Books of Some Substance

你好 (Ni hao) Comrades! Join us,  kan-pu Nathan, Nick, and David, for another full length episode of Deep Cultural Propaganda from American Imperialists (aka The Books of Some Substance Podcast). Dystopian literature and discussions of authoritarianism abound, and few things were more dystopian than living under the slow-crushing boot of authoritarian Maoist China. On this episode, witness the true confessions of Nick's Obscure Relations with straight-edge militant punk bands, Nathan's deviant modes of Thought Mobilization, and David's Disgorging of Bitter Fluid.   We highly recommend you find yourself a copy of Eileen Chang's Naked Earth, give it a read, and listen along. If you are interested in joining up and receiving bad-ass artwork and hand-typed invitation letters (or if you want to see what else we have read or check out Nick's novella), go to our website: http://www.booksofsomesubstance.com/    FIND US ON:  INSTAGRAM    FACEBOOK    TWITTER  

Time to dust off your favorite huqin record. As the gramophone spins, the huqin's wail tells a story too desolate for words-oh! why go into it? Well, on this episode we explore Chang's desolate story "Love in a Fallen City" and parse why we think she bothers going into it. Join us as we discuss war, freedom, the deception of twice-over whoredom, sandflies, and the subtleties of love and Chang's narrative.    If you are interested in joining up and receiving bad-ass artwork and hand-typed invitation letters (or if you want to see what else we have read or check out Nick's novella), go to our website: http://www.booksofsomesubstance.com/    FIND US ON:  INSTAGRAM    FACEBOOK    TWITTER     Eileen Chang (張煐) [1920-1995] may now be most known for her novella Lust, Caution after Ang Lee adapted it into a popular film, but her two novels critical of the communist society that she fled The Rice Sprout Song and Naked Earth are becoming more widely read. B.O.S.S.'s next book will be Naked Earth.   

A Chinese home built upon the structure of an Iron Maiden riff. Reincarnation unbound by Time. The ultimate truth of Hermann Hesse as the Tony Robbins of European symbolism.  The trio is back on this full length episode. Join us as we work through Hermann Hesse's often frustrating but certainly substantial masterwork The Glass Bead Game. As always, give the novel a read and listen along.    Join the B.O.S.S. Book Club for cool artwork and to get in on the conversation: www.booksofsomesubstance.com On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BooksOfSomeSubstance/ On Twitter: @BooksOSubstance  Check out B.O.S.S. Underground Press and our first release: PWR VOL written by our very own Nick Scandy, illustrated by Aaron Zonka, and scored by mini and the Bear. 

Go forth into the dark corners of thyself! Hail doom!  With David out on a doctor's order to investigate an existential crises, Nathan and Nick explore Hermann Hesse, his place in contemporary readership, and his short work "Klingsor's Last Summer." On this short(ish) episode you will also hear Nick fail to hum a Steppenwolf tune, Nathan come close to admitting a dark secret, and some general discoursing on self-exploration.  As always, give the story a read and listen along.    Join the B.O.S.S. Book Club for cool artwork and to get in on the conversation: www.booksofsomesubstance.com On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BooksOfSomeSubstance/ On Twitter: @BooksOSubstance   Check out B.O.S.S. Underground Press and our first release: PWR VOL written by our very own Nick Scandy, illustrated by Aaron Zonka, and scored by mini and the Bear.   

Greetings and Salutations! Welcome to another full length episode of the Books of Some Substance Podcast. On this episode: Nathan finds in Babbitt a flapper-ite hipsterish cesspool of nihilism; David allows a groan (or seven) of tedium to escape him, as he finds “substance” to have escaped from the novel itself; and Nick, having enveloped himself in far more Lewis than Zenith's house-call doctor would recommend, finds the realism, clever vernacular, and biting satire not only lasting in historical interest but entirely relevant to today’s vapid excesses. Dive in. The world is yours!  Links:   Our website: http://www.booksofsomesubstance.com/ Our Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BooksOfSomeSubstance/ Our Twitter: https://twitter.com/booksosubstance  Nick’s book PWR VOL: http://www.booksofsomesubstance.com/imprint-list/pwr-vol and https://www.amazon.com/pwr-vol-Nick-Scandy/dp/0998188808/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1481669327&sr=8-1&keywords=PWR+VOL   David’s story: https://tahomaliteraryreview.com/current-issue-2/

