A blessing, a curse, a podcast, since 2014. Christopher (@cdhermelin) invites folks to the Damn Library to talk about reading, literature, publishing, and trying to make it through the never-dwindling stack of things to read. All with a themed drink in hand. Recorded at the Damn Library in Brooklyn, NY. For show info, book lists, and drink recipes, follow @somanydamnbooks and visit somanydamnbooks.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Sep 29, 2026 · 29:21
I found a book list I made on Facebook in September 2014. Right before this show started. I revisit the list, and then I make a new one. Lists are fun! Reading is fun! You,…
Aug 28, 2026 · 21:16
A list of short books, because life is short, and you need to make your reading goals. (a sequel to the episode “ 22 Short Books ”) For the drink recipe, every book mentioned,…
Aug 14, 2026 · 59:45
Meg Richardson stops by the Damn Library for some kid wine (or is it adult Martinelli’s?) and book chatter. We get into whether she’s the Jackie or the Kayla, her time as a pawn…
Jun 26, 2026 · 1:01:29
Two-time Survivor contestant, cohost of the Survivor podcast We Know Survivor , as well as the literary podcast Paraphrase, Stephen Fishbach drops onto the island SMDB and brings…
Jun 5, 2026 · 1:16:49
Ailsa Ross uses the power of the internet to join Christopher and chat about the pleasure of destruction, letting mosquitoes bite, the cost of licensing museum photos, and other…
May 15, 2026 · 17:58
I hang out and chat a bit about books I've read recently! Fun, right? So much fun. For the drink recipe, every book mentioned, and more, visit:…
Apr 24, 2026 · 1:07:32
Casey Scieszka squeezes through the internet’s tubes to arrive safely on the podcast and talk The Fountain , her debut novel. We get into immortality, and alcohol etymology, and…
Apr 10, 2026 · 1:10:20
Lior Torenberg zooms into the Damn Library to chat about Just Watch Me , an early entry in the run for “best book of the year.” She goes into just how deep her love for hot sauce…
Mar 17, 2026 · 1:17:25
Kathleen Boland road trips into the Damn Library Hyperspace to talk about her novel Scavengers , which also means talking about karaoke, the magic of Utah, treasure hunts, and…
Feb 27, 2026 · 1:04:26
Drew Broussard (former co-host of this show, current Lit Hub Radio host, Manager at Rough Draft) stops in for a SPOILER-FILLED chat about the dichotomy that is Richard…
Feb 10, 2026 · 23:46
Christopher re-read all of Aimee Bender and decided to talk about it. Join the Patreon and hang out in the monthly book club, listen to exclusive episodes, and get access to the…
Dec 17, 2025 · 1:03:54
Alix E. Harrow drops into the Damn Library to talk about the everyday magic of being alive and writing really good books, like her newest one The Everlasting , Christopher’s…
Nov 26, 2025 · 37:49
250 episodes in, Sarah interviews Christopher about some of the behind the scenes details about making So Many Damn Books. Join the Patreon and hang out in the monthly book club,…
Nov 5, 2025 · 59:07
Erin Somers returns to the Damn Library, this time virtually, for a punny cocktail and a chat about her novel The Ten Year Affair , expanding her lens, millennial marriage, and…
Oct 22, 2025 · 1:09:04
Patrick Ryan drops into the Damn Library Soda Shoppe for a chocolate peanut butter egg cream and a chat about his much-lauded novel Buckeye . We chat about a family secret that…
Oct 1, 2025 · 1:09:38
Mona Awad becomes the most frequent guest of So Many Damn Books with this appearance, chatting We Love You , Bunny , how it’s a good time to make fun of yourself, and the…
Sep 12, 2025 · 52:46
Kerry Cullen drops in, in person, so I smoke a cocktail (and forget to mention that Manhattans contain vermouth). We get to talking about working in books and then writing a…
Aug 27, 2025 · 1:07:26
Held it together pretty well interviewing Leonie Swann, the author of one of my favorite novels of all time, Three Bags Full , about her recently translated sequel Big Bad Wool ,…
Jul 31, 2025 · 17:59
