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Rating

★★★★☆

4.4

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8 reviews

Description

Book Spider (previously known as The God Setebos) is a book-of-the-week podcast primarily covering novels, with the occasional detour into nonfiction, literary criticism, poetry, and music. We pride ourselves in running a smart podcast for the discerning listener, and we strive for the highest level of intellectual rigor. Our mascot, the book spider, sits in its cold corner, gathering its web of text, looking at the world with its calm, chilly eyes.

Podcast episodes

Check latest episodes from Book Spider podcast

Course of the Heart is honest, even if we're not sure what it's honest about

2026/09/28

In which the Spiders try to make whatever sense should be made of M. John Harrison's The Course of the Heart, a novel in the tradition of semi-sensical vibes books, which pulls a strong emotional core from an uncertain set of events.

Inconsistent Return on Authorial Indulgence, with JG Ballard's "The Atrocity Exhibition"

2026/09/19

In which we discuss the mixed success of JG Ballard's super experimental, multi-modal and even multi-generational work, "The Atrocity Exhibition."

John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath: Maybe It's Sanctimonious, but It's Still a Masterpiece

2026/09/01

In this episode, the Book Spider hosts discuss The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck. Hans thinks it's sanctimonious, but Patrick and Chris don't really care, because it's awesome all the same.

Yesteryear misunderstands and misuses the tools of fiction

2026/08/31

In which the Spiders are really quite unimpressed by Caro Claire Burke's enormously successful debut novel Yesteryear.

"The Trial" by Kafka - Find the David Wyllie Translation!

2026/08/23

In which we discuss Kafka's prophetic qualities and the importance of finding a good translation. The translation we recommend in this instance is that by David Wyllie (hint: search for the Dover thrift edition).

Michel de Montaigne's Antiquated Essays

2026/07/19

In this episode, the Spiders discuss the essays of Montaigne, with mixed feelings.

John Updike's Couples is a work of cold, amoral beauty

2026/06/21

In which the Spiders ponder Couples, by the now-underappreciated John Updike, a breathtakingly wrought and shockingly lovely work that evinces a now-alien disinterest in judging its characters.

Pure and Bureaucratic Horror - Part 3 of Bolanyo's "2666"

2026/06/09

In which we close our discussion of one of Bolanyo's masterpiece.

Ritual Narrative Intermedio this side of the Heart of Darkness; Part 2 of "2666"

2026/05/19

In which we discuss the lesser discussed parts of this giant, shaggy novel, and stop just before the door to Hell.

The Mundanity of True Human Horror: Section 1 of Roberto Bolaño's Opus, "2666"

2026/04/28

In which we discuss The Part About the Critics, section 1 of Roberto Bolaño's posthumous masterpiece, "2666."

A Journal of the Plague Year: An Interesting Historical Artifact

2026/04/14

In this episode, the Spiders discuss A Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe. While interesting as an historical artifact, the novel leaves at least one of the Spiders bored.

The hollowness of surface satisfactions in Latronico's perfectly adequate Perfection

2026/04/05

In which the Spiders take on Vincenzo Latronico's Perfection, a perfectly satisfactory novel which perhaps doesn't give them the sense of mystery and intrigue that some readers have experienced.

The Catharsis of Chaotic, Perpetual Suffering in Phil Tippet's "Mad God"

2026/03/23

In which we discuss the brutal, hilarious, and deeply moving stop motion film, "Mad God," in development for 30 years and finally released in 2024.

What Even Is Genre Anyway?: Discussing U. K. Le Guin's The Left Hand of Darkness

2026/03/18

In this episode, the Book Spider hosts ask what genre and literary fiction are, and they wonder about the quality of a sci-fi book like The Left Hand of Darkness.

Bleak House, Coming up for Air, and the demise of the English literary tradition

2026/03/08

In which the Spiders discuss Charles Dickens's unwieldy, uneven Bleak House, how it may or may not be emblematic of the larger decline of literate culture, and whether we're sure we'd miss it.

GzDeluxe 2023/12/16

Helping me understand my reaction to The Famished Road

Like the podcasters I loved many elements of the book but struggled with what felt like, as one of them described it, free associative chaos. The mapp...

★☆☆☆☆

Iambic12345 2023/04/03

Dana Spiotta episode

Pretty bad and superficial misreading of this novel.

★★★★★

junt 2023/03/25

Interesting Angles

An engaging podcast that’s not afraid to interpret and imagine. A wide range of intellectual expertise analyze and give fresh perspectives on an array...

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