Mostly Fictional
Ep. 72: We Made Up a “Weather Report” Tag
We made up our own book tag, inspired by weather!
Books mentioned, in order:
Station Eleven Emily St John Mandel
A Snake Falls to Earth by Darcie Little Badger
There’s Someone Inside Your House by Stephanie Perkins
Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins
Cain’s Jawbone by Torquemada
Taaqtumi: An Anthology of Arctic Horror Stories Compiled by Neil Christopher
Split Tooth by Tanya Tagaq
The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
Anyone by Charles Soule
Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro
The Wanderers by Meg Howrey
https://www.nasa.gov/missions/analog-field-testing/chapea/first-mars-crew-completes-yearlong-simulated-red-planet-nasa-mission/
Find Pam and Hallie online!
Follow Hallie’s Substack at wordsmithreads.substack.com
Pam can be found on Youtube and Bookstagram at @pams_inkheart
- Duration:
- 43m
- Broadcast on:
- 24 Jul 2024
- Audio Format:
- mp3
[Music] Hello and welcome to Mostly Fictional, a podcast about the books of yesterday, today, and tomorrow. I'm Hayley. And my name is Pam. And today we're going to do another sort of special episode. Listeners will remember two episodes ago, we did a fun mid-year freak out tag, and today we're going to do another different than our usual reading update episode as well. So today we're going to do, what would you call this, our sunrise sunset episode? Weather is also how I want to describe this little tag, like books that remind us of weather or things about the sky, I guess. Weather report tag, perhaps. Yeah, there we go. You just make that up. So you might be listening to this going, "What is that?" We've made it up. It's a brand new thing. We wanted to do something that was kind of moody or kind of fit into different boxes. And, you know, some I've seen on Instagram and I have taken in myself of putting, "This book is like a food," or "This book is like this song," or like this movie, and there's only so many categories. So I was like, "Oh, maybe there's, you know, people always associate books with different weather of like, "Oh, this is a good, like cozy by a campfire book." And I was like, "What if we just say that this book like is weather?" Or is a sunrise or a sunset was one of the original ideas. So Pam and I decided to each do at least one sunrise and sunset book, and then gave each other free reign to do other forms of meteorological phenomena as well. So we don't know what's on each other's list, but we know we each have at least one sunrise sunset. Anything you would add to that? Other than my struggle with this? Oh my gosh. Once I eventually picked my meteorological events phenomena, I was like, "Okay, cool. All right, we're good. Yeah, we started. Yes." And then I was struggling to pick books for each of these. I was like scrolling through my Goodreads, just waiting for like a bit of cover inspiration, honestly, which that's not... I mean, that's not how I wanted to interpret these prompts. I wanted to interpret them more with vibes and/or plot or elements of the story, but like covers, I'm just a very visual person. I needed to see things and scrolling through my Goodreads, I got to the end of the alphabet and I was like, "Well, shoot, that didn't help at all." So finally, I just was like, "You know what? Work is done for the day. I need to just sit in front of my physical bookshelf and look at every book." I have the IKEA Calyx shelf, which is the cubes, and I have the four by four set of cubes, and most of those cubes have two to three layers of books in all of them. So there's a lot of books to look through, and there's a lot of just like pulling back, peeking in. Do you fit sunrise, sunset, or the other weather things that I have on my list? Nope, back you go, and then just kind of did that with all of my cubes, and eventually books were just like, "let me pick me please," and I wanted to also challenge myself a little bit to pick books that I haven't mentioned on the podcast before, which definitely made things more difficult. I mostly succeeded. There's a few of these at least that I've never mentioned on the pod, but most of the quality books I've read in the last few years have been things that I've been able to mention on this podcast will be in recording. So while I had that little quiet challenge at the back of my head, I wasn't able to fully succeed it, but I'm still very happy with the books I ended up choosing. So do you want to start us off? What is your sunrise book? I will tell you my sunrise book in a second, I just, the way that you win about it is so different than how I win about it. You chose your weather first, and then chose your books, whereas I obviously knew that we wanted to do one sunrise, one sunset, so I chose those, and then from there looked at all my books and went, "Okay, which of you do I want to highlight and which feels like weather?" If I looked at one, did it immediately say, "Oh yeah, that's blah, blah, blah," to me. So I love that. What an opposite approach we had. So yes, I will start with you said sunrise, right? Sunrise, let's start with the sun in the beginning, in the morning. In the morning, so this one I