Book Club with Julia and Victoria

This discussion of Index, a History of the by Dennis Duncan is a big day for Victoria because it’s an episode all about her favorite thing ever: sorting things into categories. Julia is there to help translate the Middle English quotes.Views expressed on Book Club with Julia and Victoria and bookclubwithjv.com are solely those of the hosts and not necessarily those of their employers, clients, guests, and collaborators. Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links that give us a commission if you decide to make a purchase at no additional cost to you. Learn more.Become a Member! Shop with us on Bookshop.org! Follow the podcast on Instagram and hang out with Victoria on The StoryGraph.Mentioned in this episode:Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey ChaucerThe Great Vowel ShiftBook Parts edited by Dennis Duncan and Adam SmythVictoria’s very rough attempt at an index of Julia’s thesisAmerican Society for IndexingThe Daily ShowScalable socialityWilliam PooleRecommendations:Internet ArchiveFilterworld: How Algorithms Flattened Culture by Kyle ChaikaThe Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green (book)The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green (podcast)Garbage Day newsletter on SubstackCurrently Obsessed:Alligator Bites Never Heal 2024 album by Doechii 2024What a Devastating Turn of Events 2024 album by Rachel ChinouririDunya 2024 album by Mustafa

“Excuse me, sir, there’s some magic in this romance”:  Julia and Victoria unpack Casey McQuiston’s sophomore novel, One Last Stop.This episode was recorded on September 2, 2024.Views expressed on Book Club with Julia and Victoria and bookclubwithjv.com are solely those of the hosts and not necessarily those of their employers, clients, guests, and collaborators.Become a Member! Shop with us on Bookshop.org! Follow the podcast on Instagram and hang out with Victoria on The StoryGraph.Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links that give us a commission if you decide to make a purchase at no additional cost to you. Learn more.Mentioned in this episode:One Last Stop by Casey McQuistonI Kissed Shara Wheeler by Casey McQuistonThe Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey NiffeneggerThe Curious Case of Benjamin Button by F. Scott FitzgeraldDoctor Who and River SongCasey McQuiston Is As Attached To Their Characters As You Are by Olivia Harrison (Refinery 29)Lost (TV series)This Is How You Lose the Time War by Max Gladstone and Amal El-MohtarJasmine GuilloryTalia HibbertRecommendations:We Are Lady Parts (TV show available on Hulu)Honey Girl by Morgan RogersThe Brown Sisters series by Talia HibbertLast Night at the Telegram Club by Malinda LoCurrently Obsessed:Ethel Cain

Julia and Victoria discuss the last vampire book of The Vampire & the Octopus series and then get very excited about two questions: Are there any ethical choices under vampirism? And, if so, are ethical vampires even interesting?Views expressed on Book Club with Julia and Victoria and bookclubwithjv.com are solely those of the hosts and not necessarily those of their employers, clients, guests, and collaborators.Become a Member! Shop with us on Bookshop.org! Follow the podcast on Instagram and hang out with Victoria on The StoryGraph.Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links that give us a commission if you decide to make a purchase at no additional cost to you. Learn more.Mentioned in this episode:“I won’t always ask”: Complicating Agency in Octavia Butler’s Fledgling” by Florian BastDevil Girl From Mars (film)Patternmaster by Octavia ButlerThe Vampire Lestat by Anne RiceTwilight by Stephanie MeyerSouthern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady HendrixWoman, Eating by Claire KohdaGrady Hendrix’s vampire podcast Super Scary Haunted HomeschoolDear Hank and John (podcast)Recommendations:The Dispossessed by Ursula K LeGuinWild Seed by Octavia ButlerPiranesi by Susanna ClarkeInvincible comic book seriesCurrently Obsessed:Interview with the Vampire (tv series)We Are Lady Parts (tv series)The Pairing by Casey McQuistonScamanda (podcast)Big Ideas by Remi Wolf (album)

Views expressed on Book Club with Julia and Victoria and bookclubwithjv.com are solely those of the hosts and not necessarily those of their employers, clients, guests, and collaborators.Become a Member! Shop with us on Bookshop.org! Follow the podcast on Instagram and hang out with Victoria on The StoryGraph.Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links that give us a commission if you decide to make a purchase at no additional cost to you. Learn more.Mentioned in this episode:The Poppy War by R. F. KuangSemioticsThe Tusks of Extinction novella by Ray NaylorArrival (film)The Octopus: A Story of California by Frank NorrisHow High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia NagamatsuThe Dispossessed by Ursula K LeGuinRecommendations:Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness by Peter Godfrey-SmithBiosemiotics: An Examination Into the Signs of Life and the Life of Signs by Jesper HoffmeierBraiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer“Story of Your Life” by Ted ChiangCurrently Obsessed:Interview with the Vampire season 2Walkin About podcastLawrence album Family BusinessStill Woozy album Loveseat

