Best Paul and Egan Podcasts (2025)

The label says what's in the tin: Secret Life of Books dives deep into weddings and funerals in literature, asking why they become iconic moments to hang a story on. Family strife, betrayal, love, passion, disappointment and hope are all bound up in these major life events where we see characters' true colors and desires writ large. Hosted on Acast…

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Catherine Lacey Reads “Coconut Flan” 40:00

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3d ago40:00

40:00

Catherine Lacey reads her story “Coconut Flan” from the October 13, 2025, issue of the magazine. Lacey is the author of five books of fiction, including the novels “Pew,” and “Biography of X,” both of which were short-listed for the Dylan Thomas Prize in 2021 and 2024, respectively. Her memoir and novella, “The Möbius Book,” was published earlier t…

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Carlotta Daro, "The Architecture of the Wire: Infrastructures of Telecommunication" (MIT Press, 2025) 37:23

4d ago37:23

37:23

The Architecture of the Wire explores the development of telecommunications infrastructure and its impact on the architectural and urban culture of the modern age—from poles, wires, and cables, to “micro-architectures,” such as the théâtrophone and the telephone booth. Starting with the intrepid worldwide infrastructures of the late nineteenth cent…

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Silvia Moreno-Garcia 1:06:33

4d ago1:06:33

1:06:33

Harriett is joined by Silvia Moreno-Garcia to discuss her chilling bestseller Mexican Gothic. The story begins when Noemí Taboada, a glamorous socialite from 1950s Mexico City, receives a desperate letter from her cousin Catalina, claiming her new husband is poisoning her. Unsure if Catalina is mad or truly in danger, Noemí rushes to High Place - a…

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#70 - Alien Creampie 1:26:54

6d ago1:26:54

1:26:54

This week The Disgruntled Gentlemen discuss freezers, aliens, and Paul's ears.

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Karen Russell Reads Louise Erdrich 49:19

7d ago49:19

49:19

Karen Russell joins Deborah Treisman to read and discuss “The Stone,” by Louise Erdrich, which was published in The New Yorker in 2019. Russell is the author of six books of fiction, including the story collections “Vampires in the Lemon Grove” and “Orange World and Other Stories” and the novels “Swamplandia!,” which was a finalist for the Pulitzer…

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Wilkie Collins 2: The Moonstone 1:11:54

9d ago1:11:54

1:11:54

With The Moonstone, Wilkie Collins published yet another giant sensation, this time pioneering the detective novel and mystery/heist genre. It was published in 1868 and serialised - just as The Woman White was - in Dickens’ All the Year Round, making it one of the most popular books of Victorian Britain. Jonty and Sophie will show how The Moonstone…

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204: Paul Thomas Anderson Redux and One Battle After Another 1:18:00

9d ago1:18:00

1:18:00

Max and Evan discuss the filmography of Paul Thomas Anderson. Before they go from Hard Eight to One Battle After Another, they talk about the latest in film and television. Jimmy Kimmel is back on air, a new Spaceballs 2 photo emerges, and The Social Network is getting a sequel. Hard Eight (1996) Boogie Nights (1997) Magnolia (1999) Punch-Drunk Lov…

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September Distro Picks from WCN Studios 39:48

9d ago39:48

39:48

Solo episode highlighting some personal favorite and otherwise remarkable recent distro arrivals at WCN Studios. I go on to talk more behind the scenes stuff about setting up the distro on Patreon, a continuation of the Label Spill episode I did back in July after re-opening the distro. Check out what's currently in stock at https://whitecentipeden…

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David Wright Faladé Reads “Amarillo Boulevard” 42:51

10d ago42:51

42:51

David Wright Faladé reads his story “Amarillo Boulevard,” from the October 6, 2025, issue of the magazine. Wright Faladé, the recipient of a Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Award, is the author of a nonfiction book, “Fire on the Beach: Recovering the Lost Story of Richard Etheridge and the Pea Island Lifesavers,” and the novels “Black Cloud Risin…

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#69 - Fatty Two Pound's Frankenmilk 1:28:54

13d ago1:28:54

1:28:54

This week The Disgruntled Gentlemen discuss arm wrestling, car horns, and well spoken hobos.

