It’s Wednesday once more, friends, and this week has been a Week. I hope you are filling your houses with books and your mouths with chocolate, because that’s what we’ll all need to get by. After an accidental mini-hiatus, Whiskey Jenny and me are back to talk about the books we’re anticipating this fall, the new Serial Box serial Geek Actually, and Ashley Shelby’s book South Pole Station. You can listen to the podcast using the embedded player below, or download the file directly to take with you on the go!
Here are the time signatures if you want to skip around!
1:34 – What We’re Reading
4:00 – A literary happening!
5:32 – Serial Box Book Club: Pilot episode of Geek Actually
13:22 – Update on our summer books
17:18 – Fall book preview
30:38 – South Pole Station, Ashley Shelby
43:44 – What We’re Reading for Next Time!
Get at me on Twitter, email the podcast, and friend me (Gin Jenny) and Whiskey Jenny on Goodreads. Or if you wish, you can find us on iTunes (and if you enjoy the podcast, give us a good rating! We appreciate it very very much).
Credits
Producer: Captain Hammer
Photo credit: The Illustrious Annalee
Theme song by: Jessie Barbour
Transcript is available under the jump!
TRANSCRIPT
THEME SONG: You don’t judge a book by its cover. Page one’s not a much better view. And shortly you’re gonna discover the middle won’t mollify you. So whether whiskey’s your go-to or you’re like my gin-drinking friend, no matter what you are imbibing, you’ll be better off in the end reading the end.
GIN JENNY: Welcome to the Reading the End bookcast with the demographically similar Jennys. I’m Gin Jenny.
WHISKEY JENNY: And I’m Whiskey Jenny.
GIN JENNY: And we are here again to talk to you about books and literary happenings. On today’s episode, we have a quick literally happening. We’re going to launch into our new Serial Box book club, Geek Actually. We’re going to talk about some books that we’re excited about for the fall, and we’re going to review Ashley Shelby’s book South Pole Station. Whiskey Jenny, it feels like it’s been so long since we talked about books!
WHISKEY JENNY: I know, I’m excited to be back podcasting with you.
GIN JENNY: Yeah! Our last podcast, listeners, as you may know, a tragedy befell us and the audio was not usable, and we had to throw the whole thing away.
WHISKEY JENNY: How chipmunky did I sound, Gin Jenny?
GIN JENNY: Pretty chipmunky, but it wasn’t even just that. All of our audio was kind of bad. But Whiskey Jenny’s voice also kept fading in and out. It was really strange. We attempted to use a different recording system, and it was a terrible mistake. And we’ll never be unfaithful to Audacity again.
WHISKEY JENNY: Never change anything.
[LAUGHTER]GIN JENNY: So, Whiskey Jenny, what are you reading?
WHISKEY JENNY: Oh. Yeah, we always do that, don’t we?
[LAUGHTER]GIN JENNY: I hope you’re reading Boat Squad John.
WHISKEY JENNY: OK, so I haven’t started Boat Squad John yet, because I haven’t decided how I feel about a romance novel in audio book format. For those of you who I haven’t talked to about Boat Squad John yet, it’s a Suzanne Brockmann Navy SEAL romance that Gin Jenny is referring to.
Oh, I’m about to start Bellwether, by Connie Willis. That is what we are reading for work book club.
GIN JENNY: And what is that about? Remind me, is that one of her time travel books, or is it a different one?
WHISKEY JENNY: It is a satire of corporations.
GIN JENNY: Oh, that sounds much worse.
WHISKEY JENNY: Goodreads says, “Pop culture, chaos theory, and matters of the heart collide in this unique novella.”
GIN JENNY: Yeah, well let me know how it is. I read some of her time travel books, and they weren’t for me.
WHISKEY JENNY: What are you reading right now?
GIN JENNY: Well, I am reading—so I’m still watching Black Sails. I’m trying to make it last longer, because I love it so much. So in the interest of making it last, I checked out like 14 books about piracy from my library.
WHISKEY JENNY: Cool. Cool, yeah.
GIN JENNY: And I’ve been reading those. Some of them— they’re not all about piracy. Some of them are about the sugar industry, and the slave trade in the Caribbean, and how those things interacted with piracy, and also the other global social and political happenings, like wars and da da da. So I have read two and a half of them so far. And I’m just finding them immensely satisfying, but it’s probably annoying to my friends and relations, because now I’m just full of pirate trivia and stories.
WHISKEY JENNY: No, it’s fun. Now I get pirate trivia. What’s the most recent fun pirate trivia that you learned?
GIN JENNY: Well, I’ve been reading the book about the sugar trade lately, so now I know a bunch of stuff about how to make sugar and distill rum.
WHISKEY JENNY: How do you make rum?
GIN JENNY: It’s actually a process from the— the process of making sugar leaves you with a bunch of molasses, and it’s too many molasses to just enjoy, so.
WHISKEY JENNY: [LAUGHTER]
GIN JENNY: It’s a very vast quantity. No one wants that many molasses. So you take the molasses and some juice from the sugar cane that’s not good, and I think there’s a third ingredient. And you put them all in a vat and let them ferment. And then after like a week you take the fermented stuff and put it in a still, and I don’t really understand how stills work.
WHISKEY JENNY: [LAUGHTER] And then it stills.
GIN JENNY: The still does its stuff, and then you have rum.
WHISKEY JENNY: Cool.
GIN JENNY: So yeah, that’s been fun. But I have a lot, lot lot lot of books checked out from the library that I need to read. Like, fiction. But I’m having a very hard time tearing myself away from my pirate histories.
Well, Whiskey Jenny, we have a literary happening! Tell us the literary happening.
WHISKEY JENNY: So our girl Marisha Pessl, who wrote Night Film and Special Topics in Calamity Physics, has a new book coming out. It’s YA, which is new for her. Plus it sounds scary. It’s a YA psychological suspense novel with a sci-fi twist. A group of teens who all attended the same— wait for it— elite prep school—
GIN JENNY: Yay!
WHISKEY JENNY: —get together again to go out. And then they are faced with an impossible choice. Only one of them can live, and the decision must be unanimous.
GIN JENNY: Sounds so dark.
WHISKEY JENNY: It sounds super dark. So I’m super excited that this is happening, because I love her. But reading that description, I was like, oh, I don’t know about this.
GIN JENNY: I was going to say, that sounds like it would be specifically really rough for you.
WHISKEY JENNY: Yeah, it does. [LAUGHTER]
GIN JENNY: I think if I were in this situation, I would remove my name from consideration. I think I’d be like, look, you guys make the decision. I’ll vote however we want to vote. But I don’t want to be the one making the case for like my—
WHISKEY JENNY: Why I live.
GIN JENNY: —worth over the worth of all my friends.
WHISKEY JENNY: Yeah, no.
GIN JENNY: But push come to shove, the biological imperative might triumph, and I might be like, no, I should live for sure. I still have so many pirate books left to read.
WHISKEY JENNY: Well, my hope is that they all band together and figure out a way that they don’t have to do this. Because it seems insane.
GIN JENNY: Oh, yeah, that’s much more likely.
WHISKEY JENNY: Like, why do they have to vote? I don’t— that’s unclear.
[LAUGHTER]GIN JENNY: Yes, that’s exciting. It’s not coming out for a while, right?
WHISKEY JENNY: Coming to bookstores summer 2018.
