Culture Study Podcast

J.Lo is, as we say in the Culture Study universe, a rich text. There is so much history, so many layers of accumulated meaning, so many relationships, and so little in terms of actual revelations. She gives so much and yet offers so little! Chelsea Devantez is a celebrity memoir aficionado, a humor writer, and a newly-minted J.Lo scholar — and the absolute perfect co-host to unpack all of your J.Lo questions, like why does Mariah hate her, why can’t she and Ben be happy, what the hell is going on with the new movie, and what does she actually want?

• Follow Chelsea Devantez on Instagram, listen to her celebrity memoir podcast Glamorous Trash, and buy her new memoir, I Shouldn’t Be Telling You This

• Gloria Swanson’s memoir, Swanson on Swanson

• J.Lo on In Living Color:

• J.Lo in Selena:

• J.Lo and Ja Rule, “I’m Real”:

• J.Lo’s “TELL ALL” memoir

• Chelsea’s TikTok about the Bennifer wedding cups

• J.Lo’s 73 Questions:

• The upcoming “season” of Bama Rush

• Sydney Sweeney (and Gen-Z Stardom)

• Learning to craft / make things / hobby-around-the-house

• Trad wives, featuring a co-host who used to be one

• For our continuing series on romance novels: QUEER ROMANCE

• Artificial Intelligence (we’re gonna see if we can figure out an actually interesting theme here, so send us your weirdest or most mind-boggling questions)

• The economy, a.k.a. why is everything so damn expensive right now (my dream here is like an Odd Lots guest who doesn’t have private equity brain, please let us know if you have suggestions!)

• Contemporary ideas of self-care

• Buy Nothing groups and/or the current state of the secondhand market

• Anything you need advice or want musings on for the AAA segment

• You can submit them (and ideas for future eps) here (this is the subscriber-only form!)

• Join the ranks of paid subscribers and get bonus content, access to the discussion threads, ad-free episodes, and the knowledge that you're supporting an indie pod trying to make its way in the world.
• Got a question to submit, a prompt for Ask Anne Anything, or an idea for a future episode? Tell us here.
• Catch up on everything else happening in the Culture Study universe here.
• Transcripts will be available here within 24 hours of publishing.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Why do jeans make us FEEL THINGS? I mean, I have a lot of feelings about the “going out top,” but at least I no longer have to deal with it. Jeans, they’re still here in my wardrobe, making me feel uncool. It’s the actual garment, sure, but it’s also a garment in constant fashion flux — and almost always designed to fit one sort of (thin) body. There’s no one better to talk about big jeans feelings than Virginia Sole-Smith, who’s written a four-part series on ‘jean science’ and the relationship between jeans production (and jeans ‘norms’) and anti-fatness. Whether you’re clinging to your comfort jeans or trying to figure out what shoes to wear with a barrel leg or banishing jeans from your closet, this episode is for you.

• Virginia’s *FOUR-PART* JEAN SCIENCE SERIES!!!*

• Our previous episode with Amanda Mull re: why clothes suck now

• Follow anti-diet stylist Dacy Gillespie (mindfulcloset) on Instagram

• The Universal Standard Ponte Pant! (there are several)

• Corrine Fay tries the swim romper

• Katie Sturino does a jeans try-on round-up

• Jordache jeans ads from the 70s, 80s, and 90s

• Follow Virginia on Instagram, subscribe to Burnt Toast, and listen to the Burnt Toast Podcast

• The upcoming “season” of Bama Rush

• Sydney Sweeney (and Gen-Z Stardom)

• Learning to craft / make things / hobby-around-the-house

• Trad wives, featuring a co-host who used to be one

• For our continuing series on romance novels: QUEER ROMANCE and ROMANCE BOOKSTORES

• Artificial Intelligence (we’re gonna see if we can figure out an actually interesting theme here, so send us your weirdest or most mind-boggling questions)

• The economy, a.k.a. why is everything so damn expensive right now (my dream here is like an Odd Lots guest who doesn’t have private equity brain, please let us know if you have suggestions!)

