The Mookse and the Gripes Podcast

Every season we tell ourselves we’ll be more selective. Every season publishers respond by announcing another avalanche of books we want to read!
In this episode, we look ahead to the second half of 2026, sharing the forthcoming novels, nonfiction, translations, and reissues we’re most excited to get our hands on. Along the way we talk about why anticipation is such a pleasurable part of being a reader. Whether you’re planning your own reading for the months ahead or simply enjoy hearing two readers get far too excited about books they probably don’t have time to read, we hope you’ll discover a few titles to add to your ever-growing TBR.
2026 Novella Book Club
We have announced the four novellas we will be reading for The Mookse and Gripes Novella Book Club in 2026!
* January: Daisy Miller, by Henry James
* April: An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter, by César Aira
* July: The Hour of the Star, by Clarice Lispector
* September: Prelude, by Katherine Mansfield
Discussions will be hosted at The Mookse and the Gripes Discord (see below!).
We’ve got some fantastic author-focused episodes lined up for the foreseeable future, and we want to give you plenty of time to dive in if you’d like to read along with us. These episodes come around every ten episodes, and with our bi-weekly release schedule, you’ll have a few months to get ready for each. Here’s what we have in store:
* Episode 145: Elizabeth Taylor
* Episode 155: Naguib Mahfouz
* Episode 165: Annie Ernaux
* Episode 175: Henry James
There’s no rush—take your time, and grab a book (or two, or three) so you’re prepared for these as they come!
Join the Mookse and the Gripes on Discord
Want to share your thoughts on these upcoming authors or anything else we’re discussing? Join us over on Discord! It’s the perfect place to dive deeper into the conversation—whether you’re reading along with our author-focused episodes or just want to chat about the books that are on your mind.
We’re also just about to read the second novella book club book of 2026: An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter, by César Aira, translated by Chris Andrews. It’s a fantastic book, and we’d love to have you join the discussion. It’s a great space to engage with fellow listeners, share your insights, and discover new perspectives on the books you’re reading.
Shownotes
* Paul: Life and Fate, by Vasily Grossman, translated by Robert Chandler
* Trevor: The Girls of Slender Means, by Muriel Spark
* Ada, by Mark Haber
* We Were Forbidden, by Jacqueline Harpman, translated by Ros Schwartz
* Unsayable: A Life in Writing, by Michael Cunningham
* Five, by César Aira, translated by Chris Andrews
* Bury Your Dead, by Ana Paula Maia, translated by Padma Viswanathan
* The Anniversary, by Andrea Bajani, translated by Geoffrey Brock
* Life of M, Rachel Cusk
* The Song of Stork and Dromedary, by Anjet Daanje, translated by David McKay
* Dèy, by Edwidge Danticat
* Last Day of a Prior Life, by Andrés Barba, tr. Lisa Dillman
* Crossing the Wine-Dark Sea: Journeys Through Ancient Literature, by Emily Wilson
* I Liked Rex, by Diane Williams
* The Rouse, by China Miéville
* Ambivalence: An Education, by Brian Dillon
* Dodge City, by Patrick Dewitt
* Foam, by Kate Zambreno
* Ply, by Hernan Diaz
* American Hagwon, Min Jin Lee
* Exit Party, by Emily St. John Mandel
* Said the Dead, by Doireann Ní Ghríofa
* About Looking, by John Berger
* Fair Ones: A Double Novel, by Lydia Millet
* Vaim Hotel, by Jon Fosse, translated by Damion Searls
* Inshallah, Madonna, Inshalla, by Miljenko Jergović, translated by Ellen Elias-Bursać and Mirza Purić
* Off the Reservation, by Stephen Graham Jones
* Partita, by Barbara Kingsolver
* Music Against the Night, by Yiyun Li
* Hackenfeller’s Ape, by Brigid Brophy
* In Transit, by Brigid Brophy
* The Rush: California Gold, the Civil War, and the Making of the Modern World, by Nathaniel Philbrick
* Morel’s Invention, by Adolpho Bioy Casares, translated by Margaret Jull Costa
* Anita Brookner: Art and Life, by Hermione Lee
* Opus Siniestrus, by Leonora Carrington
* Phantom Limb, by Brian Evenson
* Doppleganger, by Sam Riviere
* Long Wave, by Daisy Jones
* Murmurs from the Hills: Rwandan Tales, by Scholastique Mukasonga, translated by Mark Polizzotti
* Annie Proulx Stories: New and Selected
* I Won’t See You Die, by Antonio Muñoz Molina, translated by Curtis Bauer
* A Woman of Thirty, by Honoré de Balzac, translated by Jeanine Herman
* The Statuary Gardens, by Jacques Abeille, translated by Alex Andriesse
* Diary Without Vowels, by Aleksander Wat, translated by Alissa Valles
* The Sunday Woman, by Franco Lucentini, translated by William Weaver
* The Dead Girl, by Melanie Thernstrom
* Rhyming and Necromancy, by Harry Fainlight
* The Peacock Garden, by Anita Desai
* Notes on Postcards, by Jennifer Croft
* On the Calculation of Volume V, by Solvej Balle, translated by Sophia Hersi Smith and Jennifer Russell
* Primeval and Other Times, by Olga Tokarczuk, translated by Antonia Lloyd Jones
* The Bridge, by Colm Toibin
* The Fires of December, by Brandon Sanderson
The Mookse and the Gripes Podcast is a bookish conversation hosted by Paul and Trevor. Every other week, we explore a bookish topic and celebrate our love of reading. We’re glad you’re here, and we hope you’ll continue to join us on this literary journey!
A huge thank you to those who help make this podcast possible! If you’d like to support us, you can do so via Substack or Patreon. Subscribers receive access to periodic bonus episodes and early access to all new episodes. Plus, each supporter gets their own dedicated feed, allowing them to download episodes a few days before they’re released to the public. We’d love for you to check it out!


