Hazel & Katniss & Harry & Starr

Spooky Season begins with a look at John Bellairs' 1973 franchise starter The House with a Clock in Its Walls, as well as Eli Roth's 2018 adaptation. Joining us for the ride is film critic Dede Crimmins, who brings a unique POV because she saw the film first. The book is *very* 70s and features surprisingly little character development, despite oozing atmosphere (that car chase!). The film is far...

On Tuesdays we wear pink! After many years of missing Oct 3, Brenna and Joe *finally* cover Mark Waters 2004's film Mean Girls and its source material, Rosalind Wiseman's parenting guide, Queen Bees & Wannabes . We've got some pretty major problems with Wiseman's 400 page tome, which relies heavily on gender binaries, barely addresses queer or racialized teens, and seems to hate girlhood? Than...

Joey is off to College in this film from director Forest Whitaker (!) from a story by Jerry O'Connell (!!) Alas that's what's most interesting about this frankly boring movie that fails to create a character for Katie Holmes' Sam. The romance isn't interesting and the narrative seems stuck on repeat, plus there's some weird sexual chemistry between the President and First Daughter. Thankfully we'l...

Brenna and Joe kick off Book Six with Bastien Vivès' 2017 comic Une Soeur/A Sister and Charlotte LeBon's film, Falcon Lake (2022). C/W: Vivès is under investigation for child pornography. We're fascinated by the similarities and differences in these texts, which both focus on a sexual awakening, but change the location and feature wildly different endings, which dramatically alters readings of the...

It's the end of Book Five, so we're closing the door on Veronica Roth's Divergent series with a look at her 2013 book Allegiant and director Robert Schwentke's 2016 film adaptation. We actually find good things in the beginning and end of the book, though the draggy middle section about eugenics (!) is...not great. Then we're onto the film, which adapts roughly 75% of the book, features horrible F...

We missed listener Victoria's contributions to Book Club, so we're revisiting Alanna: The First Adventure to talk about a few extra scenes. Wanna connect with the show? Follow us on Twitter, Instagram and BlueSky @HKHSPod or use the hashtag #HKHSPod: > Brenna: @brennacgray (BlueSky) or @mittenstrings (Instagram) > Joe: @bstolemyremote Have a mail bag question? Email us at hkhspod@gmail.com &...

It's our last Book Club for the year! Brenna and Joe are joined by listeners Emma, Charlotte and Tea, Books & Chocolate to discuss Tamora Pierce's Alanna: The First Adventure (1983). While folks warned us the book hasn't aged super well (colonialism, white saviour, gender essentialism, etc), overall we *really* liked this and can understand the nostalgia of a fantasy series with a female prota...

We have follow-up work from our Red, White & Royal Blue episode, including an apology (courtesy of Miriam) about Casey McQuiston's pronouns, and three points about characters and politics (courtesy of Tea, Books & Chocolate ). Then we fold in one additional thought about Charlie & Ben in Heartstopper S02 (courtesy of Jeremy). Wanna connect with the show? Follow us on Twitter, Instagram...

Brenna and (moreso) Joe discuss listener Andrew's response about Joe feeling bad for Ben in Heartstopper S02. Wanna connect with the show? Follow us on Twitter, Instagram and BlueSky @HKHSPod or use the hashtag #HKHSPod: > Brenna: @brennacgray (BlueSky) or @mittenstrings (Instagram) > Joe: @bstolemyremote Have a mail bag question? Email us at hkhspod@gmail.com  Hosted on Acast. See acas...

Brenna and Joe are late to Casey McQuiston's phenom Red, White & Royal Blue which has just been adapted to film by Matthew López for Amazon. We're fans of this fun, flirty read which tackles a few substantive topics in a low-key fashion. The film...isn't working for us unfortunately. Despite stars Taylor Zakhar Perez and Nicholas Galitzine's best efforts, there's no romantic electricity here....

We couldn't help but discuss Becky Albertalli's new book Imogen, Obviously which feels like a semi-autobiographical account of the author's own experiences coming out as bisexual. Yes there's fluffy, bubblegum romance, but Albertalli is doing something far more complicated with the book's "villain" Gretchen and her dangerous gatekeeping of queer identities. It's really fascinating! Wanna connect w...

Who's ready for Paris?! Brenna and Joe return to the world of Alice Oseman's Heartstopper for S02 of the Netflix series, which loosely corresponds to Volumes 3 & 4 of the comic. There's hickey drama, more queer teachers and even more diversity in the LGBTQIA umbrella. But while we're loving more Tao and Elle, Joe is frustrated by how quickly Isaac's "coming out" is handled and he finds the Ben...