admit, this one feels my most cliche, but it also is the most apt thing that I could possibly know. Oh, I'm so scared you're going to say something that's on my list. No, I don't think it can be because it's Station 11 by Emily Stagman-Dell, which we have talked about on the pod before because I love Station 11. It's actually my very favorite book. As a side note, I know so many people, people, people, people, readers have a hard time choosing a favorite book. They're like, "I can't choose just one." If I'm only allowed to read one, it is Station 11. That is my... The bar is so high for me. No, that's just my favorite. Anyway, so why Station 11? Station 11 is about a pandemic that wipes out 99, I believe it is 99% of the world's population, so there is no one left. But the book is not only about that, it's about what leads up to that. The other people involved with it, there's this whole web of characters. It takes you the beginning of the pandemic, 20 years into the pandemic, and then the reason I chose this as a sunrise is you get to the end of the book and there's this one little scene that kind of ends with this ray of hope and it feels like it's always darkest before the dawn and then this one little teeny tiny light is creeping over the horizon and you're like, "Okay, here we go. It's a new day. We're gonna try again." And that to me just like really, it just so feels like a sunrise, which now that I really think about it is probably why I'm such a morning person as well. So that is my sunrise book. I adore that and it makes me want to pick up Station 11 even more now. Like I've obviously heard about it. It's a Canadian book and I think I've heard about it probably a little bit before the pandemic and obviously after the start of the pandemic as well. And I got it from my favorite indie bookstore a few years ago. It's been sitting in my green books because I have my books in a rainbow order and it's every time I walk by I'm just like, "I want to pick you up and I know Haley really likes you." So I want to pick that up. So is this the summer I read Station 11? Maybe it is. So every time you mention it, it crawls a little higher up that list of like things I want to read very soon. So I think that is an incredible analysis of what a sunrise book can mean. And I think it's relatively similar to what I picked for my sunrise book if you're ready to hear that. Oh yes, absolutely. So the book or the book, how I interpreted the prompt because that's what felt better for me was to pick my prompts and then find books that fit or just, yeah, it was picking the prompts and finding books that fit for them. For a sunrise book, I felt like new challenges, new adventures, it's a new day and just the power of the sun kind of thing. So I picked A Snake Falls to Earth by Darcy Little Badger. So I think I did read this during our time with the podcast and it might have been very, very early on or just before it's something along those lines. A Snake Falls to Earth is by Darcy Little Badger and I think I did just say that. I'm just, my eyes came in the wrong spot on my notes. So sorry. This follows two characters who are in parallel worlds. Nina is a human girl in our world and she's dealing with a catastrophic event, says the synopsis. And then Ollie, who is so wonderful. Oh my god, I just have all these feelings remembering about him. He's a cotton mouth kid from the land of spirits and monsters. And one of his friends becomes strangely and gravely ill, like very, very sick. Neither Ollie nor Nina know that the other exists and yet their stories are supremely linked and they are brought together by their separate adventures. And the sun is extremely important in this story. It's actually the portal between Ollie's world and ours. The sun is how he was able to travel to the human world. And I just felt that the importance of the sun in this book made it feel like a sunrise and the fact that both of these characters are dealing with pretty intense things in their own respect. And once you understand why all these friends become strangely and gravely ill, you're just like, Oh, okay, now we got to deal with this. And so to me, Darcy Little Badger's books are also very warm and the sun is nice and warm in front of us. So I definitely want to recommend this for people who like urban fantasy, but like in the sense that we have the human world and then we have also other things going on. And this just has wonderful character descriptions. And I truly love this book and I'm so excited to reread it at some point and just get to relive Nina and Ollie's different connections because they stay separate for a fair amount of the book. But then once they come together, it's just such a powerful bond. And you're just like, Oh, yes, they can take on the day. They can take on these challenges. So that was my sunrise book. I'm actually surprised that you had a happier book than we've talked about how you don't read things. And I feel like I for the most part read happy things. And I'm looking at my list and I feel like most of my list is not happy. So I'm actually curious what ends up happening on the rest of your rest of your list too. Oh boy, good