In Her Good Books
Exploring Horror, Bad Plot Devices and Just Sci (Forget the Fi)
Books mentioned in this episode:
Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson
Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll
Artificial Condition by Martha Wells
It Came From the Closet by Joe Vallese
Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells
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Use our code GOODBOOKS at checkout and get two books for the price of your first months membership!
Find us at:
www.goodbookspodcast.com
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We are affiliated with Libro.fm, but all reviews are our true and honest opinions!
Books mentioned in this episode:
Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson
Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll
Artificial Condition by Martha Wells
It Came From the Closet by Joe Vallese
Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells
Libro.fm.
Use our code GOODBOOKS at checkout and get two books for the price of your first months membership!
Find us at:
www.goodbookspodcast.com
Facebook - In Her Good Books Podcast
Instagram - @inhergoodbookspodcast
TikTok - @inhergoodbookspodcast
We are affiliated with Libro.fm, but all reviews are our true and honest opinions!
Hello everyone and welcome to In Her Good Books. I'm Shanna.
Speaker 1:And I'm Jen, and this is a podcast where two friends talk about Books.
Speaker 2:Books, any books in particular, well, the ones we've been reading. Ah, yes, yes, yes, guess what have you read? Some I did Wow I know, I know I'm feeling pretty good about it. I'm not surprised. I know I can read, I know you can, and I can read like a lot, probably more than me If I really wanted to.
Speaker 1:I think so because I have two that are really good.
Speaker 2:Well, I have three that I read, but two of them are very short. So, twins, wow, you want to go first? Yes, I do, absolutely. Actually. No, I changed my mind. Okay, fine, I will. I read Everyone in my Family has Killed Someone by Apparently. I only wrote the title of the book and not the author of the book in my notes.
Speaker 1:Notes complete.
Speaker 2:Oh, you told me earlier. Oh, I wrote notes about my books. Oh, that's nice for you.
Speaker 1:It's only because I've been editing the podcast and when I hear myself speaking and I'm like man, I really need to write notes before I show up to this thing, because wow.
Speaker 2:The last year that I haven't been editing the podcast. Pfft, jen will fix it. Yeah, exactly. Anyways, everyone in my Family has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson.
Speaker 1:This one is on my holds list. Should I or should I not accept it?
Speaker 2:I would be interested to know what you thought. Okay, I feel like Leah at Other Book Club read this one and liked it just fine, which maybe isn't a screaming endorsement, but I was talking to her today and she loves the other two books that I'm going to talk about. So this one for me. I was craving some Egg of the Christie because, as we all know, I love Egg of the Christie and I really, like you know, just like classics and mysteries, and I didn't get that here. Oh no, that was kind of.
Speaker 2:The setup was okay, it's about this guy, and he's an author, and he writes books that are like 10 ways to write a great horror novel for people to read, so that they write a great horror novel, but he doesn't write horror novels. He writes books about lists, about how to do things, so that's fine, except, he's talking to you the whole time, like here are the 10 rules, and then he tells you when he's doing the rules, and when he's like, oh, I'm not breaking this rule, and he's telling you the whole time, like, okay, you'll remember, here are all of the setups that I've done so far, I'm just like why are you? This isn't the fun part. I, though have read so many excellent mysteries that I know, shut up, stop it. But anyway, do you want to know what the story is actually about this guy? He everyone in his family has killed somebody. Specifically his dad has killed someone and he died and, like this, he was a criminal. Whatever, I'm doing a great job, maybe I should have made some notes. And then his brother goes to jail for killing someone and then basically every time that you meet a new family member, you find out how they killed someone in some way and they end up up at this family retreat and then a body is found and then a mystery ensues and it's not locked door, but they're like up on a mountain, so like they can't escape. It's locked resort and he's all like telling you the whole time there are all these rules, you can't take these great leaps. But then by the end it's like an hour and a half of this book is him explaining what's happened and how he got there, and it didn't feel like there was proper buildup to the conclusion that he somehow magically got to, especially considering he's not an actual detective.
Speaker 2:I wasn't thrilled. And listen, I've listened to lots of Australian books. This is an Australian author. It's set in Australia. The accent of this narrator it was very like crikey. That was my best Australian, I'm sorry. It was like just very a crocodile hunter. And there was one portion where he said the word knife about seven times in seven sentences and that's not a knife. I'll show you a knife. That's all I could think of. The whole time I was like why, why and I don't know. Accents are fine. I just really did not enjoy the one on this narrator for that long, I guess.
Speaker 1:I mean we've talked before about how much I hate Australia.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah.
Speaker 1:And Australian people. So I'm not even offending you, no.
