Questioning the Canon

Set out with us on our summer reading journey with the Hobbit by the wizard himself, J.R.R. Tolkien. We find a lot of comfortable knowledge holes to explore in our travels without too many bumps or things we wish we didn't know along the way. In our medical corner we give a shout out to Elizabeth Rowley and T1 International and the work they do to make insulin affordable and available for everyone, heroic work if there ever was such. Our discussion of Tolkien gets downright explosive, too, especially when talking about his service in WWI. Hopefully, if all goes well, we'll all be home in time for second breakfast.

Here's quite a book for our season 3 opener! If you've ever been curious what the Fountainhead is and what it's all about, come join for a rousing discussion on this much pointed to tome. We dive into the details of Ayn Rand's life, her followers, and what exactly it means to be "truly selfish". We also discuss a particularly relevant medication that had a big influence on Rand's writing style. The most individualist thing you can do is listen to us!

Also thank you to Jeremy Kanne for our updated show icon!

In our giant-sized season closer, we square up against Alan Moore's seminal graphic novel Watchmen. This book contains so many details, nuggets, and plot elements that we had more than usual to say. Too much? You decide true, believer! We had a great time with this one, though, and are looking forward to what next season is going to bring, too. Ka-pow!

The winds and rain of March seem like the perfect time to bring you our take on Truman Capote's true crime novel, In Cold Blood. In the episode, we discuss about the appeal of the true crime genre, prisons, and of course something relevant from the book in our medical corner. We had a lot to say and had a good time doing it was we careened recklessly from topic to topic like Dick and Perry careened around the country. Will we ever get caught? Tune in and find out!

Sometimes beautiful things are also very hard things and the Color Purple by Alice Walker is just like that. In our discussion we range over topics including abuse, racial tensions, and also the idea of rebuilding yourself after tremendous trauma. Our talk on the author, too, goes down some rabbit holes that I was frankly not expecting to go down. Appreciate the color purple and avoid pissing off God, join us!

Perhaps appropriate for January and the post-holidays slump, we take a look at the Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath's singular novel. As we swim out, we discuss honesty in writing, personality disorders, and even have a culinary portion where we try a "delicacy" from the book. There's much to discuss with this classic but if you expect nothing from us, you'll never be disappointed.

Okay, hear me out, there was a lot more to talk about with Little Women than I thought there would be. We cartwheel over the topics of domesticity, sexual orientation, and transcendental history, all while wondering if Beth is going to pull through (spoiler, she's toast). If our train is on time, we hope to be home in time to surprise you for Christmas. Make a guy of it and paddle your own canoe!

In this month's episode, we finally get around to reading a book I had deliberately been avoiding my whole life, The Kite Runner. I'm not exactly sure what made me want to read it, but coming back to things you've long been avoiding did to turn out to be on point at least. Come along with us as we discuss unfamiliar cultures, classes in society, and even lung cancer. For you, I'd do this a thousand times over.

For our October episode, we ran into the darkness with horror master Steven King and his first novel Carrie. We touch on high school trauma, anatomy, and have an in depth discussion on the life and works of King himself. Of course, we watched the 1976 Sissy Spacek film and of course we have plenty to say about that, too, as well as question what we really even mean by "the canon" to being with. Come get spooky with us!

Come along with us as we explore sex, drugs, and camp in Jacqueline Susann's bestseller Valley of the Dolls. We also...talk about the movie...yeesh. And because nothing's ever easy, we paired our conversation with a host of technical problems including the internet fuzzing out, portions needing rerecorded, and an apartment hallway smoke detector that needs new batteries! You'll find it all and in this month's episode, which, as always, for a ton of fun for us to make.