The Book Pile

SUMMARY: I pretty much summarized it with the title. I've read/listened to 50+ books since January 1 and I'M DONE. No, but I am done with two authors for sure, listen to find out who! Kellen Erskine has appeared on Conan, Comedy Central, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, NBC's America's Got Talent , and the Amazon Original Series Inside Jokes . He has garnered over 200 million views with his...

SUMMARY: If you like James Bond, Hunger Games, Star Wars, or Lord of the Rings, you will LOVE this spy thriller! We know the cover looks like a therapy book, but it’s not! It has action and comedy and romance, not therapy that is good for you. Come listen to this gripping caper, which is not a therapy book. You don’t have to worry about your feelings in this fun popcorn book. It’s not a therapy bo...

Have you heard of GK Chesterton? (No he's not that cheese-puff cat). WATCH KELLEN'S NEW COMEDY SPECIAL ON YOUTUBE! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpBt0W1zrDU&t=1237s KELLEN ERSKINE IS IN ON TOUR! APR 25-26 Indiana MAY 9-10 Dallas MAY 17 St Charles, IL For tickets go to KellenErskine.com -Get two free tickets to any of Kellen's live shows in 2025 by joining The Book Pile's...

SUMMARY: This episode has everything you could hope for. Conspiracy theories. Hermione exoneration. And a rat who turns out to be a murderer. (Who knew Harry Potter was a sequel to 1300s Europe?) (It’s funny because the most devastating event imaginable happened many years ago.) (Your subconscious sense of humor deems the past to be intrinsically less worthy of empathy.) We hope you enjoy! WATCH K...

SUMMARY: Fight Club is a story with one of the most famous twist endings in book and movie history (they find out violence is good...) But before it was a hit movie, did you know it was also a disgusting book? Join Kellen and Dave as they complain about this well-written book they both kind of hate. WATCH KELLEN'S NEW COMEDY SPECIAL ON YOUTUBE! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpBt0W1zrDU&...

JOIN OUR PATREON FOR BoNuS EpiSoDEs! https://patreon.com/TheBookPile * The king returns. Alan Dean is back, and he’s more Alan Dean than ever. Break out the thesauruses as we do a live roast of his novelization of The Force Awakens. Plus, Kellen teaches you some vocab words and Dave has a guessing game. * To buy the book and support the podcast, click HERE! https://amzn.to/3IJIhsx * Dave’s book /...

SUMMARY: (A Dave and Kellen episode!) This book is full of incredible trivia about the human body, beautifully and hilariously written. For instance, did you know that every one of your organs is being played by a tiny little Phantom of the Opera? When your stomach is rumbling, that’s him telling Christine to “Sing, angel!” If you release gas as you sleep, that’s simply the music of the night! Fun...

SUMMARY: Enjoy a digitally-remastered edit of one of our favorite episodes, where the author shares exactly what the book is called. Plus, Dave tells a story about being accidentally cool at a wedding, and Dave disagrees with a brilliant plan that Kellen has for safe combat with burglars... WATCH KELLEN'S NEW COMEDY SPECIAL ON YOUTUBE! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpBt0W1zrDU&t=1237s K...

SUMMARY: What if Pride and Prejudice were spooky? What if Mr. Darcy were less handsome, but also more abominable? What if instead of four sisters, Lizzie had no parents and a best friend who dies of tuberculosis? If you love Jane Austen, you’ll love this book, assuming you can get on board with some stuff. Today’s novel is the incomparable Jane Eyre. Though I guess it can be comparable to Pride an...

SUMMARY: The typical human lifespan is in the neighborhood of 4,000 weeks. That is an extremely precious, finite, and dwindling amount of life. It gives all of us urgent reason to (while we still can) take advantage of the Taco Bell 5 Dollar Taco Discovery Box deal. How would you live differently if you knew this was your last day to spend time with loved ones, work on a passion project, or eat a...

SUMMARY: Whether you want to read 100 books this year, or even just 87, Kellen has some tips for how to succeed--and he's strategically waited 3 weeks into January so that he could get a head start before you. WATCH KELLEN'S NEW COMEDY SPECIAL "NEGATIVE COMMENTS" ON YOUTUBE! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpBt0W1zrDU&t=1237s - Get two free tickets to any of Kellen's l...

SUMMARY: To celebrate this book about dishonesty, we’re gonna test how well you know Kellen and Dave with a game of two truths and a lie. You ready? See if you know us well enough to pass the quiz. 1. Statement 2 is false. 2. Statement 3 is true. 3. Statement 1 is false. Alright, we’ll see which of you are superfans! WATCH KELLEN'S NEW COMEDY SPECIAL "NEGATIVE COMMENTS" ON YOUTUBE!...

