That Book

Our year-end survey. What the hell did we read in 2021???  Books mentioned:  Run, Don't Walk: The Listening House, Mabel Seeley; Hidden Valley Road, Robert Kolker; Piranesi, Susanna Clarke; Intimacies, Katie Kitamura; Visitation, Jenny Erpenbeck; Native Speaker, Chang-rae Lee;  Thumbs Up: The Plot, Jean Hanff Korelitz; The Copenhagen Trilogy, Tove Ditlevsen; To Sleep in a Sea of Stars, Christopher Paolini; The Stepford Wives, Ira Levin; Secondhand Time, Svetlana Alexievich; Clockwork Boys, The Wonder Engine, A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking, T. Kingfisher; My Year Abroad, Chang-rae Lee; No One is Talking About This, Patricia Lockwood; Matrix, Lauren Groff;  Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI, David Grann; Under the Whispering Door, The House in the Cerulean Sea, TJ Klune; A Separation, Katie Kitamura; The 10,000 Doors of January, Alix E. Harrow; Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, Patrick Süskind; Crossroads, Jonathan Franzen; Billion Dollar Loser, Reeves Wiedeman. Thumbs Down: A Man of Parts, David Lodge; The Midnight Library, Matt Haig; The Decagon House Murders, Yukito Ayatsuji; Little, Big, John Crowley; Pumped to Read: Klara and The Sun, Kazuo Ishiguro; To Paradise, Hanya Yanagihara; Leviathan Falls, James S.A. Corey; The Enchanted April, Elizabeth von Arnim; The Hare, Melanie Finn; Small Pleasures, Clare Chambers; Maggie Hope Series, Susan Elia MacNeal. Articles and Links: Tweet Thread on Anne Rice Jenny Erpenbeck Profile (New Yorker) (Sigh) Bad Art Friend (NYT Magazine) Jeremy Strong Profile (New Yorker) Review of Yanigihara's To Paradise (Harpers) 100 Notable Books of 2021 (NYT) Joan Didion Archive at the New York Review of Books Sign up for Molly Young's books newsletter here (NYT)

RIP Eve Babitz. Here's our episode on her from September 2020.  Books mentioned: Eve's Hollywood, Slow Days Fast Company, Sex & Rage, L.A. Woman, I Used to Be Charming, Eve Babitz; Hollywood's Eve: Eve Babitz and the Secret History of L.A, Lili Anolik; Catch-22, Joseph Heller; The Day of the Locust, Nathanael West; Play It as It Lays, Joan Didion; Essays, Michel de Montaigne; Paradise Lost, John Milton;Priestdaddy, Patricia Lockwood; Conversations With Friends, Sally Rooney; How Should a Person Be?, Sheila Heti; Trick Mirror, Jia Tolentino. Resources:  All About Eve--And Then Some (Lili Anolik, Vanity Fair) Eve Babitz is Better Than Ever (OLIVIA AYLMER, Vanity Fair) Jia Tolentino on Eve (New Yorker) The Eve Babtiz Revival (Penelope Green, NYT) My Favorite Year: In Los Angeles with Eve Babitz in 1971 (Dan Wakefield, LA Review of Books) Eve Babitz's Vision of Total Freedom (Marie Solis, The Nation) L.A. Confidential (Holly Brubach, NYT Style Magazine) Germans in L.A. (Alex Ross, New Yorker)

Re-releasing this episode in tribute to our vampire queen! RIP, Anne. Books mentioned: The Witching Hour and Ramses the Damned by Anne Rice; Dracula by Bram Stoker. Of interest: Amazon reviews, Guardian Q & A, Anne's Youtube Channel, Anne's opinion on editors. Email us at thatbookpod@gmail.com. Don't forget to friend us on Goodreads and follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

In Part 2 of our Rand investigation (our season finale!), we visit Galt's Gulch and figure out what the deal is with Rand's magnum opus, Atlas Shrugged. What's Ayn Rand's favorite color??? Go on, guess. Resources: Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged Anne C. Heller, Ayn Rand and the World She Made (2009)  Jennifer Burns, Goddess of the Market: Ayn Rand and the American Right (2009) The Whitaker Chambers on Atlas Shrugged in the National Review

In part one of our (first ever!) two-episode investigation, we tackle the surprisingly irrational life of Ayn Rand, the polarizing capitalist whose legal name was Alice O'Connor, and who was born Alissa Zionvievna Rosenbaum in Saint Petersburg, Russia. What. A. Ride. Resources: Anne C. Heller, Ayn Rand and the World She Made (2009)  Jennifer Burns, Goddess of the Market: Ayn Rand and the American Right (2009) Thomas Mallon, “Possessed,” New Yorker

The man who launched a thousand screams and his alter-ego who launched a thousand "wait, who?"s. It's Stephen King/Richard Bachman day! Happy scary season, everyone! King books mentioned: On Writing, The Shining, Carrie, Needful Things, Salem's Lot, Misery. Bachman books mentioned: The Long Walk, The Regulators.

