Happy To Be Here

This week, we are asking the important questions about 2024. Like, what plant will we fall in love with? And what body part will be in style? Those are some of the ponderings included in a recent story on next year’s trends in T: The New York Times Style Magazine. We put the co-hosts of ‘Fanti,’ Tre’vell Anderson and Jarrett Hill, to the test. They are also the co-authors of ‘Historically Black Phrases.’ Tre’vell’s recent book is titled ‘We See Each Other.’

Then, Omkari Williams tells us about her new book ‘Micro Activism: How You Can Make a Difference in the World Without a Bullhorn.’ In it, she argues that everyone can be an activist and that working on a small scale can create lasting change.

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Nerdette Book Club is back to discuss our November selection, ‘Land of Milk and Honey’ by C Pam Zhang! It’s a novel about survival, privilege, and seeking pleasure at the end of the world.

Our readers this month are Aliza Abarbanel, co-founder and co-editor of ‘Cake Zine,’ an independent print publication exploring society through sweets, and co-host of the podcast ‘This is TASTE,’ and Miriam Kramer, news editor at WPLN in Nashville.

We do get into spoilers in the conversation! If you’re not ready to find out what happens yet, listen to our spoiler-free conversation with author C Pam Zhang in the feed first.

P.S. We have an exciting announcement in the credits! Listen if you want to get started on your 2024 reading list!

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Recommendations:

‘The Menu’

‘Triangle of Sadness’

‘The World Without Us’ by Alan Weisman

‘How Much of These Hills Is Gold’ by C Pam Zhang

‘Gold Fame Citrus’ by Claire Vaye Watkins

‘Breasts and Eggs’ by Mieko Kawakami

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Academy Award winning writer, actor, and director Emerald Fennell tells us about her intoxicating new movie ‘Saltburn,’ which is out this week. It’s a British country house thriller about obsession, excess, and desire.

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Thanksgiving is almost upon us, so it’s time to get cooking! First, we ask chef Tanya Holland to share some fun, fresh ideas for the big meal. Tanya is the author of three cookbooks, including most recently the gorgeous ‘California Soul.’ You can find the recipes for her stuffed sweet potatoes and brussels sprouts salad at our website!

Since one of the best parts of Thanksgiving is the leftovers, we also talk to Tamar Adler about her cookbook ‘The Everlasting Meal Cookbook: Leftovers A to Z.’

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This week, Vocalo host Nudia Hernandez and host of WBEZ’s ‘The Rundown’ Erin Allen join us to unwind from the week that was. We chat about Barbra Streisand’s extremely long memoir, The Simpsons’ attempts to keep up with the times, and how to cope with shorter days.

Then, we talk to two of the showrunners on the Apple TV+ show ‘For All Mankind,’ Matt Wolpert and Ben Nedivi. The series supposes what might have happened if the Soviet Union had won the race to the moon. As a result, we end up making scientific advancements way faster than we did in our timeline — like going to Mars by the 90s. We talk to the two creators about the season 4 premier.

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It is the month of November and our Book Club selection is C Pam Zhang’s Land of Milk and Honey. It takes place in an alarmingly conceivable future where the world is on the brink of ecological collapse. A smog is enveloping the earth, making it difficult for crops to grow. Our narrator is a chef who is straddled with inherited debt and locked out of the United States. She takes a mysterious job cooking for an elite research community in the Italian Alps that is able to grow the food she loves in labs.

In this spoiler-free conversation with C Pam Zhang, we get into the influence of the pandemic on her writing, her loss of religion, and strawberries. Grab a copy and read along with us! We’ll be back with an in-depth, spoilery conversation on the last Tuesday of the month. You can join the conversation by recording a voice memo on your phone and sending it to [email protected]. Happy reading!

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This week, we chat about long movie intermissions, the business of Taylor Swift, and the delight of keeping oddball rituals. Our panelists are Lauren Chooljian, senior reporter, producer and host of the NHPR podcast The 13th Step, and Anisa Khalifa, producer and host of the WUNC podcast The Broadside and the indie podcasts Dramas Over Flowers and Muslim in Plain Sight.

Then, we talk to one of our favorite chefs, Sohla El-Waylly, about her debut cookbook Start Here: Instructions for Becoming a Better Cook. It’s what she calls, “culinary school–without the student loans.”

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Nerdette Book Club is back to discuss our October selection, Lauren Groff’s ‘The Vaster Wilds.’ It’s about a girl in early American colonial history who runs away from the Jamestown settlement during a period of starvation. She then struggles to survive in the woods during freezing cold days and nights, armed with only a pewter cup and leather gloves.

We asked long-distance dogsledder Blair Braverman, the author of the novel ‘Small Game,’ and MJ Franklin, an editor for the New York Times Book Review, to dig into the book with us. This conversation does include spoilers. So, if you have yet to crack open a copy, you can listen to our spoiler-free interview with Lauren Groff in the feed.

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We are leaning into Halloween this week! Taylor Lorenz, Washington Post columnist and author of Extremely Online, and Margaret Willison, culture writer and faculty at Not Sorry Productions, dared to join us to discuss the very tall, very viral Halloween decorations named Skelly and Lewis, along with more Halloween nonsense.

Then, comedian Sam Reece tells us about her new book S****y Craft Club: A Club for Gluing Beads to Trash, Talking about Our Feelings, and Making Silly Things.

You can find photos of Lewis and Liza Lou’s kitchen at our website.

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This week, we talk about Netflix’s reinvention of the video store, the right way to board a plane, and the art of advice-giving with Chicago Sun Times’ new advice columnist Ismael Perez and Brandon Pope, who hosts WBEZ’s Making podcast and On the Block from Block Club Chicago and WCIU.

Then, author V.E. Schwab talks about the latest installment in her “Shades of Magic” fantasy series, The Fragile Threads of Power. This will be her fourth time on Nerdette, because her books are just that good. You may know her from her bestselling novel The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue or one of her other 23 published books.

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