The culty content keeps coming with HBO's The Way Down: God, Greed and the Cult of Gwen Shamblin, a new docuseries that investigates the Remnant Fellowship Church in Brentwood, Tennessee, and its strange leader. The "church" evolves from a weight loss-focused workshop to an evangelical Christian spinoff to an full-fledged cult. The Way Down traces the rise and fall of Gwen Shamblin, the cult's body-obsessed leader, as she transforms Remnant Fellowship into the dangerous high-control group that it still is today. Some spoilers for The Way Down to follow.
Read moreOthersode #59: Is This Based On a Book? / Nine Perfect Strangers (The Show!) with Tirzah Price
Othersode #59: Is This Based On a Book? / Nine Perfect Strangers (The Show!) with Tirzah Price
Microdose your smoothie and come along for a peaceful journey through the Hulu series Nine Perfect Strangers, based on the novel by Liane Moriarty. Returning guest Tirzah Price (author of Pride and Premeditation) joins us for a wild discussion of how this TV adaptation holds up, what’s missing from the book, what the show is saying about body image, grief, and drugs, and, of course, Manny Jacinto. Join us on November 1 for our next Bookpisode on Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters, plus an interview with SJ Sindu, author of Blue-Skinned Gods. Then Gabriella Saab, author of The Last Checkmate will guest on our next Othersode—stay tuned for the topic! Don’t forget to rate, review, and subscribe. Send any and all thoughts on Nine Perfect Strangers or any of our other episodes to thesquad@booksquadgoals.com!
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Read moreCandyman, Candyman, Candyman, Candyman...
Mary: Hello and welcome to HALLOWEEN SEASON, the most marvelous time of the year. Kelli I saw Candyman, the 2021 film directed by Nia DaCosta, and here we are to talk about it.
I’ll go ahead and say, as we have said on the podcast many times, we are just white women trying to be good allies, but please take our conversation with a healthy dose of salt. Obviously we should always listen to BIPOC communities on issues concerning race FIRST. With that out of the way, let’s talk Candyman.
Do you hate bees more or less after this film?
(Spoilers for Candyman to follow)
Read moreBSG #59: A Fun Guy / Sorrowland with Leah Rachel von Essen / Interview with Catriona Ward
BSG #59: A Fun Guy / Sorrowland with Leah Rachel von Essen / Interview with Catriona Ward
Come into the woods with the Book Squad and special guest Leah Rachel von Essen to discuss Sorrowland by Rivers Solomon. We talk about the book’s pacing, Vern’s characterization, gender identity and sexuality, the mistreatment of Black people by white America, and of course, mushrooms. Next, Emily interviews Catriona Ward, author of the novel The Last House on Needless Street. You don’t want to miss this fun interview! After that, we dig into some listener feedback on Klara and the Sun, Harrow the Ninth (the sequel to Gideon the Ninth), and The Final Girl Support Group. Join us and Tirzah Price for our next Othersode on the Hulu series Nine Perfect Strangers, based on the novel by Liane Moriarty, on October 18th. Read along for our next Bookpisode on November 1 when we discuss Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters. Send feedback to thesquad@booksquad.com or DM us on Instagram!
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Read moreQueer Girl Book Club: You Exist Too Much by Zaina Arafat
This bookshelf exists too much
Kelli: Hello and welcome back to Queer Girl Book Club! I’m your host, Kelli. Just kidding, this is a blog post.
This month we’re talking about You Exist Too Much, the debut novel by Zaina Arafat. The story follows a Palestinian-American young woman as she navigates her twenties. Our narrator is never named, which I only noticed about halfway through the book. I thought to myself, ‘what’s her name again?’ and then flipped through for a while before I realized she didn’t have one. I was surprised, I guess because I felt like I knew her so well already. So I guess a good way to start this discussion is to ask: how did you feel about the narrator?