A dive into the hiveminds behind Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys. We raise questions like: what do The Hardy Boys eat? Does Nancy = feminism? And what counts as a clue?  Resources: Nancy Drew's Father, The New Yorker, Meghan O'Rourke Rewriting the Past in Children's Literature: The Hardy Boys an Other Series, Robert L. Crawford (academic article) Books mentioned: Franklin W. Dixon, While the Clock Ticked; Carolyn Keene, Mystery of Crocodile Island; Bobbie Ann Mason, The Girl Sleuth; Melanie Rehak, Girl Sleuth. Series mentioned: The Rover Boys, Tom Swift, Outdoor Girls, The Bobbsey Twins, The Boxcar Children, The Baby-Sitter's Club, The Bailey School Kids, Choose Your Own Adventure, Animorphs, Sweet Valley High, Trixie Belden, as well as non-collective fiction series Goosebumps, Harry Potter, The Hunger Games & Twilight.

One of the most extraordinary pen name tales. Sci-fi savant James Tiptree Jr. had accolades, admirers and many, many pen pals. Problem was, he didn't exist.  James Tiptree Jr. stories discussed in this episode: The Last Flight of Dr. Ain The Women Men Don't See Books mentioned: James Tiptree Jr., Her Smoke Rose Up Forever Julie Phillips, James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon

Our Pseudonym Season kicks off with a look into political miracle-worker Stacey Abrams' other life as romance author Selena Montgomery. Books Mentioned: Stacey Abrams, While Justice Sleeps. Selena Montgomery, Secrets and Lies; Deception. Robert Caro, The Years of Lyndon Johnson. Callista Gingrich, Sweet Land of Liberty. Next week's James Tiptree Jr. story: The Women Men Don't See

Michael and Hannah gossip about books + preview their upcoming Pseudonym Season! We're thrilled to be back in your ears! Articles and newsletters mentioned: Hermans and Le Carré (The Guardian) The Great Gatsby Glut (NYT) Read Like the Wind (Vulture) The State of the Literary Jonathans (Vanity Fair) Books mentioned: John Le Carré, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold Willem Frederik Hermans, The Darkroom of Damocles Jean Rhys, Wide Sargasso Sea Elena Ferrante, The Lying Lives of Adults Lauren Groff, Fates and Furies; Matrix Yukito Ayatsuji, The Decagon House Murders. Maggie O'Farrell, Hamnet Lee Mandelo, Summer Sons Rivka Galchen, Everyone Knows Your Mother is a Witch Jonathan Franzen, Crossroads; Purity; The Corrections

What we read in this terrible, horrible, no good, very bad year.  Books: The Vanishing Half, Brit Bennett; Field Work, Mischa Berlinski; I Remember You, Yrsa Sigurdardóttir; Kindred, Octavia Butler; The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, Stuart Turton; This is How You Lose the Time War, Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone; Cleanness, Garth Greenwell; The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Suzanne Collins; Red Rising trilogy, Pierce Brown; The House in the Cerulean Sea, T.J. Klune; An Extraordinary Union, Alyssa Cole; Secondhand Time: The Last of the Soviets, Svetlana Alexievich; Hamnet, Maggie O'Farrell; Love, Nina: Despatches from Family Life, Nina Stibbe; The Last Samurai, Helen DeWitt; Peggy Guggenheim: The Shock of the Modern, Francine Prose; The Sally Lockhart series, Phillip Pullman; Americanah, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie; The Gifted School, Bruce Holsinger; The Sunken Land Begins to Rise Again, M. John Harrison; Uncanny Valley: A Memoir, Anna Wiener; Mexican Gothic, Silvia Moreno-Garcia; The Great Fire, Shirley Hazzard; The City We Became, N.K. Jemisin.  Articles: John le Carré obit (NYT) Barbara Cartland (Jezebel)

Some classic segments today! A brief season wrap-up leads into a To the WHAThouse?!?™️ on Aeschylus’s The Oresteia and Michael’s (too) early introduction to it. Then a Tackle That Stackle™️hack for your e-reader. Then What Hannah is Actually Reading™️ and what Michael isn’t, because he’s a deadbeat. Books mentioned: Aeschylus, The Oresteia; Brit Bennett, The Vanishing Half; Kiley Reid, Such a Fun Age; Samantha Irby, Wow No Thank You;  André Leon Talley, The Chiffon Trenches; Carolyn Durand & Omid Scobie, Finding Freedom; N.K. Jemisin, The City We Became.

In our final episode of the season, we’re in New York City with one of the greats, Edith Wharton and her novel The Custom of the Country. We talk being frenemies with Henry James, half-assed ghosts, and why TCotC is a straight-up bop. Books Mentioned: Edith Wharton, Ethan Frome, The Reef; Hermione Lee, Edith Wharton. Resources: Dearest Edith (1929 New Yorker profile) Edith Wharton - Hermione Lee - Books - Review (Claire Messud, NYT) REWORKING WHARTON (John Updike, New Yorker) A Rooting Interest (Jonathan Franzen, New Yorker) The Jia Treatment (Jia Tolentino, New Yorker) Edith Wharton's Houses (Alexandra Lange, New Yorker) Ghost Tour of the Mount (J. Nicole Jones, Paris Review) Ghost Hunters (Full ep) Virginia Woolf, Edith Wharton, and a Case of Anxiety of Influence (John Colapinto, New Yorker)