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BONUS: Jennifer Egan on the Woman in White 37:37

14d ago37:37

37:37

As part of our ongoing “That’s Classic!” series, we're joined by the wonderful Jennifer Egan to chat about the sensational thriller The Woman in White. Jennifer is one of the most loved, admired and critically acclaimed writers in America, with fans all over the world. Jennifer is a Pulitzer Prize winner and was President of the vitally important P…

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Shelley Horan... In Company with Courtney 42:57

14d ago42:57

42:57

Welcome to Bloomsbury Professional’s In Company with Courtney, hosted by Tom Courtney, author of The Law of Companies and consultant with Bloomsbury Professional. In each episode Tom Courtney speaks with a leading light in Irish company law and corporate governance. This podcast is of interest to everyone and anyone with a passing interest in compa…

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Wilkie Collins 1: The Woman in White 1:19:36

16d ago1:19:36

1:19:36

The Woman in White was a sensation when it was serialised in Charles Dickens’ magazine All The Year Round in 1859 and 1860. It begins with an uncanny late-night meeting on the road to London between a young man and a woman dressed entirely in white. It ends with a sensational cat and mouse game between a villain and his pursuers. One of the unsung …

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Rivka Galchen Reads “Unreasonable” 39:47

17d ago39:47

39:47

Rivka Galchen reads her story “Unreasonable,” from the September 29, 2025, issue of the magazine. Galchen is the author of three books of fiction, including the story collection “American Innovations" and the novel “Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch,” which was published in 2021. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices…

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Susan Erikson, "Investable! When Pandemic Risk Meets Speculative Finance" (MIT Press, 2025) 35:03

19d ago35:03

35:03

Investable! When Pandemic Risk Meets Speculative Finance (MIT Press, 2025) by Dr. Susan Erikson presents a critical and sobering look at how international bankers and investors turn pandemics into investment opportunities, and what we stand to lose when we rely on “innovative finance.” In a world increasingly defined by crisis, bankers and investor…

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203: TIFF 2025 Wrap Up 58:00

20d ago58:00

58:00

Max shares his thoughts on some of the other movies he saw during the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF 2025). Before that the news of Robert Redford's passing, raves for Paul Thomas Anderson's One Battle After Another, Jimmy Kimmel put "on hold," and the TIFF's People's Choice Winner. Stay tuned afterwards for the additional coverage out o…

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#68 - Umbilicast 1:47:03

22d ago1:47:03

1:47:03

This week The Disgruntled Gentlemen discuss Deep Cleans, Collectibles and Baby Teeth.

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SLOB Reads: The Sonnet with Paul Muldoon 38:24

20d ago38:24

38:24

For several weeks we've been recording a subscribers-only mini series on the history of the sonnet in English. Sonnets are crowd-pleasers - short, sometimes sweet, and they always deliver a lot of bang for the reading buck. Today, one of the world's great living poets, Paul Muldoon, Pulitzer Prize winner and former poetry editor of the New Yorker, …

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The Secret Life of Trains: how rail travel changed fiction - for ever 1:04:19

22d ago1:04:19

1:04:19

It was five o’clock on a winter’s morning in Syria. Alongside the platform at Aleppo stood the train grandly designated in railway guides as the Taurus Express. So Agatha Christie began her sleeper [car] hit, Murder on the Orient Express (1934). All aboard! In the latest of SLoB's much-loved special episodes on surprising, fun, and always deeply re…

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Julien Mailland on "The Game That Never Ends: How Lawyers Shape the Videogame Industry" 1:10:25

26d ago1:10:25

1:10:25

Peoples & Things host, Lee Vinsel, talks with Julien Mailland, Associate Professor of Media Management, Law, and Policy at The Media School of Indiana University Bloomington, about his book, The Game That Never Ends: How Lawyers Shape the Videogame Industry. The book examines key moments, beginning in the 1970s, in which legal decisions influenced …

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T. Coraghessan Boyle Reads “The Pool” 28:28

24d ago28:28

28:28

T. Coraghessan Boyle reads his story “The Pool,” from the September 22, 2025, issue of the magazine. A winner of the Rea Award for the Short Story and the PEN/Malamud Prize in the short story, among others, Boyle has published more than thirty books of fiction, including the story collection “I Walk Between the Raindrops” and the novel “Blue Skies,…

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BONUS: Writing Virginia Woolf's life (with Hermione Lee) 43:40

27d ago43:40

43:40

In this final episode in SLoB's series on Virginia Woolf, Jonty talks to literary biographer Hermione Lee whose Virginia Woolf (1996) is perhaps the most respected account of her life and art in a world not short on them. Hermione talks about the challenges in writing about somebody who had such firm views on what a biography should and shouldn't b…

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#67 - Doctor Australia Redux 48:50

29d ago48:50

48:50

This week everything goes to shit.

