Reading Update | Lolita and 70's Counter Culture

Added: 2026-05-09

[00:00:00]Who's to say I wouldn't have a lot of fun? It's just always one of those things where I guess >> I'm like, I don't know. It doesn't sound like a lot of fun. It sounds [music] interesting.

[00:00:06]>> Right. Right.

[00:00:08]>> I don't know.

[00:00:12]>> All right. We're doing a reading update.

[00:00:14]>> Yes. [music] I'm Taylor.

[00:00:15]>> I'm Brandon.

[00:00:15]>> And this is Good Books Lately.

[00:00:17]>> Yeah.

[00:00:17]>> Welcome to our home.

[00:00:18]>> Yeah.

[00:00:19]>> We have a little bit of a reading update today. I feel like you have a little bit more going on than me.

[00:00:23]>> I have a couple finished and started a couple.

[00:00:27]>> And you got a new one?

[00:00:29]>> I have a new one. And we're starting the May book club book tomorrow >> as of filming. Tomorrow, >> right, as of the day that we are filming, May 1st, >> we pulled a switch.

[00:00:40]>> Yes. We did a little bit of a different book for May, which we're going to talk about that, but we're going to get right into what we have finished.

[00:00:47]>> Yeah. So, we start with >> done and dusted.

[00:00:49]>> Done and dusted. And then our bookmarked. I like went like this.

[00:00:53]>> Um, and then bookmarked. And then Do you have any quotes of the day?

[00:00:55]>> I do have the quote of the day. Short quote of the day.

[00:00:57]>> I don't think I have any. So, it'll just be you. Also, we I don't know if they can hear the dryer and the Legos happening down our hall, but this is a house with children.

[00:01:06]>> Welcome.

[00:01:07]>> Yeah. Welcome to the house, but there is Lego stop motion happening down there.

[00:01:10]So, you get the like sound of kids spreading out Legos.

[00:01:14]>> Yeah.

[00:01:14]>> The clamor.

[00:01:15]>> It's great.

[00:01:16]>> ASMR, too.

[00:01:17]>> Yeah. All right. Do you want to start?

[00:01:20]>> Yeah. I'll start with this This one's gonna be quick.

[00:01:23]>> Yeah. This it it was our book club book of the month for April and that was Kings of the Wild and this was a awesome fun adventure story that was great and I loved it by Nicholas Emmes.

[00:01:39]>> Yep.

[00:01:40]>> Was just a lot of fun and we just had our book club meeting last weekend >> about it where a lot of people had similar takes but others >> there were others that >> there were others were not fans or not they just >> you know wasn't for them.

[00:01:52]>> Yes. But I enjoyed it. I found it really fun >> and uh uh I don't know just for a good time read.

[00:02:01]>> Yeah.

[00:02:01]>> Yeah.

[00:02:02]>> But what were some of the things that people thought like what were the criticisms just to make this >> well there was uh some people who didn't like the humor they were they're that not that they didn't like it but that they've were already maxed out on that type of humor. It's more of a kind of a I don't know a slapsticky or maybe more of like a you know potty humor. I don't know how you say it.

[00:02:22]>> Well, I mean, there's a lot of jokes about the male anatomy, >> right? Yeah.

[00:02:26]>> Yeah. And then there was people who uh didn't understand why the the main focus was one person when it could have been another when they're going to save that person's daughter.

[00:02:38]>> I think that what I one of the things I learned about what this is like not having read it, I chose not to read it.

[00:02:44]It just wasn't for me right now. We'll talk about why, >> but that you can compare. If you like Dungeons and Dragons and the way a Dungeons and Dragons campaign rolls out, if you like um Montipython type movies, if you like Princess Bride type humor.

[00:02:59]>> Yeah. Yeah.

[00:03:00]>> Um and you like that medieval >> aesthetic.

[00:03:04]>> Yeah.

[00:03:04]>> That this is for you.

[00:03:06]>> Really? It really is. It would be really, you know, it's quest where the main point of it is just all the stuff, the build up and all the characters and all the fun side things they do along the way.

[00:03:18]>> The final result is emotional in a sense, but it's not the you're not going to get this big payoff like in Lord of the Rings.