This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mookse.substack.com/subscribe

Every ten episodes, Trevor and Paul pause their usual reading discussions to spend time with a single author. This time: William Faulkner.
After recent journeys through As I Lay Dying, The Sound and the Fury, Light in August, and Absalom, Absalom!, they talk about what it feels like to read Faulkner: the challenge, the confusion, the beauty, the humor, the history, and the rewards. They also discuss Faulkner’s complicated engagement with race, the tension between the author’s work and his public life, and why readers continue returning to Yoknapatawpha County nearly a century later.
Whether you’re a longtime Faulkner devotee or someone who’s always meant to get around to him someday, pull up a chair and join the conversation.
2026 Novella Book Club
We have announced the four novellas we will be reading for The Mookse and Gripes Novella Book Club in 2026!
* January: Daisy Miller, by Henry James
* April: An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter, by César Aira
* July: The Hour of the Star, by Clarice Lispector
* September: Prelude, by Katherine Mansfield
Discussions will be hosted at The Mookse and the Gripes Discord (see below!).
We’ve got some fantastic author-focused episodes lined up for the foreseeable future, and we want to give you plenty of time to dive in if you’d like to read along with us. These episodes come around every ten episodes, and with our bi-weekly release schedule, you’ll have a few months to get ready for each. Here’s what we have in store:
* Episode 135: William Faulkner
* Episode 145: Elizabeth Taylor
* Episode 155: Naguib Mahfouz
* Episode 165: Annie Ernaux
* Episode 175: Henry James
There’s no rush—take your time, and grab a book (or two, or three) so you’re prepared for these as they come!
Join the Mookse and the Gripes on Discord
Want to share your thoughts on these upcoming authors or anything else we’re discussing? Join us over on Discord! It’s the perfect place to dive deeper into the conversation—whether you’re reading along with our author-focused episodes or just want to chat about the books that are on your mind.
We’re also just about to read the second novella book club book of 2026: An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter, by César Aira, translated by Chris Andrews. It’s a fantastic book, and we’d love to have you join the discussion. It’s a great space to engage with fellow listeners, share your insights, and discover new perspectives on the books you’re reading.
Shownotes
* Like a Cat Loves a Bird: The Nine Lives of Muriel Spark, by James Bailey
* James:
* Moby-Dick: or, The Whale, by Herman Melville
* Every Day Is Mother’s Day, by Hilary Mantel
* Vacant Possession, by Hilary Mantel
* Paul: A Marsh Island, by Sarah Orne Jewett
* Trevor: The Ambassadors, by Henry James
The Mookse and the Gripes Podcast is a bookish conversation hosted by Paul and Trevor. Every other week, we explore a bookish topic and celebrate our love of reading. We’re glad you’re here, and we hope you’ll continue to join us on this literary journey!
A huge thank you to those who help make this podcast possible! If you’d like to support us, you can do so via Substack or Patreon. Subscribers receive access to periodic bonus episodes and early access to all new episodes. Plus, each supporter gets their own dedicated feed, allowing them to download episodes a few days before they’re released to the public. We’d love for you to check it out!


