Fresh off a Thoreau-down with the Frugal Chariot, spring is in the air for Hannah and Sam, even as they struggle with how to think about authorial intent. Thanks to a prison book group obsessed with the genius of Octavia Butler, Sam is second-guessing his dedication to the text. Has he been missing out? With Twitter and video interviews giving us more and more perspective from the author, how do we change our reading experiences? What happens when authors, like JK Rowling, tell you things about their characters that you can't glean from their writing? Really, though, it's about struggling with how we talk critically about texts. Also: Hear about "Beneficence" (turns out there is, indeed, a town in Maine called Grafton Notch), which somehow takes a detour into Dennis Lehane's "Gone Baby Gone." Can't we just have books where no one dies? And why is May 17 the day that every book is coming out? Such as "The Colony," the discussion of which reminds Sam of "Robinson Crusoe" (though it's unclear if the summary he provides is accurate), which somehow leads to a discussion of Robin Hood and why there isn't ample fanfic of the Robin Hood universe. And don't forget about the Newburyport Literary Festival! Or Record Store Day! (Sponsored by: The Taproom Reading Series!)