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!)

Does anyone know which publisher publishes which book? Sam is doubtful, but Hannah provides a good bit of insight from her days in publishing about why the houses — especially the indies — matter. For instance, how else would we get "The Red Zone," a great book about menstruation, without Soft Skull Press? Also: Sam reads "The Tender Bar" and does not believe it, Hannah listens to "Run Rose Run" and falls in love all over again with Dolly Parton, and there is a long discussion on whether 1996 is actually the best year of all time, spurred on by Emma Straub's brand-new "This Time Tomorrow." Plus, a whole lot more!

Sarai Walker ("Dietland") joins us as our second-ever guest to talk about her upcoming release, "The Cherry Robbers," which comes out May 17, and plays on goth themes inspired by the story of Sarah Winchester and Emily Dickinson's creepy poems. Plus, hear thoughts about "The Unwritten Book," by Samantha Hunt, to be released in April, Dan Chaon's "Sleepwalk," which comes out in May, "Murder on Hollywood Beach," released later this month, and a bunch of stuff about the Maine Bookhouse, where Sam found a book from 1939 about Lucky Strike cigarettes, the Newburyport Literary Festival, and much more. Also, Sam accuses Sarai of having a southern accent, but she grew up in California and claims she doesn't have one. You be the judge.

Following up on the big Nor'easter, Sam and Hannah chat about "Powder Days," a new look at the future of ski culture, then talk about Hannah's exploits with newly minted Hall of Famer Big Papi, who's cool, but not as cool as Pedro. After that, we hit Jennifer Egan (her first book is actually called "A Visit from the Goon Squad" not "Welcome to the Goon Squad"), "The Last White Man" and comma usage, how Hanya Yanagihara has pushed the boundaries of just how miserable you can make your fictional characters, and much, much more. Also, we looked it up and Mozart lived in the 1700s, which we totally knew. Oh, and Heather Hansman edited "Powder" and "Skiing," but not "Ski." Oh well. Something like 21 books discussed, in all. Whew!

Recording during a snowy MLK Day, Hannah and Sam are in a loquacious mood, covering a lot of ground with many asides. However, we open with the 2021 Shop bestsellers, talking about how Hannah's tastes influence what gets sold, how we see local authors with great success in the Shop, and how Sam's tastes don't necessarily align. Then we move into Led Zeppelin and Duran Duran (shoutout to Ryan Abernathy), Joan Didion (RIP) and memoirs in general, the practice of guilt reading, the YA title "Elatsoe" (actually pronounced "ell-at-so-ay," we have since discovered), Sam's joy at discovering a Jane Austen mystery series, and some discourse on audiobooks vs. audio dramas and the evil of space tourism.  Also, the famous cat Rabbit makes a brief appearance. And it's unclear why Sam's voice is so low. He did not spend the whole night previous smoking butts. 

This episode, we welcome our first-ever guest on the "John Updike's Ghost" podcast: Alena Dillon! The author of "The Happiest Girl in the World" and "Mercy House," and resident of Beverly, MA, has a brand-new memoir, "My Body Is a Big Fat Temple," about her experience of pregnancy and birth, which we manage to compare to hiking Mt. Everest and a car crash. She talks about why she wrote the book, what the barriers were to getting it published, and then joins Hannah and Sam in talking about weird stories, why it's hard to find small-press books but we need to read them, Lauren Groff, rom-coms with lots of swears in them, the epic Canadian band Rush, and why Facebook is evil. Oh, and then there's a quick hit at the end with some great kids' books recommendations.  Listen to the podcast and then join us for Book Club with Alena on January 11, 2022.

In this episdoe, just back from the New England Crime Bake, Hannah and Sam discuss the mysteries they're reading (not "sexy mysteries"), Sam's dip into "The Lincoln Highway," the new Louise Erdrich (Hannah's first!), romance novels set in the Indian Diaspora (with a segue into "Never Have I Ever"), the new Ann Patchett, and then a bunch of stuff about why there aren't any big Thanksgiving books or really any cultural artifacts. 

Oh, and Ursula Le Guin's book is called "No Time to Spare" and Louise Erdich's is called "Future Home of the Living God" (which Sam was not even close to getting right in real time).