Thanks to listener Laura's recommendation, Brenna and Joe check out Clémentine Beauvais' delightful Piglettes (2015) about three fat girls who bike to Paris. There's nothing lost in translation because the witty wordplay shines through in this fun, breezy, feminist book. While Brenna has issues with how Mireille treats the other girls and Joe desires cathartic punishment, we're both appreciative t...

Thanks to listener Miriam, we're tackling John Marsden's Tomorrow, When The War Began (1993), as well as its 2010 film adaptation by Stuart Beattie and the Brendan Maher-directed season of TV from 2016. This massive Australian hit is highly teachable, though don't go looking for commentary on colonialism or political curiosity from its teenage protagonists. The film is a big budget action film tha...

This week's mailbag is courtesy of listener Victoria, who asks if it's possible for literature to incite change anymore. Despite Brenna and Joe's initial melancholy outlook, John Green's interest in tuberculosis and the power of individual readers (plus the vital importance of YA) offers a possible sunny outlook. Wanna connect with the show? Follow us on Twitter @HKHSPod or use the hashtag #HKHSPo...

At the behest of listener Evelina, we're reading 2023's Stolen , by Sami author Ann-Helén Laestadius. C/W: graphic animal murder. Using contributions from listeners Victoria and Tea, Books & Chocolate , we dig into this three part intergenerational tale of trauma, environmental activism, racism, and suicide. It's a very heavy book (!) but it's also thrilling and beautifully written. Plus: quee...

Thanks to listener Neera, Brenna and Joe cook up a definition of NA (New Adult), who or what falls into it, and why agents shouldn't dismissive of the category! Wanna connect with the show? Follow us on Twitter @HKHSPod or use the hashtag #HKHSPod: > Brenna: @brennacgray / @mittenstrings (Instagram) > Joe: @bstolemyremote Have a mail bag question or a comment about book club? Email us at hkh...

After waiting forever, Brenna and Joe finally get to watch Nick Bruno and Troy Quane's feature film adaptation of Nimona (2023) and it's...fine? Ok, it's more than fine, but there is something missing. While the obviousness of the trans elements and the changed ending are perfect for the current political moment, the messy, interesting character flaws and unpredictable format of ND Stevenson's ori...

Listener Tea, Books & Chocolate asks the important question: what *is* Wattpad? Brenna and Joe discuss the platform's model, why we have issues with it, and announce a lucrative new partnership! Wanna connect with the show? Follow us on Twitter @HKHSPod or use the hashtag #HKHSPod: > Brenna: @brennacgray > Joe: @bstolemyremote Have a mail bag question or a comment about book club? Email...

Zzzzzz. Oh sorry, Brenna and Joe fell asleep trying to read Jenny Han's debut YA novel The Summer I Turned Pretty and watch her seven episode Amazon TV show. Belly...is so boring and we can't make ourselves care about her romantic triangle, which is confusing because we're huge Han Stans! Plus: Cam Cameron deserves better, back to back drunk episodes, musicality overload, and how will S02 of this...

Joe introduces Brenna to the silly, satirical humour of Phil Lord, Christopher Miller and Bill Lawrence's Clone High (we watched all 10 episodes of S02). Up for discussion: the Gandhi controversy that literally got the show cancelled, how the white male creators are a model for controversy, the angular cartoon style, the wit and wordplay, our fave characters, and the musical episode! Wanna connect...

Listener Jessica writes in with details about how she used the show's Monkey Beach episode as a genre categorization exercise for her university students, which prompts Brenna and Joe to discuss our desire for the show to act as a breezy accessible academic text. Wanna connect with the show? Follow us on Twitter @HKHSPod or use the hashtag #HKHSPod: > Brenna: @brennacgray > Joe: @bstolemyrem...

Ready for more Wattpad? Brenna and Joe are utterly baffled by Arianna Godoy's 2022 novel Through My Window , as well the lack of chemistry between the leads of Marçal Forès' Netflix adaptation. In addition to being poorly edited, the book features far too much anatomically incorrect (and dangerous!) sex. The film is better, but outside of a weirdly incestuous sex scene and a hilariously melodramat...

We're headed Down Under to discuss Gary Lonesborough's beautiful text, Ready When You Are . Joining us are listeners Tea, Books & Chocolate , Victoria, and Miriam (who recommended this, along with listener Toni) who praise the relationship between Jackson and Thomas, the depiction of Koori art, and how real the fictional Mish setting reads. Plus: racism and class, hot sex, and comparisons to l...

Brenna and Joe tag along on a Chinese quest as we read Gene Luen Yang's exquisite 2006 comic American Born Chinese and watch Kelvin Yu's eight episode Disney+ adaptation. We *love* the comic, with its gorgeous art, confronting imagery and careful pay-off (stick with it!). The TV show is a mixed bag: the cast, including all of the stuntcasting, is great, but the narrative is both streamlined and dr...