Hello everybody and welcome to books Unbound the podcast where we unbind books to get to their hearts with your hosts me. Rayleen and me it cereal and today. We have a very special guest. We have Olivia from stories for coffee. They have some nice to be here. I'm such a fan so it's like a dream come true via. Thank you. You so much. So excited to have you our second guest of all time. We are so excited to dive in with Olivia. It's always so much fun to have a guest on Olivia is super cool. If you want to check her out go to Instagram go to YouTube stories for coffee. You'll find her beautiful face before we dive in we have a couple special notes. Number one. Most excitingly. We funded the website Hallelujah. Well newborn king. So exciting mean really just absolutely shocked at how quickly we were able to hit that goal. We thought you know, it would take us a year. But here we are with the beautiful website. So definitely check it out books Unbound podcast.com and hit us up on Instagram. Tell us what you think. Our next goal is very exciting. It is to release everything on time. So, you know, we're our best absolute best. We haven't missed a Tuesday yet, which is very exciting. But we want to make sure that everything comes out consistently perfectly on time. And in order to do that. We are hiring a beautiful intern called. Holly Holly is my roommate she lives in my house and she is able to help us out to make sure that we're releasing everything on time doing everything not forgetting anything. So she's basically going to make sure that this Ship Sails consistently, so We are now reason to hit that goal and believe you me, I really want to hit it because it would help me a lot. Yes, and finally our next episode is going to be the book club episode and we're very excited for that. So that's going to be really really cool. All right, Olivia it is now your time to shine we would like to do our tiny segment called get to know the guests Raylene take it away. Hmm. So first question Olivia, who is your Third author. Oh, I want to say Chanel Clinton because she wrote my favorite book, but I've only read two books by her. So I can't say Chanel Cleanin. Let me interesting conundrum and favorite book will be the next questions or yeah. Yeah, feel free to pick a different author if you got one. I feel like I don't have a fever author because I feel like a fever author is reserved for an author where I love every single one of their books and they're all five stars for me and I have yet to Find an author that has books that I think are all five stars. So I'm still waiting for a favorite author to just come into my list. So if you did anything, yeah, that's so interesting. I am my man George and I don't all love everything. He's written because like I started reading one of his books. I don't remember which one it was. I started reading one of it. It was a little dry and I was like, that's alright George. We've all got bad days, man. It's all right, but no, you're absolutely right. That's very interesting because I also have certain authors where I've read like one book and I was like this is this is award-winning. This is best book ever, but I wouldn't call them my favorite author. I'm like the know that it's like that to earn that if lots of books. Yeah, I agree. All right. Well then what is your favorite book? You alluded to the author? But what's the book? My favorite book is next year in Havana by Chanel Qui, and this was the first book where I saw Cuban representation written by a Ben author and it just smoke both about before the Cuban Revolution and it also follows a woman in present time Living in America as a cuban-american. So it kind of juxtapositions between like Cuban immigrants and those who already live in America so a very much reflected my life and it just like changed my world for me just like opened my eyes to my grandma's life when she lived in Cuba and I also just really spoke to me and like the way I feel I feel as a Cuban who lives in America and like how you want to go back to the island, but you've never been to the island, but somehow use that to feel homesick. That sounds really good. Yeah, it was it was really good. I when did you read it? I read that last year. I think yes. I read it last year and I always tell people that's so important with like representation and literature that I found a book that finally represented me when I was 21 and that makes me send I wish I found that stuff because a valid I mean Glad you weren't 40. Yeah. Yeah. No, I think that's so interesting. I think I haven't read the book. So I have literally no ideas or educated opinion. But I think of what you said, it sounds really fascinating to understand that experience of like feeling like you belong somewhere where maybe you've never been or maybe even you've only been once or twice like Honduras to me feels like such a big part of my life. I only lived there for one year when I was 18, right? Like who am I to say that? That's a huge part of me, but it does feel I do feel a pull there. That sounds so cool. I also find it really really cool when people say to me their favorite book is something they read like even semi recently like last year. I was just thinking rare like usually people are like, it's this book. I read 12 years ago. Nothing has tapped into nothing ever had. Yes. That's my old George Orwell voice but there's always a chance to discover a new favorite, right? Like there's always new books coming out. You're always reading new things. Never know when that one book might come and hit you in the face. And that one was actually a mashed potato book that sat on my shelf. Yes. I know that she'd finally pick it up because those are on summer time and it seemed like a summary book because like Cuba's very like tropical and it just like hit me like I've had this on my shelf for months and it was my Favorite book and I was just waiting for me to find the time to read it. And yeah, it's a mashed potato book That's So Perfect. Also, did you say that it had two timelines on it? Like yes, so last episode we had a question asking for dual timelines. So if that listener is still listening, there's another one for you. That book also works High recommendation for another duel timeline. Mmm. Yes, it's so good. Well our next Is what is your favorite genre? I feel like this is a hard question to answer for some people for some people. It's not some people are like super specific. They only have one job but like it's just interesting to ask. Do you have a favorite genre? I have to I gravitate towards too but I don't like just specifically read those to its historical fiction and contemporary. I just love realistic settings because I don't have to learn about a magic system. I don't have to Ryan about some weird names and um, I totally get At that realistic for me and I enjoy that a lot. Yeah. I'm similar on the Contemporary French. I don't actually read as much historical fiction as I used to like when I was a teen. I would read more historical fiction and like I really enjoyed it. I just haven't picked it up in a long time. But the Contemporary thing it is I just love learning about characters who I can imagine were real people like they're like actually it was maybe could have actually happened it to me. It feels so much more