WEBVTT - Summer Reading 2014 0:00:03.160 --> 0:00:06.080 Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind from how Stuff 0:00:06.080 --> 0:00:13.880 Works dot com. Hey you welcome to Stuff to Blow 0:00:13.880 --> 0:00:16.280 your Mind. My name is Robert Lamb and I'm Julie Douglas, 0:00:16.320 --> 0:00:18.560 and we have something about tradition here at Stuff to 0:00:18.560 --> 0:00:21.079 Blow your Mind Every summer you only need the early 0:00:21.120 --> 0:00:24.320 goings of summer. We devote an episode to just sharing 0:00:24.680 --> 0:00:28.400 some of our personal weading recommendations for you. The Stuff 0:00:28.400 --> 0:00:31.280 to Blow your Mind listener, it's right because summer breeze 0:00:31.560 --> 0:00:34.320 makes you feel fine blowing through the jasmine of your mind. 0:00:34.800 --> 0:00:37.800 You want a book to accompany that jasmine of your mind, 0:00:37.840 --> 0:00:41.680 and we've got a bunch of recommendations here. That's right. 0:00:41.720 --> 0:00:43.400 We have As always, we we try and get a 0:00:43.440 --> 0:00:46.120 collection a little fiction, a little nonfiction, because you know, 0:00:46.120 --> 0:00:47.960 we don't want just throw a whole bunch of scientific 0:00:48.440 --> 0:00:50.040 books at you, and we're you know, we're probably not 0:00:50.000 --> 0:00:51.839 going to hit you over the head with anything to stuffy. 0:00:52.080 --> 0:00:54.200 But likewise, we know that ourreers have diverse taste and 0:00:54.240 --> 0:00:57.560 we want to present you with some some fictional selections 0:00:57.640 --> 0:01:00.120 as well. All right, so I'm gonna launch and are 0:01:00.160 --> 0:01:03.760 because I feel like this is probably the best beachiest 0:01:03.840 --> 0:01:05.480 read if you are going to the beach and you 0:01:05.520 --> 0:01:07.120 do kind of want to put your brain on on 0:01:07.200 --> 0:01:09.479 hold for a second, but you're really interested in knowing 0:01:09.520 --> 0:01:12.560 how some people's brains work when it comes to their art. 0:01:12.640 --> 0:01:16.000 And I'm talking about this book called Daily Rituals How 0:01:16.120 --> 0:01:20.600 Artists Work, and it covers everybody from like Gustav Roubert, 0:01:21.080 --> 0:01:26.840 Tony Morrison, Hruki Marakami, uh Igor Stravinsky. I mean it's 0:01:26.920 --> 0:01:30.039 it's got a bunch of selections here that details the 0:01:30.080 --> 0:01:33.440 sort of habits that these people are made up of 0:01:33.520 --> 0:01:36.000 and how they create their art. And I find it 0:01:36.120 --> 0:01:39.920 fascinating because, um, you may have some favorite authors and 0:01:40.000 --> 0:01:43.400 here are favorite artists or even favorite scientists, and you 0:01:43.440 --> 0:01:47.520 will find out how they started the day and more importantly, 0:01:47.960 --> 0:01:50.800 how they obsessed. Because I feel like this is such 0:01:50.840 --> 0:01:55.160 a great little way to eavesdrop on people and and 0:01:55.200 --> 0:01:57.520 find out how they do the thing that they do. Yeah, 0:01:57.600 --> 0:02:01.240 and just I was glancing through this earlier. Um, it's segmented, correct, 0:02:01.240 --> 0:02:02.640 Like you can sort of skip through and you can 0:02:02.680 --> 0:02:07.080 see an individual in the individual's name and hone in 0:02:07.080 --> 0:02:10.000 on that section, right, Yeah, I mean yes, And it's 0:02:10.080 --> 0:02:12.680 it's done in little chunks. So again, it's something you 0:02:12.680 --> 0:02:14.760 can pick up and put down really easily. The writer 0:02:14.880 --> 0:02:16.880 is Mason Curry, and he collected these. I believe he 0:02:16.880 --> 0:02:20.160 has a website in which she sorted to detail people's 0:02:20.240 --> 0:02:24.120 daily habits, people luminaries mostly. Um, I'll just read this 0:02:24.400 --> 0:02:27.920 one little bit about Franz Kafka. This is frustrated with 0:02:27.960 --> 0:02:30.440 his living quarters in day job, wrote in a letter 0:02:30.440 --> 0:02:33.680 to police Bower in n quote. Time is short, my 0:02:33.760 --> 0:02:36.919 strength is limited. The office is a horror, the apartment 0:02:37.000 --> 0:02:40.080 is noisy. And