Janie Crawford's grandmother has a plan for her life, and it's one that Janie doesn't agree with. After attempting to make the plan happen, she leaves her arranged marriage with Logan Killicks for the sweet talking Joe Starks. Starks takes Janie to Eatonville, Florida where Janie seems to be living her dream life. However, before long, she sees she is still in the same relationship she was before. After Starks dies, Janie comes across someone younger than her in Tea Cake. While Tea Cake may seem like someone you don't write home about, he gives Janie the life she has always dreamed of. One of true love. However, a storm is brewing, and things will change. Today, we cover our 2025 best read of the year: Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God. This episode is split into two parts. In part two, we're asking the tough questions. How is a book about a state's heritage banned by that state? Where does Hurston stand in top 5 books in American canon? Jason Crockett joins us as we answer these and more.

Thanks for listening!

Resources for today's episdoe:

• Their Eyes were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

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Janie Crawford's grandmother has a plan for her life, and it's one that Janie doesn't agree with. After attempting to make the plan happen, she leaves her arranged marriage with Logan Killicks for the sweet talking Joe Starks. Starks takes Janie to Eatonville, Florida where Janie seems to be living her dream life. However, before long, she sees she is still in the same relationship she was before. After Starks dies, Janie comes across someone younger than her in Tea Cake. While Tea Cake may seem like someone you don't write home about, he gives Janie the life she has always dreamed of. One of true love. However, a storm is brewing, and things will change. Today, we cover our 2025 best read of the year: Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God. This episode is split into two parts. In part one, we're asking the tough questions. Is Hurston's dialogue harmful or authentic? Would we let our daughters date Tea Cake? Did the dog bite her? Jason Crockett joins us as we answer these and much more in today's episode.

Thanks for listening!

Resources for today's episdoe:

• Their Eyes were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

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#booktube #booktok #bookstagram #ReadersofYouTube #Bookish #CurrentlyReading #BookCommunity #BookRecommendations #BookReview #BookLovers #Lit #Literature #hurston #ZoraNealeHurston

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When a stranger and his daughter are stranded, single mother Collie Wright welcomes them into her home. Little does she know that those walking up to her house will be the future half of her family, and also reveal a deep secret through an accidental murder that she has been covering up. We're asking the tough questions: What sacrifices are parents willing to make for their children? How should we as parents react if our children turn into people we didn't expect them to be? Why are those in Appalachia so connected to the land? Amy Hawkins joins us as we talk about this and more in today's episode.

Thanks for listening!

Resources for today's episode:

• The Winter People by John Ehle

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For 25 years, a local television show captured time that defined a region. WBIR's The Heartland Series began as a way to showcase the most beautiful place in the world: The Great Smoky Mountains. However, the show evolved into much more as it expanded in documenting the culture and people of East Tennessee, the Upper Cumberland, and parts of Western North Carolina. On the heels of our fantastic interview with the icon and host of The Heartland Series Bill Landry, Jason Crockett joins us as we take a walk back through some of our favorite episodes of The Heartland Series. We also play a little Appalachian vocabulary quiz, and this or that Appalachia edition.

Thanks for listening!

Resources for today's show:

• The Heartland Series
• Foxfire: Story

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#booktube #booktok #bookstagram #ReadersofYouTube #Bookish #CurrentlyReading #BookCommunity #BookRecommendations #BookReview #BookLovers #Lit #Literature #Appalachia #appalachian #easttn #Tennessee #BillLandry

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With the heart of an adventurer and the soul of a poet, Bill Landry climbed a ridge and found below him the heartland. Our land. A land of the principal people. A land full of storytellers, deep thinkers, and hard workers. Today, we have a very special guest. The legendary Bill Landry joins us and talks about his life of doing the Heartland Series on WBIR in Knoxville, the people he met, the lessons he learned, and the books he's written. Bill even talks with us about his career in theater as actor and playwright. Jason Crockett joins us as we get the chance to sit down and talk with childhood hero and East Tennessee icon, Bill Landry.

Thanks for listening!

Resources for today's episode:

• WBIR's The Heartland Series (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gPCpuxCodY)
• Appalachian Tales & Heartland Adventures by Bill Landry
• Tellin' it for the Truth by Bill Landry
• Einstein the Man by Bill Landry

#booktube #booktok #bookstagram #ReadersofYouTube #Bookish #CurrentlyReading #BookCommunity #BookRecommendations #BookReview #BookLovers #Lit #Literature #heartland #heartlandseries #BillLandry #appalachia #easttennessee #EastTN #tennessee #appalachian

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Bootlegger Marion Sylder kills a man on his way home from Atlanta back to East Tennessee. He carries the body with him back to the mountains, and dumps the body in an abandoned concrete pit. Little does he know that he end up crossing paths with the dead-man's son and becoming a mentor type figure. All the while, an old man of the mountains witnessed Sylder dump the body of the man that was murdered, and he has tended to the body the last seven years. Cormac McCarthy's debut novel follows the comings and goings of three characters with the backdrop of East Tennessee and the Smoky Mountains. There's bootlegging, there's mink trapping, and there are Wampus cats. We're asking the tough questions. Did McCarthy try too hard in his first go? How authentic are the characters that are presented in the book? Why are the Appalachian people so afraid of cats? Jason Crockett joins us today as we answer these and more.

Thanks for listening!

Resources for today's episode:

• The Orchard Keeper by Cormac McCarthy

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#booktube #booktok #bookstagram #ReadersofYouTube #Bookish #CurrentlyReading #BookCommunity #BookRecommendations #BookReview #BookLovers #Lit #Literature #mccarthy

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When Mary leaves Bill for another man, Bill becomes bitter towards women. However, when the two cross paths fifteen years later, their love lives have taken completely opposite roads. In our first review of a short-story, we look at Langston Hughes's micro-story, Early Autumn which was first published in 1950 for The Chicago Defender. We're asking the tough questions. Is micro-fiction overlooked? How can such a short story pack such a huge punch? Is this the perfect story? Hannah Randolph joins us as we answer these and more.

Thanks for listening!

Resources for today's episode:

• Early Autumn by Langston Hughes

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#booktube #booktok #bookstagram #ReadersofYouTube #Bookish #CurrentlyReading #BookCommunity #BookRecommendations #BookReview #BookLovers #Lit #Literature

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The number four book in 2025's top 5, In Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist, a shepherd named Santiago has a dream interpreted and is sent on a journey to find his treasure at the Pyramids of Egypt. Before leaving, he runs into a mysterious king who tells him about omens and his Personal Legend. The story then follows the boy's expedition for that Personal Legend while teaching us along the way how to seek our own.

Thanks for listening!

Resources for today's episode:

• The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
• Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
• The Story of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32)
• Sadie and Maud by Gwendolyn Brooks
• Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey

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#booktube #booktok #bookstagram #ReadersofYouTube #Bookish #CurrentlyReading #BookCommunity #BookRecommendations #BookReview #BookLovers #Lit #Literature

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It's time for thei first annual Deadman's Books awards, The Deadies. In this episode we will hand out awards to our books from 2025 in categories such as, the longest, the grossest, and the worst book of the year amongst others. We will also reveal our Top 5 reads from 2025, revealing our favorite book we read from the previous year. Live from Frankfurt, Germany, it's The 2025 Deadies!

Thanks for listening!

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Jason Crockett sits down with us as we look back over our favorite moments of the year. We are thankful for one year of podcasting, and are looking back at the many memories we have made this year. We have interviewed authors, discovered new books, and asked the tough questions. Also, we want to thank you all for listening along with us. Thanks for a great first year. We are looking forward to what this next year has in store for us.

Thanks for listening!

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