Book Talk: The Princess Bride and One Italian Summer

Did you read? Join the conversation with Samm and Mikayla as they chat about two different stand alones. Did they like them? What are their thoughts? Find out in this weeks episode! 

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hello.

unknown 0:03

Hello.

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Welcome back. Welcome back to In a Plot Hole.

SPEAKER_01 0:08

Episode three.

unknown 0:09

Woo!

SPEAKER_01 0:11

Today we're actually talking about books, guys.

SPEAKER_00 0:13

Like actual specific books, not just books. Not just book things. But we'll get to that in a minute. We have to do our little like beginning stuff. Our intro stuff.

unknown 0:28

Woo!

SPEAKER_00 0:29

Maybe we'll get an intro. Maybe. It's in the works. Yeah. Maybe it'll be a song. Maybe it'll be like a just a title card.

SPEAKER_01 0:41

My animals are fighting.

SPEAKER_00 0:42

We're we're playing, we're playing at Kayla's right now again.

SPEAKER_01 0:45

Yeah. Okay. So. What's on the agenda today? I don't know. Oh! What'd you drinkin'? She forgot the important question. What's what you drinkin'? So it's a pepper. Always, always gotta stay true.

SPEAKER_00 1:07

Listen, I had like five bottles of water today. I deserve a Dr. Pepper. Stay hydrated. Hydrated, and you get treats. It's like peppers.

SPEAKER_01 1:17

It's like a reward.

SPEAKER_00 1:18

It's like that um name me a better sound than this.

SPEAKER_01 1:26

Um I have What are you drinking? I'm drinking a root beer. Root beer.

SPEAKER_00 1:31

That's funny because we just made that TikTok. We just made one TikTok. We got I'm gonna end it. Root beer. I'm gonna edit that. Follow us on TikTok. Instagram. Okay. So we're gonna do our high antelopes. Hi antelopes. Forever gonna call it that. Okay. Do you wanna start? Yeah, I can start.

SPEAKER_01 1:52

So my high for the day. Um, of course it's always you, but if it wasn't you, then it would be getting my haircut.

SPEAKER_00 1:59

Yeah, we got a fresh cut. We got a fresh cut.

SPEAKER_01 2:02

You'll see it on the TikTok.

SPEAKER_00 2:03

We we were just talking about could I have matching haircuts? We do. Mine's just longer in green. Um I got a wolf cut. I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_01 2:17

Yeah, it's all about Dr. Pepper. It's all about Dr.

SPEAKER_00 2:20

Pepper. We can Yeah, no, we it's fine. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 2:23

Um, yeah, so it was fun. Um, I love my hairstylist, she's amazing. Um, and then I was kind of like, I kind of want to mix it up today. And she was like, okay, because uh for those who know me, I've had very short hair for a very long time, and I've wanted I grew it out just specifically to get a wolf cut, so I was so excited. And it turned out so well. It looks really good. I'm so I'm so happy with it. I like it. Um my low for the day was probably waking up earlier than I wanted to.

SPEAKER_00 2:59

You did wake up kind of early.

SPEAKER_01 3:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:01

I woke up early.

SPEAKER_01 3:05

Yay! Um, I woke up like at 7:30, and normally my I on days that we work, I always wake up at 8:30, which for some reason my body today was just like, no, you're gonna wake up really early.

SPEAKER_00 3:19

Time to wake up early.

SPEAKER_01 3:21

So yeah. Um we're gonna take it in our mission to go get our ice cream.

SPEAKER_00 3:27

Get ice cream, and then we'll come back to my high antelope. Hold on. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 3:31

And we're back. And we're back. Ice cream is acquired. And it's in the freezer. Now they're probably gonna ask, what ice cream did you get?

SPEAKER_00 3:38

Oh, well, I I got the the the I thought it stopped. They're doing that thing again.

SPEAKER_01 3:46

I don't think it is. I think we're good.

SPEAKER_00 3:48

We're Gucci. Um, I got Ben and Jerry's fish food. PH.

SPEAKER_01 3:55

Great, great flavor. Great flavor. What'd you get? I got my favorite and the best tiramisu. Ben and Jerry's. It's amazing. Yeah. Okay, anyway, back on track.

SPEAKER_00 4:09

Oh yeah, my my high antelope.

SPEAKER_01 4:11

Your high antelope.

SPEAKER_00 4:12

Hi, my high of the day. Um started a new book. Ooh. Yeah. Um, I'm now back to three books. Of course. I wouldn't expect anything less than the last one. Um, but I started a new book and um What book did you start? Uh Dungeon Carl the Carl's Doom Day scenario. It's the second book in the Dungeon Carler Carl series. That's the one I started. And then my low of the day. I had an appointment. So I go to the appointment.

SPEAKER_02 4:58

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00 4:59

And they say, oh, there was a mix-up. You were supposed to it was at 12.30. My appointment was supposed to be at 5 p.m. You don't think that these people that you have appointments with them, you would go, hey, I'm gonna call this person that didn't show up for this 12.30.

SPEAKER_01 5:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:20

Say, hey, are you still coming? But what's bothers me the most is they called me yesterday to confirm the five o'clock time. It really irritated me. Because I took time out of like, I didn't even get my appointment. They like to reschedule. Yeah, they're making me call on Monday to reschedule the appointment, and I'm just annoyed because I left work two hours early. Gone don't pin me off.

SPEAKER_01 5:50

Robert, it's pissing me off.

SPEAKER_00 5:55

Um, well, we could go back, we could do this one first. What are the what are you currently reading? Okay, so I'm kind of talked about.

SPEAKER_01 6:03

I'm currently reading Ruthless Vows. Woo! And um, I know Silver Flame. She's still reading it! Okay, listen, guys. Where are you?

SPEAKER_00 6:14

No, actually, no. Listen.

SPEAKER_01 6:16

Tell me where you are. Listen. I'm not used to reading multiple books at once.

SPEAKER_00 6:21

So you've been reading it for like three months. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 6:25

Okay. I'm sorry. It's fine. But um, I'm at the part where they just got the harp. Oh. And Graylin was spying on them.

SPEAKER_00 6:37

Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:38

Because she was wearing the crown at the same time.

SPEAKER_00 6:40

I was gonna say you're almost there, but you're not, but you're past the halfway point.

SPEAKER_01 6:43

I'm definitely past the halfway point. Um, I read a little bit this morning. Ooh. Um, on my porch. Favorite place to read.

SPEAKER_00 6:51

And the porch.

SPEAKER_01 6:52

Um, but yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:54

Um great book. I'm I'm reading. I'm also reading Ruth's Fows by Rebecca Ross. Um, that is our series book of the Maries.

SPEAKER_01 7:04

And I'm very, very excited for that episode.

SPEAKER_00 7:06

That's the second one in the Letters of Enchantment duology. It's about magical typewriters and gods, and it's like takes place during like a historic like World War I thing um time period. Not a thing, a time period. Um, it's one of my favorite books series, so I recommended it as like our first one. And I'm so happy.

SPEAKER_01 7:30

And then we're doing my favorite um duology next next.

SPEAKER_00 7:33

Which we'll talk about at the end. Yeah. We'll talk about that at the end.

SPEAKER_01 7:36

Um but it won't for the um Letters of Enchantment series, it's not gonna be next episode, but episode after.

SPEAKER_00 7:43

No, no, no. It'll be the one after this.

SPEAKER_01 7:45

It'll be the one after okay.

SPEAKER_00 7:46

So it'll be episode four. So keep an eye.

SPEAKER_01 7:48

Okay, yeah, keep an eye.

SPEAKER_00 7:50

They'll come out very close to each other because of how the schedule is. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:54

But um For some reason I thought we were doing a book talk, one in the middle, but I think I was.

SPEAKER_00 7:58

No, no, no, no, no, no. Um, so I'm gonna I'll re refresh everyone. It'll the first Sunday will be a book series or a duology or like parts of a book series. Or just if there's a book coming out in a series, we'll have like a review of the series if we've read it or um just have a conversation about it. The second Friday of the month will be um the book talk. Like, um, well, like the com not the book talk. The book talk is like the talk of the books, but oh, that's the one of those last episodes. The one in the middle that takes will be the like the general book conversation, like about whether it's about we're doing a fun game or a tag or we're just having a conversation about like like a debate or something like that, but it's not about a specific book. And then the last episode, the last Friday of every month will be the the standalone episode. Yeah. And that's what this is. So keep an eye out. Keep an eye out for the next episode. Another one I'm reading is I'm obviously reading Carl's Doom Day Scenario. I'm not that far in it. If you don't know what Dungeon Carler Carl is, it's basically a lit RPG book series uh about the world going into like an apocalyptic state, but it's like a game that's broadcasted like universe-wide. Um I know Michaela wants to read it, so I don't want to like say too much about it, but it's a very popular book series for now. The eighth one actually just came out in May, so there's now eight.

