That Book

In this ep of That Book Club Hannah and Michael take your feedback, give an update on all the Cocky™ copyright drama, and wish Magic: the Gathering a happy and healthy 25th birthday (get ready for that quarter-life crisis!).

• Background on Cocky drama here. Specifics about the court case here.
• Faleena's mea culpa.
• Magic: The Gathering articles: New Yorker, Hazlit.

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Your resident readers tackle Scott Lynch's Lies of Locke Lamora, try to figure out wtf LARPing is, and investigate a national crisis: the epidemic of unfinished fantasy series. We're looking at you, George R. R. Martin and Pat Rothfuss! Plus, a visit to Dune with a pit stop in the bloody battlefield known as romance author Twitter.

Books mentioned: Naomi Novik, Uprooted, His Majesty's Dragon; Patrick Rothfuss, The Name of the Wind, The Wise Man's Fear; Robert Jordan, The Wheel of Time series; George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones; Frank Herbert, Dune.

Links:

• @scottlynch78
• Is Winter Coming?
• Laura Miller in the New Yorker on Martin's delay
• Faleena Hopkins's Cocky Drama

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Michael and Hannah face their fears and watch a spy movie (sure they've read the book, but baby steps!). Plus, a new segment suggested by a listener!

Article mentioned: Le Carré, "The Spy Who Liked Me"

Follow along with Mrs. Dalloway here.

And everyone watch this extraordinary film.

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Michael and Hannah discuss how confusing spy movies are, take a stroll on the other side of the iron curtain, and tip their hats to grifters and their nutso schemes before turning to the MANY other things they are reading this week.

Books mentioned: Elena Ferrante, My Brilliant Friend, The Story of a New Name, Those who Leave and Those who Stay, The Story of the Lost Child; Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary; Joel Dicker, The Truth about the Harry Quebert Affair; Alan Hollinghurst, The Sparsholt Affair, The Swimming Pool Library, The Line of Beauty.

Movie mentioned:Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

Articles mentioned: Le Carré, "In Ronnie's Court," New Yorker; Le Carré, "The Madness of Spies," New Yorker; Boyd, "Rereading The Spy Who Came in from the Cold," The Guardian

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Michael and Hannah take your feedback about wild saints and debut their new segment "Tackle the Stackle" with reading tips from listeners.

Books mentioned: George Orwell, 1984; Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Hound of the Baskervilles; Mary Shelley, Frankenstein; Charles Dickens, Our Mutual Friend; George Eliot, Middlemarch; William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair

Images mentioned:

• John the Baptist
• Moses
• Ursula

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Michael and Hannah visit the fourteenth century with Anya Seton's 1954 historical romance Katherine. Hannah, our resident medievalist, gets hot about the Middle Ages, and Michael gets quizzed on saints' gnarly iconography.

Books mentioned: Rose Tremain, Music and Silence; Elena Ferrante, My Brilliant Friend; Ann Leckie, Ancillary Justice; Provenance.

Saints mentioned: St Michael; St George; St Jerome; St Sebastian; St Peter Martyr; St Stephen; St Dennis; St Agatha; St Lucy; St Bartholemew; The Four Evangelists

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In this ep of That Book Club Hannah and Michael take your sci-fi recs, infiltrate Hudson News, and investigate an alarming new trend: presidential fanfic.

Books mentioned

Dan Simmons, Hyperion; Kim Stanley Robinson, Mars Trilogy; James S. A. Corey, The Expanse; Anne McCaffery, Dragonflight; Pierce Brown, Red Rising Trilogy; Michael Crichton, The Andromeda Strain; Philip K. Dick, Minority Report; Ira Levin, This Perfect Day; Madeline L'Engle, A Wrinkle in Time; Andrew Shaffer, Hope Never Dies; Bill Clinton and James Patterson, The President is Missing; Elif Batuman, The Idiot

Articles mentioned

Anthony Lane's review of The President is Missing, and New Republic review here.

Obama/Biden fanfic Hope Never Dies

Time Up on Bill

More on James Patterson's Bookshots [shudder]

Michael and Hannah read the melancholy post-Vietnam novel The Forever War by Joe Haldeman, and Michael schools Hannah on the wild world of science fiction. Along the way, they agree Hemingway was an a**hole and, as usual, check in about what they've been reading in their free time.

Books mentioned: David Lodge, Nice Work; Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte d'Arthur; Sebastian Barry, Days without End; The Secret Scripture.

Article mentioned: This Australian Biohacker, a super chill and normal dude, runs afoul of the law!

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Michael and Hannah take listener feedback about their first three episodes! They hear from Jack Reacher fans, get tips on how to finally tackle Moby Dick, and compare Tony and Tina's to the Italian Wedding in the Old Neighborhood. They also introduce a new segment, "I Did It for the Tote." Thanks to all our listeners for their extraordinary feedback!

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Books mentioned: The Deep End of the Ocean by Jacquelyn Mitchard; the Jack Reacher series by Lee Child; the Harry Bosch series by Michael Connelly; Moby Dick; the Southern Vampire series by Charlaine Harris; Better than Before by Gretchen Rubin, The Idiot by Elif Batuman.

Article discussed: Japan's Rent-a-Family Industry by Elif Batuman (New Yorker)

Song Discussed: Born under a Bad Sign by Albert King

A look at Oprah's first ever pick for her book club, The Deep End of the Ocean by Jacquelyn Mitchard (1996). Hannah and Michael discuss Queen Michelle Pfeiffer, terrible theme restaurants, and why people hate bad moms.

Books mentioned: David Lodge, Small World

Movie mentioned: Deep End of the Ocean (1999)

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