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Ep 109 - The Girl Next Door, by Jack Ketchum Apr 20, 2015

Show notes

Jack Ketchum's The Girl Next Door is not for the faint of heart. The story is based on the grisly murder of Sylvia Likens by her de facto guardian in the 1960s. What preceded her death is too reprehensible to print here, but Ketchum dives headlong into the awful, determined to suss out the causes (and bounds) of human evil.

Suffice to say, this makes for a difficult discussion on-air, and we spend nearly half the show trying not to talk about the rougher aspects of the book. So please join us for a discussion of phishing, safewords from the future, childhood games, and the parts of The Girl Next Door that made Craig feel terrible.

Caveat lictor: This episode contains explicit language and discussion of graphic material.

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Ep 108 - Little House on the Prairie, by Laura Ingalls Wilder (w/ Margaret H. Willison) Apr 13, 2015

Show notes

One of the reasons we read is because books can give us perspective—good ones can fully transport us to times and places where we've never been and, in some cases, could never go. That's the case with Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House books, stories she wrote about her childhood on the American frontier.

These books aren't without their problems (there are fairly significant questions about authorship and racism is sort of everywhere), but they're worth reading because of how completely they immerse you in the lives of their protagonists. Join us and special guest Margaret H. Willison as we talk about one of the best-known titles in the series.

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Ep 107 - A Farewell to Arms, by Ernest Hemingway Apr 07, 2015

Show notes

Ernest Hemingway is celebrated for the economy of his prose.

This week we read A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway.

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Ep 106 - Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, by Robert Pirsig Mar 31, 2015

Show notes

Rejected a world record 121 times before finally finding a publisher and going on to sell millions of copies, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is one of the most widely read philosophy texts of the 20th-century.

Robert Pirsig's semi-autobiographical, semi-fictional account of a motorcycle road trip with his son covers a lot of ground. America's psyche in the fifties and sixties; our fascination with and fear of modern technology; the age-old quest to unify the world around us: Pirsig crams it all onto one motorcycle ridden by one man. It should then be no surprise that we get a little lost in this one. So please bear with us as we fail to ask for directions and are forced to stop and check the fuel gauge/pistons/tappets/[insert motorcycle part here] more than a few times along the way.

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Ep 105 - The Sparrow, by Mary Doria Russell Mar 24, 2015

Show notes

We're back to sci-fi this week, but we take a break from the politics-heavy universe of Isaac Asimov's Foundation series. Mary Doria Russell's The Sparrow instead uses science fiction to discuss anthropology, colonialism, and theology. There's some genuinely funny and warm stuff in this book, but there's a shadow hanging over the proceedings from the outset: eight people set out to explore the first known alien planet inhabited by sentient life, but only one comes back, and he's much worse for the wear.

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Ep 104 - 'Tis Pity She's A Whore, by John Ford Mar 16, 2015

Show notes

John Ford's 1620s revenge drama 'Tis Pity She's A Whore has everything: friars, murder, bawdy jokes, bawdy suitors, incest -- incest?! What's that doing there?, you might say. And such has been the reaction from nigh on four centuries of critics and audiences confused by how romantically (and tragically) Ford depicted a brother and sister's love.

Never ones to stay wholly on topic, we also discuss March holidays, snow melancholy, and hitting up celebrities for college tuition.

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Ep 103 - Foundation, by Isaac Asimov Mar 09, 2015

Show notes

Celebrated science fiction author Isaac Asimov wrote a lot in the 20th century: short stories, screenplays, books on pop science, books on hard science, essays on Shakespeare, essays on history and physics -- name a medium, he dabbled in it.

But among all of Asimov's bibliography, the Foundation stands apart. This trilogy (later a quintet and then a septet) examined hard sci-fi issues like societal evolution and the collapse of civilizations on a galactic scale. And it all began with the stories Asimov originally collected as Foundation.

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Ep 102 - Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston Mar 02, 2015

Show notes

Zora Neale Hurston's 1937 novel Their Eyes Were Watching God is one of the most widely-read books in American literature. It's so entrenched in the modern canon that it's hard to believe Hurston fell into obscurity later in her career.

But thanks to writer Alice Walker, Hurston's work was revived in the 1970s, and with good reason. Their Eyes is a fascinating portrait of a black woman's life at the dawn of the 20th century.

Also discussed this week: spectacular entrances, the bees and the trees, and plans for dying authors.

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Ep 101 - The Man in the High Castle, by Philip K. Dick Feb 24, 2015

Show notes

Our odometer has rolled over, but the show's the same: this week we take you through the alternate history presented by Philip K. Dick's The Man in the High Castle.

The basic question: what would happen if the Axis powers had won World War II? The sub-questions: what is real? Is it our reality, or the reality in this book, or the reality in the book in this book? We tackle those questions, our caffeine deficiencies, and more!

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Ep 100 - Fifty Shades Darker, by E.L. James Feb 16, 2015

Show notes

100 episodes! That means we've read and talked about 100 books, which isn't a lot in the grand scheme of things but it sure feels like a lot for our little podcast.

For our last milestone episode, we read EL James' Fifty Shades of Grey. Now that we've done another 50 shows (and since the major motion picture is in theaters now), we've gone back to the sexy, sexy well to read Fifty Shades Darker.

Our frustrations with the original book are joined by some new complaints, and just like last time you can find some nearly-compelling threads amid the wreckage if you try hard enough. We also talk a little about the actual BDSM community, and how poorly Christian Grey would fit in among real-life practitioners. One of our listeners provided us with some links, which we've included below for added reading.

Added reading:

"Feminists can be kinky too" from Femmeuary: https://femmeuary.wordpress.com/2014/02/03/feminists-can-be-kinky-too/

"The two mantras of BDSM" from The Kink Factory: http://thekinkyfactory.com/bdsm-for-beginners/ssc-rack/

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