The Bookening

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WARNING: This episode contains frank talk about some of the gross sexual stuff from the book. It's nothing makes us think we need to mark this episode as "adult" or anything, but it may not be the best one to listen to with your kids in the car.

Anyhow, trouble was a-brewin' on last week's episode, as some of our heroes like Ernest Cline's Ready Player One and some of them did not. Today they are putting it on trial. Nathan is judge. Brandon is the prosecutor, and he is out for blood. And Jake "Atticus" Mentzel is the defense. If you listen really hard, you can hear some parts where our heroes are actually a little annoyed with each other, but it's okay. They're all still friends.

Table of Contents:

00:00 Preliminary Matter and Donor Shout Outs

Music: "The Pirate And The Dancer" by Rolemusic is licensed under an Attribution License.

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THIS WILL NOT, WE REPEAT, THIS WILL NOT BE A REPEAT OF WRINKLE IN TIME, EVEN THOUGH IT SOUNDS LIKE IT MIGHT BE EARLY ON. SOME OF US MAY OR MAY NOT HAVE ACTUALLY LIKED THIS BOOK.

Our heroes discuss Ready Player One, a book that may or may not end up being the impetus for one of the bigger disagreements in Bookening history. They also discuss sci-fi in general, and indulge in some gnarly 80s nostalgia.

Suffice to say, some of our heroes liked it and some did not. As a matter of fact, next week we're putting the book on trial, with a judge and prosecutor and everything. You may even hear a raised voice or two. In the meantime, here are the things that happen in this episode:

00:00 Bit-music theme song thing

Music: "The Pirate And The Dancer" by Rolemusic is licensed under an Attribution License.

It's another episode of The Lookening!

Happy Ides of March Eve! (Assuming you're listening to this on the day it comes out). In this episode our heroes nobly and humbly undertake a task that made sense when they decided to do it. And that task is to review A Wrinkle in Time. Not the book. They already reviewed that. Just last episode. No, they're reviewing the movie. They love you and work hard for you. Even when that work is difficult and involves Oprah. Appreciate them. Support them on Patreon.

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Our heroes review Madeleine L'Engle's beloved (by some) fantasy novel A Wrinkle in Time. They'll do the movie next week.

Strangely enough, this is the second novel our heroes have discussed that was published in 1962 and features temptation, supernatural evil, emasculated fathers, coming of age, and love conquering all. The other one was Something Wicked This Way Comes and it rocked. Listen to find out how A Wrinkle in Time compared. Don't skip the opening, which provides an explanation for the episode that follows it. Here are things that happen in this episode.

00:00 Our heroes discuss their methods

If Pride and Prejudice is a book that every young person who is dating should read, Mansfield Park is a book that every parent should read. It's full of wisdom, yo! So is this episode, thanks to the efforts of our heroes! Here are the things that happen:

00:00 Music, our heroes introduce themselves, etc.

In this special bonus clip that we're posting today for some reason, The Mysterious Phantom and Virginia Woolf attempt to discredit Jane Austen's greatness. Fortunately Jake and Brandon are having none of it!

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Mansfield Park is a thorny novel. It plays with the form in challenging ways. It takes some discernment to read it properly. Today our heroes talk about these challenges, as well as the question of why Henry and Mary suck. Because they do suck, dear listener. Here are some things our heroes discuss in this amazing episode:

00:00 Our heroes are awesome

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Happy Valentine's Day, Bookeners!

Fanny Price is not a popular heroine. She's weak, passive, and afraid for most of the novel. She achieves her victory through something almost like diffidence. And yet, our heroes at The Bookening unreservedly love her. They think she's kinda great. In today's episode, they attempt to convince you of the same thing. Also we decide if Nathan should marry a LIzzie or a Fanny, with copious love advice from Dr Mentzel.

In so doing, the following things occur:

02:15 Donor Shout outs!!!!!!
 05:20 Nathan spits some awesome bars
 06:56 Baggage check!!
 12:31 The Price is wrong??????
 13:54 The Price is right!!!!!!
 14:19 Fanny is damaged, yo
 19:06 Shades of early Dickens
 21:11 Fanny's faults
 22:40 The play!
 24:06 The clergy!
 27:21 Feminine virtue =/= shutting up all the time
 29:55 Feminine virtue = gentle and quite spirit
 33:11 Fanny is awesome!
 34:26 Edmund
 35:30 Don't trifle with women's hearts!
 38:30 Stockholm syndrome!
 43:15 Love advice with Dr Mentzel

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FANNY FOREVER!

This is an episode of the greatest literature podcast ever on the subject of Mansfield Park by the one and only Jane Austen. This first episode includes the following things:

00:00 Nathan says something silly while the music starts to play

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What's this??? An episode of The Lookening!!!! Aka our heroes are reviewing a movie. What is said movie you ask? It's Shadowlands.

According to our pals at Wikipedia, "Shadowlands is a 1993 British biographical drama film about the relationship between Irish academic C. S. Lewis and American poet Joy Davidman, her death from cancer, and how this challenged Lewis's Christian faith. It is directed by Richard Attenborough with a screenplay by William Nicholson based on his 1985 television film and 1989 stage play of the same name. The 1985 script began life as I Call It Joy written for Thames Television by Brian Sibley and Norman Stone. Sibley later wrote the book, Shadowlands: The True Story of C. S. Lewis and Joy Davidman."

Here's some things that happen in this episode:

00:30 Our heroes are the coolest