The Readirect Podcast
Shifting the conversation back to books. Hosted by Abigail Freshley and Emily Rojas.
The Readirect Podcast
Pride Month Book Draft
Join us for our highly competitive Pride Month book draft! We each take turns selecting our team of favorite books about queer characters and/or authors who are LGBTQIA+.
Team Abigail:
- The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
- Here We Go Again by Alison Cochrun
- Heartstopper by Alice Oseman
- Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Team Emily:
- The Pairing by Casey McQuiston
- A Lady for a Duke by Alexis Hall
- The Celebrants by Steven Rowley
- Time to Shine by Rachel Reid
For even more of us gushing about The Pairing, check out our book club episode!
Welcome to the Redirect Podcast. My name is Abigail Freshley.
Speaker 2:And I'm Emily Rojas. The Redirect Podcast is a show where we shift the conversation back to books. We discuss themes from some of our favorite books and how those themes connect to our real lived experiences.
Speaker 1:On today's episode.
Speaker 2:It's Pride Month and we're doing a Pride book draft but before we get to that, we would love to humbly ask for you to support the show in a few simple ways.
Speaker 1:First, you can go on apple podcast or on spotify or both, and leave a five-star review letting us know how much you love the show you can also follow us on instagram or Blue Sky at Redirect Podcast, and if you really really love the show, you can share our show with a friend, because sharing our show with a friend is by far the best way to grow our community of book-loving nerds. And in fact, for two more weeks, so from the time that you're this episode until the release of our next episode, you what will the date of that be, emily? Oh, are you?
Speaker 2:looking at the calendar. Yes, I'm looking at the calendar. Our next episode after this will be July 8th. Oh, my mom's birthday, happy birthday mom.
Speaker 1:Happy birthday, ms Kelly. So between now and July 8th, um you, if you share one of our posts or like one of our episodes, tag us on Blue Sky or Instagram and you have to be following us. You will enter a chance to win a $50 Thrift Books gift card. I have to say the odds are in your favor. There's not that many people who have participated in our contest. So if you share our show Lock in, like lock in, you can get an entry for each platform that you do it on sure, yeah, why not?
Speaker 2:I guess I will say I do know this because I follow personally some people and, um, if you have a private account, even if you tag us, we don't see that if we don't follow you. So just dm us if you did that and let us know, because I did I did see some of them and I made no, but if I don't follow you either, then we have no way to know yeah.
Speaker 1:So she does it now in july 8th and let us know, tag us and follow us. You know how far 50 goes on thrift books a lot we talk, you will be a rich person, yes, yes, absolutely.
Speaker 2:Like you could buy several, you can do some damage yes, um, several in the spiritual sense, like, uh, jolinski from survivor, did you watch that season? I did not. Okay, there's a guy on survivor who he was like fully. He was like I think the first or second person voted out that season, but he was fully convinced that like several means literally seven. So he was like season. I think it was season 47, so he's like season 47 or something. And people were like what are you talking about?
Speaker 1:Okay, in his defense, like that does track. I actually think that's like when I I don't like, like rigidly think that, but when I, when someone says several, I think six or seven yeah, sev.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so seven, yeah, sev, yeah, so anyways, sorry that's a rubber chat um, but yeah, you could buy a lot of books.
Speaker 1:That's the moral of the story, that is the moral of our tale. Okay, well, much anticipated episode from us. I've been anticipating this episode since I knew we were going to do it, and that is our 2022. I mean, oh my god, I wish it was 2022, oh my god it was crazy that's not even close.
Speaker 2:I wish it was, though god, 2022 anyways then you'd have to live through all this again. You know like it would still be in your future.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's true, that's true anyways okay, yeah 2025 pride month. Lgbtqia plus book draft.
Speaker 2:Um, this is gonna be right in our freaking wheelhouse, baby I know I was thinking the other day if we ever made merch, we should. I love gay books. I love freaking gay books we do. So you're welcome, we're here to talk about.
Speaker 1:I just feel like I just feel like members of the lgbtq plus community really put their foot into. Like writing, great works yeah, totally and um, yeah, I'm, I'm excited to talk about it. I as well am excited. Since I think this actually might be kind of a competitive draft, I have kept my list private, as I see you have as well, and I think we should maybe take a more competitive approach to this episode. I have like a random, like wheel name generator.
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah, okay, see who goes first, and then we can do like a there uh uh, like a traditional snake draft. So whoever goes first, the next person gets to do two, okay, and I think we should pick how many books total should we do?
Speaker 2:well, I could. I could have a long list, maybe, maybe eight total eight total.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah, okay sure four, so that gives them more competitive.
Speaker 2:So for each okay, um, okay, so uh, and then the you, the listeners, have to vote and tell us who wins I don't know like how to share this wheel with you, do you?
Speaker 1:would you just trust me? I trust you I trust you.
Speaker 2:You're a very honest competitor, so that's true. Yeah, okay, I trust you spinning I'm kind of nervous me too oh, okay, I'm going first.
Speaker 1:Okay, that's fine, which is not what I wanted actually yeah, I really wanted to go.
Speaker 2:I wanted you to go first.
Speaker 1:Okay, so this you know, I'm not lying.
Speaker 2:Yeah I do know I'm literally you say I kept my list my list is just filtering my story graph read of all time by LGBTQIA plus genre.
Speaker 1:So yeah, I wait One other rule Are we including fan fiction in this? Okay, I wasn't going to. I did not have that on my list Because here's why it's not that I think honestly some of the Okay, I did not have that on my list Because here's why it's not that I think honestly, some of the fan fiction I've read could obliterate the other books on this list Period. But I don't believe. I don't want to rank those authors who are not getting any money for their work. Yes, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2:I don't want to criticize them in any way.
Speaker 1:Also, I want to say we did crowdsource a bunch of like our listeners or people in the book community through social media, their favorite queer books, and you guys really showed up and showed out and I think, rather than going there's so many, I don't want to like go through each of them and ones that I haven't read before.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:We will do like an attachment or a post or something that has like a list of all of the books that our listeners recommended. Yeah, that's a great, great idea, cause there's a lot I haven't read and a lot I'd like to add to my TBR. So, thank you, listeners, and we will share those out on our socials, totally All right. I'm nervous, me too. I'm actually really nervous.