SPEAKER_01 9:36

I want to do those very soon.

SPEAKER_00 9:37

Yeah, we'll have to do them soon. Yeah. And then the uh third book I'm reading is Glass Sword by um Victoria Aviard, which is part of the Red Queen series, which that's the series where um the more rich and powerful have silver blood and they have a powers, and then the ones with red blood are like power powerless and have um are like more poor, but it's about our main character Mare, who has red blood but has silver abilities.

SPEAKER_01 10:09

Interesting.

SPEAKER_00 10:10

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:11

So I'm on the second one Red Queen series.

SPEAKER_00 10:14

Red Queen. Red Queen. There's three and then I think two novellas, or there's five. It's either three and two novellas or five total. I'm not a hundred percent sure. Um it's a YA fantasy, so which I like.

SPEAKER_01 10:26

We love a good YA fantasy. But they're fun. Yeah, I love a YA. Yeah. I just sometimes they're just fun reads.

SPEAKER_00 10:33

I love that sometimes I I love adult fantasy, like don't get me wrong, I love Fourth Wing and Avatar and any other thing with like smut and stuff. But sometimes I just want fantasy, whether it's like super high fantasy or just YA fantasy. Yeah. So okay. Okay, I have a question for you.

SPEAKER_01 10:53

Okay, what's the question? Okay, you haven't told me yet.

SPEAKER_00 10:56

No, I haven't told you yet this time. So um, besides like romantic-wise, what is your biggest accomplishment? Oh. Because I I personally would tell people like my biggest accomplishment is getting married to my husband, but I have to let's take out the romantic partner, and what is your biggest accomplishment?

SPEAKER_01 11:20

Accomplishment. Oh my god, that's really hard. Um honestly, it's probably moving out to Florida and not moving home like immediately. Like being on my own for so long. That's probably what it is. Um is it like um It's something that I never thought I would be able to do. Because when I first moved here, it was very much of like, I don't know if I'm gonna be able to make friends, I don't know if I'm gonna find a home here. Like a found family. Yeah, exactly. And then I ended up doing that, and it it became so much better than I could have ever imagined because this is this is this is what came out of it was this podcast of that found family.

SPEAKER_00 12:02

Oh! We never told them we never told them about your news. We talked about how you were moving in the first one, but we never updated them on that. I thought we told them in the last episode we didn't. No, we didn't. Did we?

SPEAKER_01 12:20

I I could have sworn we did.

SPEAKER_00 12:21

No, I don't think we did. Hold. Okay. I don't think we mentioned it, but y'all can comment if I'm wrong. And I will take the the L on it. But Michaela has news. We're not moving anymore. Woo!

SPEAKER_01 12:38

We're staying in Florida so I can uh continue or start school for meteorology, which I'm very excited about.

SPEAKER_00 12:46

Yeah, because we talked about how you found school, but I don't I don't think we talked about me staying.

SPEAKER_01 12:50

No, we don't talk we didn't talk about it. Because I think it was unsure if we were staying here in Orlando or not. Yeah. That's maybe why.

SPEAKER_00 12:56

Yeah, I think you're still I don't know where you're gonna end up, but you're not moving across the country. Yeah, correct.

SPEAKER_01 13:01

So we're gonna stay in Orlando for a little bit.

unknown 13:03

Woo!

SPEAKER_01 13:05

Um, we just name dropped where we lived. Is that okay?

SPEAKER_00 13:08

Orlando's big.

SPEAKER_01 13:10

Orlando's big.

SPEAKER_00 13:10

And I don't even live in Orlando. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 13:14

Okay, well, now you know we live in Orlando, so we live in Central Florida.

SPEAKER_00 13:19

Central Florida. So Taurus capital.

SPEAKER_01 13:21

Yeah, tourist capital of the world. It's a very big city.

SPEAKER_00 13:24

It's not the tourist capital of the world.

SPEAKER_01 13:27

Um it feels like it during the summer, though. Any more to add to your um biggest accomplishment? Um, I don't know. Um another one is probably like legitimately training a dog is is probably an accomplishment for me because it's I think it's so cool. Yeah, yeah. Like, because Harley is my dog is very well trained because I used to be a dog trainer. And I I think it's cool that you can that this uh an animal has such trust with you that they're able to build a bond like that. So that's another one of my greatest accomplishments is being how as as good he is as he is.

SPEAKER_00 14:04

Oh, he's a smart dog, very, very smart.

SPEAKER_01 14:08

I'm very proud of him every day. No, but he pisses me off sometimes. The tickles. Sorry. There's a little hole in my pants, and she decided to I poked it. Poke it, it tickled. Okay.

unknown 14:22

Let's move on.

SPEAKER_01 14:24

Um, what is your greatest accomplishment?

SPEAKER_00 14:26

Um, well, you named two, so I'm gonna name two. Yeah. I think the first one is I got um a couple years ago, I got into this really like it's a really hard program to get into, and it's really it's kind of expensive. Um, but I managed to get into it and I ended up getting a full scholarship for it. Um it was like a language program where I learned how to I literally signed a contract where I couldn't speak English for seven weeks and I had to just speak, type, email, listen, watch Denise and Ferb in Italian. I'm not fluent in Italian, but I understand more than I can speak, and I can kind of speak a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 15:09

I feel like I feel like with more practice you would probably get to that fluent point again because you were at one point fluent.

SPEAKER_00 15:15

Yeah, because I went, I did the program and then I like practiced more in school, and then I went to Italy like right after, so like I was able to like communicate a little bit easier when I was when I did was in Italy for like three weeks, but it wasn't good.

SPEAKER_01 15:32

That's so cool though. Yeah, I would have loved to do something like that.

SPEAKER_00 15:34

Yeah. And then I think my second one I'm gonna say. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 15:46

Yeah, I have. I mean, can I mention something that I think is very impressive? For me? Yes. Sure. Um, that you were able to dance with the Boston ballet. I don't know how hard that is to get in, but it's so pretty.

SPEAKER_00 16:01

I did I did dance with the Boston ballet for a little when I was in school at um when I was in my first college, I would dance with them.

SPEAKER_01 16:09

All of your dance background is very impressive.

SPEAKER_00 16:11

Yeah. I have a I used to do like point and like all that. So I like did some.

SPEAKER_01 16:17

I've seen the videos of her dance and it's quite yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:20

I did some stuff with Boston ballet for a little bit when I was in school up in Boston, so and then I hurt myself really bad. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:29

So I feel like that happens with a lot of people. Yeah. Um that's it's like one life-changing injury will alter like and mine mine for because my sport was basketball, and mine wasn't even that bad. It just I didn't I got my injury freshman year of high school, and it allowed it didn't allow me to play basketball for my freshman year, so I lost out on opportunities in the future.

SPEAKER_00 16:54

Can I can I say something? Thank you for wrapping dance up in with basketball as a sport. Yeah. And thank you for not because it is a sport. It is a sport, 100%. Um some people just see it as like a performing art, which it also is, but it's both. It's it things can be both. Yeah. There's a reason NFL players will take ballet classes.

SPEAKER_01 17:15

Yeah, and there's a reason, like, um, there's a reason firefighters will do yoga too. Yeah. Yoga's also a sport and it's it's very healing for your body. Anyway. Yeah. Not all um. There are some things where I'm like, that's definitely not a sport, but dance and cheerleading are definitely one of them.

SPEAKER_00 17:34

No, it's not one. It it they are sports. They are sports. They are sports, that's what I meant. Okay. We won't talk about the other things. Um fuel cup. I mean, I don't want to get into it. I don't want to get into it.

SPEAKER_01 17:50

I don't want the wrong people to hear it and be like, oh my god.

SPEAKER_00 17:53

I have my own opinions and they will.

SPEAKER_01 17:56

And this is exactly this podcast. All of these books are our opinions. Oh, yeah. So before we start talking about the books, these are our opinions. And if you disagree with them or not, that's totally fine.

SPEAKER_00 18:09

This is just everyone has their own opinion. Because we could disagree with each other. But like these are our opinions, we don't speak for anybody, we aren't told to say anything. These opinions are ours and like ours alone. Based off of what we read and what we read and how we felt reading. So just one of the things. What we gathered from the books, just in case. But with that, let's talk about some books.

SPEAKER_01 18:34

Okay. Books! First book we're gonna talk about is from I think I've would say the most anticipated from what we've gathered from you guys listening.

SPEAKER_00 18:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:45

We've heard many feedback, and thank you for the feedback. We do appreciate it. Yes. Give us more feedback.

SPEAKER_00 18:50

Tell us what you want to want to read with us.

SPEAKER_01 18:52

Yeah, tell us what you want to read with us. But I do have I I do have some people reading along with us, and um, I think our first book is gonna be The Princess Bride.