[00:03:25]>> Well, that's why like Dungeons and Dragons is a great comparison because it's all about the journey and less about the finish because once the finish is the finish, then the campaign's over and that's like a bummer, you know? So, I think that's kind of what I gather from that >> for sure. All right.

[00:03:36]>> But no, really loved it. I think I gave it four stars, maybe 4.2. All right.

[00:03:40]>> Somewhere in that range.

[00:03:41]>> Sounds good.

[00:03:42]>> All right.

[00:03:42]>> All right. My finished read, which I thought that I had talked about this, but I think I confused talking about it on the book club meet. Yeah.

[00:03:49]>> Um, but I finished Frankenstein by Mary Shel. This is the 1818 version.

[00:03:54]>> I enjoyed reading this. I feel like I'm I'm happy that I read Frankenstein. Now, this book is kind of all over the place.

[00:04:05]And I think one of the big takeaways from this, I don't want to go all into the story. It's >> it's not anything like what Hollywood tells you about Frankenstein, right?

[00:04:13]Like the big >> Yeah. It's not going to be anything like that. Um it's kind of a mess in terms of how it's plotted. And this is how we talked about it in the book club meet.

[00:04:23]It's it's kind of a mess. Like I feel like if I were to talk to if if Mary Shelley were a writer today and wrote the same story, people would be criticizing her plotting in my opinion.

[00:04:34]I think so.

[00:04:35]>> Um, now does that detract from the story overall? Does it make you feel like you enjoy it a little bit less because of it?

[00:04:43]>> Yeah, because because what's happening and is that you feel like you're supposed to just oh my gosh, it's Mary Shelly, she wrote this book, whatever. Like anything I'm experiencing that I think is a flaw in terms of plotting must be a me thing and not a her thing. But I mean, I kind of think it was a little bit of a her thing. And if you know, she's 19 years old when she wrote this. And I mean, obviously, she's clearly a very talented writer, >> but it's like, what are you doing with this story? Like, what's happening?

[00:05:12]There's a lot of suspension of disbelief. And I mean, not in a >> in an unreasonable way, like like it's >> just Yeah, it's >> But >> but it is it sets the foundation for a lot of people to kind of take it and make it into what it is, what we now think of Frankenstein and Frankenstein's monster and all of that.

[00:05:29]>> And she did not intend that. That was not her intention. Her intention was to write her intention was to write a story of the supernatural. Not even a horror story. That was never her intention. We categorize it as a horror story because it fits into some kind of weird like anything supern natural fit into the horror genre. But there's nothing horror about this in my opinion.

[00:05:50]>> There's no like gotcha or spooky. I mean eerie I guess.

[00:05:54]>> It's not even gory or graphic. Um, it's just an interesting story about being >> persecuted and and like being other and and being kind of considered a monster among people and and there's a lot of commentary about that. And I think that Mary Shelley used a supernatural theme to talk about some really maybe important stuff, you know, some things that you kind of really got to read between the lines to get what she's putting down. And I appreciate this book for that. So that was with the lighting just lighting change.

[00:06:26]>> So that's what I took away from this.

[00:06:28]However, um it's definitely a mess. Go into it knowing it's kind of a mess.

[00:06:34]>> Yeah, there's a lot it's you story of being told by a story.

[00:06:38]>> It feels like it's all like kind of connected and patched together and like sewn up and >> like a monster.

[00:06:44]>> Yeah, exactly. But what I will tell you, yeah, >> we are in the middle. We're halfway through watching the GMO del Toro version of Frankenstein on Netflix.

[00:06:52]If you've read this and you've thought to yourself like >> why isn't she mentioning how absolutely bloody and gross this whole process would be. Why isn't she doing that? You get zero of that. It's almost like the elephant in the room. You get nothing.

[00:07:07]>> Um but you know it must absolutely be well GMO del Toro is taking care of that for you real good. He gives it to you.

[00:07:13]He gives it to you big time. So and we're enjoying it. It's it's not it's nothing like the book really.

[00:07:19]>> No.

[00:07:19]>> But that's that's what we said. This is a jumping off point for people to take the story and turn it into whatever they will, >> which is cool.

[00:07:25]>> Highly recommend reading it. Just go into it knowing those things.

[00:07:28]>> Yeah. It's not going to be what you think.

[00:07:30]>> I don't think it's a masterpiece. I don't think it's a work of genius, but I it made me think.

