Hello, friends. We have a fun one this week discussing the 1926 novel, "Lolly Willowes" by Sylvia Townsend Warner. A novel about a woman becoming a witch but is that what it's really about? We had a great time unpacking what makes this novel tick. Also, Peter surprised Matt with a review of the latest from Matt Haig, "The Midnight Train." A novel that doesn't really do much different from its…
"You guys never read anything super popular or relevant!" If you've ever yelled that at us in person or online well we have an episode for you. We do our best to discuss, theorize, and dissect the mega super popular romantic fantasy, "A Court of Thorns and Roses" by Sarah J Maas. Very enjoyable episode! Let us know if you think we should continue on with the series. Contact Us: Instagram…
On this week's episode, we review the latest novel by Ben Lerner. We discuss auto-fictions limitations and why we were left frustrated by this potentially thought provoking novel. And, finally, we discussed adding a beach read to our TBR, (since Lerner was so adamant that his latest novel was most definitely not a beach read) If you've read "Transcription" let us know your thoughts. As always,…
A jam pack episode this week. We discuss the final Hemingway short story on our TBR, "The Snows of Kilimanjaro," a work that is powerful while being elusive. *Side note, Peter feels like he mispronounced this story the whole way through, he barely sleeps #Dadlife. And finally, we have a spirited discussion about Ben Lerner, where he sits in the literary world, and predicting our reactions to his…
This week we are discussing the popular 2020 novel, "The Midnight Library" by Matt Haig. A novel that means well, but does that mean it's a good book? We discuss our thoughts on the book and the genre we think it fits into along with a myriad of other topics* *Other topics include stomach illnesses, Zachary Taylor, copious amounts of cherries, chilled milk, raw milk, and more. As always thanks for…
After more than 40 minutes of tech issues we were finally able to record this weeks episode. (If this episode is bad...blame the tech gods) And after a little bit of a rough start we find our rhythm and discuss the short story "Enoch Soames" by Max Beerbohm. From there we discuss getting into rouble, Peter's backpack full of books, and adding books to the TBR. Books added: The Dog of the South by…
We're back this week to discuss the George Saunders short story, "Victory Lap." (But not before a long intro on the NFL playoffs) We discuss the nuance of the story and give our thoughts on what Saunders is going for with this odd but powerful story. We end the episode with adding a new book to our TBR, this time we selected a favorite of ours, P.G. Wodehouse. *Also, I apologize for the coughing,…
Happy New Year! We're excited to be podcasting for another year. For our first podcast of 2026 we decided to wrap up our holiday season by talking about the books we received and the holiday movies we watched. In addition, we also decided to offer a glimpse into the content our followers over at Patreon can be expecting. We have Peter's new reading project, plus nominations for the 2026 author…
We are back discussing books and Matt's sauna life. We begin with the latter but focus this week on the 1983 novel, "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford" by Ron Hansen. We dive into the myth of Jesse James, and where the story fits into the greater picture of American history. Lots to unpack with this story and a rare time where we disagree about our overall enjoyment of a…
We're back, and this week Peter has a stack of books he is trying to convince Matt to read. Why? Because, Matt's team lost to Peter's team, and that's the breaks of the game. Which sad European book will Matt choose...listen to find out (or just scroll to the bottom). Finally, we decide which Christmas movies to watch this year! Matt has some classic suggestions, while Peter tries to break the…