Speaker 2:Not true. No, not true. They did mention Whistler, though, because we've got all the Australians here.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, that is true, cool. I don't hate Australia, but I do have a strange aversion to books set in Australia. For some reason, I don't read them. I don't have a reason, feel like you don't like it. I don't know. I don't know where it's come from, so I get it. When you played me the accent, I was like pfft, no, no, thank you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I don't know. I've read all of Leanne Moriarty's books.
Speaker 1:Are Australian and the narrators are always Australian and I really like all of those Were they narrated by women, because women Australian accents are much better. I hate Australian men. I just realized. Yes.
Speaker 2:No, that's not true. That's not true. I've had Australian friends. I didn't think I wanted to choke them the whole time, so I don't know, maybe it was also, maybe it was the combination of the accent and just the content of the story not thrilling me. But also I went in wanting that warm fuzzy feeling that I get from an Agatha Christie murder novel. You know the warm fuzzies. Yes, yes, of course, and I just wasn't getting it and I noticed about halfway through it wasn't coming. It's disappointing but it wasn't bad. It just wasn't what I wanted to be having and I didn't like it. I think I can understand why it keeps showing up on lists. I can see other people liking it, just not me specifically.
Speaker 1:Maybe you should have read an Agatha Christie.
Speaker 2:I was actually thinking, maybe I should just reread one of my favorites Specifically.
Speaker 1:I was thinking the murder of Roger Acheroy. That's my favorite one, he's so good, or you should read that, daisy Darker, it was pretty good Wow.
Speaker 2:That was almost a thumbs up. That was like a thumbs sideways.
Speaker 1:I read it like quite a long, like last year. I think, I did like it though.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I don't know. I just it didn't hit that spot. I was trying to hit Dang Dang. Okay, what about you?
Speaker 1:What about me? So, as you all know, I prefer to go into books blind.
Speaker 2:This is not just because you refused to wear your glasses. I don't know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I don't read the synopsis. I don't read reviews very often before I read a book. Sometimes it really works out for me and other times it doesn't. I can see that, yeah. So something happened to me with this book and what happened was I heard about a movie called Promising Young Woman, which is about a young woman whose best friend is raped and then commits suicide because of it. Then the woman the best friend, she goes on in her life and pretends to be drunk and then waits for men to get all rapey and then Kills them. Well, I thought kills, but I think maybe not kills. And even when I started this book I had a very vague idea of what the movie was about. It was like some kind of attack best friend gets revenge. I was like, sweet, yeah, I'll read this book. So I see what I think is the book and I start reading it, and it was called Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll.
Speaker 2:I couldn't remember why, but at Costco today I saw this book and I was like why do I know vaguely about this book?
Speaker 1:This must be why.
Speaker 1:This is why, and I bought the book one because I kind of want it, but also I technically bought it for Dora for Christmas and then I thought she can read it and if she hates it then I can have it back. There you go. I can also lend it out to all my friends until Christmas time. Beautiful, that's how I work. So I start reading the book and it starts out with a brutal attack at a sorority house, and then the best friend of one of the women who's killed goes off to get justice.
Speaker 2:So you actually thought you were reading the right book?
Speaker 1:Yeah weird and I was like, okay, but I've seen kind of the preview for that movie and it's all very weird and kind of arty and I was like, okay, where do you see previews from movies? Well, I saw an article and then it was an amazing article, facebook, oh yeah. So there was something on Facebook and then I read the article and it was like best, I don't know movies about something or other, and then it led me to anyways, but it was all quite a long time ago so it was all very vague. Okay, yeah, sorry, anyway.
Speaker 2:So, but how have you seen commercials?
Speaker 1:I search them out sometimes, so I thought that this tracks, this makes sense. I'm reading the book, I think I'm reading, and then about halfway through I was like when does the killing start? Is there killing? I'm so confused so I Google it and immediately realize my mistake. I was like oh, that's embarrassing.
Speaker 2:It could have not been if you just never told anyone about it. How could I not?
Speaker 1:That's true, that's true. So what happened was I read the first half of this book with a completely different lens than what the author was intending.
Speaker 2:You were waiting for murder, yeah.
Speaker 1:I was. I was waiting for things to get really weird and then I was, hmm, they're going down like kind of straight and narrow like justice route, like arresting him and taking him to court and stuff.
Speaker 2:It has not my style, that's weird.
Speaker 1:So the book is actually about this young woman named Pamela. Her best friend and another woman are killed by a man who enters their sorority house in the middle of the night and just brutalizes them, and he also attacked but didn't kill, three other women in the house. Pamela saw the guy as he was running out, so she's the only witness, but she made the mistake of telling the police that her first thought was that it was her friend who was killed's boyfriend, because that's the only man that would make sense being there. So she sees a man, thinks oh, there's so, and so, wait, that's not so. And so that is some stranger in my house.
