Buy/Borrow/Steal our April Book Club Book, ⁠⁠⁠Detransition, Baby, by Torrey Peters!⁠⁠⁠

Buckle up as Tava takes the lead! She walks Brett and Alex through The Glass Castle, a narrative of grit and determination and the third title in the Books We Love series. Spoiler: The Glass Castle is NONfiction. What a testament to Jeannette Wall's mesmerizing storytelling ability that Alex made it beyond the first chapter. Also in this episode: Tava's tech woes and Brett's iPod love.

Videos mentioned in this episode:

Embracing a Life with Texture with Jeannette Walls

History vs. Hollywood: Jeannette and Rosemary Walls Interview

Check Out:

To Do: Power up an old iPod

To Eat: Wise Butter Popcorn

To Listen: Call Her Daddy (Michelle Obama)

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Buy/Borrow/Steal our April Book Club Book, ⁠Detransition, Baby, by Torrey Peters!⁠

In their second field trip episode, Tava, Brett, Alex, and Food Correspondent Jeremy venture 150 feet into Connecticut to try Traveler Food and Books, an iconic restaurant with a bookish bent. Also in this episode, a discourse on sovereign states, a tangent on attention spans, and a provocative book-business question.

Check Out:

To Read: There's A Good Reason You Can't Concentrate (NY Times)

To Buy: Bose QuietComfort Ultra headphones

To Do: Listen to birds!

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Buy/Borrow/Steal our April Book Club Book, Detransition, Baby, by Torrey Peters!

TNBC's medical correspondent drove over six hours round-trip to appear on this very special episode. Vinny talks about his unique relationship with reading, his job as a surgical resident, and his love of New England despite his New York roots. As an Italian citizen, he is as close to Elena Ferrante as this podcast is going to get.

Check Out:

To Eat: Ice cream from Rota Spring Farm in Sterling, MA

To Do: Burp your house

To Avoid: Ice Dams

To Watch: Rugby

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Announcing our April Book Club Book, Detransition, Baby, by Torrey Peters

In this episode, Tava, Brett, and Alex discuss their March book club book, My Brilliant Friend, by Elena Ferrante. After Tava and Alex spend forty-five minutes saying random Italian names, the crew discusses the book's beautiful prose, Ferrante's commitment to the child's point of view, and why the book may not belong at #1 on the list of the best books of the 20th century (so far). Also in this episode, Brett reports on his journey to the Hudson Valley and Alex gives the Irish Brogue a whirl.

Check Out:

To Read: The Story of a New Name by Elena Ferrante

To Read: Reading Is a Vice (The Atlantic)

To Read: It's Time to Clean Your Books. Here's How. (New York Times Wirecutter)

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March 2026 Book: My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante!

Nostalgia Alert! This episode features Arthur, Junie B. Jones, Jan Brett, American Girl Dolls, the Dear America series, Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel, and more! Brett and Alex also team up to prank Tava, Alex reports about getting a new phone, and Brett and Tava get a new fridge.

Check Out:

To Listen: The Galaxy S26 is a Photography Nightmare, The Vergecast

To Download: Apple Music

To Read: Tethered Literary Magazine

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Order our March book: My Brilliant Friend, by Elena Ferrante!

This week, Tava, Brett, and Alex turn back the clock to discuss one of their favorite children's series, The Magic Treehouse by Mary Pope Osborne. Along the way, Alex provides an update on her carbon monoxide exposure, Tava and Brett join in on the appliance woes, and Brett discusses his recent trip to Texas.

Check Out:

To Watch: Ozark

To Watch: Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die

To Watch: Love on the Spectrum

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Order our March Book, My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante!

Despite Brett's best efforts, this episode seems to be about everything but books. Tune in for an extended conversation about our Food Correspondent's health issues, bookmarks, toilet behavior, and being scared while reading.

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Intro Music: evandean.wav by madmerv -- https://freesound.org/s/690635/ -- License: Attribution 4.0

Announcing our March book, My Brilliant Friend, by Elena Ferrante!

In this episode, Tava, Brett, and Alex discuss their February book, Atonement, by Ian McEwan. But first, Alex provides an update on her pellet stove woes (and her months-long illness), Brett gets stuck in a parking garage, and Tava has some dog troubles.

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One week until we discuss Atonement, our February Book!

Fine, we'll admit it. We don't read all the time. In this episode, Tava, Brett, and Alex discuss the times when the books just aren't hitting. They start by ranking where books fall in the wide wide world on content, discuss the impact that seasons and major life events can have, and end by reporting how they each are feeling during the long days of winter.

Check Out

To Watch: Yellowjackets

To Listen: Grunge! (Ex: In Utero, by Nirvana)

To Listen: By the Way, I Forgive You, by Brandi Carlile

Last Chance to Order Atonement, our February Book!

Tava, Brett, and Alex do their best to talk about books in the age of social media, but they end up mostly discussing celebrity memoirs. trad wives, and the modern-day Pompeii.

Check Out

To Listen: Short King, by Alex Cameron

To Watch: Lawless

To Watch: Idiocracy

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Intro Music: evandean.wav by madmerv -- https://freesound.org/s/690635/ -- License: Attribution 4.0