MoFos and Disco Balls

This episode, Elizabeth falls in love with a crow named S.T. and a bloodhound named Dennis as she reads Hollow Kingdom by Kira Jane Buxton. Andrea was less captivated in Danesh's attempt to save Earth during an intergalactic music competition with her book, Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:00

Welcome to Bookshop Bombshells. I'm Elizabeth.

SPEAKER_00 0:04

I'm Andrea.

SPEAKER_03 0:06

And this is a podcast where we each read a book. And we tell you about it.

SPEAKER_00 0:10

And we don't give you any spoilers.

SPEAKER_03 0:12

Yeah, just in case you want to read it.

SPEAKER_00 0:14

So yeah. Welcome.

SPEAKER_03 0:15

Welcome. Anything new happening with you since we last spoke?

SPEAKER_00 0:23

No. I mean any any good side books? I no. The book I read this week took away sidebook. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 0:32

My audiobooks are always my sidebooks. Which I did. I did listen to um, I'm not done with it, but I started uh the village library demon book. Demon Hunting Society.

SPEAKER_00 0:48

I can like it.

SPEAKER_03 0:50

I believe. I believe that is the title. It's a very long title.

SPEAKER_00 0:52

It is a very long title.

SPEAKER_03 0:53

I did start it. I do love um the narrator the the audio.

SPEAKER_00 0:58

The audio is really nice.

SPEAKER_03 0:59

Yeah, the audiobook uh narrator, whatever they're whatever they're called. Um she's just this sweet sounding old lady. Like I really like it.

SPEAKER_00 1:07

She's gonna be my grandma.

SPEAKER_03 1:08

Yeah, it definitely reminds me of Miss Marple. I love all of her references. Um she even has a buffy reference. I was like so excited when I was. Oh, she said buffy.

SPEAKER_00 1:20

I was like, yep. She's gonna love it.

SPEAKER_03 1:25

And then what else? Uh well, I'm gonna do this book next time, but I picked up an audiobook that um really surprised me. And I think I might start doing this where I start listening to books on audiobook, and then if I'm like, oh, this will be great for the podcast, like kind of stop reading and then pick it up in book form.

SPEAKER_00 1:47

I thought about that too, especially after the one that I just did.

SPEAKER_03 1:50

So yeah, because I started and I was like, the book was so it was so good, but it was also one of those books that it's not like a it was it's not like a super silly fun book, so it's like I would catch myself being like, oh wait, what just happened? And I would like be rewinding a lot, and I was like, I just need to read this. And I was like, I'm gonna do this for the podcast. So I'll do that next time. So I'll tell you more about it then.

SPEAKER_00 2:08

Yeah, I'm excited to hear about that one.

SPEAKER_03 2:10

Um, but dude, I'm so excited for my book this week. I think you're gonna love it. Well, yeah, you get to go first. Yeah, I get to go first. Yes, tell me about that. Um I found this book at that floating bookshop.

SPEAKER_00 2:23

I haven't been there here in Oklahoma City.

SPEAKER_03 2:25

It's so cool. I really like it. Um, the dude that runs it's really cool. Uh he always like has a tidbit to say about like the books that we're um picking out. So like I don't know if he's like just reading a lot or if he just like knows a lot about his inventory or whatever, but um it was actually really funny because well I'll tell you because I don't want to like spoil too much, but okay. So I read Hollow Kingdom.

SPEAKER_00 2:47

Um, I almost did that one a couple episodes ago. So you have you seen it? Well I've I've seen the cover of the book and I've read like the first page and then like couldn't decide what to read and ended up putting that one down.

SPEAKER_03 2:59

It's so good. Okay, so Hollow Kingdom, Kira Jane Buxton, uh written in 2019. Um I just put a Goodreads on here, 3.86, which I was a little I feel like that's kind of in my sweet spot for Goodreads. Um, but I would have rated this I yeah, I probably would have given it like a 4.5, but since Goodreads makes you pick a four or a five, I would have picked a five because I did absolutely love it.