immersive and like I'm learning about Which is like obviously something you can still do through fantasies. I firewood different though. It just it exactly hook. Really exactly it just feels different. That's fair. Yeah. Well our last question for you. Olivia is what was your latest mashed potato book, but you mentioned that that book was a mess tomato. Book. Is there one that either you just finally read or is there one where you're like God I gotta get to this one. It was actually the last book I read. It was city of girls by Elizabeth Gilbert and that was sitting on my shelf for a couple of like weeks now and for me, that's a long time. Like I have a huge live a different life and we do have some for like eight years. My TBR is only like 30 books. So it's a know what TBR we're jealous. Yeah, you'll have a smart lifestyle not saying it's a bad thing. You don't know what to say because we're jealous. I'm sorry, good. Nice with my reading time. I love them and do I explain city of girls or Shelly? Yeah, may as well Jump Right In. No this this happened with Jesse. Also his our last guest also had the last book he finished as his latest mashed potato book. So maybe this should just be a thing with what is the last book you finished Olivia. What did you think so city of girls was a really interesting book? It's a very big historical fiction. It's almost like 500 pages which is like rare for historical fiction. It's like right here. This is a pretty cover your mom. It's a woman recounting her entire life from the age of 19 where she moved to New York City because her parents just kind of shipped her off because she was just a little bit too rebellious. So they're like go to Manhattan go with your mom. So she moves in with her aunt who owns a theater company and she gets to just live alongside all these weird theater people where I really eccentric who teach her how to embrace Independence how to embrace her sexuality in the Which is very taboo and one day she gets into a scandal and that changes her entire life. So it's just kind of exploring her whole entire life since the age of 19 and it's a very interesting book because you get to see her grow up and grow older and learn from her life lessons, which I feel like does it happen often books? Because you only see a little portion of their life. Yeah. That's when you get to see like majority of her life. So you feel like you grow with her and by the time you finish it you feel like she's your friend already. D. So it was really good and I listen to an audiobook and the audiobook narrator just embodied the character so well like the way that she just narrated in her little attitude when she spoke was Flawless. Oh, that's awesome. I think that's really really cool. The last book that I read that properly did that was the house of the Spirits by Isabel Allende. Have you read that book Olivia? I don't think so. I'm gonna speed up on Goodreads super interesting super super cool. so it is a classic Latino Latina author, but one of the like Staples of magical realism and it's so interesting because it is this like life Saga and I have not looked exactly like you said Olivia most books are like a glimpse there a moment there like a little thing and it's like a pivotal year in someone's life are pivotal month, and it's really cool to read about but when you Very often read this like literally a lifetime but in House of the spirits it ones up it one upset because it's like three generations of this family that live in this house. So you kind of like amazing get to know this girl all the way until she gets old and she has a kid and then you get to know her until she grows old and has a kid and then you get to know her and you're just like so invested in this family history that it like doesn't even feel like it's characters. It just feels like you got To know a family and you've spent a hundred years with them and so and and like the attitudes and things that the youngest cares about versus the like grandmother and stuff. It's just so interesting. So that really reminds me of that sounds really really cool. Did you give it like a certain amount of stars? I don't rate things often anymore. But I do on Goodreads some like might as well. I rated it 4 stars below capable guy highly recommend not like a five-star rated know next year in Havana, but you know, They can't all be right stars is still a very solid recommendation because I also I only get five stars two books that I'm like have some kind of spiritual connection to like it. Yes, not everything is going to have that. Yeah, totally agree. That's super cool. It makes you know, you're really making me want to read historical fiction now and I haven't done that in right I read none of it. I read none of it. I read the seven husbands of Evelyn Hugo and that's pretty much it is. The fountain what is it called? Rudy's of Petty's Fountains of Silence sounds of fountains some butter Fountain and quiet. Have you read that one? Olivia? I did. Yeah. Did you like it? It wasn't my favorite Rudisill Petty's book, but it's a really cool book because it highlights a piece of history that not a lot of people will know about and it's centered in Spain. Yeah, I think after World War Two so it's a very interesting time period that you feel like you don't learn in high. Score like college. I feel like she does that a lot in her books. She tackles. Yeah, that's like our special time. I love that. Like I makes me want to read her books because I mean I've read one of her books. I read out of the easy. That one was fun, but I haven't really seen over mashed potato books that I've had that book on my shelf for approximately five years. And there you go. You start reading your mashed potato books Ariel because I really buying new ones. You know, what? Oh my God guys. I got a new you know, what mashed potatoes need once they've sat there for a long time. What's that gravy to rejuvenate and what might that be anybody? I can't wait to hear this grief is like when someone brings up a book that you've had as much potatoes really long time and it makes you kind of reassess it. You're like actually, you know, maybe it's finally time. Yeah a good review could be greedy. It's a Beyond the potatoes. I like the concept. I like it. This is Olivia just wait in a couple of years. We'll have like an entire meal like a five-course meal of books and also the drive-through and like it's gonna be so many things. We just love food course supporters on patreon so we can afford food star. Um, well Raylene, what was the Last book you finished. Okay. Well, I didn't really finish anything this week. But kind of I did I'm gonna talk about it Clips because I just finished a Clips. Oh, yeah. Yeah. We just finished talking about eclipse on our Forks Farm on our stream and it's a wild time eclipse is a great book. It's terrible but it's great. This is the first book in the series where it starts to feel like it's kind of okay and it's not the worst thing. Yeah, but it's not the best thing either and that's all I'll say on that front. I've lasted through like ten chapters of eclipse in the past week and I finished it so and they're longer chapter. Yeah, they're pretty huge Olivia. Have you read The Twilight Saga? I've read it like seven times and sixth grade. It was a toy for him because it