WEBVTT
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Hello and welcome to a Talk Lit Get Hit bonus chapter.
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The little book chats in between the big ones.
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We'll talk about reading, authors, and have discussions with people who, like us, can't shut up about books.
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We might get sidetracked and talk about literally anything else, but this is a bonus chapter we wrote just for you.
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This episode we wanted to give back by sharing our book recommendations for all your specific tastes.
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The good, the bad, and the incredibly niche and freaky.
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We put out a question box and scoured the internet high and low to find book recommendations that will suit even the most specific of moods.
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Bridget, hello, hello.
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Hello, hello.
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We've talked endlessly in the past about being big mood readers.
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Do you think that these hyper-specific niches come into this at all?
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Yeah, I think so.
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Being a mood reader is reading what you want to read when you want to read it.
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And being in a certain mood obviously is a big mood reader thing.
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So if you want to read a book about a freak, then I think you're in a freaky mood.
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So part and parcel.
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You better hear first, folks.
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Freaky books for freaky people.
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I was thinking that this kind of approach to reading really backs up our general disdain for tropes as well.
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And the more I talk about it, the more I kind of struggle to lay out the difference between a trope and a vibe, or a trope and a theme.
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For example, I think I like a theme of privileged people behaving poorly.
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I don't think that's a trope because I can find that in a variety of different books in a variety of different ways.
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I think there's not just one way for that theme to be executed.
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With tropes, I think it's like that is what's gonna happen.
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There is one bed and the people need to fit inside it.
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Yes.
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While we do have some pretty specific requests for this episode, I think there's so many different ways of looking at them.
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Yes.
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A trope, though, it either is or it isn't.
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Like we see it all the time with enemies to lovers.
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That's our big ticket item, our big personal beef.
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Yes.
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You either are someone's enemy or you aren't.
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But in the books we read, they are friends or they are strangers.
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Yeah.
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It's factually incorrect.
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It's not true.
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Or they're co-workers that may share a workspace.
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Yeah.
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So anyway, tropes out themes in extremely specific book recs, also in you heard it here first.
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Lots of firsts revealed this episode.
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Yeah, breaking news.
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What was that sound that you did for breaking news?
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I thought we could kick it off with one that is a little bit personal because being Southern Hemisphere girlies, we always have a little bit of FOMO around the cozy autumn and winter reads and feel that there's often not a lot of representation when our time without the sun rolls around.
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Our time in little less sun.
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Yeah, great.
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Still many sun.
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Still can be 30 degrees.
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However, we did have someone looking for a book rec that feels like the first days of soft autumn sunlight kissing your face.
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I want to read a book with that as the whole book.
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That sounds delightful.
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We've tried our best to find books that capture that feeling.
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Would you like to kick yourself?
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It could be a mistake, but my recommendation for this is Body Friend by Catherine Brabant.
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I think I've intrigued myself with this choice here, but my reasoning is that this is a very tactile, like sensory book that's set in Melbourne.
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So I think it feeling very familiar to me helps a lot.
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But she talks a lot about wind rustling through the trees, the first sort of crisp mornings, putting on her sweater.
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It is actually a book that is almost like entirely internal.
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It's a very meditative, intimate look at chronic pain and chronic illness.
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And the protagonist meets two different women in recovery from surgery she's had that kind of ask and expect different things from her.
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One is encouraging stillness and sort of like acceptance and grace of her body, and the other is asking for more.
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Push more, do more, try more every day.
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So it's really, really introspective.
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But I think the environment is quite a big player in that story, at least for me.
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So that's my rec.
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How about you?
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My rec is also one that I'm not quite sure about, but I decided to pick this one because I feel like autumn is like a little bit sad because summer's ending, but you're also a little bit hopeful for cooler weather, and it feels like a good time to be in the garden planting flowers, planting seeds.
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Autumn is the time for hope and growth in my mind.
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So I picked Blue Sisters by Coco Malores, and this is the book that interweaves the lives of three sisters who have come back to their childhood home in New York City a year after the death of their beloved fourth sister, and they're trying to stop the sale of their childhood home.
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Avery is the eldest and she's a recovering addict and lawyer who lives in London.
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Her marriage is on the rocks.
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Bonnie is a retired boxer and she's now working as a security guard.
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And Lucky is a wild child model living in Paris and just doing every drug under the sun.
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So they're kind of pushed together to confront their grief and they're just attempting to push through with their lives, and it was really nice and sad and hopeful at the same time.
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I literally have Borrow Box open to borrow this once and for all.
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I can't go another day without Blue Sisters in my life.
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Well, I have a copy of it if you want to take it.
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I better not, because you'll never get it back.
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But I appreciate that.
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Thank you.
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The next request was for a book that feels like the period between high school graduation and the beginning of the rest of your life.
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What is your recommendation for this?
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My knee-jerk reaction in A Shock to No One was Lead Us Not by Abby Lay.
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You're probably sick of hearing me talk about this book if you've listened to the podcast.
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Lead Us Not is a novel, a debut novel by Australian author Abby Lay.
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It's sort of a coming-of-age story set in a suburban Catholic girl school in Australia, and it explores a really intense, kind of codependent, often blurry relationship between two friends.
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The book does take place during the school year, but there's also a lot of chatter about like everybody's hopes and dreams for the next year, what everyone will be doing.
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And aside from the relationship between the main characters, I think it does such a great job of capturing that kind of anxious but optimistic period of time.
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The other book that I would throw into this category is another that you're probably sick of hearing me talk about, and that's Love and Virtue by Diana Reed.
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Also another Australian author and another book set in Australia.
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Hopefully, without spoiling too much, um, Love and Virtue is a contemporary campus novel, which side note is like another of my favourite subgenres.
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I love a campus novel that kind of explores the complexities of consent, privilege, um, and the ethics of storytelling.
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And I think what makes me pick this book is that this is exactly what I thought my life was gonna look like.
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Like I would have cool friends, I would have dynamic relationships, like I'd be out in the clubs, I'd be living in college, I'd probably have a questionable relationship, although it was like always gonna be way more upbeat and way more rosy in my version of events.
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It's not quite so positive in this book.
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I think this book does a really great job of capturing the feeling I had in that period, which was just, yeah, that intense conviction that my life is about to begin.
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How about you?
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The book I picked for this was The Idiot by E.
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Fatumin, and this is one of my favorite books ever.
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I do have to say that not much happens in this book and it's very interior, but I think that captures the vibe of the holding pattern that you sometimes can feel like you're in between the end of school and the start of uni quite well.
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Like a bit melancholy, not knowing what's gonna happen, like who your people are going to be, like trying to fit in in a new place.
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This book is set in 1995, and the main character is studying at Harvard, and she's like really struggling to find a place.
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She becomes obsessed with another student in one of her classes.
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I think they're learning how to speak Russian.
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And she also goes on a trip to visit Hungary in the break.
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I've read this twice now, loved it so much.
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I think everybody should read it.
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Only if you want to, though.
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Or good if not.
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Yeah.
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No worries if not.
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Our next request was for the best book you'll never read again.
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I took this to mean the book or books that devastated you so much that were great, but you can't knowingly put yourself through that again.
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Okay, I didn't interpret it that way, but I've coincidentally picked books that perfectly fit that bill.
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Oh, amazing.
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What's your first choice?
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My first choice was The God of Small Things by Arundati Roy.
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This is another one of my favourite books, and it tells a story of seven-year-old fraternal twins and their mother, uncle, and grand aunt in the 1960s amid the societal caste rules in India.
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It was beautiful, just a masterpiece, but absolutely devastating, and I never want to read it again.
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And I never want to think about what happens in it again.
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I'm scared and excited because I packed that in my bag to bring overnight.
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Oh, it's so good.
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I've been meaning to read it for years.
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So I'm so happy to be devastated.
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Yes, yes, you will be devastated.
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Commiserations to myself in advance.
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Yeah.
