MashReads Podcast

This week on the MashReads Podcast, we chatted with author Mark Z. Danielewski about writing and his experiment uber-novel series 'The Familiar.'

This week on the MashReads Podcast, we read and discuss Ursula Le Guin's short story "The One's Who Walk Away From Omelas."

The story forces readers to imagine the utopia of Omelas, an idylic land filled with festivals, sun and happiness. But as a part of an undisclosed bargain, the joy of Omelas is only possible if one child experiences extreme pain. This child is imprisoned in a cellar or broom closet, covered in sores and can have no happy thing or kind word offered to him. Everyone in Omelas knows of this child -- citizens usually learn of the child when they are between 10-12 years old – and many accept this child’s pain as a fact of life. The ones who do not walk away from Omelas into the great unknown never to return.

Though only 4 short pages, the story forces readers to grapple with a complex moral and ethical conundrum: should we accept the pain of one person if it makes the happiness of many possible.

Then, inspired by Ursula Le Guin and Women’s History Month, we discuss female authors that shaped the book world, including S.E. Hinton who defined modern YA with The Outsiders, Joan Didion who helped shape creative non-fiction with her books Slouching Toward Bethlehem and The Year of Magical Thinking, M.K. Jemmeson [sp] who is brining more representation to the fantasy genre with The Fifth Element, and Shirley Jackson whose work captured the 1940s and ‘50s anxiety of womanhood.

 And as always we close the show with recommendations:

Aliza recommends The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas. “It is YA but it so amazing and powerful and wonderful and important. It’s amazing. Every single person on the planet should read it.”

Peter recommends The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. “It is just so surprising and fun and full of joy yet challenging. As a person who has always loved Legend of Zelda games, the last several have fallen beneath my standard of excellence and this rises above any expectations I could have mustered.”

MJ recommends 20th Century Women. “That movie is so good! Number 1 Annette Benning [sp] is flawless in this movie. The movie is so dynamic, it’s so feminist, it’s funny, it is smart, I cannot begin to describe how thought provoking [the movie is].”

This week on the MashReads Podcast, we read and discuss Adam Silvera's novel 'History Is All You Left Me,' a YA novel about love and grief.

Then, as always, we close the show with recommendations:This week on the MashReads Podcast, we read and discuss History Is All You Left Me by Adam Silvera.

Aliza recommends Moonlight. "It's gorgeous both in the themes but [it's] also visually stunning...the acting was so good, and it's so important in that it's giving representation to people who are not often seen on screen. Especially seen on screen in such a positive way."

Peter recommends reading Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace."This is just this magnificient genius just spilling thoughts and watching them come together in ways that I would never ever in a million years be able to coalesce them. It just creates awe. It just inspires me."

MJ recommends the podcast Reply All and their recent episode 'Worldstar,' about the founding and impact of WorldstarHipHop. "What I love about 'Reply All' is that I feel like they are doing a great job spotlighting underrepresented voices in tech."

This week on the MashReads Podcast, we read and discuss George Saunders's new postmodern novel 'Lincoln In The Bardo'And as always, we close the show with recommendations:

Aliza recommends the audiobook version of Lincoln In The Bardo. "The audiobook for this book, Lincoln In The Bardo, is amazing. All of the 166 different perspectives have a different voice actor; they're all well known celebrities/ big name actors, and they all apparently knocked it out of the park."

Peter recommends rewatching the first John Wick movie (before seeing John Wick: Chapter 2). "What I love so much about that movie is that it all takes place in its own kind of silly world, but it knows it's silly and it's fine being silly."

MJ recommends Kathryn Schulz's 'When Things Go Missing,' a new essay in the New Yorker about grief and the phenomenon of losing things. "It's both a really heartbreaking and emotional essay, but also a masterful one. [Kathryn Schulz] is such a phenomenal writer. I highly recommend you go read this."

This week on the MashReads Podcast, we read and discuss Zora Neale Hurston's timeless classic Their Eyes Were Watching God.

Then, inspired by Their Eyes Were Watching God and Black History Month, we discuss our favorite books by black authors. And as always we close the show with recommendations.

Aliza recommends the trailer for the movie adaptation of Nicola Yoon's YA novel 'Everything, Everything.' She also recommends a list of geeky feminist projects after attending the Strand bookstore's Galentine's Day event this week including Geek Girl Brunch, an international meetup group that hosts activities for geeky women and Geek Girl Strong, a program and community that combines geekdom with fitness.

Peter recommends 'The Fifth Season' by N.K. Jemisin. "It's really, really, really great. Especially in terms of fantasy... It's a rainbow of people and characters in a way that I have personally have found sendom in a fantasy genre. And it's wonderful and refreshing."

MJ recommends 'Dear White People' the 2014 movie that inspired the upcoming Netflix series of the same name. "What I loved about this movie is that it felt like a dialogue...Whether you agree with the politics of the characters or not, [the movie] felt like a smart, rich dialogue that we should be having right now."

In a special episode of the MashReads Podcast, MashReads spoke at length with YA expert Jeff Giles about his journey from YA fan to YA author.

Giles is known for being the former Entertainment Weekly editor who brought in-depth YA coverage to EW in the early days of the Twilight craze. Now he can include himself among the ranks of the YA authors he covered with the publication of his debut novel The Edge of Everything.

The Edge of Everything is about teen Zoe, who is still reeling from losses including the death of her father. When a blizzard hits, and a shady man comes knocking, Zoe's life is changed and saved by a mysterious and nameless young man. This book has everything: love, death, blizzards, and escaped bounty hunters from Hell.

