Pick Me a Book Podcast

In this spellbinding and suspenseful debut, a young woman haunted by the past returns home to care for her ailing mother and begins to dig deeper into her sister’s unsolved murder. Sixteen years ago, Sylvie’s sister Persephone never came home. Out too late with the boyfriend she was forbidden to see, Persephone was missing for three days before her body was found—and years later, her murder remains unsolved. In the present day, Sylvie returns home to care for her estranged mother, Annie, as...

Another Sideshow, so you know what that means: no books, all bullshit! Holiday shopping ideas from Goop ($3,490 for a gold-plated dildo? Sure, why not), pretentious moms, miscellaneous birth control chatter, and a friendly reminder that IUDs have strings that need to be checked regularly so you know it's still in place! Also, tarot, tennis coach-word association, and all kinds of other nonsense. Listen and weep, bitches. give it a'listen Don't Shoot Me Santa by The Killers is Ash's new fav...

All her life, curvy Dara Jenkins has dreamed of a White Christmas. But when she drives into the mountains for the holidays, what she finds instead is a snowstorm that threatens to claim her life. To Dara's amazement, she's rescued by an ice dragon - who turns into a sexy, charismatic man who hasn't left his snow castle in twenty years. Henrik Drakeson is a dragon shifter who lost his parents long ago in a terrible accident. For most of his life, he has carried that burden with him, choosing...

A veteran activist's guide to direct action and strategic civil disobedience as the most radical and rapid means to social change For decades, Lisa Fithian’s work as an advocate for civil disobedience and nonviolent direct action has put her on the frontlines of change. Described by Mother Jones as “the nation’s best-known protest consultant,” Fithian has supported countless movements including the Battle of Seattle in 1999, rebuilding and defending communities following Hurricane Katrina,...

In the 1920s, the richest people per capita in the world were members of the Osage Indian Nation in Oklahoma. After oil was discovered beneath their land, the Osage rode in chauffeured automobiles, built mansions, and sent their children to study in Europe. Then, one by one, they began to be killed off. One Osage woman, Mollie Burkhart, watched as her family was murdered. Her older sister was shot. Her mother was then slowly poisoned. And it was just the beginning, as more Osage began to die...

On April 20, 1999, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold walked into Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. Over the course of minutes, they would kill twelve students and a teacher and wound twenty-four others before taking their own lives.For the last sixteen years, Sue Klebold, Dylan’s mother, has lived with the indescribable grief and shame of that day. How could her child, the promising young man she had loved and raised, be responsible for such horror? And how, as his mother, had she...

give it a'listen We're still getting on track from the shit-show that was October, so here's November's sidehow! We're back to books next week though, really, truly, we promise. In the meantime, this sideshow is all about the books that Ash picked up on her trip throughout the U.S.--oh gawd there's so many. (⌐■_■)

give it a'listen Wow, October was a wash! So instead of an episode about a book we're gifting you another sideshow that was recorded while we were TOGETHER IN THE SAME ROOM! You're welcome! ༼ つ ◕_◕ ༽つ

Two mothers—a suburban housewife and a battle-hardened veteran—struggle to protect those they love in this modern retelling of Beowulf. From the perspective of those who live in Herot Hall, the suburb is a paradise. Picket fences divide buildings—high and gabled—and the community is entirely self-sustaining. Each house has its own fireplace, each fireplace is fitted with a container of lighter fluid, and outside—in lawns and on playgrounds—wildflowers seed themselves in neat rows. But for...

give it a'listen OOOOF it's a weird one today, we don't talk books because we literally CAN'T right now--our brains are scrambled and life is weird. We do, however, talk about eels, mom probs, menfolk, and rollercoaster fingerings. (☉‿☉✿) Mentioned Links Mark Wahlberg...fingering...rollercoaster...movieDid you know, you never step in the same river twice?EEL JAWSWanna talk shit about your mom? Great, us too. Go to the Ask Hole and send us your stories!

