Short fiction fans, here's another episode tailor-made for you. Jude and John sit down and discuss some of our personal "unforgettable" short stories - not necessarily our all-time favorites, but the ones that we just can't get out of our heads... sometimes years or even decades after having read them. A few classics are discussed here (Bierce, Lovecraft, Poe, Wharton, O'Connor) - but for the most part, we try to bring up stories that may not be as well-known or widely anthologized. What follows is a classic BXC conversation that blends the heart-breaking, horrific, hopeful and the "holy sh*t!" into a big stew. We expect it will be seasoned to your liking! 

Welcome to the Book XChange's Science Ficiton Xtravaganza, wherein your humble twin hosts line up and discuss a plethora of science fiction titles we've read, remembered, and want to recommend. Science fiction is SUCH an incredibly broad genre to cover, and we don't even try to survey it all - rather, we list books we've read over the years that have really stayed with us for one reason or another, and that we think have something to offer to our listeners. Whether you're a sci-fi junky or only dabble in it occasionally, we think there's something here for everyone. Enjoy responsibly! 

According to our personal (and this podcast's) annual tradition, brothers and co-hosts Jude and John Lovell list their favorite reading experiences of the year that was 2023. Then we choose a few titles each to dive into at greater length, titles that didn't come up or weren't discussed in depth in any of the episodes recorded in the past year. We hope listeners discover some interesting books they may want to check out themselves... or, see if our takes on books they have read align with theirs! As always, thanks for supporting the BXC podcast. Onward now to a whole new year in reading!

John delivers a quick update on Episode 64, which was accidentally uploaded out of order. Tune in so you can figure out which Episode 64 is the right one to listen to/download. Thanks for supporting the show, folks. More great content coming!

IMPORTANT: The editing on this version of Episode 64 was messed up, sadly, and the audio was accidentally uploaded in a jumbled order. We apologize for the screw-up. If you want to hear the Episode as it was originally intended, and we hope you do - please download the "FIXED Episode 64" version of this show, which will appear in the feed very soon.  Full title of the CORRECT version of Episode 64 is: "FIXED Episode 64: The BXC's Best Books of 2023." Thanks for your patience with us, and for listening to the BXC podcast. -J & J

This time out, you're listening to the BookXXChange podcast... get it? We're focused on characters bearing the XX chromosome in Episode 63, wherein Jude and John choose their most memorable FEMALE characters in fiction. It's quite a diverse list as we cover everything from literary classics to Westerns, fantasy epics, immigrant stories, and even strange Japanese tales in which women fall in love with actual brick-and-mortar stores (yes, you read that right). Some of these characters are beloved around the world, others much less known... but all have something fascinating to teach about that common pursuit we all share: being human. Hope you enjoy listening to this unique discussion even half as much as we enjoyed having it!

"The Rabbit Hutch" by Tess Gunty is a debut novel by a young writer from Indiana that has taken the literary world by storm, winning the prestigious National Book Award last year and garnering ecstatic praise far and wide. But what did America's favorite book nerd twins think of this buzzy, socially conscious novel? That question gets answered in episode 62 of the Book XChange podcast, as we dive deep into this polyphonic novel about a decaying town in Middle America and various residents of a dilapidated apartment building located therein. Glad to have you along for the ride. Please like, review, share and support the podcast if you're so inclined... and thank you!

Well Constant Readers... one week later, we have made good on our promise (against all odds!) and we present to you Part 2 of our Stephen King extravaganza. We begin with an in-depth take on King's 2022 novel Fairy Tale, which we both enjoyed - and then, John lobs several King-related questions at Jude (the more experienced King reader) that are designed to get listeners thinking about their own favorites and opinions when it comes to King's books. Questions like "Which King book is the scariest?," "What are your most egregious King blind spots?," and "If forced, what would you say is the best of all King works?" So many of us are King fans in one way or another, and with good reason. So tell your friends, spread the word about the show, and belly up to the table for another heaping helping of the King!

Episode 61 of everyone's favorite twin-led book podcast is so big, it had to be split into two parts! But, when your subject is the all-time legend and prolific writer STEPHEN KING, well, then it makes sense. This double-barrelled episode has been a long time coming for your fraternal hosts, as we are of the generation that has literally grown up reading King. But how do you take on so massive a subject as King's still-growing pile of work? Our approach is called "Then & Now" - we look at a work from very early in his career (The Long Walk), and then in Part 2, we review one of his most recent books (Fairy Tale). And along the way, we get in PLENTY of discussion about King's voluminous other work, what makes him special and unique, and why Stephen King may just be as "American" as Mom, movies, and apple pie. Enjoy the feast, "Constant Readers," and as always, thanks for being a part of this literary voyage with us...

