Just In Case We Die

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Remember last month when Aaron, Rodney, and Rebecca discussed Disappearance by David Dabydeen? Do you recall that Aaron and Rebecca didn't like it very much? Remember how Rodney tried to build a case that Dabydeen's slight tome spoke to him because one of its recurring themes was about the narrator's quest to discover who he was and how he fit into the world around him?

On the Road, Jack Kerouac's 1954 bible for the beatnik generation, could not have been a more fitting follow-up to that discussion. To put it simply: On the Road is one of the greatest novels about "identity chasing" to have ever been published. All three cast members of this podcast loved it.

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How do Aaron, Rodney, and Rebecca reconcile problematic content in the books they recommend? What are their responsibilities as podcasters in this regard? It’s an interesting discussion that lays some groundwork for what listeners can expect in the upcoming year of episodes.

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We’re not gonna force you to listen to the entire episode to get to our general unanimous opinion that this book doesn’t belong on a list of books you must read before you die. Aaron’s not even convinced that David Dabydeen actually finished writing it. Rodney got something out of it, though, and he tries very hard to change Rebecca and Aaron’s mind about whether or not there’s actually a point to be made with this tome. Does he succeed?

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Rodney and I made a pretty big decision about the format of our show by deciding to add a third person to our discussions. After some debate, we landed on Rebecca. Her wit, intelligence, and established rapport with us made her an obvious choice.  Our bonus episode for February 2024, the first episode of our second year of upload, is an opportunity for listeners to get to know a little bit more about her. We take some time to let her talk about her interests in reading and some of her favorite writers. She has also created a list of six "veto novels" and this episode is her chance to name them and explain why they are important to her. We hope that you enjoy listening to her as much as Rodney and I enjoy her participation. In our minds, she can only serve to make a podcast that we are already proud of even better.  

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F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby was published in 1925 to little fanfare. Sales of the novel were poor, and critics of the day could not resist mentioning how “slight” this offering was in comparison to Fitzgerald’s previous efforts as a novelist. It seemed destined to be a footnote in an otherwise noteworthy career.

During WWII, free copies of this novel were donated by the Council on Books in Wartime to American soldiers serving overseas. This prompted a new (and somewhat confounding) interest in The Great Gatsby. Today, this novel is a mainstay of the American educational system and a serious contender for the title of Great American Novel.

Kyra, the co-host of Relatable Nerds, joins us for our discussion of (possibly) the first book we’ve discussed that actually belongs on the list.

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Full disclosure before you listen to this episode: our discussion of this novel does not shy away from spoilers. If you are planning to read this title based on our recommendation, then we urge you to finish the novel before listening.

With that said, we also urge you to read it. It’s a damn fine novel.

John Langan’s The Fisherman ended up on both of our to-be-read piles for two very different reasons. It’s a horror novel of the more cosmic variety (full description of what that means in the episode), but this is horror with cross-genre audience appeal. The story centers around two men who come to terms with the death of their individual spouses by bonding on weekend fishing trips. At Dutchman’s Creek. Where the creepy, weird dude at the diner specifically told them not to go.

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This month Aaron and Rodney learned a valuable lesson about not judging a book by its cover. They also learned to not judge a book by a one-sentence blurb on Google. They were expecting a dull, overly dramatic, and schmaltzy 19th-century romance novel, and what they got was a riveting portrait of one woman’s attempt to protect her child from the influence of a deplorable husband by defying the law and moral code.

They loved it.

So did Aaron’s girlfriend, Rebecca, who joins them for this discussion.

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We have made no secret in our discussions for this podcast that we are both tremendous fans of science-fiction. Our collective love for the genre is absolute and actually extends far beyond the authors we admire. It is reflected in the movies we love, the TV shows we DVR, and the obsessions we have carried since childhood. It is actually a source of lamentation for us that more writers and titles in the genre are not included in the list of 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die.

Because there is a dearth of our favorite genre included in our source material, we don’t get much opportunity to talk about it in our discussions. This is why we jumped at the chance to celebrate the birthday of Philip K. Dick for our bonus material this month. Regardless of the differences in our individual science-fiction tastes, we both agree that Phillip K. Dick (or PKD, as he is oft-referenced) is a master of the genre.

Philip K. Dick was also, however, a deeply troubled man. In our discussion, we dive deep into his drug addiction, his mental illness, and his insistence that he was the recipient of divine inspiration from extra-terrestrial beings. We discuss his work and its influence on contemporary culture. We also discuss our own beginnings in the genre of science-fiction and explain why all our favorite science-fiction writers turned into dirty old men.

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If Aaron were asked to make a top 10 list of his all-time favorite novels, William Gaddis’ The Recognitions would find a spot somewhere in the top 5. This 900+ page masterwork of the beginnings of the post-modern movement spoke to a college-age Aaron in ways that are often hard to articulate. A work that examines the relationship between the artist and his final product, the complicated reasons that the creative can be inspired, and the oft-tumultuous connections between fathers and sons, The Recognitions is a difficult novel that challenges readers with unattributed dialogue, murky character motivation, and long-winded sentences that often have double meaning.

As stated, Aaron adores this novel. Rodney fucking hates it.

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For this month’s bonus episode, Aaron and Rodney are going to take a deep dive into the life and works of American novelist Kurt Vonnegut. Between his humanistic views, his uncanny knack for unintentional world-building, and his macabre sense of gallows humor, there are more than a few qualities that make Mr. Vonnegut’s body of work unique amongst his contemporaries. Our podcast seemed an appropriate place to dissect them as we’ve made no secret in our catalog of episodes that Kurt Vonnegut holds a special place in Aaron’s heart.

In a career spanning more than fifty years, Kurt Vonnegut published fourteen novels, five plays, and multiple collections of short stories and non-fiction essays. He passed away in 2007, but if he were still alive, he would be celebrating his 101st birthday on November 11.