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Kicking off this week’s episode is a little game of which came first: a well-known invention, or Volumes I & II of Tristram Shandy. After that, Kaija, Brian, and Chad discuss Volume V, especially the mix of humor and sadness this section contains, and how Sterne’s style overpowers his plot points. They also guess what comes next in the novel, talk about Tristram’s accident, and get into Anatomy of Melancholy and the “Tristrapaedia.” This week’s music is “The Circumcision Song” by Gifted but Twisted. Next week’s episode will cover Volume VI. If you want to follow along, the complete schedule can be found here. To support Open Letter directly, please visit this “donation” link. (All contributions via this link go directly to Open Letter’s account.) And to support Coffee House Press’s ongoing fundraising campaign, click here. Upcoming Open Letter Events All October: Asymptote Book Club for The Strongest Woman in the World. Saturday, October 17, 2pm ET: Translating Scandinavia at Scandinavia House, NYC. Friday, October 23, 5pm ET: Boudoir Book Club at The Siren and the Sea, Rochester, NY. Saturday & Sunday, October 24-25, Lara Moreno will be at the FILNYC festival to discuss The City and her other books. She’s on a panel on the 24th at 2pm ET, and one on the 25th at 1pm ET. Both are at John Jay College. Click here for more information on Open Letter’s Icelandic-themed Translator Triptych, and click here to learn about The Family by Sara Mesa & Katie Whittemore. (DRCs of The Family are available on Edelweiss+.) You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. Follow Open Letter, Two Month Review, Chad W. Post, Kaija Straumanis, and Brian Wood for random thoughts and information about upcoming guests. If you haven’t already, subscribe to the Three Percent substack for information about Open Letter Books and literature in translation writ large. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit threepercentproblem.substack.com

Brian’s off-grid, so Chad and Kaija take on Volume IV of Laurence Sterne’s The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by themselves. They start by bantering about the Nobel Prize for Literature before getting into “noses,” the metafictional games in this volume, the importance of names, whether you can get a baptismal do-over, and much more. This week’s music is “Say My Name (Remix)” by Morgan Seatree x Florence + The Machine. Next week’s episode will cover Volume V. If you want to follow along, the complete schedule can be found here. To support Open Letter directly, please visit this “donation” link. (All contributions via this link go directly to Open Letter’s account.) And to support Coffee House Press’s ongoing fundraising campaign, click here. Upcoming Open Letter Events All October: Asymptote Book Club for The Strongest Woman in the World. Saturday, October 10, 4pm CT: Spotlight on Icelandic Women Writers at Open Book, Minneapolis, MN. Saturday, October 17, 2pm ET: Translating Scandinavia at Scandinavia House, NYC. Friday, October 23, 5pm ET: Boudoir Book Club at The Siren and the Sea, Rochester, NY. Saturday & Sunday, October 24-25, Lara Moreno will be at the FILNYC festival to discuss The City and her other books. She’s on a panel on the 24th at 2pm ET, and one on the 25th at 1pm ET. Both are at John Jay College. And click here for more information on Open Letter’s Icelandic-themed Translator Triptych. You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. Follow Open Letter, Two Month Review, Chad W. Post, Kaija Straumanis, and Brian Wood for random thoughts and information about upcoming guests. If you haven’t already, subscribe to the Three Percent substack for information about Open Letter Books and literature in translation writ large. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit threepercentproblem.substack.com

On this week’s episode, which covers Volume III of Laurence Sterne’s The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, Brian shares some weird stuff about geese from Rabelais along with an AI-created reading list on the “evolution of metafiction.” And all three co-hosts talk about how fun this book is to read, but also wonder what the book’s overall “joke” might be. They also discuss noses (or “noses”), “The Author’s Preface” and Macedonio Fernández, and some of the novel’s wordplay. Next week’s episode will cover Volume IV. If you want to follow along, the complete schedule can be found here. To support Open Letter directly, please visit this “donation” link. (All contributions via this link go directly to Open Letter’s account.) And to support Coffee House Press’s ongoing fundraising campaign, click here. Upcoming Open Letter Events All October: Asymptote Book Club for The Strongest Woman in the World. Friday, October 2, 1pm ET: Open Letter Salon for The City. Saturday, October 3, 1pm ET: Time and Water: Film Screening and Conversation at Scandinavia House, NYC. Also screening at the Central Park Conservancy Film Festival on October 7th at 7pm on the lawn between Cherry Hill and Sheep Meadow. Tuesday, October 6, 7pm ET: The 2026 Icelandic Translator Triptych at Scandinavia House, NYC. Wednesday, October 7, 7pm ET: Screening of Time and Water at the Central Park Conservancy Film Festival. Saturday, October 10, 4pm CT: Spotlight on Icelandic Women Writers at Open Book, Minneapolis, MN. Saturday, October 17, 2pm ET: Translating Scandinavia at Scandinavia House, NYC. Friday, October 23, 5pm ET: Boudoir Book Club at The Siren and the Sea, Rochester, NY. Saturday & Sunday, October 24-25, Lara Moreno will be at the FILNYC festival to discuss The City and her other books. She’s on a panel on the 24th at 2pm ET, and one on the 25th at 1pm ET. Both are at John Jay College. And click here for more information on Open Letter’s Icelandic-themed Translator Triptych. You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. Follow Open Letter, Two Month Review, Chad W. Post, Kaija Straumanis, and Brian Wood for random thoughts and information about upcoming guests. If you haven’t already, subscribe to the Three Percent substack for information about Open Letter Books and literature in translation writ large. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit threepercentproblem.substack.com