What exactly is it about memoirs that make them so widely read and discussed, and so compelling? What distinguishes a good memoir from one that becomes a classic in the genre? What makes a person's experience or ordeal worth sharing with a wider audience, and what value can another person's trauma/survival story/struggle impart to a reader? For our 60th episode, Jude and John dig in and examine what is it about this particular form that hits a nerve with people - and share some of our own favorite examples and "wish list" reads. If you've ever been mesmerized by the narrative of someone else's life experience, this episode may be for you. Thanks as always for listening.

In our second "Read Around the World" episode (the first being Episode 55), we turn our focus to our neighbors just south of us... the rich, fascinating, troubled and beautiful mystery that is Mexico. We touch on famous Mexican writers such as Paz, Fuentes and Ruflo, but also recommend titles in different genres (comic novels, crime novels, thrillers, reportage, histories) in our effort to cover as much literary ground as we can. We even hit a few recent "buzzy" books that have garnered a lot of attention and acclaim - but do they pass muster with the BXC twins? That's the burning question the world needs to know! As always, thanks for listening - we hope you enjoy this second literary excursion to other parts of the world. There will be more!

One of our "!" episodes (after "Thriller!" and "Monsters!," check the archive for those) which, we think, means a wide-ranging and rollicking ride through a popular genre of books. In this case, spectral encounters and paranormal activity... from dusty old classic haunted house tales to meta/modern freakouts that play with cliches and conventions, we do our best to cover it all. Do your hosts believe ghosts actually exist? Debatable... but we can certainly prove the existence of great writing featuring ghosts, and we do it here on Episode 58. As always, thanks for joining in on the conversation...! 

Another episode-length discussion of a single novel we've deemed worthy of extra attention! This time around, the lads discuss an American classic neither of us were at all familiar with, Joseph Heller's world-famous debut novel Catch-22. We share our own personal impressions, talk about the impact it has had on the culture, compare and contrast it to other war novels, and debate whether or not it deserves a #7 ranking (!) on the Modern Library "Top 100 Novels of All Time" list. **We apologize for a few audio gaps that appear in this episode. As we're recording, we aren't sure whether any/all the glitches we hear are going to appear in the final output. There's really nothing we can do about them as they are a glitch in the app we are using. We hope it is not too much of a distraction.**

We're a bit late here as far as the calendar goes, but the subject of fathers and fatherhood will never get stale. We had intended to publish this episode to align with Father's Day, but... June got away from us a little bit. That said, Jude and John talk about some of their most notable father figures in literature, and recommend books that explore the mystery, challenge and promise (broken or unbroken) of paternity in one way or another. As always, we also discuss books we've been reading lately and tease the upcoming episode 57 of the podcast, in which a prominent classic American novel will be discovered, at least by your humble hosts, for the first time.

This time out, the BXC brothers begin their new occasional series, "Read Around the World," and set their sights on books from/about Australia, New Zealand and Tasmania. These episodes will be your literary "travel guides" to places we may never get to visit in person, but have indeed visited in our imaginations and reading lives. We had a blast touring this region, and recommend quite an array of writers and works for adventurous readers to dive into. Enjoy - who knows where the next excursion will take us? Next time on the BXC: we explore fathers and fatherhood in literature! (P.S. We apologize once again for the less than optimal audio quality. We keep working with what we have to make it better, but we have opted to get the content out there rather than wait on it.)

