The Book Report

Sequels We'd Like To Discover by The Book Report

We Hate Dune by The Book Report

Likable Literary Villains by The Book Report

Back 2 School w/ Flannery O'Connor and Ernest Hemingway by The Book Report

Welcome to a new episode of The Book Report presented by The Millions! This week, Janet and Mike discuss political apathy and spooky teenagers. Like they do every week. But this time, we captured it on video! Discussed in this episode: Get in Trouble by Kelly Link, On the Abolition of All Political Parties by Simone Weil (translated by Simon Leys), ghosts, vampires, werewolves, robots, holograms, teenagers, Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, Vampires in the Lemon Grove by Karen Russell, Swamplandia! by Karen Russell, National Public Radio, listeners like you, civil wars on planets with red water, socialism, Republicans, taxes, Democrats, the Free France movement, Charles De Gaulle.

Welcome to a new episode of The Book Report presented by The Millions! This week, Janet and Mike realize they’ve been reading nothing but post-apocalyptic novels about dying people in war-torn countries, and it is affecting their mental health. So Janet talks about a book with “fart” in the title and Mike talks about a collection featuring a story called “She Had the Jugs.” Discussed in this episode: Cruel Shoes by Steve Martin, Museum of Mistakes: The Fart Party Collection by Julia Wertz, That Thing You Do! (dir. Tom Hanks), absurdity, Woody Allen, comedians, why things were better when Mike was a kid, women, remote controls, Fatherhood by Paul Reiser, Seinlanguage by Jerry Seinfeld, Dick Cheney, cocaine, Bret Easton Ellis, pizza, bookstores, burritos, problems, Beyond the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo, Janet and Mike’s beautiful faces. Not discussed in this episode: Anything serious, at the recommendation of our therapists.

This week, Janet discusses a book about jazz. As the great Louis Armstrong once said, "If you have to ask what jazz is, you'll never know. Ha ha ha ha ha! I'm just kidding. Jazz is a performance-based musical genre that originated in the African-American communities of the early 20th century, and is marked by syncopated beats and, frequently, improvisation." coverDiscussed in this episode: But Beautiful: A Book About Jazz by Geoff Dyer, confusion, cross-genre literature, the meaning of life, fancy writer switches, aircraft carriers, flying at night, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, sadness, pain, and heroin. Oh, and jazz! Rejected as a musical accompaniment for this episode: Mike's original jazz composition, "In a Bookish Mood," performed entirely on the kazoo and theremin, two instruments Mike does not know how to play.

This week, Janet and Mike discuss Laura van den Berg’s Find Me, while traversing a hellish post-apocalyptic landscape, Mad Max-style. Will they turn on each other by the end? There’s only one way to find out. But yes. Yes, they will. Discussed in this episode: South by Southwest, Kansas, disease, supermarkets, cough syrup, depression, Katniss Everdeen, Florida, California by Edan Lepucki, Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel, suburban marriages, twentysomethings in Brooklyn, cold-pressed juice, H1N1, bird flu, swine flu, Ebola, mad cow disease. Discussed in next week’s episode: After narrowly escaping the Jade ruins, Janet and Mike agree to split up and meet in 48 hours at the abandoned hospital. But can Janet trust Mike? Find out the answer, which is “no,” on next week’s episode!

This week, Janet and Mike discuss Signs Preceding the End of the World by Yuri Herrera, translated from the Spanish by Lisa Dillman. It is about a young woman who may be dead. But maybe she’s not. Or maybe she was not dead at the beginning of the book but is dead at the end. We’re not entirely sure, but we love it. Topics discussed in this episode: Mexico, border crossing, sinkholes, Gabriel García Márquez, death, family, peace, journeys, immigration, the end of the world, Odyssey by Homer, childhood, badassery, New Orleans, The Fault in Our Stars by John Green.

Welcome to The Book Report presented by The Millions! This week we decided to play Marry, Blog, Kill, the literary party game sweeping the nation. Discussed in this week's episode: social media, Judy Blume, John Green, JK Rowling, marriage, shit getting real, Harry Potter, Gryffindor, Jon Ronson, David Mitchell, Neil Gaiman, murder, Jennifer Weiner, George RR Martin, Brookline Booksmith, John Jeremiah Sullivan, Duff McKagan, Guns n' Roses, Axl Rose's Valentine's Day tweet, nerd scarves.

In this episode, we take a long look into Janet's middle-school psyche, the hairstyles of manic pixie dream boys, and one of the most acclaimed young adult books in a long while: Vivian Apple at the End of the World by Katie Coyle. Also discussed in this episode: religion, gender roles, fundamentalism, the Rapture, road trips, unrealistically wonderful boys with tousled brown hair, Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell, John Green, mix tapes, best friends, and God.