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What's your first recommendation?
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My first recommendation is probably not so devastating, but it's a book called What I Loved by Siri Hustford.
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This is a book that on paper sounded like it was going to be exactly for me, and it was, but at the same time, it still really took me by surprise.
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I think it had this really relentless and unexpected sense of menace running underneath the book at all times, and it just did not let up for me.
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So it is a book that is set in New York's Soho art scene during the 70s and 80s, and it follows a man named Leo Hertzberg, who's an art historian, and his really intense, codependent relationship with a painter named Bill Weschler and his wife and family in the 25 years that follow.
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And so, like that description of the book sounded fantastic to me, but I just didn't expect to be so stressed throughout it.
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Like I wanted obsession, I wanted intensity.
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But there were points in the book where I thought, is this about to get like supernatural?
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Is there gonna be some sort of weird shit that can't be explained happening?
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But no, it was like rooted in reality, but I just like I don't know, it generated like this intense paranoia in me, and I think it was a work of art, but I don't think I'd revisit it.
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Yeah.
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Sometimes those uneasy books are really good, and sometimes they just wreck you.
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Yeah, and like maybe someone will go and read it now and think actually it's like very standard.
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What are you talking about?
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I don't know.
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It was it really swept me up.
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I wasn't expecting it.
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My next recommendation is They're Going to Love You by Meg Howry.
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We've both talked about this on the podcast.
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I think I said I was using the photocopier and trying to see through my tears at work.
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Uh, not an audiobook to listen to in public, especially not as you near the end.
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But this was a lovely story.
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It's about ballet and art and estrangement and betrayal in a family.
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It's set during the AIDS crisis in New York City.
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Once again, never want to read it again.
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But it's lovely, and I loved it so much.
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My next rec is a book called Bodies of Light by the Australian author Jennifer Down.
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I've had a lovely little Australian theme going on.
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What's going on?
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Let's all rejoice.
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That's my hyper-specific recommendation.
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Read more Australian fiction, please.
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So this is kind of what I see as like a remedy to a little life.
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I think I possibly even read it after reading A Little Life, looking for things in the same theme.
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And I think it generates all the same feelings.
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Like it's an absolutely harrowing, crushing book, but I just think it handles it probably a bit more responsibly and respectfully.
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And so this is a story about a woman named Maggie who's dealing with her trauma from a childhood spent in Australia's foster care system.
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And I know Jennifer Down did an incredible amount of research on this before writing the book.
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So the book follows her journey through abuse, through institutional failure, addiction, struggles with identity, and then ultimately is like kind of uplifting at the end.
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It's about survival and resilience and hope.
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And it was really beautiful.
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I cried so much, but I would really recommend it.
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For first-time readers only.
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The next request was one that we kind of struggled with a bit.
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A little bit out of our wheelhouse as readers, but it was begging and pleading for more female-led horror with cannibalism.
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I could think of one book that sort of ticked those boxes, and it was Natural Beauty by Ling Ling Huang.
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I read this a few years ago now, and this is a book that has stuck with me in the years since I have read it, and it's a body horror about a classical pianist who quits performing and starts to work at a sinister wellness bar.
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Her parents are in some kind of clinic, and this is a really disturbing book about wanting to fit in and meet the lofty beauty standards of society, and like how far will you go to reach perfection in your appearance?
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I'll be honest, I can't actually remember there being cannibalism, but when I looked at the content warnings for the book, one of them was cannibalism.
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So I'm taking Story Graph's word for this.
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Yeah.
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And that's all I could find.
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I I don't think I've read many other books with cannibalism.
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Have you read any?
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I don't think that I have read any, but it does seem to be a genre that I'm pulled to though, because I had lots in my want to read and lots that are like I'm aware of.
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I just haven't read any of them.
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So I could rattle off a few of these.
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I kind of have a feeling like if you're already searching for more in this category, you're gonna be like, yeah, we've heard of the Bible, but like I'm gonna try my best.
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So my first rec is Woman Eating by Claire Coda.
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This is a story of a young mixed-race vampire who has been raised by her mother, who is a self-hating religious Asian vampire.
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Now, the protagonist is working in an art gallery with her own studio space and dealing with her incessant hunger as she's never fed from a human.
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So nice little double whammy there because we get a vampire story and a cannibal story.
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Another I've heard of is A Certain Hunger by Chelsea Summers, and this focuses on a sophisticated food critic who is also a serial killer and cannibal.
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The Eyes of the Best Part by Monica Kim features a Korean woman dealing with intense rage by devouring men.
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The Lamb by Lucy Rhode is a folklore-inspired horror that focuses on a young girl named Margot and her mother who are isolated from society and seducing in order to satisfy their cannibalistic ways.
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Continuing on with the kind of freaky theme, we had somebody requesting books like Sky Daddy.
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Freaky, but like kind of deep and beautiful.
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I haven't read Sky Daddy, but I think I get what they're saying.
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But maybe you can kick us off seeing as you're very familiar with the sexy plane book.
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So sexy, so plain.
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I kind of struggled with this one as well.
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I was trying to think of books that really match the freak level of Sky Daddy, and I could only really come up with two.
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The first one was Bunny by Mona Award.
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I feel like this one might be a little bit over-recommeded, but I think the female friendships that are explored in this book are underrated and not really spoken about when you think about the other freaky shit that's happening in the book.
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It didn't really hit me the first time that I read the book, but the second time I thought the friendship between the main character and her best friend was so beautiful and so um almost hidden in the story, and I loved it so much.
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The second one I came up with was I Hope This Finds You Well by Natalie Sue.
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This one is a little less freaky.
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Like she doesn't want to have sex with a plane, but she is still a little bit of a freak.
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The main character is unliked at work, she's on probation, and then she's accidentally given unauthorized access to her co-workers' emails.
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It's toxic, it's stressful, it's weird, but I found this book really touching and just like the main character's journey.
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I don't know, just through her weirdness and through her mental instability to be really, really beautiful.
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How about you?
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What did you come up with, you freaky bitch?
00:16:56.960 --> 00:17:09.359
Look, maybe the real freaks were the freaks we met along the way because I really have this perception of myself as someone that does like freaky girl literature, but this was a moment of reckoning where I was like, no, you don't.
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I really do like books about girls at work in a cafe.
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Yeah.
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Quiet meditative moments set in nature.
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Like I don't.
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But I tried my best.
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So that's all we can ask.
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Yeah.
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My first recommendation is a book called Monstrilio by Gerardo Simona Cordova.
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And this is sort of like a literary horror/slash dark fantasy novel that explores grief, love, and what it means to be human.
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So it follows a mother whose son Santiago has died, and she cuts out and nurtures a piece of his lung until it becomes sentient and like a tiny little carnivorous creature that continues to grow and evolve.
00:17:53.839 --> 00:18:08.160
So the creature named Monstrilio is hidden in a Mexico City, estate where they live, and then grows into this human-like form, but still pretty freaky, and is struggling all the while with his monstrous instincts to attack and eat.
00:18:08.160 --> 00:18:11.279
Feed to consume.
00:18:11.279 --> 00:18:16.640
So obviously, that's a pretty weird concept on face value.
00:18:16.640 --> 00:18:17.920
Take it or leave it.
00:18:17.920 --> 00:18:29.839
But beneath that surface is a look, like I said, at what it means to be human and kind of like the toll of deep attachment and the way that different people process grief.
00:18:29.839 --> 00:18:34.480
The second book that I thought I would throw into the ring is Open Throat by Henry Hoke.
00:18:34.480 --> 00:18:42.240
This is a queer literary fiction novel narrated by a lonely mountain lion living underneath the Hollywood sign.
00:18:42.240 --> 00:18:48.720
I normally really, really hate personified animals, but I found myself pretty moved by this one.
00:18:48.720 --> 00:19:05.839
And this is kind of just a very short story around the creature's struggle for survival and identity as they sort of observe the humans that live nearby them, the humans that come hiking up the Hollywood sign, like sort of about like urban destruction and wildfires and displacement.