Julia makes her case of why the creature in Grady Hendrix’s The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires is NOT really a vampire, and Victoria makes a counterargument that it is actually the MOST vampire. They are both generally infuriated with everyone in this novel except Mrs. Green. Content Warning: mentions of sexual violence.Views expressed on Book Club with Julia and Victoria and bookclubwithjv.com are solely those of the hosts and not necessarily those of their employers, clients, guests, and collaborators. Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links that give us a commission if you decide to make a purchase at no additional cost to you. Learn more.Become a Member! Shop with us onBookshop.org! Follow the podcast on Instagram and hang out with Victoria onThe StoryGraph.Mentioned in this Episode:Grady Hendrix’s website“Charleston native Grady Hendrix and best-selling horror author wants to terrify you, and you’ll never be more happily horrified” by Stephanie Hunt, Charleston Magazine Dirt Candy (book)Dirt Candy (restaurant) Amanda Cohen, Iron Chef CanadaGrady Hendrix’s “The Great Stephen King Reread” seriesGrady Hendrix’s vampire podcast: Super Scary Haunted HomeschoolThe Strain (tv show)Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-SmithCarmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, edited by Carmen Maria MachadoRecommendationsUnbelievable (tv show)Spotlight (film)Gathering Blue by Lois LowryYellowjackets (tv show)How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady HendrixMy Best Friend’s Exorcism by Grady HendrixBeloved by Toni MorrisonCurrently ObsessedInterview With the Vampire season 2 (tv show)Hacks season 3 (tv show)Who Shat on the Floor at My Wedding season 2 (podcast)The Dragon Republic (Poppy Wars Trilogy Book 2) by R. F. KuangThrough the Ages board game mobile app

Julia and Victoria read a pandemic book called The Memory of Animals by Claire Fuller where the octopus is not the focus of the story, but is at the heart of the book’s major themes of captivity and embodiment. Victoria makes the ill-advised choice to revisit some of her early-pandemic journals.Views expressed on Book Club with Julia and Victoria and bookclubwithjv.com are solely those of the hosts and not necessarily those of their employers, clients, guests, and collaborators. Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links that give us a commission if you decide to make a purchase at no additional cost to you. Learn more.Become a Member! Shop with us on Bookshop.org! Follow the podcast on Instagram and hang out with Victoria on The StoryGraph.Mentioned in this episode:The Soul of an Octopus by Sy MontgomeryStaying in With Emily and KumailRecommendations:Swimming Lessons by Claire FullerOur Endless Numbered Days by Claire FullerUnsettled Ground by Claire FullerHow High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia NagamatsuI Who Have Never Known Men by Jaqueline HartmanLucy by the Sea by Elizabeth StroudMy Octopus Teacher on NetflixCurrently Obsessed:Radical Optimism by Dua Lipa (album)Jacob Collier’s existenceHit Me Hard and Soft by Billie Eilish (album)Interview With the Vampire season 2

Julia and Victoria get very hungry talking about the trope-flipping, contemporary vampire novel Woman, Eating by Claire Kohda.Views expressed on Book Club with Julia and Victoria and bookclubwithjv.com are solely those of the hosts and not necessarily those of their employers, clients, guests, and collaborators. Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links that give us a commission if you decide to make a purchase at no additional cost to you. Learn more.Become a Member! Shop with us onBookshop.org! Follow the podcast on Instagram and hang out with Victoria on The StoryGraph.Mentioned in this episode: Lore Olympus by Rachel SmytheTár (film)Claire Kohda: "I wouldn’t change being mixed-race for anything" by Isabella Silvers (Mixed Messages)A Vampire Hungry for Blood and Intimacy by JR Ramakrishnan (Electric Lit)Recommendations:Carmilla by Joseph Le Fanu, edited by Carmen Maria MachadoHer Body and Other Parties by Carmen maria MachadoTar Baby by Toni MorrisonWhen We Were Birds by Ayanna Lloyd Banwo“Close Cover Before Striking” by Silvia Moreno Garcia in F(r)iction No. 21 The Unseen IssueSea Change by Gina ChungOur Wives Under the Sea by Julia ArmfieldNever Let Me Go by Kazuo IshiguroUgly Delicious on NetflixBuffy the Vampire Slayer (TV show)Currently Obsessed:Shōgun on HuluHeartbreak High season 2 on NetflixMonkey Man (film)You Had Me At Hello by ZBI (album)Boys Love/Ampliverse reaction to ZB1’s “Sweat” MVThe Poppy War by R. F. KuangThe StoryGraph’s buddy read feature