Our occasional "BXC Reviews" series returns with an in-depth discussion of the TWO new novels from the highly regarded American writer Cormac McCarthy. Since our show's inception we've been looking for a chance to discuss McCarthy's work, and while this episode isn't a deep dive into his whole catalog, it is an extensive (and spoiler-filled) discussion of the pair of novels he released at the end of last year, his first published work in 16 years. **We love hearing from our listeners! Please reach out to us with feedback, reading suggestions or anything else at bookxchangetwins@gmail.com** BOOKS DISCUSSED IN THIS EPISODE: The Sound and The Fury, William Faulkner Cloud Cuckoo Land, Anthony Doerr ...and most of the published novels and plays of Cormac McCarthy, especially the new novels "The Passenger and "Stella Maris"

We are thrilled to be back, after a long hiatus, with a brand new episode in which your co-hosts Jude and John discuss some of the best books we read while we were on break. A little bit of Irish writing, poetry, a few science fiction selections, ancient civilizations, some social satire... there's quite a variety of titles here as regular followers of the show have come to expect. We know that the audio is a bit unpolished; we are still learning how to use our new podcast app and we do have some technical limitations. But we figured it's more important to get new content out there than to obsess over the details. Thanks so much to you all for your patience and for listening to the show. Please don't forget to throw us a positive star review on Spotify and other channels such as Apple or Google, it's easy and will really help us to build things back up. Hope you will enjoy the conversation! BOOKS DISCUSSED IN THIS EPISODE: American Psycho, Bret Easton Ellis Autobiographies, R. S. Thomas Frankenstein in Baghdad, Ahmed Saadawi Faith, Hope and Carnage, Nick Cave and Sean O'Hagan Small Things Like These and Foster, Claire Keegan An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us, Ed Yong The Mountain in the Sea, Ray Nayler The Employees: A Workplace Novel of the 22nd Century, Olga Ravn Sucker, Daniel Hornsby Four Lost Cities: A Secret History of the Urban Age, Annalee Newitz

After an extended hiatus due to technical challenges, Jude and John Lovell tease the return of the Book XChange podcast. Readers and book lovers around the world, buckle up! We hope to start bringing you new episodes very soon... Want to suggest a topic for an upcoming episode? Please do email us at bookxchangetwins@gmail.com. We're eager to get The Great Conversation going again!

We've been forced to take an indefinite hiatus from recording, but hopefully this is NOT the end of the BXC podcast! John Lovell delivers an explanation of why we haven't recorded new episodes in a little while. Thanks for listening, and stay with us! -The BXC Twins

This time around, the Book XChange looks forward to the rest of 2022 - and discusses books we haven't read, but hope to soon once they hit the shelves. We've loaded up the current episode with titles we are most anticipating as the rest of the year unfolds, and why we're looking forward to them. Fiction, non-fiction, memoirs, graphic novels... it's all fair game here. In some cases, we are looking forward to new titles from world-renowned writers - in others, we may be reading new authors for the first time. Hopefully listeners will come away with some books to look forward to later on in 2022, and of course, we'd love to hear any of your recommendations for forthcoming titles. Thanks for continuing to support the Book XChange, and happy reading... Website: anchor.fm/book-change Email address: bookxchangetwins@gmail.com MUSIC BY YOUNG WOLF, VOIDZ PANDA BOOKS DISCUSSED/MENTIONED/RECOMMENDED IN THIS EPISODE: What Jude is currently reading/plans to read next: 'The Sinister Pig,' Tony Hillerman - 'Seek You: A Journey Through American Loneliness,' Kristen Radtke - What John is currently reading/plans to read next: 'The Bone People,' Keri Hulme - (Undisclosed) - Books still coming in 2022 that we discussed in this episode: 'The World as We Knew It: Dispatches from a Changing Climate,' Ed. Amy Brady & Tajja Isen - 'Afterlives' (and 'Paradise'), Abdulrazak Gurnah - 'The Twilight World,' Werner Herzog - 'Fen, Bog and Swamp: A Short History of Peatland Destruction and Its Role in the Climate Crisis,' Annie Proulx - 'Rogues: True Stories of Grifters, Killers, Rebels and Crooks,' Patrick Radden Keefe - 'Demon Copperhead,' Barbara Kingsolver - 'Victory City,' Salman Rushdie - 'Night of the Living Rez: Stories,' Morgan Talty - 'The Philosophy of Modern Song,' Bob Dylan - 'Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story,' Bono - Untitled memoir by Geddy Lee - 'The Last Days of Roger Federer (and other Endings),' Geoff Dyer - 'An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us,' Ed Yong - 'We Refuse to Forget: A True Story of Black Creeks, American Identity, and Power,' Caleb Gayle - 'The Passenger' and 'Stella Maris,' Cormac McCarthy - Planned next episode of the Book XChange podcast: For Episode 53, Jude and John will recommend their favorite science fiction books, and discuss the genre in general.