SPEAKER_00 19:02

Princess Bride.

SPEAKER_01 19:03

Princess Bride by William Goldman. And it is a true love high adventure um about two people in the land of Florin, um, Buttercup and Wesley.

unknown 19:20

Wesley.

SPEAKER_01 19:21

Wesley. Um, so synopsis of the story. Game over.

SPEAKER_00 19:30

Sorry! I promise that'll be the only saw reference I make in this entire thing.

SPEAKER_01 19:35

No, I have one saw left to watch, and I'm so um so that's the funny thing is when we finished this book, we we watched um Princess Bride first. Yeah. And second. We watched Saw first. We watched Saw first because the guy who plays Wesley and Dr. Gordon is in both movies. It's the same guy. Um, I don't remember the actor's name off the top of my head. Carrie Weese. But every time we watched either or of the movies, um, we would just if it was Wesley, we'd go Dr. Gordon, or if it was Dr. Gordon, we'd just say Wesley. We just kept flopping him. It was really funny. But what a what a um a shift to go from Saw to Princess Bride. Yeah. But anyway, synopsis of the story. Um, I could just read the background back of the book if you want me to, or if you want me to make my own synopsis. We can do that, that's fine if you want to read the back. Because I think this will sum it up more than my brain will just keep talking. Um, as Florida and Gilder um tests are on the verge of war, Princess Buttercup is devastated when her loved one dies at sea. But instead of being able to grieve in peace, she finds herself kidnapped by a mercenary and his henchmen, rescued by a pirate, then forced to marry Prince Humperdink, and finally rescued once again by the very crew who um kidnapped her in the first place. In the course of the dazzling adventure, we meet Vizini, the criminal philosopher who will do anything for a bag of gold, Fezik, a gentle giant, and Inigo, the span um spaniard who still thirsts for revenge on Count Rogen. Rugen? Rogan. Rugen, I think it's Rugen.

SPEAKER_02 21:29

Rugen.

SPEAKER_01 21:29

The evil mastermind behind it all. Fooling all their plans, Wesley Buttercup's true love, who survived after all, became very good friends and friend into a dangerous pirate. The Princess Bride was unfortunately depict in the 1987 cult classic film by Rob Rainier, starring Fred Savage, Robin Rob Wright Rob Reiner. Rob Reiner, sorry, I'm really bad. At pronouncing names. Um can you tell that I worked at Starbucks? Um Billy Crystal, Mandy Pinkin, Wallace Sean, Carrie Elise, and other actors. So that's the synopsis on the back of the book. Okay. So um we did a quick synopsis and then we're gonna talk about I think characters next or the plot.

SPEAKER_00 22:31

I have an outline. We have an outline. Um rating. You wanna do rating?

SPEAKER_01 22:34

Oh yes, let's do the rating. Let me pull out. I need to get confused. Let me pull out my book. Okay. I rated this book a I think I rated it a three. I think I rated it a three or a four. I can't remember.

SPEAKER_00 23:02

I thought it was a I thought you rated it like a three.

SPEAKER_01 23:07

I think I I rated it a three.

SPEAKER_00 23:10

Um, so I I had a hard time finding the book because I have read one, two, three, four, five, six, seven books since reading this. So um, it was hard to find the page. Um, I rated this a four. Okay. I did a four. So um, why did you rate it a four? I liked it. I liked the rewriting style. I liked I mean I grew up watching the movie, so I already like knew the characters and I knew some of the background. So it wasn't like I had to like but I liked the more description of stuff. I like I liked how the style of writing it was, because it's written it's written in a way where it's this bigger fairy tale book that this boy is getting read to by his father, but he rewrote it in the future, but cut all like the lengthy stuff out. So it's called Yeah, so it's called a the good parts version. But that's how it's written, and like there's little side like notes and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_01 24:15

Which is really fun.

SPEAKER_00 24:15

Yeah, which I liked that a lot, and like I feel like a lot of people didn't like that when I was because like I read other people's reviews and stuff, and so I I think that was the only part that tripped me up in the first place, and I think that's the reason why I rated it a three.

SPEAKER_01 24:30

Don't get me wrong, I love this book, but the writing style was a little confusing for me at the start, but once I got the hang of it, I was fine. Did you read it or did you listen to it? Um, so I listened to it.

SPEAKER_00 24:43

Okay, because I remember you asking me, like, oh, there's like this side stuff that the uh reader is saying, and I was like, no, that's like part of the book. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:54

So with that, because I typically will do that while I'm working on something at work, if I can have my um if I'm not like busy helping someone, and if I like amend the bathroom cleaning or something, I can pop my um headphones in and just listen to the book. So that's why I started it that way. But I think I'm gonna try to read more physical books. Um I think there's nothing wrong with an audiobook. There's nothing wrong with an audiobook, just don't get me wrong. I just want to get better at reading the books I have.

SPEAKER_00 25:27

I have read some books that are better in audio format than physical.

SPEAKER_01 25:32

Yeah. Which I would agree with. So um, but yeah, so uh it confused me at first because I I wasn't actually like physically reading it, so I was confused. But once she kind of explained it to me, I was like, oh, that makes more sense. And it was it kind of got fun afterwards because I was really confused when they were like, Oh, it's um it's France, but this was before Paris, or stew was invented, but not this. And it's just like Yeah, it's a very interesting way of phrasing and kind of world building, which is kind of fun. I think I did this a little bit. Worried about breathing.

SPEAKER_00 26:12

Yeah, it's just originally jealousy pertained solely to pant plants, other people's cacti, cactus, and gingos, or later when there was grass grass, which is why even to this day we say someone is green with jealousy. So it but like that's in parentheses in the book about like I think that's when like Buttercup was jealous of the countess. Yeah, I think so. I think that's what that was like Wesley. Yeah. So like there'll be like little things like that, or like this was before France, but during Paris, even though there was no France, and um so like yeah, it's really weird. Um, but I really liked different way of writing a fantasy novel, which I liked because especially for the because this was made in like the 70s, like most of what you got from fantasy was like the once upon a time and happily ever after, which this has the happily ever after. But what I liked was it kind of satired that like once upon a time story by making it like, oh, let me cut the fluff out and let me give you like the action and the the storyline, and that way you can like have more story and like not enough. I think it's kind of like more of like a like it's like satire, it's like yeah, kind of poking fun at a genre.

SPEAKER_01 27:30

And I think with having the movie as a background to it really helped my imagination kind of spin on um on what you were just talking about with having it be um kind of more satire, and I could imagine those characters like poking fun at each other and like kind of just stuff like that. Because that's how the movie is, too. The movie's also kind of satire.

SPEAKER_00 27:54

I mean, yeah, because the movie is written by the script was written by William Goldman. So that's why it's like yeah, I will say, like, if you've watched the movie, the book is like word for word, like almost verbatim. Verbatim, yeah. The thing there are like little things that get added, like there's more background on some of the side characters, which I like a lot, because like in Nigo and um Phezic, you learn a little bit more about like their childhood and what got them to where they are today.

SPEAKER_01 28:25

Yeah, which like I also found um that an ego being called a wizard is kind of cool because he's um he's done so much training in like fencing and swordsmanship that like he's past master.

SPEAKER_00 28:40

He's past master, he's a wizard.

SPEAKER_01 28:41

He's a wizard, which there's only a few, from what I understood from the book.

SPEAKER_00 28:46

Yeah, there's only a couple.

SPEAKER_01 28:47

So like he's incredibly good at fencing. He traveled for what was it like 20 years traveling the world fencing. And Fezick did the same. Fezick traveled the world fighting um because his parents made him, which was also really interesting.

SPEAKER_00 29:01

Which is why he kind of like has like that well I don't want to say he has hit myself in the face. Yeah. Um, I just I don't want to say he has no backbone, but that's why he is a little bit more like oh, and Fezini's like, do this, do this. He's like, Yes, yes. Yeah. And that's just because his parents were very much like, you have to do this, you have to do this, and he would always just say yes.

SPEAKER_01 29:24

Like for those who haven't read the book and have had watched the movie, so there's a part where um that one part where Fezik and um the man in the um Men in Black are fighting, um, and it's a line from the book where he's talking about how he used to fight so many people at once because um they put him in the ring with multiple people. Yeah. So he's not used to fighting one person. So that line when we rewatched the movie made more sense because one, it was in the book, and two we got more background on what that meant.

SPEAKER_00 30:00

It was the same with like um plus he was like a boxer, yeah, like an MA fighter, like the equivalent of that. Yeah. But he makes a comment when Fizzini's like, take that boulder, pick it up, and just throw it, and he's like, Oh, my way it's not very sportsman-like.

SPEAKER_01 30:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:17

So like it kind of goes back to like, oh, he like learned that kind of thing.

