311: Sherri L. Smith’s FLYGIRL - Our April 2026 Book Club Pick
- unabridgedpod
- Apr 22
- 28 min read
Have you ever read a historical novel that shines a light on a perspective you hadn’t considered before? We’re discussing Sherri L. Smith’s Flygirl (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm), our April 2026 Book Club pick, which tackles the role of women pilots in WWII.
Before we dive in, we share our Bookish Check-in: Jen talks about Eliot Schrefer’s The Darkness Outside Us (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm), and Ashley shares her thoughts on Clint Smith’s How the Word Is Passed (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm).
In our discussion of Flygirl, we talk about the complexity of Ida Mae’s decision to pass, the novel’s exploration of colorism and identity, and the tension between following your dreams and staying connected to who you are. We also share our pairings, including Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray’s The Personal Librarian (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm) and Nella Larsen’s Passing (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm).
We wrap up with our latest Unabridged favorites. We’d love to hear what you thought of Flygirl and hope you’ll join us for the conversation.
Bookish Check-in
Our April 2026 Book Club Pick
Our Pairings
Jen - Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray’s The Personal Librarian (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm)
Mentioned in Episode
Unabridged Favorites
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Full Transcript for Episode
[00:00:00] Ashley: Welcome to the Unabridged Podcast. I'm Ashley,
[00:00:05] Jen: And this is Jen.
[00:00:06] Ashley: Join us for bookish episodes and check out our website, unabridgedpod.co,m, where you can find lots of new bookish content to grow your TBR.
[00:00:13] Jen: Sign up for our newsletter to find out more about online book discussions and upcoming events.
[00:00:18] Find us on Patreon for extra Unabridged content. Join us on Instagram and Facebook @unabridgedpod and message us there or see our website to get plugged into the Unabridged community. You want opinions about books? We've got 'em.
[00:00:35] Ashley: Hey, and welcome to Unabridged.
[00:00:37] This is episode 311. Today, we are discussing our April 2026 book club pick, which is Sherri L. Smith's Flygirl. Before we get into that discussion, we are going to share our bookish check-in. Jen, what are you reading?
[00:00:51] Jen: So I just started this book, so I have very little information, which I think is a good thing. It's Eliot Schrefer's The Darkness Outside Us, and thus far it is set on a spaceship on its way to Titan, which is moa on, and the main character is Ambrose. And when he first wakes up, he has no memory of anything, and then slowly things start creeping back. His only
[00:01:22] He is interacting with this little robot, which is using the voice of his mother to talk to him. And so he wakes up, and then eventually he remembers that he is on this ship because his sister, three years ago, went to Titan to start a colony there, basically. Shortly after they arrived, everything was going fine, and then they lost contact.
[00:01:48] And now a distress signal has been coming from Titan to Earth. And so Ambrose is basically on a rescue mission to see what is left at Titan. But when he wakes up, he is interacting with his little robot, and the robot at first is very forthcoming about all of this information and says, " You know, you passed out because the launch was really rushed.
[00:02:15] And Ambrose thinks that's weird, but he can't remember. So he's trusting what the robot's telling him. And then he finally gets to a place where his body has recovered enough from the coma that he was in that he can move around the spaceship. And he sees that there are two chairs at a table, and he's like, oh, well, the other one must be for my sister. And then he's walking around more, and he gets to this door, and he had told the robot to open all of the doors because there's something not working with them, and he doesn't wanna accidentally get locked into a room in the ship that he doesn't wanna be in. And the robot will not open that door. And then he says, because he has to have mutual consent, not, not, and so clearly there is someone behind the door that Ambrose did not know would be on this trip.
[00:03:07] And he doesn't know if that's just because he can't remember or if because of the shady way that the little robot is acting. Means that the robot is hiding more than Ambrose had anticipated. And that's where I am. So that's all I really know. There is some stuff in this synopsis that tells me there are two boys, and so there, there must be a boy behind the orange door that the robot will not open.
