We were fortunate to have Jared Lemus, author of the story collection Guatemalan Rhapsody, join us to discuss masculinity and empathy in fiction. Jared recently won the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for debut story collection, and he was also once Nate’s co-worker. (Which is also a noteworthy achievement.)

Plus, what if the author was peering over your shoulder while you read their book? They aren’t, but what if you intentionally imagined that they were, and it was up to you to figure out what they’re doing with their writing? This is all just hypothetical and not a real topic from our podcast.

Works cited this episode:

How to Commit a Postcolonial Murder, Nina McConigley

Go Tell it on the Mountain, James Baldwin

Giovanni’s Room, James Baldwin

Paradise Lost, John Milton

“The Death of the Author,” Roland Barthes

“The Intentional Fallacy,” W.K. Wimsatt Jr. and M.C. Beardsley

The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway

The Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway

A Farewell to Arms, Ernest Hemingway

The Maltese Falcon, Dashiell Hammett

The Epic of Gilgamesh

Beowulf

We’re excited to welcome filmmaker and author John Sayles to the show. John spoke with us about his most recent novel, Crucible, which focuses on the impact that an egocentric automobile magnate’s uninformed plans has on the economy and other populations. Sounds vaguely familiar. We also dove into John’s career, screenwriting vs. writing fiction, and what makes Pittsburgh so great.

Then, our intrepid hosts returned to a topic hinted at last time: how much overlap there is between the books the two of us have read? What a shocker: we both read Moby-Dick!

Crucible by John Sayles is out now

Works cited this episode:

A Moment in the Sun, John Sayles

The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald

Naked Lunch, William S. Burroughs

White Teeth, Zadie Smith

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Hunter S. Thompson

One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez

A Game of Thrones, George R.R. Martin

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Stieg Larsson

The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins

To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee

The Mummy, the Will, and the Crypt, John Bellairs

Want, Lynn Steger Strong

Why We Read Fiction: Theory of Mind and the Novel, Lisa Sunshine

Don’t Skip Out on Me, Willy Vlautin

The Killer is Dying, James Sallis

Pulp Fiction, dir. Quentin Tarantino

The Corrections, Jonathan Franzen

So your manuscript was rejected by another publisher. Will you revise your work to meet the shifting whims of the marketplace, or hold steady to your uncompromising vision, bragging all the while about the rejections you’ve accumulated like tumbleweeds tangled in a barbed wire fence? Meanwhile, we also wonder if one can ever truly read a book alone, or if the various social contexts are inextricable from that experience, like tumbleweeds tangled in a barbed wire fence.

Works cited this episode:

“Why is everyone suddenly obsessed with reframing rejection?” Brittany Allen, LitHub

This Side of Paradise, F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald

Tender is the Night, F. Scott Fitzgerald

All the Pretty Horses, Cormac McCarthy

Blood Meridian, Cormac McCarthy

“Host,” David Foster Wallace, The Atlantic

“In Defense of the Traditional Review,” Richard Brody, The New Yorker

Middlemarch, George Eliot

Sundial, Catriona Ward

Piranesi, Susanna Clarke

She’s Come Undone, Wally Lamb

I’m Losing You, Bruce Wagner

Don Quixote, Miguel de Cervantes

Moby-Dick, Herman Melville

“The Couch,” Seinfeld, created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld

Beloved, Toni Morrison

Will Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, Encyclopedia Brown, or any of the other fictional teen sleuths ever grow up? We spoke with Tom Ryan, whose novel We Had a Hunch throws adult versions of kid detectives into several harrowing grown-up situations, from hunting a serial killer to the slow-dawning realization that they’ve become middle-aged.

Plus: are contemporary works of art too literal? It’s no fun if a novel or a movie tells to your face its theme and meaning. That’s the message of our movie, Movies Should Not Tell You Their Meaning.

We Had a Hunch by Tom Ryan is out now.