GIN JENNY: Oh, great. OK, that’s pretty soon. Well, should we move on to Serial Box book club?
WHISKEY JENNY: We should.
GIN JENNY: So listeners, we wrapped up Spies and Witches, as you know.
WHISKEY JENNY: Well, we wrapped up season one.
GIN JENNY: We wrapped up season one, yeah. That’s right.
WHISKEY JENNY: There are more, if you want to keep going.
GIN JENNY: So now we are starting a new Serial Box book club with Geek, Actually, which is a totally different type of thing. It’s about five lady friends and their geeky adventures. Oh and also, but before we get into it, Whiskey Jenny, I just wanted to tell you I had a go at reading, in book format, a different Serial Box book.
WHISKEY JENNY: Oh, which one?
GIN JENNY: Tremontaine.
WHISKEY JENNY: Which one is that? Is it Regency-ish?
GIN JENNY: It’s Regency-ish, but it’s set in a fantasy world.
WHISKEY JENNY: OK. Did you read the whole thing?
GIN JENNY: I did. I read the whole thing. I got the book out from the library. But I tried to keep it sort of serialized, because I feel like that’s the beauty of the whole affair. So I read it one chapter a night.
WHISKEY JENNY: How’d it go?
GIN JENNY: It was good. I really enjoyed it. It left a lot of questions unanswered at the end of season one. But it wrapped up a lot of stuff quite well, but it definitely made me want to read season two. So I thought they did a really good job.
WHISKEY JENNY: Cool.
GIN JENNY: OK, so we read the pilot, by Cathy Yardley. It’s mostly kind of a setup episode, I would say, don’t you think so, Whiskey Jenny?
WHISKEY JENNY: I would agree, yeah.
GIN JENNY: Should I run down who the characters are, do you think?
WHISKEY JENNY: I think yeah, let’s do a little cast of characters.
GIN JENNY: So Michelle is an editor at a science fiction publishing house, and she has acquired a book from one of her closest friends, Aditi. And they’re doing a big marketing push for it because they paid a big advance and they acquired a whole trilogy. So Michelle’s kind of having to push her friend to do all the publicity stuff that she agreed to. But Aditi has writer’s block and isn’t sure where the story is going to go next. She hadn’t really conceived of it as a trilogy, so she’s struggling with that.
Christina is Michelle’s sister, who works as a PA on the set of a sci-fi show. And then Elli went to school with Aditi and now she’s kind of bouncing from job to job, and she always earns enough money to finance her next incredibly detailed costume for every con that she goes to. So she’s a cosplayer. And then Taneesha is a video programmer in Austin whose startup has just been acquired by a big fancy firm. And she’s kind of worried about her place there and how she will fare as a black woman who’s a coder. So many people with their lives in flux, I would say. So what did you think, Whiskey Jenny?
WHISKEY JENNY: Well, I agree that it’s sort of a set up episode, so it’s hard to tell totally. I enjoyed it so far. A couple of things I was like, hmm, I don’t know about this. I think right now I’m super excited to hear the most from Taneesha, the video game programmer.
GIN JENNY: Me too, because I really don’t know anything about that life.
WHISKEY JENNY: Yeah. I mean, I work for a publishing company. I don’t work for a sci fi publishing company, but I sort of generally know about publishing. So the insight into that world wasn’t as novel to me. But hearing about video game creation, I was like, what are these people talking about? This is great. I love it. Give me more.
GIN JENNY: Yes, I’m super interested in the logistics of all of that.
WHISKEY JENNY: I’m really worried about all the— like, I feel like it’s a bad idea that Michelle and Aditi have this work relationship now. I just think it’s really hard to go from friends to coworkers. And Elli also just had a throwaway line at one point where she was like, oh, but Aditi’s really good about loaning me money. And I was like, oh, red flag, red flag!
GIN JENNY: Oh, no.
WHISKEY JENNY: I was like, no. No, no, no, no, no.
GIN JENNY: Yeah, I think it’s really tricky to enter into any kind of business relationship with your friends. Because then stuff gets complicated in a way that you don’t want.
WHISKEY JENNY: Yeah, no.
GIN JENNY: And I think either value the friendship more or value of the money and profession more, but make a choice.
WHISKEY JENNY: Right, you have to value one more than the other. And I think it’s much easier to go from coworkers to friends than it is to go from friends to coworkers.
GIN JENNY: Super agree. And I think there’s an additional wrinkle here. I think in particular this is challenging because Michelle’s kind of in a position of authority over Aditi where she has to be on her case and be like, do this, do this, do this. And she feels responsible for her work. So that’s difficult— or difficulter.
WHISKEY JENNY: Yes.
GIN JENNY: Yeah, I thought it was very fun. Maybe a little bit clunky in the setup. But I think part of that, as well as this being a first episode, I think another part of it is that, whereas The Witch Who Came in from the Cold was telling a somewhat familiar story. You know the shape of spy stories. That one felt more like it was settling into something familiar. And this, I just don’t really know what the shape of the story is going to be at all.
WHISKEY JENNY: I didn’t want to make the Sex and the City comparison, but that is a similar format, in that it followed— all four women were sort of the main characters. And there’s not a whole lot of other stories. So it’s more familiar in TV, I think, than reading about it.
GIN JENNY: Oh, yeah, I definitely agree. Now you’re going to start calling it Geeks and the City. [LAUGHTER] Whiskey Jenny cannot remember the name of this Serial Box either, and she has various called it Geeks and Witches, Geek Love, and I have just christened it Geeks and the City. So we’re doing great.
WHISKEY JENNY: Yeah. What’s the actual title? [LAUGHTER] When you said Geek Love I was like, oh, that’s the right— no, that’s not the right one either.
GIN JENNY: No, it’s called Geek Actually.
WHISKEY JENNY: Oh, yeah, I’m not going to remember that. [LAUGHTER]
GIN JENNY: Full disclosure up front.
WHISKEY JENNY: Yeah, just going to warn you now. We’ll see which alternate title sticks.
[LAUGHTER]GIN JENNY: Yeah, I liked a couple of things. I like that they all have a Slack channel.
WHISKEY JENNY: Oh, yes, yes.
GIN JENNY: That’s a great way to keep up with friends.
WHISKEY JENNY: It made me want to start a friends Slack channel and just start—
GIN JENNY: It made me want to start a friends Slack channel too!
WHISKEY JENNY: —slinging GIFs around left and right. Yeah.
GIN JENNY: There was a Hamilton reference early on, so I was super into that, as well.
WHISKEY JENNY: I missed it. What was it?
GIN JENNY: Aditi’s husband says “Best of wives, best of women.”
WHISKEY JENNY: That was a Hamilton reference?
GIN JENNY: That was a Hamilton reference, yes.
WHISKEY JENNY: Totally missed it.
GIN JENNY: Really?
WHISKEY JENNY: Yes.
GIN JENNY: [SKEPTICALLY] It’s a pretty important line in the show.
WHISKEY JENNY: Sorry. [LAUGHTER]
GIN JENNY: I just— no— I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to say that judgily. I guess I thought you were more familiar with Hamilton than you are, and that’s why I was surprised.
WHISKEY JENNY: No, but remember I’m also way more familiar with Act One than Act Two.
GIN JENNY: Oh, sure.
WHISKEY JENNY: That’s still happening.
GIN JENNY: Gotcha, gotcha.
