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Last episode for January is Pastoralia by George Saunders, this is a book of short stories that all have the trademark Saunders satirical edge. Content warning: swearing, brief mentions of death and a sick child Our next book discussion will be The Story of a Goat by Perumal Murugan. You can find it at your local bookstore or library and read along with us. If you want to read along with The Bookstore Challenge 2024, you can join us on The StoryGraph to see what others are reading for each month and get ideas for your TBR: The Bookstore Challenge 2025. Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD. Website | Patreon
New year, same us. We discuss (more like complain about, to be honest) Maggie O'Farrell's novel After You'd Gone. January's prompt is to read a book published in the year 2000. Our next book discussion will be Pastoralia by George Saunders. You can find it at your local bookstore or library and read along with us. If you want to read along with The Bookstore Challenge 2024, you can join us on The StoryGraph to see what others are reading for each month and get ideas for your TBR: The Bookstore Challenge 2024. Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD. Website | Patreon
We are back and we have a recap of our reading in 2024, along with the challenge prompts for 2025, since I don't know how we chose books before we starting following these prompts. The challenge prompts start around 37:04. Prompts from past years. Our books for January are After You'd Gone by Maggie O'Farrell and Pastoralia by George Saunders. If you want to read along with The Bookstore Challenge 2025, you can join us on The StoryGraph to see what others are reading for each month and get ideas for your TBR: The Bookstore Challenge 2025. Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD. Website | Patreon
Unfortunately, we are not releasing an episode today because we’re going on hiatus. We are fine in terms of physical health and have not experienced personal family tragedy, we just need to take a break right now. I am sorry to be springing this on everyone without advance notice, it’s just something we have to do right now. Thank you to all of you who subscribe, who have ever listened to any of our episodes, gave us a good review, and absolutely all of our lovely patrons. We will absolutely be back, the world needs our book opinions! This feed will be the best way to keep up with our timeline to return, I will give another update in December as to what our plans are. Talk to you all soon, thanks for sticking around!
We were in Chicago during the week we should have been recording and editing this episode, so apologies for the lateness! Today we talk about The Empusium: A Health Resort Horror Story by Olga Tokarczuk. Next time we'll be talking about our first choice for November's prompt to read a book about a lost city or civilization, and that is Hav by Jan Morris. The second November book is Four Lost Cities by Annalee Newitz. Find them at your local bookstore or library and read along with us! Content Warning for episode: misogyny, abuse, assault, general swearing and vulgar language Books mentioned: The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson, Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney, and Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy. The quote Becca couldn't think of is by Marilyn Frye The TikToker Corinne mentioned If you want to read along with The Bookstore Challenge 2024, you can join us on The StoryGraph to see what others are reading for each month and get ideas for your TBR: The Bookstore Challenge 2024. Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD. Website | Patreon
Google Doc for Helene Recovery Resources LESBIAN. VAMPIRES. We read The Gilda Stories by Jewelle Gomez for October's prompt to read a book in one of the following genres: monster/vampire/gothic. Content warning: We briefly talk about violence and murder. The book also contains scenes of the main character experiencing racism. Our next book is The Empusium: A Health Resort Horror Story by Olga Tokarczuk and translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones. If you want to read along with The Bookstore Challenge 2024, you can join us on The StoryGraph to see what others are reading for each month and get ideas for your TBR: The Bookstore Challenge 2024. Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD. Website | Patreon
This book has everything, except for an idea of how novels are formulated. Our next read will be The Gilda Stories by Jewelle Gomez.