SPEAKER_01 30:22

And they kept like um the other thing is like he kept winning these fights and people would be mad at him and boo him and like kick him out of the country, and then like he to the point where like he didn't have anywhere else to go, so that's why he teamed up with Vizzini and Inigo, because he didn't have anywhere else to go.

SPEAKER_00 30:39

He was stuck in Greenland. He was stuck. Unemployed in Greenland. You're unemployed in Greenland. Um we can quote this movie all day, guys. Yeah, sorry. Um, another thing I like is you give him more background on Humperding to make him more like he's already a villain, but yeah it makes him more villain because he has the zoo of death. Yeah, which is an entirely new thing that was like not brought up there. There it's like it's like his hunting ring. Like he's this great hunter, but like, and it's like in the it's in the movie that he is a great hunter, yeah, but you don't get the background. So it's like now you have more of his background, which makes him more villainous, rather than because in the movie he's like Farquad. Yeah, like the villain that's kind of laughable at. Yeah. In the book, he's still that kind of villain, obviously.

SPEAKER_01 31:34

But he definitely has more youth to it.

SPEAKER_00 31:36

He has more depth to it, which makes him more like more unlikable.

SPEAKER_01 31:40

Background on the the zoo. Um, so there's five stories of the zoo. Um, so each level is gonna be a um a different like type of animal. Like all of the fast animals are gonna be on one level, all of the strong animals are gonna be on one level, all of the poisonous animals are gonna be on one level. So there's four levels filled with animals that he can just hunt and kill whenever he wants. The fifth level was reserved and was empty. So nothing sat under there except for the machine, which we'll talk about later when we're talking about the plot and everything.

SPEAKER_00 32:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:17

Well, we can so the plot, plot of the book, um, because that was just us talking about reading. We go on tangents, hence plot hole, guys.

SPEAKER_00 32:28

So we kinda kinda talked about the plot. Yeah. Like this girl, Princess But well, she starts as buttercup. Yeah, she's on a farm, there's a farm boy. Which we didn't get background.

SPEAKER_01 32:42

We just now recently got background on her parents with the book, which I thought was interesting because um they talk about her parents being like really bad uh like um dairy farmers. Yeah. And the count comes to the farm and basically um I don't know why they went to the farm in the first place. Do you remember? Oh, they get to collect taxes or something.

SPEAKER_00 33:08

No, it was to get milk.

SPEAKER_01 33:10

Oh, it was to get milk.

SPEAKER_00 33:10

It was to get milk. That's right. Because see, they had the best milk in all the land.

SPEAKER_01 33:15

Quote unquote best milk, but they all knew it was the worst. Everyone knew it was the worst. Um, but then the countess, which also doesn't get brought up in the movie, um, she is what uh made Buttercup realize that she loved Wesley because um she saw the way left wet um she saw the way she kept looking at Wesley and she got jealous.

SPEAKER_00 33:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:36

And then that kind of awoken her her love for him.

SPEAKER_00 33:39

Yeah. So then you have the they say I love you. He goes off to America to start a life for them to make money, and then she gets the news that he was his ship was overtaken by pirates, and he was killed by the dread pirate Robert. And she's heartbroken, and she go says the line, it's like, I will never love again.

SPEAKER_01 34:04

I will never love again.

SPEAKER_00 34:05

So and then that's like the end of like the beginning chapter. The first chapter. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:12

So then next, um, I think we cut to um No, we can go to Humperdink. We go to Humper Dink, Humper Dink, and he's talking about how um his father's very ill. He um he just he's just focused on hunting. So that's his only priority is hunting.

SPEAKER_00 34:30

He has no like he doesn't want to be. It it kind of seems like he doesn't really want to be king. Yeah, he does he sa I think he says he doesn't want to be king. Yeah. But his father is dying. And he gets the news that his father's dying, and he's basically like, oh, drass, now I need a bride. Yeah, now I need to ca and um Yeah, because they can't become king without a bride.

SPEAKER_01 34:53

Right. And they're they got to a point where um he was talking to, or Humperdig was talking to the Count, and Humperding was like, I need a beautiful bride to marry so I can give an heir to the throne or whatever. And the Count was like, I remember so long ago that um I was on this farm and there was this gorgeous woman. So then um, which he was referring to Buttercup, and the Count takes um, the Count takes Buttercup to Prince Humperdink. They have a conversation with Buttercup and Humperdinks basically saying, Hey, um I just want this for kid. I don't care if you really love me or not. And they were both kind of in that same boat of like, we'll get married, but we don't, or we're not gonna like be in love with each other or have that um kind of relationship. Yeah. And Buttercup was like, I like she said, she'll never love again. So she's just doing this, I don't know, just because she might as well be sad and wealthy, I guess.

SPEAKER_00 35:59

And then they go through like where they talk about what is it, three years, she goes through like princess training and then she becomes princessed. Yeah, because he can't marry a commoner. A commoner. So she makes her the princess of I forgot what the land is, but um it started with an H. Yeah, it's just a random piece of land. They like and then he like made her princess so that he could he could um marry her.

SPEAKER_01 36:23

Marry her and okay, so then Oh gosh, I'm sorry. Um then so then she goes off on a ride on her horse, and then she gets kidnapped by um Vizini, um, indigo, and pizzig.

SPEAKER_02 36:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 36:44

Um so they get she gets captured by them, they um they do the whole take you They go on the boat, they go on the boat, followed, they go up the cliffs of insanity, and then you get the chapter about inigo right before his fight with the man in black.

SPEAKER_01 37:02

Which that was very interesting on how his father made that sword and how perfect that sword was because how hard his father worked on that sword and why it was so important that you got more background on the sword and stuff. And then he and then um Then they move on to the next, where then you learn the about physics background, and then they'd fight, and then you go on to the next, and then it's Vizini, which I think you also get some background on, but not as much as as um the other two. But then like he dies from the poison. Yeah. Um, and then they go down to the fire swamp after um after Wesley reveals to Buttercup that he has been the man in black all over.

SPEAKER_00 37:51

That's not in the book. The big like, oh my gosh, it's I think it's hold on.

SPEAKER_01 37:59

Yeah, I have the copy right here, we're looking at it. But yeah, that part, uh the big reunion between Buttercup and Wesley is not in the book as it was in the movie, because it just skips to them walking in the fire swamp. Because I believe it's like and as um fast as they saw each other again and were um in within their embrace the other second they were arguing about where to go or something like that. Um, but like the the whole part of them um reuniting was not in the book, which was not expected for us. Sam's looking it up, so that's why I keep talking.

SPEAKER_00 38:42

Anyway, how's y'all's day?

SPEAKER_01 38:44

If you want to comment down.

SPEAKER_00 38:47

Uh he like jumps in and it talks about how his Yeah, it says I happen this is uh yeah, they took out I got rid of the almost most intrusive thing when you thought. I agree with Mrs. Morganstern. I think it's unfair to not show the reading, so I wrote my own when I felt Butterclub and Washley might have said, but the editor made him take it out and stuff like that, and then he puts it in the movie.

SPEAKER_01 39:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 39:26

Instead.

SPEAKER_01 39:26

So it's not in the book. My so my mom's also reading this. She's reading along with us. Hi, mom. Um, she said she read the first um, like she said, did you read I hadn't read the introduction, but she said it has little like tidbits about how they made the movie and stuff like that. Yeah. So um if y'all are interested in that, um, she did say some of like what he does in the the intro is not the best, so just be aware of that. Um when you're reading. But we can continue. Um she just was kind of like there was parts in the intro where he would um just say mean sh mean stuff to girls and kind of be misogynistic and that kind of stuff. Oh, a man. Yeah. A man. A man. Um certified man haters over here.

SPEAKER_00 40:23

I want to bring something up. I want to bring something up, kind of back to like the beginning with buttercoat, kind of like talking about characters. Um, I have this in my notes, and I wrote Um. She doesn't consider herself the most beautiful of females, but she is known as one of the most beautiful females. Yep. But she doesn't brush her hair and she's not concerned. And a thing I wrote in my like little phone notes, because I forgot to transfer it, is it comes across as a salent feature that she's not proud and haughty about her beauty like most females. So she's not like so like, oh, she it's like she doesn't care, but like not in a like uh she doesn't she thinks she's ugly.

SPEAKER_01 41:10

It's like she just has she's she she uh recognizes that she's downright gorgeous and is just like okay, well, she's like whatever, like she I also love that like in the book they even describe her as like I think they even describe her as stinky at one point.

SPEAKER_00 41:25

Yeah, because she just doesn't brush her hair, she isn't baby.

SPEAKER_01 41:28

I love that like that's not something that we see a lot is duty described in that kind of way.

SPEAKER_00 41:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 41:38

Of her being still messy and like she's kinda gross, and that's okay.

