and other stories – Three Percent

TMR 22.9: “One Donkey at a Time” [Praiseworthy]

Chad Post — Mon, 06 May 2024 21:20:16 +0000

Like a first time marathon runner, Chad, Brian, and Kaija are losing steam this season, but persist in talking about the book and their mixed feelings. They do learn some things about donkeys and mules though! And they set up next week’s game: each co-host will draft five books from the twenty-two seasons of the podcast which would constitute a reading list (and listening list) for a college class. Then, y’all get to vote on which class you’d be most excited to take. Tune in live next week—it’s going to be wild.

This week’s music is “” from Australia’s worst gift to the world—The Wiggles!

You can find all previous seasons of TMR on our�� and you can support us at 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 , , or wherever you get your podcasts.

Tune in next week for more banter and analysis live on where we will finish this book.

��Ǳ��Ƿ��,�� , and for random thoughts and information about upcoming guests.

All our large images are AI generated.

TMR 22.8: “Madder Than White Heat” [Praiseworthy]

Chad Post — Sat, 27 Apr 2024 14:50:38 +0000

Little discussion of Priaseworthy��in this episode. Instead there’s a longer discussion about publishing, art, sales, how do these books get made?, favorite lines, future games, and much more. It’s a 20,000 foot view of book culture with an emphasis on success, investment, and more. Enjoy!

This week’s music is “” from Aussie musical savant Courtney Barnett.

Tune in next week for more banter and analysis live on where we will be covering pages 526-591. (Up to “Holy Donkey Business.”)

��Ǳ��Ƿ��,�� , and for random thoughts and information about upcoming guests.

The large image associated with this post is AI’s attempt to depict Tommyhawk running from a donkey while using a cell phone surrounded by butterlies.

TMR 22.7: “@CheapIllegalPeopleSmuggler” [Praiseworthy]

Chad Post — Tue, 23 Apr 2024 20:08:48 +0000

Talk of Australian cartoons—and not just����ܱ��—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 “” from The Avalanches.

Tune in next week for more banter and analysis live on where we will be covering pages 463-525. (Up to chapter 5 in “Cargo Shifter.”)

��Ǳ��Ƿ��,�� , and for random thoughts and information about upcoming guests.

The large image associated with this post is, I swear, a still from a Danish TV show for��children.��

TMR 22.6: “Nuisance Bugger Donkeys” [Praiseworthy]

Chad Post — Fri, 12 Apr 2024 11:37:26 +0000

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 “” from The Church, one of Australia’s most widely known bands.

Tune in next week for more banter and analysis live on where we will be covering pages 400-463. (Up to chapter 12 in “Sitting in the Bones.”)

��Ǳ��Ƿ��,�� , and for random thoughts and information about upcoming guests.

TMR 22.5: “Maximum Superhero Cop-God” [Praiseworthy]

Chad Post — Fri, 05 Apr 2024 14:50:22 +0000

“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 “” 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 .

Tune in next week for more banter and analysis live on where we will be covering pages 337-400.

��Ǳ��Ƿ��,��and�� for random thoughts and information about upcoming guests.

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

Chad Post — Fri, 29 Mar 2024 15:08:56 +0000

Emmett Stinson () 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 “,” 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 .

If you want to see a truly horrible “Australian influenced” recipe from someone whose Instagram might be a cry for help, .

Tune in next week for more banter and analysis live on where we will be covering pages 265-336.

��Ǳ��Ƿ��,��and�� for random thoughts and information about upcoming guests.

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TMR 22.3: “Tommyhawk!” [Praiseworthy]

Chad Post — Fri, 22 Mar 2024 17:07:35 +0000

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 “” by Australian band, Middle Kids.

Tune in next week for more banter and analysis live on where we will be covering pages 198-264.

��Ǳ��Ƿ��,��and�� for random thoughts and information about upcoming guests.

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TMR 22.2: “God Donkey” [Praiseworthy]

Chad Post — Fri, 15 Mar 2024 14:26:37 +0000

From discussion of Ohio and disturbing news about everyone’s favorite Australian export, this episode skirts talking too deeply about Alexis Wright’s��Praiseworthy����(, , ) 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 Ģ��ý’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 “” by Australia’s own King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard.

Tune in next week for more banter and analysis live on where we will be covering pages 133-198.

��Ǳ��Ƿ��,��and�� for random thoughts and information about upcoming guests.

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TMR 22.1: “Kick the Haze in its Guts” [Praiseworthy]

Chad Post — Tue, 05 Mar 2024 18:38:57 +0000

The first episode of the new season of the Two Month Review—covering Alexis Wright’s��Praiseworthy��(, , )—start off with Chad crapping on golf, then rolls on into book design and books as objects, the pacing and rhythms of Wright’s work, its humor, its orality, what ancillary information is beneficial, and how the introduction of the two children really snap the first section into place as a reading experience.

This week’s music is “” by Al-Qasar.

Tune in next week for more banter and analysis live on where we will be covering pages 68-133.

��Ǳ��Ƿ��,��and�� for random thoughts and information about upcoming guests.

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TMR 18.10: “Looks Like a Lump of Shit to Me” [Ann Quin]

Chad Post — Fri, 30 Dec 2022 14:33:20 +0000

The final episode of this season focuses on��The Unmapped Country: Stories and Fragments, focusing on the titular story/unfinished novel, along with a few other shorter pieces. The gang looks back at all of Ann Quin’s books, speculate on what her career might have been had she lived another couple decades, whether of not she should be taught in a creative writing class, and more.

This week’s music is “” by Archers of Loaf.

You can find all previous seasons of TMR on our and stay tuned for information about Season 19 on��

And you can support us at and get bonus content before anyone else, along with other rewards, the opportunity to easily communicate with the hosts, etc.

��Ǳ��Ƿ��and�� for random thoughts and information about upcoming guests. And visit for info on her translations, photography, and more!

All of Ann Quin’s books are available through , or at better bookstores everywhere. Be sure to order Brian’s book, , which is available at better bookstores everywhere thanks to BOA Editions.