Happy To Be Here

Nerdette Book Club is back to discuss our October selection, Lauren Groff’s ‘ The Vaster Wilds .’ It’s about a girl in early American colonial history who runs away from the Jamestown settlement during a period of starvation. She then struggles to survive in the woods during freezing cold days and nights, armed with only a pewter cup and leather gloves. We asked long-distance dogsledder Blair Brav...

We are leaning into Halloween this week! Taylor Lorenz, Washington Post columnist and author of Extremely Online , and Margaret Willison, culture writer and faculty at Not Sorry Productions, dared to join us to discuss the very tall, very viral Halloween decorations named Skelly and Lewis, along with more Halloween nonsense. Then, comedian Sam Reece tells us about her new book S****y Craft Club: A...

This week, we talk about Netflix’s reinvention of the video store , the right way to board a plane , and the art of advice-giving with Chicago Sun Times ’ new advice columnist Ismael Perez and Brandon Pope, who hosts WBEZ’s Making podcast and On the Block from Block Club Chicago and WCIU. Then, author V.E. Schwab talks about the latest installment in her “Shades of Magic” fantasy series, The Fragi...

On this cursed October day, we’re talking about Croc’s new cowboy boots and other outrageous stories from the week. Our panelists are Patrick Hinds, co-host of the True Crime Obsessed podcast and author of the new book Failure Is Not Not An Option , and Kristen Meinzer, the co-host of the Daily Fail podcast. Then, author Chuck Wendig tells us about his apple-filled horror novel Black River Orchard...

This week, we discuss Barbies, bedbugs, and centenarian skydivers with comedian and host of the podcasts ' In The Cards ' and ' Dead Eyes ' Connor Ratliff and Bridget Todd, host of ' City Cast DC ' and ' There are No Girls on the Internet .' Then, comedian Aparna Nancherla opens up about her struggles with imposter syndrome in her new essay collection ' Unreliable Narrator .' See Privacy Policy at...

It is the month of October and Nerdette Book Club’s selection is ‘ The Vaster Wilds ’ by three-time National Book Award finalist Lauren Groff. This historical novel is about a servant girl who is on the run from her corrupt, smallpox-riddled colonial settlement. She struggles to survive in the unforgiving wilderness. In this spoiler-free interview with the author, we talk about changing the narrat...

This week, R. Eric Thomas, TV writer and author of Congratulations, The Best Is Over! , and Alex Abad-Santos , senior correspondent for Vox, joined us to reflect on the end of the writers’ strike and the 20th anniversary of the pumpkin spice latte. Then, we revel in the best new books coming out this fall! We called up some of our favorite readers and writers to find out what they’re most excited...

Nerdette Book Club is back to dig into our September pick, Angie Kim’s novel ' Happiness Falls .' During the lockdown era of COVID, college student Mia is stuck at home with her parents and two brothers. Her father, Adam, stays at home to take care of the youngest son Eugene, who has autism and does not speak. One day, Adam and Eugene leave to go on a walk, but only Eugene comes back. The more the...

This week, comedian and ‘ Glamorous Trash ’ host Chelsea Devantez and podcast producer Kristina Lopez stop by to chat about the Senate's extremely chill new dress code, the slow death of paper checks, and the Roman Empire. Plus, the Nerdette Book Club pick ‘ Loot ’ by Tania James is one of the top 10 contenders for this year’s National Book Award for fiction! ‘ Loot’ is historical fiction at its f...

In today’s episode, we play our favorite game, Burden or Delight, with Meha Ahmad, senior producer at WBEZ’s ' Reset ,' and Niala Boodhoo, host of ' Axios Today !' They decide whether a new Apple charger, a flood of wine, and extended birthday celebrations are delightful or burdensome. Then, we talk all about periods. Up until now, no one has ever published a study on menstrual products that used...

This week, City Cast Chicago host Jacoby Cochran and WBEZ metro reporter Adora Namigadde stop in to talk about Burning Man, a truly horrific accident on a plane, and whether there’s hope for salvaging New Year’s resolutions 9 months into the year. Plus, when should we start masking in public again? How long should we isolate for if we get COVID? What’s the deal with a new booster? Is it safe to ge...

Our selection this month is Angie Kim’s sophomore novel, ' Happiness Falls .' It’s narrated by Mia, a whip smart college student who moves back under her parents’ roof during the early days of COVID. This isn’t a pandemic novel, though, as much as lockdown is used as a device to bring everyone together and move the plot forward. One day, Mia’s younger brother Eugene, a teenager with autism who doe...

We’re starting off the weekend with two excellent panelists: Anne Helen Petersen, ' Work Appropriate ' podcast host and writer of the newsletter “ Culture Study ,” and Nick Quah , Vulture’s podcast critic. We discuss the late night hosts turned daytime podcasters , the gender reveal of cocktail glasses , and Meg Ryan’s return to the romcom. Then, we talk about a brewing reckoning in reality televi...