SPEAKER_01 3:24

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 3:24

Um okay. So chapter one. Um we meet ST. Uh he lives in Seattle with Big Jim and a bloodhound named Dennis. Um and he's just, you know, hanging out in the front yard, um, realizing, like kind of like beating himself up about not seeing the signs. Um he's remembering when it all happened. Him and Big Jim were hanging out in the yard, and Big Jim had a PBR in his hand, classic Big Jim. This is like the it's it's one of the funniest books I've ever read. Okay. Um so Big Jim, PBR in hand, uh his and then Big Jim's eyeball just like falls out of his head. Oh my. Um so ST and Big Jim are like looking at each other, they're like, what the fuck just happened? Um, but Dennis uh doesn't skip a beat, pounces, and tries to like catch and eat the eyeball. Um but before Dennis can grab it, uh ST swoops in, snatches it up. Um, Big Jim uh exclaims, What the fuck? And that's the last thing that Big Jim ever says. Um Big Jim goes inside, leaving his Paps Blue ribbon uh unfinished. Which ST points out again, he should have seen the signs. Um he had noticed some other signs. So Big Jim had started forgetting things, missing appointments, misplacing his wallet and keys, which he blamed ST for since he's a giant klepto. Um he become he had become lethargic uh and had stopped walking dentists, which had disastrous consequences. Sorry, I have a lot of quotes in here because it's just like so funny. Which had disastrous consequences for couch cushions. May they rest in peace. Um ST then kind of stops his story and he says he's like kind of hesitant to continue. Um but he thinks that we deserve to know what happened. He formally introduced introduces himself as Shit turd, ST for short. Uh, and he is a domesticated American crow raised by Big Jim, who taught him the ways of the mofos, which is what Big Jim is basically his like name for humans, um, because that's like what Big Jim called people. And he is here to tell us what happened to our kind.

SPEAKER_01 5:46

Oh.

SPEAKER_03 5:47

So that was chapter one. So there are a couple chapters. Um, it kind of like in the beginning alternates between chapters where it um goes between shit turd, which I've just been calling everybody, like all of the like birds I see and all of the even the cats outside. I've just been calling shit turd. It's just such a good name. Um, but it'll go back and forth between shit turds narrate like narration and like a domesticated pet. Oh that and it's like their point of view from when this like thing starts happening to the humans.

SPEAKER_00 6:22

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 6:23

Um, so you do meet and all the pets have cute little names, like chapter two. I'm not gonna go too much into the side stories, um, but chapter two, it's like follows Winnie the Poodle. Oh that was really cute. Um so back to Shit turd. Um in the days after Big Jim's eyeball fell out of his head, uh Shit turd is which I guess I could say ST. It calls him S Trout. Throughout the book, it ref he refers to himself as ST, and then every every now and then he'll be like, I'm Shit Turt, no, I'm blah blah blah. Like he like, and he like it's like a badge of pride for him, and it's just like oh yeah, and it makes me laugh. Like this book made me laugh so much. Um so since Big Jim's, you know, not doing very well, uh Shit is finding that he uh has been he has to pick up the slack around the house. Um Big Jim is spending all of his time in the basement. He said jabbing his finger into the wall like a rabid raccoon. Uh so as so Shitard's the one feeding Dennis, um filling his water bowl. Um and he's also noticing that like the paper boy isn't coming around anymore, Amazon packages aren't arriving anymore, the Big Butts magazine isn't getting delivered anymore in the mail. Um, and things have gotten weird, and he considers tuning into Aura. So um he explains Aura as like it's like the Mofo's internet, but it's more of just like a network um and constant flow of information. So it's like the birds chirping and talking, apparently like the trees whisper. So it's like how they exchange information.

