Max Lawton On Translating The Beginnings by Moresco, Céline & Pynchon, And His Debut Novel Progress Alex Gershman 2026-06-23 | maxdaniellawton.comMy links:instagram.com/alex_gershmanagwriting.substack.comgoodreads.com/user/show/179946291-alex
New Irish Lit and My First Time Reading Ishiguro Alex Gershman 2026-09-20 | Links:instagram.com/alex_gershmanagwriting.substack.comgoodreads.com/user/show/179946291-alexpodcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a-g/id1805998055open.spotify.com/show/0wSyLyk3Vhd86JvELb4i0y0:00 Notes From a Coma by Mike McCormack23:56 Come Rain or Come Shine by Kazuo Ishiguro
First Two Weeks in Ireland, and a New Favorite Novel! Alex Gershman 2026-09-13 | Links: instagram.com/alex_gershmanagwriting.substack.comgoodreads.com/user/show/179946291-alexpodcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a-g/id1805998055open.spotify.com/show/0wSyLyk3Vhd86JvELb4i0y
The Brazilian Avant-Garde: With My Dog Eyes by Hilda Hilst (Com os Meus Olhos de Cão) Alex Gershman 2026-08-31 | Links: instagram.com/alex_gershmanagwriting.substack.comgoodreads.com/user/show/179946291-alexpodcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a-g/id1805998055open.spotify.com/show/0wSyLyk3Vhd86JvELb4i0y
Satire in Fiction: J R by William Gaddis; Oscar Wilde and Gilbert Sorrentino Alex Gershman 2026-08-22 | My links:instagram.com/alex_gershmanagwriting.substack.compodcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a-g/id1805998055open.spotify.com/show/0wSyLyk3Vhd86JvELb4i0ygoodreads.com/user/show/179946291-alex0:00 Intro3:00 The Importance of Being Earnest9:22 J R 35:55 Imaginative Qualities of Actual Things
Stockholm Vlog and Book Haul, Life Updates, and The Loser by Thomas Bernhard Alex Gershman 2026-08-09 | THE LOSER ESSAY: agwriting.substack.com/p/repetition-and-contradiction?Other Links:instagram.com/alex_gershmangoodreads.com/user/show/179946291-alexagwriting.substack.com0:00 intro & vlog2:40 Stockholm book haul10:55 where I'll be next year!12:15 The Loser by Thomas Bernhard24:40 more books!any/all music performed & written by me
The Poetry of Etheridge Knight with Dyson Smith Alex Gershman 2026-07-27 | SORRY 4 THE MESSY ROOM AND BAD LIGHTING…Dyson's Website: https://dysonkonasmith.framer.website/My links:instagram.com/alex_gershmanagwriting.substack.comgoodreads.com/user/show/179946291-alex0:00 intro1:02 Etheridge Knight and Reginald Dwayne Betts8:21 No Moon Floods the Memory of That Night by Etheridge Knight13:06 Birthday Poem by Etheridge Knight22:14 A Poem For Black Relocation Centers by Etheridge Knight34:53 Losing Her by Reginald Dwayne Betts36:48 G&D&H by Reginald Dwayne Betts42:11 WE OUT HERE47:27 KNOB HILL by Dyson Smith49:34: SESSION by Dyson Smith
The Task of Fiction: The Map and the Territory by Michel Houellebecq; Tropicália by Harold Rodgers Alex Gershman 2026-07-12 | Links:instagram.com/alex_gershmanagwriting.substack.comgoodreads.com/user/show/179946291-alex0:00 The Map and the Territory25:21 Tropicália
Colin Asher on Writing The Midnight Special, American Music and Prisons, and Nelson Algren Alex Gershman 2026-06-30 | colinasher.comMy Links:instagram.com/alex_gershmanagwriting.substack.comgoodreads.com/user/show/179946291-alex
Highly Anticipated Summer Reads: The Midnight Special and The Beginnings Alex Gershman 2026-06-21 | My links:instagram.com/alex_gershmanagwriting.substack.comgoodreads.com/user/show/179946291-alexBooks Mentioned:The Midnight Special by Colin AsherNever a Lovely So Real by Colin AsherThe Beginnings by Antonio Moresco, translated by Max LawtonSchattenfroh by Michael Lentz, translated by Max Lawton