WHISKEY JENNY: Speaking of Aditi and her husband, what did you think of that reveal?
GIN JENNY: Yeah, so Aditi and her husband are in an open relationship. And I was like, well, shoot, good for you guys. I will be interested to see how that unfolds, because I don’t think that I have very often, if ever, seen an open marriage depicted in contemporary fiction.
WHISKEY JENNY: Yeah. I’m excited to read about that. The one thing that annoyed me, though, is, so she goes to hook up with a guy in a hotel. And she doesn’t tell him at first that she has a husband and she’s in an open relationship. So she uses that as her walk out line, to be like, I gotta go see my husband. And he’s like, oh, well shoot, I didn’t mean to accidentally cheat with you. But they didn’t, but he does know that. I just thought, I didn’t like that lack of communication between them about her relationship.
GIN JENNY: Yeah, totally.
WHISKEY JENNY: So I hope that that gets raised. But otherwise I’m excited to read about it.
GIN JENNY: I mean, just in general I’m interested to see what happens with all these characters. I think the book does a good job of depicting the details of their work lives, which is always something that interests me. Because I have mostly worked in publishing, so I don’t know that much about other office jobs, or other jobs across the board. And I like that these authors seem to have gone in depth on that stuff.
WHISKEY JENNY: Yeah, as we said, especially Taneesha. And then Christina, I think, works in Hollywood. So I’m excited to hear more about that, too.
GIN JENNY: Listeners, I accidentally read two chapters— two episodes instead of one, because I’m a dummy. So in episode two, you will get to see more of Christina and her job on a sci-fi show, which is interesting. Again, the details are good. So I’m looking forward to it.
WHISKEY JENNY: Me too. I like that— at least, Taneesha and Elli in particular talked about— Taneesha talks about being a black woman in her field. Elli gets hit by a construction worker and then her boss hugs her for too long. And I like that the book is addressing those kinds of issues as well, and it’s not just like, yay, cosmos for everyone.
GIN JENNY: I also do like it that— it’s a story about female friendship, but I like it that it’s clear that the relationships between each of the five friends are very different.
WHISKEY JENNY: Yeah, definitely. Are they all get to converge on New Orleans?
GIN JENNY: That’s what I’m hoping, yeah. There’s talk of a con in New Orleans that at least some of them are going to be at, and I’m hoping it ends up being all of them.
WHISKEY JENNY: Me, too.
GIN JENNY: That’ll be fun.
WHISKEY JENNY: Great. Episodes two and three next time.
GIN JENNY: Coming next time. Well, [SIGH] want to talk about— well actually, before we talk about our fall book preview, do you want to revisit our summer book preview?
WHISKEY JENNY: I do.
GIN JENNY: So do you want to go first? How did you do on your summer books?
WHISKEY JENNY: Good! I read three of the four.
GIN JENNY: Nice.
WHISKEY JENNY: I read D’Arc, by Robert Repino our pal who came on and chatted with us about it. I read Some Kind of Hero, by Suzanne Brockmann, which was the Navy SEAL book that introduced me to Boat Squad John.
GIN JENNY: Boat Squad John!
WHISKEY JENNY: And now I get to, hopefully, read the novella with Boat Squad John’s back story. And I read Trajectory by Richard Russo, which was a collection of four short stories or novellas by— he wrote Empire Falls and some other stuff that I haven’t read. [LAUGHTER]
And then I haven’t read but I did obtain, finally— Boundless, by Jillian Tamaki.
GIN JENNY: So what did you think of Richard Russo book?
WHISKEY JENNY: Um, I didn’t love it.
GIN JENNY: Aw.
WHISKEY JENNY: I think maybe he’s a novel guy for me and not a short story guy. I mean, there were some moments in them that I really enjoyed, but I think with his writing and his stories and his characters, I prefer to get really comfy in it and spend more time. And I felt like with these, just as I was getting into them, they ended. And there were a lot of similarities between the main characters across the board that, when they’re all together like that, was sort of annoying. And I was like, I don’t need to read about another sad English professor. I don’t know.
GIN JENNY: [LAUGHTER] I don’t think any of us need to read about more sad English professors. So writers, take note.
WHISKEY JENNY: Yeah, whereas you could get me on board probably for one of those. But putting them all together side by side I was like, really, again? But no, I’m still up on Richard Russo and still excited to read some of his past work that I haven’t read. But just not his short stories. How did you do?
GIN JENNY: So I read half of mine. I read Grace and the Fever.
WHISKEY JENNY: Yay!
GIN JENNY: Which you all know, because we had the author on the podcast, which was so fun.
WHISKEY JENNY: So great.
GIN JENNY: So I loved that one. That was the best of my summer books. I read Spoonbenders, and I wasn’t sure about it at the beginning, but I ended up getting really into it, and the ending was great. That’s the one about a family of psychics. I had a review copy from the publisher, an ARC, and I had a complaint about the way a minor trans character was handled, but I’ve been told that this was corrected in the final book.
WHISKEY JENNY: Oh, that’s good.
GIN JENNY: Yeah, so I haven’t read the final book to know if that’s true, but that’s what I was told. I didn’t read Twitter and Tear Gas, which is about the way we use social networks for protest movements, because my library still doesn’t have it. So that’s not really my fault.
WHISKEY JENNY: That’s too bad.
GIN JENNY: And I haven’t read The Seventh Function of Language, which is the book about Barthes being murdered or something. I can’t really remember. So I still want to, and I hopefully still will.
WHISKEY JENNY: Yeah, he’s either the victim or the detective. You’re right, I can’t remember either.
GIN JENNY: Yeah, I can’t remember which one he is. So yeah, I’ve been doing worse lately. I only read two of my summer ones, and in spring— there’s still three from spring that I haven’t read.
WHISKEY JENNY: I think I read all of my spring. Did I?
GIN JENNY: I think you did, too.
WHISKEY JENNY: I totally read all my spring! Sorry. I don’t think I’ve ever done that, so I’m really excited. I’m so sorry.
GIN JENNY: Oh, congratulations! You’re a genius!
WHISKEY JENNY: Thank you. I also gave someone— we just did a book swap at work. I organized it, no big deal.
GIN JENNY: It’s an enormous deal. You’re a genius. Continue.
WHISKEY JENNY: Thank you for noticing that obvious fishing. [LAUGHTER] The theme was murder, and I brought The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley, which was one of my spring books. And my office roommate received it, so I’ve been trying not to be like, so you started it yet? What about today, have you started it yet?
GIN JENNY: This is like me. Friend of the Podcast Ashley is watching Black Sails, and she’s a little bit behind me. And I have been trying not to hassle her too much, but I do always want to be like, hey, how’s it going? Did you watch season three episode four yet? I did!
WHISKEY JENNY: I mean, also you are recapping it for me, which is just great. Everyone knows that, right?
GIN JENNY: Yes, I continue to recap Black Sails for Whiskey Jenny.
WHISKEY JENNY: It’s super.
GIN JENNY: When Ashley is caught up, I CC her on those recaps, but she’s a little bit behind. Because she’s on vacation. She’s doing other things.
[LAUGHTER]WHISKEY JENNY: Yeah, she’s living her life. Nobody get on her for this.
GIN JENNY: No, no. It’s fine. She should choose her choices. Just, every episode is so packed full of events and emotions that I just really need someone to debrief with.
