Fan's Notes

We're back after a short hiatus to talk about Martin Amis' scandalously funny novel Money, as well as things that we think we know after one month of the NBA season. Next up, we'll be reading Elif Batuman's highly acclaimed 2017 novel The Idiot. Pick up a copy and join us in a few weeks for that discussion!

We discuss Paul Beatty's Booker Prize-winning satire The Sellout for the first 45 minutes, then Lynwood Robinson drops back by to help preview the new NBA season. For next week, track down a copy of John Updike's story "Snowing in Greenwich Village" in time for our next installment of The Short Corner.

We kept it short this week in honor of the brilliant concision of Lydia Davis's fiction. After 30 minutes on Davis, we spend 15 minutes listing a few of the things we're most looking forward to in the upcoming NBA season. We'll go more in-depth on the NBA next week with a return appearance from Lynwood Robinson, at which time we'll also discuss Paul Beatty's The Sellout.

Come along with us as we enter Frank Bascombe's beguiling and irreconciled Existence Period, which plays out over 450 pages in Richard Ford's Independence Day. Then, at the hour mark, we chat about the trade that sent Carmelo Anthony from the Knicks to the OKC Thunder, and how that changes the landscape of the Western Conference. Join us next week as we talk Lydia Davis and get excited for the fast-approaching start of the NBA season.

A basketball-free discussion of Don DeLillo's White Noise. We read it! If you haven't, why not just listen and pretend you already have. And then read Richard Ford's Independence Day, so you can be on point for our discussion of it in two weeks' time.

In this episode we discuss Walker Percy's wonderfully vexing novel The Moviegoer, before switching over around the 50 minute mark to talk about the then-still-pending Kyrie for Isaiah Thomas and assorted other assets trade between Cleveland and Boston. Join us in two weeks for a chat about Don DeLillo's vexing-in-its-own-way book White Noise.

This week we at long last delve into the Bard of Contempt herself, Flannery O'Connor, and her punishingly dark and comic worldview. At the 50 minute mark, we switch over to the teams that had the least inspired offseasons. Join us in two weeks for a discussion of Walker Percy's The Moviegoer.

This week, we read and discuss "Testimony of Pilot," from Airships, Barry Hannah's enduring book of short stories. We celebrate his electric, otherworldly prose and lament the needless and careless racist language that corrodes the collection. We're sticking in the south next week, when we turn to Flannery O'Connor's famous story "A Good Man is Hard to Find." Find it online (http://xroads.virginia.edu/~drbr/goodman.html) and join us!

This week we discuss several stories from Joshua Ferris' new collection The Dinner Party, beginning with one called "In The Heart of the Dead." We keep it short and sweet on the basketball side, since this was the first slow week we've had in a while. Join us next week when we focus in on the great Barry Hannah; grab a copy of Airships and dig into "Testimony of Pilot."

It's 117 degrees in Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs kicked in and Lonzo Ball just hit another three. Or something. Summer League is here, so it seemed appropriate to read Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Hunter S. Thompson's paean to drugs and swine and the desiccated remains of the sixties. Our mileage varies! For next time, we'll discuss a story called "Life in the Heart of the Dead," from Joshua Ferris' new story collection The Dinner Party. Grab a copy and join us!

A terrifying stranger appears on the doorstep of 15-year old Connie, in Joyce Carol Oates' classic short story "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been" (https://www.cusd200.org/cms/lib7/IL01001538/Centricity/Domain/361/oates_going.pdf). We discuss this harbinger of doom, who goes by the name Arnold Friend, and the harm he means to do for the first 36 minutes before turning our attention to the players who'll be popping up in different NBA landscapes after a flurry of free agency signings this week. Join us next week for a look at that hallucinatory adventure that is Las Vegas Summer League as well as a discussion of Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

For this installment of the Short Corner, we read "The Semplica-Girl Diaries," (http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/10/15/the-semplica-girl-diaries) from George Saunders' last book Tenth of December. Around the 39 minute mark, we pivot into winners and losers of the Draft and discuss the trade that sent Chris Paul to join James Harden on the Houston Rockets. Join us next week when we discuss Hunter S. Thompson's classic Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and look at the start of Summer League.