SPEAKER_00 41:43

Like she was like she's described, like basically she's the count is describes her to him basically being like, oh, she's so beautiful, but she's disgusting. Yeah. But she's still the most beautiful woman she's ever seen. Yeah. But she just doesn't care, which I was like, I like that seeing that, because that's I feel like it's pretty refreshing. Pretty refreshing to see a female uh female main character not be like any kind of obsessed with her with her looks. With her looks.

SPEAKER_01 42:18

But like I think I think in the book they kind of also talk about that um when so when Les Wesley left, I think she started to be like, oh, let me wash my hair for him. Let me kind of Yeah more.

SPEAKER_00 42:38

She started caring more when she realized, oh, I want to impress someone else.

SPEAKER_01 42:46

But it wasn't like she had to or felt the need to, it was that she was kind of like It was more of a want. It was more of a want just for herself.

SPEAKER_00 42:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 42:53

Um and obviously Wesley didn't care about that stuff. He fell in love with her just as she was. So, you know, Slay. Slay, we love a man who doesn't care.

SPEAKER_00 43:07

Oh how did you like the world?

SPEAKER_01 43:12

I liked the world building a lot, but after I got used to the writing. Because it kind of um with the writing style it was with like what we were talking about earlier with like this was before France but after Paris or something like that. Um it kind of it kind of like put you in a really good oh I know where I am in the time wise.

SPEAKER_00 43:39

I liked it because like in fantasy novels now you get a map. Yeah. So it's like, oh, like I'm in the Fairy Town, which but and I have to travel all the way to Wolfville, and like you can go to the map and see where it is. Whereas this you get a little bit more like Oh, you're where Paris is, but it's not Paris, so it might be a little bit over here.

SPEAKER_01 44:06

And Another thing was too is they also had points in the book where they were talking about Florin historians that like went to Harvard at one point that like also was like, oh, the Florent experts of nowadays said this about this. And it's it's really interesting. Cause I I'm I'm sitting there reading the audiobook and I'm like guessing, re-guessing. I'm like, is Florin a real country? Then I go, no, it's not. No, I'm like, they just did a really good job of like kind of making it more um wider than it the scope a little bit wider, which is which is it's interesting.

SPEAKER_00 44:47

I think they like made it more of this tangible thing that we could go to, but it's it's done.

SPEAKER_01 44:57

Yeah, it was just interesting because I want to say they mentioned Harvard at one point. I could be wrong. They mentioned a college and a college about the floor and history of all of what just happened in the book. But anyway, my dog's being weird. Get out of here. He's biting me. He just wants attention. Go to dad. Harley, find dad. Go to dad. Thank you. No, go away. I love you, but you're just being annoyed right now. He's like, no. He's like, I just want a cuddle. You just can't bite Sam, okay? No nippling me, please. Okay, anyway, after Harley really interrupted us.

SPEAKER_00 45:41

I have these bookmarks for my books for this thing that are like review ones. Yeah. I don't think I I I could post them. Um, but one of like the so you have to like rate each like thing, like overall, plot, characters, world building, ending. There's one for spice, and I was like, there were no spices. No spice, so there was there's nothing on it, and I think it's funny. Um did you like the ending? I did like the ending. I mean it was the same, but the ending was the same.

SPEAKER_01 46:11

I um they kind of just rode off on horses on the s until they went to the sunset. So happily over afterwards. Which I liked. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 46:20

I wrote notes about that. Hold on.

SPEAKER_01 46:24

Yeah, I love that Fezig was like, I just found four white horses. Yeah. Hey lady. And if I found an extra horse for the lady. Hi, lady.

SPEAKER_00 46:33

Yeah. So it's like I wrote, I agree with William's father's decision to close the book on a happily ever after by offering conclusive rest to the readers after traversing through an action-packed adventure.

SPEAKER_01 46:46

Yeah, I liked that. Although there was another part after that's called um Buttercup's Baby, which we did not read.

SPEAKER_00 46:53

I did not read Buttercup's Baby, I'm so sorry.

SPEAKER_01 46:55

But if you did, let us know how it goes. I'm kind of curious.

SPEAKER_00 46:59

Amy will tell us. Oh, sorry.

SPEAKER_01 47:02

Mommy.

SPEAKER_00 47:09

Okay, I have questions. Okay. Favorite characters. Favorite character?

unknown 47:15

Probably.

SPEAKER_00 47:15

And why in like one sentence? Okay. Characters. You could do more. So my favorite. I have two. Um one read the same two.

SPEAKER_01 47:25

Probably. Um actually I don't know. Mine's Enigo and um Wesley. Oh? So I really I just like Wesley. He's just he's such a sassy guy. I really like him. It's just the way he's just kind of like um, like before he reveals to Buttercup that he's um Wesley, not the just not just the man in black. He just is just really sassy when he's talking to her. Um and then I love Inigo just because um he's also just really funny.

SPEAKER_00 48:00

Mine were Inigo and um Fezik.

SPEAKER_01 48:04

Fezic. Fezick's probably my third favorite.

SPEAKER_00 48:06

I just liked watching their I liked reading their relationship a little bit more. Like how Inigo is like this big brother to Fezick. Yep. Even though like Fezick is like this giant man. Yeah. And I just think like I really liked their relationship. 100% agree. I was like, oh, I have to do it.

SPEAKER_01 48:24

Yeah. I was gonna say something, but I forgot. Yeah. So but um, I also we're doing quotes soon, right?

SPEAKER_00 48:32

Yeah, we can.

SPEAKER_01 48:32

Okay. Um because I have some quotes.

SPEAKER_00 48:34

I have another I have one more question. Okay. And then we can do quotes. Okay. And then we can shift.

SPEAKER_01 48:39

Okay, we can then we can shift. Yeah. Uh what what what's your favorite part? Part. Ooh. My f so I think surprisingly, my favorite part was when um Inigo and Fezick were going into the pit of death.

unknown 48:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 48:57

Or into the zoo of death.

SPEAKER_01 48:59

Because it's just so funny the way that like because I think one of them was a snake, and Fezik really, like, because so they're like descending into each level, and each level down the staircase, there's like an animal that they have to fight. And one of them was a snake, and literally Fezic is just holding the snake, and it's just like it just crushed it to death because he was just so strong. Yeah. And in that moment, he needed to be strong, and then the next time it was um Inigo's turn to face the I think they were bats, something like that, and he he he kept like fencing the bats, and they kept describing how heavy his sword was getting because of how many bats were on his sword, which I really liked. But the um, like you were kind of talking about earlier, the dynamic between the two of them in that scene is just so funny.

SPEAKER_00 49:48

I like that scene because it's it's different, it wasn't in the movie. It wasn't in the movie, it was something new. Uh, a scene that I just liked because it was my it's my favorite in them in the movie too, is when they bring Wesley to Miracle Max and it comes back to life. Um that's one of my favorite parts of the movie. I just like how it's it's like sweet, romantic, but it's also like funny as heck. Like it's so funny.

SPEAKER_01 50:13

I love Miracle Max and his wife. Yeah. I love how he basically I'm not a witch, I'm your wife. I'm not a witch, I'm your wife. But it's funny the way they because we got more background on those two characters too. Yeah, we got a little bit more on them. Especially on the wife, where it was like Miracle Max, um, like a witches were apparently assistants to the miracle man, and um, so she wasn't actually a witch, but he pretended to be a witch so that he could marry her or something like that. It was kind of crazy. Um, but I love that scene too. Fireswamp's also really good. The fire, yeah. Fireswamp's also really good.

SPEAKER_00 50:50

I like that scene better in the movie, but I think it's because I can like visually see it.

SPEAKER_01 50:53

Yeah, you got more background on it too.

SPEAKER_00 50:56

Okay, so Did you like the movie better than the book? Oh, that's a great question. Because so you are a movie before book person. I am typically not. You're obsolete, but I have not read this book ever until now. So this was like a very rare occasion where I movie to book.

SPEAKER_01 51:15

I would say I think I liked the book more. Yeah. And I think it's because I did get more background on the story.

SPEAKER_00 51:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 51:24

I think that's why I think I prefer the book.

SPEAKER_00 51:26

Yeah. I liked the book because I liked the background. But I think the movie's just it's just nostalgic. The movie will always be nostalgic.

SPEAKER_01 51:34

And like on my little um my little book journal here, um, it has like a one-word summary for the book, and that was the word I picked was nostalgic. Um I will always love that movie, but I think I like the book just a wee bit better. Yeah. Okay. And then I have some quotes that I like from the book. I had two. Okay. But both were said by Wesley. So give me one. They're also very short.

SPEAKER_00 52:00

Let me get my quotes up. You can if you want to.

SPEAKER_01 52:03

Okay. So my first one was obviously As You Wish.

