The Readirect Podcast
Book Swap: Heartstopper by Alice Oseman & One Day by David Nicholls
For today's episode, we are swapping reads that challenge our literary comfort zones. Emily chose One Day by David Nicholls for Abigail to read, and Abigail selected Heartsopper, vol. 1 by Alice Oseman for Emily to read. We're sharing our thoughts, FEELINGS, expectations, and recommendations after reading each other's chosen books.
In addition, we're recommending recent reads including...
Don't forget to follow us on Instagram @readirectpodcast for more!
For today's episode, we are swapping reads that challenge our literary comfort zones. Emily chose One Day by David Nicholls for Abigail to read, and Abigail selected Heartsopper, vol. 1 by Alice Oseman for Emily to read. We're sharing our thoughts, FEELINGS, expectations, and recommendations after reading each other's chosen books.
In addition, we're recommending recent reads including...
Don't forget to follow us on Instagram @readirectpodcast for more!
Welcome to the Redirect Podcast. My name is Abigail Hewins and I'm Emily Rojas.
Speaker 2:The Redirect Podcast is a show where we shift the conversation back to books. We discuss themes from some of our favorite fictional books and how those themes show up in real lived experiences.
Speaker 1:On today's episode, we are discussing our recent book swap, in which each of us read a book at the other's request.
Speaker 2:But first, if you've been enjoying the podcast, we would humbly ask that you support us in a few very simple ways. First, you can leave us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts and just let us know that you're loving the show.
Speaker 1:We'd also love for you to follow us on Instagram at Redirect Podcast and really, if you really really like the show, we'd love for you to share it with a friend. We are friends that shared books with each other this week that each of us read, and now we encourage you to do the same by sharing this episode with a friend. It is the best way for us to grow our community of book loving nerds.
Speaker 2:Exactly.
Speaker 1:And we have a great episode today, confident in it.
Speaker 2:No, I think this will be really fun.
Speaker 1:I have, like, I've had a lot of things I wanted to say to Emily yeah, same these books, but I've really been saving it, so I'm just really excited. So, emily, what were the books that we swapped, and what book did you you give me and why did you give it to me?
Speaker 2:okay, so I decided to give you one day the book by author someone david nichols, or yes, I think so um, david nichols, you're right, and the reason I decided to do it is because I know you hated the movie and it's not necessarily that I thought for sure you're going to love this book.
Speaker 2:I hoped you would Like. I think the book is better than the movie, right? So I felt like there was a chance, even if you hated the movie, you would like the book. And I really just thought of it because I own it and I was looking at my bookshelf, since originally we were going to send each other the books although we decided to just do digital swaps but I was trying to find a book I owned and, uh, I just thought it was timely because the netflix series just came out. I've been seeing a lot of people really liking the netflix show, so I felt like, well, this is a way for us to talk about it, because it's kind of recent and, uh, you've never read it and I didn't think there's another way where you would read it absolutely, yeah, that's, that's right on track.
Speaker 1:Um, okay, I made you read heart stopper, volume one, which I think you did continue on past volume one oh yeah I guess we'll get to that, but yes, I mean volume one is very.
Speaker 1:I mean you could read it in like what? Two hours the hour, not even yeah. But the Heartstopper series is a series of graphic novels by Alex. Osman or sorry, alice Osman, and I just thought, oh my God, emily, I don't like, I was just like, I don't think that she'll just pick this up because it is a graphic novel series like yeah it is definitely yes, I probably would not have picked it up on my own and also I'm kind of not like a YA person anymore in my life.
Speaker 2:I feel like, yeah, I mean it is a YA series.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly, I would not have naturally picked it up either, um, if my friend Hannah had not recommended it and it had not been one of my goals to start reading more graphic novels. So I was just like you know what I really don't think she's going to pick this up on her own, but like I know that she would love it if she read it. Yeah, and I'm so glad that you did so. Let's start with Heartstopper. Okay, what are your? Okay, what were your expectations before reading it? Okay, so, or your?
Speaker 2:assumptions. You've obviously talked about Heartstopper on the podcast a little bit. I think you just talked about it when you read as like a book recommendation. So I had that in my mind and also I think so I used to work in a school district and I think this book was banned. I don't think it was banned, but I remember.