Kaija’s jet-lagged but back, ready to digress and digest double entendres with Chad and Brian. Along with recapping this volume of Tristram Shandy—Toby and Trim’s plan, the collision between Obadiah and Dr. Slop, Yorick’s Sermon, Walter’s midwifery ideas—they talk about the initial reception of this book, the worst type of footnotes, the editorial inclination to favor the transmission of information over voice-driven joyful meanderings, and one of many reasons why Bret Stephens sucks. This week’s music is “Planet Desperation” by Car Seat Headrest. Next week’s episode will cover Volume III. If you want to follow along, the complete schedule can be found here. Upcoming Open Letter Events Friday, September 25, 4:30pm ET: What French and Francophone Literature Offers the American Imagination at Albertine Books, NYC. All October: Asymptote Book Club for The Strongest Woman in the World. Friday, October 2, 1pm ET: Open Letter Salon for The City. Saturday, October 3, 1pm ET: Time and Water: Film Screening and Conversation at Scandinavia House, NYC. Tuesday, October 6, 7pm ET: The 2026 Icelandic Translator Triptych at Scandinavia House, NYC. Saturday, October 10, 4pm CT: Spotlight on Icelandic Women Writers at Open Book, Minneapolis, MN. Saturday, October 17, 2pm ET: Translating Scandinavia at Scandinavia House, NYC. Friday, October 23, 5pm ET: Boudoir Book Club at The Siren and the Sea, Rochester, NY. And click here for more information on Open Letter’s Icelandic-themed Translator Triptych. You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. Follow Open Letter, Two Month Review, Chad W. Post, Kaija Straumanis, and Brian Wood for random thoughts and information about upcoming guests. If you haven’t already, subscribe to the Three Percent substack for information about Open Letter Books and literature in translation writ large. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit threepercentproblem.substack.com

Kaija (“Medically Confirmed Sleepyhead,” her words) was asleep for the recording of this, so you only get Chad and Brian this week. They introduce Laurence Sterne’s The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by going over Volume I. There’s some biographical info at the start, then they talk about shaggy dog stories and digressions, “nominative determinism,” some interesting ideas from the 1700s about sperm and conception, the em-dash problem in the Penguin Classic edition, and how to handle all the footnotes without destroying the flow of reading. They also discuss the other Substack currently reading Tristram Shandy, and the discussion group they’re having on the first and third Fridays of every month—which is open to the public both in person at the CUNY Graduate Center and on Zoom. (Subscribe for free to get the Zoom link.) This week’s music is “Fingers and Thumbs” by Tristram Shandy. Next week’s episode will cover Volume II. If you want to follow along, the complete schedule can be found here. You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. Follow Open Letter, Two Month Review, Chad W. Post, Kaija Straumanis, and Brian Wood for random thoughts and information about upcoming guests. If you haven’t already, subscribe to the Three Percent substack for information about Open Letter Books and literature in translation writ large. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit threepercentproblem.substack.com

Instead of breaking down any books this episode, Kaija, Brian, and Chad talk about some of the books they read this past summer, including a few Nabokov titles, Big Bang by David Bowman (NOT the 2001 character), Helen of Nowhere by Makenna Goodman (longlisted for the Booker Prize!), and several more. Then, they lay out the next three seasons of TMR, explaining some of the connections between these various books . . . This week’s music is “Summertime Clothes” by Animal Collective. The next three seasons of TMR are announced in this episode, and the reading schedule for the first one will be available on September 10th. What, you think I would tell you which books we’re doing here in the show notes? The three forthcoming books in the Icelandic-centric Translator Triptych curated by Lytton Smith are: * Boudoir by Sigrún Pálsdóttir, translated by Lytton Smith * The Strongest Woman in the World by Steinunn G. Helgadóttir, translated by Larissa Kyzer * 12 Women + Under a Volcano by Svava Jakobsdóttir, translated by Esja Alyssa Matich And you can get all three for $35 (almost 40% off) in this special bundle, and you can subscribe to receive the next 5 or 10 Open Letter titles here. Information about “The 2026 Icelandic Translator Triptych” (October 6, 7pm) and “Translating Scandinavia” (October 17, 2pm), both taking place at the Scandinavia House in New York City is available here. Finally, if you’d like to support Open Letter’s publications, our podcasts, Three Percent, the Translation Database, etc., please consider contributing via this link. Thanks in advance! Follow Open Letter, Two Month Review, Chad W. Post, Kaija Straumanis, and Brian Wood for random thoughts and information about upcoming guests. If you haven’t already, subscribe to the Three Percent substack for information about Open Letter Books and literature in translation writ large. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit threepercentproblem.substack.com

