The Book Report

Today we discuss lesbian pocket universes, intricate stonework forest wall THAT DONT EXIST IN THE TV UNIVERSE, and beautiful scenes in the 6th episode of Amazon's Wheel of Time adaptation. The Flame of Tar Valon

Stephen is Back! 

We cover the 6th episode of the Wheel Of Time Blood Calls Blood. If you stay after the credits we will go on a tangent about the Expanse books and other probably much better Amazon show!

We got to the good episodes!!!! 

Today we cover the 4th episode in Amazon's Wheel of Time, the first episode that strays far, faaar afield of the books and also the first good pretty much all the way through epiosed. 

Stephen couldn't be on this episode he was busy watching the epic new Spiderman movie... Then Joel couldn't get it edited very fast because he was busy helping people move and doing holiday stuff. buuuut all that doesn't matter because we have the best guest host we could have asked for Jacob Dale, who not only re-watched the episode right before recording but came with pages of notes and instantly became perhaps the best prepared voice you've ever heard on this podcast.

Thanks 1 million to Jacob and we will see you next week with episode 5!

Tune in for our coverage of episodes 2 & 3 of Amazon's Wheel of Time. 

Fair warning we had technical issues, a lot of spoilers, a little to drink and a guest on the episode! 

Thanks again to Joel's BF Dylan Bales for joining us to give the perspective of someone who hasn't read any of the books on the first 3 episodes of season 1. 

We're Back!!!

So Joel has been finally reading the Epic Fantasy series Wheel Of Time, and Amazon is now making it into a show. Stephen and Joel are going to follow along and tell you what they changed from the books, what we wished they would have done and what we thought of each episode. 

Along the way, we're going to have guests with different levels of exposure to the source material come on and give their opinions. 

This week we are taking on the first of what sorta works like a three-parter episode Leavetaking which serves as everyone's... sub-optimal at best live-action introduction to the Wheel of Time universe. 

What's the book about that guy hallucinating all night? or the one where a husband and wife are separated for a long time and totally wink wink didn't cheat on each other? 

Play along as we try to stump each other with badly explained plots. Can you guess them faster than we can? Do you have a badly explained plot you think will stump us we'd love to hear from you email us at BookreportPod@gmail.com

"That was a Journey... that made no sense and I'm sorry we went on" Quote from this episode and oney good explanation for why it took so long to come out. 

I'd say sorry both Stephen and I went through a move, vacations and job changes also it just got hot and the world keeps getting more discouraging and less fun and we got lazy, but all those sound like dumb excuses and who cares. So we are back with weird trends in books and badly explained plots plus book games and more and more recomendations. I can't promise we will get back to doing episodes every week or every other week but we will try to be more regular.

Thanks for listening remember to share with friends!!

There are some house keeping announcments and a shout out at the begining... and then Joel kind of goes on a 15 minute rant about the Oklahoma Legislature. Eventually we get to a place where we pick out a writing prompt and through digital time travel then present two brand new original works we wrote over the weekend. Enjoy! 

Well, we almost get to a point this episode, mostly we have fun dissecting some of our favorite archetype scenes and discussing On Writing Tips. tune in next time when we hopefully share more of our original work. 

Just in Time for Easter!! It's here the fourth and Final part of our "Christian" "Literature" series!

I pray that next week I can stop putting everything in air quotes.

Today we talk Masturbation, Cult indoctrination, Doxxing, Balancing your checkbook, and the gender fluidity of God...

I wish I was making ANY of that up.

Why does this genre exist? We don't answer that question...or really even ask it but we do go over the best and worst examples of this problematic and prevalent 90s book trend.

More "Christian Lit" this time that doesn't even need to be in quotes, but let's stick with a theme. Last episode we kinda unapologetically shit all over the Left Behind books and modern "Christian" pop culture in general. Today we're focusing on some actual literature that is both Christian and GOOD?!

We breeze over the entire works of C.S. Lewis and provide some recommended reads before we go back to judgmental next week. (Just kidding were very judgmental this week too. 

