Julia and Victoria share the final episode of Book Club discussing the Jane Austen novel about home (and the moral bankruptcy of the upper classes) that started their friendship: Mansfield Park.

Views expressed on Book Club with Julia and Victoria and bookclubwithjv.com are solely those of the hosts and not necessarily those of their employers, clients, guests, and collaborators. Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links that give us a commission if you decide to make a purchase at no additional cost to you. Learn more.

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Mentioned in this Episode:

Mansfield Park by Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

Simple Girl: The Improbable Solace of “Mansfield Park” by Anna Keesey (Los Angeles Review of Books) 

What Should I Read Next? “Episode 451 Digging into Nikki May’s delicious Mansfield Park reimagining”

Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

Recommendations:

Emma by Jane Austen

Persuasion by Jane Austen

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

Middlemarch by George Eliot

This Motherless Land by Nikki May

Currently Obsessed:

Overcompensating (TV show)

A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. LeGuin

Good Hang with Amy Pohler

Harrow the Ninthby Tamsyn Muir

Ted Lasso (TV show)

Content warning: this episode includes discussions of suicide and homophobia.

Julia and Victoria reminisce about their 20s comparing the novel Love in the Big City by Sang Young Park, translated by Anton Hur, and its recent TV adaptation. It involves a lot of pointing out red flags and crying about friendship.

Views expressed on Book Club with Julia and Victoria and bookclubwithjv.com are solely those of the hosts and not necessarily those of their employers, clients, guests, and collaborators. Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links that give us a commission if you decide to make a purchase at no additional cost to you. Learn more.

Become a Member! Shop with us on Bookshop.org! Follow the podcast on Instagram and hang out with Victoria on The StoryGraph.

Mentioned in this episode:

Love in the Big City by Sang Young Park (book)

117 Beyond the Story by BTS & Kang Myeong-seok — A Memoir or an Official Wiki? 

Love in the Big City (TV show)

Love in the Big City (film)

The Tears of an Unknown Artist, or Zaytun Pasta by Sang Young Park

Boys Love Boys Love (podcast)

Cursed Bunny by Bora Chung, English translation by Anton Hur

Anton Hur interview with Booker International Prize

True to You: A Therapist's Guide to Stop Pleasing Others and Start Being Yourself by Dr. Kathleen Smith

Film Club with Julia & Victoria

127 The Pairing by Casey McQuiston — Who Is the Elf? 

V&O: Sea Change by Gina Chung — Loneliness & Adaptation 

Recommendations:

On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

To My Star 2 (film)

The Wedding Banquet (2025 film)

Funny Girl by Nick Hornby

Marriage of a Thousand Lies by SJ Sindu

Sea Change by Gina Chung

One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston

Currently Obsessed:

Taskmaster (season 19)

The Last of Us (season 2)

Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

Slow Horses by Mick Herron

Slow Horses (TV show)

Green Frog by Gina Chung

Las Culturistas (podcast)

Julia and Victoria try to find the line between history and fantasy in The Poppy War by R. F. Kuang. They use their incredible communication skills to meet in the middle of their opposing opinions.

Views expressed on Book Club with Julia and Victoria and bookclubwithjv.com are solely those of the hosts and not necessarily those of their employers, clients, guests, and collaborators. Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links that give us a commission if you decide to make a purchase at no additional cost to you. Learn more.

Become a Member! Shop with us onBookshop.org! Follow the podcast on Instagram and hang out with Victoria onThe StoryGraph.

Mentioned in this episode:

The Poppy War by R. F. Kuang

Yellowface by R. F. Kuang

Circe by Madeline Miller

Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith

“The Fires of Pompeii” - Doctor Who, Season 4, Episode 2
“In The Poppy War Series, R.F. Kuang Asks: 'What If Mao Was A Teenage Girl?'” by Alan Yu (NPR)

Victoria’s favorite reddit review of Poppy War

A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin

Recommendations:

The Rape of Nanking by Iris Chang

Shanghai 1937 by Peter Harmson

Comfort Women by Yoshimi Yoshiaki

The Jakarta Method by Vincent Bevins

The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman

A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins

The Dragon Republic by R. F. Kuang

The Burning God by R. F. Kuang

Babel by R. F. Kuang

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke

She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan

Currently Obsessed:

SABLE, fABLE by Bon Iver (album)

Hacks, Season 4 (TV show) 

Deli Boys (TV show)

The Pitt (TV show)

True to You: A Therapist’s Guide to Stop Pleasing Others and Start Being Yourself by Dr. Kathleen Smith

Cat and Bird by Kyoko Mori

The Book Club takes a big bite of all the genres and references in Casey McQuiston’s fourth romance novel, The Pairing. Julia invents a new branch of theory entirely based on the works of J.R.R. Tolkien. Victoria calculates her Saturn Return.