[00:07:34]>> Yeah.

[00:07:35]>> I enjoyed it.

[00:07:35]>> Right. Well, that's good.

[00:07:36]>> Gave us something to talk about in the book club.

[00:07:38]>> Cool.

[00:07:39]>> You know what you rated it?

[00:07:41]>> 3.5.

[00:07:42]>> I think it was a 3.5.

[00:07:43]>> Yeah, I think it was right about there.

[00:07:44]>> Yeah.

[00:07:45]>> All right. Cool. All right. I have another finished.

[00:07:48]>> It's one I've talked about before, and that's The Swerve.

[00:07:52]>> I want to draw everybody's attention to >> How the world became modern.

[00:07:55]>> Oh yeah, I flagged it for a very specific reason now.

[00:07:58]>> Yeah, >> this book is is like how the world became modern. It's about this like it's supposed to be the story about the poem that has been rediscovered at this crucial time in our history and world history that then helps catapult us into this more modern way of thinking. You get that, but not like a lot. What you get is a lot of history on books and how people recorded books and how the process of preserving and keeping and copying and all of that you get it and that's great. That's wonderful if you're a history nerd or book nerd or whatever.

[00:08:30]So that was like the first like the big portion of the front part is all about that. Then you get into the actual like he breaks down what this poem is on the nature of things >> and he and that's where I flag it. that this this whole section here is just him kind of giving you the the the basics of the way things are and kind of in layman terms as much as he can explain what the nature of things like everything is made of invisible particles and the elementary particles of matter right and just kind of breaks down for you so I thought that's why I flag because those are things I I would like to go back to because it has a it sets the stage or sets the foundation for how the people that will read the discovery of this poem will take it and grow.

[00:09:16]>> Was that considered heretical >> kind of and that's why it was lost and put away because it was pagan. It was not >> it was considered pagan.

[00:09:25]>> Well, because this that that was written by the Roman >> Roman uh poet. He wasn't before Christianity.

[00:09:32]>> But he was a pagan >> who >> I I take it that the person who wrote it, what was his name?

[00:09:36]>> Uh Lutricious or Lricius.

[00:09:38]>> Lucriccius. He wasn't really a um a theistic type.

[00:09:43]>> No, he was like a student or he was a uh he was somebody who believed in epicurion who was the greatest >> like the natural sciences like a natural philosophy kind of guy.

[00:09:52]>> Yeah. But uh no but thinking about things in the sense of like there are that like if there are gods >> they're not busy doing >> they're not they're not here watching us all the time. They're you know whatever.

[00:10:04]And the things that control our life is what eventually gets called atoms, but they were calling it atoms then. It was just this small matter that you know everything's made out of, right? So, you know, but this gets lost for a long time, >> right?

[00:10:15]>> And then it gets brought back right before the Renaissance. It's also a time where there's a lot of maybe bubblings of things happening with like the Protestant Reformation and people talking and pushing back against Catholicism and things like this. So it happens at a right at the this kind of pivotal time and people like Leonardo da Vinci and um >> Gerardono Bruno >> Yeah.

[00:10:36]>> they get uh mentioned in here and how they were probably inspired by this and then were uh >> thought of as heretics and >> and uh took it from there. So that's that's the last little bit. That's where it kind of talks about the afterwards that things but it doesn't go too far into like this is that like you can see the they just talks about how like hey Thomas Jefferson had like four copies of this in different languages and it was translated but even while the church was trying to ban it or censor it or whatever because they did not want this theory of atomus uh coming out. So very interesting. So it kind of has a it's three parts really is but it's not broken up that way.

[00:11:13]>> Cool.

[00:11:13]>> Really loved it. I I think I gave it uh like four and a half stars maybe. Um >> but yeah, really fun. Really >> for people that want narrative non-fiction.

[00:11:24]>> No, this is not a I mean there's parts that are that are kind of narrative, but then you realize he's just giving you background on that specific person or that specific thing. You're not really getting narrative non-fiction. It's more history. Sure.

[00:11:36]>> For history sense.

[00:11:37]>> Cool.

[00:11:37]>> Yeah. Very cool.

[00:11:38]>> Lot of fun though. If you and >> It's a lot of fun.

[00:11:40]>> Lot of fun.