Speaker 2:No, it was like it was given to an elementary school kid and that's probably not the target audience, like a teacher gave it to a kid, if I remember correctly. I mean, you know this was a long time ago, but I do remember just seeing like one scene out of it that maybe a parent was mad about and yeah, like definitely I don't think this is appropriate for an elementary schooler. It's not like inappropriate, it's just, you know, it's definitely targeted towards high school kids. I would say so that probably wasn't great, but that was my only impression of it. So I actually thought I knew it dealt with like mental health and obviously like being part of the LGBTQ community. So I thought it would be more depressing, to be honest, and obviously it does deal with that stuff.
Speaker 1:Oh really.
Speaker 2:Especially in the later, the most recent one I read, which was volume four. So I read all the way through volume four. So I read all the way through volume four and uh, yeah, so it gets a little heavier. But I would say I didn't expect it to be as like like kicking, giggling my, like kicking my feet giggling, like like crying because I'm so happy, you know. Um, so I didn't expect that. I definitely thought it would be a little heavier, I guess, just from what I knew about it going into it nice okay.
Speaker 1:So now that we have explained that, what is it about? Yeah, let's maybe tell the listeners what is heartstopper about so um, gosh, nick and charlie are their names, right?
Speaker 2:yeah, okay, I'm so bad at names, as you guys know. So it's about um, nick and charlie and they're in school. They're in high school in the uk they're british they're brits.
Speaker 2:So it's very hard because they're saying like I'm in year 11. I'm like I don't know what that means. But it really helps because the author puts these little like doodles at the end that will have like their age and stuff like that. So they're like 15 and 16, which also is really really young, because I'm always like, oh my gosh, they're so little, you know.
Speaker 1:And I feel like that does come through, though it does they love each other or they fall in love, like appropriately?
Speaker 2:for being 15 and 16.
Speaker 1:This is not like euphoria, this is like wholesome, like oh my gosh, are we going to hold hands?
Speaker 2:Yes, we're making eye contact. Yeah, this feels really real of what it was actually like to be in high school.
Speaker 1:Um, for some people maybe not either of us, but not to be what it should be like. Yeah, I don't know like it's all very, very wholesome and innocent.
Speaker 2:Yes, it's very sweet. So, yeah, anyways, they're in school together. Charlie is like openly gay and has faced, um, some like bullying for that in the past, but now it's kind of more accepted, mostly by his school. They go to an all-boys school and nick is like he doesn't think he is gay and they end up kind of having this friendship, falling in love and he's questioning like what am I, who am I? And kind of coming to terms with like his identity and that's kind of the gist of it.
Speaker 2:It kind of, I think in one of the author's notes or something in one of the books she said like I've always thought the getting together part of the relationship is just the beginning of the story, not like the end. And so then it kind of goes like they get together in the first book or volume or whatever and then they go through more life things together. They go on a little school trip to Paris and they, you know, deal with maybe friends who aren't accepting and friends who are accepting and parents and family drama. And then Charlie does struggle a little bit with his mental health and eating disorders and so they kind of go into that and I just thought this I just want to say to start off our discussion, that's already started off. This book, to me, is the high school equivalent of what Are you there, god? It's Me, margaret is to middle school or late elementary school. Like I wish I had read. This book Obviously obviously didn't exist when we were in high school, but it just is so real I wish it did.
Speaker 2:And it's like when you're in high school. I remember having a conversation with our friend, emma, who was on our pod before, of like our friends or people we know are going through just the most difficult things and we're just 17 or 16 and we have to shoulder that burden for them. And I just remember us talking about that. And that is what this book like, I think goes through so well, of what it's like when you're that age like everything feels so serious and like the end of the world and you're so young. But people are actually going through.
Speaker 2:You know, I think we've all had friends who've had maybe an eating disorder or mental health struggles or, you know, struggles with their identity and who they are, and like those are really big things to be dealing with and feeling like you have to deal with them on your own when you're 15 years old or whatever. And I thought this was just such a great representation of like, hey, you don't have to deal with it on your own. Romantic love isn't the only important relationship. Your friends are there for you, teachers are there for you, your parents are there for you, and here's how you can have these kind of like healthy relationships with people. So I just felt like, yeah, I wish this was around in high school and I would definitely think to answer one of your later questions on this outline, I would recommend it absolutely for high school students because I think it just is such a healthy but realistic portrayal of like how to have those relationships. You know what I mean?
