Mid Lit 112224

It's time for a speed round on the modern books getting banned by America's Censor Squad. From newly banned books like MAUS to a few oldies but goodies, we're taking a rapid fire look at as many books as we can squeeze into this episode. And here's quote from our hometown hero, Mark Twain, just for good measure: "Censorship is telling a man he can't have a steak just because a baby can't chew it.” If you don't already have a copy of these books but want to stick it to America's Censorship Squad, head over to our bookshop to get a copy. You'll local bookstores and our podcast.

We've finally found a reason to talk about the G.O.A.T... Toni Morrison. Thank you to everyone who has ever banned a Morrison book, giving us a reason to talk about America's greatest author on a show about mid lit. We're going to dive into the surreal worlds of "Beloved" and "The Bluest Eye" to get more insight into the fragile psyches of people who ban books, and unearth America's sins with Morrison's perfect prose and deep, psychological understanding of humans as our guide. And if you don't already have a copy of these masterworks on your shelf, head over to our bookshop to local bookstores and our podcast!

If you've been wondering whether the American Dream was ever real, John Steinbeck has the answer for you. Everyone's favorite critic of the American lie has been railing against the 1% since long before you were born. And nearly a century later, we've learned nothing. Walk through to Salinas Valley with us as we watch big business and wealthy landowners crush the little guy through Steinbeck's eyes and find out why we aren't entirely buying the "bad language" and "vulgarity" claims that the book banners level at Steinbeck. And if you aren't angry enough at the end of this episode, let Rage Against the Machine and Tom Joad help you out.  Help out a small bookstore by buying your copies of Steinbeck's masterpieces at Bookshop.org.

America is once again on a book-banning spree – and we're so mad about it, we decided to record a special season of MID LIT honoring some of the most frequent targets of book bans. Round up your barnyard pals and your sketchiest office crush, because we're kicking things off with a rousing conversation about George Orwell's seminal classics, Animal Farm and 1984. Come for the wildly ironic reasons these books were banned, stay for Theresa's genius targeted-ad hack. And , Little Brother is Watching!  Need a copy of your own? Head to Bookshop.org to local bookstores and our podcast!

Forget Jonathan Franzen, we've got Seth Corwin from W.A.S.T.E. Mailing List on this episode! Rebecca is talking one-on-one with our Instagram pal about "Crossroads." Here's the moral of the story: If you only read two Franzen books, let them be "Crossroads" and "The Corrections." Let's dig in and talk about Mister Difficult himself.  Shop our reading list at Bookshop.org to independent bookstores and our podcast.

Ya'll love you some Franzen... or at least love to listen to us talk about him! So, we're covering Jonathan Franzen's latest work "Crossroads." We're kicking it off with a big, ol' roundtable of guests new and old. In part one, we're ed by Colin McEnroe, Irene Papoulis, and Bill Yousman to talk about 70s youth groups, faith, and whether or not you can smoke enough 70s weed to hallucinate.  Shop our reading list at Bookshop.org to independent bookstores and our podcast.

We're popping in with a mini-episode to bid a fond farewell to Joan Didion, a magical thinker who depressed the hell out of us and lived an amazing life. Didion was, in a lot of ways, an inheritor of ol' Ginny Woolf's legacy, and we're paying homage by talking about the books we (sorta) read, the essays we're planning on revisiting, and why you should check her out even if high brow literature isn't your thing.  And as long as we have your attention, check out "The Center Will Not Hold," the Netflix documentary about Didion. Shop our reading list at Bookshop.org to independent bookstores and our podcast.

We're talking about John Irving again, but it's a bittersweet victory for Theresa. Why? We're diving into "The Cider House Rules," John Irving's pro-choice opus because several states are actively trying to strip women of their reproductive rights. We won't get into it right now, but the tale of an American hero, Wilbur Larch, and reluctant abortion provider, Homer Wells, seemed like the right book to be talking about at this moment in time. We discuss our feminist AF grandmas and their pro-choice rhetoric and take some detours into "If These Walls Could Talk," "Friday Night Lights" and other abortion-related media. (Poor Becky Sproles would be SOL in Texas today.) And Theresa tells us about the time some kid huffed ether a la Wilbur Larch and then tossed his cookies on her car.  Goodnight, you princes of Maine, you kings of New England. Please consider ing The Yellow Hammer Fund, a 501(c)3 abortion fund and reproductive justice organization serving Alabama and the Deep South. Shop our reading list at Bookshop.org to independent bookstores and our podcast.

We're wrapping up our thoughts on the twisted mind, the compelling work of Gillian Flynn, and a bunch of feminist AF protagonists who are fighting for our right to be just as gross, and mysanthropic as male characters. We rank our deeply flawed heroines by how much we want to hang out with each of them (spoiler alert: Rebecca's status as a possible psychopath remains in tact), somehow American psycho Patrick Bateman makes an appearance, and Rebecca gets truly icked out by Theresa's latest description of annoying male angst.  Shop our reading list at Bookshop.org to independent bookstores and our podcast.

The movie adaptation of "Dark Places" shouldn't be as bad as it is. There's a good cast -- with Charlize Theron and Christina Hendricks carrying the drama -- and Gillian Flynn co-wrote the screenplay. But something went wrong somewhere, because this book we loved was practically unwatchable in movie form. Is it the lack of Velveeta sandwiches? You tell us. Carolyn Paine stops by to talk about why she actually had to get up and pace around the house just to finish the movie.  Shop our reading list at Bookshop.org to independent bookstores and our podcast.