WHISKEY JENNY: OK, what are you excited about for fall?
GIN JENNY: My first line is Jane, Unlimited, by Kristin Cashore, which is coming in September from Penguin Young Readers. This is by the author of Graceling and Bitterblue, and she hasn’t written a book in a while.
WHISKEY JENNY: Oh, yay! I loved Graceling.
GIN JENNY: Yeah, I loved Graceling also. So this is about a girl whose aunt dies in Antarctica, relevant to our interests.
WHISKEY JENNY: Yes.
GIN JENNY: And then she goes to live at a mysterious mansion— which I love mysterious mansion stories— on the eve of a great big house party, but spooky. Spooky events, I think, occur. And there may be some mystery about her aunt’s death.
WHISKEY JENNY: When is it set?
GIN JENNY: It is set in current times. And I think the case is that when she gets there, she has five different choices for her life. I think it’s kind of like a Sliding Doors thing, where we follow her through—
WHISKEY JENNY: Oh!
GIN JENNY: —five different— I’m not sure, but that was the impression I got.
WHISKEY JENNY: Cool. That sounds really neat. And we both really liked Graceling, so.
GIN JENNY: Yeah, so that’s my first one. What about you?
WHISKEY JENNY: So my first one is Bluebird, Bluebird, by Attica Locke. And I know that this is also on Gin Jenny’s list.
GIN JENNY: Yes.
WHISKEY JENNY: She’s letting me announce it.
GIN JENNY: I’m not letting you announce it. You’re a genius and you will announce it better than I ever could.
[LAUGHTER]WHISKEY JENNY: Man, I’m so glad mutual admiration society is back. You are the best.
GIN JENNY: I believe you are the best.
WHISKEY JENNY: So, Bluebird, Bluebird, by Attica Locke, who wrote Pleasantville, which we talked about on this podcast. It’s coming in September from Mulholland Books. It’s a mystery. I heard the words “rural noir” thrown out in the description, which sounds cool.
GIN JENNY: Oh, nice.
WHISKEY JENNY: Our detective person is a Texas ranger, and he’s black, and he is sent to solve some murders that have inflamed racial tensions, I believe.
GIN JENNY: In his hometown.
WHISKEY JENNY: In his hometown. I think we both really liked Pleasantville but had a couple of notes that hopefully will get resolved the more experience a person gets at writing mysteries. So I’m very excited about this book.
GIN JENNY: I also really in general love the genre of people go back to the hometown.
WHISKEY JENNY: Yeah. Also, cool title.
GIN JENNY: Excellent title.
WHISKEY JENNY: I’m excited to find out what this title means. What’s your next one?
GIN JENNY: OK, so my next one, I’m very excited about this, is An Unkindness of Magicians, by Kat Howard, and this is coming in September from Saga. In my spreadsheet, all I said about it was “secret magicians doing awesome duels,” which is frankly enough for me to be excited.
WHISKEY JENNY: Ooooh!
GIN JENNY: But I really liked Kat Howard’s first book, which was a retelling of Tam Lin except with sisters instead of a romance, and that was really good. And this one, An Unkindness of Magicians, is about, the magicians of New York have noticed that the amount of magic in New York is dwindling. And there’s only one woman who can stop this from happening, but she also maybe doesn’t want to, because she has complex feelings about the magicians. And awesome duels.
WHISKEY JENNY: Well this sounds great.
GIN JENNY: Doesn’t that sound good?
WHISKEY JENNY: It sounds super good.
GIN JENNY: It has a really cool cover, and my friend Bridget who runs SF Bluestocking, is reading it now, and she said she liked Roses and Rot, but this one is amazing and she can’t put it down.
WHISKEY JENNY: Oh, I’m just looking at the cover now. It is a really cool cover.
GIN JENNY: Isn’t it cool?
WHISKEY JENNY: Yeah. It’s all sort of monochromatic and white and beige, and it’s got these branches. It’s really cool.
GIN JENNY: Yeah, it’s creepy.
WHISKEY JENNY: Creepy branches!
JENNYS: Yeah!
WHISKEY JENNY: I love a creepy branch.
GIN JENNY: Onward! What’s your next one?
WHISKEY JENNY: My next one is The Ninth Hour, by Alice McDermott.
GIN JENNY: Oh, you love her!
WHISKEY JENNY: I do love her. I think it’s interesting, a lot of mine, and it sounds like a lot of yours, are next books by some of our favorite people. So that’s cool. I only have a couple of new ones on here. Anyway, it’s The Ninth Hour, Alice McDermott from FSG in September. And it sounds like pretty standard Alice McDermott stuff. It’s a multi-generational Irish Catholic family in Brooklyn.
GIN JENNY: Euch.
WHISKEY JENNY: I think right at the very beginning like husband and father commits suicide, and then you follow the widow and the daughter the most. But it’s also their neighborhood, and they apparently hang out with nuns a bunch, and so you hear about the nuns. And I’m really excited.
GIN JENNY: Well that sounds great. I also, since we last spoke of Alice McDermott, I learned something really good about her, which I know I told you, but I’m going to tell the listeners, too. She has a dog that she brings with her to conferences. A good, good dog.
WHISKEY JENNY: So good.
GIN JENNY: Aw, that’s the best. That makes me so fond of Alice McDermott, even though her book sounds like I wouldn’t care for them.
WHISKEY JENNY: No. No, I don’t think you would. What’s your next one?
GIN JENNY: OK, so my next one is a nonfiction book, A Moonless, Starless Sky by Alexis Okeowo, coming in October from Hachette. It’s about people trying to combat extremism in Africa, so it’s a group of case studies. There’s a couple who were kidnapped by Joseph Kony. There’s a women’s basketball team in Somalia, and so on. I read a piece, this author wrote this really good piece about the Eritrean soccer team defecting from their country. And it was really excellent, really interesting, and it made me definitely want to read anything she was going to write. What’s next for you?
WHISKEY JENNY: Next for me is Savage Town, which is a graphic novel from Image Comics. It had four names on the cover and it didn’t say who did what, so I’m just going to read the four names on the cover.
GIN JENNY: Just run them down.
[LAUGHTER]WHISKEY JENNY: Philip Barrett, Declan Shalvey, Jordie Bellaire and Clayton Cowles. Coming, again, in September. So it’s an Irish crime graphic novel.
GIN JENNY: Oh, cool.
WHISKEY JENNY: And I think it’s sort of a scrappy young gangster on the streets in Ireland being scrappy.
GIN JENNY: In olden times, or currently now?
WHISKEY JENNY: I believe it’s currently now.
GIN JENNY: Cool. That sounds good. Man, Whiskey Jenny, you and comics have come so far.
WHISKEY JENNY: I know, right?
GIN JENNY: Over the last few years. It’s inspiring to witness.
WHISKEY JENNY: Thank you so much for introducing me to them.
GIN JENNY: Well, and listeners, if you are nervous about launching yourself into comics, here we have a really great success story in Whiskey Jenny.
WHISKEY JENNY: Yeah, it’s totally worth it. What’s next for you?
GIN JENNY: So my next one is A Skinful of Shadows, by Frances Hardinge.
WHISKEY JENNY: Oh, that’s such a good title. Damn!
GIN JENNY: And it’s such a creepy premise. Is coming in October from Amulet Books. It’s set during the English Civil War, and it’s about a girl whose family has the power to be possessed by ghosts— ghosts can occupy their bodies. And she is expected to give her body to her ancestors to use at a certain age.
