Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to Earsay, the Audible and iHeart Audio
Speaker 1: book Club. It's the book club for audiobook lovers. I'm
Speaker 1: ed Helms and I am cal Penn.
Speaker 2: Each episode, Ed or I will tackle a different Audible
Speaker 2: title with your favorite hosts and special guests from across
Speaker 2: the iHeart Podcast world and beyond. They'll share what they heard,
Speaker 2: what they loved, and what they can't stop thinking about.
Speaker 2: You've heard the books, Now hear the ear.
Speaker 1: Say earsay that title? Are we all getting it? Cal
Speaker 1: break it down? Sure?
Speaker 2: If I need to get specific well pronounced earsay. It's
Speaker 2: a play on hearsay, but unlike hearsay, you shouldn't ignore it.
Speaker 2: You want to listen to the ear say it's the
Speaker 2: lively chatter that follows a great audiobook.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure I get it. Can you use it
Speaker 1: in a sentence? Yes?
Speaker 2: Uh, let's see. I finished the book. Now I'm catching
Speaker 2: up on the ear say see what I'm saying?
Speaker 1: Yeah, Okay, that's far.
Speaker 2: This season, we're going to be getting into some really
Speaker 2: fun titles that push the limits of the audiobook format.
Speaker 2: So we'll dive into an oral history of one of
Speaker 2: the funniest movies in the eighties. We'll do a supernatural
Speaker 2: thriller co authored by m Night Shamalan.
Speaker 1: We'll also dive into the full cast audio edition of
Speaker 1: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. It stars Riz Ahmed,
Speaker 1: Hugh Laurie, and Matthew mcfaddian.
Speaker 2: This is our audiobook club, and you're invited.
Speaker 1: Cow. Do you have a formative audiobook memory?
Speaker 2: I guess formative audio book memory. I really like listening
Speaker 2: to audiobooks from authors who whose voices are kind of iconic.
Speaker 2: There's something about getting that firsthand that I like. But
Speaker 2: really the like, the more universal side of that. I
Speaker 2: remember listening to somebody like a Mindy kayale Right is
Speaker 2: so sweet and bubbly, and her whole persona is that
Speaker 2: of like I'm everybody's friend. So when you listen to
Speaker 2: a fun memoir that she's written, and it's vulnerable and
Speaker 2: it's funny and.
Speaker 1: Absolutely how about you?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I totally agree you have a formative audiobook memory.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure thinking back when I really started to
Speaker 1: get into audiobooks, but but I've been into them for
Speaker 1: a long time and there's one experience that I had
Speaker 1: that I that I just love. I still think back
Speaker 1: on fondly. I was on a road trip by myself
Speaker 1: on the open road in the Western United States for
Speaker 1: thirteen hours straight and I had to get from A
Speaker 1: to B, so I just was kind of like barreling
Speaker 1: through as efficiently as I could, and I put in
Speaker 1: this audio book The Overstory. The Overstory is this incredibly
Speaker 1: rich and deep and beautiful novel, and it's also one
Speaker 1: that is quite overwhelming with the just amount of it's dense.
Speaker 1: There's so much narrative, there's so much sort of color
Speaker 1: and experience to this story. But because I was able
Speaker 1: to just dial in on the open road, I just
Speaker 1: was riveted and it made this the entire day of
Speaker 1: driving just like disappear. I was so immersed in this
Speaker 1: book and I and to this day, I love it.
Speaker 1: I think it's such an incredibly powerful and beautiful, beautiful.
Speaker 2: Book that's so cool, like a TimewARP for you.
Speaker 1: Yeah, audiobooks are timewarps because they're so immersive.
Speaker 2: I assume you narrated the audiobook commercial of your book, right, correct, Yes, Yes,
Speaker 2: I did the same. I wrote this memoir called You
Speaker 2: Can't Be Serious, and the subtext is about systemic change
Speaker 2: in Hollywood and Washington. But really it's like a collection
Speaker 2: of short stories that I just want people to be
Speaker 2: able to laugh at, whether they're reading it by the
Speaker 2: pool or kind of listening to it on the subway
Speaker 2: around on a drive. And I remember when my editor
Speaker 2: called after I turned in the manuscript and she said, so,
Speaker 2: do you want to record and narrate your audiobook or
Speaker 2: do you want to give it to somebody else? And
Speaker 2: I was so confused by that, like why would the
Speaker 2: amount of self deprecating jokes alone and the weird voices
Speaker 2: that I do in my head that could so easily
Speaker 2: like with the wrong voice, could just like a problematic situation.
Speaker 3: Yes.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I wrote a book that's more sort of my
Speaker 1: comedic take on some straight history stories. It's called SNAPO,
Speaker 1: The Definitive Guide to Histories Greatest screw Ups, available wherever
Speaker 1: you get your books, and the same thing. I was
Speaker 1: so proud of it. I was like, I'm not I
Speaker 1: don't want I don't want some other jerk just like
Speaker 1: rattling this thing off.
Speaker 2: In your book, by the way, came from your podcast,
Speaker 2: which is also called Snaffo.
Speaker 1: Yes, thank you for mentioning that. My my podcast Snaffoo
Speaker 1: also about history's greatest grew ups. Season four is coming out,
Speaker 1: and I'm having guests come on and I tell them
Speaker 1: about a snafoo and we reflect on what these snaffoos
Speaker 1: say about humanity, and spoiler alert, it's usually not good
Speaker 1: things about humanity.