Julia and Victoria discuss Sea Change by Gina Chung and how authors use the octopus to contemplate loneliness and change. They discover that life really is about the friends we made along the way in this first book of The Vampire & the Octopus series.Views expressed on Book Club with Julia and Victoria and bookclubwithjv.com are solely those of the hosts and not necessarily those of their employers, clients, guests, and collaborators. Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links that give us a commission if you decide to make a purchase at no additional cost to you. Learn more.Become a Member! Shop with us on Bookshop.org! Follow the podcast on Instagram and hang out with Victoria on The StoryGraph. Check out Julia’s bonus discussions of How Far the Light Reaches by Sabrina Imbler and World of Wonders by Aimee Nezhukumatathil on our Buy Me a Coffee!Mentioned in this episode:“The Love Song of the Mexican Free-Tailed Bat” by Gina Chung in F(r)ictionGreen Frog: Stories by Gina Chung"Losing My Octopus Best Friend is the Final Straw" interview with Gina Chung in Electric Literature Recommendations:Big Friendship: How We Keep Each Other Close by Aminatou Sow and Ann FriedmanBefore the Ruins by Victoria GoslingWoman, Eating by Claire KohdaHow Far the Light Reaches: A Life in Ten Sea Creatures by Sabrina ImblerWorld of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments by Aimee NezhukumatathilCurrently ObsessedDjesse Vol. 4 by Jacob Collier (album)Jacob Collier Unites the World - Switched on PopBeyoncé's Country - Switched on PopFound Heaven by Conan Gray“Good Luck Babe” by Chappell Roan

Victoria teaches Julia all about the origins, tropes, and metaphors of vampire lore that create the undead monster we read about today. They discuss the origins of vampire stories in Slavic folklore, the Great Vampire Epidemic of the 18th century, the blood-sucking breakup novel Lord Byron’s “travel companion” wrote about him, and lament the loss of a key source for Victoria’s vampire-as-justice analysis that disappeared when she accidentally closed all her tabs.(And don’t forget to check out the bonus content where Victoria shares all the thoughts on Twilight that didn’t make it into the episode!)Views expressed on Book Club with Julia and Victoria and bookclubwithjv.com are solely those of the hosts and not necessarily those of their employers, clients, guests, and collaborators.Become a Member! Shop with us on Bookshop.org! Follow the podcast on Instagram and hang out with Victoria on The StoryGraph:Book Club with Julia & Victoria (Episodes 1-100) Reading ChallengeBook Club with Julia & Victoria (Episodes 101+) Reading ChallengeDisclosure: This post may contain affiliate links that give us a commission if you decide to make a purchase at no additional cost to you. Learn more.Mentioned in this episode:Dracula by Bram StokerWhat We Do In the Shadows (tv show)What We Do In the Shadows (film)Twilight by Stephanie MeyerInterview With the Vampire (tv show)Slayers and Their Vampires by Bruce McClelland“Mothers, Daughters, and Vampires: The Female Sexual Dilemma in Eighteenth-Century Vampire Poetry” by Ashley M. Quinn“Der Vampir” by Heinrich August Ossenfelder“The Bride of Corinth” by Johann Wolfgang von GoetheThe Vampyre by John Polidori"Two Species of Irish Vampire" (1831)Olivia Rodrigo’s song “Vampire”118 Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan LeFanu — The One with the Lesbian Vampire011 Dracula by Bram Stoker (archive)Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame SmithInterview with the Vampire by Anne Rice