point. Okay, sunset next or should we or should we set with sunset? Oh, I love the idea of setting with sunset. Let's set with sunset. Oh god, that was hard to say. Okay, I have two sunsets. So I'll just I'll skip both of those for now. So my first surprise weather, surprise weather, are gale force winds. So this is like chaos. It's it's, you know, you've walked in this wind where it's like whipping at you from every direction. It's like that, the meme of the little fox in the spot. Yes. And it says it's heck and it doesn't say hecking. I mean PG 13. It's heck and windy. That's that's it's like it's windy. You can't walk stuff. It's happening everywhere. Okay, so that's that's the vibe I'm going for here. So I went with there's someone inside your house by Stephanie Perkins. Oh, that book. Wow. So I read this like good handful of years ago, but it's remained for me one of those good it's a really good thriller and it has it's I think it's technically probably a horror. It's a really good like murder mystery is happening where there's different murders that are taking place in houses or in locker rooms. And the main character is, you know, caught up in this and is maybe going to be targeted. And I it's one of the few books that I have been genuinely like, oh no, what is what is going to happen? Because I have a pretty strong strong stomachs like high bar, I guess, for being scared in a in a horror book. But this one like really got me. And it's it feels like something that's tearing at you the whole time and you're like, I can't get safe. There's nowhere I can get safe even inside my own house because this wind and just being torn at this whole time. It's coming on me from this direction now. Now it's coming to me from over here. Now it's coming. So it's just like you know where everywhere you go, you're not safe. Like you can't you can't get a you can't get your feet on the ground and find somewhere that is safe to be because there's murders happening everywhere on this town. So that's where I went with there's someone inside your house by Stephanie Perkins. Okay, that's a book I haven't heard from in years. It's not what I've read but like I am too much on the internet. So I'm constantly hearing about things that have come out. And I think that what's it called again? There's someone in the house. There's someone watching in there someone inside your house. And I know that they made it into a movie. I have not watched the movie. I don't know if the movie is any good, but I don't think I want to watch the movie. I feel like I'm just gonna let the book remain in my head because it is it's just I remember it being a really good creepy thriller horror. It's technically it looks like it's technically young adult. I think I remember hearing that. It feels like young adult on the precipice because they are in high school, but you know I read it. The subject matter is still on cheese and I was still entertained. Good. Okay. Yeah, because didn't Stephanie Perkins also write like some pretty light fluffy young adults as well? Like I have a certain YA famous YA book in my mind, but I can't remember if it was Stephanie Perkins or somebody else. Oh my gosh, you're so right. She wrote Anna in the French. It was Anna in the French. I don't think I would mark that one as Gail Force wins. No, no, totally different vibe. Oh my goodness. Okay. Well, funny enough, I also have a wind related book, which is like, how about I jump to that one? I don't need to go in need. Yes. I wanted to pick a tornado book. So I think that goes along with Gail Force wins. And I wanted to pick a tornado book that felt like a chaos book. And I will admit, this is the only book on this list that I haven't technically read. But I'm going and sticking with it because it is so perfectly a chaos book. Have you ever heard of Kane's Jawbone by Torquamara? You have? Okay, good. Please explain for our listeners. Yes. This is a puzzle book where there are 100 single-sided pages. So if you were to flip over this, there's one side, this totally blank and one side that has a paragraph of text. And the pages were printed in a random order. But when they're placed in the correct order, and that's the puzzle, there are six distinct murders and their respective murderers. The book was literally scrambled by a tornado. I just think that's so perfect. This book was originally published in 1934 by a crossword compiler who is real human name because Torquamara is a, I guess, an alias, Edward Poiss Mathers. And he was a crossword compiler. So like, job to make crossword. That's very cool. There was originally a contest way back when, and then this got republished in 2019 with a new contest. Sadly, that was closed in 2022. But if I were to attempt this, it would really just be for fun and not for the prize. And I also really want to work on it with my husband because we both enjoy like mind puzzles from time to time. And this sounds like the ultimate little puzzle book, but it also does say the beginning, like, warning, this is not for the faint of heart. And I'm like, Oh, okay, thanks. Yes, please note this puzzle is extremely difficult and not for the faint hearted. So I think that the