This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mookse.substack.com/subscribe

What draws us beyond a writer’s books and into their life? Why do some authors inspire us to seek out letters, journals, interviews, and biographies while others remain known to us only through their work? In this episode, Trevor and Paul are joined by Dr. James Bailey, author of Like a Cat Loves a Bird, a new book exploring the life and work of Muriel Spark. Rather than focusing on biography as a genre, the conversation wanders through a variety of questions about writers and readers: what prompts our curiosity about authors, what we hope to discover when we learn more about their lives, whether biographical knowledge enriches or complicates our reading, and which writers have inspired us to look beyond the page.
Along the way, James discusses his fascination with Muriel Spark, the origins of Like a Cat Loves a Bird, and what it means to spend time in the company of a writer’s work and life.
2026 Novella Book Club
We have announced the four novellas we will be reading for The Mookse and Gripes Novella Book Club in 2026!
* January: Daisy Miller, by Henry James
* April: An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter, by César Aira
* July: The Hour of the Star, by Clarice Lispector
* September: Prelude, by Katherine Mansfield
Discussions will be hosted at The Mookse and the Gripes Discord (see below!).
We’ve got some fantastic author-focused episodes lined up for the foreseeable future, and we want to give you plenty of time to dive in if you’d like to read along with us. These episodes come around every ten episodes, and with our bi-weekly release schedule, you’ll have a few months to get ready for each. Here’s what we have in store:
* Episode 135: William Faulkner
* Episode 145: Elizabeth Taylor
* Episode 155: Naguib Mahfouz
* Episode 165: Annie Ernaux
* Episode 175: Henry James
There’s no rush—take your time, and grab a book (or two, or three) so you’re prepared for these as they come!
Join the Mookse and the Gripes on Discord
Want to share your thoughts on these upcoming authors or anything else we’re discussing? Join us over on Discord! It’s the perfect place to dive deeper into the conversation—whether you’re reading along with our author-focused episodes or just want to chat about the books that are on your mind.
We’re also just about to read the second novella book club book of 2026: An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter, by César Aira, translated by Chris Andrews. It’s a fantastic book, and we’d love to have you join the discussion. It’s a great space to engage with fellow listeners, share your insights, and discover new perspectives on the books you’re reading.
Shownotes
* Like a Cat Loves a Bird: The Nine Lives of Muriel Spark, by James Bailey
* James:
* Moby-Dick: or, The Whale, by Herman Melville
* Every Day Is Mother’s Day, by Hilary Mantel
* Vacant Possession, by Hilary Mantel
* Paul: A Marsh Island, by Sarah Orne Jewett
* Trevor: The Ambassadors, by Henry James
The Mookse and the Gripes Podcast is a bookish conversation hosted by Paul and Trevor. Every other week, we explore a bookish topic and celebrate our love of reading. We’re glad you’re here, and we hope you’ll continue to join us on this literary journey!
A huge thank you to those who help make this podcast possible! If you’d like to support us, you can do so via Substack or Patreon. Subscribers receive access to periodic bonus episodes and early access to all new episodes. Plus, each supporter gets their own dedicated feed, allowing them to download episodes a few days before they’re released to the public. We’d love for you to check it out!


