The Worst Bestsellers

We've been reading too much frivolous lady fiction around here, so we had to make time to read a Serious Book by an Important White Man. Our guest Amy used her human skills of persuasion to get us to read Machines Like Me by Ian McEwan, Finally, someone has dared to ask the questions: what if robots could have emotions and also working penises and also what if the UK had lost the Falklands War?

Hey girl, guess what? Your life could be way better than it is right now if you just believed in yourself and also married a high-up Disney executive! Definitely mostly the first thing though. We were joined by Margaret H. Willison (1/2 of Two Bossy Dames, 1/3 of Appointment Television, and one of Pop Culture Happy Hour's 4th chairs) to discuss Girl, Wash Your Face by Rachel Hollis, a Christian se...

We invited Rebecca Mahoney, co-writer of The Bridge podcast and author of the upcoming YA novel The Valley and the Flood, to be a guest on our new podcast, My Least Favorite Murder. We read novelist Patricia Cornwell's ambitiously-titled true crime book Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper--Case Closed. Listen now to hear more than you ever wanted to know about a famous painter's penis!

As a belated Valentine to ourselves, we invited our friend Angie (@MissKubelik), editor of The Other F-Word, back on the show to read a Best Bestseller. We read Scythe by Neal Shusterman, a twisty YA utopia-ish where death is optional and the cloud is your friend. This episode does contain full spoilers for a book that we sincerely recommend reading, so maybe hold off on listening if you've been m...

To ease ourselves back into reading garbage after our winter break, we had returning guest Christine join us for another book by Our Lady Nora Roberts. This time around, we read Midnight Bayou, a Louisiana love story for the ages between a man and home renovations. You're going to have to turn your volume way up if you want to listen to this episode over all that Mardi Gras ruckus!

Tune in to our Bests & Worsts of 2019 episodes to hear us discuss these titles and read excerpts from our favorites! Please note: We counted things that we read in 2019, regardless of publication year. We didn’t count anything that we read specifically for this podcast, so our worst books are aside from those. For that reason, we picked top 5 favorites and only 1 least favorite–we have this whole...

Tune in to our Bests & Worsts of 2018 episodes to hear us discuss these titles and read excerpts from our favorites! Please note: We counted things that we read in 2019, regardless of publication year. We didn’t count anything that we read specifically for this podcast, so our worst books are aside from those. For that reason, we picked top 5 favorites and only 1 least favorite–we have this whole...

How desperate is Kait for scraps? She pre-ordered the next Murder Games novel just for another dumb murder story about gay people, despite all her issues with the first one. And boy, there were issues. Join Kait and Wren as they delve into what works and what doesn't in "James Patterson's" foray into queer protagonists, and gush endlessly over how much they love the incredibly silly show based on...

We knew we would need a lot of help to get through the frequently-requested book The Mister by E. L. James, so we tagged in Kitty and Piggy, the financial mavens behind the website and now podcast Bitches Get Riches! We'd already suffered through both Fifty Shades of Grey and also Grey, so we thought we knew what we were in for. But The Mister took us to unexpected places, such as inside a pair of...

It must be the season of the witch, since we read The Initiation, the first book in L. J. Smith's Secret Circle series. The new school year in New Salem marks the start of some beautiful friendships whose homoerotic subtext is only barely concealed beneath a thin layer of herbs. Plus also, some valuable lessons about urban planning!

We revisited the world of V. C. Andrews and read Dark Angel, the second book in the Casteel family saga with V. C. Andrews apologist Arielle. It's a grim story of a girl who escapes her impoverished hometown but can't get away from the fact that men are trash everywhere. Keep your wits about you if you listen to this episode in a hedge maze!

As listeners to the podcast may know, we're big fans of Dwayne Johnson, but slightly less knowledgable about his pro wrestling alter ego, The Rock. So we invited Tres Dean, author of For Your Consideration: Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, to read the 2000 memoir The Rock Says... by The Rock and Joe Leyden. We learned a lot about both Dwayne Johnson and The Rock. Arguably, more than we wanted to know? P...

