We've been on a bit of an expedition of sorts, and we come back bearing news. Terrible news! Namely about the author of our book this month, H.P. Lovecraft. What? You already knew he wasn't great? Oh, dear listener, keep you radios dialed in, we have much to tell. We also share our findings on Earth's ancient history, videogames, and even why you get sick when you go up a mountain quickly! Make sure you're well outfitted for this one, we had a lot to say, maybe because we've been away for so long. Tekeli-li!

Now that holidays are over, maybe it's time you started to process some of the trauma you've been accumulating for all of these years, and there's no better book to highlight trauma than Toni Morrison's Beloved. We do a deep dive into despair, dissociation, and what it can mean to come to terms with something you never thought you'd be able to face. We also take the time to explore several famous black tragedies that inspired this book and helped shape Toni Morrison as an artist and author. There isn't typically a convenient time for our past to come back and haunt us (sometimes literally), but we need to make room for it when it does. This is how we grow.

Welcome to our house...Hop a train with us to far off Carpathia and dank dark evils of Castle Dracula as we explore what made this 1897 novel such an enduring story through the years. We spend extra time talking about all things medical and what Bram Stoker may have been trying to say about women in the Victorian society he lived in. We drank our fill on the biggest movies the feature the dear count as well and had a bloody good time doing it. Listen to us, the podcasters of the night...

Have you ever gone back to really examine something you loved when you were younger? This month we dig into our record collection and put a fresh spin on Nick Hornby's 1995 novel High Fidelity. The movie of this film from 2000 made a big impact on me in high school, so much so that I didn't even realize how much I thought about it in my day to day life. We have a compilation of takes on the book, including why I think the protagonist Rob struggles so much. Make sure you turntable speed is set to 33 RPM, this is definitely and LP.

Here we go! In this hot, stormy summer weather, we've decided to take a field trip to Oz and explore the 1900 book the Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum. Of course we cover the 1939 movie as well and we found we had a A LOT to say about it and other related projects. If you want to learn about the life of Baum and even what poppy plants are famous for, we've got all of that packed up and ready for you. Come on and get inside, I see a twister comin'.

It's fitting that our longest episode to date should be covering the longest book we've done so far. Gone With the Wind is a monolithic book and movie that has had heavy influence on American history, certainly well beyond whatever Margaret Mitchell may have intended with it in 1936. In this episode, we cover the landscape of the Civil War, survival, and the Myth of the Lost Cause and some of what that means for America after Reconstruction. Further, we get into why Scarlett is such a frustrating yet irresistible character whose appeal has endured for decades. Join us as we sort out fiction from fact in this famous/infamous piece of historical fiction.

It's time to drift out across the farmlands of Iowa to find your one true love on a random encounter. Or not. This month we cover the wildly popular Bridges of Madison County and discuss what made the book so impactful and maybe why it hasn't stayed alive in public discourse over the years. For not being a particularly long book, we found a lot of great topics to cover, even though we definitely had our opinions on the book itself. Maybe this is who we are and who we're meant to be. Or maybe we should just get over ourselves. Either way!

All aboard for Season 4! We crash through snowy Russian landscapes and meander about pastoral Russian farmlands in our exploration of Russian foundational novel Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy. We certainly had enough to say on this one, which is not surprising as the book is well over 700 pages in length with overflowing detail on every page. If you've never made the trip all the way through this one (just like I hadn't until recently), travel along with us as we sojourn to light and dark places alike. Sometimes it's more about the journey than it is about arriving anywhere in particular.

We round out season 3 of our little podcast with another graphic novel, this time from revered author Alison Bechdel and her 2006 masterpiece, Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic. There was so much to discuss here, including, but not limited to sexual identity, death in the family, and toxic citrus spokespeople of the 1970's. This is an important book for anyone struggling with their sense of self that may clash with the world and family they grew up in. Even with our best coverage, there were still topics in this book that we didn't get to, but we at least try to put the fun in "perfunctory"!