We only have five months of the year left, so that means it’s time to look back and reminisce. It’s always a good time to look back and reminisce, baby, you better believe it.…
Jul 8, 2025 · 52:18
Pencils UP, everyone! Point their sharpened points straight to the sky, because Allison King, author of the endlessly inventive Phoenix Pencil Company , drops by the virtual…
Jun 13, 2025 · 1:10:36
Former co-host of the show, current writer and bookseller and host of The Lit Hub Podcast Drew Broussard stops by to chat about our Top 6 of 2015 episode from 10 years ago, plus…
May 22, 2025 · 1:12:43
Tyler Wetherall, author and sole force behind the indispensable literary reading series newsletter, Reading the City visits the Damn Library in person in order to have a very…
May 2, 2025 · 54:51
Kate Folk flies into the Zoom Damn Library and boy are her arms tired! That’s an airplane joke, and it’s very fitting, actually, because she’s here to discuss her madcap Sky…
Apr 15, 2025 · 1:11:43
Jeanne Thornton physically drops by the Damn Library to talk A/S/L, her incredible novel about amateur video game coders in the 90s and how they’re doing a couple decades years…
Mar 25, 2025 · 1:00:00
Kate Slotover of The Book Club Review drops in again, virtually this time, to talk about a visit to a posh library, her reading life of late, and Solvej Balle’s On the…
Mar 4, 2025 · 19:51
A list of 22 long books because sometimes you need to get lost in a book, like really lost, like 400 pages in and not even halfway there and every tree looks just like the one…
Feb 13, 2025 · 19:56
A list of 22 short books for short attention spans because we all hey look at that dog! he’s trying to catch a butterfly!! Join the Patreon and hang out in the monthly book club,…
Jan 30, 2025 · 50:39
Cynthia Weiner zooms in and starts off the year right with her 80s New York novel, A Gorgeous Excitement . We talk all the trappings of true crime and female friendship and…
Dec 18, 2024 · 24:29
Christopher chooses some favorites from the reading year that just passed, and answers some questions from the Patreon patrons. Join the Patreon and hang out in the monthly book…
Nov 27, 2024 · 56:16
Emily Habeck swims on in to chat the book Christopher can’t stop recommending to anyone and everyone, Shark Heart: A Love Story. Thrill to this episode where we get into the long…
Nov 6, 2024 · 45:13
If you do something two years in a row, that makes it a yearly tradition right? With that in mind, here’s the very traditional Holiday Gift Guide episode. I’m joined by Sarah in…
Oct 23, 2024 · 1:20:16
Rosalind Brown makes her airwaves debut in this one, talking about her debut novel Practice , which means talking about Shakespeare, and using white space on the page, and the…
Oct 10, 2024 · 1:00:46
Our old pal Drew drops into the Damn Library, in Brooklyn, in person, for the first time since February 2020, to celebrate 10 years of So Many Damn Books. The show gets done like…
Sep 24, 2024 · 1:09:15
Lena Valencia drops by the Damn Library, physically, and it’s a real nice time complete with a flashing drink you can’t see, because this is a podcast. Lena and I discuss her…
Aug 1, 2024 · 1:06:40
Lev Grossman returns to the podcast after a nine year break. That’s a long time! Since he was here last, he wrote his Arthurian magnum opus, The Bright Sword , and he chats about…
Jul 16, 2024 · 1:11:52
Holly Gramazio drops by via the magic of Zoom to talk her magical summer blockbuster of a book, The Husbands . She gets into its origin as a computer game, a lack of supernatural…
Jun 27, 2024 · 1:10:14
Kate Slotover, host of The Book Club Review podcast, joins me in the Damn Library all the way from London! Drinks are had, New York is discussed, along with two different worlds…
Jun 13, 2024 · 1:02:50
Melissa Mogollon zooms in to talk her debut Oye, and all the fun she had writing it. That means we talk how her friends are like her sisters, the unusual structure that always…
May 29, 2024 · 52:54
Our old pal Drew (of Voyage into Genre ) is back! We talk about how the internet used to be, how Drew broke his slump, some literal tea discussion, RPG and video games, and…