This week, Janet has some issues about Tim Johnston's Descent. But how will her concerns affect Mike, who, as a man, is the central protagonist of this show? Also discussed in this episode: Colorado, kidnapping, going quietly insane, disappearing mothers, the easily bruised and all-important male psyche, realism, Cormac McCarthy, True Detective, Parenthood, violence, madness, despair, and, most importantly, men learning things about themselves.

This week, Janet and Mike talk about a man named Georgie who makes bad decisions and a man named Woodrow (well, Tommy, actually) who made good decisions. For the most part. Discussed in this episode: Turtleface and Beyond: Stories by Arthur Bradford, Wilson by A. Scott Berg, Christmas trees, wood chippers, Fargo (dir. Joel Coen), George Saunders, Michael Chabon, Gary Shteyngart, Woodrow Wilson, the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln, Reconstruction, Janet's nerdy ruler with the names of all the American presidents, chronic intestinal problems, diarrhea, James Garfield, "trouble in Central America," Theodore Roosevelt, World War I, and Charles J. Guiteau.

This week, Mike talks about Jean-Patrick Manchette's The Mad and the Bad, and we beg American publishers to bring more violent nihilism to the literary scene. We are kind, gentle people, but sometime we like reading about murderers, and there is nothing wrong with that. At least according to Mike's therapist. (Mike's therapist is a dog.) Also discussed in this episode: Care Bears, hacksaws, plane crashes, orphans, insane asylums, France, spoiled brats, Breaking Bad, Cormac McCarthy, Chuck Palahniuk, and morals.

This week Janet talks to Australian documentarian and now crime writer John Safran about his new book, God'll Cut You Down, in which he moves to Mississippi for a year, befriends a murderer, and has no idea how to write about it.

Happy New Year, everybody, and welcome back to The Book Report presented by The Millions! We hope that all of you had a great 2014. But we know you didn’t, because 2014 was a stupid garbage year, and nothing good happened, except the founding of The Book Report presented by The Millions, which ruled, but otherwise, let’s just all agree never to discuss 2014 ever again. Moving on! Discussed in this episode: A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James, Bob Marley, As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner, profanity, destination weddings, violence, Cool Runnings (dir. Jon Turteltaub), Roberto Bolaño, William T. Vollmann. Not discussed in this episode: For the first time in this show’s history, there is actually nothing not discussed in this episode. Somehow, we actually talk about literally everything. And it’s only, like, five minutes! Honestly, we’re just as surprised as you are.

Discussed in this episode: tours de force, Geek Sublime by Vikram Chandra, Monstrous Affections: An Anthology of Beastly Tales edited by Kelly Link and Gavin J. Grant, An Untamed State by Roxane Gay, Constance by Patrick McGrath, Joyce Carol Oates, Woody Allen, Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov, Benedict Cumberbatch, emoji, Guns N’ Roses, Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs, Dracula by Bram Stoker, The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, regrets, 10:04 by Ben Lerner, Jeff VanderMeer, The Fever by Megan Abbott, minor traffic incidents. Discussed in this episode, but cut for time: Guy Clark, Jason Diamond, Emmylou Harris, the city of Memphis, cricket bats, Oy, I’m Right Knackered, Innit? by Zadie Smith, Gerald Ford, whiskers on kittens, cream-colored ponies, snowflakes.

Discussed in this episode: God’ll Cut You Down by John Safran, cowboy hats, God, whiskey, white supremacists, murder, Australia, Mississippi, The Journalist and the Murderer by Janet Malcolm, Truman Capote, Walmart gift cards, Let Evening Come by Jane Kenyon, nature, God (again), animals, death, Christmas, Dylan Thomas, Armageddon (dir. Michael Bay).

In this holiday-themed episode, Janet Potter and Michael Schaub discuss the two most important things about Thanksgiving: movies and pie. Janet recommends three pie cookbooks: The Hoosier Mama Book of Pie by Paula Haney, The Four & Twenty Blackbirds Pie Book by Emily Elsen and Melissa Elsen, and Pies and Tarts for Dinner and Dessert by Stephane Reynaud. Meanwhile, Michael, who only knows how to make one kind of pie (chocolate-pecan-bourbon) talks about Our Secret Life in the Movies by Michael McGriff and J.M. Tyree. covercoverAlso discussed in this episode: aspirational baking, rhubarb pie, Janet’s mockery of people from France and Texas, confirmation bias, Potemkin pies, The Criterion Collection, the 1980s, Ronald Reagan, Ratcatcher (dir. Lynne Ramsay), George Washington (dir. David Gordon Green), Antichrist (dir. Lars von Trier), Paul Blart: Mall Cop (dir. Steve Carr), The Beastie Boys, David Letterman, and — we all saw this coming — Axl Rose.