(Spoilers to follow)
Read moreOthersode #58: Courteney Cox's Bangs / Scream with Grady Hendrix
Othersode #58: Courteney Cox's Bangs / Scream with Grady Hendrix
Grady Hendrix returns to the podcast to talk about the Scream franchise and his new novel, The Final Girl Support Group! We talk about our favorite final girls (and how Sidney stacks up), how Scream revolutionized the slasher genre in the 1990s, how the sequels compare to each other, and why Gale’s hair goes rogue in 2 and 3. Plus, Grady shares a SUPER FUN FACT about Scream 2 that blows all of our minds. Then we ask Grady about The Final Girl Support Group and learn how the book came to be and what he has coming up in the future! Read along with us for our next Bookpisode on Sorrowland by Rivers Solomon, featuring special guest Leah Rachel von Essen, and stick around for an interview with Catriona Ward, author of The Last House on Needless Street. Catch up on Nine Perfect Strangers on Hulu for our next Othersode on October 11th!
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Read moreThis Is A Negative Review Of The Film Annette
Not pictured: Baby Fucking Annette (images via Amazon Studios)
You may have first heard about the film Annette during the surge of headlines coming out of the Cannes film festival, which were most commonly some variation of “Annette: The New Musical Where Adam Driver Sings While Performing Oral Sex on Marion Cotillard.” I understand that this is a huge selling point for many people, but the focus on this scene has left a lot of people in the dark re: the actual facts of this motion picture, like the part where the titular Annette is an infant played by the scariest puppet you will ever lay eyes on. This review is not a part of BSG’s annual series of horror films leading up to Halloween, but reader, it might as well be.
Annette is the latest from director Leos Carax, and has been receiving rave reviews from critics and cinephiles alike. I’m actually surprised that it isn’t more divisive, given how utterly bizarre it is, but the film stands at a respectable 75% on Rotten Tomatoes. As one of Annette’s brave detractors, I know that I will be taking some heat for my open disdain, but I will tell you this: one of my closest friends has already accused me of disliking the film because I am jealous of Baby Annette’s success as a child star—a success I never managed to achieve despite my best efforts and years of voice lessons—so please take this entire review with a grain of salt. As it stands, I am a little bit jealous of Baby Annette.
Read morePunch Up your TBR with These Fists Break Bricks
Legitimately my dinner tonight.
These Fists Break Bricks, the new nonfiction title from Grady Hendrix and Chris Poggiali, does more than talk about the rise of kung fu in pop culture. Instead of portraying the martial arts genre as something foreign to American readers, Hendrix and Poggiali posit that kung fu–and by extension the myriad films that spawned from the nation’s fascination with it–has a complex history that weaves martial arts from countries like China, Japan, and Korea with the desperate yearning of the American dream.
Read moreYA Book Club: The Mary Shelley Club by Goldy Moldavsky
Mary: Hello and welcome back to YA Book Club! Today we’re talking about The Mary Shelley Club by Goldy Moldavsky. The novel follows Rachel Chavez, who starts school atan exclusive prep school, only to fall in with a group of horror-loving teens called The Mary Shelley Club. Soon, Rachel discovers that things with the club aren’t as they seem, and her own terrifying ordeal begins. Be warned that from here on out, there will be spoilers for the novel!
Read moreBSG #58: Artificial Friends / Klara and the Sun with Wizzy, AKA SailorMoonWisdom
BSG #58: Artificial Friends / Klara and the Sun with Wizzy, AKA SailorMoonWisdom
Call up your Artificial Friend—it’s time to talk about Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro. Special guest “Wizzy” of @sailormoonwisdom joins us to discuss the meaning of Klara’s relationship with the sun, why “simple” doesn’t mean “not complex,” whether or not humans are special, and Rick and Josie’s love for one another. Then we catch up with what’s on the blog, including more book, podcast, and television reviews. Tune in on September 20th for our chat with Grady Hendrix about the Scream series and his new novel, The Final Girl Support Group. Join us for our next #Bookpisode on Sorrowland by Rivers Solomon, featuring special guest Leah Rachel von Essen, and stick around for an interview with Catriona Ward, author of The Last House on Needless Street!
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