May 15, 2024 · 1:05:27
Fiona Warnick, author of the charming novel The Skunks , drops by to talk animals and metaphor, how her creative writing program helped her with this book, writing smooth, and…
May 2, 2024 · 14:33
Christopher goes through some stuff he read and some stuff he wants to read. Got any modern pirate book recommendations? contribute! https://patreon.com/smdb for drink recipes,…
Apr 17, 2024 · 57:51
Alexandra Tanner shares the Damn Library physical space, sitting in the chair across from me and everything. She discusses her sibling’s influence on Worry, writing for an…
Apr 4, 2024 · 42:53
Damn Library co-owner Sarah sits to chat about all the things that makes one pick up a book only to put it back down again. A list of reading pet peeves that touches on…
Mar 20, 2024 · 52:02
Rachel Lyon returns to talk about her new novel, Fruit of the Dead , and how it wasn’t always a Persephone myth retelling, she found that along the way. Plus, we get into the…
Mar 6, 2024 · 50:58
GennaRose Nethercott returns to talk about her brand new story collection Fifty Beasts to Break Your Heart , stealing details from her friends, telling stories from the…
Feb 22, 2024 · 54:30
Kirsten Bakis makes her podcast airwave debut to discuss her brand new novel, King Nyx. And it’s a doozy. Kirsten reflects on sideways stories and how she first “met” the real…
Feb 7, 2024 · 1:08:05
Marie-Helene Bertino returns to the Damn Library to discuss her latest triumph, Beautyland . Marie-Helene goes into how she creates some of the book's indelible, otherworldly…
Dec 13, 2023 · 33:36
Into the Damn Library Sarah and Christopher go again, to review their respective years on reading, pull out the highlights, and make plans for the year to come. contribute!…
Nov 29, 2023 · 42:13
Sarah joins Christopher in the Damn Library she co-owns to drink martinis and talk about good ideas for holiday gifting, from books to subscriptions to games to cocktail…
Nov 8, 2023 · 44:43
Drew Broussard, Hudson valley author, Golden Notebook bookseller, host of Voyage Into Genre , and former host of this show, jumps into his old chair in the Damn Library and it’s…
Oct 24, 2023 · 1:12:06
Amy Kurzweil stops into the Damn Library, physically, to talk about the physical object of her new graphic memoir, Artificial: A Love Story, which largely concerns AI. We discuss…
Oct 11, 2023 · 1:03:02
Edan Lepucki visits the virtual Damn Library by the power of the internet to discuss her intergenerational time travel novel, Time’s Mouth . We get into all the fun stuff, like…
Sep 27, 2023 · 1:00:24
Jennifer Baker steps into the physical reality of the Damn Library and thankfully brings along her infectious laugh and passion for books. We chat all about the long road of…
Sep 12, 2023 · 58:03
Mona Awad visits the Damn Library via the casual magic of web video for a third go round, this time for her bedeveling, garnet-bedazzled Rouge . She talks about putting her…
Aug 29, 2023 · 58:53
Stacey Mei Yan Fong drops into the Damn Library for a slice of pie and a pie-inspired cocktail and lots of impassioned talk of pie and baking and her new cookbook 50 Pies 50…
Aug 15, 2023 · 1:10:08
Henry Hoke makes a visit to the physical space of the Damn Library to talk his novel Open Throat , and allowing P-22 to become “me-22,” as well as the rest of his work, plus the…
Jun 27, 2023 · 15:12
I’m just hanging out in the Damn Library talking about some books I just got in the mail, and the books I’m taking on vacation. Is this a good idea? Only time will tell.…
Jun 13, 2023 · 57:33
Into the Damn Library Christine Grillo zooms, and what do we talk about? Her inventive, touching, hopefully not too prescient Hestia Strikes a Match , plus all that went into it,…
May 31, 2023 · 1:00:55
Kate Slotover, co-host of the podcast The Book Club Review, zooms into the Damn Library and chats book podcast reading, how many books she will get to before she dies, the…
May 16, 2023 · 55:08