This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mookse.substack.com/subscribe

For the second installment in our series on the three pieces of a book, we turn from beginnings to that more difficult territory: the middle. What happens in the middle of a book? Is it simply the space connecting a strong opening to a satisfying ending? In this episode we explore the experience of living inside a book: development, repetition, immersion, wandering, pressure, rhythm. This feels like the space where the book does its work. We discuss the middles of sprawling novels as well short stories, asking what middles do and why thinking about this has helped us become less reactive and more attentive readers.
2026 Novella Book Club
We have announced the four novellas we will be reading for The Mookse and Gripes Novella Book Club in 2026!
* January: Daisy Miller, by Henry James
* April: An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter, by César Aira
* July: The Hour of the Star, by Clarice Lispector
* September: Prelude, by Katherine Mansfield
Discussions will be hosted at The Mookse and the Gripes Discord (see below!).
We’ve got some fantastic author-focused episodes lined up for the foreseeable future, and we want to give you plenty of time to dive in if you’d like to read along with us. These episodes come around every ten episodes, and with our bi-weekly release schedule, you’ll have a few months to get ready for each. Here’s what we have in store:
* Episode 135: William Faulkner
* Episode 145: Elizabeth Taylor
* Episode 155: Naguib Mahfouz
* Episode 165: Annie Ernaux
* Episode 175: Henry James
There’s no rush—take your time, and grab a book (or two, or three) so you’re prepared for these as they come!
Join the Mookse and the Gripes on Discord
Want to share your thoughts on these upcoming authors or anything else we’re discussing? Join us over on Discord! It’s the perfect place to dive deeper into the conversation—whether you’re reading along with our author-focused episodes or just want to chat about the books that are on your mind.
We’re also just about to read the second novella book club book of 2026: An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter, by César Aira, translated by Chris Andrews. It’s a fantastic book, and we’d love to have you join the discussion. It’s a great space to engage with fellow listeners, share your insights, and discover new perspectives on the books you’re reading.
Shownotes
* In Trees: An Exploration, by Robert Moor
* On Trails: An Exploration, by Robert Moore
* If This Be Magic: The Unlikely Art of Shakespeare in Translation, by Daniel Hahn
* A General Theory of Oblivion, by José Eduardo Agualusa, translated by Daniel Hahn
* Catching Fire: A Translation Diary, by Daniel Hahn
* The Unconsoled, by Kazuo Ishiguro
* 2666, by Roberto Bolaño, translated by Natasha Wimmer
* In Search of Lost Time, by Marcel Proust
* Middlemarch, by George Eliot
* Lonesome Dove, by Larry McMurtry
* First Love, by Ivan Turgenev
* Giovanni’s Room, by James Baldwin
* The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, by Muriel Spark
* Daisy Miller, by Henry James
* An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter, by César Aira, translated by Chris Andrews
* Train Dreams, by Denis Johnson
* Effingers, by Gabriele Tergit, translated by Sophie Duvernoy
* To the Lighthouse, by Virginia Woolf
* “A Good Man Is Hard to Find,” by Flannery O’Connor
* Reinhardt’s Garden, by Mark Haber
* Lesser Ruins, by Mark Haber
* Ada, by Mark Haber
* Ducks, Newburyport, by Lucy Ellmann
* Moby-Dick: or, The Whale, by Herman Melville
* If on a winter’s night a traveler, by Italo Calvino, translated by William Weaver
* Pale Fire, by Vladimir Nabokov
* Cloud Atlas, by David Mitchell
* House of Leaves, by Mark Z. Danielewski
* Audition, by Katie Kitamura
* Transcription, by Ben Lerner
* 2666, by Roberto Bolaño, translated by Natasha Wimmer
* Like a Cat Loves a Bird: The Nine Lives of Muriel Spark, by James Bailey
* Absalom, Absalom!, by William Faulkner
* The Sound and the Fury, by William Faulkner
* Light in August, by William Faulkner
* As I Lay Dying, by William Faulkner
* The Hour of the Star, by Clarice Lispector
The Mookse and the Gripes Podcast is a bookish conversation hosted by Paul and Trevor. Every other week, we explore a bookish topic and celebrate our love of reading. We’re glad you’re here, and we hope you’ll continue to join us on this literary journey!
A huge thank you to those who help make this podcast possible! If you’d like to support us, you can do so via Substack or Patreon. Subscribers receive access to periodic bonus episodes and early access to all new episodes. Plus, each supporter gets their own dedicated feed, allowing them to download episodes a few days before they’re released to the public. We’d love for you to check it out!


