The Mookse and the Gripes Podcast

Long before we ever set foot in London, we had already wandered its streets through books. From Shakespeare’s playhouses and Dickens’s foggy alleys to Virginia Woolf’s bustling streets and the hidden magical worlds of Paddington and Mary Poppins, literature has given us countless versions of this extraordinary city. This week, Paul and Trevor take a leisurely stroll through their literary Londons, visiting haunted houses, quiet flats, eccentric neighborhoods, and wartime boarding houses along the way. We celebrate the books that have shaped our imaginations of London and made us fall in love with a city before we ever arrived.
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
* October: 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.
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

It’s been a busy few weeks for both of us! With Paul off exploring England and Trevor moving house, we’ve still managed to do some reading. One thing we learned in our brief time away: we missed this!
In this episode, we catch up on where we’ve been, what we’ve been reading, and the various bookish things that have been occupying our attention. We also look ahead to what we hope will be a somewhat more leisurely fall, with plenty of good books and a little more time to actually read them.
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
* October: 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.
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

We’ve talked about the promises made as a book opens as well as the strange territory of its middle. In this episode we turn our attention t o the closing movement of a book. How do we know when a novel has started to close? Why do some books gather momentum while others slow down? What makes the ending feel inevitable, surprising, satisfying . . . or imposed? We talk about a Sanderlanche, Stephen King’s struggles with endings, possibilities narrowing, secrets being revealed, and the wonderful sense that everything we’ve been reading is new again.
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.
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 (another walk with Trevor and Paul) we explore a simple guiding principle for the reading life: no reading life is behind schedule. We discuss the pressures that can make us feel like we're falling behind, from canons to social media to our own expectations, and why the best reading life isn't the one that finishes the most books, but the one that remains excited by the future and not regretful of the past.
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.
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

Once again our summers have taken on a life of their own, and we’ve been busy. But we weren't about to skip a bookish conversation! So we took a walk around our neighborhoods together and talked about books for half an hour. So come along as we wander through books and reading lives.
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.
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