was finished a series and start it over again because I thought that was like, the only fucking existence was like this is literally me. So when I heard it, I think I was 13, so I would have In grade 8 and I read Twilight The Saga and then I was like it's time to read it again. Yeah, and it's time to get back and I read it four times in a literal row. Oh my God. Yeah. That's so funny. They're done. It was anything. This is the first time I've reread the series since I read it when I was 13. Yeah me too 12 years. I'm afraid to do that because I feel like the magic will be lost because my mom goes 1000% true we are picking it apart noticing every single little flaw. Yeah, every bad thing that the book has but we're also enjoying it as ago love it like yeah, of course deeply if I met Stephanie Meyer I freaking oh man, wouldn't we all oh, yeah. So that's pretty much all I have to offer. What did you finish? Most recently? I real hmm. Bring up clip size, but you did that but that's really proud of myself because I finished two books this week. Oh good. I just wanted to throw back to Eclipse. But today I actually finished the vegetarian by Han Kang. This was insane. I know right? It was a truly wild ride. So I listened to the audiobook. I mentioned this in the last episode, but I listened to the audiobook because I wanted to try and get one more audiobook in During my short commutes before the end of the year and this one was only like five and a half hours long or something. So I thought perfect started listening to it and it is it's about this woman who becomes a vegetarian it's set in South Korea and it's just about like how she becomes a vegetarian and it kind of Tears her whole family apart. It's a little bit like heightened and a bit of surrealism like things are a little extra dramatic but in a way that feels like like a play or something like everything is heightened and what I didn't know was that it takes place from three different perspectives pretty evenly distributed about a third of the book is from her husband's perspective. And then from her brother-in-law's perspective and then from her sisters perspective and it is about how her becoming a vegetarian but more importantly her then like not wanting to eat anymore how that really affects all three. People and it was super interesting and but here's my main takeaway. Well, like my main opinion when I finished it caught my boyfriend always ask me Connor always says how many stars just because he liked that she and I said, I don't know I was like because I didn't really like it but I want to write an essay about and he was like what I was like exactly like it wasn't my personal taste. I didn't personally enjoy Enjoy it very much, but I found it. So interesting. I found what honking did with the characters the perspective The Narrative all very fascinating and it made me like ask all of these questions about the characters and about writing and I was like I could I have a whole essay in my mind about this book. Yeah. I could I could tear it apart. But I like I won't be a waste of time. No one would read it but like I just saw I did it made me think a lot. It's I know it's going to be something that I think about a lot but I like my mind will like float to in moments of daydreaming but like yeah, I don't know how I feel about it. Like I think I would give it like a three and a half-ish. It's like that with my the normal. Yeah. That was my exact reaction to that book. It was like, I don't think I liked it. But like it was very interesting. Yeah. And so either the same thing it was like, how do you rate this book? It's like I don't I don't like hate it. I don't think it's a bad book, but like oh, But I still find myself thinking about it like today. I saw a copy of it at work and I was like maybe I should read this again in the nose like vamonos. I don't need to do that. It was it was bizarre. But one of the things that I was thinking about throughout the book was have any of her either of you read the yellow wallpaper night Charlotte Perkins Gilman. So it's a it's just older old classic about a woman who basically just wants to do what she wants to do. You but her husband's like you're hysterical you need to come down woman. The doctor says we gotta keep you in bed. And she's like, please just leave me alone. Let me write and they're like God no and in the end, she's like she keeps seeing her reflection in the wallpaper, hence. It's why it's called the yellow wallpaper and she starts running around her room like a demon. It's really spooky. But like obviously me think of that which is I like I gotta do some research my friends because I want to know if If like the author was inspired by it anyway, just because I really got intense Gilman Vibes and it's a really is a story about a woman who wants to live life her own way and no one will let her and what it does to your mental health when you are constantly oppressed and told that you can't do what you want to do. And for in this book it's taken like through a diet. She wants to be a vegetarian, but everyone thinks she's crazy and then it leads to more and more mental health problems. You know what? This is also reminding me of a little bit. It's a movie not a book but have either of you seen the movie mother starring Jennifer Lawrence that movie is insane and it has like similar Vibes to what you're saying. It's like it's insanity and it's really good. I liked it a lot on the side tangent here. Where is Jennifer Lawrence? Where did she go? I miss her today. I saw a commercial with her and I was like, is she just on a vacation? She did she discover. She might be I'm like she was so big for so long grueling in my head still as big as she was. She still like Mega famous in it everything but she just hasn't done a project in a long time. Mm-hmm. Anyways, I'm going to keep thinking about that now Olivia. What are you currently reading? I just finished a book like three hours ago. So I'm going to use that as my her. Lee reading some not reading anything else so I finished the only woman in the room by Marie Benedict and this is a historical fiction retelling of Haiti Lamar's life. Hold on. I have some quotes I wanna pull up for you got quotes everyone go. This is the first a lot of people don't know about Haiti Lamar. She was a famous old Hollywood actress, but she was also a very like undiscovered inventor. A lot of people didn't give a recognition. And for the things that she did so they have a documentary about her on Netflix has called bombshell and a quote from Forbes says that the film Chronicles the patent that Lamar filed for frequency hopping technology in 1941 that became a precursor for secure Wi-Fi GPS and Bluetooth, which is now used by billions of people around the world. And that's basically what the book is about. It's showcasing a Lamar's life when she It was in Austria and then it shows her moving it to America during the World War Two where she wanted to take part in the war and kind of like stop it and make it maybe even ended earlier. So she tried to create this frequency. Hoppy hop. I think it's called a frequency hopping system where these Torpedoes wouldn't be intercepted by the Nazis and it's such a complex like system, but that became the premise of Wi-Fi GPS and Bluetooth. Wow. That's so cool. And