Speaker 1:yeah, I agree with all of that and I will also say I love that this was a book about two boys falling in love. That was just wholesome and sweet. Yeah, and I wish. One of the reasons I wish that we had it in high school was that I felt like when we were in middle school, in high school, being gay still felt like something that was just hyper sexual. I don't know if you understand, but it's like it's like you can't just have a crush.
Speaker 1:It has to be like it's just it's about your sexual attraction. And this is not what this is about. I mean, it is a little bit, because that's just the nature of like having a crush on someone, but yeah, that's not the only.
Speaker 2:Thing but it's it's about, especially like for nick, it's way more about the friendship they build and like the, the personalities they have and the care they have for each other at first and they really they and they really care about each other and are respectful of one another's boundaries and each other's like feelings and process and it shows like many aspects of their lives.
Speaker 1:And it's just like I thought it was like and it's in it and not even like in a here's like a school object lesson way about you gay people are people too. This is like it's so heartwarming it is. It's a heart and like I could cry thinking about it.
Speaker 1:I did cry multiple times, yeah yeah, it's really really sweet and um, and also the art and it is really lovely. It's this like two-tone, like shades of blue instead of like this, black and white, and she has like lots of cute like doodles along the way that are that serve as like symbols for things. Like you know, when like a particularly you know sweet thing happens or he's like dreaming, there are like certain like like visual symbols of that's happening and it's really really great I'm gonna say that there's so many, um, I don't know, it's so simple because you don't.
Speaker 2:It's pure dialogue, basically. I mean there's some inner thoughts, but because of the nature of a graphic novel, it's mostly just the dialogue. But the way it's illustrated and, yeah, the little fills in all that other stuff.
Speaker 2:It fills it in in such like it was so powerful in certain moments of just the little piece of art on the page that wasn't, it wasn't a whole page of text, you know, explaining every little thing, but how much it communicated and how it would just like hit you in the gut. I wish I had taken some screenshots of certain moments, because now I can't remember the specifics but, um, like yeah, just the, I don't know.
Speaker 1:It felt like or it might just be like having a crush on someone. Yeah, or it might just be like a spread of two pages of, just like the way that Charlie is looking at.
Speaker 1:Nick or like the way he's like looking up and then looking down, and it's like it's, it's what like in a page of like narration would be. But it's this wonderful, like incredible skill that I have, like not even remotely close Like I there's no, my God, like that is. That in itself is just such a magical part of it. Absolutely, I will say so. If you haven't read the series and we've sold it to you, I'm going to offer one enhancement.
Speaker 2:Oh, please.
Speaker 1:And this is to listen to the heart stopper sound like Netflix soundtrack because it is a Netflix show.
Speaker 2:You knew that right. Yes, I did.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's like instrumental, like really perfect background for reading this book and it just makes takes everything to the next level okay, when I read volume five, I will do that speaking of the netflix show, do you think you're gonna watch it now?
Speaker 2:I think I will. Um, yeah, I'm kind of scared because I'm like I don't know what if it's not as good, but I did. I do remember I saw, like on twitter, the clip of um nick coming out to his mom and then when I read that in the book it was like beat for beat. It felt so similar. So I feel confident, after reading it to getting that point and remembering that scene, that I can give the netflix show a try and it will be good I, I watched the netflix show, okay, and it is good okay I get nervous when they start Netflix shows.
Speaker 2:It's kind of like with Pretty Little Liars or something. They start it based off the book series, but then you're like, okay, are you going to continue? There isn't any more books. It's going to take longer for her to write all these books, because you have to illustrate them, than it might take to keep coming out with new Netflix shows.
Speaker 1:So that does make me nervous. There are two seasons, and the first season is volumes one and two and the second season is volumes three and four. Okay, so I'll give it a try. Um, yeah, it's just, it's just lovely and um, I would recommend this to teenagers and I would also recommend this to adults, absolutely, I mean, I wouldn't recommend it to a kid, like a little kid.
Speaker 1:No, not because of the romantic bit of it, but because of just the themes of, like mental health, what you're going through, I don't know. It just seems a little older.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I just think that's probably a lot for a little kid to read and I appreciate also. Yeah, but definitely I would say if you're in high school or if you know a high schooler, this is such a great book and it is. And, like you said, I mean I read one through three volumes, one through three and one sitting after work one night, like they do not take that long. I started at like five and went to like nine, but, like you know, you can read one book in an hour or two because it is illustrated and so they move really fast. So I think this is great.