SPEAKER_00 8:15

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 8:16

And it's aura is more specific to I think like the sky, so it is more birds, but it's also trees, um, because there are other types of um communication among the animal kingdom. Um but uh so he's like considering like maybe I should tap into the aura and see like what's going on. Um, but usually he doesn't tune into aura um because he has access to the real internet. Um so uh but these are desperate times, so he um braves the aura and he just like basically gets silence in return. So an aura silence can be cause for alarm. So either you know there aren't enough birds or trees participating, or there's like a predator that everyone is like collectively hiding from. Okay. So silence is bad, and he's like, oh crap. Um so he's starting to feel like what happened to Big Jim is a wider issue, um, but he's more concerned about making things better at home um and not to like worry about things going on behind their door. Yeah. So um him and Big Jim are like a team. It's really cute because like you know, he's this domesticated crow. And it's like him, Big Jim, and Dennis are like he calls them like his murder. Oh so they're like they're you know, they're a family. Yeah. And they're a very interesting sounding family. Like Shatterd's like references are hilarious. Um, like the the TV that he watches, and the you know, the Big Butts magazine is only like one of the first. Like really silly. Yeah. Um so he's been trying to feed Big Jim daily, like bringing in bologna and funions, and his all-time favorite, Cheetos. So Shitard loves Cheetos, it's hilarious. It's actually he like he mentions tons of product types in the book, but Cheetos is the only one that's actually like trademarked. Oh like there's always like the little TM next to Cheetos. Like he just like loves Cheetos, which I uh agree with. Cheetos are like the best snack. Um, but Big Jim is not showing interest in any of the food. Um he even tries to roll a monster energy drink down the stairs, but Jim did Big Jim did nothing but drool, and he's still just like scraping that bloody finger against the wall.

SPEAKER_00 10:49

Big Jim.

SPEAKER_03 10:50

So you're starting to like, you're like, hmm, what's going on? Um after several days without masturbating, ST declares a state of emergency. So he's like, uh-oh, something is wrong. Um so he decides he needs to leave the house and get Big Jim some medicine. So he's like a very smart crow. He watches a lot of TV. He knows that, like, you know, he knows all the like commercials for the drug ads. Yeah, he knows all the drug ads. Um, so he sets out to get supplies. Like as he's flying around outside, like things are weird. Like there's like cars crashed into trees. There's like, like it's like kind of like a madhouse outside. Um he uh runs into this murder of what he calls the college crows. Um, they're the largest murder in Seattle. Uh they are out, like they live at the University of Washington's Bothell campus. Um, so this is kind of where we realize that like ST is like ostracized by other crows. So they're just like spitting shit at him, and they're just like, you're not a real crow, and blah blah blah. And um he usually just like lets these insults slide off him. He's just like, I don't care what you think. He associates and believes he's more of a mofo. So he's like, he believes he should have been born a mofo. Like he's like, I don't care about crows. I got my own family, like I don't need you. Um so he finally makes it to a Walgreens. Um he just like gathers up all these medications that look like they could help. And the medications are hilarious. It's like Gas X, Dolkalac, Summer's Eve. Like it's just like all these medications. Yeah. So you're just like, this is not gonna help, but whatever. Um and so he uh gathers up all this stuff, puts it in a bag, um, and starts to leave. So there were a couple mofos in the store when he gets like in the pharmacy when he gets there. Okay. Um, but they're like doing this weird obsessive gathering around the blood pressure machine and like not paying attention to him. So like he he's got his medicine, he's like flying off, and the summer's eve like ends up falling out of his bag and like lands on the cashier scanner, and it makes like a loud beep noise. So this like makes all hell break loose with the mofos, and they start screeching and like vaulting at Chitterd, and he's like, oh crap, and he ends up like dropping his bag, and he's like, Oh, and then like so he like basically like the mofos are more obsessed with the beep than with him, so he's able to like get away. Yeah, he's able to like hurry up, get get all the stuff back in the bag, hurry up and get out. But it was still like very scary for him because he'd never seen the mofos like attack like that, yeah. Um, especially like coming after him. Like, he's just like usually they're either nice to me or like they don't pay attention to me. So um, like what is going on? Um, he's like very shaken. So he's heading back to the house and he sees their neighbor. Her name is Nargatha. I will say, like, every time I read her name, I like just chuckled. Like, I don't know, it's just like the funniest. And he like says it's like some uh he's like it's some bonkers mix between like Agatha, Margaret, and Narnia. Like the parents like couldn't decide which one they liked more. Um and he's like, so he's like relieved to see a familiar face. Um, but upon closer inspection, he sees Nargatha is eating Triskets. Triskets is her miniature schnauzer.