Reading Houellebecq, Plus Two Incredible Books from Small Presses Alex Gershman 2026-06-07 | Essay Link: agwriting.substack.com/p/to-be-temporary-foreverAll Links:instagram.com/alex_gershmangoodreads.com/user/show/179946291-alexagwriting.substack.comBooks Mentioned:It Feels So Good To Be A Victim by Emma Newman-Holden: https://www.dreamboybook.club/shop/p/victimHelen of Nowhere by Makenna Goodman: coffeehousepress.org/products/helen-of-nowhere?The Map and the Territory by Michel Houellebecq0:00 Helen of Nowhere06:22 Michel Houellebecq15:36 It Feels So Good To Be A Victim
Discovering Borges: Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius Alex Gershman 2026-05-31 | instagram.com/alex_gershmanagwriting.substack.comgoodreads.com/user/show/179946291-alex
My Summer 2026 TBR! Alex Gershman 2026-05-21 | instagram.com/alex_gershmanagwriting.substack.comgoodreads.com/user/show/179946291-alexBooks Mentioned:Intimate Ties: Two Novellas by Robert MusilThe Midnight Special by Colin AsherThe Beginnings by Antonio MorescoThe End of the Road by John BarthThe Map and the Territory by Michel HouellebecqDon't Stop Snowing by Gabriel BumpThe Idiot by Elif BatumanSimulations by Jean Baudrillardliterally show me a healthy person by Darcie WilderIt Feels So Good to Be a Victim by Emma Newman-HoldenTropicália by Harold RogersSatantango by Laszlo KrasznahorkaiPedro Paramo by Juan RulfoThe Essential Schopenhauer (by Arthur Schopenhauer)The Savage Detectives by Roberto BolañoThe Return by Roberto BolañoRemainder by Tom McCarthyHelen of Nowhere by Makenna GoodmanIf Beale Street Could Talk by James BaldwinThe Collected Poems of W.B. Yeats: Revised Second Edition
Hello, Dystopia! Day of the Oprichnik by Vladimir Sorokin Alex Gershman 2026-05-16 | Essay link: open.substack.com/pub/agwriting/p/hello-dystopia?r=1en88r&utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=webinstagram.com/alex_gershmangoodreads.com/user/show/179946291-alexagwriting.substack.com
Raymond Carvers Realism: Early vs. Late Style (with Morgan McCormack) Alex Gershman 2026-05-03 | My links:instagram.com/alex_gershmanagwriting.substack.comgoodreads.com/user/show/179946291-alex
ULYSSES READING VLOG Alex Gershman 2026-04-27 | Links:instagram.com/alex_gershmanagwriting.substack.comgoodreads.com/user/show/179946291-alexULYSSES READING DIARY: open.substack.com/pub/agwriting/p/ulysses-reading-diary?r=1en88r&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
T.S. Eliots Modernism: “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock Alex Gershman 2026-04-19 | My links:instagram.com/alex_gershmanagwriting.substack.comgoodreads.com/user/show/179946291-alex
Ulysses by James Joyce: My Initial Thoughts Alex Gershman 2026-04-13 | My links:instagram.com/alex_gershmanagwriting.substack.comgoodreads.com/user/show/179946291-alexResources:Ulysses Annotated: Notes for James Joyce's Ulysses by Don GiffordNew Bloomsday Book by Harry Blamiresulyssesguide.com
Talking Chicago, Poetry, Hip-Hop and Wrestling with Nate Marshall Alex Gershman 2026-04-03 | Pre-order Something Blue by Nate Marshall: penguinrandomhouse.com/books/802674/something-blue-by-nate-marshall00:00 intro01:27 living with poetry daily04:32 all poems are love poems06:58 examining masculinity14:09 “in her last days, my grandmother worried about me”16:02 conceiving of language22:50: “my niece be mourning on the internet”24: 39: poetry as oral26:28 wrestling and "kayfabe" 30:20: appropriation and categorization36:54 "fugitive elegy"44:25: background to the new book47:20 love without ego51:56 ambition 56:10 specificity in poetry and hip-hop1:00:47 "elegy for birthright citizenship"1:01:51 the myth of America1:08:14 consistent themes in the work, public schooling1:18:02 "but there's light on our faces now" and James Baldwin1:21: 30 Harold's Chicken Shack 143