Speaker 2:If someone isn't into reading as well, this could be a really like nice bridging of the gap, because it's not too much text that you're reading, it's more like taking in the whole picture. So it could be a great intro for someone who's in high school or whatever. But yeah, it was so cute, I'm all in. Also, I want to say for everyone who likes Heartstopper, because this reminded me so much of a fiction podcast that I love, so I wanted to recommend it Please.
Speaker 2:There is a fiction podcast I am obsessed with and I would die for it's called the Bright Sessions. I am obsessed with and I would die for it's called the Bright Sessions and it follows a therapist, dr Bright, who her specialty is like teens and young adults who have special abilities. So she has someone who, every time she has a panic attack, she travels back in time. Um, there's people who can read minds and then the people this really reminded me of was uh kind of I would say they're like the main couple of this series, I feel like um, but they're in high school and one of them is has like special abilities and he is an empath, so he can feel like the emotions of everyone around him and his name is uh caleb, and then he falls in love. He's very much like the nick character to me. He like didn't identify as gay or lgbtq, um played on the football team, was like a jock, but he ends up kind of, through his empathetic ability, uh, falling in love with empathic. Thank you, um.
Speaker 2:Another student who doesn't have any kind of special abilities, named adam, who's like more dorky, like nerdy, quiet, um, but they just reminded me so much of that couple and um, so it starts with the bright sessions, but there's actually like two spin-off series kind of of this podcast that also have um caleb and adam in there, so you really get to see their whole story all the way through their college years and into like young adulthood. So if you like the charlie nick dynamic and you're looking for a fiction podcast which is a whole new world, that I would love to recommend anyone. Anything in uh. But I really recommend this. The voice actors are so good and I just kind of pictured them in this uh book because the story is very similar and, like you know, high school love and kind of very similar like tropes involved.
Speaker 1:So I would recommend this is for kids who listen to adventures in odyssey yes this is for you this is for you looking for something to scratch. The adventures in odyssey itch in your brain.
Speaker 2:There's so much out there for you, but definitely start with the bright sessions. It's so good so, and it's complete, like they're completely done, so you know you're going to get a full arc and a really, really satisfying conclusion.
Speaker 1:So 10 out of 10, love it if you like. Car stopper go to that.
Speaker 2:Okay, now that's happy. Let's get depressed.
Speaker 1:Oh all right, okay, let's go I recommend you one day as we said and tell me about it what's okay? So about abigail? So okay, I have watched the movie with ann hathaway and the guy I can't remember his british guy yeah, yeah, um, also, in that movie is she british, I think so. I don't remember if she has a british accent.
Speaker 2:I think so because I guess they meet in like college.
Speaker 1:So I don't know yeah, but maybe not I haven't watched it anyways, anyway. Um, yeah, me either, I will never watch it again so um, so okay. So my expectations going into this were like built on.
Speaker 1:I knew what the ending was yeah yeah, um, so okay, but it is a lovely book, all right. So One Day is the story of two people over 20 years, every year on the same day, july 15th, which is St Smithers Day or something like that. Yeah, anyways, their names are Emma and Dexter, they are friends and it's like 20 years of like, will they get together, won't they get together? Their personal journeys, the tension that exists between them, and spoilers, ahoy. If you do not want to hear the ending of this book, I would say fast forward towards the end till we get to our book recommendations now. Yeah, um, when they finally do get together after two years of being together, she's like riding home from work on her bike on a rainy day and she gets hit by a bus.
Speaker 2:Okay, that is true.
Speaker 1:All right RIP. So, so my expectations going into this book where I knew that was going to happen.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:So my mindset was what can I learn from this? Yeah, because I know that's going to happen. But, like, what is the lesson here? Because I think for me, the reason I hated the book, the movie yeah, was because and maybe it was just the time in my life that I watched it. Yeah, you know, I was maybe less mature, but the reason I didn't like the movie when I watched it, which was maybe like 10 years ago now, was because I felt like it was all for nothing. Yeah, like I felt like this is pointless. Why did she get hit by this bus? Like it just felt like, oh, we're just killing to kill.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Like she's just going to die, to die.
