The Novel Tea

Neha and Shruti discuss the ultimate gothic sci-fi classic, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. We talk about how loneliness drives the men in this story, and the power shifts that occur between Frankenstein and the monster. We also get into its parallels to today's technology, AI and robots, beauty standards, and of course, we bring it all back to colonialism and empire.

Books Mentioned & Shelf Discovery

The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo

Dracula by Bram Stoker

The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

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We love to hear from listeners about the books we discuss - you can connect with us on Instagram or by emailing us at [email protected].

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In this special bonus episode, author Paige Lewis joins Shruti and Neha to talk about their debut novel Canon, the story of an unlikely hero and a woman prophet who embark on a journey to win God's favor.

Paige tells us about the stories they loved as a child, how they found inspiration for their characters, and what it was like to go from writing poetry to writing a novel. We chat about epic poetry and myth (while dropping tons of great recommendations along the way!), and consider questions of good vs. evil in ancient and contemporary texts.

Texts Mentioned:

Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis

Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

The Last Man by Mary Shelley

Galatea 2.2 by Richard Powers

Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler

The Machine Stops by E.M. Forster

The Odyssey by Homer

The Iliad by Homer

The White Book by Han Kang

Aniara by Harry Martinson

The Tale of Kieu by Nguyen Du

The Ramayana translated by Bibek Debroy

The Mahabharata translated by John D. Smith

The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood

The Palace of Illusions by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

Cruella (2021)

Inanna: Lady of Largest Heart by Enheduanna

The Joker (2019)

Moby Dick by Herman Melville

Balloon Pop Outlaw Black by Patricia Lockwood

Mulan (1988)

Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut

Read more about Paige Lewis here

Canon by Paige Lewis

Space Struck by Paige Lewis

If you would like to get additional recommendations, analyses, and behind-the-scenes content related to this and all of our episodes, subscribe to our free email newsletter on Substack.

We love to hear from listeners about the books we discuss - you can connect with us on Instagram or by emailing us at [email protected].

This episode description contains links to Bookshop.org, a website that supports independent bookstores. If you use these links we may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.

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Neha and Shruti discuss Transcription by Ben Lerner, considering themes of distortion, truth, parenthood, memory, and of course, transcription. In addition to discussing technology and smartphones, we get into the strangeness of dreams, and the ways liminal spaces appear in this novel. Finally, we consider what a novel actually is, and what it is for - especially in today's technological day and age.

Links:

"Ben Lerner and the Impossible Interview" [The New Yorker]

Shelf Discovery

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

What We Can Know by Ian McEwan

Audition by Katie Kitamura

If you would like to get additional recommendations, analyses, and behind-the-scenes content related to this and all of our episodes, subscribe to our free email newsletter on Substack.

We love to hear from listeners about the books we discuss - you can connect with us on Instagram or by emailing us at [email protected].

This episode description contains links to Bookshop.org, a website that supports independent bookstores. If you use these links we may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.

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In this episode, Neha and Shruti talk about Galatea 2.2 by Richard Powers. Published in 1995, it describes a group of scientists who are attempting to create an intelligent machine that they can feed the great classics of literature. We get into the ethics of the situation, its similarities and differences to the current AI crisis, and draw comparisons to the many versions of the Pygmalion myth that have emerged over the years.

Links:

An Essay Concerning Human Understanding by John Locke

Books Mentioned & Shelf Discovery

A World Appears: A Journey into Consciousness by Michael Pollan

Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw

Galatea by Madeline Miller

The Overstory by Richard Powers

Authority by Jeff Vandermeer

The Laughter by Sonora Jha

Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee

Annie Bot by Sierra Greer

Transcription by Ben Lerner

If you would like to get additional recommendations, analyses, and behind-the-scenes content related to this and all of our episodes, subscribe to our free email newsletter on Substack.

We love to hear from listeners about the books we discuss - you can connect with us on Instagram or by emailing us at [email protected].

This episode description contains links to Bookshop.org, a website that supports independent bookstores. If you use these links we may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.

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Shruti and Neha dive in to The Candy House by Jennifer Egan, a kaleidoscopic novel of connected short stories set in a world where our memories can be uploaded to the cloud. We talk about the parts of the book that were successful, some aspects that we didn't love, and what Egan was ultimately trying to say about our relationship to technology.

Shelf Discovery:

A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan

The Keep by Jennifer Egan

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel

Greenwood by Michael Greenwood

The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster

If you would like to get additional recommendations, analyses, and behind-the-scenes content related to this and all of our episodes, subscribe to our free email newsletter on Substack.

We love to hear from listeners about the books we discuss - you can connect with us on Instagram or by emailing us at [email protected].

