Dear Literature

In this episode, Vanessa and Alyssa discuss books that have been collecting dust on their shelves.

Music by Ben Sulzinsky

Instagram: @dearlitpod | @sea_of_sirens (Vanessa)

Vanessa's Shop: https://seaofsirens.bigcartel.com/

Books Mentioned:

The Invisible Life of Ivan Isaenko by Scott Stambach

Again, But Better by Christine Riccio

Because You Love to Hate Me: 13 Tales of Villainy

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab

Not My Father's Son: A Memoir by Alan Cumming

Girl in the Blue Coat by Monica Hesse

They Went Left by Monica Hesse

The Diviners by Libba Bray

The Force of Destiny: The Life and Times of Colonel Arnald D. Gabriel

Girls Burn Brighter by Shobha Rao

An Unrestored Woman by Shobha Rao

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

The Stranger by Albert Camus

Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut

Ready Player Two by Ernest Cline

Ready Player Two by Ernest Cline

News of a Kidnapping by Gabriel García Márquez

The Scandal of the Century: And Other Writings by Gabriel García Márquez

The Order of Time by Carlo Rovelli, trans. Erica Segre & Simon Carnell

Reality is Not What It Seems by Carlo Rovelli, trans. Erica Segre & Simon Carnell

The Diabolic by S.J. Kincaid

Good Talk: A Memoir in Conversations by Mira Jacob

Other Notes:

First Draft Podcast

Sarah Enni

Victoria Schwab (V. E. Schwab)

Nicola Yoon

Melissa Meyer

Renee Ahdieh

Adam Silvera

Hailey in Bookland (Hailey Leblanc)

The End of the World with Josh Clark

Stuff You Should Know

During this episode of Buddy Reads, Vanessa and Alyssa discuss The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller (Ecco Press). 

Music by Ben Sulzinsky

Books Mentioned:

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller (Ecco Press)

CN: Violence (wartime & against women), rape

Vicious by V.E. Schwab (Tor Books)

Vengeful by V.E. Schwab (Tor Books)

Sand Opera by Philip Metres (Alice James Books)

CN: State-sanctioned violence & torture

Pictures at an Exhibition by Philip Metres (University of Akron Press)

Wade in the Water by Tracy K. Smith (Graywolf Press)

Whereas by Layli Soldier Long (Graywolf Press)

CN: State-sanctioned violence

The Vanishing Stair by Maureen Johnson (Katherine Tegen Books)

Circe by Madeline Miller (Little, Brown and Company)

The Brief, Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz (Riverhead Books)

CN: Murder, state-sanctioned violence

Drown by Junot Díaz (Riverhead Books)

This is How You Lose Her by Junot Díaz (Riverhead Books) 

My Year of Meats by Ruth Ozeki (Penguin Books)

CN: Disordered eating

A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki (Viking)

In this week's episode, Vanessa and Alyssa discuss what their typical university lives are like and what it's like to balance reading and writing in that mix.

Music by Ben Sulzinsky.

Next Buddy Reads: The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller (episode out [edited] December 1)

Books Mentioned:

The Vanishing Stair by Maureen Johnson (Katherine Tegen Books)

The Hand on the Wall by Maureen Johnson (Katherine Tegen Books)

Scythe by Neal Shusterman (Simon Schuster Books for Young Readers)

Don't Let Me Be Lonely by Claudia Rankine (Graywolf Press)

Lair of Dreams by Libba Bray (Little Brown Books for Young Readers)

The Hours by Michael Cunningham (Picador USA)

Ace: What Asexuality Reveals About Desire, Society, and the Meaning of Sex by Angela Chen (Beacon's Press)

Death of the King's Horseman by Wole Soyinka (W. W. Norton & Company)

Kona Winds by Scott Kikkawa (Bamboo Ridge Press)

All the Love in the World by Cathy Song (Bamboo Ridge Press)

Exhalation: Stories by Ted Chiang (Alfred A. Knopf)

The Scandal of the Century: And Other Writings by Gabriel García Márquez, translated by Anne McLean (Knopf Publishing Group)

The Descent of Alette by Alice Notley (Penguin Books)

Other Notes:

Bamboo Ridge Press

Forest App

Among Us

Vanessa's Shop (seaofsirens.bigcartel.com)

Carmen Maria Machado

Ted Chiang

Jorge Luis Borges

In this episode, Alyssa and Vanessa discuss Maureen Johnson's Young Adult mystery novel Truly Devious. 