Speaker 2:So yeah, like a shock factor kind of thing of not.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it's just gonna make you cry and you're gonna cry in this movie and you're gonna think that it's good because you cried. But is it like? That's my thing, like, are you, are you making this depressing so that people think it's good, or is there a lesson to be learned? You know? And then then I'm okay with it, like yeah I would say, like the most recent thursday murder club book, like I cried like a baby but I felt like it was earned and that there was something that I got out of yeah.
Speaker 1:The sad. Thing.
Speaker 2:It wasn't pointless yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so it's not that I'm a totally against sad things, but I mean, I definitely have a different relationship with sad things than you do. Yeah, that's true when you like them and I am not as inclined to like them. Yeah.
Speaker 2:And I feel like I'll say to a them, yeah, and I feel like I'll say to accompany that I do feel like part of me recommending this book was also that not just like, hey, you're in a different place now, but I I have seen a lot of people not like the movie. I like the movie a lot, but you know, that's why I bought the book, because I had seen the movie as well first, before I read the book. But um, yeah, I know a lot of people don't like the books or the movie. So I felt like, okay, maybe the movie's just not that good. So anyways, continue.
Speaker 1:So here's the difference Obviously, in the book, as many, compared to the movie, you get to hear their inner thoughts and you get to see a lot more of their personal growth as people over the 20 years, and so there's a lot more context. Like because you're saying that, and also I love. One thing I loved about the book was the narration, and the way that the story is told was just very, very nice and like at no point was boring, like it was very interesting. And also another thing I love is that we all know that I love a time jump, and this is like every chapter is a year time jump.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So you, you got it, you kind of get to put together.
Speaker 2:okay, well, like what happened in the last year, Like yeah.
Speaker 1:So the author kind of has to use like context clues to tell you, without exactly saying here's, everything that happened in the last year. By, by describing the changes in their lives, you can infer what happened over the last year. Um, which is really cool, and I think there is a lesson to be learned in that like, uh, like a moment is just a snapshot in time, you know, and like a day is just yeah, yeah, it's reflecting a lot of what came before you. So I loved that about the book. I thought that was great, I thought it was really well written and the entire book. I felt like there was a metaphorical and, in a sense, literal bus coming toward me and that bus came. Yeah, and honestly, when the bus hit her and she died, yeah.
Speaker 1:I wasn't even that, I didn't even cry at that part because, I was like I'm so ready for yeah, yeah, yeah what I wasn't ready for was the few chapters after that, discussed like the day after the day that they met, so july 16th 1988 yeah and then um the two year anniversaries or the two anniversaries post um her death, uh, that um dexter commemorates, and that was a lot.
Speaker 1:I was just like how do you go on when your spouse dies? Yeah, how do you do that? I just cannot even fathom it. And the whole time I'm sitting there thinking like I just don't know how I would go on if that died. I just don't know how I would go.
Speaker 2:I do it about that often, unfortunately.
Speaker 1:So, oh my god and um, also just his growth. And I'm still grappling with, like, what was the lesson? I think that there was a lesson here. Maybe part of the lesson is like you know, time isn't guaranteed and so like, if you love someone, say it. You know, like cause you know back at, like at the beginning of the book, like he writes her a letter that like he gets drunk and loses and never sends, but basically it's like to the effect of like, hey, like, let's try it out, and there's just so many opportunities for them to get together and they never do until there's two. They don't know it, but there's only two years left of her life.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And then or three years left of her life. And then I think the other lesson too is that you know, god bless the broken road. Like you know, you have to go through all of this sometimes to get your reward and like life, is this like winding path and that you have to kiss a lot of frogs sometimes, and um, yeah, I don't know. I guess the question I would pose to you is like was there a lesson that you learned from it, and why did you like the book more than the movie?
Speaker 2:Um, yeah, great question, great question. I okay, so I love your thoughts on this. Um, it's been a while since I read it. I actually bought this book when me and you were in Chicago it's the first time when we saw Hamilton and I got it at a used bookstore, and so that probably adds yeah, we saw Hamilton. Yeah, no big deal, whatever In like 2017.
Speaker 1:Yeah, on the first tour.
Speaker 2:So, flex, we're better than you flex yeah, better than you, um, in chicago anyways, uh, so it's partially. It's probably sentimental to me, like I just think I always I'm gonna like books more when I buy them as a souvenir, and so like it was a good memory. Um, I also think for me it's like emma and dex had they gotten together any earlier, I don't think they would have made it like. I don't think they would have made it Like I don't think they would have even lasted to the next year and I feel like, like you said, they had to go through this journey to get to each other. But also it's kind of like to me this really is similar to how I feel about like About Time, although that's a little less depressing, but it is kind of sad.