concept of scrambling your book, literally throwing the pages into a tornado and then just sticking them together and publishing it, I think that's just such a unique idea. And I've never really heard of anything else like it. And I think that it just fits perfectly with the concept of like a chaos book. This is chaos. And I really, really do want to attempt it at some point when my husband has some more free time that we can just, I don't know if I'd want to cut all the pages out though, because that's what they're kind of telling you to do. There's a little dotted line and it's just always with everything. And it says, you know, cut everything out, put it put it in order. And I don't know if I have the guts to do that. I think I want to figure out some other method to hear me out. I think personally, I would want to either transcribe all the pages into Word so that you could search things. Yeah, I'm crazy. The searching component is actually that might be worth it. Yep. And then I would want to create an index of all the character names mentioned. But I feel like I heard from somebody else that like the same name is used twice for other people. So we'll see if that's worth anything. But names, this feels like it's the only way to narrow things down and try and connect events and whatnot. But so far through, it is possible on the back, it is possible through logic and logical, you know, logic and intelligent reading to sort them into only the only correct order. And so I would love to find out if even after the contest is closed, can I like submit my answers to know if I'm right? Like I want to know if I'm right. So I think it sounds like you would know it's like a way like a proof. You're like when you can check your true. It's it's that it's implying to me that there's only one. Anyway, we don't want to go like down to Keynes, Java and Paul, but this is actually a great, I agree with this choice. Exactly. Yeah. Exactly. I haven't technically you read. But I haven't like experienced the pages nor have I experienced what the true intent, the true six murders and their respective murderers yet. But I really want my husband and I to tackle this sometime in the future. Not right now. We do not have the free time we need to truly tackle this. But this is to me a tornado book. All right, go ahead. Okay. So my next one is not Gailforce wins, but there are wins involved in it. I just was feeling it was I was feeling windy. Okay. I was I was feeling heck and windy. So I chose a blizzard. I was like, I want something, you know what? And this one, I was like kind of back and forth that I like, I saw, you know, no, I wasn't back for it. I saw the book and I was like, this is a blizzard. Because it's atmospherically, the book feels cold. And then also a blizzard, you like can't really see what's in front of you. You can only see like what's right immediately in front of you. You can't really see where you're going. So I chose an anthology, actually, it's called Talk To Me, T-A-A-Q-T-U-M-I. It's an anthology, an anthology of arctic horror stories. And it is an in nuktotet word that means in the dark. So it is native, native horror stories. And there are like a dozen, two, four, six, eight, I lied, nine short stories in here. And they are all by different. That's what doesn't really have an author. It does have a compiler, an editor. It doesn't say editor. It says compiled by Neil Christopher. And obviously too many names to read out for the author. So that's why I didn't give you an author there. And I read this a handful of years ago. And there is one short story in here that I have thought about multiple times because it is, it's like scary. Or not so much scary, but just it unsettling. It's like, it's piercing. It got into, it got into me. And I was like, oh my gosh, what, what, what I do here. So it feels, you know, you're atmospherically cold. They're all set in the arctic. And they, you know, they're horror stories. So you're not totally sure where it's going to go, but you're unsettling. You feel unsettled because you can't really see ahead of you. You don't know where the story is going. You can kind of have an idea that something not good is going to happen, but you're not sure what. And I just, I really, I really would like to reread this honestly. Maybe some sound to campfire out loud. I feel like they'd be good out loud stories. So that was my choice for, which I know feels obvious. And you know, there are to core stories, if you feel like an obvious choice, but you just, you truly feel cold and like trapped in these stories that there's not, there's not another option in a lot of these plots. So that is talked to me by, you know, one, by all the different authors. Wow. Okay. I adore that. And I think I remember hearing about it at some point and being like, Oh, cool. That that's, I think I wasn't reading as much horror at that point. But now that I am reading horror, oh, this part of me that wants to go find that immediately and dive into it. Cause I don't think of, I've read some horror novellas and enjoyed them. And so to me, a horror short story anthology sounds like just a nice little compilation of them. And the fact