MashReads Podcast

This week on the MashReads Podcast, we are joined by Bustle's book editor Cristina Arreola to talk about all of the books you should be reading this spring. Join us as we talk about what books we absolutely loved and what upcoming books you should keep an eye out for, including The Recovering by Leslie Jamison, The Feamle Persuasion by Meg Wolitzer, An American Marriage by Tayari Jones, and How To Write An Autobiographical Novel by Alexander Chee.

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

Martha recommends Kali Uchis’ new album Isolation. “I feel like it got lost in the Cardi B/ Drake wave that happened in music. Her music is just this beautiful fusion of a bunch of different genres like jazz, pop, rob, and her voice is wonderful, and the features that are on the album are fantastic. You have everyone from Georgia Smith to Tyler the Creator to Steve Lacey. It’s just a perfect album to anticipate spring and summer with.”

Cristina recommends Radiolab’s "Border Trilogy," a three part series on the border U.S./ Mexico border. “If you’re interested at all in the immigration debate, this series a really good primer and delves deep into it.” She also recommends Francisco Cantú's The Line Becomes A River, a memoir about Cantú's experience growing up on the border and working as a border agent. “It’s just really heart breaking and it’s not polemic and it just humanizes the issue in a way that I think is really necessary.”

MJ recommends the Twitter account Modern Glee (@Glee_2018), which imagines the television show Glee would look like if it still existed in 2018. “It reaches these ridiculous peeks the show actually did when it was airing.”

Cristina also recommends a tweet of a hilarious photo from a maternity photoshoot with Ronnie from Jersey Shore “It’s one of the funniest thing I’ve ever seen.”

Also mentioned on the podcast: 'The Rosary,' an essay by Alexander Chee about becoming a rose gardener.

And also, be sure to check out more of Cristina's work by checking out Bustle's books coverage.

This week on the MashReads Podcast, we read and discuss Ken Liu's short story The Paper Menagerie, (you can read it online here) and then, inspired by the story, we discuss our favorite stories and books that describe the immigrant experience.

This week, we read and discuss Madeline L'Engle's classic children's book 'A Wrinkle In Time.' Then, inspired by the book (and it's recent big screen adaptation), we talk about books we want to see turned into movies.

Next week, we're reading and discussing Ken Lui's short story 'Paper Menagerie.' We hope you'll join us. You can read it online here.

This week we are joined by two guests  — Martha's roommate Zach and MJ's brother Marc — to chat about 'Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda,' A.K.A. the book that inspired the movie 'Love, Simon.'Then, inspired by Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda, we talk about books we wish we had growing up, including The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi, Call Me By Your Name by Andre Aciman, and The Perks of Being A Wallflower by Stephen Chobosky.And as always, we close the show with recommendations:

Zach, Martha's roommate, recommends the Netflix show The Words Most Extraordinary Homes. "The show is perfect because one: it is British. There are two British co-hosts and they are just lovely people, because they are absolutely the most genuine. They just go around and look at beautiful homes and talk about the architecture. It's so simple and so perfect."

Marc recommends Bravo's reality TV show Vanderpump Rules. "It is pop culture junk food. It's an awful, awful show. But you see yourself in it, in a strange way." He also recommends Scaachi Cole's essay on Buzzfeed “'Vanderpump Rules' Is The Worst Show On TV That You Should Be Watching." "It's super, super funny read, and it's just a super well written essay."

Martha recommends Vince Staple's Go Fund Me project "Get Off My D*ck or Fund My Lifestyle," which was a response to critics saying that Vince Staples raps over low quality robot beats. "I love the song first of all and I love him. But it made me think about the larger cultural conversation about people's critiques about black art, and how a lot of people who write online, or talk about hip hop, don't get it."

MJ recommends "I wore Adidas tracksuits for week like Armie Hammer," a first person story where Elle writer Estelle Tang, well, wore Adidas tracksuits for a week like Armie Hammer. "The story she wrote is phenomenal, it's so funny. It's just this really great hilarious article about someone doing this ridiculous stunt."

Also mentioned on this podcast: our interview with Tomi Adeyemi, author of Children of Blood and Bone and Alim Kheraj's article for GQ "The Bright Future of Queer Literature Is the Young-Adult Novel."

And be sure to check out MJ's review of Love, Simon here.Next week, we're reading A Wrinkle In Time by Madeleine L'Engle. We hope you'll join us. If you're looking for more books coverage, be sure to follow MashReads on Facebook and Twitter.

On this week's episode of the MashReads Podcast, we're continuing our lovely streak of books that happened to have been turned into feature films. We discuss the brilliance of Andre Aciman and his stunning 2007 novel, Call Me By Your Name. 

The premise is simple: Elio, an intelligent 17 year-old, meets and falls for Oliver, the 24-year-old American graduate student staying with the family for six weeks in the summer. Elio and Oliver embark on a friendship and love story set in Italy of the 1980s. The two wrestle with their feelings, take about a million swims in a pool, and ultimately will have you feeling like a love-obsessed teen by proxy. 

But because this book is much more than it's detailed descriptions of bodily fluids, inspired by Elio and Oliver's love, we also discussed all our favorite love stories including everything from The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien to The Royal We by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan.