00:19:05.839 --> 00:19:12.160
And it's quite like dreamy and whimsical and a little bit strange but also strangely moving.
00:19:12.400 --> 00:19:20.400
The next request we had was for a fictional story that will help with burnout because the self-help books aren't self-helping.
00:19:20.400 --> 00:19:24.720
The book that I picked for this was called Mame by Jessica George.
00:19:24.720 --> 00:19:36.400
And this is a story about Maddie, who was a 25-year-old British Ghanaian woman who is trying to juggle her career, her expectations from her mother who has gone back to Ghana.
00:19:36.400 --> 00:19:49.279
She's trying to date, she's trying to make a life for herself and figure out who she is as a person, as well as being the primary caregiver for her father who has late-stage Parkinson's disease.
00:19:49.279 --> 00:19:52.799
So it's quite sad, it's very moving.
00:19:52.799 --> 00:19:58.240
Once again, read this a few years ago, and it has really stuck with me as one of my favorite books.
00:19:58.240 --> 00:20:00.960
So this might help you with your burnout.
00:20:00.960 --> 00:20:09.119
Maybe you'll find a bit of, I don't know, camaraderie with Maddie, and she eventually sort of finds the light, and I hope that you do too.
00:20:09.359 --> 00:20:11.599
I also have given this my best crack.
00:20:11.599 --> 00:20:15.279
Unfortunately, many of the stories I read are quite grim or harrowing.
00:20:15.279 --> 00:20:22.720
A book that I would always turn to when looking for just some kind of comfort or reassurance is Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout.
00:20:22.720 --> 00:20:26.079
There's a number of books in this universe, and I like them all.
00:20:26.079 --> 00:20:31.759
I think they all offer the same or similar things, but Olive Kitteridge is like really the original and the best.
00:20:31.759 --> 00:20:47.599
And so this consists of 13 interconnected short stories centered sort of on or around the life of the titular character, Olive Kitteridge, who's this really like kind of grumpy, miserable old school teacher who's retired living in a fictional town on the coast of Maine.
00:20:47.599 --> 00:20:59.519
What I like about this book and what I find so comforting about this book is that I just think Elizabeth Strout has such an unaffected style of writing that really cuts straight to like humanity.
00:20:59.519 --> 00:21:08.319
I don't know how to say that, but I think her work is very like personal and empathetic without being overwrought.
00:21:08.319 --> 00:21:14.079
And it shows these like really simple day-to-day moments that have impact on individuals.
00:21:14.079 --> 00:21:22.880
I think what resonates with me is the attention to the small things and the reminder to slow down and that little gestures can have big impacts.
00:21:22.880 --> 00:21:27.759
It's quite character-focused, but it is very introspective and quite meditative.
00:21:27.759 --> 00:21:30.720
So I think it's a good book when you want to slow down.
00:21:30.720 --> 00:21:32.720
Lots of people say it's very boring.
00:21:32.720 --> 00:21:35.200
So take that with a grain of salt.
00:21:35.200 --> 00:21:36.960
That's what I like about it.
00:21:36.960 --> 00:21:41.279
It's just the everyday, the joys and pitfalls of everyday life.
00:21:41.599 --> 00:21:49.839
The last request we have for today is a book about people learning to be lonely or being okay with not meeting expectations.
00:21:49.839 --> 00:21:54.480
The book that I picked for this is actually a memoir that reads like a novel.
00:21:54.480 --> 00:21:59.759
And I remember reading it without realizing that it was nonfiction, and it took me like until maybe three.
00:21:59.759 --> 00:22:04.240
Quarters of the way through the book where I was like, Oh, this is a real book.
00:22:04.240 --> 00:22:07.759
So I think that's that's a mark of a good memoir.
00:22:07.759 --> 00:22:19.440
This is Notes on Heartbreak by Annie Lord, and it tells a story of the end of a five-year relationship told from the breakup back to the start, so in reverse chronological order.
00:22:19.440 --> 00:22:31.839
It is really funny and sad, but I think it would be really comforting for people who are struggling with uh like a breakup or struggling with loss, struggling with being single or alone.
00:22:31.839 --> 00:22:44.640
It's really just a story about finding who you are without the person that you might have revolved your life around, or finding out who you are when you live for yourself, I guess.
00:22:44.640 --> 00:22:48.319
This is a book that I would love to reread sometime in the future.
00:22:48.319 --> 00:22:50.640
I think again it's one of my favourite books.
00:22:50.640 --> 00:22:53.440
So, really pulling out the big guns today.
00:22:53.440 --> 00:22:54.400
How about you?
00:22:54.400 --> 00:22:56.240
Which book would you recommend for this person?
00:22:56.400 --> 00:23:05.839
I really struggled with this book, and I don't know that I have any strong recommendations, but one of the first ones that came to mind was Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason.
00:23:05.839 --> 00:23:20.240
This is a book I read quite a long time ago, so I unfortunately can't remember it too much, but it tells the story of a woman who's grappling with an undiagnosed mental illness that is like having huge impacts on her life and marriage.
00:23:20.240 --> 00:23:34.880
It sort of centers on themes of mental health and love and family, and as her life falls apart and she moves forward quite unapologetically, also explores her journey towards, I guess, healing and self-acceptance.
00:23:34.880 --> 00:23:45.599
Another that I don't quite remember, but I thought I could just throw into the ring, like maybe two halves, make a whole kind of thing, is a book called Sunset by Jessie Cave.
00:23:45.599 --> 00:23:51.519
I remember being really blown away by this book when I first read it, but I don't see many people talking about it.
00:23:51.519 --> 00:23:57.039
And so this is the story of a woman whose sister has died very unexpectedly.
00:23:57.039 --> 00:24:00.480
A sister that she had a really close and codependent relationship with.
00:24:00.480 --> 00:24:11.440
So it's kind of a story about intense sisterly love and then picking yourself back up after a loss, finding joy in the everyday and moving forward.
00:24:11.440 --> 00:24:16.400
I just remember crying a lot, but also laughing more than I thought I would when I read it.
00:24:16.400 --> 00:24:23.759
I also developed a sharp interest in having gold eyeliner after reading this book because it was just one of the quirks of the sister.
00:24:23.759 --> 00:24:35.359
And honestly, like I do struggle at times to buy into fictional sisterly relationships, like the intensity of the closeness and like the sisters are always meant to be so cool, but this one really did sound cool.
00:24:35.359 --> 00:24:37.039
I wanted that gold eyeliner.
00:24:38.000 --> 00:24:41.920
Did you ever get the magazine Sabrina's Secrets, like in the early 2000s?
00:24:42.319 --> 00:24:44.240
I think I might have maybe had one copy.
00:24:45.440 --> 00:24:48.480
Every issue, you would get some cosmetic item.
00:24:48.480 --> 00:24:51.599
And I think the first one was like a purple nail pen.
00:24:51.599 --> 00:24:52.240
Jealous.
00:24:52.240 --> 00:25:01.920
And so you'd get this box, and over the course of like the whole magazine, you would fill up your cosmetics box with fun stuff, like hair spirals.
00:25:01.920 --> 00:25:02.640
Do you remember those?
00:25:02.640 --> 00:25:03.599
Oh, so cool.
00:25:03.599 --> 00:25:06.480
And like it would tell you like how to do a zigzag part.
00:25:06.480 --> 00:25:10.799
And it was Sabrina the Teenage Witch, but it was like makeup and it was sick.
00:25:10.799 --> 00:25:15.200
Anyway, and I remember I think there was like a gold eyeliner or maybe like a purple eyeliner.
00:25:15.200 --> 00:25:22.319
And I remember my sister and I saw it on ads on TV, and we were like, Mom, please let us get Sabrina's secrets.