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Bonus: TIFF 2025 Part 1 29:50

28d ago29:50

29:50

Max shares reviews from the Toronto International Film Festival 2025. Included in this episode: Sentimental Value It Was Just an Accident A Private Life The Last Viking Nirvanna, The Band, The Show, The Movie No Other Choice The Choral Website: https://itsthepictures.libsyn.com/ itsthepictures.substack.com Download the episode today, and find us on…

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M. Gessen (Rebroadcast) 1:15:42

1M ago1:15:42

1:15:42

Every once in a while, a writer arrives in a historic moment who can explain it, even while it is still actually occurring. M. Gessen is one of these writers. They are a part of the lineage of other incredible writers of their moments, like George Orwell, and Hannah Arendt. Gessen is the author of eleven books and has been a staff writer at the New…

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Ta-Nehisi Coates in conversation with Omar El Akkad (Rebroadcast) 1:07:50

1M ago1:07:50

1:07:50

In this episode, we feature Ta-Nehisi Coates in conversation with Omar El Akkad from the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall in October 2024. Coates’ versatility and virtuosity as a writer makes him one of the most singular and important writers at work today. He first rose to national recognition as a staff writer at The Atlantic Magazine, and in partic…

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Emily Wilson (Rebroadcast) 1:21:26

1M ago1:21:26

1:21:26

Emily Wilson was cast as Athena in a stage production of The Odyssey at the age of eight. It turned out to be a defining moment in her life, that ultimately set her on a course of decades of passionate and devoted study. Her 2018 translation of The Odyssey garnered overwhelming critical acclaim, became a bestseller, and is defining how a generation…

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Gabrielle Zevin: Everybody Reads 2024 (Rebroadcast) 1:16:40

1M ago1:16:40

1:16:40

Every year, the Multnomah County Library chooses one book they hope the whole city of Portland will read. Between January and April, the Library, and their partner organizations, host events based around the themes of the book, and they distribute thousands of free copies—thanks to the Library Foundation—to readers of all ages from across the count…

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Virginia Woolf 5: The Waves 57:11

30d ago57:11

57:11

We thought we’d be concluding our Virginia Woolf deep-dive with "A Room of One’s Own," but we’ve enjoyed this series so much we decided to extend. Today we’re looking at the book which many Woolf obsessives consider her masterpiece. Woolf published The Waves in 1931, just two years after her string of masterpieces, Mrs Dalloway, To the Lighthouse, …

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Jacob Winans Pt. 1 26:54

1M ago26:54

26:54

New WCN releases now available: https://whitecentipedenoise.com/ Jacob Winans is a New York based artist with roots in multiple East Coast scenes who diligently tours the U.S. and abroad with a punk ethos. His noise work utilizes makeshift and broken digital systems, giving a raw, almost primitive edge to “computer music,” that is personal to the p…

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Stephanie K. Kim, "Constructing Student Mobility: How Universities Recruit Students and Shape Pathways between Berkeley and Seoul" (MIT Press, 2023) 53:07

1M ago53:07

53:07

Constructing Student Mobility: How Universities Recruit Students and Shape Pathways between Berkeley and Seoul (MIT Press, 2023) challenges the popular image of the international student in the American imagination, an image of affluence, access, and privilege. In this provocative book, higher education scholar Stephanie Kim argues that universitie…

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Bryan Washington Reads "Voyagers!" 57:23

1M ago57:23

57:23

Bryan Washington reads his story “Voyagers!,” from the September 15, 2025, issue of the magazine. A winner of the International Dylan Thomas Prize and the Young Lions Fiction Award, among others, Washington is the author of three books of fiction, including “Memorial” and “Family Meal.” A new novel, “Palaver,” will be published later this year. Lea…

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Arthur Conan Doyle - The Hound of the Baskervilles 1:02:22

1M ago1:02:22

1:02:22

Join us for a special episode of World Book Club as we journey into the fog-shrouded moors of Devon to explore The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle—arguably the most iconic and enduring novel in the Sherlock Holmes canon. First published in 1902, this gothic masterpiece has captivated readers for over a century and remains a cornerst…

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Dan Roche, "Eyes by Hand: Prosthetics of Art and Healing" (MIT Press, 2025) 1:05:02

1M ago1:05:02

1:05:02

Eyes by Hand: Prosthetics of Art and Healing (MIT Press, 2025) is a book about artificial eyes—about the artisans and artists who make them, and about the life-changing and sometimes life-saving experience of wearing them, as author Dan Roche has done for 15 years. Eye making is done by hand, for one person at a time, by a very small number of ocul…

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#66 - Erotic Extravaganza 1:50:24

1M ago1:50:24

1:50:24

This week The Disgruntled Gentlemen use their powers for good to offer free, unsolicited, and sexy, advice.By Paul and Egan

