Nov 2, 2023
For the first time recording in the ... afternoon ... Hannah and
Sam are perhaps more lucid than normal and have a lot of books to
chat about after a brief sidebar on Reddit posting (Sam's getting
tooled on). First up is "The Future," from Naomi Alderman, which is
an important novel that people really need to read, a commentary on
where we are and where we're going that Sam highly recommends. Why
are we still using social media, again? Next up is "Starling
House," by Alix Harrow, a piece of "horror-light" that took Hannah
a bit to warm up to. Then we hear about Sam's new project taking
out new books from the library, which he has already violated by
going back in time to read the first book in Christopher Paolini's
"Fractalverse" series, "To Sleep in a Sea of Stars," which is VERY
long and has lots of scenes with people eating in space, but Sam
generally liked as impressive new science fiction. Hannah's reading
a different kind of book with stars in the title, Tommy Orange's
new "Wandering Stars," which is a highly anticipated follow up to
"There There" (a novel, not short stories, as Sam believed). It's
another must-read, if not an easy read, a multi-generational look
at the Native American experience in the United States that makes a
nice pair with Jesmyn Ward's new "Let Us Descend." This is how you
grapple with the horrors of our history.
Then we transition into "Lazy City," which Sam says is like a Gen Z
"Bright Lights Big City," a look at the culture of people in
Belfast, Ireland, in their 20s, with all the dating and partying
you might imagine. It's bleak, but a great read for understanding
"what's going on with the kids these days." Watch out, though,
there are no quotation marks. But, wait, there's more! Hannah
listened to Britney's memoir — read by Michelle Williams! It's
amazing. But the people around Britney are despicable. And,
finally, Sam sings the praises of "Of Boys and Men," an examination
by Richard Reeves of why men are struggling in today's society, and
why policymakers aren't doing anything about it.