MashReads Podcast

This week on the MashReads Podcast, we read and discuss Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi, with Yaa herself.

Homegoing is a novel that follows the family lineage of two half sisters, Effia who is the wife of a British slaver and Esi who is sold into slavery and eventually sent to America. As the story follows each line's family tree, Homegoing offers a brief yet powerful look at history and family, the forces that seek to disrupt them, and the lengths we will go to hold on to them.

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

Yaa recommends Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin. And she is currently reading Imagine Me Gone by Adam Haslett.

Aliza recommends A Very Potter Musical.

Peter recommends Sofia Copala's film The Beguiled.

MJ recommends rewatching Legally Blonde, an essay called 'Flying Solo' about relationships and heartbreak in the age of Trump, and the New York Times op-ed 'My Gay Agenda.'

Spider-Man is back!

After surprising audiences with his acrobatics and quips in Captain America: Civil War, the famed web swinger is back on the big screen with Spider-Man: Homecoming.

Join us this week on the MashReads Podcast, as we discuss Spider-Man, what sets him apart from other superheroes, what Spider-Man: Homecoming got right, and what the movie got wrong. Then we pan out and talk about our other favorite comic book superhero adaptations.

And as always, we close the show 

Aliza recommends "9 Startling Differences Between Michael Keaton’s Vulture and Vulture, the Website You’re Reading Right Now," a hilarious comparison between, as the title suggests, Vulture (the Spider-Man: Homecoming villain) and Vulture (the website).

Peter recommends Mashable's Game of Thrones coverage. "We've been pretty exhaustive about it, for better or for worse. And I think there are a lot of hidden gems of things that might not be recongized, amoung our coverage." He specifically shouts out his article "Ed Sheeran's 'Game of Thrones' cameo made me extremely angry" and the humor article "I’m George R.R. Martin’s copy editor for 'Winds of Winter' and I'm just super swamped with other stuff right now."

MJ recommends "The Black Person's Guide to 'Game of Thrones,'" a funny recap of the first six season's of Game of Thrones, in anticipation of Season 7.

This week on the MashReads Podcast, we read and discuss Elif Batuman's new novel The Idiot. The book follows the year in the life of Selin, a Turkish-American freshman at Harvard. As Selin goes throughout her freshman year who is growing up, navigating an infatuation/ relationship with a senior student who is from Hungary, and examining existence and language in the world by studying linguistics. "It is plotless, it's mundane and quiet and calm, and it's very internal, and it's kind of wonderful," says Peter. Then, inspired by The Idiot, which follows conventions of Russian literature, we discuss impactful and formative Russian literature that you should read, including The Brothers Karamazov and Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky and Forty Rooms by Olga Grushin. Then, as always, we close the show with recommendations:

Aliza recommends catching up on Game of Thrones. MJ piggiebacks off of that and also recommends Funny or Die's Game of Thrones recap series "Gay of Thrones."

Peter recommends Edgar Wright's new movie Baby Driver.

MJ has a host of microrecommendations including: reading The New York Times Magazine's Letters of Recommendation and listening to Carly Rae Jepsen's album Emotion when you're having a bad day.

And finally, we have a MashReads book club book of the month: Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi. Yaa is going to be talking to MashReads IRL on July 25 at 6:30pm ET in our New York City HQ. If you'd like to attend, RSVP here.

This week on the MashReads Podcast, we read and discuss Hannah Tinti's novel The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley with author Hannah Tinti herself! 

The novel is a father/ daughter story about what it means to be a hero, and the price we pay to protect the people we love the most. The book follows two stories, told in parallel: The history of Samuel Hawley and his "twelve lives" (which are the twelve bullet wounds he's received while working as a criminal smuggler), told side-by-side with the coming of age story of Loo, Samuel's daughter.

When Samuel and Loo settle into a small New England seaside town, they quickly learn that the past Hawley's desperately tried to escape is still defining their present.

Join us as we talk about father/ daughter stories, the significance of whales in literature, and being an outsider.

And if you want to see footage of the greasy pole, a real life tradition that Hannah writes about in The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley, you can check out her tweets from the event here and here and here.

And as always, we close the show with recommendations:

Hannah has been reading a lot of comics and recommends: Saga by Brian K Vaughan and Fiona Staples, East of West by Jonathan Hickman and Nick Dragotta, Sweet Tooth by Jeff Lemire, and Mind Mgmt by Matt Kindt.

Aliza recommends Glow, Netflix's new series about the world of women wrestlers in the '80s. "Speaking of complex femininity, y'all need to watch the new Netflix series Glow. It is amazing!"

