Five-Star Reads That Define Our Taste

Welcome to his book her book, the conversational podcast where a horror obsessed husband and his genre hopping wife try to understand each other’s reading choices, clash tastes and stay happily married through it all. 

Together we’ll dive into stories from opposite ends of the bookshelf, laughing, debating, recommending and occasionally roasting each other’s picks. 

Because in this relationship there’s one guarantee... the only thing scarier than his/my novels is her/my TBR shelf. 

Books discussed in this episode: 

• Dracula - Bram Stoker (1897)
• Prophet Song - Paul Lynch (2023)
• Head Full of Ghosts- Paul Tremblay (2015)
• Nightwatching - Tracy Sierra (2024)
• Our Share of Night - Marianna Enriquez (2019)

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Transcript

Welcome And Show Premise

Jacqui 0:04

Welcome to His Book Her Book, the conversational podcast where a horror obsessed husband and his genre hopping life try to understand each other's reading choices, clash tastes, and stay happily married through it all. Together we'll dive into stories from opposite ends of the bookshelf, laughing, debating, recommending, and occasionally roasting each other's pets. Because in this relationship, there's one guarantee. The only thing scarier than his novels is my TBR show. This is his book, Her Book, hosted by German and Jacqui. Sit back, grab a snack, and enjoy the literary chaos.

Speaker 0:44

And take two. Welcome to the first episode of his book, Her Book. We're your host, German and Jacqui. And we are so excited to finally be doing this very recording.

Speaker 4 0:57

It's been a long time coming. Can't wait to talk about books to someone other than German and my mom.

Meet German And Jacqui

Speaker 1:05

Yeah. But before we talk about books, we should talk a little bit about ourselves, no?

Speaker 4 1:09

Yeah, definitely.

Speaker 1:10

Uh I work in television.

Jacqui 1:12

I'm a dietitian. I work in pediatrics. We are dog parents. We have two pups, Quinlan and Ruby. We met in LA, lived in LA for a long time. We were recently moved to the Southwest. We love books. We love books.

German 1:28

And a short description of our podcast. We are married. We love to read. We always talk about the books and ratings with each other. So we figured why not get an audience and maybe they'd like hearing about the books too.

Jacqui 1:41

Yeah, I want to talk about books to anyone who will listen, hopefully. All right. So what is our first episode going to be about?

Five-Star Reads And Reading Vibes

Speaker 4 1:51

Today we want to talk a little bit about a few of our favorite, maybe standout novels, I'd say. Our five-star reads, these are books I personally perpetually recommend. Also, just give an overall vibe of what we like to read. Obviously, German is more of a horror-based reader. A little bit. But just, yeah, an overall understanding of what we like and what you hopefully like as well.

unknown 2:19

Exactly.

Dracula And Loving Horror

German 2:20

My first novel is Bram Stoker's Dracula, written in 1897.

Jacqui 2:24

Oh, can I read your synopsis?

German 2:26

Yeah, you can. Okay, cool.

Jacqui 2:28

Dracula is a foundational gothic horror novel told through diary entries and letters. It tells the story of Count Dracula, a vampire from Transylvania who moves to England to spread his curse. And the group of people led by Professor Van Helsing who hunt him down.

German 2:44

Better than I would have done. So I picked Dracula as novel. One, because it's a classic, of course. And two, because it kind of I mean, I've always had a love of monsters. And, you know, Dracula, Frankenstein, Wolfman, the Mummy. I was always drawn to the monsters, drawn to horror. When I was a little kid, I was always rooting for Dracula to win and Frankenstein to win. Especially Wolfman. I was a huge Wolfman fan. I always wanted him to win. I don't know much about the Wolfman. I know. And I always it's maybe it was an adrenaline rush thing too. I enjoyed being scared. You know, even to this day, I want you know I asked myself why I love horror so much. I just do. I those could be a couple of reasons right there. I mean, when I was a kid, here's a quick story with monsters, sort of. I was begging my dad to please take me to go see the shining, because it was rated R and I was not of age yet. And I begged him to beg, and he finally he relented and went to see it. And of course I get scared crap out of him. I was trying not to sleep with the lights down at all.