This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mookse.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, we take a look at the books we have on our nightstands and what they say about us! From the current reads, the aspirational tomes, the comfort books, the neglected books that somehow never leave the stack, and the ever-growing piles of good intentions, what makes a book a “nightstand book” instead of a shelf book? What do our bedside stacks reveal about our habits, ambitions, moods. And how often do our actual reading lives diverge from the readers we imagine ourselves to be?
Along the way, we talk about reading rituals, unfinished books, literary guilt, late-night attention spans, and the strange intimacy of the books we keep closest at hand.
2026 Novella Book Club
We have announced the four novellas we will be reading for The Mookse and Gripes Novella Book Club in 2026!
* January: Daisy Miller, by Henry James
* April: An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter, by César Aira
* July: The Hour of the Star, by Clarice Lispector
* September: Prelude, by Katherine Mansfield
Discussions will be hosted at The Mookse and the Gripes Discord (see below!).
We’ve got some fantastic author-focused episodes lined up for the foreseeable future, and we want to give you plenty of time to dive in if you’d like to read along with us. These episodes come around every ten episodes, and with our bi-weekly release schedule, you’ll have a few months to get ready for each. Here’s what we have in store:
* Episode 135: William Faulkner
* Episode 145: Elizabeth Taylor
* Episode 155: Naguib Mahfouz
* Episode 165: Annie Ernaux
* Episode 175: Henry James
There’s no rush—take your time, and grab a book (or two, or three) so you’re prepared for these as they come!
Join the Mookse and the Gripes on Discord
Want to share your thoughts on these upcoming authors or anything else we’re discussing? Join us over on Discord! It’s the perfect place to dive deeper into the conversation—whether you’re reading along with our author-focused episodes or just want to chat about the books that are on your mind.
We’re also just about to read the second novella book club book of 2026: An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter, by César Aira, translated by Chris Andrews. It’s a fantastic book, and we’d love to have you join the discussion. It’s a great space to engage with fellow listeners, share your insights, and discover new perspectives on the books you’re reading.
Shownotes
* Reading Lolita in Tehran, by Azar Nafisi
* Read Dangerously: The Subversive Power of Literature in Troubled Times, by Azar Nafisi
* Talking Classics: The Shock of the Old, by Mary Beard
* The Lord of the Flies, by William Golding
* The Other Bennet Sister, by Janice Hadlow
* The Bachelors, by Muriel Spark
* Like a Cat Loves a Bird: The Nine Lives of Muriel Spark, by James Bailey
* Red Comet: The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath, by Heather Clark
* The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, by Muriel Spark
Once we get to the general discussion I stopped copying the books we mentioned, but let me know if you have questions and I can find you anything!
The Mookse and the Gripes Podcast is a bookish conversation hosted by Paul and Trevor. Every other week, we explore a bookish topic and celebrate our love of reading. We’re glad you’re here, and we hope you’ll continue to join us on this literary journey!
A huge thank you to those who help make this podcast possible! If you’d like to support us, you can do so via Substack or Patreon. Subscribers receive access to periodic bonus episodes and early access to all new episodes. Plus, each supporter gets their own dedicated feed, allowing them to download episodes a few days before they’re released to the public. We’d love for you to check it out!


This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mookse.substack.com/subscribe