SPEAKER_00 52:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 52:07

The whole the the I the whole thing, I love you statement from Wesley to Buttercup. Um. Because it's just a great line. But and then my other favorite is when Wesley says to the pain, and when he continues to describe what he's gonna do to Prince Humperdink to make women and everyone literally like cry at the sight of seeing him. So I don't know, I really like that line. Um, because I think Wesley was like, You're messing with my buttercup, I'm gonna make it hurt. Kind of thing. I think that's why I like that line.

SPEAKER_00 52:43

Yeah, like every like he like described. I think it's the most ruthless we see Wesley in the entire thing.

SPEAKER_01 52:50

You definitely see the pirate side of Wesley come out a little bit. Which, yeah, I loved that um that line of to the pain. He's like, he describes cutting off um his arms and legs, but leaving his ears, and he leaves one eye, so that way you can see all of the faces of everyone who looks at you. And you can hear all the screens. And you can hear all the screams of everyone they look at you.

SPEAKER_00 53:12

Every child screaming, my god, what is that thing? Um my two favorites were As You Wish, but As You Wish, but we loved. Yeah. I also I liked, I think, where's the book? Because um it's this is my favorite book in the world, though I have never read it. Oh yeah. It's the very first line of the entire book. And it's basically like he's saying this is my favorite book in the world, though he's never read because only his father has ever read it to him.

SPEAKER_01 53:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 53:43

And I just, my I grew up with my grandma like reading me stories to sleep, and I was just so it just made me like be like, oh, it's like I'm getting tucked into bed and I'm getting a story read to me, and like kind of just like that, everything's gonna be okay kind of feeling. So that was which very rarely do I like in like the first line of a book, but I just liked it because like it's also kind of a funny, yeah. Like it's my favorite book, though I've never read it, which is like he never read it, he's listened to it.

SPEAKER_01 54:16

He's listened to it, yeah. No, okay. So I think we're gonna move on to the next book.

SPEAKER_00 54:21

Shifting Gears.

SPEAKER_01 54:22

Shifting Gears to another book that uh we also read. So um, so we second book is One Italian Summer by yeah, Rebecca. How do you say her last name?

SPEAKER_00 54:36

Um, so here I'll just do the whole thing. Okay. Um it's One Italian Summer by Rebecca Surrol. Surreal? Surroll. She wrote in five years. But um, that's like her most known book. Right. So if you don't know this book, you may know her from that book. But this is One Italian Summer. This was my pick, but only because like I randomly like picked it last like last minute. Um and it's a like a very short book.

SPEAKER_01 55:03

It was only a hundred or two hundred and something pages. Yeah.

unknown 55:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 55:08

It's about a girl whose mom passes away and she ends up going on the mother-daughter trip without her mom. And then her mom magically shows up when she's 30 years old. Yeah. Um I'm gonna start this whole thing. I'm gonna just say this whole thing. I read this book in 2022, like that's the year it came out, and I liked it then. I gave it four stars, and I'm so sorry for anybody that likes this book. Yes, and to Rebecca too.

SPEAKER_01 55:43

Yeah, I'm so sorry, Rebecca. You probably just wasn't digging it.

SPEAKER_00 55:47

I reread it and I was like, why the hell did I like this book? And I probably if this was the first time I ever read this book, I would have DNF'd it. Michaela DNF'd it.

SPEAKER_01 55:58

I did DNF the book.

SPEAKER_00 55:59

First DNF of the the podcast. Literally, the first book and the first DNF. I only continued reading it because I was like, I need to know.

SPEAKER_01 56:07

We need to have someone high.

SPEAKER_00 56:09

Not even that. I needed to know why I liked this book so much. Yeah. I highlighted this book, I annotated this book, and I was like, why did I like this book? It was a good revisit. And I told you today exactly why. I liked it because when I read it, I had just moved to Florida. I was by myself. All I was talking to was my parents and my grandparents, and I was single. Yeah. And now that I am a married woman and I have I still talk to my f parents, obviously.

SPEAKER_01 56:47

Not as alone.

SPEAKER_00 56:49

I'm not as alone, and I have friends, and I the book is awful.

SPEAKER_01 56:54

I gave it to you, kind of agree. Um, I think we both gave it a two, just to start off with rating-wise.

SPEAKER_00 57:00

You I wouldn't you didn't even finish it.

SPEAKER_01 57:03

Um, okay, the only reason I gave it a two, and it's the same reason why you gave it a two, was she she's a very good writer.

SPEAKER_00 57:10

She describes a lot of things. And I had a lot of people be like, I don't think I'll like that book, so I'm not gonna read it. And I was like, that's fine.

SPEAKER_01 57:18

Like, that's why we picked two, so you can kind of and because the way she describes Italy from what Sam has said is fairly accurate.

SPEAKER_00 57:27

It's very accurate, yeah. Because um she describes it's so the place she's in is Postian. Um I just need to see it to see. It's near Capri Potiano? I think so. Let me go back to the Positano? Positano. Positano. Yeah. Positano, Italy. It's a real hotel. Like it's actually it's a five-star hotel in Italy. It's a real hotel. Which hotel fight in the hotel, yeah. Um let me let me let me think. Um, so the descriptions of it were pretty accurate, and I really like that because a lot of the highlights I did are like um are just about like the timeline. But then there's parts where I'm like, ah, I romanticized this book, and that's why I like it, but now as an older woman, why, why, why?

SPEAKER_01 58:38

Hold on, I have notes. I also have notes. So I um I got through to se chapter seven, which I think is right when her mom shows up. Um and so she I just kept getting irritated with the main character, and that's one of the reasons why I DNF'd it.

SPEAKER_00 58:57

But uh the main character is a lot.

SPEAKER_01 59:00

She is whiny. Um, and there's and when we do quotes, I'll read you a quote that I it just shakes me to my core and doesn't make any sense to me whatsoever.

SPEAKER_00 59:14

So here, this is what I wrote in my thing. I had a hard time connecting with Katie because and I feel like it's because so her mother passes away, and she's very close with her mom, but she describes her mom as the great love of her life. By the way, this woman is married.

SPEAKER_01 59:29

She's been married for both her mom and her are married.

SPEAKER_00 59:32

Yeah, yeah. So her mom her sh this woman is married to Eric, and her mom is obviously married to their her dad. But she describes her mom as the great love of her life, which is fine, like you can be close to your mom, but then she like starts talking about her mom in like these like weird, like obsessive ways. There was a scene, honestly. I'm gonna say it, every character in this kind of sucks. Like, there's really not a good character. The only character I kind of feel bad for is 30-year-old Carol, which is her mom in third when she's 30.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:06

She goes back in time, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:07

Because she doesn't know like anything. Right. But there's a part in it that really kind of irked me where her husband was trying to convince her into having a baby when she didn't feel like she was ready, which ew. But then she asked her mom for permission, like, can I have a baby? Am I ready to have a baby?

SPEAKER_01 1:00:24

And I'm like creepy to me.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:26

But I'm like, I don't think it's creepy, but it's like she's like a 30-year-old woman.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:32

Also, she has her own room in her parents' house.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:34

Yeah. Which I would just call it a guest room, but yeah, but like it's literally like her room. But I will say like she lives there. I will say, I I love my mom. I'm not me and my mom had a little bit of a rough, rocky relationship when I was growing up. So I don't really have that kind of relationship with my mom. Like, my mom is my best friend and I love my mom, but like, I'm not like she's not like the great love of my life. But also, I've never dealt with grief for a close family members, so I don't know, like, maybe the author had someone that she knew that this is kind of how they reacted. But like, then they talk about stuff in the past before the mom passed away, and I was like, oh, maybe this isn't like grief.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:21

Yeah, the like, because I am very, very, very close with my mom. The way that Katie talks about her mom is I would never talk about my mom. It's uh it's like you were saying, it's obsessive.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:33

She's very obsessive with her mom.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:34

Obsessive. And it's kind of it's really creepy to me, actually.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:38

And then like the way she like treats her husband. Oh my god, don't even get me started on that. Her husband is upset about her mom passing away, and she tells him.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:51

This is the quote that I wanted to do earlier.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:52

We'll read this quote, which irked both of us. Um, but yeah. Uh like this. Um, but why she's looking for that she's an unreliable narrator, if I will say it.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:21

Okay, I found it. Oh, because she is a really unreliable narrator, though. Okay. So it says, I do not know how to feel about his grief. I know it is real, and it's grounded in his own connection to her, and yet feels indulgent. It feels like he's letting something out to dance that should be locked away. I wish he'd stop. What? And later in the book, he um she just says that like he goes over to her parents' house all the time alone because like they're so they have such a good connection. And you're gonna sit here and tell me that your husband is not allowed to grieve for your dead mother.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:02