Speaker 1:I'm looking at my list of books here what I'm gonna pick, okay okay, okay, all right, I am starting with hold on, hold on, hold on. Let me make sure I get all the specs about this book up before I start talking oh, great idea, yeah, I will I am starting with song of achilles by madeline miller yeah totally. Um, this is like such a basic answer. Yeah, but this book moved me and I it is a controversial book.
Speaker 1:Totally. Some people don't like it. I loved it. So this is a retelling of the story of achilles and patriclis. They were roommates and maybe more also. They weren't real people, but it but the speculation is so fun. So, yeah, um, this is a retelling of their relationship, from childhood friends to their time during the Battle of Troy and the kind of relationship that they had together. In the Greek myth, patroclus was a very loyal friend to Achilles and they had a very close relationship. But this book just freaking moved me. Their love is so pure, so loyal. The ultimate friends to lovers, childhood romance situation and it's like okay, great, if you already know what happens in this myth, that's fine. Like you'll still. I think you would still get a lot of enjoyment out of this. Um, I think about this a lot and every single time I get a tiktok it comes across my for you page with the audio. That's like yep I can't.
Speaker 2:What is it? It's like, it's like I would know him, but if I feel alone or whatever, if I touch alone touch alone, yeah oh, it is so moving.
Speaker 1:I don't know. Patrick close is one of my favorite fictional characters of all time probably, yes, and I feel like we both love this, so I wanted to go ahead and get out of the way before you could do it that's a great choice if it was on your list I don't know.
Speaker 2:I think, um, I I've been thinking a lot about like how much I love when something is haunting the narrative in such a horrifying way, because this is a perfect example, like if you know anything about Achilles at all, you know where, you know where it's going and it's still like that makes it even worse, because even the happy parts, even like when they're together or like they're just like off you know being little kids or like growing up together it still hurts so bad because you know what's going to happen in the end and so that's yeah, I love that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it's just, I think, because the benefit of reading a book where you know it ends in an element of tragedy. So, spoiler alert, it ends in an element of tragedy. But like, you get to savor the love that people have while they're, like, when their time is limited, like and really all of us are living, living on borrowed time all of us have limited time and so it kind of puts you into the mindset of, like, really cherishing the people in your own life.
Speaker 1:That's the way I think about it. Totally, I thought it was so good and I love a historical beat. You know, I love, yeah, I love that kind of thing, so yeah, loved it, it, loved it, loved it. That is my first choice in the draft.
Speaker 2:That's an excellent first pick. You know something really funny too the other day Eric came into my office and I had the Song of Achilles sitting out Because I was trying to do like an Instagram post, like Pride Month, like rainbow book stack, but I realized I have no green books, like not even non-lgbtq. So, anyways, I got halfway there and uh, anyways I don't think a lot of book covers.
Speaker 1:You know what? I'm looking at my bookshelf.
Speaker 2:I have one green book yeah, like I have no green books and uh anyways, so I got stumped with the greens. But, um, the song of achilles was sitting out and eric like read the cover, whatever, and he's like, oh so, like, uh, like fan fiction, yeah, this is just published and it's published fanfic and that's my favorite kind.
Speaker 2:So you know what that's it. That's my favorite kind of book. That's what it is. That's what it is. That applies to many things. Yeah, okay, yeah, keep going. All right. Your turn period? No, okay, you could have said more um, so now you have.
Speaker 1:Now you have two picks in a row I feel use them judiciously I feel like my first pick is, like you guys know, oh, I know, no, don't do it, because I was gonna maybe pick this one first it's, uh, the pairing by casey mcquiston.
Speaker 2:I well, I have to pick something by casey mcquiston. They are definitely one of my top authors, probably up there for sure, especially in the romance genre, but just in general. Um, and the pairing. Like we both love this book so much I can't even obviously we did a whole entire episode on it. I think I talked at length about it in a prior episode before that, so right.
Speaker 2:So if you haven't listened to it, go, yeah, go back and listen to our book club on the pairing um. But this follows theo and kit, like just the fact that even to this day, without glancing, I could have told you the names of these characters. That's how you know. I liked it that much I yeah, we forget characters 30 seconds after yeah, but I remember theo and kit and I will never forget theo and kit.
Speaker 1:They're imprinted into my mind and also I would just like to say Say it Like in my head canon Theo is so hot.
Speaker 2:Correct and so is Kit frankly. They're both so hot.
Speaker 1:They're both incredibly hot, Theo especially. I'm like yeah, they Get it they.
Speaker 2:Like they get it, they like genuinely. I'm just like they are probably so freaking hot. Yeah, yeah, no period, okay. So yeah, theo and kit, they're childhood best friends, which that is right there. That's all I need to hear. If you tell me you want me to read about childhood best friends, I'm sold. They're also exes. That's number two. I love to read about exes. And they broke up four years ago. Four years later, they both show up on this European food and wine tour and they kind of, like you know, have this like intense chemistry between them and they're like, hey, we're totally over each other. Right, we can be friends. Right, we should see who can hook up with the most people on this trip, which is a very normal and well-adjusted way to deal with a breakup that you're clearly not over. So they're going on this trip. The descriptions of food in this, like I also can't get over that.
Speaker 2:That like I have such vivid pictures in my mind they're like borderline pornographic they are like it's like it's like I have to eat food right now because right now yes, I'm uh, casey mcquiston hosted a dinner in new york that was like a pairing, a food pairing with the pairing, and that sounds insane to me, like I would have killed to be there, probably. But anyways, they go on this tour. There's like a beautiful, really like funny cast of supporting characters that they meet along the way. Um, they're just, yeah, the food. They're like I can't even talk about it. The the key of this book to me too, is that halfway through, like the first half, you're in Theo's POV and you're like oh my god, yes you're like, okay, theo's still down, bad for Kit, obviously.