Works Cited this episode:

Nancy Drew mysteries, Franklin W. Dixon/the Stratemeyer Syndicate

Hardy Boys mysteries, Franklin W. Dixon/the Stratemeyer Syndicate

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, Agatha Christie

Keep This to Yourself, Tom Ryan

The Treasure Hunters Club, Tom Ryan

Murder, She Wrote, created by Peter S. Fischer, Richard Levinson, and

The Silence of the Lambs, dir. Jonathan Demme

“The New Literalism Plaguing Today’s Biggest Movies,” Namwali Serpell, The New Yorker

Anora, dir. Sean Baker

Cinderella, dir. Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske, and Clyde Geronimi

Mad Men, created by Matthew Weiner

The Brutalist, dir. Brady Corbet

Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison

The Trial, Franz Kafka

Eradication, Jonathan Miles

The Housemaid, Frieda McFadden

Valley of the Dolls, Jacqueline Susann

The Daydreaming Boy, Micheline Aharonian Marcom

Outbreak, dir. Wolfgang Peterson

Friends, created by David Crane and Marta Kaufman

Field of Dreams, dir. Phil Alden Robinson

Shoeless Joe, W.P. Kinsella

Mikey and Nicky, dir. Elaine May

The Parker novels, Richard Stark

Tender is the Flesh, Agustina Bazterrica

The Jungle, Upton Sinclair

Sister Carrie, Theodore Dreiser

We have too many reviews and not enough interpretive criticism. At least, that’s what Nathan says, and it seems to hold water. A true critique engages your intellect and raises questions, while a review just says whether you should watch that movie/read that book/listen to that podcast.

In our second segment, we engage with Ivy Pochoda’s latest novel, Ecstasy, which itself engages with the classical play The Bacchae. We’re not saying a cult of drunken women who kill the men would solve all our problems, but maybe it’s a start.

Ecstasy by Ivy Pochoda is available now

Works cited this episode:

I Know What You Did Last Summer, dir. Jim Gillespie Return of the Jedi, dir. Richard Marquand The Empire Strikes Back, dir. Irvin KershnerFargo, dir. Joel Cohen Siskel & Ebert “Fargo Forum: Minnesota, Masculinity, Mike Yanagita, and more,” Noel Murray, Keith Phipps, Nathan Rabin, Tasha Robinson, Matt Singer, Scott Tobias, The Dissolve “Against Interpretation,” Susan Sontag The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald “In Defense of the Traditional Review,” Richard Brody, The New Yorker Volcano, dir. Mick Jackson “It Lavas L.A.,” Richard Corliss, TIME Capital, Karl Mark The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien Wonder Valley, Ivy Pochoda Sing Her Down, Ivy Pochoda Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen The Bacchae, Euripides Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver David Copperfield, Charles Dickens Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov Liar Liar, dir. Tom Shadyac 30 Rock, created by Tina Fey

Our hosts have ideas about what sort of books should have been included on the Voyager spacecraft, to support its heartwarming mission of spreading humanity to the stars. Would you have just sent the aliens your favorite book? Because maybe they don’t have the context to understand what a “Da Vinci Code” even is. And speaking of putting a lot of pressure on a book, TV creator Michael Schur’s How to Be Perfect put that pressure on itself. Philosophical ethics never sounded so good.

How to Be Perfect by Michael Schur

Works cited this episode:

