MashReads Podcast

This week on the MashReads Podcast, we discuss our summer reading lists and what exactly qualifies as a beach read before taking a hiatus until the fall.

Chloe recommends:

“China Rich Girlfriend” by Kevin Kwan

“The Third Hotel” by Laura van den Berg

“Meet Me in the Bathroom” by Lizzy Goodman

 

Martha recommends:

"The Wedding Date" by Jasmine Guillory

"The Female Persuasion" by Meg Wolitzer

"Barracoon" by Zora Neal Hurston

"Children of Blood and Bone" by Tomi Adeyemi

"To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before" by Jenny Han

This week on the MashReads Podcast, we read and discuss Melissa Broder's novel "The Pisces," a story about a woman who falls in love with a merman. Then, inspired by the book, we talk about other unexpected romances/ surprising couples in literature.

And as always, we close the show with recommendations:

Chloe recommends Motherboard's internet-themed crossword puzzle "Solve The Internet." "It's really fun and they are a little bit easier than the New York Times crossword puzzles, so if you get stuck on the Wednesday puzzle like I do, turn to this one. It's so fun."

Martha recommends the app Wordscapes, a word-based puzzle game. "I'm addicted to it!"

MJ recommends "Queer Love In Color" a photo essay that ran in the New York Times for Pride Month that documents black queer couples. "It's just so beautiful. It has a beautiful message to it, the photos are gorgeous, and it's celebrating Pride and love, and you'll look at those photos and feel good."

This week on the MashReads Podcast, we chat with Lauren Groff, author of 'Fates and Furies,' 'Delicate Edible Birds,' and more, about her new story collection, 'Florida.'

"This book is about Florida. But it’s not just the state, it’s about the state of dread and premonition and the desire to push outside the realm of domesticity and how to raise little boys and make them into good people and it’s about snakes and it’s basically everything that you can come up with."

Also mentioned in the show: Groff's 'New York Times' By The Book interivew:

"My point is: when people in authority mention writers, they confer upon those writers a leg up into the cannon, and the same people get mentioned over and over again and become cannon. If we're not reading outside of the bounds of what we're told to read, if we're not reading outside of white male supremancy as it's been over the past millenia, then we're doing a profound disservice to the present and to the writers of the past who have been overlooked."

Then, as always, we close the show with recommenations.

Lauren recommends Rachel Cusk's book 'Kudos.' "I just finished 'Kudos' by Rachel Cusk on the train and I am still cogitating over it because it ends with this incredible... wait, maybe I shouldn't what it ends with, I don't want to do a spoiler! Someday if you see me and you've read this book, let's talk about the ending because I don't know what to think about."

MJ recommends 'Motherhood' by Sheila Heti. "It's astounding. Sheila Heti is such a phenomenal writer."

This week on the MashReads Podcast, we read and discuss Celeste Ng's novel "Little Fires Everywhere." Then, inspired by the book, we talk about our favorite books about the suburbs/ the suburban experience.

This week, we are joined by Whitney Hu, Director of Public Programs at the Natinoal Book Foundation, to talk about "An American Marriage" by Tayari Jones. The book tells the story of newly married couple Roy and Celeste, after Roy is falsely convicted of a crime he didn't commit and is incarcerated for 5 years. The story then explores what happens to Roy and Celeste's marriage when the time they thought they'd have together is stolen from them.

Then, inspired by "An American Marriage" we talk about our favorite love stories including A Little Life, Tiny Beautiful Things, and They Both Die At The End.

And, as always, we close the show with recommendations:

Martha recommneds "Bubblin" by Anderson Pack, which she nominates for song of the summer. "It's just such a vibe. I don't know how to explain it. You just have to listen to it, it'll make you feel happy."

Whitney recommends 5 songs that she thinks would be on Celestial's music playlist in "An American Marriage": 'Love Me Right' by Amber Mark, 'Holy' by Jamila Woods, 'Distance' by Emily King, 'Focus' by Her, and 'Tender Love' Michelle Ndegeocello. "I think all of those songs, when you listen to them, have this women empowerment/ also 'love is really complicated and I have feelings for you, why do you have to treat me so wrong' vibe."

