The Bookstore

This week we find out why Less  by Andrew Sean Greer is more than just a lighthearted,  Eat, Pray, Love  novel or more than even just a book about a dude writer. Our next few discussions are:  Her Body and Other Parties  by Carmen Maria Machado,  Heart Berries  by Terese Mailhot,  The Only Harmless Great Thing by Brooke Bolander, and  Children of Blood and Bone  by Tomi Ayedemi. Find them at your...

This week we read I am Thunder by Muhammad Khan. And reader, we did not like it. Spoilers abound, but don't worry because you're not going to be reading this one anyway - we took care of that for you. Find out what sank this promising premise of a diverse read for us. No new episode next week. Corinne got a house and she's moving and painting and barely sleeping. We'll see you for the next read wh...

A wise woman once said, "Sometimes books can tell you a lot about a person, and sometimes they can't, but sometimes they really can." And that wise person was Corinne. This week, Becca and Corinne are inspired by alt-right darling Jordan Peterson's sneaky best selling self-help book to talk about what books would make them run screaming from a date. Join us, and send your bad date stories! Next di...

Today we discuss the wildly popular and relevant I'll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara. Some topics include: the interesting dilemma of publishing an unfinished manuscript posthumously, being self aware of true crime obsession, and how to be a better neighbor. Our next book is  I Am Thunder by Muhammed Khan.  

Sorry for the delay! But I think I'll get this baby out with about 32 minutes of Tuesday to spare! This week we hear some listen email, talk about how to rate our books, and what we do now that the literary world is coming to terms with #metoo. Our next discussion is I'll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara, and after that will be I Am Thunder by Muhammed Khan. Find them and read them with us...

We read the very funny and strange Aetherial Worlds by Tatyana Tolstaya this week. There was so much to love that it was kind of hard not to just quote it for an entire 40 minutes. Also, tune in for the weirdest endorsement of kombucha provided on a book review podcast in 2018. Tolstaya's apocalypse book that Corinne kept name dropping was The Slynx. The next book will be I'll Be Gone in the Dark,...

Welcome to our new lifestyle podcast where we talk about owning books and where to keep your books and what color of book will be big this spring and how to prepare the best books for your dinner guests and which books make your butt look better and which books to put on your tricky under eye area. JK. We talk about some cool things in our lives regarding books recently: ie the personal library ca...

Well, Instagram voted and we read Swing Time by Zadie Smith. It was our first foray into her writing and probably not the best place to start. A paradoxical novel that somehow has a ton going on and nothing at all, we try to pull back the curtain in this week's discussion episode. Next time we'll be reading Aetherial Worlds by Tatyana Tolstaya. And after that, I'll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle...

We watched the Lifetime Original movie version of Lois Duncan's Stranger With My Face so that you don't have to, but maybe you should because you know what? We kind of loved it. We talk about why we don't trust people who wear shoes and pants at home, how to enter a public space to look for a friend, and cane safety. Peace to you! Next week we're reading Swing Time by Zadie Smith, read it and tell...

This week we're really putting ourselves out there (get it?) discussing Lois Duncan's 1981 classic suspense thriller about astral projection twins, Stranger With My Face. The book was a childhood favorite of both Corinne and Becca, so there's all sorts of nostalgic feel happening here! Next time we will be reading Swing Time by Zadie Smith. Get it from the library or your local indie and read alon...

This week Claire Handscome joins The Bookstore to talk about her work on Brit Lit Podcast, Brit Lit Blog, and her upcoming novel Unscripted.  She also recommends several incredible new books from the UK that we cannot wait to check out. You can listen to Claire's podcast, Brit Lit Podcast wherever you're listening to this right now. You can find her work at  www.unscriptednovel.com. The books that...

This week we discuss and review a difficult, but beautiful memoir. After the Eclipse by Sarah Perry is the story of a young girl and her mother before and after her mother's murder. This episode may be difficult for some listeners, please take note that the discussion will address subjects related to the book including domestic violence, rape, and murder. Our next book discussion will be about Str...

We're fangirling hard this week, so you know it's serious because we don't do that unless Becca is talking about Bones. Patti Smith is great and a beautiful writer and I wish I could dress like her and she has done a lot of cool things. So listen to us talk about how all of this makes us feel and then go read her memoirs if you haven't yet and if you don't like them PLEASE DON'T TELL US. Next week...