Okay...  We accidentally did a sort-of special episode fr the tenth one in a season again. 

Today begins a new series on a subject were annoyingly uniquely qualified to discuss... Christian culture books. 

Left Behind if you are not in the know is a book series that is the juggernaut of Christian culture. So to start off a series discussing Christian Literature we had to start with the big one.  

Stay tuned after the outro music to here Joel babble nervously as we try to make an intro on the fly...

Also because we talked at length out this but didn't record it here are some links to the history of the Concept of the Rapture if you are interested.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapture
https://web.archive.org/web/20061012001535/http://www.cc-vw.org/articles/irving1.html
https://www.prophecyrefi.org/our-teachings/rapture/invention-of-the-rapture-idea/

Remember when we recommended books? remember how we rewrote the terrible book descriptions into things that actually represented what you were about to read? Well, this episode is just that!

We turned it into a game, forcing each other to come up with book descriptions on the fly for our embarrassment and your enjoyment!

remember to like share and subscribe.

We're back!!!

Holidays took a lot longer than we planned and well we kinda forgot to record for a month. Inertia is a difficult piece of reality to overcome. Anyways we finally read our latest short stories and with no restraint on SPOLIERS discuss the Space Trilogy beginning with the Three Body Problem!

As a reminder here are the prompts from over a month ago:

Stephen's Prompt: Tell me about a normal event from a non-human pov (inanimate object, animal, alien, fairy, demon etc) in a way that makes it bizarre (humerus or horrifying) don't explain the event or what you the pov character are but give enough context for me to guess.

Joel's Prompt: Write from the perspective of an AI tasked with creating paperclips as they slowly realize they are destroying the world that created them.

So today we're gonna talk about things that annoy us (What else is new) Book Tropes and Cliches and the best ways authors have avoided them.

Also, we didn't read any more Out of The Silent Planet sry. But we do have new Writing Prompts!!

Stephen's Prompt: Tell me about a normal event from a non-human pov (inanimate object, animal, alien, fairy, demon etc) in a way that makes it bizarre (humerus or horrifying) don't explain the event or what you the pov character are but give enough context for me to guess.

Joel's Prompt: Write from the perspective of an AI tasked with creating paperclips as they slowly realize they are destroying the world that created them.

This isn't an episode about Community... because as amazing as it is, it isn't a book. We are talking about how we hope The Expanse gets at least one movie to wrap up the last 3 books.  Then joel goes on several rants about how book adaptations have a bunch of major problems. Beware of Spoilers for DRESDEN FILES and THE EXPANSE 

We read along Out of The Silent Planet Chapters 9-10

Books have been banned for a lot of very very very stupid reasons. That was the original point of this episode it ended up being an excuse for each of us to rant about politics and social issues for an hour... and every now and then relate it back to books.

We also go over chapter 7&8 of Out of The Silent Planet in our book club section!

Well, we're finally here... After judging and discussing hundreds of other professional writers works now you get to do the same to original works written for this podcast...

For the read along we are going over Chapters 4, 5, & 6 of CS Lewis' Out of the Silent Planet.

Did you know that the Hokey Pokey is an innuendo? Find out more by listening to today's episode!

Joel and Stephen discuss their opinions on literature. Is it worth listening to? Probably not. 

Are you doing anything more important? Also probably not. 

Is that a recommendation you can pass up? Prob--

You get the idea. Just go listen to the episode. 

We have closed out Season Two (because our lives got busy for a bit) by bringing everything full circle and finishing out bothe entire series we discussed in our very first episode!

BEWARE SPOILERS for N.K. Jemisin's Broken Earth Trilogy!!

If you have not read book 16 of the Dresden Files entitled Peace Talks STOP NOW. This episode will be filled with spoilers for this book and the entire Dresden files series.  If you have read the book or don't care about spoilers. check out our no holds barred spoiler filled honest look at the newest novel in the adventures of Harry Dresden, 

Fomor explanation done much better than Joel ever could: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uROtbSbkaq8

Fantasy can be whatever you want it to be. These two books prove that, and then go beyond by bringing together genres in ways that bend the mind, entrap the senses, and turn the eye towards things greater than ourselves.  This week we explore Black Sun Rising by C.S. Friedman and The Lathe of Heaven - Ursela K. Le Guin

We're bringing back the french revolution! Well....Actually we're talking about good ideas that weren't properly executed. You know the trope. . .