Just as the sun shines on that temperate den of vice known as Los Angeles, we shine our (private) eye(s) on noir fiction set in L.A., with authors James M. Cain and Walter Mosley. Taking bets on which one of us takes this as their cue to do a 10-minute monologue on Barbara Stanwyck.  Books mentioned: James M. Cain, The Postman Always Rings Twice, Double Indemnity, Mildred Pierce; Walter Mosley, Devil in a Blue Dress; Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep; Michael Connelly, the Bosch series; James Ellroy, The Black Dahlia, L.A. Confidential; Sue Grafton, The Alphabet Series; Dorothy B. Hughes, In a Lonely Place; Gillian Flynn, Gone Girl; Cormac McCarthy, No Country for Old Men; A.J. Finn, The Woman in the Window; Megan Abbot, You Will Know Me; Stieg Larsson, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo; Jo Nesbø, The Snowman; Vincent Bugliosi, Helter Skelter. Films mentioned: In a Lonely Place, The Big Sleep, Detour, Criss Cross, The Big Heat, Sunset Boulevard, Double Indemnity, Mildred Pierce, The Postman Always Rings Twice, Devil in a Blue Dress. Resources: 20 Essential LA Noirs (LA Times) Megan Abbot on Hardboiled and Noir (Lithub) Otto Penzler on Noir (Huffpost) Chris Eggersten on LA Noir (Curbed) Richard Brody on Film Noir (New Yorker) James M. Cain Interview (Paris Review) On James M. Cain (The Guardian) Paradise (essay) by James M. Cain (LA Times) James M. Cain obituary (NYT). Roger Ebert on Double Indemnity and Devil in a Blue Dress (Rogerebert.com) Walter Mosley on Fresh Air (NPR), By the Book (NYT), Interview (New York Magazine) Barabara Stanwyck obituary (NYT) Email us at thatbookpod@gmail.com. Friend us on Goodreads and follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

Y’all might have to down some redbull (+ vodka) to keep up with vanilla suit connoisseur Tom Wolfe and his eighties brick, The Bonfire of the Vanities. It is, let’s say, equal parts energetic and problematic. We get into why, then do a juicy dive on the misguided movie adaptation starring, bewilderingly, Tom Hanks. Books mentioned: The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, The Right Stuff, A Man in Full & I Am Charlotte Simmons, Tom Wolfe; Furious Hours, Casey Cep; Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption, Laura Hillenbrand; I’ll Be Gone in the Dark, Michelle McNamara; The Devil’s Candy, Julie Salamon. A bonfire of sources: Tom Wolfe Obit (NYT) Retrospective on BoV (NYT) Wolfe on Fresh Air (NPR) Joseph Epstein on BoV (New Criterion) Louis Menand, Adam Gopnik and Paul Elie on Wolfe (New Yorker) BoV Movie Trailer Piece on The Devil’s Candy (LA Times) As always, Patricia Lockwood on Updike (LRB) Chuckle-slinger

Inspired by this New York Times interview by Lindsay Mannering, we dive headfirst into Jessica Simpson’s memoir Open Book. Join us as we travel back in time to the early aughts, when jean waistlines were low, cargo pants were plentiful, and Jessica reigned supreme (behind Britney and Xtina).  Further Reading: Open Book reviews: New Yorker, LA Times, Washington Post. Vintage Dlisted on Papa Joe Simpson. Music used (links to videos for your viewing pleasure/pain):  Sinking Sand, With You, I Wanna Love You Forever, I Think I’m in Love & Remember That by Jessica Simpson.  Give Me Just One Night (Una Noche), I Do (Cherish You) by 98 Degrees. Pieces of Me by Ashlee Simpson Clips:  Mickey Mouse Club audition nightmare Nick and Jessica on Oprah Chicken of the Sea Newlyweds episode part one, part two Drunk on Ellen Misc. Jessica Simpson Collection jeggings Jessica's house

If you don’t love our pod, how in the *hell* are you gonna love somebody else? ...Did we get that right??? Queen, multi-hyphenate, fracker: RuPaul André Charles does it all in today’s ep. Can we get an amen??  Books Mentioned: Lettin’ it All Hang Out, Workin' It: RuPaul's Guide to Life Liberty and the Pursuit of Style, GuRu, all by RuPaul. Resources: How RuPaul Ups the Ante for Drag (NYT, 1993) At Lunch With RuPaul (NYT, 2011) Cover Story: RuPaul on Drag Race’s Future, His Next Great Reinvention, and Why True Drag Will Never Be Mainstream (Vanity Fair, 2019) For RuPaul, A Second Act with 'Drag Race' (NYT, 2011) RuPaul on his New Netflix Show, Camp, and Having an Open Marriage (Vogue, 2019) How RuPaul Became America's Sweetheart (Rolling Stone, 2013) RuPaul's Recipe For Success? Love Yourself And Stay Flexible (NPR, 2020) Is This the Golden Age of Drag? Yes. And No. (NYT, 2018) Videos Arsenio Hall Interview, 1993 Arsenio Hall 1993 Cher on Ru's 90's Talk Show  Bizarre skits with Michelle Visage from 90s show  On Oprah in 1995  10-min biography video  Long (1-hr-plus) interview at LAPL  talks about NY vs LA after 2:10 Vanity Fair Personal Questions 2019: Describes current drag style early in video A bit about his husband and their meet cute Very weird picnic anecdote “This is magic” Casual mention of 4:30am walk 80’s drag in NYC at about 10:30 Supermodel video

