Four Books a Fortnight

How do you know we're not just trying to sell books with this pod? Well, we fire up with a Carolyn Chute novel that's ... out of print. That's some business savvy! But Sam claims she's the Faulkner of the north (an important Mainer!) and you should really find a copy if you can. And, not to worry, the rest of these books are widely available. We've trotted out the Alarm Clock sound effect again, too, which means one of these books is seriously important. This fortnight, we read: "Letourneau's Used Auto Parts," by Carolyn Chute "The Fountain," by Casey Scieszka "Leviathan Falls," by James SA Corey "London Falling," by Patrick Radden Keefe What sound effects did we give each of these books? You'll just have to listen and find out!

This episode includes, among other things, "the most French thing editor Chris could find on the Internet." Can you guess which book that might be for? If not, you better listen, because we've got four very different books, despite two of them being written by women named Rebecca. Maybe we should do an episode in the future where all the books are written by someone with the same first name! Or one where all of them are set in Ipswich, MA! Put a pin in that. Anyway, this fortnight, we read: "Murder Bimbo," by Rebecca Novack "The Memory of Babel," by Christelle Dabos "Family Drama," by Rebecca Fallon "Heartland: A Forgotten Place, an Impossible Dream, and the Miracle of Larry Bird," by Keith O'Brien What sound effects did we give each of these books? You'll just have to listen and find out! Oh, and if you're listening to this before March 10, 2026, you should come to the Beverly Farms Library and hear us chat with Keith O'Brien!

Firing up with some craft talk, we quickly dive into the final installment in Philip Pullman's Golden Compass universe, which is, well, sad. For lots of reasons. But also incredibly powerful and full of love. Oh, and we've got a couple less weighty things, too, including a comic book and time travel novel with some "funny torture." Oh, and some "Heated Rivalry" chit-chat. This fortnight, we read: "A Long Game: Notes on Writing Fiction," by Elizabeth McCracken "The Book of Dust: The Rose Field," by Philip Pullman "George Falls Through Time," by Ryan Collett "Physics for Cats," by Tom Gauld What sound effects did we give each of these books? You'll just have to listen and find out!

We've got some great variety this week, from a Japanese novel exploring the nature of comedy to literary fiction set in Bristol, England, that explores the boredom of being a housewife in a really beautiful way. Also, big kudos to Sam for banging out a 700-page brick in two weeks and to Hannah for reading a book about, like, British royalty, that she rated with a vacuum cleaner's whine. This fortnight, we read: "Spark," by Naoki Matayoshi "The Land in Winter," by Andrew Miller "The Will of the Many," by James Islington "The Heir Apparent," by Rebecca Armitage What sound effects did we give each of these books? You'll just have to listen and find out!

It's all fiction all the time this episode and we mostly liked these books. Mostly. See which one gets the bellyflop splash! This fortnight, we read: "Television," by Lauren Rothery "The Listeners," by Maggie Stiefvater "House of Day, House of Night," by Olga Tokarczuk "Emergency," by George Packer What sound effects did we give each of these books? You'll just have to listen and find out!

We've got some biggies this week, from one of the leading Dad-gift books of the season to the latest from from a few literary powerhouses. See which one gets the whoopie cushion! This fortnight, we read: "American Kings," by Seth Wickersham "What We Can Know," by Ian McEwan "A Guardian and a Thief," by Megha Majumdar "The Four Spent the Day Together," by Chris Kraus What sound effects did we give each of these books? You'll just have to listen and find out!

Are you a cryer? Hannah is. But for some reason Ann Packer's brand-new tear-jerker didn't get the waterworks flowing. And, yes, Sam has another music book for you, but he swears it won't be every week! Also, we've got some sci-fi for you (and even some workplace sci-fi). This fortnight, we read: "Some Bright Nowhere," by Ann Packer "Tonight in Jungleland," by Peter Ames Carlin "The Memory Police," by Yoko Ogawa "The Employees," by Olga Ravn What sound effects did we give these books? You'll just have to listen and find out!

Do we sometimes read books because they have a hot-pink cover? We do. But we're glad we did! Kathy Acker is a crazy badass and her cult classic gets us started on a white-hot episode full of machine smashing and sea scraping. This is about as wide-ranging as an episode gets. This fortnight, we read: "Blood and Guts in High School," by Kathy Acker "The Infamous Gilberts," by Angela Tomaski "Against the Machine," by Paul Kingsnorth "Seascraper," by Benjamin Wood What sound effects did we give each of these books? You'll just have to listen and find out!