SPEAKER_00 14:42

Oh no.

SPEAKER_03 14:43

So as he thinks of Dennis and Big Jim back at the house, so he like races back. Uh thankfully, Big Jim is still obsessively rubbing that finger to a nub. And Dennis is safe in the laundry room. Um, he's laying on a pile of Big Jim's boxers, which he's like been there for days. And he's been eating less and less. And as T knows exactly what's happening because he's seen the Cymbalta commercials. Um, Dennis is depressed.

SPEAKER_02 15:14

Oh no.

SPEAKER_03 15:16

So now Dennis, like Big Jim, was in a crisis. Um so Dennis misses Big Jim and it's killing him. Um, so he needs to cure Big Jim and like save both like Big Jim and Dennis. Dennis, yeah. So he puts two projects in action: Project Wellness and Project Happiness. So Project Wellness consisted of trying to drop the medication into Big Jim's mouth daily. It wasn't really going too well, but he was trying. He's doing his best. Um, and then Project Happiness, uh, he used what he learned from Big Jim when Big Jim first domesticated him as like a little baby crow. Um, and he uh lured him out of the laundry room with like treats. So, like, like he starts with like dog treats, and like that doesn't work, and then he like kind of upgrades, and then finally he's like, All right, like I guess we gotta go to Cheetos. Like Cheetos are like the big guns or whatever. And so um he ends up like luring uh Dennis out, thankfully. Um and in the Symboltic commercials, he remembers that everyone, like people are always like frolicking, so he decides that like Dennis needs a good frolic, and to him that's like you know, it's like exercise. He just needs exercise. Yeah, and so he takes big uh he takes um Dennis outside and he starts to attempt to do like big gym um I don't know, uh so like parents can talk, right? I don't know about crows. They can like mimic slightly, but not so apparently Shitard can mimic, at least in a way that Dennis understands, but he does like Big Jim impressions. Um he does like like his fake, like his like fake little like or his like mimic of Jim Big Jim's whistle is always like zzz.

SPEAKER_00 17:10

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_03 17:11

Like he does like zzz Dennis, here boy. Um and he rewards him with treats when he comes. So he's basically like, yeah, Gito. Um and he's starting like Dennis is like picking up on it and he's learning and he's starting to think that like Dennis thinks that he like like he Dennis is thinking of him like he did Big Jim, like he's a real mofo, and he's like like Dennis is his like dog. Yeah. Um so one day uh ST finds Big Jim's phone while look looking for Dennis's conk toy. Um and he's like, surely this will perk Big Jim up, like he loves his phone. Um he turns it on, and the phone, like it chimes on, and then all hell breaks loose again.

SPEAKER_00 17:58

Oh no.

SPEAKER_03 17:58

And Big Jim, who's just been like doing his own thing down in the basement, starts like barreling up the stairs. And ST thinks about Triskets again, and he realizes he like he doesn't know where Dennis is.

SPEAKER_02 18:11

Oh no.

SPEAKER_03 18:11

And so he panics, he picks up the cell phone with his beak, like Big Jim is like claming, like clamoring loudly up the stairs. He finds Dennis in the living room, just as Big Jim reaches the top of the stairs, and Big Jim does not look good, like eyes red, like missing his finger. Like he looks like the creepy mofos from the Walgreens. Um, and of course, Dennis sees Big Jim, and he's like excited, and he's like, Oh, hey, what's up? He's a big dumb dog. Um, so uh ST is like he does like his best Big Jim voice, and he's like, Dennis, sit. Like he like gets Dennis to stay, and then he quickly flies into the laundry room. Big Jim like chases after him and drops the phone in the laundry room, flies out the window, basically comes back around through the kitchen window, and then like with all of his might closes the laundry room door.

SPEAKER_00 19:01

So now he's in the laundry room.