Speaker 2:Where it's like end of about time which, by the way, you haven't seen that movie, what are you doing? Go watch it, come back. He's like I just live every, because you know the whole gist is he can travel back in time and relive days of his life. But then at the end he's like I don't, I don't do that anymore because I just live every single day, like it's my second time living it and I'm just gonna appreciate all the things, and to me this book is kind of similar of like. You know, this is just one day in their lives, um, and they don't know that this whole time, that this day is going to be like the first day of their friendship and also the day she dies, like you never know. And so I think it's like, um, that thing of like just living every single day and appreciating every single day, and appreciating all the bad things and all the good things, because I like the concept of this book being one day in their lives, because by the end, like, you can see the arc and how it was leading them to this, maybe not to getting hit by a bus, but like to getting together and and then also like living their life together and you can see how that's arcing. But when you're living it, you don't see where your life is going towards and you don't know that. Okay, one day I'm going to feel like this was worth it. This heartbreak or this difficult thing I'm going to feel like this was maybe I don't wish I didn't have, I wish I hadn't gone through that, but I'm going to see how it was leading me here or how I use that to become a better person, or like it just was important in my journey of life. So I feel like that's what I got from this book of like you don't know how important this one little day is when you're living it, but then if you look back over 20 years, you can see how it was important all the time.
Speaker 2:And I just like I really like the concept of this book Like I like a time jump. Like you said, we both do. Like the concept of this book, like I, I like a time jump. Like you said um, we both do. And so it kind of reminds me of um, what's the book? Oh, the hearts and visible furies. Although it's not one day, it's a very similar thing of like talk about a depressing book yeah god talk about sobbing talk about literally I'm losing someone.
Speaker 1:You love talk about. I was literally almost throwing up.
Speaker 2:I was crying so hard yeah, but also what's that quote from that book? Hold on I, I saved it um but, it's okay while you're.
Speaker 1:while you're looking that up, I will say, maybe also part of the lesson is just like hey, one day you die. Like, yeah, you know. Hey, like one day you die. Like, yeah, you know, hey, like one day you die and the world goes on without you, and like what is going to happen, like what's the impact of your life going to be on the people that you leave behind, exactly, and like what, like cause, cause, you get to see Dexter, like two, three years after she passes away, and how that shapes him, and like who he decides to be because of her um yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:It's like he says, okay, this is from the hearts of visible furies. Someone asked like does it ever get easier because he lost his partner? You know, many years ago at this point, and he says it does. I said you reached a point where you realize your life must go on regardless. You choose to live or you choose to die. But then there are moments, things you see something funny on the street or a good joke that you hear, a television program you want to share, and it makes you miss the person who's gone terribly. And then it's not grief at all, it's more of sort of bitterness at the world for taking them away for you, from you. I think of bastion every day, of course, but I've grown custom to his absence. It's like, yeah, like you. Just people die and we right now cannot imagine what that would be like to lose, like eric.
Speaker 2:That's the part that makes you sob and I hope I never live to see that day, you know. But, um, you know, people go on, but you're like, like you said, the impact and there's gonna always be those things where you're like hitting the gut again of missing that person, and, um, I think that's why I love this book and sometimes you just need a book that makes you cry. Honestly, I haven't read a lot of those recently, but, um, sometimes you just need it.
Speaker 1:You need to have those in your reserve, you know, yeah I mean, uh, what I will also just as like a neutral recommendation for this book is that I listened to this book yesterday while I was cleaning my house. I did like a deep clean of my house for like seven hours and I had this book on like 1.75 speed and the narration was amazing and the voice is very pleasant, and so if you want to read this, if you want to listen to this, um, it is a good book to listen to. Yeah, and yeah, I think I do. I think you're right. The book is better than the movie because you get it earns it more.
Speaker 2:yeah I think you just have more time will I be watching the netflix show?
Speaker 1:no, yeah, I've seen two iterations of this story um I've had enough. I need to learn.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I have heard a lot of great things about the Netflix show, and when I'm in that place where I'm ready to be hurt, I will probably watch it. I'm like right now I'm on Deal or no Deal Island, so that's where I'm at okay mentally when I get to a place where I am ready for one day.