if a pleasant, straightforward life is not possible, 0:02:40.120 --> 0:02:43.880 then one must try to wriggle through by subtle maneuvers, 0:02:43.919 --> 0:02:46.840 so you get insight into their psyche as well as 0:02:46.960 --> 0:02:49.440 what their daily rituals are. Yeah, and you can say, hey, 0:02:49.480 --> 0:02:51.519 his life is chaotic, and he got some stuff done 0:02:51.520 --> 0:02:53.200 and made a name for himself. Maybe I can do 0:02:53.240 --> 0:02:56.520 that too. There's even this great bit about Patricia Highsmith, 0:02:56.880 --> 0:02:59.960 who is She wrote I believe the talented Mr Ripley, 0:03:00.760 --> 0:03:04.600 about how she had this intense connection with animals, particularly snails, 0:03:05.000 --> 0:03:08.400 and how she smuggled these snails into other countries by 0:03:08.440 --> 0:03:14.360 attaching them to I think under her breast. Good stuff. Wow, 0:03:15.080 --> 0:03:17.920 so there's another You know, she attached snails to her 0:03:17.960 --> 0:03:19.680 breasts and she got stuff done. Maybe I can do 0:03:19.720 --> 0:03:24.880 that as well, improving that's the answer work, all right. Well, 0:03:25.000 --> 0:03:27.000 the first book I'm gonna bring up is is when 0:03:27.040 --> 0:03:29.280 you may have heard me talk about a little bit before, 0:03:29.600 --> 0:03:32.680 and that is Dark Banquet Blood and the Curious Lives 0:03:32.720 --> 0:03:35.800 of Blood Feeding Creatures by Bill shoot Um. And he 0:03:35.840 --> 0:03:38.440 has a website devoted to this book, which is dark 0:03:38.600 --> 0:03:44.119 Banquet dot com. So this is a wonderful text, very accessible. 0:03:44.440 --> 0:03:47.280 This is not a stuffy science Texas is a fun 0:03:47.400 --> 0:03:50.640 science text. The book deals primarily with vampire bats, but 0:03:50.680 --> 0:03:53.560 it also discusses a variety of natural other natural world 0:03:53.600 --> 0:03:57.840 blood drinkers, and he goes into the surprisingly interconnected worlds 0:03:57.880 --> 0:04:02.040 of natural world single of wars, and the mythic world 0:04:02.080 --> 0:04:06.000 of humanoid vampires. He gets into into vampire hysteria and 0:04:06.000 --> 0:04:09.120 in this interesting reality where you had the idea of 0:04:09.160 --> 0:04:13.080 the vampire um in the West before we'd actually discovered 0:04:13.160 --> 0:04:17.120 vampire bats. I'm gonna read just a quick little section 0:04:17.279 --> 0:04:21.320 from this book. Clearly, though, once word of the existence 0:04:21.320 --> 0:04:24.560 of real vampire bats began to circulate, a new supernatural 0:04:24.640 --> 0:04:28.000 emphasis on these mysterious and as yet unidentified creatures began 0:04:28.040 --> 0:04:31.680 to take shape. Bats living in Europe, where blood feeding 0:04:31.680 --> 0:04:35.839 species had never existed, were gradually implicated as being vampires. 0:04:36.160 --> 0:04:40.400 Hysteria and storytelling outpaced reason and science. Though to be frank, 0:04:40.640 --> 0:04:43.040 science has done a lousy job of getting its vampire 0:04:43.080 --> 0:04:47.360 bat story straight. So there's just a taste from the book, 0:04:47.600 --> 0:04:51.240 Like I said, very accessible, fun and when I ran 0:04:51.279 --> 0:04:54.080 across it, it it really blew my mind because I was 0:04:54.400 --> 0:04:57.760 just doing a quick Monster Science Monster the Week post 0:04:57.839 --> 0:04:59.880 on the blog series where I was just kind of thinking, 0:05:00.040 --> 0:05:03.200 how would a human vampire have evolved? Uh, the the 0:05:03.240 --> 0:05:06.000 answer or some suggestion of how this would work would 0:05:06.000 --> 0:05:07.960 be would would best be found in the evolution of 0:05:07.960 --> 0:05:10.040 the vampire bat. And when I was looking for a 0:05:10.040 --> 0:05:12.560 good source on that, I ran across his text and 0:05:12.720 --> 0:05:14.600 uh we ended up discussing this in a in an 0:05:14.600 --> 0:05:17.120 episode on vampire bats. For stuff to blow your mind, 0:05:17.400 --> 0:05:19.520 go back and listen to that. But essentially, you just 0:05:19.520 --> 0:05:22.479 get into this crazy idea of in this crazy world 0:05:22.520 --> 0:05:26.040 where you're you're imagining the evolution of this creature, how 0:05:26.040 --> 0:05:28.000 does it how does it end up in this scenario 0:05:28.120 --> 0:05:32.040 where it uh, it takes on blood uh as its 0:05:32.080 --> 0:05:38.040 eventual primary mode of feeding itself. It's primary food, right, 0:05:38.080 --> 0:05:41.640 because as we've discussed before, this is not an easy living. 