Speaker 2: You also have a podcast I do, or I guess
Speaker 2: technically I will. It is still a very big secret
Speaker 2: for right now, but we will announce it on the
Speaker 2: fourteenth of October. But yes, we do podcasts, we do
Speaker 2: audio books, and we're maybe the perfect guys to host
Speaker 2: a podcast about audiobooks.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yes, And so for our first episode today, we
Speaker 1: have the pleasure of stepping into the carriages and drawing
Speaker 1: rooms of Regency England. Our guest and I listened to
Speaker 1: the audible reimagining of a piece of the English literature canon,
Speaker 1: Jane Austen's eighteen thirteen masterpiece, Pride and Prejudice. It came
Speaker 1: out during the peak of the Romantic era, when people
Speaker 1: like John Keats and Lord Byron were writing about passion
Speaker 1: and mortality and the nature of beauty. But Pride and
Speaker 1: Prejudice offered witty, sharp social commentary at a time when
Speaker 1: the novel itself was seen as kind of frivolous. Austin
Speaker 1: published it anonymously, which was common for women authors at
Speaker 1: the time. Writing novels was seen as an improper way
Speaker 1: for women to spend their time. Pride and Prejudice was
Speaker 1: a smash hit and went on to be instrumental in
Speaker 1: shaping what the English novel would become. Austin's narrative style
Speaker 1: is called free indirect speech. That's when the thoughts and
Speaker 1: speech of any character can be written out in the
Speaker 1: voice of the narrator, which is totally familiar to a
Speaker 1: modern reader, but was groundbreaking when the book came out.
Speaker 1: Cal Have you ever read Pride and Prejudice? I read
Speaker 1: enough of it, but yes, I remember reading it a
Speaker 1: quick refresher. Pride and Prejudice is the story of the
Speaker 1: quick witted Elizabeth Bennett, who finds herself navigating complicated social
Speaker 1: dynamics in a romantic back and forth with a man
Speaker 1: she calls the quote proudest and most disagreeable man in
Speaker 1: the world, the handsome and delusive and of course fabulously rich,
Speaker 1: mister Dawesy. The themes in Pride and Prejudice are timeless.
Speaker 1: We're talking self discovery class. Of course, both Pride and
Speaker 1: Prejudice question, cal in your relationship, are you more than
Speaker 1: mister Darcy or more the Lizzie Bennett?
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, I mean digging?
Speaker 1: Am I digging too deep?
Speaker 2: And no, you're not digging deep at all. It's one
Speaker 2: of those things where I'm probably more of like the
Speaker 2: Lizzie Bennett, but like aspirationally, I would love to be
Speaker 2: a mister Darcy. I would love to have the the handsome,
Speaker 2: you know, I'd love to be fabulously rich. So I'm
Speaker 2: not trying to script the question, but maybe an amalgam
Speaker 2: of both. Leaning towards the miss Bennett.
Speaker 1: Well good, I mean it's a win win. They're both
Speaker 1: remarkable characters. Lizzie just has this like irrepressible verb and
Speaker 1: kind of sass and deep intelligence, and mister Darcy, we learn,
Speaker 1: has like great integrity and of course a lot of money.
Speaker 1: So if you're a combination of those two, you're you're
Speaker 1: doing You're doing good. So this new Audible adaptation of
Speaker 1: Pride and Prejudice is less of an audio book and
Speaker 1: more like a mini series for your ears, with immersive
Speaker 1: sound design and original music. It stars Marisa Abella as
Speaker 1: Elizabeth and Harris Dickinson as mister Darcy. It's faithful to
Speaker 1: the original, but it's told from Elizabeth's perspective in a
Speaker 1: highly suggestive way that kind of sizzles in the intimate
Speaker 1: audio format. Let's take a listen.
Speaker 4: I'm not concerned at all. I'm really trying to illustrate your.
Speaker 1: Character and do you succeed?
Speaker 2: Not at all.
Speaker 4: I hear such different accounts of you. I can't make
Speaker 4: any sense of it.
Speaker 2: Ooh, Steamy, Marissa, Abella, Marisa, Marisa, excuse me, Marisa, Yeah, amazing.
Speaker 2: I just did a little arc on Industry. We did
Speaker 2: not have scenes together, but even her voice is so
Speaker 2: if you're a fan of that show, she is so
Speaker 2: so good.
Speaker 1: Yeah, this is giving some pretty saucy vibes. Yeah, I'm
Speaker 1: not gonna lie.
Speaker 2: Did they make you watch the like nineteen sixties version
Speaker 2: of Romeo and Juliet in high school?
Speaker 1: Oh, I have a vague memory of that.
Speaker 2: I remember that they we watched that and it was like, okay,
Speaker 2: all right, it did. I don't think it helped me
Speaker 2: understand and the material any better. But then when I
Speaker 2: was in college, the Leo DiCaprio, Claar Danes, Baz Luhrmann
Speaker 2: version came out and that was like whoa. Yeah, you know.
Speaker 2: The to illustrate the timelessness of literature, especially Shakespeare obviously
Speaker 2: was like bonkers. Anyway, just listening to that clip, have
Speaker 2: something like that brought to life by a voice you recognized,
Speaker 2: was yeah, very riveting.
Speaker 1: It's it's uh yeah, it's very compelling. Yeah, there's there's
Speaker 1: more star power in this production too. By the way,
Speaker 1: the legendary British thespian Bill Nye plays Elizabeth's father, mister Bennett,
Speaker 1: and Glenn Close plays the domineering and downright kind of
Speaker 1: scary lady Catherine de Bourg. Let's listen to another clip.
Speaker 3: Tell me once and for all are you engaged to him?
Speaker 3: I am not, And will you promise me never to
Speaker 3: enter into such an engagement?