Speaker 2:I would love to watch the Netflix show because I have seen really great things about it mentally and I've actually I've been binge watching it and it's actually great. Not really I don't think the show is great, but boston rob is excellent, so I recommend that as well.
Speaker 1:Oh my, god, mentally I'm on dealer, no deal, island that's.
Speaker 2:It takes a lot like I like sad books, but it takes a lot for me to do a sad movie or tv show like. That's just a very specific mindset for me. Um, I don't know why I don't really like tv shows honestly like or movies like. I just like reality tv a lot of the time. So you know what I'm saying. Like, yeah, it's gonna take way more for me to get to watching this than it would for me to read this book again, oh god, but I'll get there.
Speaker 1:Well, I think I thank you for for having me read it. I think it has redeemed the story a bit in my mind and I'm gonna treasure the dex and emma that I know from the book and yeah, forget the movie um, I mean not to say that the movie is categorically bad. I do really think that it probably had to do with where I was in life.
Speaker 2:Sure, at the time, and it doesn't earn it as much it doesn't?
Speaker 1:I couldn't more like see the nuance of the story.
Speaker 2:You know, yeah, I agree so.
Speaker 1:But you know what, as far as like the book swap goes, I'm glad you recommended it to me because, you're right, I would never have read this in my own version.
Speaker 2:I think me either. I think this was a great idea and I think everyone should try this. Of course, you don't think accountability of having to then go and talk about it, so it makes it a little harder.
Speaker 1:But I will say it was hard to kind of pick something, because most of the books I recommended to you you've already read, right, because you just listen to me, yeah, um, yeah, and you have great taste. So and I feel like it was kind of hard.
Speaker 2:It was hard.
Speaker 1:What should I give her?
Speaker 2:I feel the same, yeah, and I was originally trying to think of books I already had, so that also limited it, because you know like I try to not keep too many books as I sit with two bookshelves in view behind me, but I try to turn that over.
Speaker 1:We should absolutely do this again.
Speaker 2:I agree.
Speaker 1:This would be fun to do again.
Speaker 2:I mean it's gonna take a while because we have to find books that yeah the other one maybe sometime, like when you come across a book in the future and you are like, okay, I want this to be a book swap, don't bring it up on the pod, and then next time we have something in our minds already, so let's try.
Speaker 1:That got it got it okay, okay, cool, all right. Well, what's a book you've read recently?
Speaker 2:okay, I'm so excited about this. I recently read and was obsessed with, and I've had this book again. I'm making sure I'm getting her name right. Okay, it is a sea of tranquility by emily saint john mandel, who I love, station oh my god, oh my god.
Speaker 1:I almost read this the other day. Oh my gosh, gosh, I wish you had, because it was on, it was like immediately on.
Speaker 2:Oh, I was like I need to read something but I didn't, okay, continue. Um, I've had this since it came out, so I think that was like a year or two ago. It was a while I pre-ordered it and then I just I don't know. I just I'm such a mood reader. I never felt like reading it. Honestly, I didn't know what it was about. A lot of people, I feel like when it was coming out, said, don't like, look too much into the plot, just read it. So I never looked into it anyways. But I love her. I love station 11.
Speaker 2:I read her book the glass hotel as well, um, which I didn't like as much, but I think I talked about it on here maybe. Um, it's like was a slow start to get into, but then I really liked the ending. I actually think this book is a little bit enhanced by that book because there is like a side character from that book is kind of a main character in this one. Um, so I don't know, you don't have to like, it's not necessary at all, but it definitely would enrich the reading of this book a little bit.
Speaker 2:Uh, but this book is so interesting so it takes place in the future, kind of also in the past, but the sea of tranquility. There's like a moon colony, so it's built by the sea of tranquility on the moon. Um, and I don't even know how to describe it, but there's time travel and there's kind of an investigation of sorts. I actually don't want to spoil really anything because I think it's worth reading, but it is a time travel book, so there's like a vignette from like the colonies of America, then like maybe the 1900s or something, and then kind of our present day and then the future, when there's this moon colony and it's just really weird and interesting. It's kind of like a meta book because there's a character who basically is like a self-insert almost for emily, because the character is an author who wrote a book about a pandemic.
Speaker 2:And then a pandemic ends up happening, but it's very interesting and I think there's a reason why she did that, without giving anything away. Anyways, it's very weird. So I'll say that it's weirder than Station Eleven. If you only know her from that it's a little more in line with the Glass Hotel, but even weirder than Station Eleven if you only know her from that. It's a little more in line with the Glass Hotel, but even weirder.
