The Library of Lazy Thinking Podcast

Jan 23 2025 13 ep. 36 mins 7
The Library of Lazy Thinking Podcast artwork

In each episode, lovers of literature join host Glenn Fisher to talk about a book they'd like to put in the library, thoughtfully exploring its themes and why it inspires them. If you love books (and rambling book chat), this is the show for you.

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Hattie Crisell on American Wife

Jan 23 2025 32 mins  
Give over, Gatsby.Zip it, Zuckerman.Away with you, Angstrom.There’s a new hero in the Great American Novel…And she goes by the name Alice Blackwell.But wait… there’s another twist. Turns out Alice isn’t an Alice at all. She’s a Laura. Laura Bush. And wait, her husband ain’t no Charlie… it’s George damn Dubya.What the hell is going on? Why am I imagining Blair’s

David Keenan on Visions of Cody

Jan 16 2025 40 mins  
Get ready to feel a new passion for life.Get ready to notice things you’ve never noticed before…Speak to people you’d usually pass in the street……and generally seek out a deeper connection to the world around you.How come?Because in this latest episode, not only are we talking all things Kerouac… but we’re doing so with the frankly inspiring David Keenan.This is the �

Catherine Taylor on The Quest for Christa T.

Dec 23 2024 34 mins  
Can you ever paint a complete picture of a person on the page?The often-overlooked German writer Christa Wolf figured she’d give it a damn good go.The result?A strange, sad, and in some ways challenging book that was “half banned” by the German Democratic Republic.Why was it deemed so provocative? Did Wolf manage to capture the whole of someone in her book? And why did my GCS

Luke Turner on The Slaves of Solitude

Dec 04 2024 33 mins  
Write drunk, edit sober.That was Hemingway’s formulation.But given Patrick Hamilton is said to have been on three bottles of whisky a day by the time he wrote The Slaves of Solitude, I can’t imagine he gave much attention to the second part of Ernie’s advice.Yet the most miraculous thing—aside from even being able to see his notebook after three bottles of the good stuff—

Susanna Crossman on About A Mountain

Nov 22 2024 32 mins  
I love this book.I love Susanna Crossman for recommending it.And I love you, my bookish friend. Because why not?Indeed, I’m filled with book love to have discovered both Susanna and John’s work recently and it’s a pleasure to feature them both on the podcast.When Susanna recommended reading John D’Agata’s About A Mountain, I’d never heard of it. To my shame, I’d never

Jen Calleja on Bear

Nov 13 2024 35 mins  
At just 176 loosely-fonted pages and ostensibly about a woman who has a holiday romance with a grizzly, you might think the appropriately titled Bear sounds somewhat “throwaway.”A bit weird. A bit surreal. Even a bit pervy.You probably wouldn’t think it serious literature.But there you’d be wrong.The book works on several levels, raising thought-provoking questions about ma

Rob Doyle on Aurélia

Nov 06 2024 43 mins  
Strap in.We’re leaving the known world behind to explore the strange ecstatic visions of a little-known but hugely influential French writer, a fascinating chap called Gérard de Nerval.We’re going to the edge of perception… and we’re going to peek over it.Will we return changed? Enlightened? Alive?Who knows?Welcome to The Library of Lazy Thinking Podcast, with me, your hos

Olivia Sudjic on The End of the Story

Oct 31 2024 42 mins  
Sometimes the best place to begin a story is at the end.Sometimes, a whole story is about an end.(That certainly seems to be the case with Lydia Davis’ only novel, The End of the Story.)But sometimes, the end is not an end at all and is in fact the beginning of a new story.It’s a confusing business.Thankfully, we have the brilliant novelist and writer Olivia Sudjic on hand to h

Rebecca Watson on The Lesser Bohemians

Oct 16 2024 36 mins  
Getting into someone’s mind is a dangerous business.Consider poor Kylie Minogue who, as far as I know, has never managed to get an unnamed “Boy” out of her own. She’s tried, but she just can’t—he’s now literally all she ever thinks about.Given the clear risks, I was worried about reading Eimear McBride’s The Lesser Bohemians, a book that attempts to get into the min

Sam Mills on The Complete Cosmicomics

Oct 01 2024 36 mins  
Do we all go through a Will Self phase?Maybe.But only one writer I know turned their enjoyment of Will Self into a brilliant, mildly mind-bending, and wholly entertaining detective-ish novel.Enter Sam Mills.And welcome to The Library of Lazy Thinking Podcast, with me, your host, Glenn Fisher.In each episode, I'm joined by a guest from the world of books to talk about a specific boo