SPEAKER_03 19:02

So they locked Big Jim or they shut Big Jim into the laundry room. Um so everything is like silent, and ST finally realizes that he cannot fix Big Jim alone. It's time for them to face the unknown of the outside world. It's time to get answers, and ST knew exactly who they needed to hunt down. And I'm gonna end right there.

SPEAKER_00 19:25

Ah what a good cliffhanger.

SPEAKER_03 19:28

Yeah. Um it is a very like, because it kind of switches back and forth between narration, it like leaves you on these like cliffhangers, and then you have to like listen to this other story or like read this other story. So it's like, what's happening? Who's this? Yeah, so it is like a very suspenseful book. Um, so good. I forgot to say there's trigger warnings, animals do die. So um be prepared. Uh I cried a lot in this book. But happy tears, sad tears, lots of tears.

SPEAKER_00 19:57

Also, one of like the funniest funniest, hilarious.

SPEAKER_03 20:01

The characters, like I would just like tell my husband about these characters. I'm like, oh my god, Dennis did this, and like it's just like like you you feel like they are like real people, like they have such great personalities. I love that. Yeah, so it's so good. There is a second one. Um, I'm very excited about it because the ending is amazing. I was a little worried about how she was gonna end it. Um but it won't wild. It was so good, yeah. So it's like I really want to read the second one now. But yeah, Hollow Kingdom.

SPEAKER_00 20:34

That'll have to be my news.

SPEAKER_03 20:36

Super good, super funny.

SPEAKER_00 20:38

Side bit here. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 20:39

There is an audiobook. I haven't I haven't checked it out. I may have to listen to the second book on audiobook just so I can consume it. Um but I hope it's I assume you gotta pick a good shit turd person, you know? Yeah. I assume it would be good.

SPEAKER_00 20:56

I hope it is. Yeah. I'm gonna listen to the first one on audio.

SPEAKER_03 21:00

Yeah, so all right, what'd you do? Uh what'd you read?

SPEAKER_00 21:04

I read a book called Space Opera by Catherine Valenti. Okay. Um, it's fun. I would show you a picture, but I don't have it. It's uh the cover is like those blue and purple spacey colors, you know, but then like the the world, it's just like a disco ball in the middle of space opera. I wanted to like this book so much. Yeah. Um maybe it wasn't for me. Maybe I just Is it sci-fi? Uh oh, so it was described as like Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Eurovision esque. Okay. Like, this could be cool. Like the title like Space Opera. Yeah. I'm here for it. Um, I could not follow this book to save my life. Um I like read it like the hard read. In a book I started, and then I was like, okay, well, this is let me switch to audio.

SPEAKER_03 22:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:07

So I like was going back and forth, like rereading stuff, and like I I've spent two weeks on this book when I was just like, you know what? I've already committed this far.

SPEAKER_03 22:17

Yeah, we're gonna I've done that before where you're like, Well, I guess I'm just gonna have to do this book.

SPEAKER_00 22:23

Yeah, I um like five minutes after I finish it, I was like, I have no idea what I just read. I hate that. You're like, why did I read this? Yeah, um, but I'm gonna tell you about it anyway, because like I said, I really wanted to like this book. It sounds really fun. Um, so to begin, Earth is out there doing its thing. Um, Earth was like formed after something called the sentient wars, which they described it as two godlike beings um having the most epic fight about who is supposed to take out the trash and who's supposed to do a dishes. Okay. Uh so after an eternity of dispute and all of the existence of things, the galaxy decided to resolve the conflict with a giant contest. Uh sovision or uh like America's Got Talent is another, if you don't know what Eurovision is. Um this is like an intergalactic contest for all of the universe. Okay. So you get, you know, you learn all this. Um so then next we meet Decibel Jones. Um he's lead singer of uh Decibel Jones and the Absolute Zeros. Uh the other people in the band are Ul Ort Saint Ultraviolet. Uh he's an inframist. He's an instrumentalist. Uh he plays like six different things. Uh and then there's Mira, wonderful star. She's a drummer and keyboardist. Um the band's like going strong. And then one night Mira uh confesses her love to Decibel, but he isn't in the right place for that and kind of brushes it off. Uh Mira dies later in a car accident, not far from that point, um, which had Decibel kind of wrecked, if you will.