Gillian Flynn's "Dark Places" is one of her lesser-known novels, but we loved it! Between the Satanic Panic of it all, Ben Day's big Damien Echols vibes, and the reminder of all the ways big banks have been screwing over regular Americans since long before the 2008 crash, there is a lot to dig into here. Is the Angel of Debt a folk hero or just another dude preying on desperate people? Is Diondra scarier than Amma? Is Lyle a creep? Tune in as Carolyn Paine makes a rare appearance to chat about an actual book! Shop our reading list at Bookshop.org to independent bookstores and our podcast.

Amma. Adora. Camille. They're all brought to terrifying and startling life in HBO's interpretation of "Sharp Objects." Jean-Marc Vellee's vision and tour de force performances from Amy Adams, Patricia Clarkson, and Eliza Scanlen bring the Preaker/Crellin women to life but for some reason Theresa won't stop talking about Elizabeth Perkins as drunk Jackie. Meanwhile, Rebecca has a scandalous theory about Camille's daddy, so tune in to find out what her twisted mind has come up with this time around. But if there's one thing we've learned, it's that little girls are terrifying and not to be trusted. Shop our reading list at Bookshop.org to independent bookstores and our podcast.

Camille Preaker has serious mommy issues, and her sister, Amma, isn't going to win any awards for being well-adjusted either. Meanwhile, the ill-behaved girls of Wind Gap are turning up dead. Tune in as we talk to Lara Bricker, author, journalist, and Crime Writers On ist, about what Gillian Flynn's "Sharp Objects" gets right about Munchausen's by Proxy, her personal experience with malevolent mothers, the Gypsy Rose Blanchard of it all, and the reality of being a small-town reporter.  Lara also dishes about living in Exeter, New Hampshire which is simply infested with writers like Dan Brown and Joe Hill. Bonus: Find out which local used to wrestle with John Irving! And when you're done listening, head over to order Lara's new book, "Dead on Deadline" from Water Street Books. Shop our reading list at Bookshop.org to independent bookstores and our podcast.

What it lacks in nonsensical bear costumes, "Gone Girl" makes up for in great performances from Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike, Carrie Coon, Neil Patrick Harris, and Tyler Perry. Tune in as Carolyn Paine s us to talk about her possibly over-emotional response to "Gone Girl" and why she never considered Amy Elliot Dunne a feminist icon. (Score one for Carolyn not being a possibly dangerous psychopath!) Learn why putting a human face on Nick Dunne's suffering (even if it's Affleck's) helped Rebecca have some empathy for this mediocre, cheating husband.  Shop our reading list at Bookshop.org to independent bookstores and our podcast.

Gillian Flynn's "Gone Girl" is more than a book. It's a playbook for every angry wife with a neglectful, cheating husband. Get out your notepad, ladies, and make your husbands tremble in fear of what you're capable of. And also, fear Rebecca and our special guest, Blair from Unwelcome Recommendations on Instagram who maybe have a little too much iration for psychopathic Amy. Is Gillian a feminist, a misogynist, or just a good writer with a truly terrifying imagination? We may never know but we will discuss it to death! Does any of it matter, considering what a bleak future awaits Nick, Amy, and probably all of us?   Help local bookstores and our podcast by getting a copy of Gillian Flynn's books at Bookshop.org.

What does "beach read" mean to you? We explore the possibly sexist term with the help of an essay from Jennifer Weiner, and then recommend some of our favorite books to read with our toes in the sand (or, if you're Theresa, while avoiding the beach like the very pale person she is). As it turns out, Rebecca may not really understand what a beach read is, but that didn't stop us from putting together a list for you to choose your next read from! So us as we explore the joy of a leisurely beach read. Shop our reading list at Bookshop.org to independent bookstores and our podcast.

We stumbled on a real doozy of a rant from the fist-lady of highfalutin literature, Virginia Woolf. Turns out, she haaaates "middle brows." So we knew we had to do a mini-episode in which Rebecca gets to flex her grad school skills by taking us on a very serious trip through British modernism and into ol' Ginny's life and times. Meanwhile, Theresa gest to remind us why she was a mediocre student and life-long Mid Lit fan by vaguely recalling reading "Mrs. Dalloway." Shop our reading list at Bookshop.org to independent bookstores and our podcast.

In this mini-episode, we revisit Cat Person, Kristen Roupenian's 2017 short story for The New Yorker. As it turns out, the characters in Celeste Ng's books aren't the only ones who don't know how to communicate. Tune in to hear Theresa advocate more violence-by-women and rail against the patriarchy that trains us not to be loud and proud about our opinions, wants, and needs. Meanwhile, Rebecca maintains a level head while reconsidering her response to the initial reading of this story. Shop our reading list at Bookshop.org to independent bookstores and our podcast.

You've heard us gush about Celeste Ng's masterful way of depicting families, communities, and the complicated dynamics that propel them all to inevitable(?) consequences. Now hear us debate which of her books are "better," and get all of our wild predictions about Ng's next book. If we're right, send us a prize.  And don't forget to visit our bookshop to get your copy (of Celeste Ng's books or any of the books we've talked about, or even just mentioned).

Hulu's adaptation of "Little Fires Everywhere" goes off into some weird territory, making Mia a borderline unfit mother and Elena marginally more likable by contrast. And all the while we're asking, "What is Kerry Washington smelling now?" Seriously, if we were to judge by Mia's sneer throughout the entire show, we'd have to say someone was stinking up the set. By the end of it, we're on board with the uber-privileged Richardson children and screaming, "BURN IT ALL DOWN!"  Oh, Celeste Ng... what did they do to your lovely book? Tune in to hear more of our griping about this series! Shop our reading list at Bookshop.org to independent bookstores and our podcast.