50 Shades of Ick

Not Quite Dead Yet

We couldn't come up with a punny name for the title of this episode and felt we'd spent quite enough time on it. This book has it all--a hate-able protagonist, just enough romance to make dying slightly inconvenient, highly questionable family dynamics, constant reminders of the main character's mortality--you know, everything you look for in a story. With this book, the author bravely asks an important question: if you knew your time was running out, would you really spend it doing all that? Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duke_Jing_of_Jin_(Ju)#cite_note-6 [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duke_Jing_of_Jin_(Ju)#cite_note-6] https://www.iflscience.com/franz-reichelt-and-the-eiffel-tower-wingsuit-incident-of-1912-79555 [https://www.iflscience.com/franz-reichelt-and-the-eiffel-tower-wingsuit-incident-of-1912-79555] https://medium.com/the-masterpiece/this-greek-painter-died-laughing-at-his-own-painting-235816e9931f [https://medium.com/the-masterpiece/this-greek-painter-died-laughing-at-his-own-painting-235816e9931f]

Support Your Local Midnight Library

This book is what happens when you take the existential dread you had as a teen and make it a novel. In this episode, host Stephanie and guest Kristin take on bestseller The Midnight Library, a book that seems to be universally loved in a way that we just don't get. Have you ever wanted to revisit every stupid decision you ever made? Main character Nora Seed does just that, and we pulled along with her to every regret she's ever had. (omg I just realized her last name is Seed and hers is the "Root" life, and you will NEVER convince me that wasn't on purpose.) Anyway, Nora learns a bunch of lessons about how life could always be worse, and that yes, sorry, this maybe really is as good as it gets.

Girl, Change Your Pants

Is it an autobiography or is it self-help? Bad news, it's both! This book made us feel both called out and offended, and left us perfectly satisfied with how unproductive we are. Bongo Comedy Background Music 60bpm by krytosss -- https://freesound.org/s/167388/ -- License: Attribution NonCommercial 3.0

50 Shades of Ick

Strap in, y'all, pun absolutely intended. This episode is all about the classic romantic fan fiction that took the world by storm and reinforced the notion that stalking is peak romance.  Ticking Clock by blukotek at https://freesound.org/s/412751/ [https://freesound.org/s/412751/] TV Show Intro Music by TheoJT at https://freesound.org/s/698508/ [https://freesound.org/s/698508/]

Discovering Witches Should Be More Exciting

Grab your favorite vintage of red wine (or a vial of O-negative, we don't judge) because this week, Stephanie and Lindsey are diving into the Bodleian Library to unpack Deborah Harkness’s A Discovery of Witches. It’s so slow we actually aged three centuries just waiting for them to hold hands.