Yeah, it really like pissed me off. It pissed me off. I'm like, you want your husband, who's supposed to be your life partner, to not care and be upset that your mother passed away.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:15

And the other thing too, it's almost like she's using her grief and the fact that her mom died to not be in a relationship anymore.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:25

Yeah, because she she the minute her mom dies, she looks at him and goes, I don't think I should be married anymore. Yeah. And then she goes on this trip, which so she was supposed to go to Italy with her mom, back to this town that her mom had visited when she was 30, and her mom always talked about all of this and was like, Oh, we should go, we should go, we should go. And the and the we should said we will turn into a we will, and it's like when when it is, but then her mom got sick and she died like a couple weeks. She died of cancer? Yeah, she had cancer, and she died a couple weeks before the trip. But the Katie decided to still go on the trip. So she goes to the she flies over there, but she right before this, she tells her husband that she's tells her husband that exact same quote that I just said and then wants a divorce. Like, and that's how that's how he that's how she leaves him. Yeah. Well, she goes, Oh, I'm gonna go on the trip, and he's like, Oh, it'll be great for you, like you'll get a break and stuff. Like, he thinks, I think what they she leaves thinking that she's not going back to him, and he thinks that he she may come back to him.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:29

But she literally says in the book, she's like, I'm probably not coming back. Yeah, she's like, she doesn't say that to him, but she says it to herself. She's like, I don't want to come back.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:37

She's like not going back to the relationship in the app. Yeah. So she gets there, she the first thing she does, she calls him just to make sure that she's he's like, Oh, I got here okay, which sure. Um but then she like puts her phone in the locker, puts her wedding ring and wedding band in the locker, and then starts exploring, and then she gets back to the hotel and she sees her mom, 30 years old, standing in the hotel. And like, if you read you didn't get past this part.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:07

No, I didn't.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:08

Okay, so she meets all these people. Some of them are like I said, there's not really a good character, but um, they're all just some of them are just like they're side characters, so they're not really like they're significant, but they're not significant, like, but there's she meets this guy, Adam, and like re- I will say rereading this, there are things like I pick up on because like there's a part where there's like a little free library in the hotel, like right near her room, and she he picks up a Michael Crichton book, Jurassic Park, yeah, and she goes, Oh, the movie's better. And he goes, Oh, I've never heard of it. The book's Jurassic Park. Oh, I see what you're saying. You find out later in the book that she actually went back in time, like into the things where you're reading and you're like, Oh my. God, if I've like, like oh, but like he they kind of pass it off like Adam's not a movie guy, but like everyone's heard of Jurassic Park, so like rereading something like that, I was like, Oh, it makes more sense. Yeah, this you can put the meow over that. Um, this there's your one and your one. Um, this girl tells this man I'm married, but I think I'm getting divorced. I think, but I need to work things out. So if it's not finalized, and she told him that they sleep together. She actively cheats on her husband.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:40

Also, man's not Italian. And not even with an Italian. He's an American. He's an American who lives in the same city as her. Yeah. Which also pissed me off. I'm like, if you're gonna go to Italy, at least.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:54

If you're single, I mean do it. I just it like bothered me. But like, there were like things I like highlighted in it that were like, oh, like I definitely like romanticized this. Another scene that pissed me off. So then you find out, like, she goes to K uh Carol's house, so she like befriends Carol and like all this other Carol's her mom, by the way. Carol's her mom, like 30. Um, so what Katie knows, so then you kind of find out, oh, maybe the mom is not a hundred percent, but like I kind of feel bad for 30-year-old Carol, but like also the mom. You find out Katie, what Katie knows is her mom went to Italy before she was born and before she met her husband. Yeah. But then you find out why she's talking to Katie, that no, Carol left her six-month-old baby with her husband in America and wasn't sure she was coming back.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:55

Wow, how similar does that sound?

SPEAKER_00 1:07:58

And but like, Kate Carol doesn't know that Katie is her daughter from the future. So Katie is in this stranger's house, from what Carol knows, yeah, screaming at her, yeah, calling her a monster for leaving her baby, and like, you don't know the story.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:18

And like, shouldn't you find out all this other stuff? Like, oh my mom never told me about my grandparents, oh my mom never told me about this, oh my mom never did you know your mom? Yeah, apparently the great love of your life. Your mom is the great love of your life and you don't actually know who your mom is. And it is oh my god. I'm so glad I reread it because like I would be like, whoever cut that out.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:47

She's choking out here. Take some take some of your life saving Dr. Peppa. Because it's just it's just water.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:55

Um I'm so glad I reread this book because I recommended this book to a lot of people. Because I liked it. I don't lie in anymore.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:08

Yeah, I I couldn't like the first chapter, I was already kind of like, ooh, like what's with her attitude? And then it just progressively got worse.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:20

Oh, then there's this part where so this is a highlight, she talks about her husband. So her husband eventually flies, he she wakes back up in back in the the real time. Did do they ever explain how she time travels? No, they never explain it. Oh never explain it, and I'm like, how did this happen? But her husband comes to flies to Italy and was like, I should have never let you go. Eric.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:47

Let her go, man. Let her go. She clearly doesn't want to be with me.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:51

You can tell I romanticized this book because a highlight here is this man, this moment, this return.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:58

So, do you want to know the only note that I made in the book? So there's one part where she is describing a sandwich that she gets in chapter two. And it says it had Swiss cheese, arugula, and a raspberry jam. It was delicious. And the I underlined it, and the only note that I just said was ew. So I thought that was very funny because who why would you eat a sandwich like that? That sounds disgusting.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:30

Um, I want I would like it known that on page 198, she um sleeps with Adam because I highlighted the you're so meow it sexy. Say that again. You're so meow sexy.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:52

Meow, I love how you're censoring yourself.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:54

I'm censoring myself. And then, but like, oh the descriptions of some of these things though. Let me find some. Let me let me talk about the the reason why it's two and not one. Started here we go, okay. The best view in a place is actually a view of the place. Look at all the colors. It's like the skies on fire, burning up the whole day. Nature has so much power if we just pay attention.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:27

Like, like, like you were saying, her writing is very good. She just describes everything so beautiful, but like the story the story and the plot, and then the characters. It just made me really upset to read. Like, I was I was actually getting upset reading the book. We'll cut all of that empty space out, too.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:51

Okay, I'm trying to find this line because I think it's the funniest thing ever. Um it takes place between her and Adam. Um she's drunk during this part, by the way. Of course. She goes out to a bar with Carol and Ramo. Which Ramo is like somebody that she tries to get her mom. She Ramo is a guy that's friends with her her mom, and she goes, Raymo likes you. I think you should flirt with Raymo. At this point, she thinks like her mom hasn't met her dad yet. Oh, okay. Which is kind of also annoying. But I'm like, girl, she ends up with Raymo, like. Oh, here. I'd like to kiss you. I hear it in my ribcage. But I'm not going to unless you tell me it's okay. We love consent.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:48

Love consent.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:49

I know you're in a weird spot. I also know we're here, and there's a big full moon, and your lips look like watermelon. The good kind, the breakfast kind. I don't want to be described as watermelon.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:01

Also, they did they described that in earlier in the book, too. About how what how that watermelon was just so good. Yeah. Backstory.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:08

It's that watermelon. Yeah. Also, here's my thing. I think the book would have been better. Not great, but better if Katie wasn't married. Katie didn't need to be married for any of this. Yeah. She could have been a single woman that just lost her mom. And like, then I would have been like, okay, she's close with her mom. She doesn't have anybody. Yeah. And then she could have gone to Italy and like adventured and like lived. And then I think the whole story. I think her being married made the story worse.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:45

I think that's I think you're 100% correct. Because every issue that I had with the book, from what I read, was how one she treated the people around her, and especially her husband. Um and also just like her weirdly obsessed we thing that she has with her mom. I don't know. Crack it. Crack a fresh pepper. You can keep that in. Crack a fresh pepper. Dr. Pepper. Yeah. I think we said that in the first episode that we say that. Okay. Cool.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:23

I call Dr. Pepper Dr. Pee-Pee.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:25

For those who forgot.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:26

Or those just coming in. Um yeah, I just think it it could have been like 3.5 I yeah, I agree. She wasn't married. Because a lot of the reasons is like she pissed me off because she was like treating. I'm just so I would never talk to my husband the way she talks to her husband.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:50

Never. I would never speak to Isaac like that.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:54

I just it just even if we were in a hard time, I still know yeah. But like I said, I'm glad I reread this book so I had a different opinion of it. So now I can tell people to not read it unless they like read it if you want to.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:09

Again, our opinions.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:11

Yeah, this is a good book.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:11

If you love that book, I'm so happy that you love this book. But just in our opinions, we did not like it.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:17

My little bookmark thingy. Um, the first line on my review is Katie kinda sucks.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:24

Katie Katie kinda sucks. It says, I stayed for the descriptions of Italy, but it's because I don't know, um, but that's it. But that's it. Sorry, a tickle in my throat. It's alright. Um, yeah. So I honestly did read it. I read it just to because I was like, I need to know why I originally liked this book, and I think it's because I was at a very different time of my life when I read it, and it just really infuriated me. And I'm sorry that this was one of our first books. But that's okay. I hope our next books are better.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:06

Oh, I think they're gonna be better. Um speaking of which, oh yeah, do we balance because I think we're done talking about one Italian summer. Yeah, please. Um, I think we ra I pretty we pretty much hit every note on there that we wanted to.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:22

There's not that many quotes. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:24

I mean, yeah, we I think we did it. Um so let's go on to what we are reading next. And I'm so excited.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:31

Okay, so we'll bring talk about it in we'll just talk about the standalones. Yeah. Because we'll talk about the series at the end of the series. So if you want to know what series we're doing, drop a guess. Drop a guess. But also you gotta w listen to the next episode. Yeah. So ha ha, you're stuck with that. Um, so do you want to talk about yours first? Yes. So let me go grab it off my bookshelf. You can do a little synopsis. So you know what I found out about yours?