it's like showcasing the fact that she is the only woman in a room amongst all these men and she's trying to have her voice heard. But the thing is I did not like the book I gave it one star one. Oh my God. Oh my God so far. I was like three times already. They love it so much. I feel like is rare for documentaries. You never really watched them again. You're like, yeah, I know me. Well Livia, that's literally me with Jane the documentary about Jane Goodall. I have seen that documentary five times because she is a hero as well. We could talk about that another time create a jingle this book. I felt like did such a deuce disservice to Haiti Lamar's life because she's done so much. He's gone through You so much as a person and she was just severely unrecognized for her work and I feel like it only ever showcased her first marriage. She was married to a like a lot of people but it only really showcased her first marriage and then like some of the war and then she created the frequency hopping thing and I feel like there's so much more to Haiti Lamar and once you see that documentary and you compare it to the book, you're just like you should just wash your documentary because the documentary so much WoW better and that's a solid recommendation. Yeah, so I'll give you A documentary recommendation but the book. Yeah, here it is. That's so interesting. Damn. Oh, well, I'm sorry that that happened Olivia's that's always disappointing but it does happen. I'm sad about it, but I have the documentary to re-watch so it's okay. Yeah, you can just watch that over and slowly erase that book out of here. Oh, man. All right Raylene. What are you currently reading? I think you know the answer this question area. Uh, yeah, I think I do because it's probably the same book you're currently reading and that is to find out for briefly. Gorgeous by ocean Fang. I was reading it last week. I had just started it and now I am about the same distance from the end of the book that I was from the beginning last week. So I'm almost done. I've been kind of switching back and forth between listening to I've been listening to the audiobook and like reading along so I can listen to it really fast helps me read quick. And then also while I've been like doing crafts and whatnot because I've been I've been knitting so I've been listening to Audio book the audiobook is pretty good, but I won't say too much because we're going to be talking about it on our special episode soon. I won't tell you how I feel about anything. Can I tell you to a wild tale about knitting because I'm not gonna talk about this book. So there I was thinking wouldn't it be nice to knit my boyfriend discovered. This was yesterday and I went to my mom and I said Mom where the heck do we keep the yarn and she said, No, I've got it over here and she gets me a tote bag a second tote bag and a basket full of yarn and I go. Oh, thank you and I bring it down in my room and I think to myself great nice start knitting. So I've been dating for what two days now having a great time and you know, when you're knitting you think you think a lot and I think to myself we don't need to tote bags those too much we can easily fit this into one taupe because story The story's going somewhere. So I start my meeting and I get up and I think yeah, I'm gonna put the stuff from the one tote bag in the other one one's really empty. This will be great. I take the yarn out of the tote bag. I take the second yarn out of the tote bag and at the guys I kid you not at the bottom of this bag is a small dead mouse. Oh my God. Of the weirdest moment that I've had in a while because I looked at my brain said there's a mess of the bottom of the bag and then my brain also said it can't possibly be a most of the money in the bag and then my brain was like no it's just like went outside and left it outside and through the don't back away. But like, okay. This is the worst part of the story. I don't remember because of the panic of the moment. I don't remember which colors of yarn or in that bag. So I'm just pretending that none of it was and it's all okay, it's all fine. That will find story. Yeah that happened to me like four hours ago, and I'm not over it. All right. What are you reading? Ariel? Tell me off the hook. I'm reading. Hold on a minute. Let me just II planned this bit everyone. Okay, here's how the book begins Let Me begin again. All right. I am now currently reading on Earth with your just I just started it. That was good. Yeah. So today, I prioritize finishing the vegetarian because I was so close to finishing in so I finished that couple hours ago. And now tonight I'm going to really dive into on Earth were briefly gorgeous. So again, I have nothing to say about it. And that is why I felt I could really go into my mouse story. I like to always have an alternate plan when you know, you don't have something to say you're like, all right. There's gotta be a story of here somewhere. Let's go. I gotta show up with my content ideas. Um, all right. Well, Olivia and everyone listening it is time to jump into the best part of the day. I'm so Jays doing our recommendations. Ralien. Do you want to read the first one? Absolutely, so Our first one comes from Lucas Lucas says I hope you are doing well. I absolutely love your podcast. Oh, thank you. I didn't mean to thanks. That's really nice. I did. Thank you Lucas. I wanted to ask you if you have any Christmasy book recommendations. I also know somebody else recently emailed us in asking for Christmas. He book recommendations. I don't know who it was but people want the Christmas books. Excellent. So Raylene you read the question given, what did Pick okay. This this one was tough for me because I've read a total of two Christmas books. Yep also very difficult for me. So I wonder if there will be some overlap here, but I also have a bit of a story to go not necessarily a story. But anyways, the book I'm recommending is Let It Snow by John Green and the two other ladies who helped write that book. I forgot to look it up because I don't have my coffee with me. Laurie Oracle and Maureen John. That's right. I knew it. I knew it was in there somewhere. So the reason I'm recommending this is because one it's a very fun. Book I've read it twice. I really enjoy reading it around Christmas time. But to I watched the movie for this two days ago cool, and I don't know if either of you have seen it but it is trash. So I really really loved John Green like I deeply respect that man. And so I have been very hesitant to say that I saw the movie and It was not good. It was one of the worst movies I've ever seen it had like two moments that made me kind of go huh? And then like the rest of it was just like I am like I felt like the dialogue was written by some weird ten-year-old who doesn't know how to write a movie like, oh, I don't know. So I just wanted to like send this PSA out that the book is not as bad as that movie. So if people want something good and Christmassy and they were they saw that movie and thought Oh my God, let it snow must be the worst book of all time. Let me just tell you that it's not It makes so much more sense in the book The movie is a mess. But the book is a great time. It follows three separate. It's basically like three short stories or three novellas and they