Speaker 1 3:49

But I thought I saw it.

Speaker 3:52

I was rooting for Jack Torrance for a little bit. Um I did read that novel. I think I I can't remember. No, I read it I think I might have read it right after I saw the movie, and obviously there's differences. But I didn't, yeah. But a huge fan of Stephen King and Stanley Kubrick, so there you go.

Jacqui 4:11

I'm a fan of Stanley Kubrick.

German 4:13

Oh, you know, the other thing actually that I do love about Dracula specifically is that it is told to journal journal entries, diaries, letters. And since I work in unscripted and television, it's kind of like sort of that weird connection of documentary style. I did enjoy that of it also just hearing it from Harper's side, from Mina's side, and Helsing's side, the multiple narrators. So that's my first choice. Jackie, what's yours?

Jacqui 4:42

Well, before I get into mine, I just I have a Dracula story. I have not read the book yet. We own the book. I don't know why I haven't read it yet. But I do remember the movie. It came out in 1992 and I was 11.

German 4:58

Oh, you're talking about that Dracula movie.

Speaker 4 4:59

The Bram Stoker Dracula. Yes. I had the movie poster on my wall. I think it was the one of the few times I saw a movie before reading the book. At the time, I wasn't much of a horror novel person, but I was very much a Gary Oldman person. So great memories about the movie, and promise I will be reading the book soon for sure. Finally. All right. All right.

Prophet Song And Fragile Democracy

Speaker 4 5:27

Let's get into my first book. I have to say, quick disclaimer there are probably at all times a hundred books on my top 10 list.

Speaker 2 5:36

She's not lying.

Jacqui 5:37

So I want to talk about some of my more recent recommendations, books that I've read, like within the last five-ish years, that maybe aren't super, super popular, but I'm hoping to get more people into them. So the first one being Profit Song.

German 5:54

Can I read your synopsis ?

Speaker 4 5:56

Yes. I'll just mention this is by Paul Lynch. This was actually the 2023 Booker Prize winner. I'm not always into prize-winning books, but this one definitely deserved it. All right.

Speaker 6:14

Take it away. It is a dystopian novel depicting a near future Ireland descending into totalitarianism.

Speaker 4 6:24

Oh, you said that really well.

Speaker 6:35

It explores themes of authoritarianism and maternal survival. Well, that sounds intense.

Jacqui 6:42

Yeah, this one hits hard. I read this book a few years ago, and although it is a work of fiction, I find it even more relevant, specifically in America today, given our current leadership and real life examples of families being torn apart. With most of my recommendations, probably all of German's recommendations, uh, we will strongly suggest that you check trigger warnings. There are themes of intense violence and grief in this novel. It's written in a really interesting style that kind of adds to the anxiety. There's basically no paragraph breaks or quotations.

Speaker 7:21

I remember that.

Jacqui 7:22

Yes. This is just a story told with so much depth, so much raw emotions. It's kind of like a gut punch in that sense. You really feel as though you're living this nightmare with Eilish, the main character. I'm always very drawn to character-driven stories. I am a total sucker for a really dynamic female lead character. And this is such an awesome example. And more specifically, of just a very strong mother main character. I noticed with the books that I'm going to be recommending in this episode, they're all led by very intense, strong, amazing mothers. This is a thought-provoking sort of what if tale that really lingers long after reading it. I still think about this book as if it was nonfiction. I would recommend it for anyone that enjoys those dark dystopian themes. It's really beautiful prose. So if you just love pretty writing, political stories that kind of depict how fragile democracy can be, or if you just like really in-depth character studies, this would definitely be a book to check out. And I would love to hear your reactions to it.