We shake it up this week with a philosophical text and some YA, plus a favorite backlist title of Hannah's that Sam experiences for the first time! Also, we get a treatise on the difference between a romance and a love story. This fortnight, we read: "The Rest of our Lives," by Ben Markovits "On Drugs," by Justin Smith-Ruiu "Red as Royal Blood," by Elizabeth Hart "Migrations," by Charlotte McConaghy What sound effects did we give each of these books? You'll just have to listen and find out!

It's here! The brand-new podcast, "Four Books a Fortnight," where we, Hannah Harlow and Sam Pfeifle, co-owners of the Book Shop of Beverly Farms, read four books every two weeks and tell you all about them. Then we rate them with a sound effect! This fortnight, we read: "Katabasis," by RF Kuang "Wreck," by Catherine Newman "The Uncool," by Cameron Crowe "Remain," by Nicholas Sparks and M Night Shyamalan What sound effects did we give these books? You'll just have to listen and find out!

That's right, folks. This is the last episode of "John Updike's Ghost"! But not to worry! We'll be launching a new podcast very soon! What's the name? What will it be about? When will it launch? We're not telling you yet! Until that amazing day comes, you'll just have to listen to us talk about the books we've read recently, such as: - "Sisters in the Wind," by Angeline Boulley, which is in the same universe as "Firekeeper's Daughter" and "Warrior Girl Unearthed," and it is just as good. Angeline just keeps cranking them out.  - "The Guide," by Peter Heller, which is the follow-on to "The River," and features much of the same brilliant nature writing, if maybe a little less "realistic." It's not as good as "The River," but that's not saying it's not great.  - "The Frozen People," by Elly Griffiths, which starts a brand-new series and has time travel, but not the sci-fi sort of time travel, just the plot-device kind of time travel. If you like Elly's mysteries, you'll love this. - "So Far Gone," by Jess Walter, which is very much a novel of our moment, exploring what happens when your daughter marries a hardcore Christian nationalist. But it's also really funny and not too politically heavy.  - "Help Wanted," by Adelle Waldman, which is a working-class novel about employees in a box-store warehouse and the pecking order that becomes clear when the boss announces he's leaving. Hannah liked it.  And then we thank everyone and say goodbye. We'll be back, but ta-ta for now. 

That's right, folks. This is the second-to-last episode of "John Updike's Ghost," which will end with Episode 100. But not to worry! We'll be launching a new podcast not long afterward, with a new name and a little bit of a new focus. In the meantime, though, we've got a cracker-jack episode for you this week, with a bunch of books we really like. Here's the deal:  - "Flashlight" by Susan Choi, which is one of those books you tell other people about. The history of Korea-Japan-China conflict is at its heart.  - "The Wall," by Marlen Haushofer (translated by Shaun Whiteside), which is a classic of post-apocalyptic Feminist literature, and completely delivers, with a story of self-sufficiency that speaks to the essence of humanity's relationship with nature.  - "A Month in the Country," by J.L. Carr, which a classic of pastoral literature, a treatise on hard work well done and the value of rural community. - "Fonseca," by Jessica Francis Kane, which is the made-up story of author Penelope Fitzgerald's apocryphal trip to Mexico (look up who Penelope is; she's dope).  - "Heartbreaker," by Mike Campbell and Ari Surdoval, which is among the best musician memoirs ever produced, the story of the creation of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, but so much more than that. 

We're switching it up a little bit this episode, as the Booker Prize Long List has just been released and it's fun to talk about what they've chosen — plus, the judges this year are really interesting! These are "chosen from 153 submissions, celebrates the best works of long-form fiction by writers of any nationality, written in English and published in the UK and/or Ireland between 1 October 2024 and 30 September 2025." Some of the books we've read, some we've just heard about, some we have no idea about. Play along!  Here's the list as we tackle it: - "Seascraper," by Benjamin Wood, which is not available in the U.S.  - "The Rest of our Lives," by Ben Markovitz, which is not available in the U.S. (though Ben is from the U.S. and used to be a professional basketball player) - "Audition," by Katie Kitamura, which is so out there that Hannah legit doesn't know how to talk about it. No one seems to know what's happening with this book.  - "Endling," by Maria Reva, which we talked about quite a bit in EP92 (not 94, as Sam says on the pod, for no good reason), and is a substantive, interesting, weird novel, but maybe not Sam's favorite.  - "Flashlight," by Susan Choi, a National Book Award winner, which Hannah started out super excited about, but then her fervor sort of faded... There's some great stuff in here about Japan-Korea history and the immigrant story, in general.  - "The Land in Winter," by Andrew Miller, which Hannah hasn't read, but she does remember that "The Optimists" was big and she meant to read it.  - "Love Forms," by Claire Adam, who was published by Sarah Jessica Parker, who also happens to be a judge! But we're sure it's a coincidence. "Like a Claire Keegan novel written by Elizabeth Strout," apparently. - "Universality," by Natasha Brown, which we know is short and is all about words and meaning.  - "Misinterpretation," by Ledia Xhoga, which is similarly about words and meaning. We don't know much, really. But there seems to be a theme here.  - "The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny," by Kiran Desai, who has a Booker Prize under her belt. This book is going to be big.  - "One Boat," by Jonathan Buckley, which is about a murder and a love affair on a Greek island.  - "The South," by Tash Aw, which is this year's young gay love story, Hannah thinks, though she's not sure, but it is the first of a quartet of novels, "a reimagined epic for our times." - "Flesh," by David Szalay, which is a stylish Hungarian novel, a coming-of-age sort of thing. 