Speaker 2:But Kit, I don't know, like he seems a little bit slutty. He seems like he's kind of like this charmed aloof character, like maybe he doesn't feel the same way about Theo. And then you switch to Kit's point of view and Kit is like so aggressively down, bad for Theo, like worse, like way worse. It is like I remember reading that first chapter of Kit's perspective and it felt like I had just been like attacked personally.
Speaker 1:Yes, and then I think when I read it, I texted you as soon as we got the second pov and I was like they hit the second tower, somebody stop somebody stop him, okay, so yeah, red card red card, red card um, yeah, I honestly get so mad.
Speaker 2:I take it personally. Offense people who don't like this book. Um, it like genuinely distresses me personally. I don't understand what's wrong with you if you don't like this book. So I have to pick it as my first choice because I know you would. So this is my number one pick, number one drafts yeah, I don't know if sports terminology, but it's the Bering.
Speaker 1:Okay, all right, I'm going to exit off my list. All right, now you have a second one.
Speaker 2:Okay, I think my second one. I'm sorry, I don't know if this is on your list, but I think I'm going to pick A Lady for a Duke by Alexis Hall.
Speaker 1:Okay, that was not on my list.
Speaker 2:Okay, good, okay, but I do like this book.
Speaker 1:I do like this book. I just really like this which I you, so you gave me this book. I also get props for this. I get a bonus point um, this one.
Speaker 2:I don't remember their names so I can't say it's at the same level as the pairing, but I'm gonna click on it and I'm gonna read it. Okay, so this is um viola. Viola was a born male and she was in a battle at waterloo and presumed dead. And her best friend friend is the Duke of Gracewood, justin, and he's devastated because he just lost his best friend. Years pass, years go by, you know, and then they reconnect. So it's again childhood best friends. They reconnect, but now Viola is living as a woman and the Duke does not recognize her and they fall in love. And then, you know, of course, he eventually finds out that that's his friend.
Speaker 2:And it's like I thought this was just so well done because, like there's so many ways this could have been like cringy or like manipulative, in a way of like maybe he would have felt betrayed, like you didn't tell me who you were, um, or like freaked out because like oh my gosh, you were my best friend, you were lying to me, but it was none of that. Like the duke reacted perfectly to everything and I really liked that. They like formed this really genuine love. Um, that was like independent of the friendship, like informed by the friendship. But he was like so clear, like I love you as you are right now and there wasn't anything between us when we were friends, but like because now you are being yourself, I'm in love with, like this person.
Speaker 1:Yes, I've met. It's like oh, you fully realize yourself. And it's like yes and now that's what I love about you. Yeah, it's like affirming in yes, I, I totally like, I loved that too. It's like, oh, okay, like it's nice to meet you again, like you who, like, there's something intrinsic about your soul that's always going to be the same, but also like, yes, you make sense and this is similar in the pairing.
Speaker 1:Totally yeah, where, like when kit and theo dated before, kit identified as a woman, theo, yeah, so sorry, yeah theo identified as a woman and then, and the like, when they reconnect theo is non-binary, yeah, and kit's like oh, yeah, of course, yeah, yeah, that makes so much sense and it's so like easy to love you totally and I'm so happy that you feel even more like yourself yeah, I really that's what I was gonna say.
Speaker 2:I feel like these two go together. That's why I kind of thought about picking them together because, um, in both cases, like you're saying, theo, theo is bisexual and so in the pairing he's like yes, like sorry, kit is bisexual and he's like theo, you're everything like that, I love. Like you have these like Theo, you're everything like that I love. Like you have these like masculine parts of you, which I love, and you also have these like feminine parts of you, which I also love.
Speaker 2:And like I love you even more because you're like fully expressing who you are, you know, and so same with this it's like, oh yeah, like I, of course you know the Duke says like I loved you as a friend, but now that I see you for who you are, like there's a romantic love and it's because you are who you are, um, and not like I'm putting up with something or like I'm settling, but like everything about you is what.
Speaker 1:I love and it's so lovely. Also like lovely, I mean you I think there's an element where you suspend disbelief a little bit and be like oh sure the Duke of Grace would in the freaking 1800s is going to be totally like, oh no prob, but also maybe and also trans people have always existed. It's not like a new trend. This has literally always existed. It just didn't become part of mainstream media Totally, or it was and it was erased, and so like things.
Speaker 1:Things are not recorded for a reason and so, who knows, or they're erased, yeah, queer history is violently erased, yeah and I've read several like, uh, historical, like even bridgerton.
Speaker 2:You're like, okay, this is like you do have to suspend your disbelief, a little bit Like people weren't like this, but I did feel like this was like more so, okay, I could believe this. Like the way everything happens I felt like was a little more believable than some you know historical romances I've read where you do kind of have to be like, okay, I don't think this would work out so easily and I feel like they had very real conversations in this that like were just nice. So it's a really good book.
Speaker 2:I loved it. Thank you for giving it to me. You're welcome.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah, I mean for the record, I will still read historical romances that make no sense. I'm currently reading the Wild Winchesters, which the basic concept of the series is. It's like a foster family of like it's a multiracial foster family who are like the orphans of like some weird baron and they like weirdly, like randomly, all have a lot of money and they're all like weird and neurodivergent.
Speaker 1:Okay, this would never really work, but I'm here. Yeah, some of you guys are queer. Let's do it, anyways. All right, now it's my turn to pick two books okay, scary all right, here we go again. By allison cochran duh, yes, duh period. Um, we did a whole episode on this book, right?
Speaker 2:yeah, we did okay, it might have been lost to time. I actually think we recorded a book talk where we extensively talked about it. That was one of the ones that disappeared forever.
Speaker 1:But we did talk about it. Okay, we've talked about this book a lot. Okay, this book is perfect in me opinion.
Speaker 1:Big, heavy, heavy trigger warnings for grief, end of care, homophobia, but also it's delightful and funny and cool and sweet. Like it contains multitudes. Um, this is the story of two enemies who have like a weirdly close relationship with their high school english teacher, which is the gayest thing you could do. It's the gayest thing you could do and like whatever. So they are, they're they're English teachers. At the end of life. He doesn't have children, he is. He wants like. His last thing is like I want a road trip with you guys. I need you to drive me from like oregon yeah to maine, yeah, pacific northwest pacific, northwest to maine.