that one of them is sticking in your brain this long. Oh, I love it when books do that. And all right, you choosing Blizzard may leads very nicely to my next weather because I picked snowstorm. Oh my gosh, look at this. And I had definitely some similar feelings of like a book that feels cold, a book with low visibility, which I kind of was like, low visibility, low plot. So I don't know if this book is a low plot, but it's definitely very isolated. And a snowstorm can feel very isolating sometimes like, ooh. So I picked split tooth by Tanya Tagak. And this is a book I did just read last year, but who it has popped to my mind here and there. And I didn't, I don't think I remember expressing very well that I did enjoy this. There were just aspects that are a little horrific because this is set in Nunavut, which is Canada's northernmost territory. So the Arctic, it follows a teen girl in the 70s who becomes pregnant and she has to navigate that difficult situation. But the synopsis actually says it best where this book is veering back and forth between the grittiest features of a small Arctic town, the electrifying proximity of the world of animals and ravishing world of myth. Tanya Tagak explores a world where the distinction between good and evil, animal and human, victim and transgressor, real and imagined, lose their meaning, but the guiding power of love remains. So this book set in the north, set in the cold, that you're not too sure where things are going. So that to me also feels with the low visibility, like there was a lot of times where I was like, all right, cool, where, where are we going? Where, where in the situation, how are we getting out of it? Oh, God, what's going to happen next? And the cover design is honestly stunning. I don't know, I don't think all the covers are like this, all the covers. I think, I don't think all the additions are like this one, but this one has an all white cover with black letters to spell out Tanya Tagak's name and split tooth. And then just has the small like jagged outline of I think at Arctic clocks, but I'm not 100% sure. And then it has red sprayed edges would just jump out at you. So this definitely is a cold isolated book where you're not too sure what's going to happen next. And you're viewing, like it said, between this Arctic town, the world of animals and the world of myth. And Tanya Tagak definitely like weaves that all together. And the audiobook is read by her and includes Inuit throat singing, which she is an Inuit throat singer. So that's just an added level of atmosphere to this book. So that is my snowstorm book. I think that's a great choice. And I'm also realizing that because I have two sunset ones, I should not go yet. You should tell us your third non sunset book. Okay. So all right, I picked a thunderstorm because it is high heat in where I live right now. And I also have high humidity where I live. And so there are often a very big thunderstorms, which are peak summer when there's just a nice thunderstorm happening. And you just get to curl up the book. So I wanted to find a book. To me, a thunderstorm is rumbling and wet. I didn't want to find a wet book, obviously, but I wanted to find a book that felt maybe a little unsettling because sometimes the thunder spooks you and a book with like maybe a rumbling plot. And this to me brought me to like dark academia, kind of. I don't think the people consider this book dark academia, but I kind of do in my heart. So we'll see. This is the thirteenth tale, my Diane setterfield. I can't remember if this is a book you've read. Do you know? Do you know? Can you tell me have you read this? I have not, but this sounds familiar. You might have heard me talk about it. I can't remember, but it also has been well loved. The back of that, like, when I was searching my bookshelf, I was right, sitting in front of my bookshelf, staring at every colorful box, trying to find a thunderstorm book. This one did jump out a little bit. And then I was kind of like, but it's not unsettling that I remember. But the back of it actually says, confident, creepy, and absorbing. I was like, all right, cool, sold, you're it. And then in trying to remember the plot and in trying to describe it for you, I was like, oh, yeah, this does fit. This does fit. So it definitely has that cozy atmosphere. And I remember absolutely loving that feeling and feeling so immersed when I was when I read this. But I've never reread it. And I must have read it. Oh, I think that bored in 10 years ago. Yeah, I feel old. But I do have specific plans to reread this in the fall. So I will report back then if this does live up to my memories of it. But it's about an enigmatic author who is always telling outlandish things about her history. And people are begging her for the mysterious missing 13th tale from her collection of stories, because they loved the first 12 so much. They were enchanting apparently. She eventually decides on a biographer, like, she's like, I pick you, you're going to write my biography. To finally tell her tale, since she's now old and she's ready to tell the truth of her path. And that just to me feels like the when I was also thinking