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202: Pre-TIFF Show 21:13

1M ago21:13

21:13

Max shares some news ahead of TIFF 2025. Listen to some of the first reviews out of Telluride and Venice. Website: https://itsthepictures.libsyn.com/ itsthepictures.substack.com Download the episode today, and find us on Bluesky, Instagram, and Letterboxd. Like the show? Review us on iTunes! We are also available on Stitcher, Spotify, and Letterbox…

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Virginia Woolf 4: A Room Of One's Own 1:09:41

1M ago1:09:41

1:09:41

Thank God, my long toil at the women’s lecture is this moment ended. I am back from speaking at Girton, in floods of rain. Starved but valiant young women – that’s my impression. That’s what Virginia Woolf wrote in her diary after delivering the lectures that became “A Room of One’s Own,” arguably the most important feminist manifesto of the twenti…

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Victor Lodato Reads Denis Johnson 1:30:37

1M ago1:30:37

1:30:37

Victor Lodato joins Deborah Treisman to read and discuss “The Largesse of the Sea Maiden,” by Denis Johnson, which was published in The New Yorker in 2014. Lodato is a playwright and the author of the novels “Edgar and Lucy,” “Mathilda Savitch,” the winner of the PEN USA Award for fiction, and “Honey,” which came out in 2024. He has been publishing…

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#65 - Bean Beanlie 1:19:13

1M ago1:19:13

1:19:13

This week The Disgruntled Gentlemen discuss Paddy Power, Paul steals a bike, and Egan goes on a date.

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#64.5 - Public Service Announcement 1:36

1M ago1:36

1:36

This week The Disgruntled Gentlemen make a brief public service announcement.By Paul and Egan

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Virginia Woolf 3: Orlando 1:20:20

1M ago1:20:20

1:20:20

Virginia Woolf wrote Orlando, a gender-defying historical romance, in 1927, when her intimate friend and lover Vita Sackville-West left London to join her diplomat husband Harold Nicholson in Tehran. Orlando is a love-story set across 300 years of English history, starting in the Elizabethan court and finishing in 1920s England. It features an irre…

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Richie Culver of QUIET HUSBAND Pt. 1 29:48

2M ago29:48

29:48

Today my guest is Richie Culver — a multidisciplinary artist whose practice spans painting, music, performance, and photography, whose recent work under the name Quiet Husband has drawn heavy inspiration from noise and its aesthetics, working with labels such as Deathbed Tapes, Industrial Coast, and Total Black. This is part 1 of the episode with R…

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Rachel Cusk Reads “Project” 29:11

2M ago29:11

29:11

Rachel Cusk reads her story “Project,” from the September 1 & 8, 2025, issue of the magazine. Cusk is the author of several works of nonfiction and twelve novels, including “Outline,” “Transit,” “Kudos,” and, most recently, “Parade,” which won the 2024 Goldsmiths Prize. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices…

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Christopher Kemp, "Dark and Magical Places: The Neuroscience of Navigation" (Norton, 2022) 50:51

2M ago50:51

50:51

Inside our heads we carry around an infinite and endlessly unfolding map of the world. Navigation is one of the most ancient neural abilities we have―older than language. In Dark and Magical Places: The Neuroscience of Navigation (Norton, 2022), Christopher Kemp embarks on a journey to discover the remarkable extent of what our minds can do. Fueled…

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BONUS: Reading Mrs Dalloway (with Alexandra Schwartz) 29:39

2M ago29:39

29:39

"Throw that party. Go for it. It's worth it." In today’s Mrs. Dalloway special episode, Sophie talks to Alex Schwartz, writer, critic and co-host of the New Yorker Magazine’s Critics at Large pod. On “Critics at Large’ she discusses the most urgent cultural matters, ranging from Sesame Street to the Pope to Meaghan and Harry to Ancient Rome. Which …

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201: Fall Movie Preview 2025 1:12:59

2M ago1:12:59

1:12:59

Max and Evan discuss the Fall Movie season, mentioning some of their most anticipated films for the rest of 2025. A lot of emphasis is on films playing at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) and the Venice Film Festival. Stay tuned afterward for thoughts on Weapons and The Luckiest Man in America. Max It Was Just An Accident No Other Cho…

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Virginia Woolf 2: To The Lighthouse 1:09:44

2M ago1:09:44

1:09:44

50 is the new 25! “To the Lighthouse” is Virginia Woolf’s masterpiece about summer holidays and the passage of time. It’s perhaps the greatest novel ever written about middle-age, published when Viriginia Woolf herself was middle aged, and recorded by Sophie and Jonty at the height of their middle aged powers. The novel was published in 1927, after…

Paul And Egan Podcasts