The Worst Century

Ask a 22-year old White Man!: Murakami, Paolini, Sebold


Listen Later

Ian and Page, your two favorite store-brand English professors, have put together a syllabus for reading our way to an understanding of the 21st Century.

Normalcy did not return... But never fear! We're still here! (And we might be coming at you a bit more than usual as we start the year and clear out the backlog from 2025 recordings.) Today, you're hearing our conversation about the Goodreads Most Popular books of 2002: Eragon* by Christopher Paolini, The Lovely Bones* by Alice Sebold, and Kafka on the Shore* by Haruki Murakami. We get into how all straight boys need brothers and mentors, the Missing White Girl Industrial Complex(TM), the dangers of woo-woo spiritualism and "taking space" on community work, and more!

Links:

  • Page: BlueSky, Letterboxd
  • Ian: Substack, BlueSky, Letterboxd
  • Other Links: The ALEX Awards, Origin of Eragon, "Ezra Klein Just..."
  • Subscribe to get our next episode where we will discuss the critics' choice books of the year 2002. We'll be reading The Russian Debutante's Handbook* by Gary Shteyngart, Perma Red* by Debra Magpie Earling, and Caramelo* by Sandra Cisneros.

    As always, consider following and leaving us a rating and review. If you like what you hear, share the pod far and wide!

    Our thanks to Chris Delano for editing support. Music: "MTV (Pop, Britney Spears)" from BigBadBeats.

    * All book links redirect to our affiliate account on Bookshop.org, helping to fund the podcast.

    ...more
    View all episodesView all episodes
    Download on the App Store

    The Worst CenturyBy Ian Gillham