Our selection this month is Andrew Leland’s memoir ‘ The Country of the Blind .’ It’s about Andrew’s constantly shifting world as his vision deteriorates, and it explores the mythology that blindness is a binary. It’s also about how seeing-culture perceives blindness, and the history of blindness in the US. The wide-ranging discussion includes M. Leona Godin, a self-described “blind punk” who wrot...

Today’s episode starts with our friends Araceli Gomez-Aldana of WBEZ and Traci Thomas, host of The Stacks podcast. We chat about finding back-to-school vibes in scorching hot weather, why Zoomers are collecting CDs , and the biggest search for the Loch Ness Monster in over 50 years. Then, Houston Chronicle critic Joey Guerra catches us up on some of the biggest stories in the music world, from the...

This week’s guest is one of Greta’s favorite authors! Ann Patchett is out with her ninth novel, ‘ Tom Lake .’ It’s about a family that’s brought together to their northern Michigan cherry orchard during the quarantine days of the pandemic. As the parents and three daughters spend their days picking cherries, the mother tells a story. At first glance, it’s about the play ‘Our Town,’ and acting, and...

This week, Dylan Marron, host of the podcast The Redemption of Jar Jar Binks , and Jo Firestone, comedian and host of the podcast Dr. Gameshow , stop by to play one of our favorite games, “Burden or delight.” They evaluate the number of spiders we eat in our sleep and the best time of day to eat dinner. Then, we check in on what the heck is going on in Hollywood. The writers’ strike hit the 100 da...

This week, Daily Fail hosts Maura Currie and Kristen Meinzer join us to unwind from a particularly steamy week! We swap tricks for staying cool, talk about the joy of eating in front of the TV , and debunk sexist myths about hunter gatherers . Plus, in another installment of our ongoing Nerdy Jobs series, we meet Jennifer Mundt . She is a sleep psychologist at Northwestern Medicine, where she dire...

Nerdette Book Club’s August selection is Andrew Leland’s memoir The Country of the Blind . Andrew is gradually losing his sight due to a rare degenerative eye disease called retinitis pigmentosa, which he was diagnosed with as a teen. In this vulnerable, funny conversation, host Greta Johnsen shares her own experience with a degenerative eye disease. The two dig into how blind people have advocate...

This week, our panelists are the host of the NHPR podcast ‘ The 13th Step ,’ Lauren Chooljian, and Jonquilyn Hill, who hosts the Vox podcast ‘ The Weeds .’ We talk about whether we indulged in Barbenheimer, then recommend some stuff to read, do, and listen to this summer. You can find a list of their recommendations here , at our website. Then, Aomawa Shields tells us about her circuitous trajecto...

Nerdette Book Club is back to discuss our July selection, Tania James’ book Loot . It’s historical fiction, but the story centers around a real artifact: a life-sized, wooden automaton of a tiger devouring an English soldier known as Tipu’s Tiger. It was built in the late 1700s in Mysore, India, and it resides in London’s Victoria and Albert Museum. Our protagonist is Abbas, a young and talented w...

This week, we share some of the best things to watch and eat this summer! Our guests are Shilpa Uskokovic, food editor at Bon Appetit, and Shirley Li, staff writer at The Atlantic covering the entertainment industry. What to watch: ‘ How to With John Wilson ’ season 3 (July 28) ‘ Problemista ’ (August 4) ‘ Bottoms ’ (August 25) What to eat: Grilled Corn Tiger Salad Lemony Zucchini with Sour Cream...

It’s summer blockbuster season! Northwestern University’s Arionne Nettles and Chalkbeat Chicago’s Becky Vevea stop by to get excited about the opening week of both ‘ Barbie’ and ‘ Oppenheimer .’ We also chat about this year’s Emmy nominations and what in the world “ girl dinner ” is. Then, Simon Pegg reflects on an extremely nerdy career, his role in the latest ‘Mission Impossible’ movie, and whet...

This week, we are bringing you a special episode from our friends When Magic Happens from WBEZ! The podcast features intergenerational conversations between Black women. And this episode is for the nerds! Hosts Taylor Coward, Cheryle Jackson and Jennifer “Shea Love” Long get into why some nerdy hobbies challenge traditional notions of Blackness. They embrace the idea that the Nerdette team really...

This week, the hosts of the podcast Just Between Us , Gabe Dunn and Alison Raskin, stop in to talk about the concert-goers who keep throwing objects on stage, why everyone is in Europe right now, and the people who got stuck upside down on a roller coaster. Then, The New York Times ’ Alexandra Alter unpacks her story about how review-bombing on Goodreads is impacting the publishing industry. She a...