Mean Book Club

This week we read The Girls by Emma Cline with special guest Sarah’s mom Ginger! This 2016 debut spent 3 months on the NYT bestseller list. It’s rumored to be part of a $2 million dollar book deal! It reads like poetry but it’s about a Manson-esque cult. So it must be good, right? Wrong. Mean Book Club is four ladies (UCB, BuzzFeed, College Humor, Impractical Jokers) who read, discuss and whine ab...

This week we read Gossip Girl: All I Want Is Everything by Cecily von Ziegesar. Released in 2003, this third book took the Gossip Girl series to the NYT bestseller list for children’s chapter books. Turned into a popular CW show in 2007, this book is “the perfect book for any teen who wants something more than normal realistic fiction.” So it must be good, right? Wrong. Mean Book Club is four ladi...

This week we read Gerald’s Game by Johnna’s favorite author, Stephen King. This 1992 #1 NYT bestseller spent 22 weeks on the list. In 2017 it was turned into a Netflix film after long being thought to be unfilmable. Plus, there’s more cannibalism! So it must be good, right? Wrong. Mean Book Club is four ladies (UCB, BuzzFeed, College Humor, Impractical Jokers) who read, discuss and whine about NYT...

Straight outta quarantine, the gang is back with Season 8! This week we read Neon Prey by John Sandford. This 2019 #1 NYT bestseller is the 29th book of the Prey series but the first one any of us have read. This book has a cannibal and a crazy twist ending! So it must be good, right? Wrong. Mean Book Club is four ladies (UCB, BuzzFeed, College Humor, Impractical Jokers) who read, discuss and whin...

It's the Book List Announcement and mailbag episode! Season 8 starts up Tuesday, May 26. Mean Book Club is four ladies (UCB, BuzzFeed, College Humor, Impractical Jokers) who read, discuss and whine about NYT bestselling books that have questionable literary merit. It's fun. It's cathartic. It's perfect for your commute. New podcast (almost) every Tuesday! Here’s the book list for Season 8: Neon Pr...

SEASON FINALE! Monique Moses (IFC, Netflix’s Astronomy Club) joins us to read Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer! This Children’s Chapter books NYT bestseller has been described as “Die Hard with fairies.” After years in development hell, it’s finally been adapted into a movie (coming out soon on Disney Plus) starring Colin Farrel, Josh Gad, and Judi Dench. Why? We rip it apart to find out. Mean Book Clu...

Waddup, book nerds! In this episode, we read Naked Came the Stranger by “Penelope Ashe,” aka Mike McGrady and 23 other Newsday columnists. This erotic novel spent 13 weeks on the NYT bestseller list in 1969 before it was revealed to be a hoax! Why? We rip it apart to find out. Mean Book Club is four ladies (UCB, BuzzFeed, College Humor, Impractical Jokers) who read, discuss and whine about NYT bes...

Waddup, book nerds! In this episode, our special guest Ryan Simmons (Irishmin, SB Nation) read Women Who Work by Ivanka Trump with us! This 2017 self-help book debuted at No. 4 on the “Advice, How-To and Misc. and Monthly Best Sellers” list for the New York Times. Despite being written by President Trump’s golden child, this book actually lost the publisher $220,000. Why? We rip it apart to find o...

Waddup, book nerds! In this episode, we read Naughty Neighbor by Janet Evanovich. Originally published in 1992 under her pen name Steffie Hall, Naughty Neighbor became a NYT bestseller in 2008 when Evanovich updated it by changing VHS to DVD and roller skates to rollerblades and rereleased it. Why? We rip it apart to find out. Mean Book Club is four ladies (UCB, BuzzFeed, College Humor, Impractica...

Waddup, book nerds! In this episode, our special guest Dan Chamberlain (Tonight Show) read Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov with us! First published in 1958 in the U.S., Lolita was an instant NYT bestseller. It sold more than 100,000 copies in three weeks. It’s about a pedophile and yet considered one of the greatest works of the twentieth century. Why? We rip it apart to find out. Mean Book Club is fou...

Waddup, book nerds! In this episode, our special guest and viral superstar Alexis Pereira (UCB) reads American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins with us! This NYT bestseller rocketed to No. 1 on the NYT bestseller list after Oprah announced she had selected it for her book club in January 2020. And YET it’s gotten so much criticism Cummins had to cancel her book tour! What happened? Why? We break it apart t...

Waddup, book nerds! Live at the Strand, we read Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann. She was the first back-to-back NYT bestselling author who revolutionized book promotions. Dolls was published 1966 where it stayed in the NYT Bestseller fiction list for 65 weeks! The next year it was turned into a (film) starring Barbara Perkins, Patty Duke, Sharon Tate and Susan Hayward. How did it get so p...

Waddup, book nerds! Welcome to lucky season 7! In our first episode back, we read The Christmas Train by David Baldacci (months after the holiday season has already ended)! This NYT bestseller choo-chooed into our hearts in 2002 and then again in 2017 when the Hallmark Channel adapted it to a movie starring Dermot Mulroney, Kimberly Williams-Paisley, Danny Glover and Joan Cusack! But WHY was it so...

