Weird Books

November is Native American Heritage Month, and for many of us it sits uneasily beside Thanksgiving. In this episode, Dr. Amanda, a non-Indigenous reader and professor, talks about rethinking the Thanksgiving story and shares books by Indigenous authors across genres: literary fiction, romance, horror, speculative fiction, nonfiction, and cookbooks. Featuring Louise Erdrich, Tommy Orange, Diane Wilson, Stephen Graham Jones, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Nick Estes, Danica Nava, and more. Plus ways to support Indigenous authors and bookstores beyond just reading.Literary fictionThe Seed Keeper, Diane Wilson The Night Watchman, Louise ErdrichThe Sentence, Louise ErdrichCalling for a Blanket Dance, Oscar Hokeah There, There and Wandering Stars, Tommy OrangeSpeculative fictionMoon of the Crusted Snow and Moon of the Turning Leaves, Waubgeshig RiceRomance and rom-comThe Truth According to Ember, Danica NavaLove Is a War Song, Danica NavaHorrorThe Only Good Indians, Stephen Graham JonesMy Heart Is a Chainsaw, Stephen Graham JonesThe Buffalo Hunter Hunter, Stephen Graham JonesBad Cree, Jessica Johns Never Whistle at Night and Back for Blood, anthologies edited by Shane HawkNonfictionBraiding Sweetgrass, Robin Wall Kimmerer The Serviceberry, Robin Wall KimmererGathering Moss, Robin Wall KimmererOur History Is the Future, Nick Estes "Against Crisis Epistemology," Kyle Whyte (Univ. of Michigan). An essay, available online on why framing crises as unprecedented is problematicCookbooks Seed to Plate, Soil to Sky, Lois Ellen FrankThe New Native Kitchen, Freddie BitsoieThe Sioux Chef's Indigenous Kitchen, Sean ShermanWhere to buy and followBirchbark Books (Louise Erdrich's Minneapolis bookstore; online orders available)Black Walnut Books (Indigenous-run bookstore)Indigenous Bookshelf and Indigenous Reading Circle Plant Baby Plant( Robin Wall Kimmerer's movement) and Seeding Sovereignty Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dr. Amanda talks about why middle age so often gets overlooked in books and pop culture, and shares recommendations across romance, literary fiction, horror, and queer romance. She covers stories of reinvention after divorce, second-chance love, grief, intergenerational families, and coming out later in life, for elder millennials, Gen X, and anyone who wants to see midlife on the page.Books discussed:The Bookshop of Second Chances (Jackie Fraser)The Wedding People (Alison Espach)Is She Really Going Out with Him? (Sophie Cousens)The Romance Revival (Christina Lauren)The Shots You Take (Rachel Reid)You & Me (Tal Bauer)The Vibrant Years (Sonali Dev)The Robber Bride and Cat’s Eye (Margaret Atwood)The September House (Carissa Orlando)The Little Paris Bookshop (Nina George)The Guncle and The Guncle Abroad (Steven Rowley)Content note: The Wedding People includes a suicide plot, discussed in this episode.Email: [email protected]: @bookishuniversity Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As the weather turns cold, Dr. Amanda shares cozy winter reads, bridging spooky season into Christmas. She also talks about why we crave warmth, closeness, and comfort reads in colder months.Books mentioned:The Nightmare Before Kissmas and Go Luck Yourself (Sara Raasch)Your Mean One, Matthew Prince (Timothy Janovsky)Mistletoe and Mishigas (M.A. Wardell)This Time Next Year (Sophie Cousens)The Lies in the Lefse and Sandbakkels and Sin (George Robstad)The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year (Ally Carter)A Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches and A Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping (Sangu Mandanna)Skipping Christmas (John Grisham) Lonesome Dove (Larry McMurtry)Email: [email protected] Instagram: @bookishuniversity Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What can stories teach us about mercy? Dr. Amanda talks with her longtime friend Dr. Dave, an English professor who teaches courses on magic, death and human mortality, and Superman comics, for a wide-ranging conversation about justice, work, and what it means to be a person. They open with why the humanities matter in an era of the commodified higher ed experience, then discuss Wendell Berry’s notion of good work (from The Unsettling of America) and how that fits with today's society. Dr. Dave talks about teaching