For September's prompt to read a book by a celebrity, Corinne has chosen The Morning Show Murders by Al Roker and Dick Lochte. Al Roker is a tv personality and the resident weatherman of NBC's Today show. Content warnings: swearing, discussion of different types of murder, offensive accents (in the book, we do not quote the book), sexism Our next book discussion will be Swan by Naomi Campbell. You can find it at your local bookstore or library and read along with us. If you want to read along with The Bookstore Challenge 2024, you can join us on The StoryGraph to see what others are reading for each month and get ideas for your TBR: The Bookstore Challenge 2024. Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD. Website | Patreon
Our last book for August's prompt to read a book that won a translation award is Every Fire You Tend by Sema Kaygusuz. Very poetic and beautifully written, it might have been too spiritual for us to fully engage with. Content warning: mentions of ethnic cleansing and genocide, rape, sexual assault Our next book discussion will be The Morning Show Murders by Al Roker. You can find it at your local bookstore or library and read along with us. If you want to read along with The Bookstore Challenge 2024, you can join us on The StoryGraph to see what others are reading for each month and get ideas for your TBR: The Bookstore Challenge 2024. Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD. Website | Patreon
Our first book for August's prompt to read a book that won a translation prize is Shubeik Lubeik by Deena Mohamed. Corinne picked this one, and we both loved it. It's a beautifully illustrated graphic novel split into 3 stories, all revolving around 3 First Class Wishes. What are first class wishes? Listen and learn about the incredibly imaginative world Mohamed created! Our next book discussion will be Every Fire You Tend, by Sema Kaygusuz. You can find it at your local bookstore or library and read along with us. If you want to read along with The Bookstore Challenge 2024, you can join us on The StoryGraph to see what others are reading for each month and get ideas for your TBR: The Bookstore Challenge 2024. Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD. Website | Patreon
Coming in late with our discussion of Nobel Laureat Kenzaburō Ōe's The Silent Cry. This book is difficult in basically every way a book can be, so be warned. Content warnings: suicide, sexual assault, violence. August's Challenge prompt is to read a book that won an award for translation. Our first read will be the graphic novel Shubeik Lubeik by Deena Mohamed (also published as Your Wish is My Command in other English speaking countries). Find it at your local bookstore or library and read along with us. If you want to read along with The Bookstore Challenge 2024, you can join us on The StoryGraph to see what others are reading for each month and get ideas for your TBR: The Bookstore Challenge 2024. Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD. Website | Patreon
Look! You just got another free Patreon Episode of Corinne spoiling the ever living life out of It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover. Next week we will have our discussion of Kenzaburo Oe's The Silent Cry. Then August's prompt is to read a book that won a translation award and our first selection for that will be Deena Mohamed's Shubeik Lubeik (otherwise known as Your Wish is My Command in other English editions). Content warnings: domestic violence, sex, we spoil the entire book and make fun of Colleen Hoover's writing If you want to read along with The Bookstore Challenge 2024, you can join us on The StoryGraph to see what others are reading for each month and get ideas for your TBR: The Bookstore Challenge 2024. Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD. Website | Patreon
Corinne's pick for July's prompt to read a book published 20 years before you were born is The Stud by Jackie Collins. It's a wild ride with lots of rich and rich-adjacent people exhibiting poor impulse control! Contains: sex, swearing, discussion of homophobia and transphobia, other offensive behaviors, attempted rape Our next book discussion will be The Silent Cry by Kenzaburo Oe. You can find it at your local bookstore or library and read along with us. If you want to read along with The Bookstore Challenge 2024, you can join us on The StoryGraph to see what others are reading for each month and get ideas for your TBR: The Bookstore Challenge 2024. Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD. Website | Patreon
Let this be a sign that if the only Nabokov book you've read is Lolita, you should remedy that. Despair is Corinne's pick for June's prompt to read a book about twins or doppelgangers. Content warning: mention of suicide, murder, Dostoevsky Our next book discussion will be The Stud by Jackie Collins. You can find it at your local bookstore or library and read along with us. If you want to read along with The Bookstore Challenge 2024, you can join us on The StoryGraph to see what others are reading for each month and get ideas for your TBR: The Bookstore Challenge 2024. Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD. Website | Patreon
