In Part II of our Parable series, the Spoilers continue their discussion of Butler's amazing novels. While Sower is definitely a shockingly accurate book in so many ways, Talents hits home with even more power. President Jarett and a Christian Nationalist movement whose motto is "Make American Great Again"? Yikes, you guys. The parallels between this book and our current world are enough to make the baby hairs in your kitchen stand straight up. Maybe someone needs to get to work on that fleet of spaceships or something" (not you, Elon) Ultimately this show ends up being a heartfelt conversation about family and community and how we need both to survive. Check it out!

The first of two episodes on Octavia Butler's Parable series, this show finds the Spoilers discussing one of the most beloved books of the last 40 years -- Parable of the Sower. The Spoilers have a lot to say about this amazing novel. They are amazed at Butler's prescience in depicting the world of 2024, as well as her drawing of the captivating character Lauren Olamina. There are a lot of feelings in the episode, but maybe the strongest have to do with the relationship of Lauren and Bankole. That one keeps coming back again and again. Check it out for an exciting exploration of the novel everyone needs to read and no one can forget! Part II is being released simultaneously, so when you finish with this one you can go right into our discussion of Parable of the Talents! You're welcome.

This episode, though subdued, is a fascinating journey into the critical minds of the spoilers as they try to figure out what it is about Mukherjee's stories that has a hold on them. It's probably fair to say that we didn't LOVE this collection, but there were stories here than really get in our minds. A book of its time that resists neat categorization, THE MIDDLEMAN is one of those books that sparked a passionate conversation that we may not have been expecting. Take a listen!

In this, our 50th episode, the Spoilers discuss everything from the inception of our little show to our favorite books and episodes. As you can imagine, it is celebration of everything that has kept us going all these years, including poetry, coffee, book covers, and the eternal question of genre! Come join us for a trip down memory lane as we revisit our favorite moments from the first 50 episodes of The Drip!

The Spoilers are back with the penultimate episode on their way toward the big 50! In this episode they heap praises upon Jesmyn Ward's latest triumph about a young, enslaved woman being led on a journey to the dark and deep of slavery's corrupt heart. They spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to understand this novel and what to do with its beauty and horror. In the end, they just follow Annis from the Carolinas to New Orleans on her harrowing journey and talk a lot about spirits, gods, love, and poetic brutality (a term they are not actually familiar with and do not use). Hope you enjoy it!

The gang is back, you guys! It's been awhile, but we are back to discuss Shannon Gibney's amazing memoir of transracial adoption, family, and love. We've read a lot of books doing this show over the years, but you can be sure that we have never read one like this -- and it definitely shows in the episode. So come along with us again and take a wondrous ride through time. It's not technically a wormhole you'll go through, but we are going to take you back to a few months ago to when we first recorded this episode. And let me tell you, it's worth the wait!

The Spoilers are back with an episode about Charmaine Wilkerson's worthy novel, Black Cake -- just in time for the Hulu release of the series on November 1st. If you haven't read the book, all you have to do is listen to our episode and you'll be ready to watch whatever Oprah ends up doing for this adaptation. As for us, we have a lot to say about this sprawling novel. There's a lot we love and some things we don't, but one thing cannot be denied -- this book got us to thinking: love, family, secrets . . . oh man, those secrets! Don't miss this one, folks. You just might learn some some things you didn't know about the Spoilers, themselves!

In this episode the Spoilers talk about Aidoo's wonderful novel, but as you might expect, they end up talking about patriarchy. And in particular they spend a lot of time talking about Esi and her car. You know, we don't always understand Esi (there are lots of questions), but in the end we all really love her and we all wish we were riding in that car with her wherever she wants to go. Don't miss this one. We can all go for a ride!

In this, our 45th episode, the Spoilers are back with what they thought would be a frolicking, early summer show about Baxter, a Black Canadian aspiring dentist who works as a sleeping car porter on a cross-continent train in the late 1920s (surprise! it took a while to edit!). Paced like a marathoner in a Dodge Challenger, this novel is relentless in its depiction of racialized labor in a very close environment. Not all of us loved this book, but that always makes for an interesting conversation -- and you will get nothing less here, even though you had to wait for three months. Anticipation makes things even better they say . . .

In this special Driplet, Anita gives Todd the chance to share his narrative of injury and recovery. After suffering a hemorrhagic stroke in February of 2020, Todd had to learn to read again while teaching a literature class, living away from his partner, and dealing with the fallout of a pandemic. In this funny, but personal episode, Anita and Todd explore the challenges of illness and recovery, and what it means when an injury manifests itself as an inability to read or remember names and faces. Eventually they weigh in on the ongoing debate over science of reading vs. reading recovery teaching pedagogy -- something Todd became obsessed with shortly after he learned to read again. You won't want to miss this chance to venture inside the illogical mind of one of the spoilers . . .