Speaker 4: Can I promises of the kind?
Speaker 1: Oh? That Lizzie just the backbone, she's so tough.
Speaker 2: Oh, she will not make any promises.
Speaker 1: I've worked with Glenn Close. She is one of the
Speaker 1: most lovely human beings you'll ever know, But man, she
Speaker 1: can play tough.
Speaker 2: I would This goes back to the earlier question you
Speaker 2: asked me about, like who I'm more like I would
Speaker 2: love in modern times like today, if somebody on a
Speaker 2: work call asks me to promise them something, I just
Speaker 2: want to say that I will make no promises.
Speaker 1: Of the kind.
Speaker 2: I just want to use that line.
Speaker 1: I will make no promises of the kind. Yeah, that's
Speaker 1: you're right, that's a stinger.
Speaker 2: Why don't you ask me if I'll be part of
Speaker 2: this interview and I will say that I will make
Speaker 2: no promises of the kind.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna get this party started with our first guest.
Speaker 1: Thanks so much for helping me kick off this podcast.
Speaker 1: We're gonna have a ton of fun and here we go.
Speaker 2: Yeah, man, I am. I'm very excited. Enjoy, enjoy the convo.
Speaker 2: I will hop off and leave you to the rest
Speaker 2: of this one.
Speaker 1: Well, our first guest on the Earsay podcast. You know
Speaker 1: her as Kelly Taylor from the legendary Beverly Hills nine
Speaker 1: oh two one zero. She starred in What I Like
Speaker 1: About You. She also starred in the reality shows Jenny Garth,
Speaker 1: A Little Bit Country and The Jenny Garth Project. Now
Speaker 1: she is host of the iHeart podcast I Choose Me
Speaker 1: with Jenny Garth and just in case you haven't done
Speaker 1: the math and figured it out already, I am of course,
Speaker 1: talking about the legendary Jenny Garth. Jenny, welcome to Earsay.
Speaker 4: What's that you say?
Speaker 1: Ere Earsay ear say, uh, yeah, it's just we think
Speaker 1: it's a neat name. We're very proud of our cute name.
Speaker 4: But uh, it is good, it's catchy.
Speaker 5: Ear.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you're you're our first guest.
Speaker 2: What.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's just such a thrill to have you on
Speaker 1: board right out of the gate.
Speaker 4: I'm so happy to be here. And you know what,
Speaker 4: we're talking about one of my favorite books slash movies
Speaker 4: of all time. How did that happen? I don't even know.
Speaker 1: It's no accident because your podcast and as sort of
Speaker 1: career has touched on so many of these themes, and
Speaker 1: it feels like it just felt like such a good
Speaker 1: fit out of the gate. But the fact that you
Speaker 1: love it makes it even better.
Speaker 4: Yep, yep, true.
Speaker 1: Well right out of the gate. What have you been
Speaker 1: reading lately? Any books caught your fancy?
Speaker 4: Oh my gosh, you know, I do a lot of
Speaker 4: reading just in prep for my podcast when I have
Speaker 4: guests on that have new books coming out, So that
Speaker 4: has really taken over all of my reading opportunities lately.
Speaker 4: I just read a book that's about to come out
Speaker 4: by Jen Hatmaker called a Wake. It is so good.
Speaker 4: I enjoyed Tina Knowle's really great book come out now
Speaker 4: that long ago. So I like a memoir laced with lessons.
Speaker 1: I like that. I like that a lot. I've been
Speaker 1: I'm much more of like a just a straight history nerd.
Speaker 1: I've been reading Dead Wake, which is the story of
Speaker 1: the last crossing of the Lusitania ship.
Speaker 4: I trying to tell you that sounds interesting. I love history.
Speaker 1: It is cool. Yeah, I mean, this is a this
Speaker 1: is like a cruise ship that got shot by German
Speaker 1: U boats, and it's a wild story. It's totally true.
Speaker 1: It's just straight history, but it's a it's a very
Speaker 1: very cool account. Are you an audio book person?
Speaker 4: I read audio books like when it first started happening,
Speaker 4: and then I read audio books. That doesn't make sense.
Speaker 4: I listened to audio books.
Speaker 1: I'm making can say. I think you can say you
Speaker 1: read an audio book.
Speaker 4: I think I can get credit for it. Okay, yeah,
Speaker 4: good good. So I hadn't really like gotten more into them,
Speaker 4: and I was busy, been busy, But then I listened
Speaker 4: to this one and I was really blown away at
Speaker 4: how far they've come. Yeah, this is like a whole
Speaker 4: new experience one that I like.
Speaker 1: This is almost more like a dramatic interpretation than just
Speaker 1: like a straight audio book. It really is.
Speaker 4: It's like you're watching the movie, but you're not stuck
Speaker 4: to watching the screen, and then you get to have
Speaker 4: your imagination as would if you're reading it, but it
Speaker 4: kind of fills in all the little details and all
Speaker 4: the things that you would see when you're watching the movie,
Speaker 4: which is so cool.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's arguably more immersive because it's giving you all
Speaker 1: of the audio sort of spatial and environmental cues, but
Speaker 1: it relies entirely on your imagination to conjure these images
Speaker 1: and characters. The dawn of audio books dramatically increased my
Speaker 1: intake of books, really, yeah, because I have ADHD and
Speaker 1: I struggle to kind of stay engaged. I have sort
Speaker 1: of like my working memory is very scattered and sort
Speaker 1: of broken, and so that's what reading requires, is to
Speaker 1: sort of hold information and context in your head. Weirdly,
Speaker 1: when I'm listening to text, my working memory fires. It
Speaker 1: just is like dialed in and I can listen at
Speaker 1: extremely high speeds. Weirdly, I don't know why, But I
Speaker 1: really enjoy just taking in the information almost just like
Speaker 1: a funnel, like ah, just taking it as much as
Speaker 1: I can. So yeah, it makes reading faster and more
Speaker 1: immersive for me. I just love audio books. Jenny, you
Speaker 1: host the iHeart podcast I Choose Me First. Can you
Speaker 1: explain the significance of that title?