This week: uber L.A. woman Eve Babitz. How do you talk about a woman who knew everyone and did everything there is to do?? We give it a shot--covering her life, her work, and her recent revival on #bookstagram. Books mentioned: Eve’s Hollywood, Slow Days Fast Company, Sex & Rage, L.A. Woman, I Used to Be Charming, Eve Babitz; Hollywood's Eve: Eve Babitz and the Secret History of L.A, Lili Anolik; Catch-22, Joseph Heller; The Day of the Locust, Nathanael West; Play It as It Lays, Joan Didion; Essays, Michel de Montaigne; Paradise Lost, John Milton; Priestdaddy, Patricia Lockwood; Conversations With Friends, Sally Rooney; How Should a Person Be?, Sheila Heti; Trick Mirror, Jia Tolentino. Resources:  All About Eve--And Then Some (Lili Anolik, Vanity Fair) Eve Babitz is Better Than Ever (OLIVIA AYLMER, Vanity Fair) Jia Tolentino on Eve (New Yorker) The Eve Babtiz Revival (Penelope Green, NYT) My Favorite Year: In Los Angeles with Eve Babitz in 1971 (Dan Wakefield, LA Review of Books) Eve Babitz’s Vision of Total Freedom (Marie Solis, The Nation) L.A. Confidential (Holly Brubach, NYT Style Magazine) Germans in L.A. (Alex Ross, New Yorker) Email us at thatbookpod@gmail.com. Friend us on Goodreads and follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook and check out our website.

Hannah and Michael travel back to early 20th-century New York and learn about two so-called “forgotten women” of the Harlem Renaissance. This one’s a remedial education!   Books Mentioned: Passing, Nella Larsen; Plum Bun, Jessie Redmon Fauset; The Warmth of Other Suns, Isabel Wilkerson; Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston; The Vanishing Half, Brit Bennett; Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man, James Weldon Johnson; Black No More, George Schuyler.  Other Podcasts on the HR: 15 Minute History History of Color On Nella Larsen: Nella Larsen Wrestled With Race and Sexuality in the Harlem Renaissance ON WRITERS AND WRITING; Authentic American Two Classic American Novels About the Madness and Beauty of Race George Hutchinson's Biography On Jessie Redmon Fauset The Forgotten Work of Jessie Redmon Fauset https://jessiefauset-blog.tumblr.com About Jessie Redmon Fauset | Academy of American Poets The Story of Jessie Redmon Fauset Jessie R. Fauset (1882-1961) • Audio featured in this episode: Duke Ellington, “Take the A Train” Ma Rainey, “Ma and Pa Poorhouse Blues” Marcus Garvey in 1921 Bessie Smith, “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out” Citation from George Hutchinson from intro to this volume: Hutchinson, G. (Ed.). (2007). The Cambridge Companion to the Harlem Renaissance (Cambridge Companions to Literature). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.  Gradisek and Scott article: Gradisek, Amanda, and Ron Scott. "Reconceiving and Redeeming the Self: Passing, the Harlem Renaissance, and Zombies." Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture, vol. 17, no. 2, 2017.  Email us at thatbookpod@gmail.com. Friend us on Goodreads and follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

We kick off our bicoastal NY/LA season with Judith Krantz’s genre-defining 1978 novel Scruples. WARNING: not for the kiddos! Judith had a filthy mind, so this ep is definitely NC-17. Judith Obits: NYT, The Guardian, Economist, Bloomberg. Clive James review in the LRB. Clips: 80s miniseries, ABC Pilot Trailer. Books mentioned: Rita Felsky, Doing Time: Feminist Theory and Postmodern Culture. Email us at thatbookpod@gmail.com. Friend us on Goodreads and follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

We are rebroadcasting some of our favorite episodes before the premiere of our Bicoastal Season on September 1st. This season is all about books set in New York and LA, and we can't wait to share it with you! Meanwhile, we hope you enjoy this gem from our Meryl Streep season on The Bridges of Madison County, a true That Book™️. It’s over the covered bridge to Madison County, Iowa, the setting for Robert James Waller’s The Bridges of Madison County and its (spoiler) exponentially better film adaptation. We cover (ha) tie-in fragrances, Waller’s, um, musical career, and the one and only Painter of Light™, all while paying respects to Our Lady of the Pod, Meryl. Resources: Waller interview, background on BoMC, Meryl interview, Anthony Lane on the book, Frank Rich on the book, the La-Z-Boy from...heaven(?), Thomas Kinkade’s Christmas Cottage. Email us at thatbookpod@gmail.com. Friend us on Goodreads and follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

We are rebroadcasting some of our favorite episodes before the premiere of our Bicoastal Season on September 1st. This season is all about books set in New York and LA, and we can't wait to share it with you! Meanwhile, we hope you enjoy this ep from our second season about the poetry of Instagram. Michael and Hannah take on creators of poetic #content, try to decide what poetry is (eep) and compare the current vogue for Instagram poetry with pop giants Lady Gaga and Robyn. Plus, a quiz! Poets Cited: @rupikaur_ @atticuspoetry @tylerknott @langleav @yrsadaleyward @jewel Links: Don’t miss this Molly Fischer profile from The Cut. Or her Rolling Stone profile. Here are a couple articles for Rupi. And a couple that are against her. Also this is where Atticus was Doxed. Audio Sources: Rupi Kaur reading, Rupi on the Tonight Show, Yrsa Daley-Ward. Email us at thatbookpod@gmail.com. Friend us on Goodreads and follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

