Bookish University

Dr. Amanda talks about why middle age so often gets overlooked in books and pop culture, and shares recommendations across romance, literary fiction, horror, and queer romance. She covers stories of reinvention after divorce, second-chance love, grief, intergenerational families, and coming out later in life, for elder millennials, Gen X, and anyone who wants to see midlife on the page. Books disc...

As the weather turns cold, Dr. Amanda shares cozy winter reads, bridging spooky season into Christmas. She also talks about why we crave warmth, closeness, and comfort reads in colder months. Books mentioned: The Nightmare Before Kissmas and Go Luck Yourself (Sara Raasch) Your Mean One, Matthew Prince (Timothy Janovsky) Mistletoe and Mishigas (M.A. Wardell) This Time Next Year (Sophie Cousens) The...

What can stories teach us about mercy? Dr. Amanda talks with her longtime friend Dr. Dave, an English professor who teaches courses on magic, death and human mortality, and Superman comics, for a wide-ranging conversation about justice, work, and what it means to be a person. They open with why the humanities matter in an era of the commodified higher ed experience, then discuss Wendell Berry’s no...

Dr. Amanda talks with debut novelist Megan Mostyn-Brown about The Need , a horror novel that uses an unsettling premise to explore class inequality, stigma, family secrets, and the systems that determine who gets to survive. Can horror help us recognize the humanity we overlook in everyday life? Join us for a conversation about the stories we tell, the systems we inhabit, and what it means to rema...

Dr. Amanda features some of Simone St. James' paranormal works, including The Sun Down Motel, The Broken Girls, The Book of Cold Cases, Murder Road, The Haunting of Maddy Clare, Lost among the Living, and A Box Full of Darkness. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dr. Amanda discusses the current news surrounding sexual assault on the Cornell University campus and connects this culture to Gisèle Pelicot's memoir A Hymn to Life: Shame Has to Change Sides. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dr. Amanda hosts Dr. Amanda, expert in new communication technology, to discuss books about the current state of AI. Primary focus is on Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman's OpenAi by Helen Hao and Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism by Yanis Varoufakis. Additional mentions include The Reverse Centaur's Guide to Life After AI: How to Think About Artificial Intelligence -...

Dr. Amanda hosts her mom to talk about the mom barometer and some of the books she's recommended. It's a lot of books on this one, with less attention to synopses and more attention to mom thoughts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dr. Amanda talks about a handful of books that are hard to sell to other readers based on the premise but worth the read. Books discussed include Open Throat (Henry Hoke), Convenience Store Woman (Sayaka Murata), Quietly, From Afar: A Dark-Comedy Cartoon-Western (Lucas Gardner), A Shore Thing (Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi), and Shark Heart: A Love Story (Emily Habeck). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/pr...

Dr. Amanda hosts her friend Patric to discuss favorite Stephen Graham Jones works, especially The Only Good Indians in anticipation of Off the Reservation, which comes out on October 13. Additional SGJ books discussed include Mongrels, I Was a Teenage Slasher, The Babysitter Lives, and Night of the Mannequins (with a bit of conversation around the Indian Lake trilogy, as well). Hosted on Acast. Se...

Dr. Amanda discusses MMIW - Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women from a mega-crisis lens. Books discussed include Highway of Tears: A True Story of RAcism, Indifference, and the Pursuit of Justice for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (Jessica McDiarmid); Firekeeper's Daughter (Angeline Boulley); Girl Gone Missing (Marcie Rendon); Where They Last Saw Her (Marcie Rendon); Sisters of...

Dr. Amanda talks about books that touch on various aspects of the housing market and takes the opportunity to mention her favorite book to cite academically. Books discussed on this episode include Best Offer Wins (Marisa Kashino), Model Home (Rivers Solomon), How to Sell A Haunted House (Grady Hendrix), Solace House (Will Maclean), Once the People LIghts Have Gone Off (Stephen Graham Jones), Mars...