Green ketchup. 

Furby as the next great cuddly toy. 

Giving your dog a chew-toy shaped exactly the same as your favorite pair of shoes. 

So we're going to explain two books. American Gods, by Neil Gaiman, and Dawn, by Octavia Butler. 

Both of these novels have exceptional ideas behind them worth exploring. Unfortunately, the books both fail to live up to expectations. Tune in this week to hear Joel try to explain his way out of a "totally not hentai" book. 

No pandas or polar bears were harmed in the making of this episode... unless you are a federal officer in which case we plead the fifth. 

The books today are anything but ordinary. One the one hand, we explore the all-too-real world of hacking for profit. On the other hand, we delve into the depths of human depravity where men fight one another underground in order to further their national interests. These non-fiction books are worth the read, so if you don't listen to the full podcast, make sure to jot down each of these titles, as they will keep you on the edge of your seat like no fiction novel ever could. As they say, the truth is often stranger than fiction. 

Books vs. movies? Which are better? 

We struck down the time old question that divides families and said, Por que no los dos? Yes, that's right. Today we explore the books that were turned into movies. The good, the bad, the ugly, and even the dirty (harry). Well, not that last one...I'm not sure dirty harry ever read a book, but we do mention Die Hard, so close enough. 

Anyways, I won't spoil the ending for you. Go listen for yourself. 

The guys go back to the basics (because it had been too long since they did an episode and didn't have a clever idea for a new one) and recommend three new books!

James Clavell's: Shogun &

Diana Wynn Jones': Howl's Moving Castle and Castle in the Air

I was very lazy editing and getting this episode up. listen its been a hell of a weekend and Monday and frankly year the whole world is insane. 

We tried to wing an intro twice, we failed to record, Joel momentarily deleted all the audio… This episode went through a lot to get to you. Hopefully it's worth it to hear about 20 of our favorite books of all time for the longest recommendation list yet!

Stephen’s Top Ten

10. Watership Down - Richard Adams
9. The Mistborn Trilogy - Brandon Sanderson
8. Ivanhoe - Sir Walter Scott
7. The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood - Howard Pyle
6. The Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne - Brian Staveley
5. The Walking Drum - Louis L'amour
4. The Book of Three - Lloyd Alexander
3. Redwall - Brian Jacques
2. The Once and Future King - T.H. White
1. Under Heaven - Guy Gavriel Kay

Joel’s Top Ten

10. Nemesis Games – James S. A. Corey
9. What the Hell did I just Read? – David Wong
8. Reaper Man – Terry Pratchett
7. ORYX and CRAKE – Margret Atwood
6. Second Foundation – Isaac Asimov
5. RANT – Chuck Palahniuk
4. Fahrenheit 451 – Ray Bradbury
3. The Kingkiller Chronicle – Patrick Rothfuss
2. RX: A Tale of Electronegativity – Robert Brockway
1. Ender’s Game – Orson Scott Card

Every show, movie, and song you’ve ever been exposed to was written by someone, or even multiple someones, so maybe it’s time to give credit to those guys.

We've never read these books, but that doesn't stop us from judging, assessing, ranking, and micro-aggressing the H. E. double entendre out of these (potentially) fantastic novels. 

Books we discussed:

• Malazan book of the fallen - Steven Erikson
• Borne -- Jeff VanderMeer
• Noble House -- James Clavell
• Catacombs -- Mary Ann Evans
• Heros Die -- Matthew Woodran Stover
• The Song of Achilles -- Madeline Miller

We invite to the stage . . . drumroll please . . . . a guest who needs no introduction, so we won't be giving her one. Our guest today introduces us to the parody of Fanfiction which is "Carry On" by Rainbow Rowell. Buckle your seatbelts and grab your butterbeer, cause this is one bumpy ride for fans of the Harry Potter franchise!