We are rebroadcasting some of our favorite episodes before the premiere of our Bicoastal Season on September 1st. This season is all about books set in New York and LA, and we can't wait to share it with you! Meanwhile, we hope you enjoy this ep from 2018 about one of the best-selling (and kookiest) authors of all time, Dame Barbara Cartland. Michael and Hannah unpack pink misogynist Dame Barbara Cartland’s...prodigious output, wading their way through her daughter’s voluminous hair, plagiarism charges, and her deep deep deep hatred of her fellow women.  They also talk about what else their reading, aspirationally or otherwise. Books mentioned.  A Hazard of Hearts and The Ghost Who Fell in Love by Barbara Cartland.  The His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman, Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami, A History of Love by Nicole Krauss, and Call Me By Your Name and The Enigma Variations by Andre Aciman.   Articles mentioned: Plagiarism!, Raine Spencer (the HAIR), Barbara Interview, The will with no money Friend us on Goodreads! Email us at thatbookpod@gmail.com! Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook and 

We are rebroadcasting some of our favorite episodes before the premiere of our Bicoastal Season on September 1st. This season is all about books set in New York and LA and we can't wait to share it with you! In the meantime, we hope you enjoy this oldie from 2018 about the queen of Black romance, Brenda Jackson. Hannah and Michael discuss Brenda Jackson, romance author extraordinaire.  Along the way they address a blind spot, wade through some wild romance subgenres, and discover new innovations in kissing. This ep owes a huge debt to Phoebe Judge’s This is Love podcast. Check it out! Books mentioned: Delaney's Desert Sheikh and The Savvy Sistahs by Brenda Jackson, Calypso by David Sedaris, The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Leguin, The City & the City by China Miéville. Give us a shout at thatbookpod@gmail.com and friend us on Goodreads. Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. See you on Brenda’s cruise!   

Black Lives Matter. How we’re going to do better. Plus books by black authors we’re excited to read.  Books mentioned: Toni Morrison, Song of Solomon, The Bluest Eye Brit Bennett, The Vanishing Half Brandon Taylor, Real Life Claude McKay, Romance in Marseille James Baldwin, Giovanni's Room Octavia Butler, Kindred Samuel R. Delany, The Einstein Intersection N.K. Jemisin, The City We Became André Leon Talley, The Chiffon Trenches Rebecca Carroll, Surviving the White Gaze: A Memoir Jasmine Guillory Alyssa Cole Links: Molly Young on Romance in Marseille (Vulture) Jeremy O. Harris on Real Life (NYT) Rebecca Carroll on The Chiffon Trenches (NYT) The Bronx’s Lit. Bar  Black-owned bookstores Anti-Racism Resources Check out our new website! Friend us on Goodreads! Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook and email us at thatbookpod@gmail.com.

Updates on everything everyone’s reading (and NOT reading, side-eye straight to Thrift Books) in lockdown.  Bookshop.org Thriftbooks.com Trailer for The Pieces I Am, Toni Morrison documentary. Peter Ackroyd's Venice on Audible, narrated by Simon Vance  Books mentioned: The Harry Potter Series, J.K. Rowling; His Dark Materials Trilogy, Philip Pullman; Ducks, Newburyport, Lucy Ellmann; Slocum’s Inheritance, Jack Logan; Excellent Women, Babara Pym; Accept No Mediocre Life: Living Beyond Labels, Libels, and Limitations, David Foster; Song of Solomon, Toni Morrison; The Brothers Karamazov, Fyodor Dostoyevsky; Washington Square, Henry James; Little, Big, John Crowley; Venice, Peter Ackroyd.

Hannah and Michael shelter in place! We have a dramatic reading from friend of the pod Danielle Steel, a brief stop at W.H Auden’s messy apartment and finally lots & lots of book talk--what (and how!) we’re reading in these troubled times. ICONIC Danielle Steel interview in the NY Post. Auden was a slob. Smitten Kitchen will save us all. Thrift Books. Sponsor us! Books mentioned: Alison Roman, Nothing Fancy; Najmieh Batmanglij, New Food of Life; Ken Forkish, Flour Water Salt Yeast; Liu Cixin, The Three Body Problem; Kevin Wilson, Nothing to See Here; E.M. Forster, Howard’s End; Wilkie Collins, The Woman in White; Michael Ondaatje, The English Patient; Joe Hill, N0s4a2; Paul Tremblay, A Head Full of Ghosts; Henry James, Washington Square; Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom’s Cabin; Marcel Proust, Swann’s Way; Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre; Hilary Mantel, The Mirror and the Light; Scarlett Thomas, Oligarchy & The Seed Collectors.

