Lit Lit

H for is Hawk by Helen Macdonald Andy and Dani tame some birds! Uh oh are we reading all the best books at the beginning of the year again? Is Dani the best book picker we have? Is this Andy's favorite book of all time? Do either of us want to go buy a hawk?

Andy and Dani head on down to Verona and some other places as we reminisce about our relationships with the works of Shakespear. Is Shakespear taught to soon in school? How difficult is it to read? Will iambic pentameter always be in style?

Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell Andy and Dani meet Shakespeare's son. Have we once again read the best book of the year in the first 3 months? Maybe... Did Andy and Dani both cry in this episode? Yes. Yes, we did. Should you read this book? Ya... honestly, you should...

Andy and Dani take a trip down reading lane. What were some of the absolute book bangers from our childhood? How much money would Dani give Andy if she won the lottery? Has everyone finally finished Heated Rivalry?

Andy and Dani travel to Narnia! Does this story still hold up?!? Hell yes it does! Are there secret police that tattle on the whereabouts of at risk characters?!? Um.. well yes thats also true... Is this whole story actually about the idea of believing in God and that everything you do you should do in his name?!? Oh well... uhh ya... I guess that's true...

Andy and Dani are VERY VERY excited! We finished Knight of the Seven Kingdoms and boy oh boy do we have thoughts... are they good? Are they bad? We WILL spoil everything from this season BUT we don't spoil anything for future seasons. How smart can we sound? Find out...

The Supernaturalists by Eoin Colfer Andy and Dani go back to 6th grade. Everyone knows the best YA books murder a 14 year old within the first 30 pages. How emo was Dani when she was 12? Pretty damn emo... Does 12 year old Dani's taste it books stand up to time? Maybe? Will marketing actually be the downfall of humankind? Probably....

Andy and Dani leave medieval Europe behind and go globe-trotting… spiritually. How far off topic can Dani take this conversation? Honestly, impressively far. We discuss desert empires, lush jungles, mythologies we should absolutely know more about—and of course, the most important question of all: what is the official battlefield sandal?

Andy and Dani finish their first series of the year! Oooooo Ahhhhhhh. How many of our predictions did we get wrong? Will Andy cry? Did we like the series? Who knows... except you, if you listen... The Lotus Empire by Tasha Suri

Andy and Dani are at it again... hypothetical questions. How mean would our cats be to us? Probably really mean.. Who would be the worst character to have as your inner monologue? Dani wins this... ________________________________________________ If you would like to support Minnesota here are some resources you can turn to https://www.standwithminnesota.com/ https://www.miracmn.com/resources http...

Andy and Dani talk less about elephants than wanted and more about ICE than they thought they would. Did we get any of our predictions right? Spoiler... one of us did. Are we really enjoying this series? Spoiler... Ummm yes! Should you list to this episode? Probably!

Andy and Dani get real for a bit. I (Dani) live in South Minneapolis, and I wanted to use this time to talk about what's going on here. Andy and I discuss the insanity of this reality, and also give some ideas on what you can do in your area to support your neighbors who need it. Of course, activism looks different to everyone and we encourage you to do what you feel safest and most comfortabl...

New year, new series, same jokes. Andy and Dani kick off their New Year Series with The Burning Kingdoms Trilogy and we’re pretty into it! Feelings? Pretty good! Vibes? Solid! Elephants for Andy? Tragically insufficient. We get into whether chapter-by-chapter POVs work for this story and for us in general. Plus: bold (possibly delusional) predictions for Book 2 that we will almost certainly get wr...

Andy and Dani talk books... obviously. Somehow… against all odds… Andy and Dani have basically the same Top 3 Books of 2025. Growth? Taste? A shared brain cell? We may never know. We break down our overlapping favorites, celebrate the rare moment of agreement, and still find a way to bring up Morning Glory Milking Farm. Plus, a few shoutouts to books we read outside of Lit Lit, because we do occas...

The Christmas Appeal by Janice Hallett Andy and Dani head to the pantomime and have a perfectly mediocre time. If you love a long, self-congratulatory holiday email about how thriving your family, marriage, career, and dog are, this book is for you. If you’re normal, you may find yourself asking why you’re supposed to care that a bad man was murdered and shoved into a stage prop. Happy early Chris...

Andy and Dani look back at their favorite things from 2025, from music to movies and everything that had nothing to do with books. We recap the vibes, the wins, and the things that made the year… not terrible, surprisingly. Spoiler alert: Dani’s year was objectively better. Not because she wrote this. Because it’s facts.

The Running Man by Stephen King Andy and Dani go for a jog. Just kidding, absolutely not. This week we tackle The Running Man and ask the hard questions: who actually liked this book, and why are you hiding? We unpack the what-was-the-point energy, the truly wild amount of racism, and Stephen King’s deep, unsettling commitment to extremely detailed bodily harm. Seriously, we get it. The guts were...

Andy and Dani dive into the biggest letdowns pop culture has ever thrown at us. What TV shows nose-dived straight into disappointment? What “literary masterpieces” were actually just big words on tiny pages pretending to be deep? And which movies crushed our hopes, dreams, and maybe our will to live? Grab a drink... we’re naming names.

Morning Glory Milking Farm by C.M. Nascosta Andy and Dani inspect some holes.... no. No. No. This is all wrong... Did Andy just say he likes this book? Like did he just rank this in this top 5 for the year? Or is he just REALLY into minotaurs?

Andy and Dani celebrate! How will you observe Dani's birthday? We're observing by solving riddles! Were we able to get any of them right? No! Are we really this dumb? Sure are!

Havoc by Christopher Bollen Andy and Dani spend some time in Egypt. Ok... what's worse: Annoying kids or creepy old ladies? It's a pretty close call but one options kills WAY more people...

The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty Andy and Dani meet a devil. Demon girls belong in the basement, fake dumb detectives are cool I guess, and are possessions real?

Andy and Dani play the friendship game... are they still friends? Maybe. Are the frenemies? Probably. Are they Drunk? Absolutely.

The Primal of Blood and Bone by Jennifer Armentrout Andy and Dani get reacquainted with Casteel and Poppy the most level headed couple in all of fantasy... Oh wait she's STILL in a coma? HOLD ON nothing happens in the book until page 530?!? OH phew she's awake from the coma... WAIT SHE'S IN ANOTHER COMA? Whatever just hand over the whiskey...

Andy and Dani make predictions on their favorite series... Blood and Ash. Yes... its finally time. The next Blood and Ash book is out and we don't remember anything, so we decided to make predictions. We're helpless but we're trying.