WHISKEY JENNY: Errrr.
GIN JENNY: Yeah. But she doesn’t want to do that, so she runs away.
WHISKEY JENNY: Fair, yeah.
GIN JENNY: Yeah. Yeah. So that premise sounds really creepy. I haven’t read that much historical fiction set during the English Civil War. And this author is terrific. She is underappreciated in America, but she writes the weirdest, most interesting, cool books. And I also appreciate about her that she has kind of a wide range of gender performance among her female characters, and she never says, like, this one’s better. This is how you should be a girl.
WHISKEY JENNY: That’s a beautiful thing.
GIN JENNY: Yeah, it’s lovely. Her most recent book, The Lie Tree, it’s historical fiction, and the main character is a girl who wants to study science, but she knows she’s not supposed to. And throughout the course of the book, she really judges women who make other choices. Like she really judges her mother for caring about clothes and jewelry, and just judges other girls for having trivial interests. And as the book goes on, the course of the book really changes her mind on that, and she begins to understand other women’s decisions. Which I really loved. I mean, it was lovely.
If you haven’t read Frances Hardinge and you want to, I would recommend starting with Cuckoo Song, which is real creepy and set, I think, in the aftermath of World War I in England.
WHISKEY JENNY: How creepy?
GIN JENNY: Hmm— somewhat? Not so creepy, Whiskey Jenny, that I don’t think you could handle it. It’s got creepy fairies, which I always enjoy a lot.
WHISKEY JENNY: Oh yeah. You do like a creepy fairy.
GIN JENNY: I do. The cover is very frightening. It’s one of those ones with a creepy doll head.
WHISKEY JENNY: Oh, no. [LAUGHTER] They’re so creepy! Why are dolls so creepy?
GIN JENNY: I don’t know. What’s your next one?
WHISKEY JENNY: Oh god! That is really creepy. Sorry, I just pulled it up. [LAUGHTER] Ooh, it’s so creepy. Closing that window.
All right, my next one is Manhattan Beach, from Jennifer Egan, who wrote A Visit from the Goon Squad, which we also read for podcast. This is October from Scribner. I think I just read that it just got announced that it’s on the National Book Award long list, which just got announced—
GIN JENNY: Oh, exciting.
WHISKEY JENNY: —yesterday. All I know about it is, I think it’s more of a standard novel structure. I don’t think it does the crazy things that A Visit from the Goon Squad did. So yeah, pluses and minuses there. But the main girl is a diver in the Brooklyn Navy Yard during World War II, so that sounds awesome.
GIN JENNY: That’s cool.
WHISKEY JENNY: And something something something organized crime, her father, and noir?
GIN JENNY: Those are a bunch of words you would enjoy.
WHISKEY JENNY: Yeah, I thought so. So I saw those words and was like, cool. I’m in. I was like, diver, organized crime, noir.
GIN JENNY: That sounds great. I like that it’s about a diver. In my pirate reading, I have been reading some about underwater archeology, which is super interesting. And now I really want to read a book about an underwater archaeologist that gets into the nitty gritty of what it’s like to be an underwater archaeologist.
WHISKEY JENNY: I would, too. I would also like to read about an underwater welder, because that’s a real job, and it sounds awesome.
GIN JENNY: That sounds great.
WHISKEY JENNY: It’s fire under the sea. [LAUGHTER] Did I make that clear? It’s fire under the sea.
GIN JENNY: Yeah, any underwater job, really, I’d be interested to know what it’s like. Well, Whiskey Jenny, you’ll enjoy this. I texted you this, but I’m telling you again.
WHISKEY JENNY: I can’t wait.
GIN JENNY: North Carolina apparently has a strong connection to pirates, because I guess the waters around North Carolina were the, quote, “graveyard of the Atlantic.”
WHISKEY JENNY: Yeah, they’re super dangerous.
GIN JENNY: All right. Well, I didn’t know that. It makes sense that you did.
WHISKEY JENNY: That’s why there’s also still a ton of lighthouses on the coast of North Carolina.
GIN JENNY: Oh, cool. I love a lighthouse. But, so there’s a bunch of underwater excavation projects that could go on over there, but apparently it’s frowned on in underwater archeology to go hunting for pirate ships. Because there’s a perception that you are just a treasure hunter and not a serious scholar.
WHISKEY JENNY: But what about all the pirate ships that needs someone to go hunting for them? Who’s going to do those?
GIN JENNY: I know! Also, you can be both. You can be a serious scholar/treasure hunter. Look at Indiana Jones.
WHISKEY JENNY: Look at Matthew McConaughey in Sahara.
GIN JENNY: That’s a great point. Also happened to excavate a boat, didn’t he? Didn’t he find— wasn’t that whole thing?
WHISKEY JENNY: Exactly. With gold. [LAUGHTER]
GIN JENNY: Oh, man. Sahara was good. Maybe I’ll rewatch that tonight. It’s been awhile.
WHISKEY JENNY: God, I love that movie.
GIN JENNY: It’s so good.
[LAUGHTER]WHISKEY JENNY: Maybe I’ll rewatch it tonight, too. Oh, man.
[LAUGHTER]GIN JENNY: Good for both of us.
WHISKEY JENNY: We are living our best lives. What’s your final one?
GIN JENNY: My final one, yeah. My final one is Beasts Made of Night, by Tochi Onyebuchi and it’s coming in October from Penguin. And this is a debut YA novel about a boy who is a sin-eater, which I think I understand it to mean that he takes on other people’s guilt, I think, about the things that they’ve done wrong, the sins they’ve committed.
WHISKEY JENNY: Does then he feel it?
GIN JENNY: I think so.
WHISKEY JENNY: This sounds awful.
GIN JENNY: I know. It sounds like a terrible job. But he does a sin-eating job for a fancy royal person, and totally against his will, he gets drawn into this big, crazy conspiracy. And he has to figure out where he stands at not get killed by all the dark powers that are conspiring.
WHISKEY JENNY: Cool.
GIN JENNY: Yeah, so it sounds super dark and weird. I’m really excited for it. What’s your final one?
WHISKEY JENNY: My final one, one of my office roommates pointed this out to me, so I’m very excited about it. It’s an anthology of Star Wars short stories coming in October from Del Rey. And it’s got 40 stories in it, and they’re all going to be from the perspective of background characters in the Star Wars universe. One of the examples is X-wing pilots who helped Luke, but you never get to hear from them. And I thought that premise was super cute and was excited about it.
And then I started reading the list of authors, and there are so many people in here that I’m so excited about. Let me just tell you the ones I’m excited about. Mur Lafferty, who wrote the space—
GIN JENNY: Six Wakes.
WHISKEY JENNY: Yeah, Six Wakes. Nnedi Okorafor. Mallory Ortberg, from The Toast, Meg Cabot—
GIN JENNY: Oh, hey!
WHISKEY JENNY: And then Zoraida Córdova who wrote Labyrinth Lost.
GIN JENNY: Awesome!
WHISKEY JENNY: And then there’s a ton of other people, who I’m sure are also awesome but I’ve never heard of. But this is so great.
GIN JENNY: Yeah, it’s a really good lineup. And also, Whiskey Jenny, you have to say the title, because the title is so good.