0:05:42.279 --> 0:05:45.240 You know, it's not like they found the get rich 0:05:45.320 --> 0:05:49.480 quick scheme in the in the hunger game that is uh, 0:05:49.720 --> 0:05:52.960 that is evolution. No, they ended up making a name 0:05:53.000 --> 0:05:57.080 for themselves on a on a really poor source of sustenance. Yeah, 0:05:57.080 --> 0:06:01.200 and I think it underscores this whole idea of of this, 0:06:01.200 --> 0:06:04.080 this heartbreaking idea when you talk about predation and you 0:06:04.160 --> 0:06:07.799 talk about being one of the animals and those circles. 0:06:07.800 --> 0:06:10.600 Because again, we're pretty lucky to have gotten out of this, 0:06:10.880 --> 0:06:14.599 right that no longer do we have predators going after us. 0:06:15.040 --> 0:06:18.240 But this heartbreaking idea where you have to, you know, 0:06:19.040 --> 0:06:23.480 constantly go after something, tear it apart, take its energy 0:06:23.839 --> 0:06:27.200 for your own day after day, particularly with these vampire bats, 0:06:27.320 --> 0:06:30.919 right night after night, you must seek this blood for sustenance. 0:06:31.320 --> 0:06:33.960 And to me, that underscores the whole predation thing. In 0:06:34.000 --> 0:06:36.440 the first place. We're all kind of vampires in a sense. Yeah, 0:06:36.640 --> 0:06:42.080 I know, I'm one of vegetarian so plant vampire. Fine, 0:06:42.720 --> 0:06:48.480 and their sun vampires so dirt vampires. Good point. Good point. 0:06:49.160 --> 0:06:53.880 The next selection here is as a fiction work of fiction. 0:06:54.000 --> 0:06:56.120 It is called The Girl with All the Gifts by 0:06:56.279 --> 0:06:57.880 Mr Carey, and I guess you would put this in 0:06:57.960 --> 0:07:01.039 the sci fi realm um. I don't want to say 0:07:01.080 --> 0:07:02.960 too much about it because I don't I don't want 0:07:03.000 --> 0:07:06.239 any plot spoilers here, but it is just it's grabbed 0:07:06.240 --> 0:07:09.160 me by the khonies, the invisible coonies that I have, 0:07:09.960 --> 0:07:13.800 and I'm just gonna read this little selection here says 0:07:13.880 --> 0:07:17.320 every morning Melanie waits in herself to be collected for class. 0:07:17.760 --> 0:07:20.800 When they come for her, sergeant keeps his gun pointing 0:07:20.800 --> 0:07:23.200 at her while two of his people strap her into 0:07:23.200 --> 0:07:26.160 the wheelchair. She thinks they don't like her. She jokes 0:07:26.200 --> 0:07:28.560 that she won't bite, but they don't laugh. I mean 0:07:29.120 --> 0:07:32.000 it just that's the beginning of it. And I'm reading 0:07:32.040 --> 0:07:34.080 that because I want you guys to understand that this, 0:07:34.360 --> 0:07:39.000 honestly is something that has completely arrested my attention here. 0:07:39.080 --> 0:07:41.680 I know that I'm not through it all the way yet, 0:07:41.720 --> 0:07:45.000 but it's excellent so far. Josh Weeden has said the 0:07:45.040 --> 0:07:48.040 story of Melanie that people around her is so thoroughly crafted, 0:07:48.160 --> 0:07:51.960 so heartfelt, remorseless, and painfully human. That it takes the 0:07:52.000 --> 0:07:55.880 potentially tired trope of the zombie apocalypse and makes it 0:07:55.920 --> 0:07:59.800 as fresh as it is terrifying. The story spirals towards 0:07:59.840 --> 0:08:02.520 a conclusions so surprising, so warm, and yet so chilling, 0:08:02.520 --> 0:08:04.640 that it takes a moment to realize it's been earned 0:08:04.760 --> 0:08:07.840 since the first page and even before it left me 0:08:08.000 --> 0:08:11.960 sighing with envious joy like i'd been Simmy. Simmy chanously 0:08:12.040 --> 0:08:15.880 offered flowers and beaten at chess a jewel. So just 0:08:15.920 --> 0:08:17.800 to give you guys an idea of of what it's 0:08:17.840 --> 0:08:21.480 about and sort of accolades it's getting. Yeah, it sounds 0:08:21.480 --> 0:08:24.120 fascinating and I can't help but wonder I did the 0:08:24.520 --> 0:08:27.000 did the author take this on as a like a 0:08:27.120 --> 0:08:31.000 challenge to say, I'm going to write a zombie apocalypse novel? 