Music by Ben Sulzinsky

Media Mentioned:

Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson (HarperCollins)

The Complete Aeschylus, Volume I: The Oresteia by Aeschylus, multiple translators (Oxford University Press)

Witches Sluts Feminists: Conjuring the Sex Positive by Kristen Sollée (ThreeL Media)

Trickster Feminism by Anne Waldman (Penguin Books)

R E D by Chase Berggrun (Birds, LLC)

The Poppy War by R. F. Kuang (HarperCollins)

Ace: What Asexuality Reveals About Desire, Society, and the Meaning of Sex by Angela Chen (Beacon Press)

The Glass Tree by Laura Davies Foley (Harbor Mountain Press)

Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf (Everyman’s Library)

The Diviners by Libba Bray (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)

The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner (Vintage International)

The Vanishing Stair by Maureen Johnson (HarperCollins)

The Language of Thorns: Midnight Tales and Dangerous Magic by Leigh Bardugo (Imprint)

Indigo by Ellen Bass (Copper Canyon Press)

For this spooky season, Vanessa and Alyssa suggest some haunting books and podcasts.

Music by Ben Sulzinsky

Media Mentioned:

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo (Flatiron Books)

House of Furies by Madeleine Roux (HarperTeen)

Lore

Cabinet of Curiosities

Unobscured

The Archived by Victoria Schwab (Hyperion)

This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab (Greenwillow Books)

Vicious by V.E. Schwab (Tor Books)

The Diviners by Libba Bray (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)

Alice Isn’t Dead (podcast) by Nightvale Presents

Grimm Reading, hosted by Matthew Hughes and Adam Field

In this week's episode, Vanessa and Alyssa introduce who they are as humans, readers, and writers.

Music by Ben Sulzinsky.

Books Mentioned:

Circe by Madeline Miller (Little, Brown and Company)

Epic of Gilgamesh, translated by David Ferry (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux)

Contemporary Life and Witchcraft: Magic, Divination, and Religious Ritual in Europe by Alexandra Tartan (Ibidem Press)

Get in Trouble by Kelly Link (Random House Trade Paperbacks)

Bluets by Maggie Nelson (Wave Books)

The Tempest by William Shakespeare, edited by A.R. Braunmuller (Penguin Books)

Hag-Seed by Margaret Atwood (Hogarth Press)

Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid (Random House Audio)

Sin Eater by Megan Campisi (Simon Schuster Audio)

The Iliad by Homer

The Odyssey by Homer, translated by Emily Wilson (W. W. Norton)

The Diviners by Libba Bray (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)

Mexican Gothic by Silva Moreno-Garcia (Penguin Random House)

Exhalation: Stories by Ted Chiang (Alfred A. Knopf)

When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities by Chen Chen (Boa Editions Ltd)

Space Struck by Paige Lewis (Sarabande Books)

If They Come for Us by Fatimah Asghar (Penguin Random House)

How to Train Your Cactus: A Guide to Raising Well-Behaved Succulents by Tonwen Jones (Andrews McMeel Publishing)

On a Sunbeam by Tillie Walden

Other Notes:

DNF: Did not finish

Lore 

January LaVoy

Libba Bray

Agatha Christie

Dan Brown

Sarah Kay

Phil Kaye

paperbackdreams

Ellias

VS

Kaveh Akbar

Franny Choi

Danez Smith

In this pilot episode of Dear Literature, Vanessa and Alyssa discuss the books releasing in the second half of 2020 that they're excited for.

Music by Ben Sulzinsky

Books Mentioned:

Food Anatomy: The Curious Parts & Pieces of Our Edible World by Julia Rothman with help from Rachel Wharton (Storey Publishing)

Urban Temple by David McCann (Bo-Leaf Books)

The King of Crows by Libba Bray (Little, Brown and Company)

Or What You Will by Jo Walton (Tor Books)

Axiom’s End by Lindsay Ellis (St. Martin’s Press)

I Hold a Wolf by the Ears by Laura van de Berg (FSG)

Must I Go by Yiyun Li (Random House)

Finna: Poems by Nate Marshall (One World)

The Unreality of Memory: And Other Essays by Elisa Gabbert (FSG Originals)

World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments by Aimee Nezhukumatathil (Milkweed Editions)

Ace: What Asexuality Reveals About Desire, Society, and the Meaning of Sex by Angela Chen (Beacon Press)

The Left-Handed Booksellers of London by Garth Nix (Katherine Tegen Books)

Fifty Words for Rain by Asha Lemmie (Dutton)

Skyhunter by Marie Lu (Roaring Book Press)

Stuff You Should Know: An Incomplete Compendium of Mostly Interesting Things by Josh Clark and Chuck Bryant (Flatiron Books)

Bestiary by K-Ming Chang (One World)

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab (Tor Books)

Eartheater: A Novel by Dolores Reyes, trans. Julia Sanches (HarperVia)

Wound from the Mouth of a Wound by torrin a. greathouse (Milkweed Editions)

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo (Flatiron Books)

Lovely War by Julie Berry (Penguin Young Readers Group) 

Other notes:

Kaveh Akbar

Danez Smith

Clint Smith

Franny Choi

Kundiman

Welcome to Dear Literature, a new podcast where two friends, Alyssa and Vanessa, discuss books, writing, and publishing.

Instagram: @dearlitpod