Speaker 1:And it was really good, though, is it? How sci-fi is it?
Speaker 2:Well, there's like time travel. It's very sci-fi. I'll say Okay.
Speaker 1:Got it. So if you are trying to read sci-fi.
Speaker 2:But it's not like to me, okay. There's like to me, okay. There's like science-y sci-fi, like I feel like Andy Weir or who's the other one I like who did Recursion, can't remember his name, blake Crouch Very science heavy, like really science. This is not really science heavy at all. There's no like explanation of how certain things work, or, you know, it's more like philosophical science fiction. I'll say, if that makes sense. So it's more like what would be the repercussions of this? Or you know, what does this mean on like a human level versus like how does the time travel actually work? They don't really get into that, you know.
Speaker 2:Okay, more humanistic yeah, but it's really if you like her style of writing, which is very like specific. You know she has like you like her style of writing, which is very like specific. You know she has like a very specific style of writing. So if you like that about Station Eleven, I think you will like this book. But again, I do think you're going to enjoy it more if you've read the Glass Hotel. So that's my recommendation. But I really liked it. I read like more than half the book in one sitting and then the next day I finished it. It was like more than half the book in one sitting and then the next day I finished it. It was like, really, it really grips you. It's, yeah, very bingeable and so I think it's great.
Speaker 1:but again, I'm late to the party in this, so good recommendation I I should put I should reconsider that one and go back Um. Honestly, I almost read it with zero context Cause I was just like oh Emily, st John Mandel.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Okay, I'll give it a go. Yeah, um, but good to know. Yeah, recommend what have you read recently? Um, what did I talk about last time? Do you remember, bride?
Speaker 2:and.
Speaker 1:Okay, that's what I talked about.
Speaker 2:I feel like we had started something else Maybe. Okay, that's what I talked about.
Speaker 1:I feel like we had started something else maybe, sorry, don't know, yeah, okay, well, I have a couple things then. So I read a book recently I didn't like, so I'm not going to talk about that one. I talked about it one day. I have been reading all of the Lisa Kleypas novels, which are basically just like Bridgerton late yes, you talked about one last time as well is wallflowers, and then the second series I've started is the Raven owls, which, um, is really fun too, and they're just perfect. Everything about them is just fantastic and I just love it, if you like that kind of thing. But, um, since that's not really new or fresh, I will talk about a book I read called Asiri in the Amaru. Did I tell you about this one? No, okay, apologies if I've already mentioned this, but I don't think I have.
Speaker 2:I don't think so, no.
Speaker 1:Asiri in the Amaru is a book that I read for Book Club Nice. It is an indie author, natalia Hernandez. This is a book that is based in Peruvian mythology and it is a romance novel and it's about this girl named Asiri who can talk to animals and she is like her dad is like making her live at this temple and like abuse her power to like help, you know, tell the future or, you know, get insight from the animals about farming, and she's like I'm sick of this, like I want to do my own thing. So she like runs away from home and she goes to this like town on the beach and she meets this guy, of course, the on the beach, and she meets this guy, of course, and, um, and it's all very sweet and wholesome, and she, um, it's either, there's all, it's based on all these like mythological creatures and peruvian mythology. Uh, the animals are hilarious side characters because only she can hear them, but she's trying to keep it a secret that she's the one who can hear them, um, because she doesn't want anyone else to find out about her like special ability.
Speaker 1:Um, it is just really lovely and really sweet, super heartwarming, and one thing I really liked about it is um that I learned so much about something I didn't know, and I probably never would have learned about Peruvian mythology if I had never read this book. And um, it's you know, it's an indie author. It is um. It's not very long, it's easy to read, it's cute, it's light and um. I encourage anyone who's interested in that kind of thing to read it. I really liked it, wow.
Speaker 2:Thank you, anyone who's interested in that kind of thing to read it. I really liked it. Wow, thank you I am very interested in that.
Speaker 1:Love it. Great recommendation as well. Awesome, alright. Well, I think that basically does it for this episode. Anything else you want to say?
Speaker 2:No, this was very fun. I didn't know what to expect, but I think it was great.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was great and I'm glad I did it so yeah, All right, guys.
Speaker 2:we'll catch you next time. Bye.