• Contemporary ideas of self-care

• Buy Nothing groups and/or the current state of the secondhand market

• Anything you need advice or want musings on for the AAA segment

• You can submit them (and ideas for future eps) here

• Join the ranks of paid subscribers and get bonus content, access to the discussion threads, ad-free episodes, and the knowledge that you're supporting an indie pod trying to make its way in the world.
• Got a question to submit, a prompt for Ask Anne Anything, or an idea for a future episode? Tell us here.
• Catch up on everything else happening in the Culture Study universe here.
• Transcripts will be available here within 24 hours of publishing.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Most people I know think the monarchy — any monarchy — is pretty ridiculous. And yet: most people I know also know a lot about Meghan Markle and followed the #whereiskate conspiracy theorists at least part way down the rabbit hole. They’re rich celebrities, sure, but they’re also embodiments of empire in decline — and I wanted to think through how royal fascination manifests differently depending on where you live, how you were raised, and identification (or lack thereof) with “your” generation of monarch. Hannah McGregor and Marcelle Kosman are scholars, podcast hosts, and Canadians — and the perfect people to navigate all of your questions about colonial hangovers, misogynoir and Team Meghan vs. Team Kate, and when and how we’ll actually see an end to the monarchy. I loved this conversation, and I think you will too.

• Listen to my appearance on the Athleisure episode of Material Girls and listen to Material Girls just generally! (Recent episodes include: Disney and Pinkwashing; Dirty Dancing and Nostalgia; Gilmore Girls and Normporn; Bridgerton and Reading the Romance, SO MANY GOOD ONES)

• Melody and I absolutely died when we found the Charles-as-Tampon on SNL skit; it’s even better than I remembered:

• My piece on #WhereisKate and the botched comms management around her decision to retreat from public life:

• Ellie Hall’s piece in BuzzFeed comparing headlines about Kate and Meghan

• The upcoming “season” of Bama Rush

• Sydney Sweeney (and Gen-Z Stardom)

• Learning to craft / make things / hobby-around-the-house

• Trad wives, featuring a co-host who used to be one

• For our continuing series on romance novels: QUEER ROMANCE and ROMANCE BOOKSTORES

• Artificial Intelligence (we’re gonna see if we can figure out an actually interesting theme here, so send us your weirdest or most mind-boggling questions)

• The economy, a.k.a. why is everything so damn expensive right now (my dream here is like an Odd Lots guest who doesn’t have private equity brain, please let us know if you have suggestions!)

• Contemporary ideas of self-care

• Buy Nothing groups and/or the current state of the secondhand market

• Anything you need advice or want musings on for the AAA segment

• You can submit them (and ideas for future eps) here (and here’s the subscriber-only priority form)

• Join the ranks of paid subscribers and get bonus content, access to the discussion threads, ad-free episodes, and the knowledge that you're supporting an indie pod trying to make its way in the world.
• Got a question to submit, a prompt for Ask Anne Anything, or an idea for a future episode? Tell us here.
• Catch up on everything else happening in the Culture Study universe here.
• Transcripts will be available here within 24 hours of publishing.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Sephora teens are teens who hang out at Sephora — and they’re a point of cultural anxiety because 1) they’re buying a lot of makeup and skincare products and 2) we have complex and contradictory feelings about when we should start caring about makeup and skincare products, even though absolutely everything in our culture tells young people they should’ve started caring about these things yesterday. Do Sephora Teens just want a public place to hang out without their parents? Didn’t we also play around with makeup at their age? But wait where are they getting all of this money? I I was so thrilled when Elise Hu — author of a whole book on the contemporary skin care industry and mother of three teen/tween girls — agreed to come on as co-host for this episode… and I can’t wait for your thoughts.

• Follow Elise Hu on Instagram and read her interview with Culture Study re: her book Flawless

• Direct link to Flawless: Lessons in Looks and Culture from the K-Beauty Capital (code CULTURE gets you 10% off)

• Elise’s piece in The Atlantic re: Sephora Teens

• Elise’s installment of NPR’s Life Kit on how to create a skin care routine

• Sydney Sweeney (and Gen-Z Stardom)

• Learning to craft / make things / hobby-around-the-house

• Trad wives, featuring a co-host who used to be one

• For our continuing series on romance novels: QUEER ROMANCE and ROMANCE BOOKSTORES

• Artificial Intelligence (we’re gonna see if we can figure out an actually interesting theme here, so send us your weirdest or most mind-boggling questions)

• The economy, a.k.a. why is everything so damn expensive right now (my dream here is like an Odd Lots guest who doesn’t have private equity brain, please let us know if you have suggestions!)

