This novel was the genesis of the Blade Runner film franchise, which means like many books it gets eclipsed a bit by its adaptation. But does the movie have a gadget you can use to make yourself feel specific emotions, including the emotion that makes you want to use the gadget more? I didn't think so.
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It's time to talk about market efficiencies in popular non-fiction aka the work of Michael Lewis. Specifically, we're chatting about his 2003 book MONEYBALL, which chronicles the work of Billy Beane to optimize the Oakland A's despite his owners not wanting to spend real money.
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This "Savage Journey into the Heart of the American Dream" is a landmark of Gonzo journalism, a sensational writing style of which Thompson is the OG. Thankfully, we did not have to journey to Las Vegas on our own. We're joined this week by Mel and Dave from Strong Sense of Place, a website and podcast dedicated to literary travel and books we love.
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What if you got playing cards in the mail? Playing cards that told you to help random people in your community? Would you do it? Could you do it? What does "helping" mean? And who is even sending these cards?? We answer MOST of these questions as we discuss Markus Zusak's The Messenger (aka I Am the Messenger).
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Our friends Renata and Kait are back to talk with us about Colleen Hoover and her debut novel, Slammed. We dive into her recent reign as Queen of BookTok, the appeal of slam poetry, the lack of dads, and whether or not this work of New Adult Fiction worked for us.
Find more episodes of The Worst Bestsellers at worstbestsellers.com.
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It's time to meet the Queen of Suspense! To kick off her reign, Mary Higgins Clark spins a tale about a wrongfully accused woman trying to reinvent herself — only to be nearly caught by the monster she thought she'd left behind. It's more thrilling than mysterious, so it shouldn't be a surprise that we DO get an answer to the novel's titular question.
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You don't end up liking everyone by the end of Madame Bovary, but in kind of a funny way? Come for the book talk, stay for the butchered French pronunciation.
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Who is Mr. Benedict? And why did he recruit four outstanding orphans to uncover and stop a madman's secret plot to takeover the world? Solve the puzzles hidden in this episode to find out! (Don't worry, you can just listen. There aren't any puzzles...or ARE there?!?)
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When a book's plot and characters don't break a ton of ground in and of themselves, you're left hoping that the writing and the perspective will be enough to make a book interesting—luckily for us, Jenny Offill's Dept. of Speculation is insightful and entertaining despite its narrow scope and well-trod material.
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Bring on the battalion of Dad Books! Cornwell started writing the Richard Sharpe novels because he wanted something like Horatio Hornblower on land. Well, we haven't read any Hornblower yet but we can attest that this book sure is about a British rifleman fighting in the army during the Napoleonic Wars!
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