Month: October 2013

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

Posted on October 29, 2013

Welcome to a spooooooky Novel Ideas Halloween episode, featuring “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” by Washington Irving. This ~~book~~ short story is about an awkward, lovestruck schoolteacher who is terrorized by a headless horseman. Actually, it would be more accurately described as a a very silly person falling for a very silly prank. Probably. Irving doesn’t really commit himself to it one or the other. Listen to the episode to hear us discuss whether this is actually a horror story, adaptations of the story, general silliness, and why this story became a classic.

Also, there’s a little bit of schedule housecleaning to square away this week. Ben is going to be out of town next week, so there won’t be an episode the week of November 4. However, we’re going to air two episodes the following week, aiming for a Monday and Thursday drop date for those two episodes.

The music bump is Psalm 105 “Unto the Lord Lift Thankful Voices.” The Puritan version would be something like this, only more boring. This applies to the Puritan version of most things.

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow – 1700’s Dudebro

Recommendations:

5/10 Not long enough to warn you against it, but not good enough to recommend reading it.

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: Just your friendly annual reminder that November is National Novel Writing Month. The goal is to write a novel during the month of November, so it’s an exercise in masochism as much as anything. Actually, the goal is to write 50,000 words during the month, which is closer to a novella, most commercial novels being in the 90,000 word range. That being said, averaging approximately 1,700 words per day for an entire month isn’t easy. Novel Ideas will be attempting to defeat NaNo (as it is frequently abbreviated) this year, for the first time in Ben’s case, and AGAIN in Gabs’s case because she is crazed. Feel like trying with us? Let us know!

This entry was posted in Admin, Episodes and tagged 1700's dudebro, adaptations, Ben's a nerd, black authors, feminism, Halloween, high school comedy, horror standards, period appropriate, poking fun, psalmody, racism, schedule, short story, silliness, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, tongue in cheek, Washington Irving, why is this a classic?.

The Book Thief

Posted on October 24, 2013

Novel Ideas makes a late appearance this week with The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. This is a YA? story about World War II Germany as told through the eyes of Death. More or less. Read the book to learn more. Listen to our episode to hear us discuss Death as an interesting character choice, the power of words, Nazis, and the horrors of war. We also talk about our research standards (low), our knowledge of German (also low), amalgams, and the lack of actual book thievery in this story. Also, weirdly, there is a fairly significant discussion of H.H. Holmes, who has nothing whatsoever to do with this book. Try to overlook the ambient noise in our studio, primarily generated by a squeaky office chair.

The music bump is “Roses of the South,” a waltz by Johan Strauss, performed on the accordion. Why you ask? Because READING.

The Book Thief – Amalgams and Archetypes

Our Recommendation:

7/10 books stolen. This one is an easy read despite its length and more poetic than average prose.

This entry was posted in Episodes and tagged 4th wall, amalgams, ambient noise, archetypes, aryans, atmospheric, book thievery, book to movie conversions, books, creeping exhaustion, Death as a character, everybody dies, feminism, German knowledge, guilt, H.H. Holmes, hiding, Hitler Youth, horrors of war, individual goodness, Jesse Owens, loneliness, long books, Markus Zusak, Nazis, obligation, oppression, poetic writing, power of words, racism, research standards, The Book Thief, The Doomsday Book Thief, tough outside/soft inside, unlikely survivors, what is YA?.

The Picture of Dorian Gray

Posted on October 15, 2013

It’s been a while since we’ve read a classic, so this week, Novel Ideas brings you The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. This is a book known for featuring a portrait that ages while the man in the portrait remains young. Well, about that… it’s not exactly the most significant part of the story. Join us as we talk about that and other things, such as Victorian censorship, homoeroticism, class issues, and social satire. We also discuss the history of nuts, indirect murder, our take on State Farm ads, and professional trolls. On a side note, there are a couple minutes of this episode where the sound is a little washed out because I had to use the noise removal tool. It’s definitely noticeable, but far less distracting than the alternative.

