391 episodes

The Three Percent Podcast is a weekly(ish) conversation about new books, the publishing scene, international literature in translation, and many other random rants and raves. Chad W. Post of Open Letter Books and Tom Roberge of New Directions and Albertine Bookstore keep things irreverent, informed, and funny in a podcast that'll keep you up to date on the international literary and publishing worlds. Maybe. (Presented by Three Percent @ the University of Rochester.)

Three Percent Podcast Three Percent

    • Arts
    • 4.9 • 83 Ratings

The Three Percent Podcast is a weekly(ish) conversation about new books, the publishing scene, international literature in translation, and many other random rants and raves. Chad W. Post of Open Letter Books and Tom Roberge of New Directions and Albertine Bookstore keep things irreverent, informed, and funny in a podcast that'll keep you up to date on the international literary and publishing worlds. Maybe. (Presented by Three Percent @ the University of Rochester.)

    TMR 22.7: "@CheapIllegalPeopleSmuggler" [Praiseworthy]

    TMR 22.7: "@CheapIllegalPeopleSmuggler" [Praiseworthy]

    Talk of Australian cartoons—and not just Bluey—morphs into a look at several specific passages in Wright's Praiseworthy, discussion what makes the book "difficult" to read, the style of humor, what pushes us away from the text and then re-grabs out attention, and much more.
    This week's music is "Frontier Psychiatrist" from The Avalanches.
    You can find all previous seasons of TMR on our YouTube channel and you can support us at Patreon and get bonus content before anyone else, along with other rewards, the opportunity to easily communicate with the hosts, etc. And please subcribe and rate us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
    Tune in next week for more banter and analysis live on YouTube where we will be covering pages 463-525. (Up to chapter 5 in "Cargo Shifter.")
    Follow Open Letter, Two Month Review, Chad Post, Kaija Straumanis, and Brian Wood for random thoughts and information about upcoming guests.

    • 58 min
    TMR 22.6: "Nuisance Bugger Donkeys" [Praiseworthy]

    TMR 22.6: "Nuisance Bugger Donkeys" [Praiseworthy]

    Chad and Kaija make up this week's panel as they play the "Slang Game," then discuss the elliptical meta-structure of the book and how this impacts their reading and the book's effectiveness. They also discuss Sam Rutter's New York Times review of the novel, addressing the difficulties of discussing the workings of the text itself given the burden of having to contextualize so much for a foreign audience.
    This week's music is "Under the Milky Way" from The Church, one of Australia's most widely known bands.
    You can find all previous seasons of TMR on our YouTube channel and you can support us at Patreon and get bonus content before anyone else, along with other rewards, the opportunity to easily communicate with the hosts, etc. And please subcribe and rate us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
    Tune in next week for more banter and analysis live on YouTube where we will be covering pages 400-463. (Up to chapter 12 in "Sitting in the Bones.")
    Follow Open Letter, Two Month Review, Chad Post, Kaija Straumanis, and Brian Wood for random thoughts and information about upcoming guests.

    • 1 hr
    TMR 22.5: "Maximum Superhero Cop-God" [Praiseworthy]

    TMR 22.5: "Maximum Superhero Cop-God" [Praiseworthy]

    "Who's Stronger?" is the game of the week in this episode about the Maximum Superhero Cop-God's arrival in Praiseworthy to quell the frantic search for Aboriginal Sovereignty. There are lots of moths, discussion about acknowledging the land which we occupy as a good first step, and more about the difficult reality of life in this part of the country even without government interventions.
    This week's music is "Punching in a Dream" from the New Zealand band The Naked and Famous. (I thought they were Australian!)
    And if you want to see the Norm Macdonald bit, you can find it here.
    You can find all previous seasons of TMR on our YouTube channel and you can support us at Patreon and get bonus content before anyone else, along with other rewards, the opportunity to easily communicate with the hosts, etc. And please subcribe and rate us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
    Tune in next week for more banter and analysis live on YouTube where we will be covering pages 265-336.
    Follow Open Letter, Two Month Review, Chad Post, and Brian Wood for random thoughts and information about upcoming guests.

