Hello. It's us.

Memory. Identity. Barbra Streisand.

We haven't got our actual podcast recorded yet but here's a taste of why you should read along.

An ordinary (kind of) man caught in extraordinary circumstances! A race against time to expose a dangerous spy ring! Long walks through Scotland! It's John Buchan's immortal (?), classic (?): The 39 Steps.

Mysterious intelligent rats??? Please don't refer to our podcasters like that!

Tolstoy is a great writer. The Death of Ivan Ilyich is a novella about a middle-aged man named Ivan Ilyich. Yep, he dies. It's sad, moving, thoughtful, ironic, true to life, etc. And unlike some other Tolstoy books we could name, it's short. Worth your time.

Check out the Kickstarter for our friend's non-woke children's book, The Rainbow Knight.

The Bookening talks about a charming kid's book by the quirky children's author (and longtime New Yorker illustrator) William Steig.

We talk about some of his early books of "symbolic pictures" too—too dark to be kid's stuff. You have been forewarned! You can check out The Agony in the Kindergarten here, or About People here.