recently longlisted for the Booker prize) novel of race, memory, genre, and violence, The Trees, which tells the story of a series of mysterious and gruesome murders in a small, but historically significant, Mississippi town and winds up in places you will never expect. 

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In this episode, the Spine Crackers are joined by friend of the show Ben, who runs the fantastic booktube channel Book Shore, to discuss legendary Chilean author Roberto Bolano's first novel, published after his untimely death but written in 1989, The Third Reich! 

https://www.youtube.com/c/BookShore

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https://www.buymeacoffee.com/spinecrackers

In this episode, the Spine Crackers discuss Maxine Hong Kingston's 1987 novel of race, American and Chinese history, love, and the legacy of the 60s, Tripmaster Monkey: His Fake Book!

In this episode, the Spine Crackers discuss Colin O'Sullivan's sci-fi novel of family, loss, AI, and getting drunk, The Dark Manual!

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In this episode, the Spine Crackers discuss Japanese author Yu Miri's 2014 novel of national identity, trauma, family, regret, and class, Tokyo Ueno Station! 

In this episode, the Spine Crackers discuss Toni Morrison's seminal 1987 novel of race, trauma, memory, family, community, and so much more Beloved. 

In this episode, the Spine Crackers are lucky enough to be joined by Sean, who is the creator of the fantastic YouTube channel Travel Through Stories, to discuss Australian author Gerald Murnane's reflective novel of the life of the writer, memory, and subjective experience "Barley Patch."

In this episode, the Spine Crackers discuss Ted Chiang's much-lauded sci-fi short story collection Exhalation, which touches on issues as wide ranging as tech startup culture, free will, and time travel! 

In this episode, the Spine Crackers are joined by Seth, proprietor of the excellent Instagram and Youtube accounts under the W.A.S.T.E. Mailing List moniker, to discuss John Wyndham's 1951 catastrophe novel of war, science, and human society The Day of the Triffids.

https://www.instagram.com/wastemailinglist/?hl=en

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6TqI_9Rj0jWXsAGTnNmodw

https://mobile.twitter.com/wastemailing

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https://www.buymeacoffee.com/spinecrackers

In this episode, the Spine Crackers discuss Nobel Prize winning Polish author Olga Tokarczuk's 2009 existential pseudo-murder-mystery Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead

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This week, the Spine Crackers discuss Katharina Volckmer's transgressive 2020 novel of sex, identity, and trauma, (still unpublished in her native country of Germany) The Appointment. 

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This week, the Spine Crackers read American author Paul Auster's 1992 novel of friendship, writing, and finding one's place in political history, Leviathan. 

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In this episode, the Spine Crackers discuss their first devotional text, John Bunyan's 1678 allegorical adventure and proto-novel The Pilgrim's Progress. See y'all down the road!

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In this episode, the Spine Crackers read American author Lorrie Moore's elegiac collection of short stories on isolation, rootlessness, art, and, well...you get the idea, Like Life. 

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This week, the Spine Crackers read English author Anna Kavan's final novel, 1967's schizological sci-fi blizzard-dream, Ice. 

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In this episode, the Spine Crackers read controversial German author Ernst Junger's 1957 science fiction novel of technology, war, celebrity, and fascism (?) The Glass Bees. 

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In this episode, the Spine Crackers are joined by Nate Rankin, proprietor of the YouTube channel Books You Haven't Read, to discuss Italo Calvino's 1979 metatextual novel (within novel within novel) If on a winter's night a traveler!

https://www.youtube.com/user/IamSeamus1

https://www.naterankin.com/

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https://www.buymeacoffee.com/spinecrackers

In this episode (the first in our new condensed format) the Spine Crackers read Christopher Isherwood's 1964 novel of grief, aging, and the American psyche, A Single Man! Full two-and-a-half hour discussion available to patrons!

 https://www.patreon.com/spinecrackers

The Spine Crackers share a very important announcement regarding plans for 2022 and beyond! We will be taking a brief break to get ourselves mentally, physically, spiritually, and emotionally ready for the coming changes and are so excited to get back to the show in a couple weeks!

In the first episode of 2022, the Spine Crackers welcome the bleak midwinter months with their first ever episode on poetry. Specifically, they discuss the bleak, philosophical, surreal, and deeply human poetry of Yugoslav-American poet Charles Simic. 

In this very special episode, the Spine Crackers present their first annual end-of-year awards. They each count down their personal top 5 books of the year, give out awards for categories such as Best Character, Best Cover, Most Disappointing Book, and many more! Have a fantastic New Year!

In this episode, the Spine Crackers read Herman Melville's final novel, the 1857 satirical masterpiece of identity, religion, irony, and the American psyche, The Confidence-Man. 

In this very special episode, the Spine Crackers celebrate one year of the podcast with some reflections on the story so far and a Q&A with listener submitted questions! Here's to many more years and many more books!

In this episode, the Spine Crackers read American enfant terrible Truman Capote's 1949 collection of short stories, "A Tree of Night and Other Stories." 

In this episode, the Spine Crackers read Percival Everett's 2013 postmodern metatext of death, family, race, and language Percival Everett by Virgil Russell. Make sure to stay tuned through the end for a #booktube callout and a first for the podcast surprise! Let's philosophize. 

In this episode, the Spine Crackers are joined by Ben, the proprietor of the fantastic Book Shore YouTube channel, to discuss legendary postmodern author Joseph McElroy's 2013 novel of war, family, memory, and American identity, Cannonball. Ben also breaks some genuine literary news with respect to some previously semi-lost McElroy texts! 

https://www.youtube.com/c/BookShore

@bookshore_ben on Instagram. 

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ALERT: THIS EPISODE DOES WORK IT JUST DOESN'T START UNTIL 45 SECONDS IN JUST SKIP TO THAT!

In this episode, the Spine Crackers read Pakistani author Mohsin Hamid's 2017 novel of place, space, emigration, and love, Exit West

In this episode, the Spine Crackers take a trip back to middle school to discuss John Steinbeck's 1947 parable of family, community, greed, and meaning, The Pearl. 

In this episode, the Spine Crackers are joined by Daniel of the Viva La Dude podcast to discuss legendary screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky's first and only novel, and the basis for his 1980 cult classic film, Altered States (1978)! Go ape!