In Other Lands by Sarah Rees Brennan

Hannah's Twitter handle= @disabldlinguist 

We talk Dystopian fiction, The best endings, and the proper way to do a Twist in our final (at least for now) literary theory episode!

"And I think to myself, what a wonderful world" -- Louis Armstrong. 

Worldbuilding is all about crafting a playground for the imagination. Top-notch storytellers create worlds that feel every bit as real as our own, but how do they do it? 

In this episode of The Book Report, we discuss worldbuilding. 

Link to readable PDF: https://www.poemuseum.org/the-masque-of-the-red-death

Link to Youtube version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAyDQLNghXE

Here are all the books we mentioned:

Peter Pan

The adventures of Robin Hood

Chronicles of the Unhewn Throne

Harry Potter Series

A Series of Unfortunate Events

Children of Time

Foundation Series

The Expanse

Animorphs Series

Journey to the West

Dresden Files

John Dies at the End

The Brothers Karamazov

Question: What makes a story? Is it the characters? The setting? The plot? A combination of all three? 

In this episode, Joel and Stephen begin a journey into literary theory and discuss exactly what it is that makes our favorite stories tick. From the overarching theory of the "Hero's Journey" to the more tried and true "Rag's to Riches" storyline, this episode will enlighten your mind slightly more than the usual drivel churned out on The Book Report. 

Stephen finally read a book Joel recommended, so in this episode, they discuss Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky in excruciating detail. (Don't worry, this book is awesome). 

Oh, and there special outtakes in this episode that you can skip, because our editor in chief has no sense of taste. 

We all remember the books we read for High School English. Some were transformative works of literature that transcended the heights of human experience, while others . . . not so much. 

In this episode, Joel and Stephen discuss the shortcomings of several books now regarded as "Classics" and discuss why these books might not be all they are cracked up to be. 

Pop culture is mindless drivel, the likes of the Twilight Saga, or the books you see in an airport bookstore and think "I'm better than that."  . . . Actually, pop culture is awesome and deserves its place among the hallowed halls of Chaucer, Dickens, and Shakespeare. 

In this episode, we discuss the merits of pop culture and the effects it has on the wider world at large. Tune in to this episode for some surprising insights into how pop culture influences our beliefs about everything from police officers to government propaganda. 

Our first ever guest episode!

Join us as Jennifer tells us about her favorite book,  The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster. Also enjoy Joel and Stephen, cause they're just so nice to look at. 

We're back with SEASON TWO!!

New Logo. New show format. Same old hosts you know and love. 

We're going way too deep into the expansive epic fantasy that is Brent Weeks' Lightbringer Series. So buckle your seatbelts, strap on a pair of colored spectacles, and plug your ears through all the plot spoilers. 

We're back next Monday! 

Beware of Spoilers for the Lightbringer Series which we will cover in depth next week!!

We've arbitrarily decided this is the final episode of Season 1!

In this, we discuss the origins of the podcast and the absolute best modern fantasy, Patrick Rothfus' Kingkiller Chronicle

Beware of spoilers, as well as fan theories, awkward silences and Joel going full nerd. but enjoy and come back next season when we have guest episodes lined up multi-part episodes and we take on some classics.

Thanks for listening if you like us tell someone else about the podcast!

This is up late due to technical difficulties (Read User Error) but we're back with more book recommendations!

Joel tells us about a Sci-Fi classic; hopefully soon to finally be an actually good feature film: Frank Herbert's, Dune

Stephen takes us on a fun trip involving Ninja's, Monk's, Car chases and magic. (Not totally sure I didn't make up the ninja's) in The Extraordinary Adventures Of Alfred Kropp by Rick Yancey

We're also back with a new extended Read-Along segment!!

It's our first episode of the new year! It's a birthday episode! Its the return of the read-along segment! 

Oh and we talk about the experimental storytelling of Erin Morgenstern's second book "The Starless Sea" and a Chinese learning book called "Susan You Mafan" by Terry Waltz.