In this off-season ep we cover the death of Mary Higgins Clark, the American Dirt scandal gripping publishing (and Oprah!), and the death of a giant literary butthole. Because the universe is full of whimsy, there’s an Irish angle to all of these stories. Books mentioned: Mary Higgins Clark, Mount Vernon Love Story; Jeanine Cummins, American Dirt; Sandra Cisneros, The House on Mango Street; Sonia Nazario, Enrique's Journey; Óscar Martínez, The Beast; Tara Westover, Educated; Tina Brown, The Diana Chronicles; Jason Matthews, Red Sparrow; Barbara Pym, Crampton Hodnet; Jia Tolentino, Trick Mirror; Anne Leckie, Ancillary Justice. Sources/Further Reading: Mary Higgins Clark MHC obit, NYT.  MHC on Central Park South. MHC on Irish Storytelling. American Dirt NYT Review Slate Explainer Vulture Explainer Vox Explainer NYT Op-Ed: "Proof That the Publishing Industry is Broken" CNN Op-Ed: “What the American Dirt Author and I Have in Common” Alisa Valdes Rodriguez on Sandra Cisneros Who Gave You the Right to Tell that Story?  Eva Longoria Response Nail Art Centerpieces Stephen Joyce obit, NYT.  

Our annual roundup of all the books we read in 2019! We share number of books read (Hannah smokes us all, of course), give out awards, and look ahead to 2020. Links:  NYT 100 Notable books for 2019 Patricia Lockwood on John Updike Taffy Brodesser-Akner on Gwenyth Paltrow/Goop  Books mentioned: Furious Hours, Casey Cep; The Topeka School, Ben Lerner; Fleishman is in Trouble, Taffy Brodesser-Akner; Normal People & Converations with Friends, Sally Rooney; Asymmetry, Lisa Halliday; Trust Exercise, Susan Choi; Transcription, Kate Atkinson; The Argonauts, Maggie Nelson; Priestdaddy, Patricia Lockwood; Educated, Tara Westover; Ninth House, Leigh Bardugo; Ladies Who Punch, Ramin Setoodeh; Here I am, Jonathan Safran Foer; The Overstory, Richard Powers; Find Me, Andre Aciman; The Patrick Melrose novels, Edward St Aubyn; Circe, Madeline Miller; Frankenstein, Mary Shelley; Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoevksy; The Neapolitan Novels, Elena Ferrante; Howard’s End, E.M. Forster.

Hannah owns Michael so hard he writes this from beyond the grave. Plus, catching up with old friends and old enemies. Resources: NYT Profile, Robert Caro The Goldfinch tanks Susan Orlean on The Real Real Jia Tolentino on Outdoor Voices and The New Me by Hallie Butler Charlotte Higgins in the Guardian on Jack Reacher Books mentioned:  Robert (and Ina!) Caro, The Power Broker; The Years of Lyndon Johnson Donna Tartt, The Goldfinch Jia Tolentino, Trick Mirror Madeline Miller, Circe; The Song of Achilles Anita Diamant, The Red Tent Homer, The Odyssey (Emily Wilson translation) Dan Simmons, Ilium Hallie Butler, The New Me Sheila Heti, How Should a Person Be? A Novel From Life; Motherhood Ben Lerner, The Topeka School Ottessa Moshfegh, My Year of Rest and Relaxation Alexander Chee, How to Write an Autobiographical Novel Email us at thatbookpod@gmail.com. Friend us on Goodreads and follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

A TBC stuffed full of treats here: NYT Bestseller List grifting, a “book curator” to the rich and Goopy, and a roundup of our epic Meryl Season™ including a shocking confession from Hannah.   Resources:  NYT on Dave Pelzer Thatcher Wine, book curator to the *stahs* Meryl as star signs.

In our final full ep of the Meryl Season™ we follow Our Lady of the Pod to Monterey, CA, where she’s doing the most on Big Little Lies. But before we get there we discuss “Chick Lit” (or should we say "beach reads"?) and do a quick stopover in Australia to visit the works and (extremely boring) life of Liane Moriarty.   Books mentioned:  Liane Moriarty: Nine Perfect Strangers, Truly Madly Guilty, Big Little Lies; Judith Krantz, Scruples; Helen Fielding, Bridget Jones’s Diary; Catherine Alliott, The Old Girl Network.   Resources:  Judith Krantz obituary Jennifer Weiner profile in the New Yorker. James Wood’s takedown of The Goldfinch Liane Moriarty interview here Indiewire on Season two of BLL An example of one of Meryl’s wild choices in BLL2 Email us at thatbookpod@gmail.com. Friend us on Goodreads and follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

Michael and Hannah take on Hollywood’s cash cow: kid lit! Plus, they take a look at what to do with problematic faves and a deep dive on “boarding” Hollywood stars into movies. Books Mentioned: Roald Dahl, Fantastic Mr. Fox; Matilda; The Witches; Boy Lois Lowry, The Giver; Chasing Blue Lemony Snicket, A Series of Unfortunate Events Resources: On Roald Dahl: New Yorker, BBC. On Fantastic Mr Fox On The Giver: Lowis Lowry 1, Lois Lowry 2,  on T Swift. On boarding. Email us at thatbookpod@gmail.com. Friend us on Goodreads and follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

