Episode 81 - Book 14
Added 2020-08-04 15:08:28 +0000 UTCLet's read another terrible book! But first, a story (By listener request!) about the time Mike inherited a house. It does not go well.
This should be a fun one, let's start by reading through Chapter 4!
Comments
My cat attacked my copy of Shadow Moon. The only other book he’s ever attacked? Twilight. Now we have a book that seems to combine the two. I have a feeling this is gonna hurt.
Justin Cicconi
2020-08-20 15:40:04 +0000 UTCOh good god this is a bad one. One chapter in and it feels like another Shadow Moon, just ponderous and dreadful.
Balaji S
2020-08-09 21:04:12 +0000 UTCSo I’ve never read “Confederacy of Dunces”, but this episode prompted me to download the ebook. Imagine my shock to see the word “eructation” (which I also don’t believe I knew until last book) on the FIRST page — in the foreword!
Brad Will
2020-08-09 14:13:44 +0000 UTCI know! Edward comes off even worse in this book than in the original Twilight.
Augusta Vae
2020-08-07 19:42:40 +0000 UTCYeah, where's the kindle edition? I prefer ebooks for 372pages!!
Emily Brown
2020-08-07 02:59:15 +0000 UTCAll I can say is FUCKITY FUCK ON A FUCK STICK, regardingthe book. But hoarders' houses are my dream!!! I love estate sales and the stories that go along with what I take.
Emily Brown
2020-08-07 02:52:02 +0000 UTCHmm, good point. I guess we'll just need a lot of scenes that don't include Bella? She narrated the original, so there's always potential for stuff she didn't see and couldn't narrate to be in this book. I'm in chapter 3 and there have already been quite a few such scenes.
Gina Dalfonzo
2020-08-06 13:42:07 +0000 UTCAnother best-selling author to join the illustrious ranks of E.L. James, Dan Brown, Bram Stoker, and Ernest Cline! What does that say about the publishing industry?
Tina Tempest
2020-08-06 05:20:59 +0000 UTCWe were all going to beg you to read this one anyway, and I’m so glad we don’t have do now. I read all the other Twilight books ten years ago (even bought Breaking Dawn on release day). I knew they were awful but I enjoyed them in the way you might a cheesy soap opera. I can’t wait to return to this silly world with all of you guys along for the ride.
Augusta Vae
2020-08-06 00:15:23 +0000 UTCI broke down and bought an Amazon ebook, and when I went to download it on my Kindle it almost posted for me automatically to Goodreads. Yet another cautionary tale about not automatically hitting "submit".
mikelesq
2020-08-05 22:30:06 +0000 UTCHow's fanfic going to work for this? If it's just the same story as Twilight except from a different angle, it's going to be difficult to write fake content considering they already know what the story is. Unless (and I haven't read the book) they pull an FF7 Remake and alter a few more things to keep people guessing.
SabreMau
2020-08-05 21:20:10 +0000 UTCI’ll give him Speaker for the Dead, but that’s where he should have ended the series. Xeno genesis and beyond do not need to exist.
Zach Dewoody
2020-08-05 19:56:56 +0000 UTCI had no idea this was actually being released! To Mike's confusion-- yes, this was being written a decade ago. Allegedly somebody on the set of the Twilight movies (with whom she was sharing the manuscript to give them a better perspective on Edward) leaked the book online; you could find the first draft copies floating around (and being made fun of) pretty easily. Meyer pitched a fit and shelved the project because her trust had been betrayed. My guess is that it's turning up now because The Chemist didn't get a real warm reception and hey, here's this basically finished manuscript that's basically free money...
Chaos Shadow
2020-08-05 19:11:18 +0000 UTCSo, pro tip for aspiring novelists: Once a few years have gone by after publication and everyone has started to forget what a massive jerk your "hero" is, be sure to write another novel to remind them just exactly HOW massive a jerk.
Gina Dalfonzo
2020-08-05 18:06:57 +0000 UTCEnder's Shadow
George Allen
2020-08-05 03:04:07 +0000 UTCEvery book announcement is like Christmas. Sometimes it ends up like the Christmas where I got my first Nintendo. Sometimes it ends up like the one where the cat puked all over the food while everyone was out of the kitchen.
Jason Hammack
2020-08-05 02:03:28 +0000 UTCThere’s always libraries!
John G
2020-08-05 01:20:11 +0000 UTChahahaha comment of the month! -C
372 Pages We'll Never Get Back
2020-08-05 00:27:37 +0000 UTCDamn. It's on sale for Kindle. I was almost hoping it was super expensive so I would have a better excuse for not buying it
JoshG
2020-08-05 00:24:25 +0000 UTCHe really hit a skid beginning there. A lot of that had to do with turning over most of his writing to Aaron Johnston Though Magic Street was great.