[00:03:32] But that's all I know. And so I'm very intrigued. I love a Space book, a space movie. I love a mystery. I think AI and robots gone awry is a very compelling storyline, so I definitely feel like the robot is hiding something. So that's where I'm, so far, that is Eliot Schrefer's, The Darkness Outside Us.
[00:03:53] Ashley: Huh. Well, that sounds like an interesting premise.
[00:03:57] Jen: Yeah,
[00:03:58] and I should also say that Sheffer is a young adult author. This is a young adult book, so, yeah.
[00:04:03] Ashley: Interesting. And I agree with you, there's a lot to explore with robots and AI, these.
[00:04:08] Jen: Yes, for sure. Ashley, what are you reading?
[00:04:11] Ashley: S, one of the things I'm reading right now is Clint Smith's, Hothehe Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery across America. This one had great acclaim when it came out. Jen has shared about it at some point. It's been on my list for a long time, and I hadn't meant to put it off, but I just hadn't gotten to it.
[00:04:26] But I am listening to this on audio, and Smith narrates as well. I am just captivated. So exactly as the subtitle says, it is very much looking at the history of slavery across America. And the way that he does that is he starts in New Orlea,n s where he is from, and does a deep dive into plantations today. And the way that those places are telling the story of the history of our country, and I think what I am just appreciating so much is Smith's ability to both explore the very complex and very horrific past of slavery in America. And also his ability to invite people into this space and make it accessible to people who might feel resistant to the willingness to explore. And I think Jenna and I talk about this a lot with a lot of social issues of that balance of trying to both grapple with the hard thing and find a way to keep people from shutting down. But Smith is really aware of that, and he talks about that in a very frank and approachable way. In his accounting of what he comes across, he will share conversations he has with people, what they ask, and what he says. Same with the people who are telling the stories, because a lot of them are having to deal with these hard questions, ignorant statements, or those kinds of things. And like what did they say back, nd how did they handle it?
[00:05:58] And is the story being romanticized, or is the story being told in an authentic and balanced way?. Those are the questions he's asking, and he's really just researching and exploring that and sharing that in the work. And I think I really am appreciating that because. It is something we have got to, it is a gap in American history that has got to be uncovered and explored.
[00:06:26] And Smith is doing the hard work here of trying to find ways to do that. But it is also a bridge that needs to be built between people who are very willing to not even make sense of recognizing, you know, I think reckoning is a good word here. Recognize and reckon with the horrific parts of the past.
[00:06:47] And also find a way to invite people into that space so that they will also become part of the reckoning. And I feel like it's just, I mean, it's beautifully done. It's very powerful. I'm just part of the way through now, but I think that, I'm a little embarrassed to say, but I think I thought it was going to be so heavy that I, in some ways, waited to read because I was avoiding the heaviness, maybe.
[00:07:10] And what I love is that I think he is taking something that is absolutely very heavy and giving it the honor it deserves, but also making it. Palatable to people and approachable. And I think like that is, that's the work. That's the work right there. And so, I mean, he's just brilliant. I'm loving it.
[00:07:28] And I'm sorry that I've waited so long, but I'm glad I'm reading it. And I'm also really enjoying the audio version because it's like such a joy to hear him read it. So again, that's Clint Smith's, How The Word Is Passed.
[00:07:38] Jen: Yes. You know, that is one of my favorites. I just think everybody in the United States should read it. Yeah. The way he considers the mythology and its so compassionate about people whose family stories are wrapped up in that mythology of the Lost cause in the old South is so kind, and yet he doesn't flinch from confronting the truth.
[00:08:02] And so his ability to balance those two responses, I think, is really remarkable.
[00:08:08] Ashley: I was just gonna say I appreciate the way that he shows the connections between our current prison system and the history of slavery. And again, he is not the only person doing that work. But I think that, like diving really deeply into that, helps educate people about why our prisons need to perform and why our justice system needs to perform.
[00:08:24] The system needs reform. And again, I think that's a lot of our current work that needs to be done. So again, though, having needed to make sense of the past and be more honest about the past to reconcile what needs to change in our present, I think it is really important. And he's doing that here as well.
