Words About Books

Extra episode time! We get paid money for Ben's human suffering! It's the best! If you're interested in ruining Ben's life feel free to throw money at him! His misery is INCREDIBLY cheap!Support the showBlue Sky - https://bsky.app/profile/wordsaboutbooks.bsky.socialDiscord - https://discord.gg/6BaNRtcP8CThreads - https://www.threads.net/@wordsaboutbookspodcastInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/wordsaboutbookspodcastBlog - https://blog.wordsaboutbooks.ninja/

Ben describes Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao to Nate. The boys are burnt out from House of Leaves, so Ben decides to regale us with a tale of a YA book he read recently. It's described as The Handmaid's Tale meets Pacific Rim. Does it deliver on that promise? Can Ben remember any of the terminology? Will Nate stop saying "polycule?" Find out all this and more on this week's episode of Words About Books!Support the showBlue Sky - https://bsky.app/profile/wordsaboutbooks.bsky.socialDiscord - https://discord.gg/6BaNRtcP8CThreads - https://www.threads.net/@wordsaboutbookspodcastInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/wordsaboutbookspodcastBlog - https://blog.wordsaboutbooks.ninja/

01010000 01100001 01110010 01110100 00100000 00110010 00100000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01100110 01110010 01101001 01100101 01101110 01100100 01110011 00100000 01110111 01100101 00100000 01101101 01100001 01100100 01100101 00100000 01100001 01101100 01101111 01101110 01100111 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01110111 01100001 01111001 00101110 Support the showBlue Sky - https://bsky.app/profile/wordsaboutbooks.bsky.socialDiscord - https://discord.gg/6BaNRtcP8CThreads - https://www.threads.net/@wordsaboutbookspodcastInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/wordsaboutbookspodcastBlog - https://blog.wordsaboutbooks.ninja/

ThIs week Ben and Nate reaD HOuse of Leaves by Mark DaNielewski. A bOok abouT a movie that never existed. Nate’s exCitement quickly weArs off as he discoveRs that thE mystery oF The NavidsOn RecoRd is noT wHat he was promIsed. Ben uSes his douche philosophy powers to try discover what the novel is actually aBout, but even he has his limits. HOuse of Leaves isn’t a stOry that holds your hand and wipes your bottom. Can the boys survive this labyrinth of a booK? Support the showBlue Sky - https://bsky.app/profile/wordsaboutbooks.bsky.socialDiscord - https://discord.gg/6BaNRtcP8CThreads - https://www.threads.net/@wordsaboutbookspodcastInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/wordsaboutbookspodcastBlog - https://blog.wordsaboutbooks.ninja/

Prepare to get Thrawned all over again as Nate recounts what happened in The Hand of Thrawn Duology while Ben is forced to sit and listen! Our heroes are once again meandering around waiting for the plot when THRAWN RETURNS! OR DOES HE?!? NO! BUT MAYBE YES!? Witness the mad dash to run in every direction possible all at once in order to obtain a document that will stop people from using the lack of said document as a justification for genocide! Witness as Ben's will to live is slowly sucked away with every new plot development. And that's just the first book! THIS EPISODE COVERS TWO BOOKS! FOR THE PRICE OF ONE! WHAT AN AMAZING VALUE!Support the showBlue Sky - https://bsky.app/profile/wordsaboutbooks.bsky.socialDiscord - https://discord.gg/6BaNRtcP8CThreads - https://www.threads.net/@wordsaboutbookspodcastInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/wordsaboutbookspodcastBlog - https://blog.wordsaboutbooks.ninja/

Ben forces Nate to read Lokasenna, a poem about the Norse gods from the Poetic Edda. The boys are finally taking the plunge into real art and culture. This week we're covering a classic of European myth and history: Lokasenna. A poem in which Loki becomes very drunk and roasts all the gods. Support the showBlue Sky - https://bsky.app/profile/wordsaboutbooks.bsky.socialDiscord - https://discord.gg/6BaNRtcP8CThreads - https://www.threads.net/@wordsaboutbookspodcastInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/wordsaboutbookspodcastBlog - https://blog.wordsaboutbooks.ninja/

Nate has once again compiled a list of books for Ben to choose for our next book club.  Ben can judge them only based on the information present on their covers. This time there is a secret theme to all of the choices. See if you can guess what it is.Support the showBlue Sky - https://bsky.app/profile/wordsaboutbooks.bsky.socialDiscord - https://discord.gg/6BaNRtcP8CThreads - https://www.threads.net/@wordsaboutbookspodcastInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/wordsaboutbookspodcastBlog - https://blog.wordsaboutbooks.ninja/

Ben reads Shepherd's Fall by George R. Appelt Jr. What was supposed to be a relatively straightforward discussion of a mysterious local horror author quickly goes off the rails. The boys grapple with a multifaceted narrative filled with ghosts, possible zombies, demons, and serious foundation damage that could run well into the 5-figures.Support the showBlue Sky - https://bsky.app/profile/wordsaboutbooks.bsky.socialDiscord - https://discord.gg/6BaNRtcP8CThreads - https://www.threads.net/@wordsaboutbookspodcastInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/wordsaboutbookspodcastBlog - https://blog.wordsaboutbooks.ninja/

This week Ben finally unveils a rating system he kinda sorta plagiarised from an English Creative Writing class. Yes after months of threatening both Nate and the listeners he's finally gone and done it! And the results are... actually pretty good. Hopefully this will help us organize our thoughts and help you the listener understand what we liked, didn't like, and why from a variety of standpoints. After unveiling this new ratings system we stress test it by talking about EVERY BOOK THAT WE PREVIOUSLY BOTH READ AND DISCUSSED ON THIS PODCAST AND RE-REVIEW THEM ALL!Support the showBlue Sky - https://bsky.app/profile/wordsaboutbooks.bsky.socialDiscord - https://discord.gg/6BaNRtcP8CThreads - https://www.threads.net/@wordsaboutbookspodcastInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/wordsaboutbookspodcastBlog - https://blog.wordsaboutbooks.ninja/

This week on Words About Books Ben continues to move to another apartment instead of buying a house. So while he's busy throwing away his money we have to do a short episode. So we're talking a little more about Axiom's End to get a deeper conversation. Ben then brings up what a "popcorn movie" is and is wrong. He's just wrong. If he puts up a twitter poll be sure to tell him how incorrect he is. Anyway here's more Axiom's End by Lindsey Ellis!Support the showBlue Sky - https://bsky.app/profile/wordsaboutbooks.bsky.socialDiscord - https://discord.gg/6BaNRtcP8CThreads - https://www.threads.net/@wordsaboutbookspodcastInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/wordsaboutbookspodcastBlog - https://blog.wordsaboutbooks.ninja/