[00:11:41]>> I just I'm I It's so funny when you say that. I know. I know. And that's what that's good. It's just for and I Who's to say I wouldn't have a lot of fun.

[00:11:48]It's just always one of those things where I guess >> I'm like I don't know. It doesn't sound like a lot of fun. It sounds interesting.

[00:11:52]>> Right. Right.

[00:11:54]>> Okay.

[00:11:55]>> I don't know. Okay. Now, >> yeah.

[00:11:57]>> May is >> No, no, you're going to talk about what you're currently reading.

[00:12:01]>> Now, I currently reading >> bookmarks are in. We'll get to that in a little bit.

[00:12:06]>> Okay. So, after reading Frankenstein, I feel like I didn't know what direction to go. And I knew that there was a book coming up for May. Um, and I didn't I didn't know I like it kind of got me like when you moodread for so long.

[00:12:19]Yeah.

[00:12:19]>> You get to a point where you're like, I know I have to break out of whatever this is, but I don't know what's going to do that for me. And that is where the palette cleanser book comes in.

[00:12:27]>> Right. These are these are fun.

[00:12:29]>> These are the ones that they're not even necessarily like potato chip books that are like easy to read. It's just they're ones that you know you get into. Yeah.

[00:12:37]Comfort books. It's like the ones that you know you're going to enjoy for whatever reason. And you thanks to you.

[00:12:43]>> These are that for me. So this is the Sebastian St. Seir mystery series by CS Harris. She um >> start it started with What Angels Fear, which actually when we first started this channel a couple of years ago, that was one of them I was reading first off.

[00:12:59]I've read what Angels Fear When Gods Die and now I am on Why Mermaids Sing, which is number three in the Sebastian, sorry, in the Sebastian Saint mystery series.

[00:13:10]>> And I just I got into it because I just knew I was like, I know as soon as I get into it, I'm going to be ready to go.

[00:13:16]Now, these books are cool because they're intelligent. Yeah. they are they're procedural in terms of the crime or the murder that has taken place, but they're also um I don't know what's the opposite of like you have books that are series based like a serial type. So there's story lines like an underpinned story line that follows you through all the books, but then each book has its own overarching history, right?

[00:13:40]>> And there's like how many 400 of these?

[00:13:41]>> I think there's about 12,000. Um this one takes place in 1811. There's these young wealthy men are being murdered in these this really grizzly fashion and the mermaids.

[00:13:55]>> Well, the grizzly nature of the murder happens to their lower house.

[00:13:59]>> Oh, okay. Interesting.

[00:14:00]>> I I have not figured out exactly what's going on, but there's always some kind of political intrigue. Okay, >> these are great if you like a more intelligent thriller. Like you don't want something like there's there's a time and a place for a thriller in a murder mystery that's just like bam bam bam. You don't have to think too hard.

[00:14:16]This is political intrigue. There's a lot of um things going on in terms of like Bonapartists. Okay. And Napoleon and the uh the English and the French and all of that. There's some of that.

[00:14:27]There's some interesting intrigue in that. This is just nice. It's for a person that wants something meaty.

[00:14:32]>> Yeah.

[00:14:32]>> A little historical fiction.

[00:14:34]>> Some great characters, little >> mystery.

[00:14:36]>> Yeah. It's it's it's so good. I really love them. If you've not read I mean you you can start from the beginning if you've never read them. May as well start from the beginning and get establish the underpinned story.

[00:14:46]>> These are they're easy. They're easy.

[00:14:48]And I like these little like mass market paperbacks that I've been reading. Yeah.

[00:14:52]>> Talking paper.

[00:14:53]>> Um so that's that's what I've got going on right now as my palette cleanser to take me from Frankenstein into the next one for Good Books Lately Book Club.

[00:15:01]>> Talk about in a second.

[00:15:01]>> Yeah.

[00:15:02]>> I'll talk about my first bookmark. I got two.

[00:15:04]>> Got it.

[00:15:05]>> Uh and that's and this one's also such a random pick.

[00:15:08]>> So I was getting coffee for Taylor. Uh, and the coffee shop I was at had a little free library kind of bookshelf thing. And I saw this one as I was waiting for >> Hold on. Favorite coffee shop in Henderson. Evergreen Coffee.

