Popcorn Book Club

Popcorn Book Club comes to you with sad news this week in that this will be our final episode. We spend it talking about the books we covered, the books we wish we'd covered, and some of our favorite adaptations. Thank you for listening and please follow us as we continue making things. @DanaSchwartzzz @JenAshleyWright @koramadrama @HiMelissaHunter and Tien has wisely gotten off Twitter but is on Insta @hanktina

After covering books one through three of Alan Moore and David Lloyd's graphic novel V For Vendetta, we are getting into the 2005 film adaptation, directed by James McTeigue, written (and perhaps shadow-directed) by the Wachowski Sisters, and starring Natalie Portman and Hugo Weaving. We'll talk about this being a rare case where the film may be better than the book, and what changed from the page to the screen. Follow us on Twitter! @DanaSchwartzzz @JenAshleyWright @koramadrama @MelissaFTW and Tien has wisely gotten off Twitter but is on Insta @hanktina

It still being November, just a little bit, we are still talking V For Vendetta. We have made it to Book Three, the final part of the graphic novel, and this week, we'll hash out our issues with the ending and discuss the allowances and issues with art-as-manifesto. Follow us on Twitter! @DanaSchwartzzz @JenAshleyWright @koramadrama @MelissaFTW and Tien has wisely gotten off Twitter but is on Insta @hanktina Next week, we'll jump into the film adaptation!

There were plenty of options for our first graphic novel adaptation to choose from, and I think there are few more appropriate ones for November 2020 than “V for Vendetta,” the graphic novel written by Alan Moore and illustrated by David Lloyd, and adapted for film in 2005. This is part two of our conversation and we were left with several questions last week: What’s going to happen to Evey? And is V secretly a theater kid? Follow us on Twitter! @DanaSchwartzzz @JenAshleyWright @koramadrama @MelissaFTW and Tien has wisely gotten off Twitter but is on Insta @hanktina Still ahead, we'll start in on book 3 of V For Vendetta before jumping into the film adaptation!

Though we are a little late for November 5th — Guy Fawkes Day — we unfortunately seem to be right on time for the impending threat of totalitarianism. This week we begin our discussion of V For Vendetta, the graphic novel written by Alan Moore and illustrated by David Lloyd, and adapted for film in 2005. Follow us on Twitter! @DanaSchwartzzz @JenAshleyWright @koramadrama @MelissaFTW and Tien has wisely gotten off Twitter but is on Insta @hanktina Still ahead, we'll start in on book two of V For Vendetta!

Halloween is over and Biden is president-elect, but luckily (?) for us, the horrors of America and its past are with us always! And so this week we are getting more Screen Time with the second half of the season of HBO’s Lovecraft Country. Follow us on Twitter! @DanaSchwartzzz @JenAshleyWright @koramadrama @MelissaFTW and Tien has wisely gotten off Twitter but is on Insta @hanktina Still ahead, we'll start in on our next book, V For Vendetta!

You ever read an entire book and not really get what it’s about? I bring that up for no real reason. This week on Popcorn Book Club we’re taking in some Screen Time with the movie adaptation of Daphne du Maurier’s “Rebecca.” Last week we talked about Alfred Hitchcock’s 1940 film, now we’re moving on to the brand new Netflix version, and we have some NOTES. Follow us on Twitter! @DanaSchwartzzz @JenAshleyWright @koramadrama @MelissaFTW and Tien has wisely gotten off Twitter but is on Insta @hanktina Still ahead, we'll pick up where we left off with HBO's Lovecraft Country, and we'll start in on our next book, V For Vendetta!

Over the past couple weeks, we’ve been talking about the novel Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier—it’s a story about murder, obsession, and finding out the person closest to you harbors an awful secret. Honestly, it already sounds like a Hitchcock movie. And so sure enough, we’re taking in some Screen Time this week with Alfred Hitchcock’s 1940 film adaptation to talk about the charm of the Transatlantic accent, and how the Master of Suspense diverged from the book. Follow us on Twitter! @DanaSchwartzzz @JenAshleyWright @koramadrama @MelissaFTW and Tien has wisely gotten off Twitter but is on Insta @hanktina Still ahead, we'll have Screen Time with the 2020 Netflix adaptation of Rebecca (oh we have thoughts...), we'll also pick up where we left off with HBO's Lovecraft Country, and we'll start in on our next book, V For Vendetta!

Have you ever had a partner who just could not let go of their ex? I’m willing to bet Daphne du Maurier did! This week we continue our discussion of the second Mrs. de Winter and the long shadow of her predecessor, Rebecca. Follow us on Twitter! @DanaSchwartzzz @JenAshleyWright @koramadrama @MelissaFTW and Tien has wisely gotten off Twitter but is on Insta @hanktina In the coming weeks, we'll have Screen Time with the 1940 Alfred Hitchcock adaptation of Rebecca ahead of the Netflix movie, we'll also pick up where we left off with HBO's Lovecraft Country, and we'll start in on our next book, V For Vendetta!