Speaker 1:Uh, to be at this cottage also. He's gay and one of the main characters do you remember their names? Are. I have it right here. What is it?
Speaker 2:hold on. It's's like Katie or.
Speaker 1:Logan and Rosemary Not even close, okay, yeah, so Logan is like really out and like visibly is gay, is lesbian, and Rosemary is also a lesbian, but she kind of is just less. She's not really out there. She doesn't really date that much she's. I think maybe she realizes at some point that she's demisexual, meaning that like she really only forms romantic connections with people she has an emotional attachment to, so she doesn't really date around a lot. And that's one of the things about this book that I really loved was showing different representations of what it's like to be queer. And you don't actually know if someone's queer, yeah, and you can't just assume, and sometimes it's super clear and obvious and sometimes it's not, and there's a multitude of reasons why someone might live that experience or may not live their queerness out loud and that's okay, um, but they um road trip across the country.
Speaker 1:I love a road trip book, love a road trip book. There are lots of great spotify play playlists that accompany this book that like reference a lot of the music that they're listening to. Um, and along the way like there's a lot of emotional ups and downs, like dealing with the complexity of um, the health of the english teacher, like their blossoming romance, the fights, the tension, their, their trauma, their relationships with their families, and it ends in just like the most ridiculously beautiful way. I don't know how to how a book can be so like sad at points and so funny and heartwarming, but this is a perfect summer book and it is one of my favorite romance books period. Yeah, I know you love it too. Is there anything else you want to say about it?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I just think Alison Cochran in general she does a really good job of showing characters who are complex and, like you said, in this one, I think Rosemary is demisexual but like also Logan struggles, I think she has like ADHD or some kind of neurodivergence. A lot of her characters have some kind of disability or neurodivergence that they deal with in their lives and I just like that, um, because I think her characters, you know, make you a more empathetic person, because she does just a really good job of like portraying different experiences and showing you that all those people can find love and deserve love, and so I think I love all of her books and, uh, she has a new one coming out later this year, so it's a good time to dive into her back catalog yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yeah.
Speaker 1:She wrote the charm offensive. She wrote a kiss her once for me, which is a really fun christmas yeah really um and omg. Okay, yeah, she did.
Speaker 2:You already say this that has a book coming out. I didn't say what it's about, okay.
Speaker 1:Yeah, sorry, I was looking for my next book I'm in good hands while you were talking. It is a Camino book which I can't f***ing wait for, because I famously done the Camino as part of my lore.
Speaker 2:This is not the same route of the Camino deantiago that I took, but I'm very excited I'm excited too, because we definitely have to book club that one, so you can talk about your experience as well. Um so, yeah, we'll, we'll be reading it for sure.
Speaker 1:Yeah okay, next is this my last one.
Speaker 2:Yes no, not total, but for this round okay, then I have one more right you said we were doing eight each. This is only your. No, no, no, I said a total. Oh my god, I thought eight each. Okay, no, that makes more sense.
Speaker 1:I mean, we've been recording for 30 minutes already.
Speaker 2:Yeah you're right, you're right, oh my gosh.
Speaker 1:Okay, okay, so I have this one and then. So I only have wait, I have two more, you have two more, and then I get the last pick yeah okay, okay, this works out well all right, okay, my next pick unfortunately, this one might be on your list.
Speaker 2:Hard stopper by alice but no, that's a great pick.
Speaker 1:I get dips on this one, since I read it first. You did, you did To be fair, yeah, and you should have picked it sooner. I don't know what to say. Yeah, I mean, the Heartstopper series is a series of young adult graphic novels by Alice Osmond, or is it Osmond? What do you think?
Speaker 2:I always say Osmond, but I don't know.
Speaker 1:Alice Osmond, osmond Sure, like ozman austin. Um, they are extremely talented graphic novelist who writes graphic novels about nick and charlie.
Speaker 2:you don't have to remind me of their names.
Speaker 1:They are emblazoned into my freaking brain and there is a netflix series following the first uh volume. Um, I think it's totally worth a read. I mean, it's a graphic novel. It it's not going to take you that long. The art is gorgeous and adds so much to the story. It's not just like. They do an incredible job of matching up the art to the tone of the novel and the character's development. The thing about this is like it is. It's young adult, it's like representation for these, these, this queer group of friends in the UK. One of my complaints we've said this on record and I'll say it again I'm never learning what.
Speaker 2:GCSE is and I'm never learning what A-levels are. I don't understand why Nick doesn't have to go to school for like an entire year. What is he doing? What do you mean?
Speaker 1:What do you mean? I started watching I was. I started watching love, the news season of love island, and they're talking he said something about like oh yeah, that was one of my gcses. I'm like what are you talking?
Speaker 2:about stop talking. I'm never gonna learn what that is.
Speaker 1:No um eagle screech, so anyway, um there, you have to suspend your disbelief a little bit here too, because all the parents are just like, yeah, we totally support you, and that is so wonderful, but doesn't always happen. But on the other hand, it's so nice to read a series where you're not it's about queer people but not focusing on queer trauma. Yeah, and the conflicts that the conflicts that come up in Nick and Charlie's lives and in the other side characters are real and they're very serious. Like there's discussion, I guess, is also a trigger wording for like eating disorders, anxiety disorders, stuff like that, but they aren't inextricably linked to their queerness, they're just like things that they're dealing with in life and and they're also queer and it's just really lovely to like not to like tell a queer story without focusing on queer trauma. I love them so much and I think there's one more volume coming out.
Speaker 2:There is. I think it's currently being published online and then you know it'll be. It'll be released later. But Nick and Charlie, I'm obsessed with them and I've said this multiple times. But I really wish I had read these books when I was in high school, because there's just so much like about making you like an empathetic person. There's just like taking care of yourself, dealing with your mental health, helping your friends through traumatic things like being a good person, or traumatic things like being a good person. I just think it's just a very cozy, comforting book that, I think, is a good, positive thing for young people to read and they're so good you know, these graphic novels have actually made me cry.