Speaker 4: Well, I am probably best known for Beverly Hills Onoto Ando,
Speaker 4: which was a show that lasted the entire span of
Speaker 4: the nineties decade, and at one point, my character Kelly
Speaker 4: Taylor had this moment where she was in this love
Speaker 4: triangle and she had to choose between two guys, the
Speaker 4: two you know, like Brandon and Dylan. It was big,
Speaker 4: everybody was watching it. It's kind of like what's happening
Speaker 4: right now with the young people. There's a show called
Speaker 4: The Summary Turn Pretty where it's people are watching it
Speaker 4: and we everybody has something to say about who she
Speaker 4: should pick. Sure, so it's exactly the same beat as
Speaker 4: we played in the nineties on nine Totoentoo. It's so
Speaker 4: fun to watch it come back, but it's a really
Speaker 4: interesting message. She chose herself instead of choosing one of
Speaker 4: the guys, So she said, I choose me, and I
Speaker 4: didn't really understand the significance of that at that age.
Speaker 4: You know, in my life, I was probably nineteen twenty,
Speaker 4: and I feel like now, looking back at things, you
Speaker 4: kind of reach that age where you take stock of
Speaker 4: your life, where you've been, what felt good and in alignment,
Speaker 4: and where you felt like you had accomplishments. It kind
Speaker 4: of revisiting those places and I thought, you know what
Speaker 4: that is something that message, I know, really helped a
Speaker 4: lot of young women who were watching the show in
Speaker 4: real time to identify the fact that they could choose
Speaker 4: themselves in any given moment. Of course, so many women
Speaker 4: said I didn't really know that I could choose myself
Speaker 4: until I saw Kelly Taylor do it, and so I've
Speaker 4: I kind of thought, wow, that's really meaningful, and I
Speaker 4: think that's a message that needs to continue forward. So
Speaker 4: I was kind of lost. I didn't know what I
Speaker 4: wanted to do with my career, and you know, things
Speaker 4: are weird now in the business. So I just said,
Speaker 4: I'm going to focus on spreading something that's important to me.
Speaker 1: I love that it's like put on your oxygen mask first,
Speaker 1: right when the plane's going down. What's really interesting about
Speaker 1: it is as an idea I choose me. It might
Speaker 1: ring at first like self absorbed or narcissistic even, but
Speaker 1: it truly is the way I hear you talk about it,
Speaker 1: and as I've listened to your podcast, it's truly a
Speaker 1: generous disposition. It's a way of presenting to the world
Speaker 1: in a way where you know your own value, right,
Speaker 1: and when you do that, you are elevating the people
Speaker 1: around you as well. Definitely, all right, let's get into
Speaker 1: Pride and Prejudice a little bit here, Yes, but let's
Speaker 1: sort of segue from nine o two one zero into
Speaker 1: Pride and Prejudice. So Kelly had that famous moment of
Speaker 1: choosing between Dylan and Brandon. Do you think Kelly would
Speaker 1: have fallen for someone like mister Darcy or would she
Speaker 1: have gone for a Wickham first?
Speaker 4: Without a doubt in my mind, she would have fallen
Speaker 4: in love with mister Darcy.
Speaker 1: Oh that's great, all right.
Speaker 4: I mean I did, and you know we're pretty similar, so.
Speaker 1: Good, good, Yeah, for sure, I think that says the
Speaker 1: right thing about Kelly and Jenny. So Bride and Prejudice
Speaker 1: it's considered an important novel, right, but what makes it
Speaker 1: a fun novel. What is it about the story that's
Speaker 1: fun to you?
Speaker 4: It's the romance it's always going to come back to
Speaker 4: that really draws people in. And you get so invested
Speaker 4: in the characters and you see them making mistakes, and
Speaker 4: you see them learning from those mistakes and figuring things
Speaker 4: out along the way.
Speaker 1: Sure.
Speaker 4: And I just love period pieces, the costumes and the
Speaker 4: horses and the carriages, and the just the beautiful way
Speaker 4: everyone carries themselves. It's so different than it is now
Speaker 4: that I just find it really refreshing to look back
Speaker 4: and remember what things used to be like.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think you're right on the money. It's such
Speaker 1: a classic romantic tale, which is always riveting. I also
Speaker 1: think there's something just for us as Americans. There's something
Speaker 1: so alluring about that subtle British wit. Yeah, that kind
Speaker 1: of like dry sarcasm, but there's a sweetness underneath it.
Speaker 1: You can tell these characters have affection with each other,
Speaker 1: even though they kind of bite at each other.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's fun to listen to their banter for sure.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: And I think Austin's writing is it's fun and accessible,
Speaker 1: but it's also sort of making commentary. And she has
Speaker 1: a wonderful warmth towards all of these characters. It's a
Speaker 1: special novel.
Speaker 4: Did you read it in high school?
Speaker 1: I think I pretended to read it in high school
Speaker 1: and probably just read cliff notes.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: So this new Audible production is a full cast audio adaptation,
Speaker 1: complete with star performances, sound design, and original music. What
Speaker 1: stood out to you in this production while listening?