Happy October, Popcorn Book Club listeners! We covered horror and monsters and cults of scary white people a few weeks ago with our discussion of Lovecraft Country, and so we’re covering the other side of this spooky season with the gothic thriller Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, soon to be a film on Netflix. Not “goth” in the sense of dressing in all black and listening to Bauhaus, but “gothic” as in romance and death! Follow us on Twitter! @DanaSchwartzzz @JenAshleyWright @koramadrama @MelissaFTW and Tien has wisely gotten off Twitter but is on Insta @hanktina Next week we'll continue our discussion of Rebecca before taking on both the Hitchcock and Netflix adaptations for our "Screen Time" episode.

When you’re talking about books being adapted into movies and TV, the cliché that comes to mind is “the book was better.” But if you’ve listened to our last couple of episodes about Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World (hint hint… you should go do that if you haven’t), you’ve heard our myriad issues with it. Well this week, we’re getting into the adaptation for NBC’s Peacock and now you’ll get to hear our numerous issues with that as well! Follow us on Twitter! @DanaSchwartzzz @JenAshleyWright @koramadrama @MelissaFTW and Tien has wisely gotten off Twitter but is on Insta @hanktina Next week we are going goth in time for Halloween. Not like dressing-in-black, listening-to-The-Cure goth… we’re discussing the Gothic novel “Rebecca” by Daphne du Maurier, soon to be a film on Netflix.

Last week, we started in on Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, now a series on NBC’s Peacock. We discussed a whole bunch of people in it, none of whom—as it turns out—are the main character. If you haven’t heard our previous show, definitely go back and start there. Today, we'll get into the thick of Huxley’s story about sex, drugs, and a complete lack of rock and roll. Follow us on Twitter! @DanaSchwartzzz @JenAshleyWright @koramadrama @MelissaFTW and Tien has wisely gotten off Twitter but is on Insta @hanktina Next week we'll get to our Screen Time conversation about the adaptation of Brave New World!

I know one thing I’m fond of saying is that this show is not English class — there’s no required reading... or watching for that matter. But this week we are diving into our first piece of bona fide English lit required reading — Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. There’s a pretty good chance you had to read this in 11th grade, and we are reading it now because it’s been adapted into a series on the NBC streaming service Peacock. But trust me, this will NOT be a high school English class discussion. Follow us on Twitter! @DanaSchwartzzz @JenAshleyWright @koramadrama @MelissaFTW and Tien has wisely gotten off Twitter but is on Insta @hanktina Next week we will continue our discussion of Brave New World and then we'll get to our Screen Time conversation about the adaptation!

I don’t know what your Twitter timeline looks like, but if it’s anything like ours, every week, like clockwork, it has been filled with people absolutely freaking out about HBO’s Lovecraft Country—how scary it is, how surprising, how interesting and refreshing a show it is. We covered the book a few episodes ago and now that the show is about halfway through its season, we are returning to Lovecraft Country to talk about how the adaptation compares to the source material. Follow us on Twitter! @DanaSchwartzzz @JenAshleyWright @koramadrama @MelissaFTW and Tien has wisely gotten off Twitter but is on Insta @hanktina

One of the cool things about doing a show about books by contemporary writers is that…they are contemporaries. Like, if you have a question about Frankenstein, you can’t go ask Mary Shelley, she’s dead. But after our conversations about The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, we all had questions. And so we asked her! We’ve been really excited to bring you this episode because as you’re about to hear, Angie Thomas is brilliant and cool and nice and everything you’d hope for in a young adult author. This week, she’ll talk to us about what it’s like seeing your work adapted to the screen. Angie Thomas was born, raised, and still lives in Jackson, Mississippi. She is a former teen rapper… and we will get into that. The Hate U Give is her debut novel and is a #1 New York Times Bestseller. Of course she is a working writer, and her second novel, On The Come Up, is on shelves now. Follow us on Twitter! @DanaSchwartzzz @JenAshleyWright @koramadrama @MelissaFTW and Tien has wisely gotten off Twitter but is on Insta @hanktina

This week we continue our discussion of Angie Thomas’ novel “The Hate U Give.” The book follows 16-year-old Starr Carter, a young black woman, who sees her best friend Khalil shot and killed by police in front of her during a routine traffic stop. Now, we recorded this discussion a few weeks ago, and I want to say that it is heartbreaking that this work of fiction from 2017 is so immediately relevant in our world. It shouldn’t be. But as long as it is, we are proud to be having this discussion and just to make it clear, Popcorn Book Club says Black Lives Matter. Follow us on Twitter! @DanaSchwartzzz @JenAshleyWright @koramadrama @MelissaFTW and Tien has wisely gotten off Twitter but is on Insta @hanktina

Just in case you are listening to this from the future, here’s a quick refresher that the summer of 2020 was… “unusual,” though there are a lot of other words we could use. It was notable for the Black Lives Matter protests and violent clashes with cops in cities across the country sparked by a number of black people being killed by police officers. So it might be tempting to look at Angie Thomas’ 2017 novel The Hate U Give as prescient. But really, she’s writing about something that has been happening for decades, for centuries. This week we’re talking about Thomas’ novel and its 2018 film adaptation. Follow us on Twitter! @DanaSchwartzzz @JenAshleyWright @koramadrama @MelissaFTW and Tien has wisely gotten off Twitter but is on Insta @hanktina