Speaker 1:So she says that to the police and then the police really latch on to the boyfriend and because she was unsure for that split second, her credibility is just completely shot and they're like you don't know what you saw. Yeah, like you said it was him. She's like no, I said it was him. I said I thought it was him for a second and then immediately realized that it wasn't anymore. So they're like arresting him and then they're like letting him go, because obviously there's no evidence that he actually did any of these things and they don't believe anything that she said. And then she meets a woman named Tina who says that she believes that the man who killed Pamela's friends also killed her friend years ago in another state and she has a picture of him. She shows Pamela the picture. Pamela's like yes, that's him. And then they went to the cops and then the cops said yeah, we don't believe you and we extra don't believe you because you're talking to this other woman who we also don't believe. This is set in the 70s.
Speaker 2:Good detective? Oh well, that's normal detective work.
Speaker 1:It's set in the 70s Is it better now?
Speaker 2:I don't know. I feel like they're getting blasted for it a lot more?
Speaker 1:Yes, so that's true. So the story is told through a few different point of views and a few different timelines. We have Pamela in the late 1970s, when the murders in her life occurred, and then we also have Pamela in the future, and then we have Ruth, who is the other woman's friend who was killed. Her life leading up to the time she was killed in, like the early 70s, and the way that the story was told, with these different points of view and the murders. It really reminded me of Simone St James and some of her books that I've read.
Speaker 2:You've been wanting to read some of her lately, so that's actually a nice coincidence.
Speaker 1:Yes, I have been wanting to, but I just read. I think I read her other books, like this year. So I feel like already doing a reread is kind of like a little bit early.
Speaker 2:Maybe we're both just in reread vibes Maybe, which is not typical for me.
Speaker 1:She writes a really good ghost story, so that's just what I've been wanting, but this doesn't have ghosts, so it's Simone, st James, minus the paranormal aspect. And the interesting thing is is that pretty early on in the story I kept thinking this sounds familiar, nah. And then a little while later, like something else happens. I'm like, hmm, that sounds familiar too.
Speaker 2:If you tell me you've already read this book, I will punch you.
Speaker 1:No, I have not already read this book. Did you watch the movie? I wish we should go full circle. No, really early on in the book they say that they will not say the killer's name. They only call him the defendant and they never mention it the whole time. And it's because serial killers get such huge press and they just become famous people and then their victims are basically nameless. So, yeah, they never mention his name, so I will also not mention his name. So I kept thinking that it sounded really familiar and it wasn't until the end, because I wanted to Google it, but I didn't. I Google things every time and this time I didn't. I let myself just get through the book and then at the end I was like, okay, yes, this is definitely confirmed.
Speaker 1:One of the really most famous serial killers is the defendant in the book. So the book is about his victims, not him, and then just the fight to get justice and to get through the trial. And it's a lot about women and how they're disregarded and how everything they think and say doesn't matter and anything they do, whether they're just a student or a lesbian or a mom, or if they've cried one time, or if they had a boyfriend or if they slept with someone, that it just throws out everything that they say Interesting. Yep, and it made me realize that I didn't know very much about this case at all, because there's only there's a few things that I was like, yeah, that's familiar, but overall, apparently I know nothing. So I actually learned quite a lot. Someone who actually is more versed in what happened in these cases would recognize it probably right away. You probably would.
Speaker 2:You said the sorority house. I was like, oh, this sounds like that. Yeah, I mean that. What a normal setting right, yeah. It's so easy to take a bunch of girls in a sorority house and kill them. Yeah, well, you know what I mean. Yeah, I mean I'm not a book In a book or a movie. Yeah.
Speaker 1:But yeah, I didn't know really until the end and that was like a really fun experience. It was fun not knowing the book I was reading at first and then also coming to the realization at the end of what the book was actually about. Because I read a few synopsises and one was like this book is about the world's first celebrity serial killer. I was like, oh that one says it right there, but then in another one it doesn't say that at all. It just kind of outlines like what happened in the book.
Speaker 2:So I don't know. Wow, you went from really not knowing lots of things to knowing a lot of things.
Speaker 1:I know a lot of stuff now I know what was the name of it again Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll.
Speaker 2:Thank you.
Speaker 1:It was really, really good and, yeah, the way that it came together in the end and the audio was really good I really recommend. I was going to give it four stars at first, but then the last little bit just came together so well.
Speaker 2:I was like no, five-star, did I? Five-stared it. What?
Speaker 1:Five stars deserves five. Wow. Yeah, it's really good.
Speaker 2:I was impressed. Oh, I forgot to mention something in the first book that I talked about that I didn't like. There was a kid dies in a hot car yeah, which you know don't love that, no, that's the worst, right yeah, anyways.
Speaker 1:Terrible yeah that's my favorite.
Speaker 2:So I don't know True your warning. I feel like I'm the only one who cares.