Speaker 4: Well, I went into it not knowing what I was
Speaker 4: going to be hearing, like this new way of listening
Speaker 4: to a book. But I was drawn in immediately by
Speaker 4: the sound design. I felt as if I was in
Speaker 4: the room room with these characters and I was in
Speaker 4: their conversation, and there is something so inclusive about that.
Speaker 4: So for me, it was really about the sound design,
Speaker 4: just the footsteps and the doors opening and closing. It's
Speaker 4: like it's real. It's like it's really happening.
Speaker 1: I agree, it's totally immersive. There's a beautiful score woven
Speaker 1: in by Morgan Kibbie. There's a subtle bit of sound
Speaker 1: design that I thought was so effective where Lizzie's voice
Speaker 1: is given a kind of this like reaver some effect
Speaker 1: anyway that makes it clear that you're in her head,
Speaker 1: in her inner monologue. You're going in and out of
Speaker 1: Lizzie's head in a way that for the listener this
Speaker 1: might sound crazy, but it's actually totally intuitive. When you
Speaker 1: listen to it, it makes perfect sense. What role would
Speaker 1: you want to play?
Speaker 4: I mean in this story? Are you really going to
Speaker 4: ask me that? Lizzie Luy, Yeah, I mean great, She's
Speaker 4: just so smart and so independent and strong. I just
Speaker 4: love HER's she says it like it is.
Speaker 1: You would be an incredible Lizzie.
Speaker 4: Oh god, thanks, such a coment.
Speaker 1: This is not a trick question, no wrong answer. What
Speaker 1: role would I play?
Speaker 4: You know what? I can see you as mister Darcy.
Speaker 4: You got a little Colin first.
Speaker 1: Okay, that's really sweet. I appreciate that. But are you
Speaker 1: sure I'm not I'm not the dad. I mean I'm
Speaker 1: not mister Bennett here.
Speaker 4: I mean with the right you know, wardrobe, hair and makeup.
Speaker 4: I think it's you.
Speaker 1: Pride and Prejudice, as you mentioned before, has been made
Speaker 1: into multiple TV series, movies, reimaginings and so on. Do
Speaker 1: you have a favorite version?
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, BBC original, Yeah, Colin.
Speaker 1: First, Jennifer e Lee. Yep, there's something about that version
Speaker 1: that just captured Jane Austen's tone acting too.
Speaker 4: I think Colin just the way you hated him and
Speaker 4: loved him at the same time, and his stature like
Speaker 4: does everything about it. I was head over heels for him. Delicious,
Speaker 4: It's delicious.
Speaker 1: Yes, of course, yes. So what is it about those
Speaker 1: Brits they're so beguiling? What do you think it is
Speaker 1: about pride and prejudice that has given it such incredible
Speaker 1: staying power for more than two hundred years.
Speaker 4: Well, I don't think it hurts that they keep reimagining it. Sure,
Speaker 4: you know, I think they've done you know, like you
Speaker 4: said before, it goes from BBC to Hallmark to Disney Channel,
Speaker 4: like there's always going to be their interpretation for a
Speaker 4: different age group audience.
Speaker 1: Amen.
Speaker 4: I think what's made it last it's just it's a timeless.
Speaker 2: Story, Yeah, exactly, Like.
Speaker 4: That's at its heart, it's a timeless story.
Speaker 1: I mean, like humans were just suckers for a great
Speaker 1: love story. But this one has this really wonderful trope
Speaker 1: of the people that are destined to be together but
Speaker 1: hate each other at first, Right, they start off with
Speaker 1: all the friction. Yeah, that's satisfying. They when they realize.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that moonlighting energy, like.
Speaker 1: Yeah, moonlighting, Oh perfect.
Speaker 4: They hate each other, but you know they love each
Speaker 4: other and you're just waiting on the edge of your
Speaker 4: seat for them to finally get together.
Speaker 1: Marriage is obviously a major theme in Pride and Prejudice.
Speaker 1: Norms around marriage have changed profoundly in the last two
Speaker 1: hundred and twenty five years.
Speaker 4: Thank God.
Speaker 1: What are some things that this book says about marriage
Speaker 1: that might still be true today?
Speaker 4: Well, I think in Lizzie's case, she wanted to find
Speaker 4: somebody that could keep up with her intellectually, and that
Speaker 4: the spice that she you know, finding someone that can
Speaker 4: sort of spar with you when you want to spar
Speaker 4: and roll with you when you want to roll, like
Speaker 4: she wanted that then, and I think, I know I
Speaker 4: still want that as a woman in this day and age.
Speaker 4: I don't want to be bored. I don't want to
Speaker 4: be a comfortable kept woman. I think, you know, there
Speaker 4: are all different kinds of women and they all have
Speaker 4: different needs. Back then, it was about finding a husband
Speaker 4: because that's how you survived.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I think to what you're speaking to about,
Speaker 1: you know, being able to spar with somebody without it
Speaker 1: threatening the integrity of the relationship is really about having
Speaker 1: an underlying respect for one another, and a deep sort
Speaker 1: of abiding respect that transcends the petty moments or the
Speaker 1: hard moments of conflict. What I love about pride and
Speaker 1: prejudice is that really their love story. In my view,
Speaker 1: they realize they love each other when they built respect
Speaker 1: for one another, and that's what's ultimately gratifying. And it's
Speaker 1: a little bit in defiance of some of the norms
Speaker 1: of the day. All Right, I asked my co host
Speaker 1: cal this question before. Who in your marriage is more
Speaker 1: of the Darcy and who is more of the Elizabeth
Speaker 1: or are you another character altogether?