It's a megapod today, as we get into one of the greatest novels ever written, Vladimir Nabokov's shocking, exquisite, and nearly satanic Lolita. Around the hour mark, we evaluate the various prospects at the top of this year's draft class, and the ramifications of the massive trade of the first and third picks between Boston and Philly. Join us next week for a discussion of George Saunders' The Semplica-Girl Diaries (http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/10/15/the-semplica-girl-diaries).

In today's episode, we discuss Annie Proulx's story "The Half-Skinned Steer" (https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1997/11/the-half-skinned-steer/306168/), about an old man whose return to the ranch where he grew up proves unlucky. At the 41 minute mark we switch to the Finals, in which the Warriors skinned the Cavs, and wonder what, if anything, LeBron can do to beat them going forward. Next up is Vladimir Nabokov's classic novel Lolita, paired with the upcoming NBA Draft.

On this week's installment, we look at Donald Antrim's memoir The Afterlife, about the grip his alcoholic mother had on him both in life and after her death. It's gentle and sad and may mark a turning point for Antrim the writer. Around 42 minutes in, we move on to this lopsided NBA Finals, which should be put down mercifully before too long. Join us next week to read Annie Proulx's short story "The Half-skinned Steer," and in two weeks when we discuss Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita.

Lynwood Robinson makes his return to the pod to help us preview the Finals and genuflect before the awesomeness of LeBron James. Are there limits to his greatness, or can he summon enough to vanquish the Durant-ful Warriors? Before Lynwood pops by, we spend the first 37 minutes or so chatting about the awesomeness of Lorrie Moore, through the lens of her classic story "You're Ugly, Too." Next week we'll be discussing Donald Antrim's memoir The Afterlife, so join us for that!

We're happy to welcome to the pod the poet Emma Catherine Perry, who was kind enough to help us talk through Claudia Rankine's most recent wonderful, challenging work of poetry, as well as situate it within the contemporary world of poetry. We couldn't resist asking Emma, a current denizen of Oakland, what the vibe is like as the Golden State Warriors prepare for their third trip to the Finals in as many years, so stick around for that. Join us next week for a return visit from Lynwood Robinson and a discussion of Lorrie Moore's short story "You're Ugly, Too."

In this second installment of the Short Corner, our biweekly series in which we read a short story instead of a novel, we look at Donald Barthelme's "Concerning the Bodyguard," as well as Barthelme's style more generally. At the 38 minute mark, we switch over to the Draft Lottery, which took place this week, and try and figure out who teams will select based on what they need most. Join us next week for our discussion of Claudia Rankine's Citizen and in two weeks when we read Lorrie Moore's "You're Ugly, Too."

Does art have any political efficacy? What does it mean to have a "profound experience of art?" Are plots overrated in novels? Can the Spurs win without Kawhi? (Bear with us, we recorded this before Game 6.) These are just some of the questions raised in this installment of the Fan's Notes podcast. We discuss Ben Lerner's terrifically funny novel for the first 53 minutes, then switch over to check in on where some of the second round series stand. Next week we'll be reading Donald Barthelme's short story "Concerning The Bodyguard," and in two weeks we'll chat about Claudia Rankine's Citizen. Join us for those!

We're suffering the Round 2 doldrums, with a bunch of series that (at least at the time of recording) seem pretty uncompetitive. But before we get there (i.e. the 46 minute mark,) we pore over Alice Munro's story "Carried Away," which was originally published in The New Yorker. This is the first of our episodes in which we focus in on a single short story; we'll continue to do this every other week at least throughout the playoffs. Next week we're back with Ben Lerner's novel Leaving The Atocha Station, and the week after that we'll read Donald Barthelme's "Concerning the Bodyguard," which can be found online. Join us!