about thunderstorm books, I was thinking like mystery. And this definitely has a mystery aspect to it of like, what happened to this author? Why was she keeping the secret for so long? And why did she pick this biographer of all the people? But apparently, like, their stories are, um, did you do in extrapically linked? No, they have a very curious parallel. I'll go with the words on the back. Another little section from the back has the fact that this is a love letter to reading and that the author will keep you guessing, make you wonder, move you to tears and laughter. And in the end, deposit you breastless, yet satisfied back upon the shore of your everyday life. And that to me feels like that feeling of the storm is over and you're now outside again. You're like, oh, oh yeah, the real world. Okay. So I'm so excited to review this eventually. But that is the 13th tale by Diane Sutterfield. Oh, very excited for this one. Just from the synopsis, I feel like thunderstorm fits that one well, because so much of a thunderstorm, yes, is the actual one, the thunder's on top of you and it's raining and it's boomy and it's lightning. But so much also of the thunderstorm, I would say even equally so is the anticipation. You hear the message. It's coming. It's coming. It's getting closer. It's getting closer. And that to me sort of choose the word parallels, parallels the woman being like, I'm not going to tell. I'm not going to tell. I'm not going to tell. Okay, I'm going to tell. And then, okay, the thunderstorm has arrived. All right, now she's telling her story. Now she's telling her story. So that I feel like really fits that. I love that. And I guess as a final little note, I did say I didn't want to find a wet book, but then I realized that I've been holding my copy for the first time a little bit. It's a little water damage. So we did find a wet book. And it's a and it's the thunderstorm book. So it's perfect. Yes. Oh my goodness. Okay. So as I said, I have two sunset books and I really went back and forth on should I keep both of these in here? But I feel like their sunsets in different ways. Obviously every sunrise and every sunset that we see is slightly different based on however the earth is pointed. So I am going to start with with a different with one sunset that I feel like it's a sunset that you get to kind of you get to the end of like a chaotic day, like it's a bad day. And it's you get to you know, and then the sun starts to set and you're like, okay, you know what? We made it. We made it. We made it to the end. We that's all we made it to the end. We're going to try again. We're going to try again tomorrow. So it's a little bit different than a sunrise where, okay, we have an opportunity to try again. It's more like, oh, thank God, we made it. Relief. Relief. We're going forward from here. So I decided to go with a book called Anyone by Charles Sol. And I went back and forth on including this one because when I read it, I didn't love it. It was like, it was fine, but I was like, I had some quibbles with the pacing. And I was like, huh, did I really like this? But I have thought about this book. I think about this book at least three times a year because because of the ending, because for lack of a better metaphor, because of the sunset at the end. So the plot of this book, it's a sci-fi book. All right. And the plot of this book is there's kind of two different timelines. One of the timelines, you're following one of the characters, and she is trying to figure out, I believe it's Alzheimer's that she's like doing these experiments on. She's doing these like brain experiments. And she figures out how to swap bodies with another person being. So she, and this is obviously like huge technology. And so when she discovers this, she is like, I can't, and she's like been, you know, given science grants. And they're like, well, whatever you discover is ours. And she's like, well, how am I going? She's like, this cannot exist. Nope. This is not good. This cannot exist. And so you're following that timeline. At the same time, you're following like 20 years in the future when this technology does exist, and people use it for all different, all the different ways that the world looks different 20 years into the future of having this technology. So that by itself is honestly a fascinating premise of seeing, okay, what happened in the create in the, you know, inventors life that it did get out. And you know, what was her journey like, and then following, there's another character 20 years in the future, and following what that character is doing in this tech world. And the two timelines do end up converging in what I felt was a fairly original way. I thought I was going one way and it went another. But really, the icing on the cake is the very final chapter, which I know feels cheap that I'm like basing this whole thing on the final chapter. But really, it comes again to how I describe the sunset of it's just chaotic day, you're like, what's going to happen? Oh my gosh, what's going on? And then you get to the end, you're like, oh, we made it. We made it. Okay, it's all right. And I really, like, I have a hard time recommending