This week, Hannah is on vacation, Sam is working hard, but both have two books to talk about and we mostly like them. Yes, there's some embarrassing stuff where Sam has no idea about major biographical elements of the authors he's praising profusely, but let's pretend it's not happening in the moment.  On the agenda this week: "A Marriage at Sea," by Sophie Elmhirst, which is a real-life story about a couple who decided to just drop out of society and "live a more interesting life." So, they bought a boat, then crashed it against a whale, and then somehow survived for months in a life raft. It's wild. But ultimately a treatise on fame. "Death of the Author," by Nnedi Okorafor, which Sam thinks is the best book he's read this year so far and criminally under-talked-about. It's sci-fi, family drama, social commentary, and so much more. Also, Sam was wrong. Nnedi is 51. Older than him. He's dumb. "A Dog in Georgia," by Lauren Grodstein, which Hannah likes a lot, and not just because she was in a writing class with Lauren a while back. It's lighter than "We Must Not Think of Ourselves," which is more to her skillset. And, yes, it's about looking for a lost dog in the country of Georgia, but, yes, everyone agrees that's weird. "The Third Rule of Time Travel," by Philip Fracassi, which Sam mostly enjoyed, but was sort of a "Netflix original" of a time-travel novel. Very readable! Entertaining! But maybe doesn't stick the landing. And it's a dude writing a woman, but it's a fine. 

This week, Sam and Hannah have spent some serious time on the dock where they ... actually read the same book for once! Amazing. And it's maybe not a book you would have guessed. Plus, we've got a long-lost classic and a really fun summer read (even if it's about rich people. Again), and a good discussion of what makes a 14+ book.  On the agenda this week: - "Dungeon Crawler Carl," by Matt Dinniman, which Sam and Hannah both decided they liked quite a bit, even though it's very much a "dude-bro" sort of book. It's a sensation. You should give it a shot.  - "Best of All Worlds," by Kenneth Oppel, which is a well-targeted YA novel with an original set-up and a very sweet coming-of-age story. Also, set in Canada, which is fun. But is it really Canada?!? - "Ramona," by Helen Hunt Jackson, which is an absolute classic, and was once fully canon, but has sort of now been largely forgotten. Sam's here to tell you it's an important work of American literature and legitimately a must-read book in understanding the foundation of America.  - "These Summer Storms," by Sarah MacLean, which Hannah describes as "if Emily Henry wrote a book of Succession (like, the television series)." Highly entertaining and good for the beach. 

This week, Sam is back from Iceland, where he read some Scandinavian literature and visited a bookstore, though mostly just looked at volcanoes, waterfalls, and icebergs. But, have no fear, we have plenty of books to talk about this week.  On the agenda this week: - "The Salt Stones," by Helen Whybrow, which is a memoir about leaving publishing to become a shepherdess in Vermont. Sheep! Hannah loves it.  - "Blood Ties," by Jo Nesbo, which is not a Harry Hole novel, but is rather a standalone about brothers who love each other, but also are trying to kill each other. Sam's not sure about the "moral dilemmas" it presents.  - "Kill Your Darlings," by Peter Swanson, which tells the story of a marriage in reverse, starting with a wife who'd really like to kill her husband. But why? Peter's a local and does great work here.  - "Until Alison," by Kate Russo, which is set at Colby College, where Kate went, and deals with a murder of a Colby student, which happened by Kate was at Colby, but is otherwise totally fiction. It's a little cartoonish.  - "Mohawk," by Richard Russo, which is actually more similar than Sam was expecting. It's ALSO a little cartoonish while trying to do "small-town life." Sam doesn't believe it. But lots of stories are more lively than boring real life.  - "All the Beauty in the World," by Patrick Bringley, which is another memoir, but gives you a ton of cool info about working at the Met in New York City and fits nicely in the pantheon of museum guard books. Also, this gets Sam talking about "The Clock," a piece of art by Christian Marclay that is completely amazing and you need to see.