each have their own like self-contained little story with self-contained characters, whereas this movie was just like but it makes a lot of sense and you really grow attached to the characters and it really fills you with holiday spirit and it's just it's just so good and funny of because of course John Green is amazing as well as the other two authors, but John Green stories my favorite one. Yeah. I remember I remember when I read the book. I thought it was a really cool way for three author's to collaborate. Yeah, because like you mentioned they have three different stories, but they're all set in the same town. There are a few overlapping characters and everyone deals with and ultimately all of the plots are moving towards this party at the Waffle House. Yeah, and so it like really pushes the whole story forward because you're thinking okay cool. Wow, we're all trying to get to the story are to this party and I remember having fun. That but in the movie I was like if I hadn't read the book, I would not know what's going on right now. Right? Well my other thing about the movie was that like you go through the whole movie and nobody has names like they don't introduce people. They don't really talk about who the people are and how they know each other. It just it was a confusing time. Yeah. It was a confusing time. I actually I keep going on these Tales. I also read Tales. It was the first time that I had ever made sourdough and I didn't know that I was going to have to wait many hours between like folding it and so I would like have to fold it and then wait 30 minutes and then fold it in the wait 30 minutes. So me and my mom watched Let It Snow and then right after it we watched the Christmas night know it the Night Before Christmas. That's why it's called night with a K and unbelievably fun. Of that stupid movie night from medieval times. It comes and falls in love with Vanessa Hudgens and I am there now that one I want to watch that. It was great. So if you need a Christmas movie, that's the one everyone. Thank you so much. Well rip, I wasn't really in again. No. No, Olivia. I'm done. What is your Christmas ebook recommended? I read one Christmas book and it was my true love gave to me and I got it the one with pink pages and And it's an anthology edited by Stephanie Perkins. So it's a bunch of contemporary and a little bit some are Fantastical Christmas stories and some are I think Conoco stories as well. It's just a cute little array of Christmassy holiday stories, and they're all love stories. So it's like if you ever want to have some cute Hallmark e type of romances to read around the holiday season, you can read this one. I haven't read it in like years. But that is quite literally the only Christmas book because I don't really enjoy Christmas you stories. I love Christmas, like don't get me wrong. But the Christmassy stories make me cringe if it's not the grand. Yeah, if it's not the Grinch, I don't want it. I do love the crunch. I'm just like, uh, that's the only thing it doesn't have to be that book you recommended though has a story by Rainbow Rowell and it right Um, I think I remember there being a yeah, that one was good. I remember that one being very fun. There's Holly black Ally Carter Jenny Han Stephanie Perkins. Laini Taylor like a bunch of really big white authors. Yeah took part in this cute. Remember that when she know It's a good one Ariel. Well, guys, we were all in a similar boat. I think I know what you're going to recommend similar sinking ship is what we were in recommendations. My first one is you all guessed it - in Lily's book of dares by Rachel Cohn and David levithan. Yeah. So, um, we talked about this one in one of our bonus podcast episodes for patreon, but this is a book. Kind of Christmas break others girl named Lily. She leaves a book full of dares at the Strand. So if you're a lover of books and you love bookstores, I think you'll really enjoy this book. It's also very short and it's written by the same authors who wrote Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, which is a really fun movie. So if you like the vibe of that movie, you'll definitely like the vibe of this book and then - finds it and they fall in love and it's Christmas and it's winter and I remember really enjoying it, but I will admit haven't read it in a very long time. Mmm, that was one of the first books. I did a book review for on YouTube. It's true and then but I was like I must have read other books that at winter like I must demand I remember let it snow but I wasn't a he I was like three to five on Let It Snow it's like yeah, it's all right. What else did I read and I remembered almost midnight by Rainbow Rowell. So this is a collection. Action of two short stories by Rainbow Rowell one of my favorite authors. Why authors she's so cool. So this is really cool because their festive but they're more they're about New Year's Eve like they're not about Christmas necessarily. I think I can story from the other book too. I wonder if it is I think one of them might have been that story it might have been that swag. So I'm just tripping Olivia right on here. I should really learn to be original. But yeah. It's too short stories one is called Midnight's and one is called Kindred Spirits. So if anyone has a copy of Olivia's book, she can you can track but yeah, I really enjoyed this. I literally think I read this in like 40 minutes, you know what I mean? Like it's super short, but it does have illustrations which are super super cute and beautifully done and it's wintry and I liked it. So if you are in the mood for something about New Year's and Two teenagers kissing stroke of midnight everybody needs to read that once in a while. All right, I will read the next recommend you in Emily. Our pal Emily says one of my favorite things to do is read a book cover to cover in one sitting. What is a good book to do this with? I'm not asking for a short book. I don't mind if it's a few hundred pages, but what's a book that's best devoured all at once. I really like this one. I think this is really cool Olivia. I'm Very curious what you picked? What is your read in one sitting recommending? I recommended it to you on a video that you posted though. Cuz I think you spoke about short books. So like it is a short book, but I read in one sitting and it was the memory police by Yoko Ogawa. This is a orwellian quiet drama. It is one of my favorite reads of 2019. So I was hooked by the cover itself. I feel like everyone should go Google the cover because it's beautiful. And it is it's very big pitched it as a quiet drama. So if follows an unnamed Island full of unnamed inhabitants who live in a place where their memories are being manipulated, so every couple of days weeks or even months though, wake up and feel like something's missing and they won't realize something's missing until they look at an object and feel no particular attachment to it. So first, it's like ribbons then it's Rose. Is then it's like fruits and vegetables and then it's really important objects that go missing from their memory. So it kind of plays with the whole idea that once you forget something you have no particular attachment to it. So you don't care if it gets destroyed and the whole premise of the memory police is that they are enforcing