[00:15:19]>> We may as well promote it. If you're ever in Henderson, go to Evergreen Coffee. Ooh, their coffee is so good.

[00:15:24]But you got to get you got to get one of their pastries. Their bagels are made in house.

[00:15:30]>> Okay.

[00:15:30]>> They're not. All right. But anyway, I So I was waiting for the coffee to get made.

[00:15:33]>> Sorry. [laughter] And I saw this on the shelf. It's Oh gosh. Oh, I'm sorry.

[00:15:40]>> The Drifters by James A. Mitchner.

[00:15:44]Mitcher, >> I think so. Yeah, Mitchner.

[00:15:46]>> Um, and I was like, oh, drawn by looks cool. I started reading the first couple pages and I was like hooked. I was like, I'm going to take this home. It's free.

[00:15:53]I can, you know, read it. And it's a big big thick thing. It's like got the tiniest font.

[00:15:58]>> It's got the sprayed edges of the old >> Yes. 760 pages of just like tiny eight point font. But it's the story that it's a fiction story about a like you a group of young >> hippies 27 some of them are hippies but they're it's all around the time of like the Vietnam War >> from and they're all from different places. So the first one was about a a boy in college that is going to kind of dodge the draft a little bit or decides he's going to just >> be you know he's going to leave.

[00:16:30]>> So you follow him and his journey and I think we might come back to him. I don't know. Now I'm on the next chapter which is uh this um Norwegian [clears throat] girl who is kind of telling her story and where she end up she ends up kind of in the same place. Uh I'm only early going but I'm really enjoying it because I feel there are themes that are are very relevant to even today >> and the way he's writing it. you kind of get a sense that there's a lot of similarities.

[00:17:00]>> And it also puts me in the mindset of like >> what life was like for the the youths, the younger >> the youths >> the younger generation of that time, but not all of them, but I I'm only like 90 pages into a 700 bookund 700 page book.

[00:17:16]>> Uh but I think I'm going to really love it. It's it's it's not a quick read by any means, but it is >> that's okay.

[00:17:24]>> Really thoughtprovoking. There's already been times where I I um Yeah, >> I uh I should be underlining things or things I'm like, "Oh, that's pretty interesting that that point of thought."

[00:17:35]>> Yeah, you have a pen nearby when you're >> No, I'm usually I've been leaving. It's been in bed. Um but >> what?

[00:17:41]>> I know. I just wanted to show you something. Sorry. Go ahead.

[00:17:43]>> Um at the start of because each chapter is named after >> one of the drifters or one of the people. So like Joe, Brida, Monica. But before you start that, >> is there a Ko? Yeah, maybe they have like this like section. It's like a bunch of like excerpts from other stories or poems or stuff that kind of are supposed to set the foundation for that person, I think.

[00:18:04]>> Oh, that's cool.

[00:18:05]>> And and at first I thought it was just like a weird like, you know, just introduction, but it goes on, you know, it does it for like a whole two pages of these like quotes and it's kind of cool.

[00:18:13]And then it starts the story of of that person.

[00:18:16]>> Uh but yeah, it's really fun. I know he writes a lot of big tones like Alaska and Mexico and the Aztecs or whatever like that. So, uh I'm really enjoying it and it's, you know, been kind of a cool like >> I just stumbled upon it, found it and decided to give it a shot.

[00:18:34]>> Well, cool. Yeah.

[00:18:35]>> I uh this it says here, "The Drifters is to the generation gap what the source was to Israel. Rings with authentic detail and clearly descriptive sights and smells." I wonder what that means.

[00:18:47]Yeah. I don't know.

[00:18:48]>> Um, a superior pickerque. What is that?

[00:18:51]Pickoresque.

[00:18:53]>> I would say picturesque, >> but that's a different word.

[00:18:55]>> Yeah. I don't know.

[00:18:56]>> A superior pick.

[00:19:00]>> Cut it.

[00:19:01]>> Pickerque novel and a revealing mirror held up to contemporary society.

[00:19:06]>> Cool. I like that. I like it when you're reading something that might be like a criticism of contemporary society. But >> but I'm reading it right 50 years later.

[00:19:15]Yeah.

[00:19:16]>> Yeah. Right. That's cool. Yeah. Well, good. I'm glad you're liking it.