Speaker 1:I actually cried. I'm like, yeah, yeah, I didn't think that, like drawings with captions could make me do that, but they did move me to my core, like it really did totally.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I've been microdosing the show. I've been like watching one episode a month or something, because it's too pure, it's too pure. It's just too pure so yeah so okay great, love them yeah, okay, your turn.
Speaker 1:I thought you got one more, oh you picked two. Okay, no, no so then, yeah, you do two more and then I do my last one oh my god, this is so hard.
Speaker 2:Okay, it's hard because you took some of mine and vice versa, and there's too many, okay, but I'm gonna pick one that I still think about and talk about all the time, which is the celebrants by stephen raleigh.
Speaker 1:This book also when I recommended to you yeah, I am, I am brick for brick. I am just like okay, whatever, not to make this one me, but all right continue.
Speaker 2:First of all, you have great book recommendations. Second of all, you know me so well that anytime you recommend me a book, I know that you know that I'm going to like it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I know, I only recommend you things I think you like yeah. Anyways, keep going.
Speaker 2:The Celebrants by Stephen Rowley follows a group of friends who agreed many, many years ago, decades ago, that when one of their friends passes away, they're at his funeral and they decide, like we're gonna just do living funerals for each other and whenever you need it, you can call your own funeral and we'll all show up at Big Sur, we're going to come together for, like you know, a weekend or whatever and we'll do your funeral. And it kind of starts as like a morbid joke at this funeral, because they're like this is so unfair. We didn't get to say any of these things before he passed away, like we should have told him while he was still here. And so they're like, well, let's just do it, you know. But kind of time passes on. And then finally one of them I think Marielle is what I'm looking at she is going through a divorce and she's like I don't care if this is a joke, I want my funeral, and that's how it kind of starts. So they do them one by one until I'm going to cry, until Jordan and Jordy, right there in the couple, um, one of them I forget which one is actually dying and, um, he's kind of forced to go through with this funeral Like he doesn't want to do it but he goes and has to like tell them that he is for real dying and they have to go through the process of throwing him this living funeral.
Speaker 2:It is like so incredibly moving and the friends are all really like lovely and it kind of jumps back in time. So you stay in the present with this final living funeral but then it'll take you back and you'll get to see all of the other funerals that they've had for each of them and what's happened at all of them and I think it's just like it's a really nice, truly devastating look at having a close group of friends and growing up with them and the things you'll go through. You know like you'll have to go through life. If you want to be close with people. You have to go through these like hard things in life with them and ultimately you know one of them dying, which is horrible.
Speaker 2:So, um, anyways, I thought it was really good. I just like I think about this all the time. I think there's something like really nice about telling people how you feel about them while they're still here, and that can be hard to do and I like the ritual of them creating a method to do that, and I like watching their friends group change over time. And Stephen Rowley is like the go to me, especially writing about grief. He writes that really well and this is no exception.
Speaker 1:This is my favorite book by him, though I think um yeah, it's so he's definitely got range, yeah, to be able to write like the gunkle. And then also this, and then, um, I haven't read the editor by him, but I've read lily and the octopus, yeah, and there's a couple other things too. But, yeah, this one is so good, yeah, and if you ever like, especially if you've been to big sir, um, you'll enjoy this book because you'll really be able to like, visualize and experience the setting.
Speaker 2:So highly recommend I don't know what to pick, your last pick. Okay, I'm struggling. How about this?
Speaker 1:After we do our picks, we can just rapid fire some honorable mentions, if there's a few that you didn't get a chance to say Okay you're right.
Speaker 2:I don't know. I feel like I'm so stumped, honestly. Okay, okay, okay, no, just lock in, emily. You know what, dare I? I think I'm going to pick Time to Shine by Rachel Reed. I have to throw a hockey romance in here.
Speaker 1:It wouldn't be you if you didn't do that.
Speaker 2:This book mutually. Although we've differed on some of her other books, this was a five star, I think, for both of us, or at least four or something. This book was so good. It is her first standalone hockey romance after writing like a long series, and I think it is better than some of her others.
Speaker 2:This one follows Landon and Casey. Landon is like grumpy and Casey's like golden retriever. You know, you know the tropes. But Landon gets called up to come play for a professional hockey team. Casey's like hey, move in with me, like you need a place to live. And so they become roommates. And he also Casey's like I hate being alone, I don't want to be by myself, please, please, come, keep me company. And so he moves in. They like kind of become friends over time.
Speaker 2:Casey wears Landon down and then they fall in love. But like obviously Landon, he's like only there to replace an injured player, I think. So he's kind of like well, my time's about to be over. Like, I don't know, we can't start this relationship. I might have to move back across the country at any time. Um, I just really like this. I think we both really liked it. I really liked the characters. I think to me the hallmark of a good romance book is when I want to keep reading about the characters after they get together, because I like love a slow burn and that's often what keeps me hooked. And then I get to the end and they get together and I'm like, okay, I'm bored, now I don't care about the stupid. That's why I'm anti-epilogue. I normally don't care if you guys got married, you're together, that's all I cared about the lead up. And then I'm like, okay, whatever, but these two. I was like no, I would just read, like if she wanted to write a day in their life, or like you know yeah, yeah, just like a little yeah domestic life
Speaker 2:yeah, I would love to read that um. So that to me is like, yeah, that's a sign okay. This is a really good romance book because I just thought the characters were well developed. It's a little longer than some for other books, so I feel like that gives more space for them to like really both individually be developed as people. I like how they both have their own like struggles, like it wasn't all perfect um case, like really struggles a little bit with his like mental health and obviously, like I said, he doesn't like to be alone. Landon too he's like I'm a loner, I don't have any friends, like I'm just here to get through this, and so I like how they both like grow and change over the course of the story and it was just really delightful and I think, if you're not as into hockey romance as me, uh, this could be a good one for you to check.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they're like really complicated but lovable characters yeah, yeah, which I love a complicated character personally. They both have their own yeah stuff they got to work through as individuals so, and they do. Reading about perfect people is boring I don't like it.
