32.5 - We Read to the Abyss and the Abyss Reads Back at Us

FromThe Bookstore

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32.5 - We Read to the Abyss and the Abyss Reads Back at Us

FromThe Bookstore

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Length:

38 minutes

Released:

Oct 16, 2018

Format:

Podcast episode

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This week's All Horror October installment: Short Stories inspired by our worst fears. What scares us most? And were we able to find stories that evoked that fear? Find out! We read The Raft by Stephen King, and The Screwfly Solution by James Tiptree, Jr. Next time we will be discussing The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle, and The Horror at Red Hook by HP Lovecraft.

Released:

Oct 16, 2018

Format:

Podcast episode

Titles in the series (100)

It's like a book club, but we actually read the book. Join hosts Becca and Corinne as they recreate their days working and hanging out at their local independent book store.

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01 - The Idiot: Becca and Corinne welcome you to The Bookstore's first episode and discuss Elif Batuman's 2017 novel, "The Idiot." Segments: Working at a a bookstore "The Idiot" discussion Translation Game Find "The Idiot" at a local bookseller near... by The Bookstore
54 min listen
4.5 - What's Norman Mailer Going To Do With a $100 Bill?: On our first ever between the book episode (a minisode, a .5, whatever you want to call it!) we bring you the story of the Native American literature world's very own Rachel Dolezal. Becca and Corinne try to break down John Smelcer's many grifting... by The Bookstore
22 min listen
15.5 - Ursula K. Le Guin: Corinne and Becca discuss two short stories by the late Ursula K. Le Guin and fall in love. The stories read for this episode: She Unnamed Them and The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas Our next discussion will be about An American Marriage by Tayari... by The Bookstore
25 min listen
9.5 - Literary Scandals 101: Never Trust a Memoir: So we're not actually talking about memoirs, that was just a funny line that I said when we were recording this. But we are talking Literary Scandals! All of the dirty, wordy, fraud you can handle this week on My Favorite Literary Scandal. We're off... by The Bookstore
39 min listen
12.5 - Feuds - Please Don't Ruin Marlon James For Us: Since scandals were so much fun, we thought we'd try our hand at talking literary feuds! It's sort of like an episode of Ryan Murphy's Feud, but in a podcast and about people who write books instead of a TV show about glamorous actresses. Next week we... by The Bookstore
34 min listen
06 - Go Tell It on the Mountain: This week we discuss Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin, one of the American Civil Rights Movements lesser taught leaders. We look adoringly at his treatment of women, and wrack our brains to understand some more obscure Biblical references.... by The Bookstore
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Welcome To The Bookstore: Welcome to The Bookstore. It's like a like a book club but we actually read the book. Take a listen to our series promo to hear more about the show and highlights from upcoming episodes. by The Bookstore
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07 - Stay With Me: Your Weekly Reminder by The Bookstore
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02 - Parable of the Sower: This episode Becca and Cori discuss the Hulu series that everyone was talking about two months ago, play a game of Title Mashup, and really get into Octavia E. Butler's "Parable of the Sower." If you've got a Title Mashup for us, send it to and... by The Bookstore
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03 - Voices from Chernobyl: Welcome back to The Bookstore, citizens of Earth! This time Becca and Corinne talk about their Read Around the World Challenge and discuss Svetlana Alexievich's Nobel Prize winning oral history, Voices from Chernobyl. Becca's actually been there!... by The Bookstore
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8.5 - Okay - Look - We Know We're Wrong About Romance: Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Mystery, Thriller, Literary Fiction, Horror, NEW WEIRD. There's a lot of genre out there. But what does any of it even mean? We have a lot of questions. And maybe some answers. (No guarantees). This episode was inspired by two... by The Bookstore
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11.5 - We Love Flightless Birds (The New Zealand Episode): Becca and Corinne talk about a being tourists in the country of New Zealand, about how some english words don't mean what you think and others mean a lot of things, and about the book Corinne went there to buy (j/k that would be an irresponisble... by The Bookstore