[00:08:41] And what you were gonna say, Jen,
[00:08:42] Jen: Your comment just made me think.
[00:08:44] I read this book fairly close to the time that I read. Michelle Alexander's The New Jim Crow, which looks at that prison system, and just when you have that accidental synchronicity of
[00:08:55] books that reinforce each other. Yeah, that was a really great accidental pairing. Yeah, I think I was doing a buddy read for one and just had purchased the other. I love his work in the Atlantic, and one of the chapters from the book was published there, so as soon as I saw that the book was coming out, I included that.
[00:09:11] I pre-ordered it because yeah, it's so, so powerful.
[00:09:16] Ashley: Yeah. I definitely wanna read more of his work, because I want to read everything.
[00:09:21] Jen: Yes.
[00:09:21] Ashley: such a smart man again, I just really appreciate his perspective, and I think it's just that the kind of overlap is rare,f being able to have such compassion and kindness toward people whose view is different, and also
[00:09:33] looking so starkly at hard things. Today, as I said in the beginning, we are gonna be discussing Sherri L. Smith's Flygirl. This is, I'm gonna start with a synopsis before we dive into our discussion. All Ida Mae Jones wants to do is fly. Her daddy was a pilot, and years after his death, she feels closest to him when she's in the air.
[00:09:52] But as a young Black woman in the 1940s, in Louisiana, she knows the sky is off limits to her. Until America entered World War II and the Army formed the Women Air Force Service Pilots (WASP), Ida had a chance to fulfill her dream if she was willing to use her light skin to pass. As a white girl, she wants to fly more than anything.
[00:10:10] But Ida soon learned that denying oneself and family is a heavy burden, and ultimately, it's not what you do, but who you are. That's most important. We're gonna start with overall impressions. Jen, what's your overall impression of this one?
[00:10:23] Jen: I really loved this. I thought that Smith was able to bring alive this history while really focusing on character, and I thought that Ida Mae. Was Such a complex character. I really appreciated the ways that she's working through the choices she has to make. The choice to pass is not an easy one, and the way she's considering her family in every choice she makes.
[00:10:52] I thought that it dealt really well with colorism, and you see her friend Jolene, who is much darker-skinned, and the way that their lives are quite different. This is the second book of Smith's that I've read, and the other one is Orleans, which is climate fiction. And it amazed me that an author can write two books that are so, so different.
[00:11:18] The other one is, you know, sci-fi and not quite dystopian, more post-apocalyptic, and yet her touch with believable teenage characters who make mistakes and who are sometimes cruel. And yeah, that persisted in both books despite the very different genres. So I really loved it. I thought her world-building was great.
[00:11:38] I think that's such a key part of historical fiction, and I think we come to understand the world in which Ida Mae is living. So, yeah. What'd you think, Ashley?
[00:11:46] Ashley: Yeah, I really have not read anything like this. And I think I really appreciated looking at what was going on, the intersectionality of being Black and a woman during World War II. I think Jenna and I have talked many times about there, there are a lot of World War II books out there. And so, I think I had not seen this specific perspective at all.
[00:12:05] I had never read about the WASP unit, and I thought all of that was so interesting, and I also found her inner conflict to be so believable and understandable. And I thought, yeah, as you said, Jen, I've been touching on the colorism and also the way that she's not lying. You know, like I think it's like it, as we know, all of these kinds of societal rules are so arbitrary that in a lot of ways.
[00:12:37] If Ida Mae Jones is just being herself and going in and doing things, and yet she also knows that she is lying by omission and sort of having to grapple with, like, denying her cultural heritage to be part of this unit. And at the same time, she's just letting people make assumptions. And I think all of that is just so interesting, and it shows how completely arbitrary all of it is, and that it is all this construct that is set up to keep society running the way that people in power wanted it to be running at that time.