00:25:22.319 --> 00:25:31.119
And so then we went to the news agent to get it, and we were really disappointed because we thought we would get the whole box of stuff, but it was like one every issue.
00:25:31.119 --> 00:25:32.240
That's so crushing.
00:25:32.240 --> 00:25:36.400
We got quite a few of them, and we actually got like a Salem plush toy.
00:25:36.400 --> 00:25:37.839
Oh, I remember the plush toy.
00:25:37.839 --> 00:25:39.119
Yes, yeah, that's where we got that from.
00:25:39.119 --> 00:25:40.319
I probably saw it at your house.
00:25:40.319 --> 00:25:40.640
Yeah.
00:25:40.640 --> 00:25:44.799
The gold eyeliner, that's a Sabrina secret kind of thing, and I love it.
00:25:44.960 --> 00:25:45.680
That's so cool.
00:25:45.680 --> 00:25:49.200
I think I had a friend who got a bandana from the S Club 7 magazine.
00:25:49.200 --> 00:25:49.839
Amazing.
00:25:49.839 --> 00:25:50.799
I was so jealous.
00:25:50.960 --> 00:25:51.200
Yeah.
00:25:51.359 --> 00:25:54.960
Anyway, I don't know how we got onto that, but sisters are cool.
00:25:55.200 --> 00:25:58.640
Um, and they help you heal and find yourself.
00:25:58.640 --> 00:25:59.359
Yeah, great.
00:25:59.359 --> 00:26:00.559
That's a great summary.
00:26:00.559 --> 00:26:01.839
Thank you so much.
00:26:03.039 --> 00:26:07.200
Well, this has been a good exercise in trying to remember the books that I've read.
00:26:07.440 --> 00:26:11.599
It's also been a good audit of like, why did I read this book?
00:26:11.599 --> 00:26:13.680
I need to make better choices in the future.
00:26:13.680 --> 00:26:14.400
Yeah.
00:26:14.400 --> 00:26:16.960
So many books I wouldn't recommend.
00:26:16.960 --> 00:26:18.319
But it has been fun.
00:26:18.480 --> 00:26:28.000
I'm looking forward to reading diversely and richly in anticipation of our next installment of extremely specific book recs or whatever this is gonna be called.
00:26:28.319 --> 00:26:31.759
We really need to catch up on our cannibal literature.
00:26:31.759 --> 00:26:37.599
Next month's episode will be covering Cersei by Madeline Miller.
00:26:37.599 --> 00:26:42.480
Have your say in what we read next by keeping an eye on the link in our show notes and on our socials.
00:26:42.480 --> 00:26:50.559
Make sure you subscribe to the show and if you want to be on the same page as us, follow us at talklit.get on Instagram and TikTok.
00:26:52.559 --> 00:26:58.079
Sausage, all alone in the moonlight.
00:26:58.079 --> 00:27:04.160
If you touch sausage, you'll understand what happiness is.
00:27:04.160 --> 00:27:09.680
A new sausage has begun.
00:27:09.680 --> 00:27:20.880
Sausage sausage last time.
00:00:00.479 --> 00:00:03.919
Hello and welcome to a Talk Lit Get Hit bonus chapter.
00:00:03.919 --> 00:00:06.160
The little book chats in between the big ones.
00:00:06.160 --> 00:00:11.919
We'll talk about reading, authors, and have discussions with people who, like us, can't shut up about books.
00:00:12.080 --> 00:00:18.079
We might get sidetracked and talk about literally anything else, but this is a bonus chapter we wrote just for you.
00:00:18.079 --> 00:00:25.440
This episode we wanted to give back by sharing our book recommendations for all your specific tastes.
00:00:25.440 --> 00:00:28.480
The good, the bad, and the incredibly niche and freaky.
00:00:28.480 --> 00:00:35.439
We put out a question box and scoured the internet high and low to find book recommendations that will suit even the most specific of moods.
00:00:35.439 --> 00:00:36.719
Bridget, hello, hello.
00:00:36.960 --> 00:00:37.759
Hello, hello.
00:00:37.920 --> 00:00:41.119
We've talked endlessly in the past about being big mood readers.
00:00:41.119 --> 00:00:44.960
Do you think that these hyper-specific niches come into this at all?
00:00:45.119 --> 00:00:46.240
Yeah, I think so.
00:00:46.240 --> 00:00:50.240
Being a mood reader is reading what you want to read when you want to read it.
00:00:50.240 --> 00:00:53.920
And being in a certain mood obviously is a big mood reader thing.
00:00:53.920 --> 00:00:58.240
So if you want to read a book about a freak, then I think you're in a freaky mood.
00:00:58.240 --> 00:01:00.479
So part and parcel.
00:01:00.960 --> 00:01:02.799
You better hear first, folks.
00:01:02.799 --> 00:01:05.519
Freaky books for freaky people.
00:01:05.519 --> 00:01:11.680
I was thinking that this kind of approach to reading really backs up our general disdain for tropes as well.
00:01:11.680 --> 00:01:19.200
And the more I talk about it, the more I kind of struggle to lay out the difference between a trope and a vibe, or a trope and a theme.
00:01:19.200 --> 00:01:24.560
For example, I think I like a theme of privileged people behaving poorly.
00:01:24.560 --> 00:01:31.519
I don't think that's a trope because I can find that in a variety of different books in a variety of different ways.
00:01:31.760 --> 00:01:35.599
I think there's not just one way for that theme to be executed.
00:01:35.599 --> 00:01:38.959
With tropes, I think it's like that is what's gonna happen.
00:01:38.959 --> 00:01:41.760
There is one bed and the people need to fit inside it.
00:01:42.000 --> 00:01:42.239
Yes.
00:01:42.239 --> 00:01:48.719
While we do have some pretty specific requests for this episode, I think there's so many different ways of looking at them.
00:01:48.719 --> 00:01:49.040
Yes.
00:01:49.040 --> 00:01:51.120
A trope, though, it either is or it isn't.
00:01:51.120 --> 00:01:53.920
Like we see it all the time with enemies to lovers.
00:01:53.920 --> 00:01:56.319
That's our big ticket item, our big personal beef.
00:01:56.319 --> 00:01:56.799
Yes.
00:01:56.799 --> 00:01:59.359
You either are someone's enemy or you aren't.
00:01:59.359 --> 00:02:02.640
But in the books we read, they are friends or they are strangers.
00:02:02.640 --> 00:02:03.280
Yeah.
00:02:03.280 --> 00:02:05.120
It's factually incorrect.
00:02:05.280 --> 00:02:06.000
It's not true.
00:02:06.000 --> 00:02:08.719
Or they're co-workers that may share a workspace.
00:02:08.719 --> 00:02:10.159
Yeah.
00:02:10.159 --> 00:02:17.520
So anyway, tropes out themes in extremely specific book recs, also in you heard it here first.
00:02:17.840 --> 00:02:19.520
Lots of firsts revealed this episode.
00:02:19.520 --> 00:02:20.639
Yeah, breaking news.
00:02:20.639 --> 00:02:22.319
What was that sound that you did for breaking news?
00:02:22.319 --> 00:02:43.680
I thought we could kick it off with one that is a little bit personal because being Southern Hemisphere girlies, we always have a little bit of FOMO around the cozy autumn and winter reads and feel that there's often not a lot of representation when our time without the sun rolls around.
00:02:43.680 --> 00:02:45.759
Our time in little less sun.
00:02:45.759 --> 00:02:46.800
Yeah, great.
00:02:46.800 --> 00:02:48.159
Still many sun.
00:02:48.159 --> 00:02:51.120
Still can be 30 degrees.
00:02:51.120 --> 00:03:00.080
However, we did have someone looking for a book rec that feels like the first days of soft autumn sunlight kissing your face.
00:03:00.319 --> 00:03:02.960
I want to read a book with that as the whole book.
00:03:02.960 --> 00:03:04.400
That sounds delightful.