Speaker 4: Oh, I feel like hmmm, honestly, it's kind of weird.
Speaker 4: I never really thought about it, but I think my
Speaker 4: husband's morally mister Darcy. He's got that like dry quick
Speaker 4: wit and walks to his own drum. It has that
Speaker 4: air of independence and almost like a little bit of
Speaker 4: arrogance sometimes, which must be appealing to me because I'm
Speaker 4: liking it here again with him.
Speaker 1: Pride. Yeah, the pride, pride and prejudice exactly.
Speaker 4: So I like that in a man, and that confidence
Speaker 4: that's great, And yeah, i'd probably be more like Lizzie
Speaker 4: just because she doesn't just go with the way she's
Speaker 4: told to go. She wants to have her own path.
Speaker 1: I would say my wife is definitely Lizzie. I'm maybe
Speaker 1: more of a Bingley in what way. I just like
Speaker 1: the I'm the fun guy. That's my main contribution is
Speaker 1: just being like, agreeable and fun and hopefully stable.
Speaker 4: Those are all great qualities, so I.
Speaker 1: Like to think. So I like to think I bring
Speaker 1: something to the table.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Of course, at the end of the story, despite all
Speaker 1: odds being against it, Elizabeth and Darcy end up engaged.
Speaker 1: I can't say Darcy just like I have to say
Speaker 1: Darcy Saws. They surprise each other and they surprise themselves,
Speaker 1: and through that new knowledge, their love becomes possible. We
Speaker 1: have a clip.
Speaker 5: You showed me how insufficient all of my pretensions were
Speaker 5: to please woman worthy of being pleased.
Speaker 1: Oh it's the birds for me right that listener. That
Speaker 1: is a little taste of the sound design just all
Speaker 1: through this thing that is so so wonderful. Do you
Speaker 1: think there's an element of wish fulfillment here, Like a
Speaker 1: really smart young woman meets a really smart, handsome, wealthy man.
Speaker 1: Austin Jane Austen started writing this at age twenty, so
Speaker 1: perhaps there's something aspirational in this story. What do you
Speaker 1: think for sure?
Speaker 4: I think, I mean, speaking for myself, Yeah, you want
Speaker 4: that romance and you want that challenge and intrigue. If
Speaker 4: anything's too easy, it feels like it's not worth it somehow.
Speaker 4: And I feel like both of the characters in this
Speaker 4: book really have their own personal jarnies to go through
Speaker 4: until they find that mutual respect. Looking past the stereotypes
Speaker 4: and past what all the other women that he had
Speaker 4: to choose from were, and then learning that she, like
Speaker 4: he said, she's worthy of his love. That's saying a lot.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and knowing that that Jane Austen started writing this
Speaker 1: at age twenty, I'm eager to kind of do more
Speaker 1: research on Austin and what kind of person was she
Speaker 1: who was such a keen observer of human behavior and
Speaker 1: the human condition and obviously an incredible wit. And I
Speaker 1: would think she built Lizzie on herself in some way.
Speaker 1: But I'm now very curious about our author here, meager
Speaker 1: to kind of read up on that.
Speaker 4: I know very interesting.
Speaker 1: Are all stories that we consume in culture and media,
Speaker 1: are they some kind of wish fulfillment. Would you say,
Speaker 1: Beverly Hills nine oh two one oh?
Speaker 5: Was that?
Speaker 4: Oh? Yeah? I mean, if you think about it, that
Speaker 4: was the nineties. There was no Internet. Nobody knew what
Speaker 4: life in Beverly Hills was like. But man, did it
Speaker 4: sound good?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 4: And then when they got to see it on their
Speaker 4: TV screens every week it looked good.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah.
Speaker 4: I know people that have moved from I hear this
Speaker 4: all the time. I moved from Germany to Beverly Hills
Speaker 4: so that I could have this life that I saw
Speaker 4: on my TV. And I'm kind of like, oh, how'd
Speaker 4: that work out for you? Like, I get a little nervous,
Speaker 4: but because it's you know, it's it's manufactured, it's not real.
Speaker 4: Everybody's lives are challenging, but I feel like anything that
Speaker 4: you really get lost in there is that sense of
Speaker 4: either it's inspirational or it's aspirational.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I was watching Beverly Hills nine oh two and
Speaker 1: oh from my living room and Atlanta, Georgia and just
Speaker 1: being like, what is this world? Who are these people?
Speaker 1: They really live like that?
Speaker 4: Yeah, it was a wild, eye opening experience for the
Speaker 4: rest of the world.
Speaker 1: I think we're gonna take a short break, but we'll
Speaker 1: be right back with more ear Say, okay, Jenny, we're
Speaker 1: gonna do some rapid fire questions here and in a
Speaker 1: little segment we're calling plot twist. Are you ready?
Speaker 4: I'm ready?
Speaker 1: All right. At one point in the original novel, mister
Speaker 1: Collins reads from Fordyce's sermons two young women. They gave
Speaker 1: advice like be seen and not heard, don't be vain
Speaker 1: but be very beautiful, don't make men feel bad or insecure.
Speaker 1: You know, really good reasonable stuff. So he reads the
Speaker 1: sermons to missus Bennet and her daughters with nottonous solemnity.
Speaker 1: If you're at a party and you're asked to share
Speaker 1: a reading, what are you going to reach for? It
Speaker 1: could be print, audio, video, whatever.
Speaker 4: I feel like. My first instinct is like a roomy poem.
Speaker 4: I would probably pull out something poetic but meaningful and insightful. Yep,
Speaker 4: I like it, but certainly none of the same message
Speaker 4: as that quote you just read.