Martha recommends checking out Spotify's newest podcast "Microphone Check" about all things hip-hop music—and things that fall under the grander ethos of hip-hop. It formerly had a home within NPR Music but the new reiteration of the show can be listened to here.

Proma Khosla, who joined us for this episode, recommends the film Thoroughbreds, which is as she describes it, a "great movie for staring." It features the late Alton Yelchin and, according to Proma, the acting—and the sound—is incredible and striking. Watch the trailer here. 

Peter read a book and thinks you should too. He recommends Alone by Christophe Chabouté, a graphic novel that is "kind of wonderful" about a lighthouse occupied by a deformed man and his imagination. "The art style is captivating and it's quiet itself," Peter says. You can check it out here. 

MJ recommends reading Jo Ann Beard's 1996 New Yorker essay "The Fourth State of Matter." It chronicles the 1991 shootings at The University of Iowa and the death of her co-workers. "What I love about this story is it zigs when you expect it to zag," MJ says. You can read the story, with both zags and the zigs, here.

This week on the MashReads Podcast, we read and discuss Annihilation, the first book in Jeff VanderMeer's Southern Reach trilogy. Join us as we talk about the mysterious Area X, VanderMeer's unique approach to suspense, and what makes Annihilation so singular.Then, inspired by Annihilation, we talk about books that make us go "WTF?!" including: Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro, The Windup Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami, and Wool by Hugh Howey. And as always we close the show with recommendations:

Dustin, Mashable's art director who join us to talk about 'Annihilation,' recommends 'The Power' by Naomi Alderman. "It was a really cool book and also it was a really fast read."

Martha recommends 'Black photographers and the civil rights struggle'. "If you get a chance, please look at those photographs. I want every one of them framed and printed in my future home." She also recommends rewatching Season 1 of 'Atlanta.' "It's a fantastic show and it's very trippy."

Peter recommends the BBC comedy 'Derry Girls.' "I think it's pretty wonderful... It's this really goofy comedy that is in a really serious setting, and I just really enjoyed it a lot."

MJ recommends Mashable's three-part series investigating climate change refugees and the nuclear legacy of the Marshall Islands. (Part I: The Poison and the Tomb: One family's journey to their contaminated home, Part II: On Standby: When you leave the Marshall Islands, you buy a one-way ticket, Part III: A new home, somewhere else.) He also got to go to a screening of 'Love, Simon.' "It makes my heart sing, it's so so charming. You can read his review of the movie here.

This week on the MashReads Podcast, we chat with David Levithan, author of 'Boy Meets Boy,' 'Two Boys Kissing,' and 'Every Day' (which was recently adapted into a movie).

Join us as we talk about the queer message behind 'Every Day,' writing queer novels, and how YA literature has grown.And as always, we close the show with recommendations.

David recommends Julien Baker "I think everybody should listen to her. She is incredible. I have a massive musical crush on her."

David also recommends a host of upcoming books including: I Felt a Funeral In My Brain by Will Walton, Not If I Save You First by Ally Carter, and I Lost My Way by Gayle Foreman.

MJ recommends the band Thirdstory. "Those guys can saaaang."Next we're reading and discussing Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer, just in time for the movie release. We hope you'll join us.

This week on the MashReads Podcast, we talk about all things Black Panther. Join us as we talk about Marvel's new 'Black Panther' movie. Then we revisit 'Black Panther: A Nation Under Our Feet,'  the 2016 Ta-Nehisi Coates 'Black Panther' comic book run.

And as always, we close the show with recommendations. 

Brian de los Santos, Mashable's assistant editor who joined us this week, recommends hyphy music, especially because of the Black Panther soundtrack. "It was the soundtrack to my high school experience, t was the one moment in which the Bay Area, growing up, had reached the map. Hyphy music has influences on the [Black Panther] soundtrack — E-40, Mac Dre, go ahead and listen to every song they've done. It's very related to this [Black Panther] discussion, and Oakland, and it's just very good music overall."

Martha recommends Queer Eye, Netflix's reboot of the early 2000's show Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. "It's one of those TV shows where you can go home, and sit on the couch and escape in it, and feel good."

Peter recommends The New York Times' podcast Still Processing. "We've talked about it on this podcast, but they've had back to back episodes that have really been wonderful to me. They did a fantastic one this week about Black Panther with Ta-Nehisi Coates. And the week before that they did a show on Three Billboards Outside Of Ebbing, Missouri and they were to succinctly describe my dissatisfaction with that film in a way that I was never able to put together in my head."

MJ recommends all of the hilarious writing about Fergie's, um, colorful, national anthem performance, including "Fergie Apologizes for Giving America the National Anthem It Deserves" from The Root" and "A Brief, Fraught Timeline of My Attempt to Watch Fergie’s Whole Rendition of the National Anthem" from The Ringer. "The rendition was not the greatest. The writing about the rendition has been phenomenal."

And be sure to check out Brian de los Santos' story "Someone hijacked my Spotify. Here's what happened when I fought back."

And if you want to discover more Black Panther, be sure to check out Mashable's comprehensive coverage with 'Black Panther Week' here.

This week on the MashReads Podcast, we chat with Dave Eggers and Moktar Alkhanshali about Dave Eggers' new biography of Moktar Alkhanshali and the history of coffee, 'The Monk of Mokha."