[00:19:19]>> Yeah. You want to talk about that or do you want Okay, >> let me What is that? This is my other bookmark. I'll let me talk about this.

[00:19:24]>> Okay.

[00:19:25]>> Well, I haven't started this yet. Then I'll >> go ahead and get into your other bookmarks.

[00:19:28]>> So, >> bookmark.

[00:19:29]>> My other one is one that I've been wanting to read since I picked it up uh at the beginning of your year. I don't have the dust jacket on it. It's >> um The Strength of the Few.

[00:19:37]>> It'll be up on the screen >> by James Islington. This is the second in the hierarchy >> series. I read the first one, The Will of the Many. really love that one. That is a great kind of like fantasy. Kind of has that Roman Greek vibe with it. Um really had fun. Read it what two years ago.

[00:19:57]>> Yeah.

[00:19:57]>> Or something like that.

[00:19:58]>> Crazy. It's crazy to me that that >> and then I had to wait for the new one, the second one to come out. It came out last year towards the end of last year and I finally picked it up over Christmas time. Um and then I I'm just now picking it up to read it. And you felt like you had to kind of like >> I had to kind of like recap what I read last time. And I tried to do that and then I realized, you know what, it's not easy just to listen to people tell me the the scoop on this because there's names in there that I'm, you know, when I read them, I read them differently.

[00:20:26]So, I'm sure, you know, because they have like a kind of a Latin quality to them. Uh, so I was like, you know, I'm just going to start reading it and then I'll figure it out. I'll figure out where I left and it's coming to me and it's really really I I know why I enjoyed the other one the way it's the the political intrigue the the mysterious uh goings on of like the will and how it's used and now not going to spoil anything if you haven't read the first one. Things are a little interesting.

[00:20:58]>> Does it fit into the dark academia? Not anymore because it's he's not at >> school. Not in academia. He's not >> No, he's not. He's if this one picks up where the last one ends where he finishes academia. Okay.

[00:21:12]>> And even the first one he's only in there for like a portion of the book.

[00:21:16]>> Okay.

[00:21:16]>> It's like the second third of it.

[00:21:18]>> Okay.

[00:21:18]>> Second to the last third. Um >> but it is great. I would say it's kind of like a >> It almost feels historical.

[00:21:27]>> Yeah.

[00:21:28]>> But it's not because it's a fantasy world. mythological kind of in a sense Roman.

[00:21:34]>> Uh but yeah, really interesting and I my quote of the day is going to come from it. Yeah. So that's >> all right.

[00:21:39]>> That's my reading right now.

[00:21:41]>> Okay. So >> until this, >> right, so we're going to go ahead and move into this is not a current read, but it's coming up because tomorrow is the first day. We are going to be reading for May for the good books lately book club. We are going to be reading Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov.

[00:21:57][gasps] >> Clutch those pearls.

[00:21:59]>> Yeah. Okay.

[00:22:00]>> But there are people that in our book club they were like, "I'll see you guys in June."

[00:22:03]>> Yeah. And that's okay. Hey, this is this is the thing about it.

[00:22:07]>> We first of all welcome people in our book club meets whether they're reading the book or not.

[00:22:13]>> Yeah.

[00:22:13]>> We just want to talk about books. And so and not not only that, I didn't read u the Kings of the Wild, but the conversations that we were having and the themes that we were talking about, I participated in those conversations and that's great. And there's people that just come and they hang out with us and it's it's great. Is this book going to be for everybody? No.

[00:22:32]>> Does it need to be for everybody? No.

[00:22:34]>> Will I feel dirty reading it? Probably.

[00:22:36]>> Maybe.

[00:22:37]But it gets people look at this book and they clutch their pearls despite not having read it.

[00:22:44]>> Yeah.

[00:22:45]>> And then the people and there's people that turn away like, "I don't want to read about that. I don't want to read about some 12-year-old girl and some middle-aged man. Like, I don't want to.

[00:22:52]It's gross." Like, and >> Okay. Yes. Maybe. And you're you don't have to feel like you have to read it.