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7.5 - Mah Fravrit Thing is Gersberms: The Berkstore Talks Goosebumps by The Bookstore
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08 - My Favorite Thing is Monsters Vol. 1: Doing Justice By Grendel by The Bookstore
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6.5 - Award for Best Clone Fiction Goes To...: Book Awards by The Bookstore
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05 - Gilead: This week Becca and Corinne read Gilead by Marilyn Robinson because their first guest, Josh Weston, told them to! Today's episode includes thoughtful discussion of a novel about an intentional and intelligent elderly pastor, weird anecdotes about... by The Bookstore
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10.5 - 2017 In Review: Words is Hard: This week we introduce a new corrections segment and talk about our year in books with some recommended reading you haven't heard us discuss on the podcast. Books mentioned: Pachinko by Min Jin Lee The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin Infomacracy by... by The Bookstore
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11 - The Vegetarian: It's The 90's by The Bookstore
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12 - Hollywood Wives: Happy New Year! We're kicking 2018 off by chatting about Jackie Collins' catty bonkbuster Hollywood Wives. Content Warning! This episode talks about sex. Like a lot, because we're talking about a book by Jackie Collins. It's not hot sex, it's not even... by The Bookstore
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13 - Future Home of the Living God by The Bookstore
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04 - My Sweet Audrina: These People Should Go To Jail by The Bookstore
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5.5 - 2nd Best Audrina: We're back for a new mini episode! Like Audrina we just couldn't leave Whitefern. This week we watched Lifetime's movie adaptation of My Sweet Audrina. You can own for just $2.99! Next week we'll be discussing an actual classic, and... by The Bookstore
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16 - An American Marriage: We've got a spoiler free discussion and review of Tayari Jones's An American Marriage for our newest episode. It's a beautiful novel that changes every time we think about it. We picked this before Oprah announced it, so we'll be owning knowing that... by The Bookstore
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10 - The Fifth Season: Sorry we're late, and sorry for the inaccuracies, we'll be addressing some of our mis-speaks in next week's episode. Now that that's out of the way: We're back! And this week we are discussing N.K. Jemisin's 2013 fantasy novel The Fifth Season. There... by The Bookstore
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15 - A Week To Be Wicked: Becca and Corinne make good on their promise from Episode 8.5 to read a romance novel. This week they discuss how the literature world at large has often maligned romance and they talk about the book they chose, A Week To Be Wicked by Tessa Dare.... by The Bookstore
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13.5 - The Canon Can Do Better: A Little Shade to Mark Twain by The Bookstore
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20 - Swing Time: Well, Instagram voted and we read Swing Time by Zadie Smith. It was our first foray into her writing and probably not the best place to start. A paradoxical novel that somehow has a ton going on and nothing at all, we try to pull back the curtain in... by The Bookstore
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14 - The Best We Could Do: This week Becca and Corinne talk about graphic memoirs and specifically about Thi Bui's The Best We Could Do. Corinne also remembers the name for the pages of the book that are immediately after the cover. It felt like a big deal at the time. More... by The Bookstore
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22.5 - 12 Rules for Spotting Red Flag Books: A wise woman once said, "Sometimes books can tell you a lot about a person, and sometimes they can't, but sometimes they really can." And that wise person was Corinne. This week, Becca and Corinne are inspired by alt-right darling Jordan Peterson's... by The Bookstore
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17.5 - We Hire a Witch to Make Us Look Like Patti Smith on the Cover of Horses: We're fangirling hard this week, so you know it's serious because we don't do that unless Becca is talking about Bones. Patti Smith is great and a beautiful writer and I wish I could dress like her and she has done a lot of cool things. So listen to... by The Bookstore
37 min listen