Speaker 2:I love an insufferable character, as you may or may not know, and I like complicated people. I don't want to read about people who always do the right thing and always make the right decision, like that's lame.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly, exactly. Yeah, okay, your last one. Are we still going to do some honorable mentions? Yeah, yeah, we'll do honorable mentions Because I. Yeah, yeah, we'll do honor. Okay, because I have several. All right, it's really hard to pick the last one there's about. It really is yeah, okay, this could be recency bias but and maybe a controversial pick, but I'm picking atmosphere by taylor jenkins reed okay, I saw you finish this and I did wonder if you were going to pick it.
Speaker 2:So tell me about it.
Speaker 1:Okay, so this I mean gosh, I mean this kind of book is made in the lab for me, because it's historical fiction.
Speaker 1:Yeah this is about. It's set in the 80s. It's during the time when women were first being recruited for the space program. It's in the era of Sally Ride, the first female astronaut to go to space. And it follows two women, joan and Vanessa, who are in the astronaut program and are vying for a chance to go to space.
Speaker 1:But the thing about this book is that it starts the first chapter is like begins with kind of like a flash forward to like the big crisis of the book.
Speaker 1:Oh, like a horrible, crazy emergency in the winter of 1984, in which Vanessa is up in space and there's been an accident on the shuttle oh my God. And Joan is like the operations, like person who's like Houston or navigator Do you read whatever? And is like kind of commanding the whole thing. But you don't, you don't know the dynamics between these characters at this point, you don't know anything about their history or anything like that. So the first chapter is like this horrible thing happens up in space some of the astronauts die trying to keep a couple of them alive, and it's up to vanessa to try and fix the shuttle so that it could come back into orbit oh my gosh. And like come back to california, uh-huh. Then it flips back to like when the two of them are entering the space program. It's told in third person, but it kind of switches perspective throughout. Also, I went back and forth from reading this and doing the audio book.
Speaker 1:And the audio book is narrated by my all-time favorite audio book narrator, julia Whelan. Queen, yeah, queen, julia Whelan. So she killed it. Um, and yeah, I mean like a lot of taylor, like other taylor dinkins read books. It's extremely character driven and, um, we learn a lot about vanessa and joan and the things they're going through um don't come into terms with her sexuality and her identity.
Speaker 1:Like also, this is like soviet, like space race era. So, like there are there's a lot of like pr restrictions and like image perception around astronauts. So we're already taking like a time where it wasn't safe to generally safe to be out and yeah, like in public as a queer person in texas, nonetheless, but like we're also dealing with this public perception, this whole like nasa thing and like trying to stay in the closet and um, I would say I I gave it four and a quarter stars. It wasn't five for me, like I don't know if I'll be thinking about it forever, but I will say at the end there was no epilogue and I was really like, oh, my god, I would kill, like I would kill to have like just a tiny little chapter from, like you know, 2012 when marriage equality passed. Like I was, like I just want to see like a little glimmer into the future for these like extremely brave and heroic, like beautiful lesbians you're making me cry.
Speaker 2:I've never even read this book. Okay.
Speaker 1:So it was lovely. And also there's a really interesting plot line about Joan and her niece and her sister and family dynamics. Again, taylor Jenkins Reid is really good at writing family dynamics and group dynamics, so like the connections between all these people, their relationships, what's going on?
Speaker 2:She's really good at that?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I was absolutely not disappointed by it. Would I rank it as highly as Daisy Jones? No, but I mean, that's the lead. That's kind of like a once in a generation, totally.
Speaker 2:So yeah, I would say like I'm going to bravely pick Atmosphere, no that's really good, because I think I wanted to know if I should read it.
Speaker 1:So yeah, selfish by me, I feel like. Also, like the space element of it all was very well researched, it seemed to me. I mean, from what I could tell, I don't really know that much about space, but like the stuff about the shuttle and like the mechanics of it, what it takes to go to space, like what the training regimen would be like, like what the recruitment process would be like, this is all very well researched and I appreciated that too.
Speaker 2:Yeah, especially in a historical novel. She's really good at that. Wow, we did it. That was so scary.
Speaker 1:That was so scary. Ok, do you want to rapid fire some of your honorable mentions? Rapid fire was so scary that was so scary.
Speaker 2:Okay, do you want to rapid fire some of your honorable rapid fire, okay, um, okay, I would say, well, I really like several people are typing. We both read this by calvin it's so cute.
Speaker 2:I love that it's really short and cute, extremely quick read, um, but it's really fun and tender. Um, I recently read the hockey ever after series, which, okay, look a lot of kendall unlimited hockey. Romance books are not good. I don't even count them on my story graph anymore, honestly, because so many of them are like okay, I have actually read genuinely better fan fiction than this, but this series was really good, and I felt the same way about every single one of these books.
Speaker 2:I was like I would read more of all of these characters. Um, all of them were really good, so I think you should start at the beginning and read all of them. If you're looking for a hockey romance I've talked about this recently this is how it Always Is by Laurie Frankel. That was such a good book 10 out of 10. Recommend that one. The Charm Offensive by Alison Cochran. That's one of my favorites. It's tough between here we Go Again and that one, but I did like here we Go Again, I think a little better, which you picked, and I feel like that's um, I'm scrolling, I'm scrolling. Oh, if I had, if you would pick the pairing, I would have picked I kiss shara wheeler by casey mcquiston. Um, it is a ya book, but I just think you know it was really good and I love a good book set in the south. Um, so that was. I really recommend that, especially if you have a younger person in your life. Those are my rapid fires, I think. Oh, and Chain Gang All-Stars. That was close to making the cut.
Speaker 1:I still have that on hold. Let's see how much longer I have. It's so good.
Speaker 2:But you have to be in the right headspace for that. I don't know, it's tough, it's tough.
Speaker 1:It's a sad one let's see how how much longer do I have Six weeks.
Speaker 2:Okay, yeah, it's a good late summer read, so that would be good timing. Okay, so, yeah, those are my rapid fires. What are yours that you didn't take?
Speaker 1:Okay, art and Gwen are not in love by Lex Croucher, which is a cute like arranged marriage, but both of them are gay and they're like wait what? And it's like medieval. It's like, you know, king arthur type beat art and gwen like arthur and gwendoline or guinevere sorry, art, yeah, arthur and guinevere. It's cute, it's, it's good. Not great in my opinion, but like, if you're into that kind of thing, I love. Look, I love gay books and I love historical fiction, so love this yeah, exactly Like.