Novelist and Poet Rebecca Lehmann on Anne Boleyn and The Beheading Game Alex Gershman 2026-03-24 | The Beheading Game is out now: penguinrandomhouse.com/books/786110/the-beheading-game-by-rebecca-lehmann
Train Dreams by Denis Johnson: A Gothic Novella Alex Gershman 2026-03-23 | first spoiler-free video ever?Links:instagram.com/alex_gershmanagwriting.substack.comgoodreads.com/user/show/179946291-alex
Writing a Novel! Ups and Downs, Plot and Style, Author Inspirations Alex Gershman 2026-03-07 | My Links: instagram.com/alex_gershmanagwriting.substack.comgoodreads.com/user/show/179946291-alex
February Reads: More Joyce and Pynchon, Plus My First Time Reading Saul Bellow! Alex Gershman 2026-02-26 | Links: instagram.com/alex_gershmanagwriting.substack.comgoodreads.com/user/show/179946291-alex
My First Time Reading James Joyce: Dubliners Alex Gershman 2026-02-11 | Links: instagram.com/alex_gershmanagwriting.substack.comgoodreads.com/user/show/179946291-alex
60s Counterculture, Narcissism, & Entropy: Thomas Pynchons The Crying of Lot 49 Alex Gershman 2026-02-02 | Links: instagram.com/alex_gershmanagwriting.substack.comgoodreads.com/user/show/179946291-alex
My 2026 TBR!! Fiction, Poetry, and Criticism Alex Gershman 2026-01-24 | My links: instagram.com/alex_gershmanagwriting.substack.comgoodreads.com/user/show/179946291-alex
Literature in the Digital Age: Americana by Don DeLillo Alex Gershman 2026-01-16 | My links: instagram.com/alex_gershmanagwriting.substack.comgoodreads.com/user/show/179946291-alex0:00 intro1:49 the influence of tv/movies on real life5:47 dialogue, the meaninglessness of words8:15 the urge to prove our own existence10:01 death of the American dream, commercialization, the "hellish feeling"13:14 reality as absurd, American masculinity16:20 influences, Jean-Luc Godard, perception18:02 thank you!!
Alejandro Varela on his latest novel Middle Spoon, short stories, and public health background Alex Gershman 2026-01-10 | Many thanks to Alejandro for his time. You can check out Middle Spoon, The People Who Report More Stress, and other work here: https://alejandrovarela.work/My links: instagram.com/alex_gershmanagwriting.substack.comgoodreads.com/user/show/179946291-alex
My Favorite Books of 2025!! Alex Gershman 2026-01-06 | Links: instagram.com/alex_gershmanagwriting.substack.comgoodreads.com/user/show/179946291-alex0:00 Intro and honorable mentions1:38 Martyr! 3:12 Their Eyes Were Watching God 5:38 Never a Lovely So Real 8:02 That's All I Know 9:34 Flesh 12:55 Outro, thank you!!Books Mentioned:Fox by Joyce Carol OatesDjinns by Fatma AydemirThe Secret Agent by Joseph ConradMartyr! by Kaveh AkbarTheir Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale HurstonNever a Lovely So Real by Colin AsherThat's All I Know by Elisa LeviFlesh by David Szalay
Winter TBR and Holiday Recs!!! Icelandic Lit, Lorrie Moore and Claire Keegan Alex Gershman 2025-12-25 | My links: instagram.com/alex_gershmanagwriting.substack.comgoodreads.com/user/show/179946291-alex0:00 Intro0:47 Claire Keegan6:02 John McGahern8:21 Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton10:03 Fish Can Sing by Halldor Laxness 11:28 Ice Palace by Tarjei Vesaas12:13 Charles DIckens15:00 Truman Capote16:12 Like Life by Lorrie Moore19:41 Outro, updates
Thomas Pynchon’s Examination of the Namibian Genocide in V: Mondaugen’s Story Alex Gershman 2025-12-20 | Links: instagram.com/alex_gershmanagwriting.substack.comgoodreads.com/user/show/179946291-alex0:00 intro1:50 Benny Profane, Herbert Stencil, and V3:56 setting and focalization6:23 world war one and colonization7:03 the Namibian genocide of 19049:51 1922, what makes a monster12:10 Franz Kafka, perspective shifts, “soul-depression”16:09 favorite passages, attention to detail19:30 outro, thank you for watching!
