Shared Pages

Trigger Warning: This book and conversation contain discussions of rape, incest, and abortion.

 

Happy 2024 everybody! We're excited to start our reading for the new year with Ian's pick, John Irving's: The Cider House Rules. Ian chose this novel partially because he's wanted to read the story for a while and because it's Buffalo's Literary Center's Babel pick for March—the novel centers around a young Homer Wells who is an orphan at Saint Clouds. It deals with many topics such as abortion and morality and is very Dickensian in its voice. At the very least, it's an important piece of literature but spoiler alert, it's more than that. 

 

Check out the podcast, let us know what you think, and read along with us next month when we start Ronnie's pick, The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer. You can send us comments over at Twitter.com/SharedPagesPod. Also, please consider leaving a rating and review wherever you're listening if you enjoyed this episode. 

Trigger warning: This novel discusses gun violence.

 

Our final read of 2023 is Gabrielle Zevin's: Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow. Spoiler alert, we both LOVED this novel. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow follows Sam Masur, Sadie Green, and Marx Watanabe from their time in college, through their collaborative work of creating video games and running a company. This novel is very human and delves into how people perceive each other, the world, and how we make meaning through art. 

 

Our first read for 2024 is The Cider House Rules by John Irving. Grab a copy and read along with us and follow us on Twitter at SharedPagesPod!

Trigger Warning, this book contains graphic violence, animal abuse, and sexual assault /harassment. 

 

John Ajvide Lindqvist's: Let the Right One In is a vampire story set in a suburb of Stockholm in 1981. It revolves around a 13-year-old boy named Oskar and a young girl named Eli who lives next door. It turns out she is a vampire and as Oskar and Eli develop a romance, he is mercilessly bullied. Along with this, a thrall/serial killer named Håkan terrorizes the town, people fall in love, and family dynamics change. Let the Right One In is a complex novel where the town itself is a character. Read the book, listen to our discussion, and let us know if you agree or disagree with anything we've said. 

 

Next month's book is Ronnie's choice and she picked: Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin.

It's Halloween and Ronnie chooses A.M. Strickland's: Beyond the Black Door. A novel with plenty of LGBTQ+ representation as well as some mild horror for Ian. The story follows a young woman named Kamai who has the ability to walk in other people's souls. However, one day, when her mother is murdered she is thrust into a situation full of secret societies, hidden plots, gods, and a struggle for the throne. There's a lot to talk about in this one including not only the plot, but also representation, and world-building. 

 

Next month's book is Ian's choice: Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Linqvist.

This story has many trigger warnings which can be found listed on Morgan Dante's website: https://www.morgandante.com/providence-girls.html

For the month of September, Ian chose Morgan Dante's: Providence Girls. He found this book while scrolling on Twitter and it had everything he liked in the description. Lovecraft, sapphic romance, and horror. The book centers around an albino woman named Lavinia Whateley and Asenath Waite who is slowly turning into a deep one. These two fall in love and open up about old wounds as Lavina and Asenath change. Listen to the whole episode to hear what we think!

 

Next month's book choice is Ronnie's and she picked Beyond the Black Door by A.M. Strickland. 

 

For the month of August, Ronnie chose Andrew White's: Hellow Followed With Us. This book is a dystopian, body horror, queer-rage story filled with Christian evangelicals and monsters. At the core of this story is the idea of embracing your inner monsters and fighting back against your oppressors. It's a rapid novel that takes place over a violent few days and revolves around a trans boy named Benji, a kid named Nick, and other youths just trying to survive. 

Ian's choice for September is another spooky read titled: Providence Girls by Morgan Dante—a sapphic love story in the vein of Lovecraft with romance, cults, and transformation. The novel releases on September 5th and we're looking forward to checking it out. Be warned, Dante's website lists a bunch of trigger warnings!   

Ian choose the book for July and was in the mood for something spooky (as always) so he chose Compton's: The Spite House. The story revolves around a family of three, on the run with secrets, and desperate for cash. When they're offered a lot of money to stay in a haunted house things get spooky fast. Compton has been featured in various collections as well as on the NoSleep Podcast and the story zips along quickly. Listen to the show to find out what we thought of this book that sits somewhere in the same vein as The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson.

 

For August, Ronnie chose "Hell Followed With Us" by Andrew Joseph White. 

There was quite a bit of conversation about Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone’s: This Is How You Lose the Time War this month so Ronnie decided to choose the novel as her pick! We both had a great time reading this story and honestly, had a bit longer of a conversation than expected because the novel is so compact. In Ian's opinion, time travel stories can get messy real fast but this one holds up pretty well!

 

July's pick is Ian's and he's choosing: The Spite House by Johnny Compton! Read along with us and let us know what you think of the books! 

This month, Ian wanted to read R.F. Kuang's: Babel! Babel is the story of a young Cantonese boy named Robin who is brought to England and raised to work at the Oxford Translation Institute. In this version of England, the empire is powered by silver working and a magical version of language translation. Babel follows Robin and his friends Ramy, Victoire, and Letty as they navigate the world and find their place in it. Babel offers a lot of cultural criticism and broaches interesting topics including language, history, and colonialism, and tells it through an interesting, academic lens. We both loved it!

 

Next month, we're reading: "This Is How You Lose the Time War" by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone!

This month Ronnie chose Sequoia Nagamatsu's : How High We Go in the Dark. A story about an "arctic plague" that changes the world forever. It's a bit of a heavy read with some really interesting themes that show how humans work together in the face of adversity. We enjoyed the concept but had a few mixed feelings about the way the story was actually presented. It's beautiful but we wanted a bit more out of it. Listen to the whole episode to hear our full thoughts!   

For the month of May, Ian chose R.F Kuang's: Babel: An Arcane History! Pick up the book and read along with us for next month's episode!