SUMMARY: Our best books this year had everything: Murder! Therapy! Lyndon B. Johnson! The three elements of good literature. Come join us as we review our favorite books of the year. Happy New Year, and thanks for listening to The Book Pile! We really appreciate it. See you in 2025! WATCH KELLEN'S NEW COMEDY SPECIAL ON YOUTUBE! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpBt0W1zrDU&t=1237s - Get two...

Rediscover this gem of a Book Pile episode (#114)  that we dug up from 2022 (now with an even newer intro full of public-domain Christmas music!) Listen to Dave whisper laugh! Hear Kellen disagree with Dave's habit of walking out of movies! Notice how Kellen tries to defend himself against what appears to be a an unequal luggage-packing relationship with his wife... JOIN OUR PATREON to get in...

SUMMARY: We live in a society inundated by endless sources of entertainment and cheap dopamine. In today’s book, Anna Lembke discusses how we can respond to such dangers, like, for instance, a pool table. Friend, either you're closing your eyes to a situation you do not wish to acknowledge, or you are not aware of the caliber of disaster indicated by the presence of a pool table in your commu...

SUMMARY: Kellen is behind on his reading, and he needs your help! (Sounds like a Saturday morning PBS cartoon...). Kellen gives a rundown of most of the books he's read so far this year; also he has an idea for a very classy author name; and at around the 15-minute mark he quits recording for a full day to recover from starting to lose his voice in real time (and--if you catch when it happens...

SUMMARY: It's been 3 years so we gave this book "another go" as they say in non-American English speaking countries, like Wizard Land.  Today we cover the second Harry Potter, which managed to improve on the original, and is also – no offense – the only book you could get rid of without changing anything important. Don’t be mad, but if the series just went straight from Sorcerer’s S...

SUMMARY: When you hear a story, do you lose interest after like 5 minutes? Then you will LOVE short stories, a new thing we invented. Today’s book is a short story collection by Ray Bradbury, who realized that anything counts as sci-fi if you take a normal story and just put it on Mars. Plus, Kellen has planned out a very unexpected last day on Earth, and Dave uncovers a deceptive photograph. WATC...

SUMMARY: This is a James Bond book without James Bond, a love story without love, and a spy story without spying. The only person who’s unaware of all this is the author, Ian Fleming, AKA the only person feminists beg to please write fewer female characters. KELLEN ERSKINE IS IN CHICAGO THIS WEEK Nov 22-23! Go to KellenErskine.com for tickets - Get two free tickets to any of Kellen's live sho...

SUMMARY: Dave and Kellen take another dive into the great Amy Poehler's ( SNL , Baby Momma, Parks and Recreation ) memoir. Also Dave is terrible at comforting people and Kellen rants about actors' award speeches. KELLEN ERSKINE IS IN PROVO & SALT LAKE CITY THIS WEEK! Nov 7th (Provo) then 8-9 (SLC) go to KellenErskine.com for tickets - Get two free tickets to any of Kellen's live...

SUMMARY: Do you ever make a books podcast, and start with your favorite books? But unfortunately, your first episodes are also when you’re the worst at podcasting? So years later you revisit those books to do a better job? That’s what this is! Today we cover a book about cultivating interests in a lot of different fields. It’s great. -If you want to read Range and support the podcast in a fun way,...

SUMMARY: The events from the date of today's book title are part of a long-running joke on the podcast, so we thought it would be funny to cover this novel for our 200th episode... -If you want to read 11/22/63 and support the podcast in a fun way, click here to buy the book! https://amzn.to/47GoS7j - Get two free tickets to any of Kellen's live shows in 2024-2025 by joining The Book Pil...

SUMMARY: Enjoy this throwback episode from September 2022 when we covered the oldest book on the podcast thus far (though the book with the oldest people is probably still Twilight...). Learn the value of surprise as Kellen startles Dave in real time, and bask in Dave's glory as he recounts winning at board games and also possibly saving someone's life (but he's still a nerd because...

SUMMARY: An Americana small-town Christmas pageant gets hijacked by kids from the other side of the tracks, but it all works out (or this would be a very different genre). Kellen is joined by Dallas Jenkins who directed and co-wrote the movie (currently IN THEATERS and at 90% on Rottentomatoes!) KELLEN ERSKINE IS PERFORMING IN CARLSBAD (close to San Diego) THIS WEEK! Nov 16th! Go to KellenErskine....

SUMMARY: Today we cover a Transformers book that is “more than meets the eye." Unless your eye looked at the book and was like, “It seems bad,” in which case, yeah, it’s pretty much what met your eye. Thanks to everyone who joined us for this live episode! And thank you to the Autobots for protecting Earth. Next time please do it in a more interesting way. -If you want to read Transformers: G...