EP45: Violence on the shores of Clearwater Pond

Live from the Book Shop: John Updike's Ghost

Hannah and Sam are once again at Camp, by the magical healing waters of Clearwater Pond, and there has been a lot of reading going on (plus, the sound quality of this episode is amazing). We start with "Leviathan Wakes," the first book of the Expanse series (perhaps an addiction in the making for Sam), which leads us to wonder what exactly a "space opera" is. Like all the books Sam read this week, it's very violent. But Hannah's reading "Hello, Beautiful," which is not violent, and is rather a retelling (of sorts) of "Little Women," and is a bit underwhelming (and Hannah may have made up the word "mythicizing"). Also a bit of a retelling is "The Land of Lost Things," John Connolly's follow up to what apparently was the popular "Book of Lost Things" (we hadn't heard of it), which is "like 'Land of Stories' plus 'Fairy Tale.'" Then we get into a little back and forth about "Chain Gang All-Stars" — Hannah is a huge fan, but Sam isn't quite sure (this was a big discussion amongst everyone at camp). Oh, and Hannah finally read "The Midnight Library" and has some thoughts! Those thoughts unveil a critical difference in Hannah and Sam's general worldviews. Finally, there is "An Honest Man," yet another super-violent book set on the islands of Maine. It's good, and he gave it to his dad to read, but Sam is sensitive about all of these books set in Maine nowadays. And "Same Time Next Summer," where you know exactly what's going to happen. And it's not very spicy.