Episodes
The Left Hand of Darkness
This week’s episode is The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K LeGuin, a novel about a genderless society on a harsh, winter planet. Join us as we discuss the effects of a sexless society, the lack of warfare, and repression, both sexual and governmental. We also talk about ridiculous sci-fi names, gender bending, and pronoun problems.
The music bump is “Journey Home” by Maria Schneider, partly because of the hundred page journey home across the glaciers of Gethen, but mostly because I like it.
For those of you who have read the book already, here’s something interesting that I found:
The Yellow Wallpaper
Our apologies for being late this week, but Gabs has been mobilizing for WAR. Well, basically. Anyhoo, here is this week’s episode, “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, a short story about medical ignorance, madness, and in a move that is completely out of character for us, feminism. If you want to read it before you listen, you can read it for free here. In our discussion we touch on the historical view of mental illness, gothic literature, and interpretations of the story based on gender lines. We also cover Hollywood, insane LGBT tie-ins, John’s a Dick Theory (just barely missed being the title of this episode), and vibrator play. Oops, I mean “Vibrator Play.” One has to be careful where one leaves their capital letters.
The music bump is “Hysteria” by Muse because lol.
Catch-22
If we post only one day late because we were a week late with the previous episode, is that a Catch-22? I think it is if you only try to download episodes when they aren’t here. And you don’t read our posts unless they aren’t posted. I’m not sure because I’m not very good at Catch-22 logic. At any rate, this week we discuss Catch-22 by Joseph Heller, the classic satirical war novel. In this episode we discuss characterization, plot, and how to make a movie out of this book. Is that discussion a Catch-22? It might be, because those are three things that are not very likely to be connected to this book. We also talk about war, war stories, and whether or not war is bad (hint: yes). We very carefully do not discuss how this episode title could be applied to our podcast at large. We hope you enjoy this episode, but if you don’t, maybe it can at least extend your lifespan.
The music bump is “Keasbey Nights” by a band called, appropriately, Catch-22.
43 – Catch-22 – A Collection of Jokes With No Plot
A quick correction: The Perilous Gard is by Elizabeth Marie Pope, not Warren. Warren is actually the name of the family in the book.
2012-13 Year in Review
It’s time for our first year(ish) anniversary episode. We apologize for being a week late, but our recording from last week was corrupted somehow and we had to meet again and record the whole thing a second time. In this week’s episode, we cover our top and bottom five from the previous year, recount several old jokes, and even manage to make a couple of new ones. We plug a few of our favorite episodes and books, revisit old hatred, and are generally the same vainglorious, self-indulgent goofballs that by now you expect us to be.
The music bump is “It Was A Very Good Year” as arranged by Gordon Goodwin and performed by Take Six and Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band.
A quick correction: North Dakota did not pass a “personhood” law, they merely okayed putting a “personhood” law up for referendum.
Doomsday Book
Novel Ideas returns with Doomsday Book by Connie Willis, a novel by one of the most well regarded authors you’ve probably never heard of. Connie Willis is a Grand Master of science fiction and one of the most decorated science fiction authors in the history of the genre. This book is her classic tale of time travel and plague. But mostly plague. In this episode we discuss the many fantastic characters, our lack of desire to live in the middle ages, and morality as it relates to cultural context. We also lament the death of every character (more or less), the death of a beloved family pet, and worry about happened to that poor cow. There will also be history nerdgasms and quite a bit of broadcast professionalism on display.
The music bump is “Messe de Notre Dame” by Guillaume de Machaut, a contemporary of the novel’s 14th century time line who also happens to share the name of an often referenced character who never actually shows up in the book.
Hills Like White Elephants
This week we’re trying something a little different. Since we’re putting two weeks between podcasts due to the length of our next book, we recorded a little mini-episode about a short story, “Hills Like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway. If you haven’t read it, do so now. It almost takes less time than reading this little news post. And the whole text is online for free in various places. Go now. Are you back? Good. Let’s see what you think.
The music bump is “Brick” by Ben Folds Five for reasons of thematic unity.
The Night Circus
Novel Ideas returns to spark your imagination, but it only works if you wait until after sunset. This week’s entry is The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, a newer book about… a circus. That happens at night. Honestly, I have no idea how to describe this book quickly without being totally glib about it. In our discussion, we talk about some of the interesting features of the book, such as whether the setting can be the main character, what makes a compelling love story, and monochromatic characters. We also decided that we want to have a midnight dinner. Sounds fun. And despite our best attempts, we were unable to wring any feminist issues out of this book. Tune in for the second half of the podcast where we sit in stunned silence for twenty-two minutes.
The music bump is Britney Spears’s “Circus” as covered by Dirty Loops, the funkiest Swedish fusion trio working today.
Jane Eyre
Welcome back to Novel Ideas for a classically oriented episode. This week we’re featuring Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, a Romantic romantic proto-feminist semi-gothic coming of age story about finding one’s place in the world. I believe that even to this day, this book remains the best known work in that genre. In this episode, we discuss the elements of that genre, as well as mental illness, feminism, religion vs. morality, sexual mores, and the search for love. We also discuss several types of Janes, St. John the vampire hunter, and why people live in environments guaranteed to kill them.
The music bump is “Jane” by Ben Folds, after the title character of this book, who is also arguably the protagonist.
Watership Down
We apologize again for taking a week off, but we have returned with Watership Down by Richard Adams, or as he is affectionately known by no one, Dickie. You’ve probably heard of this book and know kind of vaguely that it has something to do with rabbits. I think that’s about as much explanation as it needs. If you crave more, download this week’s episode where we will discuss the parallels with ancient Rome, the lack of female rabbits, and the political implications of warren organization. We also tackle what a stoat is, what a sentence is, and what comic relief is. Actually, between us and Dickie, I’m not sure that we know what any of those three things are.
The music bump is “Watership Down,” a surprisingly catchy song by America, the band. (Not to be confused with the book or the country.)
36 – Watership Down – Insane Death Rabbit
To avoid skipping weeks unexpectedly, we are going to begin skipping weeks… expectedly. If that’s a thing. With longer titles, there will now be a two week delay between episodes instead of one week. We’ll let you know as we go along.
Novel Ideas 