The End of Literature: Samuel Becketts Molloy Alex Gershman 2025-12-07 | My links: instagram.com/alex_gershmanagwriting.substack.comgoodreads.com/user/show/179946291-alex
Impressionist Literature: Joseph Conrad and the Importance of Literary Criticism Alex Gershman 2025-11-25 | Links:instagram.com/alex_gershmangoodreads.com/user/show/179946291-alexMy essay on Conrad: agwriting.substack.com/p/the-impressionist-novel-a-philosophy0:00 intro1:40 impressionist prose3:50 The Secret Agent and subjectivity7:25 London imagery, absurdity, science, cosmopolitanism14:34 read literary criticism!18:41 Conrad and Lawrence, writing as philosophy22:46 thanks for watching!Research as a Leisure Activity: personalcanon.com/p/research-as-leisure-activityMusic performed by me.
Favorite November Reads: Novels by Fatma Aydemir and Megha Majumdar Alex Gershman 2025-11-16 | agwriting.substack.com/p/book-review-a-guardian-and-a-thiefOther links: instagram.com/alex_gershmangoodreads.com/user/show/179946291-alex
Classic Lit: Women In Love by D.H. Lawrence and Other Reads Alex Gershman 2025-10-26 | Links: instagram.com/alex_gershmanagwriting.substack.comgoodreads.com/user/show/179946291-alex0:00 Intro 0:15 Women in Love by D.H. Lawrence7:58 The Blindness of the Heart by Julia Franck10:17 The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny12:22 Upcoming Reads
The BEST BOOK Ive Read This Year: Thoughts on Form in Flesh by David Szalay Alex Gershman 2025-10-18 | Links: instagram.com/alex_gershmanagwriting.substack.comgoodreads.com/user/show/179946291-alex0:00 Intro 1:15 Replication of Reality5:22 Masculinity and Passivity7:22 Ch 2 Excerpt11:06 Ch 4 Excerpt14:47 Crisp and Effective Prose
September Reads: Russian and German Lit - Dostoevsky, Mann, and Nietzsche Alex Gershman 2025-10-06 | My links: instagram.com/alex_gershmanagwriting.substack.comgoodreads.com/user/show/179946291-alex0:00 Intro 0:58 Death in Venice by Thomas Mann4:03 Notes From Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky8:28 On the Genealogy of Morals by Friedrich Nietzsche13:19 Upcoming Reads!