Ripped right from the headlines, we've read and are discussing The Perfect Nanny by Leila Slimani. If you're looking to read the book and some how have not had the very first line, or premise "spoiled," you might want to read the book first. Will Corinne go to jail for missing jury duty? Will Becca ever order her contact lenses? Subscribe to find out! Our next discussion is After the Eclipse by Sa...

Because of a bit of a vacation we didn't have a lot of time to prepare a typical topic episode for this mini. So we're going to brag about the fact that we've actually been reading some extracurricular stuff! And we've really really liked some of it! Here's what we've been up to and what we're recommending. Next up for discussion is The Perfect Nanny by Leila Slimani. Recommended in this episode:...

We've got a spoiler free discussion and review of Tayari Jones's An American Marriage for our newest episode. It's a beautiful novel that changes every time we think about it. We picked this before Oprah announced it, so we'll be owning knowing that it was really good before anyone else, ok? Our next discussion is going to be The Perfect Nanny by Leila Slimani, so pick it up locally and read along...

Corinne and Becca discuss two short stories by the late Ursula K. Le Guin and fall in love. The stories read for this episode: She Unnamed Them and The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas Our next discussion will be about An American Marriage by Tayari Jones, get it from Oprah and read it with us!

Becca and Corinne make good on their promise from Episode 8.5 to read a romance novel. This week they discuss how the literature world at large has often maligned romance and they talk about the book they chose, A Week To Be Wicked by Tessa Dare. Becca pitches her perfect romance novel and the ladies pick out their pen names. Does this podcast have an HEA? You'll have to listen to find out. Our ne...

This week we're celebrating gal pals in real life and in book life with the help of Kayleen Schaefer's Text Me When You Get Home. You'll find a review, some great suggestions for books about friends, and some friends from books. Books mentioned: The Neapolitan Novels by Elena Ferrante, The Color Purple by Alice Walker, A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini, Another Brooklyn by Jacqueline Woo...

This week Becca and Corinne talk about graphic memoirs and specifically about Thi Bui's The Best We Could Do. Corinne also remembers the name for the pages of the book that are immediately after the cover. It felt like a big deal at the time. More importantly, they make some great points about how literature makes us human. Which is harder to make jokes about. Next discussion: A Week to Be Wicked...

In this episode Becca and Corinne discuss what bums them out about the Canon of Western Literature and how it could be improved. They shoot the Canon out of a cannon. I've been trying to make that joke in one way or another since we recorded this thing, and honestly, it's not even a good joke and I kind of regret it now. Also! An offer for a bad-sexy Valentine's Day postcard. Next week we discuss...

Get prepared to hear us use our English degrees when we say "textual support" 1,000 times, friends. This week we discuss Louise Erdrich's misguided foray into the world of speculative fertility fiction with Future Home of the Living God. We gave it a go and did not get it! As always remember this is a book club like discussion: SPOILERS ABOUND. Our next discussion will be about Thi Bui's 2017 grap...

Since scandals were so much fun, we thought we'd try our hand at talking literary feuds! It's sort of like an episode of Ryan Murphy's Feud, but in a podcast and about people who write books instead of a TV show about glamorous actresses. Next week we will be discussing Future Home of the Living God by Louise Erdrich. Citing sources: Seeing Mary Plain. The New York Times. Cavett, Dick. Lillian Hel...

Happy New Year! We're kicking 2018 off by chatting about Jackie Collins' catty bonkbuster Hollywood Wives. Content Warning! This episode talks about sex. Like a lot, because we're talking about a book by Jackie Collins. It's not hot sex, it's not even lukewarm sex, but we still talk about it. Honestly it's everything we wanted, and maybe even a little more. And Corinne makes several baseball metap...

Becca and Corinne talk about a being tourists in the country of New Zealand, about how some english words don't mean what you think and others mean a lot of things, and about the book Corinne went there to buy (j/k that would be an irresponisble financial decision), Witi Ihimaera's The Whale Rider. Corinne pronounces almost all things wrong, consider this sentence this week's "Words is Hard." Next...