0:08:31.400 --> 0:08:34.440 Even though that idea there everyone, when with any in 0:08:34.440 --> 0:08:36.920 irrational thought, is going to say, don't write a zombie book. 0:08:38.320 --> 0:08:40.600 Don't whatever you do, don't write a zombie apocalypse. But 0:08:40.600 --> 0:08:43.120 but then she's she's done it, and she's made it work, 0:08:43.280 --> 0:08:45.280 and she and done it in in a new and 0:08:45.280 --> 0:08:47.880 exciting way. Yeah, I was making me think about Richard 0:08:47.880 --> 0:08:51.040 Mouth heasons I am legend in the same way that 0:08:51.120 --> 0:08:55.640 you're the internal state of this person is being plumbed 0:08:56.400 --> 0:09:00.439 to the deepest depths that it's um that you kind 0:09:00.440 --> 0:09:03.680 of forget that there's this other horrific story that it's 0:09:03.720 --> 0:09:06.320 wrapped up And does that make sense? So and I 0:09:06.400 --> 0:09:10.120 am legend you're this man is so isolated and there's 0:09:10.160 --> 0:09:14.480 such existential terror having to board yourself up every night 0:09:14.640 --> 0:09:16.960 to keep you know, the Boogeyman away, that you forget 0:09:17.000 --> 0:09:21.200 that this is essentially a vampire story. And in the 0:09:21.240 --> 0:09:23.640 same way, you know, um, the girl with all the 0:09:23.679 --> 0:09:26.079 gifts is making you forget that this is a zombie story. 0:09:26.760 --> 0:09:30.839 Very cool, Very cool. All right, Well, my next reading 0:09:30.880 --> 0:09:33.920 recommendation is another book that we've mentioned on the podcast, 0:09:34.440 --> 0:09:37.640 particularly in our Fraggle Rock Troglafauna episode, And this is 0:09:37.679 --> 0:09:40.600 The Wider Worlds of Jim Hinson, essays on his work 0:09:40.640 --> 0:09:44.080 and legacy beyond the Muppet Show in Sesame Street. Uh. 0:09:44.240 --> 0:09:47.840 This was compiled was edited by Jennifer C. Garland and 0:09:47.920 --> 0:09:51.400 Anissa M. Graham. You can find this in I think 0:09:51.400 --> 0:09:53.360 it's cheapest as a kindle book. You can order a 0:09:53.360 --> 0:09:56.559 physical copy as well. Uh. And I'm not going to 0:09:56.600 --> 0:09:58.520 read an excerpt but I just want to roll through 0:09:58.559 --> 0:10:00.760 the titles of some of the colle that essays by 0:10:00.840 --> 0:10:03.600 various authors just to give you a taste about how 0:10:03.640 --> 0:10:07.640 how deeply uh these authors dive into the world of Hinton, 0:10:07.720 --> 0:10:10.680 which you know, ultimately is a very thought out world. 0:10:10.720 --> 0:10:14.040 I mean, we Hinson wasn't just you know, spit firing 0:10:14.080 --> 0:10:17.040 some ideas and saying, now, let's make something about some 0:10:17.120 --> 0:10:19.040 muppets living in a cave. Now, that was a very 0:10:19.200 --> 0:10:23.240 nuanced idea. They were setting out to achieve certain things 0:10:23.320 --> 0:10:27.199 and and relate certain messages to a young audience. Yeah, 0:10:27.240 --> 0:10:30.199 I mean psychological and talking about the bio diversity is 0:10:30.240 --> 0:10:33.200 really interesting. Yeah. So you have a four different essays 0:10:33.200 --> 0:10:36.520 on Fraggle Rock, including um, no sex, please were fragg 0:10:36.520 --> 0:10:40.200 holes which gets into uh gender and fraggle Rock. Uh, 0:10:40.360 --> 0:10:44.199 the wonderful Ecology of Fraggle Rock by Justin Verfel that 0:10:44.320 --> 0:10:47.600 we are referenced. You see either various essays in here 0:10:47.600 --> 0:10:50.559 about the Dark Crystal and Labyrinth, including uh interpreting the 0:10:50.640 --> 0:10:54.160 various species in the Dark Crystal and Fraggle Rock, including 0:10:54.800 --> 0:10:57.680 what was sundered and undone shall be whole Union nature 0:10:58.120 --> 0:11:01.240 and agra in the Dark Crystal there