Rebecca Makkai drops into the Damn Library a few months after her newest smash hit novel I Have Some Questions For You hit the shelves, chatting about critiquing/celebrating the…
May 2, 2023 · 51:23
Brendan Slocumb has a seat in the hyperspace universe of the Zoom Damn Library to talk his new historical musical thriller Symphony of Secrets , and of course some Violin…
Apr 11, 2023 · 1:03:28
Ling Ling Huang stops by the universe of the Zoom Damn Library the day after her book, Natural Beauty , graces shelves. She talks about writing the book in her Notes app, living…
Mar 28, 2023 · 59:17
The one and only Kelly Link zooms into the Damn Library hypserspace to talk her spectacular new collection, White Cat, Black Dog . She gets into how the new collection got its…
Mar 15, 2023 · 50:24
Idra Novey actually drops by the Damn Library IN PERSON to discuss her stunning new book, Take What You Need , creating an artist’s practice, torching things, and short novels.…
Feb 21, 2023 · 41:49
Former co-host, writer, and podcast journeyman Drew Broussard sits down to talk about, what else? Books. The Tournament of Books, inventing rather than referencing art within…
Feb 7, 2023 · 52:58
Nita Prose drops into the Damn Library to illuminate her runaway hit novel, winner of a Goodreads Choice Award, The Maid , and all the ways she used her past as an editor and her…
Jan 24, 2023 · 1:05:30
Antiquarian Bookseller and TikTok star Tom Ayling zooms on in to the Damn Library discuss the world of antiquarian books, and the world of book-centered TikTok, two worlds that…
Dec 20, 2022 · 34:04
Sarah joins me in the Damn Library she co-owns to chat about favorite reads of 2022, both books published this year and books experienced this year. Plus, the HarperCollins union…
Dec 6, 2022 · 1:00:14
Alison Watts zooms through the Damn Library hypserspace from Japan to talk the new novel she translated, The Boy and the Dog by Seishu Hase, as well as the life of a translator.…
Nov 23, 2022 · 52:34
Ashley Hutson, author of Christopher’s favorite novel of 2022, One’s Company , drops into the Damn Library to discuss the joy of writing a novel based on a favorite sitcom,…
Nov 8, 2022 · 1:01:39
Kevin Wilson zooms in from his mountain to discuss his thrilling new novel, Now is Not the Time to Panic , and that means going into writing teenagers, the pre-Internet world,…
Oct 25, 2022 · 59:30
Legendary comic artist and writer Kate Beaton drops into the Damn Library and talks about her monumental achievement — her new memoir, Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands , and all…
Sep 13, 2022 · 1:05:17
GennaRose Nethercott drops in, no strings, for a discussion of her new novel Thistlefoot , puppetry, research, cootie catchers, and the muchness of novel writing. Plus, she…
Aug 23, 2022 · 1:09:31
Anthony Marra zooms into the Damn Library and attempts to turn the tables on interviewing, to some avail. Of course he gets into his new novel, Mercury Pictures Presents, how…
Aug 9, 2022 · 1:16:26
Living Legend Tom Scharpling drops into The Damn Library to chat about the paperback release of his national bestseller, It Never Ends, and his recent 24-hour Best Show episode…
Jul 26, 2022 · 32:25
Drew returns to discuss his new show, Voyage into Genre , working at a bookstore, and Christopher's mad musings on which child survivalist would win in a battle royale. Plus…
Jul 12, 2022 · 50:01
Angela Ledgerwood, of the podcast Lit Up drops in, physically, in person, actually inside the Damn Library, and it's a meeting of the podcast minds. Of course Christopher smokes…
Jun 28, 2022 · 1:21:35
Mat Johnson launches into the Damn Library Zoom Zone to discuss his new novel, Invisible Things . We get into conspiracies, surprising yourself with your writing, teaching,…
Jun 14, 2022 · 59:35
Elaine Hsieh Chou drops into the Damn Library Hyperspace Zoom Zone to chat her incredible new campus satire, Disorientation . We get into the world of academia, writing villains,…
May 25, 2022 · 1:09:34
Here are three more interviews with featured readers! So fun to talk about bookstore ownership, how being an agent affects reading, the trials and tribulations of Topo Chico, and…