WHISKEY JENNY: OK, Star Wars, From a Certain Point of View. Love it.
GIN JENNY: That looks amazing. I’m also excited for that.
WHISKEY JENNY: Yay!
GIN JENNY: Oh, bonus thing. Can I have a bonus round?
WHISKEY JENNY: Bonus round. Ding, ding, ding!
GIN JENNY: I recently learned that three of my favorite romance novelists are publishing a collection of romance novellas set around the life of Alexander Hamilton. So Rose Lerner, Alyssa Cole, and Courtney Milan are publishing this book together.
WHISKEY JENNY: Wow, what a trio.
GIN JENNY: Yeah, I know. They’re really three of my very favorites.
WHISKEY JENNY: How great.
GIN JENNY: Oh, and Whiskey Jenny, I have a bonus one for you, too.
WHISKEY JENNY: Great! What is it?
GIN JENNY: There’s a new book coming out in the fall called A Field Guide to the North American Family, by Garth Risk Hallberg!
WHISKEY JENNY: I did see that. I did see that. I did not put it on my list. Not because I’m mad at him— although I might still be mad at him. But I just didn’t feel like I could—
GIN JENNY: Face another one.
WHISKEY JENNY: I didn’t feel like I could successfully decide how I felt about this one until I finished it, before deciding if I wanted to read another one. Also, the concept, I was sort of like, uhhhh—?
GIN JENNY: So what is the concept? I don’t think I really looked at it. I think I was just like, ha ha ha, this is funny. So
WHISKEY JENNY: Some of it I was like, OK, this is cool, and some of it was like, mer. So it’s an illustrated novella. 63 interlinked vignettes—
GIN JENNY: 63?
WHISKEY JENNY: —which probe the inner workings of two families in the New York suburbs. The subtitle is, Concerning Chiefly the Hungates and Harrisons, with Accounts of their Habits, Nesting, Dispersion, Etc., and Full Descriptions of the Plumage of Both Adult and Young, within a Taxonomic Survey of Several Aspects of Family Life. So I believe it tries to be what it says, which is a field guide to the North American family.
GIN JENNY: That’s a little much.
WHISKEY JENNY: I don’t know, it could go either way. It could work, or it could be like, oh this is really boring. So we’ll see.
GIN JENNY: So listeners, as you would have known if we had been able to air our last podcast, for this podcast we read a book called South Pole Station, by Ashley Shelby, which I read a review of in the New York Times, and I was like, oh man, this is so on-brand for us. We absolutely should read it.
It’s about a woman named Cooper who goes to live at the South Pole as part of an artists and writers grant. And it’s about all her adjusting to the South Pole Station, and all her wacky adventures there. I think it is safe to say it is not all that Whiskey Jenny and I had hoped, but Whiskey Jenny, what did you think?
WHISKEY JENNY: That’s very safe to say, particularly because I started angrily gchatting Gin Jenny as soon as I started it, and she texted me something that she didn’t like about it when she started it. So no, it wasn’t super successful for either of us.
I think what was particularly frustrating for me is I would have loved this story and under a different handling, or treatment. I think the concept is really cool. I mean, obviously, because that’s why we picked it. Even reading the execution of it I was like, this is so close to something that I want, and yet. [LAUGHTER] And yet so far away. So what were your overall thoughts?
GIN JENNY: Pretty similar. I think that there were elements of it that I enjoyed a lot, most of which had to do with what it’s like to live at South Pole Station. They kept calling it at Pole with no article. And I’m sure that’s what people actually do, but it really bugged me.
WHISKEY JENNY: Yeah. And capital P, right?
GIN JENNY: Yeah. At Pole. The logistics of living there are really interesting. There was a whole subplot about a woman maneuvering to become the head chef at the station, and what their limitations are as chefs and how that all works, that I thought was really interesting. The doctor at the station also has severe limitations, and all her medicine is expired. And there’s all these elements about life at South Pole Station that were really very interesting to me.
But there were also a number of things about the story that I thought weren’t great. And in addition, there was a fair amount of— white girl nonsense, where Ashley Shelby was saying— you know, she was making these throwaway jokes that bespoke kind of an ugly mindset.
WHISKEY JENNY: Haven’t you repeated someone who said the bodies are buried in the throwaway jokes?
GIN JENNY: Yes. Kathryn VanArendonk at Vulture wrote a piece about something that happened in Westworld, and she said something in the piece that I thought was so accurate, which is that throwaway jokes are where you put all the stuff you don’t care about, and that’s where all of the ideological bodies are buried. And I think that was very much the case with South Pole Station.
WHISKEY JENNY: Hard co-sign.
GIN JENNY: And it just kept happening. There were so many cases where she could have chosen not to be a butthead very easily. But instead she went out of her way to be a butthead.
WHISKEY JENNY: Because it wasn’t at all related to the plot! It was entirely these just throwaway comments.
GIN JENNY: They were obviously meant to be amusing local color.
WHISKEY JENNY: I did not find them as such.
GIN JENNY: No. They weren’t amusing at all. There’s a gross reference to trans women. She makes a joke about blackface that’s really super not OK.
WHISKEY JENNY: Can I say what the blackface joke is? Because that’s the one that most bugged me. It was also the first one that I got to, and I was like, oh no. She makes a joke that people trying to do a Minnesota accent is like blackface. [HIGH PITCHED] And it’s very much not.
GIN JENNY: It’s not at all.
WHISKEY JENNY: It’s so extremely not. They’re so very different.
GIN JENNY: It’s very different.
WHISKEY JENNY: And— I don’t have an “and.” They’re just, they’re not. And what a weird thing to say. What are you doing?
GIN JENNY: That was the thing. It was all these really weird things. Some of these jokes just felt like they were coming to us from 1996.
WHISKEY JENNY: I agree. It felt like I was reading something that was like, well, we were less wise back then. But like, no! This was a recent book.
GIN JENNY: Yeah, it came out this year.
WHISKEY JENNY: Yes, it did.
GIN JENNY: So I guess, just, like, read up on feminism, Ashley Shelby, before you write your next book.
WHISKEY JENNY: A lot of things.
GIN JENNY: Intersectionality is going to be important to you.
WHISKEY JENNY: There you go.
GIN JENNY: And I want you to get into it. So that definitely very much dimmed my enjoyment of the book, because it wasn’t just one joke. It was several things over the course of the book.
WHISKEY JENNY: I absolutely agree. I did try to, though, think about, if I took all those things out, would I still have enjoyed it? Obviously I would have enjoyed it more. I still have some problems with it, though, even taking out those things.
GIN JENNY: OK well, hit me. What are some of the problems?
WHISKEY JENNY: I think my other big problem with it is— and this is also probably specific to me— but I think also she wanted it to be sort of a warm-hearted tale of people coming together and forming a grudging respect and stuff. Which as you know— or maybe you don’t— I love. [LAUGHTER]
GIN JENNY: Oh, really?
WHISKEY JENNY: Yeah, I know, right? I never talk about it. [LAUGHTER]
GIN JENNY: Several years into this podcast and so many years of friendship, but I’m still learning more about you, Whiskey Jenny.
WHISKEY JENNY: I’m so unknowable, aren’t I? Such a mystery. [LAUGHTER]
So I’m excited that she wanted to write that book. However, I think the characters were too mean to each other at the beginning, and I couldn’t get past it. They were awful.