[00:13:11] I just thought all of that was so nuanced and really well done, and shows the truth, no matter which direction she goes. It shows the toll on the individual on such a young person navigating all these, like cultural things that are well, well, well outside of her own realm. And I thought all that was just really complicated, but also really well portrayed. Yeah.
[00:13:34] Jen: I agree. Yes. Nuance is such a great word for this book because I do think it would be easy to make these characters caricatures, and yet they are not. I thought Smith just balanced that really well. It's so well written, too. So my book art 10 was nearly empty when I finished our mark quotations.
[00:13:54] Ashley: Yeah. I loved even, you know, as we get to know the characters, like even with Patsy and Lily. How, and I think this is the truth, even though in some ways I wanted Ida Mae to be able to tell them the real truth. And I think it was so honest of Smith to decide that she cannot make them complicit in something that she knows would be dangerous for them as well as for her.
[00:14:18] If they were to know, and even as much as she loves them and trusts them, she does not know if they will be okay with knowing the truth about her and her family. And so I thought all of that was just like really interesting and really well done because I felt like that was very grounded in the time period.
[00:14:36] Ashley: What was something specific that worked for you, Jen?
[00:14:39] Jen: So one of the interesting things, and I had this as a potential quote, but I just, this concept, so Ida Mae's mother tells her that the color line is not something you can just cross without it having an impact. And as you were saying, Ashley, it is a construct. And yet crossing that line undoubtedly has an impact on Ida Mae.
[00:15:01] And I think that society at the time. Would've seen that as sort of stealing something to which she did not have the rights. This place that she should not have had these rights that she should not have had. And yet we see the toll it takes on her and the ways it separates her from her family. And you know, when her brother goes missing, and her mother comes to tell her.
[00:15:30] The fact that her mother has to pose as a servant. That scene was so heart-wrenching for me, and you can see that it's heart-wrenching for Ida Mae as well to see her pretending to be subservient to Ida Mae when she is such a strong woman, and she has kept that family going after her husband's death, but she has to pretend as well. And so I just thought that was so well done. That Smith makes us feel the fact that Ida Mae will. Trauma may sound too big, but I do think there's trauma there. And I think that she will bear the trauma of having made this decision. And you know, just that question of if she did share the truth, and I agree with you that it was the right decision not to have her share the truth, but if she did share the truth, how would these people, whom she calls her friends, react?
[00:16:21] Would they stand by him, or would there be the thinking that was so prevalent in the time, just lock right back into place? And that's a hurtful question to have to live with that ambiguity, I think, is really tough. So yeah, I just thought that was done really well throughout the book. And there were times that I sort of forgot that she was passing, and I think she did too, because she loves flying so much, and there's a freedom to that.
[00:16:46] But then inevitably there are these reminders of the decision she's made. I found that to be really powerful,l the way you're sort of snapped back into the reality of the risks that she's taking. So yeah, I really appreciated that.
[00:16:59] Ashley: Yeah. I thought that scene was so heart-wrenching, so powerful. And then also when the farmer
[00:17:07] has the chain in the store, and he makes that comment to them. I think we see her youth there in the sense that, as the reader, I felt that he was trying to help her, but I think she couldn't even tell if that was a threat or a warning.
[00:17:25] Like if it was supposed to be to protect or if he is threatening. Knowing something and saying something, and I think, and I mean, maybe she's right about that. I saw it as kind of an older person, like fearing for her. But regardless, it's that idea that, as you said, Jen, all of it is completely a construct.
[00:17:43] And yet the reality is very real. I mean that, you know, she could be killed for this, or certainly could ruin her life, the life of the people around her. I mean that, all of that, regardless of whether they assume that they made. It's still gonna be her who pays the price. And I think like those scenes, like you said, just really snap us back into that.
[00:18:06] So we have these super uplifting moments in the story where, you know, when she learns to swim,
[00:18:12] When she pulls that bomber up and lands it, like all of that w, here we have these moments that are just so triumphant, and yet, we have these other, like, you know, crashing realities of her never being able to escape.
[00:18:27] The, you know, the life that she leads.
