This is a book all about empathy, which is occasionally odd given that its author has had Some Issues extending empathy to certain people over the years. Andrew also has some trouble reading a book made of paper.

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You want to be popular? You want your ideas to be heard? You want to get a great job? Then Dale Carnegie has the tips for you! His best-selling self-help volume How to Win Friends and Influence People has been helping business men for decades, so we decided to sit down and go over a few of the particulars.

PS We've also got a hot tip for anyone looking to get more chips at their office cafeteria.

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Richard Wright's Native Son has been called a "pamphlet" or "protest novel" by writers like James Baldwin, and while there are sections of the book that justify the label, Bigger Thomas and his deeds and motivations defy easy summation.

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Octavia Butler's Dawn imagines a future where humans are a rung lower on the food chain than usual. And after nearly extinguishing itself in nuclear fire, humanity's only hope is a mysterious alien species that has rescued them for specious reasons. It's a story about oppression and identity, bolstered by Butler's excellent world-building.

Note: Tune in after the episode ends for a preview of Mythology, a new podcast from the folks at Parcast.

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This week's book, which can be enjoyed by kingkillers and non-kingkillers alike, manages to be filled with meta-references to fantasy fiction without being annoying, which is rare enough to be the stuff of fantasy all by itself.

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Odysseus is still old and Telemachus still wants to help kill suitors! In these episodes of our show-within-a-show, we cover books 16-19 of Emily Wilson's translation of The Odyssey. We've got beggars, sad dogs, Instagram filters, and destructive nannies. What more could you want?

Remember, some Patreon supporters get these episodes early every month. Find out more at patreon.com/overduepod

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Louise Erdirch's National Book Award-winning novel The Round House is the story of a thirteen-year-old boy seeking justice for a terrible crime committed against his mother. Unfortunately, arcane laws and good old-fashioned racism stand in his way. It's a powerful book about one young man's growth, about the limits of and hopes for tribal law, and about the perils facing too many Native women. Also there's Star Trek and some grandparents making dirty jokes.

Content warning: The Round House is about a case of sexual assault. We don't read explicit passages, but the event does come up in our discussion.

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If you can't stand how hot these werewolves are, get out of the kitchen! This week we head back to Forks for the third of the four main Twilight books, and while we had kind of made our peace with reading these in our New Moon episode, we question the wisdom of that decision this time around.

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The Golden Compass (aka The Subtle Knife) has cute soul-Pokémon, multiple universes, and armored battle bears, so what's not to like?

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How is sex different than love? Is privacy a necessity for human identity? For political identity? DOES GOD POOP?

With the help of Milan Kundera, we attempt to answer these questions and more in this bonus episode on his classic novel The Unbearable Lightness of Being.

Also, be sure to listen post-outro to experience the horrors of a Google Hangout gone wrong.

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