This episode description contains links to Bookshop.org, a website that supports independent bookstores. If you use these links we may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.

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In this episode of The Novel Tea, Shruti and Neha introduce Season 8: Technology. We talk about the way technology has become integrated into our lives, share thoughts on the AI crisis, and share some books we've enjoyed that have explored technology and its implications. And, of course, we share the six books we'll be reading together over the next few months.

Books Mentioned

The Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami

1984 by George Orwell

The Giver by Lois Lowry

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

The Candy House by Jennifer Egan

Galatea 2.2 by Richard Powers

Playground by Richard Powers

The Overstory by Richard Powers

Transcription by Ben Lerner

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang

The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K Le Guin

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K Le Guin

If you would like to get additional recommendations, analyses, and behind-the-scenes content related to this and all of our episodes, subscribe to our free email newsletter on Substack.

We love to hear from listeners about the books we discuss - you can connect with us on Instagram or by emailing us at [email protected].

This episode description contains links to Bookshop.org, a website that supports independent bookstores. If you use these links we may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.

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In this episode, Neha and Shruti tackle the natural world in books - we zoom out to consider the eight books we discussed this season, talking about our favorite and least favorite reads, themes that emerged, and questions it raises about what fiction is for, and the way we read. Plus, we share tons of books recommendations, and talk about the books next up on our TBRs.

Books Mentioned:

Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer

What We Can Know by Ian McEwan

Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer

Greenwood by Michael Christie

Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy

The Seed Keeper by Diane Wilson

Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver

Moby Dick by Herman Melville

Euphoria by Lily King

The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne

The Hobbit by JRR Tolkein

Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt

Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy

Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer

Playground by Richard Powers

The Overstory by Richard Powers

The Drowned World by JD Ballard

An Immense World By Ed Yong

Nothing But the Rain by Naomi Salman

The Mosquito Coast by Paul Thoureax

Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield

Out of Africa by Isak Denisen

If you would like to get additional recommendations, analyses, and behind-the-scenes content related to this and all of our episodes, subscribe to our free email newsletter on Substack.

We love to hear from listeners about the books we discuss - you can connect with us on Instagram or by emailing us at [email protected].

This episode description contains links to Bookshop.org, a website that supports independent bookstores. If you use these links we may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.

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In this episode Shruti and Neha discuss the great American classic, Moby Dick, by Herman Melville. We discuss the book's themes of otherness and obsession, but we also get in to so much more, including its racism and (maybe?) progressiveness, naturalism and Darwin, H.P. Lovecraft, and prophecies. Finally, we ponder its status as a classic; does this book deserve to stand the test of time?

Links:

Beige Moth [Blog]

Shelf Discovery

Ahab's Wife by Sena Jeter Naslund

Ahab's Bride by Louise M. Gouge

Call me Ishmaelle by Xiaolu Guo

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Sky Daddy by Kate Folk

If you would like to get additional recommendations, analyses, and behind-the-scenes content related to this and all of our episodes, subscribe to our free email newsletter on Substack.

We love to hear from listeners about the books we discuss - you can connect with us on Instagram or by emailing us at [email protected].

This episode description contains links to Bookshop.org, a website that supports independent bookstores. If you use these links we may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Shruti and Neha discuss Barbara Kingsolver's Prodigal Summer, a novel of three stories that unfold over the course of one Appalachian summer. We discuss themes of female desire, fertility, familial love, and harmony. We also make connections between characters and their symbolic representations, discover a new critical lens to read through, and question the veracity of 'moon cycles.'

Shelf Discovery:

The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver

Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

The White Book by Han Kang

If you would like to get additional recommendations, analyses, and behind-the-scenes content related to this and all of our episodes, subscribe to our free email newsletter on Substack.

We love to hear from listeners about the books we discuss - you can connect with us on Instagram or by emailing us at [email protected].

This episode description contains links to Bookshop.org, a website that supports independent bookstores. If you use these links we may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Shruti and Neha discuss The Seedkeeper by Diane Wilson, exploring themes of reclamation, integration, and motherhood. We share some historical context, discuss the book's structure, and weigh in on the key relationships in the novel.

Books Mentioned & Shelf Discovery

Craft in the Real World by Matthew Salesses

Daughters of the Deer by Danielle Daniel

The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich

Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits by Laila Lalami

If you would like to get additional recommendations, analyses, and behind-the-scenes content related to this and all of our episodes, subscribe to our free email newsletter on Substack.

We love to hear from listeners about the books we discuss - you can connect with us on Instagram or by emailing us at [email protected].

This episode description contains links to Bookshop.org, a website that supports independent bookstores. If you use these links we may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.