GIN JENNY: They were. For many of the characters, there were things that they said or did that just were irredeemable for me later on.
WHISKEY JENNY: Same. And then I couldn’t get on board with— and I really wanted to get on board, because they do all come together and save the station. But I was too mad at basically all of them for that to work for me.
GIN JENNY: Yeah, there’s this whole character arc with this one guy who’s gruff, but he ends up being really kind. And it felt like it was going to be total catnip. But he wears a Confederate flag bandanna all the time, and I was like, you know what? I can’t be bothered with this.
WHISKEY JENNY: And when he was talking to his ice wife— which is a term that I learned from this book, which is cool. Which is when you have a relationship with someone, but it’s just on the ice. It’s like summer camp. It’s like your camp girl or boyfriend.
GIN JENNY: Yeah, I loved it. I thought that was great. That was one of the details that I just loved.
WHISKEY JENNY: I have something else to say about that next. But in addition to the Confederate flag, he was just kind of ugly to her in public in front of other people. And I was like, well, I’m not cool with that either. Someone else, that Floyd guy, called someone who just had an abortion a huge slut. The chapter about the kitchen, as you said, was really fun, finding out about all the kitchen limitations. But also someone was plotting to ruin someone else’s life. And I found that difficult to read. And did it! And the book is like, all right, she won, yay. And we never hear from Bonnie again, basically.
GIN JENNY: Yeah, Bonnie is the defeated chef.
WHISKEY JENNY: And then she just leaves, and I’m like, Jesus, book. So that’s my other big point, is I think it made the characters too irredeemable for that come-together feeling at the end that I think she was going for. I don’t think this is me just being like, why didn’t you make everyone nicer?
GIN JENNY: I agree. I think that made the book work less well. Although admittedly, my tolerance for joke meanness is pretty low. Because it actually isn’t that funny. It’s just real meanness.
WHISKEY JENNY: Yeah, I totally agree. So yeah, what you were saying about the Antarctic life— did you read the acknowledgments?
GIN JENNY: Yes.
WHISKEY JENNY: So she mentioned a book that I was like, oh, maybe that’s the book that I want to read.
GIN JENNY: Is it Big Dead Place?
WHISKEY JENNY: It’s Big Dead Place, by Nicholas Johnson. I was like, aha, all right. That’s what I’m going to read instead.
GIN JENNY: I have that written down in my notes. I wrote, “I’m in. Will look into. Will read twice.”
But it also sounds like her sister, I guess, did a winter over at the Pole.
WHISKEY JENNY: I didn’t even notice that. But she says “Lacy Shelby is one of only a handful of women in history who have winterovered. She shared just enough of her own experience there to inspire this book while staying true to the Pole axiom that ‘what happens on the ice stays in the ice.’”
GIN JENNY: I think that’s probably why the details felt so awesome and fun, because she had a firsthand account.
WHISKEY JENNY: What did you think about— so Cooper’s sort of our main girl, right?
GIN JENNY: Yeah, and Cooper is an artist. And she and her brother were really obsessed with the South Pole when they were kids. And this was something their father really encouraged. And her brother— how recently, like a year ago?
WHISKEY JENNY: Yeah.
GIN JENNY: Yeah, so a year ago her brother died by suicide after a long period of illness. And so the trip to the South Pole is a professional move for her, but also is kind of fulfilling an emotional need as well. Well, how did I feel about her? Fine, I guess. She was a person.
WHISKEY JENNY: She was a person.
GIN JENNY: You know, fine.
WHISKEY JENNY: Yeah, same. So I don’t think that was super successful, to make me really root for her.
GIN JENNY: In terms of coming together as a team, the one thing that I did like a lot was how she starts doing portraits of everyone at the South Pole. I thought that was really genuinely a sweet thing and a series of moments that worked really well for me.
WHISKEY JENNY: The other moment that worked really well for me was, Bozer finally played pool with one of the scientists that had been asking him for so long. I did enjoy that.
GIN JENNY: The book, in the final third, really took a turn.
WHISKEY JENNY: You mean science-wise?
GIN JENNY: Science-wise. Also Cooper— I guess this will commence the spoiler section of the podcast. Cooper loses a finger in an accident, and things really— it just was not what I was expecting at all.
WHISKEY JENNY: For real. That’s not a metaphor. [LAUGHTER] A finger got chopped off.
GIN JENNY: And also relevant, she loses the index finger on her dominant hand. It affects her— she seems to bounce back from that really quickly. I don’t know if that’s—
WHISKEY JENNY: I would agree. I think that would be a little bit more difficult for me. But that’s just me.
GIN JENNY: Oh, Whiskey Jenny, before we go on, I know that you and I have discussed this, but as a service to our listeners. Guys, I don’t know if you know, but if you have to choose to have a finger cut off, I have information for you about which one you should choose. And it’s not what you would think. If you have to choose, have them cut of the index finger of your non-dominant hand. Because apparently your middle finger does a pretty good job of being a substitute index finger.
You think you want to cut off your ring finger or pinky, but that’s wrong. You need those to grab things.
WHISKEY JENNY: We— we definitely have not talked about this. [LAUGHTER]
GIN JENNY: Wait, we haven’t? I feel like I’ve told everyone. I’ve been trying to tell everyone. Oh, Whiskey Jenny, I’ve been a terrible friend! I’ve left you unprepared for the cold, cruel world!
WHISKEY JENNY: If we did talk about this, I totally forgot and I apologize. But— what? So it’s index on non-dominant?
GIN JENNY: Correct.
WHISKEY JENNY: Why not ring?
GIN JENNY: You need it to grab stuff.
WHISKEY JENNY: You need it to grab stuff.
GIN JENNY: My cousin told me this, and I looked it up and found a Business Insider article that said the same thing. So I mean, basically proven true.
WHISKEY JENNY: Why is Business Insider talking about this? [LAUGHTER]
GIN JENNY: I don’t know.
WHISKEY JENNY: I mean, I don’t know what magazine is the ideal one to talk about this, but I wouldn’t have expected Business Insider. I was going to say Cigar Aficionado, but that’s just because of that scene in Mission Impossible 2.
GIN JENNY: [LAUGHTER] Oh man, that’s so dark. Yeah, so anyway, that’s just the other thing I wanted to say about Cooper losing her finger. Now, Whiskey Jenny, you may continue.
WHISKEY JENNY: Thank you for that PSA. The turn that I wasn’t expecting is— I guess this is also a spoiler— but she gets with one of the scientists, Sal. And they’re together even after the ice, and they’re soul mates or something?
GIN JENNY: Yeah, I didn’t buy that at all.
WHISKEY JENNY: It super goes all-in on their romance, and I didn’t buy it, either.
GIN JENNY: Especially because there’s a moment where she’s talking to him, and he’s pursuing her, and she tells him about her brother, what happened with her brother. And he just was like, OK, and leaves.
WHISKEY JENNY: And also she’s half naked on the bed, and he’s like, all right, cool, I can’t do this anymore. I’m going to go.
GIN JENNY: Yeah, he even says, I can’t deal with this.
WHISKEY JENNY: No sir. And that’s after he was like, oh, come look at my telescope. And then she’s making conversation about the telescope and he’s like, ugh! You’re not a scientist. [LAUGHTER] I was just like, what the hell, man?