[00:22:58]>> Yeah. Um, however, I think before we start judging the book, before we've had a chance to read what's in there and before we start making these proclamations about things and all of that, I think either we maybe don't say anything or we uh we read it and give it a chance, you know, see what >> because I get I think what it is is that we are so we see something like this and we we know what's in it and we we make comments that are these like blanket statements about this book and then anybody who reads this book and I just think that's >> like like that book um it's called oh my gosh life um the one it has like a man on the front who's like crying and it's new it's a new one and everybody reads it and it's really hard to read >> yeah I >> um like you might be able to find I can't think of what it's called I look at that and it's like I don't want to read that whatever it is that's in that book I don't want to read it um however I'm not going to say something that would suggest the folks that are reading it that there's Right. [clears throat] Like I think it's great for folks that can read that and consume it.

[00:24:02]>> Yeah.

[00:24:02]>> I wish I were better, more fortified.

[00:24:05]>> Maybe you'll find >> maybe I don't know what I'm I'm trying to say. What I'm trying to say is that Yeah, >> we're reading Lolita.

[00:24:11]>> It's going to be uncomfortable.

[00:24:13]>> We're going to talk about stuff interesting debate club book, right? Like I maybe I don't want to read alone. why we switched to this to kind of because we felt like the last few books in our book club while they're good books or we had I've enjoyed reading them thinkers bringing out the the deeper discussions right that we would hope you know are building a better not a better but a uh a more >> it's just more fun to talk about a book that has lots of things to chew on and it's not even that we want to like be all like literary no >> it's just that it's nice to have a book that gives you some stuff to chew on and to talk about and not Not even just that, but like this is a book that it is probably going to make some folks feel uncomfortable. So, wouldn't it be nice to have some other people that are maybe experiencing the same things to like chat about like, you know, this brought up a really difficult thing. What are we thinking about this? Like, where is this going? Now, all of that said, I will say folks who have had issues in their background know people who have had issues in their background where this just >> touches a nerve that isn't something you hands off. You got to like what Blake said the other day. He's like, you got to maintain your peace.

[00:25:19]>> Don't touch a book that you know might, you know, >> trigger some kind of a trauma. Like I am I'll be I'll say that for sure >> 100%.

[00:25:26]>> I just think that there's there's a person in this book who has a serious mental illness. like there's a there's mental illness might not even be the word I'm not I don't know but that there's a trauma >> right >> and it's it's manifesting in their mind and causing them to do things or to want things that we would look at as obviously wrong right >> however I think understanding the psychological workings of a person experiencing that is a really important thing for people to do if they choose right >> because we live in a world where there are people who are like this guy >> oh And we can villainize them immediately without understanding what's going on in their mind and that's a choice.

[00:26:08]>> Yeah.

[00:26:09]>> Or we can you you can make them a villain no matter what, but we can understand them >> so that we know what's happening which only makes us stronger at identifying that in the future.

[00:26:21]>> And I think that's a powerful thing >> 100%.

[00:26:23]>> I think when we always >> try to just >> push it off, >> shut it out.

[00:26:27]>> You're not learning. You're not >> right.

[00:26:29]>> You're not even though it's hard, >> right? can't run away. like it Frankenstein. There's a lot of commentary in there that makes you feel like this is this is how a a mind can become like I don't know if the word is like deranged but this is how a mind can become um like muddied and >> and lost >> and lost and what happens to that mind >> and a brilliant mind >> a brilliant mind or even a a loving a kind and caring mind how it can be morphed into something because of the treatment that it gets from the people like to see that and how that can turn into something so ugly. And like I said, it's like it should be required reading for criminal psychology.

[00:27:10]>> I'd like to know more about what this is going to be talking about.

[00:27:13]>> Yeah, I think so. It'll be interesting.

[00:27:16]>> But again, no shame on anybody who doesn't want to read it. That's Yeah, whatever.

[00:27:19]>> You want to move into quote of the day?

[00:27:20]>> Yeah, let's do it.

[00:27:21]>> I have a short quote of the day uh from the strength of the few. Uh, it comes the main character. He finds himself in a very I'm not going to say much. He's just in a unusual situation in an unusual place that he's not used to >> and he has this person who's kind of helping him and they're kind of guiding him through it.

[00:27:45]>> And that person happens to be very kind of always positive in the face of like a very extreme situation that seems dire.

[00:27:53]And so he kind of eventually when he feels like comfortable he asks him what how are you able to have that mentality and this is what he says. He goes one of my teachers back home once told me that sometimes the only thing we can control is our attitude and sometimes that can be enough. And so he's kind of just saying like hey I know we're in a it's a really bad situation or really tough it's dire. We're you know sleeping on the hard rock ground in these tombs.

