Literal Neighbors

We're at the penultimate spooky season episode, and we have jump scares! We're tackling The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson, a modern classic that has us questioning reality. Most importantly, we have a special guest host. He doesn't say much, but he really adds some pizzazz to our talk.

Get in, witches, we're gathering moonbeams! This week we read The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna. This cozy spooky season read has us questioning the economy (and authenticity) of selling dirty laundry online, discussing all things pumpkin, and uncovering some interest in forearms. So brew some lucky tea and join us for a lighthearted cutesy read!

We're in our second week of spooky season, and this episode is all about Freida McFadden's The Housemaid. This thriller/suspense kept us engaged and interested throughout, and we're excited to talk to you about it. So cozy up on your attic cot, enjoy your three bottles of water, and we promise it'll be a good time.

This week we read Tender Is The Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica, and if you don't like tasteless puns, this might not be the one for you. If you're ready to sink your teeth into something dark for the kickoff to spooky season, this might be the dystopian horror you're looking for. So listen in as we chew the fat about our first October pick!

This YA novel by Angie Thomas is full of really difficult themes and situations, but we hope you'll join us on this journey through main character Starr's horrific ordeal and the aftermath. We're trying to find some fun where we can, and we get on a few soapboxes, but we're glad we read this and hope you are too!

Okay, sirs and ma'ams and other stuffy honorifics, this week we're covering Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt. In addition to being aptly named for writing a book about sea creatures, Shelbys are apparently also really good at making chili (and cars), and we'll tell you all about it - and talk about the book, too.

Doot doot doot doot doot doot, breaking news! We've finished up The Women by Kristin Hannah. We laughed, we cried, we badmouthed adulterous liars, and we talked about Halloween costumes. Find us on our socials and let us know what you think of this bestseller!

Get your high heels and garters, because this week, we're off to Vietnam. We're reading the first half of Kristin Hannah's The Women, about nurses serving in the Vietnam War. If that doesn't sound cheerful enough, we also manage to talk about classic movies, some leading male actors, and shopping carts.

This week's read, I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness, by Claire Vaye Watkins, takes us out into the desert. We aren't totally sure what else to say about it, but we're pretty sure she'd want us to mention teeth, and we're pretty sure we don't want to talk about them. Listen in as we talk the Manson Family and somehow unrelatedly, about body farms.

Jesse Q. Sutanto's Dial A For Aunties has us discussing family dynamics, lamenting that we don't have lavish tea ceremonies in our futures, and thinking about how long one should check someone for a pulse before calling it. This fun little cozy mystery meets romcom met our needs for a light read despite some death, stress, and chaos, and we're ready to fall right in (dressed in our for...

Michelle Zauner's Crying in H Mart has lots of feels and lots of food. So, head to the nearest asian market, get a bunch of kimchi, grab some tissues, and listen in as we talk about food culture and how we want our dead bodies to be treated.

We're finishing up Mark Sullivan's Beneath a Scarlet Sky, and oh, look, a castle! We aren't really sure what's real and what's not, but we're pretty sure Mussolini's a weirdo and the cover is red and orange. From questionable Nazi morals to the best herbs and spices, we're covering quite the range of topics this week.

It's our half-year anniversary extravaganza! We hope you don't have misophonia, because we have a celebratory charcuterie board and we're not afraid to eat it. We're rebranding as a cheese review podcast, but we're still managing to talk about the first half of Mark Sullivan's Beneath A Scarlet Sky, a harrowing, stressful, but still romantic story of a young man in Italy du...

Instead of reading Yellowface by R.F. Kuang this week, we just found someone else's podcast and edited it a bit. So if you hear something you don't like, it probably came from that podcast. All the good stuff is definitely from us. Find us on social media @literalneighbors but please don't out us as frauds.

We read Short 1970s Book this week, and Blonde Neighbor and Brunette Neighbor are not terribly far apart in their reviews this week! We learn a little bit about reeducation of Chinese youth in the '70s and learn that given names don't matter, only descriptors.

This week's read is The Paris Library by Janet Skeslien Charles, and we are totally jealous of Odile's job at the American Library in Paris...except for the whole Nazis and 1940s of it all. If WWII isn't totally your jam, don't worry -- bust out your aqua net, because the second part of this dual-timeline story takes place in the '80s. So grab your bookmate and listen as we dis...

Anna and Jenn have a special guest for the review of Come and Get It by Kiley Reid. Lucky for Michon, reading the book isn't a prerequisite, and lucky for Anna, we get distracted a lot.

This week, we're doing a little redemption re-review. It's spoiler free, so if you're trying to decide your next book, check out our thoughts on our reads so far. We've changed our minds about some, held fast to our opinions about others, and given tips for getting out of bad dates, so no matter what, you'll leave this episode with something useful!

This week we're talking about Steven Rowley's The Guncle. We don't agree on much this episode, but we definitely agree we'd like a xanax pillow, a cute neighborhood throuple nearby, and the kind of life that allows for regular brunches.

This week, we'll talk about Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus, but mostly, Jenn finds her true calling and tries to turn the show into a Twister (yes, the 1996 movie) review podcast. Our 'lighthearted' book for this week is a little darker than anticipated, but it's still got some fun parts to it, and we're eager to share how we're getting lost in the sauce.

This week we're finishing up Ta-Nehisi Coates' The Water Dancer, and it's a heavy one. We'll talk through our feelings and questions about this somewhat supernatural story, maybe with more yelling. We respect the trauma that Hiram and friends have gone through, but (maybe a spoiler?) was the water really a surprise?! Let's discuss.

This week's episode covers the first half of Ta-Nehisi Coates' The Water Dancer, and Anna's a little disappointed that there hasn't been any dancing and really not a lot of water. Memory is a huge theme in this one so far, and while we can't remember to tell you what we're reading, we still feel very engaged in Hiram's story, and we think you will be, too.

We're covering Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys this episode, and surprise! We have different opinions about a lot of it, but we're both pretty sure we don't want to be trapped in a submarine or torpedoed on a boat. We're going to learn about lesser-discussed aspects of WWII and play a new game: Idiot or sociopath? Hunker down in your safe house (but please check it thoroughly first...

We're debating ideas, outcomes, and themes in Kamila Shamsie's Home Fire this week, and it's totally fine that we don't know our Greek tragedies or how to pronounce 90% of the names we've read for the past 15 episodes. Listen and weigh in on some of our hot and gross takes on everything from brainwashing to how to stay connected to your loved one while playing video games.

We've made our beds, and this week we're going to talk about Chloe Benjamin's The Immortalists. We have opinions about parenting styles, the importance of therapy, and potatoes, and some of it is actually relevant to the book, so give it a listen