Philosophy and Fiction Recs: Nietzsches Birth of Tragedy and Samanta Schweblins Good and Evil Alex Gershman 2025-09-21 | Links: instagram.com/alex_gershmanagwriting.substack.comgoodreads.com/user/show/179946291-alex0:00 Intro0:43 The Birth of Tragedy6:23 Good and Evil (Short Stories)
Everything an English Major Reads in One Semester Alex Gershman 2025-09-14 | Links: instagram.com/alex_gershmanagwriting.substack.comgoodreads.com/user/show/179946291-alex0:00 Intro0:58 Modernism6:56 German Lit10:23 Thesis Course and Other Updates
August Reads: Three Disappointing Novels, a Brilliant Story Collection by Dorthe Nors Alex Gershman 2025-09-07 | My links:instagram.com/alex_gershmanagwriting.substack.comgoodreads.com/user/show/179946291-alex0:00 intro 1:03 Service by John Tottenham 7:55 The Days of Abandonment by Elena Ferrante11:22 Boathouse by Jon Fosse14:13 Wendy Erskine15:28 Karate Chop by Dorthe Nors
THE RETURN OF DYSON SMITH: Review of Stay Dead by Natalie Shapero, Discussing Tomboy Ballet Alex Gershman 2025-09-02 | Dyson's Website: https://dysonkonasmith.framer.website/"Tomboy Ballet" by Dyson Smith, winner of the Lois Ann Lattin Award0:00 Intro1:10 experience as confusion, undermining the narrator: “Split” and “Start”7:52 Monet and impressionism8:59 gatekeeping of poetry/general academia 9:48 humor and allusions, movement through tangents12:38 “Capacity Crowd”, throughlines, performance15:44 camera death, shoutout chicago legends Wilco, Studs Terkel, and corncob towers16:39 “Remember My Decision for One Day” and “Space Walk” 19:05 major tensions, artistic themes, formal techniques24:45 poem-drop finale29:22 origins of Tomboy Ballet by Dyson Smith, background in research, survival33:47 specificity, football and dance, hyper-masculinity 37:44 table of contents, math (apologies)40:39 “Mine/Chicago”43:39 “Bike Shop”46:16 epigraphs, hip-hop and poetry50:56 “Industry Standard," George Bush and Mike Lindell (??)55:43 California Sober and Ode to Tomboy Ballet 1:03:00 dance! thank u 4 watching
August Reads: Frank OConnor and Guy De Maupassant, Turbulence by David Szalay, Zone Rouge Alex Gershman 2025-08-26 | My links: instagram.com/alex_gershmanagwriting.substack.comgoodreads.com/user/show/179946291-alex0:00 Intro1:02 Frank O'Connor 7:37 A Story by Maupassant (by Frank O'Connor)9:47 Guy De Maupassant14:26 Turbulence by David Szalay22:12 Zone Rouge by Michael Jerome PlunkettIf you'd like to pre-order Zone Rouge: unnamedpress.com/all-books/p/zone-rouge
Dark Reads: Fox by Joyce Carol Oates and The Man With the Golden Arm by Nelson Algren Alex Gershman 2025-08-21 | Links:instagram.com/alex_gershmanagwriting.substack.comgoodreads.com/user/show/179946291-alex0:00 intro and TW00:51 Fox16:48 The Man With the Golden Arm30:26 thank you!!
A Conversation With Melissa Lozada-Oliva - Beyond All Reasonable Doubt Jesus is Alive: Stories Alex Gershman 2025-08-18 | Pre-order Beyond All Reasonable Doubt Jesus is Alive: booksaremagic.net/item/MexlWhzwbd_6uZNsKv8A1gMelissa's website: melissalozadaoliva.com0:00 introduction0:55 exploring form (poem/stories/novels)2:45 second-person5:47 why this title?8:22 intention behind Dream Man, place in collection, women and demons11:38 Dream Man (excerpt) 14: 08 range of dialogue in Tails, ode to coworkers18:16 swift characterization20:34 physical anxiety/fear in the writing, honoring experience22:54 cancel culture commentary, Community Hole (novella), Shirley Jackson27:45: Pool House (excerpt)30:31 beginnings and endings, slam poetry background, Joyce Carol Oates34:17 indifference and judgement, character as a representation, writing with kindness 38:40 otherworldly stories, inspirations, how you categorize your writingMy links:instagram.com/alex_gershmanagwriting.substack.comgoodreads.com/user/show/179946291-alex