    • 1 hr
    TMR 22.4: "Devotion to Off-Grid Religions" [Praiseworthy]

    TMR 22.4: "Devotion to Off-Grid Religions" [Praiseworthy]

    Emmett Stinson (Murnane) joins Chad W. Post and Kaija Straumanis this week to educate us about Australian culture and literature and things we should keep in mind while reading Praiseworthy. He also participates in a round of the world-famous trivia game: "Australian Baseball Player or Indigenous Australian Writer?" There is, of course, Bluey talk and cuck jokes, along with analysis of the end of "The Censer."
    This week's music is "Pinball Lez," the original intro music to Bluey, by Custard, fronted by David McCormack who you might know as the voice of Bandit.
    For more of Emmett, check out this episode of Beyond the Zero.
    If you want to see a truly horrible "Australian influenced" recipe from someone whose Instagram might be a cry for help, click here.
    You can find all previous seasons of TMR on our YouTube channel and you can support us at Patreon and get bonus content before anyone else, along with other rewards, the opportunity to easily communicate with the hosts, etc. And please subcribe and rate us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
    Tune in next week for more banter and analysis live on YouTube where we will be covering pages 265-336.
    Follow Open Letter, Two Month Review, Chad Post, and Brian Wood for random thoughts and information about upcoming guests.

    • 56 min
    TMR 22.3: "Tommyhawk!" [Praiseworthy]

    TMR 22.3: "Tommyhawk!" [Praiseworthy]

    This episode could be titled, "Dead Bodies in Water," as Chad and Brian talk about the unfortunate situation in Rochester and the juxtaposition of Absolute Sovereignity trying to drown himself while his brother, Tommyhawk!, watches, doing nothing to save him. There's also more talk about Bluey, but also the tone of the book, the nature of the life challenges Tommyhawk! and First Nations children face, his perceptions and the influence of media on that, and much more.  
    This week's music is "Stacking Chairs" by Australian band, Middle Kids.
    You can find all previous seasons of TMR on our YouTube channel and you can support us at Patreon and get bonus content before anyone else, along with other rewards, the opportunity to easily communicate with the hosts, etc. And please subcribe and rate us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
    Tune in next week for more banter and analysis live on YouTube where we will be covering pages 198-264.
    Follow Open Letter, Two Month Review, Chad Post, and Brian Wood for random thoughts and information about upcoming guests.

    • 45 min
    TMR 22.2: "God Donkey" [Praiseworthy]

    TMR 22.2: "God Donkey" [Praiseworthy]

    From discussion of Ohio and disturbing news about everyone's favorite Australian export, this episode skirts talking too deeply about Alexis Wright's Praiseworthy  (New Directions, And Other Stories, Giramondo) to discuss challenges of getting into particular books, what the purpose of this podcast is in trying to assist in that and get whatever it is we get out of finishing something we might otherwise give up on. (We're not giving up on this book! Just a meta-commentary.)
    Also: The University of Rochester's wifi was all screwed up during the recording. Most of the big gaps have been erased, but it is a bit choppy at the start, for which we apologize.
    This week's music is "If Not Now, Then When?" by Australia's own King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard.
    You can find all previous seasons of TMR on our YouTube channel and you can support us at Patreon and get bonus content before anyone else, along with other rewards, the opportunity to easily communicate with the hosts, etc. And please subcribe and rate us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
    Tune in next week for more banter and analysis live on YouTube where we will be covering pages 133-198.
    Follow Open Letter, Two Month Review, Chad Post, and Brian Wood for random thoughts and information about upcoming guests.

    • 42 min

Customer Reviews

4.9 out of 5
83 Ratings

83 Ratings

Bjartur108 ,

Savage Ben Lerner takedown

This is the only podcast that satisfies both my interest in literature in translation and trashy gossip about literary figures. Cool music too.

Robert Birnbaum ,

dissident

Unique content,well presented

JustEmilyC ,

dismissive opinions

I like that this podcast comes at the publishing from a different angle but the hosts have this habit of declaring that any given book is "just bad" and then move along in the discussion without explaining why they have that opinion. To me this comes across as arrogant. It's like they're saying their opinion is the ONLY opinion and obviously it's the correct opinion so no need to give an explanation. I'm like, check your ego guys.

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