SPEAKER_03 24:27

Is Earth still kind of like our Earth? Yeah. So they're in London. They're in London. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 24:31

Uh they're like just doing regular Earth things in London in London. Um, so suddenly, years after um the unfortunate solo album that nobody talks about, uh, Decibel is confronted by aliens. Uh specifically, actually, everybody is confronted by an alien, but the one that confronts him has like flamingo legs and an anglerfish body. And uh the alien tells him that uh he has to save Earth by represent I'm so sorry. He has to save Earth by representing humanity in an intergalactic music competition.

SPEAKER_03 25:14

Alright. That sounds fair.

SPEAKER_00 25:16

Um so Dustbull's kind of just like what? Like what also like doesn't ha hasn't talked to Ort in a while, it sounds like Ort has all of his family. Um there's like a a lot of good like aliens that are fun in it. Uh she like the author does like it's a fun sounding world. I just could not follow it. Um, there's like a time jumping red panda alien uh who kind of like shows up whenever he feels like it. Uh Orc comes back. Uh so the band is mostly back together. Um, so everybody's saving the earth in this big old singing competition. Uh and that I mean, that's just like the premise of it. That was like the first part of the book that like I could follow, and then it just kind of dropped after this. Oh no. Um I like I really wanted to like it.

SPEAKER_03 26:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:18

Um, and maybe I try to read it again. Yeah. And like a year or two.

SPEAKER_03 26:23

Life's too short, remember? Life's too short to read a bad book.

SPEAKER_00 26:25

It's true. Um, but I mean, like, it got uh it got like a 3.45 on Goodreads. So not bad. So it was like not the worst. And I guess it was like uh I was like, like how common is it? Is it just me or like do people really have a hard time following it? And it it was a real thing.

SPEAKER_03 26:47

I have a okay, so this is gonna like um I hope I hope this isn't like hurt people's feelings. I don't know if it'll hurt their feelings or change their perception of me. But like, um, so Ursula Kayla Gwen. Yeah, I have really wanted to get into her a lot. Um, because she's like a female sci-fi writer. I'm like, this is cool. Uh, but like I've tried multiple of her books and it's like it's just it's yeah, it's like kind of hard to follow. It's kind of hard to like, and I I kind of I I started another uh book on audiobook that's like another sci-fi book, and I think I have these like it sounds cool, I want to read it, and then I start it, and I'm like, oh no, I don't think this is for me. So I do I wonder if we have the same thing where it's like I like the premise, that sounds cool, and then it's like oh this is I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 27:43

I just yeah, I mean I thought I thought the premise of the plot line was great, but then when it came to actually like reading it, she does a lot of like trailing off and explaining like alien backgrounds and you're like, I don't care, and I like I feel like the the story and the plot didn't actually like happen until until the very end of the book, so I was just like I I was kind of worried because I was like I've spent like two weeks on this book, yeah, and like I've read it and I've listened to it, and I s like I I have to come up with something to say. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 28:23

I mean, I think it's fair to say I read a book and it was meh.

SPEAKER_00 28:27

It was meh, and I felt like maybe I was like, you know what, I'm not gonna panic, I'm not gonna try to like cram in a book. Like, we're just gonna talk about it, and that's fine. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 28:37

No, I I um the one thing like I really do like about this podcast that uh sometimes pays off and sometimes maybe doesn't, is like I have the worst habit of if I'm not into a book or if I'm just busy and I don't I like am not currently reading a lot, yeah like just putting a book down for like ever. And even like so The Searcher was a good example because like that was a book that I really liked, and honestly, Project Hail Mary too. I like started both of those books, really liked them, and then like life happened. I didn't have a podcast forcing me to like read all the time, and then by the time it's like you know, like a year later, and you're like, Well, I don't really remember what was going on, so like I need to like start from scratch, I don't want to do that, like and so like maybe it's a good thing that you're forced to finish these books, and maybe it's I just I uh I came out of it and was just like, you know, you could have read this one or this one.