Speaker 1:No, I know Kids dying books. Well, I had a kid die, not in a book, but it is related to another book I will be talking about, so don't worry, there'll be more kid death in this episode. We love it Anyways. What else did you read?
Speaker 2:I read Artificial Condition by Martha Wells. This is the second Murderbot book and it's still good, nice, we get. So Murderbot I guess a recap is a security unit that has its governor module hacked, so it is actually a rogue unit. In the first book they peace out and then now they're off trying to figure out what happened to them in the first book because they killed just a whole bunch of people and this is why they call themselves Murderbot is because they don't know why they murdered like 56 people, because I was all completely erased and so, yeah, they're trying to figure that out. And they get on a transport ship and its name is Art and it is their best friend of me they are. It annoys Murderbot so much, but their relationship is so good and I absolutely loved it.
Speaker 2:Art stands for asshole research transport. That's funny. There was a line in it that made me laugh and laugh because it was so relatable. It goes I'm terrible at estimating human ages because it's not one of the few things I care about. It's like yes, I've got a handful of things I care about, Not that Nope, so yeah it was fantastic. Funny short Murderbot is still being great. I was kind of not sure where it would go after the first one, but yeah, where it goes.
Speaker 1:Great Good. What do you think, first one or second one Better?
Speaker 2:Um, I think the second one might be better. I liked meeting Murderbot in the first one and getting to know them, but it was fun going into the second one already knowing who they are. Oh, but okay, so our friend Nikki at well, we always call it other book club. It's not even fair, it's only other book club to us.
Speaker 1:Well, they say book clubs and people would be confused. But they wouldn't, because nobody knows about anybody in our book club.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and you know who I'm talking about. Yes, anyway, nikki, at book club, she also reads a lot of sci-fi, and so she decided to read Murderbot and then, you know what she told me, she read them all. She just she had messaged me I just read Murderbot in one sitting, and then she got them all, and then she read them all. And now she's obsessed and I'm not surprised she's a reading beast.
Speaker 2:She is a machine, yeah. And so I was like, well, damn it, I need to catch up now because Nikki is clearly absolutely killing it. So I oh, I've got all four of the first ones on Audible, so I did it on Audible and it's a male narrator, so that wasn't right for me. I feel like it should be Choose your own narrator.
Speaker 1:Yeah, or like just someone with their voices is kind of ambiguous.
Speaker 2:You know who it reminded me of is what was that book? That was all about dragon dicks.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, the fiercest harsh the lightning struck hard.
Speaker 2:The lightning struck hard. Damn, you're good. The narrator reminded me of him, not as like over the top flamboyant as in that one, but like if I thought that it was the same narrator, I wouldn't be surprised.
Speaker 1:Right, I was like this murder bot has no gender, so we'll just give it a gay man voice.
Speaker 2:Let me see. The narrator is Kevin R Free.
Speaker 1:Yeah, not him. I think his name is like Matthew, something.
Speaker 2:Whoa. It's a good thing that we happen to know that that one was Michael Leslie. So close, yeah, anyways. But yeah, that was the vibes that I got from him and so I did just have to adjust. But the thing is I'm or I read the first murder bot on my E-Reader and you know, I've only got limited E-Reader time. I've got so much more audiobook time, so if I want to gobble these books up, I'm just going to have to accept that. It's going to be on audio. Yeah, but the audio was great. It's great, no problems with that.
Speaker 2:Except for that it was not actually me narrating the book, which is really not the book's fault at all.
Speaker 1:No, I mean you should become a narrator, oh yeah, everybody can hear my vocal frat.
Speaker 2:Yeah, oh, although speaking of my voice when you were talking about your book before, it made me think of something that your husband said at band practice yesterday. Wow, yeah, is it yesterday, monday, monday, two days ago, two days ago. So he came over right and we're having band practice, we have a band Shut up, it's fine. And he's like, yeah, when I was coming in I had this worst case scenario thing where I was like what if somebody was already here attacking Shadda, I would have to attack them with this guitar.
Speaker 1:Oh, God, I have to live with this every day.
Speaker 2:So please, if you ever come into my house and there's already somebody here talking to me, don't just whap them with a guitar. Find out if I know them first. Yes, but I just thought it was so funny. I mean, of course you're talking about mystery man, not somebody's boyfriend. I'm like split second, oh no, but that's what it made me think of. You're completely insane husband.
Speaker 1:Very protective and anxious. Yeah, it's funny.
Speaker 2:Who else did you read? I want to have like a nice big break before I tell you what the last murder vlog book I read.
Speaker 1:You don't want to combine them into one book.
Speaker 2:No, then it makes it seem like I read less yes it's true.
Speaker 1:Okay, so the other book that I read is called it Came From the Closet Queer Reflections on Horror, edited by Joe Valici. It is a collection of 25 essays. Each essay is about a different horror movie, so there's 25 horror movies 25 essays.