• Contemporary ideas of self-care

• Buy Nothing groups and/or the current state of the secondhand market

• Anything you need advice or want musings on for the AAA segment

• You can submit them (and ideas for future eps) here (and here’s the subscriber-only priority form)

• Join the ranks of paid subscribers and get bonus content, access to the discussion threads, ad-free episodes, and the knowledge that you're supporting an indie pod trying to make its way in the world.
• Got a question to submit, a prompt for Ask Anne Anything, or an idea for a future episode? Tell us here.
• Catch up on everything else happening in the Culture Study universe here.
• Transcripts will be available here within 24 hours of publishing.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

After our GREAT discussion of A Court of Roses and Thorns we realized we wanted to talk a lot more about romance: about the so-called “boom” and what’s fueling it, of course, but also about various tropes (sick bed, forbidden romance, grumpy protagonist), race and cultural specificity, the level of “spice” and how it shows up on the page, and how to manage your own romance reading behavior. Melody heard Nisha Sharma speak at Romance GenreCon last year and knew she was the person to address so many of your questions. Whether you’re new to romance like me, don’t read it but are interested in why other people do, or have immersed yourself in the genre for years, I promise there’s something in this conversation that’s going to stick in your head for days.

• Nisha Sharma!!!! Follow her on Instagram and TikTok, and here’s links to all her recent books and upcoming events

• You can pre-order The Letters We Keep and Marriage & Masti at Bookshop.org— promo code CULTURE gets you 10% off

• Or for pre-order swag, order from Doylestown Bookshop  

• Maya Rodale’s Dangerous Books for Girls: The Bad Reputation of Romance Novels Explained

• “Canon building is empire building”

• Janice A. Radway’s Reading the Romance

• Lee & Low Books Diversity Baseline Survey

• MONSTER THEORY

• A very fun round-up of Fabio romance novel covers, by the numbers

• A 2018 piece on cartoon covers “tricking” people into reading romance

AND NOW, A LIST OF EVERY BOOK RECOMMENDED IN THIS EPISODE

• The Proposal by Jasmine Guillory

• For Real by Alexis Hall

• The Candid Life of Meena Dave by Namrata Patel

• You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi

• The Roommate by Rosie Danan

• The Partner Plot by Kristina Forest

• Queen Takes Rose by Katee Robert

• Destiny’s Captive by Beverly Jenkins

• Double Exposure by Rien Gray

• Beach Read by Emily Henry

• Bride by Ali Hazelwood

• That Prince is Mine by Jayci Lee

• A Rogue by Any Other Name by Sarah MacLean

• Say You’ll Be Mine by Naina Kumar

• Rock Hard by Nalini Singh

• Butcher & Blackbird by Brynne Weaver

• Power Play by B. P. Gilmore

• Collide by Bal Khabra

• Out on a Limb by Hannah Bonam-Young

• Chloe Liese for disability representation

• Kimberly Lemming for cozy monster romance

• Morning Glory Milking Farm by C. M. Nacosta

• Sydney Sweeney (and Gen-Z Stardom)

• Learning to craft / make things / hobby-around-the-house

• Trad wives, featuring a co-host who used to be one

• For our continuing series on romance novels: QUEER ROMANCE and ROMANCE BOOKSTORES

• Artificial Intelligence (we’re gonna see if we can figure out an actually interesting theme here, so send us your weirdest or most mind-boggling questions)

• The economy, a.k.a. why is everything so damn expensive right now (my dream here is like an Odd Lots guest who doesn’t have private equity brain, please let us know if you have suggestions!)

• Contemporary ideas of self-care

• Buy Nothing groups and/or the current state of the secondhand market

• Anything you need advice or want musings on for the AAA segment

• You can submit them (and ideas for future eps) here (and here’s the subscriber-only priority form)

• Join the ranks of paid subscribers and get bonus content, access to the discussion threads, ad-free episodes, and the knowledge that you're supporting an indie pod trying to make its way in the world.
• Got a question to submit, a prompt for Ask Anne Anything, or an idea for a future episode? Tell us here.
• Catch up on everything else happening in the Culture Study universe here.
• Transcripts will be available here within 24 hours of publishing.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Spoiler: No, millennials are not the most nostalgic generation — we’re just in a deeply nostalgic moment in our lives, reckoning (sometimes gracefully, other times less so) with no longer being the Main Character in the generational story. But this moment does give us opportunity to talk about the shape and purpose of nostalgia, how YouTube both amplifies and short-circuits it, and so much more — featuring one of my favorite nostalgia thinkers, Gabe Bullard. We talk about gum commercials, inflated Limewire persecution threats, Bagel Bites, and interrogate the idea of “core memories,” and I cannot wait for your thoughts.

