Michael and Ethan begin their discussion of the first book of the new season, Sayaka Murata’s Convenience Store Woman.

In this episode:

The finest wood

Sherlock Holmes, or, coffee shop brags from Ethan, or, amusement park brags from Michael

A paean to Japanese convenience stores

Irasshaimase!

Ethan invents a new segment: doing background research during the show

What is normal? What is the purpose of humanity? What is an exception to “normal”? This book asks very easy questions.

Almost a loss, but obligatory Shakespeare reference instead

The human body as a cog in the machine that is society, society as a human body

The world needs ditch-diggers and convenience store workers

We’re encouraging Kwik Trip to be better

Next time Michael and Ethan will continue to discuss Convenience Store Woman, by Sayaka Murata! Join the discussion! Go to the Contact page and put "Scotch Talk" in the Subject line. We'd love to hear from you! And submit your homework at the Michael & Ethan in a Room with Scotch page.

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Your Hosts: Michael G. Lilienthal (@mglilienthal) and

Ethan Bartlett (@bjartlett)

MUSIC & SFX:

"Kessy Swings Endless - (ID 349)" by Lobo Loco. Used by permission.

"The Grim Reaper - II Presto" by Aitua. Used under an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License.

"Thinking It Over" by Lee Rosevere. Used under an Attribution License.