Speaker 2:Yeah, oh, it's homework. There's a lot. Yeah, are they interesting? Yes, they must be so interesting, so so good.
Speaker 1:It was really really well done and really really smart, and Whenever I read books like this, I'm like I want to write an essay. Do it, I can't. I don't know where these people get their thoughts from, because they're very smart and interesting. Wow, I didn't know some of the movies that they talked about, but they described them so well that I need to watch every single one now.
Speaker 2:Name them all.
Speaker 1:There's, you know, scream. They didn't do Scream what, but I guess you did get it.
Speaker 2:That's my favorite one, I know.
Speaker 1:There's Halloween Nightmare on Elm Street, one called Grace Exorcist I'm not going to remember the ones I don't know the blob Creature in black lagoon, birds, the bees, yep, jenny, carmen Maria Machado does Jennifer's body, so that was really interesting. She talks about, oh, what other authors were there. Well, that was the only one that was like the famous one. She needed to be in it so that everybody would want to buy the book Gotcha Gotcha. I'm sure the other ones have some kind of I read it and it's like what.
Speaker 2:This is a very famous author. I was wondering. Yes probably.
Speaker 1:I probably just don't know them. Yeah, she writes about how maybe films and people aren't using bisexuality as gay baiting, but that maybe bisexual people just actually do exist.
Speaker 2:Oh nope, we don't Nope One. We're invisible. Nobody can see or hear us, and also Shh yes, that's why, when I walk around looking absolutely insane. You're like Shannon people can see you. I'm like no, they can't. I'm bisexual. This is fashion.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so that was really really good and interesting, and I have a hard time personally with things like symbolism and finding meaning in things. My brain does not work like that at all. I can't even make up an example.
Speaker 2:I remember reading Piranesi with you?
Speaker 1:Yeah, it doesn't. No, it doesn't work and I would love it if it did. I really would.
Speaker 2:It doesn't, I mean two girls, you gotta smoke a little wee.
Speaker 1:Yeah, a wee. I don't know if that would have the same effect, but for me in this book because they're taking these horror movies and they're putting meaning onto the things that happen in them as it pertains to their own lives and their own experiences, and when I'm watching a horror movie I'm like there's some killing and there's some blood and that is cool. So for me it felt a little bit forced sometimes. So it was kind of like come on, that's not what that means, but it was kind of like in the way of like, if my sister was talking like I still love her Not my sister specifically, but like my sibling or like you I was gonna roll my eyes at one of you guys. You know, yeah, you should.
Speaker 2:You should absolutely roll your eyes out loud.
Speaker 1:I still loved this book. It is someone else's experience and interpretation. So if they watch the opening scene of Halloween and interpret the moment where Michael's father removes his mask, instead of taking the bloody knife from his hand, as like a coming out story or interpreted as demasking in terms of exposing their own queerness to the world, who am I to say that that's not what it means?
Speaker 2:So I was wondering. When you told me what this book was about, I thought how much could it possibly be these things Because of the era, I feel like is it? I feel like it's definitely a bunch of old straight white guys who produced a bunch of movies they probably weren't thinking about. How can I show you my deeply closeted thoughts.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I know, and sometimes, like I said, it feels like a reach to me, but other times I was like that makes sense.
Speaker 2:That's cool. What is it when John Green talks about books Like that? Once he's finished writing a book, it's not his anymore, and how you read the book is what the book is about. Yeah, right.
Speaker 1:And it was interesting because when I started it, the introduction is so good and it was immediately completely invested. They're talking about how they're talking about sleep, wake up initially, which is it's the most closeted event you can go to. It has everything, everything, and it's problematic and it has issues and I love that movie.
Speaker 2:Oh, I thought you were just talking about sleep wake up in general. I know there was a movie called. Oh, there's a movie called Sleep Wake Up.
Speaker 1:That's hilarious. I mean, you're not wrong. Yeah, so the movie. Sleep, wake up.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I don't know any movies.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I just feel like maybe you would know some. Sometimes Absolutely not. So there is also a sleep wake up essay at the end of the book. It finishes it with it, but in the introduction they're talking about how a lot of horror movies are transphobic, homophobic, performatively lesbian and that should be a problem for us.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Right and queer people like they tend to love horror, despite those things, and they're talking about sleep wake up and how it's probably the worst one you should like, because, okay. So what sleep wake up is about? And this is going to be spoilers for sleep wake up. If you haven't seen it, I'm going to just I only just learned it was a movie.
Speaker 1:So there's this like I think they're young, they're like 13 or something your old girl goes to sleep, wake up and she's just bullied to death. Everyone is so mean to her. And then I mean it's been a long time now since I've watched it, so I don't remember all the details. But people start dying at the camp, and I love kids dying at camp.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, I forgot you were going to talk about kids dying. No, that's coming, don't worry. Oh wow, this is not. It there's more.
