Julia and Victoria get very excited about their spur of the moment decision to talk about Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston, the queer royal romance the world was waiting for. Julia had some technical difficulties and recorded on a less-than-ideal microphone, but it couldn’t be postponed because they were too pumped.

Well over a year later, Julia and Victoria face their fears of long page counts and return to Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan series with The Story of a New Name. They discuss the complexity and ingenuity of Ferrante’s depiction of womanhood, and how much they hate Nino Sarratorre.

Julia and Victoria make another foray into the gothic genre with Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia and spend a fair amount of time talking about mushrooms.

Julia and Victoria, along with Julia’s mom, chat about their comfort books and the novel Leave It To Psmith by P. G. Wodehouse.

Julia and Victoria try to solve the Who, the How, and the Why of Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu and may or may not reach a verdict. Victoria invents a new grammatical tense.

Julia and Victoria enter a dream state to talk about Beloved by Toni Morrison and its place within both the horror genre and American history.

Julia and Victoria, who had somehow never read The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint Exupery, are joined by ANGR Podcast host Sofia Syntaxx, who has collected upwards of ten editions of the book from all over the world, including the most recent translation into their indigenous language Anishinaabemowin. They talk about translation across languages and cultures, childhood dreams, and being haunted by the Duolingo owl.

Julia and Victoria try to figure out why their 2011 Harper Teen copy of Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte looks suspiciously like Twilight and why that’s interesting for the genre of Gothic literature.

Julia and Victoria are joined by their friend Andy Park to discuss Pachinko by Min Jin Lee and his family’s experiences as Korean American immigrants. Julia makes several K-Pop references.

Julia and Victoria take a look at the children’s classic The Giver by Lois Lowry with fresh eyes as an extended critique of whiteness and dominant culture.

This week on the podcast, Julia and Victoria try to define just what exactly Red at the Bone by Jaqueline Woodson is about, and after an hour of conversation, they land on “nothing and absolutely everything,” which does not do this incredible and soul-stirring book justice. But it’s the best they’ve got.

Julia and Victoria are back to discuss The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion about an undiagnosed autistic man trying to navigate all the weird social rules of dating and relationships with a bunch of people who won’t explain anything. So for Julia, it was a comical reminder of her own journey not knowing how to make friends in college, and for Victoria, the book was a super fun love story and a good reminder on the importance of open and clear communication.