The Fault in Our Stars
This week on Novel Ideas we are talking about The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, a YA bestseller about romance, living life to its fullest, and cancer. Oh boy, cancer. This episode is a tad more subdued than usual as we wrestle with the tragedy of the story and our love for this book. There are surprisingly few inappropriate jokes. But more than zero, have no fear. We cover some of the big issues, like metaphor, and oblivion, and metaphors for oblivion. But mostly we gush about how omgamazing this book is.
The music is a possibly recognizable tune that was excerpted from “Consider the Uncommon Man” by David Holsinger. If you make it to the end, you’ll notice it’s been reharmonized in a way that’s a little unsettling. The piece was written as a memorial and seemed appropriate for this episode.
22 – The Fault in Our Stars – The Universe is Not a Wish Factory
Update: A couple quick notes. To give credit where credit is due, the header art this week was drawn by Simini Blocker, rather than pulled from a commercial book cover. Here’s the full image: 
Also, I referenced The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Universe, which is not a thing, and Death Masks, which is a thing, but has nothing to do with necromancers. I’m actually reading Dead Beat, still by Jim Butcher, still part of the Dresden Files. And if you’re here, you’ve probably already figured it out, but the website is actually novelideaspodcast.com, not just novelideas.com. Phew.
Game of Thrones
This week on Novel Ideas, a rather exhausted pair of book loving siblings cover Game of Thrones by George RR Martin. As everyone who isn’t currently living under a rock is aware, this bestselling book is also a rather well regarded show on HBO. We make some comparisons between the two, though we mainly focus on the book. All in all, it’s a slightly unfocused episode this week as fatigue leads us strange noises, an inability to focus on a topic, and pointless repetition. We also talk about ridiculous podcast ideas, GRRM’s version of a cliffhanger, the motivations of villains, and strong female characters. Also, sigh, incest.
The music this week is Ramin Dwajadi’s title theme to the “Game of Thrones” series on HBO, but I probably don’t have to tell you that unless you’re still hanging out under that rock.
Love in the Time of Cholera
After a week off, your favorite intrepid, book-loving, podcasting siblings have returned. This time to examine Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. This book is an examination of love, Colombian style. Probably. The author won’t really tell anyone for certain. In our discussion we cover the difficulties of translating literature, magical realism, love, honor, sex, and strong women. And cholera, though not nearly as much as you would expect from the title. Not to mention the fact that every character in this novel is crazy.
We also made a major update to our schedule yesterday, filling it up through the end of August. We’re going on a bestsellers kick, so most of what is on the schedule has been on the NY Times bestseller list for several weeks. Be sure to check it out if you want to read along with us.
This week’s music bump is Toto’s “Hold the Line,” because… Toto. Oh yeah, and it kind of describes Florentino Ariza to an almost uncanny degree.
Foundation
Welcome back to Novel Ideas! This week’s episode features Foundation by Isaac Asimov. This is one of the gigglier episodes we’ve recorded thus far and we hope that you’ll enjoy it as much as we do. Have your research materials, by which I mean Wikipedia, handy because this one is reference heavy. In fact, we almost have enough references to start our own encyclopedia. We cover science, religion, science as religion, the nature of fandom, the lack of women in classic science fiction, and every historical reference we know. Prepare to enter our sphere of influence as we nonviolently project our power across the internet.
The music bump is “Space Fanfare” by Joe Spaniola, performed by the Air Force Band of the Rockies. Because this story is in space and stuff. Also, this piece features one or two recognizable themes because we needed more references.
The Scarlet Letter
This week in Novel Ideas, we discuss a classic of guilt and shame. Were I to deliver this explanation in the style of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, the next two thousand words would describe the feel the paper, the alignment of the typesetting, the quality of the ink, and the deeply emotional cover. And then maybe I’d say something about the content, but it would be a bad idea to get your hopes up on that account. Unlike Hawthorne, we like content, so we discuss the characters, the prose, the wisdom of exposing yourself as a witch to your Puritan neighbors, demon-elf children, the difficulties in adapting this story for film, and, of course, feminism.
The music bump is Domenico Scarlatti’s Sonata in G minor, K. 108. It was chosen because if ol’ Dom was your pen pal, he would send you Scarlatti Letters.
Matilda
It’s time for some precocious children who love books! Unless 29 and 24 year old people can no longer be considered “precocious” or “children,” in which case there is only one child. And that child is Matilda Wormwood. And that may be the first time I’ve seen her full name. It’s weirding me out, maybe that’s why Roald Dahl only refers to his title character as “Matilda.” She’s probably well known enough to have first name only status at this point. Anyhoo, join us as we discuss characters and their lack of character, where Matilda falls on the Jedi spectrum, and whether four year old children should be able to read Steinbeck. And child abuse. Lots of child abuse.
This week’s music bump is “Read a Book” by Bomani Armah, for reasons which are both clear and present. Or something like that.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
We’re a tad late this week, but don’t panic, the podcast has finally arrived. This week we discussed The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. It’s full of silliness and absurdity, so in other words, it’s right up our alley. Join us as we examine the meaning of life, the universe, and everything, the zany cast of characters, the lack of plot and why that’s okay, and somehow manage not to display our terrible versions of British accents.
No music bump, but the opening clip is from the 2005 big budget movie production and the ending clip is from the 1981 BBC production. One involves the bigness of space and the other the thoughts of a freshly created sperm whale. We’ll let you figure out which is which.
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