Join us as we talk about YA, The Edge of Everything and why YA fans are the best book fans ever.

Then, as always, we close the show with recommendations. Jeff recommends:

Pobby and Dingan by Ben Rice, a novel about a loss and imagination where a little girl's search for her lost imaginary friends ensnares her entire family and town. "You're riveted because it's genius," Giles explained.

British TV shows Crashing and Fleabag, both helmed by comedian Phoebe Waller-Bridge. "She reminds me of a young Emma Thompson, if Emma Thompson was allowed to swear." The first is streaming on Netflix, the latter on Amazon.

This week on the MashReads Podcast, we read and discuss John Darnielle's new novel 'Unverisal Harvester' with John Darnielle himself! 'Universal Harvester' follows Jeremy, a video store clerk in Nevada, Iowa, who notices that curious, shocking and sometimes violent scenes are being recorded on top of the store's tapes. When Jeremy and a few other employees at the video store begin to investigate the tapes, they realize that the scenes were recorded just outside of their town, leading them down a dark and unsettling mystery that has been hiding right in front of them. Join us this week as we talk with John Darnielle about grief, mystery and family, as explored in 'Universal Harvester.' And as always we close the show with recommendations:

Peter recommends Wolf In White Van, John Darnielle's first novel. He also recommends Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf. "It is a masterpiece of dialogue. It's just a masterpiece of subtext dialogue. It is a play of subtweets."

Aliza recommends Adam Silvera's novel More Happy Than Not. "I highly recommend that book. It's very deep and sad and beautiful and wonderful." Aliza also recommends Crazy Ex Girlfriend on the CW. "Everyone should watch that show."

MJ recommends the podcast Our National Conversation About Conversations About Race. "I unfortunately found out that it was canceled by Panoply, who was producing it, but there's a whole archive of episodes that you should listen to...It's just really smart, and thoughtful." He specifically recommends their episode "Will You Be My Black Friend."

This week, we read and discuss Thomas Pierce's short story "Chairman Spaceman," published in the New Yorker. The story is about a man, Dom Whipple, and his last day on earth before he leaves, with no plan to return, to go live on a distant planet. Then, inspired by the way this story deals with the decision to go to space, we discuss our favorite books about space including "The Chaos Walking series by Patrick Ness, "Ender's Game" by Orson Scott Card, and a whole lot of complicated feelings about "The Martian" by Andy Weir. Then, as always, we end the show with recommendations:

Peter recommends 'The Alt-Majority: How Social Networks Empowered Mass Protests Against Trump,' a New York Times story by Farhad Manjoo. "It's just a fantastic read! A good, long, empowering read."

MJ recommends listening to the hip hop group Migos and reading The Ringers profile of them, "Migos and the Never-Ending 15 Minutes of Fame." "This profile is absurd, it's phenomenal, it's smart, it's well written, there are times that I was laughing and I learned so much."

Aliza recommends the movie 'Hidden Figures.' "It's beautiful and it's wonderful and it's perfect and everyone should go see it. You will learn things and you will cry and it's amazing."We hope you'll join us next week as we read and discuss John Darnielle's new book "Universal Harvester" with Darnielle himself! And if you're looking for a book to sink your teeth into, we recommend "History Is All You Left Me" by Adam Silvera, which is this our official MashReads book club book for February.And if you're looking for more book news, don't forget to follow MashReads on Facebook and Twitter.

"Most things will be okay eventually, but not everything will be. Sometimes you'll put up a good fight and lose. Sometimes you'll hold on really hard and realize there is no choice but to let go. Acceptance is a small quiet room."

So writes Cheryl Strayed in her advice/ essay collection Tiny Beautiful Things.

Tiny Beautiful Things started out as an advice column by Steve Almond in 2009, written on the literary website The Rumpus. Advice came from the anonymous "Sugar" persona, a figure who was both kind and wizened. Later, in 2010, Cheryl Strayed took over the anonymous persona of "Sugar," doling out advice but mixing in personal stories of her own to help her readers make sense of their own struggles. It's this mix of advice and memoir that took Dear Sugar too both internet acclaim and later literary acclaim.

This week on the MashReads Podcast, we read Cheryl Strayed's collection of advice essays Tiny Beautiful Things.Then, inspired by Tiny Beautiful Things, we talk about the books that have taught us important lessons including The Golden Bough by James George Frazer, The Fault In Our Stars by John Green, Who Cooked Adam Smith's Dinner by Katrine Marçal and The Empathy Exams by Leslie Jamison.And as always, we close the show with recommendations:

Aliza recommends rewatching the pilot of The West Wing. "Sorkin is far from perfect, but I do find the West Wing enjoyable. It's fast-paced, it's quippy. It's a breath of fresh air, in terms of politics."

Peter recommends The Familiar: Vol. 3 by Mark Z. Danielewski. "We're definitely entering in the synthesis era of this. Things are coming together where you see how characters fit into each other. It's really coming together slowly but surely, and it's just marvelous."

Alex recommends Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond. She also recommends Disney's Zootopia. "It's just really delightful. You guys should watch it."

MJ recommends Wild by Cheryl Strayed. He also recommends Roxane Gay's new short story collection Dangerous Women. "I'm only a few stories but every short story has stuck with me. [Her stories] are creative. They are these soaring indictments of how society treats women."