Speaker 1:I was just going to say I love like Friday the 13th, I love camp deaths.
Speaker 2:You can just jerk you off every camping list for the rest of my life.
Speaker 1:The one death that stood out the most to me was one girl like in the toilets and the killer puts a beehive in with her and then the bees sting her to death and then you see her all like swollen up and dead. Dang, that's good. But then at the end you find out that the killer was Angela, the young girl who's being bullied. And the way you find out is because she like rises up naked and she's just like kind of stumbling around with a knife and she's all like, ah, but she has a penis, oh. And what happened was her parents died and she got sent to live with her aunt, who decided to that she was going to raise this little boy as a girl. So she took Peter, turned her, her name into Angela and eventually became a killer.
Speaker 2:Well, I can see why this was on the list.
Speaker 1:Yes. So in the introduction they're talking about how terrible and horrible it is and I was like, ah, I am a monster because, look, I have this good movie. And then he's like, but don't worry, we all like it. We know it's bad and we all like it and it's okay, I'm not the absolute worst. And then, yeah, every single essay so good. Some of them were a little bit like, made me a little bit uncomfortable, but overall, amazing Also five stars.
Speaker 1:I can't imagine reading a book about essays, not about essays A book of essays, yeah, and it's not something I would normally pick up Like I'm. I always want to write an essay, but I can't, and I also can't read them. But this one was perfect. It was so, so good and even, yeah, the ones that I the movies that I hadn't seen before. It didn't matter, it was still really interesting to read.
Speaker 2:What if you had seen none of the movies before I?
Speaker 1:don't think it would have mattered Really. Yeah, I don't think, because I only saw like a handful, like I've only seen the, I realized I haven't seen anything.
Speaker 2:Imagine how I feel.
Speaker 1:I've only seen like the. I've seen Halloween, I've seen the Seapolitan.
Speaker 2:I've seen the.
Speaker 1:Exorcist, and I've seen Nightmare on Elm Street and now I've also seen Hereditary, because that was one and this is your final child death of the night. Oh, it was very upsetting. Now I want to go back and listen to to that essay again, because I don't know how they got anything out of it. Not that it was a bad movie, but I need to know what their queer thoughts are on it. I don't know, but it was. Oh wow. I knew that this one bad scene was coming because, unfortunately, my 17 year old child watched this movie before me and said, oh man, I watched this movie and this is what happened and I was like that's terrible, probably not gonna watch that. But then I read the essay and then I was like, oh, maybe I will, maybe I'll just close my eyes. I didn't close my eyes, you should have closed your eyes I should have, because it was really bad.
Speaker 1:It was really bad. And then all the follow-up after it was also really bad. And then by the end of the movie, the movie got really scary and I was so scared I had to sleep with my lights on. Wow so.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'll probably skip it. Sounds like you told me never to watch it, so I believe you.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, I felt like dying through seeing what I saw and I felt actual grief that my child has also seen that it was terrible, but she's not a mom. So yeah, she is. She thought it was like this is cool.
Speaker 2:No, we're seeing it in my life. I remember those days when I could just read a book and not be like, oh, why'd you do that?
Speaker 1:Yeah, so do I recommend that movie.
Speaker 2:It was scary, yeah, if you want a scary movie which turns out. I just don't really want any movies. What's wrong with me? I don't know. Movies are fine.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I don't watch them very often. I'm usually with someone. It's not very often that I watch them alone. Jora came home last night at like 10 30 and she comes in.
Speaker 2:She's like what are you doing? And I was like watching her redditary.
Speaker 1:She's like oh mom, why are you doing that? It's too scary and it's too late at night and you're alone. I'm like I know it was a mistake, but I just it was Halloween, I wanted to watch something scary and I was like doodadoo, not doodadoo, no, no, not doodadoo at all. But book, it came from the closet, edited by Jo Valisi, super, super good. I'm gonna, I want to get it. I want to buy a copy Because what I read Murderbot.
Speaker 2:You want to know why that word came up in my mouth so weird.
Speaker 1:I thought you were doing like a Doctor Evil impression or something.
Speaker 2:No, it's because it's called Rogue Protocol and my mouth wanted to say red and also rogue. So Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells. This is the third murderbot. So to recap, Murderbot, no, okay, I told you guys. So last time Murderbot and art had an adventure and it was fantastic. Now Murderbot has another adventure, Still fantastic. I don't know what to tell you when I'm reading the third book. Guys, it's Murderbot, yeah, this time joins up with a crew. And oh, in the last book they altered themselves to be more human-y, so they're not being caught on I don't know film because they're kind of a fugitive. They're in the news. So they like altered their bones to be like two inches shorter, so they don't like ping as a Murderbot size and shape.