German 8:48

Yeah, yeah. And it's coming from my, you know, my love of reading horror is a different kind of horror.

Speaker 4 8:54

Like you said, German has read this book.

Speaker 8:56

Yeah, it almost feels like nonfiction. And that's you know, can more terrifying in some ways. But you know, that being said, it uh it I still loved it and enjoyed reading it. So we should we move on to

A Head Full Of Ghosts

Speaker 9:12

my next novel?

Speaker 4 9:13

Yeah, let's bring the mood up a little bit.

German 9:16

And my next book, uh one of my favorites actually, is Headful of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay, written in 2015. Uh Jackie, you want to do a synopsis? Yeah.

Jacqui 9:25

Okay, here we go. When 14-year-old Marjorie begins acting erratically, displaying violent outbursts, speaking in voices, and reciting secrets, her cash-strapped parents agree to document her quote-unquote possession for a reality TV show called The Possession. The story is told 15 years later by the youngest daughter Mary, who looks back on these events as an adult.

German 9:48

Spot on. So this was not Paul Tremley's first novel, but it was his breakthrough novel. He actually won the Bram Stoker Award in 2015 for it. Some of the reasons I love this book, I found it really creepy, first of all. Great, you know, as being a horror fan. There's also the reality show angle in the book where the father, actually the family, is kind of on hard times, and he, for whatever reason, I'm not gonna get into it, feels that he can make money off this or actually get money for the family by allowing a reality TV crew to come in and film the Exorcism. Actually, that leads me to another one. Another reason I love the book is the whole exorcism angle. The Exorcist, way back when, still one of my favorite horror movies, still scares me. That movie. And the book. Yeah, that's true. I read that recently.

Speaker 4 10:42

I don't love either. Well, no, that's not fair. I never read that book.

Speaker 10:44

No, you read the book. They didn't see the movie either, I don't think.

Speaker 4 10:47

Well, it's enough. I saw enough of it.

German 10:52

But anyway, uh just the story of a possession or possible possession and an exorcism was a uh a calling to me to read the the novel. But it does explore a lot of other things like exploitation, mental mental possible mental illness, religious extremism, and unreali on the unreliability of memories, because Mary, who's the youngest daughter in the book, she's eight at the time when uh the possession is happening, uh, is now telling the story to a journalist uh and it's she is now 23 years old, so she's growing off memories and some journals that she wrote when she was younger. The older daughter at the time of possession, Marjorie, who is 15, she part of the novel is kind of is she or isn't she possessed? Or you know, is it possession, is it mental illness, does she just want more of her parents' attention? Is she performing when the cameras are rolling? I'll leave it up to you when you read it or if you have read it to make up your own decisions. Also, is the father is the father jumping to conclusions because he can't deal with the daughter possibly having mental illness? Or is the fact that she's acting out and he can control it? We don't know, and like I said, I'll leave it up to you guys. There is another thing I remember in the book, Super Creepy Scene, uh, where Marjorie, the possessed daughter, the older daughter, is jumping at or jumping off the railing towards Mary. Uh and I believe Mary's describing it as she was floating, and we don't know if she really floating, is sh is it just you know her memory at the time? We don't know. Also, I'm not gonna give it away. Ending of the book is is ambiguous and and kind of tragic, but it's also kind of unforgettable. I still, you know, I still remember it to this day. Jackie, you read this too, but you know, you it was a long time ago, and I've been doing a little more research on it.

Speaker 4 12:49

Yes, I did read this book quite a while ago. One thing you mentioned about is it possession, is it mental illness, also reminds me of another book that we both read on your recommendation, Come Closer.

Speaker 13:02

Oh, one of my favorites. I will talk about that.

Speaker 4 13:06

But I I I read this book, I read it quite some time ago. I remember enjoying it, and also just a quick shout out to Paul Tremblay because we were lucky enough to uh go to a reading of his in LA, and he was just a lovely dude. Nicest guy. He was nicest guy.