Julia takes Victoria on a deep dive of octopus stories throughout time and space in this first episode of The Vampire & the Octopus series. We tackle questions like “Are octopus stories a form of colonizer horror?” and “What’s with all the octopus books coming out recently?” and “Why did the 19th century French think the octopus was the physical embodiment of hell?”Views expressed on Book Club with Julia and Victoria and bookclubwithjv.com are solely those of the hosts and not necessarily those of their employers, clients, guests, and collaborators.Become a Member! Shop with us on Bookshop.org! Follow the podcast on Instagram and hang out with Victoria on The StoryGraph.Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links that give us a commission if you decide to make a purchase at no additional cost to you. Learn more.Mentioned in this Episode:The Soul of an Octopus by Sy MontgomeryTwenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules VerneFinding Nemo (film)Finding Dory (film)Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (film)Oceanic Mythology by Roland B Dixon“The Great Wave Off Kanagawa” and “The Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife” art by HokusaiDevilfish Bay“Wanderer above the Sea of Fog” painting by Caspar David Friedrich“The Kraken” by Alfred, Lord TennysonGood Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett“The Octopus or The Devilfish of Fiction and Fact” by Henry LeeThe Toilers of the Sea by Victor HugoThe War of the Worlds by H. G. WellsThe Sea Raiders by H. G. WellsThe Call of Cthulu by H. P. LovecraftThe Kraken Wakes by John WyndhamIt Came From Beneath the Sea (film)Kraken by China MievilleThe Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau (TV series)Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness by Peter Godfrey-SmithMy Octopus Teacher (film)The Secrets of the Octopus by Sy MontgomeryRemarkably Bright Creaturesby Shelby Van Pelt

Julia discusses disability, comedy, creativity, and treating people like people with Steven Verdile, the founder of the disability satire publication The Squeaky Wheel.Views expressed on Book Club with Julia and Victoria and bookclubwithjv.com are solely those of the hosts and not necessarily those of their employers, clients, guests, and collaborators.Become a Member! Shop with us on Bookshop.org! Follow the podcast on Instagram and hang out with Victoria on The StoryGraph:Book Club with Julia & Victoria (Episodes 1-100) Reading ChallengeBook Club with Julia & Victoria (Episodes 101+) Reading ChallengeDisclosure: This post may contain affiliate links that give us a commission if you decide to make a purchase at no additional cost to you. Learn more.Read and follow the Squeaky Wheel:Website: https://thesqueakywheel.org/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesqkywheel/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thesqkywheel Merch: https://thesqueakywheel.org/shop/ Mentioned in this Episode:Ramy (TV series)Speechless (TV series)Give Me Liberty (film)The Squeaky Wheel: Canada (in production)Special (TV series)Recommendations:ReductressClickHoleThe OnionBroadway BeatThe Hard TimesSteve WayTina FrimlShane BurcawRyan HaddadCrip Camp (film)Disability Visibility edited by Alice WongCurrently Obsessed:How To With John Wilson (TV series)The Curse (TV series)504: The Musical

Julia and Victoria learn what the word “flannel” means in British English and formulate their own theories about what happened to a stranded deep-sea researcher in the devastatingly beautiful novel Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield.Views expressed on Book Club with Julia and Victoria and bookclubwithjv.com are solely those of the hosts and not necessarily those of their employers, clients, guests, and collaborators.Become a Member! Shop with us on Bookshop.org! Follow the podcast on Instagram and hang out with Victoria on The StoryGraph:Book Club with Julia & Victoria (Episodes 1-100) Reading ChallengeBook Club with Julia & Victoria (Episodes 101+) Reading ChallengeDisclosure: This post may contain affiliate links that give us a commission if you decide to make a purchase at no additional cost to you. Learn more.Resources for Supporting Palestine::Boycott, Divestment, SanctionsResource for calling representativesAneraMentioned in this episode:Apollo 13 (film)20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (film)Dracula by Bram StokerOur Flag Means Death (TV show)112 Babel by R. F. Kuang — “Boots on the Ground” StorytellingGraham Norton Book Club episode with Julia ArmfieldRegarding the Pain of Others by Susan Sontag122 How High We Go In the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu — Throw the Baby Recommendations:Arrival (film)The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan DidionHow High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia NagamatsuThe Soul of an Octopus by Sy MontgomeryThe Story of Your Life by Ted ChiangThis is How You Lose the Time War by El-Mohtar and GladstonePiranesi by Susanna ClarkF(r)iction Issue #20 - BodiesCurrently Obsessed:The Bear Season 2Home by Billy Strings (album)