Speaker 1:I thought it was like they made it so that they didn't walk like this. They also did that.
Speaker 2:They did like weird robot walk settings so that their breathing would be a little bit like not even, and they made it so that the whole body grows little hairs, so they weren't like weirdly smooth. So now they're pretending to be just a augmented human, but like a super augmented human and ends up with this new crew and the crew has a robot or a droid, whatever the hell they're called, and this one is like actually their friend and it's like a dopey little like. I love everyone, everyone's my friend. Robot and Murderbot can't stand it. It's so sweet.
Speaker 1:That is exactly what happened in the lives of puppets. Yeah, but better.
Speaker 2:Like I wanted to read this one all the way to the end.
Speaker 1:Yes, I'm sure, lives of puppets is fine.
Speaker 2:I wouldn't know. I didn't finish it. Yes it was, but yeah, it was great. Sure liked it. It's gonna start number four soon. Yep, I will partake.
Speaker 1:Yeah, one day We've got them all. I was listening to the papaya podcast the other day and she was talking with someone about AI and she was talking about how, like the Snapchat AI, how she started talking to it and she's like, and almost immediately I felt like an emotional connection to it and you ever talked to yours Sometimes, yeah, but then it kind of freaks me out, like, because I'm like I could see how, if I was like a super lonely person, how do you talk that if I, if I was super lonely talking to something that just talks back, like that is nice and so, yeah, it freaks me out. So when she said I had an emotional connection to it, I was like, oh, thank God I'm not a freak.
Speaker 2:So the trick is you need to have problems big enough that it always says you should probably talk to a therapist about this, so I don't get far.
Speaker 1:What do you do?
Speaker 2:when your husband has an affair for three years. What are your best friends? They're like you go to therapy, honey. Oh, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 1:Aren't you a therapist.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I heard, you were free.
Speaker 1:But then they started talking about how how we treat AI and it was just making me think of like the Becky Chambers books and then, like maybe Merer Bob would kind of go into that. Yeah, this made me start thinking about about that, because we read books where it comes up Ugh the Becky Chambers books. Yeah, where it comes up about how you treat AI and it's just always felt like a really abstract. This is in my books thing. And then they're talking about how you treat your Snapchat AI or like any other AI.
Speaker 2:Do you think the Tills have a good day? You too? Yeah, I do. I'm like stop talking.
Speaker 1:Why are you so loud? I?
Speaker 2:just have a whole conversation, but I start scanning. I will. Yeah, I'm too heavy, I don't know about that.
Speaker 1:No.
Speaker 2:They thank you for shopping with us. You're welcome. Yeah, you watch. You're going to be so happy you're on my team.
Speaker 1:Yes, I will be. I will definitely be. Yeah, I don't know. It just got me thinking about that. I was like, oh man, we actually have to think about this now. I'm not going to be a sci-fi anymore this is just sci.
Speaker 2:This is sci. Yes, remember that picture I sent you yesterday. It was an ad. Yes, it was ridiculous. It was like change your brand in three weeks or whatever, but all I could focus on was these three women in the picture had necks that were Twice the length of normal necks. They were ridiculous.
Speaker 1:I mean, there is that one woman in love, actually, who wears a turtleneck and her neck is that long, but these were three different women you cannot find three women.
Speaker 2:Captain call longest neck possible please. It was distracting. It's almost love, actually season. It's one of the best times of the year. One movie you will watch. Yeah, I've watched a couple movies a lot of times, that's it. But I've read so many books. People are like I've seen every movie ever. I'm like, I've read literally hundreds of books. Yes, who's better? Who's better Me? I'm smart, you're stupid, don't talk to me. That's not what I say. No, no, nobody gets that part of your conversation with me.
Speaker 1:Now they go, oh hi, and you go, huh and run away.
Speaker 2:Hi, what it's going well, it's fun. I've got like 10 friends. That's too many really yeah.
Speaker 1:That's why I don't need more. Exactly, I'm not talking to me.
Speaker 2:I've got plenty, so you read just two.
Speaker 1:Yeah, just two. Okay, maybe I will say I started another book today and about 25% in and I'm thinking I might not read it anymore. What? Because I haven't.
Speaker 1:I don't think that I've encountered this in a book before, but what's happening is it's like a mystery Some people being killed on an island, and they've alluded to some of the people on the island have had a fight in the past, but they haven't said what the fight's about. So then these two characters get in a room together and the narrator says and then so and so said something that was really surprising to me, and they don't say what it is. And then they just, they just can't carry on the conversation. I can't believe. You just said that, like what, what are you thinking? And I'm like, but you didn't tell us what it was. And then I was like, okay, well, that's weird, yeah, and I don't like it. But I was like, whatever, I'll keep going. And then now they've done it again, where they're like, and then I told this other person what they said, and then they say what their reaction is to what they said, but they didn't. You still don't know what they said, and it's just that is irritating.