Did you know many Black writers including Zora Neale Hurston, Frank Yerby, and Lorraine Hansberry wrote works in which most or all of the characters were white? One of the best of these is James Baldwin's Giovanni's Room. In this episode, we discuss Baldwin's classic second novel, with its tortured main character, David, an American marking time in Paris. While not a book with a propulsive plot, we were all three blown away by the writing. We also marveled at Baldwin's ability to render compelling, flawed, and believable white characters. Mostly, we were fascinated by the emotional and psychological predicament of David, a young man who is afraid to surrender to his feelings for another man, and why despite this fact, this book is almost always at the top of lists of the best queer novels ever written. Check this one out, you guys -- we think you'll like it. 

Let's be honest -- when the Spoilers first started reading Leone Ross's Popisho, they were kind of confused. But as this lively conversation reveals, we came to really love this strange, original, endearing book. It never missed an opportunity to surprise and delight us. Take a listen to this episode to hear how we go from perplexity to wonder and happiness. Take our word for it -- this episode was made especially for you. 

It's been a minute, but the Spoilers are back with another compelling book conversation -- this time about Attica's Locke's best-selling mystery. The novel takes place on a plantation, so you know we have to ground things with a little bit of history (Dr. Moten would have it no other way). As usual, we have a lot to say about this book. We offer some praise and some criticisms, but in the end we give a pretty positive take on what we all seem to think is a pretty solid read. The fact that we keep comparing it to Queen Sugar has to tell you something about how we end up feeling about Locke's novel. Check out the episode and see what you think. It's definitely work the listen.

In this special "bookless" episode (in which we actually talk about many books), the Spoilers take on the question of language use in the classroom -- specifically, what do we do as teachers when material we want to use with students contains offensive and/or hurtful language? We decided to discuss this subject, first, because Anita had been thinking about it a lot and wanted to see what we thought, but also because we all happened to be in the same town together for the first time in almost three years and we needed to talk about something! None of us were finished reading The Cutting Season, so we had to figure out what else we could discuss for the episode. We settled on this question, and it did not disappoint. Our conversation touches on multiple aspects of teaching and ends up providing insight into how each of us understands our role in the classroom (whatever kind of classroom it may be). We hope you enjoy it! (THIS EPISODE CONTAINS OFFENSIVE LANGUAGE.)

It's been a while, but the Spoilers are back -- this time taking on the dangerous, seedy underworld of 1940s Los Angeles in Walter Mosley's classic novel about the factory worker turned private detective, Easy Rawlins.  Not surprisingly, the conversation quickly turns to the racial and gender politics of the book. It's a spicy discussion that ends with an inevitable extended comparison of the book to Barbara Neely's Blanche on the Lam, a contest no novel can ever win because Blanche is just the GOAT. Still, we had fun with Devil in a Blue Dress, and anyone who loves mystery and detective novels should love this episode. Check it out.

The Spoilers have been on a roll lately, doing shows about books that have just blown us away -- and this show is no exception. In this episode we talk about Toni Morrison's perplexing and captivating heroine, Sula Peace. What a woman! Just when you think you hate her, you realize that apparently, you love her. The novel itself is filled with unforgettable characters and amazing moments, and we talk about a whole lot of them. All of this is to say that in the end, we all agree that damn it, we adore and really miss the great Toni Morrison, but we're glad she left us a novel like this one to remember her by. Girl, Girl, GirlGirlGirl.

In this episode, the Spoilers can't stop gushing about Eloghosa Osunde's new novel, VAGABONDS! Structured like a spiritual text that challenges the orthodoxy and self-righteousness of those who would deny freedom and life to those on the margins of Nigerian society, this novel expertly constructs a narrative of self-salvation, told from the perspective of the vagabonds of Lagos. In reading this novel the Spoilers realized an important truth: the marginalized are the majority, and when the revolution comes, when the end times arrive -- in is the vagabonds who are gonna party together in love! Check out our emotional show on this unforgettable novel.

In another quiet episode, the Spoilers dig deep into issues of borders and migration both in Poddar's novel and in their own lives. It quickly becomes clear that while migration is a more immediate issue for some, it really impacts us all in significant ways. Whether you're venturing around the world or around the corner, we all have to reckon with the impact of moving and crossing boundaries in our lives. Check out this pretty personal episode to see what the Spoilers have to share about their own experiences.

In a bit of a quiet episode, the Spoilers revisit 2020 with Tookie, the protagonist of Erdrich's beautiful novel. The novel takes them back to the beginning of the pandemic, the murder of George Floyd, and the tumultuous summer that followed. But while Erdrich's book is about the haunting reverberations of the past, it is also about efforts toward individual and collective healing. It is about how we move through and respond to injustice and trauma, and how we can try to become whole again. It's about language and books and absolution and love. It's about the sentences we all carry and the ones we speak to each other when it seems like there is nothing that can be said. Damn it, Louise Erdrich! This book is too much! 

In this episode the Spoilers engage in a crescendoing conversation about Harris' NYT best selling debut novel. Uneasy with their reading of the book, anxious about their commentary, and unsure if they are on steady ground, the Spoilers carefully inch forward, refusing any relaxing balm, eventually careening toward inevitable exasperation. You're going to love this sometimes quiet, sometimes rollicking examination of a definitely provocative but sometimes maddening novel. What's our final verdict? We plead the fifth!