MJ recommends Grief Is The Thing With Feathers, a postmodern novel about grief by Max Porter. "It's really beautiful and what I love about this book is that it captures how mundane grief can be ... it's a moving, really weird, and really beautiful novel." MJ also recommends "Laverne Cox boldly addresses the one issue the LGBTQ community doesn't want to talk about," an interview with Laverne Cox by Mashable's social good writer Katie Dupere about inclusion in Pride and the LGBTQ+ community.

Peter recommends McSweeny's article "11 Ways That I, a White Man, Am Not Priviledged" and "It's just a quick read, and it takes a turn, as it does, and it's pretty funny. I don't want to say more."

The 'Boy Who Lived' just entered a new decade.

Today marks the 20 anniversary since 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone' debuted in the UK. To celebrate the occasion, we sat down and reflected on Harry Potter and the impact that it has had over the past 20 years.

This week on the MashReads Podcast, we read and discuss William Golding's classic tale of kids gone mad, The Lord of the Flies. The book follows a group of British school students who crash land on a deserted island, and must struggle to survive, unsure if or when they will be rescued.

Then, inspired by The Lord of the Flies, we talk about our favorite books where kids run the show (for better or for worse).

And finally, we close the show with recommendations.

Peter gives a shout out to Mashable's gaming section and especially their E3 coverage. "They all just did a wonderful job and Mashable has really interesting people working their gaming section. They're really amazing humans who do really great work, and last week was no exception."

Aliza recommends The Simpson's parody of The Lord of the Flies, titled Das Bus. "It's hilarious and amazing." She also recommends 'My application to replace Sean Spicer,' a humor piece by Alexandra Petri. "You should read it and every other thing Alexandra Petri writes."

MJ recommends Jezebel's Father's day story 'A List of Zaddy's.' He also recommends Anthony Oliverira's Twitter thread about coming out. "It's this beautiful thread about the importance of coming out, letting people know they have a community ... [the thread] lets people know they are heard and they are acknowledged and that they are supported, even when they don't feel it."

This week on the MashReads Podcast, we read and discuss Wonder Woman Vol. 1: The Lies, from D.C.'s new Rebirth run. Then, inspired by Wonder Woman, we talk about the most incredible, badass women in literature.

This week on the MashReads Podcast, MashReads' Aliza chats with Laini Taylor about her upcoming book Strange The Dreamer.

This week, we read and discuss Paula Hawkins' new mystery novel Into The Water. The novel follows a small town, Beckford that is reeling after a community member, Nel Abbott, falls from a cliff and drowns in the local river. There are multiple theories about the cause of death — some say she slipped of the cliff, others say she jump, while others say she was pushed. But as the town, and newcomer detective investigates Nel's death, they learn the river holds more secrets than anyone suspected. Then, inspired by Into The Water, we chat about our favorite mysteries and thrillers, including Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn, The Name of The Rose by Umberto Eco, The Secret History by Donna Tartt, and more. And, as always, we close the show with recommendations:

Inspired by our conversation about mysteries, Aliza recommends watching the movie Clue. "It is one of the funniest movies of all time. The cast is every amazing comedian who has ever lived." She also recommends the TV show Broadchurch.

Peter recommends checking out this week's New York Times Magazine, which was an all comics issue. It was all stories from the City desk at the New York Times and it's just beautiful." He also recommends HBO's TV show The Leftovers. "I had to make room in my top 5 list for the best shows of all time, because [The Leftovers] is on there. It is so human, and rich, and so sad, and so weirdly hopeful, but also so crazily funny ... it's just a marvelous work of storytelling."

MJ recommends the new Wonder Woman movie. "I would like to add my voice to the chorus of voices raving about Wonder Woman ... that move is so. damn. good."

This week on the MashReads Podcast, we chat with Garrard Conley about his memoir, Boy Erased, which details Conley's experience in ex-gay conversion therapy.

"So much of good memoir suggests to the reader: I'm okay now," explains Conley.Then, in honor of Gay Pride Month in June, we discuss our favorite queer books to celebrate Pride. And as always, we close the show with recommendations:

Garrard recommends the new season of Twin Peaks. "It's like a crime procedural drama but it goes way left field ... it makes no sense is beautiful."

MJ recommends "Unexpected video game horses, ranked," a story from Mashable's esports reporter Kellen Beck that ranks all of the weird, random horses that pop up in video games. "It is so weird and so funny ... I was laughing on the subway while reading it."