00:03:04.400 --> 00:03:07.599
We've tried our best to find books that capture that feeling.
00:03:07.759 --> 00:03:08.960
Would you like to kick yourself?
00:03:08.960 --> 00:03:14.400
It could be a mistake, but my recommendation for this is Body Friend by Catherine Brabant.
00:03:14.400 --> 00:03:24.800
I think I've intrigued myself with this choice here, but my reasoning is that this is a very tactile, like sensory book that's set in Melbourne.
00:03:24.800 --> 00:03:28.080
So I think it feeling very familiar to me helps a lot.
00:03:28.080 --> 00:03:35.840
But she talks a lot about wind rustling through the trees, the first sort of crisp mornings, putting on her sweater.
00:03:35.840 --> 00:03:40.479
It is actually a book that is almost like entirely internal.
00:03:40.479 --> 00:03:45.520
It's a very meditative, intimate look at chronic pain and chronic illness.
00:03:45.520 --> 00:03:52.960
And the protagonist meets two different women in recovery from surgery she's had that kind of ask and expect different things from her.
00:03:52.960 --> 00:04:00.479
One is encouraging stillness and sort of like acceptance and grace of her body, and the other is asking for more.
00:04:00.479 --> 00:04:03.840
Push more, do more, try more every day.
00:04:03.840 --> 00:04:06.560
So it's really, really introspective.
00:04:06.560 --> 00:04:11.039
But I think the environment is quite a big player in that story, at least for me.
00:04:11.039 --> 00:04:12.319
So that's my rec.
00:04:12.319 --> 00:04:13.039
How about you?
00:04:13.199 --> 00:04:32.480
My rec is also one that I'm not quite sure about, but I decided to pick this one because I feel like autumn is like a little bit sad because summer's ending, but you're also a little bit hopeful for cooler weather, and it feels like a good time to be in the garden planting flowers, planting seeds.
00:04:32.480 --> 00:04:36.079
Autumn is the time for hope and growth in my mind.
00:04:36.079 --> 00:04:52.720
So I picked Blue Sisters by Coco Malores, and this is the book that interweaves the lives of three sisters who have come back to their childhood home in New York City a year after the death of their beloved fourth sister, and they're trying to stop the sale of their childhood home.
00:04:52.720 --> 00:04:57.279
Avery is the eldest and she's a recovering addict and lawyer who lives in London.
00:04:57.279 --> 00:04:58.879
Her marriage is on the rocks.
00:04:58.879 --> 00:05:03.040
Bonnie is a retired boxer and she's now working as a security guard.
00:05:03.040 --> 00:05:09.759
And Lucky is a wild child model living in Paris and just doing every drug under the sun.
00:05:09.759 --> 00:05:21.279
So they're kind of pushed together to confront their grief and they're just attempting to push through with their lives, and it was really nice and sad and hopeful at the same time.
00:05:21.519 --> 00:05:25.360
I literally have Borrow Box open to borrow this once and for all.
00:05:25.360 --> 00:05:28.480
I can't go another day without Blue Sisters in my life.
00:05:28.639 --> 00:05:30.639
Well, I have a copy of it if you want to take it.
00:05:30.639 --> 00:05:33.519
I better not, because you'll never get it back.
00:05:33.920 --> 00:05:35.040
But I appreciate that.
00:05:35.040 --> 00:05:36.000
Thank you.
00:05:36.959 --> 00:05:44.079
The next request was for a book that feels like the period between high school graduation and the beginning of the rest of your life.
00:05:44.079 --> 00:05:46.000
What is your recommendation for this?
00:05:46.240 --> 00:05:50.560
My knee-jerk reaction in A Shock to No One was Lead Us Not by Abby Lay.
00:05:50.560 --> 00:05:55.600
You're probably sick of hearing me talk about this book if you've listened to the podcast.
00:05:55.600 --> 00:06:01.519
Lead Us Not is a novel, a debut novel by Australian author Abby Lay.
00:06:01.519 --> 00:06:13.759
It's sort of a coming-of-age story set in a suburban Catholic girl school in Australia, and it explores a really intense, kind of codependent, often blurry relationship between two friends.
00:06:13.759 --> 00:06:21.839
The book does take place during the school year, but there's also a lot of chatter about like everybody's hopes and dreams for the next year, what everyone will be doing.
00:06:21.839 --> 00:06:30.800
And aside from the relationship between the main characters, I think it does such a great job of capturing that kind of anxious but optimistic period of time.
00:06:30.800 --> 00:06:37.439
The other book that I would throw into this category is another that you're probably sick of hearing me talk about, and that's Love and Virtue by Diana Reed.
00:06:37.439 --> 00:06:41.759
Also another Australian author and another book set in Australia.
00:06:41.759 --> 00:06:50.800
Hopefully, without spoiling too much, um, Love and Virtue is a contemporary campus novel, which side note is like another of my favourite subgenres.
00:06:50.800 --> 00:06:59.199
I love a campus novel that kind of explores the complexities of consent, privilege, um, and the ethics of storytelling.
00:06:59.199 --> 00:07:04.639
And I think what makes me pick this book is that this is exactly what I thought my life was gonna look like.
00:07:04.639 --> 00:07:19.600
Like I would have cool friends, I would have dynamic relationships, like I'd be out in the clubs, I'd be living in college, I'd probably have a questionable relationship, although it was like always gonna be way more upbeat and way more rosy in my version of events.
00:07:19.600 --> 00:07:23.279
It's not quite so positive in this book.
00:07:23.279 --> 00:07:32.639
I think this book does a really great job of capturing the feeling I had in that period, which was just, yeah, that intense conviction that my life is about to begin.
00:07:32.800 --> 00:07:33.360
How about you?
00:07:33.360 --> 00:07:36.000
The book I picked for this was The Idiot by E.
00:07:36.000 --> 00:07:39.279
Fatumin, and this is one of my favorite books ever.
00:07:39.279 --> 00:07:51.519
I do have to say that not much happens in this book and it's very interior, but I think that captures the vibe of the holding pattern that you sometimes can feel like you're in between the end of school and the start of uni quite well.
00:07:51.519 --> 00:07:59.199
Like a bit melancholy, not knowing what's gonna happen, like who your people are going to be, like trying to fit in in a new place.
00:07:59.199 --> 00:08:05.600
This book is set in 1995, and the main character is studying at Harvard, and she's like really struggling to find a place.
00:08:05.600 --> 00:08:08.800
She becomes obsessed with another student in one of her classes.
00:08:08.800 --> 00:08:11.040
I think they're learning how to speak Russian.
00:08:11.040 --> 00:08:14.240
And she also goes on a trip to visit Hungary in the break.
00:08:14.240 --> 00:08:16.959
I've read this twice now, loved it so much.
00:08:16.959 --> 00:08:18.800
I think everybody should read it.
00:08:18.800 --> 00:08:20.800
Only if you want to, though.
00:08:21.439 --> 00:08:22.240
Or good if not.
00:08:22.240 --> 00:08:22.720
Yeah.
00:08:22.959 --> 00:08:24.160
No worries if not.
00:08:26.399 --> 00:08:30.480
Our next request was for the best book you'll never read again.
00:08:30.800 --> 00:08:40.000
I took this to mean the book or books that devastated you so much that were great, but you can't knowingly put yourself through that again.
00:08:40.320 --> 00:08:44.799
Okay, I didn't interpret it that way, but I've coincidentally picked books that perfectly fit that bill.
00:08:44.799 --> 00:08:46.000
Oh, amazing.
00:08:46.000 --> 00:08:48.320
What's your first choice?
00:08:48.559 --> 00:08:53.279
My first choice was The God of Small Things by Arundati Roy.
00:08:53.279 --> 00:09:07.360
This is another one of my favourite books, and it tells a story of seven-year-old fraternal twins and their mother, uncle, and grand aunt in the 1960s amid the societal caste rules in India.
