Living in the Stacks

A bit late due to *gestures at everything*, but this episode Jon ends the Indie Author Showcase with another spacefaring story in Jim Hanson's Champagne Brunch of the Insectivores. Stay tuned to the end to hear about the future plans for Living in the Stacks.

As we hunker down during the pandemic, Dexter leads the discussion on P.J. Friel’s urban fantasy romance set in Akron, A Twist of Wyrd.

This month, Max leads our discussion with one of their favorite novels, the galactic epic Dancing with Eternity by John Patrick Lowrie.

Note: This month’s book is not available for purchase at this time, but if anyone’s interested in being a beta reader, you can contact the author here: msadprice@gmail.com.This month’s episode begins Jon’s theme, the Indie Author Showcase, where we read books from independent authors we know and have them on the show to discuss them. First up, Melody has us read A.D. Price’s Stelvei: The Lavender Project, and we interview her about the book and her writing process.

CW: discussions of fascism and references to the current presidential administration It’s the end of the post-apocalyptic and dystopian novel theme as Jon leads a discussion on Sinclair Lewis’ sadly prophetic story of fascism’s rise in the United States It Can’t Happen Here.

Dexter returns to lead a discussion on Stephenie Meyer's followup to the Twilight Saga, the post-apocalyptic alien invasion story The Host.

Our dive into the post-apocalypse continues with Max leading a discussion on Jeanne DuPrau’s The City of Ember.

Melody kicks off Dexter's theme of dystopia and post-apocalyptic books with José Saramago's story of ableism, human misery, and long form poop description Blindness.

We end the current cycle with Jon's pick, a classic story of existential dread and body horror. It's Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis.

On this very LGBTQIA+ centric episode, Dexter leads the discussion on Becky Albertalli's gay coming of age novel Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda, the book behind 2018's Love, Simon.

This month, Max does their best to lead a discussion on philosophy and travel while Melody and Jon struggled in reading Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig.

CW: This book features molestation, suicide ideation, and abortion, which the hosts discuss. Our next cycle starts with Melody picking Lauren Oliver’s Rooms, a ghost story unlike any we’ve read before.

Our first themed trip through history comes to an end as Jon takes us in a cross-continental and cross-historical story of a Chinese-American woman learning her mother’s life story in rural China in the 1970s.

Dexter takes the wheels of our literary time machine to pre-colonial Nigeria and the arrival of Europeans in Chinua Achebe’s Thing’s Fall Apart.

Continuing our journey to the past, Max takes us to post-Revolutionary War Philadelphia during a yellow fever outbreak in Laurie Halse Anderson’s Fever 1793.

This episode starts Max's themed cycle, Historical Fiction. Starting us off, Melody takes us back to a Japanese-American family being held in an interment camp during World War II in Julie Otsuka's When the Emperor was Divine.

To end 2018, we here at Living in the Stacks wanted to let your Readers know some major changes to the podcast. Happy Holidays, and we'll see you in 2019.

Jon ends this cycle by taking an irreverent trip to the stars in Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. 

Diana takes us on a story of intrigue and betrayal that spans two World Wars in Kate Quinn's The Alice Network.  

We go from fantasy to dystopia as Dex leads the discussion of Suzanne Collins' novel The Hunger Games.

Our trip to Fantasy Land isn't over as Max has us read Peter S. Beagle's classic deconstruction of the genre The Last Unicorn.

With our first themed cycle completed, Melody takes us fantastical trip to the circus in Erin Morgenstern's The Night Circus. 

Our first Required Reading cycle concludes with Jon leading the discussion of Ray Bradbury's eerily foreboding novel Fahrenheit 451. 

Our Required Reading cycle nears its conclusion as this time Diana leads the discussion for the heartbreaking coming of age story The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. 

Our Required Reading cycle marches on as Dexter leads the discussion on the influential classic Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. 

Our Required Reading cycle continues with Max leading our discussion of the iconic The Princess Bride by William Goldman. 

Living in the Stacks starts off its first themed cycle with Required Reading, and Melody leads the discussion on Willa Cather's My Ántonia.

CW: we get political and shit. You have been warned.  Jon ends the first cycle for the hosts with some shorter, but meatier fare: George Orwell's allegory for the Russian Revolution, Animal Farm. 

This episode, Diana guides us through a more mature interpretation of Lewis Carroll's classic in The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor. 

Dexter leads the discussion this episode as we talk about the book that got him into reading, Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George. 

This episode, Max leads the discussion as we delve into the Biblical satire Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore.

In our debut episode, our hosts introduce themselves and Melody leads the discussion about the first entry in Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea Saga, A Wizard of Earthsea.