the loss of these memories. So there are some people on the island who still Remember everything that has gone missing. So the main character decides to hide her editor because she's a writer in her house because he remembers every single thing that has gone missing. So he has to deal with the fact that the writer the main character is forgetting everything while he is still remembering things and he's hiding from the memory police. It's so good. I feel like if you like 1984 which Ariel does he also have 19 I loved it. It was so intriguing and the writing is very simplistic and it's just like simplistic not like saying like it's a simple book but like it's just straightforward. It's not giving you any fluff. It's just telling you this really creepy quiet drama where you're wondering what's going to happen next and all these memories are being manipulated and once they start forgetting like really important things. You're like, oh my God, what's going to happen next? It was so good. Can I recommend it enough? Favorite book of 2019 my God. So exciting. I just added that to my want to read list. I'm 100% here Olivia you sold it. I am I picked this up a couple of months ago at some Bookshop book shop, but it was only in hardcover, right? So it was like $30 or something. I was like, oh this sounds cool. Yeah. I'm gonna wait I don't get this yet. And then I remember you talking about it really positively and I was like damn it. I should have gotten it sounds so cool. And now I ask for for Christmas if I don't get it, I'm gonna just buy it from I sell for guys like a Christmas present. Hopefully I get like a gift card or something. Someone get me that chapters. Give good gold. Yeah, because I tell some really interesting like obviously like you said it's based off of or inspired by 1984 and I think what's really interesting is it 1984 is terrifying because there is absolutely no magic. It's not like the government can manipulate everyone like in Harry Potter. They can put the imperius curse on you or whatever and like oh my God you're doing If you don't want to do yeah, but like in 1984, it's terrifying because they've effectively brainwashed Everyone by tricky ways of like carrier of manipulation. Yeah, and that's terrifying because you think oh, wow that could never happen but then you realize that like there are interment camps and stuff. So you're like, okay. Well actually maybe can happen. And so then you you feel scared but it is really interesting to like think just as a thought experiment and as as a novel like what would happen if the government actually Could delete things from your mind or make you forget certain events or Etc. So yeah and like you think about sorry, I'm not mean you got mad and George Orwell over and we're gonna be here all night. No, I just I think it's really interesting because obviously the main character did you say she's a writer? Yeah. Yeah, so that's fascinating because the main character in 1984, I gotta read this book in 1984 is a record stroy, right? This job is to go ahead and delete whatever the government. Thinks isn't good. And she in a way is a record Creator but fascinating I gotta read it. I gotta read it sound so good. I love anything. That sounds like a Black Mirror episode. Honestly that does sound like a black mirror, but that's what I want. Every book to be what even creeped me out even more was the fact that when I finished a book like a couple days later. I realized that no one has names in the story. They just have like identifiers. They're like the man came over and I think that's cool because then one I still think we're names erased from their memory before the book began and it's just mind-blowing. I think it's so much does it go it's just so good. Oh, wow. Okay. Well, that's very exciting. Wow. I want to read it and I am annoyed that we recording this podcast when I can clean up book really. What is your book that we should read in one sitting? Okay. So mine is one that perhaps people have read before. It's a quite a popular book, but I think that it's for a longer book one that you could zip right through because it's so much fun. And that is big Little Lies by LeAnn Moriarty. Wow. That's a huge book. Yeah, that one. I think I read it in like two days like a couple of years ago. I just picked it up on a whim and I flew right through it his this and actually we had a question last week about mystery books that are kind of geared towards a female audience and I feel like this also fits that because in this book it kind of bounces back and forth in time, you know, that someone has been killed at a school event and Don't know who it is. You don't know how it happened. You don't know who's involved. But there's all these like transcripts. Basically they're talking like into the police are interviewing all these different people who were there. And so you just get to hear like little Snippets of what happened. But then it also takes you back to the beginning when all these, you know, three women are meeting each other and like talking about their kids and what's going on in their lives and all this stuff and there's like small town drama, but also murder and it's so intriguing the way it's written just makes you want to keep reading it because every single little chapter has like Some new spark of information that you just you don't get to know everything until the very end, but it makes you want to keep keep going. So I meant that book was crazy good and it's actually takes place in Australia because the author's Australian they change that for the show. They made it seem like it was America, but I think that's really cool. Yes in the first one or two episodes of big little lies and I really enjoyed it because like the most of the cast are like actresses that I'm like, well I like them. They're cool. Yeah, cool. But yeah. It was I thought it was American book because it's 10 America. Yeah, it's so not so that was something fun too. Because I had I think I read it for a reading challenge because I needed to read something that took place like on the opposite side of the world and I was like Australia perfect and ended up being probably want to make to cause I'm so cool. Nicole Kidman is Australian. She could have done her. Why do they keep trying to change Nicole the most perfect woman in the world? But yeah, that book is crazy. Good so area. What did you pick? The book I chose is a book. I never hear anyone talking about so maybe I'm crazy. Um, it is with malice, right Eileen cook. It's on my TBR. Okay. Well, let me read it. So I pick this book up very randomly because I really thought the cover was so absolutely gorgeous and it was it's from a couple of years ago. I feel like right now why is having a like a thriller moment? Books like Wilder girls and stuff where it's like Thrillers and kind of like intense story plot, but back a couple of years ago. That wasn't as much of a thing. So whenever I saw them I was like, well, it's kind of cool. It's kind of rare. I'm gonna saw this one and it's about a girl who goes sounds like Lizzie McGuire, but very different vibe a girl who goes on a trip to Italy with like her schoolmates and I don't think I've ever said schoolmates in my life and I was right here. We are. It's fine. We live only in the present and in the future, so So