Speaker 1: There's nothing like a great poem. My grandfather used to
Speaker 1: recite these poems at big gatherings. Robert Servis was the poet.
Speaker 1: There are these funny, sort of long shaggy dog stories.
Speaker 1: There's one called the Cremation of Sam McGhee. There's just
Speaker 1: sort of these old Yukon trail stories but they rhyme
Speaker 1: like a Johnny Cash song, and I just loved it.
Speaker 1: There was no there was no message. It was just entertaining.
Speaker 1: But it's like my grandfather could just hold the room
Speaker 1: in these awesome stories.
Speaker 4: Oh sure, it's great.
Speaker 1: All right, We're going to play a clip from the
Speaker 1: new Audible original Pride and Prejudice, and then I have
Speaker 1: a question for you.
Speaker 4: Okay, how can you account about having fallen in love
Speaker 4: with me? How could you begin?
Speaker 5: I can't fix on the hour, or the spot or
Speaker 5: the look I was in the middle before I knew
Speaker 5: i'd begun. Oo.
Speaker 1: They're so relaxed. I see something. So it's such a
Speaker 1: deep confidence in their delivery. I love it.
Speaker 4: They're saying, is so like meaningful.
Speaker 1: Very profound. Yeah, it's very very profound. Okay, So was
Speaker 1: there a moment that you knew you were in love
Speaker 1: with your husband?
Speaker 4: For me, it's humor. It's someone that doesn't take things
Speaker 4: too seriously because I can be quite serious sometimes, so
Speaker 4: I need that counterbalance of someone who can de escalate
Speaker 4: a situation, add in that self deprecation and just makes
Speaker 4: me laugh every time, and then I kind of get
Speaker 4: out of my like, you know, this is so serious mindset.
Speaker 1: Yeah, amen, I mean everybody is. Everybody's so wonderful and
Speaker 1: charming out of the gate. But once he realized, like, oh,
Speaker 1: this is a permanent part of this person.
Speaker 4: Like he said, I didn't know it until I was
Speaker 4: in the middle of it. That's so yeah true. Because
Speaker 4: when you're with somebody, you think you love them, but
Speaker 4: then you learn more and more and more about them
Speaker 4: and you can either grow to not love them so
Speaker 4: much and realize this is not a good match, or
Speaker 4: you can find all the little ways that connect you guys.
Speaker 4: Like I know, watching my husband, who's nine years younger
Speaker 4: than me, step into this big world that I lived
Speaker 4: and having three young step daughters to take on when
Speaker 4: he had no children, no experience whatsoever. I saw him
Speaker 4: like really trying to struggle through that and be the
Speaker 4: best he could, but he didn't have any of the tools.
Speaker 4: But now as we sort of settled into like ten
Speaker 4: years now, seeing how that has evolved for him, his
Speaker 4: ability to love in such a deeper, more meaningful way,
Speaker 4: not just me, but in our daughters. I fall more
Speaker 4: in love with him just seeing how important he is
Speaker 4: to them.
Speaker 1: It's just like you said before, having a partner willing
Speaker 1: to grow with you, and what a growth he's gone
Speaker 1: through to become a just instant dad. I have two girls,
Speaker 1: but I've had the benefit of like watching watching them
Speaker 1: become humans from the very beginning. That's a serious journey,
Speaker 1: it really is. And it's a testament to you too,
Speaker 1: to be a partner that can cultivate that. There's another
Speaker 1: reimagining of Pride and Prejudice called Pride and Prejudice and Zombies,
Speaker 1: a two thousand and nine book and a twenty sixteen movie.
Speaker 1: What character from Pride and Prejudice would you want with
Speaker 1: you most and least during a zombie apocalypse?
Speaker 4: I'm so boring. I keep coming back to mister Darcy
Speaker 4: obviously thinks it's a good answer.
Speaker 1: Answer.
Speaker 4: I just feel like he's gonna be able to handle things.
Speaker 4: He's smart.
Speaker 1: Can I give you a controversial answer?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 1: Wickham, you think you know because he's wiy Yeah, And
Speaker 1: I feel like he's a little dangerous, like he'll he'll
Speaker 1: take care of business.
Speaker 2: He know.
Speaker 4: It's how to survive something like that.
Speaker 1: Darcy's going to help you stay like. He's going to
Speaker 1: keep you grounded. He's going to keep you focused on
Speaker 1: survival and the courage, and he's going to say all
Speaker 1: the right things. I think he's a tough guy, but
Speaker 1: I do feel like Wickham in The Zombie Apocalypse might
Speaker 1: just be a better utility player.
Speaker 4: Okay, I see it.
Speaker 1: Uh okay. Miss Bingley says that to call a woman accomplished,
Speaker 1: she needs to be skilled in singing, drawing, dancing, and languages,
Speaker 1: plus a certain say qua. Darcy adds that she also
Speaker 1: needs to be very well read. Kind of a long list.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I have to sing, I have to dance.
Speaker 1: Yeah, this is a this is a very I'm going
Speaker 1: to you know, I'm going.
Speaker 4: To just go with the Genessee qua because I think
Speaker 4: that's where it's at.
Speaker 1: That's your must have in a partner. Yeah, that's the
Speaker 1: right they just need. So you don't need a partner
Speaker 1: to be a good singer, drawer, dancer or no multiple languages,
Speaker 1: uh just qua.
Speaker 4: I kind of would be into somebody. Well, my husband's
Speaker 4: not the best dancer, so it be really fun to
Speaker 4: have a guy that could dance, but more importantly is
Speaker 4: the Genessee Qua.
