YA Book Club: The Getaway by Lamar Giles

November 11, 2022 Mary & Emily

Emily: Welcome back to YA book club! We’re here to chat about The Getaway, the latest novel from Lamar Giles. We read Lamar Giles’ Not So Pure and Simple for YA book club back in February 2020 (simpler times), and we LOVED it. So we were super excited to pick this one up.

The Getaway is the story of Jay, who’s living his best life at Karloff Country, one of the world’s most famous resorts. We get serious Disney World vibes from this place. It is Disney World, basically. Anyway, Jay’s got good friends, a great family, and a job he loves, working after school at the property’s main theme park. Outside, the world might be falling apart, but inside the resort, people can escape from their problems. But behind this perfect community are dark secrets. When the richest and most powerful families arrive and don’t leave, employees discover that the resort has been selling shares in an end-of-the-world oasis. The world may be ending, but the most powerful people will remain safe. Now Jay and the rest of the resort’s employees will be the ones to care for them, whether they like it or not.

Spoilers to follow obviously.

BSG #73: Go Watch Underwater / Our Wives Under the Sea

November 11, 2022 The Squad

Click through for summary, table of contents, and show notes!

Such Sights to Show You: Hellraiser (2022)

October 28, 2022 Mary and Kyle

Kyle: A question: is it too much flesh or not enough flesh?

Mary: Wow, this is a big thing to start off with, isn’t it? For me, this Hellraiser has too much flesh, because I personally prefer the latex and leather of the original. That said, I think the way the flesh was stripped off of some of the cenobites was honestly very creative. I’d never have thought to use skin as a stylish hood.

But maybe we should back up before diving into such a question.

As you might have guessed, friend of the pod Kyle is joining me to talk about Hellraiser (2022), the latest installment of the Hellraiser franchise. It’s been years since we’ve gotten a Hellraiser movie, and even longer since we’ve gotten a good one. I know that we’ve both been eagerly anticipating this release, so I’m pumped to finally get to discuss it with you. Or, well, discuss it more. We did talk about it when we watched it! What stood out to you most about this film? What were you most excited to see?

(Some spoilers for the Hellraiser series to follow)

Othersode #72: Witches In, Children Out / Hocus Pocus 2 with Lisa Kröger and Melanie R. Anderson

October 18, 2022 The Squad

Click through for summary, table of contents, and show notes!

Queer Girl Book Club: The Verifiers

October 11, 2022 Kelli & Emily

Emily: Queer Girl Book Club is back in action, and this time we’re talking about the mystery novel The Verifiers by Jane Pek. The Verifiers is Jane Pek’s debut novel, introducing amateur sleuth Claudia Lin. Claudia is a mystery novel-loving twenty-something who's just been recruited by Veracity, a referral-only online dating detective agency. But when one of the agency’s clients goes missing, Claudia finds herself breaking the rules to dive deep into the secret world of people’s online lives and corporate deceit.

Some spoilers to follow.

BSG #72: Shout Out to Babies Everywhere / The School for Good Mothers

October 4, 2022 The Squad

Click through for summary, table of contents, and show notes!

We're Glad This Book is Called I'm Glad My Mom Died

September 28, 2022 Kelli & Emily

Emily: This blog post has been a long time coming, but we’ve finally gathered here to discuss Jennette McCurdy’s bestselling memoir I’m Glad My Mom Died. Thanks so much to Jayce, former guest and friend of the pod, for joining us for this chat!

McCurdy is a former child actor and star of the Nickelodeon TV series iCarly. In this book, she explores her difficult relationship with her mother, how her mom manipulated her, forced her into acting, encouraged her to develop an eating disorder, and more.

The book covers very difficult material, but nevertheless the book is reaching a very wide audience. I was interested in reading the book because I have been a huge fan of iCarly (and specifically McCurdy) for years. But a lot of people picking up the book are people who have no previous knowledge of McCurdy and her career. I think that’s so cool because I don’t think that’s something we see often with celebrity memoirs. So I thought I’d start by asking you guys: What made you pick up this book? And why do you think so many people are reading it?