MJ recommends two Twitter videos that'll make you laugh. The first is an interview where Mariah Carey apparently learns that people have to pay bills. The second is a video of the very polite rage expressed by a woman Kim when a customer Ginger won't say whether or not she wants to buy a cheesecake.

This week on the MashReads Podast, we're joined by Aja Gabel, author of "The Ensemble."

"It's a book about music, classic music in particular, but put another way, it's really just a book about people who happen to play music."

And, as always, we close the show with recommendations:

'The Third Hotel' by Laura van den Berg. "It's one of those books where you're like 'I've never read anything like this.'"

This week on the MashReads Podcast, we read and discuss Ray Bradbury's novel Fahrenheit 451.

Then, inspired by the novel, we talk about other books about books.

And finally, we end the show with recommendations:

Martha recommends Spotify music podcast 'Dissect.' Each season of the podcast focuses in on one music album, devoting each episode in the season to dissecting one song. The show just launched their third season which focuses on Frank Ocean's album 'Blonde.' "It's really, really fascinating. the host takes on each song and breaks down, track by track, the lyrics, the production. It's pretty fantastic."

Peter also recommends a podcast: 'The Next Picture Show.' The show is a movie discussion podcast that takes a new movie and puts it in conversation with an older movie that it echoes. "The speak about movies with a level of depth and knowledge that I really hope to possess one day. I really love these voices and these people and I think they're some of the best film reviewers in the world and I am glad I get to listen to them every two weeks.

MJ recommends two books. First he recommends 'The Power' by Naomi Alderman, a novel that envisions a world where women suddenly have the power to shoot electricity from their hands. The book then explores what happens when women are given this power that men do not have. "Once I started I could not put it down. What I love about the book is that premise is so simple, but I think the idea is so fully realized." He also recommends 'Tin Man' by Sarah Winman, which follows two characters and looks at love, grief, friendships, and more over the course of their lives. "The book is so emotionally rich. It's beautiful, the entire book feels like poetry."

This week on the MashReads Podcast, we read and discuss Douglas Adam's classic sci-fi novel 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Then, inspired by the novel, we chat about our favorite sci-fi including 'Snow Crash' by Neal Stephenson, 'Station Eleven' by Emily St. John Mandel, 'The Afterlives' by Thomas Pierce, 'Neuromancer' by William Gibson, Kindred' by Octavia Butler, and 'Annihilation' by Jeff Vandermeer.

Then as always, we close the show with recommendations:

Martha recommends the movie Kodachrome with Elizabeth Olsen and Jason Sudeikis.

Peter recommends Ta-Nehisi Coates' new essay 'I'm Not Black, I'm Kanye.'

MJ recommends Slate's new podcast Decoder Ringer, and specifically their episode Laff Box, which is all about the history of the laugh track.

This week on the MashReads Podcast, we read and discuss Daniel Mallory Ortberg's new short story collection "Merry Spinster." The book reimagines classic fairy tales but with very dark twists.

Then, inspired by "Merry Spinster" we move on to discuss other books inspired by fairy tales that we love.

And as always, we close with recommendations:

Peter recommends the video game "God of War." "It is just an incredibly well rought game in terms of basically everything. It feels great, it looks great, but I think what's captivated me most about it is how the story itself is such a mature standing for a character that had previously been an incarnation of greedy bloodbaths. I think it's symobolic of a lot of growth in the video game inudstry as a whole." (You can check out Mashable's review of the game here.)

Martha recommends the 1997 version of Cinderalla featuring Brandy and Whitney Houston. "These are all legends and it's fantastic. It's the black Cinderella. It's perfect." She also recommends doing facemasks during your flights. "You put your facemask on and so that you wake up wherever you're landing, you feel fantastic and you look fantastic."

MJ recommends the New York Times podcast Still Processing's episode about Beychella, Beyonce history-making Coachella performance. "They talk about Beychella in terms of pop culture, pop culture history, race. It's the smartest deconstruction and reading of what this performance is."

Next week we are reading "The Rosary," an essay by Alexander Chee from his new collection How To Write An Autobiographical Novel. You can find it online here and we hope you'll join us in reading it.

This week on the MashReads Podcast, we pull together a panel of our past guests to chat about books we really love and think you should know about.