are some essays 0:11:01.240 --> 0:11:04.960 about the Storyteller series, which I adore as well. Um, 0:11:05.000 --> 0:11:09.200 Everyone's Storyteller, the shifting rolls of story storyteller, storytellers and 0:11:09.240 --> 0:11:12.280 audiences in the Jim Hinson Hour, Uh, there's some stuff 0:11:12.320 --> 0:11:15.360 on em and Honor's jug Band Christmas of course. Um. 0:11:15.400 --> 0:11:17.960 And then there's a let's see a couple here on 0:11:18.200 --> 0:11:20.880 far Escape as well, including exploring the alien other of 0:11:21.000 --> 0:11:25.920 far skate human puppet costume cosmetics. So if you are 0:11:26.520 --> 0:11:28.199 a Hinston fan, if you are a you know, a 0:11:28.280 --> 0:11:31.480 Labyrinth fan, Dark Crystal fan, Frankle Flan fan, It's, etcetera, 0:11:31.840 --> 0:11:33.760 this is a book you really should check out because 0:11:33.800 --> 0:11:36.880 they all all the authors take a deep, loving dive 0:11:36.960 --> 0:11:42.040 into these creations. All right, And speaking of representations of animals, 0:11:42.800 --> 0:11:46.760 my next pick is a non fiction pick um. It's 0:11:46.760 --> 0:11:51.480 called Wild Ones. It's sometimes dismaying, weirdly reassuring story about 0:11:51.520 --> 0:11:54.520 looking at people looking at animals in America. And it's 0:11:54.559 --> 0:11:57.440 by John Well um um who's also the author of 0:11:57.480 --> 0:12:00.079 the two thousand and ten New York Times piece and 0:12:00.160 --> 0:12:04.840 Animals Be Gay, which we did episode on based on 0:12:05.120 --> 0:12:07.840 his writing and research. So I was really excited when 0:12:07.920 --> 0:12:09.920 this book came out because I think that he has 0:12:09.920 --> 0:12:14.320 a very interesting perspective and his stuff is really well researched. UM. 0:12:14.400 --> 0:12:18.880 I was also very interested in his perspective on the 0:12:19.480 --> 0:12:23.280 relationship between animals and humans because he comes at it 0:12:23.320 --> 0:12:25.440 from the angle of In two thousand and ten, he 0:12:25.520 --> 0:12:30.480 became a father, he became a new parent, and all 0:12:30.520 --> 0:12:33.199 of a sudden, he was aware of this, this deluge 0:12:33.400 --> 0:12:37.600 of animal themed things coming into his life via his child. 0:12:37.720 --> 0:12:41.040 So you know what I'm talking about, Yeah, you get you. 0:12:41.040 --> 0:12:44.240 You all of a sudden have five books about animals, 0:12:44.320 --> 0:12:48.520 You have pajamas with animals on them, you have you know, 0:12:48.920 --> 0:12:53.080 um songs about animals. And he began to think about 0:12:53.120 --> 0:12:55.680 this in very serious terms, like what does this mean? 0:12:55.760 --> 0:12:59.559 This is a very illusory, uh fictional world that we're 0:12:59.640 --> 0:13:02.200 creating thing for these children. This is a fairy tale 0:13:02.280 --> 0:13:06.400 about animals when in fact, the actual state of animals 0:13:06.440 --> 0:13:09.600 and the animal kingdom on Earth now is going to 0:13:09.640 --> 0:13:13.080 be vastly different. When when you know, my daughter reaches 0:13:13.200 --> 0:13:16.559 the age of thirty, polar bears may not exist. So 0:13:17.440 --> 0:13:22.520 he started to take this on this idea of conservation 0:13:23.080 --> 0:13:27.200 and extinction, and he looks at I believe it's butterflies, 0:13:27.400 --> 0:13:32.040 polar bears, and the whooping crane, and follows their specific 0:13:32.559 --> 0:13:39.040 um trajectories through conservation through um looming extinction, and how 0:13:39.120 --> 0:13:42.360 humans are are actually trying to affect change. And it 0:13:42.440 --> 0:13:46.280 does get depressing at times because um, I don't want 0:13:46.320 --> 0:13:48.560 to ruin it for people. But the way in which 0:13:48.559 --> 0:13:52.080 we're going about this, he may argue, is that we 0:13:52.160 --> 0:13:55.120 may be creating a world that cannot sustain an animal 0:13:55.200 --> 0:13:58.640 kingdom in earnest as it has in the past. So 0:13:58.760 --> 0:14:02.480 even trying to conserve animals maybe uh, sort of a 0:14:02.600 --> 0:14:07.400 zero sum game because we have so