This week we take a ride through the glorious brain of Carrie Fisher: princess of Hollywood, funny person, crank. Meryl played a Carrie-ish person an adaptation of her novel, Postcards from the Edge. Resources for this episode: Carrie’s interviews: on Good Morning America, Fresh Air.  Carrie’s house. Clip of Meryl being a genius. Postcard From the Edge trailer. Email us at thatbookpod@gmail.com. Friend us on Goodreads and follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

Into the swamp with Meryl we go to discuss Susan Orlean's The Orchid Thief and its wild adaptation, um, Adaptation. We talk Florida Lit, Florida Men, and authors with money. Books/Authors Mentioned: Susan Orlean, The Orchid Thief; Rin Tin Tin, The Library Book; Carl Hiassen; Karen Russell, Swamplandia; Jeff Van Der Meer, Area X Trilogy Movies: Charlie Kaufmann/Spike Jonze: Adaptation Resources: Susan Orlean’s Website | Marriage | Hudson Valley Home | LA Home 1 | LA Home 2 | NY Times Interview | Original New Yorker profile of John Laroche | Susan’s reaction to Adaptation Email us at thatbookpod@gmail.com. Friend us on Goodreads and follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

Inspired by the 1998 Meryl Streep weepie, One True Thing, Hannah and Michael cough gently into their handkerchiefs and discuss the “Sick Lit” phenomenon, spearheaded by Lurlene McDaniel and her 70+ books about children dying.  Books mentioned: Lurlene McDaniel, Six Months to Live, Don’t Die, My Love, Somewhere Between Life and Death; Dave Pelzer, A Child Called It; John Green, The Fault in Our Stars; Jodi Picoult (Judy Picaloo), My Sister’s Keeper. Resources:  Lurlene Youtube Channel, inc. the iconic Apple video. Lurlene answers Q’s on Goodreads TV movie Shattered Hearts Making of One True Thing Articles on Sick Lit here and here. Email us at thatbookpod@gmail.com. Friend us on Goodreads and follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

Hannah and Michael talk about the UK’s answer to Thomas Kinkade, moving with books, and hot takes on literature. Resources: Jack Vettriano Profile in the Independent (2010) NYPL List of New York Books Hot Takes Thread Books mentioned: Robert Caro, The Power Broker Donna Tartt, The Goldfinch Ben Lerner, 10:04 Jennifer Egan, Manhattan Beach Edith Wharton, House of Mirth; Age of Innocence; Custom of the Country John Steinbeck, East of Eden Umberto Eco, The Name of the Rose Shakespeare, Richard II Amor Towles, A Gentleman in Moscow Casey Cep, Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee Email us at thatbookpod@gmail.com. Friend us on Goodreads and follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

Michael and Hannah hang with Meryl in Lyme Regis in the 1981 adaptation of John Fowles’s 1969 The French Lieutenant’s Woman. We are remarkable people! Books mentioned: John Fowles, The French Lieutenant’s Woman, The Collector, The Maggot; Jean Rhys, Wide Sargasso Sea; A.S. Byatt, Possession; Michael Faber, The Crimson Petal and the White Resources: NYT John Fowles obit Months of Meryl. Roger Ebert’s rave.  Meryl on her performance.

Michael and Hannah dive into Nora Ephron’s Heartburn and learn that Nora knows what to do. Also: Lillian Hellman remains the worst, Mandy Patinkin gets screwed, and Carly Simon goes wild. Nora on her apartment and her cookbook crushes. Heartburn Clips here and here. The cover of Michael’s copy of Heartburn. Books mentioned: Heartburn, I Feel Bad About My Neck: And Other Thoughts on Being a Woman, I Remember Nothing: And Other Reflections, Nora Ephron; How to be a Jewish Mother, Dan Greenburg. Email us at thatbookpod@gmail.com. Friend us on Goodreadsand follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

In this installment of #TheMerylSeason, Michael and Hannah tackle Lauren Weisburger’s The Devil Wears Prada and its sequels, and try desperately to master Meryl’s iconic affect in the eponymous movie. Plus, a quiz! Research Links: On Lauren Weisburger: here On The Devil Wears Prada (book): here. On The Devil Wears Prada (movie): here. The bag made of hay. Email us at thatbookpod@gmail.com. Friend us on Goodreads and follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

It’s over the covered bridge to Madison County, Iowa, the setting for Robert James Waller’s The Bridges of Madison County and its (spoiler) exponentially better film adaptation. We cover (ha) tie-in fragrances, Waller’s, um, musical career, and the one and only Painter of Light™, all while paying respects to Our Lady of the Pod, Meryl. Resources: Waller interview, background on BoMC, Meryl interview, Anthony Lane on the book, Frank Rich on the book, the La-Z-Boy from...heaven(?), Thomas Kinkade’s Christmas Cottage. Email us at thatbookpod@gmail.com. Friend us on Goodreads and follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

Hannah and Michael kick off THE MERYL SEASON with an investigation into Meryl Streep’s first appearance on the silver screen, Julia (1977), an adaptation of Lillian Hellman’s memoir Pentimento, and her much later turn as Julia Child in Julie & Julia, an adaptation of Child’s My Life in France and Julie Powell’s Julie & Julia. Resources for this episode: Meryl on Jane Fonda (worth watching!) You, too, can read Elyse Sewell’s blog! Julia sans Julie Books mentioned: Lillian Hellman, Pentimento; Julia Child, My Life in France; Mastering the Art of French Cooking; Julie Powell, Julie & Julia; Cleaving. Email us at thatbookpod@gmail.com. Friend us on Goodreads and follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