This week, Kaija, Chad, and Brian talk about how well Morgner landed the plane, the ethics of recommending books to bar patrons, what the second and third volumes of this trilogy might be like, how the book works as parody, Viktor Shklovsky, and much more. This week’s music is “Detachable Penis” by King Missle. We’ll announce a new slate of TMR seasons in the upcoming weeks. Till then, stay tuned, and explore our extensive back catalog of more than 150 episodes. You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. Follow Open Letter, Two Month Review, Chad W. Post, Kaija Straumanis, and Brian Wood for random thoughts and information about upcoming guests. If you haven’t already, subscribe to the Three Percent substack for information about Open Letter Books and literature in translation writ large. Also consider subscribing to the Mining the Dalkey Archive substack and its respective podcast (Apple, Spotify) for all things Dalkey Archive. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit threepercentproblem.substack.com

This week, Brian, Kaija, and Chad talk about the unknown world of references Morgner is playing with, picaresque novels, the joys of writing tedious prose, the American healthcare system, and Beatrice’s fate. This week’s music is “Out of This Place” by Car Seat Headrest. Next week: We finish this! You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. Follow Open Letter, Two Month Review, Chad W. Post, Kaija Straumanis, and Brian Wood for random thoughts and information about upcoming guests. If you haven’t already, subscribe to the Three Percent substack for information about Open Letter Books and literature in translation writ large. Also consider subscribing to the Mining the Dalkey Archive substack and its respective podcast (Apple, Spotify) for all things Dalkey Archive. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit threepercentproblem.substack.com

This week’s episode opens with some World Cup talk, before diving into the “Sixth Intermezzo” and first half of “Book Eleven.” According to Brian, “family” is the best way to sum up Fast & Furious this week’s reading, which revolves around Laura’s marriage to Benno, and the return of Beatrice from her unicorn hunt. There’s also a speech justifying the “law on the termination of pregnancy” and a terrible poem by Paul Wiens. (Chad: “Who?”) This week’s music is “Connect the Dots (Song of Secretariat)” by Car Seat Headrest. Next week’s episode will cover the rest of “Book Eleven,” which ends on page 424. If you want to follow along, the complete schedule can be found here. You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. Follow Open Letter, Two Month Review, Chad W. Post, Kaija Straumanis, and Brian Wood for random thoughts and information about upcoming guests. If you haven’t already, subscribe to the Three Percent substack for information about Open Letter Books and literature in translation writ large. Also consider subscribing to the Mining the Dalkey Archive substack and its respective podcast (Apple, Spotify) for all things Dalkey Archive. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit threepercentproblem.substack.com

Covering two sections of the novel—the “Fifth Intermezzo” and “Book Ten”—this episode of TMR starts by discussing how life didn’t turn out how Oskar Pakulat had hoped, and then meanders through Beatrice’s search for the unicorn Anaximander, along with Benno’s all too honest conversation with Laura, before wrapping with an anti-AI reading of the golem/robot section. There’s more talk about how Imtraud Morgner is disrupting patriarchal literary forms, incorporating a dazzling array of literary structures, and having a great time writing this book. Also: Chad discovers the “Glossary” and learns about Paul Wiens for the second time this season. This week’s music is “Brothers” by Dan Deacon. Next week’s episode will cover up through page 360. If you want to follow along, the complete schedule can be found here. You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. Follow Open Letter, Two Month Review, Chad W. Post, Kaija Straumanis, and Brian Wood for random thoughts and information about upcoming guests. If you haven’t already, subscribe to the Three Percent substack for information about Open Letter Books and literature in translation writ large. Also consider subscribing to the Mining the Dalkey Archive substack and its respective podcast (Apple, Spotify) for all things Dalkey Archive. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit threepercentproblem.substack.com