Poetry Review! Steven Espada Dawsons Late to the Search Party with B Mossotti Alex Gershman 2025-08-11 | B's instagram: instagram.com/b.mossottiMy links:instagram.com/alex_gershmanagwriting.substack.comgoodreads.com/user/show/179946291-alex0:00 intro1:55 A River is a Body Running4:13 The Poetic Line (a breakdown)8:14 form and the sonnet9:14 the short poem9:56 Elegies (Chambers of the Heart), Grief16:29 Mother’s Heart, death and selfishness, metaphors19:54 Sharon Olds, humor, confronting yourself, Mary Jo Bang25:00 My Brother Stole Every Spoon In the House26:20 margin form and Richard Siken 29:15 good poems vs good collections, where32:35 writing toward what?34:17 Pink Moon Prayer (by B), writing about their father, masculinity43:25 High Functioning (by B)
Write With Me! My Novel and Essay Updates, Summer in Chicago, and (of course) Nelson Algren Alex Gershman 2025-07-24 | My links: instagram.com/alex_gershmanagwriting.substack.comgoodreads.com/user/show/179946291-alex0:00 intro2:58 writing honestly about your own experiences3:31 essay plans, visiting Algren’s residence4:35 vlog6:19 Algren neighborhood, recognition and appreciation9:30 research recap, Studs Terkel, finding the future 12:08 novel progress, revision and structure15:09 updates (reading, substack, videos, talking with you all)16:35 thank you all so so much
The Best Stories Ive Read This Month!! Claire Keegan, George Saunders, Mary Robison, and more Alex Gershman 2025-07-16 | Stories Mentioned:In Jewel by Mary RobisonEscape From Spiderhead by George SaundersExtra by Yiyun LiThe Forester’s Daughter by Claire KeeganI Don’t Kiss Strangers by Shirley JacksonLinks: instagram.com/alex_gershmanagwriting.substack.comgoodreads.com/user/show/179946291-alex0:00 intro0:54 novel vs stories, my older videos3:20 Mary Robinson (and Carver/Lisch)9:20 Yiyun Li 11:47 Claire Keegan, distant narration20:54 Shirley Jackson23:00 thanks for watching!!! And apologies for my uncaffeinated self
Two of the Best Books Ive Read This Year: Among Friends and Never a Lovely So Real Alex Gershman 2025-07-01 | Proud of my editing job on this one, was all over the place in real time. Thanks to everyone watching, means the world. As always. Links: instagram.com/alex_gershmanagwriting.substack.comgoodreads.com/user/show/179946291-alexNever a Lovely So Real by Colin Asher: colinasher.comAmong Friends by Hal Ebbott: penguinrandomhouse.com/books/771264/among-friends-by-hal-ebbott0:00 Intro0:41 Among Friends9:57 Never a Lovely So Real
Dublin and Paris Book Haul, Plus Nelson Algrens Never Come Morning Alex Gershman 2025-06-19 | Links: instagram.com/alex_gershmanagwriting.substack.comgoodreads.com/user/show/179946291-alexBooks Mentioned:Guests of the Nation by Frank O'ConnorThe Country Funeral by John McGahern The Loser by Thomas BernhardOn the Calculation of Volume by Solvej BalleThe Discomfort of Evening by Lucas RijneveldBabylon Revisited and Other Stories by F. Scott FitzgeraldValentino by Natalia GinzburgThe End by Samuel BeckettBoathouse by Jon FosseI Gave You Eyes and You Looked Toward Darkness by Irene SolàNever Come Morning by Nelson Algren0:00 Intro, Current Reads 2:44 Dublin Books10:04 Paris, Jon Fosse11:42 Upcoming Reads13:05 I Gave You Eyes and You Looked Toward Darkness17:37 Montage18:42 Never Come MorningMusic performed by myself and Alice Whisnat
Poet Gabrielle Bates on Her Collection Judas Goat, and Literature as a Way of Living Multiple Lives Alex Gershman 2025-06-06 | Check out Judas Goat! open-books-a-poem-emporium.myshopify.com/products/01-24-2023-bates-gabrielle-judas-goat?_pos=1&_sid=eeafc8621&_ss=r0:00 Intro1:06 The Dog, ordering poems, trauma shared intimately10:48 Reading from Judas Goat (The Dog)14:00 Epigraph, obedience, seeking ‘perfection’20:38 Finding poetry in college, pushing back against it27:21 Writing as another life, the timing of reading33:17 Divinity in the poems, growing up religious, betrayal and complicity 37:15 Fairytales/folk tales38:20 The Judas Goat, imagery39:08 football and southernness, beauty vs absurdity45: 48 Longer poems, telling a story, No Epiphany49:13 The maddening process of putting a book together52:22 Current writing, moving toward longer-form poems56:08: Reading from Judas Goat (Rosification)A special thanks to Brett Dunn for reading and discussing this collection with me!instagram.com/alex_gershmanagwriting.substack.comgoodreads.com/user/show/179946291-alex