SPEAKER_00 29:37

You've got like a long list of books, yeah. You didn't you didn't have to commit.

SPEAKER_03 29:41

Well, but like once you like it does it does kind of it does kind of suck because like we do only have two weeks to read a book. Yeah. And so sometimes it takes you a while to be like, I don't care about this book. Like you want to give a a book like a good hard try. Like I try, yeah, but like you don't really have enough time to give multiple books a good try.

SPEAKER_00 30:00

And that's like me for this podcast. Like, I I told myself I like you can't do this anymore. I will like start and get maybe 25 pages into a book and be like, Well, I don't know if I'm feeling this, and then I'll pay, but I'll do that to like four books, and I'm like, you just need to read something then, and then I'm panicking because I'm like three days away from recording. Like, I need to read a 300-page book. Like, what am I gonna do? Yeah, but uh so I think that's what I'm looking glad you said.

SPEAKER_03 30:27

You were like, maybe I start an audio and then be like Yeah, I do like I like that kind of approach because then you can just be like driving to work, giving books a shot, and being like, Okay, I like this. I'll pick it up. I'm gonna pick this up. And if it's something that maybe And you can like check out a couple books on Libby and just like that's yeah, that's listen to the first like 30 minutes.

SPEAKER_00 30:45

See how you feel about it.

SPEAKER_03 30:46

Because I think, yeah, 30 minutes. Well, I don't know, maybe an hour. I was trying to like judge my reading speed. And I think it's like an hour I can read like 50 pages or something like that. Yeah, I don't know if that's good or not, but I don't think it's good.

SPEAKER_00 30:58

I that's about my average, I think.

SPEAKER_03 31:00

But it is like like sometimes when you are like cramming to like finish a book, you're like, okay, how many hours is it gonna take me to finish this book?

SPEAKER_00 31:06

If I start at this time.

SPEAKER_03 31:08

Yeah, like can I finish this by the time record tomorrow?

SPEAKER_00 31:13

Um, but like I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 31:15

I just So what would you rate it? Like like like it would it be in the twos?

SPEAKER_00 31:20

Girl, I didn't know. Uh yes, I would say it like a a thefty two.

SPEAKER_03 31:34

I think you just made up a new word. I like it. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 31:37

Hefty and terrible. Um I I I don't know what I read.

SPEAKER_03 31:46

Which is like impressive to me because like I don't think I would finish the two. But like you kind of you kind of have two.

SPEAKER_00 31:53

I think that's the lowest rating I've given a book. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 31:56

Because I'm like, I won't I won't finish it if I don't like it. I'm proud of you.

SPEAKER_00 32:01

Thanks. I was it is though. It's like kind of like our like I'm always like life is too short to read bad books. And there's so many books out there. And this is why. Yeah. It's because like I I killed two weeks. I could have been reading something. I could have been reading Another Road to Roswell. Or yeah. Yeah. So I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 32:20

Uh I do get in, I was thinking about this today. Like, I do get in these like sort of slumps in books where I feel like there aren't enough good books. Well, and I think it's like usually when I have a couple in a row that I'm like, oh, this is not for me. Yeah. But then like recently, uh like with like Hollow Kingdom, um, and then the other book that I started too, like, I'm like, oh no, there are like good books out there, we just have to like find them.

SPEAKER_00 32:46

So it's the finding of it's like like when I'm like, I've been doing a lot of Reddit.

SPEAKER_03 32:50

Reddit suggests me a book is really good.

SPEAKER_00 32:53

Um that's not bad.

SPEAKER_03 32:55

That's that's not how I found Hollow Kingdom, but that's how I found my other book. Um and I'm like really, I'm like, okay, I need to start paying attention to some of these.

SPEAKER_00 33:04

Uh I don't know. I feel like I've read some great books in the last like, we'll call this a season. Yeah. But then I feel like I've started a lot of yeah, same things that I'm just like, I've I'm I'm like, am I not just am I just not in the mood for this?