this book because I so want to talk about the ending with people. But I also recognize that it's not an amazing book. So it's like this, I want you to read this, but also please know that it's not, you know, the most amazing book you're ever going to read. Yeah. Okay, so funny enough, my sunset book is also sci-fi, but I wanted to ask, I don't know why, I'm kind of curious, when did this come out? When did your book come out? Oh gosh, I feel like a while ago, I know I read it during COVID. Okay. So it was pre that, I will tell you right now. I must have read it right when it right after it came out 2019. Wow, okay. I just, I think that's, I don't know, I'm just reminded of other sci-fi premises and how some of them have been influenced by the real world tech that we have nowadays. And hopefully we don't end up with tech like that one day, who that would just be. But my book also kind of explores the impact of technology and impact of technology that we have nowadays, but this came out, oh, I can't remember, I'm going to go look, but my sunset book, I wanted to pick something that was calm, something that was quiet, and that they definitely had that feeling of relaxed at the end of the day. And so I picked Clara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro. I had to pick at least one cliche book, this is, this is my cliche book for our little tag. This book is so warm and also quiet, like it's not screaming at you about on the back, like our rapidly changing modern world. This, it follows a robot, this artificial friend. So she's, she's an AI, but she's in, you know, the body of a robot. Her name is Clara. These robots are designed to be a companion and they use the Sun to charge up. So the importance of the Sun again comes through. Clara is just so hopeful to be one day chosen by someone to be their friend. And then she is, and she forms a very strong bond with this human girl named Josie. But this book is not meant to be like a scary robot apocalypse kind of book, but it's really this exploration on what does it mean to love. And that is coming from Clara's like outside perspective. She's not human. She's outside of it. And this book definitely brings about those concepts of what does it mean as well to be human? And what does it mean to have these robots in society? And I'm just again trying to remember the year it came out, which but I think it was also before the pandemic. No, never mind 2021. I have so many feelings. I feel like I saw this book like, I know six years ago, you know, surprised it's 2021. Yeah, no, it says that my copy was 2022. And like, I just got a little paperback edition here. So I don't know. Was it published elsewhere first? No, the copyright page does not say that. It says, yeah, published in Canada in 2021. Yeah, 2021. So to me, this book being so warm and quiet, like it's not screaming about you that AI is wrong and that robots are the worst and that you can only trust humans. Like, it's a book that's meant to transcend that and it's just quietly thinking about what does it mean to be human? What does it mean to love? And what does it mean for a robot to care very, very deeply about a human girl? I didn't have too much to say about this one, but it's just one of those books that like, every time I see it on myself, I'm like, Oh, Clara and the sun. And I just, I feel, I feel a little warm inside. And it definitely makes me smile whenever I look at it, which is hopefully how I'm feeling when the sun is setting. But the day is over. I can now rest and prepare for the next day. I love the the warm. Yeah, yes, you chose much happier books. I did on a whole that one is happier. Yep. I, yeah, I feel like Clara, the sun had, you know, had to be in there. What was the other sun book that you had that? Oh, the snake one. Yes, a snake falls to earth where the sun is just very important in, in their world, in our world too. But we're really on it. I was on it. But is your last book also sad? It's a hard question. Yeah, I wouldn't say it's sad. I wouldn't say it's sad. I would say it's reflective. It's not ultimately sad. So another sunset book and the reason that I included this one is because my sunset on this one, it feels like kind of a sunset and also kind of a sunrise. It's like when you see a picture of the sun and you're like, I have no idea if that's a sunrise or sunset, it could conceivably be either glass half full or empty. You know what I'm talking about? Yeah. So that's, so really this book could have followed into either category because there are sunrise elements and there's also sunset elements. And also as a bonus, it's set in space. So that felt like I had to get that in there for the for the astro for the astro component of it. So it focuses on a collection of astronauts. Oh, sorry. I haven't even told you the title. Please. The Wanderers by Meg Howrey. So in, I'll just read you the two sentences from Goodreads. In four years, prime space, which is like their NASA, prime space will put the first humans on Mars. Helen, Yoshi, and Sergey must prove they're the crew for the job by spending 17 months in the most realistic simulation ever created. As a side note, this is unrelated