Welcome back! The B.O.S.S. Podcast returns! As we gear up for Sinclair Lewis' Babbitt, we open up a forgotten time capsule to read about the rise of white collar work at the beginning of the 20th Century, a world looking to sell you on pep! vim! zip! and zing! but ultimately dreary. Nothing really changes.    On this shortened episode, and more so than usual, Nick guides Nathan and David through the stories "Snappy Display" and "Way I See It." ALSO! We are happy to announce the beginnings of B.O.S.S. Underground Press and our first release: PWR VOL written by our very own Nick Scandy, illustrated by Aaron Zonka, and scored by mini and the Bear.  Episode Music: "chemical.static.hum" by mini and the Bear   Join the B.O.S.S. Book Club for cool artwork and to get in on the conversation: www.booksofsomesubstance.com On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BooksOfSomeSubstance/ On Twitter: @BooksOSubstance Sinclair Lewis (1885-1951) was the first American to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. His most popular novels are Main Street, Babbitt, Elmer Gantry, and It Can't Happen Here. Like many writers, he drank himself to death. 

The mountain grumbles, Shingo mumbles. But it is hard to hear him over the sound of the dishes. On this full length episode we discuss Yasunari Kawabata’s The Sound of the Mountain and try to come to terms with the dying patriarch’s aimless drift towards the end. Is it apathetic existentialism? Good old-fashion failure? The culture of post-war Japan? Personal defeatism? Idiocy? Anger? Or an odd replication of nature’s non-action? As always, read the novel and give us a listen. Join the B.O.S.S. Book Club for cool artwork and to get in on the conversation: www.booksofsomesubstance.com On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BooksOfSomeSubstance/ On Twitter: @BooksOSubstance Yasunari Kawabata (1899-1972) is a Japanese novelist who won the Nobel Prize in 1968. His most famous novels are Snow Country, Thousand Cranes, and The Sound of the Mountain. His work is often poetic, lyrical, and melancholic.  

Memory as time travel. Enigmatic lovers. The comfort of objects. A ghostly romantic comedy. Each, one of Yasunari Kawabata’s Palm of the Hand stories under discussion. Each description merely a scratch at the surface of meaning and depth found in these subtle, quiet works. On this shortened episode, as B.O.S.S. prepares for Kawabata’s The Sound of the Mountain, David, Nathan, and Nick look at four of the reductionist vignettes: “A Sunny Place,” “Sleeping Habit,” “The Silver Fifty-Sen Pieces,” and “Immortality.”   Between poetry and prose lies a different form. Between the past and the future is the now. Within the now is all time, all meaning. Or, something like that… As always, read the stories and give us a listen. Join the B.O.S.S. Book Club for cool shit and get in on the conversation: www.booksofsomesubstance.com On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BooksOfSomeSubstance/ Follow us on Twitter: @BooksOSubstance

From death and dying to life and living. On this full length episode, we examine the humor, the horror, the existential, the wonder, and even the disagreeable in the lost and found (and possibly changed) madcap protagonist Eugene Henderson of Saul Bellow's Henderson the Rain King.  With Nathan out sick, Nick and David are joined by Eric Heiman, official B.O.S.S. Book Club member and unofficial Bellow buff.  As always, read the book and give us listen.  Check out: http://www.booksofsomesubstance.com/ Follow us on twitter: @BooksOSubstance

It’s an exceptionally smart man who isn’t marked forever by the theories he reads in passing from books, and we aren't all that smart.  On this shortened episode, we discuss the Bellow short stories "Leaving the Yellow House" and "A Silver Dish." There's rugged individualism. There's death and dying. There's the spin from that great wheel of fortune we all eventually spin and the bright, shiny electric one Nick may spin on broadcast television. As always, read the stories and give us a listen. Check out http://www.booksofsomesubstance.com/  Follow us on twitter @BooksOSubstance