Speaker 1:That's why I was like, oh, I'm gonna like it. So if you find yourself aligning with my tastes more than Emily's on this podcast, like I would not recommend this to you, emily. I don't think you would like it that much. But for me like I mean, I don't know, you're just trying to like historical stuff as much as I am, I know, but sometimes I'm like, am I Anyways keep going? Well, I just think, like you don't love Bridgerton.
Speaker 2:Well, I didn't like that. He was shoving her in closets and grabbing her so hard and he left bruises on her arms. That's true.
Speaker 1:And shoving champagne down her throat against her will Not in like a deep end way, no, not in a conventional way.
Speaker 2:Anyways, um, okay the next is secrets we kept by laura prescott.
Speaker 1:Oh god I should have picked that one that one is a historical one.
Speaker 2:I love, I love this is a historical one.
Speaker 1:This is like soviet era lesbian spies, cia, really in the closet. Okay, banger, stab me also the other.
Speaker 2:There's two love stories in that and the other one where it's she's like his mistress, that one like she's in jail, that I think about that way too much. So that book is so good, it is really good, and if you like, uh, if you like that era, you'd like this book.
Speaker 1:You can't go um. And then I can't believe you didn't mention this one but honorable mention because it's just I couldn't pick it because it's just too like well known, it's red, white and purple blue by casey mcquiston well, yeah, but I already picked one by casey.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, but I can't believe this whole thing on yeah but I mean obviously like okay and here's the thing I have to say about that book too.
Speaker 1:Like there's a book to screen adaptation, it's fine. Yeah, gay books deserve hallmark level adaptations too like, like it was, and they are lovable characters. It is extremely hope core. Yes, it's hard probably to read in 2025 being like huh, they, they flipped Texas blue. But maybe, maybe one day. But if you're in the mood for something aspirational, we just need a divorced woman president with a gay son. A gay Latino son.
Speaker 2:That would be great.
Speaker 1:A gay Mexican son. Okay sure.
Speaker 2:I think he's bisexual actually.
Speaker 1:Okay, a bisexual. Mexican son who gets together with the literal Prince of England.
Speaker 2:I wish that would happen, just for the gossip. This was I was talking to my friend Allie Shout out Allie for listening and I was like I honest to God, she sent me like a compilation of Pretty Little Liars moments where, like it was so obvious that Ezra was freaking dating Aria and I was like I wish I had gone to that school because the gossip would have been so good, because she's fully insane being like calling her teacher Ezra getting mad in the middle of class. I wish I had gone to that school. That's how I feel about Red Wine Boy, real Blue. I wish I lived in that reality because can you imagine?
Speaker 1:the TikTok edits oh my God, which boy, real blue. I wish I lived in that reality because can you imagine the tiktok edits?
Speaker 2:oh my god, which, okay, I've been on the record. I don't believe in tiktok editing real people who are not actually in a relationship. I feel like that's weird, but in this case I would watch any more honorable mentions from you no, no I think, well, we'll do a whole, another one when we do our fanfiction episode, our next one, because that could go on, I could go on and I will.
Speaker 1:And I will. Okay, before we wrap this thing up with books we've read recently, which I really don't have much to contribute to that conversation, because I'm in progress for several books and I just finished Atmosphere, which I just talked about, but I think we have to talk about the Ally Hazelwood.
Speaker 2:Oh my god, we do have to talk about the Ally Hazelwood.
Speaker 1:So gosh, it keeps on coming up on our podcast. But this is actually insane. So you and I have been on record so many times being like we are obviously huge Hunger Games fans. We are obviously Team hunger games fans. We are obviously team pita.
Speaker 1:We love pita that's the only right answer okay, at the la book festival, ali hazelwood is on a panel and somebody asked her if she's team peter, team gail, and she was like I'm team gail. Pita is useless. Yeah, whatever, that's not a good opinion. No, but am I gonna cyber bully a person I don't know for having a trash opinion about what is ultimately a fictional character?
Speaker 2:No.
Speaker 1:I am not going to do that?
Speaker 2:No, we're not going to do that, babes.
Speaker 1:Especially when there are actually authors out here who are doing problematic shit.
Speaker 2:Thank you. That's the problem. That's my biggest belief.
Speaker 1:And we are not cyber bullying them.
Speaker 2:Because you know what? It's the same bleep, bleep me out people. That's the same people who are like I can't wait to watch the harry potter adaptation on hbo, who are now cyber bullying. I guarantee you it's the same people who are cyber bullying. Ali hazelwood let's cyber bully. If we're gonna cyber bully someone, let's cyber bully someone who is actively harming people, which is cyber bully like.
Speaker 1:Or colleen hoover yeah, you know what I'm just like it's, this is ultimately, you know ultimately she has a bad opinion. Sure, you know where you, you know where we can talk about that. On here we can just be like yeah, that was a stupid opinion, ha ha ha. Anyways, I wish I didn't know that about her. She literally deactivated her instagram because y'all were like death threat, like not y'all our listeners wouldn't do this I would hope, but like people on the internet.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we're like death threatening her, which is crazy by the way, I can't ever imagine death threatening anybody, even even people who deserve to be canceled like. Why are we threatening them with death? Just don't engage if you have that big of a problem.
Speaker 2:Just don't buy ali hazelwood's book, unfollow her but also again this is this is stupid an opinion about a fictional character in a book series it's also really scary because obviously we are not on ali hazelwood's level, but when you talk a lot and you're doing interviews or like you're just yapping, you say stuff that is dumb all the time. Like she probably didn't even it was an offhanded remark, I'm sure she didn't put that much thought into it and now she's getting cyber bullied off the internet. It's like we got to just relax a little bit, because people just say stupid stuff sometimes and if it's not actually harming anybody like I think you can just calm down. You know what I'm saying. Like actually harming anybody, like I think you can just calm down. You know what I'm saying. Like what are we doing? What are we actually doing? There's bigger problems. Yeah, they're just so crazy okay, so all right.