This week, Sam and Hannah are back from a heavy Memorial Day Weekend of reading, and Hannah's books, in particular, are once again well-coordinated. Even if they're a little hard to describe. Also, this is a solid Pride episode, sort of by mistake. Here's what's on tap: - "The Book of Records," by Madeleine Thien, which is as meaty a read as we've had in a while, full of philosophical truths and a building made of time. This is great stuff.  - "Erasure," by Percival Everett, who is legitimately among the most important writers working today. This is the book that was made into the movie "American Fiction," but, as you might imagine, is even better than the movie.  - "I'll Tell You When I'm Home," by Hala Alyan, who this time delivers a memoir grappling with her family's history of immigration, escaping Kuwait after the Iraqi invasion and coming to the U.S. This book shows you what generational trauma means.  - "The Phoenix Pencil Company," by Allison King, a data privacy professional who's crafted a magical text about a family that can read pencil hearts (they stab it into their veins) that's perfect for Pride month. It's weird, yes. But new and different.  - "Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil," by V.E. Schwab, which is an ode to Anne Rice — a vampire book — but doesn't really follow Rice's vampire rules, exactly (they're all lesbian vampires, which is different). The second half of this is pretty great.  - Oh, and we're not going to tell you which book it is we disliked so intensely. See if you can figure it out. And there's no real good reason why this didn't get posted before June 10, other than Sam being in Iceland and not feeling like posting it. Sorry. 

This week, as Sam preps to go to Iceland, we've got some of our favorite books of the year so far, with Gatsby references all over the place, general indictments of people with more money than they need, and a call back to the Beat era. Here's what we've got on tap: - "Mansion Beach," by Meg Mitchell Moore, a retelling of Gatsby with a gender reversal and a good reminder that Fitzgerald, himself, was a bit of a "beach read" writer.  - "Atavists," by Lydia Millet, a story collection that works a bit like a multi-perspective novel and succeeds as both a realistic look at the suburbs and a send-up of modern life.  - "Careless People," by Sarah Wynn-Williams, which offers an inside look at some of the most ethically and morally bankrupt people the world has ever known: the creators of Facebook. - "The Silver Snarling Trumpet," by Robert Hunter, which is a must-read for anyone who likes Jerry Garcia or wants to harken back to a simpler time and get a glimpse of life before the hippies. 

Oh, was the sound crappy last week? Well, we've fixed that. New mic! Holy smokes! You're really going to like this. It's so much better. And now that we're done with Newburyport Literary Festival and Independent Bookstore Day, it's all systems go heading into summer, and we've got lots of books to talk about, including:  -  "The Lion Women of Tehran," by Marjan Kamali, who was the star at Newburyport, and who really captured the audience. - "Endling," by Maria Reva, a meta sort of novel set in Ukraine and grappling with the Russian invasion and how to make sense of it.  - "Heartwood," by Amity Gaige, which Hannah started and stopped and ended up finishing, but isn't convinced is really a "thriller." Also, Amity's understanding of Maine seems ... limited. - "The River Has Roots," by Amal El-Mohtar, which is more of a novella, but is really pretty, and a lovely addition to the faerie canon. And it really gets the musical portion of the plot right.  - "The Doorman," by Chris Pavone, which is a little different, not an international spy thriller, and shares some qualities with "Only Murders in the Building," but isn't, like, funny at all. Some twists and turns, though.  Next time, Sam reads some blockbusters and Hannah gets literary. Maybe. 

Back to normal! No guests this week, just a bunch of books to talk about, including some big names. Is Sam's mic kind of wonky early? Yes. Just get by that. It doesn't last long. And you really want to hear about: -  "Great Big Beautiful Life," by Emily Henry, which is just enough different from her previous beach reads to make a great beach read. It's a ridiculous biography contest set in Georgia.  - "The Name of this Band is R.E.M.," by Peter Ames Carlin, which Sam found a little boring, but it's hard to tell if that's just because R.E.M. is a boring band.  - "Raising Hare," by Chloe Dalton, which really is about raising a bunny, but not a bunny, a hare, which is a different mysterious kind of animal. Better than that sounds, though.  - "Everything is Tuberculosis," by John Green, which has a terrible name, but is very readable because John Green can write like crazy. This leads to talk about Reddit forums detailing woo-woo mom forum posting, for reasons, and discussion of the term "vlogger."  - "Whyte Python World Tour," by Travis Kennedy, an absolutely absurd and often funny tale of a hair-metal band secretly working for the CIA to bring down the Wall in the late 1980s. Sam doesn't know what to make of it.  - "Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries," by Heather Fawcett, which is delightful, about an academic cataloging faeries in Norway. It's cozy and quite charming.  Also, no, we didn't get this posted in time for Bookstore Day or the Literary Festival, but just try to look past that. It's already happened and you missed it. But there will be other stuff that's awesome in the future, we promise.