yeah, so she goes with her classmates Jesus and basically she wakes up from this like coma and realizes that her best friend is dead. There was a massive accident and everyone says that she did it and so it's kind of like how the heck is she going to get out of this horrible situation? The character is also going through memory loss. So she's trying to piece together what happened, but she's going through this really stressful. Court case everyone says that she did it. You know, she must like how would the main character of done it? It's impossible, you know where she was and so you're trying to figure out everything that happened. It is super stressful super high stakes and I picked this book up because of that kind of stuff. I was like, this would be good for the reading Rush a couple of years ago. I was like, maybe this would be like power me through and it was literally the perfect pick because it was so exciting and so exhilarating that I sped through it. So it was perfect for A read-a-thon, which therefore I think means it's perfect for a read in one sitting kind of acid. Yeah, and every time I put it down I was like no I want to know what happened what happened what happened? It was it was very stressful in a fun way and like literally I had anxiety for a couple of days because I was like, I was just like I need to finish that book. What happened. How is she gonna get out of this? She's gonna go to jail. It's so good. Actually. I just thought of a bonus recommendation for this one before I go to sleep. Leap by s j Watson, which is another Nicole Kidman adaptation that book I sat down and I just could not stop reading it. It's one of the first books that like launched the psychological Thriller Trend. I want to say like that one and like Gillian Flynn. And yeah, so that's another good one if you want something that's just like because it's there's so many twists and turns it seems like a very quiet story for the first like half and then all of a sudden it's like what is happening? Yeah. So it's one of those books that's easy to zip through for sure. Yeah with malice had an ending I never saw coming. And so when everything started to fall into place, I was like this is insane. I can't believe it and I just had so much fun with that book. That's awesome. All right, it is time for our final recommendation. Oh, this also comes from Emily a different Emily. Oh, wow, Emily asks for I am currently an education major specifically for high school history, but I have currently been caught. Up in the classic college and my making a huge mistake crisis the quintessential do near your slump. Do you guys have any book recommendations focusing on teachers any subject? Preferably High School to get me pumped up about my future again. It can be from either the teachers perspective or the students so long as a teacher plays a major role. I really have no preference. I thought this was such a specifically difficult and weird request. I really liked it. I also really wanted to answer this one because Emily has been supporting me on patreon or patreon for ages and I was like Emily. I will find you that book. I don't know if I did actually but maybe Olivia or railing did we will see well my Faria. Oh, yeah really take like it all start. I was just saying my first instinct for this one was to recommend The Perks of Being a Wallflower and wonder but we like we talked about those books all the time. So I feel like that's not necessary. But if you haven't read either of those books, you should definitely pick those. For a good teacher book, but the one I went with which just it came to me the other day. I was like I have a teacher book and that is forgive me Leonard Peacock by Matthew Quick have either of you read this one or her to look everywhere. This book made me cry at 2:00 in the morning. Like I said, this is another one actually that I couldn't put down. So this is another one to read in one sitting. I started it at like 8 o'clock at night and I just stayed up until two in the morning and I was like books don't make me cry. I'm not a book crier. This one really got me and the teacher in this is partly to blame. He's like just such a good man. And actually I think the teacher and this is a history teacher also for high school. So that's kind of a little bit perfect. But the story how it goes for anybody who doesn't know basically the main character is this boy named Leonard peacock and the story starts out on his birthday and he has decided that he is going to kill his best friend and then also himself and you don't know why it's like very very whoa, let's just jump jump see right in there you like why It's very very intense and throughout the story. Like Leonard is quite close with his teacher that I mentioned. He has basically like for people that he's really close with that. He wants to say goodbye to before he offs himself and the teacher is one of the biggest people in his life. And so he you know, you kind of get to see why he loves this teacher so much and the teacher, you know gives him great advice and it's just a really good man. And there's like a bit of a mystery surrounding the teacher also like throughout the book. He he never rolls up his sleeves and you're like, what does it mean? Why does he roll his sleeves like all of his students are also very curious about it. And that was one thing throughout the book that just had me going like what what was the reason I got a know I really need to find this man sleeves. Yeah, exactly. It's like there's a good reason and it made me just love the teacher and the book even more through reading that so I highly highly highly recommend that book interesting. Well, I I've seen that like you Olivia I've seen that book everywhere, but I had no idea what it was about. Yeah. Oh, yeah, it's crazy. I know I try and get everyone to read this. But nobody ever does. All right, Olivia. What is your teacher? But I thought about this one long and hard because I couldn't think of one besides Perks of Being a Wallflower. So I was like, I can't do that. I feel like everyone already knows about that one. Also. I read that book so long ago. I feel like I can't talk about it because I don't remember any of it. Yeah, so I want to recommend I wish you all the best by Mason Deaver. This is a story about Ben Ben comes out as non-binary and their parents. Kick them out of their house and they have to go live with their sister and their sister is married to a teacher. So they go to that new high school where they like start connecting with the chemistry teacher who is his brother-in-law and then they also connect with an art teacher who just really encourages their passion for art and to just go with whatever the they want to create because I know a lot of our teachers like to limit their students by telling I know what to create. So I feel like having these two teachers just really supporting Ben is so important to the story and it was just really heartwarming because I wish I had those types of teachers in school and I wish I had those types of support systems and they're not like the center of the story but they're nice supporting characters who support been through this whole entire new process where they go to a new school and they're just really scared because there are so many different like changes. In