MashReads Podcast

This week on a special MashReads Podcast, Aliza talks to former Obama speechwriter David Litt about his new memoir "Thanks, Obama: My Hopey, Changey White House Years.” Litt shared stories about his White House experience, his advice for young writers, and why his comedic memoir is really a love story.

As always, we ended the show with recommendations:

David recomments "A River Runs Through It" by Norman Maclean, which Litt reads about twice a year. He also recommends "The Chief Inspector Gamache" series by Louise Penny, of which Litt says “it deals so much with the inner life of people as opposed to just the whodunit. And finally, for budding writers, Litt recommends "Made to Stick" by Chip and Dan Heath. “That book was kind of the Bible at the speechwriting firm where I worked. It’s about what makes an argument, a story, or a point memorable.”

This week on the MashReads podcast, we discuss Don't Call Us Dead, a poetry collection by Danez Smith, focusing on "Summer, Somewhere," the book's breathtaking 25 page opening poem about the afterlife of black boys murdered by police. Then, inspired by the depiction of paradise in "Summer, Somewhere," we discuss our favorite portrayals of death and the afterlife in literature including: Lincoln In The Bardo by George Saunders, The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak, the Mediator series by Meg Cabot, the Abhorsen series by Garth Nix, and No Exit by Jean-Paul Sartre.Then, as always we close the show with recommendations:

You can see Peter's "u bum" sweatshirt here.

Aliza recommends watching the movie Scream this month for Halloween. "It is a meta treatise on slasher films... I would recommend that if you're uneasy but interested in scary movies, then check out Scream." Also, she is embarking on a quest to watch one horror movie each day in October. You can follow along on her 31 day quest here.

Peter recommends you watch the horror movie A Dark Song, a hidden gem on Netflix. "It's really quiet and it ratchets up the dread a little bit at a time, and it's really fun, in the way that horror movies are good. It's great and atmospheric."

MJ recommends all of the articles celebrating the rise of Cardi B, especially "Bloody Slippers: The Fairy-Tale Come-Up of Cardi B" by Lindsay Zoladz and "Cardi B, the Female Rapper Who Ousted Taylor Swift From the Top of the Charts." "Just shout out to Cardi B and her tremendous achievement. 'Bodak Yellow' is a bop, through and through." He also recommends "Is True Love Real, Y/N," an advice column by JP Brammer for Grindr's digital magazine Into. "I read this essay and I got Cheryl Strayed, Tiny Beautiful Things level chills."

This week, we chat with Danzy Senna about her novel 'New People.'And as always, we close the show with recommendations:

Danzy recommends A Separation by Katie Kitamura. "It was such a pleasurable read but sort of unsettling in all the ways that I like." Danzy has also been reading through novels by French writer Emmanuel Carrère. "Class Trip is an amazing novel."

MJ recommends Release by Patrick Ness. The book is a day in the life of a queer kid in Seattle as he is dealing with a going away party, issues at work, etc. "I've been in this queer YA binge, and this book has been so good. It's been so good."

And you can read Danzy's essay about Oreo, "An Overlooked Classic About the Comedy of Race," here.

This week on the MashReads Podcast, we talk to Alan Cumming about, well, just about everything. Join us we hang out with Alan and talk about books, writing, the teletubbies, bars, dogs, and Alan's new book 'The Adventures of Honey and Leon.'

Peter recommends the new adaptation of It. "It is as good as it could be, which is saying a lot for a Stephen King movie." "There's an attention to detail about the scary parts and the atmosphere they're trying to create. It was very well thought out and very well choreographed and very well storyboarded, I feel."

Alan recommends the Billie Jean King biopic Battle Of The Sexes, staring Emma Stone and, well, Alan Cumming himself. "I'm hardly in it so I think it's fair for me to like it ... It's so good!"

Aliza recommends "The Sorrow and the Shame of the Accidental Killer," a New Yorker article by Alice Gregory about what happens when you accidentally cause someone else's death. "It's just really interesting and something that none of us wants to think about: how close we are, on any given day, to accidentally killing someone."

MJ recommends "The Way We Live Now: 11-11-01; Lost and Found," an essay by Underground Railroad author (and past MashReads podcast guest) Colson Whitehead about New York, 9/11, the ways we remember cities after they change. "It's this moving tribute to the Twin Towers and also how we inhabit spaces."

This week on the MashReads Podcast, we chat with YA superstar Marie Lu about her new novel Warcross as well as her upcoming YA adaptation of Batman, Batman: Nightwalkers.