Speaker 13:26

I think I asked him if it was ever going to be made a movie, too, and he he had no answer for me at the time.

Speaker 4 13:30

I had questions I wanted to ask, but I never do.

German 13:33

You know, funny you say that. I recently listened to a Paul Timley interview where he mentions what the person who's interviewing him mentions come closer because I think it's one of his favorite books, too. So stay tuned for that review. Stay tuned. Jack, you want to move on to your next book?

Speaker 4 13:48

Yes, yes.

Night Watching And Unreliable Fear

Speaker 13:49

All right.

Speaker 4 13:50

Okay, next up I'm going to talk about night watching by Tracy Sierra. This was published in 2024. German reading synapses.

German 14:01

All right, here we go. A woman tucks her kids into bed during a blizzard. She sees an armed silhouetted figure coming up her stairs, and as she struggles to survive the night and save her children, she and those around her will wonder was the figure real at all?

Jacqui 14:15

All right, very nice. I'm actually really excited to talk about this one. I was really surprised by this book. This is definitely classified as a thriller. I kind of went in expecting it was just going to be, I don't know, palette cleansing kind of book, but it turned out to be so much more, much more in-depth. This isn't like a flashy, high-speed action type of book. It's more of a slow, creepy kind of suspense. The whole time I was reading this book, I had this like low-level unease, like something's about to happen. So the tension was just really high. And the author did that extremely well. I love the atmosphere in this book. The author is just really incredible at creating mood. There's this sense of isolation and watchfulness throughout the story. And the fear isn't like loud and in your face. It's very psychological and very human. Speaking of which, I really want to talk about this mom. Um, one of the strongest elements of this book, I have to say, is the main character. If you know me, you know I love an unreliable main character. And uh in Night Watching, that is our unnamed protagonist, which kind of fun side note, I was reading an interview with Tracy Sierra, and she did mention that this was a deliberate choice. She wanted to emphasize that this nightmare could happen to anyone. Uh, so as the story progresses, you're just constantly asking yourself, uh, can I fully trust what she's seeing and feeling and questioning her sanity? Just adds this other layer of tension. Um beyond that, honestly, at the core, this book is really about her experience as a uh mother. Every decision she makes is filtered through this need to keep her children safe. Um and it just kind of heightens the emotion. Um and I guess also kind of uh amplifies her fear. The author just uh she portrays motherhood as both a source of strength and vulnerability, and you definitely just uh kind of feel that throughout the book. It's it's just it seems to be written really like honest. So overall, great great thriller. You definitely are questioning reality throughout this book. You love the main character, you don't know if you trust her, and it's so so fun. Yeah, I don't know.

Speaker 16:56

Looking at a armed silhouetted figure, blizzard, survive the night, I was like, I don't know. I it sounds like I should read this book.

Jacqui 17:04

Super good atmosphere and mood. I can tell you I've had friends read it, my mom read it, gotten lots of positive feedback from it. Sounds like I'm gonna like it. So yeah, who wants to read this book? If you like slowburn uh suspense, this psychological type tension, again, like I mentioned, strong atmosphere, emotional, I guess, realism, maybe I'd say um stories that are intimate and unsettling, then I would say definitely read this one. If if honestly, if you're just looking for something uh to kind of, I don't know, break through maybe a spell of not so great books or to get you reading again. This is gonna do that. It's it's it's it's really not gonna disappoint. I don't think just some kind of transcending genres almost. Nice. Uh-oh, and there's one more thing I want to mention. This was Tracy Sierra's debut novel. And this year she has released her second book. It's called Warning Signs, and I am really, really excited to read it.

Speaker 18:12

I was gonna ask if you had read it yet.

Speaker 4 18:14

Not yet. For some annoying reason, it's only available as an ebook at the library. So yeah, I have to figure that one

Our Share Of Night

Speaker 4 18:22

out. All right, so moving on, we are lastly going to discuss a book that both of us have on our like top 10 favorite of all time. Five for me favorite of all time books, and that is Our Share of Night. This is by Mariana Enriquez, written in 2019, published in 2019, uh, translated by Megan McDowell. Do you want to read the synopsis? Sure. Okay, go for it.