[00:18:30] Jen: Yeah. What's something that worked for you?
[00:18:32] Ashley: I felt that the tensionthroughout wast like the inner questioning of whether she was doing the right thing. I thought that was really well done, and I really appreciated how even in the end, like I wanted her to marry Walt and have her happy life,e and somehow also be able to stay connected to her family, but pass for white so that she could marry him and yet not lose contact.
[00:19:02] And that was not the reality of the 1940s for a Black woman. As we can tell with the way. Smith unveils the reality of the historical context. And so in some ways I wanted, because I loved her and I felt like she was such a good person, that like I wanted all these things to just resolve in this really happy way.
[00:19:23] But in a lot of ways, I appreciated the way that we don't really know what happens with her story. Because I think that's the reality, there were no easy answers. And if. She chooses to become a pilot and take up that life, then she will be cutting off her family for the most part. Or if she chooses to pass up on that, then she will be giving up on flying for the most part.
[00:19:48] And so I think we just see those tensions throughout in a way that I think really honors. The complexity of the situation, and I appreciated that. I think that worked for me throughout that. I thought, I love that, especially in a YA novel of just seeing for the reader to be able to really understand that there are not easy answers and that even if we can root for her and we can be excited for her, and even if things are going okay for her and she gets to do this thing by choosing A, B, and C, she gets to do this thing that we're really excited about.
[00:20:24] That she's never gonna be able to escape some of that larger context. And I think that's true. There's something very honest about that to me that I appreciated throughout.
[00:20:35] Jen: Yeah, yeah. I thought Smith's choices are just exactly the right ones because, yeah, what she's trying to make the reader think about is beyond true love always wins, or, well, of course, these new fronts you made will stand by your side and. Yeah, the cruelty she shows to Jolene is not easily fixed. I just felt like every chance she had to offer an easy resolution, she resisted, which I think is exactly right, because they're not available.
[00:21:04] Ashley: That's right. Yeah. And I think both the standoff that Ida Mae has with Jolene and also with her mom, like I thought those were times where it's like your heart hurts for her. Because in a lot of ways it's like. Just stop talking, like, stop having this conflict. But at the same time, even though the things she says are hurtful, and some of them are coming from a place of resentment, like she's reacting also, she is thinking with both of them, that like they cannot fathom the choices she's having to make, nd I think there's a truth in that.
[00:21:33] Jen: Yes, absolutely.
[00:21:35] Ashley: It's good.
[00:21:36] There's a lot. in there. I felt like she covered a lot of ground. What is a quote that you would like to share?
[00:21:42] Jen: So I am going to share one from Grandy, her grandfather. He says, "You see, we all have our nature at the core of everything we do. There's no changing it, no matter how we try. That's why I'm a farming man, have been ever since Lincoln gave my granddaddy an acre and no mule to work it with and why your mother is the head of the household man or no man around the house and why you have to fly no matter what it takes" I just love that he sees her so clearly and he is not fooling himself that this is easy advice that he's giving her because he knows that that means she's leaving her family at least for a while, that she's flying into risky situations. But he also sees what she needs to be happy and so desperately wants her to have that option, just like
[00:22:26] More women would be able to see. And I really love the way he just knows her and sees the people around him so clearly, and he's pretty quiet through a lot of the book, but it's like, then when he chooses to share that truth, you feel it so deeply.
[00:22:42] I really love that.
[00:22:43] Ashley: Yes, I loved his character. I think that's such a great quote. But throughout, he was such a rock for her, somebody to really stabilize when she and her mom had some more bumps in the road and tension that was, he was very grounding for her.
[00:22:58] Jen: How about you, Ashley? What quote do you wanna share?
[00:23:00] Ashley: As you said, Jen, I think there were so many good ones, but I wanted to share one that I think is just kind of at the core of her story, and this is she's thinking about her dad, and she says, After he died, I kept up the crop dusting work. I felt close to Daddy every time I flew the war. Put an end to my flying days until today.
