We're back! Becca's still suffering from a sinus infection, but we're pressing on anyway. The Quick and the Dead by Joy Williams is Corinne's pick for May's prompt to read a book recommended by your favorite author. Joy Williams (in general) is recommended by many authors, among them Catherine Lacey and Sigrid Nunez.  Content warning: suicidal ideations, mention of genitalia, violent death, animal death Our next book discussion will be The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives by Lola Shoneyin. Find it at your local bookstore or library and read along with us! If you want to read along with T ..read more

Due to some unforseen circumstances this week we are bringing you an episode from our Patreon about Colleen Hoover's massively popular novel It Ends With Us in leiu of our regularly scheduled book discussion. We will hopefully be back with that next week. Here is the Slate article by Chels Upton mentioned at the top of the episode. Our next book discussions will be The Quick and the Dead by Joy Williams and The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives by Lola Shoneyin. If you want to read along with The Bookstore Challenge 2024, you can join us on The StoryGraph to see what others are reading for eac ..read more

Perhaps our most referential episode, ever. The book: The Employees by Olga Ravn The art it was created to accompany: Consumed Future Spewed Up as Present by Lea Guldditte Hestlund Books (many are also Movies/TV shows) Mentioned: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Phillip K. Dick (movie is titled Bladerunner) Neuromancer by William Gibson The Expanse by James S.A. Corey 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke Dune by Frank Herbert Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer The Membranes by Chi Ta-Wei Babel-17 by Samuel R. Delany I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman Other Art Mentioned ..read more

April's prompt is to read a book of ecofiction, and Becca's pick is Latitudes of Longing by Shubhangi Swarup.  Content warning: miscarriage, death in childbirth, sexual topics Our next book will be The Employees by Olga Ravn, as chosen by our Patreon Patrons. Find it at your local library or bookstore and read along with us! If you want to read along with The Bookstore Challenge 2024, you can join us on The StoryGraph to see what others are reading for each month and get ideas for your TBR: The Bookstore Challenge 2024. Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm ..read more

It's a book by a translator that's a book by a translator that's translated by a translator about translators translating a book and we loved it. There are also some major time spoilers, but we give good warnings this time. The Extinction of Ireana Rey by Jennifer Croft Next time we are reading Latitudes of Longing by Shubhangi Swarup. Find it at your local bookstore or library and read it along with us.   If you want to read along with The Bookstore Challenge 2024, you can join us on The StoryGraph to see what others are reading for each month and get ideas for your TBR: The Bookstore Ch ..read more

Correction: in the epsiode we say that the book was published in Barbados, but Condé is actually from the island of Guadeloupe - a French department in the Carribbean. Now THIS is the type of historical fiction that we love. Corinne's pick for March's prompt to read a book with a name in the title is I, Tituba: Black Witch of Salem by Maryse Condé. This novel is a fictionalized account of Tituba, an enslaved woman from Barbados who became the first person accused of being a witch during the Salem Witch Trials. Content warning: sexual assault, suicide, violence Our next book discussion will be ..read more

Today we discuss Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya. This is one of the first books of Chicano/a Literature, with Rudolfo Anaya considered one of the founders of the literary movement. It's a coming-of-age story that weaves Catholicism with traditional and indigenous beliefs, and the duality of identity that Antonio, the main character, experiences. Content warning: violence, bodily fluids Sources: Introduction to Chicano Literature, Chicano Literature Next time we'll be reading Corinne's choice: I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem by Maryse Conde. Find it at your local bookstore or library an ..read more

This week we read and discussed My Garden (Book): by Jamaica Kincaid. It's memoir, it's essays, it's history, it's botany, it's maybe not what you'd normally choose to read if you're a fan of our typical fare, but it has a lot of great ideas to think and talk about. You should still read Jamaica Kincaid even if this one isn't for you. Becca recommends the novel Lucy or another work of nonfiction about her home, Antigua, called A Small Place. March's prompt for the Bookstore Challenge 2024 is to read a book with a name in the title. Becca's pick, Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya, will be first ..read more

For our first read of the February Bookstore Challenge Prompt (read a memoir written by a writer) Corinne chose Priestdaddy by Patricia Lockwood. It's a memoir about being a poet and having your dad literally be a Catholic priest. And we're of divided opinions for once. Next time we will read My Garden (Book): by Jamaica Kincaid. This is out of print, but can be found at the library or used. Or if you're patient, a new edition will be available from Picador in July 2024. In March we will be reading I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem by Maryse Conde and Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo A ..read more

Our second book for January's prompt to read a book set in a place where you're from is Jim Harrison's True North. True North is set mostly in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and follows David Burkett, descendant of lumber barons as he struggles with his family's tarnished legacy.... hahaha jk it's really just a guy talking about his dick constantly. We do not recommend. Content warning: rape, sexual assault, violence, violence against women, violence against children, adult topics, sex, body anatomy, swearing Our next book discussion will be Priestdaddy by Patricia Lockwood, a ..read more