to the book, but half related. As a side note, there's like actually a simulation that they just did about this where they like took all and put them. It's, I don't think it was inspired by the book, but I remember when I saw the news article, I was like, that was really weird. I will, I will find the news article and I will link it in the description for anyone who is genuinely curious. So that is the premise of the book is bringing in these three different astronauts. And they're going to be paired triode or can be paired if you're three of you anyway, they're going to be paired together and put into basically a simulation of what their Mars pod would be and sent out or not sent out, but like quote unquote sent out. And then they're allowed like sometime when they quote unquote get there. And so it's just like they're being, they're measuring all of this for like psychiatry purposes to be like, okay, will they lose their mind? Are we prepared? Are they prepared? Like what else do we need to know? Have we, I understand there, do we like a training exercise? So it's hard to talk about this book without giving away anything else because that that is the premise, but there's also like some other stuff going on. Yeah. You know, they also talk about they talk to their, or that talk to, but they have like components, the author includes components of their family members and how each of their family members relates to them. And it just is one of those really kind of beautiful books that that when you get to the end, like I said, you're not sure if you're looking at a sunrise or a sunset, you're like, wait a minute, wait a minute. So that's the wanderers by by Meg Howrey. And I listened to it, but I wish I would have done it on the page because it's also just really beautifully written. So just like feels the language on it is beautiful like a sunrise or like a sunset. So that's my added bonus. Okay, I do, I do have a little bit of question about the premise. So like, it's supposed to be a really realistic simulation. And is it, is it like the simulations I'm thinking of where they just stick them in the desert and pretend it's Mars? Or is there some other aspect that makes it like super realistic simulation? It's, it's kind of like that, like they, you know, they shake the pod like, okay, they do, you know, we're going, you're lifting off sort of a situation. And then they're not really, they're not allowed to talk to their family. They're like, they it's a very, very realistic simulation. They only talk to people when they would talk to them in the, in like the real version. Okay. Okay. Because like, that's what I was thinking of. I obviously, I don't know as many details about the, the real human human now, the real world equivalent where we put astronauts through these simulations where I was just thinking, I imagine they just kind of walk in, close the door, and then wait, but to add that aspect of shaking it for liftoff, having no contact for a bit while you're in space travel, and I assume some shaking for the landing and then being part of that simulation. That is a really interesting shoot. That is a really compelling, immersive thing for the characters to go through to like, truly trick their brains into the fact that they're actually doing this. Yeah. And if there's a lot of like great levity in the, I know we're talking about this one, but there's a lot of great levity in, in between the characters too, like they all have good fun personalities that it never feels, it's not like a hard sci-fi. Okay. So it's not, it's not, yeah. So even though it's set in space, kind of, it's not meant to be like hard sci-fi. It's meant to have a, that human, I don't know what I'm trying to say. I'm also looking at the Goodreads page and that one of the tags is literary fiction. So like it's brought back to contemporary a little bit. I know this was actually like the, the, I mean, I guess I got station 11 in there too. I was surprised after I made my list, how much horror and sci-fi was on here? Yes. I don't, I don't think of myself as reading a lot of horror and sci-fi. Yeah. That is a very good point. Like I'd say for me, I'm reading a lot more horror than I used to, but Tanya Tagak's split tooth is kind of the only horror adjacent thing on this list. Everything else is relatively tame. I know. I, I, it's kind of like when we did the mid-year freak out, but in reverse that makes me freak out. We were like, yes, this makes sense. And for me, I'm like, where did I choose? Why did I choose these books? But we wanted to highlight some special things. Exactly. I feel like that was a good full weather report. Yep. Instead of our, would you agree? I would agree because instead of reporting the actual weather that is outside of our homes, we got to report on fictional weather in the sense that it's rating books. I love it. It's rain and books. Okay. Someone needs to make that cover. All right. I hope everyone picked up, you know, a new, a new book for your forecast. Oh my gosh. Okay. I'm taking it. There we go. I think that's going to be all for today. So we'll place the bookwork and pick it up next time. Thanks for listening, everyone. Bye.