Speaker 1:Have you read anything recently that you'd like to share?
Speaker 2:okay, I mean this is a work in progress. I was actually talking to you before I logged on, but I have to talk about it and I'm scared by the next time we record I'll read more and you know. So this is the great believers by rebecca mckay. Okay, it's gonna take me a second to explain the plot because it is a little complex, but okay with me. Okay, so it's it's split timelines. One timeline starts in 1985 and the main character in that timeline is um yale, and then there's a second timeline that starts in 2015. So it's in the future, a big time jump. And that character is Fiona.
Speaker 2:So back in 1985, yale is a I think he's in his late 20s, maybe early 30s, so he's a young man. He is openly gay in a relationship for several years, living in Chicago in the mid 80s at the sort of you know I wouldn't say the height, but the ramping up of the AIDS epidemic and he has been in a monogamous relationship for long enough that he doesn't have it and feel safe from that. He doesn't have it and feels safe from that, but his friends are all dying around him and it opens on him and Charlie, his partner, attending a funeral for their friend Nico. And it's not the real funeral, it's not with his family, it's not in the church, but it's the one organized by his partner, and Nico's sister, fiona, is there, and then Fiona is, of course, who picks up our story in 2015. So, in the past, yale is, he works at a museum. He is trying, like kind of his main driving plot is about him trying to convince this very, very elderly, dying woman to bequeath the museum um these paintings that she claims to have, um that were like painted for her by really famous artists and are worth like millions and millions of dollars now and like previously unknown because they were just given to her um because she was, you know, living, living in Paris and had all these artists, whatever. Okay, so that's him Again, living through AIDS, like tragedy happening all around him.
Speaker 2:In the future, fiona, who is Nico's sister, she is traveling to Paris because her daughter, who she hasn't spoken to in several years, um because she joined a cult and um fiona has reason to believe that she left the cult behind and has moved to paris and may be in paris, so she's going there um to try to find her daughter. While she goes there, she's staying with one of n Nico's friends, richard Campo, who is a famous photographer who became famous partially and mainly because he took photos of men who were dying of AIDS, like on their death beds, and some of them he would like compare them to like when they were fully alive and well, and then have them side by side with them dying dying. And so now he's like famous and successful, living in paris and she goes to stay with him and it's just like you can see where the stories are going. But still the reveals that have been happening have like horribly devastated me, um, and also I think what's really really interesting is having these stories told side by side.
Speaker 2:At first I was like what is the point of these two completely separate stories? Like they don't seem to go together. Obviously fiona plays a part in the past and then she's in the future. Um, richard campo, he's also in both timelines. Like some of these characters overlap up.
Speaker 2:But it's like really jarring to me how like this AIDS was like not that long ago and because so many people did die who lived through it, it's like feels like a lost time period in some ways. And Fiona even has this moment where she's like recalling how people are always like when she tells them like my brother died of AIDS or whatever. People be like oh, I remember that time. Like it's this historical thing. And she's like, no, like that was all of my friends, like that was my brother and all of his friends, who were all of my friends, and they're all dead now and like it's not every time. I like there there's this really like horrifying moment Not horrifying, but like I don't know what else to say when she says like she has this practice of explaining the modern world to Nico and she's like when she walks to the airport she'll be like, oh, like you need a firewall for your cloud and she's like mentally explaining that to him and like all these things that have changed. And then she's like when she's sitting with Richard again she's like, oh, he would understand this perfectly. Like I'm with Richard and like nothing here has to be explained to him. And just like I don't know Fiona's just a really compelling character.
Speaker 2:She talks a lot about like I don't know.
Speaker 2:Fiona's just a really compelling character.
Speaker 2:She talks a lot about like what if I?
Speaker 2:She like took care of him a lot when he was kicked out by their family and she's like what if I hadn't taken care of him, then he would have had to come back, he would have had to like pretend to be straight for a few more years to get through living with my parents, and he wouldn't have gotten AIDS and he might have lived long enough to see a cure, long enough to see a cure, and like, maybe I shouldn't have helped him, maybe I should let him be homeless, and all these like regrets she has.
Speaker 2:And then in the past, like you're seeing yale like actually live through it and his friends slowly being diagnosed one by one, um, wow, it's like it's really heavy, but it's also really just like very well written, um very immersive, and I feel like I am towards the end and I feel like I know where it's going and I'm like scared to get there, but, um, it is just incredibly well written and I think it really brings this period of history to life in a way that like is important and um so really good, really sad so far.
Speaker 1:Earlier, earlier in this podcast, we were talking about queer history being erased, and I feel like it's a big part of it, so yeah, well, it's just, yeah, you don't.
Speaker 2:Um, yeah it's. It's like this book really does such a good job because of the time jump of, like contextualizing things and making you realize, like yeah like juxtaposing the narrative now versus yeah them living through right, right and just um, yeah, like how horrible that would be for you know whole swaths of your friends to just die and to get it and to know you're like there's no hope at that time obviously so um, like how horrifying that would be to not know how much longer you have left or anything like that and all the logistics of it.
Speaker 2:Like you know, if your family's not supportive, but then they get to make all of your end of life choices for you. Oh God, plot is very interesting. The daughter plot is very interesting. Um, I'm just like how did she come up with all this? Like there's so many different little plot lines going on that it's very complex, but gosh. It all kind of connects together, so I think I really recommend it great recommendation thank you thank you.
Speaker 1:Okay, I don't have any book to share right now, since I just finished atmosphere. I'm working on two other ones and I will share out next time. But, um, yeah, I, I really need to. I don't know. One of the books books I'm working on right now is pachinko by minjin lee, which I'm like 10 years late to reading. Have you read it? Yeah, no, okay, I'm like 10 years.
Speaker 1:It's really really good it's long and, like After Pachinko, I really need to read a couple snappy ones because I need to catch up on my reading goal. Yeah, I get that. We'll see. Alright, don't forget, share one of our posts. Tag us or share one of our episodes. Tag us, make sure you're following us for a chance to win $50 Thift books gift card. Do it by july 8th. An entry on instagram or blue sky will work oh, and dm us if you are private yeah, please, okay, all right guys, bye.