Dr. Amanda has a chance to talk with Demi Blaize, author of the rom-com series, "Apparently, We're the Problem" (Apparently, I'm a Bitch; Apparently, I'm Torture; Apparently, I'm Trouble; and yet-to-be-released Apparently, I'm Toxic). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dr. Amanda hosts Dr. Lydia to talk about their favorite vampire books and what makes them great. Books discussed include Dracula (Bram Stoker), The Buffalo Hunter Hunter (Stephen Graham Jones), The Serpent and the Wings of Night (Carissa Broadbent), Vampires of El Norte (Isabel Cañas), Bride (Ali Hazelwood), and The Lesser Dead (Christopher Buehlman). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for mor...

Dr. Amanda features books by Taylor Jenkins Reid and discusses the importance of featuring sapphic love, emotional depth, and empathy for the female character. Books covered on this episode include One True Loves, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Daisy Jones and the Six, Malibu Rising, Carrie Soto is Back, and Atmosphere. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dr. Amanda talks (too much?) about her first cat as an adult and highlights a number of books that feature feline friends. Books discussed include Cat's People (Tanya Guerrero), We'll Prescribe You a Cat (Syou Ishida, translated by E. Madison Shimoda), and The Last House on Needless Street (Catriona Ward), with briefer review of A Man Called Ove (Fredrik Backman), Breakfast at Tiffany's (Truman Ca...

On this episode, Dr. Amanda talks about the role of public apology and purposive rhetoric, and discusses the history of residential schools aimed at dismantling indigenous culture in North America. Books discussed include Five Little Indians (Michelle Good), Shards of Silence (Brian Lee Young), Medicine River: A Story of Survival and the Legacy of Indian Boarding Schools (Mary Annette Pember), A C...

Dr. Amanda considers how we talk about mental health and addiction in society and how that is reflected on page. Books discussed include Mistletoe and Mishigas (M.A. Wardell), The Tragedy of Felix and Jake (J. Daniels), Hemlock (Melissa Faliveno), and Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine (Gail Honeyman). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dr. Amanda discusses slashers and the Indian Lake Trilogy (My Heart is a Chainsaw, Don't Fear the Reaper, and The Angel of Indian Lake) by Stephen Graham Jones. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dr. Amanda talks about how humans interact with the earth this week, discussing Why Fish Don't Exist (Lulu Miller), Gathering Moss and Braiding Sweetgrass (Robin Wall Kimmerer), Entangled Life (Merlin Sheldrake), The Greenhollow Duology (Emily Tesh), and Don't Let the Forest In (CG Drews). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dr. Amanda hosts her cousin-in-law, Patric, to discuss Fredrik Backman's Beartown trilogy (Beartown, Us Against You, and The Winners). Hopefully we have done a decent job convincing you all that these books explore community, connections, and conflict in a worthwhile way. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this episode, Dr. Amanda discusses a favorite magical realism author, covering Ashley Poston's adult romance books in anticipation of The Someday Garden, which comes out June 16 (not an ad, just a fan). Books discussed include The Dead Romantics, The Seven Year Split, A Novel Love Story, and Sounds Like Love. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dr. Amanda dives into cults - these bizarre but powerful organizations. Books discussed include Cultish (Amanda Montell), Sister Wife: A Memoir of Faith, Family, and Finding Freedom (Christine Brown Woolley), Breaking Free: How I Escaped My Father - Warren Jeffs - Polygamy, and the FLDS Cult (Rachel Jeffs), Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology (Leah Remini), The Last Housewife (Ashley...

Dr. Amanda discusses the housewife story. Following the buzz about Yesteryear, she starts with a discussion of the current fad by Caro Claire Burke. She also features The Devil and Mrs. Davenport (Paulette Kennedy), The Vanishing Half (Brit Bennett), Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows (Balli Kaur Jaswal), and The Best Way to Bury Your Husband (Alexia Casale). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy...

Dr. Amanda starts this episode discussing Margaret Atwood's recently published memoir, moving into four of her fictions works, all referenced throughout the memoir. Fiction works discussed include Cat's Eye, The Robber Bride, The Handmaid's Tale, and The Testaments. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.