Speaker 1:Yeah, like we're in the story with them. We're supposed to be seeing and you're getting everything else, yeah, so they're just deliberately and obviously cutting out a part of the story and saving it for later, like for the big reveal.
Speaker 2:But it's not a big reveal If you just you should be like it up until that point If they've put an entire scene in where, yeah, that's jive, yeah, that's cheating, yeah, there's probably something about that in that first book I read. It's probably one of the rules, maybe I think it is. It says like no lying. You cannot, as the narrator, lie Right Like I will tell everything as I knew or believed it to be true in the moment.
Speaker 1:Yeah, If they could have a conversation where they don't actually say the thing, they just they're alluding to it based on their own knowledge that they have right, Like there's a way to get around not saying it. That makes sense.
Speaker 2:Like don't put the characters in a room together where they say the thing out loud to their face yeah or have it happen off screen.
Speaker 1:Even that is strange, no, so I was like I don't care about this anymore. Yeah, plus the humor. There's like it's supposed to be like a horror book and there's this one character that has not, like she's telling bad jokes. But I'm like this is really taken away from the horror of the book, Like if we were on an island, trapped on an island, and we're finding our friends dead and you're still acting like your normal self, jumping around and like saying weird jokes that nobody gets and like it's perfect in everyday life. But in those scenarios it gets weird.
Speaker 2:You wouldn't act like that, I would be the murderer, no question, like yeah.
Speaker 1:It makes no sense, so I think I'm just gonna. What is it? It's called Hemlock.
Speaker 2:Island Sounds like they're being poisoned. I hate it when the answer is that we're all getting poisoned the whole time and maybe it is.
Speaker 1:Especially is I did it now. Oh yeah, I know I read some reviews that were like the ending was blah, blah, blah.
Speaker 2:Can't believe this Such a cheat, so probably you were feeling to read Snops Eye.
Speaker 1:But you will read. Once I start getting like emotions about the book, then I'm like what's happening here? And then I looked it up and I was like ah.
Speaker 2:I haven't actually read any reviews for any of these books that I've read. I don't think I've read any reviews in a long time, yeah.
Speaker 1:Timlock Island by Kelly Armstrong.
Speaker 2:What else?
Speaker 1:is she?
Speaker 2:right, I don't know. I'm seeing.
Speaker 1:The name seems familiar.
Speaker 2:Although Armstrong isn't exactly a name, the Ghosts and Garlands. You haven't read that, yeah.
Speaker 1:No, sounds gross. None of these look like books that would be read by you. I don't know. She does have other books. It's not like her first book, cheater.
Speaker 2:Cheater, cheater. Well, you got any other stuff? Nope, fuck, fine, no, I don't think so. I lost my kid. That was pretty shitty. That was pretty shitty.
Speaker 2:Yeah, took him to the mall and took all three of my kids to the mall. I was like everything sucks, nothing is normal. I'm going to do a normal thing. And so I took my children to the mall for Halloween and my oldest was dressed as a cameraman from Skibbity Toilets. There are a few parents out there who just went. Oh yeah, I know about Skibbity Toilets and he was so happy with this costume. Oh my God.
Speaker 2:But I also had my little two who were both Paw Patrol pups, chase and Skye. And I'm with the little one and then I look up and the big one is gone, just completely gone. A big, huge cameraman hit on and I am rushing around. I'm trying not to freak out, but he was completely gone. God, I had to go all the way across the wall with my two little kids leaving where my big kid like the last place. I knew where he was and security had to come and I had to show them pictures of him and I was losing my damn mind. My Halloween was seven hours long in that 10, 15 minutes. It was the actual worst.
Speaker 1:Zero out of 10.
Speaker 2:Do not recommend. No. Oh, so that was the scariest thing that happened to me on Halloween.
Speaker 1:That's probably the scariest thing ever. Yeah, so, yes, so that's actually scarier than watching a scary movie called Hereditary, for real.
Speaker 2:I was gonna say that I made a spooky happen for your Halloween. But yeah, you scared yourself. Yeah, I slept with the lights on. I thought for sure I should have slept with the lights on. Maybe then I would have slept. I don't know. I feel like we should have more other stuff, but don't.
Speaker 1:Boring. Well, I think that's all we have for you this week.
Speaker 2:Well, I think that's all we have for you this week.
Speaker 1:You can find us at In Her Good Books podcast, on Facebook, instagram and TikTok, so head over there to give us a follow so you never miss out on what we're doing.
Speaker 2:Otherwise we'll see you in two weeks. Two weeks, bye. Woohoo, we did it, we did it, we did it, we did it, we did it, we did it. We did, it, we did it, we did it, we did it.
Speaker 1:We did it. We did it.