00:09:07.360 --> 00:09:14.159
It was beautiful, just a masterpiece, but absolutely devastating, and I never want to read it again.
00:09:14.159 --> 00:09:17.120
And I never want to think about what happens in it again.
00:09:17.360 --> 00:09:21.200
I'm scared and excited because I packed that in my bag to bring overnight.
00:09:21.200 --> 00:09:22.320
Oh, it's so good.
00:09:22.320 --> 00:09:24.159
I've been meaning to read it for years.
00:09:24.159 --> 00:09:26.879
So I'm so happy to be devastated.
00:09:26.879 --> 00:09:28.960
Yes, yes, you will be devastated.
00:09:28.960 --> 00:09:31.120
Commiserations to myself in advance.
00:09:31.120 --> 00:09:31.440
Yeah.
00:09:31.600 --> 00:09:32.879
What's your first recommendation?
00:09:33.120 --> 00:09:40.159
My first recommendation is probably not so devastating, but it's a book called What I Loved by Siri Hustford.
00:09:40.159 --> 00:09:47.600
This is a book that on paper sounded like it was going to be exactly for me, and it was, but at the same time, it still really took me by surprise.
00:09:47.600 --> 00:09:58.320
I think it had this really relentless and unexpected sense of menace running underneath the book at all times, and it just did not let up for me.
00:09:58.320 --> 00:10:17.200
So it is a book that is set in New York's Soho art scene during the 70s and 80s, and it follows a man named Leo Hertzberg, who's an art historian, and his really intense, codependent relationship with a painter named Bill Weschler and his wife and family in the 25 years that follow.
00:10:17.200 --> 00:10:23.519
And so, like that description of the book sounded fantastic to me, but I just didn't expect to be so stressed throughout it.
00:10:23.519 --> 00:10:26.799
Like I wanted obsession, I wanted intensity.
00:10:26.799 --> 00:10:31.679
But there were points in the book where I thought, is this about to get like supernatural?
00:10:31.679 --> 00:10:36.720
Is there gonna be some sort of weird shit that can't be explained happening?
00:10:36.720 --> 00:10:46.879
But no, it was like rooted in reality, but I just like I don't know, it generated like this intense paranoia in me, and I think it was a work of art, but I don't think I'd revisit it.
00:10:47.360 --> 00:10:47.600
Yeah.
00:10:47.600 --> 00:10:52.559
Sometimes those uneasy books are really good, and sometimes they just wreck you.
00:10:52.799 --> 00:10:57.840
Yeah, and like maybe someone will go and read it now and think actually it's like very standard.
00:10:58.399 --> 00:10:59.120
What are you talking about?
00:10:59.279 --> 00:10:59.679
I don't know.
00:10:59.679 --> 00:11:01.200
It was it really swept me up.
00:11:01.200 --> 00:11:02.240
I wasn't expecting it.
00:11:02.799 --> 00:11:07.279
My next recommendation is They're Going to Love You by Meg Howry.
00:11:07.279 --> 00:11:09.200
We've both talked about this on the podcast.
00:11:09.200 --> 00:11:14.240
I think I said I was using the photocopier and trying to see through my tears at work.
00:11:14.240 --> 00:11:19.679
Uh, not an audiobook to listen to in public, especially not as you near the end.
00:11:19.679 --> 00:11:22.879
But this was a lovely story.
00:11:22.879 --> 00:11:29.039
It's about ballet and art and estrangement and betrayal in a family.
00:11:29.039 --> 00:11:32.480
It's set during the AIDS crisis in New York City.
00:11:32.480 --> 00:11:35.360
Once again, never want to read it again.
00:11:35.360 --> 00:11:38.559
But it's lovely, and I loved it so much.
00:11:38.799 --> 00:11:43.440
My next rec is a book called Bodies of Light by the Australian author Jennifer Down.
00:11:43.440 --> 00:11:46.000
I've had a lovely little Australian theme going on.
00:11:46.000 --> 00:11:46.799
What's going on?
00:11:46.799 --> 00:11:48.799
Let's all rejoice.
00:11:48.799 --> 00:11:51.679
That's my hyper-specific recommendation.
00:11:51.679 --> 00:11:53.840
Read more Australian fiction, please.
00:11:53.840 --> 00:11:59.120
So this is kind of what I see as like a remedy to a little life.
00:11:59.120 --> 00:12:04.399
I think I possibly even read it after reading A Little Life, looking for things in the same theme.
00:12:04.399 --> 00:12:06.639
And I think it generates all the same feelings.
00:12:06.639 --> 00:12:13.279
Like it's an absolutely harrowing, crushing book, but I just think it handles it probably a bit more responsibly and respectfully.
00:12:13.279 --> 00:12:21.600
And so this is a story about a woman named Maggie who's dealing with her trauma from a childhood spent in Australia's foster care system.
00:12:21.600 --> 00:12:26.480
And I know Jennifer Down did an incredible amount of research on this before writing the book.
00:12:26.480 --> 00:12:37.279
So the book follows her journey through abuse, through institutional failure, addiction, struggles with identity, and then ultimately is like kind of uplifting at the end.
00:12:37.279 --> 00:12:40.399
It's about survival and resilience and hope.
00:12:40.399 --> 00:12:42.080
And it was really beautiful.
00:12:42.080 --> 00:12:44.960
I cried so much, but I would really recommend it.
00:12:44.960 --> 00:12:47.759
For first-time readers only.
00:12:51.039 --> 00:12:55.360
The next request was one that we kind of struggled with a bit.
00:12:55.360 --> 00:13:04.559
A little bit out of our wheelhouse as readers, but it was begging and pleading for more female-led horror with cannibalism.
00:13:04.559 --> 00:13:11.679
I could think of one book that sort of ticked those boxes, and it was Natural Beauty by Ling Ling Huang.
00:13:11.679 --> 00:13:24.399
I read this a few years ago now, and this is a book that has stuck with me in the years since I have read it, and it's a body horror about a classical pianist who quits performing and starts to work at a sinister wellness bar.
00:13:24.399 --> 00:13:39.759
Her parents are in some kind of clinic, and this is a really disturbing book about wanting to fit in and meet the lofty beauty standards of society, and like how far will you go to reach perfection in your appearance?
00:13:39.759 --> 00:13:47.919
I'll be honest, I can't actually remember there being cannibalism, but when I looked at the content warnings for the book, one of them was cannibalism.
00:13:47.919 --> 00:13:51.039
So I'm taking Story Graph's word for this.
00:13:51.039 --> 00:13:51.679
Yeah.
00:13:51.679 --> 00:13:53.360
And that's all I could find.
00:13:53.360 --> 00:13:56.480
I I don't think I've read many other books with cannibalism.
00:13:56.480 --> 00:13:57.679
Have you read any?
00:13:57.840 --> 00:14:05.679
I don't think that I have read any, but it does seem to be a genre that I'm pulled to though, because I had lots in my want to read and lots that are like I'm aware of.
00:14:05.679 --> 00:14:07.120
I just haven't read any of them.
00:14:07.120 --> 00:14:09.279
So I could rattle off a few of these.
00:14:09.279 --> 00:14:17.840
I kind of have a feeling like if you're already searching for more in this category, you're gonna be like, yeah, we've heard of the Bible, but like I'm gonna try my best.
00:14:17.840 --> 00:14:21.039
So my first rec is Woman Eating by Claire Coda.
00:14:21.039 --> 00:14:27.759
This is a story of a young mixed-race vampire who has been raised by her mother, who is a self-hating religious Asian vampire.
00:14:27.759 --> 00:14:35.679
Now, the protagonist is working in an art gallery with her own studio space and dealing with her incessant hunger as she's never fed from a human.
00:14:35.679 --> 00:14:40.639
So nice little double whammy there because we get a vampire story and a cannibal story.
00:14:40.639 --> 00:14:48.240
Another I've heard of is A Certain Hunger by Chelsea Summers, and this focuses on a sophisticated food critic who is also a serial killer and cannibal.
