MashReads Podcast

This week, we are joined by Colson Whitehead to chat about his book The Underground Railroad. 

The book paints a portrait of slavery and American history by following Cora, a slave running away from a cruel plantation in Georgia. As she struggles to escape to freedom, Cora travels through the country, seeing how deeply slavery as shaped American life and how passionately citizens will fight to keep or destroy the institution.

Join us as we chat about writing, history and The Underground Railroad.

This week, in honor of Halloween, we take a deep dive into the world of horror books. Join us as we chat about what we look for in a scary book, what tropes do you see in the horror genre, and our favorite terrifying books.

This week, we read and discuss Ray Bradbury's haunting carnival tale Something Wicked This Way Comes. The book follows two young friends, Jim and Will, living in a small town in Illinois. When a mysterious carnival arrives in the middle of the night, it's up to Jim and Will, along with Will's father Charles Halloway, to unravel the secrets of this carnival and protect the town from its horrors.

Then, inspired by the fact that Something Wicked is a lesser known Bradbury novel (compared to Fahrenheit 451), we talk about lesser known books by famous authors.

This week on the MashReads Podcast, we read and discuss Underground Airlines by Ben Winters. The novel imagines a world where slavery was not abolished and still exists in four states -- The Hard Four.

Then inspired by Underground Airlines, we talk about our favorite speculative ficton.

This week, author Emma Cline joins the MashReads Podcast as we talk about her debut novel 'The Girls.' Join us as we chat about cults and communes, being a teen, and the complicated nature of friendship, as seen in 'The Girls.'

This week we are joined by Cheryl Klein, the executive editor at Arthur A. Levine Books/Scholastic and author of The Magic Words:  Writing Great Books for Children and Young Adults.  Basically -- as a reader, editor and author -- Cheryl is an expert in all things books.

Join us as we talk about how to approach reading, how we discover books, tips for new writers and our other reading habits.

In honor of David Foster Wallace (this month marks 8 years since his passing) and his iconic writing, this week we discuss 'The Depressed Person,' Wallace's short story detailing a narrators inner thoughts about her depression.

Then, inspired by Wallace's exploration of sadness and depression, we chat about books you should read when you are sad.

This week, we read and discuss Franny and Zooey, J.D. Salinger's hyper-existential novel about a family of geniuses grappling witht the spiritial crisis of its two youngest members, Franny and Zooey. The inspired by the novels examination of family, we chat about our favorite books about siblings.

This week on the MashReads Podcast, we catch up with YA superstar Sarah J. Maas. Join us as chat about with Sarah about what she's been up to, writing emotional YA scenes (do authors like it when they make you cry?), what music makes good writing music and what to expect from Empire of Storms. Also, Ghostbusters.

Summer is coming to a close and that means one thing -- last minute vacations!This week on the MashReads podcast, we chat all things vacation reading. What do we like to read on vacation? What makes a good summer book? Are "beach reads" actually a thing? Join us as we take a deep dive into all things summer reading.