altered the landscape 0:14:07.440 --> 0:14:10.720 and we are squarely in the anthroposyne era in which 0:14:10.760 --> 0:14:14.040 is the man made era, and we are manipulating everything 0:14:14.040 --> 0:14:17.040 around us. So it's a good one to read at 0:14:17.040 --> 0:14:19.240 the barbecue this summer, that's what you're saying. It is 0:14:19.760 --> 0:14:22.200 something that you should corner one of her family members 0:14:22.240 --> 0:14:25.880 about at the barbecue and just depressed the hell out 0:14:25.880 --> 0:14:28.760 of them. Sounds good, I mean, if you like me. 0:14:28.800 --> 0:14:32.200 I mean I I like a good sobering read, you know. 0:14:32.400 --> 0:14:35.120 I mean we're not talking about escapist books here. We're 0:14:35.120 --> 0:14:37.680 talking about books that they make you think, make you 0:14:38.480 --> 0:14:44.880 re evaluate humanities, uh trajectory, your own personal trajectory. Well, yeah, 0:14:44.920 --> 0:14:49.040 and he's also digging deeper into um, you know, subconscious 0:14:49.040 --> 0:14:51.360 here too. He's saying, like, why why aren't those polar 0:14:51.360 --> 0:14:55.640 bears effective anymore? Have their cuteness actually usurped their message 0:14:56.600 --> 0:14:58.960 or the message that controversations are trying to put out 0:14:58.960 --> 0:15:03.280 there about habitat loss and extinction, And so it's very interesting. 0:15:03.280 --> 0:15:06.840 It sort of talks about how psychologically we are taking 0:15:06.840 --> 0:15:12.440 all this information in, how it's essentially becoming ineffective and 0:15:12.760 --> 0:15:17.040 why that is. Anyway, Yes, it's a it's a good read. Now, Julie, 0:15:17.080 --> 0:15:20.240 I understand that you are about maybe halfway through um 0:15:20.280 --> 0:15:24.200 watching True Detective, the HBO series right now? Correct, yes, yeah, 0:15:24.200 --> 0:15:26.240 and you you're enjoying it? Yes? Can you see the 0:15:26.280 --> 0:15:31.680 spirals in my eyes? So I cannot think of better writing, 0:15:32.320 --> 0:15:36.960 better storytelling, and also UM stories that hit on a 0:15:36.960 --> 0:15:39.240 lot of the things that we talked about. Yeah, I 0:15:39.280 --> 0:15:41.560 was when when I first started watching it, which was 0:15:41.640 --> 0:15:43.480 I guess it was like three or four episodes into 0:15:43.520 --> 0:15:45.640 the run, and I started hearing all the buzz and 0:15:45.680 --> 0:15:48.920 people were cornering me null here in the recording studio, 0:15:49.040 --> 0:15:51.800 was cornering me and producer asking me if I was reading, 0:15:51.840 --> 0:15:53.520 if I was watching at and why I had not 0:15:53.560 --> 0:15:56.120 watched the yet. It was hitting all these various themes 0:15:56.120 --> 0:15:58.320 that we've covered before. It was lining up with some 0:15:58.360 --> 0:16:01.120 of my own personal interests. So I love the show. 0:16:01.320 --> 0:16:05.040 And afterwards, I was really interested in the show's creator 0:16:05.040 --> 0:16:08.360 and writer, uh Nick Pizo Alatta, because clearly this is 0:16:08.560 --> 0:16:10.600 a guy whose brain is lining up with my own 0:16:10.600 --> 0:16:13.120 in some respects, and it's created some art that I'm 0:16:13.120 --> 0:16:15.640 really into. So I discovered his book, Galveston, a novel 0:16:16.200 --> 0:16:19.400 and uh I very strongly recommended, particularly if you're if 0:16:19.440 --> 0:16:21.280 you were a fan of a true detective and you 0:16:21.280 --> 0:16:24.560 want a little more of that kind of flavoring. UM 0:16:24.640 --> 0:16:27.680 in anticipation of a second season eventually coming out. Now, 0:16:28.040 --> 0:16:31.160 I wanna preface and say this is not a book 0:16:31.200 --> 0:16:35.640 that is rife with a bunch of super mysterious intrigue. 