[00:23:18] The stars twinkle down like giant fireflies, and the fireflies in the field hover above me like tiny stars, Abel's newspaper stories still in my hands. The ink is staining my fingertips. I take a deep breath and smile," and I think we see her struggle with her decision so many times for good reason because she struggles with her mom not wanting her to go do it.
[00:23:40] Her family's worried about her safety. She is having to make all these hard choices, passing, but lots of other things as well. Being away from the farm, being away from her home, feeling like she's not doing what she promised her brother she would do, and yet trying to do the thing that would help the war the most.
[00:23:55] So I think we see all that, but I think at the core. goes with what you shared, Jen, that,, like,, it is also the thing she loves the most,, and that in some ways we do have to follow the thing we love, even when it has all these effects that are hard to live withAndnd so I love that because I think that, because we see how much she loves flying, it helps.
[00:24:16] The reader understands so much about the choices that she makes and why she makes them, even when those choices are really hard.
[00:24:23] Jen: Yeah, I love that quote. Also, the poetry of the fireflies and the stars. It's so beautiful. But yeah, I think in those moments o, oy, Smith does such a great job making us feel the joy. And I think that contrast then with the sorrow and the tragedy and the trauma that she feels is heightened all the more, because those joyful moments and the moments when she's flying, and she feels, just that utter bliss is so, so wonderful. That's great.
[00:24:50] Ashley: We're gonna share our pairings. These are books that, if you enjoyed Flygirl, we think you would enjoy as well. Jen, what did you pick?
[00:24:58] Jen: I had several options here, but I am going to share Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray's The Personal Librarian, and this is another book that deals with passing. And it is focused on Belle da Costa Green, who was JP Morgan's personal librarian, and it was only discovered in the nineties that she had passed.
[00:25:24] A reporter found her birth certificate. That indicated that she was in terms of the time colored, and once she investigated, she discovered that Belle da Costa Green was born. Belle, Marian Greener. Her father was the first Black graduate of Harvard. He was an advocate for equality. Her family was quite wealthy, but she made the decision.
[00:25:50] To pursue and take this amazing opportunity to be Morgan's personal librarian, which meant that she was helping to procure rare books, books that helped to share the history of the world and of the United States. She had access to these artifacts purchased, of course, on Morgan's behalf, because he wanted this really rich library in the grandest sense of the word. And so she had access to the highest of society at the time, to the heights of wealth at the time, and yet the whole time she was separated from her family and was hiding this secret. And so I think just like in Flygirl, you see the toll that it takes on this character.
[00:26:42] And of course. Access to her actual thoughts is slim, but Benedict and Christopher Murray work so well to imagine this character and everything that she might have been feeling. So there is a lot of research. They did do a lot of research, and a lot of that was based on the discoveries of a journalist. I can't remember the journalist’s name who discovered this, but a lot of it was based on her discoveries.
[00:27:04] But then it also just really builds the world of the day beautifully. So that is Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray's The Personal Librarian.
[00:27:13] Ashley: Wow, Jen. I didn't know anything about that. I hadn't heard that. Like, I didn't know that about JP Morgan. Like, yeah, I didn't know any of that, so that was really fascinating.
[00:27:21] Jen: Yeah, it's one of those stories that I couldn't wait to get to the author's note and read all the actual history, because I knew that the actual story had to be so interesting, and yeah. But she was able to maintain a facade until, yeah, until much past life. So. All right. What's your pairing, Ashley?
[00:27:42] Ashley: I also thought of several, but I'm gonna share Nella Larsen's Passing. Jen and I have discussed this one as a book club, and I will link that in the show notes if you wanna hear that discussion. But this one, if you have not read Larson's Passing, this was written in 1929, so she is writing. In the 1920s, When everything is happening historically, that, so Smith is looking back, of course, on World War II, but here Larson is accounting for a lot of what is happening in society Amid, you know, it's post civil war, it's post-slavery, but it is amid the Jim Crow laws and all of the things that are in place for the Black community.