The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, William Shakespeare Bridgerton series, Julia Quinn Fight Club, Chuck Palahniuk Twilight, Stephenie Meyer The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien The Shawshank Redemption, Frank Darabont To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee The Ride of the Valkyries, Richard Wagner “Queen of the Night,” The Magic Flute, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart “Johnny B. Goode,” Chuck Berry The Three-Body Problem, CIxin Liu Contact, Carl Sagan The Art of War, Sun Tzu Silo, created by Graham Yost Fox in Socks, Dr. Seuss The Cat in the Hat, Dr. Seuss Green Eggs and Ham, Dr. Seuss Galaxy Quest, dir. Dean Parisot The Tragedy of King Lear, William Shakespeare The Office, developed by Greg Daniels Parks and Recreation, created by Greg Daniels and Michael Schur The Good Place, created by Michael Schur The Apology of Socrates, Plato Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, dir. Ed Solomon The Simpsons and Philosophy, William Irwin, Mark T. Conrad, Aeon J. Skoble, editors Harry Potter and Philosophy: If Aristotle Ran Hogwarts, David Baggett, Shawn E. Klein, William Irwin, editors The Legend of Zelda and Philosophy, Luke Cuddy, editor Jimmy Buffett and Philosophy, Erin McKenna, Scott L. Pratt, editors Radiohead and Philosophy, Brandon W. Forbes, George A. Reisch, editors Chicken Soup for the Soul, Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Robert M. Pirsig

Author and screenwriter Chris Hauty joined us to discuss his latest thriller, Dead Ringer, which imagines a conspiracy around the JFK assassination—and if you think you’ve heard it all before on this topic, we assure you this novel will take you somewhere you were not expecting. Chris shared his surprising influences and offered insights about where Hollywood and book publishing overlap (and where they don’t).

Then, we ponder why books are such popular gifts when they’re actually rather fraught as an item to give someone else. What if they don’t like it? Or don’t even like books? Or you’re trying too hard? Or … what if we’re overthinking this topic. Hmm.

Dead Ringer by Chris Hauty is out now.

Works cited this episode:

Crossroads by Jonathan Franzen

Notes of a Dirty Old Man, Charles Bukowski

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, dir. Quentin Tarantino

Sniper: Ultimate Kill, dir. Claudio Fäh

Three Days of the Condor, dir. Sydney Pollack

Winter’s Bone, dir. Debra Granik

Winter’s Bone, Daniel Woodrell

The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown

The Gift, Lewis Hyde

“The Gift of the Magi,” O. Henry

Profiles in Courage, John F. Kennedy

Kon-Tiki, Thor Heyerdahl

Jurassic Park, Michael Crichton

Dog Man, Dav Pilkey

Our Share of Night, Mariana Enriquez

Sister Sinner: The Miraculous Life and Mysterious Disappearance of Aimee Semple McPherson, Claire Hoffman

They Flew: A History of the Impossible, Carlos Eire

Why? The Purpose of the Universe, Philip Goff

The Nickel Boys, Colson Whitehead

“Don’t Buy Me Books,” Katherine Marciniak, Bookriot

All those “best books of the year” lists are bogus marketing material that flattens the distinct reading experience that any individual brings to a book they interact with. We tore apart the very concept of those lists in this episode. Then we shared our own Best Books list! Hypocrisy, or nuanced ability to delicately balance competing perspectives? Eh.

Also, what is Author X up to with that crummy novel they released this year? Blind and not-so-blind items on the year’s worst books.

Works cited this episode:

Books We Love, National Public Radio

100 Notable Books of 2025, The New York Times

Sunshine on the Reaping, Suzanne Collins

Audition, Katie Mitamura

Spent, Alison Bechdel

“In Defense of the Traditional Review,” Richard Brody, The New Yorker

Luminous, Silvia Park

Audition, Pip Adam

Terrestrial History, Joe Mungo Reed

What We Can Know, Ian McEwan

The Three-Body Problem, Cixin Liu

Shadow Ticket, Thomas Pynchon

Of Monsters and Mainframes, Barbara Truelove

The Merge, Grace Walker

Severance, created by Dan Erickson

Severance, Ling Ma

The Unveiling, Quan Barry

Will There Ever Be Another You, Patricia Lockwood

Bind Me Tighter Still, Lara Ehrlich

Old Soul, Susan Barker

Metallic Realms, Lincoln Michel

Pale Fire, Vladimir Nabokov

Alchemised, SenLinYu