writing in prison, and what it means to take a human life, with relation to Just Mercy (Bryan Stevenson), In Cold Blood (Truman Capote) Superman: Birthright (Mark Waid), and Notes on an Execution (Danya Kukafka), with Dr. Dave's bonus overview of the French film "The Widow of Saint-Pierre."The audio quality in this one is not great - I did my best to work with it, but given the nature of the conversation I didn't want to lose the conversation. Tune in for: What the humanities offer when life gets hardWendell Berry on work that serves life instead of ruling itTeaching incarcerated students, what they want, and what they can doWhy Superman won’t kill, and how that might connect to state executionWhether people can change, and what that might look likeContent note: discusses incarceration, violent crime, and executions.Contact: [email protected]: @bookishuniversity Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dr. Amanda talks with debut novelist Megan Mostyn-Brown about The Need, a horror novel that uses an unsettling premise to explore class inequality, stigma, family secrets, and the systems that determine who gets to survive. Can horror help us recognize the humanity we overlook in everyday life? Join us for a conversation about the stories we tell, the systems we inhabit, and what it means to remain connected to one another. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dr. Amanda features some of Simone St. James' paranormal works, including The Sun Down Motel, The Broken Girls, The Book of Cold Cases, Murder Road, The Haunting of Maddy Clare, Lost among the Living, and A Box Full of Darkness.Email: [email protected]: @bookishuniversity Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dr. Amanda discusses Gisèle Pelicot’s memoir “A Hymn to Life,” the reopened Cornell fraternity case, and why sexual violence belongs in true crime.Note: The Cornell case is discussed as allegations only. No criminal conviction has been reported.Books mentioned: A Hymn to Life by Gisèle Pelicot; I’ll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara.Email: [email protected]: @bookishuniveristy Content note: This episode discusses sexual assault, drug-facilitated assault, and rape culture. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Which books about artificial intelligence are actually worth your time? Dr. Amanda is joined by her friend and co-author Dr. Natalia to cut through AI hype and doomerism with a reading list of accessible nonfiction and fiction.Primary focus is on:Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman's OpenAi by Karen Hao Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism by Yanis Varoufakis. Additional nonfiction mentions include:The Reverse Centaur's Guide to Life After AI: How to Think About Artificial Intelligence - Before it's too late (Cory Doctorow) AI Snake Oil: What Artificial Intelligence Can Do, What It Can't, and How to Tell the Difference (Arvind Narayanan & Sayash Kapoor) More Everything Forever: AI Overlords, Space Empires, and Silicon Valley's Crusade to Control the Fate of Humanity (Adam Becker) The AI Con: How to Fight Big Tech’s Hype and Create the Future We Want (Emily Bender & Alex Hanna)Blood in the Machine: The Origins of the Rebellion Against Big Tech (Brian Merchant)Additional fiction mentions include: Monk and Robot Series (Becky Chambers)Robogenesis and Robopocalypse (Daniel H Wilson)Moon of the Crusted Snow and Moon of the Fallen Leaves (Waubgeshig Rice)Buffalo is the New Buffalo (Chelsea Vowel)And Then There Was You (Sophie Cousens)What if it's You? (Jilly Gagnon) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dr. Amanda hosts her mom to talk about the mom barometer and some of the books she's recommended. It's a lot of books on this one, with less attention to synopses and more attention to mom thoughts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dr. Amanda talks about a handful of books that are hard to sell to other readers based on the premise but worth the read. Books discussed include Open Throat (Henry Hoke), Convenience Store Woman (Sayaka Murata), Quietly, From Afar: A Dark-Comedy Cartoon-Western (Lucas Gardner), A Shore Thing (Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi), and Shark Heart: A Love Story (Emily Habeck). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.