Today we discuss Wise Children by Angela Carter, a book about twins, fulfilling June's prompt to read a book with twins or doppelgangers. It's Angela Carter, so everything is in excess, not just one set of twins, but multiple, plus all the twins share the same birthday. There's a confusing family tree, there's a housefire, there's an attempted Hollywood career, and there's bizarre behavior from the characters right down to the last page. Content Warning: incest, death, grooming If you want to read along with The Bookstore Challenge 2024, you can join us on The StoryGraph to see what others are reading for each month and get ideas for your TBR: The Bookstore Challenge 2024. Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD. Website | Patreon
You ready for a messy book? This week we read The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives by Lola Shoneyin. Next time we will be reading Wise Children by Angela Carter. Content warnings: sexual assault, domestic violence, fertility issues. If you want to read along with The Bookstore Challenge 2024, you can join us on The StoryGraph to see what others are reading for each month and get ideas for your TBR: The Bookstore Challenge 2024. Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD. Website | Patreon
We're back! Becca's still suffering from a sinus infection, but we're pressing on anyway. The Quick and the Dead by Joy Williams is Corinne's pick for May's prompt to read a book recommended by your favorite author. Joy Williams (in general) is recommended by many authors, among them Catherine Lacey and Sigrid Nunez. Content warning: suicidal ideations, mention of genitalia, violent death, animal death Our next book discussion will be The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives by Lola Shoneyin. Find it at your local bookstore or library and read along with us! If you want to read along with The Bookstore Challenge 2024, you can join us on The StoryGraph to see what others are reading for each month and get ideas for your TBR: The Bookstore Challenge 2024. Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD. Website | Patreon
Due to some unforseen circumstances this week we are bringing you an episode from our Patreon about Colleen Hoover's massively popular novel It Ends With Us in leiu of our regularly scheduled book discussion. We will hopefully be back with that next week. Here is the Slate article by Chels Upton mentioned at the top of the episode. Our next book discussions will be The Quick and the Dead by Joy Williams and The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives by Lola Shoneyin. If you want to read along with The Bookstore Challenge 2024, you can join us on The StoryGraph to see what others are reading for each month and get ideas for your TBR: The Bookstore Challenge 2024. Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD. Website | Patreon
Perhaps our most referential episode, ever. The book: The Employees by Olga Ravn The art it was created to accompany: Consumed Future Spewed Up as Present by Lea Guldditte Hestlund Books (many are also Movies/TV shows) Mentioned: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Phillip K. Dick (movie is titled Bladerunner) Neuromancer by William Gibson The Expanse by James S.A. Corey 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke Dune by Frank Herbert Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer The Membranes by Chi Ta-Wei Babel-17 by Samuel R. Delany I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman Other Art Mentioned: Mr. Weekend by Mike Simi Meow Wolf Severance (Apple TV) Arrival (movie) Our next read is The Quick and the Dead by Joy Williams. Find it at your local bookstore or library and read along with us. If you want to read along with The Bookstore Challenge 2024, you can join us on The StoryGraph to see what others are reading for each month and get ideas for your TBR: The Bookstore Challenge 2024. Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD. Website | Patreon
April's prompt is to read a book of ecofiction, and Becca's pick is Latitudes of Longing by Shubhangi Swarup. Content warning: miscarriage, death in childbirth, sexual topics Our next book will be The Employees by Olga Ravn, as chosen by our Patreon Patrons. Find it at your local library or bookstore and read along with us! If you want to read along with The Bookstore Challenge 2024, you can join us on The StoryGraph to see what others are reading for each month and get ideas for your TBR: The Bookstore Challenge 2024. Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD. Website | Patreon
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Thank you for your thoughts on this book. I agree that in places the writing style made the reader pause and take a closer look at what the author intended to do. However, the text itself answers many of the questions you raise (such as how Sam got the trunk on the horse). One question I agree was not answered satisfactory, however, is why Lucy didn't take a bath. Although even there, I can see reasons why she wouldn't have. I feel that on scales both globally and locally you have entirely misunderstood this work, the characters it creates and their motivations, its themes, and its craft. I would encourage you to reread it more closely with an eye toward understanding the perspective of the characters instead of trying to shoehorn their decisions and motivations into your rationalizations.
I just read Silence of the Girls and I was blown away. I LOVED Circe and Song of Achilles, but I have to say Silence blew them away.