0:16:35.640 --> 0:16:38.040 There's no there's no mention of Yellow Kings, there's no 0:16:38.560 --> 0:16:42.000 uh sort of love crafty and sort of elements in 0:16:42.040 --> 0:16:45.400 the works. Um. But but it does have a lot 0:16:45.400 --> 0:16:48.040 of the uh, the the feel that you would find 0:16:48.360 --> 0:16:50.960 in the in some of the characters in true detective. Now, 0:16:50.960 --> 0:16:53.080 this novel deals with a character of the name of 0:16:53.200 --> 0:16:56.160 Roy Caddy who's a criminal, career criminal living in New 0:16:56.280 --> 0:16:58.880 Orleans and and he finds out that he has a 0:16:59.000 --> 0:17:01.680 terminal illness, or right about the time that he that, 0:17:01.840 --> 0:17:05.120 he finds out that his boss is a dangerous loan 0:17:05.240 --> 0:17:08.640 sharking bar owner wants him dead. So there's this uh, 0:17:08.840 --> 0:17:12.720 brutal sequence where he's double cross, barely makes out and 0:17:12.800 --> 0:17:14.760 makes it out of town with his life and he 0:17:14.840 --> 0:17:19.680 ends up on the run into coastal Texas with a 0:17:19.720 --> 0:17:23.960 prostitute and a young girl, and from there it just 0:17:24.000 --> 0:17:27.399 goes into some very interesting places. I don't want to 0:17:27.400 --> 0:17:30.080 give anything away, but but you do have a character 0:17:30.200 --> 0:17:33.919 who's really coming to terms with with what's important in life. 0:17:33.960 --> 0:17:35.800 What's he gonna do with the rest of the life 0:17:35.840 --> 0:17:38.840 that he has here? How does that square with what 0:17:38.880 --> 0:17:41.199 he's made of his life so far? And it's just 0:17:41.240 --> 0:17:46.359 beautifully written. Um. I was really impressed with Pizolato's use 0:17:46.440 --> 0:17:49.560 of language in this novel. Um that the character at 0:17:49.640 --> 0:17:52.760 times feels like he is kind of cut from the 0:17:52.800 --> 0:17:56.960 same cloth as the rust Coal character, Like they're like, 0:17:57.000 --> 0:17:59.880 there may be sort of cosmic twins in some way. 0:18:00.359 --> 0:18:02.639 But yeah, beautiful read and at the end I actually 0:18:02.720 --> 0:18:04.879 ended up tearing up a bit, so I'm not gonna 0:18:04.960 --> 0:18:07.720 I do have one little section when I read for you. 0:18:07.760 --> 0:18:09.520 I really want to read you, read you the last 0:18:09.680 --> 0:18:12.320 couple of paragraphs, but that would be spoiling things. We 0:18:12.320 --> 0:18:15.000 were silent for a long stretch. Then, with the wind 0:18:15.119 --> 0:18:17.919 shushing outside and the rhythm of a skier, a cloud 0:18:17.960 --> 0:18:20.880 riddled heaven sealed the horizon, and I felt like we 0:18:20.880 --> 0:18:23.399 were bugs crawling along the edge of the world, which 0:18:23.720 --> 0:18:26.680 we were in a way. I kept this westward, the 0:18:26.720 --> 0:18:29.280 sun at our backs, the girl's faces turning sleepy. That 0:18:29.359 --> 0:18:31.840 old rule came back. You do your own time, not 0:18:31.920 --> 0:18:34.880 someone else's. But what about after your own time is done? 0:18:34.920 --> 0:18:37.520 I wondered. I looked down at the little girl sleeping, 0:18:37.800 --> 0:18:41.080 one fist curled under her chin. Why did you take 0:18:41.080 --> 0:18:44.480 the silencer off? I asked. Rocky shrugged and followed something 0:18:44.520 --> 0:18:46.600 out the window. I thought it looked meaner without it, 0:18:46.800 --> 0:18:49.080 I said, have you ever been to Galveston? She shook 0:18:49.119 --> 0:18:53.000 her head. So there's just a taste again already. I'm like, 0:18:54.359 --> 0:18:57.040 they're in that scene, so yeah, don't go into it. Expecting, 0:18:57.359 --> 0:18:59.480 you know, another slice of True Detective. But if you 0:18:59.520 --> 0:19:03.080 appreciate did the writing appreciated some of the feel of 0:19:03.119 --> 0:19:05.280 that show, then you really can't go wrong with that book. 0:19:05.520 --> 0:19:08.119 And last I checked, the Kindle version is available for 0:19:08.160 --> 0:19:11.600 like twine, so you're basically losing money if you don't 0:19:11.600 --> 0:19:14.600 buy it. There you go. Alright, So in the realm 0:19:14.640 --> 0:19:18.320 of fiction, Joyce Carol Oates, the pick that I have 0:19:18.400 --> 0:19:21.399 here is Blonde. I believe this came out maybe in 0:19:21.480 --> 0:19:24.240 two thousand. It's an older book, but I wanted to 0:19:24.320 --> 0:19:27.000 go back to it because I think we were talking 0:19:27.000 --> 0:19:30.760 