• Subscribe to Gabe’s fantastic Substacks, Number One With a Bullard and Together, Alone (a magazine about watching TV)

• Melody also highly recommends his episode of 99% Invisible on the Elvis stamp

• Who wants to burn off their taste buds with some Big Red

• Here’s Svetlana Boym’s obituary which nicely sums up her work on nostalgia (gift link)

• Gabe also mentions writer and music critic Mark Fisher’s usage of “hauntology”— Fisher’s whole book Ghosts of My Life: Writings on Depression, Hauntology, and Lost Futures is available as a PDF here

• You can read Fred Davis’s 1977 paper about “the current nostalgia wave” here

• The ragtime song that made it to #3 on the charts because of The Sting

• One listener’s question referenced the Richard Scarry books— here’s a round-up of some of the modernization that’s been done on them

• Trad wives, featuring a co-host who used to be one

• For our continuing series on romance novels: QUEER ROMANCE and ROMANCE BOOKSTORES

• Artificial Intelligence (we’re gonna see if we can figure out an actually interesting theme here, so send us your weirdest or most mind-boggling questions)

• The economy, a.k.a. why is everything so damn expensive right now (my dream here is like an Odd Lots guest who doesn’t have private equity brain, please let us know if you have suggestions!)

• What’s up with food blogs in 2024

• Contemporary ideas of self-care

• Buy Nothing groups and/or the current state of the secondhand market

• Anything you need advice or want musings on for the AAA segment

• You can submit them (and ideas for future eps) here (and here’s the subscriber-only priority form)

• Join the ranks of paid subscribers and get bonus content, access to the discussion threads, ad-free episodes, and the knowledge that you're supporting an indie pod trying to make its way in the world.
• Got a question to submit, a prompt for Ask Anne Anything, or an idea for a future episode? Tell us here.
• Catch up on everything else happening in the Culture Study universe here.
• Transcripts will be available here within 24 hours of publishing.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The very first episode of this pod was on how clothes got so shitty — and it prompted a whole bunch of you to write in with your questions about how the entire experience of obtaining those clothes became so shitty. Some of it is just what’s going on in the fashion world more broadly (and a continued refusal to believe that anyone larger than a size 12 wants cute, well-made clothes that fit and wants to pay you money for them) but some of it is just the weird ever-changing world of online shopping, which encourages our worst impulses and often leaves us with earrings that look nothing like the picture and make our earlobes turn green. To answer your questions (about best online shopping practices, about email marketing tactics, about how to quell or at least abate your anxiety shopping) I wanted to talk to the best and smartest shopper I know: Caroline Moss.

• Follow Caroline/Gee Thanks Just Bought It on Instagram and join the larger community on Facebook

• Subscribe to Caroline’s free Substack, where she’s rounding up all the good Memorial Day sales

• Trustpilot.com to see if a company is indeed a legit company

• The Amanda Mull piece on returns I referenced

• Dumpster Dive King on Instagram + The Trash Walker + a NYT piece on the work they do

• Here’s the Honey browser extension and phone app (AHP remains dubious but will dutifully try it out)

• The Shop App that Caroline uses to keep all orders/notifications in one place (will also try out)

• THE TUB SHROOM!!!!!

• Home renovation shows + class! (Our guest is Jonathan Menjivar, host of Classy. If you haven’t read his interview in the newsletter, it’s fantastic.)

• What’s the deal with JEANS right now (alternate title = Jeans: Help. Co-host is

  Virginia Sole-Smith

  , so it’s gonna be great)

• For our continuing series on romance novels: QUEER ROMANCE and ROMANCE BOOKSTORES

• Artificial Intelligence (we’re gonna see if we can figure out an actually interesting theme here, so send us your weirdest or most mind-boggling questions)

• The economy, a.k.a. why is everything so damn expensive right now (my dream here is like an Odd Lots guest who doesn’t have private equity brain, please let us know if you have suggestions!)

