In this Unabridged Podcast episode, we give you a glimpse into our Patreon content with an Unabridged Uncensored recording from Ashley and Sara. Don't miss out on our opinions about a popular thriller, Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl.
Bookish Check-in
Ashley - TJ Klune’s The House in the Cerulean Sea
Jen - Kevin van Whye’s Date Me, Bryson Keller
Sara - Melanie Shankle’s On the Bright Side
Mentioned in Episode
Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl
Gone Girl - the film adaptation
Totally Teen Buddy Read on Instagram
Give Me One - Favorite Christmas Movie
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Bookish Check-In
Ashley said, "So I went shopping my Kindle. I had actually made a list of Kindle books wanted to make it a point to read. This was not on that list. But it was an irresistible start for me. So I chose T.J. Klune's The House in the Cerulean Sea. I just have heard such great things about this book. So like I said, I made this list of I don't know eight or 10 books because I've realized I wanted to have a little strategy in what I was choosing on the Kindle . . . and then this is not on that list at all. I was like I'm dying to start this book. So, I did and I absolutely love it. I am still pretty early on in it. But Linus, the main character, is working, and he works in a department that he's kind of like a social worker for taking care of children like checking in on children's living circumstances, but it's for magical children. So, he works in the Department of Magical Children's Well Being. That's paraphrasing, but that's his job. He's kind of a cog in the machine. That's how he feels, and he does like working with the kids. But he also is approaching that life. He lives by himself with just his cat. And he is just, you know, having some sort of typical feelings of wondering exactly what he's doing with his life. He gets called up to extremely upper management unexpectedly, and it's all very closed door and secretive, and he gets sent on this mission. So he has to pack up his bags and go on this mission, he does not know anything, he cannot open the envelope that has the details until he arrives. So it's just very . . . there's a lot of . . . it's just, it's funny, it's like laugh-out-loud funny, and it also it is endearing. I think that already as a reader. I feel really endeared to Linus and his cat who goes along with him on his journey. So it's all just been really interesting. But I can tell that the journey is going to the House in the Cerulean Sea, and I can tell that whatever is happening in the house is just going to be really fascinating. I guess that what drew me to it is that I've seen a lot of people who said they loved it, but also that it just brought them a lot of joy. And I think that's why I started it, and I was immediately captivated by it. So yeah, it's been great so far. So again, that's T.J. Klune's The House in the Cerulean Sea."
Sara said, "I am reading a book that you can kind of pop in and out of and it is Melanie Shankle's On the Bright Side. The subtitle is Stories about Friendship, Love and Being True to Yourself. I heard about Melanie Shankle from The Popcast. She actually has a podcast with Sophie Hudson called the Big Boo cast. And she also is a popular blogger and her book—she's just really funny. She's a mom, and she has dogs. She just is really funny and just talks about things that I can relate to because I'm also a mom, and I just like it because each of the chapters you can kind of pop in and out of and I am not too far in it, but I am really enjoying it. So that is Melanie Shankle's On the Bright Side."
Jen said, "I am reading Kevin van Whye's Date Me, Bryson Keller with the Totally Teen Buddy Read on Instagram. This has been a rough week in my house, and this one is just hitting a great place for me right now. I just needed this kind of warm—it's YA—it's just this warm, sweet story. So Bryson Keller is one of the most popular students at his private school, and Kai Sheridan, who is the protagonist of the story really admires him and thinks he's just a super nice guy and that he's not one of those kids. He's popular because he's just really kind and decent. So, they are standing around one day and everybody's teasing Bryson because he never dates anybody, and they set up this bet, where every Monday someone is going to ask him on a date. He can't ask them. Somebody has to ask him on a date. And he dates them Monday through Friday. Then as long as he keeps going, and every Monday somebody asks to date him and they date him through Friday, he wins. But if he loses, he can't drive his jeep to school, he has to ride the bus to school every day. They set rules like there can't be any touching. Nobody can cross boundaries. They're really careful about it.
"So for a long while, every Monday, a different girl is asking Bryce Keller out on a date. Well, through a strange series of events, Kai, who is gay, asks Bryson Keller on a date. Kai has not come out as being gay in his school, so, this is a big revelation for him. Bryson is the first person he's told, and Bryson just handles it in the kindest way possible and says, 'Well, sure, I'll date you. There's no reason we didn't say at the beginning that it had to be a girl. So yeah, I'll date you.' And so they start this week of dating. It's just the sweetest story. I just really like the characters a lot. I think it's so nice to see just nice kids and just, they're working through a lot of issues. Kai is both self conscious, because he's gay—he's also biracial, and he's one of the only students of color at his school. So he feels as if he's already had to work through that, and there are a few gay students at his school. So even though he feels like most of the adults feel like people aren't picked on for being gay anymore, he sees the way those those kids are treated sometimes, and he just doesn't want to open himself up to that kind of teasing. And so when Bryson reacts that way, which I guess was a slight spoiler, so I'm sorry for that, but it just really warmed my heart. So, I am really loving Kevin van Whye's Date Me, Bryson Keller."
Main Discussion-- Unabridged Uncensored: Gone Girl
Sara said, "I love this conversation because I think it really depends on your entry point into reading this. So, I read Gone Girl when it first came out. It was brand new in that kind of a shocker thriller, like big twist, and you know, kind of not seeing something coming. And I literally, I adored it. I had it on the seat of my car, or my van—minivan—soccer mom. And at stoplights, I would try to read a paragraph, because I had to know what was happening. I loved it so much, and I was just absorbed in it. But like I said, it was when it first came out. I mean, it was brand spanking new. So I loved it."
Ashley said, "Sara and Jen helped me come up with this one because I'm doing the Modern Mrs. Darcy Reading Challenge this year. And one of the 12 books is a book outside of your normal genre, and I don't read thrillers very often. So both Jen and Sara were like, you've got to read Gone Girl, like, Gone Girl is the one. And it, you know, and I mean, it was for sure a gateway into a totally different type of thriller. And so because of that, Jen had it, and I'm always borrowing Jen's books. That is another problem. We can talk about that one another day. But anyway, I had that one from her. And I was like, yeah, I'll do it. And I mean, I hated it. I hated it. I hated the whole experience. And I think the worst part is that it went on, for me, forever. There is something that is supposed to happen with a thriller—it is that you are supposed to read it fast. And that's the whole thing—it just like Sara said, like that you are at the stoplight desperately reading the next page. That's what I needed right now. I needed some momentum. And this was not it. It stretched out for weeks. I was wanting to go back to Goodreads and try to figure out exactly how long I read that book. Way too long. The answer is way too long."
Sara and Ashley continue to discuss the good and bad of Gone Girl and their differing opinions.
Give Me One - Favorite Christmas Movie
Each of us shares our favorite Christmas movie! Listen to the episode to find out what each of us picked!
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