about Marilyn Monroe and her breathiness, and that got MA 0:19:30.760 --> 0:19:32.600 hated thinking, like I really would like to know more 0:19:32.600 --> 0:19:35.800 about Marilyn Monroe. And Joyce Carroll Oates is one of 0:19:35.840 --> 0:19:38.960 my favorite writers. Um. The first time I was sort 0:19:38.960 --> 0:19:42.200 of indoctrinated with her writing was in a short story 0:19:42.320 --> 0:19:45.480 where are You Going? Where Have You Been? And that's 0:19:45.480 --> 0:19:48.399 about a teenager named Connie, and she's got a really 0:19:48.440 --> 0:19:51.440 bad case of teenager on we at the same time, 0:19:51.520 --> 0:19:55.360 she's got this burgeoning sexuality that she's trying to deal with. 0:19:56.119 --> 0:19:58.280 And what I love about this story is that is 0:19:58.320 --> 0:20:01.560 a kind of coming age story that everybody knows about 0:20:01.560 --> 0:20:03.439 that they never discussed. And what I'm talking about here 0:20:03.560 --> 0:20:07.440 is like the burden of sexuality as a woman and 0:20:08.040 --> 0:20:11.120 essentially what that sometimes boils down to his predator and prey. 0:20:11.280 --> 0:20:15.680 And in that short story, um, this guy arnold friend 0:20:15.760 --> 0:20:18.199 shows up as the predator and this golden convertible and 0:20:18.240 --> 0:20:20.640 this this gold convertible becomes this kind of like death 0:20:20.720 --> 0:20:23.800 chariot for kind. So the reason I bring this short 0:20:23.840 --> 0:20:27.480 story up is because Blonde is about Marilyn Monroe obviously, 0:20:27.960 --> 0:20:32.800 but more about that burden of sexuality, and it is 0:20:33.600 --> 0:20:39.240 just a phenomenal take on this historic, iconic person who 0:20:39.320 --> 0:20:43.280 is in many ways unknowable and yet somehow Oates has 0:20:43.320 --> 0:20:47.879 gotten into her internal life, her into her thoughts what 0:20:48.280 --> 0:20:52.359 I think might be her thoughts, right, and has written 0:20:52.400 --> 0:20:55.919 this narrative that is so compelling that you think that 0:20:56.000 --> 0:21:00.320 you are reading Marilyn Mina Rose diary. And it's starts 0:21:00.320 --> 0:21:03.320 out with marily Monrose child and follows her through her 0:21:03.359 --> 0:21:08.200 suicide and it is so gripping I can't even tell you, 0:21:08.200 --> 0:21:10.600 like it's probably one of the most haunting texts that 0:21:10.680 --> 0:21:13.280 I've ever read. And I don't know how she did it. 0:21:13.320 --> 0:21:15.080 I really feel like that's one of those moments where 0:21:15.119 --> 0:21:19.879 she was struck by the muse and how she inhabited UM, 0:21:20.160 --> 0:21:23.359 this person who is very much sort of a flat 0:21:23.480 --> 0:21:27.159 character force. Right, it's this Um, this woman who is 0:21:27.400 --> 0:21:31.600 innocence and yet she's the sex kitten, and you see 0:21:32.520 --> 0:21:35.480 through this, this lens of her life, this other side 0:21:35.520 --> 0:21:39.159 to her. Maybe how she became Marilyn Monroe and Maril Monroe, 0:21:39.160 --> 0:21:41.920 by the way, in real life was freighted with all 0:21:41.960 --> 0:21:45.240 sorts of problems since we know and her mother UM 0:21:45.480 --> 0:21:50.280 had some very bad mental problems UM that obviously showed 0:21:50.359 --> 0:21:53.120 up in Marial Monrose life. Anyway, let me just read 0:21:53.119 --> 0:21:55.000 this New York Times review real quick, because I think 0:21:55.000 --> 0:21:56.960 it is pithy, and I will go on and on 0:21:57.200 --> 0:21:59.760 if I don't stop myself by reading this. So it says, 0:22:00.040 --> 0:22:03.199 and although sometimes sloppy and sentimental, it is perhaps the 0:22:03.240 --> 0:22:08.520 most ferocious fictional treatise ever written on the uninhabitable grotesqueness 0:22:08.560 --> 0:22:12.879 of femininity. No one embodied femininity better than mal Monroe, 0:22:12.920 --> 0:22:16.119 who concocted a persona who seemed to exist only for 0:22:16.200 --> 0:22:19.440 sex and at the same time to be oblivious of it. 0:22:19.720 --> 0:22:24.000 Who possessed an eroticism that was all responsiveness and no desire. 0:22:24.440 --> 0:22:27.680