Novel Ideas

Banned book month (Novel Ideas edition) continues with The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier, a YA classic that is one of the perennially most challenged books. This is a tale of corruption, disillusionment, and challenging authority, so you know that it must be a light, happy read. In this episode we talk about all of those things and the inevitable crushing beneath the bootheel of authority, as well as French names, gayness, whether there is too much jacking off in this book, and the disturbing lack of women. If all of this sounds depressing, don’t worry, our wrap up is far less disturbing than the end of the book.

The music bump is “The Creator Has a Mastertape” by Porcupine Tree, not for any specific connection, but rather a general sense of darkness. And the fact that Ben thinks it’s cool.

27 – The Chocolate War – SUBMIT

Banned book month continues with Watchmen by Alan Moore, illustrated by Dave Gibbons. This book is a first for our podcast, a graphic novel. If you are unfamiliar with it, it is a superhero deconstruction with a hint of dystopia about it. And moral ambiguity. Lots and lots of moral ambiguity. Nothing about this book is simple, so this is one of our longer running episodes, covering cold war anxiety, complex characters, and detachment from humanity. Not to mention flaming boners, cat jailbreaks, and exploding psychic squid.

The music bump is “Times They Are A-Changin'” by Bob Dylan, referenced in the book, as well as the music for the opening of the not especially good Hollywood adaptation.

26 – Watchmen – Who Blanks the Blankmen

Welcome back to Novel Ideas, where banned book week lasts a month. This week’s episode is The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman, a book frequently challenged for having/being “religious content, violence, and age inappropriate” according to the American Library Association. We certainly have some opinions on whether this book is religious (sort of), violent (yes), and age inappropriate (if you’re a prude). Check out the podcast for the more in depth version of those opinions, in addition to discussions about daemons, witches, bears, and the country of Texas. Special appearance this week by Callie the cat, who had many opinions about this book and whether it should prevent podcast hosts from paying attention to her. (Hint: no.)

This week’s music bump is “Dust in the Wind” by Kansas, because I LOVE IT. Oh, also because there’s a lot of discussion about Dust in this book. So look for that. Enjoy!

25 – The Golden Compass – Bears and Witches and Texans, Oh My!

After a two week hiatus, Novel Ideas is back with To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. This book is another one of those that most of you probably had to read in school. For us, this was one of the assigned readings that we actually enjoyed, and we were reminded of that on the re-read. We discuss the big issues, like feminism and racism, mostly without embarrassing ourselves. Mostly. We also discuss the smaller issues, like who makes the best cakes in Maycomb, why everybody loves tomboys, and whether Atticus Finch gets to claim the title of “Literary Father of the Year.”

The music bump is “Fables of Faubus” by Charles Mingus, written to poke fun at Governor Orval Faubus of Arkansas when he called out the National Guard to prevent Little Rock Central High School from being integrated in 1957.

24 – To Kill a Mockingbird – All Racism, All the Time

Note: We neglected to mention it on the podcast this week, but banned book week is coming up at the end of the month. Our next few books have all been banned or challenged in various places for various reasons. Celebrate with us by reading something controversial!

This week’s episode is Redshirts by John Scalzi, a science fiction/comedy novel with more than a touch of meta to it. It’s also a fairly short novel, and you’ll notice that our episode is a few minutes shorter than usual to match, only minus the three codas. In our conversation we touch on science fiction tropes, author commentary, some of the qualities of bad writing, and violating the fourth wall. We also touch on the meta-ness of meta-ful meta-tude, hilarious misspoken phrases, and, of course, ice sharks. The mystery of what exactly an ice shark is may not get solved, but I think you’ll agree that Ben should not be allowed to title books.

The music for this week’s episode is “Redshirt” by Jonathan Coulton, which was commissioned by John Scalzi for the release of the novel.

The header is Troy Zimmerman’s (winning) entry in the fan art contest for Redshirts held on John Scalzi’s blog.

23 – Redshirts – Yo Dawg I Heard You Like Star Trek