• Anything you need advice or want musings on

• You can submit them (and ideas for future eps) here (and here’s the subscriber-only priority form)

• Join the ranks of paid subscribers and get bonus content, access to the discussion threads, ad-free episodes, and the knowledge that you're supporting an indie pod trying to make its way in the world.
• Got a question to submit, a prompt for Ask Anne Anything, or an idea for a future episode? Tell us here.
• Catch up on everything else happening in the Culture Study universe here.
• Transcripts will be available here within 24 hours of publishing.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

I spent years of my life studying celebrity images and what makes them meaningful to us. A celebrity’s actions or words can make or deepen our connection to them — or they can really piss us off. But why? Is it just a classic case of dashed expectations? What makes, oh, Taylor Swift hanging out with Matty Healy so disappointing? For this episode, I asked celebrity feelings expert Margaret H. Willison to come answer your questions about the broad contours of celebrity-directed anger — and work through some very specific examples. I promise: you’ll leave this episode with a more textured understanding of your own celebrity feelings.

Note: This episode was taped before the conversation re: the Met Ball and celebrity silence on Gaza; you can read more about it here.

• Follow Margaret on Instagram (her account is a delight) and subscribe to her newsletter, Two Bossy Dames

• Register for Margaret’s TTPD Listening Party on May 19th and the Taylor Swift pilgrimage on Cape Cod in November

• Learn more about Not Sorry Productions, and sign up for the Common Ground newsletter

• A write-up of Plan B distribution at Olivia Rodrigo’s St. Louis show (how much of this was her call now seems up for debate)

• Travis Kelce’s unearthed tweets

• Jia Tolentino on Matty Healey

• If you want to read my favorite star study of all time — on Marilyn Monroe — it’s in Richard Dyer’s Heavenly Bodies. It’s somewhat academic but also very accessible for an academic text. I could read it every day. Dyer also wrote the definitive star study of Fonda in Stars, which is out of print but lots of used copies floating around

• A bit of a tangent but if you want to read a really great academic history of the economic imperatives of the Red Scare & The Hollywood Ten, whew this is it

• I’ve been thinking about the ethics of private jets (and privacy, and labor) amidst the conversations re: the WNBA moving to chartering

• Take a look at Anna Marie Tendler’s art!!!

• Just for laughs, a TikTok imagining Taylor Swift’s PR in the Matty Healy era

• Home renovation shows + class! (Our guest is Jonathan Menjivar, host of Classy. If you haven’t read his interview in the newsletter, it’s fantastic.)

• What’s the deal with JEANS right now (alternate title = Jeans: Help. Co-host is

  Virginia Sole-Smith

  , so it’s gonna be great)

• Weird TikTok trends you’re seeing on your FYP

• For our continuing series on romance novels: QUEER ROMANCE and ROMANCE BOOKSTORES

• Ben Affleck (specifically within the framework of Ambition)

• Artificial Intelligence (we’re gonna see if we can figure out an actually interesting theme here, so send us your weirdest or most mind-boggling questions)

• The economy, a.k.a. why is everything so damn expensive right now (my dream here is like an Odd Lots guest who doesn’t have private equity brain, please let us know if you have suggestions!)

• Anything you need advice or want musings on

• You can submit them (and ideas for future eps) here (and here’s the subscriber-only priority form)

• Join the ranks of paid subscribers and get bonus content, access to the discussion threads, ad-free episodes, and the knowledge that you're supporting an indie pod trying to make its way in the world.
• Got a question to submit, a prompt for Ask Anne Anything, or an idea for a future episode? Tell us here.
• Catch up on everything else happening in the Culture Study universe here.
• Transcripts will be available here within 24 hours of publishing.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

If you grew up in or adjacent to evangelical culture, the sounds of ‘90s and early 2000s Christian Rock are as familiar to you as the beginning bars of Britney Spears “Hit Me Baby One More Time.” The Newsboys, dcTalk, Jars of Clay, Third Day, Jennifer Knapp, Caedmon’s Call — these groups peaked just twenty years ago, but the sound and vibe feels like an archeological find. Same for the crossover “secular” hits from Creed, Lifehouse, Sixpence None the Richer, and Switchfoot. Where did Christian rock go? Did it just get devoured by Nickelback and Noah Kahan? Was it actually good? And what purpose did it actually serve in what we now understand as the evangelical culture war?

Leah Payne, author of a God Gave Rock & Roll To You: A History of Contemporary Christian Music joins us to root the rise of Christian rock in history — and consider the ways it was wielded to control teens. If you grew up in this culture, there will be a lot of nostalgic groaning; if you didn’t, we’ve worked hard to make it as accessible as possible — and help connect some dots about how evangelical ideologies work their way into the mainstream.

• Follow Leah on Instagram and find out more about her work here

• Buy God Gave Rock & Roll To You here! (promo code CULTURE gets you 10% off!)