Views expressed on Book Club with Julia and Victoria and bookclubwithjv.com are solely those of the hosts and not necessarily those of their employers, clients, guests, and collaborators. Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links that give us a commission if you decide to make a purchase at no additional cost to you. Learn more.

Become a Member! Shop with us on Bookshop.org! Follow the podcast on Instagram and hang out with Victoria on The StoryGraph.

Mentioned in this Episode:

The Pairing by Casey McQuiston

124 One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston — Spec-Fic-Rom WooLaWoo  (Book Club with Julia & Victoria)

One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston

085 Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston (Book Club with Julia & Victoria)

Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

I Kissed Shara Wheeler by Casey McQuiston

Pushing boundaries, breaking norms, and the ADHD brain (Casey McQuiston's story) (ADHD Aha! podcast) 

Casey McQuiston: Celebrating queer love and joy and navigating the future of romance (Bookends podcast) 

Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

Roman Holiday (1953)

Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin

The Silmarillion by J. R. R. Tolkein

The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkein

The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkein

Recommendations:

A Room with a View by E. M. Forster

A Room With a View (1985 film)

Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu

Moonlight Chicken (tv series)

Only Friends (tv series)

Novels by Jasmine Guillory

I’ll Get Back to You by Becca Grischow

Currently Obsessed:

Heaven’s Official Blessing by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu

Love in the Big City (tv show)

Julia and Victoria marvel over the masterful point of view shifts and scream about the ending of Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir. Victoria buys some lemonade.

Views expressed on Book Club with Julia and Victoria and bookclubwithjv.com are solely those of the hosts and not necessarily those of their employers, clients, guests, and collaborators. Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links that give us a commission if you decide to make a purchase at no additional cost to you. Learn more.

Become a Member! Shop with us on Bookshop.org! Follow the podcast on Instagram and hang out with Victoria on The StoryGraph.

Mentioned in this episode:

A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin - Book 1 and Season 1

My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult - Book and Movie

Our Flag Means Death

The Divergent series by Veronica Roth

Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

Tamsyn Muir interview with Three Crows magazine

Recommendations:

Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

Babel by R. F. Kuang

The Unspoken Name by A. K. Larkwood

Nettle and Bone by T. Kingfisher

Yellowjackets (TV show)

Currently Obsessed:

Olive Again by Elizabeth Strout

This discussion of Index, a History of the by Dennis Duncan is a big day for Victoria because it’s an episode all about her favorite thing ever: sorting things into categories. Julia is there to help translate the Middle English quotes.

Views expressed on Book Club with Julia and Victoria and bookclubwithjv.com are solely those of the hosts and not necessarily those of their employers, clients, guests, and collaborators. Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links that give us a commission if you decide to make a purchase at no additional cost to you. Learn more.

Become a Member! Shop with us on Bookshop.org! Follow the podcast on Instagram and hang out with Victoria on The StoryGraph.

Mentioned in this episode:

Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer

The Great Vowel Shift

Book Parts edited by Dennis Duncan and Adam Smyth

Victoria’s very rough attempt at an index of Julia’s thesis

American Society for Indexing

The Daily Show

Scalable sociality

William Poole

Recommendations:

Internet Archive

Filterworld: How Algorithms Flattened Culture by Kyle Chaika

The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green (book)

The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green (podcast)

Garbage Day newsletter on Substack

Currently Obsessed:

Alligator Bites Never Heal 2024 album by Doechii 2024

What a Devastating Turn of Events 2024 album by Rachel Chinouriri

Dunya 2024 album by Mustafa

“Excuse me, sir, there’s some magic in this romance”:  Julia and Victoria unpack Casey McQuiston’s sophomore novel, One Last Stop.

This episode was recorded on September 2, 2024.

Views expressed on Book Club with Julia and Victoria and bookclubwithjv.com are solely those of the hosts and not necessarily those of their employers, clients, guests, and collaborators.

Become a Member! Shop with us on Bookshop.org! Follow the podcast on Instagram and hang out with Victoria on The StoryGraph.

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links that give us a commission if you decide to make a purchase at no additional cost to you. Learn more.

