Lit

Grab a snack, because this one is bound to make you hungry! Just make sure you take it from a trusted source and not, we don’t know, any fairies. Erin is getting everyone’s appetite up this week as they discuss food in fantasy novels—the familiar tropes, the history, and why readers feel so connected to it. Of course, they also sprinkle in some discussion on literary cookbooks. Get cozy, get snacking, and enjoy! Sources for this week’s episodes are: Why Do Fantasy Novels Have So Much Food? By Anne Ewbanks for Atlas Obscura https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/fantasy-books-food.amp The Fantastical Food of Fantasy Fiction by Beth Cato for Tor.com https://www.tor.com/2019/03/14/the-fantastical-food-of-fantasy-fiction/

Welcome to the first Book Swap Club! In this episode, MJ and Erin assigned each other a book they'd previously read that they thought the OTHER would love. Join us to hear about Erin's foray into Ruby Dixon, MJ's thoughts on romance villains, and, to no one's surprise, talk about sex. Happy swapping! 

It's time for the first Reading Roundup of 2023! Join Erin and MJ as they discuss the mountain of books they've read (nevermind the fact that half of it is alien/ monster smut!) Listen to MJ give a quick review of Ruby Dixon's new series, and Erin gush about another Casey McQuiston book. And keep your eye out for a hint of an upcoming episode topic

Join Erin and MJ this week as they discuss even more fairytale and folklore retellings! MJ takes center stage to talk about her new Favorite Book of All Time™, and Erin horrifies and delights MJ with some bonkers fairytale endings. (Moral of the story: ?????)

Join us this week as Erin and MJ investigate cozy mysteries! Where did they come from, what are the constants, and why couldn't Erin get into any of the ones they tried reading?

February is Black History Month, and this episode we’re focusing on Black authors, poets, and activists.  This episode, MJ and Erin are recommending their favorite books by Black authors and their favorite authors and poets across all genres, and Tony jumps in on the microphone to recommend some of his favorite books by Black activists! In the show notes, we’ve linked resources for continuing education on racial justice.    Resources: GLAD’s Racial Justice Resources: https://www.glad.org/racial-justice-resources/ The Loveland Foundation: “Loveland Foundation is committed to showing up for communities of color in unique and powerful ways, with a particular focus on Black women and girls. Our resources and initiatives are collaborative and they prioritize opportunity, access, validation, and healing. We are becoming the ones we’ve been waiting for.”   https://thelovelandfoundation.org/ Campaign Zero: “Campaign Zero builds and sustains efforts that support communities to redefine public safety and create solutions that do not involve police.”  https://campaignzero.org/ 8 Can’t Wait: “#8CANTWAIT is a campaign to bring immediate change to police departments.”   https://8cantwait.org/ Black Lives Matter: https://blacklivesmatter.com/ NAACP’s Legal Defense Fund: https://www.naacpldf.org/ National Bail Fund Directory: https://www.communityjusticeexchange.org/en/nbfn-directory The Equal Justice Initiative: https://eji.org/

Erin and MJ are kicking off Season 2 in the only way they know how: a lot of ridiculousness and a dash of monster romance.    Our first episode of the season covers the rise in polyamorous relationships in romance novels as well as one of the fastest growing themes in romance today: the reverse harem, or "why choose", romance. Join our hosts as they discuss the good, the bad, and the very weird sex (yes, again), along with strange descriptions of anatomy, experiences with unicorn hunting, and more as we ring in season two! 

We’re taking a short break for the holidays and then returning on January 11th with our season two premiere! In the meantime: it’s the final countdowwwwn!    It’s finally here, fellow readers—Erin and MJ rank their top three and bottom three reads of the year! Covering October 2021 to October 2022, we talk the good, the bad, the ugly, and the impossible pickup truck sex scenes that left an impression over the last year (yes, there’s more than one on this list). Our hosts go more in-depth about what left an impression, what could have been left out, and what they took away from their most and least favorite books of the year. Quotes, themes, annoyingly impossible feats of human anatomy–you name it, Erin and MJ cover it. Join us for one last reading roundup, then re-listen to your favorite episodes before our season two premiere on January 11th, 2023!

WEEEE WOOOO WEEEE WOOO!!!! It’s the emergency episode!! In the anticipation of having to reschedule a recording or push back a release date, we recorded an emergency episode, and it’s time to shine has arrived!! (Our hosts are all fine, just had an unexpected conflict that meant recording had to be pushed back.) So, with inspiration from the Try Guys, here is our emergency episode. Please enjoy this absolutely UNHINGED conversation of Would-You-Rather’s, a rousing game of FMK, and some absolutely WEIRD romance novel quotes. See you in two weeks for the final episode of the season! 

This week, we’re talking all things graphic novels! Using personal experience and research, our hosts talk about the benefits of young readers being allowed to read graphic novels, how forcing them to only read “real books” can be harmful to their reading development, and the ways that graphic novels can help readers understand nuance and storytelling better. This is a subject Erin and MJ are passionate about, so put any preconceived notion of graphic novels behind you and get ready to find some recommendations that we think will change any naysayer’s mind.   The articles Erin references in this episode are below:   https://www.today.com/parents/5-reasons-your-child-should-read-graphic-novels-t165336 https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/entertainment/g38235935/graphic-novels-for-kids/

We've got a big list for our last Reading Roundup of the year! So buckle up and let's finish our reading year strong!