• An amazing little write-up of Creation Fest 1999 from The Seattle Times

• Revisit Anne’s interview with Kristin Kobes Du Mez about her book Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation

• Creed’s NFL halftime show two months after 9/11

• Some of my Christian Rock Greatest Hits include Jennifer Knapp:

• Jars of Clay (THE WHOLE FIRST ALBUM!)

• Third Day (oh no what is going on in this video)

• “Breakfast” by the Newsboys, cited in the ep as emblematic of the quirky corners of the genre

• Just a TikTok that’s only tangentially related but made Melody laugh

• What’s the deal with JEANS right now (alternate title = Jeans: Help)

• The State Of The Food Blog in 2024

• Weird TikTok trends you’re seeing on your FYP

• Your strong opinions on things that, in the grand scheme, don’t matter much

• For our continuing series on romance novels: QUEER ROMANCE and ROMANCE BOOKSTORES

• The Contemporary Jennifer Lopez

• Ben Affleck (specifically within the framework of Ambition)

• Artificial Intelligence (in a thought-provoking way, think expansively here)

• The economy, a.k.a. why is everything so damn expensive right now (and we need your co-host ideas for someone cool and fun who can talk about this in an accessible way!)

• Anything you need advice or want musings on

• You can submit them (and ideas for future eps) here (and here’s the subscriber-only priority form)

• Join the ranks of paid subscribers and get bonus content, access to the discussion threads, ad-free episodes, and the knowledge that you're supporting an indie pod trying to make its way in the world.
• Got a question to submit, a prompt for Ask Anne Anything, or an idea for a future episode? Tell us here.
• Catch up on everything else happening in the Culture Study universe here.
• Transcripts will be available here within 24 hours of publishing.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

A platform where you can record what you’re reading and talk to others about what they’re reading doesn’t sound like a recipe for dystopia. But throw in a negligent billionaire conglomerate owner, optimization culture, and a competitive industry in which the line between reader and author is continually blurred… and you have a legitimate book lover’s hellscape. In other words: Goodreads! Today, I’m joined by book lover and book critic Maris Kreizman to talk about the rot at the heart of the platform, what feeds it, and whether there’s any hope of salvaging the entire enterprise. (Plus: a special bonus section where we give advice about dealing with self-imposed pressure to read X number of books a year). Also: it doesn’t matter if you’ve never gone on Goodreads in your life. If you read books, if you’re interested in the way we talk and think about books, you’re going to appreciate this episode.

Since you’re a paid subscriber, you won’t hear the ad for Bookshop.org at the start of this episode— but we want to make sure you get the discount code! Use promo code CULTURE to get 10% off your next purchase. (And tell us in the comments what you buy!)

• Maris on Instagram! Maris’s new newsletter, The Maris Review! Maris’s new column for Lit Hub! Maris’s old podcast, also titled The Maris Review!

• Maris’s piece in the New York Times on the decline of Goodreads: “Let’s Rescue Book Lovers From This Online Hellscape”

• Some of Maris’s favorite places for reviews and criticism:

  • Bookforum

  • Bookmarks.reviews, which she describes as Rotten Tomato for books

  • Los Angeles Review of Books

• A rundown of that weird story of the author creating fake accounts to review bomb other debut authors on Goodreads

• Just for funsies, one-star reviews of classic novels

• How we talk about the royals today (especially looking for some questions from people outside of the U.S. here!)

• The State Of The Food Blog in 2024

• Your strong opinions on things that, in the grand scheme, don’t matter much

• For our continuing series on romance novels: QUEER ROMANCE and ROMANCE BOOKSTORES

• The future of reality TV

• What’s the deal with JEANS right now (alternate title = Jeans: Help)

• The Contemporary Jennifer Lopez

• Ben Affleck (specifically within the framework of Ambition)

• Artificial Intelligence (in a thought-provoking way, think expansively here)

• The economy, a.k.a. why is everything so damn expensive right now (and we need your co-host ideas for someone cool and fun who can talk about this in an accessible way!)

• Anything you need advice on!

• You can submit them (and ideas for future eps) here (and here’s the subscriber-only priority form)

• Join the ranks of paid subscribers and get bonus content, access to the discussion threads, ad-free episodes, and the knowledge that you're supporting an indie pod trying to make its way in the world.
• Got a question to submit, a prompt for Ask Anne Anything, or an idea for a future episode? Tell us here.
• Catch up on everything else happening in the Culture Study universe here.
• Transcripts will be available here within 24 hours of publishing.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.