Mentioned in this episode:

One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston

I Kissed Shara Wheeler by Casey McQuiston

The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Doctor Who and River Song

Casey McQuiston Is As Attached To Their Characters As You Are by Olivia Harrison (Refinery 29)

Lost (TV series)

This Is How You Lose the Time War by Max Gladstone and Amal El-Mohtar

Jasmine Guillory

Talia Hibbert

Recommendations:

We Are Lady Parts (TV show available on Hulu)

Honey Girl by Morgan Rogers

The Brown Sisters series by Talia Hibbert

Last Night at the Telegram Club by Malinda Lo

Currently Obsessed:

Ethel Cain

Julia and Victoria discuss the last vampire book of The Vampire & the Octopus series and then get very excited about two questions: Are there any ethical choices under vampirism? And, if so, are ethical vampires even interesting?

Views expressed on Book Club with Julia and Victoria and bookclubwithjv.com are solely those of the hosts and not necessarily those of their employers, clients, guests, and collaborators.

Become a Member! Shop with us on Bookshop.org! Follow the podcast on Instagram and hang out with Victoria on The StoryGraph.

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links that give us a commission if you decide to make a purchase at no additional cost to you. Learn more.

Mentioned in this episode:

“I won’t always ask”: Complicating Agency in Octavia Butler’s Fledgling” by Florian Bast

Devil Girl From Mars (film)

Patternmaster by Octavia Butler

The Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice

Twilight by Stephanie Meyer

Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix

Woman, Eating by Claire Kohda

Grady Hendrix’s vampire podcast Super Scary Haunted Homeschool

Dear Hank and John (podcast)

Recommendations:

The Dispossessed by Ursula K LeGuin

Wild Seed by Octavia Butler

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

Invincible comic book series

Currently Obsessed:

Interview with the Vampire (tv series)

We Are Lady Parts (tv series)

The Pairing by Casey McQuiston

Scamanda (podcast)

Big Ideas by Remi Wolf (album)

Views expressed on Book Club with Julia and Victoria and bookclubwithjv.com are solely those of the hosts and not necessarily those of their employers, clients, guests, and collaborators.

Become a Member! Shop with us on Bookshop.org! Follow the podcast on Instagram and hang out with Victoria on The StoryGraph.

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links that give us a commission if you decide to make a purchase at no additional cost to you. Learn more.

Mentioned in this episode:

The Poppy War by R. F. Kuang

Semiotics

The Tusks of Extinction novella by Ray Naylor

Arrival (film)

The Octopus: A Story of California by Frank Norris

How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu

The Dispossessed by Ursula K LeGuin

Recommendations:

Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness by Peter Godfrey-Smith

Biosemiotics: An Examination Into the Signs of Life and the Life of Signs by Jesper Hoffmeier

Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer

“Story of Your Life” by Ted Chiang

Currently Obsessed:

Interview with the Vampire season 2

Walkin About podcast

Lawrence album Family Business

Still Woozy album Loveseat

Julia makes her case of why the creature in Grady Hendrix’s The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires is NOT really a vampire, and Victoria makes a counterargument that it is actually the MOST vampire. They are both generally infuriated with everyone in this novel except Mrs. Green. Content Warning: mentions of sexual violence.

Views expressed on Book Club with Julia and Victoria and bookclubwithjv.com are solely those of the hosts and not necessarily those of their employers, clients, guests, and collaborators. Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links that give us a commission if you decide to make a purchase at no additional cost to you. Learn more.

Become a Member! Shop with us onBookshop.org! Follow the podcast on Instagram and hang out with Victoria onThe StoryGraph.

Mentioned in this Episode:

Grady Hendrix’s website

“Charleston native Grady Hendrix and best-selling horror author wants to terrify you, and you’ll never be more happily horrified” by Stephanie Hunt, Charleston Magazine 

Dirt Candy (book)

Dirt Candy (restaurant) 

Amanda Cohen, Iron Chef Canada

Grady Hendrix’s “The Great Stephen King Reread” series

Grady Hendrix’s vampire podcast: Super Scary Haunted Homeschool

The Strain (tv show)

Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith

Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, edited by Carmen Maria Machado

Recommendations

Unbelievable (tv show)

Spotlight (film)

Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry

Yellowjackets (tv show)

How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix

My Best Friend’s Exorcism by Grady Hendrix

Beloved by Toni Morrison

Currently Obsessed

Interview With the Vampire season 2 (tv show)

Hacks season 3 (tv show)

Who Shat on the Floor at My Wedding season 2 (podcast)

The Dragon Republic (Poppy Wars Trilogy Book 2) by R. F. Kuang

Through the Ages board game mobile app