[00:28:22] And looking at that like really a racially divided society and what that means, again, on an individual level. And so this really focuses on two women, Claire and Irene, who grow up together, nd then they encounter each other in their adult life. And when Irene sees Claire, she discovers that Claire, both of them are light-skinned African-American women and. When Irene sees Claire, she discovers that Claire is passing and has built her entire white life and comes to understand that not only is Claire passing, but also she has married this horrific racist man who, of course as no idea that she is coming from a Black community, and Irene is horrified.
[00:29:12] By this, I mean really repulsed, and at the same time, me she's kind of captivated. And the same thing happens with Claire, who discovers Irene's life, and Irene is in high society, in the Black community. She is really thriving. She is in Harlem. She's with a very wealthy and prestigious husband they have two children together.
[00:29:34] So she has got this really what feels to Claire like a very attractive life as well, and yet she is denied some of the privileges and opportunities that Claire has because of all of these racist laws that are in place. That means that even though Irene lives a very comfortable life, her life still has these limitations.
[00:29:55] Claire does not have it because Claire has chosen to pass. It is fascinating, like I just think. Larson does a really good job of what we talked about with Flygirl, of showing both how it's a total construct, how the entire idea of race is a construct, and we see that in the characters, and yet the impact is very real.
[00:30:15] The laws in place are very real. The possibilities of what can happen to individuals if they purposefully or through omission. Are you choosing to break those laws basically, then, like, what can that look like? And I just felt that again when I said at the very beginning about Flygirl, I have never read anything like it.
[00:30:36] I loved thinking about what it would look like for a Black woman to be part of the WASP group. I thought all of that was really fascinating, and I've never read anything like that. So this does not deal with that. It's not looking at the army; it's not looking nearly as much at the role of women, though there is some of that there for sure.
[00:30:54] But it very much focuses on what choices people make as individuals, and then what impact those have. And so it really gets into this idea of colorism, of passing, of choosing, the way you wanna carry yourself in society, and then what that means, and then how that plays out. And I thought it was fascinating, and I did think it was relevant in the sense of like when we're thinking about the friends, like who are your real friends?
[00:31:20] What did they know about you? If they knew the truth about you, would they still love you? Would they still care about you? All of those questions come up in this story, and so I feel like it's relevant in that way. So again, that is Nella Larsen's Passing, and if you have not read it, it is a slim but powerful historical novel.
[00:31:37] Jen: Guess second. Second. Second. I loved it so much. Yeah. And that was one that I'd always heard of and just had never read. And I remember when I picked it up, I just could not stop. It's so compelling, and the psychology of it all is so fascinating.
[00:31:53] Ashley: And it is amazing to me that Larson was writing it at the time because I think in some ways when people are writing about it now, they have the benefit of a lot of historical exploration of all of that. And so, you know, you're seeing it in a different light, but she was in the thick of it and writing about it, and I think like that.
[00:32:1The 1] The angle is just so interesting. And her ability to perceive all of that at the time that all of it is unfolding is amazing to me. Well, we wanted to end today with our bookish hearts. How many bookish hearts, Jen?
[00:32:26] Jen: I would get this one, five. How about you?
[00:32:29] Ashley: Five for me too. I thought it was really well done, and I love the characters in this one, and yeah.
[00:32:37] Yeah. So well done. Okay, we're gonna end today with our unabridged favorites. Jen, what's your favorite for this month?
[00:32:44] Jen: I would love to highlight A Night of the Seven Kingdoms, which is a Game of Thrones show, sort of. So it is said in the same world as A Song of Ice and Fire. The show name is Game of Thrones, but it is much different. So this one focuses on Dunk, who is a squire for a hedge knight. So somebody who just sort of roams around and does nightly things, and when his night dies, he then sort of takes over that role.
[00:33:16] So he decides he's gonna enter a tournament. Along the way, he meets this boy named Egg, who desperately wants to be a squire, and so Dunkk takes him on, and they have this sort of oddball relationship. Dunk is Sir Duncan the tall. He is huge, very tall, big, a nd strong, and Egg is much smaller than his age would suggest that he should be.