SPEAKER_01 1:17:02

Um, let me make sure I'm don't tell me it's not an actual standalone. I think it is.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:07

No, no, no, no, no, not that. Um your book is a retelling of Sense and Sensibilities, I think. Oh Which is actually my favorite Jane Austen book. Love. Not the other one.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:27

So, um the book we are one of the standalones we are reading next, which is my pick, which is The Monstrous Kind by Lydia Gregovic. Yes. Um, it is described as a gorgeously um gothic fantasy. And it's a YA, so it's not um, so it's not gonna be like adult fiction. Um very similar to our series that we're doing, but yeah, anyway. Um, so to wrap up the book summary, um, the story follows um Merrick Darling who returns to her ancestral home in Regency-inspired monster plague um England after her father's sudden death.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:25

So um I like that it's setting Regency England toxic fog and monster.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:32

I love, especially like I love a plague tale.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:35

I love the name Merrick for a name is Merrick Darling.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:40

I love the cover of the book too. It is just absolutely gorgeous. That's one the reason that I picked up the book, if I'm being honest. It is stunning. Oh, yeah, it's this beautiful red cover.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:50

Um it is inspired by sensibility, sense and sensibilities. The plot and characters are heavily influenced by Jane Austen's work.

unknown 1:18:58

Hmm.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:59

I have a thing where I don't read the synopsis of things or like watch trailers before the movie. And I know it pisses people off. But um I like to form my own opinion of things before I go to watch them. Yeah. I try not to also for especially for movies, I try not to spoil them for myself. So I tend not to watch the trailers because nowadays movie trailers will be showing too much of what's going on in the movie. Okay, so that's our first book.

SPEAKER_00 1:19:27

The first standalone.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:28

First standalone for the next um standalone episode.

SPEAKER_00 1:19:31

Yeah. So Sam's pick. My pick is called it's called Black Sheep by Rachel Harrison. It's a contemporary horror novel. We're doing a horror book this time. Horror, horror, and summer. Yeah, this also We're halfway to Halloween, by the way.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:46

I think I think this is our like summer ween.

SPEAKER_00 1:19:48

Our summer ween series our summer ween episode. Love that. Um So the like the little brief synopsis is this 23-year-old girl, Vesper, um, left her ha strictly religious household when she was 18, and she's coming back to the strictly um, it's described as a strictly religious cult-like family for a wedding, for her cousin's wedding. And then upon her return, she confronts dark secrets, family drama, and a supernatural satanic reality she tried to escape. I love the pink. The reason I picked it, it is a pink horror book. But no Sam and her pink horror book. But it's not a re the reason I picked it is because a lot of times with like I'm gonna escape this cult horror book, it's always for like a death. Yeah, something sad.

SPEAKER_01 1:20:40

They have to come back.

SPEAKER_00 1:20:41

Yeah. I like that it's for a wedding. Yeah, it's supposed to be for something really happy, which only is gonna make it more sinister. So I'm so excited for it. So excited. Um I had to like bring the copy I had from the library back because I noticed there's like five pages like ripped out of the book. So I'm like How unfortunate.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:01

What a sin.

SPEAKER_00 1:21:02

Literally, and we put it on the shelf. Why? So I'm gonna um get my copy.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:10

But who is it by? Did you say Rachel Harrison?

SPEAKER_00 1:21:12

Rachel Harris Um she wrote uh Play Nice as well. Oh, which is that one uh I showed you the cover has like the haunted house on it, yes. Um funny enough, like I put it in the 54321. Yeah, I think we did. So um, but I'm so excited.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:30

I know we're very excited for these next couple episodes coming. We've got some fun stuff planned.

SPEAKER_00 1:21:35

Um, so please, please, please, please, please read the letters of enchantment duology.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:42

Yes, I highly recommend based off of what I've read so far. Yeah. Highly, highly recommend.

SPEAKER_00 1:21:47

This is my second time reading it. This is Michaela's reading it, clearly. Um, and I will say, I'm going to say, I'm having a much better experience rereading it than I did with One Italian Summer, so.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:58

Yeah. Because I I so right after I DNF'd the One Italian Summer, I texted her and I was like, not reading Ruthless Vows.

SPEAKER_00 1:22:09

I texted you. What I texted you was I texted you this morning. Was it this morning? Oh maybe it was this morning. No, it was yesterday. I said, Are you DNFing the book? And she you go, Yes, I already started Ruthless Vows. I already started Ruthless Vows. And then I sent her a really stupid fit picture of my cat.

SPEAKER_01 1:22:30

And then I sent a stupid picture of Harley, which is great.

SPEAKER_00 1:22:34

Love. We love. Anyway, yeah. Um follow us on TikTok, Instagram, leave comments, answer the question. Yeah. Tell us what your greatest achievement is. Um give us questions. Maybe we'll ask them. Um ask us questions. Um, tell us what you want to see. We have some fun. Maybe we'll make a post on Instagram. Like, what should what questions should we ask next? Yeah, yeah. I have we have some fun I fun um activities. Activities coming up for like the the the middle episode, um, some fun games that I kind of I discovered that I was like, ooh, I really want to like do this. Got some fun games.

SPEAKER_01 1:23:15

We also got some TikTok videos that we're planning on posting here very soon.

SPEAKER_00 1:23:20

Yeah, I uploaded one today, so go watch it. Go watch it. It's kind of funny.

SPEAKER_01 1:23:25

Yeah, and we'd love to hear your feedback on what you're thinking about the podcast and what we can do to improve. We've been really enjoying um having people give us feedback, but in a nice way.

SPEAKER_00 1:23:37

Be nice. Um it just makes us better. Yeah. I have a whole page of like notes and stuff. Um I have like book ideas for um book uh episode ideas coming up for a thing. Like one of them I think we're gonna do like um guess the book from like the reviews, or like guess the book from the first line, or gonna play guess the book here very soon. Or there's one where it's like book versus movies, like Ooh, that'll be fun. Yeah. I think it'll be interesting because like to do stuff because like you haven't read too too much. Yeah. But I have, but like guessing a book from one line is gonna be very interesting.

SPEAKER_01 1:24:25

That'll be very interesting. Alright, but anyway, I think we're gonna wrap up this episode. So thank you for listening and thank you for all your support so far. We could not do this without you guys. Um let us know your thoughts on the books, please. If you read them, if you liked one Italian summer instead of I don't know if you can you can comment under like the way we post the video, but we can probably put out like Instagram.

SPEAKER_00 1:24:51

Yeah, on Spotify, you can comment on Spotify. I know that on Apple Music, I think you can as well. I don't know if you can on Buzz Sprout. I don't think so. Um but you can send us messages in the on Instagram or TikTok.

SPEAKER_01 1:25:04

Yeah, let us know.

SPEAKER_00 1:25:05

Stuff like that. Um or I'll make a whole post about like, oh, this episode is up. Yeah. And you can just comment on that one post and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_01 1:25:14

So if any questions, any concerns, any book recs books for us to do.

SPEAKER_00 1:25:19

We love book recommendations. Tell us like how you um I think personally, I think I like the idea of like kind of making them co the standalones cohesive. Like these were very different. But I think having ones that are like like similar to each other. Like, oh, we're doing like a theme for this thing. I think that'll be fun. So give us like themes. Yeah, that would be fun. Um but yeah. So Alright, we're gonna close out.

SPEAKER_01 1:25:52

Thank you for listening. I'm gonna go eat my ice cream now.

SPEAKER_00 1:25:54

Yes, ice cream time. Ice cream time. Woo! All right, bye y'all.