Waddup, book nerds! Here’s the book list for Season 7, which premieres Tuesday, March 10! * The Christmas Train by David Baldacci * Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann * American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins * Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov * Naughty Neighbor by Janet Ivanovich * Women Who Work by Ivanka Trump * Naked Came the Stranger by Penelope Ashe * Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer Mean Book Club is f...

Waddup, book nerds! It’s the SEASON FINALE! We read Relentless by Dean Koontz. This mystery/sci-fi/comedy book was on the NYT bestseller list for 2 weeks in 2009. It was written by the world’s SIXTH-MOST highly paid author! But why? WE MUST FIND OUT! Mean Book Club is four ladies (UCB, BuzzFeed, College Humor, Impractical Jokers) who read, discuss and whine about NYT bestselling books that have qu...

Waddup, book nerds! We read L.A. Candy by Lauren Conrad and the person who actually wrote the book. It was inspired by Lauren Conrad’s life as a young reality TV star! A NYT bestseller in 2009, this book stayed on the Children’s Chapter Books list for 14 weeks. But why? WE MUST FIND OUT! Mean Book Club is four ladies (UCB, BuzzFeed, College Humor, Impractical Jokers) who read, discuss and whine ab...

Waddup, book nerds! We read Blink by Malcolm Gladwell. A NYT and international bestseller in 2005, this book sold more than two million copies in the United States. But why? WE MUST FIND OUT! Mean Book Club is four ladies (UCB, BuzzFeed, College Humor, Impractical Jokers) who read, discuss and whine about NYT bestselling books that have questionable literary merit. It's fun. It's cathartic. It's p...

Waddup, book nerds! Our special guest Jo Firestone (The Tonight Show, Shrill, Dr. Gameshow) forced us to read On The Road by Jack Kerouac. Published in 1957, this NYT bestseller was chosen by Time magazine as one of the 100 best English-language novels. It’s an American classic. But why? WE MUST FIND OUT! Mean Book Club is four ladies (UCB, BuzzFeed, College Humor, Impractical Jokers) who read, di...

Waddup, book nerds! Our special guest Mike Scollins (Late Night with Seth Meyers, SNL) forced us to read Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher. A #1 NYT bestseller in 2011, this book was inspired by an audio guide to a King Tut exhibit! It spawned the popular but controversial Netflix series in 2017. But why? WE MUST FIND OUT! Mean Book Club is four ladies (UCB, BuzzFeed, College Humor, Impractical Jo...

Waddup, book nerds! Our special guest Sudi Green (SNL, Hulu’s Shrill) made us read The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. Published in 1988, this book spent 400 weeks on the bestseller list. Coelho wrote this book in two freakin’ weeks. Bill Clinton, Madonna, and Will Smith all love it. But why? Mean Book Club breaks it down. P.S. Tickets are up for our live show, January 30 at the Strand, get your ticket...

Waddup, book nerds! It’s a live show and our special guest Joanna Hausmann (Netflix’s Bill Nye Saves The World, Pixar's Monsters at Work, YouTube’s Joanna Rants) joined us in reading A Woman’s Worth by presidential candidate Marianne Williamson. A NYT bestseller in 1993, this book is the second popular hit by Williamson, who became a prominent self-help guru in the 80s. And she could now be presid...

Waddup, book nerds! This week our special guest Michael Hartney (UCB’s Artistic Director, Broadway’s School of Rock, Comedy Central Comic to Watch) made us read If I Did It by The Goldman Family and O.J. Simpson. The original book was cancelled after it was announced in November 2006. In 2007, a bankruptcy court awarded the rights of the book to the Goldman family, who released it shortly after, w...

Waddup, book nerds! Here’s the book list for Season 6, which premieres Tuesday, November 26! * If I Did It by The Goldman Family / O.J. Simpson
 * A Woman's Worth by Marianne Williamson
 * The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
 * Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
 * On The Road by Jack Kerouac
 * LA Candy by Lauren Conrad
 * Blink by Malcolm Gladwell
 * Relentless by Dean Koontz
 Mean Book Club is four la...

It’s the Season 5 FINALE! Comedy Central’s Becky Chicoine forced us to read The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn. Published in 2018, this book debuted at number 1 and quickly spun out a two-book two-million-dollar deal and a movie starring Amy Adams (due out in 2020). It’s also been critically panned and the author has been accused of lying and stealing the story! DRAMA! We break it down. Mean Boo...

Hey book nerds! This week Colin O’Brien (Just For Laughs) and Michael Wolf (Comedy Central, MTV), hosts of the Literati podcast, forced us to read Congo by Michael Crichton. This book spent 12 weeks on the NYT bestseller list in 1980 and was later adapted to a movie in 1995 (unfortunately not starring Sean Connery). But WHY? Mean Book Club breaks it down. Mean Book Club is four ladies (UCB, BuzzFe...