May 18, 2022 · 45:32
Here are the first three (of six!) mini interviews with So Many Damn Books Readers, talking favorite recent reads, current reading projects, and giving a book to a famous person,…
Apr 19, 2022 · 33:13
Sarah, partner of Christopher and co-owner of the Damn Library, drops into some of the space she pays rent for to chat about working with the backlist for Penguin Random House,…
Apr 5, 2022 · 42:30
Sara Nović webcams into the Damn Library Zoom Zone to talk her new novel, True Biz . We discuss the limitations of prose in comparison to ASL, how she tried to mimic ASL on the…
Mar 22, 2022 · 1:02:42
Sasha Fletcher physically drops in to the Damn Library. In the flesh. Christopher and Sasha are actually in the same room, chatting over cocktails. This is great, because Sasha’s…
Mar 8, 2022 · 1:05:32
Sequoia Nagamatsu, author of How High We Go in the Dark steps into the Damn Library Pocket Universe and covers a lot of ground, both real and metaphysical. We get into why most…
Feb 22, 2022 · 1:10:30
Dana Stevens stops into the Damn Library to talk about her new book, Camera Man: Buster Keaton, the Dawn of Cinema, and the Invention of the Twentieth Century, and it allows for…
Feb 8, 2022 · 57:05
Sara Gran joins Christopher in the Damn Library to talk The Book of the Most Precious Substance, which is wildly exciting - her books are some of the most cited in So Many Damn…
Dec 28, 2021 · 1:01:40
Drew is saying goodbye and vacating his role as co-host. That means one last episode with all the normal trappings, plus a wander into a chat about how the reading this year…
Dec 14, 2021 · 1:08:30
Eugene Lim stops by the Damn Library to discuss his novel Search History , which sends the conversation careening from AI to authenticity to writing theatrically to songwriting…
Nov 30, 2021 · 1:00:49
Uli Beutter Cohen, stops into the Damn Library for the third time, but for her first time as an author. She wrote Between the Lines: Stories from the Underground , and she talks…
Nov 16, 2021 · 1:03:33
Gus Moreno joins Christopher and Drew in the Cosmic Horrorspace of the Zoom Damn Library to talk about This Thing Between Us . First they get into how he wrote about what scares…
Nov 2, 2021 · 43:10
Christopher and Drew hang out and chat about books, which is to be expected. Having just celebrated Halloween, they get into what they did to celebrate the holiday, scary reads,…
Oct 19, 2021 · 1:08:38
Ruth Ozeki steps on into the Damn Library Hyperverse to shine. We talk about her latest opus, The Book of Form and Emptiness , and how books are magical, and accessing her…
Oct 5, 2021 · 56:27
Alexandra Kleeman is back in the Damn Library! For the third time! This visit, she's brought along her new novel, Something New Under the Sun ! We are thrilled to discuss the…
Sep 21, 2021 · 42:40
Christopher and Drew talk about getting rid of books, and trying to be more in the present, and the logic of owning a lot of books. Also, a digression into Gary Paulsen's work.…
Sep 7, 2021 · 50:40
For this one, we had two producers of the new McSweeney's issue into the Damn Library hyper-verse: Julie Shapiro from Radiotopia and Claire Boyle from McSweeney's. We talk all…
Aug 24, 2021 · 58:54
Mona Awad joins the guys in the zooming Damn Library to talk her new novel, All's Well , which means talk about Shakespeare, and destiny, and magic happening, and chronic pain -…
Aug 10, 2021 · 56:00
Meredith Westgate sets the Damn Library Hyperspace glittering, talking with us about The Shimmering State . The trio of us get into the fabric of memory, the joy of the…
Jul 27, 2021 · 1:09:15
Christopher and Drew are joined in the zoom hysperspace universe with writing duo Laura Blackett & Eve Gleichman, creators of the inventive rom-com thriller, The Very Nice Box .…
Jul 13, 2021 · 1:05:23
Rosecrans Baldwin drops into the Damn Library's online zoom space to chat all about Los Angeles, the subject of his new book, Everything Now: Lessons from the City-State of Los…
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