This week’s book is the second novel by Karan Mahajan, The Association of Small Bombs, which came out earlier this year and has been widely praised. The book was long-listed for the National Book Award, and made a bunch of Best Of 2016 lists, prompting us to talk about how those lists are constructed, and whether they accurately represent a given year’s best literature.

In the second half of the show, we wrap up our Fall of Food by eating some snacks sent to us all the way from Japan. A listener mailed an entire box of treats, including boozy Kit Kats, spongy egg bread, a drink that looks like watery milk, and some dried salted fish.

We’ve also got a sponsor this week. Check out M.B. Manthe’s website, All the Parts of My Life, where you can learn more about her book of poetry and her other publishing ventures. She wanted us to point people in particular to this post, which explains why she’s donating a percentage of the money she makes from book sales to an organization that supports people with depression.

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Thanks for listening!

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