Speaker 1: I think you're right because that is that's the most
Speaker 1: open ended dancer. Yeah, right, like Jenna qua is just
Speaker 1: is like something you like and it's gonna be different
Speaker 1: for everybody. So yeah, they got to have that. Is
Speaker 1: there anything that you would have? Are there any must
Speaker 1: have a partner for you that you know apart from
Speaker 1: this list? Are there any must haves in a partner?
Speaker 4: Honesty? It's just it's hard. It's hard to be honest
Speaker 4: all the time.
Speaker 1: Mm hmm.
Speaker 4: I also humor right at the top of my list, accountability.
Speaker 4: I'm I there's a book that I read that has
Speaker 4: made such a difference in my Life's called the Four Agreements.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, sure, the ancient Toll Tech Wisdom.
Speaker 4: That's the one. That's the one, and one of the
Speaker 4: four agreements is be impeccable with your word. Yes, I
Speaker 4: think there's something so important there. Whether you're the one
Speaker 4: giving your word or you're the one receiving someone else's word,
Speaker 4: it's important that you do what you say you're going
Speaker 4: to do. You are who you say you are, you know.
Speaker 1: I agree. I read that book like thirty years ago.
Speaker 4: It's always a good reread.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Yeah, and that one in particular, I think was
Speaker 1: a kind of an eye opener because it's like, yeah,
Speaker 1: of course you want to be honest when you navigate
Speaker 1: the world, but the way it's explained and laid out,
Speaker 1: it's really much more of an ethos, a way to
Speaker 1: move through the world with a sense of truth and integrity.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: That's a good one. That's a juicy one.
Speaker 4: That's a juicy one.
Speaker 1: I think that you nailed plot twist.
Speaker 4: I did.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I think you got all the answers.
Speaker 4: Right, I feel like I did pretty good. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Right. So, Jinny, what is a recommendation that you have
Speaker 1: a book or an audiobook for our listeners?
Speaker 4: Gosh, I go back to those books that Jonathan Livingston Siegel.
Speaker 4: I don't know if you ever read that book. That's
Speaker 4: an old bit a goodie painted such a visual in
Speaker 4: my mind, and there was some lasting lesson in that
Speaker 4: about being who you are unapologetically and owning that.
Speaker 1: That sounds right up your alley, really, and that is
Speaker 1: absolutely a classic and a great recommendation. Jonathan Livingston Seagull
Speaker 1: by Richard Bach. Yes, great, Jenny Garth, it was so wonderful.
Speaker 1: Have you here on earsay as our very first guest.
Speaker 1: What a blast. Thanks being a member of our club.
Speaker 1: You're in the club, remember you got in.
Speaker 4: I feel so special.
Speaker 1: We'll send you your little card. You can carry it
Speaker 1: around with you. Okay, thank you, and don't forget listeners.
Speaker 1: You can hear Jenny Garth on the iHeart podcast I
Speaker 1: choose Me check it out now. I gotta tell you
Speaker 1: deconstructing Pride and Prejudice with Jenny Garth a lot of fun.
Speaker 2: Well, she seems like the absolute best and I mean
Speaker 2: very cool for us to have her on our very
Speaker 2: first episode of the show. I think we grew up
Speaker 2: around the original Beverly nine two one zero era, so
Speaker 2: big sort of nerding out over that for.
Speaker 1: Us, absolutely, and it's very cool how she's sort of
Speaker 1: taken an iconic line from her character and really made
Speaker 1: it a message for living a better life. So to
Speaker 1: our audience, thank you for tuning in to this first
Speaker 1: episode of Earsay. The Audible and iHeart Audiobook Club will
Speaker 1: be recording these episodes right as these audiobooks are coming out.
Speaker 1: The next will be a conversation about season two of
Speaker 1: the Audible original The Prophecy with series creator Randy McKinnon.
Speaker 1: Cal you get to do that one.
Speaker 2: Yes, I do so. The Prophecy is an audio drama
Speaker 2: starring Kerrie Washington, Laurence Fishburne, Daniel Daykim. The premise is
Speaker 2: basically a question, what if the Bible wasn't made up
Speaker 2: of stories that happened in the past, but prophecies that
Speaker 2: were going to happen in the future. Yeah, it's pretty wild.
Speaker 2: I've listened to it and it is incredible. The way
Speaker 2: the sound design works too. You really feel like, for example,
Speaker 2: you're on a moving train with these folks, you're you know,
Speaker 2: the stresses that you have are the ones that they have.
Speaker 2: And then the whole question of reality versus what people
Speaker 2: are experiencing was impactful. The whole thing was a wild listen,
Speaker 2: so I can't wait.
Speaker 1: I can't wait either, buddy. Now, if you had fun
Speaker 1: with us today, consider following the show wherever you listen
Speaker 1: and share it with your friends, your nephew's nieces, pen pals, whomever.
Speaker 2: And your kel pen pals.
Speaker 1: Sure you your calp and pals. Yeah, that's a that
Speaker 1: is a you're my calpen pals. Yeah, I love it, hearsay.
Speaker 1: The Audible and iHeart Audio Book Club is a production
Speaker 1: of Iheart's Ruby Studio.
Speaker 2: We're your hosts Ed Helms and Kelpen. Our executive producer
Speaker 2: is Matt Schultz, with theme music and post production by
Speaker 2: Marcus Pagala for Ruby Studio.
Speaker 1: Our managing EP is Matt Romano, our EP of post
Speaker 1: Production is Matt Stillo, and our production coordinator is Abby Aguilar.
Speaker 2: And of course a big thank you to our friends
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Speaker 1: Until next time, thanks for listening,