This is a show about books and adaptations and one subject we’ve returned to a couple of times is who gets to tell stories. Today we’re continuing our discussion of Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff. Now, Matt is white, and the adaptation now on HBO counts Misha Green and Jordan Peele among its executive producers. And that is significant because not only are these black creators taking control of a black story, but also Jordan Peele helped to give us the language to be able to talk about this. I mean, Get Out is iconic for a reason. This is part two of our discussion, jump back an episode if you want to start at the beginning. Follow us on Twitter! @DanaSchwartzzz @JenAshleyWright @koramadrama @MelissaFTW and Tien has wisely gotten off Twitter but is on Insta @hanktina Next week we’ll move from telling black stories through sci-fi to telling black stories in young adult literature with The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas.

We don’t necessarily need to seek out literature to fill us with a creeping sense of existential dread, seeing as how we have… everything else happening right now. But there is something to be said for using horror to reclaim power. This week, we’re starting up a discussion of Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff, now a series on HBO premiering August 17th. We’ll talk about the terrifying monsters hiding in the woods AND the ones right out in the open. Follow us on Twitter! @DanaSchwartzzz @JenAshleyWright @koramadrama @MelissaFTW and Tien has wisely gotten off Twitter but is on Insta @hanktina

Dana and Korama's friendship goes back many years, and they have mutually decided to throw all that away for an episode of Food Court with Richard Blais. We're sharing an excerpt of this week's episode, a fight between french fries and sweet potato fries. Hear the full episode with Blais' final verdict here! And subscribe to Food Court with Richard Blais wherever you get your podcasts!

Domenico's story is over, and Dominick is reckoning with the idea of redemption. Will he get the answers he's looking for? Let's find out! Follow us on Twitter! @DanaSchwartzzz @JenAshleyWright @koramadrama @MelissaFTW and Tien has wisely gotten off Twitter but is on Insta @hanktina Next week, we're starting a new book, Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff.

You know how grandparents are normally sweet and adorable? Okay, well throw all that out the window. This episode we’ll continue our discussion of Wally Lamb’s novel I Know This Much Is True. We’re diving into the story of Domenico Onofrio Tempesta, the grandfather of the Birdsey twins. Things get weird. Follow us on Twitter! @DanaSchwartzzz @JenAshleyWright @koramadrama @MelissaFTW and Tien has wisely gotten off Twitter but is on Insta @hanktina We'll wrap up our discussion of I Know This Much Is True a little later this week and then we'll be starting Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff.

We are deep in the middle of this story about anger and sadness but we are here for you, friends! We’re continuing our discussion of I Know This Much Is True by Wally Lamb, now a series on HBO. This week we finally get a peek into Dominico’s memoirs! And they are… something. Follow us on Twitter! @DanaSchwartzzz @JenAshleyWright @koramadrama @MelissaFTW and Tien has wisely gotten off Twitter but is on Insta @hanktina Next week we will conclude our discussion of I Know This Much Is True with the final chapters of the book.

It's tragedy bingo from our friend, Wally Lamb. Infant death, child pornography, rape, murder, suicide... am I missing anything? Follow us on Twitter! @DanaSchwartzzz @JenAshleyWright @koramadrama @MelissaFTW and Tien has wisely gotten off Twitter but is on Insta @hanktina Next week, we'll wrap up chapters 15 - 30 if you want to keep up.

I Know This Much Is True by Wally Lamb is getting an HBO adaptation with two Mark Ruffalos (double Ruffali!) so dive into the tragic story of the Birdsey twins. Follow us on Twitter! @DanaSchwartzzz @JenAshleyWright @koramadrama @MelissaFTW and Tien has wisely gotten off Twitter but is on Insta @hanktina Next week, we'll cover chapters 15-30.

We finish up Normal People, and trace Marianne and Connell's strange intimacy to its end. Next time, we're reading I Know This Much Is True by Wally Lamb, chapters 1–15 in case you want to read along.

It's the very first episode of our show about books that have been getting the Hollywood treatment! Our first read: Normal People by Sally Rooney, now a series on Hulu. Read along with us! Or don't — this isn't English class, we won't tell. In the first part of our discussion, we talk Marianne at high school, and why we'll never forgive Connell for not taking her to Debs. Follow us on Twitter! @DanaSchwartzzz @JenAshleyWright @koramadrama @MelissaFTW and Tien has wisely gotten off Twitter but is on Insta @hanktina (Our next book will be I Know This Much Is True by Wally Lamb if you want to read along)

A group of smart, funny friends meet together every week to talk about the book they’re reading—a book that just so happens to be incredibly buzzy and in the zeitgeist because it has a big screen adaptation coming up. Because when everyone at work is talking about it, we want to be the smug ones who can say we actually read the book first.