HeyJaredThree Percent
The Substack from Open Letter at the University of Rochester featuring cultural analysis, the Translation Database, the Three Percent Podcast, book reviews, insights into publishing literary translations, and more.
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- Indexed issues, last 90 days
- 18
- Latest publication
- Sep 25, 2026
- Audience
- Checking…
- Earliest in this view
- Aug 18, 2026
Latest issues
“Subdivision” by J. Robert Lennon [Read This Next] (opens the original)
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What follows is an entry in the revived “Read This Next” feature in which, every Friday, we’ll recommend a single title in 500 words or less. Could be new or out of print, translated or written in English, but it almost certainly won’t be a book from the Big Five or one that’s already well-hyped. The goal is to highlight underrepresented voices (and presses) of the world in a simple, enjoyable way under the belief that the best book you’ve ever read, is also one you’ve never heard of.This week’s
TMR 32.2: “This Requires Explanation” [Tristram Shandy] (opens the original)
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Kaija’s jet-lagged but back, ready to digress and digest double entendres with Chad and Brian. Along with recapping this volume of Tristram Shandy—Toby and Trim’s plan, the collision between Obadiah and Dr. Slop, Yorick’s Sermon, Walter’s midwifery ideas—they talk about the initial reception of this book, the worst type of footnotes, the editorial inclination to favor the transmission of information over voice-driven joyful meanderings, and one of many reasons why Bret Stephens sucks. This week’
OUT TODAY! “The Strongest Woman in the World” by Steinunn G. Helgadóttir & Larissa Kyzer (opens the original)
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Today, at long last, The Strongest Woman in the World by Steinunn G. Helgadóttir & Larissa Kyzer is officially out in the world!This is the second of the three books in this year’s Translator Triptych, curated by Lytton Smith, and focused on Iceland, with Boudoir by Sigrún Pálsdóttir & Lytton Smith already available, and 12 Women <a href="https:/
“Lake of Fire” by Gunnar Theodór Eggertsson (opens the original)
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What follows is an entry in the revived “Read This Next” feature in which, every Friday, we’ll recommend a single title in 500 words or less. Could be new or out of print, translated or written in English, but it almost certainly won’t be a book from the Big Five or one that’s already well-hyped. The goal is to highlight underrepresented voices (and presses) of the world in a simple, enjoyable way under the belief that the best book you’ve ever read, is also one you’ve never heard of.This week’s
TMR 32.1: “Masterstroke of Digressive Skill” [Tristram Shandy] (opens the original)
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Kaija (“Medically Confirmed Sleepyhead,” her words) was asleep for the recording of this, so you only get Chad and Brian this week. They introduce Laurence Sterne’s The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by going over Volume I. There’s some biographical info at the start, then they talk about shaggy dog stories and digressions, “nominative determinism,” some interesting ideas from the 1700s about sperm and conception, the em-dash problem in the Penguin Classic edition, and how to ha
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