All aboard the charcuterie board! For the final episode of spooky season, Erin and MJ turn themselves, as well as mystical producer Tony, into cryptids. Stay tuned for an assortment of topics covering all things spooky, including (but not limited to) a questionable commercial, boats with genetalia, and therapy breakthroughs. Happy Halloween!   Watch the Skittles commercial along with Erin and MJ at 42:41: https://youtu.be/iFvSUL0rZeg

Welcome back to spoooooky season! As everyone knows, monster fu*kers reign supreme in this podcast, so this week we’re ranking vampires!   What started as a serious ranking of most to least scary took a turn when MJ forgot to read the directions before beginning a project, and Erin went off on a rampage about Twilight, but it sure made for an interesting ranking system! Hear why Bunnicula might be the scariest vampire of them all and where each host ranks Dracula, as well as how they both interpreted “allure” (which started the hilarity in the first place). Grab a seasonal red drink and settle into your coffin for some fangtasic discussion!

Boo! Erin and MJ are kicking off Spooky Season with a cackle! In this episode covering comedic horror our hosts cover the emergence of the sub genre in the book world, as well as the earlier examples in movies and podcasting. Hear about Erin's fear of empty department stores, and MJ's war stories from retail. 

The end of summer is here, which means it’s time for pumpkin spice lattes, jumping in leaves, cozy sweaters, and also…going back to school. Thankfully, our hosts are here this week to make going back to school more interesting!   MJ and Erin dive into the topic of dark academia this episode, talking about the book that is thought to have started it all and whether they agree with that, the titles they own and love (or don’t love) that fall under that heading, and how Tumblr truly started the entire thing. They also cover the interesting phenomenon that is COVID19 bringing this aesthetic more to the forefront. So grab your moodboards, plaid skirts, and settle into your cozy reading nooks lit only by candlelight: it’s time to learn about dark academia! The source Erin pulled their quotes from this episode is the Wikipedia article about Dark Academia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_academia 

It’s time for the quarterly reading roundup! Did our intrepid hosts meet or beat their estimates of how many books they would read this quarter? Guess you’ll have to listen to find out!   Reading Roundup 3 is here, and it’s time to find out our hosts’ thoughts on the books they’ve read over the past three months. Join us in supporting women’s rights (but more importantly, women’s wrongs), children’s books that depict emotion in a healthy way, books with not enough smut, books with maybe too much smut, and more! Stay tuned after the episode for some bonus musical stylings, and send us what you’ve read over the last quarter! Will MJ and Erin meet their goals for the year-end Reading Roundup? Guess you’ll have to keep listening to find out!

Do you ever wonder what the world would be like if just one thing changed? Or maybe a lot of things changed? Spend a lot of time thinking about multiverses? This episode is for you!   Content Warning: this episode briefly touches on themes of sexual assault. We do give a warning before discussing it.   This week, MJ and Erin dive into another literary theme, alternate history! “What Ifs” include what if WWII had ended differently, what if zombies suddenly appeared and changed the course of history, and what if women suddenly had the power to disrupt electricity? Erin FINALLY gets to deep dive into one of their favorite books now that MJ has begun reading it (and it fits the theme), and even more what if’s are pondered as we travel down an interesting literary rabbit hole!

Today’s theme, “you get what you get”, is apt both for the topic title AND the episode itself, as our hosts recorded from two different locations for the first time ever!   Join MJ and Erin as they talk about the interesting literary device of the unreliable narrator! Learn about the history, the first book where it was used, the subcategories, and more as Erin explains why it’s one of their favorite devices and MJ remains on the fence about it. MJ and Erin also discuss some movies that contain this plot device, so get ready for massive spoilers ahead!   “You get what you get” comes into play as our hosts talk about not only the plots of these books and the twists and turns therein, but also the fact that their audio is being recorded in two places and, as such, might be a little wonky since Tony wasn’t present to work his absolute magic, but hey–nobody’s perfect! 

Welcome to July! Scorching hot sun means just one thing: beach reads!  This week, Erin and MJ meet up to talk about the ambiguous topic of beach reads - what qualifies as a beach read? Is it only romance? Horror? Mystery? Is there a reason they went from talking about sunny beaches to suddenly daydreaming about the beaches in the Pacific Northwest? Guess you'll have to listen to this week's episode to find out, and get some good recommendations for every type of reader! 

It’s our second Pride episode! Today, MJ and Erin are focusing on happily-ever-afters in queer lit! In this week’s episodes, Erin and MJ take us through some of their favorite queer lit titles that have happily-ever-afters, because for far too long queer lit had to focus on ambiguous endings left to a reader’s imagination, and we are finally getting the happily-ever-afters that queer stories deserve! Topics range from romance to YA to sci-fi, reminiscing about Tumblr culture to exploring the difficulties of being your true self in a religious environment.