Julia and Victoria conclude that How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu is a very good book–Julia is just sad.Become a Member! Shop with us on Bookshop.org! Follow the podcast on Instagram and hang out with Victoria on The StoryGraph:Book Club with Julia & Victoria (Episodes 1-100) Reading ChallengeBook Club with Julia & Victoria (Episodes 101+) Reading ChallengeDisclosure: This post may contain affiliate links that give us a commission if you decide to make a purchase at no additional cost to you. Learn more.Mentioned in this episode:How High We Go In the Dark by Sequoia NagamatsuAWP ConferenceVictoria’s StoryGraph: @victoriafrombookclubPsychopomp magazineWhere We Go When All We Were Is Gone by Sequoia Nagamatsu“How a fictional plague helped Sequoia Nagamatsu overcome grief” by Michael Berry Character map star chart by @bookographicRecommendations:This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max GladstoneLucy By The Sea by Elizabeth StroutThe Great Believers by Rebecca MakkaiHomegoing by Yaa GyasiInterpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa LahiriCurrently Obsessed:Quiz Lady on HuluSamba Schutte’s Our Flag Means Death Behind the Scenes seriesThe Bandit Queens by Parini Shroff

Julia and Victoria grapple with the grotesque narrative choices in Whale by Cheon Myeong-Kwan, translated by Chi-young Kim. Julia incorrectly uses the word “epigraph” when she means “epitaph” approximately 25 times.Become a Member! Shop with us on Bookshop.org! Follow the podcast on Instagram and hang out with Victoria on The StoryGraph:Book Club with Julia & Victoria (Episodes 1-100) Reading ChallengeBook Club with Julia & Victoria (Episodes 101+) Reading ChallengeDisclosure: This post may contain affiliate links that give us a commission if you decide to make a purchase at no additional cost to you. Learn moreMentioned in this episode:Whale by Cheon Myeong-kwanBonus: Weird Short Fiction with Evan James SheldonMinari (film)Pachinko (TV series)Modern Family by Cheon Myeong-kwanThe Neapolitan Novels by Elena FerranteOne Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia MarquezInternational Booker Prize – WhaleNamjoon’s Bookshelf Twitter thread on WhaleAschenputtel - Grimm Fairy Tale version of CinderellaBakhtin on The GrotesqueRecommendations:David Copperfield by Charles DickensChildren and Their Cages by Evan James SheldonBooks that inspired Cheon Myeong-kwan's Whale Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt VonnegutCurrently Obsessed:Handsome (podcast)Guilty EP by TaeminMarry My Dead Body (TV series)Pirate Enlightenment, or the Real Libertalia by David GraeberMadewell curvy jeans

Julia and Victoria try to decipher the rules of Eight Billion Genies, the newest comic book series from Charles Soule and Ryan Browne, because Julia likes rules. They also learn about how one random French guy playing fast and loose with a One Thousand and One Nights translation made up most of what the “Western” world “knows” about “genies.” Tale as old as time.Become a Member! Shop with us on Bookshop.org! Follow the podcast on Instagram and hang out with Victoria on The StoryGraph:Book Club with Julia & Victoria (Episodes 1-100) Reading ChallengeBook Club with Julia & Victoria (Episodes 101+) Reading ChallengeDisclosure: This post may contain affiliate links that give us a commission if you decide to make a purchase at no additional cost to you. Learn more.Mentioned in this episode:The very important Arthur Library Card DanceCurse Words by Charles Soule and Ryan BrowneUndiscovered Country by Scott Snyder, Charles Soule, and othersGod Hates Astronauts by Ryan Browne'Eight Billion Genies' Graphic Novel Sparks Hollywood Bidding War, Amazon Deal For Chicago Artist by Web Behrens (Block Club Chicago)Paper Girls (Prime Video)Orientalism by Edward SaidRecommendations:Saga by Brian K Vaughn and Fiona StaplesPaper Girls by Brian K Vaughn and Cliff ChiangInvincible by Robert Kirkman and Cory WalkerInvincible (Prime Video)My Brilliant Friend: The Graphic Novel by Chiara Lagani, Mara Cerri, Elena Ferrante, Ann GoldsteinLore Olympus by Rachel SmytheInto the Woods“Disasterology” episode of Ologies podcastI Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline HartmanThe Question of Palestine by Edward SaidSalt Houses by Hala AlyanCurrently Obsessed:Our Flag Means Death (season 2)Normal Gossip podcastNora From Queens (final season)Natalia LaFourcade’s album De Todos Los FloresIN the Mood album by Whee InSomething to Give Each Other album by Troye SivanJavelin album by Sufjan StevensFreefall album by TXTthe rest EP by boygenius