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Becca is Never Going to Read 'It Ends With Us' Part I: 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... by The Bookstore
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173 - The Employees: Perhaps our most referential episode, ever. The book: The art it was created to accompany: Books (many are also Movies/TV shows) Mentioned: by Phillip K. Dick (movie is titled Bladerunner) by William Gibson by James S.A. Corey by Arthur C.... by The Bookstore
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172 - Latitudes of Longing: 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... by The Bookstore
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171 - The Extinction of Irena Rey by Jennifer Croft: It's a book by a translator that's a book by a translator that's translated by a translator about translators translating a book and we loved it. There are also some major time spoilers, but we give good warnings this time. Next time we are reading .... by The Bookstore
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170 - I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem: Now THIS is the type of historical fiction that we love. Corinne's pick for March's prompt to read a book with a name in the title is . This novel is a fictionalized account of Tituba, an enslaved woman from Barbados who became the first person... by The Bookstore
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169 - Bless Me, Ultima: Today we discuss . This is one of the first books of Chicano/a Literature, with Rudolfo Anaya considered one of the founders of the literary movement. It's a coming-of-age story that weaves Catholicism with traditional and indigenous beliefs, and the... by The Bookstore
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168 - My Garden (Book): by Jamaica Kincaid: This week we read and discussed It's memoir, it's essays, it's history, it's botany, it's maybe not what you'd normally choose to read if you're a fan of our typical fare, but it has a lot of great ideas to think and talk about. You should still read... by The Bookstore
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167 - Priestdaddy: For our first read of the February Bookstore Challenge Prompt (read a memoir written by a writer) Corinne chose by Patricia Lockwood. It's a memoir about being a poet and having your dad literally be a Catholic priest. And we're of divided opinions... by The Bookstore
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166 - True North: Our second book for January's prompt to read a book set in a place where you're from is Jim Harrison's True North. True North is set mostly in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and follows David Burkett, descendant of lumber barons as he... by The Bookstore
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165 - Daughters of Eve: Our first book of the year! is set in the fictional town of Modesta, Michigan, thus fulfilling January's prompt to read a book set in the place where you're from (we're both from Michigan). A new teacher has come to town and she begins to help a... by The Bookstore
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164 - Our 2023 Review and the 2024 Bookstore Challenge: Happy New Year! Out with the old (reviewing last years reading) and in with the new (walking through the 2024 Bookstore Challenge prompts). Books we will be reading in January: by Lois Duncan (look for one published before the 2010s to avoid any... by The Bookstore
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163 - Y/N: Last book of the year! It's Becca's pick for December's prompt to read a book by an author who shares the first initial of your surname is by Esther Yi. We follow a young woman as she descends further into an obsession with a member of a... by The Bookstore
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162 - Ice: First book for December's prompt to read a book by an author who shares your surname or first initial of your surname is . This is a sci-fi or slipstream novel about a man searching for a girl in a world that is slowly being consumed by ice. ... by The Bookstore
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161 - The Yield: November's prompt is to read a book about death and Becca’s pick is . The novel has three different narratives, one being about August, an Aboriginal Australian woman returning to her hometown after her grandfather, Poppy, dies. The second narrative... by The Bookstore
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160 - Death With Interruptions: November's prompt is to read a book about death and Corinne's pick is . This book is about an unnamed country where suddenly one New Year's, death stops happening. It reads like a textbook at times, going over logistical issues and government... by The Bookstore
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159 - The Dispossessed: This week was an extra week for October (yes, technically it's November, apologies, I've had some personal stuff going on), so we had our Patreon Patrons pick the book and they chose . The novel is one of the six major novels of The Hainish... by The Bookstore
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158 - Babel-17: Recommended titles: and * *These are NOT affiliate links, The Bookstore will NOT receive commission from Bookshop from any purchases made while visiting these links. This is simply the most convenient non-Amazon related listing to link to. Please... by The Bookstore
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157 - Present Tense Machine: Our first book for October's prompt to read a book set in an alternate dimension or different planet is . This is a dreamlike, speculative novel about a woman who is pulled into an alternate universe. Content warnings: None that we can think of. Our... by The Bookstore
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156 - Gorilla, My Love: We read by Toni Cade Bambara. This short story collection was first published in 1972 and features 15 stories, and the incredible voices of folks in New York City and sometimes in the rural south. Content Warnings (for the book, less so for the... by The Bookstore
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155 - The Book of Goose: Our first book for September's prompt to Read a Book with an Animal in the Title is . We loved reading about this obsessive, codependent relationships between two girls in post-war France. Content warnings: mentions of violence and sexual... by The Bookstore
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154 - Crazy Brave: For our last book in August, Corinne picked . Content Warning: racism, abuse, alcoholism Our next book discussion will be . You can find it at your local bookstore or library and read along with us. If you want to read along with The... by The Bookstore
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153 - Woman of Light: Woman of Light by Kali Fajardo-Anstine follows several generations of a family in the Colorado area. Fair warning, we have some criticisms about this book's writing, so if you loved it, you may want to skip this episode. Content advisory:... by The Bookstore
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152 - The Books of Jacob: Or: A Fantastic Journey Across Seven Borders, five languages, And Three Major Religions, not counting the minor sects. Told by the DEAD, supplemented by the AUTHOR, drawing from a range of BOOKS, and aided by IMAGINATION, the which being the greatest... by The Bookstore
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151 - Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands: July's prompt for The Bookstore Challenge 2023 is to Read a Book Over 500 Pages, and/or a Graphic Novel. Our pick for the 500 pager is coming up later this month, but in the meantime, we have a graphic novel, . Is it this... by The Bookstore
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150 - Weetzie Bat: This week we read Weetzie Bat and Witch Baby by Francesca Lia Block (both can also be found in the anthologized book Dangerous Angels). These books were massively popular with off-beat teens in the 90s and have a huge following. Will they still manage... by The Bookstore
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148 - Time Shelter: As chosen by our Patrons (plus Corinne), our extra book for May is . Gospodinov is Bulgarian, thus fulfilling the prompt to read a book by an author from a country you've never been to, as neither of us have been to Bulgaria. And as a... by The Bookstore
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32.5 - We Read to the Abyss and the Abyss Reads Back at Us

32.5 - We Read to the Abyss and the Abyss Reads Back at Us

Description

Titles in the series (100)

More Episodes from The Bookstore

Related podcast episodes