[00:28:23]He's like, "But it doesn't do me any good if I'm miserable mentally, physically."

[00:28:29]>> He's like, "I can control how I look at it and if I stay positive, >> it'll give me a little bit of hope that we can get through this."

[00:28:35]>> And so, I think that's a great way to kind of think if you always think, "Oh man, I stubbed my toe and my drink fell and now at my day is ruined." You say, "Oh, you know, that's bummer, but you know, at least I can go try something else." You know, I think attitude definitely plays a role in how we navigate our world.

[00:28:54]>> Yeah. It's like what they say about like you can't control what others do but you can control how you respond to it and react and things like that. Cool.

[00:29:00]>> So I like that. I like that viewpoint for people and I think it's something more people should realize.

[00:29:05]>> It just proves whenever you do these like quotes of the day um reading fiction.

[00:29:10]>> Yeah.

[00:29:11]>> You hear a lot of people talk about like the power of reading fiction. I've been watching a lot of these little videos lately about that. But >> reading fiction is good for the for a healthy mind.

[00:29:19]>> Yeah. And there's research to back that up.

[00:29:21]>> Yes. And I think it it opens your eyes to perspectives and little bits of wisdom like that um that maybe you can't get from reading non-fiction. You might.

[00:29:30]>> Yeah.

[00:29:31]>> But I think that it's particularly powerful in reading fiction. You just see you see through the eyes of so many types of people.

[00:29:38]>> Yes. And I feel like I just reading fiction over the last couple of years as voraciously as I have been has done a lot for helping me see things from different perspectives. And that's I mean it doesn't I I don't feel like it's completely >> psycho like uh what do you call that like therapy provided like the therapy or whatever but it is a kind of like therapy.

[00:30:02]>> I'm not saying that I >> need it.

[00:30:04]>> I feel like everybody needs a little therapy. Everyone needs a little therapy sometimes. I don't know.

[00:30:10]>> All right. That's all we got, though.

[00:30:11]>> That's all we got. I'm real hungry. We got spaghetti coming tonight. I'm just over there like ready to be made.

[00:30:15]>> Yeah.

[00:30:15]>> Starving.

[00:30:16]>> Yeah.

[00:30:18]>> Yeah.

[00:30:18]>> This was good. Do you got anything else?

[00:30:20]>> I don't know.

[00:30:20]>> I hope you guys are doing well. What's your intention for next week?

[00:30:23]>> Uh, my intention for next week is to find out how I'm going to like the beginning of Lolita.

[00:30:32]>> Um, well, my intention for next week I like your intention for next week. My intention for next for next week is to um I my just I want to read I want to read get into Lolita. I don't know. I guess that's my intention for next week. Yeah.

[00:30:48]Um maybe I'll finish Why Mermaids Sing next week, but definitely just get into Lolita so I have something to talk about on Thursday.

[00:30:55]>> I will definitely not have a finished read because both of these books are over 700 pages long. That's okay.

[00:31:00]>> And I I'm totally okay with that. I'm just taking my time with it.

[00:31:03]>> That's okay. Uh, we film our videos on Thursdays, so that's kind of how that works. Um, >> yeah.

[00:31:08]>> Yeah. Okay. So, that's that's it for that's for me. I'm hungry.

[00:31:11]>> Yeah. But if you want to do join the book club.

[00:31:13]>> Yeah.

[00:31:14]>> Come over to Patreon.

[00:31:15]>> It's a great time.

[00:31:16]>> We're going to have a live meet this weekend to talk about like how we're going to pace out Lolita. And right, >> even if you don't want to be part of that, >> come come do it.

[00:31:25]>> Yeah. It's actually what what this weekend's book club is all about is bringing books from our shelves to kind of add to a li like a communal library for folks to get ideas and then possibly options for swapping out some other books that we had lined up for our book club that we are thinking we might want to swap. So check that out. If you're watching this when it goes live, which is Saturday, uh it's Sunday.

[00:31:43]>> Yeah, it'll be following.

[00:31:44]>> Um you can find information over on Patreon. [music] All right, in the meantime, >> happy reading.

[00:31:50]>> Bye >> bye.