.png)
The Big Book Project
The Big Book Project is a multi-venue reading experience for bibliophiles fascinated by long or dense works of fiction and interested in discussing them with others, one novel at a time.
The works selected will be capacious novels from the mid-nineteenth century through today that possess an abundant writing style or complexity in structure and themes.
The notion that reading need not be a solitary activity has special resonance with these novels given that there is much to discuss, elaborate upon and question in the authors’ expression of ideas. I like to think of these novels as abundant because I appreciate their richness and volume, characteristics bestow a sort of grace to luxuriate with the text.
The critic and scholar Alexander Nehamas writes that when a work of art beckons, it is because we do not fully understand it but feel the strong desire to do so. And it is this deliberative process, the journey, of trying to understand why a novel is extraordinary that I want to explore with fellow readers at The Big Book Project.
We discuss books like Roberto Bolaño’s 2666
The Big Book Project
Latest Episodes
Steven Moore on "Last Time Around," William Gaddis & the Future of the Big Novel
https://substack.com/@thebigbookproject(Lori recorded this interview on a different device, and we apologize for the poor quality of her audio.)For five decades Steven Moore has been one of the most thoughtful champions of the...
.png)
The School of Night with Richard Bailey
https://substack.com/@thebigbookprojectWatch the full episode on youtube: As we continue reading The School of Night by Karl Ove Knausgaard, Richard Bailey joins me to talk about Part Two of the novel. Richard is my fellow bo...
News From the Empire with Ron Restrepo
The name Fernando Del Paso was new to me two and a half years ago when author, publisher, and Dalkey Archive Press alum Martin Riker introduced me to Palinuro of Mexico. What a revelation this late Mexican novelist! He...
Reading The School of Night with Chad Post
https://substack.com/@thebigbookprojectChad W. Post, publisher at Open Letter Books and translation studies instructor at the University of Rochester joins Lori Feathers on The Big Bo...
Chaos, Holy Fools & Don Quixote in Dostoevsky’s The Idiot with Prof. Michael Sexton
https://substack.com/@thebigbookprojectDostoevsky’s The Idiot is too much—too many characters, too many plot points, too much chaos—and that’s exactly what makes it extraordinary. In this episode of The Big Book Project, host Lori Feathe...