This week, Kaija, Brian, and Chad talk about the various levels of narration to this book and the interplay between the “books” and the “intermezzos.” They also end up comparing and connecting The Life and Adventures of Trobadora Beatrice to a number of books and authors, including Mulligan Stew, Samuel Beckett, The Golden Notebook, I the Supreme, and Flann O’Brien. Finally, they focus in on the idea of a “montage novel” and how this upends male-dominated patterns of fiction. This week’s music is “Not Today” by Kim Gordon. Next week’s episode will cover up through page 299 (“Fifth Intermezzo” and “Book Ten”). If you want to follow along, the complete schedule can be found here. You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. Follow Open Letter, Two Month Review, Chad W. Post, Kaija Straumanis, and Brian Wood for random thoughts and information about upcoming guests. If you haven’t already, subscribe to the Three Percent substack for information about Open Letter Books and literature in translation writ large. Also consider subscribing to the Mining the Dalkey Archive substack and its respective podcast (Apple, Spotify) for all things Dalkey Archive. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit threepercentproblem.substack.com

In an episode as scattered as the book itself, Brian, Chad, and Kaija spend this week wrestling with the wild fragmentation of Morgner’s novel. They talk about co-opting stories, about brains like waffles vs. those like plates of spaghetti, and about what they think might lie ahead. Also: ton of jokes in this one. And some terrible music references. This week’s music is “Pony” by Ginuwine. (Blame Brian.) Next week’s episode will cover up through page 242. If you want to follow along, the complete schedule can be found here. You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. Follow Open Letter, Two Month Review, Chad W. Post, Kaija Straumanis, and Brian Wood for random thoughts and information about upcoming guests. If you haven’t already, subscribe to the Three Percent substack for information about Open Letter Books and literature in translation writ large. Also consider subscribing to the Mining the Dalkey Archive substack and its respective podcast (Apple, Spotify) for all things Dalkey Archive. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit threepercentproblem.substack.com

On this episode, Chad admits to Brian and Kaija that he’s been wrong about something for decades . . . or has he? After that, they discuss the story of Jonah and the whale and Melusine, the poetry generator, Morgner’s general subversions, and more! This week’s music is “Der blaue Planet” by the GDR band Karat. Next week’s episode will cover through page 179. If you want to follow along, the complete schedule can be found here. You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. Follow Open Letter, Two Month Review, Chad W. Post, Kaija Straumanis, and Brian Wood for random thoughts and information about upcoming guests. If you haven’t already, subscribe to the Three Percent substack for information about Open Letter Books and literature in translation writ large. Also consider subscribing to the Mining the Dalkey Archive substack and its respective podcast (Apple, Spotify) for all things Dalkey Archive. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit threepercentproblem.substack.com

The new season kicks off by talking about what compelled Kaija to select The Life and Adventures of Trobadora Beatrice as Chronicled by her Minstrel Laura, which didn’t get much attention when it came out from the University of Nebraska Press in 2000, but has developed a bit of a cult following. (Maybe the scene will be primed for a reprint by the time this season ends.) Myths, Melusine, Genshin Impact, the “Lady and the Unicorn” tapestries, Hopscotch and Tristram Shandy are all discussed, before Kaija gets to share the real reason she picked this book (spoiler: it’s a bunch of insults). This week’s music is “De Troubadour” by Lenny Kuhr, winner of Eurovision 1969. Next week’s episode will cover through page 116. If you want to follow along, the complete schedule can be found here. You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. Follow Open Letter, Two Month Review, Chad W. Post, Kaija Straumanis, and Brian Wood for random thoughts and information about upcoming guests. If you haven’t already, subscribe to the Three Percent substack for information about Open Letter Books and literature in translation writ large. Also consider subscribing to the Mining the Dalkey Archive substack and its respective podcast (Apple, Spotify) for all things Dalkey Archive. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit threepercentproblem.substack.com

On the final episode of this season of the Two Month Review, librarian, book reviewer, passionate reader, and Open Letter intern, Joseph Alcala joins Chad, Brian, and Kaija to talk about the last chunk of Augusto Roa Bastos’s I the Supreme. They discuss what did and didn’t keep them interested in the book, how it compares to other dictator novels, who the audience for this book might be, and just how fire the ending is. This week’s music is “A House on Fire” by TRAAMS. Next season’s title is The Life and Adventures of Trobadora Beatrice as Chronicled by Her Minstrel Laura: A Novel in Thirteen Books and Seven Intermezzos by Irmtraud Morgner, translated from the German by Jeanette Clausen, and the reading schedule will be available next week. You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. Follow Open Letter, Two Month Review, Chad W. Post, Kaija Straumanis, and Brian Wood for random thoughts and information about upcoming guests. If you haven’t already, subscribe to the Three Percent substack for information about Open Letter Books and literature in translation writ large. Also consider subscribing to the Mining the Dalkey Archive substack and its respective podcast (Apple, Spotify) for all things Dalkey Archive. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit threepercentproblem.substack.com