Unlike vampires, we keep aging, so this is our 5th podcastversary! Tragically, we've completed our run on the Twilight saga, but the show must go on. We brought back returning guest Caroline to discuss Stephenie Meyer's awkward alien follow-up to the Twilight saga, The Host. Bad news: it's not as entertaining as Twilight. Good news: she never followed through on making this a trilogy. As you liste...

Divergent by Veronica Roth, a dystopian society controlled by Buzzfeed quizzes, has been one of most frequently-requested episodes. In an effort to bring peace to the five factions, we invited Annie, author of The Chance You Won't Return and cohost of the Crossover Appeal podcast to read this flash-in-the-pan dystopian novel with us. Listen to this episode on your next trip to Chicago--just make s...

Hola! We read the Dora and the Lost City of Gold movie novelization by Steve Behling so you don't have to! We were joined by librarian extraordinaire and Dora the Explorer watcher Kristi, who helped us avoid getting stuck in the quicksand of this self-aware novel that briefly took Twitter by storm. Strap on your backpack and listen to this episode as you hack your way through the jungle!

As Flashback Summer draws to a close for another year, our friend Kelsey joined us to return to a feminist favorite: Dealing With Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede. The three of us all loved this book as tweens and were thrilled to report that it holds up. Listen to this episode while cleaning your dragon's cave.

For this installment of Flashback Summer, we flashed  way back to ancient Rome. We read The Rotten Romans from the Horrible Histories series by Terry Deary & Martin Brown with returning guest, librarian Laura . It’s a whimsically British look at history with some cartoons that remain inscrutable, even to the eyes of adult Americans with history degrees. This podcast is only available in...

Flashback Summer continues with a trip to the Polk Street School, where the kids aren't alright. Becca joined us to read Pickle Puss by Patricia Reilly Giff, an early chapter book about how not to run a summer reading program or care for a pet. Listen to this episode on your way to deceive your local librarian!

The next stop on our Flashback Summer vacation is the 30th floor of an elementary school. Literary agent Amy joined us to read Sideways Stories from Wayside School by Louis Sachar. Everyone should listen to this episode, unless you're secretly a dead rat in a raincoat. Dead rats are not allowed. Everyone else, join us on Apple podcasts before Mrs. Gorf turns you into an apple!

It's the return of Flashback Summer and the 40th anniversary of beloved children's classic Bunnicula by James & Deborah Howe. We were joined by Laura to discuss the story of some irresponsible pet owners. Listen now to hear one weird trick to make your vegetables more Instagrammable!

We ran out of Twilight books so we had to read about some less-sparkly vampires, ugh! Fortunately, we were #blessed with the company of not only Meredith Goldstein (author of the Boston Globe's Love Letters column as well as the books Can't Help Myself and Chemistry Lessons) but also a live audience at Trident Booksellers, for our discussion of Interview With the Vampire by Anne Rice. If you weren...

If you like sitting around, listening to esoteric monologues that may or may not relate to your life from random people who refuse to answer any pertinent questions, do we have the vision of the afterlife for you! Chelsea joined us for The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom, a trudge through one man's severely messed up existence that was probably meant to be inspirational, but mostly m...

We don't have anybody's HBO login, so instead of watching the show, we were forced to read the book Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty! Fortunately, we were joined by Melissa of the Truer Words podcast for this trip through the delightfully sordid world of Australian elementary school politics. Are you #TeamMadeline or #TeamRenata? Duarte is #TeamRenata, but only because Madeline has never fed him.

When Gina joined us to read A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness, we were startled to discover that this book has way more than just witches! This book also has vampires, daemons, and plenty of #herbs. Join us for a relationship between a witch with tenure and a vampire who is 15 times older than Edward Cullen!

In a world...where a teen girl's touch is deadly...to everyone except one hot guy...who she's locked in a jail cell with...what will happen next? According to Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi, maybe she'll overthrow the government? Bookseller Maggie joined us to discuss this chaste, yet horny YA dystopian novel.