Overdue

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Ep 279 - The Crossing, by Cormac McCarthy Jan 08, 2018

Show notes

A boy and his wolf cross the border into Mexico and things go...rather poorly. That's the premise of Cormac McCarthy's 1994 novel The Crossing. It's a Southwestern Gothic coming-of-age story that also touches on the evil nature of man and the collapse of the mythic American West.

Talking points include the puppet comedy of Jeff Dunham, violence in McCarthy's West, and a call for proposals on "Neoliberal Discourse and/in McCarthy."

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Ep 278 - Beauty and the Beast, by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve (LIVE from the Fall For The Book Festival) Jan 01, 2018

Show notes

Our first episode of the new year is actually from our live show at the Fall For The Book Festival in Fairfax, VA. Andrew read the original version of Beauty and the Beast, which bears some similarity to the better-known Disney version but kind of goes off the rails toward the end.

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Ep 277 - The Santa Clause, by Daphne Skinner Dec 25, 2017

Show notes

It's a family affair for this week's episode, in which Craig, Andrew, Laura, and Suzannah gather 'round the fire to discuss Daphne Skinner's novelization of the hit 1994 Tim Allen film, The Santa Clause. Does Tim Allen murder Santa? How many Santas have there been? And did we all believe in Santa?

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Ep 276 - The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak Dec 18, 2017

Show notes

Markus Zusak's breakthrough novel The Book Thief is the story of a young girl in 1940s Germany told by Death itself. It is equal parts heartening and heartbreaking in its depiction of people just trying to live, and it doesn't shy away from showing how "just trying to live" can create a slippery moral slope.

Talking points include Star Wars "spoilers," other books that Death should narrate, the power of literature, and Oscar-bait WW2 stories.

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Ep 275 - The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams Dec 11, 2017

Show notes

On this week’s show, we ponder the meaning of life, the universe, and everything via Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, a radio-play-turned-book that has been adapted to just about every audiovisual medium known to humankind. We also ponder how becoming millionaires would change our walking habits.

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Ep 274 - Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury (Bonus Episode) Dec 09, 2017

Show notes

Our "November" bonus episode, the final entry in "stuff we've read month," is Ray Bradbury's old high school lit class standby Fahrenheit 451. Needless to say, it's hitting us differently now than it did when we originally read it.

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Ep 273 - Where the Red Fern Grows, by Wilson Rawls Dec 04, 2017

Show notes

Grab your tissues everyone! Wilson Rawls' first novel Where the Red Fern Grows is notorious for how sad it is, and the reputation is well-deserved. It's a story of a boy, his dogs, and "death in its saddest form." You do the math.

Also up for discussion this week are our own pet histories, the savagery of the trapping lifestyle, Andrew's new favorite dog magazine, and Providence.

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Ep 272 - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, by JK Rowling Nov 27, 2017

Show notes

For this week’s show, we attempt to figure out what we can add to a conversation about one of the most-discussed books in all of modern literature! Join us for a chat about what JK Rowling’s first book does well, how useful we find the concept of “sorting” real-world people in different contexts, and the nature of fandom.

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Ep 271 - Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card Nov 20, 2017

Show notes

Strap in and blast off to space with us Ender Wiggin, the pint-sized protagonist of Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game.

It's the story of an ultra-talented youth pushed to the limit as he fights to save humanity. The book's chockablock with laser tag, future school, and telepathic aliens! It's also written by an author who has put in substantial time and effort to oppose same-sex marriage, as well as espouse some other harmful views that seem to run counter to the lessons at the core of Ender's Game.

Join us for a discussion about tolerance, the limits thereof, and whether or not we can ever truly separate art from the artist.

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Ep 270 - The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald Nov 13, 2017

Show notes

This week we put on our flapper outfits and dance back to the Roaring Twenties! F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby bears us ceaselessly back into the past, and we use the Jazz Age as a backdrop for a conversation about the American Dream and also the cartoon Rugrats.

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