Now is the time to explore strange new alien civilizations, and thereby explore strange new ideas within ourselves with Ursula K. Le Guin's 1969 sci-fi classic The Left Hand of Darkness! We found a lot to engage with this month, especially in gender and how it impacts our personal lives and even how we think about ourselves. As humans, we may not have a physical shifting sexual identity like the citizens of Gethen, but perhaps how we think about ourselves can shift. Be aware, though, that speed is relativistic and we all get where we're going in our own time.

None of us can ever know what it was like to live the harrowing experience of being a black slave in America in the early 1800's, but Octavia Butler was determined to try and give her readers a taste in 1979's Kindred. While the book was not perfect, it did leave us asking and mulling over some important questions about who we are and who we might be in different situations. Plus we get to talk about mosquito born illnesses! Slip away with us and learn about some often overlooked roots of American history, it's a trip that you won't soon forget.

Let us sit upon the ground and listen to nerdy podcasts about the death of kings. Alas, poor Hamlet! We reviewed it, dear listener! There was so much ground to cover in this legendary play by William Shakespeare and we mulled over wordplay, anachronisms, and a surprising amount of historical religious talk. As this is one of Felicia's favorite plays and the first time Ben has read it, there was a lively conversation to be had all around. Let's go to the theater tonight, it's only a penny to stand in the pit!

It can be hard putting your life back together after the traumas of war, especially if you are perceiving different portions of your life out of order. Or at least you think you are. Come unstuck with us as we wander passively through the life and times of Billy Pilgrim in Slaughterhouse-Five and the many events that were inspired from author Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.'s life. We had a blast talking about aliens, post-modernism, and current treatments for ancient psychiatric conditions. Listen along with us and so it will go.

It's time we come clean about something with you...we covered the Secret History by Donna Tartt and we just can't hold it in any longer. Listen in on our confessions of researching the details of the murder filled book along with the mysterious life of its author. We also ask the question, should studying Classics be killed off once and for all? The weather is getting colder, put on your houndstooth jacket and let's go for a walk by the ravine.

The pumpkins are out, the wind is getting colder, it's time to hit the books and resurrect the dead! This month, we climb the glaciers of Switzerland and explore the involved and fascinating life of Frankenstein's author Mary Shelley. Further, we doggedly pursue topics including forceps delivery, the Year Without a Summer, and whatever Kenneth Branagh was trying to do with the 1994 film. If you don't deal with this episode now, you'll be haunted by it forever.

Come along with us as we try to rescue ourselves from our youngest demographically targeted book yet, A Wrinkle In Time! While we may not cover impossible distances instantaneously, we do cover our regular broad range of topics, this time including child prodigies, maturity, and Ben Franklin quotes taken badly out of context. If you want to fight It and the Darkness, all you need to do is tune into this episode. And probably some other things, too, but never mind that.

This month we're going underground talking about the book, movie, and phenomena that is Chuck Palahniuk's Fight Club. We break the first two rules of the club pretty brazenly as we discuss masculinity, facing your feelings honestly, and "hitting rock bottom", whatever that means. We even discuss having more than one perspective on life in our medical corner. If tonight is your first time with Questioning the Canon...then you have to listen.

For America's birthday month, we decided to peruse Mark Twain's much discussed Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. There were so many topics to cover including geography, the long-term effects of alcoholism, river travel, and, of course, the unique life of the author himself. What better way to pass a hot July afternoon than floating down the podcast river with us? Everyone aboard? We're casting off!

Set out with us on our summer reading journey with the Hobbit by the wizard himself, J.R.R. Tolkien. We find a lot of comfortable knowledge holes to explore in our travels without too many bumps or things we wish we didn't know along the way. In our medical corner we give a shout out to Elizabeth Rowley and T1 International and the work they do to make insulin affordable and available for everyone, heroic work if there ever was such. Our discussion of Tolkien gets downright explosive, too, especially when talking about his service in WWI. Hopefully, if all goes well, we'll all be home in time for second breakfast.