It was January 2021, and Rick Deckard had a license to kill.Somewhere among the hordes of humans out there, lurked several rogue androids. Deckard's assignment--find them and then..."retire" them. Trouble was, the androids all looked exactly like humans, and they didn't want to be found! give it a'listen Are androids alive? Would you order the special android bugs to give to your android toad, or are just plain ol' android flies fine? Is it funny when a sheep kicks a dude in the face? We...

A masterful true crime account of the Golden State Killer—the elusive serial rapist turned murderer who terrorized California for over a decade—from Michelle McNamara, the gifted journalist who died tragically while investigating the case. "You’ll be silent forever, and I’ll be gone in the dark." For more than ten years, a mysterious and violent predator committed fifty sexual assaults in Northern California before moving south, where he perpetrated ten sadistic murders. Then he disappeared,...

Double the pleasure, double the fun--this episode is as fresh as doublemint gum! It's a sideshow, y'all, so we don't spend the whole ep talking about a book, but we *do* talk saucy opossum facts, split members, and drop the deets on our book picks for the rest of the year! ╰(*°▽°*)╯ give it a'listen Mentioned Links We talked a lot about the Opossum Society of the United States, check out their site for educational opossum-based fun!MEpearl (a.k.a. the Possum Lady) is one of Ash's fav people....

In The Power the world is a recognisable place: there's a rich Nigerian kid who lounges around the family pool; a foster girl whose religious parents hide their true nature; a local American politician; a tough London girl from a tricky family. But something vital has changed, causing their lives to converge with devastating effect. Teenage girls now have immense physical power - they can cause agonising pain and even death. And, with this small twist of nature, the world changes utterly....

It started when she was served a soft drink laced with LSD in a dangerous party game. Within months, she was hooked, trapped in a downward spiral that took her from her comfortable home and loving family to the mean streets of an unforgiving city. It was a journey that would rob her of her innocence, her youth -- and ultimately her life. Read her diary. Enter her world. You will never forget her. give it a'listen This book is is bananas, B-A-N-A-N-A-S! We can't believe that we thought this...

Psst...we don't believe or condone any of the shit in the blurb from the back of the book below. This shit's cray, y'all. Discover how to eradicate the SOURCE of stress, anxiety and depression If you've ever felt there was something holding you back in life, you were right. It's called the subconscious, unconscious or reactive mind the hidden part of your mind that stores painful experiences, then uses them against you. Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health, the New York Times and...

It's a SIDESHOW ladies and germs, so there's no book but lots of bullshittery a'happenin. To start, we have a lot of opinions about CGI creatures in this episode. Between the trailers for Cats and Sonic the Hedgehog, we've barely survived 2019. We also lament about how hard it is to date, and we need all the help we can get. Have a tip? Send it our way. Please. Really. give it a'listen Goodreads We'd love to have you join us in opining over on Goodreads. No book this week, but you can join...

The Book of Night Women is a sweeping, startling novel, a true tour de force of both voice and storytelling. It is the story of Lilith, born into slavery on a Jamaican sugar plantation at the end of the eighteenth century. Even at her birth, the slave women around her recognize a dark power that they and she will come to both revere and fear. The Night Women, as they call themselves, have long been plotting a slave revolt, and as Lilith comes of age and reveals the extent of her power, they...

Jeeze oh man, what could it be?! Here's a hint: it's a sequel to a book we've discussed (and loved) before. Still lost? Here's another hint: vanilla ice cream. Damn are you STILL lost? K here's the last hint: it's Hope Rides Again by friend-of-the-show, Andrew Shaffer! And (SPOILER ALERT) we loved this book as much as its predecessor. *Juggalo woop WOOP* give it a'listen Bong rips. Chardonnay. Half asleep silliness. This ep is off the chain, but we had a lot of fun and it's worth the listen...

From Harvard sociologist and MacArthur "Genius" Matthew Desmond, a landmark work of scholarship and reportage that will forever change the way we look at poverty in America In this brilliant,heartbreaking book, Matthew Desmond takes us into the poorest neighborhoods of Milwaukee to tell the story of eight families on the edge. Arleen is a single mother trying to raise her two sons on the $20 a month she has left after paying for their rundown apartment. Scott is a gentle nurse consumed by a...