00:14:48.240 --> 00:14:54.639
The Eyes of the Best Part by Monica Kim features a Korean woman dealing with intense rage by devouring men.
00:14:54.639 --> 00:15:08.480
The Lamb by Lucy Rhode is a folklore-inspired horror that focuses on a young girl named Margot and her mother who are isolated from society and seducing in order to satisfy their cannibalistic ways.
00:15:08.480 --> 00:15:14.159
Continuing on with the kind of freaky theme, we had somebody requesting books like Sky Daddy.
00:15:14.159 --> 00:15:16.879
Freaky, but like kind of deep and beautiful.
00:15:16.879 --> 00:15:19.840
I haven't read Sky Daddy, but I think I get what they're saying.
00:15:19.840 --> 00:15:24.799
But maybe you can kick us off seeing as you're very familiar with the sexy plane book.
00:15:25.200 --> 00:15:26.720
So sexy, so plain.
00:15:26.720 --> 00:15:29.039
I kind of struggled with this one as well.
00:15:29.039 --> 00:15:39.440
I was trying to think of books that really match the freak level of Sky Daddy, and I could only really come up with two.
00:15:39.440 --> 00:15:42.080
The first one was Bunny by Mona Award.
00:15:42.080 --> 00:15:54.720
I feel like this one might be a little bit over-recommeded, but I think the female friendships that are explored in this book are underrated and not really spoken about when you think about the other freaky shit that's happening in the book.
00:15:54.720 --> 00:16:12.080
It didn't really hit me the first time that I read the book, but the second time I thought the friendship between the main character and her best friend was so beautiful and so um almost hidden in the story, and I loved it so much.
00:16:12.080 --> 00:16:16.639
The second one I came up with was I Hope This Finds You Well by Natalie Sue.
00:16:16.639 --> 00:16:18.559
This one is a little less freaky.
00:16:18.559 --> 00:16:24.559
Like she doesn't want to have sex with a plane, but she is still a little bit of a freak.
00:16:24.559 --> 00:16:35.279
The main character is unliked at work, she's on probation, and then she's accidentally given unauthorized access to her co-workers' emails.
00:16:35.279 --> 00:16:44.080
It's toxic, it's stressful, it's weird, but I found this book really touching and just like the main character's journey.
00:16:44.080 --> 00:16:50.639
I don't know, just through her weirdness and through her mental instability to be really, really beautiful.
00:16:50.639 --> 00:16:51.360
How about you?
00:16:51.360 --> 00:16:53.679
What did you come up with, you freaky bitch?
00:16:56.960 --> 00:17:09.359
Look, maybe the real freaks were the freaks we met along the way because I really have this perception of myself as someone that does like freaky girl literature, but this was a moment of reckoning where I was like, no, you don't.
00:17:09.359 --> 00:17:12.640
I really do like books about girls at work in a cafe.
00:17:12.640 --> 00:17:13.440
Yeah.
00:17:13.440 --> 00:17:16.400
Quiet meditative moments set in nature.
00:17:16.400 --> 00:17:18.000
Like I don't.
00:17:18.000 --> 00:17:19.440
But I tried my best.
00:17:19.440 --> 00:17:21.759
So that's all we can ask.
00:17:21.759 --> 00:17:22.480
Yeah.
00:17:22.480 --> 00:17:28.640
My first recommendation is a book called Monstrilio by Gerardo Simona Cordova.
00:17:28.640 --> 00:17:37.440
And this is sort of like a literary horror/slash dark fantasy novel that explores grief, love, and what it means to be human.
00:17:37.440 --> 00:17:53.839
So it follows a mother whose son Santiago has died, and she cuts out and nurtures a piece of his lung until it becomes sentient and like a tiny little carnivorous creature that continues to grow and evolve.
00:17:53.839 --> 00:18:08.160
So the creature named Monstrilio is hidden in a Mexico City, estate where they live, and then grows into this human-like form, but still pretty freaky, and is struggling all the while with his monstrous instincts to attack and eat.
00:18:08.160 --> 00:18:11.279
Feed to consume.
00:18:11.279 --> 00:18:16.640
So obviously, that's a pretty weird concept on face value.
00:18:16.640 --> 00:18:17.920
Take it or leave it.
00:18:17.920 --> 00:18:29.839
But beneath that surface is a look, like I said, at what it means to be human and kind of like the toll of deep attachment and the way that different people process grief.
00:18:29.839 --> 00:18:34.480
The second book that I thought I would throw into the ring is Open Throat by Henry Hoke.
00:18:34.480 --> 00:18:42.240
This is a queer literary fiction novel narrated by a lonely mountain lion living underneath the Hollywood sign.
00:18:42.240 --> 00:18:48.720
I normally really, really hate personified animals, but I found myself pretty moved by this one.
00:18:48.720 --> 00:19:05.839
And this is kind of just a very short story around the creature's struggle for survival and identity as they sort of observe the humans that live nearby them, the humans that come hiking up the Hollywood sign, like sort of about like urban destruction and wildfires and displacement.
00:19:05.839 --> 00:19:12.160
And it's quite like dreamy and whimsical and a little bit strange but also strangely moving.
00:19:12.400 --> 00:19:20.400
The next request we had was for a fictional story that will help with burnout because the self-help books aren't self-helping.
00:19:20.400 --> 00:19:24.720
The book that I picked for this was called Mame by Jessica George.
00:19:24.720 --> 00:19:36.400
And this is a story about Maddie, who was a 25-year-old British Ghanaian woman who is trying to juggle her career, her expectations from her mother who has gone back to Ghana.
00:19:36.400 --> 00:19:49.279
She's trying to date, she's trying to make a life for herself and figure out who she is as a person, as well as being the primary caregiver for her father who has late-stage Parkinson's disease.
00:19:49.279 --> 00:19:52.799
So it's quite sad, it's very moving.
00:19:52.799 --> 00:19:58.240
Once again, read this a few years ago, and it has really stuck with me as one of my favorite books.
00:19:58.240 --> 00:20:00.960
So this might help you with your burnout.
00:20:00.960 --> 00:20:09.119
Maybe you'll find a bit of, I don't know, camaraderie with Maddie, and she eventually sort of finds the light, and I hope that you do too.
00:20:09.359 --> 00:20:11.599
I also have given this my best crack.
00:20:11.599 --> 00:20:15.279
Unfortunately, many of the stories I read are quite grim or harrowing.
00:20:15.279 --> 00:20:22.720
A book that I would always turn to when looking for just some kind of comfort or reassurance is Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout.
00:20:22.720 --> 00:20:26.079
There's a number of books in this universe, and I like them all.
00:20:26.079 --> 00:20:31.759
I think they all offer the same or similar things, but Olive Kitteridge is like really the original and the best.
00:20:31.759 --> 00:20:47.599
And so this consists of 13 interconnected short stories centered sort of on or around the life of the titular character, Olive Kitteridge, who's this really like kind of grumpy, miserable old school teacher who's retired living in a fictional town on the coast of Maine.
00:20:47.599 --> 00:20:59.519
What I like about this book and what I find so comforting about this book is that I just think Elizabeth Strout has such an unaffected style of writing that really cuts straight to like humanity.
00:20:59.519 --> 00:21:08.319
I don't know how to say that, but I think her work is very like personal and empathetic without being overwrought.
00:21:08.319 --> 00:21:14.079
And it shows these like really simple day-to-day moments that have impact on individuals.
00:21:14.079 --> 00:21:22.880
I think what resonates with me is the attention to the small things and the reminder to slow down and that little gestures can have big impacts.
00:21:22.880 --> 00:21:27.759
It's quite character-focused, but it is very introspective and quite meditative.
00:21:27.759 --> 00:21:30.720
So I think it's a good book when you want to slow down.
00:21:30.720 --> 00:21:32.720
Lots of people say it's very boring.
