Couple's Book Club

Lauren and Isaac read the 1989 sci-fi (classic?) TekWar by the one and only William Shatner. Was there a war? Not actively! Were there robot boobs? Hardly! Was there a plot? Vaguely! Just sit back, disarm your lazgun, raise a plasglass, and listen to us be bored with ourselves but mostly this book.

Lauren and Isaac are back after a bit of a hiatus to bring more talking at your earholes! We read John Douglas's "Mindhunter," which is not really like the TV show, but is definitely written by an old white guy.

Lauren and Isaac read the cult classic(?) "true story" of The Amityville Horror by Jay Anson. Check here first for info on porcupines for your ears, demons pigs, and not scary at all books!

This time, Lauren and Isaac read Stay Sexy and Don't Get Murdered: The Definitive How-To Guide by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. They talk "dark impulses," get real about their own greatest junior high shames, and get bummed out about life in this late capitalist hellscape.

Lauren and Isaac read Phil Jackson's '90s spiritual/sport memoir classic "Sacred Hoops" AKA "Eat, Pray, Dunk." We talk religious indoctrination, cultural appropriation, and how lacking this book was on John Stockton content.

In this edition of Electric Book Machine, Lauren and Isaac read Jonathan W. White's cultural history "Midnight in America: Darkness, Sleep, and Dreams During the Civil War." We talk about weird dreams, superstitions, and how psychic Abraham Lincoln probably wasn't. War is hell, but sleep deprivation might be worse!

The Cinderella Complex meets post-concussion syndrome in this fun little book club nugget! Lauren has a head injury but was still let down by how not completely awful this book was. Do women really fear independence, or is capitalism just a trash system? We discuss.

Lauren and Isaac venture into the world of dark young adult fiction with Dan Wells' "I Am Not a Serial Killer" and they discuss the basis of morality, basically. It's a real corker of an episode!

Lauren and Isaac are joined by special guest, comedian, and single lady Emily Townswick to discuss Steve Harvey's Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man. This book is full of so much good advice for how to tame your local psychopath into being a decent partner. We also discuss some racially dicey terms Steve uses and make a lot of assumptions about his three marriages (allegedly). Also, check out Emily and Lauren's sketch group Ladybrain: https://www.facebook.com/ladybrain/ Shows November 30-December 2 in Minneapolis

Hold onto your bell bottoms, because Professor Isaac is here to tell you all about one of his areas of expertise: Charles Manson! Lauren and Isaac read Jeffrey Melnick's "Creepy Crawling: Charles Manson and the Many Lives of America's Most Infamous Family" and engage all the most important cultural questions: Who's the worst Beach Boy? How hot were the Manson girls? Does Charles Manson fuck? (yes, obvi)

This time, Lauren and Isaac have tackled a paperback purchase from the grocery store, Without Mercy. It's about terrorism and how the laws of the United States make it difficult to stop terrorism. Isaac has maybe studied this his whole academic career and has a lot to say. Also, it was bad. You'll hear a promo from Good Nightmare podcast (http://goodnightmare.libsyn.com/). It's a delightful, creepy, Australian podcast with bite-sized episodes you should 100% check out.

This time, Lauren and Isaac read Donnie Eichar's Dead Mountain: The Untold True Story of the Dyatlov Pass Incident. We talk Soviet sport, capitalist yetis, and so much more.

Lauren and Isaac picked up The Satanic Bible at a local thrift store and were definitely disappointed. These Satanists don't even believe in Satan! Come for the libertarian sex orgies, stay for the teen angst-worthy poetry, we guess.

Lauren and Isaac read Greg Sestero's The Disaster Artist, a book about making a movie that is now also a movie. We share our favorite Tommy Wiseau anecdotes and Lauren is maybe recording from inside a small, echo-y cave. Stick around at the end when we spend several minutes discussing what it would be like to have a Satan as a landlord.

Lauren and Isaac really lay bare their relationship while examining John Gray, PhD's 1992 classic "Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus." Is it mostly just reading aloud offensive, gender essential BS? Maybe! But you'll also learn more than you've ever wanted to know about the elusive Advice Bats.

Lauren and Isaac attempt to cover Mikhail Bulgakov's twentieth century satirical(?) Stalin-era novel about the devil, a giant talking cat, Pontius Pilate, and a bunch of other people we didn't care about, but who have names that are fun to say.

Lauren and Isaac read Tom Clancy's "action" "thriller" "classic" Patriot Games this time. It's 500 pages of '80s sexist nonsense with lots of details about how different guns work. PLUS--terrorists! (white ones, mostly) Lauren says, "Fuck you, Jack Ryan." Isaac says, "Yes, you can write a novel with your dick." PLUS PLUS--the premiere of our long-awaited theme song!

Lauren and Isaac read Irin Carmon and Shana Knizhnik's Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. A fun, light biography that exposes our hatred of the patriarchy and love of liberal "activist" judges.

For their 10th episode, Lauren and Isaac are joined by Minneapolis photographer and improv person Adam Iverson (https://www.instagram.com/adamiversonphotography/) to discuss Elizabeth Gilbert's bestselling spiritual travel memoir Eat, Pray, Love AKA Brown Wisdom AKA God Works Better than Therapy & Meds, I Guess. We cannot fathom why this is supposed to be inspirational, but apparently 10 million people disagree.

Lauren & Isaac read the masterfully ghostwritten memoirs of their hero, Detective Lt. Joe Kenda, "I Will Find You." It's full of horrific murders, deadpan quips, and general badassery. SPOILER: we love Kenda even more after reading his book.

Lauren and Isaac read Rhonda Byrne's The Secret AKA The Handbook of Pathological Magical Narcissism. We learned about how to stop thinking "fat thoughts," how sacrifice is bullshit, and that we should all be skeptical of germ theory.

Lauren and Isaac read Helene Wecker's lovely 2013 novel The Golem and the Jinni and discuss the parts they liked and also the parts they liked even more.

Lauren and Isaac take on a "supernatural"-themed "romance" from paperback powerhouse Nicholas Sparks. SPOILER ALERT: THERE ARE NO GHOSTS.

Lauren and Isaac talk about James Fallon's The Psychopath Inside, their shortest book and longest episode so far. Reckless speculation ensues, Lauren gets hopped up on energy drinks and vodka, and Isaac's voice cannot be properly captured by recording devices SORRY.

Lauren & Isaac take their first listener request--Christian apocalyptic novel Left Behind. Mediocre writing leads to a lot of blaspheming.

On a rainy night in Minnesota, Lauren and Isaac discuss Ann Rule's true crime classic about her murdering ex-friend Ted Bundy, The Stranger Beside Me.

Married couple Lauren and Isaac tackle E. L. James's bizarrely bestselling debut novel, Fifty Shades of Grey. It's full of angst, controlling behaviors, youthful idiocy, and so, so much unappetizing sex. Spoiler alert: we were not fans.

Married couple Lauren & Isaac have formed a book club--with each other. Episode 1 tackles the first volume of Adolph Hitler's Mein Kampf. This is for comedy purposes, not white supremacist ones, you guys.