SPEAKER_03 33:24

I think that's the point of this podcast, or at least what we're trying to do, is to help people find like cut through the crap. Yeah. Like like we're sort of cutting through the crap for them. Cause I I do think if we didn't have this podcast, I would be finding these like mm so so meh books, yeah, and then being like, Well, what's the point of reading? I didn't like that last book I read. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 33:46

Where it's like Well, that's how you get into slumps, where like I I probably read like a book a month on average before we started doing the podcast. And I'd like to read more. Like, I I legitimately enjoy reading. Same, yeah. But then, like, if I hit a slump, I'll go months without it.

SPEAKER_03 34:02

Yeah, and a lot of times you don't have good book recommendations, or like sometimes you do have friends that also read, but it's like they're not your style style, and you're like, I don't want to read that. You're like, that doesn't sound that's not for me. I know, I know that's not for me. Um, so yeah, we're trying, we're doing the Lord's work.

SPEAKER_00 34:22

We're doing our part.

SPEAKER_03 34:24

So if you thank Sky Soccer, we're trying, we're trying our best to find to find the best books. Um, and sometimes, you know.

SPEAKER_00 34:32

Sometimes it's hard.

SPEAKER_03 34:33

What was that one I read? The Circus one?

SPEAKER_00 34:35

Oh, Night Circus.

SPEAKER_03 34:36

Night Circus. That was one. I think that's that's the one that stands out to me the most of like a book that I probably wouldn't have finished. Yeah. Um, but had to.

SPEAKER_00 34:46

Whereas like even the books that I like gave lower ratings, I think for like just what we've read here, like I've had some that were kind of like, meh. And like the more I think on them, I'm like, uh, I actually, you know, I didn't have the best time reading it, but thinking about it later, it's like it was pretty fun. Yeah. But then like there's this one where I'm just like well, read Hollow Kingdom for sure. I will. I that had been that's on my to read list. I found it.

SPEAKER_03 35:16

I think the next one's like called feral feral creatures or feral animals or something like that.

SPEAKER_00 35:22

Space Opera is a series. Oh good. I think there's you could read more if you like it.

SPEAKER_03 35:28

I think there's only two. I looked. Yeah, there's only two of Hollow Kingdom.

SPEAKER_00 35:33

In my rabbit hole of do other people not like those people. It's like, there's another one. This is a great book. And I was like, uh you know. Not everybody reads the same stuff. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 35:45

And that's okay. I do feel like sometimes a lot of some people are easier to please. Yeah. I feel like I'm like impossible to please.

SPEAKER_00 35:52

I sometimes like I really want to like Lord of the Rings trilogy, but I I cannot.

SPEAKER_03 35:57

Careful, yeah. Careful.

SPEAKER_00 35:59

I know I will. Like I said, I really wish I could, but like every time I fall asleep every time I try to sleep.

SPEAKER_03 36:07

Man, I tried to so much walking, so much moss, so much uh just just descriptions after descriptions, and I I'm character driven and plot driven. Like those are my kind of my two. Like, if you don't have one, you gotta have the other.

SPEAKER_00 36:24

And so I get really jealous of my friends that are like, I love the Lord of the Rings, and I will read that every year, and I'm just like, I wish I could. I really wish I could. But that's okay of other things I read once a year. Yeah, there's there's there's good books.

SPEAKER_03 36:40

There's books for us.

SPEAKER_00 36:41

There is.

SPEAKER_03 36:42

You just gotta find them.

SPEAKER_00 36:43

It'll be fine.

SPEAKER_03 36:44

Yeah. So So this week we read or I read uh Hollow Kingdom by Kira Jane Buxton.

SPEAKER_00 36:53

And I read Space Opera by Katherine M. Valente.

SPEAKER_03 36:57

Cool. Is it Valente?

SPEAKER_00 37:00

Valente. I was trying to make it sound really cool. Yeah. It's the least I could do. I know.

SPEAKER_03 37:08

Like, you have a cool name.

SPEAKER_00 37:11

All right, guys. Thanks for listening. Thanks for listening.

SPEAKER_03 37:14

See you in two weeks. See ya. Bye.