00:21:32.720 --> 00:21:35.200
So take that with a grain of salt.
00:21:35.200 --> 00:21:36.960
That's what I like about it.
00:21:36.960 --> 00:21:41.279
It's just the everyday, the joys and pitfalls of everyday life.
00:21:41.599 --> 00:21:49.839
The last request we have for today is a book about people learning to be lonely or being okay with not meeting expectations.
00:21:49.839 --> 00:21:54.480
The book that I picked for this is actually a memoir that reads like a novel.
00:21:54.480 --> 00:21:59.759
And I remember reading it without realizing that it was nonfiction, and it took me like until maybe three.
00:21:59.759 --> 00:22:04.240
Quarters of the way through the book where I was like, Oh, this is a real book.
00:22:04.240 --> 00:22:07.759
So I think that's that's a mark of a good memoir.
00:22:07.759 --> 00:22:19.440
This is Notes on Heartbreak by Annie Lord, and it tells a story of the end of a five-year relationship told from the breakup back to the start, so in reverse chronological order.
00:22:19.440 --> 00:22:31.839
It is really funny and sad, but I think it would be really comforting for people who are struggling with uh like a breakup or struggling with loss, struggling with being single or alone.
00:22:31.839 --> 00:22:44.640
It's really just a story about finding who you are without the person that you might have revolved your life around, or finding out who you are when you live for yourself, I guess.
00:22:44.640 --> 00:22:48.319
This is a book that I would love to reread sometime in the future.
00:22:48.319 --> 00:22:50.640
I think again it's one of my favourite books.
00:22:50.640 --> 00:22:53.440
So, really pulling out the big guns today.
00:22:53.440 --> 00:22:54.400
How about you?
00:22:54.400 --> 00:22:56.240
Which book would you recommend for this person?
00:22:56.400 --> 00:23:05.839
I really struggled with this book, and I don't know that I have any strong recommendations, but one of the first ones that came to mind was Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason.
00:23:05.839 --> 00:23:20.240
This is a book I read quite a long time ago, so I unfortunately can't remember it too much, but it tells the story of a woman who's grappling with an undiagnosed mental illness that is like having huge impacts on her life and marriage.
00:23:20.240 --> 00:23:34.880
It sort of centers on themes of mental health and love and family, and as her life falls apart and she moves forward quite unapologetically, also explores her journey towards, I guess, healing and self-acceptance.
00:23:34.880 --> 00:23:45.599
Another that I don't quite remember, but I thought I could just throw into the ring, like maybe two halves, make a whole kind of thing, is a book called Sunset by Jessie Cave.
00:23:45.599 --> 00:23:51.519
I remember being really blown away by this book when I first read it, but I don't see many people talking about it.
00:23:51.519 --> 00:23:57.039
And so this is the story of a woman whose sister has died very unexpectedly.
00:23:57.039 --> 00:24:00.480
A sister that she had a really close and codependent relationship with.
00:24:00.480 --> 00:24:11.440
So it's kind of a story about intense sisterly love and then picking yourself back up after a loss, finding joy in the everyday and moving forward.
00:24:11.440 --> 00:24:16.400
I just remember crying a lot, but also laughing more than I thought I would when I read it.
00:24:16.400 --> 00:24:23.759
I also developed a sharp interest in having gold eyeliner after reading this book because it was just one of the quirks of the sister.
00:24:23.759 --> 00:24:35.359
And honestly, like I do struggle at times to buy into fictional sisterly relationships, like the intensity of the closeness and like the sisters are always meant to be so cool, but this one really did sound cool.
00:24:35.359 --> 00:24:37.039
I wanted that gold eyeliner.
00:24:38.000 --> 00:24:41.920
Did you ever get the magazine Sabrina's Secrets, like in the early 2000s?
00:24:42.319 --> 00:24:44.240
I think I might have maybe had one copy.
00:24:45.440 --> 00:24:48.480
Every issue, you would get some cosmetic item.
00:24:48.480 --> 00:24:51.599
And I think the first one was like a purple nail pen.
00:24:51.599 --> 00:24:52.240
Jealous.
00:24:52.240 --> 00:25:01.920
And so you'd get this box, and over the course of like the whole magazine, you would fill up your cosmetics box with fun stuff, like hair spirals.
00:25:01.920 --> 00:25:02.640
Do you remember those?
00:25:02.640 --> 00:25:03.599
Oh, so cool.
00:25:03.599 --> 00:25:06.480
And like it would tell you like how to do a zigzag part.
00:25:06.480 --> 00:25:10.799
And it was Sabrina the Teenage Witch, but it was like makeup and it was sick.
00:25:10.799 --> 00:25:15.200
Anyway, and I remember I think there was like a gold eyeliner or maybe like a purple eyeliner.
00:25:15.200 --> 00:25:22.319
And I remember my sister and I saw it on ads on TV, and we were like, Mom, please let us get Sabrina's secrets.
00:25:22.319 --> 00:25:31.119
And so then we went to the news agent to get it, and we were really disappointed because we thought we would get the whole box of stuff, but it was like one every issue.
00:25:31.119 --> 00:25:32.240
That's so crushing.
00:25:32.240 --> 00:25:36.400
We got quite a few of them, and we actually got like a Salem plush toy.
00:25:36.400 --> 00:25:37.839
Oh, I remember the plush toy.
00:25:37.839 --> 00:25:39.119
Yes, yeah, that's where we got that from.
00:25:39.119 --> 00:25:40.319
I probably saw it at your house.
00:25:40.319 --> 00:25:40.640
Yeah.
00:25:40.640 --> 00:25:44.799
The gold eyeliner, that's a Sabrina secret kind of thing, and I love it.
00:25:44.960 --> 00:25:45.680
That's so cool.
00:25:45.680 --> 00:25:49.200
I think I had a friend who got a bandana from the S Club 7 magazine.
00:25:49.200 --> 00:25:49.839
Amazing.
00:25:49.839 --> 00:25:50.799
I was so jealous.
00:25:50.960 --> 00:25:51.200
Yeah.
00:25:51.359 --> 00:25:54.960
Anyway, I don't know how we got onto that, but sisters are cool.
00:25:55.200 --> 00:25:58.640
Um, and they help you heal and find yourself.
00:25:58.640 --> 00:25:59.359
Yeah, great.
00:25:59.359 --> 00:26:00.559
That's a great summary.
00:26:00.559 --> 00:26:01.839
Thank you so much.
00:26:03.039 --> 00:26:07.200
Well, this has been a good exercise in trying to remember the books that I've read.
00:26:07.440 --> 00:26:11.599
It's also been a good audit of like, why did I read this book?
00:26:11.599 --> 00:26:13.680
I need to make better choices in the future.
00:26:13.680 --> 00:26:14.400
Yeah.
00:26:14.400 --> 00:26:16.960
So many books I wouldn't recommend.
00:26:16.960 --> 00:26:18.319
But it has been fun.
00:26:18.480 --> 00:26:28.000
I'm looking forward to reading diversely and richly in anticipation of our next installment of extremely specific book recs or whatever this is gonna be called.
00:26:28.319 --> 00:26:31.759
We really need to catch up on our cannibal literature.
00:26:31.759 --> 00:26:37.599
Next month's episode will be covering Cersei by Madeline Miller.
00:26:37.599 --> 00:26:42.480
Have your say in what we read next by keeping an eye on the link in our show notes and on our socials.
00:26:42.480 --> 00:26:50.559
Make sure you subscribe to the show and if you want to be on the same page as us, follow us at talklit.get on Instagram and TikTok.
00:26:52.559 --> 00:26:58.079
Sausage, all alone in the moonlight.
00:26:58.079 --> 00:27:04.160
If you touch sausage, you'll understand what happiness is.
00:27:04.160 --> 00:27:09.680
A new sausage has begun.
00:27:09.680 --> 00:27:20.880
Sausage sausage last time.
