how to win the lottery: a book club podcast
a book club, like oprah’s if oprah were two suburban guys from new jersey, or reese witherspoon’s if reese were two suburban guys from new jersey, except without the engine of fame that those two huge stars provide. but come on: oprah is not going to answer your emails. (trust us, we know.) every two weeks, a new book microscoped and surgeried by benevolent despot joey lewandowski and disgraced college professor "shreds"... with your help! here's a guarantee: every episode ends with an arrestable crime. will it be something boring like credit card fraud or something sexy like a casino heist? listen to find out.
- Update frequency
- every 11 days
- Average duration
- 50 minutes
- Episodes
- 145
- Years Active
- 2021 - 2025
sweet days of discipline by fleur jaeggy
campus season continues with sweet days of discipline by fleur jaeggy, our shortest book covered on the podcast so far. after a brief spin-off to “how to score some pottery,” we catch up with shreds …
00:32:04 |
Thu 24 Mar 2022
devil house by john darnielle
we’ve got a new release bonus episode coming at you today as we take on the novel devil house by john darnielle. we talk about darnielle’s place in shape and form of our podcast (as well as how his b…
00:53:29 |
Thu 17 Mar 2022
the secret history by donna tartt
the secret history by donna tartt is a seminal campus novel and the subject of today’s episode. it’s a book we’ve both read before, and likely the best book (so far) this season. after a chaotic kitt…
01:06:59 |
Thu 10 Mar 2022
loner by teddy wayne
bob wasn’t available for this episode so joey and “shred” (or “shreds”) do their best in his absence to cover loner by teddy wayne. we discuss following an unlikeable narrator in david federman (and …
01:01:47 |
Thu 24 Feb 2022
end zone by don delillo
the stadium lights are on this week as we talk about football, warfare, and language in all things in end zone by don delillo. it’s another book we’ve both read, and maybe joey’s favorite book (!). w…
01:01:13 |
Thu 10 Feb 2022
giles goat-boy by john barth
our campus season continues with the most abstract interpretation of a campus yet in giles goat-boy by john barth, which is joey's least favorite book he's ever read. we talk about the post-modern st…
01:17:11 |
Thu 27 Jan 2022
my education by susan choi
the campus season (real missed opportunity for #sponcon by not calling it the education season) continues with my education by susan choi. it’s the second book this season bob hasn’t read, and we’re …
01:04:21 |
Thu 13 Jan 2022
the virgins by pamela erens
the virgins by pamela erens marks new ground for the podcast: it’s the first book we’ve both read before. does that mean we’ll have more insightful thoughts to share? don’t bet on it! after talking a…
01:10:23 |
Thu 30 Dec 2021
the nickel boys by colson whitehead
season two continues onward as we head back in time (for a difficult read) as we talk about the nickel boys by colson whitehead. we talk about the benefits of re-reading books (especially when they c…
00:52:35 |
Thu 16 Dec 2021
the art of fielding by chad harbach
we're headed out to the baseball diamond for today's episode of how to win the lottery as we talk about the art of fielding by chad harbach. after bobby shares a big announcement he should have saved…
01:10:22 |
Thu 02 Dec 2021
prep by curtis sittenfeld
we continue our campus season with prep by curtis sittenfeld, the first book on the pod that’s new to bobby. we talk about its spanning breadth (in a relatively tight package), lee as a reluctant and…
01:04:44 |
Thu 18 Nov 2021
the bell jar by sylvia plath
we're kicking off the second season (campus-themed!) of how to win the lottery with sylvia plath's classic novel the bell jar. (content warning: this book and this discussion contain references to su…
00:48:13 |
Thu 04 Nov 2021
season two theme and reading list
we’re going back to school for season two of how to win the lottery. all of our books are campus or varsity novels. find the full reading list below, and email in your thoughts about any of these boo…
00:10:05 |
Thu 21 Oct 2021
never let me go by kazuo ishiguro
we close out our first season -- on processing pain, the ways we've hurt people, and how we've been hurt -- with kazuo ishiguro's never let me go, and we wonder: just how depressing has this season b…
00:53:56 |
Thu 07 Oct 2021
open city by teju cole
we’re nearing the end of the first season of the podcast, and with open city by teju cole, we’ve reached out first real widespread difference of opinion. open city was a polarizing book when bob taug…
00:47:04 |
Thu 23 Sep 2021
ducks, newburyport by lucy ellmann
the fact that we’ve been building to ducks, newburyport by lucy ellmann all season long, the fact that it’s more than 1,000 pages long, the fact that this is the end of this poor imitation of the boo…
01:11:25 |
Thu 09 Sep 2021
any man by amber tamblyn
every book in the first season of how to win the lottery has dealt with heavy themes, but any man by amber tamblyn may be the heaviest one yet. in this episode, we talk about the target audience for …
00:57:28 |
Thu 26 Aug 2021
colorless tsukuru tazaki and his years of pilgrimage by haruki murakami
haruki murakami is possibly the most successful and most well-known author we'll cover this season, and our sixth stop on our book club world tour dives into his novel colorless tsukuru tazaki and hi…
01:04:20 |
Thu 12 Aug 2021
simon birch (1998) (bonus episode)
we read a prayer for owen meany, so now it's time to watch the semi-adaptation, simon birch. we do the owen voice.
(want more bonus episodes? go to patreon.com/lotterypod for new episodes in every "o…
00:23:45 |
Thu 05 Aug 2021
a prayer for owen meany by john irving
bob has called a prayer for owen meany by john irving one of the best books of the 1980s, but re-reading it has elevated that praise. (joey, far less educated and far less well read, would agree.) we…
01:26:48 |
Thu 29 Jul 2021
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