The music bump this week is from Richard Wagner’s “Tannhauser Overture,” one of the several Wagner operas referenced in the book.

The Picture of Dorian Gray – That is Wilde!

Recommendations:

Gabs: 6/10. Read The Importance of Being Earnest if you really want the Oscar Wilde experience.

Ben: 5/10. I want to like it, but there’s a little too much boredom between bouts of wit.

This entry was posted in Episodes and tagged 21st century Oscar Wilde, aestheticism, aphorisms, art for art, audio weirdness, beauty v. morality, blackmail, class issues, Faustian, gossip cycles, history of nuts, homoeroticism, indirect murder, literary State Farm ads, misogyny, omniscient voice, Oscar Wilde, physiognomy, playwright, professional troll, social commentary, strict Faust constructionist, The Picture of Dorian Gray, too descriptive, verbose characters, Victorian censorship, wit.

Starship Troopers

Posted on October 10, 2013

Banned Book Month is over! Novel Ideas returns with the granddaddy of military science fiction, Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein. Or possibly Bobby H. In this week’s episode we discuss the politics of authors as represented by their books, the lack of characterization in this book, the strange lack of war in a book about war, and how despite a paucity of women, this book still acknowledges women better than most classic sci fi. We also talk about the fun, if not so good, movie, colorful windbags, people and their similarity to potatoes, puppies, and other “P” words, and how we would react to giant spiders holding guns.

The music bump this week is “The Ballad of Rodger Young” by Frank Loesser, the sweetest sound in the galaxy.

Starship Troopers – The Fault In Our Starship Troopers

Recommendations:

This is definitely a Ben book rather than a Gabs book. Be warned, there are two chapters of actual war in this book about war, most of the rest is conversation.

Gabs: 7/10 for someone looking for science fiction, 4/10 for someone who doesn’t usually read that genre.

Ben: 9/10 for someone like me, which is to say someone with a prior interest in military minutiae and science fiction. Then again, this is one of my favorite books. Maybe closer to 7/10 for a generic sci fi fan.

This entry was posted in Episodes, Movies of books and tagged asides, author politics, Ben references, Bob Heinlein, Bobby H, brotherhood, colorful windbags, conservatism, consistency, crime and punishment, favorite books, giant spiders, government that works, harcore old guys, Hollywood whitewashing, interesting narration, lack of characterization, lack of female characters, listener suggestions, military philosophy, military SF, movies of books, nature of war, people aren't p---, Robert Heinlein, Starship Troopers, Starship Troopers remake, where's the war?.

Beloved

Posted on October 3, 2013

Novel Ideas wraps up Banned Book Month with Beloved by Toni Morrison, a story of escaping the past against the background of slavery. This book is a rather difficult read, as it written non-traditionally, shifting points of view and tenses and using some modern literary techniques that don’t get used often in popular fiction. In this episode we talk about some of those challenges, as well as gender and publishing, slavery, the context of infanticide, and the difficulty of escaping the past. We also discuss “enlightened” slave owners, weird sex, whitepeople, and our need of a professor to help us decipher the text. This book was a rich topic for discussion, we hope you find this episode interesting.

The music bump is “Freedom” by Charles Mingus.

Beloved – Not A Dead White Guy

Recommendations:

Gabs: 6/10 as an enjoyable book, 8/10 as something you should read.

Ben: I might not go as high as 6/10 for enjoyability, but it was a pretty powerful book. I’m also going to say 8/10 as something you should read.

This entry was posted in Episodes and tagged "enlightened" slave owners, 2 year olds' desires, banned books, book banners are dopes, confederate flags, context, crazy assigned readings, difficult read, emotional scars, extended intro, filler episodes, freedom, gender and publishing, genre?, justified infanticide, love, no-traditional writing style, Reconstruction, red, sexual choice, slave owning theorists, slavery again, slavery as an institution, slavery is bad, supernatural elements, Sweet Home Alabama, the horror of slavery, Thomas Jefferson, tied to the past, we need a professor, weird sex, well written, what is a man?, whitepeople are the devil.