Happy To Be Here

This week, senior Reset producer Meha Ahmad and journalist Araceli Gómez-Aldana join us to unpack the week. We get into friendship breakups over Taylor Swift, a new airline for dogs and Olympic fashion.

Then, Maura Cheeks tells us about her debut novel Acts of Forgiveness. The book imagines a world where the U.S. government awards cash reparations to the descendants of enslaved people.

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This week, our friends Dan Pashman, host of 'The Sporkful' podcast and author of the new cookbook 'Anything’s Pastable,' and Helen Rosner, staff writer at The New Yorker and author of the newsletter 'The Food Scene,' go all in on food in another round of our favorite game: Burden or Delight.

Plus, producer Anna Bauman adventured to Indianapolis this week to see the total solar eclipse. We listen to what it was like to stop and wonder at our sky.

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We are unpacking the week that was with Amory Sivertson, host of the WBUR podcasts Beyond All Repair and Endless Thread, and Kristina Lopez, producer of Glamorous Trash. We discuss the reasons why women need more sleep than men, age gap relationships and “Stick Nation.”

Then, Vulture film critic Alison Wilmore tells us about why women in action movies all seem to be doing the same particular stunt. She dubs it “killer gams.”

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Our April selection is Marie-Helene Bertino’s gorgeous and entrancing novel 'Beautyland.' It’s about Adina, who realizes she is actually an alien disguised as a young girl living in Philadelphia. Her task is to send reports on humanity back to her home planet via fax machine. The novel is tender, full of heart and weird in the best possible way.

Listen to this spoiler-free interview with the author and read along with us! We’ll be back with a spoiler-filled panel discussion on the last Tuesday of the month. You can join the conversation by sending a voice memo to [email protected].

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Our March book club pick is Kaveh Akbar’s debut novel ‘Martyr!’ It’s about Cyrus, who was born in Iran and moved to the midwest as a child after his mom died. She was one of the victims of the real-life event where the United States Navy shot an Iranian passenger-plane out of the sky reportedly by accident. The book picks up when Cyrus is in his 20s in Indiana and he’s struggling in more ways than one.

He finds himself thinking a lot about the idea of martyrdom and what makes life truly worth living. When he learns of an artist in New York whose work explores similar topics, he has to meet her.

We are joined by two expert readers: New York Times Book Review editor MJ Franklin and host of The Stacks podcast Traci Thomas. We discuss the book in detail, including spoilers! So if you have not read the book yet, go back and listen to our spoiler-free chat with author Kaveh Akbar in the feed first.

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This week, two of our favorite guests, City Cast Chicago host Jacoby Cochran and Not Sorry Productions faculty member Margaret Willison, stop by to play a game of Burden or Delight. We discuss wide-legged jeans, sourdough starters and a few other unhinged topics.

Plus, we are super excited to introduce an upcoming segment with chef and cookbook writer Tamar Adler! She is bringing her expertise to Nerdette to solve all of your culinary quandaries. Tamar is the author of ‘An Everlasting Meal’ and ‘The Everlasting Meal Cookbook.’ She is now writing ‘The Kitchen Shrink’ column, where she gives advice to home cooks. We’re asking you to send us your cooking questions and mysteries. Then, we’ll get you an answer in an upcoming episode. Send us a voice memo, an email, a DM, whichever method you prefer. We’re at [email protected].

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This week, senior correspondent at Vox Alex Abad-Santos and Bridget Todd, host of the podcasts ‘City Cast DC’ and ‘There Are No Girls on the Internet,’ spill the tea on Kate Middleton’s photoshop debacle, a proposed TikTok ban and the World Banana Forum.

Plus, Noel Fielding stars in the new Apple TV+ comedy series ‘The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin.’ You may know Noel as the sweet, eccentric host of ‘The Great British Bake Off,’ or from the deeply strange sketch show ‘The Mighty Boosh.’ Noel plays Dick Turpin, a historical figure from the 18th century who robbed carriages. In this retelling, however, he trades violence for sparkly blue spandex and faces magical threats. We talk to Noel and executive producer Kenton Allen about comedy, being a middle-aged parent and knitting.

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We unpack the week with Ronald Young Jr., host of ‘Weight For It,’ and Arionne Nettles, head of Northwestern’s audio journalism program and author of the upcoming book ‘We Are the Culture: Black Chicago's Influence on Everything.’ We chat about the fallacy of airplane mode, tweens at Sephora and the popularity of owl ring bearers.

Plus, author Xochitl Gonzalez tells us about her new book ‘Anita de Monte Laughs Last.’ Xochitl imbued the characters with aspects of her own life story, making it “a nightmare to write.” She tells us why it was also worth it.

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Nerdette Book Club’s March selection is ‘Martyr!,’ the first novel from poet Kaveh Akbar. Our team chose it because it is vibrant, incisive and the perfect combination of devastating and funny.

Listen to this spoiler-free conversation and read along with us! Then, send us a voice memo with your thoughts on the book. We’ll be back on the last Tuesday of the month with a spoiler-filled discussion. You can reach us at [email protected].

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.