Rick Drake
2020-08-04 23:40:25 +0000 UTCIt's a shame Uncle Wally never met Bleriana.
A. D. Jameson
2020-08-04 23:30:06 +0000 UTCI wish there was a way to read this without giving money to the author or publisher.
Joe P
2020-08-04 21:41:27 +0000 UTCSend in the trolls. Don't bother they're here.
Seth Davison
2020-08-04 19:47:59 +0000 UTCThis will be the first time I read along with you guys. I ordinarily don't because, honestly, my TBR pile is already about eight times as tall as I am. But I have to make an exception here. Back in the day, I had to read all the Twilight novels when I was running a YA book review Web page/newsletter, so now I've got to be a completist and finish the job. This is going to be HILARIOUS. :-D (Although I'm bound to say that, compared to the last opus you guys tackled, pretty much any book is going to sound like Shakespeare!)
Gina Dalfonzo
2020-08-04 18:04:01 +0000 UTCWell, think of it as spending several hours with your uncle who stores feces in buckets and you'll get the gist without actually having to read it.
Moviegique
2020-08-04 17:31:37 +0000 UTCI'm guessing this ebay version is pirated? (I don't really want to pay for this but I don't want to support a pirate, either.) https://www.ebay.com/itm/Midnight-Sun-2020-Digital-Copy-eBook/193611499398?hash=item2d14250786:g:e5MAAOSwgxhfKRb5
Moviegique
2020-08-04 17:30:48 +0000 UTCI've been baffled for 15 years as to why that old guy in the HIRED! short put a handkerchief on his head, and now I know it wasn't just a mental breakdown. Old people are weird, man.
Jesse Shade
2020-08-04 17:26:01 +0000 UTCThe other book from another perspective that came to mind was Ender's Shadow by Orson Scott Card, where he undoes everything interesting about his main character in his best selling Ender's Game by crediting it to the protagonist of the retelling, Bean.
Jonah Gregory
2020-08-04 16:47:03 +0000 UTCMike talking about how old people would wear a handkerchief on their head reminds me of the "flying elves are back!" guy from "Hired!"
Paul R.
2020-08-04 16:42:33 +0000 UTCOh wow. Midnight Sun. I...don't know how to feel about this. I originally read the Twilight books when new ones were still coming out, starting when I was 14. I genuinely enjoyed them at first, maybe because the story was so different from stuff I'd read before. The first book, while terrible in hindsight, at least has some interesting aspects which might have become a decent series in the hands of a better writer. So, as a young teenage girl, I liked Twilight. I liked New Moon, too. By Eclipse, I had started to recognize that they maybe kinda sucked, and going back to the first two books confirmed that for me. I still read Breaking Dawn when it came out, since I was invested, but holy crap, it sucked. At the time it was by far the worst book I had ever read. Though I would say overall the books are not as bad as the movies (except for Breaking Dawn, I'm still bitter), I'm a little afraid to return to the Stephanie Meyer well after 10+ years. Especially her writing her teen-girl-fantasy angsty dreamboat vampire boy. Good luck and godspeed, friends.
PaperPennies
2020-08-04 16:36:37 +0000 UTCI had a horder experience of my own. This guy also lived with his mother the whole life, but only died a year after her so his house wasn't as bad a Mike's, but it was still pretty awful. Instead of newspapers though, it was mostly piles of clothes and he had many envelopes of commemorative coins he ordered online.
Trys
2020-08-04 16:02:31 +0000 UTCI am so so so happy you guys picked this book.
Lucas A
2020-08-04 15:55:37 +0000 UTCYes, I remember that when COVID-19 first broke out here in March, my first concern wasn't for the health of my family, the prospective death toll, or the toll on my mental health. No, the first question in my brain was: "Will the new TWILIGHT book be delayed?!?" And praise be to the gods, it was not. In all seriousness, I have not delved into the TWILIGHT franchise aside from your riffs on them. But judging from the writing of the world's most famous TWILIGHT fan fiction writer that was on display in THE MISTER, it should be a fascinating and fun experience. Cue Michael Sheen cackle!
Jesse Shade
2020-08-04 15:45:47 +0000 UTCI'm counting Instead of Tweeting, if a minute long gag can be considered a "podcast".
372 Pages We'll Never Get Back
2020-08-04 15:31:49 +0000 UTCWhatever Book 14 is, I now have to read A Confederacy of Dunces, too.
Kerry S.
2020-08-04 15:31:01 +0000 UTC"Maybe the other one?" Mike has another podcast?!
andrew
2020-08-04 15:22:39 +0000 UTCThere's a "sheeple" very early on and it cemented this as a fantastic choice.
amolove
2020-08-04 15:15:15 +0000 UTC