[00:33:37] He is completely bald, and he is really, really smart and dunk has. Some intelligence, but not the same type of intelligence that Egg has. And so just watching them enter this tournament world, meet all of these people who are sort of surrounding the armorer. And there are these people who have a puppet show.
[00:33:59] Anyway, they're on these adventures together. It's based on a series of novellas that Martin has started but not finished. So beware, we're in the same Song of Ice and Fire situation that he hasn't quite finished the series. But I have ordered the books because I have not read them, and I desperately want to read them now.
[00:34:13] I loved it so much. It's six episodes. The first episode's a little longer, and then the rest of them are only half an hour. It's kind of light. I hesitate to say that because there are things that happen later that are much darker and heavier, but the sweet relationship between Dunk and Egg is just beautiful.
[00:34:33] So that is A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. We devoured it in two nights. Could not stop watching it. Absolutely loved it. Yeah. How about you, Ashley?
[00:34:42] Ashley: wanted to share Lego Masters, our family is always struggling to find something we all agree on watching. It is an eternal struggle.
[00:34:51], and I would say my oldest daughter is still on the phone about Lego Masters just because she does not like any show where people get voted off. This eliminates a lot of shows.
[00:34:59] So, that piece, she's still a little hung up on. But anyway, we have watched multiple seasons of Lego Masters. It's hosted by Will Arnett, and it's also hosted by like two Lego designers.
[00:35:11] And that's really cool. And that piece my girls definitely love, like hearing them talk about, what. It's like to actually build the, like, come up with the designs and figure out what gets made. We have way too many; we have like a small house worth of Legos in my house. We have way too many Legos, nd we do a lot of Lego building, and my younger daughter especially does a lot of free building.
[00:35:33] Like, so she'll just like come up with ideas as they do in Lego Masters, where they come up with ideas and design things. And so it's been really fun to watch, and I think what I really love about seeing the different teams. They always share. How are the team members connected to each other?
[00:35:48] And what's interesting is like, you know, it's siblings, it's husbands and wives, it's partners, it's people who are friends. And so I think like they've had teachers on together, they've had musicians on together. So I just think it's really fun to see this, this season we're watching his firefighters together.
[00:36:04] So it's just fun to see how people come to partner with each other to build things. And then also, of course, watching the challenges is really, really cool. And, I think I love it because it really celebrates creativity and shows what people can do. And so, I enjoy watching each time they get a new challenge, and they have to do whatever.
[00:36:24] They have to follow the criteria and then present their designs at the end of each session, so that they can see if they get to move on. I just love it. Likewise, I think it's a lot of fun. I really like Will Arn, too, and so I think that piece is. He's a good host. And then I also love just seeing people.
[00:36:41] Use play and also use all of the skills of problem-solving and creativity, you know. Navigating challenges. Like I just, I love that. I love, and I love like my girls watching because again, even if my older daughter is still on the fence, 'cause she doesn't like people to get voted off, I love for them to see people try hard things and make mistakes and have to keep going and regroup, and so yeah, it's fun.
[00:37:06] It's a lot of fun. So that's Lego Masters,
[00:37:08] Jen: Yes. I love that. I don't know if it's still coming out with new episodes or not. We watched that for a long time
[00:37:14] Ashley: I think maybe, no, I don't know for sure, but I mean,
[00:37:17] Jen: That's a good one.
[00:37:18] Ashley: Well, we hope that you enjoyed reading Sherri L. Smith's Flygirl. We would love to hear what you thought about it. If you haven't read it yet, we would love for you to read it and then let us know what you think. But thanks so much for listening, and we'll see you next time.
[00:37:31] Jen: Do you have comments or opinions about what you heard today? We'd love to hear them. You can find us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter at @unabridgedpod, or on the web at unabridgedpod.com, for ways to support us to get more involved. You can sign up for our newsletter. Join Buddy Read, or become an ambassador.
[00:37:51] Thanks for listening to Unabridged.
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