Hannah and Michael talk Kalamazoo, old fav Danielle Steel, political book scandals, and the books on offer at the hairport. Books Mentioned: The Mueller Report Melissa Caruso, The Tethered Mage Gary Sinise, Grateful American: A Journey from Self to Service Sally Rooney, Conversations with Friends; Normal People Françoise Sagan, Bonjour Tristesse Ottessa Moshfegh, My Year of Rest and Relaxation Bridget Collins, The Binding Pierce Brown, Red Rising Trilogy Ramin Setoodeh, Ladies Who Punch   Resources: Kalamazoo in the news Danielle Steel profile by Samantha Leach Catherine Pugh scandal

We’re back for another chatty interlude! Michael and Hannah discuss rich authors, romance, real estate, and reading lists.   Books mentioned: Jessica Knoll, The Luckiest Girl Alive Alyssa Cole, An Extraordinary Union Harlan Coben, Tell No One Elizabeth McCracken, Bowlaway Kate Atkinson, Transcription Tara Westover, Educated Kevin Kwan, Crazy Rich Asians Jasmine Guillory, The Wedding Date Joan Didion, A Book of Common Prayer Maggie Nelson, The Argonauts Ramin Setoodeh, Ladies Who Punch Toni Morrison, Beloved Robert Caro, The Power Broker   … phew!   Resources: Article about Jessica Knoll Longread on Romance Racism Article about Harlan Coben’s house Email us at thatbookpod@gmail.com. Friend us on Goodreads and follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

Your faithful hosts pop in to talk travel hacks and why it’s worth traveling to eighteenth-century England. Plus, a dip into what we’re actually reading! Books mentioned: Marlon James, Black Leopard, Red Wolf Samuel Richardson, Pamela Bram Stoker, Dracula Mary Shelley, Frankenstein Saul Bellow, Herzog Choderlos de Laclos, Les Liaisons Dangereuses / Dangerous Liaisons Henry Fielding, Tom Jones and Shamela Jane Austen, Lady Susan (and the movie Love and Friendship) Craig Brown, 99 Glimpses of Princess Margaret Kate Atkinson, Life after Life; A God in Ruins; Case Histories; One Good Turn Email us at thatbookpod@gmail.com. Friend us on Goodreads and follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

We interrupt our hiatus to bring you a special TBC on Dan Mallory, best-selling thriller writer and Olympic-level scammer, whose shenanigans were recently exposed in The New Yorker. Plus we talk LA libraries, mail fails, and (according to Michael) the single most horrifying article published so far in 2019.   Links: Robert Caro being brilliant. Watch the scammer: Dan Mallory interview vid. Follow Christopher Shinn on Twitter. These monsters. Email us at thatbookpod@gmail.com. Friend us on Goodreads and follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

White Whale time! Specifically George Eliot’s Middlemarch. Yes, Michael actually read the damn thing and Hannah read it for like the 60th time. Get their feelings about the book, some background on George herself, and a dose of what H & M are *actually* reading. Thank you for a great season two!! Books mentioned: My Life in Middlemarch, Rebecca Mead; The Last Samurai, Helen DeWitt; Lethal White, Robert Galbraith. Resources: Rebecca Mead in the New Yorker, Henry James negging Middlemarch. Email us at thatbookpod@gmail.com. Friend us on Goodreads and follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

Michael and Hannah give out superlatives for the books they've read in 2018, and make New Year's Reading Resolutions. Join the fun! Follow us @thatbookpod! Friend us on Goodreads!

Happy holi-daze people! In this book club ep Michael and Hannah hear your thoughts on Madame de Pompadour and Queen Insta herself, Rupi Kaur. Plus: a poetry scammer, a WILD gift idea, and a new segment!

Michael and Hannah take on creators of poetic #content, try to decide what poetry is (eep) and compare the current vogue for Instagram poetry with pop giants Lady Gaga and Robyn. Plus, a quiz! Poets Cited: @rupikaur_ @atticuspoetry @tylerknott @langleav @yrsadaleyward @jewel Links: Don’t miss this Molly Fischer profile from The Cut. Or her Rolling Stone profile. Here are a couple articles for Rupi. And a couple that are against her. Also this is where Atticus was Doxed. Audio Sources: Rupi Kaur reading, Rupi on the Tonight Show, Yrsa Daley-Ward. Email us at thatbookpod@gmail.com. Friend us on Goodreads and follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

Stamp our passports because we are in VERSAILLES this week talking about Nancy Mitford’s Madame de Pompadour! We’ve got crazy court rules, a charming mistress, wild English sisters, and a few too many Nazis. Join us! Books mentioned: Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman, Robert K. Massey; Cleopatra: A Life, Stacey Schiff; Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man, Siegfried Sassoon; The Pursuit of Love, Love in a Cold Climate, Nancy Mitford; Hons and Rebels, The American Way of Death, Jessica Mitford. Links: Diana Mitford interview, Jessica Mitford interview. Email us at thatbookpod@gmail.com. Friend us on Goodreads and follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.