Literal Neighbors

Marjan Kamali's The Lion Women of Tehran has us talking about how insane it is that far less than half the people can decide how a country can be run, to the detriment of pretty much everyone -- seems bizarre, right?! We're also talking about dogs doing stunts, snow, and the movie of the year, so for a heavy topic (at an increasingly heavy time), we've still got plenty of nonsense to distract you...

This week we're celebrating our 100th episode! We have games, we have snacks, and we almost have an idea of the books we've read for these last 100 episodes! Join us as we try to remember some of our past books, see how our picks stack up to some of the "best of" lists, and choose the top three ice creams out of (checks notes)...three different ice creams.

We finished up Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl this week, and who knew we'd be talking about Doritos two weeks in a row? The biggest lesson we've learned in this second half is that everyone is garbage, and lots of people are creepy garbage. Know what's not creepy? The new friends in the neighborhood we're also spending some time talking about!

Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl is half over, and while we aren't totally sure how we feel, we know one thing: Nick is gross. We have thoughts about his grossness, frito pie, Cheba Hut, and so much more this week, so listen in while we contemplate what's in store for this gem of a human next week.

Jacqueline Harpman's I Who Have Never Known Men has left us with, conservatively, approximately one million questions, and we couldn't be happier to get into the non-existent weeds with everyone about them. From talk of existential crises to 'are there bugs?', we've got plenty to get into -- so listen in, and, oh yeah -- abolish ICE.

Today we're celebrating two years of reading books together! We're giving you a recap of the books we've read this 'semester' and deciding how they've aged in the last week. If there's anything we've learned from this crop of books, it's that we have a lot to learn, and even more that we should remember, so you can expect our usual bouts of forgetfulness and uncertainty as we evaluate just how...

This week, Taylor Jenkins Reid brings us the Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo...and with that many spouses, we obviously have to spend some time on some 'bedroom' talk. We're contemplating what a world with a closeted Elton John looks like, and we'd like to know what kind of hot guy everyone thinks Harry is, all while we dive into the moral conundrums that Evelyn puts us through.

New year, new illnesses, and a new take on last week's book topic! This week, we read Mineko Iwasaki's not-quite-clapback to last week's book with her Geisha, A Life. We're talking about what we learned, what we didn't learn, what we wished we learned, and what we couldn't learn from this book, all while fighting off whatever plague robbed us of our voices.

Pour yourself a proper cup of tea or sake, we're talking about Arthur Golden's Memoirs of a Geisha. This fictionalized memoir has some real-life issues and controversy around its publication, and amidst discussion about portraying culture accurately in a made up story, we're also talking tamales, driving age, and how much easier it'd be to manage geisha with smartphones.

It's a new year, and we hope you're all experiencing it in chronological order for your life. For the holiday, we read Oona Out of Order by Margarita Montimore. This time travel-ish story tackles the heavy questions: how do you successfully make and manage a ton of money with the benefit of future knowledge? And: How unreasonable is it really to just stay home for one holiday? We'll get into all...