German 18:52

Set against decades of Argentine upheaval, the novel follows a family entangled with the Order, a centuries-old occult society that worships the darkness, a ravenous supernatural entity that only a rare individual called a medium can summon. The Order's leaders believe that darkness holds the secret to immortality. The story centers on Juan Peterson, the Order's most powerful medium, and his efforts to protect his son Gaspar from becoming the Order's next instrument.

Jacqui 19:19

Okay, I'm sorry. That synopsis really only captures the tiniest taste of this very ambitious novel. And I I do want to note this is a commitment. It is over 800 pages, and full disclosure, it is not a light read. It's long, it's intense, it requires emotional attention, but the payoff is absolutely huge. I just also, side note, want to say that I love this author. Um, I'm just a total fangirl for her. Somehow I've read all of her books and you haven't, even though she pretty much writes her. She has some short short story books. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 20:09

You know, I was gonna say before is that when you said it gets a commitment, it really is, but also I remember not wanting it to end. Yeah, it doesn't it doesn't get close to the end, I didn't want it to end.

Speaker 4 20:20

Yeah, I would say 860-something pages, but it doesn't feel like it. You you definitely are sad as you're coming up on the end because it's so engaging. Quick note for trigger warnings. There are way too many to mention. So if if that is your thing, please check them out.

Speaker 1 20:38

Yeah, for sure.

Speaker 4 20:40

Okay, there are so many reasons that I love this book. I know the reasons I love it are probably different than yours. Do you want to start a little bit on some of the things you loved?

Speaker 20:49

Sure. Uh one of the main things, actually, I think it was it was part five of the book that gets back to Gaspar, the son. I think this is like in the mid-80s now, and he's back in Argentina and he's in Buenos Aires, I mean, and he's made friends, like he's got four friends, and it's kind of without getting too much into it, it's kind of like their adventures during that time and and just their friendship growing. And the adolescent friendships kind of that trope is the trope, yeah. Battling versus evil is a trope that I love. And you know, in other some of my other favorite books, The Troop, Summer of Night, and Boys in the Valley. Not the same, but similar, just that trope that I love of the uh the young kids uniting and and and going to seek or to fight or to discover is just something I I I love.

Speaker 4 21:43

Yeah, absolutely. I think Quinlan loves it too. He's getting a little loud.

Speaker 21:48

He's very excited.

Speaker 4 21:49

Well, mentioning that they're back in the 80s, I I do want to say a couple of things about the way this book is structured. It's definitely a lot more than a horror book. I think that's an important thing to note too. Because of that classification, I was really hesitant to read it. This was a book that I recommended you read. Yeah. And I'm happy that after you read it, I trusted you when you said that I would like it too. Because it it's it's horror. There are horror themes, of course. There's elements of that, but it combines so many other themes and genres that I really love. This is a generational family saga. This has historical and political fiction, magical realism, which is one of my favorites. Calm down, Gwen. And Enriquez just executes all of it so flawlessly.

Speaker 22:44

She does. She does. And I think another thing you like is the time jumping in your books. That's a truck that you try to do. Oh, absolutely. And not necessarily, you know, for as far as time travel, but time jumping, uh, which I enjoyed in this. There's a section of the book where she uh flashes back to uh Rosario, who is Juan's wife, sort of narrating narrating her part of the story in the 60s and 70s, and he started in Getina, but then they jump over to London, and she gets you know, even just the feel of London at the time and the smells and the music and the colors and everything. But she does such a great job with it that you feel like you're there.