their life, so it was just nice to have those like supporting characters who are just pure for like the fact that they're pure and they don't have any like arguments or anything. They were just really nice people which I feel like we need more of in books. I feel like yeah, I love that when there's like no conflict. Yeah. I know surrounding those people. It doesn't have to be something bad. Yeah, they know fight they never argued. There's there to be nice and I love that. You're just you know, that sounds awesome. That's awesome that I know that book came out. This year it came up really recently. So that's really cool that that you actually really enjoyed it. I've got it on my TBR. So that's also a book. I feel like you could finish in one sitting. It's a pretty short contemporary. Hmm could tune. It also has such a nice cover. Like I love the cover of that book dreamy. Well guys, I had a disaster with this. I desperately wanted to make Emily proud and I really couldn't because the problem was when I read the thing that you wanted I was like, oh, I know loads of stories about motivational teachers and I do but they're all moving eyes so many movies in my mind about these amazing teachers or mentors or motivational figures and I was like, oh my God, I can't think of a book except for the person who yeah. I was like, I can't be that guy. I've shown up with worse ones instead. I've got like Half-assed attempt so Glory. The first one is Harry Potter and the Half-Blood over I'm literally wearing though my shirt right now. Oh my God, you are. Okay. So, um, everyone's laughing but I do want to make a tiny case for it. I have recently in my life hung out with like four people on different completely separate occasions that haven't read Harry Potter and it kind of freaks me out a little bit so but But if you're out there Emily and there's no way that Emily has it but if Emily hasn't read Harry Potter I encourage you to do so, it is very much about the teachers and the relationships that the teachers have with the students and how the teachers have Behavior affects the student. But this one in particular obviously is about the relationship between Dumbledore and Harry and how they get to know each other outside of that teacher-student relationship and how it's informed by that. So, you know virtues to that one then got another one that doesn't work at all. I've got the secret history by Donna. Tartt. I was gonna say that okay, but here's the problem. I've only read 40 pages of this book. So I loved the first 50 pages, but I have no idea 42 Page 42 everyone. I have no idea if I recommend this book or if the teacher is like always important in the book. I don't know. I was gonna write a little piece of joke. The book is Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. So yeah, Jane Eyre is actually one of my favorite stories. I think it's such a great story it and I've seen like literally seven different adaptations of Jane Eyre because my parents were really in our are To period dramas so growing up. I saw every period drama you've ever heard of and my favorite just because everyone's going to ask me I know before before you guys get too wild. My favorite version is the Ruth Wilson Toby Stephens one, but regardless, I love that story so much but I when I read the book, I was like 17 and it dragged on and I was just like not feeling it. So, I don't know if I were to give it another shot. I might enjoy it more or less I have Absolutely no idea but the actual story is so interesting. It's really cool story and it is about this woman who first has terrible teachers and then becomes a teacher herself and it's about how she kind of breaks the cycle of abuse. This was the thing I thought about a lot in my Master's was very interesting because when you when you're doing a master's degree, you often get to be a teaching assistant and it's really interesting because you are a student. And a teacher at the exact same time and I kind of saw two things. The first thing was people being like I went through so much hardship when I was a student. I'm going to make it as easy as I can for my students, but then there are other people who kind of I don't think on purpose but they kind of were like well when I was a student I had it hard these kids should have it hurt to you know what I mean? Yeah, and so it's kind of like how Jane Eyre does the first she decides like I suffered so much that I want to make sure that At my students are loved and taken care of and so she's a governess for one student for a while. And then she runs a school later on in the book. So I think if you really want to get to know a teacher Jane Eyre is a pretty cool character that actually just made me think of another one. I'm pretty sure later on in the end of Green Gables series. She becomes a teacher so that might be a good series to read. It's so serious. Oh my God. It is like the renowned classic and the rest of the series is just what Young Canadian girls read in great for so yeah, that's it. Oh my God, I never read the rest of them. But yeah, I like the second book and is grown up and she like has kids in a husband and as a teacher and stuff. So yeah, that's really interesting about but I hadn't read this. It's not like a series where she stays eight or whatever and that's why nobody reads it like I'm worried about 20 year old an yeah and her marital problems. But yeah, that might be a good one to read if you want to like see the perspective of a teacher a bit more because I can't think of any books by teachers or about teachers A Hard Sell, but you know what we did what we could but we did our best Emily. I hate that worked. Well Olivia we did it. We have come to the end of our episode. Thank you so much for joining us. We've loved having you on. I think you brought some really cool books to the table. Cheers. Thank you so much for having me horse. Thank you so much for listening to Podcast if anyone wants to check out Olivia again stories for coffee on Instagram or YouTube. She's awesome. So just do it this go check her out. We are now off to record our bonus mini podcast for our patreon. You can check it out at patreon.com forward slash books Unbound. You can also submit your own requests. Is there a book you're dying to read. Let us know you now go to books on bound podcast.com and submit their we have a big submit button and everything. It's pretty easy and convenient. Let me see. I also just so everyone knows how much work I put into it behind the scenes. If you submit a request on that form, it automatically sends into a Google spreadsheet like it's pretty know that amazing. So yeah, that is all Who's episode again Olivia? Thank you so much. And thank you everyone for listening. We'll talk to you guys next time. Bye.
We have the wonderful Olivia from StoriesforCoffee in this episode! She launches another impassioned speech about 1984 from Ariel, Raeleen tries to make us all read a book she wishes more people picked up, and Ariel is still traumatized from an encounter with a mouse that happened right before recording this episode. It's a good one! Unbinding books to get to their heart with Ariel Bissett and Raeleen Lemay! Submit your book requests at booksunboundpodcast.com and support the podcast on patreon! patreon.com/booksunbound Check out Olivia! 