Marie recommends Force of a Thousand Lanterns by Julie C. Dao. "It is a fantastic, East Asian retelling of the Snow White story but from the Queen's perspective. It is so good, and it is dark, and lush and awesome. I can't believe it's a debut." She also recommends Bob's Burgers. "That's my happy show. I always leave that show feeling good."

Aliza recommends the TV show Outlander. "It is essence a period soap opera, but it's so much more than that ... the writing on that show is amazing, and the way they portray people dealing with drama is really, really good."

MJ recommends Adam Silvera's new novel They Both Die At The End. He also recommends reading the New York Times "Modern Love" essay "Who Is Allowed To Hold Hands." "It's this heartbreaking, impassioned essay about who is allowed to hands and when and where and why."

This week on the MashReads Podcast, we read and discuss 300 Arguments by Sarah Manguso. The book is composed of 300 platitudes, most of them about a sentence or two long. While they seem completely unrelated at first, a storyline soon emerges about Manguso's own life, illness, friendships, etc. "Think of this as a short book composed entirely of what I hoped would be a long book's quotable passages." Then, inspired by 300 Arguments, we discuss our favorite short books, including George Orwell's Animal Farm, Cannery Row by John Steinbeck, Bluets by Maggie Nelson, and The Final Solution: A Story of Detection by Michael Chabon. And as always, we close the show with recommendations:

Foster, Mashable's managing editor who joined the show this week, recommends the The Rolling Stone article "'Silver Springs': Inside Fleetwood Mac's Great Lost Breakup Anthem." "It's such a powerful song and when you find out the story behind it, it one of these things that so deeply increases your enjoyment of what's already such an incredibly great thing."

MJ recommends Wesley Morris' New York Times article "In Movies and TV, Racism Made Plain" which explores how white supremacy surfaces, not just during the Charlottesville protests, but also in the pop culture we consume every day. "Whenever Wesley Morris writes anything you should just read it. He also recommends Bustle's article "How YA Twitter Is Trying To Dismantle White Supremacy, One Book At A Time" and Karl Ove Knausgaard's letter to his unborn baby about "What makes life worth living." "In [the letter], he is just so in awe with world ... and reading something where someone is just so in love with being on Earth was really uplifting."

This week on the MashReads Podcast, we chat about what we've been up to this summer, what we've been reading (other than what we've discussed on this podcast), what makes a good summer book, and other things (not necessarily books) we've loved this season.

Things mentioned in the show:

You can check out some photos from our guest, Mashable culture reporter Martha Tesema, here.

You can read a collection of New York Times "New Sentences" columns here.

This week on the MashReads Podcast, we read and discuss Erik Larson's The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America, an investigation into the construction of the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, and the serial killer H.H. Holmes that plagued it.

Then, inspired by Larson's deep dive, we chat about our favorite books that reveal little known or secret histories.

This week on the MashReads Podcast, we read and discuss Max Porter's Grief Is The Thing With Feathers.

The book follows three characters after a family's mother dies: Dad, Boys (a combination of the families two children), and Crow (who is the maybe real, maybe imaginary incarnation of grief who resides with the family while they grieve). Through a series of vignettes told from the perspective of each character, Grief explores just what happens when we lose someone and what it means to heal.

Join us as we talk about what makes Grief Is The Thing With Feathers different than other grief books and what makes it so perfectly, beautifully, unforgettably heartbreaking.

Then, inspired by Grief Is The Thing With Feathers, we chat about our favorite books about grief including The Road by Cormac McCarthy, Enon by Paul Harding, and the poem 'The Gaffe' by C.K. Williams.

And, as always we close the show with recommendations:

First and foremost, you should listen to Max Porter talk about Grief Is The Thing With Feathershere.

Matt, Mashable's Social Good editor who joined us for the episode, recommends VS Podcast, a poetry podcast from the Poetry Foundation. "They talk about what its like to talk about what its like to be poets and humans, especially in 2017. And it's honestly just so enjoyable."

MJ recommends listening to the Longform Podcast's interview with Maggie Haberman, who covers the White House for the New York Times. "It's just an amazing, thoughtful interview from someone who is at the top of her game is doing incredibly important reporting right now." He also recommends Joan Didion's essay collection Slouching Towards Bethlehem.

Peter recommends the album A Crow Looked A Me by Mount Eerie. "[The album] is so immaculately beautiful. It is so caring and sweet and soft and sad. There could not have been a better pairing [with Grief Is The Thing With Feathers.]"

This week on the MashReads Podcast, in time for the new movie adaptation, we read and discuss Stephen King's novel The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger, the first in King's The Dark Tower series.

And then, because of Stephen King's expansive catalogue, we talk about reading Stephen King at large: what are common tropes in his novels, where does the author shine and struggle, what Stephen King books should you read, etc.