GIN JENNY: He’s all over the place, and I was not on board with their romance. And also, even though he apologizes for leaving after she tells the sad story, like, that’s not OK. That’s not someone you should date. That’s a not nice person.
WHISKEY JENNY: And they weren’t even just hooking up on the ice. They’re together afterwards and they’re like, great, we found each other. Yay! I was like, no, not yay! Not yay!
GIN JENNY: Not yay. If they want to bang on the ice, fine. But I think once you’ve told someone your most tragic story and they’re like, I can’t deal with your feelings, goodbye, then that’s kind of the ballgame.
WHISKEY JENNY: Yes.
GIN JENNY: So the other thing that happened at the end that I really loved— because I was reading the book and I was grumping about the story being ultimately unsatisfying. And as I was in the process of doing that, they occupy the South Pole.
WHISKEY JENNY: So that was super cool.
GIN JENNY: I mean, to heck with everything else. I would like a do-over where this is straight up just the story of people occupying the South Pole.
WHISKEY JENNY: I would love a do-over of this book.
GIN JENNY: Where they’re occupying the South Pole?
WHISKEY JENNY: Yeah, obviously. Yeah. But also where they are not garbage to begin with and then form a grudging respect. I feel like I touched on this earlier, but I think that another reason why I got so frustrated at it is because it was so close. Like, it could have been so good.
GIN JENNY: I know. Especially— so what happens is that, because of Cooper’s injury and various political things to do with climate change, the station is going to be shut down. And they’re going to lose all their research. So a bunch of the South Pole Station people team up and take over the station, and basically say, like, you’ve told us to leave, but we’re not leaving. We’re staying here. And it’s great. I mean, that part is great.
WHISKEY JENNY: That part is great.
GIN JENNY: I’m kind of angry now at all the other books in the world for not being about occupying the South Pole. I’m angry at all fanfic I’ve ever read for not being AUs where they occupy the South Pole. There’s nothing I could say or do to adequately express my enthusiasm for stories about occupying the South Pole.
WHISKEY JENNY: Let’s have everyone do it.
GIN JENNY: It would be so good.
WHISKEY JENNY: Oh, sorry, I remembered the other thing I didn’t like about Cooper.
GIN JENNY: Tell me.
WHISKEY JENNY: So she’s new to this world. And right at the very beginning someone gives Cooper a hot tip. And then she sees someone else who could use that tip and is like, cool, I’m going to keep this to myself, and doesn’t help. She was dead to me from then on. And that’s pretty early on. That’s not cool, man!
GIN JENNY: And for no good reason. She doesn’t explain why. She’s just like, no, I just want to be the only one who knows.
WHISKEY JENNY: I’m like, well, that’s a really dick move, so.
GIN JENNY: And everyone was like that. Everyone in the book was laser focused on their own interests.
WHISKEY JENNY: I agree. I actually— sorry, there was one other thing I really enjoyed. I really enjoyed the sociologist, Denise, talking about the social structures at the Pole, and all the rituals that they would do to guard their territory, and giving it the sociology term about it. I was like, well that’s cute.
GIN JENNY: I did, too. I enjoy sociology. I think Denise was probably my favorite character. I don’t think she does anything crummy at any point.
WHISKEY JENNY: No, she doesn’t. She might be the only one.
GIN JENNY: Yeah. [SIGH] Well. Sorry, Whiskey Jenny. I did not succeed with this one.
WHISKEY JENNY: Oh, that’s OK. I mean, I was really excited about it, too. I think we were both misled. We’ll just read Big Dead Place instead.
GIN JENNY: Yes, I really want to. Well, we’re not reading Big Dead Place for next time, however. So what are we reading for next time, Whiskey Jenny?
WHISKEY JENNY: Oh, I’m so excited about it. We’ve talked about doing it before, so we’re finally taking the plunge. We are going to read Watership Down next.
JENNYS: Yay!
[LAUGHTER]GIN JENNY: In case our listeners are not familiar, do you want to give a brief plot summary?
WHISKEY JENNY: Sure. So we both already read it. Watership Down, by Richard Adams, is a story of rabbits, and their warren gets destroyed and they have to go on a quest to find a new home. It’s a very quest-like story. They encounter a lot of different other animals and other rabbit warrens on their quest.
GIN JENNY: Yeah, and I know it sounds cutesy, but it is dark as hell.
WHISKEY JENNY: It’s real dark. There’s a war, there’s that super creepy other warren.
GIN JENNY: There’s just a lot of brutal—
WHISKEY JENNY: Yeah, it starts with their homes are razed to the ground, basically. Yeah, real dark, but so good.
GIN JENNY: I resisted reading it because my mom told me the plot. And I was like, there’s no way I’m reading a book about a psychic bunny. But I was so wrong! You should read the book about the psychic bunny. It is amazing. Also, they’re making a new movie of it.
WHISKEY JENNY: They are!
GIN JENNY: Starring the voice talents of, among other people, John Boyega.
WHISKEY JENNY: Yay! Do you know which rabbit he’s playing?
GIN JENNY: Bigwig.
WHISKEY JENNY: Oh! Ah!
GIN JENNY: Yeah, he’s playing the soldier rabbit. I’m just really excited. Also, James McAvoy is in it, and I assume he’s Hazel.
WHISKEY JENNY: Aw, Nicholas Hoult’s Fiver.
GIN JENNY: Aw, that’s so sweet. Oh, Olivia Colman is in it.
WHISKEY JENNY: Ooh, She’s great. Oh, Wikipedia says it’s a series.
GIN JENNY: Oh, fantastic. That’s better. OK, it says it will stream internationally on Netflix in 2017. I doubt it, honestly. It’s September.
WHISKEY JENNY: And there’s not even an IMDb page for it, so yeah.
GIN JENNY: If it was going to stream in 2017 we’d know about it by now.
WHISKEY JENNY: We would have heard more.
GIN JENNY: I’m concerned. What if it’s—
WHISKEY JENNY: No! It’s fine.
GIN JENNY: OK, good. [LAUGHTER] When it comes out we are sure to talk about it at least somewhat.
WHISKEY JENNY: Oh, yes. This has been the Reading the End bookcast with the demographically similar Jennys. You can visit the blog at readingtheend.com. You can follow us on Twitter at readingtheend. We’re both on Goodreads as Whiskey Jenny and Gin Jenny. You can email us— we hope you will, we love hearing from you— at readingtheend@gmail.com. And if you’re listening to us on iTunes, please leave us a review. It helps other people find us.
And until next time, a quote from Apsley Cherry-Garrard in The Worst Journey in the World, which is often referenced in South Pole Station. “For a joint scientific and geographical piece of organization, give me Scott. For a winter journey, Wilson. For a dash to the Pole and nothing else, Amundsen. And if I’m in the devil of a hole and want to get out of it, give me Shackleton every time.”
GIN JENNY: Awww!
WHISKEY JENNY: Yay Shackleton!
GIN JENNY: That was so sweet.
WHISKEY JENNY: Isn’t that great?
GIN JENNY: I’m destroyed. That was so sweet.
WHISKEY JENNY: Every time Shackleton.
GIN JENNY: Bless.
[CLINK]THEME SONG: You don’t judge a book by its cover. Page one’s not a much better view. And shortly you’re gonna discover the middle won’t mollify you. So whether whiskey’s your go-to or you’re like my gin-drinking friend, no matter what you are imbibing, you’ll be better off in the end reading the end.