Speaker 4 23:21

Her writing is just so rich. Yeah, so rich. Character development, all the things, absolutely. Another thing that I loved about this book is that it explores systems of power, which going back to my first recommendation was something that was one of my favorite things about uh Prophet Song. And in this book, the supernatural cult that's essentially at the heart of the story, the order, yeah, it really mimics real world structures of money and influence and political violence and inherited privilege. So although it's told through this paranormal lens, that echoing of the real world makes it like disturbingly relevant.

Speaker 24:03

Yeah, she like she I mean the backdrop for much of the book is the dictatorship in the in Argentina and I believe in the 70s. So and and she it encapsulates without getting she gets into it, but without it being the main focus of the book, it's there.

Speaker 4 24:19

So German, who do we recommend this book for?

Speaker 24:23

Well, first I think I would say not for the jump scare lover crowd. Uh it is elevated and and it is like you said, a long novel, but fans of elevated horror and just something so well written are are gonna love this.

Speaker 4 24:38

Yeah, I I put this in a category that I've created called intellectual horror. I like that. It's definitely more like psychological, existential type horror.

Speaker 24:49

Yeah, not to say there isn't gore and errors for sure. Yeah.

Speaker 4 24:53

Yeah. Again, look at the trigger warnings. But also, like you said, uh just an incredible story, a really well-written story with very real, very well-developed characters. Um, there's so much heart to this, which I think is kind of an overarching theme in in all the books, at least that I recommended today. Um don't let it the fact that it is uh categorized as a horror completely turn you off from it if you are at all feeling like somewhat interested in the other aspects of the such an incredible sweeping story generation.

Speaker 25:32

Yeah, I like that. It's just so good. And Gaspar is like I was in love with the kid by the end of the book. Yeah.

Speaker 4 25:39

Yeah. Incredible characters.

Speaker 25:40

Yep.

Speaker 4 25:41

Another thing I just want to mention again, going back to Marianne Enriquez, I just finished her most recent book, which is nonfiction. So if you are fans of nonfiction, she wrote a book called Somebody Is Walking on Your Grave, and it's tales of cemeteries that she's visited throughout the world, and I absolutely loved it. That was yeah, five-star read for me this year.

Speaker 26:05

Awesome. Well, that's it for the books in this episode.

Who These Books Are For

Speaker 26:09

And I hope you guys got a good idea of the types of books we like and what we'll be reviewing, what Jackie likes, what I like. We should tell you some of the things we probably won't be reviewing this episode.

Speaker 4 26:20

Definitely me.

Speaker 26:22

It's it's it's it's pretty minimal, but not a big fan of Splatterpunk or Extreme Horror. I just find it kind of sounds gross. It's kind of cheap and like for the fast care. Jackie, I know you have some, right?

Speaker 4 26:35

Oh, yeah, lots. I I don't read romance, I don't read high fantasy, I don't read any YA. But I guess that's it. I'm open to just about everything else.

Speaker 26:49

I'd

What We Avoid And How To Connect

Speaker 26:50

say that's true. All right. We should wrap this up, right? Yeah. Okay. So make sure to follow the show, guys, and also connect with us on Instagram at podcast underscore his book, her book.

Speaker 4 27:02

Yeah, we'd love to keep the conversation going. What are your opinions on today's books? What are you currently reading? What are you recommending? German, what are you currently reading?

What We’re Reading Next

Speaker 27:12

Oh, currently I am reading The Damnation Game by uh Clive Barker. Almost done. Nice. Classic, Clive Barker. Yeah, it's a classic. It's his first novel, I think.

Speaker 4 27:22

I'm reading The Book of Disappearance by E.T. Sam Azem.

Speaker 27:27

Oh. Good one? Yeah.

Speaker 4 27:29

Yeah, really good. Really relevant, I would say.

Speaker 27:34

Well, next episode, we'll be discussing our 2025 standouts, correct? Yes. And I hope you join us for that episode. But until then, thank you for listening to his book, her book.

Speaker 4 27:46

Hopefully they'll become your books. Bye.

Speaker 27:49

Bye.